Oliviero Toscani is back

The ad features twenty-seven year old French woman Isabelle Caro, an anorexic who weighs just 68 lbs. Isbelle blames a “difficult childhood” for her bout with the deadly disorders: “I’ve hidden myself and covered myself for too long. Now I want to show myself fearlessly, even though I know my body arouses repugnance. I want to recover because I love life and the riches of the universe. I want to show young people how dangerous this illness is.”

According to Reuters:

“The picture was shot by the controversial Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani, who in 1992 photographed a man dying of AIDS for a campaign for clothing group Benetton. Toscani’s aim was ‘to use that naked body to show everyone the reality of this illness, caused in most cases by the stereotypes imposed by the world of fashion’, Flash&Partners said in a statement.

“‘Everyone says it’s ugly but I don’t think it is, it really brings the message home,’ said passer-by Giuseppina Ravelli after seeing the billboard in Milan. ‘The people who reach these kind of levels have such great problems it is good that they use their illness to teach others about it.’

“But the president of Italy’s Association for the Study of Anorexia, Fabiola De Clercq, said the woman used for the photo should be in hospital and the image was ‘too crude’. Far from helping women suffering from anorexia, the photo may make many of them feel envious of the model and determined to become even thinner than her, she said.”

Ambush marketing

it is a term often hissed in industry circles – occurs when one brand pays to become an official sponsor of an event (most often athletic) and another competing brand attempts to cleverly connect itself with the event, without paying the sponsorship fee and, more frustratingly, without breaking any laws. Ambush, or guerilla, marketing is as undeniably effective as it is damaging, attracting consumers at the expense of competitors, all the while undermining an event’s integrity and, most importantly, its ability to attract future sponsors.
e.g.2000 Sydney Olympics: Qantas Airlines’ slogan "The Spirit of Australia" sounds strikingly similar to the games’ slogan "Share the Spirit." Qantas claims it’s just a coincidence to the sound of official-sponsor Ansett Air helplessly banging its fists on the conference room table.

nike ad

Advertising plan

What is advertising?

Advertising is a way to get your message to your desired audience. But in order to do that, you must first have a plan. This plan has many facets, including your marketing goal, advertising strategies both creative and media, implementation, evaluation, and budget.

What is your marketing goal?

Your marketing goal is basically what you want. Do you want X amount of people to visit your city this year or season? Do you want to increase sales an X amount? Is there a problem you need solved? Once you determine what it is you’re looking for, you can then determine who you want to speak to and what you want to say to them. This, then becomes your advertising strategy.

How do you build an advertising strategy?

The first four questions you want to ask yourself are:
• Who are you trying to reach?
• What do you want to say to them?
• How, when and where are you going to reach them?
• Why have you chosen the steps you have selected?


The audience you want to reach is your target market. In order to determine your target market, you will need to do a little research. You will want to know what the consumer thinks about your product and your competition. It is extremely important to know who your audience is, so you can create the right message for the right person. There are several ways to discover your audience. It may be helpful to categorize your consumer in order to market to the correct group.
Some questions to ask yourself during the research process are:
• Location - where does your consumer live? Urban or rural environment? Out of State? In a specific city? Far away or close by?
• Age - Is your consumer between the ages of 25-54 or 34-54? Are they younger or older?
• Marital/Family Status - Are they married? Single? Do they have kids? How many? What ages?
• Income - Does your consumer make $30,000 per year or $100,000?
• Lifestage - At what stage of life are they? Are they newlyweds just beginning their life together, empty nesters (children are grown and gone), retired?
• Travel Patterns - How many times a year do they visit and during what season?
• Etc.

What do you want to say?

Now that you’ve narrowed your target audience, you can begin the process of deciding what it is you want the consumer to know or think about you. This is called the creative process or strategy. While there may be many ways to position your product or service, you should always try to appeal to the needs and wants of your target consumer, which again you will find from your research.
• What does the consumer need to know about you?
• It is important not to focus on too many things, because then your message gets too confusing. Pick a topic and focus on that.
Developing Your Creative Strategy

In its simplest form, your creative strategy needs three things:
• What benefit are you promising, what’s your selling proposition?
• Who are you making it to?
• Why should they believe you?
How do you reach your audience?

There are numerous options to choose from when you are deciding how to advertise. What are your tactics? What approach do you want to use? This will become your media strategy.
• Newspapers
• Direct Mail
• Brochures
• Coupons
• Handouts or Flyers
• Radio
• Magazines
• TV
• Outdoor, such as billboards and posters
• Special promotions or packages
• Internet Marketing
The medium you choose will depend on what your target audience will see and where they turn to for information, as well as your budget constraints.

What are your media choices?

Television
Television is a powerful medium because it communicates with both sight and sound. Network television, the most costly purchase, can reach up to 95 percent of the homes in the United States (same in France). Spot television, on the other hand, enables the advertiser to hand pick a specific audience in a specific area. By scheduling spots to air during certain times of the day or programs, you can reach your target market in a cost efficient means.
The major disadvantage of both spot and network television is cost. Because of high rates, many advertisers have reduced the length of their commercials from 30 seconds to 15 seconds. This practice, referred to as splitting :30s, reduces costs but severely restricts the amount of information that can be conveyed.
Another problem with television is the likelihood of wasted coverage -- having people outside your product's target market see the advertisement. Cable TV is another area to consider, since ad rates are often less expensive than the prime time on major networks. You may not be reaching as many people, but you likely have less waste since you can pinpoint audiences very precisely.

