University of Geneva Certificate in Branding and Digital Marketing assignment for Prof. Langner. Lululemon's brand identity analysis using Esch's Brand Steering Model Seza AYDIN ONUR

1. +
Lululemon
Athletica
Brand Steering Wheel
Seza AYDIN-ONUR
UNIGE CAS Branding & Digital Marketing

2. +
2
The Company

Founded in 1998 by Dennis “Chip” Wilson in
Vancouver Canada

It designs technical athletic apparel and runs its
own retail operations

The company owns 211 retail stores in US,
Canada, Australia, China, Singapore, New
Zealand, Germany, Netherlands and the UK

14% of revenues come from its online store
www.lululemon.com

6383 employees in 2012

Net revenue has increased from $40.7 million
in fiscal 2004 to $1,370.4 million in fiscal 2012

This success has its root on its strong brand
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/LULU/2929469585x0x677637/64A2CB6B-0B78-41FD-A536B99C8245F022/2012_Annual_Report.pdf

3. +
The Story

The founder “Chip” discovers yoga and finds out that the cotton clothing most
yogi’s use, is a misfit

Opens a store in Vancouver, designing its own technical yoga outfits

The store becomes a yoga studio at night

The deep yoga connection grows with the brand

To this date lululemon maintains a close relationship with yoga instructors and
studios

4. +
The product offering

The company is most famous for its women’s yoga pants

5. +

Roots in yoga
Premium and feminine

Distinctive in-store experience

Community

lululemon athletica
stands for leading a
healthy, balanced and
fun life.
Innovative technical materials

The Brand:

Focus on personal growth

Education

6. +
Brand Facts

Superior technical
product

Stores offering an
athletic experience

Staff offering
educations

Community roots
through
professional
trainers

Premium
positioning

7. +
The Manifesto
All values of the brand constantly
communicated
An evolving manifesto visible at all brand
contact points
Successful brand story telling

8. +
The media mix

The brand heavily relies on two non-traditional channels to communicate
its brand message:


Social media tools
Community: Yoga studios and ambassadors

To this date, there is no use of TV or radio

The print ads run only in niche sports and health magazines
Print
Online
Mobile
Social
Community
In-store
Events

9. +
Print Advertising
Used in few, niche athletic magazines, primarily in the US and Canada

10. Online
+
www.lululemon.com as e-commerce, company and brand site

11. Clear and multiple path presentation of
products
Organized by newness, gender, run/yoga,
fabric and product type
Commerce
Communication
Equal emphasis on communicating brand values
and community tools
“Education” about the brand identity and also
product characteristics
“Education” about yoga
Links to community, ambassadors, yoga studios
Link to the blog, where the community comes
together

12. +
Mobile - OM Finder app
Directs the user to a yoga studio nearby
Supports the yoga community by presenting studios, teachers

13. +
Social - The Blog yoga. run. life. blog.
Covering the whole lifestyle, communicating brand values
Tips on cooking
Sponsored events
Practical guides on yoga and running
Content by ambassadors, community

14. +
Social - Facebook page of the brand
Always in tune with www.lululemon.com
Links to other social tools: the app, the blog, online OM finder, Instagram
Almost 1.000.000 likes
Able to generate “talks”

15. +
Social - Facebook pages of stores
Each store has its own Facebook page
Allowing a community to gather around the store
Increasing relevancy to consumer
Considerable number of likes for each store

16. +
Social - Twitter homepage
Inline with the blog and the facebook page
Also directs to twitter accounts for each country
Almost 600.000 followers
Regular communication of brand values through hash-tags like ♯thesweatlife

17. +
Social - Instagram homepage
Utilizes brand’s visual heritage
Directs to the blog
Almost 500.000 followers

18. Community
+
Close relationship with yoga, pilates, personal training, cross-fit, running
instructors
Free products, receive feedback for design
Constant co-promotion: OM finder, in-store classes, ads, blog
Ambassador as a presenter for the brand/products

19. +
In-store
Each store serves as a meeting point for the community
Every week the store turns into a yoga studio for a free class
Every week there is a weekly run initiated from the store
Each employee serves as a mentor for the clients with goal setting sessions
and practicing what the brand preaches.

20. +
In-Store - The Shopping Bag
Successful use of the reusable shopping bag to continue communicating brand
values
Became an urban phenomenon
With lululemon even when not wearing lululemon

21. +
In-store – The Store Front
Very “verbal” store front
Banners form the manifesto, current campaign

22. +
Events
Open air yoga sessions (this one in Central Park, NY) initiated by lululemon
A half marathon, initiated by lululemon
Experimenting with professional athlete sponsorships: Lululemon bike team, US
men’s beach volley sponsorship

23. +
Formal Integration
Very poor formal integration
Logo is used in a different color in
different places
Sometimes “lululemon”, sometimes
“lululemon athletica”, sometimes just
the logo
Each store looks different

24. Content Integration
Always a women ambassador
+
Usually a famous yoga instructor
Doing a yoga pose
The name of the pose
Logo at the bottom, without name
“yoga.love.run.peace.” tagline

25. +
Not so unique visuals
This is an extract from one of the brand
ambassador’s personal page
The same yoga instructor has posed similarly
for Nike, with better product display

26. +
Line Extentions
Extending into Running
Extending into Men

Successful extention

Unsuccessful extention

Similar problems on the product
side with similar solutions:

Due to high association of
femininity with the brand

Choosing running, a highly
competitive market, instead of
yoga, lululemon’s more
established area



Competitors focusing on first
men, then women
Benefit of technical fabrics for
female runners
Shares the same brand values

27. +
Based on online
research and
online
presentations

28. +
Positioning
Statement
lululemon
Creating
components for
people to live
long, healthy and
fun lives.

