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Carlow Institute of Technology
Integrated Marketing Communications
Lecturer: Dorothy Keane
The Story of Havaianas Brand
Mariane McGrath
Student Number: C00162294
Business in Marketing – CW838
Tuesday, 05 November 2013.
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A brand is a distinctive name, sign, symbol or design that is visually noticeable, which
distinguishes and identifies goods or services to consumers and differentiates from its
competitors (Patent.net, 2013). It is through the use of a brand that a company creates their
own personality, develops a relationship with its customers and builds a reputation in the
industry.
The story of a brand is what many times can differentiate an organisation from its competition. A
good brand story allows a company to connect with consumers in a meaningful and memorable
way, creating, then, an emotional bond that leaves long lasting impressions in its customers’
minds (Walter, 2012). This essay will discuss the ascending history of the Havaianas brand and
evaluate how it became such a popular, internationally known brand through its company’s
strategic communications methods, which created a product that is now recognizable around the
world.
The company Alpargatas S.A. launched Havaianas - claimed to be inspired by Japanese sandals,
made of straw named Zori - in 1962 with a single model in four colours: blue, black, brown and
pink (Havaianas, 2013). Although the sandals were produced in Brazil, the name ‘Havaianas’
(translated Hawaiians) was given because Hawaii, a paradise of sun and sea, was the holiday
destination to the rich and famous at the time. The product was made of rubber and had a low
price market targeting a lower working class, amongst whom they were very popular, selling
approximately 1,000 pairs a day (Dias, 2011).
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By the ends of 1960’s, Alpargatas S.A. had invested in a celebrity
endorsement for an ad. The character was played by one of the most
prestigious comedian in the country, Chico Anisio, and expressed
the tagline ‘Havaianas, the original’. The tagline was created by the advertising company JW
Thompson, and had the objective of stopping consumers from buying the numerous
imitations that were being developed and sold at the time, only Havaianas were original and
good (Havaianas, 2013). Due to its durability, comfort and price, Havaianas soon became a
success and in a short period of time it became an essential item and, such was the case, the
Government started to control its price, policy used normally for life essential goods like
bread and milk. By the late 1980’s, Havaianas was selling 80 million pairs a year and
measured 90% of the domestic market (Haymarket Media Group, 2013).
In the beginning of the 90s, Alpargatas S.A. went through a
severe crisis, since it was a sales led company stagnation took
its toll, the product was still the same, the same design and
same target costumer for the last 23 years (Dias, 2011). The
company desperately needed to attain higher profits to stay in business; however, to set
higher prices was impossible for the reason that the majority of its customer base was the
lower working class. Wealthiest members of the society tended to look down on the brand
and for the lower income earners there was a big variety of
cheap products, the competition was strong with the lower
class and the brand was not as popular with the upper class. To
recover from this crisis a change was needed fast, so, in 1994
the company opened an account with Almap BBDO, an
awarded Brazilian publicity and advertising agency (Marketing
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Havaianas, 2011).
The agency prepared a marketing strategy that combined necessity and style, transforming
Havaianas in a fashion accessory. Alpargatas, in association with Almap BBDO, launched,
then, the monochrome Havaianas called TOP, a style initially with 8 colours, which was
inspired by the common act of turning the sandals’ sole downside-up and making it all into
one colour. The agency also developed new display and packaging ideas. When first being
sold, Havaianas were held in a big basket with
mixed colours and sizes or sometimes, with pairs
attached by a rubber band (Dias, 2011). After the
marketing campaign launched the remodelled
brand, the sandals were sold in fabric bags or
colourful boxes and displayed by separate colour
and design in hangers so consumers could see all
their options.
In 1996, a new campaign was added, starring
Malu Mader, a very popular Brazilian actress,
which transformed the sandals from shabby and
simple into elegant and unique items, desired by
all Brazilians. In the following year, the brand
started targeting different segments of costumers,
new colours and styles were created, including Havaianas Baby and Havaianas Surf, which
saw different prints and designs that reflected the surfers’ lifestyle (Havaianas, 2013). In
1998, inspired by the World Cup in France, the Havaianas Brazil, with the flag on the straps,
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was created and it became a national success again, and by the end of the 90’s Havaianas had
a new record of 100 million sandals sold in a year (Marketing Havaianas, 2011).
A great part of Havaianas repositioning campaign
was to export the brand, positioned in the high
fashion, designer market. The company started
exporting in 1994 to only a few South American
countries. In 2000, the exporting strategy was
Alpargatas S.A.’s main priority, it exported Havaianas to a few European countries such as
France, England, Switzerland and Greece, having Australia and United States of America as
their biggest exporting countries (Marketing Havaianas, 2011). International research was
made to segment foreign markets and consolidated the brand within different consumer
groups (Bloomberg, 2013). One of the strategies adopted by
the brand was the use franchises to entry foreign markets,
where consumers would find all the products stocked in a
Havaianas shop, brightly coloured and in a modern theme,
to reflect the essence of the brand. The international
advertisement had ‘Your feet can dream’ as a slogan and
YouTube was used to launch their campaign (Dias, 2011).
