I am going to be tracking the yoga
clothing company Lulu Lemon. Lulu Lemon is a manufacturer of high-end yoga
wear. The company is not just yoga wear, but tries to facilitate a healthy and
fit lifestyle, as evidenced by their yoga workshops and goal setting. According to Social Mention, the most common search words for lululemon are
Lululemon engages the community
through an ambassador program: local
athletes, instructors and role models in our lululemon store communities who embody
the lululemon lifestyle. New lululemon ambassadors are chosen every year. Our
ambassadors test our clothing to its limits and give feedback.
Lululemon has had a couple of important events in the last few months.
Firstly, its CEO, Christine Day, has been named CEO of the year by Canada’s
Globe and Mail business report. The Vancouver based company has experienced a
great deal of growth since Day became CEO in 2008. “Lululemon saw its stock climb to almost
$60 this fall, up over 280% from when Day joined the company, and a whopping
250% gain year over year” I am interested in what marketing is happening
through social media to create that growth.
Secondly, Lululemon bags and apparel
have always been full of inspirational quotes and sayings. However, earlier
this year, an Ayn Rand quote was used to great controversy. The bags, which read "Who is John
Galt?" -- a phrase from "Atlas Shrugged" -- offended those who
disagree with Rand's theories on unregulated capitalism and selfishness as a
virtue. Lululemon responded to this criticism by stating that the quote was a
favorite of the founder, and was meant to "great impact on his quest to elevate
the world from mediocrity to greatness”. As this is also the company’s
mission, and their pants sell for about $100, it is not overly surprising to
see, but did create quite a controversy.
I am looking at the social media presence on February 14, Valentines’s day.
Here are the social mention statistics on Valentine’s day.
They
are fairly high, but nothing out of the ordinary as compared to a random day,
like today, March 10th.
Overall, there was no great change in the statistics from a
holiday to an ordinary Sunday. The strength on the non – holiday is
significantly higher, but the other measurements stay about the same.
The topic of most of the posts on both days are the clothes,
specifically the newly released clothing. With new tweets every two minutes, lululemon
seems to have a fairly established we presence. Additionally, their website is
very user friendly and well organized.
It includes its own blog, with the author's preferences and uses of her lululemon lifestyle documented.
Lululemon has a very solid presence on Facebook. There is a
brand page, which has 23,668 following, for general questions and enquires, as
well as store specific pages. I looked at the Natick Collection page, which has
store hours and location, as well as specific products that the employees think
customers would enjoy. The wall has events and specials going on in the store,
as well as news of new releases by the brand.
Their Twitter is even more popular:
@lululemon
Tweeting from the lululemon head office in
Vancouver BC. Yoga. Love. Run. Peace.
27,719 TWEETS
110,654 FOLLOWING
191,213 FOLLOWERS
On their twitter are comments that range from announcements
of new clothing to job opportunites. They do an excellent job of responding to tweets, as seen below.
Their twitter also helps to grow a community by announcing new events that lululemon endorses
There seem to be very few negative tweets or
even mentions of lululemon. Overall, negativity comes from one of two places:
the Ayn Rand quote, and the price of some of the clothing.
Lululemon could potentially combat the Ayn Rand
negativity by coming out with a new, very memorable slogan. Their bags are
known for their words of wisdom, and new ones are always cropping up.
However, overall lululemon is doing very well. Google charts their searches at
showing a tremendous deal of growth.
Lululemon has tapped into many key segments. They have run a very successful yogawear campaign, aimed primarily at individuals who are already active and are ready to take the next step with their fitness. Lululemon has also targeted moms especially with a great deal of its marketing. I think an excellent next target for them to hit would be college students. College students often have limited funds, so perhaps a line of more economic products could boost sales among this new demographic.
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