Consumer behaviour: What is the impact of the new strategy on the brand - Essay Example

?Cover page Consumer Behaviour 263 MKT Dr. Lara Spiteri Cornish Faculty of BES Coventry Priority Street Coventry June 15, Contents Introduction 3 Brand positioning 4 Marketing strategy 5 Marketing plan 6 External and internal analysis 6 Implication to the Theory of Consumer 9 Conclusion 11 References 12 (Your name) xxxxxxxxxxxx Dra. Lara Spiteri Cornish Business June 15, 2012 Consumer behaviour: What is the impact of the new strategy on the brand? Introduction Unilever is deploying a strategy that combines politics and marketing. A good strategy is expected to yield growth, profit, or to achieve whatever objectives the management have set, whereas an inappropriate one will lead to a disaster. Unilever is in the midst of strategic changes, the implications of which, has a worldwide impact. Unilever is threading on dangerous waters because not everybody is in favour of same sex marriage. Changing its brand name is a unique strategy that would test the strength of its marketing strategy. The Unilever’s proposed marketing strategy is a novelty because it uses a gimmick to promote an advocacy, that of same sex marriage. The company is using the change image not just to sell the ice cream, but to promote the legislations. Same sex marriage is a government advocacy of UK; that even President Obama openly admitted he is in favour of. Ben & Jerry ice cream is a brand known for innovativeness. It is a favourite brand and is listed as one of the best in London. The company has a successful global operation with sales coming from the USA, Europe and Asia. It has 750 franchisees as a scoop store worldwide. It is a company known for social consciousness, environmentalism and philanthropy. It contributes about $1.1 million yearly to philanthropic causes and good cause. Ben & Jerry retained this social consciousness despite takeover of Unilever (Marketing teacher, n.d) The Company sells colourfully named ice cream under different brand names, frozen yoghurt and novelty ice cream, and Appl-y everafter is only one of them. This study evaluates the possible impact of the new strategy on the brand by discussing its goals, strategy, marketing plans, and consumer behaviour as there will be a total overhaul due to the change image. Framework of evaluation is based on consumer behaviour theory that is according to rationality, preferences, prices and budget constraints. It also discusses other criteria which is internal consistency, consistency with environment, appropriateness, satisfactory degree of risk, appropriate time horizon and workability. The brand positioning It would be helpful if we define the term brand. The American Marketing Association defines ‘brand’ as “a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller.” But the meaning of brand extends to intangible aspects as well, such as associations, feelings and experiences.(Marketing Power, n.d.) An article from Brandeo web(n.d.) argues that a brand can convince the customer’s purchasing decisions because it provides tangible and intangible benefits. Brands provide a ready comparison. Brands and positioning are relevant for successful marketing. So, it would be important to discuss here the brand positioning of Ben & Gerry ice cream. In this case the company’s brand positioning is a strategy that attempts to shape the perceptions and feelings of people about the brand so that they will see it as a solution to a specific need or want that they may have (Brandeo.com). In product positioning , the company can modify its present form, but the problem according to Noseworthy, Theodore and Trudel, Remy (01 Dec. 2011), the changes are often incongruent with customers expectations. The completed positioning is implemented in the logo, and taglines of messaging. Thus, the transformation of Ben & Jerry’s brand is a representation of ideas, culture and values of targeted customers. Paasavora.et. al. (April 2011) admits that past studies conclude brands can boost consumers food taste experience. However, recent findings based on their experiments showed “an objectively better taste is not necessarily decisive; satisfactory sensory quality can suffice if it is coupled with imaginative and daring brand marketing that delivers unique emotional and functional benefits for well-defined food consumer target segments” . These findings relate to Ben and Jerry’s ice cream because of its daring brand design. On the change of brand name or extensions, Sood, Sanjay and Kellar, Kevin (June 1, 2012) concluded that sub-branded extensions (Oh My! Apple pie to Appl-y Everafter) “evoke a slower, more thoughtful sub-typing processing strategy compared with family branded extensions. Sub-branding, according to these authors, enhances extension evaluations and protects the parent company from any negative feedback. The next discussions dwell on the marketing strategy used in launching the brand, impact of the strategy to the brand, and to the corresponding consumer behaviour The marketing strategy Company objective is to promote not only the ice cream brand, but to support the same sex legislation being pushed in UK, as a part of its social consciousness. Its Strategy is to introduce to a particular market a new name and packaging design that supports the same sex legislation. The strategy goes hand-in-hand with the business objective. It seems this is only a short term goal because when the law is passed, the appeal of the new brand will lose steam. In effect, it is combining marketing with politics Marketing plan Purpose of the marketing plan is to develop a marketing campaign that reaches out, identifies with, and focuses on a particular segment. The marketing plan of Unilever consists of a marketing campaign and promotion that will help to achieve the strategy. The design and partnership with Stonewall, the sponsoring charitable institution, are part of the marketing campaign. The use of social media is a public relation campaign which is also part of the plan. The number of respondents in SNS is an indication of the strength of the strategy. So