Identify the two competing products/services in the selected print advertisements.

In todays’ society there are now many alternatives to smoking cigarettes and even many

options for how to quit smoking all together. Something that is on the rise with traditional smokers are

now the invention of the electronic cigarette. With the rise in this market more companies are being

started up in order to get a stake in the market before it becomes too saturated. Therefore new versions

of this product are emerging and competing against one another offering their target market many

options to choose between. Within these two ads there are competing versions of electronic cigarettes.

The first one of the print ads is for blu electronic cigarettes company and the second print ads is for

MARKTEN e­vapor company. These two competing ads were both found in Cosmopolitan magazine.

Explain the product or service presented in each ad.

Within the first ad blu electronic cigarettes are the product being advertised. This ad gives more

explanation of what the product itself is and what they offer their market. They start with their catch

phrase of “ Take back your freedom.” It then claims that there is no odor, no ash with no tobacco

smoke, only vapor, and that it also has an on­the­go rechargeable pack. It also gave directions on how

to find out more information at a certain website and also how to find stores that sell their product as

well.

For the second competing ad MARKTEN e­vapors are the product being advertised. This ad is simple

and gives the reader the basic information but not much more than that. There is a slogan that they are

“strikingly simple” leaving a lot to the potential users’ imagination on how they are used or what they

consist of. Then below the picture of the e­vapor it states that it is available in classic and menthol. But

after that there is not more descriptive information or details on how to find more information.

However on this ad it gave a larger warning about the potential risks of using this product and those

that should avoid use.

Give a brief background of the company or organization doing the advertising.

Blu cigarettes company is claiming to be the top e­cig retailer in the world today. They started

as a small company in 2009 and as their catch phrases says; their end goal was to help give adult

smokers back their freedom. They are a company that is interested in trying new things to keep their

customers happy and they say they aren’t afraid to make mistakes and will admit when they do

however and strive to make their products better. As their mission statement states, “If we don’t like it,

why would you?” making it so that they continue to look into what their target market wants and what

they think of the products being offered. Blu cigarette company is now being referred to as blu Nation.

Here they ask their customers or potential customers to become a part of blu Nation and take hold of

the benefits. On the company’s home page with their mission statement “Freedom, passion and the

courage to do something that hasn’t been done before are still the driving forces behind what we do.”

MARKTEN e­vapors are listed under MARKTEN tobacco company that also still manufactures regular

tobacco cigarettes. They are newer into the electronic cigarette market but are controversial as most of

their revenue and resources are going towards and from their regular tobacco products. It is a company

under the overarching company of Altria that manufactures these products. As their mission statement

declares, the company is “focused on responsibly developing and marketing innovative tobacco

products for adult tobacco consumers.”

Explain the target for each ad. Include why you believe this is the target.

The targets for each of the ads are smokers who are looking for a change from regular

cigarettes and are looking to switch to a different form of smoking, such as using e­cigarettes. These

types of people are the targets because of the use of the different slogans on each ad. The slogan on the

MARKTEN ad reads, “Strikingly simple.” which relates to the design of the product, because the

e­cigarette looks simple in its all white appearance, but also because the company wants the target to

know this product is very simple and easy to use. Instead of always having a pack of cigarettes and a

lighter in your pocket at all times, the target only needs this product and they’re all set. The target

won’t need any other accessories to use this product, which makes it “strikingly simple”.

The Blu ad reads, “Take back your freedom” which relates to how convenient using their

product. In many public places, smoking is prohibited but if the target has a Blu e­cigarette, then they

don’t need to worry about breaking the law. The target would have their freedom back to smoke where

they want to, whether it’s at a bar, restaurant or any other public place they frequent. The ad also states

the e­cigarette has no odor, no ash and no tobacco smoke, only vapor and it also comes with an

on­the­go rechargeable pack. This also relates to the “take back your freedom” slogan because since

only vapor is emitted from the e­cigarette, no one would complain about smoke in their face or ashtrays

near them, so it’s the perfect alternative to use while out in public among other people. The on­the­go

rechargeable pack is also useful because targets would be able to charge their e­cigarette while out in

public and not have to worry about being without their e­cigarette. Targets still have the freedom to go

where they want without worrying about not having their e­cigarette.

Explain the focus of each ad.

The focus of each ad is to show cigarette users how much simpler using e­cigarettes are

compared to using regular cigarettes. The companies are informing their targets of the advantages of

using e­cigarettes instead of regular cigarettes.

Explain in detail each product differentiation, including stage of PLC.

The MARKTEN e­cigarette is in the intro stage of the PLC so the company is informing their

targets of its product through their ad, in hopes that people will try it. The company shows

differentiation by showing the simple design of the product and also stating at the bottom of the ad that

the e­cigarette comes in both classic and menthol flavors.

The Blu e­cigarette is in the growth stage of the PLC, so the company is persuading their

targets of the advantages their product has. The company shows differentiation by listing the benefits of

using this e­cigarette, such as not having tobacco smoke, odor or ash. This product also has the

on­the­go rechargeable pack that makes using the e­cigarette more convenient than others.

