TERM PROJECT

GLOBAL MARKETING

TOPIC: LACOSTE

PRESENTED TO:
[Link] QADEER

PRESENTED BY GROUP MEMBERS:

BILAL ASHRAF
AHSAN MAHMOOD SHAMI
RIZWAN SAEED
KHIZER HAYAT

L1S13MBAM1171
L1S13MBAM1204
L1S12MBAM1141
L1F07MBAM2158

SECTION:
B

INTRODUCTION
Lacoste is a French sportswear brand that was started in 1923 by the legendary Tennis player
Rene Lacoste ([Link], 2012). Rene Lacoste revolutionised not only sportswear for Tennis
players but for sportspeople all over the world by inventing the Polo shirt. This shirt had the logo
of the crocodile which has been associated with the brands iconicity in its 80 year period. The
crocodile was used as the logo of the brand because Rene Lacoste was named The Crocodile on
the court. He sowed on this logo on the first polo that he designed and gifted and it became
iconic to the brands identity (Silver, 2012).
Lacoste expresses itself today through a large collection of apparel for women, men and children,
footwear, fragrances, leather goods, eyewear, watches, belts, home textiles, and fashion
jewellery. Lacoste bases its success on the essential values of authenticity, performance, and
elegance.
Pre 1920, when Rene Lacoste invented the Polo shirt, men used to wear long sleeved, starched
shirts made out of woven fabrics. Rene Lacoste found these to be uncomfortable for playing
sports in the heat and designed the Polo shirt. Comfortable and perfectly absorbing perspiration,
this shirt helped to better support the heat on the tennis courts.
The first Lacoste polo shirt was white, slightly shorter than other shirts of the day, with a ribbed
collar and long sleeves, and it was made of a light knitted fabric called Jersey petit
piqu (Polo-shirts, 2002). In 1933, by associating with Andr Gillier, the owner and chairman of
Frances largest knitwear manufacturing firm at the time, Ren Lacoste launched the production
of the crocodile logo embroidered shirt and thus give birth to the Lacoste L.12.12 polo shirt; L
for Lacoste, 1 for the unique fabric (cotton petit piqu), 2 for the short-sleeved version (13.12 for
the long-sleeved version) and 12 for the number of prototypes presented to Ren Lacoste. This
was the first time that a brand name appeared on the outside of an article of clothing (Lacoste,
2011).
Lacoste operates in 115 countries across the world (See Figure 2) with India being one of them.
They came to India in 1992 through an apparel distribution and production license with Sports
and Apparel Leisure Ltd (Rodrigues, 2003). Table 1 shows a summary of the strategies followed
by Lacoste from its inception to 2013. In the 20 years that it has been in India, the brand has
grown and evolved in terms of stores as well as sales. Opening up the brand in 1992 was the
perfect idea since India had just opened up to liberalisation and globalisation through New
Economic Policy1. The global presence of the country was starting to expand.

HISTORY
The Lacoste company was founded in 1933 and takes its name from Ren Lacoste, the worldrenowned tennis player and sports enthusiast. Ren Lacoste did not like the traditional shirts used
for tennis and teamed up with Andr Gillier, the owner of France's largest knitwear company, to
create the knitted cotton piqu shirt that revolutionized the sportswear market.

ORIGIN OF THE CROCODILE

The American press nicknamed Ren Lacoste the "Crocodile" after he made a bet with the
Captain of the French Davis Cup team. He had promised Ren a crocodile-skin suitcase if he
won a match that was important to the team. The American public stuck with this nickname that
highlighted Ren's tenacity on the tennis court. A friend of Ren's, Robert George, drew a
crocodile that was embroidered on the blazer that he wore on the court from then on.
THE LACOSTE DNA
Each design reflects the brand's DNAclassic, understated quality and luxury with a
sophisticated blend of sports and fashion. These characteristics combine to create a unique style
that distinguishes Lacoste footwear from other lifestyle brands.

QualityLacoste uses high-quality materials combined with exceptional standards of

manufacturing supported by a quality control team.

Affordable LuxuryLacoste provides high-quality footwear with all the confidence a

prestigious brand can provide, but at an affordable price.

SimpleMost of their products have a clean simplicity to them, providing fashionable, modern,
understated styling.

ComfortAll of Lacoste's products go through extensive fit and wear trials to ensure their
comfort.

DetailLacoste likes their shoes to be distinctive and easily identifiable. Fine details are very
important to them, from the color of the stitching to the shoe lining.
mission statement:
lacostes mission statement is "to have the perfect balance of comfort and elegance which can be
adopted by all."

Global marketing strategy:

The project was to study Lacoste from a marketing perspective at a global and local level. The
objectives of the project were threefold:
1.
To understand the marketing strategies and systems followed by Lacoste from its
inception.
2.

To understand consumer behaviour of Lacoste buyers

3.

To identify the stage of product life cycle for Lacoste in India.

In order to understand marketing strategies and systems, the history of the brand needs to be
understood. Lacoste, being a popular international apparel retail brand, has plenty of information
present on the internet and in books. Information collected through research done by someone
else is known as secondary research. Some of the periodicals consulted for collected information
about Lacostes history as well as its present are Images Retail, The Economic Times, WWD etc.
4

Once the information is collected about the brand, it needs to be analysed according to various
marketing tools. Information about the marketing tools and theories was understood through
literature on marketing in the form of Journals (Journal of Marketing, Journal of Retail etc.) and
books such as Marketing Management by Philip Kotler.
Information collected through secondary data was expansive but it is necessary to validate it
through primary data. This was collected in the form of questionnaires. In order to understand the
consumer behaviour of people purchasing Lacoste a questionnaire was administered to people
who bought from Lacoste. Since consumers of the brand are not commonplace, snowball
technique was used to identify the customers. Several classmates were identified as Lacoste
customers and more people were found through them. Convenience sampling at the store was
also done to identify Lacoste consumers. Despite using both the methods, only 40 Lacoste
consumers were recognised. This was because Lacoste being a super premium brand, makes it
hard to find consumers or they are unwilling to divulge any details. Another questionnaire was
administered to people to judge the level of brand awareness amongst the people. This was done
through random sampling since this the questionnaire was given to everyone irrespective of
whether they were Lacoste consumers or not.
A product lifecycle is the various stages of development the brand goes through ever since it is
established. Lacoste came to India in 1992 and has developed a lot ever since. In order to study
what the brand did in the past and what it is doing right now, secondary sources such as
newspapers and journals were read. Indepth interview were carried out with two people working
in Lacostes management to get a view from the inside.

Marketing Mix
PRODUCT STRATEGY
A product can be defined as a physical good, service or a combination of both that are designed
in order to satisfy the needs of a consumer(Kotler, et al., 2009). Product strategy therefore
consists of producing the entire product concept that consists of package design, brand name,
trademarks, warranties, guarantees, product image, and new-product development.
Lacostes product strategy from the beginning has been to produce good quality clothes which
are designed to satisfy the needs of casualwear. When Rene Lacoste launched the Polo Shirt 80
years ago, he created an iconic piece of clothing which stood for the brands image throughout
the years. Even though the brand faced a global slump in the 1980s, when General Mills sold the
5

