BOI Lingerie Marketing and Branding Plan

Marketing & Branding Plan

2020

BOI

Redefining Sexy

B

OI PLANS ON LAUNCHING IT'S E-COMMERCE STORE

AND FIRST COLLECTION IN 2020. THE FOLLOWING IS A STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN AND BRANDING PLAN IN PREPARATION FOR THE COMPANIES LAUNCH. OUTLINED IS OUR MARKETING STRATEGIES, TACTICS, ACTIVITIES, COSTS, AND THE PROJECTED RESULTS OF OUR EFFORTS.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Section

Title

Pg.

01

Executive Summary

01

02

Who We Are

05

03

Our Brand

15

04

Our Products

25 4

04

The BOI's

33

06

Market Analysis

39

07

Marketing Strategy

55

08

Financial Analysis

75

09

Summary

79

10

Bibliography

83

11

Appendix

87

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

BOI LINGERIE

2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING

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1

In today’s lingerie market, there is a large gap when it comes to queer representation. Based on a survey we conducted, 86% of the people surveyed felt that the lingerie industry does not or cater to the

LGBTQ+ community (see appendix 1.1). Due to this, the

brand BOI was created in order to f ill this gap. We are essentially creating a brand that does not see diversity as just a box to tick but as the bases of who we are. Combining this with a sustainable model of production. BOI will be a success in the market; setting standards high for already existing and future lingerie brands.

The following document is a strategic marketing and branding strategic plan for the launch of BOI.

WHO WE ARE BOI is essentially a lingerie brand for queer people by queer people.

The brand was started by Ivy Hope, a femme lesbian who saw the gap in the lingerie industry and decides to f ill it.

Mission: Our lingerie aims to aid our customers in their journey of self -love; empowering people who have been undervalued by the mainstream lingerie industry.

Values: Honesty, Accountability, Passion, Inclusion, Sustainability Vision: A world that values diversity and inclusivity, allowing every being to feel beautiful in their skin, no matter their identity.

OUR PRODUCTS BOI specializes in handmade sustainable lingerie. Our products are made f rom bamboo silk, jersey, and organic cotton; and hand dyed with plants such as turmeric, indigo, and madder root. In addition, we use deadstock lace, allowing us to have a minimal environmental impact

THE BOI CONSUMER As mentioned, BOI is a brand for queer femme-presenting people. Our target customer essentially lives in urban areas, is apart of generation z (16-25), a student or recent grad, and non-gender conforming.

MARKET ANALYSIS Over the past few years, the lingerie industry has been experiencing a large shift; moving towards diversity, inclusivity, and comfort. With this is also a rise in the industries market share.

There are not many lingerie brands that are operating the same as BOI. However, in our competitor analysis, we do outline three direct competitors; JBC Lingerie, Origami Customs, and Playful Promise.

MARKETING Our marketing plan is based on four methods: cause, relationship, digital, and word of mouth.

Our marketing team will use a mix of these efforts that co-function with each other and drive one another, a unique and effective combination.

Our success measurements are based on three key components: Sales Reach break even within the f irst 2 years of operations Generate 100 marketing qualif ied leads within the f irst year of operations Digital Reach a 10% monthly website traff ic growth rate by the 4th quarter.

Reach a social media engagement rate of 2% per post by the 4th quarter Community 3 influencer partnerships within the f irst 6 months of operations.

200 email list subscribers by the end of the f irst quarter

Marketing Efforts: Social Media Campaign Pop-up Shop The BOI’s Club Blog Email Marketing Campaign External Media Relations

BRANDING Outlined in our branding section are our packaging design, website layout, and our overall brand image.

FINANCIAL ANALYSIS Our f inancial analysis suggests that we need an average of £50,000 f rom investors to successfully launch our marketing campaign and an average monthly sales of £12,000 to sustain the campaign and business operations.

WHO WE ARE

5

BOI LINGERIE

2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING

2

6

BOI

HISTORY BOI was created by Ivy Hope, a queer femme woman. A few years ago, she realized how queer femme visibility in the lingerie industry is relatively non-existent. There were no brands that were marketed ‘for queer, by queer’,much like underwear for gay men and she wondered whether this was because lesbian designers were scared of alienating straight customers. With this in mind, she came up with a lingerie brand that would speak to straight women even though she was marketing to queer, femme presenting individuals.

However, she did not want to stop there, she also wanted to create an environmentally and socially conscious brand that not only produced pieces that her customers can treat a luxury but act as a safe space for the queer community. This is where BOI was born.

7

Executive Summary

MISSION Our lingerie aims to aid our customers in their journey of self -love; empowering people who have been undervalued by the mainstream lingerie industry.

We aim to to offer them an experience that reflects their identities, their bodies, and their values.

VALUES 1.

VISION

Honesty

Our vision is a world that values diversity and

2. Accountability

inclusivity, allowing every being to feel beautiful in

3. Passion

their skin, no matter their shape, size, age, gender,

4. Inclusion

sexuality, or color.

5. Sustainability

8

BOI

OUR VALUES Core values are what support the vision, shape the culture and reflect what the company values. T6hey are the essence of the company’s identity – the principles, beliefs or philosophy of values. Core values help companies in the decisionmaking processes. Core values educate clients and potential customers about what the company is about and clarify the identity of the company. Lastly, core values play a major role in recruiting and retaining good employees. Roy Disney once said “It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.”

Inclusion

Sustainability

Honesty

It is no longer a question of

At BOI, we believe that, to be truly

commitment to diversity with

whether

successful in business and in life,

the aim that every one of our

needs

employees and customers have

practice

a full sense of belonging within

a

of

distributors and our employees.

our company. We believe that

production and operation. For

Strong and positive relationships

everyone should be represented

BOI, this means being socially,

that are open and honest are a

and have a voice no matter

environmentally, and f inancially

big part of what differentiates

their age, gender identity, race,

responsible

day

BOI f rom most other companies

sexuality,

socio-economic

whether it has to do with the

in the Lingerie industry. Strong

status and we aim to radiate

way we produce our garments

relationships

that belief through the way we

or the way we interact with our

accomplish much more than we

interact with each other, our

customers.

would be able to otherwise.

We

have

customers,

an

or

and

unwavering

operate

the

fashion

more

industry

businesses

and

work

sustainable

every

out

business.

9

that

we must always be honest and

around

open with our customers, our

model

single

allow

us

to

Who We Are

Accountability

Passion

The BOI team holds ourselves

Boi was built based on a passion

to high standards and

for

each

inclusivity,

representation,

other responsible for our actions.

and creating a safe space for

We have an environment that

the

is

it is essential that out team

open

to

vulnerability

and

queer

exudes

embedding an internal sense of

and motivating us to excel and

accountability in our employees.

provide the best products and

We teach our employees that to

service to our customers.

they f irst need to be accountable to themselves.

10

passion,

So,

honesty which is essential in

be accountable to each other,

this

community.

driving

BOI

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) company policy refers to our responsibility toward our environment. Our company’s existence is not lonely. It’s part of a bigger system of people, values, other organizations and nature. The social responsibility of our business is to give back to the world just as it gives to us. Our policy is divided into the following four areas:

Philanthropy

Community

Environmental

11

Transparency

Who We Are

Philanthropy As a company dedicated to marginalized communities in society, we use a f raction of our prof it to donate to charities that we fundamentally believe in and are committed to helping these communities.

Mind Out Mind Out is a LGBTQ+ mental health service working to improve the mental health and wellbeing of LGBTQ communities and to make mental health a community concern. Last year they helped 1,342 people struggling with social isolation, suicidal distress, f inancial hardship, discrimination and prejudice, hate crime and exclusion (MindOut, 2019). BOI will donate 1% of our prof its to this organization starting September 1, 2020.

She The First She The First is a non-prof it organization that f ights gender inequality through education. They support girls who will be f irst in their families to graduate f rom high school & train students everywhere to be global leaders. BOI, will gove $50 USD per month to this charity, money that goes to providing after school support to girls in the program.

Community At BOI, supporting our community directly is a large part of our CSR. We will do this by hosting monthly events and workshops for the marginalized people in our community and volunteer with local charities.

