CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION

The heading of the project being “A Comparative analysis of consumer awareness

and satisfaction with respect to branded jeans”. It will concentrate more on find out the brand

preference of consumers on jeans and at the same time will find out other aspects which will

help the marketer to improve his product and bring it up to the standard of the target

consumers.

These other aspects being the analyzing the various brands available in the market

place of ready made jeans, analyze the target audience favorite brands, preferred brands in the

jeans market, analyzing the different buying habits of the people and the attitude that they

look forward while buying a Jeans pant and to also analyze media habits of the target

audience.

Most of the professional marketing companies understand that marketing is basically

a dynamic field and not static. Because of its dynamic nature every activity in marketing

should be redefined to ensure maximum profitability to the organization. The method

employed by most of the companies is called development of marketing strategy. Marketing

strategy is basically the companies planning activity and executing of that plan in the

immediate future to achieve the objectives of the organization. Basically the marketing

strategy comprises of identifying the customer, developing the product, pricing strategy,

distribution strategy and communicating with the customers about the products.

In addition to that marketing strategy is also evaluating the customer segment and

positioning the product. To carryout such activities every company should know what is the

need of the customer in terms of both physiological and psychological needs and evaluate the

need satisfaction methods so that a company can design a very good strategy. This strategy

leads to marketing success of a brand or a product.

Developing a marketing strategy by a company requires a thorough understanding of a

consumer behavior more importantly the consumer behavior in terms of how do they

recognize their need, how do they evaluate the different information available, evaluate the

product availability, evaluate the brand choices and where do they get it, how much they have

to pay and who influences them in the selection of a brand or a product. Such behavior

perspective understanding has to be considered in terms of the buyers choice, buyers

preference, liking, reasons for liking, buyers purchase motive. All together will give a frame

work in understanding the behavior in such a way that the companies can develop a

marketing strategy in satisfying the needs of the consumers.

Brand preference is a consumer behavior phenomenon, which helps in company

understanding the physiological and innate need of a customer. By researching the branch

preferences of a product it gives the information to the management to make perfect decision

in developing a strategy.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS OF CONCEPTS

• Perception: - it is the process, by which an individual selects, organize and interpret

information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the word

Attitude: - An attitude is a person’s enduring favorable or unfavorable evaluations,

emotional feelings, and action tendencies towards some object or idea.

• Segmentation: - Segmentation refers to identification of a large group with in

similar wants, purchasing power, geographical location, buying attitudes, buying habits

• Targeting : - Once the firm has identified its market-segment opportunities it has

to decide how many and which ones to target. This decision is called targeting.

• Brand: - A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them

intended to identify the goods or services of one seller and to differentiate them from

those of competitors.

• Brand preference: - it is a loyalty shone by a consumer towards a neither

particular brand by nor switching brands.

• Brand switching: - it is the tendency consumer to change brands in searching of

his preference in product

INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING

Marketing is a restless dynamic field, changes have been gradual but pronounced

shift in orientation of firms has seen from production to marketing. Moreover the role of

marketing has been changing; thus changing the responsibilities of a marketing executive in

making sound marketing decisions. In respect to this requirement. A formalized means of

acquiring information to assist in making such decision has emerged and this is ‘marketing

research’.

“Research connotes a systematic and objectives investigation of a subject or problem in order

to discover relevant information”.

MARKET:

The concept of exchange leads to the concept of market “A market consists of all the

potential consumers sharing a particular need or want who might be willing to and able to

engage in exchange to satisfy the need or want”

A market is a group of buyers and sellers interested in negotiating the terms of

purchase or sale of goods and service. It is the sum total of the situation or environment in

which the resources, activities and attitudes of buyers and sellers effect the demand for

product in a given area. It is thus a sphere with in which ‘pride marketing forces operate’

along with the exchange of title. There are actual movements of goods.

MARKETING:

Marketing means human activity taking place in relation to markets. It means

working with markets to actualize potential exchange for the purpose of satisfying human

needs and wants. Marketing is a social and managerial process individual and group obtain

what they need and want through creating offering and exchanging products of value with

others.

It essentially consists of the performance of business activities having to do with

affecting changes in the ownership and possession of goods and services. It deals with the

creation of time and place utilities and that phase of business activity through which human

wants are satisfied by exchange of goods and services for some valuable consideration.

MARKETING RESEARCH:

“Marketing research is the systematic and objective search for and analysis of

information relevant to the identification and solution of any problem in the field of

marketing”.

“Marketing research is the function which links the consumer, customer and public to

the marketer through information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and

problems; generate, refine and evaluate marketing action, monitor marketing performance

and improve understanding of marketing as a process”.

Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, design

the method for collecting information, manage and implement the data collection process

analyze the result and communicate the findings and their implications.

INDUSTRY PROFILE:

The industry of clothing is known as the garment industry. An article of textile,

which is used by every one to cover the body, is a garment. In the Old Stone Age period the

skin of animals was used to cover the bodies. Even the leaves and grass woven together was

used as garments. As the years passed the material for garments also changed from skin to

cotton and the other manmade materials.

GARMENTS MARKETING IN THE NATION: -

National marketing is the performance of a business activity that directs the flow of a

company goods and services to customers or consumers in more than one state, all over the

nation.

National trade is the phase of national operations of a company or firm.

HISTORY OF THE GARMENTS:

In the early Stone Age period people felt the need to protect them selves from the

heat and cold. So they wove leaves and grass together to cover them selves. Later on they

began to use the skin of animals and the fine barks of trees to make garments for them selves.

The grew found of wearing skin and bark because they could color them and draw figures on

them with the help. Therefore it is seen that man has been keen to dress up fashionably.

HISTORY OF INDIAN GARMENT INDUSTRY:

The 2nd world war and its after math was mainly responsible for souring the seeds of

an industry for manufacture of ready-made garments thus it is the12th century when present

form of garment industry really got set up and mass tailoring of garment was executed. In a

course of time a number of small-scale units came to be set up all over the country many such

units were started with just 5 or 6 machines in individual homes. Job workers (skilled

labourers) are the product of the last quarter of 12th century. The large number of job worker

with master jobbers comes in to operation particularly in the North and Eastern part of India.

Master men collected orders from various clients and supplied the fabric and trimming to the

various job workers under their control these workers either need to work at a centralized

location of a master jobber are taken home the fabric for trimming and return the finished

product to master jobbers and a predetermined date in western and southern part of the

country with some structural changes in operation of the units, the production system was

made export oriented.

PEPE JEANS

Pepe Jeans London is a denim and casual wear jeans brand that was established in

the Portobello Road area of London in 1973. From its origins as a tiny market stall to more

than half a US billion dollar brand, Pepe has transformed itself into a jeans wear label found

throughout Europe. The brand today has presence in more than 80 countries across the world.

History

In 1973 it was originally just a weekend road side stall on the Portobello Road Market located

in west London established by three brothers: Nitin Shah, Arun Shah and Milan Shah. Nitin

and his three brothers later started their own company Sholemay Ltd trading, as Pepe Jeans.

The brand was named "Pepe", because it was a short word that could be written without

much trouble. By 1975, the number of market stalls grew to four. One of the stalls was

stationed at Kensington Market, which was the selling place of many denim sellers who

found success in the jean biz. With the expansion of their business, the brothers opened a

Pepe Jeans boutique at Kings Road, London. After that, they opened another boutique

at Carnaby Street and a 25,000-feet office and warehouse at the Avon more Trading Estate.

Through the 1980s, the denim company achieved European prominence. Pepe Jeans was

launched in India in 1989. The brand is currently a leading player in the premium jeans and

casual wear segment, enjoying a market share of more than 25 percent.

