MAC Brand Analysis Essay

1.0 Introduction The cosmetic industry is very competitive industry where product benefits and brand image are keys to success. The purpose of this report is to present an analysis of the brand M.A.C and its product lipstick with focus on T-C-B and I-D-U analysis, a clear positioning statement and target audience (s) including brand loyalty categories. The purpose at the end of this assignment is to have an understanding of what objective M.A.C needs to focus on for a creative strategy in the second part of this assignment. 2.0 Brand & Product Description The type of product selected for the positioning exercise is lipstick; the specific brand selected is M.A.C cosmetics owned by Estlee Lauder Corporation. It is noted that â€Å"lipstick† is a product description and is not owed but the company thus demonstrating M.A.C is one brand corporation. To determine if M.A.C has a strong market positioning within the women’s cosmetic industry particularly with their lipstick product both secondary research (trade publications) and individual â€Å"depth† interviews were conduct (see Appendix A ), and will be used for evaluation and conclusion. 3.0 Analysis The tools/models used for determining M.A.C’s market position were T.C.B & IDU models. The T-C-B model was used as a baseline for a serious of questions to guide a particular set of respondents that M.A.C caters for and is aiming to achieve a strong market position in this select category. 3.1 T-C-B 3.1.1 The Target Customer (T) Positioning The primary target demographic for any brand of lipstick is female. The types of consumers that are interested in bold colour selection, wanting to feel sexy and fashionable and want a lipstick that fit into their own personal style are M.A.C’s target audience. Thus the respondents used for this analysis are young fashionable conscious individual who seeking a look without compromising on the fashion trends. 3.1.2 The Category need (C) Positioning There are many needs that the product lipstick needs to satisfy to the consumer. The general needs that all lipstick must fill are coverage or â€Å"staying power† and hydration (lips not drying out) this was concluded form appendix A. The needs that M.A.C lipstick specifically fills can be divided into physical needs and the emotional needs. The most important physical needs as identify by â€Å"in-depth interviews† were a good range of colours and appealing packaging. The most important emotional needs stated through in depth interviews were the social and individual needs. 3.1.3 Benefits (B) Positioning To conclude that the following Key benefits were important to M.A.C target audience and the company and fill the category needs were drawn from the various responses from the in-depth interviews. These benefits are a â€Å"way in† to increase and maintain the target market (T). M.A.C fills the physical need being the large range of colours of lipstick by having the largest range of lipstick colours with 136 shades in their permanent collection not including the releases of new limited every few week. Compare to Bobbi Brown have only 36 shades in their permanent collection and Chanel which has 67 shades this was discovered through secondary research and by confirming this with in-depth interviews.When comparing the pictures of various packaging of different brands of lipstick in the in-depth interviews stimuli used to help identify benefits of the lipstick category to understand the various competing it was concluded that M.A.C packaging as describe by the respondents as simple , plastic/glass, eye-catching, chic, stylish and high product. Social needs is satisfied by belonging to a group. M.A.C associates itself with fashion, prestige beauty and youth culture and markets their product through testimonials and word of mouth via fashion shows and celebrities. Consumers who use M.A.C lipstick are â€Å"automatically† introduced to the M.A.C culture and their social need is satisfied. The need of individual is the biggest focus of M.A.C lipstick. An individual may have a need for self-expression and this is expressed by fashion and style. M.A.C realised that it could satisfy this need by simple product packaging made of plastic or glass; products have straight forward names and trend setting colours. 3.2 I-D-U Analysis 3.2.1 Central versus differentiated benefit positioning M.A.C lipstick adopts differentiated positioning on at least one important benefit. For instance M.A.C is functionally different bright range of colours and its target user is â€Å"individualists who express through fashion†. Rather than central positioning as the women’s industry is so competitive and to be successful M.A.C lipstick positioning will deliver better results for the corporation. As M.A.C lipstick is not seen as the consumer as â€Å"best of its kind† through in-depth interviews. 