Starting December 1st, we will be hosting monthly workshops in our studio targeted towards the queer community and marginalized women. These workshops will be centered around various topics such as but not limited to: self care, empowerment, and mental health. *More about these workshops will be outlined in the Marketing section of this document.

Every quarter, we will give our employees a full day to volunteer with a charity of their choice. By doing this, it allows us to recognize the diversity among our employees, allowing them to choose a cause that they are potentially passionate about. This in turn establishes a company culture of social good at BOI.

Enviromental Being that the fashion industry is one of the largest

Transparency

polluters in the world, producing 8% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions (Ghgprotocol.org, 2019), BOI

At BOI, we believe brand transparency is not an option, it is a

decided to use a slow fashion model to minimize our

requirement. According to a study conducted by Label Insight, of

carbon footprint as much as possible. In order to do

more than 2,000 customers , they found that 94% of people are

this, we are committed to a fully sustainable production

more likely to be loyal to brands that are completely transparent

chain; we only use organic bamboo and silk fabrics

(Karapetian, 2016). This means BOI will be able to create a

with up cycled lace, natural dyes such as turmeric,

connection and relationship with our customers through our

and biodegradable cardboard packaging. All of our

transparency.

intimates are handmade and hand dyed in our London

Efforts will include: publishing out annual reports, making our

based studio, limiting the pollution that comes with

employee salaries transparent, being honest about our pricing,

importing clothing f rom overseas countries. This slow

and creating a platform for open and honest dialogue through

fashion model not only allow us to make garments that

social media.

last but that are ethical and environmentally f riendly.

12

BOI

THE TEAM

Culture Our seven member team at BOI is the most important aspect of our brand. Its very essence

Zahra Daniel

speaks for what our company is about and what we stand for: visibility and representation. Our

Founder

team is made up of a diverse and talented set of queer cis-gendered and transgenderd women.

We make it our mission to ensure that anyone working within our company no matter what position they are in, feel as if they are apart of a family. We focus on mentoring and learning f rom each other while allowing room for growth, creativity, and innovation.

Our founder works directly with everyone on the BOI team. Her main role is ensuring that the day to day operations run smoothly, keeping the vision of BOI alive, designing new collections, and being the face of the company. On a daily basis, she does whatever is crucial for the company to run, which can include sewing garments, packaging, marketing efforts and controlling company f inances.

13

Who We Are

Serenity Chapman

Tabitha Murphy

Miranda Norriss

Publicist

Marketing Director

Marketing Assistant

Our in house publicist if responsible for communicating the brands message to our consumers with impact and influence. On a daily basis her roles are writing press releases, press kits, managing our influencer relationships, and updating our blog.

Our marketing director is in charge of developing our annual marketing plan, creating a calendar of campaigns, setting our marketing budget, and analyzing the market and our competitors, and managing company public relations. She ensures that our products reach our consumers on the right platforms with the right campaigns and efforts .

Our marketing assistant directly helps our marketing director with all marketing ans public relations efforts. Since our marketing efforts are so big, her role is crucial to the smooth operation of BOI. On a daily basis she is directly in charge of our social media marketing ,the planning of our workshops and events, and packaging shipments.

Lucia Delgado

Carla Fox

Alexus Weiss

Financial Director

Seamstress

Seamstress

Our f inancial director has the job of ensuring that BOI's f inancial commitments are met and developing all necessary policies and procedures to ensure the sound f inancial management and control of the company’s business.

Main responsibilities include: Contribute to the achievement of the company's business objectives by providing advice and guidance on f inancial strategy and develop and control the company’s annual operating budget to ensure that all f inancial targets are met and f inancial and statutory regulations complied with.

Our seamstresses are directly in charge of sewing and dying our lingerie and

assist

with

taking

customer

measurements if needed.

They also

contribute to the designing of new collections. They both have versatile skills that allow them to work with a variety of patterns and designs. For now, we only employ two seamstresses but as the company grows and our sales

grow,

we

will

employ

more

in order to ensure our customers a relatively low production time.

14

OUR BRAND

15

BOI LINGERIE

2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING

3

16

BOI

BOI Redefining sexy

RGB: 223 215 202

RGB: 223 231 218

RGB: 242 225 176

RGB: 239 225 216

Text

HEADING

Mirador 49 pt

SUBHEADING

Mirador 15 pt

Andamus sequi dellabo. Odi denimin ciunti

Montserrat 12pt

ut enis erum quati conse ne del ipsus nam eratempero conem autaque secae restrumque et assi omnia doluptate sus ad que volupti tem iusdae nonemUndit molorpori dolum de nonsequat explite

Savoye LET 15 pt

Accent Text Secondary Logo

Inspiration

BOI 17

OUR BRAND

THE NAME

The name BOI was inspired by the Always campaign "#likeagirl". This campaign essentially made it clear that actions do not have a gender; phrases like "you throw like a girl" are harmful to not only women but men as well.

This goes for clothing too, which also has no gender. So, we took a word that is typically used to describe one gender, men: who in a hereto-normative societal perspective does not wear lingerie, and twisted it to essentially be a word that could represent more than one gender or no genders at all. A word that will be used to describe all of our consumers. In regards to our Logo it is simple making our brand fairly easy to recognize. The tagline: "redef ining sexy" is the perfect explanation of what we do. We are changing the lingerie industries def inition of sexy and putting it in the hands of our customers.

18

BOI

BRAND PYRAMID

ESSENCE An

innovative

lingerie

brand

that

gives

queer

individuals a voice of meaning and empowerment

PERSONALITY Empowering | Safe | Inspiring | Inclusive

PROMISE To provide our queer customers lingerie that is a representation of who they are with an ethical means of production. Also being a brand that inspires marginalized communities to feel comfortable and beautiful no matter their gender, sexual preference, age, or shape.

EMOTIONAL REWARD BOI will make our customers feel apart of a community. We are not just a lingerie company, our brand is a safe space for all queer and marginalized communities to come together and celebrate their existence in a world that so heavily opposes them. In addition, our lingerie is hand-made with the best quality natural fabrics to help our customers feel beautilful and valued.

FUNCTIONAL BENEFITS Motivational tool to inspire consumers to support independent brands who are dedicated to creating a better world socially and environmentally. Essentially making less space in the industry for brands that do not value representation by giving consumers a choice.

19

OUR BRAND

BRAND IDENTITY MATRIX

•

Natural colors

•

Simple Logo

•

Modern designs

•

playful

Physique

•

•

Craftsmanship tailoring

•

Humanistic philosophy

Personality

Our customers are apart of the

•

Safe Space for queer community

BOI community; a fun, accepting

•

Def ining what sexy means to you

and fluid group of people.

•

Accepting of all body shapes,

Relationship

Reflection •

Sleek and sophisticated yet

Culture

sizes, colors, and ages

Self Image

Boi would describe our customers

•

Customers see the beauty

as unique, artistic, educated, and

in all human beings and the

has a youthful spirit.

importance of representation, authenticity, and safe spaces for marginalized individuals.

PICTURE IF RECEIVER 20

INTERNALIZATION

EXTERNALIZATION

PICTURE IF SENDER

BOI

PACKAGING DESIGN

At

BOi,

we

believe

that

the

packaging of our products is just as important as the product itself.

It

ensures

that

our

customers

unboxing experience is exceptional and different f rom our competitors.

Depicted is the designs for our packaging, thank you cards, and clothing tags. We decided to go with very subtle designs and colors that will compliment the lingerie, not outshine it.

All of the materials used are f rom the company Earth Pack. Both the boxes and bags are 100% resuable, locally made in London, and made with mostly recyclable materials.

The boxes are made extra durable for shipping purposes.

Thank You for your order!

21

OUR BRAND

PRINT PRODUCTS

Business card (f ront)

BOI PopUp Shop

Business card (back)

Don't miss out on our annual summer pop-up shop. The opening night will be filled with free drinks, music, our summer collection preview,

Our print products will mainly be

and fun, fun ,FUN!

our business cards, flyers promoting

JUNE 1-20 | 7AM TO 11PM MON-FRI

the annual pop-up shops. These will all be consistent with the BOI brand,

implementing

the

brand

colors, fonts, and images.

