MARKETING ASSIGNMENTS

DHARA BADIANI

ROLL NO 12

PGDM BATCH A 2009-11

ITM KHARGHAR

ASSIGNMENT-1

A) Two successful product brands and reasons for their success from consumers point of view:

1) MAGGI NOODLES – A 25 YEAR JOURNEY IN THE INDIAN MARKET:

Nestle introduced Maggi noodles in 1983. Soon, it became a hit. Nestle found a vacant position in the young urban mother’s mind for such a product, an evening snack for the kids. And Maggi sat on that spot claiming itself as, “fast to cook and good to eat, any time snack.”

“What Xerox is to photocopier and Colgate to toothpaste, Maggi is to noodles in India."

The reasons for the success of Maggi from consumers view point are:

o Maggi was introduced as a new product by Nestle India and it was a kind of risk taking because such food items were new to Indian market. It was targeted basically at working and urban woman who usually get less time to prepare fresh snacks for their kids in the evening. In such a case the introduction of 2 minutes noodle was a good thing to do.

o Maggi is the leader in the Instant Noodles category because it is constantly improving its understanding of the consumer to give them excellent and tasty products that provide nutrition, health, and wellness.

o Maggi has managed to enter Indian homes to change the traditional food habits of Indian children on their promise of convenience. This brand has understood the psychology of Indian mothers and positioned itself for mother-child indulgence.

o During the 1990s, the sales of Maggi noodles declined, and this was attributed partly to the growing popularity of Top Ramen, another instant noodles product. In order to improve sales and attract more consumers, NIL changed the formulation of Maggi noodles in 1997. However, this proved to be a mistake, as consumers did not like the taste of the new noodles. In March 1999, NIL reintroduced the old formulation of the noodles, after which the sales revived. This shows the concern nestle had for its consumers as the new formulation was aimed at achieving some cost savings in the production of Maggi noodles but since consumers preferred the old one they moved back to the original formulation.

o NIL aggressively promoted Maggi noodles through several schemes like distributing free samples, giving gifts on the return of empty packs, etc. NIL's advertising too played a great role in communicating the benefits of the product to target consumers.

o Through its ads, NIL positioned Maggi as a 'fun' food for kids which mothers could prepare easily. Taglines like 'Mummy, bhookh lagi hai' (Mom, I'm hungry), 'Bas 2-Minute,' (Only 2 minutes) and 'Fast to Cook Good to Eat' effectively communicated the product's benefits to target consumers. These ads had become so popular that the tagline 'Bas 2-Minute' immediately

reminded Indian consumers of Maggi noodles even several years after the ads were taken off the TV.

o In March 2005, the Maggi brand too took to the health route with the launch of Vegetable Atta Noodles. NIL made use of the group's extensive research and development facilities in developing this new 'healthy' product. According to NIL, Vegetable Atta Noodles were healthier as they were made of whole wheat flour instead of maida (refined wheat) and also because they contained real vegetables. And consumers liked this version of Maggi as it was tasty and healthy.

2) MCDONALD’S: THE SUCCESS STORY

In India, McDonald’s is operating through its 155 restaurants across all major cities. After gauging the huge market potential of the ‘eating out’ segment in India, McDonald’s ventured into the Indian market in October 1996 with its first outlet in New Delhi’s Vasant Vihar. Later, the focus shifted to other metros, smaller towns and ultimately Malls, Multiplexes, Airports, Highways and Stations.

The reasons for its success are:

o McDonald’s India, right from its inception, has stick to its vision of being the best quick service restaurant based on the foundation of affordability and value.

o The products have been adapted to the Indian preferences of tastes with a clear focus on the Indian customers. This is why majority of consumers prefer to eat out at McDonald’s.

o Empathising with the sentiments of a large section of vegetarian population, McAloo burger, veg salad sandwich, McMasala and Mcimli sauces, garlic free sauces and eggless products gradually found their place in the menu. Moreover, a complete segregation of the veg and non-veg product lines is done right from the food processing plants, supply chain and the kitchen. Transforming the menu to suit the local palate has invariably become one of the major success mantras of McDonald’s in India.

o The brand also enjoys the highest recall value due to its placement as an enjoyable place for the children and comfort zone for the whole family. The most popular ad campaign ‘I’m loving it’ has left all other campaigns way behind in recall value.

o Undoubtedly, the customer is the focal point of McDonald’s huge success. Many new features introduced prove the point to the hilt- in select restaurants the service is extended up to 1 am and in some select markets, ‘Breakfast hour’ is introduced in the mornings. With all innovative approaches, McDonald’s definitely sets a benchmark for all retail brands wanting to make it big. The philosophy is simple, ‘customer is the king’.

