Digital communication assignment Week 2

Link to my powerpoint presentation homework that was already previously posted on my google+ account:


 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B87r0ZU9qjBHY3VoWnYtN3B6M2s/view

Digital writing skills assignment 4

                                   

                   Digital Writing Skills assignment 4


I chose a topic of protecting the killer whales and selling an ethically produced campaign product where the profit goes to organisation that strives to improve the water quality and increase the amount of endangered species.

1.Instagram: 
Picture of the product, advertising the product with a short message about the profit and the organisation co-operated with.

2.Facebook: Direct people to the website to read more about endangered species and educate, hold reputation as a ethical company, do good. 

3. LinkedIn:
Professional text explaining the background of the organisation and connection between environment and cosmetics
 
"Lush cosmetics has always had passion for other species and the environment. Now it's time to focus on our oceans. Our oceans all over the planet are getting increasingly polluted with trash, toxic chemicals and noise. Lush works together with Oceanic society and encourages people to visit their website to educate themselves. Donations are welcome but the real change starts from understanding the facts. The more we know, the better individual choices we can make in our everyday life! Healthy oceans are not just important for wildlife, they are also vital for the humans survival in so many ways. 

4.Twitter: 

Share a picture that captures the attention and directs people to the website of Lush or the NGO where they can educate themselves, online shop for the products and communicate with the brand or other customers.

 It's time to focus on our oceans!
We have started a project to preserve wildlife and water and collaborated with Oceanic Society. Out of this collaboration came out a special product that you absolutely have to try! Not only does this soap give you a cooling and refreshed after-shower glow but it also gives you positive mind because 100% of the profit of the soap goes to the project with Oceanic society!
                   
Let's embrace our showers and protect the precious wildlife!"



Goals for each social medium
1.Instagram: advertisement, reputation, informing
2.Facebook: educating, redirecting to an official website
3.LinkedIn: educating, reputation, accountability
4.Twitter: sharing, brand-awareness, endorsing a product line



Sources:
 www.Lush.com
www.oceanicsociety.com

      Digital communication, Assignment week 4



What do I want to change:

As already mentioned in the previous post, Lush lacks interest of men customers. I want to change how Lush is perceived as a women's brand and increase the amount of men in their target audience. I want men to get more engaged with the brand and perceive it as something luxurious but masculine. Lush is a brand with strong personality. Buying products from Lush is almost like a statement and I want men clients to associate themselves more with the brand. I also want to increase the brand-awareness more all together through opinion leaders and word of mouth because Lush doesn't use paid advertising.

                                        Retreived from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC-b32F2c9s   

Persuasion Techniques and their Theoretical Background

1. Altercasting:In it's simplest form, Altercasting is telling someone they are "good" and that they should act accordingly: "John, you are intelligent and conscientious person; you should work hard to finish this task on time." Wanting indeed to be seen as intelligent and conscientious person, this traps John to perform the behaviour expected by such a person"  (Andrews, Van Leeuwen and Van Baaren, Hidden Persuasion, 2013). 

Altercasting in real life:
 Since Lush doesn't use paid advertising on tv, radio or internet, it is important that Lush still uses some persuasion techniques in their own social media channels. The messages should be truthful and honest since Lush has a reputation of ethical and honest brand. Lush could reach more men audience by putting out messages that include altercasting. Especially men who are already conscious consumers and interested in sustainable consumerism could catch these messages and become new customer of Lush. 

2.Reciprocity:  "Reciprocation is one of the most fundamental human social rules: we feel compelled to return favours, By returning the favour, we preserve the "give and take" balance expected from any healthy relationship. The technique's effectiveness is partly due to the independence of size between the reciprocal behaviour from the initial favour. In particular, a small gift often lead to a disproportionally large need to reciprocate" (Andrews, Van Leeuwen, Van Baaren, Hidden Persuasion 2013).

Reciprocity in real life: Doing research, I found out that Lush is already doing this. When buying a product, the store puts a little extra product in your shopping bag after purchase. This is a way to leave an impression of generosity and kindness. This increases the likelihood of the customer returning to the store because they left the store with a positive and grateful feelings.  This is a great way to build a lasting customer-retailer relationship. One thing that Lush could do is add small samples of their mens products into female customers shopping bag that the women can give to their sons, husbands, fathers or boyfriends. This will spread word about the company through opinion leaders and word of mouth.  

Retrieved from: http://nicolettasbeautyspace.blogspot.nl/2010_05_01_archive.html

                                  
Sources:
(Andrews, Van Leeuwen and Van Baaren, Hidden Persuasion, 2013)
www.Lush.com

                        Digital communication assignment 3  

Why:Lush believes in creating cosmetic products from ethically purchased ingredients that are not tested on animals and selling and making fresh and handmade products made by people who are happy and selling it to people in order to make them happy too.  

