Marketing - Primary and secondary data

The Market Research

• Desk research: this involves the use of secondary data. This is information that already exists in some form. It may exist business documents or other public publications. Some secondary data may be available from within a business. This may include the following:

• Existing market research reports.
• Sales figures. The more sophisticated these are the better, e.g. sales figures that have been broken down according to market segments can be particularly useful.
• Reports from members of the sales forces resulting from direct contact with customers.
• Annual report and Accounts published by businesses.
• Internet data. Businesses are increasingly planning websites on the Internet giving up to date information.
• Stock movements. These can often provide the most up-to-date information on patterns of demand in the market. This is because they are often recorded instantly, as opposed to sales figures, which tend to be collected at a later day.

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• Field Research: this involves collecting primary data. This is information that does not already exist. In other words, it has to be collected by the researcher. Field research can either be carried out by a firm itself or by a market research agency.

The main advantage of primary data is that the firm that initially collects it will be the only organisation with access to it. Primary information can therefore be used to gain marketing advantages over rivals firms. Using it as a feature in promotional materials can then use this information to win a share of the market from rival firms. The main disadvantage of primary information is that it can be very expensive to collect. This is because field research, if it is to generate accurate and useful findings, requires specialist researchers and is time consuming.

Most primary information is gathered by asking consumers questions or by observing their behaviour. The most accurate way to do this would be to question or observe all consumers of a particular product (known as the population). However, in all but a few instances this would be either impractical to carry out or expensive. It is usual to carry out a survey of a sample of people who are though to be representative of the total market. Methods of choosing samples are dealt with later in this unit.

Methods of field research: there are a number of different field research methods a business can use:

• Questionnaires:  personal interviews, telephone interviews and postal surveys all involve the use of questionnaire.

There are certain features that a business must consider when designing a questionnaire. If it is poorly designed it may not obtain the results the business is looking for.

• The balance between closed and open questions. Closed questions i.e. ‘how many products have you bought in the last month?’ Only allow the interviewee a limited range of responses. Open questions, however, allow interviewees considerable scope in the responses that they are able to offer. Open questions allow certain issues have to be investigated in great detail, but they do require a high degree of expertise in the interviewer e.g. an open question might be ‘suggest how the product could be improved.’
• The clarity of questions. The questions used must be clear and unambiguous so that they do not confuse or mislead the interviewee. ‘Technical’ language should be avoided if possible.
• The use of leading questions. Leading questions are those that encourage a particular answer. For example, a market research agency investigating the soft drinks market should avoid the question: ‘do you think that Diet Pepsi is better than Diet Coke?’ A better question would be: ‘which brand of diet cola do you prefer – Pepsi or Coke?’

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• Personal interviews: this involves an interviewer obtaining information from one person face-to-face. The interviewer rather than the interviewee fills out the responses to questions on questionnaires, which contains mainly ‘open’ questions.

The main advantage of interviews is that they allow the chance for interviewees to give detailed responses to questions that concern them. The interviewer can also explain long or difficult questions and the percentage of responses that can be used is likely to be high. If needed, there is time and scope for answers to be followed up in more detail. Interviewer, however, can be time consuming and rely on the skill of the interviewer.

• Telephone interviews: this method allows the interview to be held over the telephone. It has the advantage of being cheaper than personal interviewing and allows a wide geographical area to be covered. However, the public often distrusts it and it is only possible to ask short questions.

• Postal surveys: this involves the use of questionnaire sent to consumers through the post. It is a relatively cheap method of conducting field research. It also has the advantage that there is no interviewer bias and a wide geographical are can easily be covered. Unfortunately, the response rate to postal questionnaires is poor, often falling to 20%, and responses can take as long as six weeks. In addition, questions must be short, so detailed questioning may not be possible. Questionnaires must also be well designed and easy to understand if they are to work.

• Observation: retail firms ‘watching’ consumers in their stores often use this. Observers look out for the amount of time consumers spend making decisions and how readily they notice a particular displays. Its advantage is that a tremendous number of consumers can be surveyed in a relatively short space of time. However, observation alone can leave many questions unanswered. For example, it may reveal that a particular display at a supermarket is unpopular, but provide no clues as to why this is the case.

• Use of technology: technology is constantly developing new ways in which businesses can carry out marketing research.