license to every retailer and the quality of the shirts fell (Rooney, 2006), the brand has bounced
back and is stronger than ever today.
Lacoste, when it first came to India, launched itself with a very niche product i.e. the polo shirt.
At the time of Lacostes launch, very few people were aware of its international presence and
what the brand stood for. However, the brand gained recognition through 1992-1997 and
introduced its jeanswear collection in 1999. Despite controlled promotion and low brand
awareness, the brand garnered its licensee a sale of 3.6 million in 1997 alone (Crain, 1998).
Today, several influences are clear in Lacoste collections. One is the American sportswear
brands, which keep trying new things all the time though Lacoste was the first to take
sportswear off the playing fields back, it was the Americans who made it a way of life. The
second influence, especially for Lacoste's higher-end Club lines, is the Italians. They have a
knack of making casual clothes with the best fabric to give it a unique look. One area where
Lacoste is setting the trend is in colours. With careful forecasting and long-term experience
under their name, they are able to get the right colours at the right time for the right people.
To create the S/S 2012 collection, Felipe Oliveira Baptista, Creative Director (Lacoste), went
through the house archives from the 1980s, where he found the inspiration for his asymmetrical
colour blocks applied to oversize t-shirts (Baldenweg, 2011). Flowing lines, comfortable luxury
and certain pragmatism are what transpired from the creative directors new direction.
For women, the looser polo dress comes in crocodile-embossed white nappa leather laminated
onto jersey. Introducing graphics within a predominantly light wardrobe, the asymmetrical color
blocks were subtly worked as intarsia into the jersey dresses.
The collection offered a rich chromatic palette which, rooted in pure white, moved on to
assimilate pearly greys, pale yellows and light blues. Contrasts were high, brought on by the
navy, red, electric blue and dark orange that were mixed with the lighter tones of the collection.
Lacoste is a super-premium brand which caters to the taste of classy, sophisticated people who
have an attraction towards a luxurious yet casual lifestyle. Being a sports lifestyle brand, it tries
to fulfil the idea that people have of a casual activewear lifestyle.
Some characteristics of the product strategy followed by Lacoste are as follows:

Constant innovation in the product while keeping intact the key factors that make
Lacoste what it is. They started with a single white pique polo shirt. They reinnovated this by
bringing in polo shirts in multiple colours. Then they brought in bottoms and other lines for men.
During all the innovation, however, they kept their image of being a preppy brand which is
optimum for a casual sportswear life intact.

Lacoste is known for its quality. The pique knit that Lacoste uses for its Polo shirts is a
special pique knit which is bigger than the usual pique. This allows for the polo shirt to be more
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breathable, stretchable and comfortable which is necessary for a comfortable, laidback and
luxurious life.

Lacoste has been trying to expand its customer base by engaging younger customers
with its brand. In 1980s Lacoste went into slump when it realised that only old people are buying
Lacoste. In order to get younger customers to buy Lacoste, they launched the Lacoste LIVE!
Brand. Its merchandise is more design oriented and colourful. They still have the same
silhouettes and colours but it is more fashion oriented.
MERCHANDISE MIX
Lacostes core facets are elegance, natural and comfort. Every product line that Lacoste has
should embody these facets while adding some facets of its own. For instance, the Polo shirt is
elegance and comfortable and it adds the additional facets of being soft and airy. In Figure 10,
the core facets as well as the additional facets added by each individual lines are shown.
Lacoste is primarily a menswear brand and the ratio of menswear to womenswear in clothing is
2:1. The product range of Lacoste is shown in Table 4. The merchandise mix is made up almost
entirely of fashion basics. The core competency of the brand is the polo shirt which has gone
from white colour to a myriad of colours. A Lacoste polo shirt is available in every colour
possible. The shirts sold by them are basic shirts with a pattern such as checks or prints on them.
The main brand Lacoste does not consist of fashion items as that is not what the image of the
brand is. However, the brand extension, Lacoste L!VE, carries all fashion items since it was
started as a brand which would keep up to date with fashion and attract youngsters to the brand.
The basics to fashion basic for Lacoste is 20:80.

Table 4: Product Depth and Width of Lacoste

Menswear

Polo T-shirts

Shirts

Bottoms
(Jeans)

Womenswear

Polo T-shirts

Dresses

Bottoms
Outerwear
Sweaters
(Jeans
and (Jackets and
shorts)
Coats)

Childrenswea

Polo T-shirts

Sweaters
7

Outerwear
Sweaters
(Jackets and
Coats)

r
Accessories
Shoes
PLACING STRATEGY

Perfumes

Socks

Bags

According to Kapferer brands are defined as a name which has the power to influence the
consumer. Brands have certain important elements attached to them such as brand name, brand
logo and brand meaning which create an identity for the brand. In order to be important and be
recognised in the market, the brand needs to be perceived as being different from what already
exists in the market. Creation of that unique place in the customers mind is known as branding
strategy (Stein, 2012). In order to study the branding strategy, the brand has to be evaluated
according to some branding tools.
Management of a brand does not end at its logo or name. Brands comprise of entire concepts
which have to work in harmony with each other to convey a single message to the brand user.
These concepts can be thought of as three points of a triangle where in each concept is related to
the other two. The representation of these concepts in this form is known as Brand
Structure (Kapferer, 2008). Figure 1.1 represents the different parts of the structure.
The brand name Lacoste is derived after the 6 year tennis champion Rene Lacoste who is also
the founder of the brand. The logo for the brand is a crocodile which has been chosen since Rene
Lacoste was named The Crocodile on the court. Lacostes logo is one of the most famous
around the world and easily recognisable to people who see it[1]. When a brand loyal was asked
about the logo they said Rene Lacoste was the first one to use a logo on the front of the apparel
and make it an identity for the brand.
Lacoste promises to deliver apparel and accessories in the form of t-shirts, shirts, bottoms,
dresses, shoes, bags, perfumes and sports goods. These things form the basic tangibility for the
brand as this is their product offering. Lacostes goods are durable, performance oriented,
fashionable, preppy and of superior quality. When it comes to sophisticated elegance, no brand
can beat Lacoste. Lacoste is well aware of the intangibles it is providing to the customer. With a
good balance of tangibles and intangibles across the globe, Lacoste is able to provide a coherent
brand concept.
When a person wears Lacoste, they gain a social standing amongst the people since Lacoste is
seen as a sign of success. It might be positioned as affordable luxury but people buy for social
acceptance as well. Also, since it promises good quality and durability the consumer can be
assured of having a good and long term experience with the product they purchase.

PRICE STRATEGY
Lacoste is a super premium brand and so its pricing is slightly on the higher side. The price range
of the clothes is as follows:
Table 8: Prices of Lacoste Merchandise
Menswear

Womenswear

Accessories

Polo T-shirts Rs 2950 Rs Polo t-shirts Rs 2950 to Rs Shoes Rs 3950 to

6950
6950
Rs 11050
Shirts Rs 3250 Rs 7250

Dresses Rs 3550 upwards

Perfumes Rs 4950

Shorts Rs 4250 Rs 10950

Bottoms Rs 4250 to Rs 12050

Bags Rs 2950 to Rs
4950

Sweaters Rs 6950 upwards

Sweaters Rs 5550 upwards

The value of Lacoste merchandise to the consumer is high which allows them to charge the
premium price that they do. Lacoste being a lifestyle brand that elevates social status is worn by
people who have aspirations for luxury as well as people who understand luxury. This means
people are willing to pay a premium for the brand.
In comparison with its competitors, it is priced higher than Tommy Hilfiger and at par with
Ralph Lauren.
The customer of Lacoste is not very price sensitive. Since Lacoste is a lifestyle brand, wearing
Lacoste requires an understanding and presence of a particular lifestyle in the customers life.
Somebody who buys and wears Lacoste loyally would not be affected by the increase in it price.
And someone who does not wear Lacoste will not start wearing Lacoste if the price falls down a
little. Lacoste goes on sales during the sale periods twice a year.
Lacoste has decided that their single colored polo shirts will all be priced at Rs 2950 in India. As
compared to most of the competitors such as Tommy Hilfiger (Rs 1999) and Polo Ralph Lauren
(Rs 2500) this price is high. From this we can derive that Lacoste is following price skimming.
Skimming pricing involves setting the price of the product relatively high compared to similar
goods and then gradually lowering it. Skimming price strategy is ideal for the brand since
Lacoste consumers are brand loyal and do not get affected by the money paid by them for the
products.

