Reestablishing the Wyndham Worldwide Brand Identity - Report Example

Marketing Case Analyze Contents Introduction 3 Case Analysis 4 SWOT Analysis 7 Conclusion 8 Works Cited 9 Answer of Questions 10 Introduction WyndhamWorldwide, a leading global industry engaged in hotels, vacations planning and rental business, has adopted a stakeholder oriented marketing strategy to restructure their brand image. Initially, during initial days of the company, in order to expand the business to a significant amount, the company went to aggressive acquisition strategy to expand the market share. Although this approach was quite effective, but in the course of time, this become obsolete and ultimately it results in failures. Often it was found that the company was engaged in fraudulent acquisition with foreign companies which resulted in inconsistency of service quality. Also there was a difficulty in brand positioning because every hotel was planning their branding strategies in different ways. After the global recession in 2008-09, the company went for massive restructuring in order to reposition its brand image. The company has developed key branding strategies to reestablish the company’s brand identity. The diverse brands were enough to create significant differentiation among the target group. In addition to that, the brands are well known to the customers, thus there can be a positive change in company’s marketing performance. Case Analysis Wyndham Worldwide has been engaged in doing businesses with different hotels having distinct brand image. The company’s business is classified into three domains. They are – Hotel business is the primary business of the company. During the initial days of operation, the company largely focused on acquisition of different hotel brands across the world. Although the strategy did not work exceptionally well, it shows a great way of expanding the business. In modern day times, the company is more focused on careful acquisitions of certain foreign brands. Their product portfolio reveals the story of their success. Their hotel group consists of different hotels and resorts across the world. The services provided in these hotels are widely diversified in nature. Wide choice of hotels in a competitive zone resulted in offering numerous alternatives to the consumers. For example, in case of hotel group only, there exists 16-17 large hotels which makes consumer choice difficult. Also the hotels have different positioning strategies of their own, which can be leveraged according to the needs of the customers (Wyndham Worldwide, 2014). Initial strategies by Wyndham During the starting days, the company followed aggressive acquisition strategy to penetrate the market. The acquisition of different hotels across the world is an effective market entry strategy, though it was a too fast approach which resulted in massive debt for the company. As a result, there was a loss of $ 1.36 billion in the year 2009. Present Strategies To overcome this problem, Wyndham Worldwide has adopted the following strategies at present: 1. Acquisition of new hotel brands across countries in a selected manner: The most widely used market entry strategy by Wyndham was acquisition. This quick method is very suitable to gain market share. Acquisition of new hotel brands across the world can be a very effective way to increase the market share even in the declining market. But due to the massive debt disadvantage of this approach, this was proposed to be done in a selected manner by analyzing the market potential of the brand at the first place. 2. Changing branding strategy The branding strategy proposed by Wyndham is now, at present, customer oriented and they promote the family friendly hotels concept in their business. Most of the tourists visit the places with their family members and this approach was an instant success. The hotels were designed in such a manner so as to fit into the local environment and the tourist gets a feeling of the historical context of the place. 3. Stakeholder reorientation: Stakeholder’s value is the most important thing in modern day business. The people associated with the business should be treated with a value added relationship. This can be done by adding benefits to the loyal customers, community development programs and environment friendly programs. A proper approach to reach the stakeholder’s is by socially responsible programs which can not only result in building reputation but also can increase the stakeholder retention rate. 4. Relationship with customers: Customer relationship building is the first criteria for proper customer oriented marketing approach. Proper relationship can be build with existing customers by up scaling the hotel chains and shifting the focus to the wealth vacationer and to the business people. But this does not mean complete ignorance of the budget customers as the budget customers are responsible for generating the largest share of any business. Thus, there was a proposal of introducing budget hotel chains. Additionally, different reward programs and personalized benefit package should be offered to the customers during the experiential marketing phase. There was a lack of focus on the female segment of the tourists. Wyndham has shifted its focus to the business women. There is an introduction of online customer feedback tracking system. 