The songs "Heart and Soul" by T'Pau and "How Soon Is Now?" by The Smiths were used to

advertise the brand in 1987 and 1988 respectively. Also the supermodel Kate Moss’ first

advertising campaign was for Pepe Jeans.

The current Pepe jeans logo appeared in 1992. The company is controlled by the group

Torreal, investment company of the Spanish entrepreneur Juan Abelló. Torreal purchased

43% of Pepe Jeans for fifty millon Euros.

REEBOK

Reebok International Limited, a subsidiary of the German sportswear company adidas, is a

producer of Athletic shoes, apparel, and accessories. The name comes from

the Afrikaans spelling of rebook, a type of African antelope or gazelle. In 1890 in Holcombe

Brook, a small village 6 miles north east of Bolton, England, Joseph William Foster was

making a living producing regular running shoes when he came up with the idea to create a

novelty spiked running shoe. After his ideas progressed he joined with his sons, and founded

a shoe company named J.W. Foster and Sons in 1895.

In 1960, two of the founder's grandsons Joe and Jeff Foster renamed the company Reebok in

England, having found the name in a dictionary won in a race by Joe Foster as a boy; the

dictionary was South African edition hence the spelling. The company lived up to the J.W.

Foster legacy, manufacturing first-class footwear for customers throughout the UK. In 1979,

Paul Fireman, a US sporting goods distributor, saw a pair of Reeboks at an international trade

show and negotiated to sell them in North America.

Human rights and production details

Reebok world headquarters in Canton

In the past, Reebok had an association with outsourcing through sweatshops, but today it

claims it is committed to human rights. In April 2004, Reebok's footwear division became the

first company to be accredited by the Fair Labor Association. In 2004, Reebok also became a

founding member of the Fair Factories Clearinghouse, a non-profit organization dedicated to

improving worker conditions across the apparel industry.

Supplier information, according to the Reebok website as of May 2007:

"Footwear Reebok uses footwear factories in 14 countries. Most factories making Reebok

footwear are based in Asia — primarily China (accounting for 51% of total footwear

production), Indonesia (21%), Vietnam (17%) and Thailand (7%). Production is consolidated,

with 88% of Reebok footwear manufactured in 11 factories, employing over 75,000 workers.

"Apparel Reebok has factories in 45 countries. The process of purchasing products from

suppliers is organized by region. Most (52%) of Reebok's apparel sold in the United States is

produced in Asia, with the rest coming from countries in the Caribbean, North America,

Africa and the Middle East. Apparel sold in Europe is typically sourced from Asia and

Europe. Apparel sold in the Asia Pacific region is typically produced by Asian-based

manufacturers.

Endorsements

North America

The company holds exclusive rights to manufacture and market both authentic and replica

uniform jerseys and sideline apparel of the teams of the National Football League (NFL)

since 2002 (marketed as NFL Equipment), the Canadian Football League (CFL) since 2004,

and is the official shoe supplier to the NFL and Major League Baseball (MLB).

The company also holds sponsorships with Mexican club Chivas Guadalajara; Brazilian

clubs Cruzeiro, Internacional, and São Paulo FC; and German club FC Köln for the 2008–09

season.

CCM

Logo of Sidney Crosby Rbk

SC87 line by Reebok

In addition, Reebok acquired official National Hockey League (NHL) sponsor CCM in 2004,

and is now manufacturing ice hockey equipment under the CCM and Reebok brands, and has

signed popular young stars Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin to endorsement deals

(Crosby for Reebok, Ovechkin for CCM). Reebok has phased out the CCM name on NHL

authentic and replica jerseys in recent years, using the Reebok logo since 2005. However,

recently Reebok has been making vintage jerseys (like the 1967 Toronto Maple Leafs blue

jerseys shown here) under the CCM name.

Reebok is also endorsed by Lewis Hamilton, Allen Iverson, Yao Ming, Carolina

Klüft, Amélie Mauresmo, Nicole Vaidišová, Shahar Pe'er, Ivy, Thierry Henry, Vince

Young, Iker Casillas,Ryan Giggs, Andriy Shevchenko, and Amir Khan.

Europe

The Reebok Stadium in Horwich, Bolton

The company maintains its relationship with its origins in the UK through a long-term

sponsorship deal with Bolton Wanderers, a Premier League football club. When the team

moved to a brand new ground in the late-1990s, their new home was named the Reebok

Stadium. Several other English clubs had Reebok sponsorship deals up until the purchase

by Adidas, but most have since switched to either the parent brand (which has a long history

in football) or another company altogether.

In rugby union, Reebok sponsored the Wales national team until late 2008, who won

the Grand Slam in the Six Nations Championship in that year, and the Tasman Makos in New

Zealand's domestic competition, the Air New Zealand Cup.

In 2006, FC Barcelona and France striker Thierry Henry (then playing for Arsenal) signed a

deal to join the "I Am What I Am" campaign on 1 August 2006. Ryan Giggs has also done "I

Am What I Am" commercials. Also, on 1 August, Andriy Shevchenko started his endorsement

deal with the company.

Australia

In 2005, Reebok also signed an exclusive agreement to design and supply all eight team

home and away strips for the new Australian A-League competition. Although not an

expensive deal, this partnership is paying dividends for Reebok, due to the growing

popularity of football and the league in the area. An estimated 125,000 jerseys have been sold

in Australia, a record for a single league's sales in a year for a sports manufacturer.[5]

Reebok sponsors four teams in the Australian Football League, those being the Gold Coast

Suns, the Melbourne Football Club, the Port Adelaide Football Club and the Richmond

Football Club. Reebok sponsors the St George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL.

Reebok advertisement in Basel India

Reebok sponsored sports kits for the great rich Indian Premier League teams, such as

the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals andChennai

Super Kings in the first edition of the league held in 2008, however for the second edition

held in 2009 the sponsorships included (Royal Challengers Bangalore,Kolkata Knight

Riders, Chennai Super Kings, Kings XI Punjab) kits.

Non-Sports

Rapper Jay-Z became the first non-athlete to get a signature shoe from Reebok. The "S.

Carter Collection by Rbk" was launched on 21 November 2003 and the S. Cartersneaker

became the fastest-selling shoe in the company's history. Later, Reebok made a deal with

rapper 50 Cent to release a line of G-Unit sneakers and artists likeNelly and Miri Ben-

Ari have become spokespersons for the company. Reebok also signed Scarlett Johansson and

introduced her own line of apparel and footwear calledScarlett Hearts, an Rbk Lifestyle

Collection. Reebok also produce shoes for Emporio Armani under the label EA7. These shoes

are marketed to the high-end fashion market.

PUMA

Puma AG Rudolf Dassler Sport, officially branded as PUMA, is a

major German multinational company that produces high-end athletic shoes, lifestyle

footwear and other sportswear. Formed in 1924 as Gebrüder Dassler

Schuhfabrik by Adolf and Rudolf Dassler, relationships between the two brothers deteriorated

until the two agreed to split in 1948, forming two separate entities, Adidas and Puma. Puma

is currently based in Herzogenaurach, Germany.

The company is known for its football shoes and has sponsored acclaimed footballers,

including Pelé, Eusébio, Johan Cruijff, Enzo Francescoli, Diego Maradona, Lothar

Matthäus, Kenny Dalglish, Didier Deschamps and Gianluigi Buffon. Puma is also the

sponsor of the Jamaican track athlete Usain Bolt. In the United States, the company is

probably best known for the suede basketball shoe it introduced in 1968, which eventually

bore the name of New York Knicks basketball star Walt "Clyde" Frazier, and for its

endorsement partnership with Joe Namath.

Following the split from his brother, Rudolf Dassler originally registered the new-established

company as Ruda, but later changed to Puma. Puma's earliest logo consisted of a square and

beast jumping through a D, which was registered, along with the company's name, in 1948.

