Stealth Brand
By: Mary Andreas, Matt Desocio, Jay Fitch, Anthony Gulotta, John Heidenfelder and Liz
Wacienga
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 4
Background ..................................................................................................................................... 5
Product/Service Information ........................................................................................................... 7
Brand Equity Analysis .................................................................................................................. 10
Perceived Quality: ..................................................................................................................... 10
Brand Awareness: ..................................................................................................................... 10
Brand Association: .................................................................................................................... 11
Brand Loyalty:........................................................................................................................... 12
Mission.......................................................................................................................................... 13
Vision ............................................................................................................................................ 14
Culture........................................................................................................................................... 15
Organizational Goals .................................................................................................................... 16
Market Assessment ....................................................................................................................... 16
Primary and Secondary Market Research ................................................................................. 16
SWOT and PEST Analysis ....................................................................................................... 17
Complete Competitive Analysis................................................................................................ 22
Target Markets & Segmentation ................................................................................................... 25
Positioning .................................................................................................................................... 29
SMART Objectives ....................................................................................................................... 30
Marketing Mix Decisions (5 P’s) .................................................................................................. 31
Products ..................................................................................................................................... 32
Price........................................................................................................................................... 33
Place .......................................................................................................................................... 34
Promotions ................................................................................................................................ 35
Public Relations......................................................................................................................... 38
Leveraging Market Mix ............................................................................................................ 39
Service Decisions .......................................................................................................................... 40
Tech. Enhancements ..................................................................................................................... 40
Sales .............................................................................................................................................. 41
Policy ............................................................................................................................................ 44
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Incremental Revenue .................................................................................................................... 45
Financial Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 46
Sales Projections ....................................................................................................................... 46
Income Projections........................................................................................................................ 46
Expense Projections .................................................................................................................. 47
Evaluations and Control................................................................................................................ 48
Plans for Adjustment ................................................................................................................. 49
Anticipated Responses from Competition................................................................................. 49
Appendix ....................................................................................................................................... 50
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Executive Summary
To be number one is an accomplishment that all athletes try to attain when playing their
respective sports. It is much of the same in the sports brand market. With high class competitors
and a growing industry, the market for new brands is rough but one that Stealth can tap into.
Stealth aims to provide high quality products for its consumers so that they can compete at the
highest possible level.
Stealth’s goal is to become one of the market share leaders in sports apparel in the near
future. The products that Stealth produces help the athletes that wear them play at a high level
because the products are of the highest quality. Stealth knows that every other competitor sells
virtually the same type of products but with the hard work that Stealth’s engineers put into
creating new technologies in the apparel, it is hard not to purchase a Stealth product over
another.
Pricing on Stealth products will start out high, in contrast to new brands starting a lower
price than competitors. In doing this, Stealth can establish a name in the market that its products
are of the highest quality and just as good as any of our competitors. The high prices will stay
throughout Stealth’s career to maintain a high quality status in the market.
In addition to the quality of Stealth products, the company has excellent marketing
strategies to entice consumers to purchase its products. Consumers will be aware of the uses of
the product and do not need any explanation or help purchasing it. The demand for the products
will be driven from a weak specification of sports markets from our competitors. Stealth will
make great use of advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, and public relations as
marketing communication tools. The company will apply these tools to the best of its ability
utilizing recent fads and trends in the market.
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Background
Stealth is a new brand trying to break into the athletic market. The athletic brand market
is one that is tough to get into in these times because of the high class competitors. With brands
like Nike, Reebok and Adidas being so established in the market and the emergence of Under
Armour in the past couple of years, it is so intimidating for new brands to try and make it.
According to The Forbes Fab 40: The World’s Most Valuable Sports Brands Nike, Adidas,
Reebok and Under Armour rank in the top 10. The Nike brand name accounts for over one-third
of the athletic gear market. While Reebok is on the decline, Under Armour is soaring up the
charts; from 2010 to 2011 a 34% growth in revenue was reported (Ozanian, 2012). What we are
trying to do with Stealth is make a brand comparable to what Under Armour has done since its
start, while understanding it is unrealistic to reach a status of Nike when building a new brand.
Establishing Stealth as a premier athletic clothing brand is our main goal because offering too
many differentiated products at once can be overwhelming to consumers. The idea of creating
sports apparel, equipment and footwear is a goal that is out of reach at the start but something
we, as a company, are going to strive to achieve.
Now, change is something that not many people in the world today like because with
change comes more money, more stress, and it is not fun to become accustomed to something
new when you were so satisfied with what you already had. With change comes innovation and
that is exactly what Stealth is going to bring to the table with our clothing. We intend to provide
our consumers with the apparel they need to, not only look good, but perform at a higher level
than they previously were.
When thinking about sports that don’t necessarily need equipment or footwear to
successfully target, basketball is the first one that comes to mind. With creating our main target
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as basketball, we don’t have to worry about the demand for basketball equipment but instead
capitalize on the opportunity to focus specifically on clothing. Our other sports that we would
target will consist of baseball, football and running. With targeting these other sports besides
basketball, our brand would be on the clothing part of the game, not the equipment.
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Product/Service Information
The basketball community is a very tight knit and loyal consumer base to their brands.
Everyone knows about how Nike and Jordan are dominant in the basketball world but the reason
they are so dominant is because of the emphasis that they put into creating shoes. With Stealth,
we can put all of our emphasis on the apparel to match the shoes so that our products can sell and
be associated with these big name brands. With basketball our products will be the basic
necessities needed to look good while playing the game such as shorts, t-shirts, tank tops, socks
and warm up suits. The apparel that we’d be creating will be split into two categories. The first
would be just generic and plain colors with no funky designs. Our Marketing team has observed
a fad; this fad is people like to wear solid colors because they can match those with virtually
anything. It also is becoming apparent that a 90’s hip-hop style is rising to popularity again. The
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other category will be matching our apparel with upcoming shoe releases by other brands like
Nike and Jordan. We would try and build a partnership with one of these brands so that we can
match the color ways and designs on our clothing with these new sneakers so that when
customers come in to buy the sneakers they will hopefully see our designs that match. By
manufacturing this type of specified clothing it is easier to spend more time in the labs creating
new and innovative products instead of focusing on too many sports or too much equipment at
once. We will also make accessories such as backpacks, wristbands and headbands. These extra
products are just more ways to make our brand more visible than on just the shorts or tops.
Along with basketball, Stealth will brand itself with football and baseball as much as we
can. Baseball and football are two sports where equipment is relied heavily on but they still need
apparel to wear before, during and after the game just like any other sport. For baseball and
football, our products would be everything we could put our logo on besides equipment and
footwear. These will include items such as jerseys, pants, and socks. In regards to specificity to
baseball we will make cage jackets and hats, but also make football gloves as well.
For example: An idea that was posed for football pants would be a new type of material that has
the pads built already into them with regards to size. This project would show that Stealth is
trying to create a new and innovative product while also showing our concern for safety. We all
know safety is becoming a huge part of all sports, especially football, and by associating Stealth
with creating a safer product that doesn’t alter the game shows consumers that our brand cares
for the athletes that wear our products.
General products will also be a focal point of Stealth because athletes don’t just buy Nike
or Adidas products to play sports in but to wear casually as well. By creating these types of
casual products it will only broaden the Stealth brand. This is accomplished by our customers
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wearing these products casually outside of their respective games, they will be walking
advertisements to not only other athletes but to non-athletes who see the product and like what
they see. These casual products will be polo shirts, duffle bags, sweatshirts, sweatpants and long
sleeve shirts. Along with the casual products, compression gear will be categorized because they
can be worn for all sports so they aren’t sport specific. Compression gear is not usually seen by
anyone but the athlete, but by wearing our compression gear it will only build their brand loyalty
since our compression gear will not only provide heat/cold gear for the respective weather but
also implement a new blood flow technology similar to that of arm sleeves in basketball.
Stealth’s products will give athletes the chance to better themselves as athletes the best
that they can but also let them look good while doing it. With the creation of casual clothing, it
will show the Stealth is not just a brand for “jocks” but that anyone can wear our products
whether they be an athlete or not.