THE YELLOW SHOP, SHOREDITCH HIGH STREET Pop-up shop flyer

22

BOI

WEBSITE DESIGN BOI's website is at the top of our brand necessity list. For many of our customers, it will be the f irst touchpoint with out brand and essentially dictates their f irst impression of us. This is why it is important for our website to be simple, easy to use, and highly mobile f riendly. According to Google, 53% of mobile website visits are abandoned if a mobile site takes longer than three seconds to load. For every one second delay in site load time, conversions fall by 12% (Google, 2018). Because of this, BOI website interface design was outsourced to OmDesigns.

This company was able to create a website (depicted on the right) that was exactly in line with our brand image while also creating a smooth visitor experience.

23

OUR BRAND

24

OUR PRODUCTS

25

BOI LINGERIE

2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING

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26

BOI

HANDMADE LINGERIE Every single piece we create is naturally plant dyed by us. Printing & dying the bamboo ourselves in our studio in London. Natural dyes are not only benef icial not only for the earth but also for our customers skin. The combination of bamboo and natural dyes is our secret recipe for nourishing the skin and protecting the body.

We embrace the slight variations in knowing each garment is truly unique. Each batch is slightly different to the next.

The plants we use are currently: Turmeric Indigo Madder Root

Using natural dyes is an important step in the production of our garments as they have a minimal environmental impact as they come f rom nature, are biodegradable and disposing of them does not cause pollution.

27

Our Products

HOW ITS MADE BOI lingerie is handmade to order, allowing a personalised shopping experience. Quality craftsmanship + attention to detail are essential, meaning you receive a product that has been made for ultimate comfort + durability.

The perfect antidote to fast fashion

DEAD STOCK LACE What is deadstock? This is lace that is ex-designer, endof-line or f rom closing factories + mills. Running limited lines allows BOI to use the last of these quality materials, that would otherwise be sent to landf ill

NATURAL, ORGANIC & SUSTAINABLE FABRICS We use bamboo silk, jersey + organic cotton in all of our lingerie.

The natural composition of these fabrics

is incredibly soft and allows your skin to breathe. Their processing is minimal, using no pesticides or chemicals that harm the environment they're made in. Plus they have been ethically sourced f rom fair trade companies

MINIMAL WASTE Offering made to order products allows BOI to keep waste to an absolute minimum. Any scraps and off cuts are collected and donated to local projects. All other materials associated with manufacture and running a business are also recycled wherever possible

28

BOI

29

Our Products

BOI S/S 2020

30

BOI

RANGE PLAN The following is the range plan for BOI's opening collection.

We will be starting with ten pieces: f ive bralettes and f ive knickers.

Since our items are made to order, customers will be able to choose f rom a range of colors that we have available during the season.

During the season of our launch, we will be offering the following colors:

Sheer Pink

Sago

Gallnut

Hot Bronze

Shining Sand

Optic White

Corset Inspired Bra

Hard Set Bralette • • • • • • •

£40 w/o padding 45 w/ padding Made with A-E Cup + custom sizes Made with bamboo fabric Straps made with silky elastic for optimal f it

• • • • •

Mesh Knickers

High Waisted Knickers

Black

• • • •

£30 Made 100% with bamboo Soft elastic waist band xxs-5xl + custom sizes

*All knickers can be made into 'tucking panties' allowing extra room for penises *All gussets are double lined in bamboo for optimal moisture absorption

31

£40 w/o padding £45 w/ padding xxs-5xl + custom sizes Made with comfortable silk mesh Adjustable straps that can convert f rom straight to cross back

• • • •

£25 xxs-5xl + custom sizes Made with comfortable silk mesh Lined with silky elastic for optimal f it

Our Products

Lace Bralette • • • • •

£40 w/o padding £45 w/ padding Made with handembroidered deadstock lace Straps made with silky elastic for optimal f it xxs-5xl + custom sizes Lace Thong

• • •

Bustier

Full Cup Bralette • • • • • •

£25 Made with deadstock lace and organic bamboo xxs-5xl + custom sizes

£40 w/o padding 45 w/ padding xxs-5xl + custom sizes Lined with deadstock lace Made with organic bamboo fabric Straps made with silky elastic for optimal f it Cheeky Knickers

• • •

£30 xxs-5xl + custom sizes Made with deadstock lace and organic bamboo 32

• • • •

£40 w/o padding 45 w/ padding A-E Cup + custom sizes Made 100% with bamboo fabric Retro Knickers

• • • •

£35 xxs-5xl + custom sizes Made 100% with bamboo fabric Lined with silky elastic for optimal f it

THE BOI'S

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BOI LINGERIE

2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING

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BOI

OUR CUSTOMER

The

Lingerie

industry

currently

has

a

diversity problem. When it comes to size, shape, skin tone, and gender the industry caters to only a specif ic image: tall, thin, cisgender,

and

overwhelmingly

white.

Although there is a rise in body and gender conscious lingerie brands, there is very little emphasis on the overall marketing of these much needed companies. This in turn creates very little brand awareness and continues to allow room in the industry for non-inclusive brands.

Geographic Our target customer ideally lives in urban cities, such as London, with a large queer population.

To better understand our customer, we decided to analyze our target market through three prof iles; socio-economic, geo-demographic,and psycho-graphic. This will allow us to get a sense of our customer and tailor our marketing and branding specif ically for them which in turn will increase the overall return on investment(ROI).

Our ideal customer holds an intersectional identity being apart of gen Z and the queer community

According to a study done by the Off ice for National Statistics, 4% of people ages 16-24 in the UK(340,000 people), identify as LGBTQ+ (Sexual orientation, 2019); for BOI, this means that we have access to a relatively large demographic being London.

Since our target customer is ideally in college or a recent graduate they would be living in a private rented accommodation.

35

The BOI's

Psycho-graphic It is crucial for a company to understand their customers psychological characteristcis; they make up customers personality traits, beliefs, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles. To fully grasp how our customer thinks, we decided to use the VALS Model.

According to this model, our customers are 'Strivers' and 'Experiencers' (Strategicbusinessinsights.com, 2019).

Strivers: Have revolving employment; high temporary unemployment Use video and video games as a form of fantasy Are fun loving Are imitative Rely heavily on public transportation Are the center of low-status street culture Desire to better their lives but have diff iculty in realizing their desire Wear their wealth.

Believers: Believe in basic rights and wrongs to lead a good life Rely on spirituality and faith to provide inspiration Want f riendly communities Watch TV and read romance novels to f ind an escape Want to know where things stand; have no tolerance for ambiguity Are not looking to change society Find advertising a legitimate source of information

Geo-demographic

Value constancy and stability (can appear to be loyal) Have strong me-too fashion attitudes.

To better identify our target customer, we decided to use the Mosaic geo-demographic system. This cross channel classif ication system will aid us in understanding where exactly where and how the BOI customer lives.

According to the Mosaic classif ication, our target customer falls under the ‘O - rental hubs category’ (Mosaic, 2019). This essentially means that our customer is educated, young, and privately renting in an urban city.

Currently in the UK, this makes up 18% of the population (Mosaic, 2019).

•

Geography: Live is a largely diverse city; ideally London.

•

Age: Gen Z 16-25

•

Education: In college or recently graduated

•

Occupation: Student or recent graduate

•

Income: low-Mid range income

•

Gender: Non-gender conforming

36

BOI

GEORGIA

Georgia is a 23 year old trans-woman living in London. She is a recent graduate with a degree in journalism. She is currently a writer for a new media publication by women and non-binary people of color: Gal-dem Magazine. On the side, she runs her own fashion and lifestyle blog that explores her experience as a trans woman and serves as a platform for other trans women and non-binary people of color. She rarely has any spare time but, when she does she loves to spend time with her f riends and family and travel the world.

When it comes to shopping she prefers to shop with brands that acknowledge her existence and represent the LGBTQ+ community authentically. However when it comes to lingerie she has found that it is hard to f ind companies that not only represent her but that offer items that f it her properly. This is where BOI comes in.

Hardworking

Ambitious

37

Creative

The BOI's

38

MARKET ANALYSIS

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BOI LINGERIE

2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING

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40

BOI

41

Market Analysis

INDUSTRY TRENDS Although the lingerie industry is heavily female focused, it is male dominated which in turn creates a fundamental misalignment; lingerie being marketed f rom a male perspective. This misalignment inevitably leads to a very sex focused industry.