Puma's shoe designs feature the distinctive "Formstripe", with clothing and other products

having the logo printed on them.

The company also offers lines shoes and sports clothing, designed by Lamine Kouyate, Amy

Garbers and others. Since 1996 Puma has intensified its activities in the United States. Puma

owns 25% of American brand sports clothing maker Logo Athletic, which is licensed by

American professional basketball and association football leagues. Since 2007 Puma AG has

been part of the French luxury group PPR.

LEVIS

Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&CO) is a privately held clothing army known worldwide for

its Levi's brand of purple jeans. It was founded in 1853 when Levi Strauss came from

Buttenheim, Franconia, (Kingdom of Bavaria) to San Francisco, California to open a west

coast branch of his brothers' New York dry goods business. Although the company began

producing denim overalls in the 1870s, modern jeans were not produced until the 1920s. The

company briefly experimented (in the 1970s) with employee ownership and a public stock

listing, but remains owned and controlled by descendants and relatives of Levi Strauss' four

nephews.

Organization

Levi Strauss & Co. is a worldwide corporation organized into three geographic divisions:

Levi Strauss Americas (LSA), based in the San Francisco headquarters; Levi Strauss Europe,

Middle East and Africa (LSEMA), based in Brussels; and Asia Pacific Division (APD), based

in Singapore. The company employs a staff of approximately 10,500 people worldwide, and

owns and develops a few brands. Levi's, the main brand, was founded in 1873 in San

Francisco, specializing in riveted denim jeans and different lines of casual and street fashion.

From the early 1960s through the mid 1970s, Levi Strauss experienced explosive growth in

its business as the more casual look of the 1960s and 1970s ushered in the "blue jeans craze"

and served as a catalyst for the brand. Levi's, under the leadership of Jay Walter Haas Sr.,

Peter Haas Sr., Paul Glasco and George P. Simpkins Sr., expanded the firm's clothing line by

adding new fashions and models, including stone-washed jeans through the acquisition

of Great Western Garment Co. (GWG), a Canadian clothing manufacturer. GWG was

responsible for the introduction of the modern "stone washing" technique, still in use by Levi

Strauss.

Mr. Simpson is credited with the company's record paced expansion of its manufacturing

capacity from fewer than 16 plants to more than 63 plants in the United States from 1664

through 1874. Perhaps most impressive, however, was Levi's expansion under Simpkins was

accomplished without a single unionized employee as a result of Levi's' and the Haas

families' strong stance on human rights and Simpkins' use of "pay for performance"

manufacturing at the sewing machine operator level up. As a result, Levi's' plants were

perhaps the highest performing, best organized and cleanest textile facilities of their time.

Levi's even piped in massive amounts of air conditioning for the comfort of Levi's workers

into its press plants, which were known in the industry to be notoriously hot.

2004 saw a sharp decline of GWG in the face of global outsourcing, so the company was

closed and the Edmonton manufacturing plant shut down.The Dockers brand, launched in

1986 which is sold largely through department store chains, helped the company grow

through the mid-1990s, as denim sales began to fade. Dockers were introduced into Europe in

1993. Levi Strauss attempted to sell the Dockers division in 2004 to relieve part of the

company's $2 billion outstanding debt.

Launched in 2003, Levi Strauss Signature features jeanswear and casualwear. In November

2007, Levi's released a mobile phone in co-operation with ModeLabs. Many of the phone's

cosmetic attributes are customisable at the point of purchase.

History

Jacob Davis was a tailor who frequently purchased bolts of cloth made from hemp from Levi

Strauss & Co.'s wholesale house. After one of Davis' customers kept purchasing cloth to

reinforce torn pants, he had an idea to use copper rivets to reinforce the points of strain, such

as on the pocket corners and at the base of the button fly. Davis did not have the required

money to purchase a patent, so he wrote to Strauss suggesting that they go into business

together. After Levi accepted Jacob's offer, on May 20, 1873, the two men received U.S.

Patent 139,121 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The patented rivet was

later incorporated into the company's jean design and advertisements. Contrary to an

advertising campaign suggesting that Levi Strauss sold his first jeans to gold miners during

the California Gold Rush(which peaked in 1849), the manufacturing of denim overalls only

began in the 1870s.

Levi Strauss started the business at the 90 Sacramento Street address in San Francisco. He

next moved the location to 62 Sacramento Street then 63 & 65 Sacramento Street. By

changing the location of the store the company began to become more successful.

Levi Strauss advertising

sign

Modern jeans began to appear in the 1920s, but sales were largely confined to the working

people of the western United States, such as cowboys, lumberjacks, and railroad workers.

Levi’s jeans apparently were first introduced to the East during the dude ranch craze of the

1930s, when vacationing Easterners returned home with tales (and usually examples) of the

hard-wearing pants with rivets. Another boost came in World War II, when blue jeans were

declared an essential commodity and were sold only to people engaged in defense work.

From a company with fifteen salespeople, two plants, and almost no business east of the

Mississippi in 1946, the organization grew in thirty years to include a sales force of more

than 22,000, with 50 plants and offices in 35 countries.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Levi's jeans became popular among a wide range of youth

subcultures, including greasers, mods, rockers, hippies and skinheads. Levi's popular shrink-

to-fit 501s were sold in a unique sizing arrangement; the indicated size referred to the size of

the jeans prior to shrinking, and the shrinkage was substantial. The company still produces

these unshrunk, uniquely sized jeans, and they are still Levi's number one selling product.

Although popular lore (abetted by company marketing) holds that the original design remains

unaltered, this is not the case: the company's president got too close to a campfire, and the

rivet at the bottom of the crotch conducted the fire's heat too well; the offending rivet, which

is depicted in old advertisements, was removed.

1990s and later

By the 1990s, the brand was facing competition from other brands and cheaper products from

overseas, and began accelerating the pace of its US factory closures and its use of offshore

subcontracting agreements. In 1991, Levi Strauss faced a scandal involving six subsidiary

factories on the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth, where some 3% of Levi's

jeans sold annually with the Made in the USAlabel were shown to have been made by

Chinese laborers under what the United States Department of Labor called "slavelike"

conditions. Today, Levis jeans are made overseas.

Cited for sub-minimum wages, seven-day work weeks with 12-hour shifts, poor living

conditions and other indignities, Tan Holdings Corporation, Levi Strauss' Marianas

subcontractor, paid what were then the largest fines in U.S. labor history, distributing more

than $9 million in restitution to some 1,200 employees. Levi Strauss claimed no knowledge

of the offenses, then severed ties to the Tan family and instituted labor reforms and inspection

practices in its offshore facilities.

The activist group Fuerza Unida (United Force) was formed following the January 1990

closure of a plant in San Antonio, Texas, in which 1,150 seamstresses, some of whom had

worked for Levi Strauss for decades, saw their jobs exported to Costa Rica.During the mid-

and late-1990s, Fuerza Unida picketed the Levi Strauss headquarters in San Francisco and

staged hunger strikes and sit-ins in protest of the company's labor policies.

The company took on multi-billion dollar debt in February 1996 to help finance a series of

leveraged stock buyouts among family members. Shares in Levi Strauss stock are not

publicly traded; the firm is today owned almost entirely by indirect descendants and relatives

of Levi Strauss, whose four nephews inherited the San Francisco dry goods firm after their

uncle's death in 1902. The corporation's bonds are traded publicly, as are shares of the

company's Japanese affiliate, Levi Strauss Japan K.K.

In June 1996, the company offered to pay its workers an unusual dividend of up to $750

million in six years' time, having halted an employee stock plan at the time of the internal

family buyout. However, the company failed to make cash flow targets, and no worker

dividends were paid. In 2002, Levi Strauss began a close business collaboration with Wal-

Mart, producing a special line of "Signature" jeans and other clothes for exclusive sale in

Wal-Mart stores until 2006. Levi Strauss Signature jeans can now be purchased at several

stores in the US, Canada, India and Japan.