Radio
The major advantage of radio is that it is a segmented medium. There are all-talk stations, rock stations, jazz stations, news stations, etc. A media buy can be tailored to the profile of your audience. There is an immediacy to radio (visit this weekend, attend this event) and greater flexibility to your buy.
The disadvantage of radio is that it has limited use for products that must be seen by the audience. Another problem, not unlike TV, is the ease with which consumers can tune out a commercial by simply switching the station. Peak radio listening time is during the drive times (6 to 10 am and 4 to 7 pm).

Magazine
The marketing advantage of this medium is the great number of special-interest publications that appeal to defined segments. (For instance, if your target consists of avid runners, there is Runners World). In addition to the distinct audience profiles of magazines, good color production is an advantage that allows magazines to create strong advertising images.
While the cost of national magazines is a disadvantage, many publications publish regional and even metro editions, which reduce the cost and wasted coverage. In addition to cost, a limitation to magazines is their infrequency. Some magazines are only printed on a bi-monthly basis.

Newspaper
Newspapers are an important local medium with excellent reach potential. Because of the daily publication of most papers, you can place an ad that requires immediate action -- this weekend only, special event Saturday, call this 800 number now (toll-free number).
The disadvantage of newspapers is that they are rarely saved by the purchaser, so companies are generally limited to ads that call for an immediate customer response. Also, companies cannot depend on newspapers for good color reproduction.

Direct Mail
Direct mail allows the greatest degree of audience selectivity. By selecting names from your own database of interested people and past visitors or buy purchasing a qualified list from a direct mail company, you can reach an audience who is already interested in your offering. This is an excellent reason to start your own database if you don’t already have one. Later in this booklet, we’ll discuss the benefits, as well as how to develop and work with a database.
Another advantage of direct mail is that you can provide complete information on your destination or attraction, compared with that in a newspaper ad or a 30-second radio spot.
One disadvantage of direct mail is rising postal costs. Another limitation is that people view direct mail as "junk," and the challenge is to get them to open a letter.

Outdoor
The most cost-effective advertising vehicle is outdoor billboards. The visibility of this medium is good reinforcement for products, and it is a flexible alternative. An advertiser can buy space in the desired geographical market. It can be as specific as a certain expressway location, or proximity to a store, for instance.
The disadvantage to billboards is that there is not an opportunity for a lengthy message. The message has to stand out so it won’t be forgotten once the billboard is passed.

Transit
This medium includes messages on the interior and exterior of buses, subway cars and taxis. There is a great deal of selectivity with this medium, allowing you to buy space by neighborhood or bus route.
One disadvantage of this medium is that the heavy travel times, when the audiences are the largest, are not conducive to reading advertising copy. As with billboards, concise break-through messages are critical.

Internet
Advertising on the Internet is the fastest-growing media vehicle. This media vehicle has the advantage of active reader involvement and attention -- users have the capability of choosing different sites, and for that matter, viewing advertisements. Furthermore, the demographic profile of Internet users is desirable to advertisers -- 68 percent have household incomes of $50,000+ and 83 percent have a college education.
There are some disadvantages to using this medium. With technology constantly changing, it is difficult to completely control the user experience over time. Secondly, the return on investment is sometimes difficult to measure. Lastly, not everyone is online.

When are you going to reach your audience?

Timing is an important aspect when placing advertising. If you place an ad too soon, people may forget about your event. If you place an ad too late, people may already have plans or purchased another product.

How do you time the advertising?

There is no correct schedule to advertise a product, but two factors should be considered. The first is the purchase frequency -- the more frequently the product is purchased, the less repetition is required. Second, companies need to consider the forgetting rate, the speed at which buyers forget the brand if advertising is not seen nor heard. There are two basic approaches to setting advertising schedules:
1. Continuous schedule: Advertising of a product runs throughout the year, when demand and seasonal factors are unimportant.
2. Flight schedule: Advertising is distributed unevenly throughout the year because of seasonal demand, heavy periods of promotion, or introduction of a new product.


Who purchases the media, creates the ad, and produces the ad?

The responsibility for actually carrying out the advertising program can be handled in one of four ways:

TYPE OF AGENCY SERVICES PROVIDED
Full-service agency Does research, selects and purchases media, develops ad copy and produces artwork.
Limited-service agency Specializes in one aspect of creative process; usually provides creative production work or only buys media space.
In-house staff Provides range of services, depending on company needs.
Media sales representatives Often, a publication or broadcast station can assist you with production and scheduling. There may or may not be a charge. They can also provide you information on their reach and recommend the best schedule for your budget.

