BRAND AUDIT

MMS – Sem III / Marketing

Subject:-
Product and brand management

Submitted by:-

Gurpreet Arrora A/04

Nihal Fernandes A/18
Kalpesh Nahata A/38
Abstract

This brand audit report is for Louis Vuitton. The purpose of

doing this is to evaluate the brand equity of Louis Vuitton,
both from the customers' and firm's perspective. As the
brand equity is based on brand knowledge, (Keller, 2003)
the brand audit is carried out through a survey designed to
measure two components of brand knowledge; namely
brand awareness and brand image. In conclusion, it was
found that the consumer can recall Louis Vuitton and they
do recognize the brand. They also see Louis Vuitton as a
brand that represents quality, expensive and exclusive and
is unique when compared to other brands such as Gucci.
This result will hopefully be able to set the strategic
direction for the Louis Vuitton brand.

Introduction

Louis Vuitton was formed in 1854, its earliest inventions

included the idea of designing luggage that was flat and
could easily stack in railway carriages. 152 years later,
Louis Vuitton is a well-known international fashion label
and its company, LVMH Moet Hennessy - Louis Vuitton,
believes it still stands for the highest quality products. With
a wide range of products comprising of leather goods,
ready-to-wear, shoes, watches, jewelry, textiles, writing
instruments and accessories, Louis Vuitton have branded
themselves as traditional yet innovative to capture its
target market. Is what it believes in correct? This report
will attempt to measure the brand equity of Louis Vuitton,
based on Keller's brand knowledge model by conducting a
brand audit.
Methodology

The Brand Inventory:

In conducting the brand inventory for Louis Vuitton, the

brand's website was closely examined. On the website the
products were clearly listed, with most of the associated
brand elements being displayed on the products. Secondly,
an examination of a trade mark Louis Vuitton store
completed the gathering of brand elements. This
information enables an understanding of the brand from
the firm's perspective, since it shows the possible sources
of brand knowledge available to the customer.

Louis Vuitton has a large range of bags under its brand,

and so this section will focus on the different lines
available.

Women:
Monogram Canvas
Monogram Denim
Monogram Multicolore
Monogram Mini
Monogram Vernis
Monogram Vienna
Monogram Ambre
Damier Canvas
Suhali Leather
Epi Leather
Antigua
Cruise Collection
Fall-Winter 2005/06 Collection
Men:
Monogram Canvas
Damier Canvas
Damier Geant Canvas
Taiga
Utah
Nomade Leather
Epi Leather

In Mumbai the range of products that is available is as

follows:

Product Range:

Women shoes, mens shoes, handbags, wallets, luggage

bags, watches and sun glasses.

Price Points:

A. Women Hand bags - Rs.18000-250000

B. Men Hand Bags - Rs.60000-300000
C. Wallets - Rs.12000-15000
D. Men shoes - Rs.25000-75000
E. Women shoes - Rs.25000-75000
The Brand Exploratory:

A variety of research procedures were used to obtain

timely and accurate information about the knowledge that
exists in the market on Louis Vuitton. In conducting the
research, both qualitative and quantitative methods were
required. Thus, a descriptive research design was used. A
survey was designed to measure the brand equity of Louis
Vuitton. As this brand audit is based on the brand
knowledge model (Keller, 2003), the survey aimed to
measure the level of brand awareness and brand image
that exists amongst consumers of the Louis Vuitton (LV)
brand.

Firstly, before the survey was created, qualitative research

was conducted to gather background information to
increase the quality of the questions asked in the survey. A
variety of questions were asked to help identify a range of
brand associations, which aided in the crafting of the
questions in the survey. These questions were given to a
non-random sample group of friends and family. It was
administered through emails and face-to-face collection of
the data.

Secondly, a quantitative survey measuring brand

knowledge was crafted. This again was given to a non-
random sample group of friends and family. The population
of this survey can be concluded as anyone living in
Mumbai who has heard of the brand LV. Initial
demographic questions were asked to gain an
understanding of the respondents being surveyed.

The series of questions surrounding brand awareness were

broken up into questions based on depth and breadth of
LV. Under the depth of awareness, recognition and recall
were measured. An aided recall question surrounding
luxury leather bags was asked. An image of an LV bag was
presented to test brand recognition. Under breadth,
consumption and purchasing situations were also tested.
Results from all these questions were then tallied.