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Brand Equity Analysis
Perceived Quality:
We, at Stealth, want to ease our way into the athletic brand market. For this to happen,
consumers need to see our product as innovative but relatively affordable. Pricing products on
the same level as Nike or Under Armour right out of the gate is not the way Stealth is going
make a name for itself. A consumer is going to, hopefully, be able to look at a Stealth product as
compared to a Nike product and say to themselves, “For a pair of shorts that look and feel
exactly the same, I think I am going to go with the Stealth ones over the Nike ones based on the
price.” Obviously, at the beginning stages of the Stealth brand we are not going to be able to
afford pricing our products with the likes of Nike, Under Armour or Reebok because those
companies are already established in the market and are more likely to sell than ours. Our sales
won’t be astronomical or comparable to our big name competitors but that is not how it needs to
be. Our main focus here at Stealth is to establish the brand name that is relatively affordable but
on the same quality level as the other brand names in the market.
Brand Awareness:
Building brand awareness is a key component to maintaining solid brand equity. Being
that Stealth is a new company, brand awareness will not be very large. A starting goal would be
to establish aided brand awareness. What this means is that when asked about the athletic brand
market, a customer can identify Stealth from a list of brand names. Gaining a top of mind brand
awareness will take time but it is ultimately something that we think Stealth can achieve. Once
we establish aided brand awareness, the focus will then turn to the top of mind brand awareness.
Ways to build aided brand awareness that we hope to implement will be mainly the use of social
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media. There are 1 billion registered Facebook users and 517 million registered Twitter users,
which opens up the door for these two to be our main social media outlets. “Facebook is the
number one social marketing tool for brands at 83% (88% target for 2014), followed by Twitter
53% (target 64% in 2014).” (Bennett, 100 Social Networking Statistics & Facts for 2012) These
statistics show that by creating a Facebook page and a Twitter account that we can reach the
widest variety of our target market all at once. With face to face interaction lessening every day
(40% more people socialize online than face to face) the use of status updates being shared or
tweets being re-tweeted will only garner more revenue and interest in Stealth. Social media will
allow customers to feel like they have a great relationship with Stealth on a personal level which
will reinforce consumers brand awareness with us.
Brand Association:
We understand that a big part of what we are doing with Stealth is to associate ourselves
with the right sports and organizations. Partnering with professional sports leagues is a long term
goal of Stealth and something that just isn’t attainable in the introduction phase. College sports is
even a little bit of a reach for Stealth but is certainly attainable in the near future if our marketing
plans work the way we would like them to. With the Stealth brand, we are going to mainly
associate ourselves with high school sports, with an emphasis on basketball. The emphasis on
basketball makes sense because of the product line that we have and the fact that we have stated
we will single out basketball as our main audience among the other sports, for now.
By associating with mainly high school basketball it will help us in two ways: 1) hope
that the young athletes that wear our products will have a strong brand loyalty and 2) we can put
the Stealth name alongside college showcases with the hopes that colleges recognize our brand
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with the talented young athletes they are recruiting. This technique can aid in our attempts to try
to break into the college sports market at all levels.
The Stealth Selects will be one of our top projects that will help us build a great brand
association with high school sports and eventually college athletics. What the Stealth Selects will
be is a collection of a regions top 50 high school basketball players that will be holding showcase
camps and tournaments for college coaches/scouts. We will hold practices once a week for all
these athletes in a neutral location that will be coached by a selection of top basketball coaches
so that these kids have even more tools to succeed and get into top colleges. A select number of
showcases will be held throughout the year where any college coach/scout is able to attend and
watch these players play against one another and essentially showcase their skills. They will be
split into about 6 teams and all the teams will rotate playing one another while the college
coaches/scouts can walk around and watch whichever game they’d like. Additionally, if a
college coach/scout contacts us saying that they can’t make it to a showcase or would like to get
another look at a player, they can schedule to come down to the training center and watch a
practice or hold a workout. The purpose of the Stealth Selects will be to help these players get
into college to play basketball but to also associate our name with these players so that college
coaches/scouts aren’t only seeing the players but seeing our brand name. They will see that what
we do for the players we have shows that we are care about athletes success and that hopefully
these coaches/scouts will hire us as their main athletic sponsor.
Brand Loyalty:
Building strong brand loyalty is an essential part of the Stealth campaign. Without brand
loyalty it is very difficult to bring customers back and build an allegiance with Stealth. With
quotes such as “Marketers want their products to satisfy consumers, so decision making becomes
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a matter of habit rather than an extensive evaluation among competing brands,” it shows how
important good brand loyalty is to a company. (Shank, 215) We want our customers to instantly
think of Stealth when asked about a product that we distribute. We have come up with a few
ways that we think can establish brand loyalty with our customers. One way is by trying to
appeal to every type of athlete whether they are the casual, once a week athlete or the high
school superstar who plays three sports. This can be achieved in our advertising campaigns by
creating commercials or ads like, for example, a double sided commercial with on one side
showing an athlete working hard, practicing and playing a game in our products. Now on the
other side it shows a boy/girl waking up, putting on our apparel to go to school, coming home,
shooting few hoops but missing and then going inside. The tagline would read, “In Our Clothes,
Everyone is an Athlete” so that customers can see that our apparel isn’t just for serious athletes.
Another way to create brand loyalty will be the fact that we are associating ourselves with high
school sports, which can be easily capitalized on. The hope we have is that because these young
athletes or non-athletes start wearing our brand at a young age, as they grow and move on in
their lives they will remember and associate themselves with Stealth because that’s what they
wore when they were growing up, doing whatever it is they were doing. With brand loyalty
having such a monumental impact on brands in the market, we will make it a priority for
consumers to remember the Stealth name as one to repeatedly purchase and suggest to others.
Mission
“To provide the highest quality products in order to enhance the performance and enjoyment of
athletes everywhere.”
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According to thinkbigpartners.com, “Research shows…that the writing of a mission
statement is directly linked to greater returns on investment in companies. Additionally,
businesses with mission statements have double the return on equity than those who have not
written one,” which is why choosing the right message to display in our mission statement was
crucial (Blake, 2010). Before writing the mission statement, we gathered up the missions of our
competitors like Nike, Reebok, Adidas, and Under Armour to compare and contrast the four of
them. What we discovered was that they all, in some way or another, talked about bettering
athletes, providing the best products and making the athletes happy. In seeing this, we decided
that we should include these three components when developing the mission statement of
Stealth. In examining the products that we are going to sell and the direction we want Stealth to
move in, our mission statement made sense to say we would be providing the highest quality
products that would enhance the performance and enjoyment of athletes everywhere. Adding the
everywhere to the end was critical to us because we feel that, in order to show we aren’t just
specifically appealing to the serious athlete we should put everywhere on to the end to insinuate
everyone is an athlete when they wear Stealth.
Vision
“The ultimate vision of Stealth is to distinguish ourselves apart from the competition as a unique
athletics supplier and to establish the Stealth brand as the premier leader in the global sports
industry. Utilizing a vision of teamwork and success amongst our supply chain, Stealth is aiming
towards providing an extraordinary value for our shareholders.”
The vision statement was a bit tougher to plan out than the mission statement because the
vision statement can be described as “a long-term road map of where the organization is headed”
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(Shank, 41). All aspects of the vision statement should be directed towards the future of the
Stealth brand. Once again, we decided to pull up our competitors’ vision statements to see what
kinds of comparisons and differences we could point out between them. A main similarity we
saw when compared to what we had first wanted to incorporate into the vision was about setting
ourselves apart from our competition, which is an key goal for any brand/company. We also
wanted to show that within our organization there would be good communication throughout the
departments in order to produce the best possible products for our customers, which is why we
added the part about teamwork and success into the vision. Talking about good teamwork and
success only attracts more positive attention for potential shareholders because they can see what
we strive to achieve. Finally, putting the word shareholders in was an important aspect for the
vision statement because we want our potential shareholders to know that we care about them
and the triumphs that Stealth will not only bring to the brand but to themselves as well.