However, women are beginning to take back an industry that was meant for them.

It is predicted that the United Kingdom's lingerie industry will reach a market share of 3.06 billion GBP by 2020(Lingerie – multiple countries, 2016).

For BOI, this means that during our launch year, we will have access to a larger audience that has a demand for our products and our message.

Empowerment Sustainability Nude Tones Size Inclusion Shapewear 42

BOI

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS Name

Products

Bralettes Underwear Garter belts Leotards Outerwear Sizes: xs-xxl; A Cup- H Cup Custom Made Orders*

Size/ Following

21.7k followers

1.3k followers

N/A N/A

Binders Bodysuits Bras Garters Nursing Bras Slips Harnesses Custom Made Orders* Sizes: XXS-5XL

4.4k followers

3.9k followers

28k monthly viewers 296 followers

Bras Briefs Suspenders Nightwear Accessories Swim wear Active wear Hosiery Corsets Sizes: UK 8-30 ; Cup A-H

195k followers

86.3k followers

27.5k monthly viewers 1.3k followers

43

Market Analysis

USP

Strengths

Weaknesses

“Our lingerie aims to aid you in loving yourself – to feel confident, happy and empowered in your body, sexuality, and who you are.”

Diverse brand image Reasonable prices Strong social media presence Great campaigns Large press coverage Offers payment plans Consistent branding

Not much insight to company operations Small product range Low international presence Online Only

“We are an ethical, values-based company, using sustainable fabrics and manufacturing, in Tio’take/ Montreal”

Partners with various charities and LGBTQ+ organizations Large amount of press coverage (Buzz-feed, Bustle, The Guardian) Large Product Range Sustainable Model Insight into company story

Low international presence No social media marketing effort No consistent branding Long production wait time (2-4 weeks) Online Only

“Playful Promises is a London de- Strong social media presence signed lingerie brand, which mixes 15 years of operation quirky, directional design with all Sold in ASOS things playful, flirty and even a little Affiliate Program bit dirty.”

Points Program

44

Blog is poor quality Website difficult to navigate No insight into company story

BOI

International Presence

Style

Comfort

BOI

Local Presence

The brand positioning mad depicted on the left, shows where BOI stands compared to our immediate competitors. The positioning is based on whether the other brands prioritize style over comfort and whether they have a more international presence or local presence.

45

Market Analysis

Playful Promise is a well known London based brand that focuses on body inclusivity.

Although they do prioritize comfort, many of their intimates are made mostly with style in mind; using synthetic fabrics such as nylon and polyester that can often be found as uncomfortable. However, this brand has been around for 15 years so they do have a

relatively

international

presence

with

stockist all over the world (Promises, 2019).

JBC Lingerie is an Australian brand that celebrates all genders and body sizes. This brand focuses on both style and comfort, offering

intimates

that

are

not

only

hand made but made with comfortable breathable fabrics such as bamboo. When it comes to presence, JBC Lingerie seems to be growing fairly quickly with a small international presence based on their 22.2 thousand Instagram followers (Instagram. com, 2019).

Origami

Customs is a Canada bases

lingerie brand that specialized in handmade lingerie and swim wear for people of all genders, sizes, and abilities. This brand focuses more on the comfort and f it of their pieces rather than the style, producing fairly simple designs. Origami Costumes has more of a local Canadian presence rather than international based on their social media following.

The BOI positioning is based on where we project BOI to be in the f ive years since all of our competitors have been open for f ive years or more. Our designs prioritize style and comfort, we feel that our customers should be able to feel sexy in what they wear as well as being comfortable in our breathable bamboo fabric. In terms of presence, we project that based on our marketing efforts, we will be able to break into international markets within f ive years.

46

BOI

QUALITY PRODUCTS

SATURATED MARKET

Being that our products are completely handmade, this allows us to

The lingerie market is currently very saturated with many

have total control over the quality and outcome of each piece. We

small players and few large players such as Victoria Secret.

also use organic bamboo and silk, ensuring not only comfortability

This means that BOI will have to make strides to be seen

but durability.

and set apart f rom others in this market.

CSR

SMALL TEAM

Today, where consumers are no longer accepting unethical business

Many of our larger competitors have a relatively large

practices, it is important to not only have a compelling CSR but also

team compared to ours. This allows them to have a faster

follow it everyday. At BOI, we made it a priority to have a strong

production time and able to handle more customers. BOI

Corporate responsibility plan. This will ensure that our business runs

will have to make sure our entire team is prof icient and

ethically.

highly skilled in order to stay with a 2 week production time.

SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION CHAIN

RELATIVELY LONG PRODUCTION TIME

According to The Carbon Trust, clothing accounts for around 3% of

Many lingerie brands produce intimates on a fast fashion

the global production or 850 million metric tonnes of CO2 emissions

model. Having their products sourced f rom overseas

per year (Carbontrust.com, 2011). To limit our carbon footprint, BOI

factories. Since BOI completely hand makes all of our

is committed to a fully sustainable production chain. We only use

products, our production time is about 2 weeks. However,

organic bamboo and silk fabrics with up-cycled lace, natural dyes

our slow-fashion model of production will allow us to make

such as turmeric, and sustainable cardboard packaging.

higher quality lingerie than many of our competitors.

LOCATION

NO BRICK AND MORTAR LOCATION

Being that we are a brand that markets to the LGBTQ+ Generation Z

We are a brand that is completely online so this gives us a

community, Shoreditch is the perfect location for our pop-ups and

disadvantage to our competitors. However, to make up for

our off ice. This area is home to many LGBTQ+ venues and the hot

the lack of physical presence, we will be having quarterly

spot for all of the newest trends.

pop-up shops near our off ice. These shops will embody the BOI brand, giving our customers the in-store feeling.

BLOG BRAND AWARENESS Our blog is going to be one of our biggest tools to help build our community online. Many other lingerie brands do not have a blog or

Since we have not yet launched, our brand awareness is

if they do, they are not update. We plan on posting content around

relatively low. We plan to increase this through this 2020

the topics of inclusivity, self love, self care, and create a space for

marketing plan.

people to safely share their experiences.

This will also allow us to increase our search engine optimization, support our social media initiatives, build authority in the lingerie industry,and increase leads.

S

47

W

Market Analysis

GROWING MARKET SHARE OF GENERATION Z AND LGBTQ+ CONSUMERS Currently, Generation Z and the LGBTQ+ community is becoming one of the fastest growing consumers in the world with a combined buying power of nearly $1 trillion USD (Debtf reeguys.com, 2019). This means BOI will have access to this untapped market, giving us a large advantage on our more traditional competitors.

INFLATION RATES Inflation rates have the ability to affect our consumers purchasing patterns, our inventory cost, and our employee wages. This is something that is based solely on the economy so, it is out of our control.

RAPID DEVELOPMENT IN TECHNOLOGY Although we are not a technological company, rapid tech

DEMAND FOR DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE BRANDS

advancements can still pose a threat to our business. We

Generation Z is currently changing the way brands and companies look at inclusivity, forcing them to take a deeper look at their company culture.60% of Gen Z will support a brand if they stand for equal rights, sexual orientation, and race,(Cardador, 2019). This could be because over one third of this generation identif ies as LGBTQ+.

For BOI, this means that there is already a demand for what our brand stands for.

will have to make sure our employees and designs stay up to date. To do this we will have bi-annual trainings on the latest design software and hold weekly brief ings.

COMPETITORS UNDERCUTTING PRICES There are many Lingerie brands or companies who sell intimates that use a predatory pricing strategy; selling at very cheap prices. This can be a threat to BOI because, these companies can take a large portion of our target

LINGERIE INDUSTRY MARKET SHARE INCREASING

market that prefer price over quality.

The lingerie industry’s market share is increasing year by year. The UK lingerie is expected to reach a market share of 3.06 billion GBP by 2020 (Lingerie – multiple countries, 2016). For BOI, this means that during our launch year, we will have access to a larger audience.