                                       

How/BHAG:

Through Lush's charity projects 

and by part-taking already existing charity projects, Lush stands out as a company that truly cares.

Lush is ethically righteous company that works towards fair business in all of it's actions. Lush communicates it's passion through their different social medias and informs and educates people through different social media posts and events. The major goals involve around protecting our planet and standing up for the rights of living beings, weather it is animals or people. What really makes Lush stand out as a brand is that it doesn't forget to reflect its passions in the different areas of business. Wether not using paid advertising or making sure that product containers are being recycled, Lush tries to stand as an example of a company that is making profit but still acts ethically.

                                              

What:

Lush sells products that are supposed to create positive impact and contribute with positive effect with the society and the planet. The whole production chain is set up in a way that it creates least amount of pressure to the ecosystem and doesn't take advantage of animals or people in the process. By buying Lush products, you get a feeling that its okay to treat one's self or others with good smelling products and special moments.  

Retrieved from: http://www.lushusa.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Lush-Site/en_US/AboutUs-OurStoryShow?cid=ethical-campaigns-lp

Fundaments for a new community building plan using the 4 Cs:

Context:

- Technology principle:
Lush is quite active on their social media pages. Since they don't use paid marketing, it is their most used communication method. Lush uses different social media pages such as twitter, Facebook, Instagram and their own webpage. Lush uses their social media pages to receive customer feedback and also respond to customer comments. They also inform people about different charity projects that they are taking a part in and different new products and product lines that they want to endorse. 

- Open communication principle:
As already mentioned, Lush's social media outlets let customers give open feedback and also voice their opinion about the companies products. Lush also portrays their own customers in their social media pages. This gives the company a nice image within the target audience. 

  Retrieved from: https://www.facebook.com/lushcosmetics/

Consumer:

The consumers that Lush could focus more are men. Men are increasingly focusing more and more on their looks and skincare and this is the perfect opportunity for Lush to widen their clientele. Lush already has existing skincare and bath products lines for men but their social media activity and product endorsement could target men more. 

Community:

The online community that Lush focuses on is mostly targeted already existing consumers. Because Lush doesn't use paid advertising, it would be good for Lush to focus in men in their social media activities as well as new consumers who aren't familiar with the brand yet. Lush could start a campaign that focuses on more masculine products and manly fragrances. 






Connection:

Because Lush makes skincare and bath products, their most likely target audience is women. However, like already mentioned, men are also getting more and more interested in taking care of their bodies and  appearance.
Lush already has a variety of products directed to men but the focus is clearly on women.

Lush shouldn't forget their possibilities with the male consumers since it can bring more profit but also help getting support to the companies different charity projects. In order for Lush to reach this new target audience, they have to widen their product lines to suit men but also communicate their message to the target audience more clearly. Instead of communicating with feminine elements and messages, Lush could endorse their more male directed product line in different ways so that the male consumers would pay attention to Lush as a potential brand when it comes to shaving products, shower products and perhaps even perfume.




Sources:http://www.lushusa.com/
http://www.datamark.com.br/en/news/2015/11/increases-the-interest-in-cosmetics-for-men-180807http://www.euromonitor.com/mens-http://vadamagazine.com/lifestyle/fashion/mans-guide-lush

Digital writing skills assignment 3

Digital writing skills

Assignment 3

I started by analysing the style in Lush's existing social media posts:

Lush has official twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The style of communication is very continuous and up-beat, there are a lot of posts almost everyday and they are mostly targeted already existing target audience. The style reflecting from the posts is very positive and all about their passion which is sharing happiness and being ethical at the same time.

Lush continues their current themes throughout all their social media platforms and all new posts, so they all make a web of information and everything is aligned. In their latest posts, Lush focused on Mothers day because it's the "perfect time to treat your mother with handmade fresh products".

Lush shares information about new products or campaigns in a very casual, easy-to-understand way. It is nice because reading Lush's social media posts is almost like reading posts from your best friend. It's very down-to-earth and easy to understand. I think this is the trick of their success -- regardless of the fact that Lush doesn't use paid advertising, they manage to get the word out there in an effective way.

screenshot retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/lushcosmetics/

Lush goes where the people are and let's its values and passions do the talking. That is what appeals to people. The company wants to be seen as a people brand. As a friendly brand. As a brand that does things right and is proud of it.  Using Lush products and going to Lush makes one feel like a better person because people can identify with the values and feel as if they are making a difference. Communicating in a simple and easygoing manner makes the brand easily approachable to consumers.

Part 1.

