MARKETING ASSIGNMENTS

DHARA BADIANI

ROLL NO 12

PGDM BATCH A 2009-11

ITM KHARGHAR
 ASSIGNMENT-1

A) Two successful product brands and reasons for their success from consumers
point of view:

1) MAGGI NOODLES – A 25 YEAR JOURNEY IN THE INDIAN MARKET:

Nestle introduced Maggi noodles in 1983. Soon, it became a hit. Nestle found a
vacant position in the young urban mother’s mind for such a product, an evening
snack for the kids. And Maggi sat on that spot claiming itself as, “fast to cook and
good to eat, any time snack.”

“What Xerox is to photocopier and Colgate to toothpaste, Maggi is to noodles in

India."

The reasons for the success of Maggi from consumers view point are:

o Maggi was introduced as a new product by Nestle India and it was a kind of
risk taking because such food items were new to Indian market. It was
targeted basically at working and urban woman who usually get less time to
prepare fresh snacks for their kids in the evening. In such a case the
introduction of 2 minutes noodle was a good thing to do.

o Maggi is the leader in the Instant Noodles category because it is constantly

improving its understanding of the consumer to give them excellent and
tasty products that provide nutrition, health, and wellness.

o Maggi has managed to enter Indian homes to change the traditional food
habits of Indian children on their promise of convenience. This brand has
understood the psychology of Indian mothers and positioned itself for
mother-child indulgence.

o During the 1990s, the sales of Maggi noodles declined, and this was
attributed partly to the growing popularity of Top Ramen, another instant
noodles product. In order to improve sales and attract more consumers, NIL
changed the formulation of Maggi noodles in 1997. However, this proved to
be a mistake, as consumers did not like the taste of the new noodles. In
March 1999, NIL reintroduced the old formulation of the noodles, after which
the sales revived. This shows the concern nestle had for its consumers as the
new formulation was aimed at achieving some cost savings in the production
of Maggi noodles but since consumers preferred the old one they moved back
to the original formulation.

o NIL aggressively promoted Maggi noodles through several schemes like

distributing free samples, giving gifts on the return of empty packs, etc. NIL's
advertising too played a great role in communicating the benefits of the
product to target consumers.
 o Through its ads, NIL positioned Maggi as a 'fun' food for kids which mothers
could prepare easily. Taglines like 'Mummy, bhookh lagi hai' (Mom, I'm
hungry), 'Bas 2-Minute,' (Only 2 minutes) and 'Fast to Cook Good to Eat'
effectively communicated the product's benefits to target consumers. These
ads had become so popular that the tagline 'Bas 2-Minute' immediately
reminded Indian consumers of Maggi noodles even several years after the
ads were taken off the TV.

o In March 2005, the Maggi brand too took to the health route with the launch
of Vegetable Atta Noodles. NIL made use of the group's extensive research
and development facilities in developing this new 'healthy' product.
According to NIL, Vegetable Atta Noodles were healthier as they were made
of whole wheat flour instead of maida (refined wheat) and also because they
contained real vegetables. And consumers liked this version of Maggi as it
was tasty and healthy.

2) MCDONALD’S: THE SUCCESS STORY

In India, McDonald’s is operating through its 155 restaurants across all major cities.
After gauging the huge market potential of the ‘eating out’ segment in India,
McDonald’s ventured into the Indian market in October 1996 with its first outlet in
New Delhi’s Vasant Vihar. Later, the focus shifted to other metros, smaller towns
and ultimately Malls, Multiplexes, Airports, Highways and Stations.

The reasons for its success are:

o McDonald’s India, right from its inception, has stick to its vision of being the
best quick service restaurant based on the foundation of affordability and
value.

o The products have been adapted to the Indian preferences of tastes with a
clear focus on the Indian customers. This is why majority of consumers prefer
to eat out at McDonald’s.

o Empathising with the sentiments of a large section of vegetarian population,

McAloo burger, veg salad sandwich, McMasala and Mcimli sauces, garlic free
sauces and eggless products gradually found their place in the menu.
Moreover, a complete segregation of the veg and non-veg product lines is
done right from the food processing plants, supply chain and the kitchen.
Transforming the menu to suit the local palate has invariably become one of
the major success mantras of McDonald’s in India.

o The brand also enjoys the highest recall value due to its placement as an
enjoyable place for the children and comfort zone for the whole family. The
most popular ad campaign ‘I’m loving it’ has left all other campaigns way
behind in recall value.
 o Undoubtedly, the customer is the focal point of McDonald’s huge success.
Many new features introduced prove the point to the hilt- in select
restaurants the service is extended up to 1 am and in some select markets,
‘Breakfast hour’ is introduced in the mornings. With all innovative
approaches, McDonald’s definitely sets a benchmark for all retail brands
wanting to make it big. The philosophy is simple, ‘customer is the king’.