Evaluating Your Advertising

How successful is advertising? How do you know if your campaign worked? There are a few ways to go about evaluating your campaign:
• Do a random research sample asking people how they heard about you or your product.
• Note the percentage your sales, visitors, or calls increased from the previous year without advertising and then with advertising. You should see a difference.
Five Common Approaches

Your advertisements should be post-tested to determine whether they are achieving their intended objectives. There are five common approaches to post-testing:
1. Aided Recall - After being shown an ad, respondents are asked whether their previous exposure to it was through reading, viewing or listening.
2. Unaided Recall - A question such as, "What ads do you remember seeing yesterday?" is asked of respondents without any prompting to determine whether they saw or heard advertising messages.
3. Attitude Tests - Respondents are asked questions to measure changes in their attitudes before and after an advertising campaign.
4. Inquiry Tests - Ads generating the most inquiries are presumed to be the most effective.
5. Sales Tests - Charting increases in sales against when the advertising was running. Could also include total sales volume at the end of a season or year. This should also include analysis of how it compared to similar time periods in the prior year. You can also conduct a conversion study to determine the percentage of inquirers who visited.

What will this cost?

Your budget will determine when and where you can advertise. There are four basic ways to determine what your budget should be. And don’t forget, your budget doesn’t just include media costs, but production costs as well.

1. Task Objective Method - This is just a way of saying, how much you have to spend to reach your objective. For example, you want to reach 50 percent of your audience. How many people do you have to reach? How many times do you have to run an ad? How much does each ad cost?
2. Historical Method - This method uses a base budget and then increases the budget each year by a certain percentage. For example you have $10,000 to spend this year, then next year you increase it 5% to be $10,500.
3. Percent-of-Sales Method - For this, you can take a percentage of your sales as your advertising budget. The tricky thing is that you have to forecast your sales. Here is the formula to help you along:
Step 1: Past Advertising Dollars = % of Sales
Past Sales
Step 2: % of Sales X Next Year’s Sales Forecast = New Advertising Budget
(Average advertising budget will run about 20% of your sales.)
4. Combination Method - You are never stuck with one method. Many companies chose multiple methods and pick a plan that is right for them. You need to evaluate your situation. How much can you afford and what will it take to reach your objectives?

Tips To Get You Started

Now that you’ve decided your goals, objectives, target audience, strategy, message, and tactics, you can finally put your plan into action. The media section that follows will have more detailed advice, but here are some things you’ll want to consider:
• You can call newspapers and magazines directly. Many media reps will be happy to place your ad. Many times, they can assist you with the development of your ad.
• Look into an outside media buying company. There are numerous free-lance media companies that will place your ad for you for a fee. Their expertise would take the guesswork out of you media plan.
• Check with a local printing house to print flyers and brochures.
• Choose an advertising agency. Small agencies will often put your plan together for you, design your ad, and implement it. Since this requires an additional investment in their time, it will depend on your advertising budget and specific needs.
• To install an Internet home page, visit your local university or high school. Many computer classes teach kids how to build a home page and they are more than happy to produce one for a local business. This service could be free to you.

shocking advertising

Shockvertising:
Ads that divide


For those without deep corporate pockets, shock tactics are more appealing. Pressure groups, charities and even governments have employed graphic imagery and slogans to highlight everything from animal cruelty to the dangers of drink driving. Canadian smokers are soon to be bombarded with pictures of diseased organs on the health warnings plastered across their cigarette packets. In Britain, an advert for the children's charity Barnardo's (showing a baby preparing to inject itself with heroin) has been blocked by the Committee of Advertising Practice. It was due to appear in newspapers over the weekend. However, when it comes to posters and magazine adverts, the public tends to stomach shocking and even gory imagery if it's for a good cause.
People are less likely to complain about ads depending on who issues them. "They're more forgiving of charities - but this does not give these organizations carte blanche." Shocking advertisings risk alienating people they want to reach. The debate over the merits of these ads also tends to obscure the issues they were intended to highlight.


Benetton is the master of "shockvertising": Despite the passage of almost 10 years, the image of a bloody newborn baby plastered across billboards still sickens many. "People don't find a picture of a newborn baby offensive - what they find offensive is having it blown up to a 36-sheet poster," says Mr. Ballinger. The 1991 poster attracted some 800 complaints. "People objected to the crassness of using something shocking to sell a product - people don't like that being used to sell a jumper. Having tackled such topics as war, Aids, racism and religion, Benetton's creative director Oliviero Toscani has set his sights on capital punishment. Toscani, a friend of pop artist Andy Warhol, has often used his free hand in corporate advertising - and control of Benetton's Colors magazine - to reflect on the human life. For his latest project, using the pictures and stories of convicted murderers, he recycles the old gladiator salute - "We, On Death Row".
Asked what the debate surrounding the American predilection to execute its murderers has to do with the sales in Benetton's 8,000 stores worldwide, Toscani is likely to offer the same answer as when quizzed on the relevance of Mafia killings, the Kosovo conflict or racial strife. "Nothing at all. Selling jumpers is the company's problem, not mine." Dominic Mills, editorial director of Campaign Magazine, says Toscani's 16 years at Benetton reflect the company's almost unique self-image. "It views itself as more than a company that makes clothes, with an obligation to do more than sell stuff - it has an obligation to raise awareness." "They turn what is a small advertising budget into a big campaign which is written and talked about.