Culture
Stealth aims to create products that will assist and better athletes at all levels of
sport. Through scientific research we will experiment with different types of products to
discover new and innovative technologies to implement in our products so that our athletes have
the tools to succeed and better themselves. We believe in pushing ourselves to find the best
products possible to distribute to our consumers. This can only be done if we have a positive
organizational culture. We will have open communication throughout our entire organization
because we believe that communication is the most valuable part of having a positive
culture. We will also reward employees that go above and beyond with their work. This will
motivate employees and also show them that we value what they do and appreciate their strong
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worth ethic. Our employees will be encouraged to take risks. If we do not take risks, it will be
more difficult for us to separate ourselves from our competition. Our organizational culture will
also include the ability to adapt. The sports industry is constantly changing; we will not succeed
if we do not keep up with these changes.
Organizational Goals
The organizational goals set by our company are very attainable. They were created
based off of our mission and vision. We believe that these goals are challenging but they can be
achieved if we persevere and are focused. Our organizational goals are both strategic and
financial. These goals are suitable for our company, flexible, motivating and understandable. If
they are achieved, our company will be successful.
·
Expand into college athletics
·
Introduce at least 2 new products every year
·
Develop sports equipment for basketball, baseball and football
·
Increase revenue by increasing sales of each quarter
·
Create a footwear product line
·
Increase awareness levels of our brand
Market Assessment
Primary and Secondary Market Research
Our primary market is serious athletes that compete in sport 3-5 times a week including
males and females of all ages. This market is a strong primary market for our company because
these athletes are interested in using the best products available to improve their
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performance. This target market includes various income levels from middle class to upper
middle class.
Our secondary market is casual athletes who participate in sport 1-2 times a week also
including males and females of all ages. These are the athletes who enjoy exercising in order to
live a healthy life and not necessarily to compete. The secondary market includes income levels
of lower middle class and middle class. The primary market and target market can both be
examined further which will be discussed later.
Similar to other sports companies, we want to learn about our markets and get feedback
on our products. We will do this by sending our survey to our customers that purchase our
products online. Customers that purchase our products in store will receive a URL on the bottom
of their receipt that will take them to our survey. We kept the survey short by only including 12
questions. We kept it short because we do not want customers to feel overwhelmed when they
open it on their computer. The most important questions are first so that if they do not complete
the survey, we have the information that we wanted to get from them. We kept the survey
simple and easy to follow so that we avoid confusing our customers. Survey can be found in
Appendix figure 1.
SWOT and PEST Analysis
Internal
Helpful
Harmful
Strengths
Weaknesses
·
·
Male dominated market
best possible products through continuous research
·
New company still
and innovation
learning the ropes
Dedicated to providing consumers with the
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·
Maintain affordable prices
·
·
Wide range of apparel available for
sports
Limited coverage of
basketball, baseball and football
·
·
Strong brand equity and enticing logo
clothing brand
·
Build brand image by sponsoring
·
community events
External Opportunities
Currently strictly a
Advertising
Lack of Stealth retail stores
Threats
·
Ability to branch out into a variety of sports
·
Current economic crisis
·
Expansion of product lines and product
·
Competitors in the same
extensions
industry (i.e. Nike, Under
·
Flexibility of pricing
Armour)
·
Increase number of retail outlets across
·
nation
·
extremely price competitive
Form alliances with already established
sports brands
·
Retail industry is
·
Industry is controlled by
fads which are unpredictable
Ability to form strong relationships with
athletes at a young age in hope that they stay loyal
to our brand throughout their career
·
Potential to become eco-friendly
Stealth has numerous strengths internally. We are dedicated to providing our consumers
with the best possible products. We will provide them with these products through continuous
research and innovation. We are committed to delivering the highest quality products that will
help them improve. We are also dedicated to maintain affordable prices for all of our
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products. We understand the economic crisis that our nation is experiencing and we want to
make sure that we give our consumers the satisfaction of knowing that they do not have to dig
deep into their pockets to purchase our products. Stealth also has a wide variety of apparel
available for basketball, baseball and football. We are confident that we can provide athletes in
these three sports all of the apparel that they will need to perform on the field. Stealth also has
strong brand image and an enticing logo. We strive to create a positive brand image for our
company that will ensure our consumers that they are supporting the right brand. Our logo was
designed to be easily recognizable and also fashionable. We hope that our logo becomes as well
known as the Nike swoosh logo. Our final strength is that we build our brand image by
sponsoring community events. Stealth sponsors local youth programs that encourage young
children to be active and participate in sport.
Internally, we have some weaknesses that are simply unavoidable. However we believe
that we can monitor these weaknesses so that they have a minimal impact on our company. Our
first weakness is that we are in a male dominated market despite the increase in female
participation in sport. Secondly, we are a new company that is still “learning the ropes”. There
will be obstacles that come our way that we will not know how to handle at first due to the fact
that we are just getting started in the sports industry. However we believe that we can overcome
these obstacles and be a successful company. Another one of our weaknesses is that we only
cover a limited number of sports. Currently, we only sell apparel for basketball, baseball and
football but we aim to expand into other sports. Similar to that, we also are currently strictly a
clothing brand. We only provide sports apparel rather than equipment which allows our
competitors to be one step ahead of us. We also lack a strong advertising campaign. We hope to
improve it so that we can increase our brand awareness. Our final weakness is that we do not
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have a Stealth retail store. We are currently selling our products in stores such as Dick’s
Sporting Goods, Modell’s Sporting Goods and The Sports Authority. This can be seen as a
weakness because our consumer’s may not know where to go to find our products since we do
not have our own retail store.
Externally, we have multiple opportunities for our company. We have the ability to
branch out into a variety of sports. As stated earlier, we currently only provide products for
basketball, baseball and football. There are a substantial number of sports that we can produce
products for including soccer, tennis, golf, and many more. We also have the opportunity to
expand product lines. We can introduce new products with breakthrough technology and make
them available to our consumers. Another opportunity that we have is the flexibility of the
pricing of our products. We can control the prices depending on market trends and what our
competitors are pricing their products at. We also have the ability to increase the number of
retail outlets across the nation whether that be stores that carry our products or having our own
retail stores that sell only Stealth products. Another opportunity that we have is being able to
form alliances with already established sports brands. This is a valuable opportunity for us
because they can provide us guidance in the early stages of our company. As stated earlier, we
are a new company that is still learning the ropes so if we have strong relationships with other
sports brands, they may be able to offer advice to us when we find ourselves in challenging
situations. As a sports brand we also have the opportunity to form strong relationships with
athletes at a young age in hope that they stay loyal to our brand throughout their athletic
career. We hope to develop strong relationships with young athletes so that they become
attached to our brand and use Stealth products during their career. We also have to opportunity
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to become eco-friendly. This will help improve our brand image by showing our consumers that
we care about the environment.
Stealth is also presented with many threats that could negatively impact our
company. Our main threat is the current economic crisis that our nation is going through. This
crisis could discourage consumers from buying our products because they may not have the
money to afford our products. Our second biggest threat is our competitors including Under
Armour and Nike. They are well established companies that will be challenging to compete
with; we will discuss that more in depth at a later time. The retail industry is extremely price
competitive which could harm our company. Consumers want the best available products for the
most affordable prices. We believe that we have provided our consumers with both of
those. Our final threat is that our industry is controlled by fads which are unpredictable. We will
push ourselves to monitor these fads and produce products that fit within them.
Political
Economic
·
Foreign investment policies
·
·
International tax systems
and products
Increase in shipping costs of raw materials
·
Increase in interest rates
·
Labor costs and international inflation
·
Economic recovery
Socioculture
Technological
·
Increase in physically active seniors
·
Increase in e-commerce
·
High obesity rates in the US
·
Increase in m-commerce
·
Participation in sports is a major
·
New technologies emerge every day
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aspect of the American culture
·
·
survive in the technological universe
Increase in female athlete
Social media has become a necessity to
participation
·
Consumers focus on quality rather
than price
Complete Competitive Analysis
Our two main direct competitors are Under Armour and Nike. These two brands are well
established and popular among athletes which makes it quite difficult for us to enter the
market. We believe that if we can compete with these brands if we stick to our business strategy.