INNOVATION The fashion industry as a whole has to continue to be innovative to stay relevant and if company does not keep up, they risk falling behind. At BOI, we have to make sure we have a talented and up to date creative team to ensure

LEVERAGING SOCIAL MEDIA

our designs and our brand stays relevant in these rapidly

Today in the digital age, it is more important than ever that

changing times.

brands use social media platforms to their advantage. This will allow BOI to focus in on our target market, increase conversion rates, increase brand awareness, spread our company message, and interact directly with our customers.

O

48

T

BOI

P.E.S.T.L.E ANALYSIS The following is an analysis of the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors that directly affect BOI on a macro-level.

S

T

ocial

According

the

Gay

LGBTQ+

Today, as technology is changing rapidly, it is

community is 88% are more likely to support

important for all brands to keep up with the latest

companies

conscious

technological trends. For BOI, this rapid growth

and that support charities and fund-raisers(Gay

allows for us to use social media to increase our

Consumer IndexTM, 2007).

brand awareness, engagement, and sales.

Today, it is more crucial than ever to have brands

Technology is also playing a role in redef ining the

that represent inclusivity and equality, no matter

overall e-commerce landscape and its consumer

who their target market it. BOI, being a queer

behaviors. According to Statista, there Were 1.66

owned brand that targets the LGBTQ+ community

Billion Global Digital Buyers in 2017 (Statista, 2019).

specif ically is a socially responsible brand. We

This means 21.8% of the world is buying digitally

donate 2% of our annual sales to and partner with

and in 2021, that number is supposed to increase to

various charities and organizations. Not only are we

over 2.14 billion. BOI, being an e-commerce store,

f inancially responsible, we also make an effort to

this results in an increases in the pool of buyers

spread the idea of inclusivity across all of our social

that we have access to.

that

are

Ad

Network

echnological

overall

,the

socially

platforms. We showcase models of all sizes, genders, ages, and sexualities.

49

Market Analysis

E

P

conomic

olitical

Changes in trading laws due to government bills

Inflation Rates essentially impact our customers

such as Brexit would essentially make retailers

purchasing power. It is forecasted that in 2020,

pay to trade with the EU, thus tariffs would be

inflation rates will decrease to 2% (Stastista ,2019)

added to clothing and footwear. Tax and export

resulting in an increase of the purchasing power of

and import rates and rules could change and

the BOI target customers. This also means that our

increase, therefore meaning that trading between

marketing efforts can be more focused on brand

countries could become more diff icult.

awareness rather than persuading our customer to buy our products.

In regards to BOI, this would not affect our production chain much due to the fact that our lingerie is produced locally and handmade.

However, trading taxes could possibly affect the import cost of our fabrics, causing us to raise the prices of our garments.

E

L

nviromental

egal

To prevent our designs f rom being copyrighted,

Ecological

all designs have to be legally trademarked.

concerns

such

as

water

pollution

has grown signif icantly over the past few years, resulting in apparel brands moving towards more sustainable ways or production. Specif ically in the context of the lingerie industry, this is an industry that uses a signif icant amount of cotton. Research has suggested that the widespread use of cotton leads to soil erosion and degradation, pollution, and water contamination (World Wildlife Fund, 2019).

In regards to BOI, our entire production model is structured in a sustainable way. We use 100% vegan and eco-f riendly sourced fabrics such as Hemp, Soy, and Bamboo. All of our Lingerie is also handmade, reducing the amount of energy our brand uses.

50

BOI

ANSOFF MATRIX

51

Market Analysis

(Current Products)

(New Products)

MARKET PENETRATION

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Pop-up Shops

Lounge wear As our brand grows, we can introduce a line of lounge-wear. This

When we establish ourselves, it would be benef icial to the

would include slips, robes, pajama set. Being a brand that already

brand to have various pop-up shops around London. This will

sells intimates, this would not require any drastic change to BOI’s

allow us to give our customers a more personal experience with

overall company structure. Nonetheless, it will allow us to expand

BOI, allowing us to become more of a multi-channel brand.

our market and attract a more diverse set of customers.

According to Harvard Business, multi-channel sales help retain

(Current Markets)

73% of customers (Sopadjieva, Dholakia and Benjamine, 2017).

Workshops

This will allow BOI to appeal to our customers who prefer to go into the store to see, touch and smell what they’re going to

Since our brand at its core is made for the marginalized LGBTQ+

purchase.

community and we are founded by a queer woman, we understand the everyday struggles of this community. These struggles include

Offering payment plans

being more vulnerable to poverty, facing discrimination and violence due to sexual orientation, being more susceptible to

Since our customer base has a low-middle range income,

body image issues, and experiencing various heavily overlooked

offering them interest-f ree payment plans will allow us

physical and mental health problems. Due to this, BOI feels like it

realistically acknowledge our customer base and their needs.

is our responsibility to help make a difference and we could do this

We could do this through programs such as After Pay. Offering

by offering various workshops in our London based studio. These

payment plans could also allow our customers to purchase

workshops would be centered around topics such as self care and

more items at once.

mental health with an underlying theme of building a community.

There would be a fee for most of the workshops, thus creating another stream of income for BOI.

(New Markets)

MARKET DEVELOPMENT

DIVERSIFICATION

Brick and Mortar

Concentric Diversif ication

Throughout our f irst few years, BOI will be solely an e-commerce

BOI could expand by opening a store that essentially only sells

store with occasional pop-ups. However as our prof its and

handmade, sustainable products made by us and other brands

brand awareness grows, we could open a brick and mortar

that are dedicated to marginalized communities. We would want

location in London. This will allow our customers to have a

our brand to keep its overall character so we would stick to more

consistent touch-point with the brand therefore strengthening

intimate, home-feeling items such as intimates, lounge-wear and

our relationships with them. The layout of the store would be

home-goods. This would introduce us to the completely different

similar to the pop-ups, giving our customers an experience

market of home-goods and propel us more into the apparel market.

instead of just a product.

Conglomerate Diversif ication International Pop-ups To further diversify our brand, after BOI has an established

In order to develop our international reach, after a year of

community, we could start a magazine that aims to celebrate not

operation we can introduce pop-up shops to international

just the queer community but all marginalized communities. This

markets. To minimize risk we would pop-up in markets that

will introduce BOI to the print industry and require our company to

are similar to London such as New York City and Los Angeles.

develop new skills and operational methods. However, being in the

The atmosphere of these pop-ups would be similar to the

print industry could give us another stream of income and allow us

ones in London and representative of the BOI experience. This

to reach other international markets .

would also allow us to test these markets and see how well our products do there and strengthen our overall brand awareness.

52

BOI

MARKETING MIX PRODUCT Actual: BOI provides high quality, handmade intimates in our online store. Our intimates are made of natural bamboo fabric and natural dyes, allowing us to have an ethical production chain and minimize our carbon footprint. During our launch, we will be introducing our 10 piece collection.

Design: Our designs will be using whites, nudes, browns and soft pinks.

to attract loyal customers who believe not only in

Packaging: Our packaging has a very minimalistic

our products but the message of our company.

design. The boxes that we ship our product in are all white on the outside with the BOI logo printed and

All of our products are handmade and made to

the inside is our signature yellow.

order so, our prices are relatively mid ranged.

•

Core:

Bralettes - Starting at £40 w/o padding; £45 with padding -We have sales for bralettes: 2 for £80

•

Comfortable and durable Lingerie

•

Handmade with natural bamboo and up-cycled

(saves customer £15)

lace •

Accurate bra sizing

•

Size and shape inclusivity

•

Bodysuits- Starting at £45

•

Knickers- Starting at £25 - £35

•

Sets (Bralette and Knickers) start at £60

PEOPLE

Augmented: Our employees are the most important aspect •

Free custom f itting

of BOI. We employ a team of 6 people that is

•

Quality customer care

responsible for our everyday operations, f rom online

•

Payment Plans

marketing to sewing the garments. Being that we

•

Membership to our monthly events

are a company that is inclusive of all identities, we must ensure that we are hiring staff that already has a level of customer service knowledge,who is comfortable with diversity, and who believes in the

PRICE

message of BOI.

