UTOUCH BRANDING REPORT
Savannah Boyle
Kerry Drenan
Aubrey Evans
Alejandra Fishman
Makayla Staaf
Ashley Thompson
Kent State University
Dr. Gargi Bhaduri
April 18, 2016
Executive Summary
The
combination of fashion and technology has become a very popular concept during
the 21st century and the number of products in the market combining
these two is growing. UTOUCH is no stranger to making technology fashionable.
UTOUCH is a brand that provides many options for the customer to customize a
fashion forward and technological winter glove to fit their unique style and
size. UTOUCH prides itself on providing a hidden touch screen and texting
feature on every glove along with an easy way for customers to customize their
glove’s measurements, to fit their hand perfectly, and for customers to
customize the style of their glove, to fit their style perfectly.
UTOUCH will reach out to our
customers efficiently by using web-based advertising as well as placing our
products in magazines, catalogs, and there are even plans for creating pop-up
stores for customers to come in and have that one-on-one experience with our
brand. We want our tech-savvy and fashion forward target customers to view our
brand as high quality through these means of advertising. UTOUCH will combine
technology not only in the product itself, but in our branding strategy by
using 3-D scanning technology. UTOUCH also has many short term and long term
goals, but will always be a brand that focuses on fashion technology and
creating a unique experience for our customers. We want to be a pioneer in the
fashion industry and want to inspire other brands to create more customizable
products that combine technology with fashion, like UTOUCH. Through our brand
strategy, brand identity, positioning strategy, and plans for communication and
growth, we have successfully created a brand and product that we are proud to
put out into the fashion market.
Identifying
the Need
UTOUCH is a completely customizable
brand that is designed to ensure its consumers comfort. UTOUCH is designed for
consumers who find that standard glove measurements do not fit their hands to
their likings, as well as for consumers who want gloves that have touchscreen
capabilities but do not find them aesthetically pleasing. UTOUCH also offers a
heated glove option. Standard manufactured gloves are usually between six and
seven inches and range in sizes from extra small to large ( Howland, 2016).
UTOUCH allows consumers to send in their measurement to ensure that the glove
fits seamlessly. UTOUCH also utilizes its customizable ability by allowing
consumers to design their glove’s detailing including fabric choices and
embellishments. UTOUCH’s pricing varies. UTOUCH utilizes a base price of $30.00
which includes the touchscreen capability and any additional costs are
determined by the choice of fabric, cuff trimmings, embellishments, and the
heating option. UTOUCH allows consumers to stay warm while staying in touch.
Target Customer
UTOUCH is a brand that is looking to
aim its product towards a target customer ranging from the ages of 25 to 40
years old. UTOUCH sells gloves that are higher quality and customizable, which
means the price range of our gloves is higher than the average winter glove.
The average income of our target customers would be around $60,000 a year, or
middle class to upper middle class. The target customer of our brand also
likely lives in the northern and midwestern states of America, since our
product is only sold domestically and the weather tends to be colder in these
states, so the need for a stylish winter glove is very high. Our target
customer is someone with fashion forward thinking and that is very active on
their touch screen phone/devices while living an on-the-go lifestyle. Our
product is aimed at a customer that is constantly on their phone and needs that
option of keeping warm and using their phone outside at the same time. Our
target customer may be in the business field or even someone who enjoys outdoor
activities during the colder seasons. Our customer can find our product mostly
online through our social media, advertisements, and our website. We may also
feature our product in department store magazines and look into pop-up stores
for customers to have a one-on-one interaction.
Positioning
Strategy
The three brands we are comparing
and contrasting for our brand is Galeton, North Face, and Moshi. Galeton sells
gloves that are targeted toward labor workers, and electricians. Their gloves
comes in 4 sizes, are advertised to be durable and touch screen sensitive, and
cost about 12.99 and up. Their brand is also web-based, but Galeton also has a
catalogue. North Face has a product called the Thermos Ball Etip glove that are
about $30 and are targeted towards men
and women ages 12 years old and up. These gloves are advertised to be very warm
with the added bonus of being touch screen accessible. This brand is available
in-store, online, and also has social media outlets. Finally Moshi has a
product called Digits which is most similar to our brand UTOUCH. This brand
provides a stylish comfortable glove that is touch screen sensitive. This brand
is available on it’s own website, as well as two other ones, and also has
social media platforms. They are targeted to men or women ages 12 and up, but
do not provide customization to the leave we do.
Our brand UTOUCH is intended for
women ages 25 to 40 years old who are looking for a stylish, customizable, and
touch sensitive glove that is guaranteed to provide a perfect fit and comfort.
Our brand UTOUCH is going to be in winter wear fashion category, and will
finally provide a reliable, unique, and comfortable product. Unlike Moshi or
North Face, our brand is focused in providing a product that is made for each individual
customer from stylish additionals like glove lining, colors, and embellishments
to an indepth 3-D size guide experience, we are aimed to please our customers.