Talking loud, paying (almost) nothing
Benetton is now one of the world's great brands - thanks also to its sponsoring of a Grand Prix team - but "shockvertising" has not entirely satisfied its commercial needs. Franchise holders in Germany and France have gone to the courts, complaining the ads had sent sales into freefall. Its "ethical" mission has also faltered. A poster showing three hearts - labeled white, black and yellow - was blamed in Italy for reinforcing fears over organ transplants. Benetton's attempts to spark open debate - however sincere - have also had the effect of tightening advertising restrictions.
"Perhaps Benetton has wised up a bit and worked out that their message will be best received by a certain audience, and not everybody walking down the street."

communication techniques

segmentation and targeting

product placement

PRODUCT-PLACEMENT

In the generically minded film world of a generation ago, an on-screen soda bottle was simply labeled "root beer" and a tennis shoe was -- well, any old shoe. Nowadays, the movie and TV industries are molding products, logos, and slogans into the very building blocks of popular culture -- often without audiences realizing it. Enterprise Online now presents an informal product-placement Hall of Fame. Several transcendent instances in which movies or TV shows changed the fate of real-life products, services, or brands:
Hey, this is for real! Reese's Pieces, ET (1982): The decision to feature Reese's Pieces in ET catapulted the product-placement craft into the Hollywood mainstream. Reese's Pieces leapt onto kids' mental menus and sales shot up 65%; Mars, the maker of M&Ms, had passed on the opportunity.
Pitch your weakness, not your strength: Budget Rent-a-Truck, Home Alone (1990). Budget was a major player in car rentals, but its truck-rental business was being obscured by household names like U-Haul and Ryder. Budget struck gold when it put polkameister John Candy and his merry band -- along with Jan Hooks, playing Macaulay Culkin's mom -- in a Budget moving van making the long haul back to Chicago.
Selling high: Red Stripe beer, The Firm (1993). Placement can enhance brand value at strategic times. When Tom Cruise visits Gene Hackman in the Cayman Islands, Hackman suggests that he "grab a Red Stripe," so Cruise opens the fridge for a bottle of the Jamaican-brewed beer. Within a month of the film's release, Red Stripe sales in the U.S. had increased by more than 50%, and just a few weeks later, company owners sold a majority stake in their brewery for $62 million to Guinness Brewing Worldwide.
If you can, get it in writing: Reebok, Jerry Maguire (1996) Reebok sued Sony TriStar Pictures for $10 million, claiming it violated a placement agreement. Reebok got a settlement, but only after suffering another indignity: The company was only mentioned once, when it was bad-mouthed by the pro-footballer played by Cuba Gooding, Jr.
Ray-Ban sunglasses: Risky Business (1983), Men in Black (1997). Because they adorn the on-screen faces of the stars, sunglasses have come to occupy a prime role in product placement. The Swiss Army brand placed its logo in the asteroid thriller Armageddon.
Too much is enough, 007: Visa card, Avis car rentals, BMW cars and motorcycles, Smirnoff vodka, Heineken beer, Omega watches, Ericsson cell phones, L'Oreal makeup, Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Purists could stomach the discrete promotion of James Bond's hot cars over the years, from Aston Martins to the new Z-3 Golden Eye (1995), which helped BMW turn the roadster's launch into one of the most successful new-car introductions ever. But critics flailed at Tomorrow because it seemed to be one long-running commercial.
By Dale Buss in Rochester Hills, Mich.

guerrilla marketing

Definition: An unconventional way of performing marketing activities on a very low budget



Guerrilla marketing is quite different from traditional marketing efforts. Guerrilla marketing means going after the conventional goals of profits, sales and growth but doing it by using unconventional means, such as expanding offerings during gloomy economic days to inspire customers to increase the size of each purchase.



Instead of asking that you invest money, guerrilla marketing suggests you invest time, energy, imagination and knowledge instead. It puts profits, not sales, as the main yardstick. It urges that you grow geometrically by enlarging the size of each transaction, having more transactions per year with each customer, and tapping the enormous referral power of current customers. And, it does it through one of the most powerful marketing weapons around--the telephone.
The telephone is a remarkably effective follow-up weapon. Don't use the phone to follow up all your mailings to customers, but research has proved that it will always boost your sales and profits. Sure, telephone follow-up is a tough task. But it works. Anyhow, no one ever said that guerrilla marketing is a piece of cake.



E-mail ranks up there with the telephone, possibly even out outranking it. It's inexpensive. It's fast. It lets you prove that you really care. It helps strengthen your relationship.
Lean upon your website as well. Instead of telling your whole story with other marketing, use that other marketing to direct people to your site. Then, use the site to give a lot of information and advance the sale to consummation. A key to online success is creating a brief and enticing e-mail that directs readers to a website that give enough information for a person to make an intelligent purchase decision.



Guerrilla marketing preaches fervent follow-up, cooperation instead of competition, "you" marketing rather than "me" marketing, dialogues instead of monologues, counting relationships instead of counting sales, and aiming at individuals instead of groups.