Of our two main competitors, Under Armour is the newest. They target athletes of all ages, from
young males and females to professional athletes. However, they mainly focus on young males
athletes due to their high focus on male dominated sports such as lacrosse and football. Under
Armour is now starting to target the female demographic due to increased female participation in
sport. The brand awareness of Under Armour is very slim globally. Most of their revenue
generates in the United States. Under Armour has extreme potential abroad however their main
target is currently the United States due to the fact that they are still a new brand. Under Armour
targets middle to upper class individuals when it comes to income level. They have positioned
their brand as a premium brand and high performance apparel outfitter. Since they established a
strong brand image, they have the ability to sell their products at high prices. Under Armour is a
private brand that does not carry any other brands. Within the Under Armour brand, there are a
wide variety of products available for each season. They have products for warm weather that
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will keep the athlete cool and prevent them from becoming drenched in sweat. They have
products that do the opposite and keep the athlete warm while they are in colder
temperatures. Lastly, they have products that work best in all types of weather. Their
merchandise fits a seasonal category life style meaning that a consumer can buy all of their
products year round but it may be difficult to find a winter jacket in the middle of
summer. Winter jackets are out of season in the summer so they sell much less during that
particular time of the year. Under Armour still does not have a presence in all sports so they still
have the opportunity to develop products and apparel in order to produce more revenue. Under
Armour uses multiple forms of advertising to reach their consumers. They frequently air
television commercials on stations that air sporting events such as ESPN. Their commercials
show professional and amateur athletes training in Under Armour apparel. They also have
advertisements in print and billboards. Under Armour heavily invests in sponsorships of athletes
as well as teams. The company sponsors high profile athletes including 2011 NFL Rookie of the
Year Cam Newton and 3-time Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady. They also sponsor sporting
events such as the NFL Combine and High School Football All-Star Game. The sponsorships of
these athletes and events gives Under Armour products high visibility and increases brand
awareness. Under Armour has a strong social media presence generating over 2.3 million likes
on Facebook and approximately 191,000 thousand followers on Twitter. They use Facebook and
Twitter to promote their products as well as to motivate their consumers to be active and push
themselves. Under Armour excels in customer service. Their policy has always been that if you
do not like the product you purchased, you can return it for a full refund at anytime for any
reason. Customers can contact a representative through telephone and e-mail; Under Armour
23
guarantees a response within 24 hours. Under Armour is a new brand that has excelled in the
sports industry and will be a tough brand to compete with.
Our second main competitor is Nike who targets males and females from ages 15 to
35. In terms of income, Nike targets upper to middle class athletes. Nike has a very strong
brand awareness world wide and has stores in over 160 countries. They have established their
brand as a high quality brand which allows them to have their products be sold at high
prices. Unlike Under Armour, Nike has products for a wide variety of sports including soccer,
snowboarding and tennis. Nike has diversified itself from other sports brand by creating the
Nike Fuel Band which is very similar to a pedometer. Consumers wear the band on their wrists
and it tracks your movement and activity throughout the day rather than strictly your number of
steps. They also have basketball shoes that have sensors in the soles that can measure your
quickness and height when you jump. In addition, Nike also created NikeId which allows
consumers to customize products online. Currently, NikeId is limited to shoes and backpacks
but Nike hopes to expand this service to other products. Nike uses a variety of advertisements to
market their products. They have a mild presence on social media, receiving over 12.7 million
likes on Facebook and over 1 million followers on Twitter. Nike has numerous Twitter accounts
including @Nike, @Nikestore, @NikeFuel, @NikeRunning and many more. This can be
advantageous for Nike because if a consumer enjoys running but not any other sports, they can
simply follow @NikeRunning and not be bothered by posts about other sports. However, if a
consumer wants to receive updates on a variety of sports, they may not want to follow multiple
accounts. When they search for Nike on Twitter, they may feel overwhelmed with the numerous
accounts filling their page. Nike also uses television commercials as a form of
advertisement. Similar to Under Armour, they air their commercials on sports networks. Their
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commercials show every day athletes pushing themselves to achieve their goals. Nike is a well
established brand that Stealth will have a difficult time competing with.
At Stealth, we have infinite indirect competition. Our consumers will use our products
while they are participating in sport therefore our indirect competition is any activity that our
consumers participate in that does not involve using our products. A few examples of our
indirect competition includes concerts, movies, shopping and going out to dinner.
Target Markets & Segmentation
Target markets are essential for any business selling a product to become successful. As
stated earlier, our primary market is serious athletes that participate in sport 3-5 times a week
including males and females of all ages while our secondary market is casual athletes who
participate in sport 1-2 times a week, also including males and females of all ages. Our primary
and secondary market can be broken down to multiple other target markets due to the fact that
we feel that if we are able to tap into these markets Stealth will be an extreme success. In order
to effectively connect with these different types of consumers we must break up the target
markets into smaller sections. Segmenting our target markets is essential to the success of our
products. Segmentation allows us as a sales team and as a company to really tap into our markets
on a more personal level. Knowing the wants and needs of the many varied consumers in the
sports world will only give us an advantage over our competition. In order for successful
segmentation, we first need to assemble a world-class marketing team to ensure that all the
correct decisions are being made. Since we are a diverse sports apparel company we have many
different products, which reach across many different demographics.
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As a sports apparel company, we decided that our primary target market is going to be
serious athletes competing in sports 3-5 times a week, male and female of all ages. In order to
attract these athletes we need to make sure that we emphasize the high quality of our products.
These consumers are looking for well-made sports apparel to enhance their performance.
Associating Stealth with big-time, hardworking athletes who are on the collegiate level or
professional level will 100% entice this target market to buy our products. In order to affiliate
ourselves with these athletes we need to endorse them as well as have them as our spokespeople.
Our secondary market is casual athletes who participate 1-2 times a week who aren't
necessarily competing, but rather participating to stay active. This market reaches all ages both
male and female. It is important to keep up with what styles are “in” when dealing with these
consumers. They do not go out and look for the best products for performance, but instead they
look for aesthetics and comfort as well. Obviously, being a sports apparel company we will still
use athletes as spokespeople to reach this market. In addition to athletes, we can affiliate
ourselves with an individual similar to Jared from Subway. This will make consumers associate
Stealth with better living, staying/getting in shape, and health.
One of our main goals is to tap into the college sports industry. In order to put ourselves
in such a position our marketing strategies really have to hit home with the consumers. The
“College Student” target market is a big chunk of our overall consumers. In order to come up
with an effective sales pitch we first have to effectively break this market down into groups. As a
company, we decided that the best way to segment this group was by breaking it down by
specific sport. Since our product lines cover basketball, baseball, and football those are the sports
that we will be marketing to. Along with the marketing of these sports, we will create sales
pitches for our general products as well. Segmenting the college students by sport really allows
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us to cater to the different needs of these different types of athletes. Selling a pair of football
pants is completely different than selling a pair of basketball shorts. In order to reach this market
we will rely heavily on sponsorships and social media. Social media will be an aspect in almost
every marketing strategy that we can possibly come up with. Using everything from FaceBook to
Twitter and everything in between will be essential. Sponsorships will also play an important
role in our marketing success with this target market. Landing a contract with a big time Division
I school would be huge for the growth of our company. If we were able to sponsor a Division I
program, our gear will be seen everyday on whatever campus/campuses that we are sponsoring.
Not only will athletes be wearing our products, but also the students that attend those colleges.
The students who look up to these athletes will want to purchase what they see, which will
hopefully be Stealth.
Another extremely vital target market for us is males, ages 14-25. This particular target
market will have similar wants and needs, however it is still a bit broad for a successful sales
pitch. Our team of experts will then break up this target market into smaller pieces based on
demographics, questionnaires, and past consumer behaviors. We would take the 14-18 year-olds
and devise a market strategy to appeal specifically to them. Younger, more hip spokespeople,
new technologies, and advertising at specific times of the day (after school hours, and before late
night) will all be essential to connecting with these young males. The 18-25 year-olds will be the
second segment within this specific target market. We anticipate that there will be some overlap
but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. With this specific group we will focus on college athletes
as well as professional athletes. Focusing on college athletes will give this group something to
relate to, whether they are college athletes themselves or not. Also, focusing on professionals is
key because this particular age group tends to be avid professional league fans. In order to
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connect on another level, social media will be a very crucial piece in our marketing plan. Studies
show that social media heavily influences this group of consumers. The social media aspect
allows consumers to feel more connected to a company, which ultimately leads to a relationship
and hopefully brand loyalty as well. We expect to invest a significant amount of time, energy,
and finances in satisfying the needs of this particular target market.
