Thailand Toyota Camry Hybrid IMC Strategy - Case Study Example

 THAILAND TOYOTA ‘CAMRY HYBRID’ IMC STRATEGY INTRODUCTION An Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) could be defined as the use of diverse means of marketing to achieve better results as would have been achieved by one single marketing strategy. It thus includes a blend of multiple advertising strategies, for example, the use of media, search engine marketing, internet marketing and online display advertising (Duncan, 2005). A proper implementation of the IMC results in much bigger sales, better company productivity and is very resourceful in company budgeting. In the current world a company possession of a website is not good enough; better IMC strategies are very important inorder to attract traffic to the site. The company must thus carry out a survey and adopt the best tools to market their products to their target (Fill, 2001). Toyota is a leading auto-mobile company. In August 2005 the company set the Asian Pacific Global Centre which is based in Samutprakam Province in Thailand (Eagle et al, 2005). Toyota ‘Camry Hybrid’ is one of the many car models that are manufactured and assembled in Thailand. Toyota continues to contribute immensely in the sustainable development of Thailand economy by manufacturing products and services that way above board. The success story of Toyota products for the last one decade illustrates the ever growing need to penetrate the market (Carroll and Swatsman, 2000). The IMC strategies adopted by Thailand Toyota include a fully fledged website, www. Toyota. Co/th and www. Lexus.co.th. however much need to be done inorder that the company may live to its mission of attaining sustainable growth by giving the customer the best experience and dealer support (Cook, 2004). ACTIONABLE IMC STRATEGY FOR CAMRI HYBRID. The preliminaries of starting the Integrated Marketing Communication will include the following (Fill, 2002); a. Target business process. For any marketing strategy to succeed there is a very great need to ensure that the right target group is identified (Grove et al, 2007). The Toyota Camry Hybrid is considered a middle class car. This should be the target group of the company. The price of the car is a great influence for the purchases. The Thailand should ensure that the company enjoys better customer experience by firstly making the car pocket friendly for the target audience. This can be achieved by embracing a cutting edge technology. Inorder to manufacture an economical Toyota ‘Camry Hybrid’ technology is very essential. Technological helps in modifying the model by making the car design presentable, comfortable, and efficient in its fuel consumption, availability of car accessories and being environmental friendly (Johnson and Schultz, 2004). These key factors are in any buyers mind and considered as key determinants in influencing their decisions. A second way of making the hybrid cars become endearing to the market is by using quality but low cost of raw materials. This highly influences the final price of the products. Also a car that has low operating costs and low sticker price to the consumers is more appealing (Fill, 2002). b. SWOT Analysis. This is an analysis of the company Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (Aaker, 2004). For the company to effectively penetrate the market that continues to face Toyota from the competitors a holistic analysis of its SWOT is very essential. Opportunities would be analysed in the following way. The Toyotas market share keeps on growing each and every year. Reports show that the market in the US had risen to 15% in the year 2006. This is the state of affairs across board. Currently Toyota does not only operate in Thailand but also across more than 100 countries in the world. The declining of the market share by its competitors like GM forms the biggest opportunity for Toyota. Inorder for Toyota to have a lion share in the market that continues to draw similar market targeting and segregation like the competitors, Toyota have to come up with distinctive products attributes that overshadow their competitors. The ability to be the premier in manufacturing hybrid cars also propels Toyota brand image and fortunes. Ability to utilize a cut edge technology and skilled labour is a great opportunity for Toyota. The company boasts of an ultramodern manufacturing plant in Thailand which should be properly utilized to come up with the best products. The Hybrid market is rapidly growing and positively being appreciated by the consumers, this is a great opportunity for the company (Fill, 2002). As concerns the threat, its competitors like Ford and GM have been much focused too to penetrate the market. There are rapidly coming up with creative modes of marketing to establish their strongholds and strategically penetrate the untapped market (Balmer et al, 2003). The threat should be countered by Toyotas embracing cutting edge technology and strategies. c. Marketing Mix Strategies. IMC involves a holistic coordination of all the marketing avenues, tools and functions to maximize the impact that a company has to the consumers as well as lowering all the costs that are incurred (Calder and Malthouse, 2005). This drives the consumer- manufacturer relationship as well as promoting the brand image of the company. Marketing Mix can be defined as a coordination and integration of better promotion, sales and advertising strategies. This will essentially incorporate the issues of internet marketing, public relations and sponsorship marketing. The objective of any organization is to see the growth and maintenance of its consumers (Bernstein, 2000). The