UnME Jeans:Branding in Web 2.0A Harvard Business School Case Study

Case StudyByMohith ReddyIIT Madras

UnME JeansIt is one of the most successful up-and-coming players in the junior denim market

Designed especially for women

Branding Point

The UnME brand story revolved around celebrating the individuality

of teenage girls and encouraging teens to speak out against peer

pressure and conformity.

The Protagonist

Margaret FoleyBrand Manager of UnME Jeans

Situation Analysis

Current

• Justification to the money she was spending to advertise her brand in traditional media outlets was becoming difficult.

• She asked advertising agency to investigate emerging Web 2.0 options.

Solutio

n

• The agency had come back with a smorgasbord of social media options for her to consider

Evaluation

• The challenge would be cutting through all of the hype surrounding the Web 2.0 and analysing its potential for her brand from a media perspective.

Fundamental Objective of CaseSelecting one of the following three social media options to brand UnME Jeans in Web 2.0• YouTube• Facebook• Zwinktopia

Other Objectives

• Analyzing benefits and risks of marketing in Web 2.0

• Providing clear objectives and a plan for measuring the results of program

Current Media Plan

Issues facedThree trends that were driving radical change in the media markets that have the potential to reduce the effectiveness of current media plan:1. Consumer’s media habits were rapidly

changing2. Consumers were besieged with over 5,000

advertising messages each day3. Fueled by new technologies, consumers were

increasingly opting out of advertising

Online advertising

is predictedto grow six times

more quickly

than traditional

media between 2006 - 2009

Not enough marketing efforts were put into online advertising due to several factors

Sharp incline in online marketing

budget was predicted

The Web 2.0 age was dominated by more interactive, participatory, and collaborative behaviours that included consumers themselves as co-creators and disseminators of the content

Rather than the top-down information distribution model that characterized Web 1.0, Web 2.0 utilized a bottom-up model in which consumers contributed content and shared it with others

4 cultural values

undergirding new ideology

• Consumer Co-creation• Social

Affiliation• Digital Self-

Expression• Sharing

Which, if any, of the three social media options to

pursue?

Facebook would be the better option when compared to YouTube and

Zwinktopia in order to brand UnME Jeans in Web 2.0

Backup for the

Hypothesis

SWOT Analysis

S

• Strong position as a niche market• Fashion trend leader

W

• Weak brand awareness• Low budget compared to other apparel companies• Less experience in using social network of Web 2.0

O

• Emerging of Web 2.0, there are more channels• Marketing in Web 2.0 lowers the cost of advertising

T• Consumer’s media habits are rapidly changing

Given the target market for UnME jeans is Teenagers and Young adults, this shows why social networking sites has to

be preferred for marketing

This provides vital information

on the enthusiasm of teenagers to interact with marketers

Other reasons for selecting Facebook as

social media marketing option

There are more people today than any other website (even Google) that visit Facebook

Interaction

 “deeper engagement with customers and get insights not available any other way”-Foley

“Status updates” is almost like a broadcasting tool in which every time you post a status, that status is transmitted

immediately to the top of the home page of all of your friends.

 “Fan page” feature allows a company or a brand or a product to create a

Facebook page solely dedicated to it

 “Any sales organization choosing not to integrate social media into their sales strategy will become less and less relevant. Social media

provide sales professionals with the opportunity to listen and influence through their participation”

Why not YouTube?

• Exhibits show rapid growth of users in YouTube, which means very high budget on CPM basis

• There is the risk of bad perception of advertisements because most ads are played before watching the desired video

•  In most cases, the advertisements are in a one-way traffic and that the audience does not get a say back

Why not Zwinktopia?

• Navigating around Zwinktopia is a notoriously difficult task for new ‘residents’

•  UnME brand can have a more difficult time distinguishing themselves from thousands of virtual products available

• The second life is a messy marketplace where teenagers are likely to be trolled or offended by adult-themed entertainment

Risks to overcome

• The number of users/ Effectiveness of advertisements

• The lack of control over content• The attack from spammer (or

competitor)• Security of information• Rapid change of consumer’s habits

Web 2.0

• Reach• Frequency• Receptivity• Presence• Technology

Traditional

• Click-through rates

• Page views• unique visitors• Time spent on

the site.

Vs

MetricsMeasuring the effectiveness

Twitter can be used as an alternative to post updates regarding the

brand

Recap• UnME Jeans; Branding Points; Protogonist• Situation Analysis• Objectives• Issues faced• Insights of Exhibits• Hypothesis; Backup• SWOT Analysis• Benefits and Risks• Measuring effectiveness of ads

Conclusion• UnME Jeans should get into Web 2.0

for branding its products• Facebook is the best possible option

for interacting when compared to YouTube and Zwinktopia

• Measuring the effectiveness has become difficult in Web 2.0

• Lack of Control over Content is a significant problem in Web 2.0

References and Credits

• UnME Jeans: Branding in Web 2.0, a case study of Harvard Business School by THOMAS STEENBURGH and JILL AVERY

• Marketing Management – Philip Kotler• https://g.twimg.com/Twitter_logo_blue.png• http://

thumb7.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/495346/213906445/stock-photo-hypothesis-concept-word-cloud-background-213906445.jpg

• http://www.shoutpedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/facebook-status-updates.png

• http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53dc4794e4b0397c480f3887/53dd7d6fe4b0e03ffbae110e/53f5351ae4b0a1e4bd3a01e6/1411475793538/?format=1500w

Disclaimer

Created by Mohith Reddy, IIT Madras

during an internship by Prof. Sameer Mathur, IIM Lucknow.

www.IIMInternship.com