• Focus groups: this involves a group of customers being brought together on one or other occasions. They are asked to answer questions and to discuss them by the market researchers. The groups contain a range of individuals who are thought to be representatives of the customers of the business or a particular segment of customers. This is because they only involve in a small number of customers, focus groups are a relatively cheap and easy way of gathering marketing research information. A problem is that the view of a fairly small number of customers may not reflect the views of the market or the market segments in which the business is interested.

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• Consumer panel: this involves a group of consumers being consulted on their reactions to a product over a period of time. Consumer panels are widely used by TV companies to judge the reaction of viewers to new and existing programmes. Their main advantage is that they can be used to consider how consumer reaction changes over time. Firms can then build up a picture of consumer trends. Their disadvantage is that it is both difficult and expensive to choose and keep a panel available for research over a long period.

• Test marketing: this involves selling a product in a restricted section of the market in order to assess consumer reaction to it. Test marketing usually takes place by making a product available within a particular geographical area.

Sampling Methods

Carrying out a survey of every single potential consumer (also known as the population) of a firm’s product would be impractical, time consuming and costly. Businesses need to collect enough primary data to have a clear idea of the views of consumers. Taking a sample of the populaion can do this. This sample group should be made up of consumers that are representative of all potential buyers of the product.

Random sampling:

This method gives each member of a group an equal chance of being chosen. This means that a sample is selected at random rather than picking any numbers out of a hat. Its main advantage is that it is bias and cannot be introduced when choosing the sample. However, it assumes that all members of the group are the same. A small sample chosen in this way not have the characteristics of the population, so a very large sample would have to be taken to make sure it was representative. It would be very costly and time consuming for firms to draw up a list of the whole population and then contact and interview them.

Stratified random sampling:

Researchers often prefer this method of random sampling as it makes the sample more representative of the whole group. The sample is divided into segments or strata based on previous knowledge about how the population is divided up. It might be divided into different income groups like as higher managerial and professional occupation, small employers and ‘own account’ workers etc. A random sample could then be chosen from each of these groups making sure that there the same proportions of the sample in each category as in the population as a whole. So if the population had 10% upper class males, so would the sample.

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Quota sampling:

This sampling method involves the population being segmented into a number of groups that share specific characteristics. These may be based on the age and sex of the population. Interviewers are then given targets for the number of people out of each segment who they must interview. The advantage of this sampling method is that it can be cheaper to operate than many others. It is useful where the proportions of different groups within the population are known. However, results from quota sampling are not statistically representative of the population and are not randomly chosen. They must therefore be treated with caution.

Cluster sampling:

This involves separating the population into clusters. A random sample is taken from the cluster, which are assumed to be representative of the population. This method is used when the survey results need to be found quickly e.g. opinion polls.

Multi-stage sampling:

This involves selecting one sample from another sample.

Snowballing:

This is a highly specialised method of sampling. It involves starting the process of sampling with one individual or a group. It then uses these contacts to develop more, therefore, the snowball effect. This is used when other sampling methods are not possible, due to the fact that the samples are built up by snowballing that cannot be representative. Many businesses operate in high secret business. This means that firms engage in producing highly specialised and expensive one off products for a very limited range of customers that may need to reply upon snowballing when engaged in market research.  

The benefits of market research

An aid to decision making:

The man benefit of market research is that it allows a business to make more informed decisions. This is important in fast changing markets. Businesses operate in such markets because they need to adjust their marketing activities.

Reducing risk:

The reliability of market research information cannot be guaranteed, it does reduce the risk for the business. Without market research, a business might spend large sums developing and launching a new product that could prove to be unsuccessful. Some businesses are less likely to waste the resources on failed activities only if they are careful when carrying out market research.

Providing a link with the outside world:

Without the market research, businesses may operate in a vacuum. This is because they would have a little or no way of finding out the views of their actual and potential customers. They would find it difficult to identify the future trends in their existing markets and the markets in which they plan to operate in the future.

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The size of the markets:

As the markets start to expand and other markets open, market research becomes ever more important. This is because in the international and global markets it is impossible for businesses to operate without exact information about the needs of their customers. This is because of the huge number of customers and the large difference in their tastes.

Public relations:

Carrying out market research may be good for the image of a business. This is because the consumers may feel that their views must be considered. They may think that the business is concerned that its customers are happy. This may lead to corporate brand loyalty.

The problems of market research

If market research was reliable, businesses could use market research when introducing or changing the products. This means that all the new products would be launched onto the market, which had been researched in advance and would also be in a success. However, no products would fail because all businesses would receive advance warning from their research and take any necessary measures.