Brand
Strategy
UTOUCH
is an innovative service that provides consumers with a glove that is tailored
to their hand and occasion by using updated technology – 3D body scanners. What
sets us apart is the technology that we provide to our customers to ensure that
the glove they receive is tailored for a comfortable fit while also being
stylish, up to date on trends, and offers the touch screen ability feature.
Competitively, there are not a lot of other products out there that cater to
our customer. Therefore, our competitive advantage in the market is stronger
than most.
UTOUCH
is a web-based company that is beginning to explore the pop-up stores in
locations where the demand for gloves will be higher depending on the time of
the year. For online services, we are providing a list of instructions and a
guide that consumers can follow and use to take their own measurements to order
online – incase the pop up store isn’t available in certain cities. If ordering
online, customers will create an account where the measurements will be stored
for future orders. As a company, we understand that not everything is perfect
the first time around therefore; we offer 100% money back guarantee, free
returns, and free exchanges for those items that do not fit properly.
Our
gloves will have a base price of $30 however that cost will increase if the
consumer decides to add finishing touches – such as fur trim, embroidery, gems,
etc. With our growth opportunities, adding better quality fabrics and findings
will drive the price up with specification orders in time. Therefore, we want
to make sure that our gloves create a comfortable fit a great affordable price.
Brand
Identity
UTOUCH aims to be a customizable,
innovative, “tech-savvy”, and reliable company towards all our clients. We aim
to be as customizable as we can be to our customers through our choices in
fabrics, add-ons, wrist and finger length choice. By having these customizable
options our customers are able to create the glove they always hoped to have
without having to settle style for fit. UTOUCH will be both innovative and
tech-savvy by offering our clients a technology capable touch screen glove
which allows users to use their smartphones and tables without having to remove
their glove to quickly respond to a text, answer a call, or search the web.
Lastly we will work to be as reliable as possible to our clients. Whether it is
by making sure our clients’ size specifications are followed through and they
receive the glove that fits to their measure, or making sure our tech touch
works each time our client puts it to the test, UTOUCH’s goal is to make sure
we as reliable as possible each time our client buys from us.
Communication
In order to establish our brand and
build a successful business we have to communicate our message throughout a
variety of different platforms. One of the ways we plan to help our brand name
is to make an Instagram, Facebook and Twitter page. We realize that social
media plays an important part in youth as well as older adult’s lives today and
we have to be able to get them excited about our gloves. We want to get them
excited about the colors, add-ons and texting feature. Another way other than
social media to reach out would be through ads in magazines. A lot of fashion
innovators look in magazines for inspiration and updates on upcoming
collections. So for people who have monthly subscriptions and/or buy magazines
from local stores they can read about our brand and have something physical to
reference when shopping.
To
identify with a significant amount of our market we will do this with
catalogues and pop up ads. We will establish our brand in a Fall/Winter Catalog
that highlights our glove and its features while giving a more in depth feel of
the dimension of our gloves; this could be influential towards our older adults
we want to connect with. Of course we will have ads everywhere…that’s essential
to running a business, so there will be ads in newspapers and special event
magazines regarding gloves or even winter fashion. And pop up ads that appear
randomly as you enter a site or off to the side of your screen would be like
alerts that’ll grab our customer’s attention with the uniqueness of the ads
visual appealing design. Our point of emphasis is the product features. Our
features such as the tech touch screen, texting feature and tailored fit for
you adjustments are very important aspects to us and we want to get the need of
the glove out clear and specifically to the customer so they’re aware that
their money is put into a worthy product. To get our consumers attention we are
going to communicate the unique, customizable aspect as well.
Growth
UTOUCH plans to expand our brand
drastically after our income and profits grow to a reasonable amount. In our
first year, our short-term plan may be looking into licensing our glove and
brand to a larger department store, such as Macy’s, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales,
etc. This would help us a lot in expanding our brand and gaining publicity,
since we will be new to the market. Our short-term goals would be to expand our
social media advertising and website, so we can gain publicity through the
internet since we are a web-based company. Our long-term goals will include
building pop-up stores across the U.S. where our target customer demographic is
higher. We also will look into expanding our product line to include higher
quality customizable options. In the long run, we hope to have the option of
gloves made of cashmere, leather, nicer furs, etc. Another long-term goal of
ours is to become an eco-friendly and “green” brand. It is very expensive to be
a “green” brand, so as soon as we start bringing in higher profits, we will
focus our attention on becoming eco-friendly.
References:
Howland,
C. (2016). How to Get Gloves that Really Fit Using a Glove Size Chart.
Retrieved
April 18, 2016, from http://www.turtleskin.com/How-To-Find-Glove-Size.aspx
(2016).
Men’s Denali Etip gloves. Retrieved April 18, 2016, from
(2016).
Moshi Digits. Retrieved April 18, 2016, from
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