Havaianas
Strayer University
Juliana Hendershot
Marketing 500
Professor Kung
Havaianas
Until 1999 the product was exported to over 40 countries, mainly from Latin America,
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Running head: Havaianas
Africa and some countries in Asia. The company was using the same basic strategy without
changing the product, communication or promotion. In Brazil, Havaianas were marketed with
relatively low prices. However, the Company had an opportunity to position the sandals for a
market with a high purchasing power, such as the U.S., Australia and Europe.
The company had two paths to follow for exporting the product, focusing primarily on
classes A and B. The two options were almost antagonistic and required very different strategies.
Focus on the base of the pyramid would rapidly increase market penetration and storage
volumes, but would risk facilitating copies of the product for low-cost competitors, particularly
Chinese manufacturers, responsible for more than 50% of the footwear industry in the world (10
times the Brazilian production). On the other hand, the adoption of a strategy to differentiate the
brand from any other sandal in the market; this strategy would require heavy investments in
brand creation and cause understanding of the target market much more demanding.
Although there are other challenges to be overcome, the success of repositioning the
product in Brazil and its transformation into a fashion item for classes of higher purchasing
power boosted the company's management and enabled them to choose the second strategy to
entry into the European and American markets. From the beginning, the company sought to
select a team of professionals to work directly with the appointed exclusive distributors for each
region or country, aiming to promote sales and proper display of products at the outlets. This
team mission was to make the distributor of each country realized that the market had higher
added value.
A bold strategy was established for the major international markets. Projects started in
2001 by the two countries opinion leaders (Italy and France). Havaianas Sandals attended a show
about Latin America at the Galerie Lafayette, in Paris. The success of this event made it easier to
export Havaianas to other countries, including England, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece and
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Monaco.
In the U.S., for example, there were several action events such as participation in New
York Fashion Week, the distribution of the product to mega events like the Grammys and the
Oscars in 2003 and the MTV Awards. This work was carried out in conjunction with the
distributor. The focus of the construction of brand image was in its association with events,
Promotional Strategy
Havaianas Sandals followed a strategy of adjusting the mix of promotion in all countries
where it operates. The local distributor coordinates the promotional activities and several
advertising campaign. The adaptation of the communication was crucial, because the artists that
advertised the product in Brazil were not known abroad. This adaptation occurred, for example,
in campaigns in Latin America. In European countries and the U.S., on the other hand, the
emphasis is on activities of the press office, in which artists are caught the wearing Havaianas
Advertising
Colorful, vibrant and rubbery, the international campaign “Portraits of Brasil" will be
marketed in the USA. There are three ads on double pages where icons of the Brazilian culture
will pop out of the page, mixed with other not so famous or well known images and, however
One of the goals of the campaign is to reinforce the brand Havaianas in the United States,
taking to the young public it values - simplicity, joy and irreverence - and the relaxed and joyful
The first advertising will pay a tribute to the singer and actress Carmen Miranda. In it, the
picture of Carmen and several other images that have strong links with Brazil gained prominence
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alongside the Havaianas. Examples include birds, fruits, Christ the Redeemer, along with several
other images. The tribute is the perfect link between the two countries from 1930 to 1960,
Carmen Miranda was a hit in Brazil and the United States of America, singing and representing
the radio, theater, cinema and television. Her colorful clothes and decorated turbans with
flowers, fruits and Brazilian objects wore by the Star made her an international icon.
Furthermore, the Brazilian culture is vast and sports is a fundamental part of it- especially
football. Therefore, the sport could not miss a campaign that takes a bit of Brazil to the world. In
the ad that has this issue as a national passion, the main colors are from the national flag, green
and yellow. Among the pictures of the sandals are the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, the
players, the drawings of the sidewalks of the beaches of Rio de Janeiro and Sugar Loaf.
The campaign will be marketed in the following magazines: Glamour, GQ, Jane, Lucky,
BlackBook, Vogue, W, Complex, Elle, Foam, Marie Claire, Nylon, Ocean Drive, Justapoz,
Sales Promotion
In an effort to build relationships with the distribution channel and to instigate them to
carry and promote Havaianas, the Company will invest in trade promotions.