On average, high school is really when playing sports become a bit more serious. High
school students are an important target market for Stealth. We view this market as a vital part to
our success because acquiring consumers at a young age leads to long relationships. In order for
a successful sales pitch we must segment this market by gender as well as age. Boys and girls in
high school have very different styles, wants, and needs. To figure out the best products for these
kids we must do research of past purchase history as well as sampling our products to them for
feedback. High school students are also very in-touch with fads so we need to be as well. A
perfect example of this was Lin-sanity. As a company we would have needed to be all over that,
producing all different types of products that had to do with Jeremy Lin. The age segmentation
for this market is a little unconventional. The kids are the first age group and their parents are the
second. In most cases, parents are purchasing clothes for their children who are in school.
Appealing to the parents is extremely important because ultimately the decision is theirs. To
connect with these parents we will have to come up with a marketing strategy that is very family
oriented. Having wholesome, non-controversial athletes as spokespeople is extremely important.
You also want the parents to be able to relate to the product as well, so having athletes from their
era be apart of the sales pitch is not a bad idea at all.
Our last major target market is senior citizens. We feel that this is an untapped market in
our industry, and would be a big breakthrough if we were able to attract this market. The first
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important part of this sales campaign is to really show that we care about this group of people.
Not many sports apparel companies are investing time or money into this target market. We
would break up this group into different segments of different types of activities. It would be
broken down for seniors who specifically enjoy playing golf or just running/walking. The
marketing campaign would be based heavily on the promotion of healthy living, living longer,
and getting more out of life. Advertising to this market would be very traditional. Newspaper
ads, sending mail, radio, and television commercials would all be utilized heavily. We would use
well-known sports icons from the past, such as Joe Namath as spokespeople, and would air our
commercials on channels that older people typically tune into. To ensure product satisfaction we
would have to hold some focus groups and find out what materials and styles are most popular
among these older consumers. All in all, we believe that having an opportunity to reach this
market would be great for our company as well as senior citizens all over the country.
Positioning
Positioning is a major component in the success/failure of a company. A successful job of
positioning is to be able to promote (a product, service, or business) within a particular sector of
a market, or as the fulfillment of that sector's specific requirements. The First decision that we
must make as a company is which athletes do we want to sponsor. Stealth obviously wants the
most well-known, popular athletes out there wearing our products. Sponsorship is a competitive
market, and we must put a lot of time and effort in trying to sign the athletes that we want. Once
we land a big-time athlete that we can sponsor, phase one is over. The next step is choosing a
spokesperson to advertise the products. It can be a real turn-off to potential consumers when a
convicted felon is promoting something. Since a big chunk of our target market is young kids we
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are going to have to find a wholesome athlete that does not surround him/herself with
controversy. The faces of our company are extremely important, which means if we do not nail
these selections on the head we could be in big trouble.
Another component of positioning is developing relationships with other companies. This
idea is extremely important to Stealth being that it is a brand new company in an already
established and competitive market. In order to create a good relationship with a company that
will benefit us publically, we will need to have to rights to associate our brand with theirs.
Hopefully, this recognition of an established company backing us up will increase our brand
equity. Since we are a sports apparel company promoting health and wellness, we decided to
affiliate ourselves with a health food store. Subway is already affiliated with many athletes and
companies, so we decided on either Trader Joe’s or Health Foods. We understand that these
stores are on the expensive end so by us running promotions it might add an incentive for people
to shop here. We also realized that their customers might have a higher price point in purchasing
items. Knowing this could allow us to tag our items higher than we normally would if we were
advertising to the general public. All of the goals of this company must have calculated steps in
order for us to reach them, and putting them on paper is the very first step. Now it’s time to get
the wheels in motion.
SMART Objectives
SMART Objectives is a key tool to use when determining what goals you would like
your company to achieve in the future. The main goals that Stealth would like to achieve is to tap
into the college sports industry, introduce two new product every year, develop sports equipment
for basketball, baseball, and football, create a footwear product line, and increase awareness of
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the company. In order to accomplish these goals we need to break them down into very specific,
measurable, attainable, reachable, and time bound statements. There are roughly 450 teams in
Division III NCAA athletics. Out of these teams we would like to acquire contracts with at least
25 of them in the next five years. Introducing two new products every year will be an ongoing
SMART objective for Stealth. Developing equipment for football is another extremely important
goal of ours. According to the National Sporting Goods Association, consumer spending on
football equipment purchases reached 136 million dollars in 2012. Stealth would like to obtain
one percentage point of this market in the next 3 years. The footwear industry raked in 48 billion
dollars in revenue in 2012. Men and women’s athletic shoes control 30% of this entire market. In
developing a footwear line, we want to consistently produce at least ten prototypes quarterly, and
sample the products to focus groups. This industry is way to lucrative to not make a valiant
attempt at getting a piece of it. Lastly, we must increase awareness of the company. Spending at
least 20 percent of our revenue in advertisement over the next 2 years will ensure that we are
putting enough time and effort in getting our name out there.
Marketing Mix Decisions (5 P’s)
Now that the decisions on the target markets and segmentations have been made through
the use of different data collection techniques, we must now make crucial market mix decisions,
these decisions will impact our whole company and how successful we will be. As stated earlier
we will be making numerous different products so it will be important for us to follow a
consistent market mix for each of our markets for these products. We must reach our markets
and segments in those markets by promoting a healthy and active lifestyle to our consumers. We
have created a similar market mix for our basketball products, baseball products, football
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products and our general products. You will notice that we are able to deliver a consistent
message to the target market and segments regardless of which product we are promoting.
Products
We will be producing many different products for each of these three main sports. For
basketball our product line will look like this: shorts, t-shirts, tank tops, socks, warm-up suits,
basketball backpacks, headbands and wristbands. For our baseball product line the products we
will be offering to consumers include pants, socks, jerseys, hats, wristbands, cage jackets. Now
finally our football line will include pants, socks, jerseys and gloves. Some of our products in
Stealth’s general product line will include running/basketball shorts, t-shirts, socks, sweatshirts,
sweatpants, duffle bags, hats, long sleeved shirts, compression gear (i.e. leggings, shirts, shorts)
and polo shirts. We currently have no plans on selling actual basketballs, baseballs, footballs,
baseball bats or gloves. We do plan on evaluating our product line continuously and if we
conclude that the time is right we will add those products to our lines as well as other innovations
we plan on developing. But currently they are not a fit; we feel it would be best to build up our
brand awareness and equity before we introduce those additional items.
Our products will go through a process called the Product Life Cycle, a four-stage cycle
that maps out the life of a product. These four stages are known as the Introduction phase,
Growth phase, maturity phase and decline phase. The introduction phase involves us inform the
consumer of the product, sales for the product are slow and profits are low because of the high
start-up costs. Then there is the growth phase where we must be able to persuade the consumer
to continue to purchase our product. During this phase sales of the product increase rapidly and
our goal will be to build consumer preference and make necessary changes or modifications in
the product; Which will be followed by the maturity stage and decline stage of our product where
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sales begin to stabilize and eventually decline. There will also be a fewer number of new
consumers purchasing our products. The goal of this stage is to remind the consumer why our
product is better than the competition. We understand the hierarchy of effects (a seven step
process that consumers are led to action) and plan to use it to our advantage by getting
consumers to be aware and prefer our product to others.
Price
With the creation of our Stealth brand we had to make a tough decision in terms of
pricing of our products. We came to the conclusions that it would be in the best interests of the
Stealth organization to follow a price skimming strategy. This strategy follows the idea that we
keep our products higher priced so we are able to reinforce the superior quality of our product
over the competition. Since we realized there is already a large competition out there for similar
products we felt if we priced our items low, we wouldn’t be able to fully reach our target
markets, organizational goals, vision and mission statements.