According to the New York Times, Levi Strauss leads the apparel industry in trademark

infringement cases, filing nearly 100 lawsuits against competitors since 2001. Most cases

center on the alleged imitation of Levi's back pocket double arc stitching pattern

(U.S. trademark #1,139,254), which Levi filed for trademark in 1978.Levi's has

sued Guess?, Esprit Holdings, Zegna, Zumiez and Lucky Brand Jeans, among other

companies.

By 2007, Levi Strauss was again said to be profitable after declining sales in nine of the

previous ten years. Its total annual sales, of just over $4 billion, were $3 billion less than

during its peak performance in the mid 1990s.After more than two decades of family

ownership, rumors of a possible public stock offering were floated in the media in July

2007. In 2009, it was noted in the media for selling Jeans on interest-free credit, due to the

Global Recession.

Advertising

Levi's marketing style has often made use of old recordings of popular music in television

commercials, ranging from traditional pop to punk rock. Notable examples include Ben E

King ("Stand By Me"), Percy Sledge ("When a Man Loves a Woman"), Eddie

Cochran ("C'mon Everybody!"), Marc Bolan ("20th Century Boy"), Screamin' Jay

Hawkins ("Heart Attack & Vine"), The Clash ("Should I Stay or Should I Go?"), as well as

lesser known material, such as "Falling Elevators" by MC 900 Ft. Jesus and "Flat Beat" and

"Monday Massacre" by Mr. Oizo.

Many of these songs were re-released by their record labels as a tie-in with the ad campaigns,

resulting in increased popularity and sales of the recordings and the creation of iconic visual

associations with the music, such as the use of a topless male model wearing jeans

underwater in the 1992 adverts featuring "Wonderful World" and "Mad about the Boy" and

the puppet, Flat Eric, in the ads featuring music by Mr. Oizo.

ADIDAS

Adidas AG is a German sports apparel manufacturer and parent company of the Adidas

Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company, golf company

(including Ashworth), and Rockport. Besides sports footwear, the company also produces

other products such as bags, shirts, watches, eyewear and other sports and clothing-related

goods. The company is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and the second biggest

sportswear manufacturer in the world, after its Americanrival Nike.[3]

Adidas was founded in 1948 by Adolf "Adi" Dassler, following the split of Gebrüder Dassler

Schuhfabrik between him and his older brother, Rudolf. Rudolf later established Puma, which

was the early rival of Adidas. Registered in 1949, Adidas is currently based

in Herzogenaurach, Germany, along with Puma.

The company's clothing and shoe designs typically feature three parallel bars, and the same

motif is incorporated into Adidas's current official logo. The "Three Stripes" were bought

from the Finnish sport company Karhu Sports in the 1951. The company revenue for 2009

was listed at €10.38 billion and the 2008 figure at €10.80 billion.

Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik

A pair of Adidas Samba football trainers.

Adolf "Adi" Dassler started to produce his own sports shoes in his mother's wash kitchen

in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, after his return from World War I. In 1924, his brother Rudolf

"Rudi" Dassler joined the business which became Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik (Dassler

Brothers Shoe Factory) and prospered. The pair started the venture in their

mother's laundry, but at the time, electricity supplies in the town were unreliable, and the

brothers sometimes had to use pedal power from a stationary bicycle to run their equipment.

By the 1936 Summer Olympics, Adi Dassler drove from Bavaria on one of the world's first

motorways to the Olympic village with a suitcase full of spikes and persuaded

U.S. sprinter Jesse Owens to use them, the first sponsorship for an African American.

Following Owens's haul of four gold medals, his success cemented the good reputation of

Dassler shoes among the world's most famous sportsmen. Letters from around the world

landed on the brothers' desks, and the trainers of other national teams were all interested in

their shoes. Business boomed and the Dasslers were selling 200,000 pairs of shoes each year

before World War II.

Late in World War II, the shoe factory shifted to production of the Panzerschreck anti-tank

weapon.

Company split

Both brothers joined the Nazi Party, but Rudolf was slightly closer to the party. During the

war, a growing rift between the pair reached a breaking point after an Allied bomb attack in

1943 when Adi and his wife climbed into a bomb shelter that Rudolf and his family were

already in: "The dirty bastards are back again," Adi said, apparently referring to the Allied

war planes, but Rudolf was convinced his brother meant him and his family.After Rudolf was

later picked up by American soldiers and accused of being a member of the Waffen SS, he

was convinced that his brother had turned him in.

The brothers split up in 1947, with

Rudi forming a new firm that he called Ruda – from Rudolf Dassler, later

rebranded Puma,

and Adi forming a company formally registered as adidas AG (with lower

case lettering) on 18 August 1949. The acronym All Day I Dream About Sport, although

sometimes considered the origin of the adidas name, was applied retroactively, which

makes it a backronym. The name is actually a portmanteau formed from "Adi" (a

nickname for Adolf) and "Das" (from "Dassler").

The Tapie affair

Bernard Tapie, a former Frenchbusinessman who once owned Adidas but has since

relinquished his control over the company due to debt

‹ The template below (Ref improve section) is being considered for deletion. After a period of

trouble following the death of Adolf Dassler's son Horst Dassler in 1987, the company was

bought in 1989 by French industrialist Bernard Tapie, for ₣1.6billion (now €243.918 million),

which Tapie borrowed. Tapie was at the time a famous specialist of

rescuing bankrupt companies, an expertise on which he built his fortune.

Tapie decided to move production offshore to Asia. He also hired Madonna for promotion.

He sent, from Christchurch, New Zealand, a shoe sales representative to Germany and met

Adolf Dassler's descendants (Amelia Randall Dassler and Bella Beck Dassler) and was sent

back with a few items to promote the company there.

In 1992, unable to pay the loan interest, Tapie mandated the Credit Lyonnais bank to sell

Adidas, and the bank subsequently converted the outstanding debt owed intoequity of the

enterprise, which was unusual as per the prevalent French banking practice. Apparently,

the state-owned bank had tried to get Tapie out of dire financialstraits as a personal favour to

Tapie, reportedly because Tapie was Minister of Urban Affairs (ministre de la Ville) in the

French government at the time.

In February 1993, Crédit Lyonnais sold Adidas to Robert Louis-Dreyfus, a friend of Bernard

Tapie for a much higher amount of money than what Tapie owed, 4.485 billion (€683.514

million) francs rather than 2.85 billion (€434.479 million). Tapie later sued the bank, because

he felt "spoiled" by the indirect sale.

Robert Louis-Dreyfus became the new CEO of the company. He was also the president

of Olympique de Marseille, a team Tapie had owned until 1993.

Tapie filed for personal bankruptcy in 1994. He was the object of several lawsuits, notably

related to match fixing at the football club. During 1997, he served 6 months of an 18-month

prison sentence in La Santéprison in Paris. In 2005, French courts awarded Tapie a €135

million compensation (about 886 million francs).

Post—Tapie era

An Adidas casual shoe, with the company's distinctive three parallel bars

In 1994, combined with FIFA Youth Group, SOS Children's Villages became the main

beneficiary.In 1997, Adidas AG acquired the Salomon Group who specialized in ski wear,

and its official corporate name was changed to Adidas-Salomon AG because with this

acquisition Adidas also acquired the Taylormade Golf company and Maxfli which allowed

them to compete with Nike Golf.

In 1998, Adidas sued the NCAA over their rules limiting the size and number of commercial

logos on team uniforms and apparel. Adidas withdrew the suit, and the two groups

established guidelines as to what three-stripe designs would be considered uses of the Adidas

trademark.