All guerrillas realize that the process of marketing is very much akin to the process of agriculture. Their marketing plans are the seeds they plant. Their marketing activities are the nourishment they give to each plant. Their profits are the harvest they reap. They know those profits don't come in a short time. But come they do if you start with a plan and commit to it.
Guerrillas know they must seek profits from their current customers. They worship at the shrine of customer follow-up. They are world-class experts at getting their customers to expand the size of their purchases. Because the cost of selling to a brand-new customer is six times higher than selling to an existing customer, guerrilla marketers turn their gaze from strangers to friends. This reduces the cost of marketing while reinforcing the customer relationship.
When your customers are confronted with their daily blizzard of junk mail and unwanted e-mail, your mailing piece won't be scrapped with the others and your e-mail won't be instantly deleted. After all, these folks know you, identify with you, trust you. So they'll be delighted to purchase--or at least check out--that new product or service you're offering. They'll always be inclined to buy from a company they've patronized.



Guerrillas are able to think of additional products and services that can establish new sources of profits to them. They're constantly on the alert for strategic alliances--fusing marketing efforts with others in order to market aggressively while reducing marketing investment.
The internet and your bookstore are teeming with a treasure trove of marketing tactics that can help you discover smart guerrilla marketing tactics. But learning about them is only half the battle. If you don't begin putting them into practice, you won't see the results these type of marketing efforts can have on your bottom line.

the marketing plan

the marketing plan
The information for this marketing plan was derived from many sources, including Michael Porter's book Competitive Advantage and the works of Philip Kotler. Concepts addressed include strategies for pricing, distribution, promotion, advertising and market segmentation. Factors such as market penetration, market share, profit margins, budgets, financial analysis, capital investment, government actions, demographic changes, emerging technology and cultural trends are also addressed.
A marketing plan is designed to direct company activities towards the satisfaction of customer needs; determine what the customer wants, develop a product/service to meet those needs, get the product/service to the end user and communicate with the customer - at a profit!

Introduction

There are two major components to your marketing strategy:
How your company will face the competitive marketplace
How you will implement and support your day-to-day operations.

In today's very competitive marketplace a strategy that insures a consistent approach to offering your product or service in a way that will outsell the competition is critical. It is of little value to have a strategy if you lack either the resources or the expertise to implement it.
In the process of creating a marketing strategy you must consider many factors. Of those many factors, some are more important than others. You begin the creation of your strategy by deciding what the overall objective of your enterprise should be. In general this falls into one of four categories:

If the market is very attractive and your enterprise is one of the strongest in the industry you will want to invest your best resources in support of your offering.
If the market is not especially attractive, but your enterprise is one of the strongest in the industry then an effective marketing and sales effort for your offering will be good for generating profits.
If the market is very attractive but your enterprise is one of the weaker ones in the industry you must concentrate on strengthening the enterprise.
If the market is not especially attractive and your enterprise is one of the weaker ones in the industry, you should determine the most cost effective way to divest your enterprise of this offering.
Having selected the direction most beneficial for the overall interests of the enterprise, the next step is to choose a strategy for the offering that will be most effective in the market. This means choosing one of the following strategies

a. A COST LEADERSHIP STRATEGY is based on the concept that you can produce and market a good quality product or service at a lower cost than your competitors.
b. A DIFFERENTIATION STRATEGY is one of creating a product or service that is perceived as being unique throughout the industry. The emphasis can be on brand image, technology, special features, superior service, a strong distributor network or other aspects that might be specific to your industry. In addition, some of the conditions that should exist to support a differentiation strategy include strong marketing abilities, effective product engineering, creative personnel, the ability to perform basic research and a good reputation.

A FOCUS STRATEGY: is based on the concept of serving a particular target in such an exceptional manner that others cannot compete. Usually this means addressing a substantially smaller market segment than others in the industry, but because of minimal competition, profit margins can be very high.

The Environment
Environmental factors positively or negatively impact the industry and the market growth potential of your product/service. Factors to consider include:

Government actions (current or under consideration) can support or detract from your strategy. Consider subsidies, safety, efficacy and operational regulations, licensing requirements, materials access restrictions and price controls (Boeing vs. Airbus)
Demographic changes - Anticipated demographic changes might support or negatively impact the growth potential of your industry and market. This includes factors such as education, age, income and geographic location.
Emerging technology: Technological changes that are occurring may or may not favor the actions of your enterprise (Minitel, MP3)
Cultural trends: Cultural changes such as fashion trends and lifestyle trends may or may not support your offering's penetration of the market.

The Competition
It is essential to know who the competition is and to understand their strengths and weaknesses. Each of your competitor's experience, power, market position, strength, and predictability must be evaluated.

Market Demands
Who is the competition?
What are their products/services?
What percentage of the total market does each competitor enjoy?
What are the company’s long terms plans?

Your Enterprise
An honest evaluation of the strengths of your enterprise is a critical factor in the development of your strategy. Factors to consider include:
Enterprise capacity to be leader in low-cost production considering cost control infrastructure, cost of materials, economies of scale (the Chinese price), management skills, availability of personnel and compatibility of manufacturing resources with offering requirements.
The enterprise's ability to construct entry barriers to competition such as gaining substantial benefit from economies of scale, exclusive access to distribution channels and the ability to clearly differentiate your offering from the competition.
The enterprise's ability to sustain its market position is determined by the potential for competitive imitation, resistance to inflation, ability to maintain high prices, etc.
The competence of the management team
The adequacy of the enterprise's infrastructure in terms of organization, employee benefit programs, customer support facilities and logistical capabilities.
The freedom of the enterprise to make critical business decisions without influence from distributors, suppliers, unions, creditors, investors and other outside influences.
Important questions


WHO
is the company, principals, employees, and community?