3.2.2 Emphasized benefit: Instinctual, archetypal, emotional or rational The benefit to be emphasized as the key benefit of M.A.C lipstick is the large range of colours to select from. This is emphasized as an both a functional benefit and emotional benefit proposition and uses type 2 of emotion. As M.A.C lipstick uses the strong appeal of being fashionable and sexy with a large range of colours to choose from as a transformational positive ending motivating emotion as evidence by the in-depth interviews. 3.2.3 Entry-tickets benefits The benefits what the consumer expects for M.A.C is to have a large range of colour for being a lipstick product category. However the consumers of M.A.C lipstick are told that M.A.C lipstick have the biggest range of colours through the professional make-up artist as employees through the M.A.C social network (twitter, Facebook) It was concluded that M.A.C lip colour range is the key benefit that make M.A.C should focus on promoting to the target consumer as it is the closes to the â€Å"ideal brand in that benefit when comparing 5 other brands. M.A.C clear delivery of the range of lip colours and their uniqueness set them apart from other brand. 4.0 Positioning Statement & Target audience 4.1 Positioning statement Determine the positioning statement for M.A.C from the TCB and IDU analysis the findings from the brand analysis are the following; The competitors of M.A.C are not just the leaders in women’s cosmetics lipstick but range from all companies that have a stake in the cosmetics industry. A perceptual map was devised from the in-depth interviews for an easy diagram showed all the competitors. (Appendix) These are all the competitors that must be taken into consideration when developing the positioning statement. Using the Rossiter-Percy-Bellman Grid it is establish that the product is acceptable in the low involvement, transformational sector this was further confirmed with the in-depth interviews. The attribute that were important to the consumers when evaluating the product of women’s lipstick these were discovered as; fashionable, sexy, range of colours, smoothness, staying power and hydration these where then rank or delivery and uniqueness by the top 5 main competitors and no-brand as all the other competitors see appendix B and C. Based on the IDU analysis and consumer research see appendix A, B &C it was determined how each competitor is positioned in the vision of the consumer. The top two main competitors of M.A.C were to be considered as Chanel and Bobbi Brown based on both higher end pricing and a large colour option pallet and are to be consider the leaders in the women’s cosmetics:- lipstick industry. So M.A.C needs to offer the consumer something very unique in the positioning statement to have brand differentiation to increase and maintain the target market. The various factors that distinguish the M.A.C consumer and their lifestyle, their purchase motivations and their different attributes that are important to them were concluded from the research (Appendix A). The positioning statement:- M.A.C is the women’s cosmetic brand that provides consumers lipstick to women who are 18-30 and belongs to the socioeconomic class of middle-high (T), M.A.C lipstick satisfies the need of self-expression in every women to be fashion forward and be accepted in the M.A.C culture (C) M.A.C’s benefit intention is to have the largest selection of lip colours, the most fashion forward of its kind in the industry and be artistic and creative for all women. (B) M.A.C needs to constantly work on their positioning statement to increase their brand market share via T-C-B & I-D-U brand analysis by doing this the company can always increase the perceived delivery of the M.A.C lipstick. 4.2 Target audience The target audience should be broadly described as 18-35 female in the middle-high social economic class. These are the follow segments that M.A.C is enter in with their differentiation marketing. M.A.C divides the market of their lipstick product into demographic segmentation being female and a specific age group because over 90% of their users belong in this specific category. However the product is not limited to this demographic segmentation. M.A.C furthermore divides the market on the basis of personality being fashion forward, artistic and creative which is a form of psychographic segmentation. The buying situations in which target market purchase M.A.C lipstick (that were discovered form in-depth interviews) where; outlets both direct through online shopping and in-store department store (David Jones), benefits sought as in the large colour range M.A.C product provides.. The consumers of M.A.C lipstick are brand loyals, however they can be routinized favourable brand switchers as well this is due to the positioning of M.A.C lipstick in the Rossiter-Percy-Bellman grid.