MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PLAN 

1. Introduction

In the present era, sustainability has been considered as a matter of grave concern. The aspect of sustainability has become important due to the gradual increase in climate change and global warming. The current report has aimed at discussing the plan for launching the Cotton Textile Recycling Program in the UK. The program will attempt to recycle all kinds of clothes in the UK market for textile. The aim of the program is also focused on increasing awareness about the plan of recycling.

1.1 SMART objectives

Objective 1: Increasing the brand awareness of the program by 15% within 2020 among the young generation such with active utilisation of social media

Objective 2: Engaging 10 additional partners to have more effective operational efficiency

Objective 3: Representing the goals and objectives of the program of recycling all the kinds of clothes in 5 events within 2021 the month of June.

2. Situation Analysis

2.1 4ps Marketing Analysis

The main aim of the 4ps model is focusing on undertaking an effective marketing strategy for the company.

Product: The products for recycling for the current project are all kinds of clothes, including Shirts, Jeans, Dresses and Trousers. The recycled pieces are expected to be more sustainable. However, the previous design of the product will be replicated.

Price: The pricing of the new products will be based on the market prices of other sustainable clothes. The price will range from 8 GBP to 500 GBP.

Promotion: The initiative of recycling clothes can be promoted on social media with a unique hashtag such as #fashionethics, or #goslowwithfashion can be undertaken. The company can also have a partnership with People Tree, Thought, Bibico and Noctu for improving sustainable facilities.  Promotion can also be done with the help of fashion magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Vogue. Including celebrities and influencers in promotional activity can be helpful also.

Place: The clothes can be collected from educational institutes and offices by Cotton Inc. 

2.2 PESTEL Analysis

Political: The Government of the UK has encouraged businesses to recycle the products of daily usage. In 2014, the government introduced the program of Innovation in waste prevention fund for preventing wastes and encouraging recycling (Government of United Kingdom 2020). However, the imposition of Brexit can cause an 11% tariff on the products to be shipped outside the UK (Evening Standard 2019). Therefore, this can be unfavourable to Cotton Inc.

Economic: The GDP growth of the UK has been stable over the years. In 2018, the rate of growth was around 1.38% (World Bank 2020). Therefore, it is favourable for Cotton Inc to launch the recycling program. 

Social: Awareness of the people of the UK regarding recycling is significantly high. Around 84% of people in the UK are interested in recycling as per a survey (Telegraph 2017). In addition, people of the UK can be increasingly interested in recycled products due to the COVID 19 outbreak.

Technological: Digital marketing has significantly impacted the textile industry of the UK. The turnover of fashion companies has a substantial contribution to the websites of the company. Therefore, promoting the products on social media and websites can be helpful for Cotton Inc.

Environmental: The increasing demand for recycled products in the UK is favourable for Cotton Inc. The new program will reduce wastage and increase efficiency (Güyer et al. 2016).  

Legal: The act of recycling of a company needs to be carried out in accordance with the UK waste policy. The company can recycle products with ethical practices, and safety measures are also needed to be considered.

2.3 SWOT

Strength

Cotton Incorporated is a non-profit which has a brand image of serving good quality of the product (Cotton Inc 2020). The company carried out extensive research regarding the recycling of cotton related products. The company has an experience of more than 50 years.

Weakness

Owing to the extensive research, the cost of research is borne by Cotton Inc. The UK market is less interested in recycling than the US market. The company does not have effective representation of the practices.  

Opportunity 

The demand for cotton products in the UK is helpful for Cotton Inc to launch the program. The consumers are also interested in buying sustainable and recycled products (Russel et al. 2016). The consumer demand for sustainable products is also high. 

Threat

The supply of recycled products needs to meet the demand for the products. The decision regarding Brexit can have a significant impact on the recycling program. COVID 19 has also impacted the textile industry.  

2.4 Porter's Five Forces

Supplier’s power

The suppliers of the products for recycling will be sources from general consumers. Therefore, influencing and motivating suppliers can be difficult. Therefore, supplier power is high.

Buyer’s power

The aspect of sustainability and recycling needs to be highlighted for increasing the purchase.  The bargaining power of the buyers is moderate in this case.  

Competitive rivalry

In the respective industry, there are competitors that are interested in collecting clothes for charity.  Old clothes are also collected by large fashion brands to promote trends in fashion (Todeschini et al. 2017). Therefore, competitive rivalry can be moderate. 

Threat of substitution

The substitutes of the products from Cotton Inc are difficult to find out. Therefore, the threat is high.   

The threat of new entrants 

The threat of new entrants is low as Cotton Inc is a non-profit organisation. 

2.5 Segmentation, targeting and positioning 

Segmentation of the market will be done based on specifically two kinds of customers. The segments will be the millennials and the Gen Z of the industry.  

Millennials: The people in the age group of 22 to 38 years old are both female and male. This segment can also be divided into categories,

• People in the age group of 22-27 years: This segment has low income and starting their careers.  
• People in the age group of 28 to 38 years: Financially stable and working professionals are in this range.

Gen Z: People in the age group of 15-21 years from any family background, both female and male. 