We concluded that the higher priced strategy would take us longer to reach the growth
stage in the Product Life Cycle because the higher price would scare away many customers at
first. That would only be temporary because they wouldn’t be unaware of our product or trust
the products we were selling them yet. Therefore many of the consumers wouldn’t consider our
product at that price when they trust spending money on similar products from companies such
as Nike, Adidas and Under Armour. But we aren’t to worried about the slower start-up times
with our company because we are confident in our ability to effectively build brand awareness,
equity and loyalty over time.
Short term we concluded it would be in our company’s best interest to do penetration
pricing (lower pricing of our products), but would be to harmful long-term for us to follow in
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that strategy. Short-term thinking we concluded it would be a good idea since it would help us
sell products at a faster rate. But when we did data research on our consumers we realized the
consumers we’d gain from following this strategy were not the type of loyal customers we were
looking for. The data indicated that these consumers generally purchase the cheaper items and
are less likely to maintain brand loyalty to products. We concluded price penetration would hurt
our brand image we want to establish of high quality products. Keeping prices that low longterm is not in the best interests for our company, so when we decided to hike the prices to where
they should be, the few loyal customers we did gain we would experience an expected loss and
have to essentially restart the process of building our brand image. We considered keeping the
prices low, but after careful analysis concluded we would be unable to reach our markets
properly because we would not have earned the proper amount of funds to promote our products
in a way that would best reach our intended markets.
Place
Proper placement of our products is viewed of the utmost importance to Stealth. Place is
associated with getting goods to the customer in an efficient manner (Shank 2009). We believe
that in order to have successful products, we must be able to reach out to the appropriate
consumers. These consumers, previously described would most likely to be shopping at sporting
good stores around the nation. We plan on working out a channel of distribution that is able to
interact to bring our products from producer to end user in efficient and cost effective means.
We will ship and sell our products to retail outlets like Modell’s Sporting Goods, The Sports
Authority, Dick’s and many more sport retail outlets. Eventually we plan to open up our own
retail stores across the nation and potentially world similar to what Under Armour, Nike and
Adidas have been able to do. Our stores would be called Stealth so they will maintain brand
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name and image. These stores will only sell items manufactured and produced by Stealth.
Practically every item we produce and sell will be sold in those stores. Our plan for introducing
these stores correlates to around the time we will be ending our growth stage and entering the
maturity stage of the Product Life Cycle. Therefore by opening these stores at this phase our life
cycle we can increase sales and continue to remind customers of our items superiority over our
competitors. This will also successfully extend the Product Life Cycle of our Stealth brand by
keeping us in the maturity stage and out of the decline stage for much longer than would be
possible without the introduction of these stores.
Promotions
Stealth has developed a complete and thorough promotion plan for our products. In the
introductory phase of the product the goal of our promotions will be to provide plenty of
information to consumers, this is essential in our ability to inform them of the Stealth Brand.
Once we get consumers aware of the Stealth brand, our promotional goals will turn to persuasion
and convincing the consumer to purchase our product; this is our promotional objective while in
the growth stage. When we enter the maturity/decline stage our promotional goals will be to
remind the consumer of the products availability and perceived benefits. The ultimate
promotional objective is to induce action, these promotions will guide the consumer through a
series of steps to reach the ultimate objective: action. We plan on using numerous forms of steps
to induce our consumer into action. Those different forms include advertising, personal selling,
sales promotions and sponsorships.
Advertising is defined as a form of one-way mass communication about a product,
service or idea, paid for by an identified sponsor (Shank 2009). Our advertisements will start out
as informative by building brand awareness and informing the consumer exactly how our
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product will be better than our competition, while maintaining relevance, originality and being
impactful. The advertising strategy will help us reach our target markets by creating ads that will
be able to reach those consumers better than our competition. We are going to be able to reach
them more effectively by creating ads that relate to them that are going to show off the benefits
of using our product for an active lifestyle over our competition. We will have many different
types of ads so that they do not become repetitive to the market. We feel there is nothing worse
than seeing the same exact ad hundreds of times. At Stealth we believe all that those ads do is
annoy the consumer and make them less likely to purchase the product. We must maintain
creativity in our ads otherwise our products will fail. Therefore our ads will include numerous
creative strategy options. Demonstrative ads early on can be extremely effective because the
consumer has no clue about the Stealth brand and what better way to show our brand off than to
show our products in use. These advertisements would likely be through electronic media. This
next strategy will not only be used in electronic media, but also in print media and on
billboards. This strategy will help us position our product correctly by promoting a healthy
lifestyle through exercise and fitness. We feel that promoting a healthy lifestyle is crucial to our
success. Social media is another way in which we can promote our products. This is a new but
very effective way to get our message and information about our product out to the public in a
cheap and timely manner.
Sales promotions will be another effective way to promote our brand. During the
introduction phase it will be a little bit more difficult since we won’t have our own stores but
rather they will be sold to retail outlets. These promotions will be offered in newspapers,
magazines and other print media sources. Social Media will be utilized the most for
promotions. Our Facebook and Twitter page will offer coupons that can be printed out on our
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website, some coupons will be available for everyone to print out, while other, more lucrative
coupons will be won through various competitions. Those coupons could be 40-50% your entire
purchase of Stealth items at any participating retail outlet, or they could be free clothing or
various other free products. These are all part of the plan to raise awareness of our brand and
stimulate demand of our product. It will become much easier to offer these promotions and more
of them when we open up our own chain of Stealth stores. These additional promotions with
our own stores may include premium offers, such as price premiums like buy one pair of shorts
get the other 75% off or non-price premiums where we give out a shirt or another product within
the Stealth product mix when you spend more than $100 at a Stealth store.
We here at Stealth feel that personal selling is a key component of any promotional
plan. It gets the consumer attention because communication is much stronger and it increases the
likelihood of long-term relationships. However that is rather difficult when we are only selling
to retail outlets. We have a plan to reach some of those customers in the retail outlets. We will
hire 10 representatives and over a 12-month period. Those ten reps will spend 4-6 hours in at
least 80% of the retail outlets selling our Stealth products. While in those outlets, at the
permission of the manager, they will talk to customers and let them know many details about our
product and create strong relationships with customers. They will also be in charge of receiving
feedback from customers. With that feedback we can adapt and change our message to better
reach our target markets.
Stealth’s brand awareness must be increased to a higher level with quality decisions on
which we must enter into sponsorships with. These sponsorships must also keep our desired
image of fitness and an active lifestyle intact. Our current plan includes sponsorships with
athletes and events as well as other organizations. These sponsorships will create a consumer
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craving to experience our products. By effectively sponsoring sporting events we can create
brand loyalty and have our message delivered clearly in the eyes of the consumers. This is all
possible because consumers identify themselves personally with sports, and we can link our
sponsorship with excitement, energy and emotion of the sporting event. Plus there is a high level
of media exposure at sporting events. Having Stealth’s brand image and basic information on an
outfield wall at Yankee Stadium could boost our sales exponentially. By sponsoring with other
organizations such as a healthy food store like Subway or other organizations that share similar
ideologies as us, we can continue to effectively position ourselves in eyes of the
consumer. Sponsoring an athlete is an extremely effective way to build brand awareness, equity
and loyalty. When Consumers see an athlete that they trust or like sponsoring a certain brand
their opinion on that brand increases, therefore making them more likely to purchase our
products.
Public Relations
In order to have an effective Marketing Mix strategy we must make sure we are viewed
positively in the eye’s of the public. This entails us maintaining strong Public Relations with our
consumers. Public Relations is defined as identifying, establishing and maintaining a mutually
beneficial relationship between the sports organization and various publics. Various publics are
divided into external (outside immediate control of marketers) and internal publics (directly
controlled by marketers) (Shank, 2009). To have an effective Public Relations strategy, we must
do numerous different items. One of those includes picking the perfect athlete to sponsor. We
need an athlete that is loved or respected by almost all fans, well known and shares similar
beliefs about active lifestyle and healthy living. Generating positive publicity around our brand
is key to all parts of our P/R plan. This will be key goal of our promotion plans that we plan on
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enacting. By creating positive feelings and press from our advertisements, promotions and
personal selling strategies. We feel another powerful public relations tool is to enhance our
company’s image through community involvement. Our company plans on sponsoring food and
toy drives as well as medical programs such as different cancer fundraisers, etc. We believe
these are all effective means to generate good publicity, which in return creates a positive
relationship between our company and the consumer.