far, it is not quantifiable yet. External and internal analysis There are several actions that come before a marketing plan is implemented. This should include knowing the challenges and goals, doing a situation analysis, analysis of the customers and competitors and identification of its market mix, that is, the product, price, distribution and place. The following paragraphs identify these actions: Internal analysis The challenges – Unilever is challenged to support the new legislation with the aid of their product, the ice cream. Goals of the marketing plan include: A. To build trust and rapport. The unique design confirms that Unilever understands same sex marriage, and the brand and design have been patterned to build customer’s confidence and empathy of the company B. To explore prospect pain. The core of the marketing message of the new design explores the pain of the targeted segment. It is a message that Unilever understands GLBS. By way of implementation, the strategic marketing approach done by the company is to use social networking sites to encourage consumers to support the legislation. C. To attract new prospects into the marketing plan. New prospects of Unilever ice cream are the GLB. According to Rouse, Beverly, (23 September 2010), the information collected as part of the Integrated Household Survey in UK, nearly three-quarters of a million UK adults say the are gay, lesbian, or bisexual. More than 480,000 consider themselves gay or lesbian and a further 245,000 say they are bisexuals. Added to this are the support groups of the GLBs. D. To deepen loyalty with existing customers. Every business aspire growth of customers. The biggest potential of growth comes from the GLBS and their referrals E. To illustrate benefits - Both the company and the GLBS are benefited by the program because Unilever will rake in patronage and sales from this particular community, while at the same time winning the purpose of what they strived for. F. To paint a picture with your product. This is exactly done in the design of the product. Unilever designs the experience of the couple in the product Culture. The company needs to account for the culture of the target market. Target market here are the GLBS. In this aspect, to arrive at an appropriate marketing plan, Unilever should consider the GLBS’ values and attitudes. The strengths. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is the latest acquisition of Unilever in 2000. Its brand of activism and social values has survived the takeover. It was named in the top list of best ice cream in London. It is also known for selling novelty ice cream. Weakness: Social responsibility could cause unnecessary expense for the company, and shifts their focus away from the business. Market share. Unilever’s Ben and Jerry is one of the top ice cream makers in UK and its dominance is set to continue (Lawrence, Morley, 29-June 2011) The Marketing Mix (4 P’s) Marketing mix is the whole process that describes the bringing to market a particular product or service(Mind Tools) It includes the products, place, price, and promotion. There are several concerns that the company should understand before introducing the product to the market. The company should understand what the customer looks for the product, what are the features needed to meet the particular need, what does it look like, what is it to be called, and how is it differentiated. In this concern, the company has aptly met the criteria of 4Ps because there will be no change in the existing price, place, and distribution, except for the design of the product. External analysis Analysis of customers- Being innovative, they create a potential group of customers, the GLB. It is only a small group, and for that a small business concern. Analysis of competition Major competitors, are like Nestle (Pillsbury), Kraft Foods, Dunkin Donuts, and Dean Foods. They also have competition from global food companies with similar products and any grocery store label products. Much of their competition seems to be merging together, in order to remain marketable in this tough economy(Marketing Teacher n.d.) Implication to the theory of consumer behaviour Consumer behaviour is defined as how consumers allocate their money income in goods and services. It is influenced by the rational behaviour, preferences, budget constraints, and prices. A consumer exercises rational behaviour when he uses his money to get full satisfaction. As a rational spender, he wants to get the most from his money and to maximize its full utility. A consumer would also spend according to his preferences from the available products in the market. Consumer is also influenced on how much satisfaction he will get from the product chosen, or its marginal utility. Prices and budget constraints are limiting factors. People buy to satisfy their needs. These needs as identified by Maslow maybe “physical or biological, for safety or security, for love and affiliation, to obtain prestige and esteem, or for love and fulfilment(“Consumer behaviour”) Unilever tried this approach as it linked its product to the people it would like to serve. Understanding consumer behaviour leads to a successful marketing strategy. adoption of a policy, and social marketing. (Perner, Las, 1999) For example. Since Unilever understands the preferences of its target customers, it was able to come up with a strategy that will satisfy the particular needs and preferences. It also leads to a policy. People in UK is supporting the same sex legislation. To get the message across and to catch public attention, Unilever took the step of designing a logo of two males on top of a wedding cake. Understanding consumer behaviour could also be applied to social marketing. Social marketing is getting ideas across to customers rather than selling. Same sex marriage has been debated and discussed by authorities for a long time. The best solution is for a legislation. However, this is deemed to be too difficult to pass. As a result, knowing consumer attitude, Unilever created a campaign that will motivate the senses of people in supporting the