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A1 AGENCY
West Marine Better Together Campaign
December 8, 2015
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Team Intros Executive Summary
The Brief
The Client
External Creative Strategy and Executions
Media Plan and Budget Summary
Internal Creative Strategy and Executions
The Target
Findings, Insights and the Big Idea
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Catalina
My free time is always spent with my family, friends, or dogs. I’m stranger than I seem.
Hash
A creative who aims to express his originality with all he does. On his spare time he enjoys doodling, drawing, and design-ing.
Mariah
I’m an advertising major with knack for traveling, theater arts, and photography who doesn’t like writing short quirky bios for myself.
Sasha
I like to explore new places, new concepts and engage in new ventures.
Amanda
I’ll bring the cham-pagne you bring the glasses. I’m an ad graduate at SJSU with a focus in communi-cation studies, which means we’re chatting about media.
Le Roi
I enjoy discussing ideas and seeing what makes people tick over inebriant and caffeinated bev-erages.
Anjelica
Ad major with a love for design. In my spare time I write Kanye’s rap lyrics, fight crime and kiss babies.
Winnie
Traveling is passion and being bilingual and multicultural has perks! With that, I want to use advertis-ing as the interna-tional vehicle to reach people around the world.
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A1A is a creative agen-cy whose members come from all walks of life. Our col-lective perspectives guide our analyses and ensure pertinent and bespoke solutions re-gardless of the client. While West Marine has a sizable target audience, as outlined in their Admiral and Captain archetypes, they have yet to expand their reach to men and women ages 35-54, also known as Adventurers. While solitude and family characterize the exist-ing audience, the Adventurer is marked by a more vibrant social life and messages aimed toward them must
also be socially minded. We propose “Better Together,” a campaign centered on com-munity on the water. It pro-motes West Marine’s active life products, such as kayaks, as well as collaborative pro-grams in order for the brand to be seen as more than just a boating supply store; it’s a Water life Outfitter that puts camaraderie first. With consideration to the evolving media habits of the target, our solution effec-tively engages the Adventurer on familiar ground during a time when cause-related and social media marketing is growing.
Let’s get started
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- Create a brand story that will resonate with all customer segments and growover time.- Develop a strategy for West Marine to transition from a traditional boatingretailer to a Water life Outfitter, while staying authentic to our currentcustomers and attracting new customers.- Apply multi media channels to create a campaign to launch the reposition ofWest Marine as a Water life Outfitter to the customers and associates.- Create and develop the campaign with $100,000 as the budget.
- Introduce West Marine to the target customer: Adventurers who are men andwomen in the ages 25- 40 while maintain-ing a steady business with the currentcustomers who are men in the ages 53-65.- Utilizing water sports to create fun, ex-citing and memorable moments for thecustomers.- Create and develop external strategies towards customers to promote WestMarine as a Water life Outfitter tailored to all different types of personas.- Create and develop internal strategies targeted towards the West Marine tohelp the employers and employees within West Marine to achieve a betterrelationship.- Using the given budget to develop a successful campaign utilizing differentplatforms of social media.
The Challenge
Primary Objectives
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The adventurer is between the ages of 25 and 40. They are single and earn at least $50,000 in a year. They are experiencers and strivers. They are contemporary, trend seeking, style con-scious, variety seeking, imitative and im-pulsive. They most likely grew up around the water and have family or long-term friends who enjoy a water lifestyle. They enjoy wake boarding, wake surfing, mountain biking, rock climbing, snowboarding, longboarding, surfing, trick skiing, hiking and paddleboarding. They are heavily involved in social me-dia and like to share their experiences with others through Instagram, Twitter,
Snapchat and YouTube. Most of their time is spent working, but their free time is taken up by adventurers with friends. They do not own a boat, but they have family and/or friends who do. Exercise consists of Yoga, Pilates and Crossfit. They enjoy powerboating because it is something they can do with friends while camping and partying. They do not enjoy sailing as they find it boring, expensive or too much of a hassle. They prefer to shop online or at a small local store. They drive a newer, gas-saving sedan. Either they have never heard of West Marine or have heard of it, but have never shopped there.