Research shows that the consumer's perception of product quality is related closely to the item's
price. The higher the price of the product, the better its perceived quality. Lacoste, by pricing its
merchandise extremely high, is trying to position its products as products of extremely high
quality. Thus they are trying to follow a product quality relationship for their products.
PROMOTION MIX
Once a product has been designed and brought to the marketplace, it is necessary to
communicate its benefits to the customer. A mix of tools that is used to communicate these is
known as the promotional mix. The promotional mix includes advertising, public relations, sales
promotion, direct marketing, and personal selling (The Chartered Institute of Marketing, 2004).
In order for the promotion mix to be successful in communicating the needs, it should have a
balance of all the 5 elements. The balance depends on the type of message that the company is
trying to communicate. One formula does not work for all brands.
Currently Lacoste is running the Unconventional Chic campaign as an attempt to reposition
itself amongst the youngsters. In India, Lacoste is not doing aggressive print advertisement. Ad
agency Euro RSCG (Dasgupta, 2007) handles the Lacoste brand globally and has never created
any ad locally. However, local media planning and buying is done by MPG.
Outside India, Lacoste does an arena of PR activities. Usually they sponsor or host events that
are related to sports such as the Superbowl. They also sponsor tournaments such as US Open and
Wimbledon. Apart from this they have a initiatives to fight counterfeit products, promote sports
amongst children (Rene Lacoste Fondation) and save the crocodile which is their logo. In India,
however, except for store openings they do not do any PR activities.
Lacoste is a brand that is targeted at affordable luxury. It cannot promote its sales to an extent
that people start thinking it is cheap and degrade its reputation. This is the reason why the brand
goes on sale only 2 times in a year and promotes these sales through print and radio
advertisement. The brand does not have any form of loyalty cards.
Lacoste is one of the brands which is not up to the mark when it comes to CRM. It does build a
database of the customers that purchase it but it doesnt send out any special mailers or sales
notifications to them. Also, there is no after-sales follow up with the customers. This is one of the
reasons why, despite being 20 years old in India, the brand has not been able to build very strong
brand awareness yet.
An effective marketing communication is the one which smoothly flows from the company to
the target customers and vice versa. Marketing communication is often considered as the flow of
information related to a product or service from marketer to the target customers (Haque & Joshi,
10

2011). Marketing communication is more than just promoting the product. It is about building a
relationship with the target consumer.
When reviving a brand, the company must have a long-term perspective. The process of reviving
a brand begins with addressing the causes of the decline, understanding why the brands
promises failed to maintain its relevance and adjusting the promise if needed.
Number of Product Categories and Number of Brands in each Categories:
a. Womens:
Product Categories
Shoes
Sneaker & Athletics Shoes
Boots
Flats
Oxford
Bags
Hand Bags
Wallet & Accessories
Watches
Fashion Watches
Casual Watches
Clothing
Shirts & Tops
Sweaters
Sleepwear
Coat 7 Outwears
Dresses
Accessories
Belts

Number of Brands
44
28
9
5
2
29
27
2
23
21
2
13
5
5
1
1
1
3
3

b. Mens
Product Categories
Clothing
Shirts & Tops
Sweaters
Hoodies & Sweatshirts
Costa & Outwears
Socks
Shorts
Shoes
Sneakers & Athletic Shoes

Number of Brands
136
99
19
8
7
2
1
105
80
11

Loafers
Boots
Sandals
Boot shoes
Accessories
Hats
Belts
Scarves
Gloves
Watches
Fashion Watches
Casual Watches
Bags
Luggage
Duffle Bags
Wallets & Accessories

10
9
4
2
46
27
14
3
2
24
20
4
6
3
2
1

c. New Arrivals
Product Categories
Clothing
Shirts & Tops
Pants
Hoodies & Sweatshirts
Shorts
Shoes
Sandals
Boots
Sneaker & Athletic Shoes
Watches
Fashion Watches
Casual Watches
Accessories
Hats
Bags
Hand Bags

Number of Brands
9
5
2
1
1
7
4
2
1
5
4
1
2
2
1
1

Standardized & Localized brands:

a) Local Brands in Pakistan
T-shirts
Watches
Shoes
12

Perfumes
b) Standard Brands in Pakistan
T-Shirts
Watches
Shoes
Perfumes
Environmental Concerns:
The allowance of 100% FDI in single brand retail has led to the entrance of brands that can be a
direct threat to Lacoste Such as Ralph Lauren and Armani Exchange (Retail, 2013). With stricter
laws of factories and hiked minimum wages, the company has to rethink its production strategies
(Padukone, 2013). The import duty in India is at around 10% which is very high. The
significantly increases investments put in by Lacoste (ExlmGuru, 2012). Since there are no
stringent laws against piracy and counterfeiting in India, many Lacoste counterfeits are sold in
the market.
Since the beginning of their production, Lacoste has been using a licensing model and this has
caused a number of problems for the brand as far as counterfeiting is concerned. Every year
Lacoste seized goods worth million from countries such as China, India, Peru. Lacoste commits
to fight against counterfeits and puts in place a selective distribution network in order to
guarantee authenticity to its clients. A team dedicated to the global protection and defense of
intellectual property rights works at dismantling international counterfeit network in several
countries, in cooperation with police and custom authorities. Lacoste aims to fight an illegal
trade that is disrespectful of human labor and environment. Lacoste protects its power to invest
and innovate, in the interest of its clients and partners.
When Rene Lacoste chooses the crocodile as his emblem in 1927, he never imagined that
millions of people would one day wear this logo. He also never imagined that crocodiles as a
species one day would be threatened. As the first company to embroider the logo on its clothing,
Lacoste is also the first company to support the save your logo campaign, which allows private
companies or institutions to contribute to the preservation of the animals that represents this
logo. Today, through save your logo, Lacoste contributes to the protection of biodiversity on the
planets in its commitment to saving crocodiles, alligators, caimans and gharials. Save your Logo
has the support of the Global Environment Facility GEF, the World Bank, the International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and most recently the United Nations Environment
programs (UNEP).

SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF BRANDS

According to Haig (2003), when a brand is struggling, it has fallen for one or many of the seven
deadly sins of brand management. For Lacoste, we feel that the brand has two main
problems: brand amnesia and brand irrelevance. Brand amnesia happens when a brand becomes
13

old; the brand might start to forget its core values and what it stands for. This usually results in
decreased profitability as the brand leaves an efficient concept. Brand irrelevance happened as
the market radically evolves, the brands within that market run the risk of becoming irrelevant if
they do not evolve with the market. We strongly feel that these two deadly sins are the main
cause of Lacostes declining popularity and profitability, especially in Singapore.
Haig (2003) further categorizes the brands that have fallen for these deadly sins into nine
different categories. Through these nine categories, we personally felt that Lacoste is in
the rebranding failures category. We felt that Lacoste underwent a brand midlife crisis the
brand does not come across as relevant anymore and wants to become young and hip again.
Now that we recognize the main problems of the Lacoste, we analyzed the brand further through
its brand equity to gain a deeper understanding of the aforementioned challenges. The analysis
will be done through two main frameworks, namely the Y&Rs brand asset valuator to assess the
consumer-oriented aspects as well as Interbrands brand valuation to evaluate the businessoriented values.
Y&R BRAND ASSET VALUATOR
The Brand Asset Valuator, developed by Young and Rubicam (Y&R) covers the lifespan of the
brand. The model provides insights on how to build strong brands and facilitate the tracking of
the brand strength over time. It is constructed around four pillars: Energized Differentiation,
Relevance, Esteem and Knowledge. The pillars are in two categories:

14

Brand Strength a leading indicator predicts future growth. Energized differentiation

reflects the brands direction and pricing power. Relevance indicates its appropriateness and
meaning to consumers.
Brand Stature a lagging indicator shows the current value. Esteem shows how consumers
regard the brand now. Knowledge indicates consumers degree of awareness.