UNSUCESSFUL PRODUCT BRANDS:

1) DOVE BODYWASH: RUFFLED FEATHERS

Dove Body Wash has been trying to lather up the personal wash market ever since its launch, but with

little noticeable success.

Dove Body Wash's performance isn't reflective of its parent, though. Hindustan Uniliver Limited

launched Dove soap in India more than 10 years ago and the brand is now worth Rs 33 crore (Rs 330

million).

The reasons for its failure are:

o The imported, "ultra-moisturising" body wash is a premium brand extension, available in one

variant and a standard, 250 ml pack. It was launched in end-2004 in the metros and other select

cities. A smaller pack size would have been a better idea. It would have encouraged consumers

to try the product and that could have helped in widening the market.

o Consumers feel that Dove is more expensive than the other two brands: Rs 120 for 250 ml,

compared to Lux (Rs 70) and Palmolive (Rs 90).

o The parent Dove beauty bar is used mainly on the face, and Indians as a rule place more

importance on skincare for the face, rather than the body. So the product could have been

launched as a face wash.

o Dove Body Wash has no print or TV campaigns, only point-of-purchases are displays and in-store

promoters who tom-tom the benefits of body wash over soap. In India, consumers need to be

educated on the use and benefits of body wash over soap. Due to this reason many consumers

are not even aware about the existence of the product.

2) AMUL PIZZA:

Indian company Amul, well known for its milk products, had introduced a pizza for 20 rupees, or one-

third that charged by competitors. The reasons that prompted Amul to enter a new territory, when the

field was flooded with new enterants many of them being multinationals, were the growing acceptance

of pizza by the Indian customer’s palate and also pizza had become popular in all major cities and towns.

The pizza parlours were not very big in size. An ordinary retail shop, which was strategically located,

could also get into an arrangement with Amul. The entire project was based on the franchisee model. It

was first started in Gujarat. Amul was hopeful that the right mix of product quality and affordable price

will lead to a demand explosion and could perhaps lure customers away from the established pizza

chains. Besides eating into their market shares, this was a strategic move towards forward integration

into the fast food segment.

But Amul pizza failed due to the following reasons:

1. The problem it had was of winning the trust of the consumer over the quality and freshness of the

Pizzas as they were frozen and were manufactured quite a few days back.

2. Packaging of the Pizzas was also questionable.

3. The taste of Pizzas was not at all appreciable

4. Amul’s Franchisee Model was very faulty.

5. The selection of the mix of tools i.e., advertising, sales promotion and publicity was inappropriate.

6. Amul was not fast enough to see the changing trends and accordingly introduce the product.

7. Amul’s strategy of creation of a mass market was entirely wrong.

8. Amul lost out because of its inability to communicate the Positioning in a proper manner.

9. Amul failed to do Product Differentiation properly.

10. Amul’s Pizzas were not up to the quality levels defined by its all the other products

11. Amul overlooked the threat from Pizza Professionals like Pizza Hut and Domino’s.

12. Amul followed a strategy of Forward Integration, which it shouldn’t have done.

13. Amul missed out on the fact that Cultural Factors and Reference Groups have a very major impact on

buying decisions.

14. Since the Customer Satisfaction is not there, the brand missed out on Consumer Loyalty.

15. The Value Proposition promised by Amul was not delivered.

ASSIGNMENT 2

Basis of comparison Traditional marketing e-marketing Mobile marketing

Product The product is the basic priority. Goods are available at stores, home delivery also made. Huge varieties of products are available.

The consumer is the basic priority. B2C is a huge success. B2B is developing. Not as many varieties of products as in the case of traditional marketing.

The consumer is the basic priority. Products offered are limited in range. Only a select group of customers are targeted sometimes.

Price The price can be negotiated as bargaining takes place in this type of marketing.

Price bargaining does not take place. Price displayed in advertisements is generally followed.

Price bargaining does not take place like that in traditional marketing.

Place The place is very important as it reaches the masses. Techniques change with changing demographic structure etc.

The place is not that important as the product is available online in the internet. Goods are paid for either before purchase or after the delivery.

Same like e-marketing only difference is that the variety of products is low.

Promotion Promotions are done through traditional techniques. Door to door marketing makes the costs higher. The message conveyed to customer is company controlled and motivated. It is the advertising that exposes the product to the world in a traditional marketing environment.

