Hello everyone. My name's Hue. You've listened about three in four Ps of Lacoste's marketing mix. And now I will tell you about the last but not least P of this brand's marketing strategy: Promotion.

As all of you know, Lacoste proceed from producing the revolutionary tennis shirt. So it expands their brand by making sporting connections with sponsorship of sportspeople like Andy Roddick (tennis), and with events in tennis, golf and more. They also advertise in airports, and in fashion and sporting magazines, all driven around the events they sponsor.

At the end of the 90s the company decided to change its marketing strategy. The brand was on the verge to become old fashioned. It had to evolve in order to stay a leading brand name. The changes are successful: the turnover 2004 has exceeded one billion euros, which is the first time in its history. The image of Lacoste had to be modernized without forgetting its past of sportive brand. That is why the company tried to merge fashion, sport and street wear. The different advertising campaigns are made to illustrate this combination. For instance one of the TV ads shows a love story between the French tennis man Arnaud Clement and the Danish singer Natasha Thomas.

And now I will tell you about how Lacoste promotes in its two largest markets: US and France.

In the US market, the company emphasized product placement in popular movies and TV shows, as they influenced the fashion choices of young people to a great extent.

Lacoste USA set up a special division called Propaganda Entertainment Marketing in Los Angeles, which worked towards getting permission from movie studios for product placements. Lacoste shirts were worn on-screen by popular movie and TV stars like Gwyneth Paltrow in the movie The Royal Tenenbaums, Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls, Mathew Broderick in The Stepford Wives, and the cast of the popular TV show, The O.C. Lacoste USA also sponsored the premiere of the movie Garden State, in 2004, which featured Natalie Portman, a popular actress. The company also offered free Lacoste clothing to celebrities and popular figures.

Analysts commented that Lacoste USA had managed to become a 'Hollywood favorite'. Siegel believed that endorsements by popular movie stars helped Lacoste keep the brand 'hip and relevant' in the market. Commenting on this strategy, Rosenthal said, "If you say you're cool, you're not. It's a property that needs to be demonstrated. We would gift product to some celebrities and then we'd literally see them wearing it in magazines." She said, "That works really well because we know the product is going directly to them. It's worth it to us. Celebrity endorsement is huge in the fashion industry."

Lacoste becomes the first international brand to support the "Save Your Logo" campaign

The brand known for its iconic Crocodile announced today its participation in the "Save Your Logo" campaign, which allows private companies or institutions to contribute in the preservation of biodiversity on the planet by committing to the protection of the animal that represents their logo. The Global Environment Facility (GEF), the World Bank and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are behind this initiative launched in October 2008.

For over 75 years a crocodile has been the LACOSTE logo. Now the brand will actively support projects selected by the GEF to safeguard or protect the endangered crocodile, alligator, caiman or gavial species, whose loss would jeopardize the biological balance of their natural habitats.

These action plans will help to conserve biodiversity and fight against the disappearance of these species, some of which are now reduced to just a few individuals: Alligators in China, Gavials or Crocodiles of the Orinoco River in the Amazon.

LACOSTE is the international brand the most clearly associated with an animal. The brand's commitment to the preservation of crocodiles seems natural as this animal is part of LACOSTE's history and identity. Nicknamed "the Crocodile" because of his tenacity on the courts, René Lacoste, the famous tennis champion, had the idea in the late 1920s, to embroider a crocodile on the shirts he designed, thus creating the first polo shirt ... and the first logo to be visibly displayed on a garment.