Brand Extension for Marx for Men - Case Study Example

Name: Professor Institution: Course BRAND EXTENSION FOR MARX FOR MEN-STICK DEODORANT This is a report presented to the management of Nivik Company by the marketing department. It focuses on the brand extension of Marx for Men-stick deodorant. The report provides the possibility of introduction of the new brand based on the core brand mentioned before. Marx for Men is a deodorant manufactured in the US by Nivik Company. The firm is a leading manufacturer and distributor of personal care products that are of high quality and affordable to the customers. Of late, the company has been facing a decline in sales due to the strong competition posed by the many companies offering similar products in the market. When the consumers are presented with a wide range of products from different companies, they tend to lose their ability to select and buy from their traditional brand of choice (in our case Marx for Men). The situation has been made more precarious through the influx of what has come to be commonly known as the 100 % natural beauty and personal care products. Therefore, to enhance its competitiveness in the market, the company plans to introduce an extension of Marx for Men to be called Marx Herbal Deodorant. It combines new features with the old ones to bring in an end product that is good for a natural skin. The new product will be for applying on the skin and will be packaged in cases weighing 5.6 grams. Their size will be 3 Oz/90ml case pack 24. It will be mostly for men although the women can use it with positive results. Brand extension is a marketing strategy where a company uses the brand of an existing product to develop a new product in a different category. It will help the organization to introduce the new product into the market and in the process reduce the financial risks associated with a new product. Nivik through its Marx for Men-stick Deodorant will introduce a spin-off product named Marx Herbal Deodorant. The core brand has managed to create a strong position in the market through its good quality. This has made it possible for our customers to easily choose it over the other products from our rivals. Therefore, the new product hopes to ride on this goodwill of a positive brand image held by the consumers to sell in the market. In our case here, the company hopes to initiate the substitute form of brand extension. The new and old product will have the same user situations which mean that one can be used in place of the other. The spin-off product is aimed at achieving a number of set targets. The first objective will be to measure up to the increasing competition from the major competitors through the introduction of a new product that will sell well in the market. Once this objective is achieved, the profitability objective will ensue. The created rand image will facilitate faster and voluminous sell to the spin-off product which will increase the company’s profitability. The marketing team hopes that the consumers are likely to buy the new product based on the fact that it has a tried and trusted brand name on it. On top of this, the marketing team has the stakeholders in mind, through its quality assurance and safety policy. One, we hope to deliver a high quality product to the consumer that is 100% natural, one that’s not harmful to the skin. Secondly, our product is well packaged using materials that are recyclable and hence safe on our environment. The primary target will be the existing segment which is largely made up of the male. This is a market segment influenced by price and interest on lifestyle, safety and environmental concerns. These have been the primary and major consumers of the products. However, in the near future, the company hopes to reach out o the female segment as a secondary market. This will be achieved in two folds; one, by encouraging the females to purchase the product for their spouses, male friends and relatives. On the other hand, the deodorant is not strictly for men. It combines ingredients that make it fit for use by the females as its gentle on the otherwise smooth female skin. The secondary market will also encompass the market segments enjoyed by other competitors in the industry. The ability to capture a sizeable proportion of this market will highly determine the growth prospects of the brand as well as the company in general. The main competitors for Nivik and its new product, Marx for men herbal deodorant are Beiersdorf AG and Unilever Global, two of the world leading multi-corporations in personal care/beauty products. The two companies enjoy a wide range of globally successful brands in different product categories. Beiersdorf AG poses the greatest competition especially with its newest product in the market, ‘The New Nivea for Men Silver Protection Deodorant’. The new product offers a mild formula with Vitamin E and aloe vera that: moisturizes and revitalize the skin, absorbs quickly with no traces thereby enhancing the skin’s natural protection. Quite a competitive product this ‘Nivea Deodorant’ is. Unilever Global offers to the market ‘The Vaseline Perfumed Petroleum Jelly Blue Seal Herbal’. The product offers what Unilever calls the ‘World’s number one skin protection against the drying effects of the sun, wind and cold throughout the year. The two companies have invested a lot in market research and have huge and well equipped ‘Skin Research Centers’. In order to counter