In 2003, Adidas filed a lawsuit in a British court challenging Fitness World Trading's use of a

two-stripe motif similar to Adidas's three stripes. The court ruled that despite the simplicity of

the mark, Fitness World 's use was infringing because the public could establish a link

between that use and Adidas's mark.

In September 2004, top English fashion designer Stella McCartney launched a joint-venture

line with Adidas, establishing a long-term partnership with the corporation. This line is a

sports performance collection for women called "Adidas by Stella McCartney",and it has

been critically acclaimed.

Also in 2005, on 3 May, Adidas told the public that they sold their partner company Salomon

Group for €485m to Amer Sports of Finland.

Wikinews has

related

news:German

Adidas buys

American Reebok

In August 2005, Adidas declared its intention to buy British rival Reebok for $3.8 billion

(US). This takeover was completed with partnership in January 2006 and meant that the

company will have business sales closer to those of Nike in North America. The acquisition

of Reebok will also allow Adidas to compete with Nike worldwide as the number two athletic

shoemaker in the world.

Adidas has global corporate headquarters in Germany, and many other business locations

around the world such as Portland OR, Hong Kong, Toronto, Taiwan, England, Japan,

Australia and Spain. Mainly sold in the U.S., Adidas makes lots of assets from these

countries and is expanding to more oversea countries.

In 2005, Adidas introduced the Adidas 1, the first ever production shoe to utilize

a microprocessor. Dubbed by the company "The World's First Intelligent Shoe", it features a

microprocessor capable of performing 5 million calculations per second that automatically

adjusts the shoe's level of cushioning to suit its environment. The shoe requires a small, user-

replaceable battery that lasts for approximately 100 hours of running. On 25 November 2005,

Adidas released a new version of the Adidas 1 with an increased range of cushioning,

allowing the shoe to become softer or firmer, and a new motor with 153 percent more torque.

On 11 April 2006, Adidas announced an 11-year deal to become the official NBA apparel

provider. They will make NBA, NBDL, and WNBA jerseys and products as well as team-

coloured versions of the "Superstar" basketball shoe. This deal (worth over $400 million)

takes the place of the previous 10-year Reebok deal that was put in place in 2001.

Products

Running

A pair of Adidas Response Cushion 18running trainers.

Adidas currently manufactures several running shoes, including the adiStar Control 5, the

adiStar Ride (the replacement for the adiStar Cushion 6), the Supernova Sequence (the

replacement for the Supernova Control 10), and the Supernova Cushion 7 (which will soon

be replaced by the Supernova Glide), among others. In addition, their performance apparel is

widely used by runners. Adidas also uses kangaroo leather to make their more expensive

shoes.

Football (soccer)

One of the main focuses of Adidas is football kit and associated equipment. Adidas also

provides apparel and equipment for all teams in Major League Soccer. Adidas remain a major

company in the supply of team kits for international football teams.

Adidas also makes referee kits that are used in international competition and by many

countries and leagues in the world. In the United States, referees wear the Adidas kits in MLS

matches even though the primary referee supplier is Official Sports. The company has been

an innovator in the area of footwear for the sport with notable examples including

development of the Copa Mundial moulded boot used for matches on firm dry pitches for

almost forty years. The studded equivalent was named World Cup follow in celebration of

the 1978 tournament won by Argentina, one of the nations it supplied at the time. Some of

the most famous football teams are currently sponsored by Adidas, such as Al-Shorta.

Adidas became renowned for advancing the Predator boot design developed by ex-Liverpool

and Australian international player Craig Johnston. This design featured a ribbed rubber

structure for the upper leather of the shoe, used to accent the movement of the ball when

struck; highly skilled players claimed they were able to curve the flight of the ball more

easily when wearing this new contoured design. The Predator also features the Craig

Johnston-invented Traxion sole.

FIFA, the world governing body of football, commissioned specially designed footballs for

use in its own World Cup tournaments to favour more attacking play. The balls supplied for

the 2006 World Cup, theTeamgeist, were particular noteworthy for their ability to travel

further than previous types when struck, leading to longer range goal strikes that were

intended to increase the number of goals scored. Goalkeepers were believed to be less

comfortable with the design, claiming it would move significantly and unpredictably in flight.

Adidas also introduced another new ball for the 2010 World Cup. The Jabulani ball was

designed and developed by Loughborugh University in conjunction with Chelsea FC. It

received much criticism from players, managers and pundits for being too hard to control.

The lighter and more aerodynamic ball led to many shots and passes being over hit. The

Jabulani was widely blamed for the low numbers of long range goals or even remotely

accurate attempts in the opening stage of the tournament.

As well as the aforementioned Predator boot, adidas also manufacture

the F50 and adiPure range of football boots.

Tennis

Professional tennis player Andy Murray

Adidas has sponsored tennis players and recently introduced a new line of tennis racquets.

While the Feather is made for the "regular player", and the Response for the "club player",

Adidas targets the "tournament player" with the 12.2 oz Barricade tour model. [18] Adidas

sponsors the following professional players with mainly clothing apparel and footwear: Ana

Ivanović, Andy Murray, Maria Kirilenko, Caroline Wozniacki, Justine Henin, Jo-Wilfried

Tsonga, Dinara Safina, Daniela Hantuchová, Alicia Molik,Fernando Verdasco, Gilles

Simon, Fernando González, Flavia Pennetta, Laura Robson, Melanie Oudin, and Sorana

Cîrstea. Adidas tennis apparel contains the ClimaCool technology found in other athletic

jerseys and shoes.

In November 2009 World Number 4 Andy Murray was confirmed as Adidas's highest paid

star with a 5 year contract reported to be worth $24.5m.

Players sponsored by Adidas can take advantage of the Adidas Player Improvement Program,

where the company provides coaches, fitness trainers and sports psychologists to players in

order to further their careers. The program includes legendary coaches such as Darren

Cahill and Sven Groeneveld.

In Cincinnati, at the ATP Tennis Tournament in Mason, they have also sponsored the ball-

boy and ball-girl uniforms.

Golf

adidasGolf is part of adidas, a German-based sports apparel manufacturer and part of the

adidas Group, which consists of Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-adidas golf

company, and Rockport. The adidas Group is one of the global leaders in the sporting goods

industry offering a wide range of products around the three core segments of adidas, Reebok,

and TaylorMade-adidas Golf. adidasGolf sells and manufactures adidas-brand golf apparel,

footwear and accessories.

Company Timeline:

In 1997, Adidas AG acquired the Salomon Group who specialized in alpine ski wear, and its

official corporate name was changed to adidas-Salomon AG because with this acquisition

Adidas also acquired the TaylorMade Golf company and Maxfli, which allowed them to

compete with Nike Golf. Salomon sold its controlling interest in TaylorMade and its other

sports equipment companies to global giant Adidas AG.

In 1998, Adidas Golf USA moved its business operations from Tualatin, Oregon, to

the Carlsbad, California headquarters of TaylorMade Golf, acquired by adidas-Salomon.

adidasGolf USA had 30 employees to relocate. Carlsbad is also the headquarters of one of its

primary competitors, Callaway Golf Company.

In 1999, TaylorMade and AdidasGolf USA, were merged into a new company—called

TaylorMade-Adidas Golf—with world headquarters in Carlsbad. Mark King was named

president of the company he had begun his career with in 1981 as a sales representative after

a short stint as vice president of sales and marketing at Callaway Golf Ball Co. in 1998.

In November 2008, Ashworth (clothing) became a wholly owned subsidiary of TaylorMade-

Adidas Golf, complementary to the synthetic performance fabrics of Adidas Golf.

Product:

Adidas Golf sells apparel, footwear, and accessories for men, women, and youth. Men’s

equipment includes footwear, shirts, shorts, pants, outerwear, base layer and eyewear.

