Verity Marketing

Marketing that gets to the point.
33 Stilwell Av. 102 3GW Tel 01223 783412 Fax 01223 78400 www.xverityx.com e-mail don.alwood@xverityx.com

Memo

Re: N.E. wear product launch.

(A)   Let's make sure you know why we are doing this. First of all, it's so that the public are aware that N.E. wear is now available nationally. Next, it is to promote brand image. But we also have to take the chance for some personal contact between our marketing people and their opposite numbers in the press. And since N.E. wear's distributors, staff and marketing people will all be there, it is a chance to have a face-to-face business meeting too.

(B)   We want to do this the week after the product has been first put on sale, so we can release the first week's sales figures at the launch, which gives the journos have some hard news to take home. We are doing it on Friday afternoon and evening, because it allows the dailies to cover it on Saturday, and it is still fresh enough for the Sunday papers to cover it too. At the same time doing it at the end of the week allows everyone the chance to get out of the office early, and because everyone has that TGIF feeling, the whole party should be more relaxed.

(C)   At present Jeanie is scouting a location for us. We want it to be near an extreme sports event, preferably in the country, but near a large city. This is easier than it sounds, as the organisers of many extreme sports events have the same requirements. We need a hotel with good phone/fax/computer outlets, A quiet room for interviews and filming and a large room we can reserve for the evening. Remember we will want this room for the fashion show as well as for the dinner. This stops people wandering around the hotel, and we can to some degree control the amount of alcohol consumed - this is mostly a business affair, after all!

(D)   There are going to be about 200 people at the launch. Half will be paying guests (we should make a small profit from their attendance), and the other half will be invited. Among the invited guests will be about 15 press (Fashion journalists, Trade papers, Lifestyle journalists) and about 35 distributors and retailers. We are hoping about half-a-dozen extreme sports champions will accept our invitation, especially as they are being 'sponsored' to turn up. These champions are cheaper than most other celebrities, and also fit well with N.E. wear's image. Finally, there are the 18 N.E. wear Gal & Guy finalists.

(E)   Remember these finalists will be modelling our line later in the evening, and furthermore, their families will make up a large number of the paying guests at the launch. The winners are getting a contract with Citymodels. We have done rather well out of it, since the heats around the country have given us lots of publicity, and we are getting them as free models for the N.E. wear range at the fashion show/competition. And we don't have to pay out for the prize either, as we are talent spotting for Citymodels, who also get some useful free publicity, while the journos get their second news story of the evening.

(F)   Make sure that there are reps assigned to each of the different groups at the launch, and enough staff to man the sales booth at the launch - we might as well sell some N.E. wear gear while we are at it. Also we will need a representative to co-ordinate things with the hotel, and make sure that no-one gets in without signing in. That way we know which journalists have not attended, so we can send them press packs.

Send any questions to Fran, or get back to me ASAP