Hey Julian,
So, here's my attempt at the homework. Just wrote everything out to make it simpler to get the information across. I think I focused a little too much on the questions. I did learn a great deal in doing this though and do feel better prepared to do similar things in the future.

Cheers,

Sonia

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Vastrm – Custom Fit, Personalized Polo shirts.

 

Business Problem and Goal for the Vasrtm project 

Business Problem: 

Consumers are unaware that Vastrm exists

Goal
Drive 100,000 people to the Vastrm site to find out more about the product by June 2013

 

 Overview:

 Question 1 - Who is Vastrm and what do they do?

 Vastrm is a polo shirt company that offers the singular service of allowing customers to personalize and custom fit their clothing according to their body shape and size. They offer various options in terms of size, color, tone, design, fabric types and special treatments.

All creations are made to order through their site and are shipped to customers within 3 weeks.

 Question 2 – Where are they?

Website: http://www.vastrm.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vastrm

Twitter: @vastrm and founders account Jonathan Tang @jontang

 Question 3 – How visible is Vastrm?

 Facebook:

Total Likes: 1106

Most Popular city: Jacarta, Indonesia (due to Sanskrit)

Age group: 25-34 year olds

People talking about it: 122

 

Twitter: 1212 Followers (mainly men)

 

 GOAL TO STRATEGY: How to increase awareness of Vastrm and their products.

 CONSUMER QUESTIONS and INSIGHTS

 -          Where in the world do people have better access to the internet? (for focus in terms of target audiences for comms campaign)

-          Where in the World do people most purchase clothing online? (online habits that help with target audience)

-          Who does more online clothing purchasing? Men or Women?

(Even though this is a men’s apparel site, it is women who purchase more of these kinds of products online. They are better informed about sizes, fabrics, trends, design and overall fit. They are also more likely to actively participate in men’s choices of clothing referring sites, brands and discount campaigns with online stores)

-          Other Demographical stats such as: Age, location (suburbs, cities, rural areas with little or no retail options), countries, etc.

-          What are consumers buying in terms of clothing?

(Are consumers more apt at buying ready-to-wear from major online stores or do they prefer personalized options in terms of clothing? Who prefers which? Which clothing products are more likely to be sold online when offered chance to customize?)

• SOLUTIONS:
  • Look into information on purchasing stats for clothing
  • Look into information for online purchasing of “made to fit”, “customized” or “tailored” clothing
  • Look into information for t-shirts, polos and similar apparel in accordance to data above.

-          When do consumers (men and women) buy?

• SOLUTIONS:
  • Look into information on online purchasing peaks (discount campaigns? Seasonal collections?)

-          Who is buying what for who?

(Are men buying their own clothes online? Are they customizing their own clothes online? Are women buying clothing for men online? Are they referring sites and online stores to men? Do they help with the purchase? Offer advice on design and fabric?)

• SOLUTIONS:
  • See selling statistics for t-shirts and polos to confirm who makes the order

 TOOLS TO IMPLEMENT SOLUTIONS:

-          Google Trends and Keyword

-          Consumer Barometer

-          Information from brand sales

 DESIRED RESULT: Complete information on online buyers (consumer profile) that will later allow for make-up of target audience for comms campaign specific to online purchasing of customized polo shirts.

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BRAND QUESTIONS and INSIGHTS

 -          Where is the brand communicating itself to consumers?

-          How is the brand communicating itself to consumers (right now, in a way very focused on the users of the clothing in itself – men).

-          Have they correctly identified their clients vs. product users?

-          What is the brand communicating to its consumers?

• Is the brand communicating its best features to consumers? (The customization process? The option to try a t-shirt on at home to get better fitting details with return option – this implies great trust in users)

 Solutions: Get info through company data; analyze information on social media sites in usage (include reactions to posts, consumer interactions, shares, etc.)

 TOOLS TO IMPLEMENT SOLUTIONS:

-          Think with Google

-          Topsy

 DESIRED RESULT: To see if the brand is being effective in its communication and if this is reflecting on wider consumer base, more awareness, more sales and better understanding of singular features.

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COMPETITOR QUESTIONS and INSIGHTS

 -          Who are the direct competitors for the product (other companies that offer customization of polos and t-shirts for the same consumer audience now identified)?

-          Where are they online?

-          How are they communicating themselves?

-          Who are their consumers/target audience?

-          What are their sales figures?

-          Where do they most sell online? To who?

-          When do they most sell?

-          What are their prices/price range?

-          How long do their deliveries take?

-          Do they offer the same services in terms of design, fitting and fabric options?

-          Are their products of better quality than ours?

 SOLUTIONS: List online t-shirt and polo customization companies that offer similar services and products; obtain market share (if possible) for main competitors; know their products inside and out in terms of quality and selling process (benefits and downfalls).

 TOOLS TO IMPLEMENT SOLUTIONS:

-          Competitor sites and social media pages (focus on content, language style, interactions with fans, shares, etc)

-          Discourse analysis and Environment tools.

 DESIRED RESULTS: Complete information on what competitors are doing to get their results. With this, see what our company is doing and results gotten to be able to come up with better insights in terms of brand positioning and communication to differentiate from competitors in terms of product quality and service.

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STRATEGY: One size and shape does not fit all – Transform clothing customization into a “normal” and “cool” process for consumers and users.

 INSIGHTS:

-          Complies with High Involvement and Feel product.

-          Promote benefits of made to fit and customized polos appealing to gender and age group that most look to individuality in clothing as a plus – aiming for “I made this to fit me and only me” kind of reaction.  

-          Focus on user and on how distinguished clothing simply makes you look better than if you were wearing off the rack t-shirts and polos.

-          Communicate this uniqueness to both genders so as to reach a broader consumer market.

-          More and better details on product quality as huge competitor differentiation point.

-          Promote uniqueness of the “fitting” process with the try-at-home service.

-          Evaluate possibility of allowing for consumer client designs to be commercialized (golf apparel patterns, for example)

-          Get users to post photos of themselves using the products (appealing to people's vanity works well...)

-          Reward “shares” and "referrals" with discounts or access to differentiated fabrics, designs, colors, tones, etc.