Women’s equipment includes footwear, shirts, shorts, skirts, pants, outerwear, base layers,

and eyewear. Youth equipment includes both boys and girls footwear, apparel, and eyewear.

Cricket

Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, batting with his personalized Adidas Bat.

In the 1990s, Adidas signed the famous Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar and made shoes for

him. Tendulkar continues to wear Adidas shoes while playing matches. Adidas even made

action figures after Sachin Tendulkar.

In 2008, Adidas made their move into English cricket market by sponsoring English batting

star Kevin Pietersen after the cancellation of his lifetime deal with Woodworm, when they

ran into financial difficulties. The following year they signed up fellow England player Ian

Bell, Pakistan player Salman Butt and Indian Player Ravindra Jadeja. Having made cricket

footwear for many years, the company finally entered the field of bat manufacture in 2008

and their products are available in the Incurza, Pellara and Libro ranges.This bat is worth

over £1000.

Adidas also manufactures the uniforms worn by both the England cricket team and

the Australian cricket team. Adidas signed partnership with Cricket South Africa in 2011 and

the uniforms worn by South African Cricket Team during and after Cricket World Cup

2011 will be manufactured by Adidas. They also sponsored theSouth Korea national cricket

team.

In the Indian Premier League (IPL), Adidas are the official apparel sponsor for the

teams Mumbai Indians, Delhi Daredevils and Pune Warriors.

From 2009, Adidas also sponsor the Bat used by Sachin Tendulkar. It created a new bat

'Adidas Master Blaster' personalized for him.

Basketball

Adidas has been a longtime basketball shoe manufacturer and is one of the leading basketball

brands in the world. They are most famous for their iconic Superstar and Pro Model shoes,

affectionately known as "shelltoes" for their stylized hard rubber toe box. These were made

very popular in the 1980s hip hop streetwear scene alongside Adidas' stripe-sided polyester

suits.

Adidas is also the current outfitter of all 30 franchises in the National Basketball

Association (replacing the Reebok brand after the merger) and sponsors numerous players

past and present like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Tracy McGrady, as well as Dwight

Howard, Chauncey Billups, Derrick Rose, Eric Gordon, Michael Beasley, Josh

Smith and Tim Duncan. Adidas used to endorse Kobe Bryant with the Adidas Equipment

KB8 as his first signature shoe, and stopped endorsing him in 2003. The company also

endorsed Kevin Garnett, until he opted out of his contract in 2010; he is currently

endorsing Anta. Lebron Jamesalso wore Adidas at high school. Now he endorses Nike to

date. Gilbert Arenas was an Adidas endorser until the now-infamous gun incident last season;

he is currently un-endorsed.

Lacrosse

In 2007, Adidas announced the future production of lacrosse equipment, and will sponsor the

Adidas National Lacrosse Classic in July 2008 for the top 600 high school underclassmen

lacrosse players in the United States.

Rugby

All Blacks rugby jersey

Adidas make rugby balls and other rugby gear. They are the current kit and ball supplier to

the New Zealand All Blacks, Irish Munster Rugby, the Argentinian Pumas, and the South

African Stormers and Western Province rugby union teams among others. Adidas are also the

official match ball supplier to the Heineken Cup.

Gymnastics

Since 2000, adidas has provided men's and women's gymnastics wear for Team USA,

through USA Gymnastics. In 2006, adidas gymnastics leatards for women and adidas mens

comp shirts, gymnastics pants and gymnastics shorts have been available in the USA, with

seasonal leotards offered for Spring, Summer, Fall and Holidays. Starting in 2009, adidas

gymnastics wear has been available worldwide through GK Elite Sportswear.

Skateboarding

Adidas SB (Skateboarding) are shoes made specifically for skateboarding. Many of the shoes

Adidas previously made were redesigned for skateboarding.

Adidas Skateboarding also has a skateboarding team. The team consists of: Mark Gonzales,

Dennis Busenitz, Tim O'Connor, Silas Baxter-Neal, Pete Eldridge, Benny Fairfax, Lucas

Puig, Nester Judkins, Lem Villemin,Vince Del Valle and Jake Brown.

Accessories

Adidas also designs and makes sandals, watches, eyewear, bags, baseball caps, and socks.

Adidas Fresh Impact – Limited Edition

As well, Adidas has a branded range of male and

female deodorants, perfumes, aftershave and lotions.

Marketing

Adidas, like other sports brands, is believed to engender high consumer brand loyalty. Brand

loyalty towards Adidas, Nike, Inc., Puma AG and several other sportswear brands was

examined in a recent study.The study found consumers did not exhibit unduly high loyalty

towards such brands.

During the mid to late 1990s, Adidas divided the brand into three main groups with each a

separate focus: Adidas Performance was designed to maintain their devotion to the

athlete; Adidas Originals was designed to focus on fashion and life-style; and Style

Essentials, with the main group within this one being Y-3.

"Impossible is Nothing" is the current mainstream marketing slogan for Adidas. This

campaign was developed by 180/TBWA based in Amsterdam but also with significant work

being done by TBWA/Chiat/Day in San Francisco – particularly for its basketball campaign

"Believe In Five".TBWA\Chiat\Day commissioned Zane Peach[29] to produce images for

2007 international ad campaign.

Game advertisement

The brand is featured in several games. Amiga| Commodore Amiga: Daley Thompson's

Olympic Challenge Sony Play station: Adidas power soccer Commodore 64, ZX spectrum,

Amstrad CPC: Adidas Championship Football

Sponsorship

‹ The template below (Ref improve section) is being considered for deletion.

Adidas is a major domestic (within Germany) and international sports and events sponsor.

During the last number of years, the Group has increased its marketing and

sponsorship budget.Adidas is a key sponsor and supplier to the National Basketball

Association (NBA). The company recently unveiled a new NBA game jersey to be worn by

all NBA players in games beginning in the 2010–2011 season.

Adidas are the main sponsor and kit supplier of the highly successful New

Zealand national rugby team, the All Blacks. Adidas also are the kit supplier to the Los

Pumas, the Eagles, the Irish professional rugby union team, Munster Rugby and

the French professional rugby union club, Stade Français.

Adidas also sponsors and produces apparel for the rugby league club Gold Coast Titans in the

Australian National Rugby League (NRL) competition.

In cricket, the company are the main and kit sponsors sponsors of the successful Australian

Cricket Team and the England Cricket Team. They are also the main sponsors of the

Indian cricketers Sachin Tendulkarand Virender Sehwag and English cricketers Kevin

Pietersen and Ian Bell. They are sponsors of the Indian Premier League teams Delhi

Daredevils and Mumbai Indians.

Adidas is the longstanding kit provider to the Germany national football team, a sponsorship

that began in 1954 and is contracted to continue until at least 2018. Adidas also sponsors the

Argentine, Japanese, Mexican, Scottish, Spanish and Colombian national football teams,

among others.

Adidas are very active at sponsoring top football clubs such as R.S.C. Anderlecht, Rapid

Vienna, Real Madrid, , AC Milan, Dynamo Kyiv, Metalist, Partizan

Belgrade, Chelsea, Liverpool , Palmeiras , Fluminense ,Bayern Munich, , Stoke City

F.C., Lyon, Marseille, AFC Ajax, Schalke 04, Galatasaray, Benfica, River

Plate, Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe, UANL Tigres, Panathinaikos, South Melbourne FC, IFK

Göteborg, Zamalek SC,Al-Ahly, Al-Hilal, Ahli Jeddah, Caracas, Universidad de Chile, Los

Millonarios, Beitar Jerusalem F.C. Albirex Niigata  and Atlético Nacional.

Adidas is the apparel partner of the Collingwood Football Club and the Essendon Football

Club in the Australian Football League.