UNSUCESSFUL PRODUCT BRANDS:

1) DOVE BODYWASH: RUFFLED FEATHERS

Dove Body Wash has been trying to lather up the personal wash market ever since
its launch, but with little noticeable success.

Dove Body Wash's performance isn't reflective of its parent, though. Hindustan
Uniliver Limited launched Dove soap in India more than 10 years ago and the brand
is now worth Rs 33 crore (Rs 330 million).

The reasons for its failure are:

o The imported, "ultra-moisturising" body wash is a premium brand extension,

available in one variant and a standard, 250 ml pack. It was launched in end-
2004 in the metros and other select cities. A smaller pack size would have
been a better idea. It would have encouraged consumers to try the product
and that could have helped in widening the market.

o Consumers feel that Dove is more expensive than the other two brands: Rs
120 for 250 ml, compared to Lux (Rs 70) and Palmolive (Rs 90).

o The parent Dove beauty bar is used mainly on the face, and Indians as a rule
place more importance on skincare for the face, rather than the body. So the
product could have been launched as a face wash.

o Dove Body Wash has no print or TV campaigns, only point-of-purchases are

displays and in-store promoters who tom-tom the benefits of body wash over
soap. In India, consumers need to be educated on the use and benefits of
body wash over soap. Due to this reason many consumers are not even
aware about the existence of the product.
2) AMUL PIZZA:

Indian company Amul, well known for its milk products, had introduced a pizza for
20 rupees, or one-third that charged by competitors. The reasons that prompted
Amul to enter a new territory, when the field was flooded with new enterants many
of them being multinationals, were the growing acceptance of pizza by the Indian
customer’s palate and also pizza had become popular in all major cities and towns.
The pizza parlours were not very big in size. An ordinary retail shop, which was
strategically located, could also get into an arrangement with Amul. The entire
project was based on the franchisee model. It was first started in Gujarat. Amul was
hopeful that the right mix of product quality and affordable price will lead to a
demand explosion and could perhaps lure customers away from the established
pizza chains. Besides eating into their market shares, this was a strategic move
towards forward integration into the fast food segment.

But Amul pizza failed due to the following reasons:

1. The problem it had was of winning the trust of the consumer over the quality and
freshness of the Pizzas as they were frozen and were manufactured quite a few
days back.

2. Packaging of the Pizzas was also questionable.

3. The taste of Pizzas was not at all appreciable
4. Amul’s Franchisee Model was very faulty.
5. The selection of the mix of tools i.e., advertising, sales promotion and publicity
was inappropriate.
6. Amul was not fast enough to see the changing trends and accordingly introduce
the product.
7. Amul’s strategy of creation of a mass market was entirely wrong.
8. Amul lost out because of its inability to communicate the Positioning in a proper
manner.
9. Amul failed to do Product Differentiation properly.
10. Amul’s Pizzas were not up to the quality levels defined by its all the other
products
11. Amul overlooked the threat from Pizza Professionals like Pizza Hut and
Domino’s.
12. Amul followed a strategy of Forward Integration, which it shouldn’t have done.
13. Amul missed out on the fact that Cultural Factors and Reference Groups have a
very major impact on buying decisions.
14. Since the Customer Satisfaction is not there, the brand missed out on Consumer
Loyalty.
15. The Value Proposition promised by Amul was not delivered.

ASSIGNMENT 2

Basis of comparison Traditional e-marketing Mobile marketing

marketing
Product The product is the The consumer is the The consumer is the
basic priority. Goods basic priority. B2C is basic priority.
are available at a huge success. B2B Products offered are
stores, home is developing. Not as limited in range. Only
delivery also made. many varieties of a select group of
Huge varieties of products as in the customers are
products are case of traditional targeted sometimes.
available. marketing.
Price The price can be Price bargaining Price bargaining does
negotiated as does not take place. not take place like
bargaining takes Price displayed in that in traditional
place in this type of advertisements is marketing.
marketing. generally followed.

Place The place is very The place is not that Same like e-marketing
important as it important as the only difference is that
reaches the masses. product is available the variety of
Techniques change online in the products is low.
with changing internet. Goods are
demographic paid for either
structure etc. before purchase or
after the delivery.

