The Importance of Marketing in the Various Industries - Assignment Example

Paper Submitted by: XXXXXX Number: XXXXXX of XXXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXX Submission: XX – XX – 2009 Number of words: (Excluding Bibliography) Introduction: Marketing is an essential element of every business, irrespective of the industry or the product. This paper aims at discussing some essential elements of marketing. The paper is sub divided into three main sections. The first section will deal with review of two articles that have been provided in marketing magazine. This comparison allows the readers to differentiate among the marketing plans of the two companies. The second section of the paper deals with the providing a summary for the literature review of another article, ‘The Naked Truth of Celebrity Endorsements’. The final section of this paper will deal with identifying an available job and listing out the key skills required for the job. The choice of the job is based on the academic skills that have been gained from the course and a job that interests me. Section 1: The two chosen articles for this report include: a) Joe Thomas’s: Tesco’s ‘eat – in’ premium’, and b) ‘Growing a Treat’. A brief summary of the two articles and the main points of discussion will be discussed here: Joe Thomas’s - Tesco’s ‘Eat – In’ premium: The article by Joe Thomas highlights the techniques used by Tesco to improve the sales of its brands. The company has introduced into the markets a way for people to save on going to a restaurant and having the pleasure of eating the same style, and type of food within the comfort of their homes. Tesco is known for the value products that it provides the high quality that it provides. In an interview with Mark Ritson, and associate professor of marketing, he explains, ‘It simply means a very small proportion of consumers want to pay a bit more for high-quality restaurant-style food at home, he adds. Compared with the alternative - eating out at a restaurant - this is a classic recessionary product. It might cost more than other items in Tesco, but its a third of the price of having the same meal on the high street’. This he explains is the sign of excellent consumer segmentation by Tesco. There is also a comparison that has been made with Sainsbury and their trick of marketing using a healthier and cheaper mode of cooking. The company has made a success story with their ‘try team’. Growing a Treat: This article has been developed keeping in mind the affects of recession on the various industries across the world. The article however has provided a very different view of the current events that take place in the cookies and biscuits sector of the industry. The article has discussed about the market leaders of the industry and has also included the statistics of the sales of the biscuits in the industry. The article has also included a discussion on the packaging of a product and how it has a major effect on the sales of the product as well. This is clearly noted in the article, which reads, ‘Ryvita, a subsidiary of Associated British Foods, has a wide range of biscuits with Crispbreads, Thins and Minis variants. This year it introduced redesigned recyclable packaging for better standout and, despite the controversy over her gastric-band ·aided weight loss, the brand continues to use TV presenter Fern Britton as its champion’. This brings out the importance of packaging of a product for its success. Thus it has been clearly seen that both these articles deals with an essential element of marketing, i.e. packaging. The next section will deal with another essential element of marketing, i.e. celebrity endorsements and its affects on the brand image and brands overall. Section 2: ‘The Naked Truth of Celebrity Endorsements’ is an excellent article that has been presented by Angela Byrne and Maureen Whitehead. The article is mainly based on the campaign developed by Sainsbury. The campaign includes the famous chef Jamie Oliver also referred to as ‘The Naked Chef’. The article firstly provides a brief about Sainsbury following which a detailed explanation of Jamie Oliver’s campaign has been included. The authors have created a very well planned and designed article and have provided a strong history of celebrity endorsements. The main focus of the literature review has been to provide readers with a better idea of the various celebrity endorsements in the past and their effects on the buying behaviour of the customers. A statement in the literature review reads, ‘The company can build characters that are congruent with their brands and target audiences. Companies have very little control over the celebritys persona, as this has been created over the years (Tom et al., 1992)’ (The Naked Truth of Celebrity Endorsements, 2003). An essential aspect that has not been completely discussed in the paper includes the importance of how the celebrity endorsements affect the overall image of a company (Iacobucci, 2001). The companies producing luxurious and exclusive products are not able to penetrate the mass markets, which is an opportunity and a lot of money is turning around in the mass markets. In the current era, it is important for all companies to get the most out of what they can, in order to compete and get a slice from this segment of the markets without harming the exclusivity of the own brand. When marketing the products, the addressed segment should still be the same segments which consists the people who consume luxury goods but the people from the other segments should also be affected. The people in lower level (by income) segments are following many public figures very closely. Using these kinds of celebrities, public figures and creating a culture following this line, in addition could create a