First Draft Report Feedback

First Draft Feedback

Summary

This report was carried out to investigate Dolce and Gabbana looking into how sustainable they are, their current brand market positioning and what could be proposed to improve Dolce and Gabbana. To investigate this brand, I carried out methods including doing an online survey to receive answers on how people view Dolce and Gabbana and carrying out observational trials on Instagram. The main findings reached were how not environmentally friendly the brand is as well as them not wanting to publicly admit that.

Feedback- The summary is good, it provides a snap shot that states the purpose of the work the methods used for your research, briefly touches on the main findings and conclusions reached although the recommendations for future actions could be improved. Use passive or active words to avoid using the first person-that is: "we! not "I" passive ("a concept was selected") or active ("we selected a concept") "An experiment was conducted" not "I conducted an experiment."

Introduction to the brand

This marketing report will be about the ins and outs of Dolce and Gabbana and where they stand currently in the market, looking into where they could be if they developed some of their strategies. With Dolce and Gabbana there is a lot of problems that hopefully could be overcome including their brand sustainability and them interacting with their current target market. The report will investigate Dolce and Gabbana’s ethics and how they continue to live in the past when other brands are continuing to move forward and develop. Dolce and Gabbana have been accused of being racist, homophobic and sexist which in result affects their target market as it influences them to boycott the brand and go to a competitor of Dolce and Gabbana. This is an issue Dolce and Gabbana should overcome as this has a big effect on their consumers and can create less customer loyalty. This creates a negative perception of the brand which will cause an impact on their reputation in the fashion industry especially when comparing them to their competitors that are growing with open minded strategies.

Feedback- Introduction is good and provides a good level of detail. However, try to be more objective and offer more critique rather than descriptive. More background to the brand in this selection would also be helpful.

Macro-economic analysis

As Dolce and Gabbana is a designer brand they gain a lot of profit from their products. Their net worth is $1.4 billion which proves the success they have gained from their brand, however this is predicted to decrease because of their actions that took place in China (Roger Aitken Nov 24, 2018 Forbes). The ad campaign that was released in China was said to be ‘disrespectful and racist’, resulting in losing the respect from customers in China as well as celebrities boycotting the brand. In the article it states “this is a big crisis said Tulin Erdem, a professor of marketing at NYU’s Stern business school. Sometimes brands do recover… but on a scale of 1-10 (this is) really high up”. (Danielle Weiner-Bronner Nov 24, 2018 CNN Business). Because of their actions with the recent ad released which involved a Chinese woman struggling to eat pasta and pizza with chopsticks which caused offense to people. This puts Dolce and Gabbana at a disadvantage because they have lost consumers on such a big scale.

Political: Dolce and Gabbana have made insensitive comments about LGBT including making negative comments on IVF causing issues with Elton John who then decided to boycott the brand. They have also been accused of being racist by their recent ad campaign in China and sexist in some of their other campaigns which present women to be weaker than men and showing that men have more power. They got accused of tax evasion in 2010 but the case was dropped in 2014 and they got off with spending no time in jail.

Economical: Dolce and Gabbana carry onto using fur for items of their collections when competitors such as Gucci stopped using fur in 2018 which will encourage more consumers to support that brand rather than D&G. They are well known for testing on animals which again will push away their consumers and encourage them to go to their competitors brands making them loose money.

Social: Dolce and Gabbana are known for their strong brand image and creating unique images to showcase their latest collections. They tend to post images on their Instagram stories especially of celebrities wearing their clothes to influence their target market to shop at their brand.

Technological: Dolce and Gabbana have previously used drones at their fashion shows to add that technology aspect as well as adding a unique aspect to their fashion shows. This idea of the drone is very original and is not very common with other brands giving them an edge and make their fashion shows to watch online a lot more appealing and interesting; drawing consumers in.

Legal: Dolce and Gabbana are threatening to take legal action after the show is cancelled after the racist ad was released in China. D&G have been in a legal battle with Puma as Puma said their fur sliders were too similar. They have also been accused of plagiarism by Armani from copying their designs of their trousers.

Environment: Dolce and Gabbana have been given the E label which is the lowest score for sustainability. This is because of Dolce and Gabbana's labour conditions and because they aren't very environmentally friendly. They don't reveal much on their website about their ethics where as their competitors do which leads consumers to be confused about where they stand with the brand.

Feedback- This section needs revisiting especially political and economic factors. Could you also provide references to support your work? Some arguments need moving to other factors such as social or legal?