Promotion Promotions are done Promotions are less Promotions are

through traditional costly. People can limited to sms, and
techniques. Door to browse through calls. Coverage is
door marketing various products at lower compared to
makes the costs a time through the other two.
higher. The internet. Message Message conveyed is
message conveyed conveyed is consumer focused
to customer is consumer focused and attuned to
company controlled and attuned to consumer interests.
and motivated. It is consumer interests.
the advertising that
exposes the product
to the world in a
traditional
marketing
environment.

ASSIGNMENT 3

MARKET SEGMENTATION:

The purpose for segmenting a market is to allow your marketing/sales program to

focus on the subset of prospects that are "most likely" to purchase your offering. If
done properly this will help to insure the highest return for your marketing/sales
expenditures. Depending on whether you are selling your offering to individual
consumers or a business, there are definite differences in what you will consider
when defining market segments.
MARKET SEGMENTATION CAN BE UNDERSTOOD WITH THE HELP OF SOME
EXAMPLES:

1) GIFT CARDS: gift cards are used by number of people to express their feelings of
love, joy, sadness etc.

Gift cards are purchased on various occasions like birthdays, anniversaries,

mother’s day, friendship’s day etc. so the market segmentation is done accordingly.
And the segmentation is done based on various factors such as demographics,
geographics, socio-culturals and psychographic factors.

The majority of gift cards are purchased by the youth including both boys and girls.
Greeting cards are majorly sold in urban areas and so they are basically targeted at
urban population. Mostly People having high disposable income only purchase these
because they are quite expensive and so the target customer belongs to middle
income group or higher income group. Also only a knowledgeable and literate
customer is targeted because the main area of attraction in a greeting card is the
written matter so the customer purchasing it is usually a literate.

GIFT CARDS could also mean a replacement to a paper based mechanism that
allows the buyer to send cash present through the post and for the recipients to
select goods. Gift cards are usually issued by banks or some big branded shops
these days to enable its customers to purchase the cards and gift them to the
person they want and that particular person can purchaser whatever he wants using
that gift cards.

Here market segmentation is done very carefully. Urban population mostly prefers
purchasing these kinds of cards and also people having high disposable income. But
these days’ gift cards are issued in various denominations so now anybody can
purchase it.

2) FURNITURE:

Furniture market can be divided into various segments and the firm can maintain
the product-mix depending upon the choices, needs and preferences of customers
in various segments.

Furniture market can be segmented on the basis of prices, i.e. consumers can be
targeted on the basis of their income levels.

Age of the customer can also be a factor based on which market can be segmented.

Furniture has a varied number of uses such as furniture is used in homes, schools,
colleges, shops, hospitals, etc. so furniture here can be segmented by identifying
the needs of the customer and designing the product mix accordingly.
3) FLOWERS:

Flowers are used for various occasions like marriage, ceremonies or occasions of
celebrations. Some people use flowers daily for conducting puja’s. The target
market for flowers could be both urban and rural areas.

Flowers are also used for the preparation of bouquets which are usually costly and
are purchased by people having higher level of income.

Flowers for other purposes and various ceremonies are bought by almost all people
from different level of incomes.

Thus segmentation of flowers can be done on the basis of the geographic areas and
the needs of the people living there.

4) WRIST WATCH:

Wrist watch market can be segmented using different bases such as income, age,
sex, lifestyle, geographic spread etc.Watches are generally preferred by both men
and women and their preferences differ even in a particular segment. For instance
watches targeted at rich people may have a product mix which includes gold
watches, expensive sports watches and even watches embedded with real
diamonds. Similarly the company needs to maintain proper product mix for middle
class and lower sections of the society.

The best example of a company which best uses this strategy is titan.

For example it has sonata for rural segment, dash for kids, titan raga for city
women, fast track watches for the youth, Timex for the lower income segment etc.

ASSIGNMENT-4

BRAND REPOSITIONING

Why repositioning:

Products do undergo repositioning as they go along their life cycle. Sometimes,

right in the product’s early growth stage, its positioning is found to be faulty. It may
then need an immediate course correction / repositioning. In some cases products
that are faring well are also repositioned. This is done mainly to enlarge the reach of
the product offer and to increase the sale of the product by appealing to a wider
target market. The product is provided with some new uses and is repositioned for
existing as well as new target segments.

We can learn more about repositioning by taking the example of lifebuoy.

When HUL introduced Lifebuoy in the Indian Market in 1895, (more than 113 years
ago) it was positioned as the soap that would destroy germs and keep the body
healthy.

The brand found the getting tough, especially in rural markets where most people
accustomed to bathing without any soap. HUL then decided to project lifebuoy as a
soap for hand wash. This approach seamed to pay off. By 1900, lifebuoy had
established itself as a soap for hand wash.