adventurer
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The captain archetype is between the ages of 40 and 60. They are married, have children and earn at least $150,000 in a year. They are believers and mak-ers. They are loyal, moralistic, practical, literal, self-sufficient and responsible. They enjoy the water with their families as well as their friends. They like to kayak, water ski, hike, camp, travel. They own a boat, whether it be a powerboat
or a sail boat. They have found a good balance between work and relaxation. They use social media to keep in touch with family and friends, mostly through Facebook and twitter. They like to shop online and in-store. They own a newer, gas-sav-ing sedan as well as a truck to pull the boat trailer. They know of West Marine and may shop there, but are not loyal customers.
captain
The admiral archetype is be-tween the ages of 60 and 75. They are usually married and have chil-dren, but may be single. They earn about $250,000 and have more free time than the other archetypes. They are thinkers and achievers. They are goal-oriented, sophisticated, informed, reflective, content and traditional. They own a boat and typically prefer sailing to powerboating. They enjoy bringing their grandchildren, children and friends along with them. The have a genuine love of the water. They are well-traveled and drive a luxury car. They enjoy gardening, work-ing on their boat, and attending local wine and food festivals. They may use Facebook to keep in touch with friends. They like to do research on-line, but purchase in store. They are loyal customers of West Marine, or at least shop there frequently.
admiral
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1968companyhistory
19751977
1991
19961993
1978
West Marine was founded in 1968 by Randy Repass with the name West Coast Ropes in Sunnyvale, California. Repass began by selling nylon rope in his garage.
The first store was opened in 1975 in Palo Alto.
In 1977, the company changed its name to West Marine Products, Inc.
A wholesale division called Port Supply was established in 1978.
1991, the first West Marine stores were opened on the East Coast.
The company went public on the NASDAQ exchange in 1993.
while in 1996, West Marine merged with E&B to target a larger group of powerboat enthusiasts. West Marine is a specialty re-tailer that offers boating gear and apparel, as well as other water life-related products to consumers who enjoy spending time on or around the water.
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internalstakeholders
externalstakeholders
West Marine’s management team, board of directors, employees, and shareholders. Matt Hyde is the company’s current CEO, while Jeff Lasher is the Chief Financial Officer.
West Marine’s consumers (boating and water life enthu-siasts), financial groups and civic organizations.
market sector
$35.4 BNTotal U.S. expenditures on boats, engines and accesso-ries in 2014
71.5% of boat owners have a household income of less than 100k. In 2014.
35.7% of the U.S. adult popu-lation participated in recre-ational boating at least once in 2014.
North America accounts for the largest share in the global recreational boating market
In 2014, boat sales went up by 0.5% (534k units)
In 2014, powerboat sales increased by 6.4% (171.5k units)
Personal watercraft sales increased by 21.6% (47.9k units) in 2014
71.5% 35.7%
+.5% +6.4% +21.6%
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Marine Products Corp. designs and manu-factures fiberglass boats. Its products in-clude both pleasure and sport fishing boats. Net sales amounted to 47.98M in 2014. It has a market cap of 258.6M and accounts for 2.5% of the boat-manufacturing industry.
Strengths: Diverse and innovative product lines, strong independent dealer network, no-debt policy, niche market specialization, dealer incentive programs to control inven-tory, quality boats at lower prices
Weaknesses: Grown solely through inter-nal means, issues with generating positive returns on projects
Opportunities: Increased demand for boat-ing products, growing powerboat market, rising appeal of entry-level products/boats
Threats: Possibility of interruption of supply or change of vendors, many small competi-tors with seasonal discretionary goods that offer similar services
Brunswick Corp. is a manufacturer of rec-reational products in the marine, fitness and billiards industries. Net sales in 2014 amounted to 245.7M. It has a market cap of 4.771BN and accounts for 8.2% of the boat-manufacturing industry. Strengths: Reasonable product valuation, general knowledge of several fields
Weaknesses: Limited differentiation of products, repeated recalls of products (compromise on quality), lack of a strong core, highly unionized workforce
Opportunities: Increased demand for both fishing and top-end boats, appeal to varying markets and demographics
Threats: Loss of customers due to low switching costs and competitor niche specialization, debt-to-equity higher than industry average
competitor review
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REI carries outdoor and sporting goods equipment. They stand for a life outdoors and they have 122 stores in 32 states. In 2014, net sales amounted to 2.2 BN.
Strengths: Strong brand name, innovative culture, high quality apparel, knowledge-able staff, unique employee benefits, maintenance of consumer loyalty through memberships
Weaknesses: High prices, capital invest-ments limited to private investors, too many people involved in the company
Opportunities: Functioning as the first sporting goods store through a consumer cooperative, leveraging consumer rela-tionships.