My theme: Animal testing
My goal: Make people buy less products that were tested on animals and become more aware of the cruelty of animal testing.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTPvow3E_VE

"Countless amount of animals are suffering in the labs all around the world just because brands still test their beauty products on other living beings. Don't stay silent because You can make a difference! Are you passionate about animal rights and would like to become a spokesperson and face to our movement? Join our campaign Love beyond species and tag pictures or posts of your favourite cruelty free Lush products or your animal friends with a hashtag #lovebeyondspecies and share the word for those who can not speak. We will choose the most influential posts and use them in our campaign posters.

                   

 Let's stop the injustice and start loving again!

We at Lush are collaborating with many animal right organisations in order to work towards rescuing our silenced friends. We are more than exited to introduce our new products line all about animal rights. Half of the profit of our Love beyond species product line goes to support labs developing alternative, more ethical testing methods of cosmetics. "

Part 2. Explanation of blog entry:

I used the same kind of tone as Lush already uses on their post. It's friendly and positive but caring. Easy to understand and it offers an easy way to take an action. A hashtag is a social way to influence and reach people. The fact that Lush would actually portrait their customers in their campaign is a sympathetic and inspiring way to make people take part in the movement.

I used the you/we/hero technique by calling attention and attendance to already organised framework to move masses towards positive change. People find campaigns like this attractive and simple because they are social and its easy to take a part in it by just "joining the movement".


Asking to post a picture is a good way to reach a lot of people and learn about the clientele because  most people post pictures of their pets or their favourite products anyway. It's undeniable that people also post pictures with an ethical hashtag because of vanity reasons. People want to be perceived a certain way on social media and this is a good way to make people spread the word but also make people interested in the new product line.

I tried to choose something in my blogpost that would personally move me. I started by looking more into the communication style and tone on different social media channels that Lush has and wrote a similar short text with a realistic campaign idea that Lush could endorse. The video is emotional and if people watch it they are moved and more likely to act on the message. Ideal video would be made in collaboration with the scientists who develop alternative testing methods.

I enjoyed writing the post because I am passionate about the topic myself. I could easily imagine working for organisation or company as a content creator or blogger for a good cause.


Aino Leppänen

Digital Writing Skills, Assignment 2

Digital Writing Skills, Assignment 2

The Passion of LUSH

Lush's passions is to create bath products and cosmetics that are produced in an ethical way. This passion aligns with their whole business plan starting from the ingredient manufacturing and product testing all the way to the actual preparation of the product. 

Lush also starts and supports several charity projects all around the world. 

The reasoning behind Lush's passion is based on their ethical values. Lush has several aspects in their actions that are aligned with their values such as no animal testing policy, all the cosmetics are fresh and handmade, lush only buys ethically produced ingredients and all the products are 100% vegetarian and packaged in a ecologically-friendly way.  (http://www.lushusa.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Lush-Site/en_US/AboutUs-OurStoryShow?cid=we-believe)

Lush wants to be an example of an outstanding company that can put ethical self-care products into to the market and still reach big clientele. One element that Lush highlights through its actions is happiness. Lush wants to be known as a company that can bring happiness not only to the consumer but to every person and animal that is engaged in the manufacturing chain. 

Influencers

Lush is a very unique company when it comes to advertising. Lush doesn't use outside sources to promote their company or products and it doesn't use any celebrities as brand-ambassadors or influencers.
However, some people choose to promote Lush for free just because they have such a strong passion towards the same ethical values as the company does. There are also news articles mentioning how famous celebrities such as Willow Smith or Ariana Grande prefer Lush over other bath products but Lush itself has no influence on these articles. Lush believes that company should only be advertised by people who genuinely love the products and the company. Thats why Lush doesn't use paid advertising. This reflects honest business ethics because having the marketing communications aligned with companies ethical values ads to companies accountability in the eyes of the consumers. 

Digital writing skills, Assignment 1

How to define your target audience?

The company's(Lush) current target audience is 18-45 year-old women (Casey et al., 2014). The cosmetic company also offers product lines for men and children but the main audience remains women. On my blog, I will try to focus on improving the branding of the company I have chosen and its communication to a wider audience of consumers in a way that it will fit the company's ethical values. I will research about the company and present different techniques that the company applies in order to gain popularity among consumers. I will try to find different places of improvement in the company's communications.  

Organisation’s current online activity? 

Lush's current activity on digital media reconstructs of their own social media platforms such as youtube, Facebook and Instagram account. On these different platforms Lush single-handedly advertises their new products, campaigns and projects. The company also has an inclusive website/store that appears in many different countries and in different languages. Lush doesn't use any paid media outside of it's own social media platforms. Lush doesn't advertise online or in printed media or television. This means that anyone who visits the store or the online store has to have already heard about the company one way or another.

How’s the competition behaving online? 

There is no visible evidence of competition online because Lush as a brand is so unique that it doesn't have many competitors yet. Smaller organisations surely sell organic cosmetics but they have not been able to reach the number of loyal customers as Lush has. 

What trends may influence your online relations? 