There is often the reliability of data. This can be a problem for both primary and secondary data.

Primary Data:

There are a number of reasons why field research does not always provide reliable information to the businesses.

Human behaviour:

Market research depends upon the response of consumers who participate in the collection of primary data. The response of the consumers should be honest and truthful; this doesn’t mean that they will respond in the same way in the future. This is because all human behaviour should be less unpredictable.

Sampling and bias:

As I mentioned earlier market research is based upon a sample of the total population. This is because it would be impossible and costly. It is possible, however, that the results from the sample may be different from those that would have been obtained if the whole population has been questioned. This is normally known as sampling discrepancy. The greater the sampling discrepancy is the less reliable the data will obtain.

Other forms of bias:

It’s not only the process of sampling that can be introduced to bias in market research, but it could be mentioned with questionnaires that need to be carefully constructed to avoid the problem of encouraging particular responses from the consumers through the use of leading questions. Similarly, the behaviour of interviewers can affect the outcome of the interviews.

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Secondary research:

Businesses must be careful when using secondary data. This is because secondary data has often been collected for the purpose other than that for which it is being used for. However, this market size does not always accurately match the product that the market has researched for.

The problem that could arise in a secondary research is about the government publications and internal business publications. This is because these publications could be out of date as soon as it goes into print. This can change the markets because it will reduce the reliability of the data.

On the next page you can see a questionnaire that I have asked. I have asked 20 people. This is because this is a good number to investigate who likes or dislikes “Lacoste” perfume.

Presenting research findings and analysing data

Now as you can see below I have tallied my results. This is because this is a good way to see what the 20 people have answered.

Figures are much easier to interpret if they are in percentages, therefore, I will convert all my results into percentages in order for me to analyses them.

First I wanted to know the age group from people I have asked.

As you can see I have asked different age groups. This is because every different age group would respond differently from others. Basically I would get different ideas from different people. As you can see above 16-20 people where asked the most this is because Lacoste is a new brand perfume and not many adults have heard of it. Lacoste was launched in September 2003.

The first question I asked them was “do you like wearing perfumes?” This meant any perfumes in random. The reason why I asked them is because I wanted to know if there is anyone who doesn’t like wearing them. The reason being is because in that way I can attract the perfume in a better way.

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As you can see from the tally chart that most people like wearing perfumes and others don’t. The reason why this may occur is because it might be too expensive for them to buy.

The second question I asked was “have you ever worn Lacoste before?” The reason why I have asked them this question is because I wanted to know if anyone has worn this brand name before.

As you can see above, only 14 people like wearing Lacoste. This means that from our age group only few people from 16-20 like wearing Lacoste. As you can see Lacoste is a well know item.

The third question I asked them was “where would you purchase your perfume?” The reason why I have asked them this question is because I wanted to know where they normally purchase their perfume.

As you can see above most people buy their perfumes from The Perfume Shop. This is because The Perfume Shop considers good promotion offers that attract buyers. But as for Boots, people also consider them but they most recommend The Perfume Shop.

The fourth question I asked them was “how often do you purchase a perfume?” The reason why I asked them this was because I wanted to know how often they would purchase a perfume and I have found out:

As you can see above most people purchase the perfume every month. This is good for Lacoste because Lacoste would have different offers every month. However, people purchase the perfumes every month because every month different brand new perfumes are launched.

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The fifth question I asked them was “how much would you spend on a perfume?” The reason why I have asked this question to them because I wanted to know how much they would spend on a perfume and I have found out:

As you can see above all the percentages are below average. But most people recommend buying the perfumes above £30+. This is because some perfumes depend on the size of the bottle. If the bottle were 100ml, then the bottle of the perfume would be costly.

The sixth question I asked them was “how are you first attracted to a perfume?” The reason why I asked them this question is because I wanted to know how they are first attracted to the product and they told me:

As you can see above that most people buy their perfumes according to the smell of the product. The reason why this is that if the perfumes smell isn’t nice then the buyer wouldn’t buy the product.

The seventh question I asked them was “if you were to grade Lacoste perfume on the scale of 1 to 5, 1 being excellent and 5 being unsatisfactory, what would you grade it?” and I have found out what they recommend the product. The reason why I asked them this question is because I wanted to know if the product itself would need any changes.

From this question I have found out that the same amount of people recommend this perfume to anyone. They give this perfume rating of excellent and very good. But however, not many people answered this question. This is because not many people have ever worn Lacoste perfume before. So this means that this question isn’t as reliable as I thought it would be.