29. +
2013: The year of major damages to
the brand

Tremendous, continues growth up to this point

Hindered by a product quality issue:




The iconic yoga pants are sold
See-through problems
Acting too late to recall the products
The problem arises a second time

Change in management, hurting investor trust

Major damage to the brand by founder:

Accuses customers of being too fat, therefore
stretching the pants to much

30. +
Effects of the crisis
The ever increasing stock price comes down, has not
recovered since.

31. +
Effects on the brand

The quality issues damage the “superior technical product”
perception

The insult on customers alienates customers, damages the
community, belonging feelings
AS A RESULT:

The “premium” price now perceived as “expensive” by
customers

The consumers’ brand steering wheel shifts for the first time

Competitors fill in quickly

32. +
Lululemon’s
Brand
Steering
Wheel
According to Lululemon,
Customers

33. +

34. +
Brand Attributes
Offer’s Attributes

Technical athletic wear

Company’s Attributes
Superior fit and style
Community support

Lifestyle guidance
Designer of better fit technical
wear



A member of the community

35. +
Brand Benefit
Functional Benefit
Psycho-social Benefit

Better look, better fit

Self-esteem

Enhanced athletic performance

Accomplishment

A healthier life

Belonging

Increased fitness

Sophisticated image

Durable products

36. +
Brand Tonalities
Personality
Experiences
Relationship

High self esteem

An educator

Yoga

Committed

Part of the lifestyle

Pushing the limits

Self-actualizer

Perseverance

Feminine

Relaxation

Demanding

Fitness

Affluent

Goal-setting

37. +
Brand Iconography
Visual
Acoustic
Heptic

Slim fit women

“Luon” fabric on skin

Yoga instructors

Sweat
Yoga poses

The manifesto

Sophisticated style
Mystic yoga tunes (instore, yoga studio)



High tempo gym music
(at the gym)

38. +
Brand Competence

lululemon athletica stands for
leading a healthy, balanced and
fun life.

39. + Brand Steering Wheel According to Lululemon
What do I offer?
•Better look, better fit
•Self-esteem
•Accomplishment
•Belonging
•Sophisticated image
What are my attributes?
•Technical athletic wear
•Superior fit and style
•Community support
•Lifestyle guidance
WHO ARE WE?
Creator of
components
for people to
live long,
healthy and fun
lives.
How am I?
•Self-esteemed
•Self-actualizer
•Demanding
•Affluent
•An educator
How do I appear?
•Slim
•Fit
•Sophisticated

40. + Brand Steering Wheel According to Customers
at the end of 2013
What do I offer?
•Expensive yoga wear
•Better look, better fit
•Self-esteem
•Accomplishment
•Belonging (for the fit)
•Sophisticated image
What are their attributes?
•Yoga wear
•Superior fit and style
•Community support
•Lifestyle guidance
WHO ARE WE?
Expensive
yoga clothing
for skinny
women
How am I?
•Too much self-esteemed
•Self-actualizer
•Demanding
•Affluent
•An educator
How do I appear?
•Skinny
•Fitness-addict
•Sophisticated

41. +
Suggestions
The target brand steering wheel
Future steps

42. +
Investing in brand awareness
“Old” Media



IMC
Invest in TV, radio, mainstream
print media

Emphasize the brand icons and
values

Display the name consistently

Change store design to achieve
unity
Ignore sport disciplines,
ambassadors
Decide on the name!

Drop “athletica”

43. +
Extention into new sports

Keeping the feminine focus

Solving design problems

Benefiting from fabric
technology

Building independent
communities around each sport

Offering experiences for each
sport

44. +
Rebuilding trust through innovation
Product

Introducing a convincing,
continuous array of new
products

Innovative design

Employ “fat” store staff

Display non-fit figures in the
store

Focus on “healthy”
Improved fabric

Community

45. + Suggested Brand Steering Wheel
What do I offer?
•Premium athletic wear
•Better look, better fit
•Self-esteem
•Bravery for life
•Belonging
•Sophisticated image
WHO ARE WE?
The premium
technical
athletic
company for a
healthy life
What are their attributes?
•Design innovator
•Superior fit and style
•Community support
•Lifestyle guidance
How am I?
•Confident
•Self-actualizer
•Feminine
•Fun
•Affluent
•An educator
How do I appear?
•Healthy
•Active
•Sophisticated

46. +
Control

47. +
Print Ads

A test to improve the print ads
is essential

Different versions of logo/name
combinations

Better placement of logo
through eye-tracking tests

48. +
Brand Awareness

Lululemon is increasingly using
the logo alone

Brand awareness test to
discover if the target groups
can recognize the logo alone,
with lululemon, with lululemon
athletica

49. +
Brand Resonance

Quantitative tests to discover
brand resonance, especially
after the crisis

No qualitative tests are required
for the clients due to well
functioning community
channels

50. Thank you!
+
It was difficult and fun at the same time!
Seza AYDIN-ONUR
sezaaydin@gmail.com