Leveraging Market Mix
In order to have an effective Marketing Mix strategy we must make sure we are viewed
positively in the eye’s of the public. This entails us maintaining strong Public Relations with our
consumers. Public Relations is defined as identifying, establishing and maintaining a mutually
beneficial relationship between the sports organization and various publics. Various publics are
divided into external (outside immediate control of marketers) and internal publics (directly
controlled by marketers)(Shank 2009). To have an effective Public Relations strategy, we must
do numerous different items. One of those includes picking the perfect athlete to sponsor. We
need an athlete that is loved or respected by almost all fans, well known and shares similar
beliefs about active lifestyle and healthy living. Generating positive publicity around our brand
is key to all parts of our P/R plan. This will be key goal of our promotion plans that we plan on
enacting. By creating positive feelings and press from our advertisements, promotions and
personal selling strategies. We feel another powerful public relations tool is to enhance our
company’s image through community involvement. Our company plans on sponsoring food and
toy drives as well as medical programs such as different cancer fundraisers, etc. We believe
these are all effective means to generate good publicity, which in return creates a positive
relationship between our company and the consumer. (T., 2010).
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Service Decisions
Service decisions must be made in order for any company to be a success. Stealth needs
to make a conscious effort to be very consumer friendly. The Human Relations department has to
be at the highest level it can possibly be. The last thing a company needs is to have a reputation
of not treating their customers well. Providing a simple and quick phone directory, and friendly
operators for consumer issues is very important for us. Also, providing onsite equipment repairs
will expand us as a company, create more revenue, and sit well with our customers. Another
important aspect of this is deciding how our website will be set up. A lot of purchases are being
made online these days and it is imperative to have a quick and easy website to navigate through.
A website must also provide any important information, or access to information that a potential
customer might need.
Along with a website, we must utilize social media to connect and be available to
consumers. Using Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram will keep us connected with or target
markets. We will keep them posted with up to date information about the company and
upcoming promotional events. This will establish a more personal relationship between us.
Tech. Enhancements
Living in the 21st Century brings a great deal of pressure to stay ahead of the game when
it comes to technology. As a sports apparel company we need to utilize new technologies to
increase the quality of our product as well as find ways to improve logistics. Under Armour has
implemented a technology developed by SAP, which allows them to distribute footwear directly
from the factory to distributors. Other software programs tell them how to design shoes that meet
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profit goals and deadlines. Stealth would have to use technologies such as these in order to keep
up with the curve.
Other technologies that we will have to implement into our business plan deal with
product development/improvement. Technology that can produce water resistant and lightweight
materials must be utilized in order to stay competitive. Scientific technologies can be very vital
to our success as well. Knowing the science of the human body, such as arches of feet,
perspiration habits, and other nuances like these are extremely important. Using technology to
improve products based on the specific needs of athletes will enable us to produce higher quality
products, which will lead to greater performance from these athletes.
Sales
In business, sales is one of the most important components to be on top of because it
dictates how successful an organization is and will be in the future. Every business has sales
goals, and Stealth is no different. Our sales management process is designed to meet and exceed
the sales goals set forth by the organization through effective planning, controlling, budgeting,
and leadership, helping Stealth achieve its sales targets efficiently. The sales management
process involves sales planning, sales reporting, and the sales process.
In sales planning, our marketers plan for things well in advance to achieve the best
results. Here at Stealth we believe it is essential to have detailed plans, because guess work does
not help in business. Stealth makes sure that all of our sales professionals fully know and
understand the product so the consumers have more trust in what the organization is trying to sell
them. Stealth then looks to identify who the target market is for particular products to best focus
their marketing efforts. Essentially, our sales planning makes the product available to the end
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consumer at the right place and right time, and it helps the marketers analyze the consumer
demands while responding to fluctuations in the market. It is important for every business,
including Stealth, to devise the appropriate strategies to increase the sale of products.
In the sales reporting stage, sales strategies begin to be implemented. It is important for the
organization to check the effectiveness of the different strategies to find out whether they are
working as desired. Stealth also asks the sales team to submit reports of what they have done
throughout the week, as well as management sitting with the sales team on a regular basis to
assess their performance and decide future courses of action. We also feel that it is important to
map individual performance over time to gain a better understanding of our employees and the
direction of the organization. Regarding the sales process, sales representatives at Stealth work
as a single unit for maximum productivity. The belief is that a systematic approach leads to error
free work. It is also important that management at Stealth make sure the sales managers utilize
the proper medium to reach potential customers. We feel a step by step approach is the most
efficient way to conduct the process.
At Stealth, we have a unique sales method that is the foundation for how we intend to be
one of the most competitive organizations in sports apparel and equipment. Our ten fundamentals
are as follows.
1. Believing in value and importance of stealth products.
2. Only attempt to sell a product after designing a course for success.
3. Have a sales-generating system we feel comfortable with.
4. Have a sales program where we can track sales
5. Only use a process-oriented sales program
6. Be sure that reports and forms are designed for our sales program
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7. Make sure our salespeople have the specific skills necessary to succeed
8. Continuously manage our salespeople throughout the process
9. Analyze all relevant sales data on a weekly basis
10. Adjust the sales program based on the analyzed data
We at Stealth take our customer relationships seriously, and therefore have a customer
relationship management plan in place. The plan describes how our employees need to deal with
customers, as well as providing a brand image that both customers and employees can believe in.
We feel it is of the utmost importance to define employee conduct and methods of handling
customer inquiries in a way that is easy for everyone to comprehend. Also, leaving room for
improvements and adjustments results in a more effective customer relationship management
plan. Our six step process consists of...
1) How Stealth handles complaints and inquires from customers
a. Handle as many of your customers needs directly as possible
b. Use multiple forms of communication to relay information and developments to
customers
2) Learn how our competitors handle their customer relations.
a. Types of communication used by Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, etc.
3) Having a policy in place regarding how to handle communication with customers
a. Essential to building and maintaining customer relations, as well as
receiving feedback.
4) Establish financial and time budgets.
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a. Allocate time and money towards new communication technologies and employee
training
5) Establish responsibilities for each part of the customer relationship plan.
6) Determine how results will be measured and evaluated.
a. Surprise tests of Stealth employees
b. Customer satisfaction surveys
Over time, the Stealth organization will be exposed to numerous global market risks, and
therefore it is important to have a Risk Management Department that also handles Ethics and
Business conduct. It is the responsibility of Stealth to have a policy with established guidelines
for the consistent application for our code of Business Conduct and Ethics.
Policy
Maintaining high ethical standards is essential to the success of Stealth. We feel that the
company's reputation is in the hands of its employees, and honesty is crucial to ethical behavior.
Being known for our trustworthiness is fundamental to building a strong and longstanding
relationship with our customers. The basis of the code is designed to help those associated with
the organization understand what is expected in situations some may face as employees of
Stealth.
The policy does not cover all ethical issues, but Stealth takes its commitment to ethical
business conduct very seriously. The company can and will take action against those who violate
the company policies and procedures, potentially leading to termination.All management
personnel including officers and directors of the company have a responsibility to abide to the
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standards in the code, regarding both actions and words. Management personnel are expected to
adhere, as well as promote our "open door" policy. This means that they will be available to
anyone with questions, ethical concerns, or complaints.
Stealth offers a confidential alert line that any employee can call to express concerns.
