Week 4. Rip Curl Traget Market.

Rip Curl are a grass roots company who began making wetsuits and surfboards back in the 1964 and who grew to produce clothing and accessories all over the world. regardless of how big a company Rip Curl has evolved to become today, they still have a core target market and that is young (12 to 23) male surf and board riders (encompassing surf, snow, wake and skate board riders, however surf being the main core theme throughout). Rip Curl continuity adapts to this core changing market sector and like the market rip curl evolves to meet its needs. 

However, Rip Curl have been very savvy in marketing their product and to ensure they are not lost in the overall market with a very small core target group, they have attracted other smaller target markets without straying to far from the original vision for the company. Rip Curl's smaller but growing target markets are in the female surf ware sector (same age bracket as the core target market) and an even smaller mountain sector.

Each product line, is targeted at this core target market - surfboards, wetsuits, clothing, accessories such as watches, Jewellery and bags and even footwear is all aimed at young male surfers. The products Rip Curl products aim to meet all their needs both in and out of the water, in summer and winter (winter's spent snowboarding) and also in their travel needs as they go on their own personal search. 

Rip Curl attract their target markets at the grass roots level (the younger age group of the target market), so as their target market ages and then falls outside of their core market, they don't forget about them, they thank them for their loyalty by continuing to produce high quality goods and if they stay on and buy the Rip Curl products even better.

Rip curl also target local area's, this may seem hard but by targeting local area within a distribution district, they are ensuring that the products meet the needs of the local market. To maintain global unity within the company, this is where the Live the Search comes into play, by internally as a company living the search for the best experience they can provide to their local market, it ties the company together globally and also reflects that Rip Curl like their customers are Living the Search.

My images will need to reflect the 'Live the Search' and the 'Grass Roots' approach that rip Curl uses to attract it's target market. The images will need to be very Surf and Board orientated and will need to encompass water heavily.The images will also need to be clean but also a little grungy and imperfect to some degree, as the target market of young boys (and girls) are not clean and perfect and they are not after a high end fashion item, they are after an experience. The image will need to portray the mellow down to earth vibe, but also have a very fun playful and some what mischievous and adventurous feel to them. 

Image source: http://www.ripcurl.com.au/

Sources
Brand Channel, http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=58
Rip Curl, http://www.ripcurl.com.au