Identified development opportunity

Ray-Bans started in 1937 in the United States on behalf of the Air Force. They are known for sunglasses with quality and were trendy in the 80s and 90s. Ray-Bans wants to reach the younger generation (Generation Z) and has together with Meta created the series Ray-Bans Stories with high-tech functions (camera, speakers etc.).

However, they have a hard time reaching out to the younger generations, as they still have about the same profile as before = a bit glassy, black, cool. Sales are declining and the younger generation is dissing the brand, which in their eyes stands for status consumption without any real social or environmental responsibility. Ray-Bans does not support any of the values that Gen Z is driven by. Ie. ethics and morals, corporate commitment to the environment and sustainability. The brand is also colored by its tradition/history and therefore wants to create a completely independent brand that is not directly associated with the company's history and that gives the right signals to the younger generation - CBans.

Purpose

Reach younger generations (Gen - Z in particular). Renew the company's image through a new brand. Contribute to a better environment to achieve set environmental goals (clean the oceans from plastic). Build a brand and increase sales.

Objectives

Increase sales by 20% of Ray-Ban's total since last year, and until the summer of 2023 (one year). Through new products and a new brand, reach the younger target group via digital campaigns on social media in channels where the target group actually are. Campaign release the summer season April-May 2022 and continues April 2023.

Product description

Sunglasses 100% made from recycled plastic from the sea.

CBans collaborates with the organization plasticoceans.org which delivers materials, stats and important information.

5 models - Unisex

Price between 399 - 1999 SEK (37 - 188 €)

The primary target group

Generation Z girls born between 1996 and 2012.

Gen Z is driven by issues related to ethics and morals, community involvement, environmental and sustainability issues. They spend an average of 3 hours / day on social media and 54% say they are influenced by SoMe. 70% deal with companies that are considered to be honest and transparent with the right ethics and that protect the environment with sustainable products / services.

Persona

Emelie is a science student age 22. She is driven by following the world's and scientific developments and is involved in environmental issues that she strongly believes in. Emelie and her friends like to work as volunteers and care for animals and the environment. She likes to shop online but only from companies that have the right ethics and morals. Her biggest role model is Greta and she supports organizations such as Greenpeace and WWF. It is important that the brand is personal and feels young and directed towards her. She trusts influencers with the right values in SoMe. Laughs at memes and dreams of working on something that makes a difference. She lives in an EU country.

CBans the brand

C stands for the speed of light that is physically constant.

Since the brand is originally from Ray-Bans, we have kept the Bans but added the "C" which is also a pun. C can be pronounced both as sea and see in addition to the meaning "speed of light".The brand shows the company's stance on the environment, who they are as a company and what they offer in terms of products, with a twinkle in their eye.

The tagline where the company urges you to protect your eyes - at the same time you protect the sea when you buy the product.

The concept - #iseayou

The campaign concept both builds the brand and increases sales. Through honesty and transparency, work openly with how to contribute to stopping marine pollution from plastic and to protecting the environment. At the same time, protect our customers' eyes with our products made from 100% recycled plastic from the sea, which are produced in collaboration with the organization plasticoceans.org, also contributing with materials.

CBans invites customers to be part of the work against plastic in the oceans, by spreading information about CBan's vision and calling for action. The target audience is encouraged to get involved, spread the word and buy the products, which also makes them committed to saving the oceans.

By mainly working with organic posts and native advertising, editorial posts, a larger, long-term and quantitative work is required. We reuse promotional materials for multiple channels. Success is based on engaging a selected target group to spread information about CBans through "word of mouth" and that the company works actively to be constantly visible in current channels and analyze outcomes.

By following up on what the target audience thinks by asking questions, creating competitions and various online events, we can adapt the information that works best. Keyword-optimized texts and personal texts are an important part of the work. Likewise, to constantly tell about what we do, how we do it and when we work against marine pollution.

On our website/landing page/webshop we have deeper information such as articles and blog, where we write about progress, events, daily work together with our partner organization plasticocean.org.

Communication and messages in social media

We communicate in English and create engagement by meeting the target group in selected channels.

Social media channels: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube.

Examples posts and activities

Competitions:

Submit your best memes about sunglasses or plastic recycling and win our sunglasses for you and your bestie.

Behind the scenes:

Then here we recycle the plastic videos that show how the products (sunglasses) are produced.

IRL Events:

For example, events for "Clean the beaches together!"and post photos and videos to the hashtag #iseayou #cbans

Countdown of recycled plastics:

Constant reminder of how much plastic the company recycles from the ocean appears as a ticking countdown.

Hashtag #iseayou or #cbans and cbans.com URL in all posts.

Summary

When given the task of creating a brand in the sunglasses industry with a target group of young people, I really wanted to get to know the target group's driving force for buying.

Insights: I immediately encountered problems when it turned out that younger people are not at all driven by status products, fashion or to own things in the same way as previous generations.

In the external and competitor analysis, I did not think that any brand stood out that was not sold through the above preferences. Sunglasses are a high-trend product group that often follows the fashion industry. The insight was so clear that sunglasses were not a product that attracted my chosen target group, as Gen Z is driven by completely different values ​​such as ethics, morals and environmental commitment. I found that there were few competing brands (Fellepini (x sea2sea), Circular collection) that worked with recycling matrial to the extent that I wanted with CBans.

After I created customer journeys for my persona Emelie, came the insights about strong environmental commitment and stance. This led me to corporate commitment to the environment as in the manufacture of products, shipping, materials and which is crucial for the brand's success with target group Gen Z.

I could have chosen a completely fictitious company and brand but felt strongly that the brand Ray-Bans with its background could tide up its history and be able to make a greater community commitment to the environment. I do not know how the sales of Ray-Ban stories actually works, but I know that my persona would never buy their product.

I also believe that the higher purpose attracts a strong commitment from the selected target group that can make a big difference to the environment. And therefore CBans can be a great success in both sales, growing the brand and at the same time a great effort to clean the oceans from pollution.

Conlusion

The oceans need to be saved from plastic pollution and Emelie and her friends need to protect their eyes from UV light perhaps even more than before, as the ozone layer is thinner now due to environmental degradation than it was back in the 80s and 90s when Ray-Bans had theirpeak.

Execution: The task was performed individually

Schedule: 4 working days

Deliverables: Written submission containing a detailed brief, concept idea, communication strategy, campaign concept idea, time and project plan and at least two campaign examples for social media.

Target group statistics - generation Z