Ethics Relevant to the Practice of Marketing - Assignment Example

Student: Tutor: Course title: Course code: Institutional affiliation: Date of submission: Table of Contents Question 1 Millions of consumers use the Internet every day to conduct research on goods and services, communicate with their friends and family, discuss their hobbies and passions, and to be entertained. Using a product or brand of your choice, discuss the positive and negative implications of social media on an organisation’s marketing strategy. For brands that deal directly with the end users of a product or service, social media presence is highly effective in increasing brand presence, assessing consumer perception of a brand and maintaining close relationship with the consumers (Evans, 2010; Percy, 2012). In awareness of this reality, Microsoft has used social media widely to market its new operating system- Windows 8. Windows fan page on facebook currently has 14.6 million “likes” which is basically people who have approved of the brand and regularly receive updates from the page and their “timeline” shows they “liked” the brand thereby influencing their facebook friends to like the page too (MicrosoftWindows8-facebook, 2013). Positive impact Increasing brand visibility Windows fun page currently has 14.6 million “likes”. This means that this large number of people has approved of the brand and the products associated with the brand. According to Evans (2010), this increases brand visibility and approval in the market which is likely to buy windows merchandise such as Smartphones with windows operating system, tablets and laptops and the software. Ability to run Advertisements and promotions Through the platform provided by twitter and facebook, Microsoft has been able to introduce and promote several apps meant for its newest brand-windows 8. Once the fans learn of the new apps they are excited and get into the conversation through comments, likes and sharing. This gets the message across very quickly than it have taken had windows relied only on traditional media. Windows also conducts promotions through the facebook and twitter to award some gifts such as free software licenses and windows products such as surface pro tablet to loyal social media fans. Through twitter, Microsoft has been repeatedly urging its followers to upgrade into windows 8.1 which is basically an upgrade of the newly released windows 8 (Windows on twitter, 2013). A platform to get consumers perceptions regarding a product or company Upon the release of the windows 8 operating system, many loyal customers and users of windows software voiced a lot of dissatisfaction with the extensive changes introduced by the new operating system. Microsoft has responded to the negative tweets and comments by promising users it will release a new upgrade that will factor in consumers suggestions and true to that windows released windows blue that addressed some of the issues that the consumers voiced (Bishop, 2013). Negative impact The integrating of social media into windows Integrated Marketing Communication has however had some negative implication too. According to Bishop’s (2013) article, the most obvious of these is the sustained campaign by windows users against the new operating system which they viewed as largely complicated and expensive to use due to the many applications and regular updates required, the campaign largely carried out through tweets and comments disapproving of the new operating system has had the effect of pulling more users into discussing the weaknesses of the new operating system and even curious social media users. this has been perhaps one of the major causes of the poor performance by windows 8 as compared to its predecessors, windows has tried to reduce the damage by responding to the comments with promises to improve the product and also by helping users navigate through the new system easily (Wingfield, 2013). Question 2 Firms are under increasing pressure to achieve a balance between the interests of consumers, society and owners. a) How is ethics relevant to the practice of marketing? Marketing officials should know their limits when it comes to marketing and popularizing products in the market. If a marketing campaign does not stick to ethical conduct as enshrined in a community’s unwritten or written code of conducts, there maybe backlash from the affected public or mass boycott of the company’s products in the market (Borgerson & Schroeder, 2002; Borg, 2009). A company that is in good relations with the global community has a valuable social capital which is an added advantage to its brands. The opposite is true for a company in damaged relations with the global community of consumers and “noisy” lobby groups (Nantel & Weeks, 1996; Fifield, 2012). b) Identify and define THREE (3) marketing practices you believe are unethical. Engaging in a smear campaign meant to attain the image of another rival in the industry. Advertising a product as a solution to some consumer need while it can not, similarly supplying misleading information relating to the product. Using advertising and promotional content and materials that violate communities’ unspoken values and norms. c) Critically analyse each of the THREE (3) marketing practices identified in Part b, supporting your arguments with reference to at least THREE (3) academic sources, and examples. Engaging in a smear campaign meant to attain the image of another rival in the industry This is a highly unethical and punishable marketing activity under law in many countries. It shows then that it is not only unethical but also illegal to do so. However some companies do it in some clever ways avoiding direct liability (Borgerson & Schroeder, 2002). British airways engaged in such campaign to cast virgin airlines in bad publicity when it hacked into virgin’s computers to expose internal matters. Virgin went to court and received compensation for damages caused (Gregory, 1993). Advertising a product as a solution to some consumer need while it can not, similarly supplying misleading information relating to the product It is unfair and unethical to lie to the customer and as such governments take it upon themselves to protect consumers from such unethical behavior (Nantel & Weeks, 1996). Cosmetic companies such as Avon have been accused in the Australian market as lying on animal testing. Some indicate they don’t test their products on animals yet they do (News. 2013). Using advertising and promotional content and materials that violate communities unspoken values and norms Some marketing activities might touch on sensitive issues such as religious ideological differences or dividing debates such as sexual orientations and abortion which in some communities might appear as unethical and unacceptable (Brubaker, 2007). Redbull energy drinks company has been criticized for using an animated advert that seemed to insinuate that if victims of titanic had wings hey wouldn’t have died because ‘Redbull gives you wings’. It was viewed as despicable and an insult to victims and their relatives (The Telegraph, 2013). d) Recommend THREE (3) strategies organisations can implement to minimise or eliminate the practices in Parts b and c. 1. Companies need to put up excellent quality control and research and development departments so that the quality of their products or services speaks for itself and they don’t have to engage in smear campaigns. 