marketing mix strategy will involve a close examination at the company situational analysis, budget, objectives, strategies, tactics and performance (Davidson et al, 2005). Enhancing a better IMC for Toyota will require a consistent use of available channels and media. There is a great need of tapping the market of both online and offline basis. The online channels that the company can embrace in its marketing strategy consist of; emails search Engine Optimization, RSS, blogs and internet (Duncan T, 2005). The offline channels are very commonly used by the most organizations; they include print media like magazines, billboards, and television and audio mechanisms like radio. It’s of importance to blend the online and the offline channels in coming up with a winning IMC strategy of Toyota Camry Hybrid. While analysing marketing mix, four important components (4 C’s) analysed in details are the products, price, place and promotion (Keller, 2001). A stronger brand can only be effectively attained by using the best consumer insights. As relates to product, the company has to effectively survey the tastes and the needs of their target audience. It should be the objective of the company to come up with products that suit the needs of their consumers (Fill, 2001). When the company products do not match the consumers’ tastes, then the IMC will be affected. Another important consideration is the Price. Every consumer has the consideration of costs top on their agenda. The company ought to realise that a careful study of the consumer cost structure will be vital in coming up with a winning IMC (Lee, 2002). The objective of the company in manufacturing Toyota Camry should be guided by the need to lower the costs attributable to the consumers. The manufacturers ought to have a careful analysis of the place. If the product are brought to the convenience of the consumer, then the better the chances of the products being bought (Duncan T, 2005). The objective of Toyota Thailand should be to narrow the gap of the consumers to their products. This can be enhanced through dealership and partnership. Such a blend would lead to better IMC. Finally there is need for promotion of the products. Effective communication would ensure that the consumers have the right information about the products. Various mechanisms should be put into action by the company; there is also a growing need to establish a feedback system through which the consumers can ventilate their compliments and grievances (Levitt, 2003). d. Brainstorming This is very important in IMC. It is most effective avenue through which ideas are generated. Due to the ever increasing modes of communication, the company management should ensure that they incorporate brainstorming session’s inorder to generate ideas that guide the company. Scholars suggest a step to step way of ensuring an effective brainstorming should include (Grove et al, 2007); 1. A clear question through which the creative minds think through. 2. A very independent and neutral facilitator of the sessions. 3. Equality of participation, all members of the brainstorming sessions should be considered equally and their points weights considered equally without snobs. 4. Creative platform ensures better brainstorming by coming up with new environments and new perspectives. 5. Participants should build rather than shoot down the ideas of others. e. Direct Marketing Due to mass markets the market has become fragmented causing the marketers to shift away from mass marketing and strongly participate and engage in direct or target marketing. Action orientation is the main backbone of the direct marketing channel (Eagle, 2000). Direct marketing has the characteristics of being targeted, personal, measurable, testable and flexible. To tap the direct marketing strategy Toyota should tap the direct mail vehicle, catalogs and broadcast. These are the means through which the larger traffic of consumers is captured. f. Setting the Marketing Objectives. Objectives are the clear compass of an efficient IMC. Toyota has demonstrated a great financial foundation of its products. On the financial records for the year 2007, the company in general made 23.94 trillion yen in net profits. This was an increase of 14 % as compared to the previous year. Such a radical growth can only be attained by coming up with clear objectives which should be implemented (Aaker, 2004). Example of objectives that the Toyota subsidiary in Thailand should develop includes; 1. Increase the market share of Toyota Camry Hybrid by 10% in the next two year period. 2. Increase the budget of promotions and advertisement to attain better sales. 3. Make 20% of the Thailand target audience aware of the Camry Hybrid. 4. Make a fully presentable and customer targeted website. Objectives will enhance an IMC to be effective. The six buyer readiness awareness stages should be carefully be considered by the company. The buyer stages are awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction and purchase (Holm, 2006). g. Branding and Messaging. There are so many conflicting messages from different sources that influence consumers; better branding helps the consumers to sift the correct information. Toyota Camry Hybrid promotional approach will better the brand image. A good integration of good communication channels ensures a better branding. Again it is important that the company utilize both online and offline means to gain better branding. Better branding vehicles is the use of newspapers and television (Johnson and Schultz, 2004). It is of importance that the company embraces the use of Mac, FreeCreditReport.Com, E-trade, Geico, iphone and celebrity