Promotions are less costly. People can browse through various products at a time through internet. Message conveyed is consumer focused and attuned to consumer interests.

Promotions are limited to sms, and calls. Coverage is lower compared to the other two. Message conveyed is consumer focused and attuned to consumer interests.

ASSIGNMENT 3

MARKET SEGMENTATION:

The purpose for segmenting a market is to allow your marketing/sales program to focus on the subset of prospects that are "most likely" to purchase your offering. If done properly this will help to insure the highest return for your marketing/sales expenditures. Depending on whether you are selling your offering to individual consumers or a business, there are definite differences in what you will consider when defining market segments.

MARKET SEGMENTATION CAN BE UNDERSTOOD WITH THE HELP OF SOME EXAMPLES:

1) GIFT CARDS: gift cards are used by number of people to express their feelings of love, joy, sadness etc.

Gift cards are purchased on various occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, mother’s day, friendship’s day etc. so the market segmentation is done accordingly. And the segmentation is done based on various factors such as demographics, geographics, socio-culturals and psychographic factors.

The majority of gift cards are purchased by the youth including both boys and girls. Greeting cards are majorly sold in urban areas and so they are basically targeted at urban population. Mostly People having high disposable income only purchase these because they are quite expensive and so the target customer belongs to middle income group or higher income group. Also only a knowledgeable and literate customer is targeted because the main area of attraction in a greeting card is the written matter so the customer purchasing it is usually a literate.

GIFT CARDS could also mean a replacement to a paper based mechanism that allows the buyer to send cash present through the post and for the recipients to select goods. Gift cards are usually issued by banks or some big branded shops these days to enable its customers to purchase the cards and gift them to the person they want and that particular person can purchaser whatever he wants using that gift cards.

Here market segmentation is done very carefully. Urban population mostly prefers purchasing these kinds of cards and also people having high disposable income. But these days’ gift cards are issued in various denominations so now anybody can purchase it.

2) FURNITURE:

Furniture market can be divided into various segments and the firm can maintain the product-mix depending upon the choices, needs and preferences of customers in various segments.

Furniture market can be segmented on the basis of prices, i.e. consumers can be targeted on the basis of their income levels.

Age of the customer can also be a factor based on which market can be segmented.

Furniture has a varied number of uses such as furniture is used in homes, schools, colleges, shops, hospitals, etc. so furniture here can be segmented by identifying the needs of the customer and designing the product mix accordingly.

3) FLOWERS:

Flowers are used for various occasions like marriage, ceremonies or occasions of celebrations. Some people use flowers daily for conducting puja’s. The target market for flowers could be both urban and rural areas.

Flowers are also used for the preparation of bouquets which are usually costly and are purchased by people having higher level of income.

Flowers for other purposes and various ceremonies are bought by almost all people from different level of incomes.

Thus segmentation of flowers can be done on the basis of the geographic areas and the needs of the people living there.

4) WRIST WATCH:

Wrist watch market can be segmented using different bases such as income, age, sex, lifestyle, geographic spread etc.Watches are generally preferred by both men and women and their preferences differ even in a particular segment. For instance watches targeted at rich people may have a product mix which includes gold watches, expensive sports watches and even watches embedded with real diamonds. Similarly the company needs to maintain proper product mix for middle class and lower sections of the society.

The best example of a company which best uses this strategy is titan.

For example it has sonata for rural segment, dash for kids, titan raga for city women, fast track watches for the youth, Timex for the lower income segment etc.

ASSIGNMENT-4

BRAND REPOSITIONING

Why repositioning:

Products do undergo repositioning as they go along their life cycle. Sometimes, right in the product’s early growth stage, its positioning is found to be faulty. It may then need an immediate course correction / repositioning. In some cases products that are faring well are also repositioned. This is done mainly to enlarge the reach of the product offer and to increase the sale of the product by appealing to a wider target market. The product is provided with some new uses and is repositioned for existing as well as new target segments.

We can learn more about repositioning by taking the example of lifebuoy.

When HUL introduced Lifebuoy in the Indian Market in 1895, (more than 113 years ago) it was positioned as the soap that would destroy germs and keep the body healthy.

The brand found the getting tough, especially in rural markets where most people accustomed to bathing without any soap. HUL then decided to project lifebuoy as a soap for hand wash. This approach seamed to pay off. By 1900, lifebuoy had established itself as a soap for hand wash.

