12/10/2015

Alex Reidy | alexreidy24@yahoo.com

Beast Coast Unlimited LLC Beast Coast Unlimited LLC Marketing Plan

MKTG 250 Viral Marketing

New Jersey City University at Wall

Professor Leonard A. Williams

Marketing Mission

The mission of the of this plan is to help Beast Coast Unlimited (BCU) and its owner, Johnny Pecyna, to increase brand awareness, increase customer retention, and broaden its reach for potential customers, in order to generate more revenue.

Executive Summary

Market Overview

The U.S. apparel market is the largest in the world, comprising about 28 percent of the global total and has a market value of about 331 billion U.S. dollar (REFERENCE). Consumers are demanding more versatile wear with wider functionality, which means retailers continue producing new styles of apparel for men and women. BCU is located in Monmouth County, New Jersey, which also an advantage for the company because NJ has approximately 901 Martial Arts Schools in 21 counties. The top five counties that have the highest number of schools include Bergen (124), Monmouth (85), Essex (66), Middlesex (60) & Morris (59) county (REFERENCE).

Competitive Analysis

Since there is such a strong passion and love for the sport of MMA, there many competing athletic apparel companies that are in the combat sports segment ranging from aspiring start-ups to established leaders in this segment. For brands to stand out in this market segment they must be willing spend money, which can be a barrier for competitors to penetrate the market or to continue its revenue growth. For example, one of the main ways generating awareness of their brand is to have sponsorship deals with respected and popular fighters in their local area. If they have sufficient funds they can chase more high-level profile fighters that people are even more familiar with. Competitors in this segment are directly and indirectly competing with BCU in terms that they all have the same or overlapping target market and have similar strategies and tactics for promotions, such as the fighter sponsorships.

Target Customers

Beast Coast Unlimited is primarily targeting athletes, coaches, and gym owners that are looking to wear quality athletic apparel and fight gear. Through Beast Coast’s products they hope to help this market segment train and compete in their sport, specifically fighting. The other segment they are targeting is the everyday person that is looking for affordable athletic apparel to exercise in or just to go out in. The demographic profile they are targeting include both male and female, Millennials and Generation X, and middle class (lower-middle and upper-middle). The psychographic profile they are targeting have interests in combat sports and martial arts. One of the most popular martial arts that are being taught at gyms is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). BJJ is usually done in a gi, which consists of loose-fitting pants and a jacket that is closed with a cloth belt or it can be done without a gi. Beast Coast wants to be the one to provide these athletes with the appropriate athletic apparel, such as rash guards, in order to keep them training.

BCU is eventually planning on broadening their demographic to incorporate the youth as well. Many Martial Arts schools not only have adult classes, they also have kids’ classes. It will be important for BCU to eventually start creating products that the youth can start wearing. Many of the adults that go to Martial Arts Schools also have their kids participate in the youth classes as well, which will add another avenue for revenue to come in. By targeting youth competitors, BCU can create an early relationship in the life of the child, which can possibly make them lifetime customer.

Unique Selling Proposition

BCU’s unique selling proposition is their ability to offer fashionable and quality athletic apparel and fight gear at an affordable price.

Distribution

Beast Coast Unlimited is a New Jersey based company that is currently doing business in person or at events. They currently make sales either by selling to individuals at gyms, events, or either by ordering it by contacting the owner, Johnny Pecyna, through direct messaging on Instagram or by email. Beast Coast Unlimited is also looking to do B2B by supplying gym owners and coaches athletic apparel and fight gear for their students. Beast Coast Unlimited is doing a partnership with a NJ MMA based promotion called Fight Club Champion. At these events Beast Coast Unlimited will provide the fighters competing shorts, hats, and t-shirts to walkout and fight in. The competing fighters are welcome to add any sponsors they want.

The ring card girls at these events will be issued tank tops to wear. In return, the promotion will allow BCU to set up a booth at the events where they can sell their athletic apparel and fight gear. The promotion is also including the BCU logo and personal BCU links on every aspect of advertising for the events.

BCU is also looking to set up a website in the near future to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves online. People now can buy products through their mobile devices, which will be important to make the site mobile-user friendly.

Mobile e-commerce spending in the United States on Cyber Monday from 2014 to 2015 (in million U.S. dollars)

This timeline shows the U.S. mobile spending on Cyber Monday from 2014 to 2015. On Cyber Monday in 2015, mobile e-commerce sales amounted to 838 million U.S. dollars, up from 548 million U.S. dollars in the previous year. This figure represents a 53 percent year-on-year growth. People want the convenience of purchasing anything they want where ever they are. If they are at an event where BCU is

endorsing and selling, the people in attendance at the event may want to go on the BCU website and further explore what products they sell. It will be important to have a mobile friendly website to allow the potential customers to view the site at events or where ever they are.