Threats: Limited financial resources (com-pany has not gone public) that could make it difficult to make the co-op transition
Bass Pro Shops is a leading outdoor retail-er that offers sporting and outdoor goods to fishing, hunting, camping and golfing enthusiasts. They have 94 retail stores in the U.S. and in Canada. Net sales amount-ed to 4.25BN in 2014. Strengths: Wide array of products, strong brand name, employee loyalty, well-edu-cated sales force
Weaknesses: Limited amount of specialty products, conservative management, higher cost than that of competitors
Opportunities: Large market growth, changing demographic, new technology
Threats: Substitute and specialty stores that offer the same products and more
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Brand Value PropositionWest Marine is committed to being the best supplier of boating-related prod-ucts for recreation on the water, as well as to providing relevant content and superior customer service both in-store and online. They offer a wide selection of boating and water recreation prod-ucts through physical stores and two ecommerce sites, which makes them a lead omni-channel specialty retailer in the industry. Brand IdentityWest Marine is positioned to “own the water”. They provide everything for life on the water.
brand value and identity
comms barrier 1 comms barrier 2 comms barrier 3
comms task 1
tactics 1
comms task 2
campaign idea
positioning
business problem
tactics 2
comms task 3
tactics 3
West Marine is not noticed by their target audience.
“Adventurers” and new-comers to the water lifestyle don’t understand West Marine’s relevance.
West-Marine is the all-inclusive store for the water lifestyle
West Marine is the source that brings people togeth-er through water recreational activities
Create bigger brand awareness for West Marine.
Use social media and the internet to push people to come together and join the water lifestyle.
Some water sports are done alone.
Show why being together with others on water is more enjoy-able
Print and digital ads: “some things can’t be done alone,” “some things are better to-gether”
The target audience doesn’t understand the relationship be-tween West Marine and having fun together on the water.
Create work meetups for em-ployees to bring people to-gether in watersports activities.
Use Facebook, our campaign and work meetups.
brand architecture
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Communications and Messaging
West Marine has a fully integrated marketing program that includes social media, direct mail, mobile technology, and traditional and digital advertising. Their proposition lies in a wide array of product offerings, friendly and knowledgeable customer service, and both online and offline shopping convenience. The company offers its products to consumers in the marine/boating industry through its stores, catalog, Internet and wholesale divisions.
Budgeting/Allocation
In 2014, West Marine’s net sales totaled to 675.75M, while the cost of goods sold were 482.56M. The gross profit was 193.18M, a 0.8% increase from 2013 (191.64M). Sales have been driven by increased marketing efforts, a larger assortment of products, and improved in-store and online shopping experiences. However, selling, general and admin expenses amounted to 188.75M in 2014, as opposed to 175.9M in 2013. This indicates that more of the budget was spent (+7.3%) than in the previous year on SG&A. The budget was spent on employee ben-efit expenses, increased share-based compen-sations and higher unit buying. As for our cam-paign, we have been allotted a 100k budget, which will be spent on promoting the “Better Together” theme through both traditional and digital media.
communication, messaging and budget
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Findings and Insights:
- People enjoy sharing experiences with family and friends.- People do not need to own a boat to participate in water recreation- Low brand awareness/brand loyalty with the adventurer archetype Big Idea:
We aim to promote the concept of community, which includes family, friends and anyone else who shares a bond. This led us to the “Better Together” campaign. Our campaign centers around the relationships that make life on the water even more valuable and memorable. We want to position West Marine as the source which unites people and pushes them to realize their greatest potential when doing things together.
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The purpose of our external cre-ative strategy is to communicate with our target market, The Adventurer, by reaching out to them in the widest and quickest way possible - through social media and the Internet. The reason behind using social media as our main source of advertising is due to the wide use of social media with all age groups and demographics that West Marine’s current campaign is not reach-ing. Through our research we found that the driving force to participate in water life is to spend time with others, inspiring the “Better Together” cam-paign. This campaign was inspired by all of the misadventures and mishaps that occur when spending time with friends and family. With our campaign, we plan to show that West Marine is the best outlet to create memorable water experiences together with family, friends and community. West Marine is currently the leading specialty shop for life on the water. A1A wants to broaden this con-
cept by making the brand relatable to all potential customers without losing sight of current customers. We intend to execute this plan through YouTube, Facebook and Instagram ads and promotions. The overarching concept being when it comes to life on the water, being together is the best way to go. Our Better Together concept will also boost sales by en-couraging the customer’s family and friends to buy more merchandise in order to share their experiences. The social media campaign will also promote local beach meet-ups hosted by West Marine in six specifically chosen major cities. This idea was inspired by research which showed Adventurers do not commit to big purchase items without sam-pling them beforehand. These meet-ups will give them, their friends, and their family a chance to try out prod-ucts by West Marine, establishing West Marine as a top tier company for water life products on their brand ladder.