legislations. Unilever went on social networking sites to span the idea of supporting the legislation. We now examine the rational behaviour aspect. A rational consumer is one who spends his money wisely. It is measured with utility which is the amount of satisfaction he derives from the product. To be called a rational consumer, he should be able to distinguish between his wants and needs. A need is something that is needed to survive, whereas want isn’t necessary to survive. So buying an ice cream is an irrational choice. Shugan proposes different definition of rationality as the “ability to reason” and “taking the best action” Next is the Preference- the theory of consumer preferences “is the subjective or individual tastes, as measured by utility, of various bundles of goods. Preferences allow the customer to rank these bundles of goods according to the utility the give to consumer. Preferences do not depend on income and prices” (Consumer Preferences, n.d. p.1) For instance, customer can have a preference for one carat diamond ring, but only have the financial means to buy a pearl. In this instant, customers have a preference between the array of ice cream brands offered for sale, but his decision is not based on prices. It is hypothesized that GLB will have a preference for the “Appl-y Everafter “ brand as the ice cream that understands them. Prices and budget constraints. Customers’ preference is also affected by prices and budget constraints. The Preference means which among the choices the customer is willing to give up at a given price and budget constraints. In this discussion, pricing and budget do not have relative effect in choices. The case did not discuss pricing. Conclusion: Based on the above discussions the impact of the marketing strategy shows the following: On Consumer behaviour theory l. Rationality – Buying ice cream is an irrational choice. It is only based on want and not on need. 2. Preferences – 3 quarters of a million in UK are GLBSs. GLB sector are potential buyers. 3. Prices and budget constraints – Sees no objection as price of the ice cream remains the same. On the marketing strategy 1.Internal consistency - The marketing strategy is consistent with the goals, The policy fits with the plan 2.Consistency with environment - Strategy is consistent. It makes sense and respect what is going outside. 3. Appropriateness in view of available resources. Strategy is appropriate in that it supports company objectives. The company is competent in doing innovative ways of marketing. It has the financial resources being backed up by a giant company. This is one of the company’s strengths. 4.Acceptable Degree of risk. A great deal of risk is involved in the strategy because same sex marriage is opposed by many sectors, the religious, for one. Not quantifiable, 5.Appropriate time horizon. Short term only. Novelty wears off once legislation is approved. 6.Workability of the strategy. No quantitative data available to support sales performance and number of respondents who answered the SNS survey. At this stage, presumption is it will work only on the segmented targets and supporters. Any business revolves around the consumer. He/she is the most important person for a business. As such, it is important to integrate understanding of consumer behaviour with the marketing strategy of the company. As it is, based on rationality, ice cream is not a basic item of need. But when it comes to preferences, marketing strategy connotes that it should be adaptable to its environment, so a marketing strategy that is directed to support a widely accepted behaviour is suggested. As other authors conclude, imaginative design is contributory to choice or preference. In this case, the marketing strategy of Ben & Jerry is timely. It can only be a short time goal, so the company should be able to equate its costs of production against foreseeable profit. Company should keep in mind that the life of business is profit, and its social consciousness might put the company in a risk position. Word Count: 2590 References Consumer Preferences,n.d. p.1. www.usi.edu/business/cashel/ http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_94.htm# Mind Tools. TheMarketing Mix and 4Ps. Consumer behaviour. Encyclopaedia of management. http://www.enotes.com/consumer-behavior-reference/consumer-behavior-176682 Marketing Teacher. Ben and Jerry SWOT. (2000) http://www.marketingteacher.com/swot/ben-and-jerrys-swot.html Lawrence, Morley, 29 June 2011. Food Manufacture Co.UK. Major ice cream makers could threaten innovation Key Note) http://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Business-News/Major-ice-cream-players-could-threaten-innovation-Key-Note Marketing Power. 1995. Brand definition. American Marketing Association. Marketingpower.com/_layouts/Dictionary.aspx?dLetter=B Marketing Teacher. Ben and Jerry SWOT. (2000) http://www.marketingteacher.com/swot/ben-and-jerrys-swot.html Perner, Las. 1999. Behavior: The Psychology of Marketing . Usc Marshall, University of Southern California.http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/ Shugan, Steven, . Are consumers rational? Experimental Evidence? Marketing Science, Vol. 25, January-February 2006, pp. 1-7. Paasovarra, Rami, Luomala, Harri T, Pohjanheimo, Terhi,and Sandell, Mari. 15, April 2011. “Understanding consumers brand induced food taste perception : A comparison of brand familiarity – and consumer value – brand symbolism (in)congruity - accounts.” Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Vol. II. Issue 1, pages 11-20, January/February 2012 Sood, Sanjay and Keller, Kevin Kellar, 01 June 2012, The effects of Brand NameStructure on Brand Evaluation Extensions and Parent Brand Dillutions. J ournal of Marketing Research. http://www.marketingpower.com/AboutAMA/Pages/AMA%20Publications/AMA%20Journals/Journal%20of%20Marketing%20Research/TOCs/SUM_2012.3/effects-brand-name-structure.aspx Trudel, Noseworthy J. And Trudel, Remy. 01 December 2011. Looks interesting, but what does it do? Evaluation of Incongruent Product Form depends on positioning. Journal of Marketing Research, 15 June 2012. Read More