Pricing

T-Shirts: $20

Competitors are selling T-shirts from $18- $40

Hoodies $40

Competitors are selling Sweatshirts and hoodies from $40-$70

Rash Guards: $30

Competitors are selling Rash guards from $45-$60

Jerseys: $25

Competitors are selling Jerseys from $30-$40

Shorts: $30

Competitors are selling shorts from $35-$70

There will be bulk deals for gyms or individuals. Details being discussed.

A Current BCU promotion are sponsorships with professional and amateur fighters from different combat sports such as kickboxing and MMA. Another promotion that BCU will be a part of is their recently established partnership with the NJ based MMA promotion called Fight Club Champion. As stated earlier in the Distribution section, BCU will provide competing fighters in the events apparel and fight gear to walk out and fight in. In return BCU will be able to sell their products at the events and the company will be promoted in all advertisements related to the events.

In order to increase brand awareness for Beast Coast, they plan on monitoring what the millions of fans of combat sports such as boxing or mixed martial arts are talking about online. Beast Coast will be keeping an eye on and eventually start participating in the online conversation on forums, Q&A sites, and different social media platforms.

Popular MMA forums such as Sherdog, are where large followings of the “hardcore” fans are. These fans have a deep love and interest for the sport, thus many users either train and compete themselves or know someone that does. By having engaging conversations with other fight enthusiast, they will start creating personal relationship with users. If you are an amateur or professional fighter, you can contact an administrator and they can give you the title “Professional Fighter” under your username.

This will give user more credibility on the forum community because the people will know that they are legit if they are asking for advice or insight on different topics relating to fighting.

Question and answer websites such as Quora, gives Beast Coast the opportunity to further cement their reputation as knowledgeable and an expert in their field. Quora is a question-and-answer website where questions are asked, answered, edited and organized by its community of users. Members post questions by category and members that are experts in that field of study answer it to the best of their ability to add to the conversation. Answers can be voted on, moving them up or down the rankings

based on the quality of the answer. By asking and answering questions in their field of expertise, members can show that they have authority and knowledge in their industry, as well as adding to the conversation. Beast Coast being involved in the fight game means they are familiar in different topics such as health, nutrition, weight-loss, work out routines, martial arts, self-defense, etc. Providing well thought out answers will show members that you have experience in the topic and in return may persuade the users to visit the respondent’s profile. The profile can explain your background and have links to other social media platforms or website. Beast Coast can meet new people that they can do business with or continue to acquire information from other experts.

BCU currently is just on Instagram where they post images, pictures, and video of the products that are being sold being use. BCU has been taking advantage of current trends by coming out with products that can related to current events, such as their “No shave November” sweatshirt.

BCU will join other social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Twitter will be used to join in on live conversations to create presence with the community they are trying to connect with and also to alert their followers about news, events, and new product releases. Twitter can also be used for customer service because of the fast paced world of social media everyone is getting used too.

Customers now expect companies to helped immediately and without them doing a lot steps that’s hwy Twitter is important form a customer service for BCU. Facebook will be used to further broaden the reach for Beast Coast community. It will allow for more interaction between BCU and their customers and fans because they can share pictures and their experiences with the products to everyone.

The biggest fights and events of different combat sports, especially UFC, are set up for the end of every year from December to January. This year in September the Ultimate Fighting Championship is hosting its “Go Big” Launch event, which will have 11 events stretching from September 26 th to December 19th. With events almost every other week the buzz and hype will be off the charts. Beast Coast Unlimited will take advantage of this buzz and join in on the conversations online creating a presence in different online communities. The final push of the last events is called UFC’s “Nine Days of Fury.” The date of this campaign will be December 10th, 11th, 12th, and the 19th.The event that everyone is talking about is on the 12th at UFC 194 with Jose Aldo and Connor McGregor headlining in the main event. Beast Coast should have been consistently posting on message boards, responding and asking questions, and just adding to the conversations during past events and up until early December. At this point Beast Coast will put more resources into engaging fans and followers in the online realm.

UFC’s “Go Big” campaign carries on through holidays in November and December, which are some the biggest months for online shopping.

U.S. holiday season e-commerce spending from 2009 to 2014, by online shopping day (in million U.S. dollars)

This statistic shows the e-commerce spending in the United States during holiday season from 2009 to 2014. Each specific sales events has showed significant increase every year, besides free shipping day on December 18 which has seen inconsistent results. The time period on November 1st to December 31st has been increasing at average rate at about 13 percent from 2009 to 2014. In 2014 there was $53,305,000,000 in e-commerce spending during the holiday season.