Mazda Positioning a Product Line - Essay Example

Mazda – Positioning a product line Introduction Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) is a concept that involves integration of all the marketing communication tools and sources in order to create an impact on the decision making process of consumers. (MMC Learning, 2010) Communication is very much important to reach the customers and to inform them about the existence and use of a product. But simple communication does not make a difference to them. Therefore, in order to make it effective, different marketing tools are used along with this. The concept of reaching customers was previously known simply as marketing or marketing communication. But over years companies have recognised the importance of being closer to the customers. Marketers identified the importance of emphasizing on the process of communication and the channels used for communicating. This led to the emergence of IMC. IMC is all about strengthening the relationship of the brand with the consumers. This is where communication plays the lead role. (Karthik, 2003) Marketing communication is aimed at retaining customers than to acquire customers. A more advanced form involves selecting customers whereby the most prospective customers are identified. (Smith & Taylor, 2004) The importance of marketing communication is evident from the way marketers and management experts view advertisement. There was a period when advertisements were criticised and portrayed as a social evil. But nowadays, companies approach advertising as a long term investment. (Stanley et.al., 1992) This marketing report is aimed at analysing the product positioning efforts done by Mazda. The case is analysed in detail in the report. The main intention of the report is to study and analyse the various IMC concepts used by Mazda in the various product positioning efforts. Main body This part of the report will give a clear idea about the role of IMC in the marketing activities followed by Mazda. The first part will deal with the role of IMC in marketing Mazda’s Protege Line. The new marketing effort was a very big challenge for the company because it involved changing the total customer perception about a product. Television ads are one of the most effective tools of IMC. Internet is another powerful tool of marketing. (Richards & Brown, 2006) A company that intends to establish or re-establish a brand can depend usually on these prominent sources of advertising. (Shimp, 2007) It is necessary that the advertisement should be appealing to the target audience. An ad that is targeted at a particular group should contain those message and information that are appealing to them. Mazda’s intention of re-branding Protégé was to position it as a car for young enthusiasts. Women usually spend lot of time in front of TV. This was the reason why Mazda chose to use TV for the new Protégé ad. Mazda wanted to place the car in the minds of the customers as a car that can be used for hang out and also for fun drive. This is the reason why the ads of new Protégé were done in a very stylish manner with music in the background. The TV ads of new Protégé communicated the message in the most effective manner. The effectiveness of the ad was evident from the marketing research conducted thereafter. Mazda used internet because young individualistic female spend a lot of time on internet browsing. Yahoo was one of the popular web portals in internet. People use Yahoo for mailing, web chatting, news reading, etc. Mazda identified the potential of this portal and that is the reason why the new Protégé ad was shown in Yahoo. Advertisement appeals are an important factor that determines the success of a campaign. In the case of a campaign like this, the appeals should mostly be youth oriented. Creative appeals are an important component of an ad campaign. Appeals should be according to the type of customers who are targeted. The right usage of appeal will help a marketer to attract the right audience. Mazda had made a successful appeal strategy for the campaign by using youth, romance, masculine/feminine, music, and emotional appeals for their product positioning campaign. It is evident that the masculine and feminine appeal used was very effective. In the first campaign more of feminine appeal was used to attract female buyers. Later on, the car was given a sporty outlook to attract male buyers. This is where masculine appeal was effectively used. Usage of emotional appeals like fun, joy, happiness, etc helped the company to increase market share and attract more female customers. (Ambekar, 2009) It can be seen that the promotional activities of the company was highly effective. The price was adjusted by the company as per the target market. Thus the importance of maintaining a consistency promotion and other P’s of marketing is evident from the case. Now the next part of the case can be seen. The decision to drop the “Get In. Be Moved” tagline and adopt “Zoom-Zoom” as the tagline was another strategic move made by Mazda. The theory of creative strategy, campaign theme, etc applies to this move by Mazda. Creative strategy is as important in a marketing activity as any other function. A good creative strategy determines how well a product is presented to a customer. Creative strategy is usually employed in the taglines and presentation of the advertisement. All creative strategies are aimed at building a brand identity. It is the brand identity that leads to brand image. Brand identity together with brand image forms the reputation of the brand. Therefore creative strategy is a most important component for creating a brand reputation. All IMC activities are ultimately aimed at creating a brand reputation. (Drewniany & Jewler, 2008) The main challenge for Mazda