The eighth question I asked them was “would you like to change the presentation of the perfume Lacoste?” The reason why I asked them this question is because I wanted to know if anyone doesn’t recommend the presentation of the perfume like the packaging of the perfume, the price of the perfume etc.

I have found out that 15 people recommend that the packaging and the price are fine. But the other 3 people who said yes and what to change the packaging and price says that they should change the packaging of the bottle.

The ninth question I asked was important to all buyers. This is because I asked them “before you buy Lacoste (or any other perfumes) would you like considering using a tester?” The reason why this is important is because if they buy the product and they haven’t smelt it and they don’t like it then it would be difficult to change the product as it will be brand new and also it will be time consuming.

I have found out from this that 19 people would definitely recommend using a tester before buying the product. This is because when buying the perfume it will be good if you used a tester because you wouldn’t know how the perfume smelt.

The last tenth question I asked them was “from the store ‘The Perfume Shop’ Lacoste is selling at £27.99 for 50ml, would you consider buying it? Why?” The reason why I have asked this question is because I wanted to know if this selling price is recommend to all people. I wanted to know if this price would attract customers at The Perfume Shop.

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I have found out from this question that 16 people would like to buy this product for £27.99 because as they say it’s a reasonable price. But as for others they think it’s too expensive.

Below you will see different types of charts from the answers given by people from my questionnaire.

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As you can see above the results I have found out from 20 people are very reliable. This is because they tell me exactly what people think of the perfume and also given me ideas of how to improve them.

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Secondary Research

Description of the perfume bottle:

Top note:

Jamaican pepper accord, purple freesia accord

Heart note:

White heliotrope flower accord, Iranian jasmine accord, hibiscus flower accord, Bulgarian rose absolute, and ambrette seed absolute.

Base note:

Himalayan credarwood accord, velvet-skin accord, sandalwool Mysore, incense.

The Lacoste pour femme woman

Charm genuine spontaneity

Today women are feeling liberated enough to make lifestyle choices on the spur of the moment, saying ‘this is who I am and what I want!’

They are just free spirits who want to go with the flow and act on impulse. Genuine, open and engaging, they’ll try anything once, always enjoying where life takes them!

For these audacious women, Lacoste has created a new fragrance that embodies this free spirit.

The fragrance:

At the age of ten, LACOSTE POUR FEMME perfumer Oliver Cresp fell in love with the heady scent of the Jasmin-Sambac Flower in his grandmother’s garden in Grasse, France.

Cresp chose to focus on rich, natural ingredients placed in perfect balance. LACOSTE POUR FEMME is beautifully feminine fragrance that is energetic and uplifting.

Packaging:

Designed in collaboration with famed German designer Lutz Hermann, LACOSTE POUR FEMME is a beautifully balanced creation that communicates a modern vision of feminine chic.

A sober glass bottle emblazoned with the sleek silver-grey crocodile logo displays the fragrance contained within as if precious liquid. The rounded fragrance bottle cap is delicately engraved with the luxuriously textured silver-steel pique pattern modelled on the classic LACOSTE 1212 polo shirt.

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Advertising:

Capturing the excitement and charm of genuine spontaneity, the print campaign portrays a beautiful woman’s unexpected moment of fantasy being fulfilled in a spontaneous moment of playfulness.

Shot by world-respected lensmen, National Goldberg, the pictures casts the LACOSTE POUR FEMME woman as a free spirit, enjoying the sensation of living out the impulses of the woman whose adventurous nature.

Lacoste Perfume’s advertising medias:

• The model;
• Photograph;
• TV.

The model: Catherine Hurley:

One of fashion’s most prolific and distinctive faces; Catherine Hurley’s dramatic look has made her the favourite of many of fashion’s biggest names.

Catherine Hurley’s stunning beauty and freedom of spirit caught the eye of Nathaniel Goldberg for the LACOSTE POUR FEMME campaign. Hurley’s elegant presence created a commanding but natural ease that instantly communicates LACOSTE concept of a few feminity.

The photograph: Nathaniel Goldberg:

A true maverick, at just 17 years old, Paris born Goldberg took his first brave step in fashion by moving to New York City in the late 80’s where he began his career assisting some of the great fashion photographers of the time. Back in Paris in the 90’s he assisted Mario Testino before breaking out on his own. Goldberg has since become a legend in his own lifetime, photographing some of the most memorable fashion spreads and celebrity portraits of our time.