the greater challenges posed by our competitors, the company has got no other option but to develop and implement a competitive marketing strategy. This is possible through the proposed brand extension. The spin-off will assist the company in increasing the profits on top of the increased brand awareness. To achieve this, the marketing strategy will employ a marketing mix of place, price, product and promotion. It’s the combination of these 4 Ps that will enable the company come up with a quality product that is affordable and accessible to the consumers. The marketing mix employed in the strategy will help Nivik achieve its marketing objectives through the four elements of marketing mix. The product will be manufactured and packaged in accordance with the needs of the customers. This has been arrived at through the various marketing researches and reports collected through customers feedback over a long period of operation. Hence, the ‘Marx Herbal’ will be manufactured in the state-of-the-art ISO 9001 approved facilities. The marketing team has put in place measure to ensure that ‘Marx Herbal Deodorant’ is priced in such a way that the customers will afford it and leave the company well placed to make good profits. This element will be boosted a vigorous ad high quality promotion campaign to popularize the product to the existing as well as new markets. It will play a crucial role in ensuring that even the secondary market is reached by the new product. The methods of promotion that are in the pipeline are advertising, personal selling and sales promotion. In sales promotion, there shall be special offers for special categories of customers such those who buy in bulk, the first 10,000 buyers in a given store gets a discount,amongst others. All these methods will be given a boost by the public relations team which will be tasked with selling the new brand to the market as the brand of choice. The PR strategy will be guided by the existing corporate image of high quality and sustainable development. Once the customer have been persuade to choose the Marx Herbal Deodorant as their deodorant of choice, there is need to ensure that they have easier access to the product. This will be achieved through the use of whole sale and retail stores which have penetrated every corner of the market. Plans are in place to ensure that the major retail stores such as Wal-mart, Kmart, Target and Seaways have enough stocks of the product. Not to be overlooked are the small and medium scale retailers who are spread all over the market. The success story of any product especially a new one in the market is pegged on the awareness created out in the market. In essence, its ability to sell in large volumes is determined on the marketing strategy employed by the company to make the new product known to the market. It’s through promotion that the customers will be informed of the price and good quality of the product and its competitiveness over other similar products. The marketing team will also use promotions to popularize the product and make more sales through such methods as discounts and free samples, .Therefore, it is expected that promotion of the deodorant will l be the most influential factor of the marketing mix. The following is a rough sketch for the packaging. Figure 1: The Packaging Process. Source. Author. 2011. Brand extension is a risky venture that presents both possibilities of success and failure. To cushion A Company against a possible failure, the marketing team carried out a qualitative research to gauge the market response in anticipation of the new product. The study sample was drawn from the consumers of the deodorants products in the market. The questionnaires set out to enquire on the response of the consumers on the possibility of a new product Marx Herbal Deodorant and the expectations the consumers expect in terms of the quality. The responses were captured in the following graph; Table 1: An Analysis of customer’s approval between the old brand and the new brand. Source: Author, 2011 Type of Brand Approval Marx For Men 70 Marx Herbal Deodorant 30 Total 100 Figure 2: An Analysis of customer’s approval between the old brand and the new brand. Source: Author, 2011. Basing its arguments on the qualitative research conducted by the marketing team, it is very possible for the deodorant to perform well in the market. The positive response of the sampled study group reading at 69 % is a pointer that the products will be a success story and the company should go on with the brand extension. The other & that is skeptical of the product will be won over through the marketing strategy adopted by the marketing team, particularly the aspect of vigorous product promotion. The success of the brand extension is based on the fact both men and women are increasingly becoming aware of the dangers posed by unnatural beauty products. Statistics have shown that over 90% of the 10,500 different chemicals used to manufacture these products are not checked by the relevant department (Davis, 1). This means that the consumers are building stockpiles of these products in the body. To counter this, a beauty care product that’s 100 % natural and pure is the answer. What then will hold Nivik from rolling out Marx Herbal Deodorant? Work cited Davis Sammy. How Natural Makeup Can Improve your Health. An article in the Daily Green. Hearst Women’s Network 2011. Web. 21. Oct. 2011. http://www.the dailygreen.com/ Read More