International Advertising Campaign - Illustration Using Cisco Systems Inc - Research Paper Example

International Advertising Campaign: Illustration using Cisco Systems Inc. Competitive Position, Marketing Strategy and Marketing Mix Cisco Systems Inc. is the leading supplier of products and services used in computer networking all through the world. The product line associated with the organization includes the likes of remote access devices, switches, routers as well as internet service devices among others. The company has been engaging in constant innovation in order to improve its global competitive position. The Viking project that was aimed at implementing the high-end router is one of the endeavors that have helped Cisco attain such a state. As pertains to brand positioning, the company has created in the minds of its target clients the idea that the Cisco-offered internet utilities and services are capable of transforming the way individuals work, learn, play and live, and the Cisco Networking Academy (CNA) Program is spearheading this great transforming. Since 1984 when it was founded, the company has overwhelmingly dominated the network equipment world making a number of network administrators to attest to the idea that they never see any burden channeling intensive funds to acquire Cisco products and services. Indeed, the overall cost of Cisco-produced routers and switches surpasses the prices issued by a number of the competitor firms, but this has steel left businesses perceive the Cisco tools as the way to go for safe and efficient network practices. The company has also been credited for producing reliable products that target a wider range of global customers (Wylie 33). As a way to evade the high rates associated with Cisco networking products, some consumers have often tried exploring products from competitor firms, but they have always ended up settling for Cisco tools. The organization also employs a strategic approach to marketing adventures as a way to increase revenue. This has been realized through an active research unit that pursues custom research on the prevailing market trends then uses the findings to advise the company on best approaches to design adverts. Some areas of focus during research adventures include brand positioning, buying behaviors, price elasticity and advertising among others. The organization also uses business intelligence tools like database analysis and reporting tools. These tools provide benefits like offering insights plus directions ahead of market planning and execution and delivering incremental values obtained from data-generated models that are applied to different marketing programs. Current Advertising and IMC Strategies The company advertises its products through Cisco mConcierge program. At the most basic level, the program engages Cisco’s global partners to create demand for the Cisco-offered services and products through numerous automated marketing adventures. Often times, the advertising messages to be conveyed during the adventures are founded on collaborative marketing plans that are customized to meet the unique needs (typically goals and budget) of the target clients. To this end, the program has shown an ability to aid Cisco’s growth via global partners. Cisco also uses online platforms to advertise its products and services. On Facebook, Cisco features an official page for its products and another page for its network academy program. These platforms have been instrumental in meeting Cisco’s promotional needs like making the training program know and announcing the arrival of new products prior to delivery in the market. Further, Cisco uses its official site, Facebook and Twitter pages to promote its $100 million “Tomorrow Starts Here” campaign. Competitive Environment, Market and Consumer Trends The cloud, security and VoIP concepts all seem to be on rise within different organizational contexts. To catch up with consumer trend, Cisco is already devoting efforts to provide their aforementioned utilities to their target clients. Certainly, this move will help the company to actualize its market growth aspirations. At present, cisco engages in intensive innovative practices coupled with strategic partnership just to enhance its technologies and to improve the well-being of the entire organization. One instance of efforts aimed at improving its services is the technology integration effort involving Cisco and Microsoft, which is intended to increase the scope of cloud service provider partners associated with the company thus allowing it to tap Microsoft Azure utility in a simpler way. Cisco’s computer networking products also face competition from the likes of HP, Dell and IBM. For instance, HP Procurve switches are known to directly compete with Cisco-produced switches. Sources however point that Cisco is the definite leader of this enterprise (Wylie 31; Lucas 147). However, some of the products from Cisco have been established to bear power efficiency levels that are lower than the competitor firms. Cisco’s blade solution provides a better reflection on this through the figure 1 shown here below. Figure 1 showing the power efficiency of Dell, HP and Cisco blade solution Nonetheless, CISCO still has the largest share of local area network (LAN) equipment used in the network arena as shown in figure 2 below. Figure 2 showing the LAN equipment vendor used Objectives of the Advertising Campaign The objectives of this advertising campaign include: To keep the target clients as