PLACE

The pricing strategy we will be using is value-based pricing. This will allow us to focus on the value that we are actually giving our customers instead of

We are an online retailer so, we do not have a

focusing on our competition. This will also allow us

physical store; but our production studio is located 53

Market Analysis

in Shoreditch, London. At this location we are

3. 1-2 week production time

able to custom f it our London based customers if

4. Receive email to track shipment

needed. Being that our product is targeted towards

5. If our customers have any questions they will be

the queer community, Shoreditch is the perfect

able to email us or call during business hours

location.

(9am-5pm)

To make up for our lack of a physical location,

We accept returns and exchanges of all unworn and

will be having quarterly pop-up shops near our

unwashed merchandise within 14 days of delivery.

production studio.

After the 14 days, all sales are f inal. Customers will be responsible for paying their own shipping cost

Promotion

when returning items. If customer would prefer an exchange, the second shipment cost will be

Boi’s marketing team will be using a mix of

complimentary.

methods that co-function with each other and

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

drive one another, a unique combination of Cause Marketing, Relationship Marketing, Digital Marketing, and Word of Mouth Marketing.

Along with customer orders, they will receive a business card, a brochure on how to care for their

Our efforts will include press outreaches, events,

items, and a PDF invoice.

social media promotion, maintaining our blog, launching aff iliate programs, and using search

The overall branding of our online platforms will be

engine optimization (SEO).

inline with the BOI aesthetic and will be clear and

Process

consistent.

Our customer process is relatively simple.

1.

Complete Order

2. Conf irmation email 54

MARKETING

55

BOI LINGERIE

2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING

7

56

BOI

OVERVIEW As uncovered in the market analysis, our target market prefers marketing that is purpose driven, entertaining, influencer based, and straight to the point. Based on a survey we conducted it was also revealed that customer feel it is important for brands to make them feel apat of a community; 93% of our respondents feel this way. With this in mind, BOI's marketing will be driven by social media, creative blogging, and yearly pop-up shops.

The goals of this plan is broken down into three categories: sales, digital, and community.

Sales •

Reach break even within the f irst 2 years of operations

•

Generate 100 marketing qualif ied leads within the f irst year of operations

Digital •

Reach a 10% monthly website traff ic growth rate by the 4th quarter.

•

Reach a social media engagement rate of 2% per post by the 4th quarter

Community •

3 influencer partnerships within the f irst 6 months of operations.

•

200 email list subscribers by the end of the f irst quarter

57

Marketing Strategies

58

BOI

Introduction Our social media will be out main focus when it comes to our marketing efforts; this is because it is the main channel that the BOI customer uses. Through this we will build pre-launch hype around the brand, launch our campaigns, promote our blog, and our influencer relationships over a period of one year.

Aim

SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN

Raise

BOI

brand

awareness

and

build

a

community around the brand

Objectives 1. Increase social media following by 400% over all platforms by the end of the year.

2. Reach an engagement rate of 2% per post by the end of the second quarter

59

Marketing Strategies

INSTAGRAM CURRENT SITUATION

POST CAMPAIGN

Followers: 400

Followers: 1,200

Average post per day: 1

Average post per day: 3

Average likes per post: 100

Average likes per post:

Use of hashtags: 2

600 Use 7-8 hashtags per post

Instagram is a platform that focuses entirely on visuals.

This causes the platform to have a younger audience; 72% of its users are under the age of 35 (Hootsuite Social Media Management, 2019). This means that Instagram will take presidency over the other social media platforms that we use.

Since BOI has not off icially launched yet, our following on this platform is relatively low but, we plan to increase

400

f rom 400 to 1,200 followers by the end of the year through increasing the amount of times we post, using more hashtags, and curating our feed to represent BOI’s branding. We will follow out social media content calender (see appendix 1.2)in order to stay consistent.

Pre-launch content

To build suspense and hype around BOI, 3 weeks before

our launch will be posting pre-launch content. This content will also allow our future customers to get familiar with BOI and learn who we are. With this content, we will also be interacting with our followers; making them feel as if they are apart our brand already.

Post-launch content

After our off icial launch, we will start posting content based

around promoting our products, our blog, and annual pop-up shop.

We will also offer our followers a look behind the scenes and into the process of sourcing our fabrics and making the garments.

60

BOI

61

Marketing Strategies

POP UP SHOP Concept The purpose of the BOI pop-up is to offer our customers a physical interaction with our brand.

Inside, they will get a feel of what BOI is about and The BOI pop-up will be held once a year for two weeks in June. Depicted to the right is the potential design of the store, reflecting a very simple and minimalistic design while staying true to the fun nature of BOI. Inside of the store, we will be offering our custoers premade versions of our products they will also be able to have their measurements taken and order custom made products.

Location Our pop-up will be located at: The Yellow Shop, Shoreditch High Street Location is essential for the success of our pop-up, it can essentially be the determining factor in our success. Due to this, we chose to use Shoreditch as the f irst location for this venture;this east London area has quickly become a home to young creative, start-ups and artisan coffee. An eclectic mixture of pop-ups and the newest restaurants, ‘trendy’ bars and clubs mean the area is always buzzing with life.

Another reason for BOI to have a pop-up in this location is because of the already existing fashion stores in the area. There are many independent shops such as AIDA, Bias, and House of Liza; meaning that people who prefer to shop with independent retailers will already be in this location.

Features: 1,260 square feet Capacity: 250 Full Spot Lighting & Halo Fluro Lighting Furniture & AV On Site High Ceilings Large Windows & Glass Entrance Doors Unlimited & Unrestricted Branding Opportunities Vehicle Access Versatile & Flexible

62

BOI

Introduction The BOI's Club is the title of our blog. On our blog we will feature BOI editorials, lingerie tips, and fashion and lifestyle content. We plan to have various guest bloggers to share their personal experiences, this will allow us to continue to have content that relates to our customers.

The benef its of having a blog include increasing search engine traff ic, humanizing our brand, supporting our social media initiatives, improving conversion rates, and facilitating valuable discussions.

Aims

THE BOI'S CLUB

Raise BOI brand awareness to create sales leads Be able to monetize the blog

Objectives 1. Increase website traff ic by 100% by the end of the year.

2. Write at least one blog post a week.

3. Increase email opt-in by 50%.

63

Marketing Strategies

PURPOSE

HOW WE WILL ACHIEVE THIS

The BOi's Club blog will be a large part of our brand.

The ways in which we will achieve our blogging targets

Essentially creating a community for our queer consumers

comes down to a three step process:

off of social media. We will feature posts around lingerie, the queer experience, and lifestyle.

1. Following content calendar 2. Networking/ promotion

According to a study done by Hub Spot, Marketers who

3. Search Engine Optimization

prioritize blogging efforts are 13x more likely to see positive return on investment (ROI) (HubSpot, 2019).

This essentially means that BOI will be able to develop a second source of income ideally within the f irst year of

1. Content Calendar

operation.

Staying on track with out content calender ( see appendix Based on the same study, the companies included in the

1.3) will allow out team to stay organized and consistent.

research that had a blog claimed that they generated on

The tools we will use to organize out process are Asana

average 67% more leads than companies without one

and Google Calendar.

(HubSpot, 2019). For BOI this is an opportunity to not only introduce a second source of income but generate product sales.

2. Networking/Promotion In order to build our audience, we will network with various blogging platforms and small bloggers, sending out monthly press kits. We will also create a mailing list for readers to receive updates.

GUEST BLOGGERS Our guest bloggers will be asked to create content around their queer experience or experience as a person of color. This can be specif ically within the fashion and beauty industry or in the world in general, we aim to give out guest complete writing f reedom. With each guest, BOI will conduct a photo-shoot featuring them in our lingerie. Each of the guest below have a unique experience that could be brought to the BOI platform, creating a space for ope dialogue and discussion

Fatima Jamal

Model,

f ilmmaker,

and

Lia Clay

Noel Alejandro

other

Hailing

f rom

Barcelona,

every

the

takes

is

subjects Lia shoots create an added

social

and

champion real bodies, people of

layer of awe. Her lens holds queer

desirability politics, as shown in her

color, HIV-positive folks, and real

models with austerity, elegance, and

ongoing documentary project, No Fats

narratives. His cinematic style is so

an understated grace that we are often

No Femmes.

intimate and oozing with emotion.

not afforded.