These age groups of people have been targeted based on the demographics as there is a high acceptance of recycled fashion among this generation. As per a representative of the young generation, around 2100 GBP is saved by them exploring sustainability in clothing (The Sun 2020). Therefore, targeting these customers has been effective. In the UK, more than 80% of the customers buying online fashion are from the age group of 25 to 34 years (Statista 2019).  A significant part of fashion products is purchased by young people. Therefore, the targeting of the millennials and Gen Z is justified.

The strategy of positioning is based on mainly two strategies which are environment and solidarity. The positioning will be carried out based on promotion on digital mediums. The strategy will be aimed at promoting the ecological image and environmental strategy of the company. The strategy of positioning will be focused on motivating people to donate clothes as those clothes will be recycled. The unique selling proposition for the company will be aimed at proposing them to give their clothes for the improvement of the environment with the help of recycling. 

3. Objectives

3.1. Goals

Goal 1: To educate customers that cotton can be recycled as it is a natural fibre

Goal 2: To keep the cotton textiles out of the landfills

Goal 3: To recycle the received products as they can have a new shelf life 

Goal 4: Giving the recycled products back to the community  

3.2 Objectives

Objective 1: Improving the awareness of the brand by 15% among the new generations depending on the utilisation of Instagram and Facebook

Objective 2: Including additional 10 partners such as Bibico, Noctu, People Tree and Thought

Objective 3: Introducing the idea of recycling in 5 events such as MODA- Birmingham, The V&A London and London Fashion week. 

4. Strategy

The strategies of the company will be focused on four different ways to promote the program of recycling. The strategies will be, 

Influencer marketing for communicating with the customers by constructing a communication plan. 

Sending Emailtocommunicate with the old customers along with the new potential customers. 

Vouchers will be provided for increasing customers with the help of the retailers and partners.

Participating in events for getting new customers while being actively present in textile events in the country. 

5. Tactics

The tactics will be focused on omnichannel strategy as they will be linked to one another.

5.1 Objective 1 Tactics

In order to achieve the first objective social media related tactics will be performed. Big influencers such as Natasha Todd, Freddie Harrell and Venetia La Manna will be approached. They will be asked to post about the recycling program on their Instagram with the hashtags #fashionethics, #goslowwithfashion and #giveandsaveUK.  Natasha Todd and Freddie Harrel will attempt to influence the Gen Z and customers in the age group of 22-27 years. In addition, Venetia La Manna will influence the 28 to 38 years customers.  Ads will be posted on Facebook for increasing brand awareness as well as reaching the young generation. SEO or search engine optimisation will be done as people can find the recycling of Cotton Inc. 

5.2 Objective 2 Tactics

Potential partners will be approached with the help of emails. Furthermore, digital posters will be created based on the objectives of the program to attract new partners. 

5.3 Objective 3 Tactics

The logo of the initiative will be printed on pamphlets and will be distributed in the events. Vouchers will be given to the customers in fashion events. Cotton Inc will also attempt to participate in digital advertisement posters, campaigning of the partner companies.

6. Actions

The influencers of approach for the campaign can have a high impact on the actions of the project. Cotton Inc can sponsor the posts of these influencers for ensuring that people know about the brand. The objectives of the program need to be clear and attractive to attract new customers. To ensure that Facebook posts of the company stand out, vivid backgrounds are needed to be used. The ads need to be representing the idea of the program effectively. The Veeam software can be utilised for this recycling program. It is expected that after fulfilment of the first objective, the number likes on social media will be 100k by 2020. The second objective is to help in increasing the earned value by 2% in 2021. The third objective will help increase the customer satisfaction score by 3% by 2022.

6.1 Control

The control of the social media plan will be carried out with the help of Sprout social. The application will help in providing a detailed dashboard in which various areas are divided (Sprout Social 2020). The analytics tool of Union Metrics can be utilised for analysing the performance of the promotional activities on Instagram. Iconosquare will also be used as the main benefit of the app is that it helps in scheduling and customising Instagram feeds (Iconosquare 2020). In order to analyse Facebook, Quiently can be used for having a standard dashboard which can help in Facebook analytics. In addition, Google Analytics can help in analysing the email related activities of Cotton Inc. for this initiative.  

6.2 Budget

The costs of the proposed project can be divided based on the channels of marketing.  The direct channels of marketing include the cost of advertising on billboards and advertising on the bus stop. For the size of a 48-sheet hoarding, the average cost per week will be around € 200. This is the standard cost of billboard advertising. A busy bus stop has a significant number of visitors everyday which can be helpful in the promotion. The cost of advertising on these bus stops is around €300 for a week.  It has been planned that 5000-billboard advertising, as well as 5000 bus stop advertising, will be given. On the other hand, the digital channels of the promotion will have the cost of € 160. Union metrics will cost around € 53 per month. 

Iconosquare is a comparatively new app. Therefore, the cost will be around € 2.5 per month. Quiently has the cost of € 152 per month. On the other hand, Google analytics and emailing are completely free as they do not need any kind of subscription. A PPC management plan will be around €2300 per month. The payment to the influencers will be based on the followers of the influencer. Freddie Harrel has the highest followers. Therefore, the cost of sponsoring her will be around €120 per post. Venetia Le Manna has second-highest followers. Therefore, the cost per post will be around €100. On the other hand, Natasha Todd will be paid €75 per post for having the least number of followers. The total cost in the first month will be around € 2765800.