External Strategy and Executions
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Using Facebook advertising is very important because it is the most widely used social media network in the United States today. Even with a small budget, it is possible to reach thou-sands of people that fit specific targeting criteria. With Facebook, we can use an optimized cost per mille which shows our ad to the people which they believe are the most likely to take
action to it. Facebook does this by tapping into pages people like, demographics, and even activity and websites used off of Facebook. It also offers an easy way to share the Youtube video advertisement, making it shar-able between the various Face-book users.
With Facebook we are able to use a combination of graph-ics, text, and videos to reach our customers. With the abil-
ity to share these posts with a click makes it easier to reach potential core-customers family and friends also. These Face-book advertisements will also make it easy to boost e-commerce or planned meet-ups with the click of a button.
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When interviewing consumers, we realized that Instagram is frequently used by our adventurer audience for not only socializing, but for viewing beautiful imagery and keeping up with brands they love. We wish to create a solid brand message on Insta by creating cohesive beautiful imagery that ties into our Better Together Campaign. We picked 3 main topics to cover when upload-ing instagram photos.
The top posting theme is images of people “togeth-er” having fun on the water. In every image with people, it’s important to make them have two or more individuals. This makes water sports appear “social”. Also, images of marine conservation and cleaning up our beaches. This is a good way to promote how West Marine contributes to both the environment and promot-ing the youth boating grant. The last topic would be
promotional coverage of our events or merchandise. But we would limit this cat-egory as to not seem like we’re selling something. Besides uploading our own content, we will also use other photos with the hashtag #WeAreWest-Marine. This will allow us to share other users photos and it also encourages not only the use of our hashtag but helps spread awareness of our brand.
Old instagram in back compared to our re-vamp
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When interviewing consumers, the Adventurer is not the only one using the internet. Almost everyone re-searched a topic before buy-ing and also uses the internet to compare prices and read user reviews. Right now West Marine doesn’t have a real blog. They have West Advisor articles but they are hidden deep down in
their webpage. We wanted this blog to found on West Marine’s main webpage and to cover a wide range of topics. Broad topics like “How to choose a Kayak” to certain product reviews. This will help drive traffic and also ease the shopping process for the consumer online.
blog
The back photo pictures the current West Marine articles. The left pictures one of Patagonia’s blogs which we aspire to visually.
This is a mock of West Marine’s new website look. The blog would be easily ac-cessable on the homepage instead of burried deep in the website.
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Youtube in-stream adver-tisements are a great, cost efficient way to tailor our campaign to water-activity enthusiasts. Putting ads before water-activity re-lated videos will increase brand awareness for West Marine. These videos are also easily shareable on all
social networks, including Facebook.The Youtube video encom-passes the idea of “Better Together,” showing how fun and invigorating life on the water is when you share it with others. Clips of the video will be posted on Instagram and Facebook
youtube
with links to the full video. In the description of the video on YouTube will be a link back to the West Marine in order to drive traffic to the website.
These photos are the storyboard of a West Marine Advertisement. It shows the humorous struggle of first time paddle boarders.
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A problem that we discov-ered through our internal research is that there are many employees who are not passionate enough about West Marine or cannot relate to West Marine’s mission. With no passion there can be no drive to improve West Marine’s sales. Our main goal for our internal campaign is to inspire employees by provid-ing them with a mission that they can relate to -bringing the commu-nity together, allowing them to fully immerse themselves into the brand. In order to do this we will create a login page on westmarine.com specifically for employees, which will lead them to pages that allow them to see their schedules, switch shifts with coworkers, and view an event calendar. The on-
line area will also include message boards and employee product review pages. This will create an interactive community in which employees can communicate and engage more with the West Marine website. We will also be working with the various affiliates that rent out West Marine’s products to further boost our relations with them. The internal strategy will intertwine with the external strategy, offering a competition for the loca-tions surrounding the cities hosting the Beach BBQ*. The employees are an integral factor of our campaign, these events and revamped website will help promote team bonding for the stores, without necessarily tag-ging them as team building exercis-es.
