Huipil Marketing Plan

Aidan Baldwin, Jack Shepard, Ruslan Lucero, Elizabeth Reyes, Bryant Koshi, Gregory Kaniecki,

Conor Dillon

Executive Summary

➢Provide outline of a marketing plan ○ Picture of the Customer○ Pricing and Positioning Strategy ○ Distribution Plan ○ Promotional Strategies ○ Online Marketing Strategies

➢Provide Suggestions to take forward in development of Huipil

Huipil Overview

Target Customer

➢ Female➢ 25-34 yrs old➢ Urbanite ➢ Upper Education:

Educated about the Issues

➢ Occupation: At minimum-- access to disposable income to pay premium on luxury/specialized productsSources: Prizm, SimplyMaps, Mintel

Customer Persona Socially Conscious Susie ~“I enjoy discovering unique products that incorporate a social cause I can feel good about”

❖ 25 years old ❖ Lives in Washington D.C. ❖ Works as an entry level consultant ❖ Former Teach for America Fellow❖ Studied Political Science at

Georgetown

Susie tries to buy fair trade, organic, and socially conscious products when she can. She prescribes greater value to a company with a social mission, but it is still equally important to her that they provide a quality product. Susie likes to shop at stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Food’s because she can find unique and interesting products that give offer her a sense of adventure that she sometimes misses at her corporate job. Susie loves to travel and is an enthusiast for her local farmer’s market.

Geographic:❖ Urban areas have higher usage of specialized soap & bath products❖ Map: Shows areas of market potential for higher prices & higher $$ spent on bath

products

Demographic: Age

18-34 year olds➢ Income for purchases especially in 25-34

yrs➢ Younger customers will most most affected

and moved by ethical and environmental issues

Factors to consider➢ Young students & customers

○ No steady income○ Choose bargain brand

➢ Older customers○ Brand loyalty○ Unswayed by issues or unaware of news

widely available online

High X XX

Med X X X

Low X X X XX

Avg. Age 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55+

Age vs. Propensity to Buy Our Market

Demographic: Gender

➢ Males 10% more likely to ignore cause message

➢ 15% higher cause-driven purchases decisions among females

Survey of 2000 consumers:➢ 948 male➢ 1,052 female

Cause Marketing Campaign Reactions

Psychographic: Cause-Marketing❖ Interest in causes

does not primarily drive purchases

❖ More customers would ignore a cause message or be skeptical to its credentials

❖ Of those that will purchase on cause--price is typically the determining factor

Psychographic: Types of Cause

➢ Green products is the leading trend in ethical purchase decisions

○ 63% of consumers would buy green products at competitive prices

○ Market Potential: non-contaminating soap in development

➢ Consumers more likely to buy products that have a personal connection

High XX X

Med X X X

Low X

Cause Type Green Product

Personal Cause (Close-

Ties)Organic

Cause Type vs. Propensity to Buy

Unique Selling Proposition

Soap to cleanse your hands and the world

your world

Cleaner and safer families, here and afar

❖ Witty, quick statement to place on packaging or use as sales pitch

➢ Creates intrigue to look more into product

❖ General statement of goal ➢ e.g. Toms - “Each pair of shoes

you purchase = a pair of shoes for a child in need”

❖ Use positive, persuasive language that will touch upon the customer’s heart-strings

❖ Call upon the customer to make a difference

Buy one soap, share another

Help clean the hands that made your soap

When every purchase of a bar makes a difference

Place your suds footprint on the world

One bar for your home = One bar for a home in

need

The USP is a quick statement to highlight Huipil’s unique mission and

strategy

Pricing and Positioning Strategy ➢ Unique feature of Huipil is that our soap funds soap for

Guatemalans who are in dire need of sanitation resources○ Make customers realize that buying Huipil soap will

allow children not to live with routine parasitic infections

➢ Luxury, quality soap as well as decorative, colorful packaging will allow us to sell at a higher price point, enabling greater social impact and subsidization of cheaper soap for Guatemalans

➢ Website/ packaging should emphasize social impact that buying this product will have

○ In a study done in Pakistan in 2005 by Luby et al., found that those who used soap had a 53% decrease in their incidences of diarrhea. Several studies have been done that cite the use of soap after defecation to be the most effective method to prevent parasitic infection. More specifically, hand washing with soap has been found to be even more effective as a preventative agent for children less than five years of age.

