Core Concepts of Marketing by John Burnett - HTML preview

CHAPTER 6

MARKETING IN GLOBAL MARKETS

"This is going to be a big Unilever brand," said Senior Brand Development Manager Susannah Day at its U.K. launch, backed by a $7 .8 million marketing campaign that also includes an

site, a free phone "careline," retailer training, point of purchase displays, and direct mail-ings to the medic al profession. O&M, a Unilever roster agency, was appointed in 1995 to create ads that would work internationally.

First evidence th at all this was not mere launch puffery came at Unilever's results meeting,

when Co-Chairman Niall FitzGerald revealed

sales and awareness statis tics and details of

the product's march just into Italy and -reland and then into the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and

Germany.

In the

few weeks of the U.K. launch, Persona was the biggest selling item by value in the

1,247 stores nationwide of Boots-the retailer through which the brand was exclusively launched-

and it achieved 55 % consumer awareness within a month. In prelaunch research among hundreds of

women in the U. K. and Germany, 30% said they

likely to buy the product.

expect Persona to

a mainstream form of contraception in most markets in Europe and

the U.S.," notes Ms. Day. Plans are to take the brand into 20 countries by 2000, including Australia and ultimately, it is expected to go on sale worldwide.

occurred in July of 2000.

Persona works by measuring a woman's hormone levels via home urine lests and revealing

the days in a month when she is

at risk of becoming pregnant. An electronic monitor records

the

in a woman's cycle. On the mornings when a test is required, a yellow light flashes, asking

for a stick

a urine sample to be inserted into the monitor. After the hormone level is meas -

ured, either

red light denoting high risk or a green light denoting low appears. Reliability is claimed

to be 95%-the same as condoms.

Source: Suzanne Bedlake, "Birth of a Global Brand," Ad Age lnternational, March 1997, p. 126; Rainer Hengst,

"Plotting

Global Strategy." Direct Marketing , August 2000, pp. 52-55; Eileen P. Moran , "Include Overseas Markets the Right Way." Marketing News. April 24, 2000, pp.

1. What will be some of the problems Persona faces as it enters markets outside of Europe?

2. The initial monitoring machine costs $78, plus $16 a month for the sticks. Will these costs present problems?

REFERENCES

I.

Isobel Doole, Robin Lowe, and Chris Philips, International Marketing

7.

Barker and Kaynak, op. cit.

Strategy, Intemational Thompson Business Press: London , 1999, pp.

Eileen Cassidy Imbach, "U.S. Commercial Centers: The Future of

14-15.

Doing Business Abroad," Business America, November, 1994,

Theodore Levitt. "The Globalization of

Harvard Business

pp.25-26.

Review. May-June 1983, pp. 92- ]02.

9.

Michael Selz, "More Small Firms Are Turning to Trade Intermedi-

Philip Kotler, "Global Standardization-Courting Danger," Journal

aries," The Wall Street Joumal , February 2, 1995, p. B2.

of Consumer Marketing , Vol. 3, No.2, Spring, ]986, pp. 13- 20.

10. Julia Flunn and

A. Melcher, "Heineken's Battle to Stay Top

S. Barker and E. Kaynak, "An Empirical Investigation of the Dif-

Bottle," 8usiness Week , August 1, 1998, pp. 60-62.

ferences Between Initiating and Continuing Exporters ," European

1]. Warren J. Keegan ,

Conceptual Framework for Multinational Mar-

Journal of Marketers , Vol. 26, No.3 , J992.

keting," Columbia JounUlI ofWorld Business, Vol. 7, November 1973,

5.

Ibid.

p.67.

6.

Anne Chen and Malt Hicks, "Going

Avoid Culture

12. TT Nagle, The Strategies and Ta ctics ofPricing , Prentice-Han, Inc.

Clashes," PC Week, April 3, 2000, pp. 68-69.

Englewood Cliffs, N.J., ] 999.

INTRODUCING AND MANAGING

THE PRODUCT

LEA RNI NG OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter, you

be able to:

•

Look at the meaning of the term "product" from three different

perspectives: the manufacturer, the consumer, and the public.

•

Understand the three levels inherent in all products.

•

Learn the classification systems that are used to identify prod-

ucts, and suggest appropriate marketing strategies.

•

Clarify the difference between goods products and service

products.

•

Study some of the processes involved in product pianning and

strategy formulation: determination of product objectives and

identification and resolution of factors that have an impact on the

product.

•

Understand the eight steps that make-up the new product devel-

opment system.

J APAN E SE CARS ON THE DE CLINE

J

apan's auto dealers have tried just about everything to revive sales. One Toyota

Motor Corp. dealership in Tokyo throws monthly festivals in its parking lot and offers

discounts of as much as $2,500 on new models. But potential customers such as Kai

Matsuda, a smartly dressed 28 year old, isn't buying. Sure, after spending a recent Sun-

day touring Toyota's swank four-story Amlux showroom in Tokyo, Matsuda came away

impressed. The building housed everything from rugged recreational vehicles to sleek

luxury sedans such as the $37,000 Aristo. Matsuda would love to buy a new car, "if I

had the money." But, with Japan's economy on the skids, he doesn't.

For Japanese carmakers preparing to roll out their new fleets at the Tokyo Motor

Show, consumers such as Matsuda illustrate why 2000 was such a tough year. Despite a

flurry of new launches, the recent increase in Japan's consumption tax from 3% to 5%

has caused car sales to decline for six months in a row. Dealers sold 9% fewer cars in

September then in the same month a year earlier and several have now fallen into the red

or have gone bankrupt.

So carmakers are desperately hoping their 2000 mOdels will boost sales. The

Motor Show's new lines have the latest in breaking, engine,

transmission technology,

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