At this stage, the brand’s properties were expanded and lifebuoy was repositioned as bath soap. Health remained the benefit proposition. ‘Lifebuoy hai jahan tandurusti hai wahan’ became a very popular jingle in rural India. It was also projected as a low price-high volume soap that lasted longer. For the next fifty years it was unchallenged growth for lifebuoy and the product remained the same without much change in the product attributes or positioning.

By the 1970’s competitors entered, challenging lifebuoy’s supremacy. The benefit propositions in soaps were also changing from healthcare to aspects such as freshness, beauty, deodorant-quality and organics. HUL now had many requirements to meet; it had to tap some of these emerging market needs, it had to play down the image of lifebuoy as a mere villager’s soap.

It was around 2002 that the product moved from being a hard soap to a mild soap that delivered a significantly superior bathing experience. The new soap had a refreshing fragrance and its overall positioning changed, painting its promise of health in softer, more versatile and responsible hues—for the entire family. The packaging was also changed: The rugged looking packs were soon replaced with a softer pinkish cover. This was followed by a series of ads highlighting the soap’s germ fighting benefits.

EARLIER TODAY

Lifebuoy had become a family soap with hygiene as its core promise. “For a soap that had been relegated to toilets, Lifebuoy has gathered new adherents in an age where more consumers are getting concerned about germs and cleanliness.”

Thus from the above example we can say that repositioning is a continuous process and it is undertaken both by successful and unsuccessful products. For unsuccessful brands it gives a second chance to position itself and for the brands which are already successful it helps them to maintain their position and expand.

Thus from the above example we see that:

o Lifebuoy was positioned as bath soap when it was first introduced. Its main target was rural population. But as people in rural areas did not use bath soaps it repositioned itself as soap for hand wash concentrating only on hygiene. It succeeded in this and got a huge market share in rural areas.

o As new soaps began entering into the market with added extra features like beauty, fragrance, freshness etc. it started facing competition from them. It had to rule out its image of just a villager’s soap and reposition itself to expand its market share and added the new features to its soap. Now it started targeting urban population.

ASSIGNMENT-5

DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN:

1) CONSUMER AND PROSUMER:

CONSUMER:

An individual who buys products or services for personal use and not for manufacture or resale is a consumer. A consumer is someone who can make the decision whether or not to purchase an item at the store, and someone who can be influenced by marketing and advertisements. Any time someone goes to a store and purchases a toy, shirt, beverage, or anything else, they are making that decision as a consumer.

PROSUMER:

A person who is very knowledgeable about a subject and likes to purchase high-quality equipment is a prosumer. Prosumer is a portmanteau formed by contracting either the word professional or producer with the word consumer.

A prosumer is a pro-active con-sumer; culturally and socially aware, building a composite identity of consumer brands and taking an active role in choosing a product or service.

S.NO CONSUMER PROSUMER

1 A consumer is a person who purchases product for final consumption. He is not very knowledgeable. He does not have full information about the product.

A prosumer is called proactive consumer and he is very knowledgeable and purchases products only after collecting full information about it.

2 A consumer gets influenced by marketing and advertising.

A prosumer cannot be influenced by advertisements as a consumer.

3 A consumer usually purchases all kinds of products.

A prosumer prefers purchasing only high quality equipment.

4 Producer produces goods and then influences consumer by making advertisements. Here consumer does not assist in production

A prosumer helps the producer in producing goods according to his prefers. Producer knows the market he has to target for specific goods.

2) MARKET RESEARCH AND MARKETING RESEARCH:

Research is broadly divided into two categories: Market Research, a formal analysis ofquantitative demand, access and recognition for classes of products or services; AndMarketing Research, a formal analysis of the qualitative demand, access and recognitionresulting from the activities of supply, distribution and promotion. Generally these terms are used as alternate terms but there is a minor difference in their concepts. Market research is the research which is conducted in a specific market like the research based on analyzing the prices of food items in Food-Market will be a market research. On the other hand, marketing research is the evaluation of the company's marketing process or doing any research which is linked with marketing. Secondly, market research is narrow while marketing research is broad.

SNO MARKET RESEARCH MARKETING RESEARCH

1 Market research is simply research into specific market.

Marketing research includes market research and as well as research into new products or modes of distribution such as via internet.

2 It is a very narrow concept It is much broader

3 Market research is very specific. Marketing research is about researching the whole of a company's marketing process.

4 Market research is when you are trying to figure out the demographic area where the product will do the best.

Marketing research can be about the product how to package, position, or sell it.