updated as possible with the new innovations like the Cisco cloud service. To increase the use of social media platforms in reaching its clients To provide advisory services on how to use the anticipated dividends on new markets to dictate the level of financial investment Advertising Campaign Rationale for the campaign Cisco is not left out in the tough economic times befalling different business contexts. In essence the situation calls for firm to invest intensively on advertising in market areas that are likely to result into more dividends and probably freeze expenditures on market avenues that are not as promising in terms of raising revenue for the company. It is good that the technological changes and discoveries have the potential of coming to the company’s rescue in this perspective. Thus, the company needs to initiate meaningful branding campaigns that integrate the pieces of information borne by the print media, social network platforms along with augmented reality to inform advertising decisions. Special Consideration for International Focus The target markets to be given special considerations as far as the advertising campaign is concerned are India, Asia and other developing countries. In spite of these markets fetching lower revenues because of their low financial endowment, change of advertising paradigms could still help Cisco reap some dividends out of the promotional messages targeting the consumers therein. One way to manifest this change would be to increase the number of marketing allies and ecosystems inside the stated countries in order to strike a balance between the adverting plans and the prevailing consumer needs in the victim countries (Zhang and Jianjun 331). Creative Process for the Campaign To increase the knowledge of customers on the newly invented products, Cisco could consider using a host of social media utilities like You Tube, Facebook, Twitter and Flicker. On you tube, Cisco could provide up to date video clips of virtual tutors explaining the use of the new cloud utility. On Facebook, Cisco could create an official page to allow its marketing crew to shed more light on what the recent cloud adventure is up to. Additionally, the marketing team could use Facebook as platform to address concerns and worries from the prospective clients whose attention are drawn to the cloud utility. On Twitter, Cisco could create a page that harbors tweets that pertain to the confession of fellows who are already using the cloud platform. On Flicker, Cisco could create slideshows offering pictorial explanations of why the Cisco-offered cloud service is expected to be better than what competitor firms like Amazon Web Service can offer in the cloud arena. To explore the market opportunities in the developing countries, Cisco will need to create more and more marketing aliases in the victim countries. One of the areas of focus as pertains to this measure would be to devote more effort towards establishing and alienating the challenges as well as the opportunities in these countries in a more specific and realistic manner then look for a unified understanding, buy-in and articulation amongst the stakeholders of the advertising campaigns. Some of the quick questions to ask as pertain to the advertising endeavor include “what are the needs unique to these market sectors and what impact does that have on the dimension of our advertising campaign?” The Practical and Technical Considerations for the Campaign Evidently, the data expected to inform the advertising choices will be obtained from desperate sources that may not allow the use of formal database management systems like SQL Server or Oracle (Srinivasa and Vasudha 46). Consequently, the company might need to invest in NoSQL database systems in order to guarantee that the conclusions driven from the aforementioned information sources are true reflections of the reality on the ground. Cisco, being more financial empowered, is better placed to invest in NoSQL database systems in order to accurately analyze customer data from desperate sources. In a practical sense, the proposal for this advertising campaign comes at a moment when what a company might deem strategic might not be strategic as per se (Taylor 198). This is in part attributed to the dynamic nature of the consumer preferences and the unpredictable nature of the foreign trade policies associated with some market areas that Cisco seeks to explore through its advertising campaign. As a way to make the campaign truly strategic, Cisco might need to frequently and intensively engage its research unit with the aim of finding out the realities on the ground before the organizations can invest in various advertising channels. There is no doubt that this would call for defining campaign strategies that can remain as responsive as possible to the dynamic market trends. Works Cited Lucas, Michael W. Cisco Routers for the Desperate: Router and Switch Management, the Easy Way. San Francisco: No Starch Press, 2009. Print. Srinivasa, Srinath, and Vasudha Bhatnagar. Big Data Analytics: First International Conference, Bda 2012, New Delhi, India, And December 24-26, 2012: Proceedings. Heiderberg: Springer, 2012. Internet resource. Taylor, Alice K. Strategic Thinking for Advertising Creative. , 2013. Print. Wylie, Kimberly. SWOT Analysis of Cisco Systems, Inc. München: GRIN Verlag GmbH, 2009. Internet resource. Zhang, Zhi-Xue, and Jianjun Zhang. Understanding Chinese Firms from Multiple Perspectives. , 2014. Internet resource. Read More