➢ Explain meaning of the name Huipil ➢ Traditional garment worn by Guatemalan women and

pronounced “we appeal.” Unique pattern expresses identity and beauty of this region. We use it as an emblem of the core of our mission: “we appeal” to promote hygiene, health, and dignity in Guatemala

Pricing and Positioning Strategy ➢ The pricing of artisanal, luxury soaps are very wide-

ranging and hard to find a pattern or average○ Allafia top, Sarva bottom-left, Caswell-Massey

bottom-middle, Harrod’s bottom-right ➢ Price to produce luxury Huipil soap is $2.04/bar, price to

produce cheaper soap for Guatemalans is $.80/bar○ Shipping cost is our biggest unknown preventing

us from being able to lock down a targeted price point

○ Cheapest, most effective way to reach our target market may be to use our own website, as well as sites like Enrou

○ Market product by getting word out through social media, as our target demos are likely to be active

➢ May want to err on the high side for our initial price point as there is clearly a large market for luxury soap

○ Our combination of value offer1. luxury, quality soap 2. Eye-popping packaging made by Guatemalan

women 3. Our unique social impact, in which washing

with our soap will allow Guatemalans to have access to basic hygiene allowing them to live healthier, happier lives than they currently enjoy will make our product extremely appealing

Distribution Plan- Goals➢ Sell soap at a 10-20% premium over

popular soap brands➢ Primary sales through website

➢ Purchase Outlets:○ Online Sales Through Website○ Online Marketplace for Ethical & Influential

Products○ Partnerships w/ brick & mortar stores

➢ Locations:○ Whole Foods Market, Inc.○ Toms Marketplace--(similar ones as well)

Distribution Plan

Criteria Data

Profit Margin 25% per bar (average)

Number of Soaps back to Village 1 bar for village for every 1.6 bars sold

Warehouse Location Southwest US (California or Texas)

Shop locations Urban cities along west coast, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Michigan

Source: Mintel, SimplyMaps

Promotions Strategy - Get the Word Out ➢ “What would you fight for?” video on Huipil ➢ Broadcast via on-campus radio station WVFI ➢ Articles (Observer, Mendoza Magazine)➢ Notre Dame Day 2016

○ Participate in the video broadcast featuring students’ stories; share about Huipil○ Get word out to receive votes (/ funds)

➢ Set up a table in LaFun about project; give out little business cards or pens/ erasers➢ Try to get a place on the TV’s in Mendoza (similar to phone cases)➢ Social Media: Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, LinkedIn, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram ➢ Bookstore Basketball

○ Promote use of hand soap among participants for healthy playing habits and market Huipil ➢ Little cards in the dining halls and Lafun ➢ Have Morris Inn support the project/ buy some inventory of soap to use in hotel rooms➢ Work with Eck Visitors Center

○ Organize a presentation and contact/ connect with alumni ○ Participate in the 2016 Leadership Conference in April

Possible Partnerships ➢ Notre Dame Bookstore

○ Bookstore Basketball-promote use of hand soap among participants for healthy playing habits and market Huipil

○ Approach about selling inventory through bookstore➢ Enrou

○ Secure a place on their online marketplace with other socially responsible brands

➢ Catholic media agencies○ On platform of social justice and Catholic Social Teaching for

poverty & solidarity➢ Morris Inn

○ Ask hotel to support cause by purchasing product for use in rooms

➢ Eck Visitors Center○ Gateway to connection with Alumni, participate in

Leadership Conference in April 2016

Offers Comparable Companies’ Offers

➢ Hand in Hand Sustainable Suds○ Offers seasonal deals (holiday gift sets)○ Various twitter updates regarding daily offers

■ Ex. Online sales give free shipping on orders over $20 ● Standard 2 bar packs priced at $15; entices second

purchase

➢ Poppy Soap Company○ 15% off first order with newsletter sign up

■ entices second purchase (reminder) ○ Free shipping on orders over $75

Ideas for Huipil➢ Utilize newsletter deal to give incentive to sign up and keep informed➢ Offer coupons and deals through twitter, instagram, etc.➢ Have various Notre Dame Campus stores offers deals

○ Barber Shop and Hair Stylists could give out samples with discount on online purchase

