Marketing Attractiveness, Successful and Unsuccessful International Marketing Solutions - Coursework Example

Marketing Attractiveness Name Institution Professor Course Date Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction.........................................................................................................................3 2.0 Successful Marketing Solutions..........................................................................................3 2.1 Nike: Write the Future.........................................................................................................3 2.2: Coca Cola: Taste the Feeling..............................................................................................4 2.3 Gillette: The Best Man Can Get...........................................................................................6 3.0 Unsuccessful Marketing Solution........................................................................................7 3.1 P & G Pampers; Packaging..................................................................................................7 3.2 Pepsi: Pepsi Bring you Back to Life....................................................................................7 3.3 General Motors Chevy Nova................................................................................................8 4.0 Conclusion & Recommendations.........................................................................................8 5.0 References List...................................................................................................................10 1.0 Introduction As technology continues to influence financial flows, transportation and communication, the world becomes smaller and smaller. In the contemporary world, it is possible for consumers and companies to undertake business in nearly any nation around the world courtesy of international marketing. However, successful businesses in the international market call for application of international marketing principles. Firms must make sure that they offer high quality and affordable products. The essence of marketing encompasses three great principles that include customer value, competitive advantage and focus or concentration of customer need. This report highlights examples of successful and unsuccessful international marketing solutions. The report highlights successful marketing solutions from Coca-Coca, Nike and Gillette, and unsuccessful marketing solutions from Pepsi, Proctor & Gamble and General Motors. 2.0 Successful Marketing Solutions 2.1 Nike: Write the Future Firms not only require adapting their advertising strategies but also require altering their own products to fit the needs of their customers. It may be practical to think of international marketing along the scale of creative executions and strategies. Globalised campaigns send similar messages to all global target audience with creative marketers trying to narrowly target consumers and customise the messaging and strategy for a country, city or nation. A global strategy with less customisation can be effective, but some product categories cannot benefit from an overall global strategy. This is because people’s distinctive lifestyles and tastes should be put into consideration along with careful application of international marketing principles. Despite the challenges, Nike has been able to use campaigns that understand the international market environment. For instance, the company’s “Write the Future” campaign was a successful and creative market solution that demonstrated the comprehension of the global market environment. The campaign used different forms of media to persuade people on a global scale. The campaign entailed a three-minute video of popular soccer stars and huge interactive billboard on a skyscraper in South Africa. Nike also used the popularity of social media sites and invited fans to a headline that, ‘writes the future’ of their favourites on social media platform. Through the campaign, the marketers sought to engage consumers with messages. Nike has evolved its international presence through careful selection of campaign messages besides provision of customised products that matches distinct cultural styles and preferences. Through these creative solutions, Nike constantly wins a competitive advantage through creating customer value. According to Vasudeva (2006), knowledge of clients combined with creativity and innovation promotes customers’ value. 2.2 Coca Cola: Taste The Feeling Coca Cola focuses on taking the right product to the right price, at the right time and with the right price. The company has focused on creating the most suitable marketing mix. Coca Cola understands the international market very well. It comprehends regional differences in currencies, languages, customs and values. For instance, advertising of the Coca Cola products in China puts into consideration the Chinese culture. Its recent advertising theme, “Taste the Feeling” is a creative marketing solution that has expanded the success of Coca Cola in the international market (See Figure 1). The marketing campaign is one brand strategy that attracts customers in the international market. The ‘Taste the Feeling’ unites all the Coke Trademark brands and extends the iconic and equity appearance of the globe’s number one beverage. The campaign promotes the customised strategy of the firm where consumers are offered whichever Coke brand that matches their diet, lifestyle and tastes. Figure 1: Taste the Feeling Ad The ‘Taste the Feeling’ campaign demonstrates one brand with diverse deviations aimed at providing customer value. The firm understands that the global market want Coca Cola in diverse means but with great refreshment and taste. The firm used TV ads and social media platforms to launch the ‘Taste the Feeling’ campaign. The advertisement contains new audio signature that includes the fizz, and the pop of the cap all of which motivates the sounds of enjoying Coca Cola brands (Moye, 2016). The campaign is anchored in compelling visual narration through over one hundred images cropped in a manner that closes on the bottle of Coca Cola. Through the ‘Taste the Feeling’ campaign Coca Cola focuses on creating customer value an aspect that makes the firm’s brand the most preferred beverage across the world. According to Vasudeva (2006), knowledge of customers integrated with creativity and innovation prompt total offering that provides superior customer value. Coca Cola increases customer value through improving it product, effective and successful advertising, and distribution. With respect to distribution, the firm make available its brands in all corners of the world. Coca Cola has established a well-established and extensive distribution network. According to Rajagopal (2012), Coca Cola appears to be everywhere and runs a global franchise system that supply syrups to its over 1, 200 bottling companies. The bottling firms dispense Coca Cola brand through its network of distribution channels and sophisticated technology. Rajagopal (2012) asserts that Coca Cola’s distribution system is very flexible in coping with trade and political barriers. 