Lush wants to present itself as an ethical brand and not using paid advertising itself is already a statement against the system of sellers and buyers. Lush as a company stands for sharing, happiness and positive things and thats why the company avoids advertising in an ethically questionable ways. 

Most favourite subjects? (clicks, shares, retweets)

The favourite subjects online regarding Lush are product reviews on youtube. Some of the product review videos of popular Youtubers reach thousands of views and consumers of the products re-tweet news about new products coming up on twitter or on their Instagram accounts. 

Company: Lush

Goal of the company: Manufacturing and retailing vegetarian, ethically produced, hand made and environmentally sustainable cosmetics. 

Message of the company: Buying cosmetics can and should be environmentally sustainable.  

Target audience of Lush: The main target audience is women aged 18-45, but the target audience is expanding because interest towards cosmetics among men seems to be rising.

What/who is LUSH?
LUSH is a company specialised on producing and selling luxury self care and bath products. The ideology behind all the practices of the company is that are that all their products are ethically produced with no animal testing or cheap labor in developing countries. Lush's products are also handmade and the majority of the ingredients used in them are fresh and natural. 

The ethical values are deeply rooted in every practice of the company. Values are reflected through different ethical campaigns that the company supports and organises. Not only does the company sell ethical cosmetics, but it also it sees its place in protecting humanitarian rights and the planet.

So far, Lush doesn't have a long list of competitors because it's ethical values are very high and very few companies so far have been able to keep up with them.
One of the biggest competitors of Lush however, is The Body Shop. The Body shop is also specialised in luxury bath products but doesn't have as high ethical practices as Lush does. Also, after The Body Shop was sold to L'oreal in 2006, it lost a lot of its loyal customers because it was seen as if the Body shop failed to fulfil its promises as a company that doesn't test their products on animals.

Surely Lush should be expecting new arising competitors because ethical values such as protecting the environment and animal and human rights are becoming more and more popular in the society. This arising demand of being able to do something good by buying means that more and more companies have to readjust or reinvent their practices towards more sustainable production. 

Improve - what would I do differently?
Lush pushes it values very strongly to the consumers. As soon as the consumer opens their website, its filled with charity projects and animal right campaigns. When you visit the stores, the sales representatives always introduces you to a product that supports a campaign or an NGO and asks you to donate for some good cause. Maybe Lush could make their communication more universal and interesting for regular consumers who just want to buy a luxurious bath products and don't necessarily care about having a positive impact through a product purchase.

This aggressive way of marketing through a strong ideology attracts a certain audience but might push away another. This might also be what lush wants, but then again, isn't the main goal of any company (including Lush) to make as much profit as possible?  


Paid marketing
The company does not use paid marketing and doesn't advertise in any media such as TV, radio, magazines or newspapers. Almost all of the company's advertising is based on word-of-mouth advertising and success is secured so far due to a strong target-group of like-minded people who believe in the the values that Lush stands for. I agree that this is a good strategy since so far the company is very successful, with more than 800 shops in 51 countries. However, Lush, representing good values in all of its practices would not lose its values if it spent some money on paid marketing. This way, Lush could reach out to a whole new target audience. 

Earned marketing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EDnv15VQ5E

As already mentioned, Lush doesn't use paid marketing but the brand is widely popular among its customers who like to share their personal experiences with their favourite products. Some of the consumers that have a lot of influence on a big audience, such as Youtubers, act as gatekeepers and do free reviews on company's products. This is great when the reviews are positive but it's not as good if the reviews are bad. However, even bad product reviews can be beneficial for Lush since hearing feedback, wether is positive or negative, can be used to improve and develop more user friendly products. 

Owned marketing

http://www.lushusa.com/ 

The Website is designed to be visually very attractive to a consumer but also in a way that the ethical values are strongly presented. You have to go through a maze of campaigns and advertisement to get to the actual products and at the end of your online shopping when purchasing, they ask you for a small donation. This can be unpleasant for certain audience that came just to buy a product, not sign up for a charity project. The campaign segment could be more clearly separated in the website lay-out. 

The way that Lush markets through their youtube channel and website and face-to-face at the store, seems exclusive. Almost like they have chosen only one certain type of consumer that their trying to sell to. An ethically aware, upper-middle class, 18-25 year old woman with extra money to spend on spa-like products.
Lush could benefit massively from opening their view regarding their target audience, which it has tried so far by expanding their product lines to men and kids products.


Sources:https://storify.com/kwilkison/lush-target-market
https://storify.com/kwilkison/lush-communication-mix
https://www.lush.com/
https://uk.lush.com/article-type/news
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2007/apr/13/retail2
https://prezi.com/xocm8fc6xjqg/copy-of-lush-fresh-handmade-cosmetics/
https://www.audiense.com/battle-the-brands-on-social-media-lush-body-shop/