15

The power grid is a stature-by-strength diagnostic framework that combines all of the factors
above. It is a fluid model that allows us to identify clear patterns of growth and recovery over
time. Based on the power grid, Lacoste is currently in its unfocused quadrant. These have little
brand strength, with low scores in either relevance and/or energized differentiation. The first step
to re-build the brand is to establish differentiation through the brands uniqueness, meaning and
personality.
At first, we thought that Lacoste would be in the eroding / declined quadrant. However, the
brands in the erosion quadrant are likely companies that do not rely on their brands as a driver of
their growth. Lacoste, in the other hand, relies mainly on its heritage as well as its brand value to
create sales velocity. With this in mind, we strongly believe that Lacoste should come up with
brand strategy that will again re-establish its meaning and personality through differentiation.
INTERBRAND BRAND VALUATION
Interbrand valuation has a more business-oriented approach as compared to Y&R Brand Asset
Valuator. We feel that this framework is crucial in determining Lacostes problems as it measures
the financial value of a brand through its brand strength. Furthermore, Interbrand uses its brand
ratings to determine a multiplier to apply to [Link] reported net revenue of S$2.8
million in Singapore, which constitutes approximately 0.1% of the total sales of clothing in the
country. We estimated that the net operating profit accounts for approximately 10% based on
industry benchmark, which amounted to S$286,000.
16

After assessing the brand through several measures, we reached a conclusion that Lacostes
brand strength value amounted to 66% with 8.14% discount rate. One of the reasons of the
relatively unsatisfactory score is that the low score for the differentiation segment. Through our
survey result, we found out that Lacoste lacks a strong identity that differentiates itself from its
competitors again confirming our first hypotheses from the Brand Asset Valuator analysis
which stated that the brand lacks of differentiation and relevance.
Again, through the Interbrand framework, we noticed that Lacoste scored rather low in clarity.
We feel that the brand is unfocused on its positioning and target market. Our survey result
confirmed this factor again through our perception tests; respondents were unsure of their own
perceptions towards the Lacoste. This finding goes hand in hand with our result from the Brand
Asset Valuator analysis which positions Lacoste on its unfocused quadrant.
As said above, through these findings, we believe that Lacoste should focus its brand strategy on
re-establishing its meaning and personality through differentiation so as to make itself relevant
in the market.
Brand Strategies
LEVERAGE ON LACOSTE BRAND STRENGTH
We feel that Lacostes strong reputation eroded over time because of their expansion of retail
distribution channel through presence in department store this ended in disaster as Lacoste
could not control their image. Lacoste then gained the risk of overexposure which harmed the
exclusivity image it wanted through premium apparels. In addition, interest declined and there
were not enough sales generated which further deepened their crisis.
With this in mind, Lacoste should leverage Lacostes rich heritage, but rebuild the brand to make
it resonate to the new market. They also need to reinforce its core value, which is vital for a
successful comeback. The quality is the most significant point of differentiation for Lacoste it
is the reason why the brand is still relevant to their customers even until today.

17

To rejuvenate Lacostes brand image, we would like to implement the high positioning approach.
This means that we would reduce our presence in department store and focus more on boutiques
as the main distribution channel. Through boutiques, Lacoste will have more control over the
environment it is also the best way to display the brands collection, which has much more
breadth and depth than ever. The boutique will also present Lacostes best image and this
favorable image will hopefully drive sales in the shop. Through the use of modern furniture with
interesting design, we hope to steer the Lacoste image around to being young, fresh, modern and
aspirational.
Another key strategy is to avoid overexposure. Lacoste should try to broaden the product range
they offered in Singapore as well as become more selective in deciding its distribution channels.
By not supplying the entire demand from the market on certain products, Lacoste should be able
to keep the interest from the market intact and keep the demand stable.
BROADEN TARGET MARKET
As indicated from our survey findings before, we produced six main target segments that
currently are in the market. From the six, through our analysis, we found out that Quality
Conscious to be the main customer segment of Lacoste. Individuals from this segment focus on
good quality when purchasing clothing apparels and tend to constantly repurchase from the same
brand which indicates high brand loyalty.
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With extensive efforts in rebuilding Lacoste as a luxury casual clothing brand and its new
campaign revolving around the word unconventional, we believe that Lacoste could broaden
their target market into those who are Fashion Forward and Individualistic. Fashion forward
people likes to keep up with trends and being complemented about what they wear; Lacoste
current design is now more fashionable and may appeal to this target segment. Individualistic
people like to wear clothing apparels that reflect them best something that is unconventionally
you.
These two customer segments fit the brand identity Lacoste is aiming to portray. This, however,
may bring a question as to whether this may affect the quality conscious people who are already
customers to the brand. We believe that with high quality control, the customers will stay loyal to
the brand.
So as to the strategies that need to be implemented to attract these target markets, please keep
reading below to find out more on the initiatives.
INCREASE VISIBILITY IN SINGAPORE
The Unconventional Campaign
Lacoste currently has the unconventional global campaign which comprises of three main
campaigns: unconventional chic, unconventional talent and unconventional kids. This campaign
has entered Singapore although there is almost no publicity associated with the aforementioned
campaign which resulted in low awareness and low recall in the market. We first noticed this
awareness in our survey regarding the awareness of Lacostes advertisement in Singapore. In
total, we found that only 20% of our respondents mentioned that they have seen Lacoste
advertisement. This belief is later reinforced during our brand frenzy activity, in which almost no
participant suggested that they have seen the current Lacoste advertisement.
Given the above condition, we decided that Lacoste is in important need to increase its visibility
in Singapore. We believe that increasing visibility would not only help in customer recall, it will
also help to make the brand more relevant in the local context. We also found that the current
Lacostes focus on online marketing to be insufficient to engage the local target customer.
In order to increase the brands visibility, we believe we need to tackle on 2 main issues: the
brand engagement with the local community and to communicate the new image of Lacoste
inside its current Unconventional campaign.
Increasing the brands engagement with the customer can be done in two ways, using both online
and physical media. For instance company can create an engagement plan with its fans in social
media by regularly updating its social media channels and motivating fans to discuss about
19

Lacoste style and what they like about the brand. In physical environment, Lacoste might also
use its physical retail stores to come up with seasonal contest which requires active participation
from its customers.
Communicating the new image of Lacoste as unconventional while maintaining the luxury and
exclusivity of the brand requires a lot of effort. To make a dramatic entry and to gain the
attention of both media and customer, Lacoste need to launch the Unconventional campaign in
Singapore in a big way. This can be done, for example, through the celebration party where
Lacoste will invite numerous important figures in Singapore to talk and see about the new
Lacostes products.
Globalization
We feel that Lacoste lack of touch points with customers the brand needs to involve its
customer more in their campaign. With this being said, we would like to be involved in the local
events that would improve our profile or even organize events that feature our identity.
To re-introduce the L.12.12 polo shirt into the market, we would like to emphasize the level of
innovation involved in producing the shirts it is somewhat a form of art that has to be
appreciated. To reiterate the point that Lacoste was founded because of these specific polo shirts,
we would like to have the crocodile exhibition. This crocodile exhibition will feature a huge
crocodile from the Lacoste logo that is constructed from multiple polo shirts shaped in the
form of crocodile (see youtube video for reference). Through this, we hope to increase positive
publicity and reach our potential target market by showing that Lacoste is still a relevant brand in
the market.

Sports marketing has always been an important strategy for Lacoste as the brand was established
through sports. Lacostes main choices of sports sponsorship include sailing, tennis and golf.
These three sports are relatively popular in Singapore and we would like to leverage our position
through this.
If possible, we would like to co-sponsor the two main golf events in Singapore namely the
Barclays Singapore Open (for men) and HSBC Womens Championship. In turn of cosponsoring the tournament, we hope that we could sponsor the caddy with our polo shirts or have
our banners displayed. These tournaments are broadcasted in both local channels and the golf
channel (through cable) which means that we would get a sense of free publicity through the
events to reinforce our brand image and association with sports.