At this stage, the brand’s properties were expanded and lifebuoy was repositioned
as bath soap. Health remained the benefit proposition. ‘Lifebuoy hai jahan
tandurusti hai wahan’ became a very popular jingle in rural India. It was also
projected as a low price-high volume soap that lasted longer. For the next fifty
years it was unchallenged growth for lifebuoy and the product remained the same
without much change in the product attributes or positioning.

By the 1970’s competitors entered, challenging lifebuoy’s supremacy. The benefit

propositions in soaps were also changing from healthcare to aspects such as
freshness, beauty, deodorant-quality and organics. HUL now had many
requirements to meet; it had to tap some of these emerging market needs, it had to
play down the image of lifebuoy as a mere villager’s soap.

It was around 2002 that the product moved from being a hard soap to a mild soap
that delivered a significantly superior bathing experience. The new soap had a
refreshing fragrance and its overall positioning changed, painting its promise of
health in softer, more versatile and responsible hues—for the entire family. The
packaging was also changed: The rugged looking packs were soon replaced with a
softer pinkish cover. This was followed by a series of ads highlighting the soap’s
germ fighting benefits.
 EARLIER
TODAY

Lifebuoy had become a family soap with hygiene as its core promise. “For a soap
that had been relegated to toilets, Lifebuoy has gathered new adherents in an age
where more consumers are getting concerned about germs and cleanliness.”

Thus from the above example we can say that repositioning is a continuous process
and it is undertaken both by successful and unsuccessful products. For unsuccessful
brands it gives a second chance to position itself and for the brands which are
already successful it helps them to maintain their position and expand.

Thus from the above example we see that:

o Lifebuoy was positioned as bath soap when it was first introduced. Its main
target was rural population. But as people in rural areas did not use bath
soaps it repositioned itself as soap for hand wash concentrating only on
hygiene. It succeeded in this and got a huge market share in rural areas.
 o As new soaps began entering into the market with added extra features like
beauty, fragrance, freshness etc. it started facing competition from them. It
had to rule out its image of just a villager’s soap and reposition itself to
expand its market share and added the new features to its soap. Now it
started targeting urban population.

ASSIGNMENT-5

DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN:

1) CONSUMER AND PROSUMER:

CONSUMER:

An individual who buys products or services for personal use and not for
manufacture or resale is a consumer. A consumer is someone who can make the
decision whether or not to purchase an item at the store, and someone who can be
influenced by marketing and advertisements. Any time someone goes to a store
and purchases a toy, shirt, beverage, or anything else, they are making that
decision as a consumer.

PROSUMER:

A person who is very knowledgeable about a subject and likes to purchase high-
quality equipment is a prosumer. Prosumer is a portmanteau formed by
contracting either the word professional or producer with the word consumer.

A prosumer is a pro-active con-sumer; culturally and socially aware, building a

composite identity of consumer brands and taking an active role in choosing a
product or service.

S.NO CONSUMER PROSUMER

1 A consumer is a person who A prosumer is called

purchases product for final
consumption. He is not very
knowledgeable. He does not have
full information about the product.
proactive consumer and he
is very knowledgeable and
purchases products only
after collecting full
information about it.

2 A consumer gets influenced by A prosumer cannot be

 marketing and advertising. influenced by
advertisements as a
consumer.

3 A consumer usually purchases all A prosumer prefers

kinds of products. purchasing only high quality
equipment.

4 Producer produces goods and then A prosumer helps the

influences consumer by making
advertisements. Here consumer
does not assist in production
producer in producing goods
according to his prefers.
Producer knows the market
he has to target for specific
goods.

2) MARKET RESEARCH AND MARKETING RESEARCH:

Research is broadly divided into two categories: Market Research, a formal analysis
of
quantitative demand, access and recognition for classes of products or services;
And
Marketing Research, a formal analysis of the qualitative demand, access and
recognition
resulting from the activities of supply, distribution and promotion.
Generally these terms are used as alternate terms but there is a minor difference in
their concepts. Market research is the research which is conducted in a specific
market like the research based on analyzing the prices of food items in Food-Market
will be a market research. On the other hand, marketing research is the evaluation
of the company's marketing process or doing any research which is linked with
marketing. Secondly, market research is narrow while marketing research is broad.

SNO MARKET RESEARCH MARKETING RESEARCH

1 Market research is simply Marketing research includes market

research into specific market. research and as well as research into
new products or modes of distribution
such as via internet.

2 It is a very narrow concept It is much broader

3 Market research is very Marketing research is about researching

specific. the whole of a company's marketing
 process.

4 Market research is when you Marketing research can be about the

are trying to figure out the product how to package, position, or
demographic area where the sell it.
product will do the best.