Brand market position

As Dolce and Gabbana is such a well-known brand especially for the elite which makes Dolce and Gabbana have quite a narrow target market as the pricing of the brand makes it hard for people to afford it. When looking at my survey 58% of the people who answered the survey were women, leaving 41% as male. Majority of the people taking the survey have part time jobs whereas only 13% have full time jobs. When asking if they could currently afford to shop at D&G 93% said no.. When asking if D&G’s ethics effected their decision when shopping at the brand 75% said no. This could be because they are unaware of their ethics or whether it is not something they consider when buying products. The next question was to rank the designer brands for preference; Gucci was put first with D&G second. Quality was the most voted for what they want in a product which is something that D&G have within their pieces. This questionnaire allows me to see what people consider when buying from brands and if they are more about the brand name or just the look of the product. However, in conclusion I do think the price turns a lot of people away giving them such a narrow target market mostly of elite people.

Strengths- Dolce and Gabbana has a strong brand image with loyal customers. They create unique and luxury products. They also create non-traditional ads with large portfolios of brands.

Weaknesses- Dolce and Gabbana's weaknesses are how highly priced their products are which limits them to wealthier products and are highly affected by the economic fluctuations. They also have strong competition from luxury brands.

Opportunity- Opportunity Dolce and Gabbana could take are growing luxury markets with growth in economics like India, product expansions throughout the world and innovation products.

Threats- Some threats to Dolce and Gabbana are strong competitors in terms of style and elegance, difficult to break loyalty of customers towards other brands and huge investments in promotion of the brands. As well as other brands interacting more on social media with their consumers.

Feedback- SWOT analysis is succinct and provides a good level od detail. Perceptual need more clarity and supports, for example, the statement that says "However, this wont affect them as much as it will affect D&G as they do stand at different ends, they are still more inexspenisve where as D&G is an exclusive brand with high pricing which not as many people would be happy paying"- Why is this?

Competitors

When looking at the competitors for Dolce and Gabbana the competition is very high. These competitors include Gucci, Armani, Guess and more. When looking at my brand positioning map although the brands are competitors, they do have some variation between them. Dolce and Gabbana is very high up for luxury and exclusivity which is clear how narrow their market is which could make them as a brand not as popular. Most of their competitors are around the same for pricing but more inclusive which encourages more people to be loyal to those brands as there’s more variation through products making them more suitable for a variety of people. Guess and Armani are both more inexpensive compared to D&G, Gucci, Valentino etc which would draw more people in because of their affordability. Although they stand at opposite ends of the exclusivity and inclusive line. However, this won’t affect them as much as it will affect D&G as they do stand at different ends, they are still more inexpensive where as D&G is an exclusive brand with high pricing which not as many people would be happy paying. The current brand positioning mood board presents images of recent campaigns D&G have created which show off their unique selling point as well as competitors’ logo’s and images of their stores. They do have a very strong, unique brand image making them stand out nonetheless D&G’s competitors offer cheaper pricing or have more pieces for a wider variety of people putting Dolce and Gabbana at a disadvantage.

Feedback- Marketing mix and proposed strategy are a work in progress... Please ensure that your are referencing in text throughout the document.

Consumer demographics

It’s well known that Dolce and Gabbana’s audience are mostly elite people including celebrities. However, their consumer demographic does create a stereotype. Dolce and Gabbana’s supposed target market is said to be 15-25-year olds who are trendsetters. Although it is very rare that a 15-year-old could afford the prices of D&G however there’s a stereotype of spoilt children who may have parents that can afford luxury designer pieces. Because of the pricing the stereotype the brands target market creates is elite or has the money to buy designer items at that price, people who go on luxury holidays with champagne and obviously people with a lot of money. Typically, someone who regularly shops at D&G is successful and has good income or was born into money. These would be consumers who are loyal to the brand and often visit the stores whereas some consumers may have not as big of an income making D&G products something they don’t buy as often. As the number of D&G stores around the world are very limited this can prevent people from shopping at the brand as they don’t live close to one of the stores. On their Instagram they share pictures of celebrities wearing their clothes which would be typical people who would wear the brand as their pieces are statements. 

Feedback- Did you investigate what segmentation strategy they use for their market? It would be ideal to use academic terms when discussing consumer demographic. Also, offered some arguments both pros and cons for the brand in this selection.

Referencing- Reference throughout your document to provide evidence of the research sources used. Please use the Harvard reference style guide.

Other- Good use of diagram that have added emphasis and value to the report.