The series of questions surrounding brand image were

broken up into three sections; strength, favorability and
uniqueness of LV. The questions asked respondents to tick
one answer from the given options. One essentially meant
The attributes chosen were expensiveness, quality,
exclusiveness, fashionable, used by woman. These were
based on the findings of the initial qualitative studies.
Based on the questions the consumer behavior was found
out which has been mentioned below in detail with the
help of pie/chart diagrams.

The Brand exploratory concentrated on uncovering

consumer perceptions of LV.

The depth of awareness was seen as very high. When

presented with the picture of the LV bag every single
participant in the survey recognized the brand. Also with
aided recall pertaining to luxury leather bags almost all
thought of LV. It has been shown that the LV products are
selected with much planning in people's minds, thus recall
becomes a much more important factor than recognition
and the marketing mix designed in the future should
reflect this.

The breadth of awareness was seen as very high as when

placed in consumption and purchasing situations through
the survey LV was mentioned more than any other brand.
This strength of awareness of LV was to be expected as it
is one of the most well known apparel brands. Consumers
awareness of the brand fell under the association of luxury
leather bags and luggage. This seems a rather limited
awareness level of the range of products LV has to offer.
Consumers appeared to be more aware of LV than any
other luxury bag brand; this can be seen as due to ideal
positioning by the company. The overall result is that LV
has built up strong brand equity in terms of brand
awareness.

Similarly, brand image of LV is quite strong, unique and

favorable. It is known that a positive brand image is
created by a marketing mix which links strong, favorable
and unique associations of the brand to consumers'
memories.

Regarding strength, the more deeply a person thinks about

product information and relates it to existing brand
knowledge, the stronger the relating brand associations.
The brand associations that consumers felt the most
strongly towards were clearly expensive, quality,
exclusivity and fashionable. All this attributes are
inexplicably linked to each other, thus it is understandable
that consumers felt strongly towards them all. These
strong brand associations are intentional by LV and thus,
this knowledge of the brand is ultimately building their
strong brand equity.

A brand must have a unique selling position to have a

sustainable competitive advantage against other similar
brands. It appears that the shared associations between
the competing luxury leather bags market are that of
expensiveness, quality and that they are used by women.
Thus this would be their point of parity. LV's unique
competitive advantage comes from its tendency to be
exclusive and fashionable. Thus this would be their point of
difference. These positive attributes are an ideal point of
differentiation, and further emphasize the strength of LV's
brand equity.

Advertising/Marketing:

A. Do not advertise on TV and newspapers.

B. They promote the brand through local events to reach a
wider audience.
C. The company, made the opening of their Mumbai store
coincide with
the 150-year celebrations of the brand Louis Vuitton. The
Chairman and CEO
of Louis Vuitton, Yves Carcelle, came down from France
specially to host
this event, which was a tremendous success.
D. They have unique business strategy where in they do
not believe in hiring
any one person to represent the brand. LV treats each
client as its
brand ambassador.
E. Moreover, they are registered on various search engines
and have their
own website

Result of survey
Demographics:
 Age Gender

17% 13%

18-24 40%
Male
70% 25-40 60%
Female
41-55

Incomebracket (Monthly)

10%
13%
25,000 - 35,000
35,000 - 65,000
77%
65,000 - 100 ,000

The survey taken reflects a majority of respondents

between ages 25 - 40 years old. Also, the survey had a 6:4
ratio of female to male respondents, which were spread
out quite evenly between the Rs. 65,000 to Rs. 1,00,000
(per month) income brackets.

Brand Awareness:

BrandRecall
14 13
12
12
10
8
6
Brand Recall
4 3
2
2
0

When posed with the aided recall question of brands

associated with expensive luxury leather bags, 13
respondent preferred Louis Vuitton followed by 12
respondent saying Gucci, 2 and 3 respondents respectively
for Roberto Cavalli and Prada.

All respondents recognized the Louis Vuitton bag in the

image presented to them.

Pre-purchaseplanning
0
4
No planning
Some Planning
26 Most Planning

26 out of 30 respondents said that most of the planning

takes place before the purchase of the Louis Vuitton bag.
However, the remaining 4 respondent said that some
planning is required.
 Consumptionofthe
product
15
12 12

10
Consumption of
5 3 3 the product

0
Louis Roberto Gucci Prada
Vuitton Cavalli

When faced with the consumption situation posed in

Question 8, 12 people chosed LV and another set of 12
people chose Gucci as a bag that they would take out for
social gathering. 3 respondents for RC and 3 respondents
respectively voted for Prada.