2.3 Gillette: The Best Man Can Get Gillette is a successful brand that is used by millions of people in the world. The company enjoys a dominant market position and market share. The firm has been successful because of its application of principles of international marketing. According to Czinkota and Ronkainen (2006), principles of marketing entail understanding a firm’s competitors, the audience and customers. Gillette employs marketing strategies that promotes customer value, competitive advantage in the shave and hygiene market as well as strategies that focuses on the need of customers. Particularly, Gillette has an excellent distribution system that ensures that its products are at the place where the customers’ needs them. According to Egan and Thomas (2011), Gillette uses its major core competence of distribution channel management to create effect in marketing shaving foams, after-shave balms and gels as complements to wet shaving systems. The company has a distribution strategy that accesses the retailers which reaches many users in both urban and rural areas. The firm has a huge global distribution network that reaches out to retailers and has helped the firm to attain remarkable growth and a competitive advantage in the international market. In addition, Gillette has been successful in the international markets because of and advertising themes. With respect to advertising, the firm has a good themes such as the 1989, “ The Best Man Can Get” that was translated in different languages to reach out to the global market. The “Best Man Can Get” campaign was successful and instigated increased sales. The firm’s marketers used this comparative advertising to ensure that they create a competitive advantage of their product while not misrepresenting the characteristics of competition products. Such themes, allows Gillette resonate with men and inspires confidence in its brands. According to Mueller (2011), Gillette employed the ‘The Best Can Get’ theme to communicate with millions of men around the world who start everyday with the brand. The, The Best Man Can Get campaign has been successful and promoted the sales and global presence of the company. The company also advertises its brands through massive sponsorship and advertising campaign. The company has leaned heavily on sports-linked sponsorship and promotion. An example of its promotions is Gillette Stadium which is home to soccer’s New England Revolution and NFL’s New England Patriots ( Ferrell & Hartline, 2007). 3.0 Unsuccessful International Marketing Solutions 3.1 Proctor & Gamble Pampers When P & G began selling pampers in Japan, the company implemented a packaging strategy that had an image of stork that was delivering a baby. While the package could have been appealing in the United States, it failed in Japan. The packaging did not generate any reaction in the Japanese market. After some thorough research, P &G realised that the ad confused the parents because tales of storks delivering babies are not included in the Japanese tradition (Stripp, Harris & Moran 2012). The Japanese did not like the ad, leading to its failure. With respect to the third principle of marketing, firms should focus on consumer need in order to create consumer value (Vasudeva, 2006). With respect to the P & G pampers’ packaging, the marketers lacked interpretive and factual knowledge of the Japanese culture. 3.2 Pepsi: Pepsi Brings You Back to Life When Pepsi entered the Chinese market, it launched its marketing campaign through the slogan, “Pepsi Brings You Back to Life”. Despite the millions of money spend on the advertising campaign, the ad failed because the slogan did not appeal to the Chinese consumers because the Chinese consumers translated the slogan to mean, Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave” (Mitchell, 2009). This is a case in point where marketers fail to acknowledge the culture of their target market. According to Doole and Lowe (2008), consideration of culture in marketing efforts is important. Marketers need to understand cultural beliefs, attitudes and values of their market in order to obtain empathy with the market. 3.3 General Motors’ Chevy Nova General Motors encountered problems with its Chevrolet Nova model in Spain. The Chevrolet Nova translated into Spanish as ‘no va’ which means, ‘ it doesn’t go’ ( Kahn, 2015). The use of the Slogan ‘no va’ failed to win a competitive advantage for the firm. The Slogan created no value to consumer because the firm did not have knowledge of the South American market. The GM nova slogan failed to generate any response from the market because of the failure to employ principles of international marketing. According to Vasudeva (2006), marketing strategies for international firms should be directed by international marketing standards where cultural values, attitudes, belief and language should be put into consideration. 4. 0 Conclusion and Recommendations Marketing entails planning, analysis, execution and control of programs created to prompt the desired exchanges with target markets for attainment of a firm’s objectives. Marketing depends heavily on developing the offerings of a firm with respect to the desires and needs of the target market through effective distribution, communication, pricing to motivate service and inform the market. For business to succeed in the international market, they have to be appealing to the international consumers. However, when principles of international marketing are not well applied, marketing to the international consumers leads to disastrous upshots. Culture is one of the most challenging components of global marketplace. The system of learned behaviour blueprints is shaped by a set of vibrant variables that include customers, attitudes, values, language and religion. Therefore international managers requires both interpretive and factual of culture. Companies can spend millions of money on marketing but failure to adapt good messaging for global audience prompts failure. To avoid blunders in the international market, firms should focus on the three principles of marketing that include customer value, competitive advantage and focus on customers’ needs and wants. Firms should gain knowledge of customers before designing their marketing solutions. Firms should develop marketing strategies that focus on the needs and wants of the target market. Marketing resources and efforts should be focused on the needs and want of customers. 5.0 References List Czinkota, M., & Ronkainen, I.(2006). International marketing. UK: Cengage Learning. Doole, I., & Lowe, R.(2008). International marketing strategy: Analysis, development and implementation. UK: Cengage Learning EMEA. Egan, C., & Thomas, M.(2010). CIM handbook of strategic marketing. UK: Routledge. Ferrell, O.C., & Hartline, M.(2007). Marketing strategy. UK: Cengage Learning. Kahn.(2015). Product planning essentials. UK: M.E Sharpe. Mitchell, C.(2009). A short course in international business culture: Building your international business through cultural awareness. USA: World Trade Press. Moye, J.(2016). One brand strategy, new global campaign unite Coca-Cola trademark. Coca- Cola Company. Retrieved from http://www.coca-colacompany.com/tastethefeeling/. Mueller, B.(2011). Dynamics of international advertising: Theoretical and practical perspectives. UK: Peter Lang. Rajagopal, D.(2012). Systems thinking and process dynamics for marketing systems: Technologies and applications for decision management. UK: IGL Global. Stripp, W., Harris, P., & Moran, R.(2012). Developing the global organisation. UK: Routledge. Thorson, E., & Duffy, M.(2011). Advertising age: The principles of advertising and marketing communication at work. UK: Cengage Learning. Vasudeva, P.K.(2006). International marketing. India: Excel Books. Read More