QUT Marketing: Brand Positioning Analysis of Billabong Report

This report presents a comprehensive brand positioning analysis of Billabong, a prominent lifestyle brand in the surf and apparel industry. It begins with an overview of Billabong's history, its evolution from a surfwear company to a broader lifestyle brand, and its current market position. The analysis delves into Billabong's target market, including demographics and psychographics, emphasizing the brand's appeal to young, active individuals with an affinity for outdoor lifestyles. It then explores the brand's frame of reference, considering its competitors like Quiksilver and Hurley, and analyzes Billabong's brand knowledge and associations, highlighting its strong ties to surf culture and Australian heritage. The report also examines the points of parity and points of difference that define Billabong's brand identity, such as its product quality and unique Australian heritage. Strategic recommendations are provided to enhance Billabong's brand positioning and competitiveness, including expanding product offerings and leveraging its Australian heritage in marketing efforts. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and implications for Billabong's future brand strategy.

Running Head: BRAND POSITIONING ANALYSIS OF BILLABONG
BRAND POSITIONING ANALYSIS OF BILLABONG
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author’s note

1BRAND POSITIONING ANALYSIS OF BILLABONG
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Overview of the brand.....................................................................................................................2
Frame of reference...........................................................................................................................3
Target market...............................................................................................................................3
Demographics..........................................................................................................................3
Psychographics........................................................................................................................4
Brand knowledge and associations..........................................................................................4
Competitor analysis.....................................................................................................................5
Point of parity..................................................................................................................................7
Point of difference...........................................................................................................................7
Recommendations............................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................11

2BRAND POSITIONING ANALYSIS OF BILLABONG
Introduction
A lifestyle brand efforts to personify the standards, desires, benefits, attitudes, or attitudes
of customers for advertising purposes. Lifestyle brands pursue to motivate, guide, and encourage
customers, with an objective of their merchandises contributing towards the demands of the
consumer’s fashion statement. It advertises its products in a manner that personifies the
sentiments and comforts of a particular category of consumer. The lifestyle brand chosen for the
assignment is Billabong. The assignment talks about the brand positioning analysis of Billabong.
Further in the assignment, the discussion is based on the target market of the brand, its frame of
reference, competitors, point of parity and point of difference. The assignment also includes
strategic recommendations for the improvement of the brand.
Overview of the brand
Billabong International Limited is a clothing retailer company that also manufactures
accessories such as backpacks and watches under other brand names. It is a surf company and
was founded in 1973 by Gordon and Rena Merchant. It’s headquarter is in Queensland, Australia
(Bruce, 2019). Gordon noticed a gap in the market for affordable surf wear, so he began
producing homemade boardies in his garage which turned his passion in to a huge international
brand. The brand now produces different lifestyle products like snow wear, surf wear, skate wear
and more. The company has net income of over $750 million and more than 7000 employees
work for the brand (Budiman, Hendrayati & Achyarsyah, 2019). The achievement of the brand is
the ability to interface with the potential clients who has the enthusiasm for sportswear, which
has led to their sponsorship all through the brandishing business and also helped in building high
brand equity for the company. Regardless of developing a solid image and high brand value, the

3BRAND POSITIONING ANALYSIS OF BILLABONG
ever-growing rivalry of the clothing industry has seen negative development for the business. As
a result, the organization was taken over by Board riders Inc. in 2018. Although, due to the
robust competition, the company must enhance and implement systematically on the brands
point of parity and difference while retaining a strong positioning plan.
Frame of reference
Target market
Billabong’s objective market has created and become matching with the organization's
economic development. The brand currently offers a plenty of items intended to accommodate an
assortment of ways of life while proceeding with an overall topic of beach front affected design.
Its objective market essentially comprise of males and females of age 14 to 29 who are carefree
and carry on with an outdoorsy way of lifestyle. A billabong client thinks about style and
searches for garments that fit their longing to look fashionable, whilst as yet being useful and of
a praiseworthy quality (Pritchard, 2018). The clients realize that when they shop at billabong
they will get an excellent, brand name thing and is likewise popular and will fill its definitive
useful need. Topographically, Billabong’s items are authorized and are being sold in more than
100 nations with significant activities in Australia, North America, Europe and Asia. The items
are also available in more than 10000 retail outlets across the world.
Demographics
Billabong’s worldwide constrained look to focus on the dynamic and the adolescent who
wind up committed to the outside and experience. All the more barely characterized, they target
both male and female millennial and generation z of age 15 to 30. Millennial are the top third
optional spenders in the economy and record for 4.9 million individuals in the Australian