Any particular issues can also be raised by contacting the Director of Risk Management. Every
concern, question and complaint is taken very seriously and handled promptly, professionally,
and with confidentiality. In no way will punishment be taken against any employee for raising a
concern or issue in good faith. The Director of Risk Management at Stealth is responsible for the
application and awareness of the code. ("Management study guide," )
Incremental Revenue
While Stealth is primarily focused on the sale of sports apparel and equipment, the
organization is always interested in finding ways to achieve incremental revenue. One way in
which Stealth plans to boost incremental revenue is by exploring the potential for sales in areas
other than sports. Inquiring about the potential for deals with any business that has employees
working in unique environments such as desert heat or arctic cold is something that the leaders at
Stealth are considering. Another route that Stealth is willing to take is potentially contracting
with military services is also something Stealth is seriously looking into. Armed forces
throughout the world find themselves in many unique environments, and Stealth wants to
develop clothing and equipment to keep them as comfortable as possible.
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Financial Analysis
The Stealth brand is a new and innovative brand that will be able to compete with other
top brands because of its unique and well thought out design. Since it is a new brand, it is going
to take some time to get our product out there in order to build brand loyalty. In time, this brand
will expand and build a well-known base, which will increase sales indefinitely. Since we are
using the price skimming strategy, our prices will be high but that ensures that we are a high
quality brand. It will be a challenge to get people on board with our products that we offer, but
once we get people there, sales will increase. We want this brand to have a positive cash flow,
which will only increase in time. We can look at why other companies failed to deliver products
that pleased people in order to make sure our products strive in the market.
Sales Projections
Sales will be slow to start because it takes time to get our product out there. However,
once we become well known, sales will increase. We have figured out a rough estimation of our
sales projections through 2018 (See Appendix). We have kept the estimated sales low at first
because it will take time for us to establish ourselves as a top-notch brand. Our main revenue
sources will be from wholesale distribution to retail stores, product licensing, and direct sales to
athletes, teams, and individuals. Until we have the sales projection for our first year, it will be
very difficult to figure out the numbers for future sales projections. However, we can look into
Nike and Under Armor, two of our competitors and see how they did their first few years.
Income Projections
Income for Stealth will come from mainly apparel but some from the accessories that will
be sold and all will have our logo on it. If we can keep our quality high, we will get a better turn
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out and income from the selling of these products will increase. We will figure out better ways
to promote it each year that will reach more people therefore increasing income yearly.
Since our prices are reasonable and are quality is high, more people will be drawn to our
products. When people see that our products are high quality, they will branch out from just
buying a shirt and will look into buying other types of apparel or our accessories. Demand for
our products will increase yearly as more people learn about our brand. Once we have enough
substantial income, we will be able to expand our product line and add new and improved
apparel and accessories but also footwear and equipment.
Expense Projections
Expenses for Stealth include manufacturing or costs of goods sold, advertising,
promotions, and sponsorships. Since we want to get our name out there, it is important to put
money into each of these expenses. With advertising, promotions, and sponsorships, we will get
more exposure to a wider variety of people who will in turn choose to buy our products. It will
cost more for the first year since a lot of money will be put into getting our name and products
out there. Manufacturing of these products will also be an expense because we want high quality
products. Some promotions we will need are advertisement spaces, banners, signs, radio
announcements, commercials, etc. When we have our brand name in many outlets, more people
will see it.
A yearly expense that may increase is manufacturing or costs of goods sold. This is
because, in time, we plan to expand our product lines to add equipment for more sports, a variety
of styles of footwear, different types of apparel, and many more accessories. With that,
manufacturing will be more because we will need to produce a larger amount of products.
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However, in time, our income should also increase which means the expense projections and the
income projections will in turn even out and hopefully we will be able to make money.
Evaluations and Control
Monitoring the mix means to make sure the five P’s, product, price, place, promotion and
public relations, are all combining in a way to ensure the same path the product is headed. For
this to happen, our brand, Stealth, must be well organized and planned out in order to ensure
success. For our company to be successful and able to compete against our competition, we
must evaluate our monthly sales and expenses to see how we are panning out. Once we see the
numbers, we will then be able to change things to make it run more successfully. We need to
make sure all our employees are doing all they can be doing to ensure success in our business.
The more evaluation and control we have over our company, the more successful we will be.
Monitoring of Marketing Mix
We will monitor out marketing mix as a whole. By providing the right kind of products
for our customers and maintaining the right price range, we will be able to get our products to the
target market. By placing our products first in a few different sporting stores, we will be able to
get our products alongside other top brands. It is important for us to keep the prices of our
product high by using the price skimming strategy, so our customers know that our quality is the
best out there and shows we are able to compete with other top brands. We know that our
customers want the best quality, and if we can get them to pay for our brand over other top
brands then that will be the key to success. Also, when our market sees that we are involved in
the community with our public relations plan and are sponsoring of top athletes then they will
begin to truly trust our brand and what we have to offer.
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Plans for Adjustment
Since this is a new brand it is going to have a slow start up because we need to get our
name out there to our consumers. It is important to have a contingency plan to make sure that
people know our products and do not forget that we are a new, high quality brand. For our
contingency plan, we have decided that if our target markets are not liking our high prices, which
can scare some people away, then we will change our strategy and lower our prices a little bit.
We do not want to lower them too much because it is important to us that people know we are a
high quality brand. Another thing we will do if we are not increasing sales like we would hope
to, is to give out more coupons and promotions to our consumers. We will need to become more
involved in our advertising and promotions and get more intricate in the community by handing
out coupons and special offers for our brand. It is very important to get people aware of our
brand so making sure people are seeing and hearing about it continuously is a key goal for us.
Anticipated Responses from Competition
We do have many competitors in this market that we are competing against. Some
include Nike, Under Armor and Adidas. It is important for us to differentiate from our
competition by being more involved with our consumers and offering more promotions. Our
competitors may see this as a threat and may do the same for their loyal customers so they do not
lose any to us. They may give out similar promotions or coupons as us or they may get more
advertisements out there. This is something that we have to be aware of and take into
consideration when maintaining our customers. Our competition is not going to leave us, so
what we need to do is make our product better and more popular than theirs.
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Appendix
Figure 1(Survey):
1)
How old are you? ____
2)
What gender are you?
3)
4)
a.
Male
b.
Female
How often do you use Stealth products?
a.
Daily
b.
2-3 times a week
c.
Once a month
d.
Every 2-3 months
e.
Once a year
f.
Never
How did your Stealth product perform?
1 (worst) 2 3 4 5 (best)
Overall Quality
Value
Purchase Experience
First Use Experience
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Usage Experience
After Purchase Service (warranty, repair, customer service etc)
5)
How important was performance on these attributes?
1 (worst) 2 3 4 5 (best)
Overall Quality
Value
Purchase Experience
First Use Experience
Usage Experience
After Purchase Service (warranty, repair, customer service etc)
6)
7)
Overall, how satisfied were you with your new Stealth product?
a.
Very satisfied
b.
Satisfied
c.
Somewhat satisfied
d.
Not at all satisfied
How would you rate our product compared to products of other companies such as Under
Amour, Nike, etc?
a.
Much better
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8)
b.
Better
c.
About the same
d.
Worse
e.
Much Worse
Based on your experience with Stealth, how likely are you to buy a Stealth product
again?
9)
a.
Definitely will
b.
Probably will
c.
Might or might not
d.
Probably will not
e.
Definitely will not
Based on your experience with Stealth, would you recommend our product to a friend?
a.
Definitely will
b.
Probably will
c.
Might or might not
d.
Probably will not
e.
Definitely will not
10) Have you ever contacted customer service?
a.
Yes
b.
No
11) If you have contacted customer service, have all problems been resolved to your complete
satisfaction?
a.
Yes, by the company or its representatives
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b.
Yes, by me or someone outside the company
c.
No, the problem was not resolved
12) Any additional comments about your experience with Stealth products…
Net Sales
16
14
Millions $
12
10
8
Revenue
6
4
2
0
2014
2015
2016
2017
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Net Income
4.5
4
3.5
Millions $
3
2.5
Net Income
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
Sources of Revenue
11%
4%
Whole Sale
Licensing
Direct Sales
85%
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Percentage by Product Line
Accessories
8%
Apparel
92%
Estimated Expenses for One Year
15%
Cost of Goods Sold
45%
15%
Promotions
Advertising
Sponsorships
25%
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http://www.managementstudyguide.com/index.html
Ozanian, M. (2012, October 17). The forbes fab 40: The world's most valuable sports brands.
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