- Point of purchase (POP): The company will display, in high traffic areas of the channel,
“flower beds” in the shape of Havaianas sandals. The purpose of this action is to increase the
probability that the products will standout and to remind customers that designs and color are
always connected to nature. For channel partners, POP displays can result in significant sales
increases compared to sales levels in a normal shelf position. Also, Havaianas will lower the per-
unit cost of products in the POP display as an incentive for retailers to agree to include the
- Trade Allowances: This promotion will offer channel partners price breaks for agreeing
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to stock Havaianas. The purpose of this promotion is not only to encourage the purchase of the
product but also as an inducement to promote the product in other ways such as by offering
attractive shelf space or store location, highlighting the product in company-produced advertising
or website display, or by agreeing to have the retailer’s sales personnel “talk-up” the product to
customers.
Direct Marketing
For this promotion Havaianas will target customers that have subscriptions to the
following magazines: Glamour, GQ, Jane, Lucky, BlackBook, Vogue, W, Complex, Elle, Foam,
Marie Claire, Nylon, Ocean Drive, Justapoz, Paper, Planet, Radar, Spin and Mean. The company
will send out with the magazine a key chain that will look exactly like a real Havaianas sandal,
the same material and vibrant color. With the little gift will be a letter introducing the sandal to
customer, where to buy and a special discount associated with that promotion for a limited time.
The purpose of this promotion is to support the advertising campaign “Portraits of Brasil” and
also to introduce the product to those customers that are not familiar with.
Personal Selling
Havaianas will heavily invest and train people to be part of its Sales Force. As part of its
strategy to build relationship with the channel the Company believes that the use of face-to-face
communication between seller and buyer permits a better interaction and offers a win-win
situation.
allow the Company to control and take advantage of word-of-mouth marketing (Know this,
2010).
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communication makes it a natural method for getting customers to experience a product for the
first time. In fact, creating interest goes hand-in-hand with building product awareness as sales
professionals can often accomplish both objectives during the first encounter with a potential
- Reinforcing the Brand: Havaianas values its channel as much as its customers. The
Company intended to build long-term relationships with the distribution channel. A strong
relationship can only be built over time and requires regular communication with a customer.
Meeting with customers on a regular basis allows salespeople to repeatedly discuss their
company’s products and by doing so helps strengthen customers’ knowledge of what the
Public Relations
Havaianas will still count on Public Relations to establish credibility for its product and
company. The product first time on the spot light in the US market was due to Public Relations
intensive work and determination to expose the products on important events such as the Oscars
Public Relations main responsibility will be to continue to introduce the brand to events
of great importance to the fashion world, to magazines that dictate styles and trends and to
expose the brand to celebrities and icons of the fashion industry. The goal is to create interest for
the product, build product awareness, reinforce the brand and stimulate demand.
Distribution Channel
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Running head: Havaianas
The best distribution strategy for Havaianas is a mix of direct and indirect
channels of distribution. Its Sales Force in Brazil and its website are full of responsibility for
Havaianas and are considered direct channels. Having control over its Sales Force allows
Havaianas to have a direct contact to its customer, deliver a proper message, change it when
necessary and focus on specific target groups and promotions. Because the company is also
investing in offering mass customization over the website a direct sale is important due to quality
assurance, customization, and possibility of large orders. The Company already has in place a
On the other hand, exports still represent a small percentage of the total business for
Havaianas. The best strategy in this case is indirect channels until the brand is stronger and solid
in the international market, because investing in its own Sales Force and Production is costly and
will not bring ROI (return on investment) as desired in a relatively profitable time. In order to
attend its international demand, the Company should create an export department to manage the
relationship with its agents and local distributors. The would, in turn, work with agreements of
mutual exclusivity, allowing business promotion and brand exposure in points of sale according
to the characteristics and peculiarities of each country. These distributors and agents would also
use their knowledge of the local market to propose marketing and sales activities and to assist
customers at trade shows and events. The main goal of the agent would be to bring suppliers and
buyers together. Havaianas would offer the agent product knowledge, materials and also
understanding of the business culture of the Company. Distribution Centers would be firms who
work mainly in the business-to-business market selling products obtained from industrial
suppliers, in this case Havaianas. According to the geographical area, the Distribution Center
would be able to have a direct relationship with the Export Department or this relationship could
be intermediated by an agent.
what they do and can often perform tasks better and at lower cost than companies who do not
have distribution experience, which is the case of Havaianas in the international market.