20

We also intend to bring our brand endorsers from both tennis and golf, e.g. Andy Roddick and
Christie Kerr to Singapore and conduct either tennis or golf clinics for lucky customers. In order
to be able to enter the contest, customers have to spend a minimum of $100 to be eligible in the
lucky draw. We see this as an opportunity to increase our brand awareness as well as an
opportunity to reach to both our existing and potential customers.
Risk Management
Competition with Fast Fashion Firms
Being a traditional clothing company, Lacoste faces intense competition from new companies
who focus on fast fashion such as Zara and H&M. Based on the success of his company,
Armancio Ortega, the founder of Zara, compared fresh fish with jackets in latest colours. He
claimed that yesterdays catch must be discounted and may not sell at all.
With this in mind, many claimed that Zara benefited from this business model as the company
does not have any specific association to its products. Additionally, it gives the company a
freedom of choice in picking up the latest trends in clothing.
However, it must be noted that not all companies can adapt itself to this business model. Several
executives in other firms have expressed difficulty in adapting this fast fashion business process.
As for Lacoste, the company should not embrace this model as it needs to maintain its brand
equity and its perceived style as chic clothing.
The intense rivalry with fast fashion firms exposed several problems. Changes are especially
needed in the process of following the latest fashion style. Although customers can enjoy the
latest style in Zara and H&M, Lacoste tend to be more laggard in bringing its new products into
Singapore market.
However, we believe that Lacoste has a unique identity and are immediately recognizable. Our
clothing apparels symbolize the spirit and esthetics of a certain type of people, who look for style
and quality of product. What we do is interpret our values and history in a modern way, but we
do not change with every season. With this in mind, it can be said that our style tend to be
timeless which means that our signature styles remain relevant throughout different fashion
cycles.
Possibility of low pick-up rates
The second risk we have identified is the possibility of low pick up rates despite of our extensive
efforts in engaging customers. Some customers might feel that our new strategy for Lacoste
irrelevant to the brand. Should this happen, it will result in the failure of marketing effort which
will reflect negatively on our financial performance. With this being said, we feel that Lacoste
21

should be more interactive and adaptable to its market condition so as to avoid unfavourable
market conditions.
We are also concerned with low pick up rates as if the products do not sell, we might need to
hold a discount throughout our boutiques to attract customers. This however, will backfire
against our strategy of positioning the brand as a premium brand that exudes exclusivity.
Discounts will, again, make the brand appear to be cheap or undervalued.
In order to ensure this does not happen, we would introduce a few key performance indexes that
will measure the successfulness of our campaign. These include click through /engagement rate,
average site time, marketing contribution to revenue, product usage, offline campaign responses
and press coverage. We hope that through this, we could immediately response to the campaign
once the projected KPI goals are not met.
Problems of overexposure
The last problem that might happen is the possibility that Lacostes exclusivity status can be
compromised by all the marketing efforts done to increase the brands visibility in Singapore. We
foresee this problem as we do not want to repeat the history. Lacoste had an overexposure
problem before in the 1980s through selling its product in department store. Learning from this
expensive lesson, the company has since tried to decrease the possibility of the brand being too
mainstream as it wants to maintain the exclusivity it used to enjoy. As quoted from the article
that covered Lacoste, scarcity adds value.
It is important for Lacoste not to over-reach its customers in too many touch points. Although our
group believes that it is crucial for the company to tackle the current problem of the lack of
customers touch points with the brand, we feel strongly that through our campaign this problem
will be tackled. The key question however, is the amount of touch points to be utilized.
We believe that the proposed strategy would not be overexposing Lacoste to the market given
there is a strategic timeline associated with it. Instead of doing everything in one round, we
would carefully schedule the campaigns to start one after another, to maintain the level of interest
as well as engagement from the customers. Preferably, the length of campaign should not be too
long as not to bore out the customers as well.
Brand Challenges
During the Brand Frenzy exercise, we asked participants to identify the potential challenges
Lacoste is currently struggling with. In the following, we will emphasize on the main five brand
challenges and the driving factors behind it.
Ambiguous brand identity
22

We feel that Lacoste still lacks of direction of how they want the consumers to perceive its brand
and products. The feedback from the participants confirmed this they feel that Lacoste,
especially in Singapore, lacks purpose and has no clear attributes that they can identify
themselves with. Although most people are aware of Lacostes existence, only a handful of
individuals are aware of what Lacoste is all about. The following anecdote serves as an example:
most people thought that Lacoste is closely related to Crocodile (an Asian brand); when we told
them that Lacoste was originated in France, they were genuinely surprised.
Unfocused product portfolio
Lacoste has numerous product offerings: clothing apparels, accessories, perfume, jewelry,
bedding collections and many more. However, from this long line of products, most participants
are only aware of two items: polo shirts and shoes. Some participants recounted their previous
experience with other products from Lacoste such as bags; it was not on a positive note. They
feel that the quality of these products is not up to par with Lacostes signature products. With this
in mind, we strongly feel that Lacoste should reduce its product offerings and focus on its
signature products which are the main income drivers for the brand.
Imbalanced marketing portfolio
To follow the current market trend of online campaigns, Lacoste has decided to dedicate its
marketing campaign solely through online medium. This proves to be a double edged sword for
the brand. On one side, the brand gains very favourable existence online with more 9 million
followers on Facebook. To add on to that, Lacoste has a very active youtube channel and an
interactive website under their belt. However, due to their emphasis on online campaigns, it is
uncommon to spot any Lacoste promotional campaign in other form of mediums such as printed
or television spots. Our participants supported this by confirming that they are unaware of any
Lacostes marketing campaign. We believe that Lacostes rather low visibility within the media
contributes to its poor identity and sales figures over the past few years.
Disorganized distribution and operation strategy
Lacoste once sold its ownership to a Swiss-based family who specialized in retail distribution
through department store; the family thought that it was a strategic move to introduce the brand
into department stores. Our participants felt that this dilutes Lacostes brand value this move
made the brand looks cheap, far from its original positioning of luxury casual clothing. In
Singapore, a relevant example would be the following. Although Lacoste has its own boutiques,
its products can also be purchased from department stores such as Takashimaya, I Setan, etc.
Participants also noticed that the Lacoste collection in Singapore is somewhat not up to date with
the brands latest global offering.
23

BRAND PURPOSES
We believe that Lacoste should relate more to its consumers. However, with its lack of identity
and effort to reach out to its different customer groups, Lacoste identity becomes diluted and thus
not relating well to its customers. With this in mind, we feel a need to redefine Lacoste identity
to differentiate from its competitors and relate more to the targeted consumers. One
consideration is to build the brand on its French Heritage.
We think that Lacoste should aim to become the first choice of polo shirts. It would be good if
Lacoste could be included in the decision making processes of customers when they are
considering buying a polo shirt. Being the brand that first innovate the original short-sleeved
polo shirts, Lacoste is well known for its high quality polo with great selection of colors.
To add on, Lacoste as a brand should evoke the feeling of pride. Lacoste needs to create an
exclusive image, making its customers feel proud whenever they put on one of its products.
Together with Lacostes French heritage, this is expected to help Lacoste creates a stronger and
more solid brand identity. From this point on then we can build up the loyal customer base for
the brand.
BRAND SOLUTION
The first thing to do is to find Lacostes identity that can differentiate the brand from its
competitors as well as to appeal to its target market. After looking through the five human traits
mentioned in class, we believe that Lacoste can tap into the pride category to strengthen its
position as luxury casual clothing. We also look into the possibility of emphasizing its French
heritage. After finding the identity that fit the brand, Lacoste should evaluate its product
offerings and identify its cash cows/star products.
Lacoste should also start a service offering that can give them an edge from its competitors. The
service hopefully can also become a trendsetter among the industry, further emphasizing its
strength as one of the pioneer clothing brands. One way to do this is to put more emphasize to
Lacoste My Croc campaign where customers can freely choose how they would like their polo
shirts to be customized.
Another solution is to separate its product offering to different sub-brands that cater to different
target markets. This strategy will help Lacoste focus on its different target market instead of
combining them together. Some product lines we thought of are Lacoste Live for hip and young
fashionistas and Lacoste dedicated to only high-quality, classic polo shirts, for more
sophisticated and grown-up customers.