64

beautiful,

she

erotic f ilms of his production house

racism,

staggeringly

photo

creator with a radical attention to sexual

shot

While

breathtaking,

justice,

gorgeously

the

hyphenates, Fatima is a world-class

specif ic

BOI

CONTENT

Our guest bloggers will be asked to create content around their queer experience or experience as a person of color. This can be specif ically within the fashion and beauty industry or in the world in general, we aim to give out guest complete writing f reedom.

With each guest, BOI will conduct a photo-shoot featuring them in our lingerie. Each of the guest below have a unique experience that could be brought to the BOI platform, creating a space for ope dialogue and discussion

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Improving our SEO will essentially raise our ranking on Google, making it easier for readers and potential BOI customers to find us. Search engine algorithms not only rate the relevance of our keywords on pages, and in the meta data, in relation to a user’s search terms, but they also evaluate information such as the duration visitors stay on our site, bounce rate, broken links, pages viewed, inbound and outbound links, and much more. According to Junto Digital, 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine. With all of this in mind, we believe it is imperative for our blog to have a relatively high SEO ranking which in turn will raise the ranking our product site.

The ways in which we will do this are the following: 1. Producing high quality content 2. Optimizing our images 3. Using outbound links 4. Making our site mobile friendly 5. Encourage sharing on social media 6. Using keywords

65

Marketing Strategies

66

BOI

Introduction BOI will be running two email campaigns; one for our blog and another for our products. Luckily for us, email is still widely used. In fact, an article on why email marketing isn’t dead reveals, 90% of adults and 74% of teenagers still use email regularly (Santora, 2019). For BOI, This makes email marketing the perfect tool for building customer relationships to help us generate leads and sales.

Aims

EMAIL MARKETING

Inform customers about blog and store updates Engage our users, raising brand awareness

Objectives 1. Retain a 30% open rate per month 2. Click through rate of 7.4% per month 3. Unsubscribe rate of less than .02% per month

67

Marketing Strategies

BLOG Depicted on the left is a mock-up of the email campaign for our blog: The BOI's Club.

This campaign will be a weekly news letter delivering our email list subscribers various articles, brands and news around and in support of marginalized communities.

The type of emails we will be sending out are relational; giving subscribers what we promised, a weekly newsletter f illed with inspirations. And transactional; which are the sign-up conf irmations and welcome messages.

Content Suggestions: Queer owned brands The BOI's Club Blog updates New artist of color Guest Bloggers Sustainable brands

68

BOI

STORE Depicted above is a sample promotional email for the BOI online store. These emails will be sent out once a week either promoting a sale, exclusive offer, new products, or company updates. The types of emails that will be sent are essentially the same as our blog but included are promotional ones.

Content Suggestions: New Items Sales Brand Collaborations Color Updates Order Conf irmations

69

Marketing Strategies

FORMAT Both email campaigns will be in the format of light-boxes.

This essentially means that our opt-in forms will appear on any page that the user arrives on f irst and temporarily blacks out the rest of the page (depicted on the right).

According to a study done by the Daily Egg, pop-up forms drive 1375% more subscribers (The Daily Egg, 2018). This means that our email campaigns, in this format, could possibly drive more sales than any of our other marketing efforts.

LIST BUILDING Since we are a brand new company, we will have to build our email list f rom scratch. In order to do this, we will use a two part formula: A valuable incentive + simple subscribe opportunities = large email list The incentives we will provide would include compelling content, First order discounts, and shop exclusives. In regards to the simple subscription opportunity, the process of opting in will be easier than ever. All the customer/ reader has to do it enter their first name ans email into the pop-up forum and press subscribe.

TOOLS Creating and maintaining two relevant and simple email campaigns is a big task for our relatively small team. However, we plan to tackle this with the help of the following application: Mail Chimp -Creating and sending out campaigns -Storing email lists Asana -Organizing ideas and sharing them with the team Google Analytics -Tracking success measurements 70

BOI

Introduction Our media relation efforts will essentially b a way for BOI to build an image and gain access to our target audience through magazine outlets, blogs, and influencers. This publicity has the power to provide hundreds of links back to our website, essentially increasing our search engine optimization and brand awareness.

Aims

EXTERNAL MEDIA RELATIONS

Increased

website

traff ic,

editorial

media

coverage, name recognition and brand awareness.

Objectives 1. Create connections with 4 media outlets by the end of the year.

2. Be featured in 2 publications.

3. Make connections with 10 bloggers and feature them as guests.

71

Marketing Strategies

MEDIA OUTLETS The importance of media relations lies in its ability to leverage a high degree of exposure for our message by complementing th needs of the varous outlets we are reaching out to. According to 10 Yetis, 100% of journalists said press releases were their number one way of f inding stories (10Yetis, 2018). This means for BOI that making the effort of sending press releases to various media outlets that are queer and person of color focused, has the potential to massively raise our brand awareness, ultimately leading to more sales and a larger community of loyal customers.

Depicted below are the media outlets we plan on sending our release out to f irst.

Independent published millennial print and online magazine.

Focusing on Lifestyle,Fashion and Travel. Supporting Queer culture alongside established and emerging talent. FGUK Magazine captures and explores no-go topics,helping to inform both men and women alike with articles and editorials featuring some of the best new talent the world has to offer.

Posture is an independent magazine, podcast, and membership community that champions underrepresented creators and entrepreneurs.

Posture is empowering queer designer, artists, and models to be seen by their own community.

PANSY is about daring to be looked at sideways. PANSY is an online menswear magazine aimed at redef ining the modern man, blurring the rigid categories of masculine and feminine and creating a space for f ree and unaffected creative expression.

gal-dem is a new media publication, run entirely by women and non-binary people of colour. With their online and print magazine, they are addressing inequality and misrepresentation in the industry through platforming the creative and editorial work of our community across essays, opinion, news, arts, music, politics and lifestyle content.

72

BOI

INFLUENCERS To improve our reach, we will be using unpaid influencer marketing.

This means that we will send our products for influencer to try, allowing them to post content on their social media channel with their own thoughts around the product. This will allow us to keep costs down since we are a relatively small brand. The influencers that this method will work best with are micro-influencers with 1,000-20,000 followers.

There are many reasons that influencer marketing is important for the BOI brand. The most important is that todays consumers are more likely to trust influencer recommendations. According to a study done by Keller Fay Group, micro influencers have 22.2x more weekly conversations about what to buy than the average consumer.

Further more, 82% of consumers said they were likely to follow these recommendations (Kirkpatrick, 2016).

Depicted on the right are the f irst influencers we will target. All three have a following of our target market and use their platform to speak on issues specif ically affecting queer marginalized communities.

73

Marketing Strategies

Avie Acosta (@avie.acosta) 10.6k Followers

Avie is a trans-gender model and activist based in New York City. She was the f irst t transgender model signed with the International Management Group. She uses her platform to challenge gender stereotypes often modeling for both mens, womens, and unisex collections.

“Once I got here I was like, wait, I have a lot of this space to just exist.” -Avie Acosta

Zorawar Waraich (@zeesw) 4,192k Followers

Zorawar Waraich is a London based influencer aiming to decolonize the minds of black and brown people through radical self love. He use his captions on instagram to open up about his journey of self love, wellness, and representation.

“Amongst many of the things that I am able to access as a QTPOC in the West, visibility is one of the most apparent in this moment – I have to ask myself would I be outing myself, posting rants on Instagram if I lived elsewhere”. -Zorawar Waraich

Mars (@Marsart) 10,000k Followers

Mars is a gender fluid artist who founded Art Hoe Collective which has encouraged LGBTQ youth of color to express themselves through art. Identifying as a movement “for us, by us”, the Art Hoe Collective has become incredibly popular, creating a space for queer art to be heard and seen.

“(POC) don't have a voice in this society. It's usually subdued by our white counterparts, and our anger is taken for granted” –Mars

74

FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

75

BOI LINGERIE

2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING

8

76

BOI

The f inancial analysis depicted is a prediction of the costs of the marketing efforts outlined in this document; over the f irst year of BOI's operations.

Based on our f inancial predictions, BOI will need £50,000 f rom investors and an average monthly sales of £12,000 in order to sustain these efforts and company operations.