- Reduce Exchange Time: Not only are channel members able to reduce distribution costs
by being experienced at what they do, they often perform their job more rapidly resulting in
- Create Sales: Resellers are at the front line when it comes to creating demand for the
marketer’s product. In some cases resellers perform an active selling role using persuasive
encourage sales of the product through their own advertising efforts and use of other promotional
- Loss of Revenue: Resellers are not likely to offer services to Havaianas unless they see
financial gain in doing so. They obtain payment for their services as either direct payment (e.g.,
marketer pays for shipping costs) or, in the case of resellers, by charging their customers more
than what they paid the marketer for acquiring the product (termed markup). For the latter,
Havaianas has a good idea of what the final customer will pay for their product which means the
Company must charge less when selling the product to resellers. In these situations Havaianas
are not reaping the full sale price by using resellers, which they may be able to do if they sold
- Loss of Communication Control: Havaianas not only give up revenue when using
resellers, it may also give up control of the message being conveyed to customers. If the reseller
purchase the product, the Company is no longer controlling what is being said about the product.
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This can lead to miscommunication problems with customers, especially if the reseller
embellishes the benefits the product provides to the customer (Know this, 2010).
- Loss of Product Importance: Once a product is out of the Companies’ hands the
importance of that product is left up to channel members. If there are pressing issues in the
effort to push their product through resellers, Havaianas’ product may not get the attention the
Today the company is able to accelerate its international expansion, but intends to
maintain the positioning strategy of focusing on Havaianas as a product for upper to middle
class. This is due, to the lack of capacity in the only factory that the Company has, located in
Brazil. The development of new industrial plants will certainly be a challenge for expansion of
So far Havaianas has worked heavily on building the brand Havaianas, and obtained good
results in terms of image, profitability and reputation. The reputation of the brand and its
association with Brazil offers opportunities to extend the brand to other products such as towels,
shirts, bikinis and beach articles, more associated with lifestyle than with the footwear industry.
Another way to accelerate sales in key markets is linking the product to known
personalities in international markets, Brazilian or not. The partnership with famous people
abroad could certainly add value to the brand Havaianas and facilitate the marketing of the
product in new points of sale and / or attract new consumers of the product.
In terms of distribution, the Company sells much of its production through distributors
and agents internationally, while the remainder is negotiated directly with retail. This system
proved to be the most appropriate for the current product portfolio and is unlikely to be changed.
managed to combine strategies for product, distribution, price and promotion focusing on the
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Running head: Havaianas
target market. An important piece of this puzzle is distributors and agents appointed by the
company in each country. They are responsible for various activities of the marketing mix
(public relations, actions at the point of sale, distribution, relationships with retailers) in each
place where the flip-flops are marketed. This model requires great coordination effort of these
The triumph of new markets for the Company allowed the construction of a new brand of
footwear internationally, whose history is only in its beginning and that will certainly have
interesting developments in the coming years and new challenges for the company and its
managers.
References
Winter, S.R. (2007). Marketing Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Wood, B.M. (2008). Marketing Plan Handbook. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
http://www.havaianas.com.br
http://www.cluteinstitute-onlinejournals.com/PDFs/1005.pdf
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Running head: Havaianas
http://www.knowthis.com/principles-of-marketing-tutorials/types-of-sales-
promotion/trade-allowances/
Know about
http://womeninbusiness.about.com/od/marketingyourbusiness/tp/hub-
directmarketing.htm