24

Lacoste should also expand its strategic promotional campaigns to other channels, like in-store
advertisements and banners and not only limits itself to online platform. This overall, more
balanced approach hopefully will better reach out to its customers.
Last but not least, Lacoste should consider streamlining its distribution channel to make it more
exclusive. By closing some of its distribution channel that does not match its wanted identity,
Lacoste will be able to better position itself. Additionally Lacoste may be able to improve its
inventory management system by stocking the latest in-season products
All together, these approaches are believed to give Lacoste a boost in enhancing the customer
perception of the brand, and in the end, their purchasing behavior and loyalty level.
Brand Valuation
Stage 1: Segmentation
Lacostes Net Profit
Last year, Lacoste reported a net revenue of S$2.8 million in Singapore, which constitutes
around 0.1% of the total sales of clothing in the country which stands at S$2.8 billion.
Although the information regarding the net income of the company is not available, our group
estimates that it accounts for around 10% of the total revenue, similar to those of other clothing
companies like Tommy Hilfiger and Fred Perry.

Segmentation Process
Our group decided to segment the revenue based on Lacostes customer segment which we
determined through factor analysis. From the results, we segmented the customers into six main
groups: fashion forward, brand conscious, quality conscious, attribute conscious, individualistic
and price conscious. The following table illustrates their contribution in the revenue stream for
the company.

25

Stage 2: Financial Analysis

Later we calculated the expected annual growth forecast of the two segments. To do this, we use
data from both the industry forecast to the companys historical sales figures.

We estimated the price conscious segment to grow by 4%, similar to the earnings growth rate of
apparel industry in Singapore market (Euromonitor). We expected the quality and attribute
26

conscious to grow by 7% and 5% respectively the projected growths are higher than the other
segments as we found through our factor analysis that these two segments are more likely to
purchase Lacoste products. From the same analysis, we concluded that fashion forward, brand
conscious and individualistic segments are more likely to have lesser growth.
Stage 3: Role of the Brand
Role of the brand index measures how much of the revenue of each segment is gained due of the
brand. This means that if the RBI for apparel segment shows 50, 50% of apparel sales can be
attributed to Lacoste Brand.
To estimate this number, we did a qualitative analysis based on the product that Lacoste sold.
Using assumption based on those data, we came up with this Role of Brand Index number.

Further explanation of each segment and reason for choosing each segment:
Fashion forward
With the current revolution in Lacoste to introduce a more fashionable collection that
corresponds with the latest fashion trends, we foresee that the fashion forward segment will be
more interested in our collection and hence, the increase in the role of brand.
Brand conscious

27

For its good reputation as a brand, we believe that Lacoste can expect a relatively strong drive
from the segment for our apparel products. With that in mind, we allocate the highest RBI for
this consumer segment.
Attribute conscious
We found out that the attribute conscious customer segments tend not to be brand loyal this
segment will choose a brand with the most favourable attributes despite of the brands.
Quality conscious
Based on our factor analysis, customers who are in this segment will tend to choose a brand with
the best quality, despite of the fact that the brand is famous or not. However, they are more loyal
towards brands that meet their expectation of quality. This target segment is more likely to
purchase Lacoste, based from our factor analysis.
Individualistic
We foresee that Lacoste will bring in the Lacoste Live! collection which emphasizes
on individualistic style and being able to express yourself through different apparels. With this in
mind, we expect that the role of Lacoste in this individualistic segment will increase the reason
why we rated this segment as the third highest in our RBI.
Price conscious
From our survey we found out that among all the luxury casual clothing, Lacoste is perceived to
be the one with the lowest price. We expect that the price conscious customers will eventually
choose Lacoste as their brand of choice when it comes to luxury casual clothing apparels.
However, we are not enthusiastic of this market as they tend to opt for cheaper goods therefore
we assigned a relatively low RBI for this segment.
Stage 4: Brand Strength
Below is our calculation of the strength of Lacostes brand.

Internal factors

(0-10)

weight

Lacoste
Score

Clarity

10

28

Commitment

10

Responsiveness

10

Protection

10

10

10

External
Factor

(0-10)

weight

Lacoste
Score

Relevance

10

Authenticity

10

Differentiation

10

Consistency

10

Presence

10

Understanding

10

Total

66

Figure 5: Lacostes Brand Strength Value

29

Clarity
Lacostes positioning as a lifestyle brand associated with a wide range of sportswear is too
broad and thus lacking focus. This also makes it difficult to specify Lacostes target audience.
Though we know Lacoste is targeting middle to high-income consumer, its psychographic
segmentation remains unclear: is Lacoste aiming to reach consumers that are sporty, young and
hip, or mature and established? For this reason, the brand is seen as trying to reach too many
customers and offer as much products as possible without having a focused goal. This trend is
also shown in the brand perception among our respondents as shown in the chart below. As such,
we give it a score of 4.

Figure 7: Lacostes Brand Perception

Commitment
Lacoste pays great attention to its brand. The brand ensures its history as an authentic brand is
preserved and accurately documented. They also spend a great deal of resources on investment
and innovation, as seen from the sophisticated campaign and other efforts they have showed to
30

increase the brand awareness. However, it still lacks a certain influence and image as a brand.
For that, we give a score of 7.
Responsiveness
Although the brand is trying its best in renewing itself with a new boutique concept and new
campaigns, Lacoste still lags behind in catching up with the trend. Lacoste is still consider as a
laggard brand compare to its competitors. Judging from its effort and end result, we give a score
of 5.
Protection
Lacoste puts a huge commitment in fighting against counterfeit and puts in place a selective
distribution network in order to guarantee authenticity. They continually invest in the fight
against counterfeiting a team that is dedicated to global protection and defense of intellectual
property rights works. Lacoste also works together with public authorities to stop counterfeit of
its products. For the tremendous effort and CSR it gives to protect its brand, we give a score of
10.
Relevance
Lacoste products qualities never fail to meet its customers standards. However, the lack of brand
identity, which is probably a reason some of its target market prefer other brands, reduces its
score to 7.
Authenticity
The brand is rich in its heritage and continues to prove that they are the best when it comes to
quality. However, Lacostes decision to branch out to so many product offerings may divert itself
from its value set. Furthermore, it may not be able to sustain the quality for all its product
offerings. As such, we give a score of 8.
Differentiation
Based from our groups survey result, we found that our participants do not consider purchasing
Lacoste for its brand, but merely for its product attributes. Some of our survey participants also
would prefer to buy products from Lacostes competitors should their priority is brand name.
Lacoste lacks a strong identity that differentiates itself from its competitor and thus we give a
score of 3.

31

Consistency
Lacoste puts a huge effort in ensuring that its famous crocodile logo is placed in any products
that it launches. However, we believe that there is room for improvement such as adding a
unique brand experience for all its products. For that, we give a score of 8.
Presence
Its recent activity in sponsoring sports and fashion events has definitely caused some buzz about
the brand. Furthermore, it also launched a twitter and Facebook page, with the latter gaining
more than 9 million likes with 400 thousands talking about it. However, most of these buzz is
only among the sports community and sports enthusiast of that particular sports. For that, we
give a score of 7.