WHAT

is the product/service, what is the company's goal?

WHERE

is the plant to be established

HOW
Does the company intend to meet its objectives, production levels, and sales volumes?

WHY
was the product/service developed, what are its attributes or qualities, and how is it superior to existing products?
Target
What is the company's initial proposed market?
Local
National
Regional
International, global
Define the proposed target market.
Describe the targeted user groups by age, gender, lifestyle, values (major customer groups).
Define the company's sales level objectives and what percentage of total market share they represent.
Describe how planned production capability compares to proposed market demand.
Outline any outside influencing factors which may affect the marketability of the product, and how they can be overcome:
Packaging/labeling regulations
Buyer preferences (health food vs. junk food)
Technology changes to production
Describe when the product/service is usually purchased; on impulse or as a regular grocery shopping item. Does the proposed marketing strategy address these trends?
Who usually does the purchasing of the product/service? Who makes the purchasing decision? Is the marketing strategy properly directed to this group?
Describe the varieties of the product available:
By flavor
By size of package
Other
Where is the product normally purchased?
Supermarkets
Grocery stores
Convenience stores
Vending machines
Schools
Other
Are the marketing efforts properly targeted to these locations?

The Product (Service)

Factors to consider include:
The benefits the customer will derive from the use of the offering.
The extent to which the offering is differentiated from the competition.
The extent to which common introduction problems can be avoided such as unavailability of materials, poor quality control, regulatory problems and the inability to explain the benefits of the offering to the customer.
The potential for product obsolescence as affected by the enterprise's commitment to product development, the ongoing potential for product improvements, the ability of the enterprise to react to technological change and the likelihood of substitute solutions to the customer's needs.

Pricing

A pricing strategy is mostly influenced by your requirement for net income and your objectives for long-term market control. There are 3 basic strategies you can consider.
A SKIMMING PRICING STRATEGY: If your offering has enough differentiation to justify a high price and you desire quick cash, then you set your prices very high.
A MARKET PENETRATION STRATEGY: If near term income is not so critical and rapid market penetration for eventual market control is desired, then you set your prices very low.
A COMPARABLE PRICING STRATEGY (on-going rate): In this case you can price your offering comparably to those of your competitors.
What is the consumer acceptance price range for this type of product/service?
Is there sufficient margin between the manufacturer's cost and the consumer acceptance price level to provide for markups at the wholesale, distributor and retail level?
Are coupons or discounts being considered to promote consumers to try other flavors, etc.?

Promotion
To sell an offering you must effectively promote and advertise it. There are two basic promotion strategies, PUSH and PULL.
The PUSH STRATEGY maximizes the use of all available channels of distribution to "push" the offering into the marketplace. This usually requires generous discounts to achieve the objective of giving the channels incentive to promote the offering, thus minimizing your need for advertising.
The PULL STRATEGY requires direct interface with the end user of the offering. Use of channels of distribution is minimized during the first stages of promotion and a major commitment to advertising is required. There are many strategies for advertising an offering. Some of these include:
Product Comparison advertising (Tele 2)
Product Benefits advertising: This is especially beneficial when you have introduced a new approach to solving a user need and comparison to the old approaches is inappropriate (Henkel: new detergent)
Corporate advertising: When you have a variety of offerings and your audience is fairly broad, it is often beneficial to promote your enterprise identity rather than a specific offering (ACCOR)
Describe the company's "communications package"
Advertising
Selling
Sales promotion
Publicity
How much is budgeted in Year 1 in each category?
Advertising
What percentage of each media is to be used in your overall advertising package?
Television
Radio
Newspapers
Magazines
Billboards
Co-operative advertising with wholesalers/retailers
Other
Sales Promotion
What sales promotion activities are planned?
Point of purchase displays
Samples
Coupons
What costs are associated with each?
Publicity
How does the company plan to support the introduction of the product using publicity?
Endorsements
Testimonials
Consistent visual theme

Distribution
You must also select the distribution method(s) you will use to get the offering into the hands of the customer. These include:
1. Direct Sales involves the sale of your offering using a direct, in-house sales organization that does all selling through the Internet, telephone or mail order contact.
2. Wholesale Sales involves the sale of your offering using intermediaries or "middle-men" to distribute your product or service to the retailers.
3. Self-service Retail Sales involves the sale of your offering using self-service retail methods of distribution (Auchan)
4. Full-service Retail Sales involves the sale of your offering through a full service retail distribution channel (Renault)
Distribution Channels
How does the company plan to get the product/service to the end user?
What channel of distribution is to be used?
Direct - manufacturer to consumer
One stage - manufacturer to retailer to consumer
Traditional - manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer
Multi-stage - manufacturer to broker to wholesaler to retailer to consumer
Who/what Company will carry out the distribution?
Are commissioned salespersons to be used?
What are the costs associated with the proposed distribution channels? What are delivery terms?
How are products to be packaged for shipping, end-user display? What physical handling is required?
Does the packaging meet regulatory agency requirements (labeling, etc.)? Is packaging eye appealing, complementary to product?
Is there a method for feedback on customer satisfaction, quality control?
What minimum shipping orders are required? (Cost efficient)
What minimum inventory levels must be maintained to ensure no loss of sales due to late deliveries, back orders, split shipments?
What system is to be used for processing orders, shipping, and billing?
Of course, making a decision about pricing, promotion and distribution is heavily influenced by some key factors in the industry and marketplace. These factors should be analyzed initially to create the strategy and then regularly monitored for changes. If any of them change substantially the strategy should be reevaluated.