LACOSTE POUR FEMME is his first campaign for LACOSTE.

The LACOSTE POUR FEMME TV campaign.

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Price List for Lacoste Pour Femme

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The research I found out for secondary research is also reliable because it gives me the figures-price list of Lacoste pour femme. In this way I can see if Lacoste is selling at a good price or not. If it weren’t selling at a reasonable price then I would consider changing it.  

External influences

Strategy-SWOT analysis

SWOT is an abbreviation for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

The purpose of an SWOT analysis is to conduct a general and quick examination of a business’s current position so that it can identify preferred and likely directions in the future. SWOT analysis involves looking at the internal strengths and weaknesses of a business and the external opportunities and threats.

Once key strategic issues have been identified, the key strategic feeds into the business objectives especially marketing objectives. SWOT analysis can be used in combination with other tools for audit and analysis i.e. PEST analysis. This is very popular tool with the business because it markets students and it is quick and easy to learn.

Strengths:

These are things that a business and its staff do which:

• They are effective at
• They are well known for
• Make money
• Generates the business and its reputation
• Lead to confidence in the market
• Cause customers to come back for repeat business
• Cause other businesses to try to learn from them.

Weaknesses:

These are the things that the business does badly. This is ineffective and from this the business gets a poor reputation. It also includes the factors that cause losses, hardships, disputes, grievances and complaints for the business.

Opportunities:

These are directions that the business could profitably take in the future because of its strengths or because of the eliminating of its weaknesses. This involves a consideration of the business environment from the widest and most creative possible standpoints.

Threats:

Threats to a business arise from the activities of the competitors and from failing to take opportunities or to build on success. Threats also come from satisfactions, a lack of rigour and from falling profits like due to rising costs.

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The analysis is often carried out as brainstorm discussions. This is effective way of gathering and categorising information, illustrating particular matters and generating interest in the business and its activities quickly. The result of such an exercise may provide a basic on which a more detailed analysis can be conducted. SWOT analysis is often used as a method by which a marketing department can plan its marketing strategy.

SWOT analysis for Lacoste Pour Femme

Strengths:

• They provide a range of products e.g. clothing, footwear, leather goods, eyewear, watches, home textile and underwear.
• It’s a leading brand for clothing, footwear and perfumes.
• Customer loyalty.
• Good sales.
• It’s well known around the world.
• Effective promotions.
• Current products are market leaders in some countries in terms of sales and market shares.

Weaknesses:

• Doesn’t deliver any goods from the warehouse.
• Age of the life cycle of certain products.
• Restricted product range could cause problems if sales suddenly fall.
• Prices of products.
• Smell of the products.

Opportunities:

• Changing the prices of products.
• Changing the smell of the perfume.
• Extend product range.
• Development of a worldwide brand and possible worldwide marketing. This means that developing in different countries.
• Wider range of products. This means more sales revenue.

Threats:

• Competition within other perfume makers.
• Increasing competition from competitors bringing out new products.
• Legislation on ingredients could force changes in production.

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PEST analysis

PEST analysis examines the external environment and the global factors that may affect a business. It can provide a quick and visual representation of the external pressures facing a business and their possible constraints on the strategy. It is usually divided into four external influences on a business – political, economic, social and technological.

P political factors

E economic factors

S social factors

T technological factors

Political factors:

This is concerned with how political developments, regionally, nationally and internationally might affect a business’s strategy. It might include a consideration of legislations, such as consumer laws, regulations, political pressures and the government’s view of certain activities.

Political factors have an affect on Lacoste because Lacoste follows all of these political issues that face the business. The issues they most consider are the government policy. This is because this policy has a major impact on the operation of Lacoste. Lacoste also follows:

• Laws on competition influence the number of companies in the industry.
• Health and safety law that affects Lacoste practices and production costs.
• The consumer law affects the marketing and selling of products for Lacoste e.g. Sales of Goods Act.
• Trade unions affect Lacoste because the trade union is an organisation of workers who join together to further their own interests.
• Privatisation.
• Regulatory constraints like the labelling and quality of the perfume and safety.

Economic factors:

This might involve the analysis of a variety of economic factors and their effects on the business. They might include:

• Consumer activity such as confidence, spending patterns and willingness to spend.
• Economic policy such as inflation, unemployment, trade and growth.
• Government policy such as fiscal, monetary, supply side and exchange rate.
• Fixed and variable costs of the business.
• The effect of changes in product and labour markets.