5. Relationship with Communities and environment: Human rights program and philanthropic programs should be included in the principles of the organization for well being of the people surrounding them. Wyndham has proposed to introduce eco friendly products, water treatment facilities and water management approaches to preserve their macro environment. Also the internal and external stakeholders need to be properly educated about the environmental issues. SWOT Analysis Strengths Quality Ethical Leadership Customer Satisfaction Sustainability Corporate Social Responsibility Stakeholder Management Weaknesses Acquisitions of companies with poor reputation leading to poor service standard Inconsistency of service offerings Difficulty in brand positioning due to each hotel’s distinct branding strategy Opportunities Stakeholder orientation can lead to increased business Opportunity of expanding into emerging economics Brands are in different stages of their Product Life Cycle, thus different brands can be offered in different places. Threats Poor business condition in hospitality industry Complacency in integrating corporate culture into global culture. Conclusion In modern day scenario, every service industry is expected to provide value added service to the customer right at the first time. Stakeholder orientation is connected to market share, financial performance, and reputation and employee commitment. In modern day scenario, corporate social responsibility is the key thing in any business’s success. This is required to maintain a strong corporate culture consistent with the environment in which it is residing in. Brand repositioning can only be possible if the company thinks about the stakeholders from a completely different perspective and change the experiential marketing approaches to the customers. Customer centric approach should not be blindly focused on a particular segment, but the approach should be broader and it should focus on the outside environment too. For the purpose of building and retaining a long term stakeholder relationship, the company should be more focused on the macro environment. Works Cited Lollis, Barbara. Wyndham hotels embrace TripAdvisor reviews. USA TODAY. 2012. Web. 27th March 2014. Wyndham Worldwide. Corporate Responsibility. 2014. Web. 27th March 2014. Wyndham Worldwide. Our Brands. 2014. Web. 27th March 2014. Wyndham Worldwide. Our Company. 2014. Web. 27th March 2014. Wyndham Worldwide. Philanthropy. 2014. Web. 27th March 2014. Answer of Questions Q1. How does Wyndhams’ stakeholder orientation create strategic marketing advantage? Answer: The company went for a completely different marketing approach, known as stakeholder relationship management. The way to create strategic marketing advantage using this strategy can be possible through the following ways: 1. Building brand value through effective stakeholder relationship Effective stakeholder responsibility can create strategic competitive advantage using the following ways: Adding benefits to loyal customers can be an effective way of satisfying the existing customers. This can also result in customer retention. The company can engage in community development programs. This can increase brand visibility to a significant degree which can position it in a meaningfully distinct position than its competitors. Environmental friendly practices in business can lead to competitive advantages. Stakeholder satisfaction can be effectively pursued if the company engages in eco friendly practices that can help both the company and the stakeholders (De Lollis, 2012). 2. Corporate Social Responsibility The company has adopted social responsibility programs that can position the company in a trustworthy position. Stakeholder trust is essential in doing any business properly and the five core values of social responsibility which is the key to strategic marketing advantage: Integrity Respect to the community. Individual opportunity and accountability. Customer lives improvement program Communities support (Wyndham Worldwide, 2014). Q2. How do Wyndham’s diverse brands contribute to customer satisfaction and marketing performance? Answer: The diverse brand offerings can lead to customer satisfaction in the following ways: The brands are redesigned with a focus on the customers. This results in customers’ perception about close association with the organization. The company is working in the marketplace for a long period of time. Past experience from this long period reveals that more family friendly atmosphere can be of great advantage because it attracts leisure travelers. Hotel rooms are offered in reasonable price so that customer perceived benefits do not exceed customer perceived costs. The hotels are redesigned to fit in the local environment. It is true that customers may feel interested in the brand, but the iconic and historic/modern aspects associated with the brand makes them unique to the customer. While travelling from different hotels across the globe, the travelers find that the hotels are itself a place to experience the place’s identity. This has result in increased customer satisfaction and marketing performance. Q3. Do the awards and recognition that Wyndham has received for social responsibility and ethics contribute to its financial performance? If so, how? Answer: Wyndham has successfully implemented an extensive ethics promotion program throughout whole organization. The ethics programs were generated with a focus on the trust of company’s stakeholders. The first thing was the code of conduct which is not only integrated with the employees but also with other stakeholders too. The three main aspects of social responsibility programs are diversity, sustainability and philanthropy. In case of diversity, this can be possible by different leadership programs, educational support etc. (Wyndham Worldwide, 2014). In case of sustainability, the company has launched Wyndham green programs to promote education and innovation across the macro environment. This is a way to improve customer lives that can result in greater customer satisfaction and long term customer association which can surely increase financial performance (Wyndham Worldwide, 2014). The third wing for which the company received awards is the philanthropy. Several philanthropic organizations like Chirstel House, which is focused on helping financial backward children; Seriousfun Children’s Network, which aims at organizing programs to help children and their families in reaching new future possibilities. These philanthropic activities have increased company’s reputation and the well-established renowned brand image of the company is more than enough to ensure financial wellbeing (Wyndham Worldwide, 2014). Read More