4BRAND POSITIONING ANALYSIS OF BILLABONG
population. This segment has low to medium discretionary cash flow procuring from 800 to 1300
every week (DinnarS & Islam, 2019). But in spite of the low pay this segment is regularly
depicted as excessively self-assured and self-saw which adds to their eagerness to burn through
cash on optional products.
Psychographics
Marketers are constantly fascinated in finding the motives of why consumers purchase
definite merchandise and why they purchase specific merchandise from particular retail
channels. The analysing of the customer activities is very essential for the dealers because it
allows the marketers in developing the marketing plan for particular target markets.
Psychographic segmentation helps the sellers to recognize, the standard of living, behaviour and
community of the class of people and also the features of the target market.
Many customers relate them with the brand that reflects standard of living and self-
concept choices. According to Roy Morgan, the people who fall under this category are named
as “young optimists”. This reveals a group of individuals who are enthusiastic to develop
features of their lifespan so that they can achieve a valued place in a culture (Forsyth et al.,
2017). They are sensible of the appearance they reflect and are frequently adventure obsessed.
Billabong is extremely considered for their contribution in venture sports like surfing,
snowboarding and wake boarding. The customers has robust stress on enlightening their visions
in lifetime, although continuing their stylishness slightly obeying with fashions and styles.
Brand knowledge and associations
As an international brand, Billabong has established robust links with surf principles and
as coastline standard of living, and creates an intensely embedded cultural and lifetime brand

5BRAND POSITIONING ANALYSIS OF BILLABONG
appearance. Since its commencement till now, Billabong’s merchandise have built strong linkage
with long-lasting value, which originated from the three-layered stitched board shorts to
authentic casual wear and wetsuits. The brand also offers strong experimental and figurative
connotations, comprising the delight and principles of surfing and the coastline routine, which
signifies liberty, distinctiveness and community. Although Billabong was established as a
lifestyle brand, the business aims is to currently relocate themselves and unite the board riders
comprising of surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding and more, though, the surf ethos will
continue ingrained as the business’s main link between customers.
Competitor analysis
Billabong is situated in the surf market which faces intense competition in the market
place. The business is lucrative and it targets around 23 million surfers globally, and also
includes those customers that do not surf still admire the surf values and standard of living. The
company with such huge customer segment generates around $7.29 billion of revenue annually
(Dickson, 2017).
The company faces intense competition and challenges of existing in the market of direct
competition. The company not only face competition from the other Surf Company but also from
the major brands in sportswear like Adidas and Nike. The brand faces competition from huge
giants in the surf industry like Rip Curl, Quicksilver, Blood Red, Volcom, Hurley, Iconix,
Vitamin Blue, Roxy and many more. After facing so much competition from its rivals, the
company still holds 12% of market share in the market while its competitors like Quicksilver
holds 24% and Roxy holds 15% of shares (Ortiz González, 2016).

6BRAND POSITIONING ANALYSIS OF BILLABONG
Billabong always focused on board shorts but now it has changed its strategy and focuses
on stylish brands which comprises of vacation wear but its surf values are still reflected in its
present collections. Billabong has strongly positioned itself as a powerful brand in leisure and
fashion but the skill for durability and presentation still integrated.
Figure: Market analysis of Billabong
Source: (Pritchard, 2018)

7BRAND POSITIONING ANALYSIS OF BILLABONG
Figure: perceptual mapping of Billabong
Source: (Ortiz González, 2016)
Point of parity
For a brand to be known as an authentic competitor in the market, it should establish its identity
and achieve several standards, known as the points of parity (POP).
Customers demand high quality product and wants to pay premium price for it. Billabong
offer extremely robust apparel wear board shorts, apparels and more which are recognized as the
point of parity of the brand. These qualities has been copied by its rivals which creates a
competition in the market and the expectancy for providing active wear by prominent surf brands
building it as point of parity for the company. Billabong can reach market standards by going
online for e-commerce. This will enhance its POP and provide convenience to the customers as
well as expand its distribution channel globally.
For an organization to establish itself as respectable and authentic in the surfing business,
there is an expectancy on the business to develop its merchandise. Therefore, it should not only
offer surf associated products but also additional active and action wear like casual wear, snow
gear and more. Billabongs fulfils the point of parity by offering several assortments which
provides products that offers many varieties like body boarding, snow, surf, apparel for both men
and women, casual wear as well as clothing for kids (Schons & Thöne, 2017). The variety
presented by the Billabongs confirms that the brand enjoys the position of an authentic
competitor amongst the surf wear business.

