Corporate Strategic Communication: Laline

1. Corporate Strategic Communication: Design an information campaign to position a company of your choice. Analyze the company’s current situation (using SWOT analysis). What would be the strategic objectives, target audience campaign strategy and marketing communication tools? What would be the media objectives and media selection in support of the objectives, the message strategy and other marketing communications tools that you would use to support the strategy? Refer to the model in Moriarty in outlining the campaign, (Mitchell and Wells 9th edition pp. 221-238, 263-271) .

About laline:
Laline, a successful international boutique store, specializes in aromatic bath & body care products for body and soul.

Laline’s beauty line was created by two Israeli cousins who had a solid friendship and made their dream come true with the opening of their first store in 1999. The strong family connection and the feminine bond are uniquely reflected in the warm and welcoming customer experience offered in more than 60 Laline boutiques worldwide.

Laline’s products are a balanced work of art consisting of blending only the finest ingredients of nature together with innovative research and science. Committed to quality, Laline uses essential oils and scents sourced in the Provence region of France and mineral salts from the Dead Sea, and marries them together until they reach perfect aroma and texture. Laline prides itself on being a cruelty-free company.

Target audience
With special collections for men, babies, girls and women of all ages, the Laline line of products appeals to all family members. Laline offers a significant variety of original scents that were created especially for the company and a wide selection of products that include soaps and candles, lotions and fragrances, accessories and loungewear- all beautifully packaged in vintage chic recyclable containers. swot

Leader in the category of beauty and care products for body and soul in Israel Is an important element in the Israeli market gifts and is positioning itself as The ultimate choice for gifts category.

Laline offeres a family experience that everyone can afford. The Stores are designed according to the concept, chavy- chic white And are located in prime locations as part of the network’s strategy to be on the main avenues of shopping malls and leading shoping centers. 2007.

* The Category of mind and body Nurture did not exist and never been defined. * a study for the brand showed that awareness for the category and differentiation between various brands did not exist. * Laline Was the youngest and the smallest player on the market. Only a quarter of women In Israel heard about Laline and only 13% of them visited the stores. Courses of action

* Take ownership on the body and soul nurturing category and be the first Launching this category in Israel.
* Media level: laline chose a popular and recognized presenter- yael bar Zohar. * The media campaign included ads on television, internet, boards, catalogue and more. * Commercial level: laline opened a store in every mall and commercial complex. Within 3 years, laline opened 54 stores. * The awareness to the brand grew by 1300% in less than four years

international market
* After establishing the brand and becoming the leading brand in the category in Israel, laline turns to the international market. *

the message
Laline’s retail environment offers an escape from the noise and stresses of the day, a sanctuary of pampering moments out of the busy life. The all-white shabby-chic boutique design exudes a pure clean atmosphere that goes hand-in-hand with the Laline promise to nourish the body and soul strategic objectives

Campaign strategy and marketing communication tools Walking into a Laline shop anywhere in the world is a sensory affair. The deep scents of creams and body scrubs, the classy black-and-white décor, the knowledge that whatever you purchase will be wrapped and beribboned before being placed in a crisp white paper bag emblazoned with the curlicued black Laline logo.

Those design elements were percolating in the minds of Meirav Cohen and Revital Levi from the time when they opened their first Laline store back in 1999. They wanted to create a space that was warm, welcoming and had just the right atmosphere, to draw in all those potential customers who didn’t even know that they needed the Laline line of products. Because, as Cohen and Levi like to say, while they didn’t have any retail experience to speak of, they had a sense of what would work and could become a trend. When they realized there wasn’t enough foot traffic on Kikar Hamedina for their fledgling store, they brought it to Sheinkin, where the concept immediately took off. Customers loved the look, the products, the packaging, and the whole concept of Laline. After all, at the time, there was nothing quite like it in Israel, or, they felt, anywhere else. What they were riding on was what Israelis had come to know in their travels, England’s Body Shop, America’s Bath & Body Works, and all the other mega cosmetics and body care stores worldwide For the Laline ladies and their Sabon competitors, timing has been everything and both are among Israel’s top export successes. They started out just as Israeli malls were flourishing and growing, with stores to fill and customers who were eager to check out the new shopping phenomenon.

Levi and Cohen weren’t always on the respectful receiving end of the mall managers’ queries. “What kind of store is this? Two girls selling creams?” Levi recalls being asked in a disparaging way. But they found their niche and their customers, who like knowing that they can find a Laline in nearly any mall across the country Some 14 stores later, Laline was approached in 2007 by the Fox clothing chain, which proposed to purchase half the company. Of the several companies that had come knocking at the door, Fox made the best offer. Cohen and Levi wanted to expand beyond Israel, and with Fox behind them they would have the financial stability and the management to make it happen. That was three and a half years ago. Since then, Laline has opened 56 stores in Israel, has a NIS 67.2 million shekel ($18.6m.) sales turnover and a new store in San Francisco, California. There’s a new CEO as well, and that side of the company handles the employees, sales and finances. With a brand-new store at San Francisco’s Pier 39, blueprints for another San Francisco store and openings in the Caribbean, England and Japan by the end of the year, the Laline plans for opening abroad are already in progress.

The company had several unsuccessful starts with their first stores in Norway, Bucharest and England, but has now changed its approach and seeks entrepreneurs with retail and financial experience to run the franchises. In the US, Laline was discovered by Israelis Oren Cohen and Shai Zemach. Zemach, who had come to live in Israel with his family, fell in love with the product line and proposed the idea to his US-based Israeli business partner, Cohen. It took them a year of working with Laline Israel and their local site to open the Pier 39 store, and now they’re planning a string of other Laline shops in California’s Bay Area, including one on San Francisco’s famed Chestnut Street. But the overall plan is 18 stores in three years, and the next stores could be in Florida and New York, all opened by Cohen and Zemach.

“Laline is about return customers and that’s what we liked about it,” said Oren Cohen in a recent phone interview. “It’s very young and fun and unique, and people tend to come back time and again.” Customers living in non-Laline cities can also buy the company’s products on-line in the US, through the company’s American website. “We’re the underdog with so many monster competitors,” says Oren Cohen. “If we succeed in bringing such a small company that became successful to such a huge place, we’ll feel very proud.” What’s satisfying, says Levi, is the knowledge that they did it all themselves. They created something that hadn’t existed before, and they put it together from zero, learning everything from staffing to logistics as they went.

“I’m not a business woman,” she adds, “I have a business that I put together from zero.” Asked about the secret to their success, they say they don’t have one. It’s not the Israeli angle, since there’s nothing specifically Israeli about their business, no Dead Sea salts in their products, nothing obviously Israeli in their look. The cousins point to luck, timing, and hard work. In fact, they’re still somewhat surprised by the scope of their success, sometimes wondering how the two of them came to own one of Israel’s most successful body care enterprises. “You know what?” says Cohen, “I’m still somewhat taken aback whenever I see someone carrying the white and black Laline bag. I think, ‘Wow, that’s us.’ “ .