was to create brand identity and image. The case of Mazda can be analysed in the light of this theory. The theme “Get in. Be moved” sounded like a car that offers a good ride. The new theme “Zoom-Zoom” was intended to create an attention rather than to communicate something in particular. The decision to change to new tagline cannot completely be said as a good move. Both the older as well as the newer taglines have their advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage of the first theme is that it gives the consumer a message of a good ride. It was also simple to understand for any people. But the main disadvantage of the tagline is that it did not communicate anything particular. It was more of a generalised statement. The case of Zoom-Zoom theme is a bit different. The main advantage is that the new theme easily attracted the attention of every people. The advertisements that shows people enjoy their fullest coupled with the theme Zoom-Zoom created big impact on the consumers. The sole intention of new theme is to place the brand as a fun to drive car. In this regard it can be said that the new theme was very effective than the previous one. While taking the product range, positioning, competition, firm objectives and marketing objectives, it can be said that the decision to change into new tagline was a right decision made by Mazda. Mazda’s intention for the Protégé brand was to position it as a fun to drive car for the young women and men. Apart from that the firm objective of Mazda is to position the company as the one that produces sportier, fun to drive cars. For achieving this, the best theme is Zoom-Zoom, than the previous one. The new theme also went along properly with the marketing objective of Mazda. It is evident from the first usage of new tagline. The company wanted to position the new SUV as an SUV with the soul of a sports car. The new tagline “Zoom-Zoom” served the purpose well. It is equally important to assess the future course of action of Mazda. Market today is highly competitive than before. Marketing strategies used for yesterday’s situation becomes useless for the same situation today. Similarly, the strategies that are used today become useless for tomorrows marketing environment. Mazda was very much effective in the marketing strategies adopted for Protege and other major brands. All the brands had a unified tagline. But as the marketing environment is changes, the requirements, needs and aspirations of the customers also changes. Product perceptions of consumers can very easily get transformed. (Cassedy, 2002) Mazda’s approach to promotion is effective and timely. When they identified a change in the market they reacted and designed the marketing campaigns accordingly. When the company wanted to reposition the Protege brand, they did it with utmost care. The same approach can also be followed in future. But the company will have to consider certain factors while they follow the same approach in future. The needs of customers will change over years. Mazda decided to reposition Protege when they identified that more young women would like to own fun to drive cars. But it does not mean that it will continue in future. May be in the future, young women would like to have SUV’s than small cars. Therefore such technical changes should always be tracked by the company while they frame strategies. The IMC approach of Mazda, that is, one theme for all models is not a sustainable business strategy. It can be sustainable so far that all products of the company are of the same category. As the company moves into future the need for greener cars will be high. The company also manufactures luxury sedans which need a completely distinct product image. Therefore, a single theme for the whole product line will not be very effective in future. The company should keep apart the luxury segment from the main theme. Conclusion This report has given a clear idea about the application of IMC concepts and theories in a real business environment. Mazda has adopted a good IMC strategy to position and reposition the brand Protege. From the analysis it is clear that IMC is highly important for the marketing activities of a company. The sole aim of any marketing activity is to win the customer confidence and Mazda has done its best to achieve it. The success of a marketing strategy depends on how well a company uses IMC concepts in its marketing campaign as Mazda did. Works cited MMC Learning, 2010. Marketing Communications. [Online] Available at: http://www.multimediamarketing.com/mkc/marketingcommunications/ [Accessed 7 May 2010] Deval Karthik, 2003. Role of communication in strengthening brand relationship. [Online] Available at: http://www.mica-india.net/academicsandresearch/vol.1(c).pdf [Accessed 7 May 2010] Paul, Russell, Smith. & Jonathan Taylor., 2004. Marketing communications: an integrated approach. 4th ed. London: Kogan Page Limited. Don, E. Schultz., Stanley, I. Tannenbaum., & Robert, F. Lauterborn., 1992. Integrated marketing communications. 1st ed. Lincolnwood: NTC Publishing Group. Rene, V. Richards & Bruce, C. Brown., 2006. Online Marketing Success Stories. Florida: Atlantic Publishing Group Inc. Terence, A. Shimp, 2007. Advertising, Promotion and other aspects of Integrated Marketing Communication. 8th ed. South Western Cengage Learning. Ashwini, Ambekar, 2009. Different types of advertising appeals. [Online] Available at: http://www.articleswave.com/advertising-articles/types-of-advertising-appeals.html [Accessed 7 May 2010] Bonnie, L. Drewniany, & A. Jerome Jewler. Creative Strategy in Advertising. 9th ed. Lyc Uhl. Kathleen, Cassedy, 2002. Introduction: Marketing Strategies in a Changing Environment. [Online] Available at: http://www.atme.org/pubs/members/75_307_1295.cfm [Accessed 7 May 2010] Read More