The expansion of Havaianas was made through the introduction of a line of hand bags and
purses launched in November 2008. All of which contained rubber details as the sandals. It
was sold in several shops in Brazil and in the Galleries Lafayette, a world renowned
upmarket gallery in Paris (Marketing Havaianas, 2011). For the brand to maintain its position
in the market, Havaianas launched the Soul Collection. This is a line of closed shoes, runners
and Wellington boots all containing the trademark rubber soles, as found in the original
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product. The idea was to be able to attract the European market, where it was harder to sell
flip flops due to the cold weather (Dias, 2011).
Barcelona, in Spain, was the first European city to open a
Havaianas shop and soon after, Huntington Beach, in
California, saw the first shop opening in the USA (Havaianas,
2013). Later in 2010 the company implemented a Make Your
Own Havaianas (MYOH) shop encouraging customers to create their own sandals and
personalise them into unique pairs (Dias, 2011).
In 2003, Havaianas starred in the catwalks through Jean-Paul Gautier’s
collection and formed many partnerships with upmarket shops to
commercialize the brand (Dias, 2011). Another important event for the
brand happened later that year when the sandals started to be part of the
Oscars by giving a complementary pair, adorned with Swarovski
crystals, to nominated actors (Havaianas, 2013). Another method used
by the brand to build a solid base with its exports was to launch limited editions in
partnership with famous designers such as H. Stern and Celine, in which prices would vary
from €3,000 to €25,000 (Havaianas, 2013). Celebrities such as Jennifer Anniston, Brad Pitt
and Kate Hudson all swear by them.
Despite its high fashion global branding, Havaianas
tries to stay close to its own roots, so in January
2009, the first Havaianas’ concept store opened in an
upmarket street in São Paulo, Brazil. The store has a
street market theme, to connect with the product’s
origins, and contains all products from the brand, including designers’ styles and international
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special editions. The store also contains sections that
include the story of the brand, told through its numerous
flip flop styles (Bloomberg, 2013).
The brand is also involved with the aid of environmental
issues. The line Havaianas IPE, adorned with extinction threatened animals and rain forest
prints, donates 7% of its profits to the Institute of Ecologic Research to invest and preserve
the fauna in Brazil (Rodrigues, 2006).
Also, to celebrate the brand’s 50 years anniversary, Havaianas created a limited edition to
celebrate its success, inspired in the first design of the sandals. All profit generated by this
edition will be donated to help troubled kids via UNICEF (Dias, 2011).
At the present time, there are over 60 countries selling
Havaianas all over the world with over 500 styles for
consumers to choose from, apart from the MYOH
personalised ones (Bloomberg, 2013). There are 17 ranges
within the Havaianas flip flop lines including Havaianas
Flash, an urban style with mismatched numerous colours, Havaianas Top, with a high
platform of 3cm, and Havaianas 4 Night, which glows in the dark (Havaianas, 2013).
Havaianas hold 80% of sales in the rubber sandals category in Brazil. In 2011 over 200
million pairs were sold, in which 15% was
exported, making the brand the 4th
most
recognizable brand in Latin America (Havaianas
Australia, 2012). By the end of 2012, it has sold
3 billion pairs of Havaianas since 1962. The
average global mark-up lies between 250% and
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600% on its cost of production, having its market price set between €15 and €35 (Rodrigues,
2006).
The triumph of Havaianas’ brand is claimed to be led by the constant segmentation and
innovation which conquered more space in the market to make the brand current as well as
not reverting back to the same crisis that happened at the beginning of the 90’s. This has
transformed the brand into an object of desire all over the world; Havaianas is a proven
success not only in Brazil but also overseas. The need for repositioning was a challenge that
the advertising agency adopted to remodel the brand as an appealing item and not only
functional like in the past.
Alpargatas S.A. went through ups and downs since the release of the Havaianas brand. The
crisis involving their product made the company’s bosses soon realize that a marketing
strategy was necessary, by investment in research and development and surveying the market,
to keep the product up to date and profitable. The bright side of conquering the Brazilian
lower income population first is that they created a huge consumer base and by repositioning
it made the product desirable to other markets. Havaianas biggest strategy moves were to
make it also a recognisable product in foreign markets. The company was able to do so by
segmenting its market and varying its products to match their prospective consumers.
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Strategic brand management provides the
grounds for product positioning and has to be
connected to the company’s marketing mix
provided for their brand (Cravens & Piercy,
2006). The slogan ‘Havaianas: Everybody
wears them’ matches perfectly their
communication strategy, where anyone can wear the sandals, from low income population to
the rich and famous. Celebrity endorsements in Brazil, starring in Havaianas advertising
campaigns, where celebrities were often shown in humorous and mundane situations, gave
the brand the credibility needed for the consumer to identify with the product. In addition, the
international Havaianas ad campaigns are very colourful and connected to the Brazilian
lifestyle with the intention to ‘‘sell’’ the simple, carefree and happy way of life, with slogans
such as ‘Your feet can dream too’ and ‘Havaianas: Always summer’.
Consumers see Havaianas as an expression of their identity, as if by wearing the sandals they
are making a statement on how their lives are led. And for Brazilians it’s a brand that is close
to their heart, they accompanied the ascension of this brand, which reminds the population
where they came from and its simplicity connects with Brazilian roots positively promoting
the country.
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