Marketing/Sales

The marketing and sales organization is analyzed for its strengths and current activities. Factors to consider include:
Experience of Marketing/Sales manager including contacts in the industry (clients, distribution channels, media), familiarity with advertising and promotion, personal selling capabilities, general management skills and a history of profit and loss responsibilities.
The ability to generate good publicity as measured by past successes, contacts in the press, quality of promotional literature and market education capabilities.
Sales promotion techniques such as special pricing and contests.
The effectiveness of your distribution channels as measured by history of relation, financial stability, reputation and access to clients.
Advertising capabilities including media relationships, advertising budget, past experience, how easily the offering can be advertised and commitment to advertising.
Sales capabilities including availability of personnel, quality of personnel, location of outlets, relationship with distributors, ability to demonstrate the benefits of the offering and necessary sales support capabilities.
The appropriateness of the pricing of your offering as it relates to competition.
Selling
What type of sales persons are to be used?
Will a sales training program be offered?
How will sales effectiveness be measured?
What incentives will be offered to salespersons for new accounts, achievements?
Customer Services
The strength of the customer service function has a strong influence on long-term market success. Factors to consider include:
Experience of the Customer Service manager in the areas of similar offerings and customers, quality control, technical support, product documentation, sales and marketing.
The availability of technical support to service your offering after it is purchased.
One or more factors that causes your customer support to stand out as unique in the eyes of the customer.
Accessibility of service outlets for the customer.
The reputation of the enterprise for customer service.
Production
You should review your enterprise's production organization with respect to their ability to cost effectively produce products/services. The following factors are considered:
Total costs
Technology and production experience
The ability of the enterprise to limit suppliers bargaining power.
The ability of the enterprise to control the quality of raw materials and production.
Adequate access to raw materials.

street marketing

Hostesses distributing samples on Brazilian beaches, a traveling Fructis-colored bus: that’s street marketing. Garnier’s new communications campaign goes directly to the streets to meet young people.

Street Marketing:

An Original Way to Communicate
In an effort to reach the strategic, hard-to-please youth market, Garnier’s Fructis brand launched the first European street marketing campaigns in 1998. Street marketing is a way of communing with youth culture. To do this, we have to understand their lifestyle, take into account their particular ambitions and buying patterns and identify their interests (music, sports, fashion, media and new technology). Whereas mass media often sends young people a one-sided message, this new kind of marketing establishes a real dialogue. Communications campaigns like these are completely new and original and they establish direct contact with 18 to 35-year old customers where they work, live, play or buy. The goal is to allow consumers to discover new products outside of stores, in a fun atmosphere.

Fructis Campaigns

The first buses decorated with Fructis shampoo colors appeared in 1998. Designed to be traveling hair salons, they visited the major cities of France, Belgium and the UK in order to develop a personal relationship between the brand and its young consumers. Sample distribution, hair styling advice and makeovers in very unusual surroundings were among the events held as part of this campaign. Street marketing was used again in 2001 to launch Fructis Style styling products. Along with the Fructis bus that traveled around France, this campaign also included a hairstyle booth at Berlin You Messe (Love Parade), partnerships with UK nightclubs, posters coupled with roller-blade sample distribution in the streets of Rio de Janeiro, on Copacabana beaches, on ski slopes at the Canadian snowboard championships...and more. These methods are totally in keeping with Garnier’s amusing, informative and fun market positioning.

Rethinking and Adaptation for Asia

In Asia, where Garnier is growing, street marketing took on more of a teaching mission. To launch Natéa/Nutrisse, the company had to demonstrate how simple it is to color your hair. In China, hair coloring is not as widespread as in the U.S. or in Europe. Beginning in 2002, Garnier set up itinerant and permanent Educational Centers in important shopping centers. Beauty Advisors trained by Garnier introduce the brand to visitors and use such teaching tools as video, explanatory posters, brochures and on-site hair coloring demonstrations to explain home coloring techniques.
In Thailand, for the very first time, street marketing was used to promote skin care products. Here, campaigns take place in the streets and on university campuses. Fun activities, visual aids, hostesses, talk shows on beauty and skincare featuring local personalities and a bus full of hair dressers and skin care professionals who offer personalized advice introduce consumers to the world of Garnier.