5 Market research provides you Marketing research provides an internal

with an external perspective of or focused perspective.
your business and industry

3) MARKETING AND SALES MANAGEMENT:

SNO MARKETING MANAGEMENT SALES MANAGEMENT

1 Marketing is defined in the Selling is one activity of entire

traditional dictionary as the act marketing process. sales is defined
or process of buying and selling as “Activities involved in selling
in a market. The commercial goods or services"
functions involved in transferring
goods from producer to
consumers.

2 Marketing includes Sales emphasizes on selling the

advertisement, public goods or service to the customers.
relationship, research, strategy.

3 A good marketing can speed the The sales system focuses on selling
selling of goods, reducing the the products or service out to the
revenue circle. The purpose of customer, which includes the sales
marketing is to make the team, sales skills, etc
products or service sell well.
When a company advertises their
products on TV, they are
marketing their products.

4 Marketing focuses on channel Sales focuses on using these

building. channels.

5 The effects of marketing can be Sales system however collects the

measured by the revenue money back.
generated. However marketing
does not involve in collection of
 cash.

4) CROSS SELLING AND UPSELLING:

SNO CROSS SELLING UP SELLING

1 Cross selling is when customer Up selling is when customer comes

comes up to buy something and to buy something and we sell the
we sell completely a different similar product but expensive one or
product which is not similar. some other add on with the product.

2 Cross selling is the strategy of Up selling is a sales technique where

pushing new products to current a sales person wontedly sells costly
customers based on their past products or other add-ons with the
purchases. Cross-selling is product in order to make the sales
designed to widen the customer's more profitable.
reliance on the company and
decrease the likelihood of the
customer switching to a
competitor.

3 Cross selling refers to the selling Up selling refers to the selling of

of other products which are other products which are vertically
horizontally related. related.

5) MARKET TESTING AND TEST MARKETING:

SNO MARKET TESTING TEST MARKETING

1 Exposure of goods or services to a A type of controlled experiment

small sample of the entire market conducted in a carefully selected
to test various marketing geographical area to understand
strategies. Some areas of the the impact of a marketing program
country are considered better on the sales or profits of a product
barometers of demand than or service.
others, because the tastes of a
particular area for certain products
seem to resemble those of the
whole country
2 Market research is a risk control
tool. When a new product is
launched it is tried out in the
market and firms go in for full
scale manufacture and marketing
of the new product only based on
the results of some experimental
marketing. It may so happen that
the product may not be the right
one and the firm may drop the new
product depending on the results.
6) CUSTOMIZATION AND CUSTOMERISATION:
SNO CUSTOMIZATION
1 Customization is defined as the process
of making products according to the
specifications or tailor-making.
2 Customization is the act of altering or
making something the way customers
want it.
Test marketing is a kind of market
test in which the new product with
the support of chosen marketing
mix, is actually launched and
marketed in a few select ‘ test’
cities/town/territories. The selected
test market would be the
representative of the final market.
CUSTOMERIZATION
Customerization is the
customization of products or
services through personal
interaction between a company
and the customer. A company is
customerized when it is able to
dialogue with individual
customers and respond by
customizing its products,
services, and messages on a
one-to-one basis.
Customerization is the act of
marketing of an item directing
at the customer.
 ASSIGNMENT 6

Basis FMCG (Vaseline High-Tech (Apple Consumer

moisturizer) MacBook) Durable (kinetic
zing)
Critical Climate of the Good software, Age, sex, income
environment region, skin hardy, technology level, gearless
requirements of feature rich. transmission, 65 cc
people, age, sex, engine, electric-
income level, start.
psychographic.
Customer and his Middle class and Upper middle class Targeted at 16-21
profile upper middle class and high class. age group. Primary
men, women and Gadget freaks. objective is to meet
children. Majorly the transportation
depends upon the needs of the
skin requirements college going
of a person. student.
Market Demographic- Urban metropolitan Urban areas,
segmentation male, both young youth. popular in mini
and old. metros and cities
Geographic- Urban with large student
metropolitan cities populations.
and rural areas Targeted at youth.
depending upon
the climate of the
region.
Psychographic-
lifestyle of people.

Marketing Orderly Highly attractive Trendy looking,

programme arrangements. Well with high form and light and peppy in
designed bottles function. performance,
attract customers. priced at an easy
to convince the
parents price; fuel
efficient, logo
specially designed
to have a youthful
look.
Positioning Cutting edge Advertisements Advertisements
strategies advertisement through websites showing the
techniques and excellent scooteretee as
showing the fruitful customer service. youthful, fun and
uses of the Positioned as the aspirational.
product. world’s thinnest
laptop so far.