Internal strategy and executions
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internal
10 AM 11:30 PM: Set up12 PM 6 PM: Open to the public12 PM 6 PM: Rentals available12 PM 6 PM: Catering (first come first serve)3 PM 6 PM: Live Music, Activities (water/non water)5:30 PM 6 PM: Last Call for purchases6 PM 7 PM: Clean up
The cities chosen to host the beach event are:
San Francisco, CASan Diego, CANew York, New YorkJersey Shore, New JerseyMiami, FloridaChicago, Illinois
While promoting the “Better To-gether” campaign, we will start to pro-mote a special beach event, from May to July, with the event taking place throughout the third week of July. The beach events will promote our big idea by bringing together family and friends while meeting new people. Food will be provided via local catering services, along with live music and locally hired DJ’s in order to keep with our theme of community. Non-watersport equipment, such as volley-ball nets and frisbees, will be provided for entertainment while attendees are not on the water. This event will also be dog friendly because we view dogs as a part of the family, so the events
will need to be hosted at dog -friendly locations. We will provide water bowls, balls and other toys for four -legged friends. Water sport equipment will be available to sample, provided byrental affiliates who buy from West Marine. West Marine will sell products the customers have sampled at the event which will be on sale for a dis-counted price. If guests choose not to purchase any West Marine products at the the event, they will be given a coupon for a discounted purchase that they can use at their local West Marine store.
Beach Event
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The internal campaign will in-clude the “Captain’s Log”. This will be a separate login page and landing site for the employees to access their individual schedules and view the event calendar. There will also be an online fo-rum for West Marine employees to talk to one another and access information or tips on certain products they might not know about. This will not be a sepa-rate website, but a branch of the exist-ing West Marine website. By catering to employees needs are, employee reten-tion rates will go up along with ratings of interactions and reviews between employees and customers. The Event Calendar will show upcoming West Marine exclusive events for the employees. For example, a kay-ak excursion, where employees will be
able to sample out their new kayaks and be better equipped to handle customers and give them a good customer service experience. Events can be controlled by West Marine as a whole or micro-man-aged depending on store-to-store needs. The dates and times for the beach event will also be available to the par-ticipating stores on this event calendar. The store that has the most percentage of employees attending their local beach event will be awarded a day trip spon-sored by West Marine. These day trips will represent how being together is bet-ter when it comes to life on the water.
The Captain’s Log
media plan and budget
social media
total
Facebook: $10,000 May - July to advertise beach event
Youtube: $20,000In-stream advertisements are $0.10 per view and West Marine will only pay if the viewer watches the entire ad. Instagram: No Cost, owned mediaWe will be using the West Marine account to post pictures and video clips on Instagram rather than paying for advertise-ments
West Marine’s Revamped Website: $1000 - $2000
Live Music from local disc jockey/local band: $4500$150 per hour x 6 cities (Five hours total, three hours of music, two hours for travel, setup and takedown)
Catering: $24,000$20/person x 200 = $4000 x 6 cities = $24,000Research showed the average for catering services is about $20 per plate. We multiplied this by 200 guests as an estimate and then multiplied by the number of cities in which we will host these events.
Non-Water Activities: ~$900Cost for providing volleyball equipment and frisbees for off-water entertainment + Hidden Costs: $5000
Beach BBQ Competition Prize: $3000 per winning store x (6 locations) = $18,000
beach BBQ$52,400
$32,000
$84,400
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summary West Marine wants to expand toward a younger tar-get audience but lacks brand recognition among them. The call for unity resonates with a generation that is partial to cause-related marketing and A1A hones in through our “Better Together” campaign. The promotion of social media posts and events will acquire more Adventurers, who are comparatively more tech-savvy than the existing audience, and engage with them at level to which they are already accustomed. Blogs
would further engage with the audience and decrease the bounce rate while providing value. The Beach BBQ fleshes out West Ma-rine outside of the store, increases brand awareness and reputation, and show-cases more West Marine products. Through our Cap-tain’s Log, internal stake-holders are brought on board with our unity theme, ensuring a consistent mes-sage throughout West Ma-rine. Employees are further
incentivized through com-pany events whose atten-dance may be rewarded with trips. Upon monitoring the success of different localized paid social media ads, West Marine may bet-ter see which regions are more profitable and which require further attention. Through user feedback on blogs and events, the out-of-store campaigns may be better tailored for future direction.
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