8BRAND POSITIONING ANALYSIS OF BILLABONG
Point of difference
For any brand to remain competitive in the market, it must possess point of difference
(POD) which showcases the brands distinct features which helps the brand achieve competitive
advantage between its competitors. These distinctive features discriminate a brand in the market
from its rivals who are in the identical frame of reference. Therefore, it is essential in achieving a
robust brand position.
Billabong, since 1973 was an Australian company. But in spite of its successful
internationalisation of its products, the brand remained strong in Australia because the Australian
surf culture is still reflected in several features of the brand. This is recognised as the point of
difference for the brand because its competitors like Hurley and Quicksilver are American
owned and established company. Since, Australia claim an exclusive domestic culture, which
mostly comprises the waters and is represented globally as possessing reliable surf culture. This
acts as beneficial point of difference for the company because the company can use this as a
brand message for promoting the genuine culture which supports the culture of Australia and its
heritage, while as yet completing a solid internationalization practice (Benton, 2018).
To qualify as an attractive point of difference in the market, issue must be applicable and
reasonable to the potential customer. The Australian heritage and Billabong are interrelated with
this because, the countries culture and heritage is expressively widespread issue among global
customers, as 21% of international travellers visit Australia to participate into marine activities
which includes surfing, swimming and more. Assuming the expectation of feeling its intensely
deep-seated culture.

9BRAND POSITIONING ANALYSIS OF BILLABONG
Recommendations
To continue as an authentic competitor for customers procurements of surf wear,
Billabong is required by the marketplace to expand and enlarge their contributions to supply to
an extensive range. Billabong can additional benefit from the point of parity by discharging
periodic launching of apparatus like snowboards, skateboards, surfboards and more. This is very
rare between the surf wear merchants which have a tendency to twig to apparel and accessories.
It is recommended that to be distinct, Billabong should work in partnership with a different
apparatus producer company so that it could introduce a new assortment which should emphasis
on exclusiveness. For example, the summer and spring launch could be joint ventured with the
Noosa longboards for more innovation. The assortments can be stunned for launching its
products season wise, such as snowboards released in winter, summer for the surf boards and
autumns for skateboards.
Furthermore, as recognised in the customers visions, Billabong has built a substantial
customers market segment who prefer a vigorous and energetic routine without indulging in
amusement or surfing. This marketplace fragment suggests outstanding capacity for the business
to create a point of difference by additional fabricating its active wear assortment that is
presently in its initial phase. The transformation of products in the surfing business has generated
profit for the company as well in the market which permits brands to trade several apparel and
products as surf wear in spite of its impracticable orientation to the activity of surfing.
It is further recommended that Billabong should spend on their target marketplace and
also develop the lifestyle apparel by evolving an active wear apparel assortment for both men
and women. To support the core principles of the company and the reputation, the product line

10BRAND POSITIONING ANALYSIS OF BILLABONG
should also include water resilient collection which can be utilised for physical exercise like
running and more as well for the water surfing as well. This will help the company in executing
tactical promotion campaign that depicts the routine of Billabong market. This innovation will
the company in market penetration which has not yet been implemented by other surfing
companies. This will also help the company in establishing an anticipated and desirable point of
difference among its competitors and also help in occupying a distinctive place in the market.

11BRAND POSITIONING ANALYSIS OF BILLABONG
References
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Bruce, M. G. (2019). Back to Billabong. Good Press.
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brand image through social media. In 1st International Conference on Economics,
Business, Entrepreneurship, and Finance (ICEBEF 2018). Atlantis Press.
Chaikumbung, M., Doucouliagos, H., & Scarborough, H. (2016). The economic value of
wetlands in developing countries: A meta-regression analysis. Ecological
Economics, 124, 164-174.
Dickson, T. (2017). How to Brand and Market a Fashion Label: New lifestyle brand 48.
Dinnar, S. H., & Islam, S. (2019). ECONOMIC VALUATION OF A WETLAND BY USING
STATISTICAL METHOD: A CASE STUDY ON CHALAN BILLABONG, NORTH-
BENGAL, BANGLADESH.
Doering, A. From he’e nalu to olympic sport: A century of surfing evolution. Sport Tourism
Development, 3rd ed.; Hinch, T., Higham, J., Eds, 200-203.
Forsyth, J. R., De La Harpe, R., Riddiford-Harland, D. L., Whitting, J. W., & Steele, J. R.
(2017). Analysis of Scoring of Maneuvers Performed in Elite Men’s Professional Surfing
Competitions. International journal of sports physiology and performance, 12(9), 1243-
1248.