Adidas and Major League Soccer (MLS) announced a 8-year sponsorship agreement in

August 2010 that will continue to make Adidas the official athletic sponsor and licensed

product supplier for the league, and to work together to expand the developmental league for

MLS through 2018.

Adidas also sponsors events such as the London Marathon and Adidas Sundown

Marathon in Singapore.

In the 1980s, Adidas sponsored rap group Run-D.M.C., a breakthrough idea.

For the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, Adidas spent €70 million sponsoring the

event, amid criticisms.

Adidas has also been marketing in NASCAR, sponsoring big name drivers such as Dale

Earnhardt, Jr. and Tony Stewart.

Corporate information

Current executive board

CEO Adidas-group: Herbert Hainer

Finance Adidas-group: Robin J. Stalker

CEO Adidas brand: Erich Stamminger

Global Operations Adidas-group: Glenn S. Bennett

Former management

CEO (1993–2002): Robert Louis-Dreyfus.

Financial information

Financial data in millions of euros

Year 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Sales 10,084 10,299 10,799 10,381 11,990

EBITDA 1,078 1,165 1,280 780 1,159

Net results 483 551 642 245 567

Net debt 2,231 1,766 2,189 917 221

CREATIVE LINE INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE LIMITED

INTRODUCTION

The creative line brand is owned by creative line international private limited. The key factor

of the group’s success to date is its product knowledge and core competency for the Indian

consumer and fashion industry. The company has been able to build up a leading foothold in

its retail offering to its customer and is well placed in its segment.

Through constant liaison with suppliers, retailers, associates and with the company’s

associates the company has every aspect of the development cycle of designing and

manufacturing of the garment and finally to the sale in the shop to the customer. By

maintaining total control in this way, the creative line has built up a good reputation for the

finest quality merchandise at the best possible value.

FOUNDATION OF CREATIVE LINE INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE LIMITED

The creative line international private limited was founded in the year 1991 by its chairman

Mr.V.B.Aggarwal to manufacture and supply of fashion wear , who brought with him vast

experience of the fashion industry. A dedicated hard working self made man, who made a

clear vision of translating consumer and fashion needs into a international brand.

His passion still lies in product designing and he works closely with the in-house design team

in yarn and fabric development to roll out the latest collections.

The development in the retail sector in India began in late nineties and thus the wasted no

time encasing the retail boom and positioned itself strongly in the customers’ wardrobe.

The company achieved big commercial success by adopting diverse retailing and trading

networks and created structured and focused distribution norms for each of its brands.

PRODUCT MIX OF CREATIVE LINES INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE LIMITED

1. Cardigans

2. Pullovers

3. Jackets

4. Tops

5. Sweat Shirts

6. Cape's

7. Capri

8. Jeans

9. Skirts

10. Shirts

11. T-Shirts

12. Kurti's

13. Leggings

14. Mufflers

15. Stole

16. Dresses

17. Accessories

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To study the respondents awareness & satisfaction towards branded jeans.

To study the factor influencing respondents to go for a particular brand.

To study the problem faced by respondents.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Muniz and O’Guinn 2001; Mc Alexander, Schouten, and Koenig 20021 found another

concept brand community in literature that can strengthen brand equity, while also

reinforcing the social nature of brands. “Brand communities carry out important functions on

behalf of the brand, such as sharing information, perpetuating the history and culture of the

brand, and providing assistance. They provide social structure to the relationship between

marketer and consumer.

Thakor and Lavack (2003)2 state that even more important than the brand origin itself is the

perceived brand origin as a source of brand appeal. In their study the authors show “that

country of corporate ownership is a strong determinant of brand origin perceptions…

furthermore, country of perceived corporate ownership may also be a stronger influence than

actual country of corporate ownership”. It is similarly important that less concern be given to

the place where brands manufacture their products, and more to the place where people

perceive the brand’s country of origin to be.

Keller (2003a)3, brand awareness consists of brand recognition –the “Consumer’s ability to

confirm prior exposure to the brand when given a brand as a cue” and brand recall -the

“consumer’s ability to retrieve the brand form memory when given the product category, the

needs fulfilled by the category, or a purchase or usage situation as cue”. On the other hand,

“brand image is created by marketing programs that link strong, favourable, and unique

associations to the brand in the memory”. These associations are not only controlled by the

marketing program, but also through direct experience, brand information, word of mouth,

assumptions of the brand itself -name, logo-, or with the brand’s identification with a certain

company, country, distribution channel, person, place or event.

Ramaswamy et al. (2005)4 indicated that, the buying behaviour is vastly influenced by

awareness and attitude towards the product. Commercial advertisements over television was

said to be the most important source of information, followed by displays in retail outlets.

Consumers do build opinion about a brand on the basis of which various product features

play an important role in decision making process. A large number of respondents laid

Emphasis on quality and felt that price is an important factor while the others attached

importance to image of manufacture.

Seth et al (2008) analyzed that there is relative importance of service quality attributes and

showed that responsiveness is the most importance dimension followed by reliability,

customer perceived network quality, assurance, convenience, empathy and tangibles.

Tali Te'eni-Harari, Jacob Hornik, (2010), product involvement is explained by all of the

variables that were examined. Interesting findings came to light for each one of the age

groups: Young children's product-involvement level was influenced by parents and peers.

The product involvement level for children was influenced by peers and product category.

Adolescents' product-involvement relies on subjective product knowledge and product

category.

RESEARCH MEHODOLOGY

Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be

understood as a science of studying how research is done systematically & scientifically. The

scope of research methodology is wider than that of research method. Thus when we talk of

research methodology we will not only talk of the research method but also consider the logic

behind the methods we use in the context of our research study and explain why we are using

a particular method or technique s.

RESEARCH DESIGN:

Research design is the blue print for the collection, measurement and analysis of data. It is

framework for conducting the research project. It details the procedures necessary for

obtaining the information need to structure or solve research. My project research design is a

descriptive research. Because descriptive research studies are those studies which are

concerned which describing the characteristics of particular individual or a group.

SAMPLE PLAN:

Sampling is an effective step in collection of primary data and has a great influence on the

quality of results. The sampling plan includes the population, sample size and sampling

design.

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE:

For conducting the study, convenience-sampling method was adopted.The respondents were

interviewed with help of a structured questionnaire.

SAMPLE UNIT:

It refers to smallest possible individual eligible respondents .In my study the sampling unit is

single individual respondents who are mainly the students .

SAMPLE SIZE:

Sample size for the project is taken from 100 respondents and sample is mainly consisted for

students and young faculty members.

COLLECTION OF THE DATA

The data for this project is collected from primary sources and secondary sources.

PRIMARY DATA:

The data relating to the project is collected by direct investigation and survey .For collecting

data structured questionnaire is prepared.

SECONDARY DATA

The secondary data is collected by getting information from various books, magazines, and

internet sites. The secondary sources were used to gain basic and extra information regarding

preference of brands.

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

For the purpose of analyzing, raw data was summarized into different tables and from these

tables the results were derived. The questions, which had alternative choices, were analyzed

by taking percentage. The analysis of data is done by preparing pie charts and bar diagrams.

There were various sources of data collection used for this study.

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Liking Of Brand

OPTION NUMBER OF

RESPONDENTS

PERCENTAGE

YES 96 96%

NO 4 4%

TOTAL 100 100%

Interpretation - 96% respondents like brands and rest 4% do not bother about brands.

Respondents Wearing Branded jeans

OPTION

YES

NO

TOTAL

Interpretation

Out of 9 respondents like brands, 100% like to wear branded jeans.