5 Market research provides you with an external perspective of your business and industry

Marketing research provides an internal or focused perspective.

3) MARKETING AND SALES MANAGEMENT:

SNO MARKETING MANAGEMENT SALES MANAGEMENT

1 Marketing is defined in the traditional dictionary as the act or process of buying and selling in a market. The commercial functions involved in transferring goods from producer to consumers.

Selling is one activity of entire marketing process. sales is defined as “Activities involved in selling goods or services"

2 Marketing includes advertisement, public Sales emphasizes on selling the goods or

relationship, research, strategy. service to the customers.

3 A good marketing can speed the selling of goods, reducing the revenue circle. The purpose of marketing is to make the products or service sell well. When a company advertises their products on TV, they are marketing their products.

The sales system focuses on selling the products or service out to the customer, which includes the sales team, sales skills, etc

4 Marketing focuses on channel building. Sales focuses on using these channels.

5 The effects of marketing can be measured by the revenue generated. However marketing does not involve in collection of cash.

Sales system however collects the money back.

4) CROSS SELLING AND UPSELLING:

SNO CROSS SELLING UP SELLING

1 Cross selling is when customer comes up to buy something and we sell completely a different product which is not similar.

Up selling is when customer comes to buy something and we sell the similar product but expensive one or some other add on with the product.

2 Cross selling is the strategy of pushing new products to current customers based on their past purchases. Cross-selling is designed to widen the customer's reliance on the company and decrease the likelihood of the customer switching to a competitor.

Up selling is a sales technique where a sales person wontedly sells costly products or other add-ons with the product in order to make the sales more profitable.

3 Cross selling refers to the selling of other products which are horizontally related.

Up selling refers to the selling of other products which are vertically related.

5) MARKET TESTING AND TEST MARKETING:

SNO MARKET TESTING TEST MARKETING

1 Exposure of goods or services to a small A type of controlled experiment conducted

sample of the entire market to test various marketing strategies. Some areas of the country are considered better barometers of demand than others, because the tastes of a particular area for certain products seem to resemble those of the whole country

in a carefully selected geographical area to understand the impact of a marketing program on the sales or profits of a product or service.

2 Market research is a risk control tool. When a new product is launched it is tried out in the market and firms go in for full scale manufacture and marketing of the new product only based on the results of some experimental marketing. It may so happen that the product may not be the right one and the firm may drop the new product depending on the results.

Test marketing is a kind of market test in which the new product with the support of chosen marketing mix, is actually launched and marketed in a few select ‘ test’ cities/town/territories. The selected test market would be the representative of the final market.

6) CUSTOMIZATION AND CUSTOMERISATION:

SNO CUSTOMIZATION CUSTOMERIZATION

1 Customization is defined as the process of making products according to the specifications or tailor-making.

Customerization is the customization of products or services through personal interaction between a company and the customer. A company is customerized when it is able to dialogue with individual customers and respond by customizing its products, services, and messages on a one-to-one basis.

2 Customization is the act of altering or making something the way customers want it.

Customerization is the act of marketing of an item directing at the customer.

ASSIGNMENT 6

Basis FMCG (Vaseline moisturizer)

High-Tech (Apple MacBook)

Consumer Durable (kinetic zing)

Critical environment Climate of the region, skin requirements of people, age, sex, income level, psychographic.

Good software, hardy, technology feature rich.

Age, sex, income level, gearless transmission, 65 cc engine, electric-start.

Customer and his profile

Middle class and upper middle class men, women and children. Majorly depends upon the skin requirements of a person.

Upper middle class and high class. Gadget freaks.

Targeted at 16-21 age group. Primary objective is to meet the transportation needs of the college going student.

Market segmentation Demographic- male, both young and old.Geographic- Urban metropolitan cities and rural areas depending upon the climate of the region.Psychographic-lifestyle of people.

Urban metropolitan youth.

Urban areas, popular in mini metros and cities with large student populations. Targeted at youth.

Marketing programme Orderly arrangements. Well designed bottles attract customers.

Highly attractive with high form and function.

Trendy looking, light and peppy in performance, priced at an easy to convince the parents price; fuel efficient, logo specially designed to have a youthful look.

Positioning strategies Cutting edge advertisement techniques showing the fruitful uses of the product.

Advertisements through websites and excellent customer service. Positioned as the world’s thinnest laptop so far.

Advertisements showing the scooteretee as youthful, fun and aspirational.