Street marketing establishes contact with consumers in their own surroundings, in places where they feel more relaxed and receptive. As well, they are more likely to appreciate a product when it is presented in a fun way. Campaigns like these can be held in a wide variety of environments and they can easily reach many different kinds of consumers. The high visibility of street marketing also makes each product launch a real media event.

product life-cycle

The Product Life Cycle (PLC)

It is based upon the biological life cycle. In theory it's the same for a product. After a period of development it is introduced or launched into the market; it gains more and more customers as it grows; eventually the market stabilizes and the product becomes mature; then after a period of time the product is overtaken by development and the introduction of superior competitors, it goes into decline and is eventually withdrawn. However, most products fail in the introduction phase. Others have very cyclical maturity phases where declines see the product promoted to regain customers.

Strategies for the differing stages of the Product Life Cycle

Introduction
The need for immediate profit is not a pressure. The product is promoted to create awareness. If the product has no or few competitors, a skimming price strategy is employed. Limited numbers of product are available in few channels of distribution.

Growth
Competitors are attracted into the market with very similar offerings. Products become more profitable and companies form alliances, joint ventures and take each other over. Advertising spend is high and focuses upon building brand. Market share tends to stabilize.

Maturity
Sales grow and then stabilize. Producers attempt to differentiate products. Price wars and intense competition occur. At this point the market reaches saturation. Producers begin to leave the market due to poor margins. Promotions become more widespread and use a greater variety of media.

Decline
At this point there is a downturn in the market. For example more innovative products are introduced or consumer tastes have changed. There is intense price-cutting and many more products are withdrawn from the market. Profits can be improved by reducing marketing spending and cost cutting.

Problems with Product Life Cycle In reality very few products follow such a prescriptive cycle. The length of each stage varies enormously.

introduction: the promotion mix

Introduction to marketing
Integrated marketing communications

Marketing has a marketing mix that is made of price, place, promotion, product (know as the four P's). Marketing communications is 'promotion' from the marketing mix.
'Integrated' means combine, or put simply the pieces to make a complete picture. This is so that a single message is conveyed by all marketing communications. Different messages confuse your customers and damage brands. So if a TV advert carries a particular logo, images and a message, then all newspaper adverts and point-of-sale materials should carry the same logo, images or message, or ones that fit the same theme. Coca-Cola uses the familiar red and white logos and retains themes of togetherness and enjoyment throughout its marketing communications.

Promotion
This includes all of the tools available to the marketer for 'marketing communication'. As with the marketing mix, marketing communications has its own 'promotions mix.' Think of it like a cake mix, the basic ingredients are always the same. However if you vary the amounts of one of the ingredients, the final outcome is different. It is the same with promotions. You can 'integrate' different aspects of the promotions mix to deliver a unique campaign.

The elements of the promotions mix are integrated to form a coherent campaign. The message from the marketer follows the 'communications process' as illustrated above. For example, a radio advert is made for a car manufacturer. The car manufacturer (sender) pays for a specific advert with contains a message specific to a target audience (encoding). It is transmitted during a set of commercials from a radio station (Message / media). The message is decoded by a car radio (decoding) and the target consumer interprets the message (receiver). He or she might visit a dealership or seek further information from a website (Response). The consumer might buy a car or express an interest or dislike (feedback). This information will inform future elements of an integrated promotional campaign. Perhaps a direct mail campaign would push the consumer to the point of purchase. Noise represents the thousand of marketing communications that a consumer is exposed to everyday, all competing for attention.

The Promotions Mix

1. Personal Selling
Personal Selling is an effective way to manage personal customer relationships. The sales person acts on behalf of the organization. They tend to be well trained in the approaches and techniques of personal selling. However sales people are very expensive and should only be used where there is a genuine return on investment. For example salesmen are often used to sell cars or home improvements where the margin is high.

2. Sales Promotion
For example the BOGOF promotion, or Buy One Get One Free. Others include coupons, money-off promotions, competitions, free accessories (such as free blades with a new razor), free installation, and so on. Each sales promotion should be carefully compared with the next best alternative.

3. Public Relations (PR)
Public Relations are defined as 'the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its publics'. It is relatively cheap, but certainly not cheap. Successful strategies tend to be long-term and plan for all eventualities.

4. Direct Mail
Direct mail is very highly focused upon targeting consumers based upon a database. Creative agencies work with marketers to design a highly focused communication in the form of a mailing. The mail is sent out to the potential consumers and responses are carefully monitored. For example, if you are marketing medical textbooks, you would use a database of doctors' surgeries as the basis of your mail shot.

5. Trade Fairs and Exhibitions
Such approaches are very good for making new contacts and renewing old ones. Companies will seldom sell much at such events. The purpose is to increase awareness and to encourage trial. They offer the opportunity for companies to meet with both the trade and the consumer.

6. Advertising
Advertising is a 'paid for' communication. It is used to develop attitudes, create awareness, and transmit information in order to gain a response from the target market. There are many advertising 'media' such as newspapers (local, national, free, trade), magazines and journals, television (local, national, terrestrial, satellite) cinema, outdoor advertising (such as posters, bus sides).

7. Sponsorship
Sponsorship is where an organization pays to be associated with a particular event, cause or image. Companies will sponsor sports events such as the Olympics or Formula One. The attributes of the event are then associated with the sponsoring organization.