VALSII Target Type

The VALS system is seeking to explain why and how consumers make purchasing decisions.

Electronic cigarettes are a product that young consumers will buy and test out, but consumers who have

been smoking cigarettes for decades are not likely to switch and use electronic cigarettes. In the VALS

system; self­expression motivated groups, Experiencers are young and enthusiastic, and impulsive

consumer who become excited about new possibilities but are equally quick to cool. They savor the

new, the offbeat, and the risky. Most of their income is spent on looking good and having the latest

things, in the achievement motivated groups, Strivers are trendy, fun loving and less self­confident than

achievers, and in the high and low resource groups, Innovators are receptive to new ideas and

technologies. Their lives are characterized by variety.

Buying Decision

Buying decision or purchase reason is personal. Only one person will be using this product. It’s

an electronic cigarette; it is a product that a consumer will buy to use for personal use.

Promotional Mix+PLC

The goal of promotion is to communicate to the community or target that you are trying to have

buy/use your good. There are 3 ways to do this: inform, persuade, and remind. In the inform stage, you

make your product known to the target and show the benefits of it (differentiation). In the persuade

stage, you attempt to convince the target to try your product, and in the remind stage you remind the

target after they purchase your product to continue using it. Of the five parts of the promotional mix,

both Blu and MARKTEN are only using advertising in these two ads. Blu does a very good job of

informing the target of the benefits by listing them. Blu’s efforts in making their vapor cigarette seen as

an alternative to smoking tobacco is effective. On the other hand, MARKTEN doesn’t do a very good

job of informing the possible target of the benefits of using this vapor cigarette, other than saying it

comes in classic and menthol.

These products are in different stages of the PLC. MARKTEN is in the intro stage and Blu is in

the growth stage. While MARKTEN to my knowledge is a new product, Blu has been around for a

while and is more well known in the vapor cigarette market.

What should be changed in the less effective ad to make it more competitive?

After taking time to compare and contrast the two ads and develop pros and cons for each, our

group came to the conclusion that the ad for the MARKTEN e­vapor cigarettes is the less effective of

the two. The market for e­cigarettes is a relatively new one leaving a lot of room for growth, leading to

the present being a very crucial time period for companies to market effectively. The MARKTEN ad

consists of very bland colors and designs backed up by a pretty weak catch phrase, “Strikingly simple”.

Consumers are still naive when it comes to the specifics of this product and in some cases still don’t

know what it is. A much more effective marketing strategy would have been to come off flashy, as seen

in the blu electronic cigarette ad. At this stage of the product life cycle the marketer needs to catch the

eyes of the consumer.

It appears from the ad that MARKTEN’s target consumers are an older age group, such as

consumers in their forties and fifties who grew up surrounded by tobacco cigarettes. MARKTEN seems

to be using the wrong product positioning considering that the consumers they’re marketing towards

consumers who have grown up their whole life smoking tobacco cigarettes, or being around those who

do. This more than likely would result in a less positive opinion towards the new idea of electronics

than a younger consumer might have.

The MARKTEN ad portrays a single e­cig which resembles that of a real cigarette. However it

shows no sort of packaging or potential case that the e­cig could come in. Just a picture of the e­cig

itself is not enough to establish a solid image of the product. If the consumer doesn’t know what the

packaging looks like, how are they going to know what to look for? When seeing just a single e­cig

with no sort of storage device, the thought of the product being very easy to misplace might arise in

some consumer’s minds. Consumers who buy tobacco cigarettes in packs, misplace them all the time

which puts it into perspective of how easy it might be to lose this e­cig once purchased.

The only word content that the ad really consists of is at the bottom which seems to be a quite

extensive warning label. Referring back to the point made earlier, this is a new product. New

consumers don’t want to be overwhelmed with health risks for a product that is already supposed to be

a healthy alternative as it is. It is understandable that Markten wants to let the customer know in hopes

to develop good customer relations, but at first glance it almost even appears that MARKTEN is

marketing against themselves.

From your knowledge of marketing, indicate what the group believes the future of each product

or service will be?

Based upon our group’s knowledge of marketing we have decided that blu electronic cigarettes

will have a much more successful future than MARKTEN e­vapor. Blu has an overall promising

marketing strategy. Their ad consists of a flashy background and catchy slogan, “Take Back Your

Freedom”. They do a great job of creating an image for their product that sticks in consumers’ minds

by showing what looks to be an effective way to store their product as well as being just informative

enough of potential risks. When walking into a store consumers know what to look for. Blu’s product

positioning seems to be on point by marketing towards the younger age group and the company will

probably experience an extensive growth stage in the future of their products life cycle.

MARKTEN went with a much too simple marketing scheme for their product. Their product

and slogan, “Strikingly Simple”, isn’t so striking. We, as a group, don’t believe that they did a good

enough job appealing to their target consumers, which is an issue to begin with. MARKTEN’s

positioning defines them as marketing to an older, potentially tougher age group to persuade due to the

era in which they were raised in. They do a better job marketing against themselves than they do for

themselves and as a result their products life cycle will probably reach a decline/extinction in the near

future.