If these predictions end up being correct, Boi will have a net savings of £94,000 at the end of the year which mens that the overall return on investment of our marketing efforts would be 42%. Essentially, suggesting that our efforts increased BOI's annual sales.

Income Income

Monthly totals:

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

£12,166.00 £12,166.00 £13,166.00 £16,166.00 £16,166.00 £14,166.00 £19,166.00 £17,266.00 £14,316.00 £22,396.00 £16,506.00 £24,266.00

Total

£197,912.00

Average £16,492.67

Investors

£4,166.00

£4,166.00

£4,166.00

£4,166.00

£4,166.00

£4,166.00

£4,166.00

£4,166.00

£4,166.00

£4,166.00

£4,166.00

£4,166.00

£49,992.00

£4,166.00

Sales of Product

£8,000.00

£8,000.00

£9,000.00

£12,000.00

£12,000.00

£10,000.00

£15,000.00

£13,000.00

£10,000.00

£18,000.00

£12,000.00

£20,000.00

£147,000.00

£12,250.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£100.00

£150.00

£230.00

£340.00

£100.00

£920.00

Blog Income

Expenses Social Media

Monthly totals: Buffer Subscription Content Creation Tailwind Subscription

May

£1,193.99 £1,443.99 £1,193.99 £1,193.99 £1,693.99

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

£593.99 £1,193.99 £1,443.99

£693.99

Oct

Nov

Dec

Total

Average

£843.99 £1,193.99 £1,193.99

£13,877.88

£1,156.49

£84.00

£84.00

£84.00

£84.00

£84.00

£84.00

£84.00

£84.00

£84.00

£84.00

£84.00

£84.00

£1,008.00

£84.00

£1,000.00

£1,250.00

£1,000.00

£1,000.00

£1,500.00

£400.00

£1,000.00

£1,250.00

£500.00

£650.00

£1,000.00

£1,000.00

£11,550.00

£962.50

£9.99

£9.99

£9.99

£9.99

£9.99

£9.99

£9.99

£9.99

£9.99

£9.99

£9.99

£119.88

£9.99

£100.00

£100.00

£100.00

£100.00

£100.00

£100.00

£100.00

£100.00

£100.00

£100.00

£1,200.00

£100.00

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£4,328.16

£360.68

Web Hosting (Blue Host)

£31.80

£31.80

£31.80

£31.80

£31.80

£31.80

£31.80

£31.80

£31.80

£31.80

£31.80

£31.80

£381.60

£31.80

Insurance (Blue Host)

£28.88

£28.88

£28.88

£28.88

£28.88

£28.88

£28.88

£28.88

£28.88

£28.88

£28.88

£28.88

£346.56

£28.88

£300.00

£300.00

£300.00

£300.00

£300.00

£300.00

£300.00

£300.00

£300.00

£300.00

£300.00

£300.00

£3,600.00

£300.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

Monthly totals:

Monthly totals: Press Kit

Packaging (Labels, tissue, tags) Website Design & Maintence Brochures

Pop-up Shop (2 weeks)

Apr

£100.00

Branding

Email Marketing

Mar

£9.99

SEO (Google Analytics)

Media Relations

Feb

£100.00

Paid Advertisments

Blog

Jan

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£5,177.45

£0.00

£150.50

£126.95

£150.50

£0.00

£277.45

£0.00

£150.50

£126.95

£150.50

£0.00

£903.00

£525.90

£150.50

£150.50

£5,000.00

£150.50

£150.50

£100.00

£26.95

£150.50

£100.00

£26.95

£150.50 £100.00

£26.95

£26.95

£903.00

£150.50

£5,300.00

£1,325.00

£107.80

£26.95

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£419.76

£34.98

Mail Chimp

£14.99

£14.99

£14.99

£14.99

£14.99

£14.99

£14.99

£14.99

£14.99

£14.99

£14.99

£14.99

£179.88

£14.99

Asana

£19.99

£19.99

£19.99

£19.99

£19.99

£19.99

£19.99

£19.99

£19.99

£19.99

£19.99

£19.99

£239.88

£19.99

£19,567.00

£0.00

£0.00 £19,567.00

£0.00

£0.00 £19,567.00

£0.00

£0.00 £19,567.00

£0.00

£0.00

Monthly totals:

£78,268.00

£6,522.33

£8,000.00

£8,000.00

£8,000.00

£8,000.00

£32,000.00

£8,000.00

£210.00

£210.00

£210.00

£210.00

£840.00

£210.00

£65.00

£65.00

£65.00

£65.00

£260.00

£65.00

Staff

£1,792.00

£1,792.00

£1,792.00

£1,792.00

£7,168.00

£1,792.00

Inventory

£9,000.00

£9,000.00

£9,000.00

£9,000.00

£36,000.00

£9,000.00

£500.00

£500.00

£500.00

£500.00

£2,000.00

£500.00

Monthly totals: Rent (Utilities included) Insurance Wi-Fi

Promotion

77

Financial Analysis

Summary Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Total

Average

Income

£12,166.00

£12,166.00

£13,166.00

£16,166.00

£16,166.00

£14,166.00

£19,166.00

£17,266.00

£14,316.00

£22,396.00

£16,506.00

£24,266.00

£197,912.00

£16,492.67

Expenses

£26,334.10

£1,839.65

£1,740.15

£21,283.60

£2,240.15

£989.65

£21,434.10

£1,839.65

£1,240.15

£20,933.60

£1,740.15

£1,589.65

£103,204.60

£8,600.38

-£14,168.10

£10,326.35

£11,425.85

-£5,117.60

£13,925.85

£13,176.35

-£2,268.10

£15,426.35

£13,075.85

£1,462.40

£14,765.85

£22,676.35

£94,707.40

£12,917.91

-£4,168.10

£6,158.25

£17,584.10

£12,466.50

£26,392.35

£39,568.70

£37,300.60

£52,726.95

£65,802.80

£67,265.20

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Total

Average

£12,166.00

£12,166.00

£13,166.00

£16,166.00

£16,166.00

£14,166.00

£19,166.00

£17,266.00

£14,316.00

£22,396.00

£16,506.00

£24,266.00

£197,912.00

£16,492.67

Net savings [1] Ending balance [2]

£82,031.05 £104,707.40

£46,545.81

Income Income

Expenses Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Total

Average

£1,193.99

£1,443.99

£1,193.99

£1,193.99

£1,693.99

£593.99

£1,193.99

£1,443.99

£693.99

£843.99

£1,193.99

£1,193.99

£13,877.88

£1,156.49

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£360.68

£4,328.16

£360.68

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£5,177.45

£0.00

£150.50

£126.95

£150.50

£0.00

£277.45

£0.00

£150.50

£126.95

£150.50

£0.00

£903.00

£525.90

Email Marketing

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£34.98

£419.76

£34.98

Pop-up Shop (2 weeks)

£19,567.00

£0.00

£0.00

£19,567.00

£0.00

£0.00

£19,567.00

£0.00

£0.00

£19,567.00

£0.00

£0.00

£78,268.00

£6,522.33

Social Media Blog Media Relations Branding

78

SUMMARY

79

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2020 MARKETING AND BRANDING

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80

IN CONCLUSION, BOI'S MARKET SUCCESS WILL HEAVILY DEPEND ON THE SUCCESS THE MARKETING AND BRANDING EFFORTS OUTLINED IN THIS PLAN. THESE INCLUDE: A SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN ANNUAL POP-UP SHOPS THE BOI’S CLUB BLOG AN EMAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGN EXTERNAL MEDIA RELATIONS WITH ALL OF THESE EFFORTS COMBINED IT IS PREDICTED THAT BOI WILL BE POSITIONED AS A LEADING LINGERIE BRAND, SETTING THE BAR HIGH FOR ALL OTHER COMPETITORS. IT IS ALSO PREDICTED THAT WE WILL HAVE A 42% RETURN ON INVESTMENT, SETTING US UP FOR LONGTERM SUCCESS.

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APPENDIX

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Figure 1.1 | Survey

Figure 1.2 | Social media calendar

Figure 1.3 | Blog Content Calendar

BOI

BOI Redefining Sexy

91