2. Companies need to understand the contents of their products and what the regulations and society thinks about them to avoid negative publicity and possible regulatory actions 3. Organizations need to have a marketing strategy that first releases an advert to selected reference consumers to get their opinion n how the advert can negatively impact on the company and also how effective it can be. Question 3 a) Discuss the marketing activities that the Port of Vancouver has or is undertaking The marketing activity that the port of Vancouver has is an aggressive strategy to increase its customer base and in so doing increase the profitability of the port. The port is positioning itself as an alternative to the California ports. It is a kind of marketing strategy where the port employs a guerilla tactic of modestly grabbing clients from the other port through efficiency that is not available in the other ports. b) Identify and discuss the Port of Vancouver’s competitive advantage. The port of Vancouver is strategically positioned as the gateway to North America. It can provide a viable alternative to the ports at California. This means the port is able to take in excess cargo from the California ports. It has enough space and infrastructure to take in voluminous cargo the same way that California ports do. It can be said then that the port is capable of competing with the California ports. According to the ports website, two major North American railroad lines converge at the port meaning the port has direct unit rail which can be used to transport cargo inland at a lower cost since containers in Canada are not charged 1.25% tax per container making the route even cheaper. c) Explain the possible Core Service Offering, Facilitating and Supporting Services of the Port of Vancouver. Core services will include; Crane services, Loading and unloading of cargo from ships. Warehousing services including specialized handling of special cargo may also be classified as core services of the port to temporarily store inbound and outbound cargo. Some of the facilitating services maybe; Supply of water, electricity, taxi services, communication services, lighting and security services Supporting services will include; Clearing and forwarding services Duty collection Banking Transport d) Recommend an integrated marketing communication strategy that the Port of Vancouver could implement to market their services to businesses using the North American rail hub. The shipping community does not know that the port exists and what it can offer in terms of shipping needs. It is also challenging to market the port as an alternative to California ports. However the port has excellent core, facilitative and supportive services. In addition it is also a cheap alternative to California ports due to its strategic position to North American rail hub. The IMC will seek to let the shipping community know about the existence and capability of Vancouver port. It will also seek to show how cost effective the port can be. Some of the messages will include “a cheap and efficient strategic alternative for shipping”, “welcome to the port where opportunities wait for you”. The messages can be passed on using door to door marketing by agents visiting shipping businesses to increase awareness of the port benefits. Conferences as well as expos are also suitable avenues to promote the port and spur cargo traffic. References Borg, E. A. (2009). The marketing of innovations in high-technology companies: a network approach. European Journal of Marketing , 43 (3/4), 364-370. Borgerson, J., & Schroeder, J. (2002). Ethical issues of global marketing: avoiding bad faith in visual representation. European Journal of Marketing , 36 (5/6), 570-594. Bishop, B. (2013) Microsoft responds to Windows 8 criticism, defends upcoming changes as 'a good thing'. The Verge. [online] 10 May. Available from: HYPERLINK "http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/10/4320224/microsoft-responds-to-windows-8-criticism-defends-upcoming-changes" http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/10/4320224/microsoft-responds-to-windows-8-criticism-defends-upcoming-changes . [Accessed: 21 October 2013] Brubaker, S. (2007). Ethics and regulation in direct marketing. Direct Marketing: An International Journal , 1 (1), 55-58. Evans, D. (2010). Social media marketing: The next generation of business engagement. John Wiley and sons. Fifield, P. (2012). Marketing Strategy (3 ed.). Routledge. Gregory, M. (1993) Battle of the Airlines: How the dirty tricks campaign was run. The Indipendent. [online]. 12th January. Available from: HYPERLINK "http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/battle-of-the-airlines-how-the-dirty-tricks-campaign-was-run-martyn-gregory-reports-on-bas-dirty-tricks-campaign-which-he-uncovered-as-producerdirector-of-thames-televisions-this-week-programme-1478010.html" http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/battle-of-the-airlines-how-the-dirty-tricks-campaign-was-run-martyn-gregory-reports-on-bas-dirty-tricks-campaign-which-he-uncovered-as-producerdirector-of-thames-televisions-this-week-programme-1478010.html . [Accessed: 21st October 2013]. MicrosoftWindows8-facebook. (2013). Microsoft windows 8 facebook profile. Retrieved October 21, 2013, from Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MicrosoftWindowsEight?fref=ts Nantel, J., & Weeks, W. A. (1996). Marketing ethics: is there more to it than the utilitarian approach? European Journal of Marketing, , 30 (5), 9-19. News. (2013). Top cosmetics brands 'lying to customers about animal testing'. [online] 6th May. Available from: HYPERLINK "http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/top-cosmetics-brands-lying-to-customers-about-animal-testing/story-fneszwgd-1226635671839" http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/top-cosmetics-brands-lying-to-customers-about-animal-testing/story-fneszwgd-1226635671839 . [Accessed: 21 October 2013] Percy, L. (2012). Strategic Integrated Marketing Communications. Routledge. Windows on twitter. (2013). Windows (Windows) on Twitter. Retrieved October 21, 2013, from Twitter user profile (windows): https://twitter.com/Windows The Telegraph (2013) Red Bull criticised for 'tasteless' Titanic advert. [online] 13th September. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10306683/Red-Bull-criticised-for-tasteless-Titanic-advert.html. [Accessed: 21 October 2013] Wingfield, N. (2013) Solid Sales, and Criticism, for Latest Version of Windows. The New York Times. [online] 7th May. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/08/technology/solid-sales-but-growing-grumbles-for-windows-8.html?_r=1&. [Accessed: 21 October 2013] Read More