Being Johnny Loco: Development of a launch strategy for the Johnny Loco E-scooter

Being Johnny Loco: Development of a launch strategy for the Johnny Loco E-scooter

Van Erve, L.

Mooij, S.C. (mentor)
Van de Meer, J.D. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Product Innovation Management

Master of Science Strategic Product Design

2011-01-24

This graduation thesis is carried out for the company Johnny Loco. They started the brand Johnny Loco 5 years ago. The inspiration to start this brand came from the brand management strategy developed by Rijkenberg (1998). The brand Johnny Loco can be seen as a lifestyle brand that communicates a philosophy. Rijkenberg (1998) assumes that this philosophy will attract consumers who feel attracted to this philosophy. Johnny Loco started the brand with the development of bicycles. Nowadays they have extended the brand portfolio by sunglasses and bags and are developing an electric moped. The assignment of this graduation project is to develop a launch strategy of the Johnny Loco E-scooter that fit the brand philosophy. Therefore, the brand philosophy is analyzed internally and externally and the e-moped market is analyzed. These results concluded in a list of requirements for the launch of the Johnny Loco E-scooter. Brand image research is done. From the results it is concluded that some aspects needed to be improved by the brand identity. An improvement of the brand philosophy was made. The reviewed brand philosophy of Johnny Loco can be described as: Johnny Loco believes that a healty dose of self-willingness makes you more enjoy life. We live in a busy society in which there is a risc that you will get stuck in everyday routine. By making your own plans, you get somewhere, you will explore more and you will feel more relaxed. Johnny Loco believes that life needs more “Johnny Loco”: Don’t go with the flow, go Johnny Loco. This will attract a group of consumers, called followers, that can be described as: “A group of people that is getting tired of their busy lifes and are looking for moments to reflect their lifes and relax”. The electric moped market is in the introduction phase of the Product Life Cycle. Currently, only local brands have entered the market. Between 2011 and 2014, the A-brands will enter the market. The (electric) moped market is highly seasonal, most mopeds are sold in spring and summer. Therefore the Johnny Loco E-scooter will be launched in spring 2012. Both Johnny Loco and Wu’s Tech, the manufacturer of the Johnny Loco E-scooter, have no experience with an e-scooter. Therefore it is chosen to start with a specific testing phase. Only ten potential consumers will take part of the testing phase of six months. During this testing phase it will be analyzed if there are some flaws in the desgin and if the Johnny Loco E-scooter will fit consumer expectations about the brand. This testing phase will also be used as a marketing tool. It will be communicated to consumers as an exclusive opportunity. Participants will be treated as VIP’s which will stimulate rumor araund the brand and the product. The testing phase will start in spring 2011 and end in autumn 2011. This will give Johnny Loco the opportunity make some improvements to the Johnny Loco E-scooter before officially entering the market in spring 2012.

branding
launch strategy
Johnny Loco
E-scooter

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:6b789b2b-8b11-40aa-9a9c-68b4ac266040

2012-01-24

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2011 Van Erve, L.