Brand Image:
 BrandAssociation

3 1
Expensive & Quality
4 Exclusiveness
Fashionable
22 Used by Women

Several factors were examined based on their strength of

association with Louis Vuitton. 22 out of 30 Respondents
selected expensive and quality as the strongest
association with Louis Vuitton, the remaining respondent
feel that it’s all about exclusiveness, fashion, used by
women.

BrandUniquness
0
0
Expensive & Quality
3
Exclusiveness
27 Fashionable
Used by women

The same factors were tested for uniqueness with respect

Influenceforbuying
5 4
Advertising
Brand image
21
Family & Friends

to Louis Vuitton. 27 respondent out of 30 said that the

uniqueness factor of the brand is its exclusiveness, the
remaining 3 respondent said that its fashionable.

21 respondent out of 30 said that the factors responsible

for their purchase is the Brand Image followed by family
and friends and then advertising. Therefore, we can say
that it’s a Brand name that sells.
 Motivationfor Buying
9
Attention
18 3 Interest
Desire

When respondent were asked the motivation behind

buying the Louis Vuitton product most of them said that it
is the desire to buy LV followed by attention and interest.
 Frequencyof Purchase
3
7 12 months

20 6 months
2 months

Moreover, when respondent were asked that when is it

that they would purchase a LV, 20 said 12 months down
the line, 6 said 7 months down the line and 2 said within 3
months. This shows that one does not purchase the LV
brand very frequently, the reason being its price
(Expensive).

Conclusion

Louis Vuitton has high amounts of brand knowledge due to

the strength of favorable and unique associations in its
brand awareness and image components. Moreover, LV
entered India early and therefore, enjoys the first mover
advantage. Thus it can be concluded that it is a very
equitable brand. Work needs to be done however to
increase the awareness among the masses also, because
they are the customers of tomorrow. Also, more
assortment and variety of products should be brought in
India instead of restricting more towards bags.

The survey was done using the following

questionnaire:

Q1.Which of the following age categories do you currently

fall under?

About: (Demographic)

A. 18 - 24
B. 25 - 40

C. 41 - 55

Q2.Please select your gender

About: (Demographic)

A. Male

B. Female

Q3. Approximately which of the following monthly income

categories do you fall?

About: (Demographic)

A. INR 25,000 – 35,000

B. INR 35,000 – 65,000

C. INR 65,000 – 1,00,000

Q4. When you think of expensive luxury products (leather

bags), which brands come to mind first?

About: (Brand Recall)

A. LV
B. Roberto cavalla

C. Gucci

D. Prada

Q5. Please take a look at the picture below and answer the
following question:
About: (Brand Recall/Recognition)

Can you recognize which brand does the bag belong to?

A. Yes. It's _________________________.

B. No.

Q6. When purchasing a Louis Vuitton leather bag, how

much planning goes into it beforehand?
About: (Knowledge about the brand/ Recognition)

A. No planning

B. Some Planning

C. Most Planning

Q7. If you were attending a social gathering, what brand of

luxury leather bags would you bring along?
About: (Consumption situation)

A. LV
B. Roberto cavalla
C. Gucci
D. Prada

Q8. To what extent do you think that the following product

characteristics are descriptive of Louis Vuitton leather
bags?
About: (Brand Association)

A. Expensive
B. Quality
C. Exclusiveness
D. Fashionable
E. Used by women
Q9. How unique are Louis Vuitton bags in terms of the
following product characteristics?
About: (Brand Uniqueness)

A. Expensive
B. Quality
C. Exclusiveness
D. Fashionable
E. Used by women

Q10. Which are the following factors that influence you in

buying Louis Vuitton?
About: (What influences you in buying LV)

A. Advertising
B. Brand Image
C. Family and Friends

Q11. What motivates you to buy the Brand Louis Vuitton?

About: (Why one would like to buy LV)

A. Attention
B. Interest
C. Desire

Q12. Indicate likeliness towards buying the Louis Vuitton

brand in the future?
About: (Frequency of purchase)

A. 12 months
B. 6 months
C. 2 months
References

Keller, K (2003), Strategic Brand Management: Building,

Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity,

Louis Vuitton Catalogue, from http://www.louisvuitton.com