Businesses may also need to analyse the possible effects on its plans of government policy designed to lift the economy out of the recession.

The economic factor has an effect on Lacoste because Lacoste needs to consider the economic climate when deciding how to market Lacoste’s products. This means that Lacoste has to deal with various economic factors such as:

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• Lacoste question them if the Gross Domestic Policy (GDP) or Lacoste’s cycle is in the economy and if it’s booming? Is the economy in a recession? Or is there a growth stable?
• Interest rates: are the interest rates likely to change?
• Unemployment: is their high or low unemployment at Lacoste Business Company.
• Exchange rates: are the exchange rates at Lacoste high or low? Are these exchange rates ever going to increase or decrease?
• Distribution of income: is the income distributed consistently within Lacoste staff members?

Social factors:

The competitive advantage that a business might gain by the social changes that take place outside the business is that the business will have a development in the products they provide. This will only happen if the private pensions, private medical schemes, sheltered housing developments and ‘third age’ holidays, aimed at the older age group by these products. Pressure groups can also affect businesses.

Social factors also affect Lacoste. This is because Lacoste is well known outside the UK and Lacoste is expanding with different ideas. There are many social cultural changes that take place in the society. This is important for the marketing industry for Lacoste because Lacoste can reveal trends that can influence the demand for the particular types of products. For instance Lacoste should consider on:

• Demographic (population) changes: this means the ages of population, ethnicity and the population movements.
• Household size: this means that the size of the average household may fall e.g. more than one-person households.
• Lifestyle changes.

Technological factors:

Businesses operate in a world of rapid technological change. Organisations need to review the impact of new technologies upon their activities. Products can become obsolete quickly and production methods can become out of date. Communication may be inefficient as ICT develops. New markets may open. The strategy towards the R&D is vital in the industries where technological change is rapid.

Technological factors may affect Lacoste because Lacoste develops in technology that gives a rise to new products and market opportunities. These include:

• New techniques of production at Lacoste are often more efficient.
• A competitor might adapt new technology first; this might create a treat towards Lacoste Marketing Department.
• The need to create new technology and new products is a major driver for Research and Development (R&D).

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Alternative to PEST

This is important to PEST analysis because:

S

L legal issues

E

P

T

PEEST or G-PEST or PEST-G environmental or green issues

Legal factors:

Changes in the law may also affect Lacoste. This is because it’s included in the political factors.

Environmental factors:

Green factors are becoming increasingly important to consumers. For example, recycled materials, environmentally friendly, conserving energy and reducing pollution.

Environmental factors also affects Lacoste. Lacoste perfume packaging illustrates the symbol for recycling material, a symbol that states CA and a symbol that states environmentally friendly.

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Analysing the industry

The Advertising Standards Authority:

The ASA is a body set up to monitor advertising in the UK. It is responsible for making sure that the advertisers confirm to the British Code of Advertising and Sales Promotion Practise. This code has a pressure on advertisements because all adverts must be legal, decent, honest and truthful. This is because they must not cause grave or widespread offence. Roughly the consumers and businesses refer around 10,000 advertisements to the ASA each year. Only around one-third of these are investigated. If the ASA finds out that an advertisement disobeys the codes of practice, the ASA may ask the business to withdraw the advertisement. Although the ASA has no legal power to force the business to withdraw the advert. This is because it may put pressure on it to do so. This may threaten to refer the business to the Office of Fait Trading (OFT). The OFT has the power to take out and ban the advertisement that would appear at a later date. This may also put pressure on the media to refuse to handle the advertisement and may ask to see the future advertisements before they are used.

The ASA will help Lacoste by ensuring them what areas they are weak in. This means that the ASA will tell then what bits of the advertisements should they change and why. In this way Lacoste could improve with the advert and so that they could approach the advert to their consumers. The ASA also knows how a typical audience approaches the adverts. The ASA will help Lacoste by telling them how they could approach to certain audiences so that Lacoste could approach to their target audiences e.g. 16-20. The advert for Lacoste should be legal, decent, honest and truthful. This means that Lacoste shouldn’t cause any grave or widespread offence. If anything goes wrong with the production of the advert Lacoste could threaten them to go to the Office of Fair Trading. The OFT has the power to ban and take out adverts. As for Lacoste, Lacoste could have a ban advert and this may not be shown at any medias because they will be refused to show as they may be criticising any ethnic group. But in the future if this does tend to happen Lacoste would need to show their adverts to the OFT before showing them to different medias.