desire to these products. This is a major element which should have also been taken into consideration for the article. Although the authors have provided a very strong and well written out statement for the concept of celebrity endorsements, which reads, ‘Attractiveness encompasses similarity, familiarity and likeability’ (Triandis, 1971). ‘Similarity is the supposed resemblance between the source and the receiver; familiarity arises through knowledge of the source via repeated exposure. Likeability occurs from affection for the source due to their physical appearance, behaviour or other personal characteristics. Source attractiveness leads to persuasion through a process of identification - the receiver is motivated to seek a relationship with the source and adopts a similar position in terms of beliefs, attitudes, preferences or behaviour’ (Belch and Belch, 1995) (The Naked Truth of Celebrity Endorsements, 2003). The article overall has taken into consideration several different examples of celebrity endorsements and has used this to explain the effectiveness of Sinsbury’s advertisements with Jamie Oliver (Prasad and Girdhar, 2005). It is clear that although the celebrity endorsements are increasing every single day, the level of trust is not present. Also the endorsements are in no way the basic criteria for any product. Section 3: In the current scenario where the companies are now recovering and moving forward from the recessionary period, marketing jobs have increased to a great extent. There are several jobs that are available in the market (Jobber, 2004). One of the various jobs that I came across and liked included a job at Kraft Foods. The job requires a candidate to participate in the Graduate Management Programmes and be a part of the programme and work in various different fields. The company ranks among the top few companies and has several offices in several other countries across the world. The job requires skills including: Search engine Optimisation, New Media Websites, Web Marketing Technologies, Good Web editing, and excellent understanding of the web back – end, Knowledge of Web 2.0 technologies, Knowledge of Pay Per click Campaigns, Knowledge of Affiliate marketing, Knowledge of Content consultancy, Competitor analysis. These skills although might not seem to be directly related to the job, will prove to be very helpful. As a graduate, working in a job means having to introduce newer ideas and improvements within the company at all times. The job is of great interest as it deals with the latest technologies and the company is very keen on ensuring that the candidates possess good knowledge on web marketing techniques. Kraft foods truly require a better and more new media form of marketing to assist the company grow to greater heights. Search Engine optimisation, pay per click campaigns and other related marketing techniques are slowly becoming a major part of every business and the company requires a candidate interested in this part of the business. I fit the requirements of the company in terms of: a) I am a self starter and very committed to what I do, b) I have good written and communication skills, c) high levels of initiatives and self driven, d) good judgement making and decision making skills, and e) Good skills for time management This job will prove to be very helpful for me in the future as the main focus and area of the job is my area of interest. Also the commitment and interest that is required by an employee can only be useful for a company if the company also shows the same level of commitment and interest in the employees as well. From the website of the company, I feel that the company is one where employees are given an opportunity to improvise on their skills. The working environment for this company is one which allows for constant development and improvement and involves an overall experience of work, training and studies for the employees. The company also focuses on constant improvements for employees at all times which will be very helpful as I believe in constantly working towards improving my skills. Personal Reflection and Conclusions: The paper has dealt with marketing and the importance of marketing in the various industries. The paper has allowed me to realise my area of interest and the area of marketing where I wish to pursue my future career. Before working on the assignment I was unsure of the branch of marketing I wanted to join. Now I am sure that the online marketing and ecommerce is my area and I wish to work in this field. Working on this paper has helped me gain a better perspective of the requirements of companies in the market and also has provided me with a chance to improve my skills based on the requirements of companies and the current trends in the markets. Bibliography Belch, G.E. and Belch, MA (1995), Introduction to Advertising and Promotion - An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective, 3rd ed., Irwin Publishing, New York, NY. Byrne, A., Whitehead, M, & Breen, S., (2003), The Naked Truth of Celebrity Endorsements, British Food Journal, Vol. 105, Bo. 4 / 5, pp. 288 - 296 Iacobucci, Dawn. (2001). Kellogg on Marketing, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. Jobber, D., 2004, Principles and Practice of Marketing, 4th Edition, McGraw – Hill, Berkshire Prasad, S.B. and Girdhar, R. (2005). Impact of Celebrity Endorsements on Overall Brand. Indian Institute of Management. http://www.coolavenues.com/know/mktg/surabhi1.php. (accessed 20 Apr 2009). Tom, G., Clark, R., Elmer, L., Grech, E., Masetti, J. and Sandhar, H. (1992), "The use of created versus celebrity spokesperson in advertisements", The Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 45-51. Triandis, H.C. (1971), Attitudes and Attitude Change, Wiley, New York, NY. Read More