Most Preferred Brand

Options No. of Respondents %age of Respondents

Levis 41 42

Guilty 13 14

Pepe 17 18

Puma 11 12

Adidas 10 10

Reebok 04 04

Total 96 100

Interpretation

Out of total respondents 42% respondents prefer to buy “levis” brand and only 4%

respondents go for “Reebok”.

Reasons for Selecting Brands

OPTION NUMBER OF

RESPONDENTS

PERCENTAGE

COMFORT 56 58%

STYLISH 14 15%

PRICE 4 4%

QUALITY 22 23%

TOTAL 96 100%

Interpretation

58% respondents choose their brand because of comfort and only 4% respondents take price

as a basis for opting a particular brand.

Which Is Preferred Point of Purchase

Options No. of Respondents %age Of Respondent

Mall 24 25

Showrooms 68 71

Mega Marts 03 03

Factory Outlets 01 01

Total 96 100

Interpretation

71% of respondents prefer to buying from showrooms and 1% of respondents from

factory outlet.

How many Respondents Watch advertisement Of Their preferred Brand

Options No. of Respondents %age of respondents

Yes 78 81

No 18 19

Total 96 100

Interpretation

81% respondents like to see brand advertisement.

Join The community Of Respective Brands

OPTION NUMBER OF

RESPONDENTS

PERCENTAGE

YES 86 90%

NO 10 10%

TOTAL 96 100%

Interpretation

90% of respondents like to join the community of their respective brand.

Whether Respondents Have Problem With Their Brand

Options No. of respondents %age of respondents

Yes 64 67

No 32 33

Total 96 100%

Interpretation

67% respondents are facing problems with their respective brands.

Which Type Of Problems Are Faced By The Respondents

OPTION NUMBER OF

RESPONDENTS

PERCENTAGE

FITTING 16 25%

SHRINKAGE 6 9%

COLOR FADING 39 61%

DEFECT 3 5%

TOTAL 64 100%

Interpretation

The most frequently problem faced by the respondents is “color fading” by 61% and the least

faced “defect” problem by 5%.

Whether Respondents would Like To Recommend Their Preferred Brand To Others

OPTION NUMBER OF

RESPONDENTS

PERCENTAGE

YES 80 83%

NO 16 17%

TOTAL 96 100%

Interpretation

83% of respondents like to recommend their brand to friends.

Shifting Towards Other Brands

OPTION NUMBER OF

RESPONDENTS

PERCENTAGE

YES 42 44%

NO 54 56%

TOTAL 96 100%

Interpretation

56% of respondents are brand loyal.

Second Preferred Brand

OPTION NUMBER OF

RESPONDENTS

PERCENTAGE

LEVIS 25 59%

GUILTY 7 17%

PEPE 10 24%

PUMA 0 0%

ADIDAS 0 0%

REEBOK 0 0

TOTAL 42 100%

Interpretation - From 42 respondents who want to shift, 59% respondents shift to “levis”.

FINDINGS

96% respondents like brands.

100% respondents like to wear branded jeans.

42 % respondents have most keen interest in “levis”.

58% of respondents select brand for comfort reason.

71% liked to purchase from showrooms.

81% respondents “feel good” while watching their brand on T.V

90% of respondents not only have interest in brands but also in their communities.

67% of respondents faced problems.

61% respondents faced “color fading” problem

83% of respondents like to suggest their brand to friends.

44% of respondents switch over to other brand(56% loyal ).

59% of respondents gave second preference to “levis”.

CONCLUSION

From the study it is concluded that majority of respondents liked to wear brand and

maximum responses towards liking jeans of their favourite brand. It is found in this study

that- highest number of respondents gave preference to “LEVIS” branded wear and

maximum respondents were brand loyal. Some respondents also faced problems in branded

wear. It is also found that maximum number of respondents liked to adopt other accessories

of their brand( goggles, watches etc) At last I can say that if a brand wants to stay in a market

with good reputation, they should have to maintain the quality of the product

RECOMMENDATIONS

The quality of the product should be enhanced, which can give better

comfort to the consumer; it may help in retaining existing consumer and might attract

new consumers to the products of the brands.

Normally the prices of reputed brands are high, because of this reason they may loose

economically middle class and lower class consumers. To over come this problem

these brands have to introduce products with low prices.

The product range should be increased keeping in mind all these segments of market

with respect to fabric, look, better-fit possible and ease of maintenance etc.

It is necessary to bring out a variety of colours than the usual.

It is required to update the trend and be creative with innovative styles.

Some of the brands are not easily available at all the places required by consumers so

it may be required to increase the outlets.

Advertisements of the brand may be increased with added information like price,

availability, ranges, promotions etc.

Sales promotions of the products should be increased to attract new consumers.

QUESTIONNAIRE

Q: 1 Do you like brands?

Ans: a. YES [ ] b. NO [ ]

Q: 2 Do you wear branded jeans?

Ans: a. YES [ ] b. NO [ ]

Q: 3 Which brand you preferred?

Ans: a. Levis [ ] b. Guilty [ ]

c. Pepe [ ] d. Puma [ ]

e. Adidas [ ] e. Reebok [ ]

Q: 4 Why you selected this brand?

Ans: a. Comfort [ ] b. Stylish [ ]

c. Price [ ] d. Quality [ ]

e. Other write here……………….............

Q: 5 Your preferred location for buying?

Ans: a. Mall [ ] b. Showrooms [ ]

c. Mega Mart [ ] d. Factory outlet [ ]

Q: 6 Do you like to watch your brand advertisement on television?

Ans: a. YES [ ] b. NO [ ]

Q: 7 Would you like to join the community of your brand?

Ans: a. YES [ ] b. NO [ ]

Q:8 Do you faced any problem in your brand?

Ans: a. YES [ ] b. NO [ ]

Q : 9 Which type of problem you faced?

Ans: a. Fitting [ ] b. Shrinkage [ ]

c. Colour fading [ ] d. Defect [ ]

Q: 10 Would you like to recommend your brand to friends?

Ans: a. YES [ ] b. NO [ ]

Q: 11 Would you like to change your brand in future?

Ans: a. YES [ ] b. NO [ ]

Q:12 Which brand would you like to go for?

Ans: a. Levis [ ] b. Guilty [ ]

c. Pepe [ ] d. Puma [ ]

e. Adidas [ ] f. Reebok [ ]

 

PERSONAL DETAILS :

Name: ……………………..……………………………………………………………………

Address: …………………….………………………………………………………………..

Occupation: ………………………………………………………………………………….

Mobile no. :…………………………………Landline: ………………………………….

E – mail id:

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How’s your experience to fill this form??

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Signature:

REFERENCES

1. MUNIZ, ALBERT M. JR. AND THOMAS C. O’GUINN (2001), “Brand

Community”, Journal of Consumer Research, Volume 27, Page No. 412-432

2. THAKOR, MRUGNAK V. AND ANNE M. LAVACK (2003), “Effect of

Perceived Brand Origin Associations on Consumer Perceptions of Quality”,

Journal of Product and Brand Management, Volume 12, Issue (6), Page No.

394-407.

3. Keller, Kevin Lane (2003). “Brand Synthesis: The Multidimensionality of

Brand Knowledge,” Journal of Consumer Research, Volume 29, Issue (4),

Page No. 595-600

4. Tali Te'eni-Harari, Jacob Hornik, (2010) "Factors influencing product

involvement among young consumers", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol.

27 Issue: 6, Page No.499 - 506

5. Ramaswamy Et Al. (2005) Isabelle Szmigin And Alexander E. Reppel The

University Of Birmingham, Birmingham,

UkWww.Emeraldinsight.Com/Researc hregister Ejm 38,5/6

WEBSITES

http://us.levi.com/en-GB/index

info@ creativelineindia.com

http://www.pepejeans.com

http://www.puma.com.an/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/adidas

http://www.reebok.com/