➢ Entice people to spread word of Huipil○ e.g. 5 facebook referrals could equal 20% off next purchase

Marketing Materials

One One SoapCountless

Futures

Plan to present a unified message in all printed material and layout criteria you or

others can follow when creating material in the future

Social Media Presence

❖ Live Tweets to Stay Connected to the work in Guatemala

❖ Hear about your purchases’ impact on real lives

❖ Spotlight on individual worker/villager (similar to “Humans of New York”)

❖ Create digital photo albums for people to view of pictures of village, factories, assembly

Place a FB page here!Key factor to low cost early stage marketing - Share

the good

Online Marketing Strategy ➢ At an early stage paying for online advertising is not practical ➢ Consider Application for a Google Ad Grant

○ Gives nonprofits $10,000 a month of in-kind advertising for Google AdWords to promote their cause

○ Currently work with over 20,000 nonprofits○ Need to have a live website

For Science Buddies (just one charity!):

Online Marketing Strategy

BUZZ WORD

S

Guatemala

Social Responsibility

SoapNatural

HealthCOMMUNITY

GLOBAL CITIZEN

FIGHTING IRISH: FIGHTING FOR CHANGE

BOTTOM OF THE PYRAMID

SociAL VALUE CREATION

GIVE BACK

SYNERGY

What words frame Huipil?

Conversion Strategy

➢ Utilize pictures and videos to convey the need of the Palajunoj Valley

○ Documentary highlighting the lives of the people there and the impact Huipil has for them

➢ Use quotes from the locals whenever possible (i.e. website, thank you letters, etc.) to highlight their gratitude

➢ Use social proof (recording and showing customer testimonies) to generate paying customers

○ Get feedback from customers in an email → testimonials on website

○ Social media campaigns■ Utilization of hashtags to create a group of photos

shared by a community of like-minded individuals to Alexis

Prospective Customer → Paying Customer

Conversion Strategy: Elevator Pitch

Huipil is a non-profit company that addresses the health problems associated with a lack of access to soap in the Palajunoj Valley of Guatemala. Parasitic infection is a constant source of debilitation in the valley. Providing access to basic hand soap

greatly reduces the infection rate. Huipil produces an artisanal soap made in Guatemala and packaged by local women to be sold in the United States. With all profits from these U.S sales, the company produces a more cost effective soap to be sold locally at an affordable price. By purchasing from Huipil you take home a

uniquely crafted and colorfully designed bar of soap that not only cleans your hands but those of your neighbors, while helping to provide employment for local

women and combat the spread of disease in the Palajunoj Valley.

❖ Develop a speech that encompasses the value of Huipil in a mere 20 to 30 seconds❖ Exercise to lock down your vision for value proposition and the message you want to send customers❖ At its root, what does Huipil offer that makes someone want to buy the product

Customer Referral Strategy

92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all form of advertising - Nielsen

❖ Ask social media followers to share your posts

❖ Give a discount referral code for repeat purchasers to offer to friends and family

❖ Integrate a function that allows customers to share purchases through social media from your website

❖ Ask customers for product feedback and integrate positive quotes into marketing strategy

❖ Collaborate with similar socially minded ventures to share customer mailing lists and strategies

Word of Mouth Marketing is one of the most valuable assets an early start up can leverage

Customer Retention Strategy How can Huipil maximize its Customer Lifetime Value?

❖ Quantify on packaging - “The proceeds from this purchase will provide a Guatemalan family with enough soap to help keep them parasite free for up to a month”

❖ Customer accounts - If customers have a login to the Huipil website to make purchases you could offer them a picture of the impact their purchases have made as a whole

Reinforce Value YOUR IMPACT

Bars of Soap Provided………. 45Families Affected………………..6Estimated Infections Prevented…………………...…....3

Customer Engagement

❖ Customer accounts - Creating a system to engage customers and streamline their purchases through website logins

❖ Monthly Newsletter- Inform customers of the work the company is doing in Guatemala as well as offering purchasing incentives

Final Thoughts

❖ Skeleton of a Marketing Plan

❖ Some Perspective on Market

❖ Wide Spectrum of Ideas

Huipil Progresses and is Ready to Launch

Product

❖ Slide Deck as Template/Reference to Build Fully Developed Marketing Plan

❖ Ideas to Build Off