athlete endorsements. With the growth of social networking sites like MySpace, twitter, facebook and YouTube are a very key market that the company can embrace. To greatly enhance the branding and imaging the company should work to partner with advertising agents who would ensure specialization and lowering of the costs (Cook, 2004). h. Setting total promotional budget As illustrated an effective IMC will tap a lot of resources from the company. The company should ensure that they come up with the most affordable means. There are so many overheads that the company incurs, and marketing though important should not be overemphasized. It is advisable that the percentage of sales method be implemented. The management should set and implement a particular percentage that the company should use to attain greater profitability. It is also very important that a comparative view be counterchecked from the competitors in coming up with the IMC strategy. The costs of the IMC should be projected, estimated and budgeted in optimizing and maximizing results (Davidson et al, 2005). The key issues to be considered in setting a budget include the threshold effects, carryover effects; wear out effects, decay effects and random effects. The budgeting should be directed towards achieving a bigger customer traffic, brand awareness, changing the consumers tastes and attitudes, increase in the car market share, increase sales and encouraging the consumer repeat purchase actions (Keller, 2001). i. Channel Integration Grid This means that Toyota should streamline its distribution channels in reaching the end-user consumer. This is achieved through Vertical Marketing Systems (VMS). The integration is achieved through event marketing and promotion. The effect is to have positive information flow of the company to the end-user. Such a channel grid system assists the company to reduce its transactions costs, bridges also the gap between car production and sales and further act as a barrier for any potential new entrant in the market. This effectively assists the company to improve its profitability and manage the end product quality (Keller, 2001). j. Demographic and Geographical Segmentation Demographic segmentation is a marketing strategy that seeks to divide the market into variables that consist of family size, age, education, race, gender, nationality and income. Geographical segmentation on the other hand refers to the division of the prospective buyers into geographical units; this often consists of segmentation into towns, cities and countries (Lee, 2001). Income and age are the important variables as the Toyota management consider a better marketing strategy. The Camry Hybrid success sales are pegged upon the careful study of the Thai income and age of prospective buyers. The importance of demographical segmentation is that it brings a better way of data collection that is important for future forecasting and decision- making. Geographically since the Thailand is the focal point of Asian market, the management would for example target the Indian market to see the consumers’ reaction. A holistic study of these two strategies will result in greater sales and profitability for the company. k. Feedback systems The company needs to get the feedback from the consumers. They should be enhanced by coming up with social networking means and instant messaging. Feedback systems assist the company to maximize on their opportunities and minimize their threats and weaknesses. Efficiency in the feedback system should ensure that the IMC strategy results are attained (Lee, 2002). l. Implementation A company may come up with the best IMC strategy but if this is not implemented it will be a waste of company’s effort and resources. Toyota need to come up with and integrated campaign system through which the proposed methods are creatively brought into action. The ability to swing into action will effectually determine the sales of Toyota Camry. HONDA MARKETING STRATEGY PROFILE Honda Company a subsidiary of the Japan based Honda Motor Company Limited has also penetrated the Thai market and poses a great challenge to the Toyota Thailand. Inorder that Toyota IMC may succeed, it is imperative to compare the competitors marketing strategy inorder that better mechanisms may be put in place to ensure that the IMC adopted yields fruits. The Asian Honda motor company based in Thailand was founded in 1964. The following are some of the competing market strategy adopted by the company. a. Internet Marketing- the Honda Company has embraced the technology and adopted marketing strategy by having a fully functional website and a large following in social networking sites twitter and facebook. b. Channel Integration Grid- it boasts of more than 100 dealers in Thailand and India. c. Product competition- in 2008, it introduced the Honda Civic Hybrid (CR-V) which is brilliantly designed with a multidimensional dash. d. Price: the Honda CR-V pricing is however much costlier than the Camry Hybrid. e. Standards setting; the company has obtained an ISO 14001 (Environment management) and ISO 9001 (Quality management). CONCLUSION Toyota Thailand has greatly shown the greater need to achieve the seven objectives laid down by the company. These objectives are to provide clean and safe products, honour of the country’s law, culture and language, contribution of socio-economic development of the communities, advancing and maintaining technologies, foster creativity and teamwork, enhance innovative management and create mutual benefits of the partners. These objectives will be enhanced by IMC strategy (Fill, 2002). 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