Figure 8: Lacostes Facebook and Twitter Page

Understanding
Our qualitative and quantitative results have shown our participants have high brand recognition
of Lacoste. The brand also has a positive image and our participants are very aware of its good
32

quality polo. However, there was mixed understanding of the brand image and positioning.
Furthermore, our participants were not aware of some of its products offerings. There is
definitely a lack of in-depth knowledge from its consumers. As such, we give a score of 7.
STAGE 5: Calculation of the brand value
Based on all the data that we have gathered, we calculated Lacostes brand valuation to be
around S$218,971.15 In the upcoming years, our team believes that the value of Lacoste will
grow as the company strengthen its footing in Singapore.
Figure 9: Lacostes Brand Valuatio

33

Segm
ent

Descript
ion

Est.20
11

Est.20
12

Est.
2013

Est.
2014

Est.
2015

Fashion
Forward

11,488
.62

11,833
.28

12,188
.28

12,553
.93

12,930
.54

BrandConscious

5,834.
40

5,951.
09

6,070.
11

6,191.
51

6,315.
34

Quality
Conscious

52023.
4

8,349.
76

8,934.
24

9,559.
64

10,228
.81

Attribute
Conscious

9009.0

9,459.
45

9,932.
42

10,429
.04

10,950
.50

Individual
istic

26512.
2

5,461.
51

5,625.
36

5,794.
12

5,967.
94

PriceConscious

77334.
4

12,064
.17

12,546
.73

13,048
.60

13,570
.55

Total

51,038
.13

53,119
.25

55,297
.14

57,576
.84

59,963
.68

47,194.
60

45,420.
00

43,721.
53

42,095.
73

40,539.
29

Discou
nt Rate
Net
Present
Value

8.14%

34

Brand
Valuati
on

218,971.15

Quantitative Research
Hypotheses
Our first hypothesis (H1) is that customers do not really understand the concept behind luxury
casual clothing as the participants gave mixed responses when being asked for their opinion of
luxury casual clothing. During the interview, none of the participants of our in-depth interviews
could recall Lacoste at the top of their mind and only 3 were able to recall the brand without
being cued. This led to our second hypothesis (H2), customers have low brand recall of Lacoste.
Our third hypothesis(H3) is that Lacoste is perceived as an old brand as most of the participants
repeatedly mentioned words like old, professionals, golf and parents when describing
the Lacoste brand. In addition, participants could not recall other products from Lacoste other
than its polo shirts and shoes. This shows that consumers are not fully aware of Lacostes product
offerings and hence, our fourth hypothesis (H4) is that costumers have low awareness of
Lacostes products.
During the interview, we also found out that the customers are not aware of Lacostes latest
advertising campaign, the unconventional chic. Thus, our fifth hypothesis (H5) is that there is
low exposure of Lacostes advertising efforts to customers.
Survey Methods
The objectives were to understand more on customers view of luxury casual clothing,
particularly perceived positioning of different brands, as well as to explore the potential for a
new product concept.
Considering how technology-savvy the targeted participants are, we decided that the survey
needs to be distributed through an online medium. The choice eventually went to Qualtrics, a
SMU-approved online survey manager. Other than that, due to the intense time constraint, the
group used cross-sectional surveying method; the process of gathering information only at a
single point of time, instead of over a period of time.
The survey mainly contains of the following categories of questions:awareness uncued and
cued, beliefs / knowledge, preference / attitudesand demographic. The participants were required
to answer every question to avoid results from being partial or skewed. To ensure this, the survey

35

used the forced answer function. The survey was designed so that the participants would only be
able to view one question at a time, to avoid preconception on several particular questions.
Since the variance of the estimates is lower in stratified sample as compared to a simple random
sample, the group decided to incorporate the stratified random sampling. The survey was
distributed among 50 participants, from the age 17 to 40. To increase the validity of the survey as
well as to gather favorable evidences for the hypotheses presented earlier, the group ensures that
the survey was distributed to an equal number of females and males.
Findings
MEMORY AND RECALL
Memory Analysis Table
Brand

Top
Mind

Ralph
Lauren

of

Un-cued
Recall

Cued
Recall

13 / 50

22 / 50

40 / 50

Fred Perry

12 / 50

17 / 50

39 / 50

Burberry

10 / 50

13 / 50

45 / 50

Lacoste

10 / 50

13 / 50

47 / 50

Tommy
Hilfiger

10 / 50

12 / 50

48 / 50

The first few questions of our survey were to find out the brands that customers could recall
when cued and un-cued. The data gathered was then entered into a memory analysis table (see
above). We believe that our respondents have a very diverse view on the term luxury casual
clothingas they mentioned more than 47 brands that they associated with the term. This goes
hand in hand with our first hypothesis: customers do not really understand the concept behind
luxury casual clothing.
The brands we defined as luxury casual clothing, e.g. Ralph Lauren, Fred Perry, Burberry,
Lacoste and Tommy Hilfiger have pretty similar top of mind recall rate. However, when un-cued,
36

almost two times as many participants were able to recall Ralph Lauren (22 / 50) as compared
toLacoste (13 / 50).
When cued, respondents were able to recognize most of the brands on the list, especially the
leading brands. Lacoste is ranked second with 47 out of 50 participants being able to recognize
the brand, showing that the trace strength is relatively strong between Lacoste and the luxury
casual clothing category.
Thus, there is a need for Lacostes campaign to strengthen the associative link in consumers
memory as the consumers ability to retrieve their association with Lacoste affects their choice
amongst brands. This proves our second hypothesis that customers have low brand recall of
Lacoste.
Contrary to the brand recall, we found that most of the respondents have been exposed to
advertisements of Lacoste, with 62% of the respondents stated that they have seen an
advertisement from Lacoste. However, participants had a rather vague memory of the
advertisements Lacostedid, especially for the latest unconventional chic campaign. This
somewhat confirms our fifth hypothesis: Lacoste has low exposure of advertising efforts to
customers.
PERCEPTION
In order to learn how consumers perceive Lacoste brand, we gathered responses from the
participants on the things they like and dislike aboutLacoste, if any. The common responses to
what they like were quality, simplicity and colours. 32% of the respondents stated that they do
not like anything from Lacoste. As for the attributes respondents dislike aboutLacoste, the
common responses were poor variety, old, not stylish, expensive and masculine. In fact, 36% of
the respondents actually think that Lacostes product lines have poor variety. However, with
reference to our other question on the attributes they find important in choosing clothing
apparels, in average, respondents gave a 10.6 / 100 on the importance of variety.
To investigate more on this, we asked the respondents another question, what are the first few
things that came to your mind when you see aLacoste logo. 40% of the respondents stated that
the polo shirts are on the top of their mind. Sporty, masculine, old, golf,
crocodile and classic were the other common responses to the question. It shows that the image
ofLacoste remains closely connected to its signature product, i.e. the polo shirts respondents
are unaware of other clothing apparel Lacoste has to offer. This might be the reason why they
stated that Lacostes product lines have poor variety which confirms our third
hypothesis: customers have low awareness of Lacostes products.

37

Important Attributes on Choosing Clothing Apparels

Price

Qualit
y

Stylishnes
s

Variet
y

Well
-tailore
d

28.45
/ 100

25.86 /
100

25.26
100

10.6 /
100

9.83
100

In order to further understand about important attributes customers consider when choosing
clothing apparels, we asked our respondents to allocate 100 points across five main important
attributes as gathered from the in-depth interviews results. Contrary to our popular belief that the
luxury casual clothing segment is relatively not price sensitive, respondents rated price (28.45 /
100) as the most important attributes in their decision making process. Quality and the
stylishness of the apparels come hand in hand as respondents rate them almost equally important
for their buying decision.
The group produced a Fishbein attitude model to understand customers perception of Lacoste
and other leading brands. We asked the respondents to rate the brands based on the importance of
the attributes.
How the brand scores (1 = the worst, 7 = the best)
Brand

Pric
e

Qualit
y

Stylishnes
s

Variety

Welltailored

Fred
Perry

2.76

4.07

3.88

4.4

3.2

Burberr
y

2.17

3.17

3.38

3.71

2.93

Ralph
Lauren

2.79

3.05

3.29

3.33

2.88

Lacoste

3.31

3.2

3.86

4.14

3.31

38

Tommy
Hilfiger

3.05

3.29

3.74

3.57

3.31

As we can see from the table above, we define how Lacoste is being perceived as a brand:

Price: Lacoste is perceived to have the lowest price as compared to the other
brand. Burberry and Fred Perry are regarded to be the most two expensive brands to
purchase.

Quality: the quality of Lacostes product is deemed to be [Link] Perry on the

other hand is deemed as having the best quality.

Stylishness: Lacoste is considered as the most stylish brand along with Fred
Perry. Ralph Lauren, on the other hand, with its wide offering of apparels did not manage
to impress the respondents on its stylishness.

Variety: contrary to our initial finding, respondents seem to think that Lacoste has pretty
wide variety as the brand scored second highest.

Well-tailored: Lacoste tops the rank in the same place withTommy Hilfiger, this means
that the brand is relatively well-tailored as compared to other brands.

Based on the table above, we did a Fishbein analysis for the five brands and here is the result:
Brand

Pric
e

Qualit
y

Stylishnes
s

Variety

WellTailored

Total
Score

Fred
Perry

78.5
2

105.25

98.01

46.64

31.46

359.8
8

Lacoste

94.1
7

82.75

97.50

43.88

32.54

350.8
4

Tommy
Hilfiger

79.3
8

85.08

94.47

37.84

32.54

329.3
1

Ralph

86.7

78.87

83.11

35.30

28.31

312.3

39

Lauren

Burberr
y

61.7
4

6
81.98

85.38

39.33

28.80

297.2
3

RED = BEST PERFORMER, BLUE = WORST PERFORMER

By comparing the computed scores of all the brands, Fred Perry is undoubtedly ranked the
highest, followed by Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren and Burberry. Something to note
here would be that the top three brand were ranked highest on at least one attribute and not
ranked lowest on any attribute.
Lacoste is perceived to be the least expensive and well-tailored. It is a good attribute for Lacoste
because price is listed as the most important attribute in clothes purchase. Additionally, Lacoste
also got the best score well tailored, which will give the brand additional advantage in the
customers perception.
BEHAVIOUR
To understand more on customers behavior and to specify which oneLacoste should focus on,
we did a clustering analysis. First, we began by performing principal component analysis to
determine the main target customers for the brand.
Based on the answer we recorded and through the T-test performed, we came up with six main
segments of customers and its classifications:
1. Price conscious: They tend to be very price-sensitive about the clothing apparels they
purchase.
2. Individualistic: They like to wear clothing apparels that reflect them best. Their style
exudes their personality.
3. Attribute conscious: They buy clothes that are comfortable regardless of the brands, but
they feel more secured when they purchase well-known brands. They tend to opt for
classic pieces all the time.
4. Quality conscious: Good quality is what theyre looking for when purchasing clothing
apparels. They tend to find themselves shopping for the same brand over and over again
(high brand loyalty).

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5. Brand conscious: They tend to splurge on clothing apparels for its brands, as they feel
more secured when they purchase well-known brands. As they care about what brands
they wear, they own numerous well-known brands. They prefer brands that make them
feel luxurious.
6. Fashion forward: As they like it when people complement about the way they dress,
they tend to put a lot of emphasis on peoples perception of their style. It is important for
them to have a style that stands out from the crowd and they like to keep up-to-date with
the latest style.
To measure the level of interest these six main customer segments have in purchasing
a Lacoste product, we also run a regression analysis. The following is our finding:
Coefficients(a)
Unstandardized Coefficients
Mo
del

(Constant)

3.0
75

Price conscious

0.1
84

Individualistic

0.0
28

Attribute conscious

0.2
22

Std.
Error

Bet
a

Sig.

17.
77

0.175

0.1
58

1.0
51

0.30
1

0.175

0.0
24

0.1
62

0.87
3

0.175

0.1
91

1.2
67

0.21
4

Quality conscious

0.3
59

0.175

0.3
08

2.0
47

0.04
9

Brand conscious

0.1

0.175

0.1

0.9

0.35

41

0.173

Fashion forward

64

41

38

0.3
16

0.2
72

1.8
04

0.08

0.175

a. Dependent Variable: Kindly answer the questions below as truthfully as possible.-I will
consider buying Lacoste
Through this test, we understand that Lacoste product is considered to be the most attractive by
the quality conscious segment.
Our In-Depth Interview Experience
INTERVIEWS
To enhance our findings, we also did in-depth interviews with both male and female respondents
to know their views about Lacoste.
Free Association
This technique is used to find some words or attributes that are related to our brand. Below are
some words associations for Lacoste:

Out of all of the entries, the most frequent words associated with Lacoste are Polo shirts.
Although Lacoste has many products offering, the brand is highly associated with its polo. This
shows a very strong association from Lacoste. However, the association is also something that
Lacoste wish to avoid as it continues to expand its product and would like those to be known too.
As mention by its US CEO: Lacoste is a brand that is overwhelmingly associated with one
42

iconic product, the polo shirt. Thats not necessarily a negative, but we want to position
ourselves as an authentic lifestyle brand associated with a wide range of sportswear.
Other associations towards Lacoste are mostly positive, such as good quality and comfortable,
but 2 words that draw quite an interest from us are: young and old. After asking more questions
towards our interviewee, we found that some students find the brand too old whereas some
working people find the brand too young for them. We will further look upon this issue through
our survey.
Brand Personality
This technique encourages our interview participants to construct a character based on how they
perceive Lacoste. From the compiled result, we manage to construct a profile for Lacoste:
Lacoste is a male from the middle-upper class between the ages of 20-30 years old. He has great
facial feature and is physically fit. He lives in a simple yet modern condo around Somerset, River
Valley or East Coast. At a party, he will be talking to just about anyone in the room due to his
easygoing nature and great sense of humor.
Laddering
This technique aims in finding the underlying motives of our participants action or behavior
towards the brand. We found a few interesting facts.
People buy luxury casual clothing such as Lacoste for social acceptance.
Our participants found that luxury casual clothing brands such as Lacoste already has an image
of itself and these image will translate to the people wearing them. They mainly portray Lacoste
as a brand used by people from the upper class something that our brand users would like to be
perceived as. One of our interviewee who had never purchase luxury casual clothing told us that
he would consider buying one or two piece before starting work and would wear it during casual
outings that require him to meet up with important people.
Likes to lower their perceived risk
Some of our interviewee indicates that they would purchase or purchased Lacoste for its great
quality. This attribute is important for them since the item is considered as a splurge, something
that they do not do often. Our participants felt that when they need to take an action that has high
opportunity cost, they will, at their best, lower the risk they have to take. By choosing Lacoste as

43

a brand to splurge on, they are lowering the perceived risk since it is know for its good quality;
they are lowering the risk of faulty product or inadequate shirt material.

SWOT ANALYSIS

a.

STRENGHTH:
Worldwide strong network
Equity interest in lifetime entertainment services
Vast range of products and services
Offering value added services
Expansion
Brand image
Entertainment diversified
World largest amusement park
The brand is very famous for its plain polos in multiple colors

b.

WEAKNESS:
Not have a vision statement
Huge advertising expenses
Fake imitations of the products
Environmental issues

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c. OPPORTUNITIES:
U.S market increases
Available new markets
High demand in Asia
Technology enhancement
Demand for sports-wear

d.

THREATS:
Currency exchange rate
Direct or indirect competitor
Increasing number of counterfeit products and market, Changes in technology
Lost market share

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Refernces:
Agins, T., 2006. Style & Substance: Fashion's New Model?; For Iconix, Licensing Deals Are the
Ticket Into Big Stores As Commodity Apparel Fades. Wall Street Journal.
Baldenweg, N., 2011. A NEW VISION FOR LACOSTE: FELIPE OLIVEIRA
BAPTISTA. [Online]
Available at: [Link]
%26+George+|+Trussardi+A%2FW11+|+Bo+Ningen&utm_campaign=Gilbert+%26+George+|
+Trussardi+A%2FW11+|+B
[Accessed 19 February 2013].
Balmer, J. M. & Greyser, S. A., 2002. Managing the Multiple Identities of a
Corporation. California Management Review, 44(3).
Borges, M., 2012. Marketing Analysis, s.l.: Prezi.
Burkitt, L., 2009. Lacoste Shoots its Wad Online. Forbes.
Chenut, C., 2012. CEO Talk [Interview] (17 July 2012).
[Link]

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