Issues in Marketing - Essay Example

Issues in Marketing ISSUES IN MARKETING The following is a reflective journal on the contributions of four guest speakers, who gave a talk in our school, to my understanding of contemporary issues in marketing. My main understanding of marketing is that it involves the communication of a service, product, or brand’s value to consumers with the aim of selling or promoting the service, product, or brand (Sandhusen, 2010). However, the speakers gave me another understanding of marketing as a practice and discipline that is in constant transition. While the practices, skills, and knowledge of the initial description stand true and are still relevant, social, environmental, and technological changes have definitely affected them (Blythe, 2013). The speakers took us through a range of topical and emerging issues in contemporary marketing, with Vincent Perrirard presenting mind provoking insights on the branding and positioning of luxury products. Mr. Grant Bester shared his insights on the use of events in strategic marketing, while Noel Mooney discussed the branding of events. Finally, Mr. Henrik Edelbrig introduced the concept of idea generation in integrated marketing communication and advertising. According to Mr. Vincent Perriard, strong brands succeed because they possess relevant, credible, and distinctive promises to the consumer, which they always deliver. He was especially insistent on the importance of understanding the brand’s position in the market and that after identifying its position; everything should be done to market it as delivering its promise to the consumer. According to Riezebos and Grinten (2011), positioning of luxury brand fashion products in the form of differentiated products designed for upmarket customers may take several varieties and forms. Mr. Perrirard gave us a perfect example of this concept, telling us how HYT had earned its position in the market for high-end, luxury watches by creating exclusive timepieces for watch lovers and connoisseurs. Luxury brand products may be positioned in the market on the basis of their function or usage, such as with HYT, as well as on their price and role as substitutes for other products (Sirianni et al, 2013). Positioning of luxury brand products, from my understanding, involves the registration of a clear brand within the retail industry, which has become increasingly challenging and difficult for luxury brands. Mr. Perrirard stated that increasing competition in the luxury brands market, escalation of media costs, and added complexity from high street retailers significantly impact on the appropriateness and accuracy of product positioning. However, Elliot and Percy (2013) suggest that for luxury brand products to sustain their brand, it is crucial for the brands to maintain their identity in the long and short term. Therefore, entering the luxury brand sector seems to be increasingly complicated, especially, in my opinion, due to the saturation of already established markets. Mr. Perrirard mentioned that developed markets are almost saturated in relation to positioning of luxury products, which has meant HYT has had to contend with increased marketing costs. From my understanding, the product must be truly unique to create an uncontested market place, while also creating and capturing new demand. For example, I remember him identifying Hublot as positioning itself as an art of fusion by literally fusing materials. Indeed, Joseph (2010) notes that companies wanting to position brands within the market must combine both brand segmentation and brand differentiation. This was at the crux of Mr. Perrirard’s talk. In this case, the product is differentiated from other product lines competing in the same market and then placed within the correct market segment, which, in turn, leads to brand positioning. However, Hassan and Craft (2012) note that the brand may face a serious challenge if the product is improperly differentiated or if the market segmentation is inappropriate. Mr. Perrirard noted that this challenge could be avoided by identifying the vision for the product and not moving away from that vision. When positioning a product brand, companies like HYT, Hublot, and Starbucks start by identifying a gap within a market that is then targeted as the company’s potential market. I noted that HYT and Hublot, however, also focus on design in positioning their brands and products. Therefore, companies when positioning their luxury products have to identify segments of a saturated market that is not too competitive, after which they differentiate their brand products in order to satisfy the identified gap (Sengupta, 2013). This, in turn, leads to successful and effective brand positioning for these firms. The second speaker, Mr. Grant Bester, identified a different issue in contemporary marketing, talking to us about strategic marketing with events. In this new issue, the speaker identified the importance of talent to inspire people through these events. Event marketing is defined by Masterman and Wood (2014) as the process through which marketers developed a themed display, exhibit, or presentation that is aimed at promoting a specific product by leveraging in-person engagement. Such events, as noted by Mr. Bester, can be sponsored, participated in, or hosted and the activities involved in the promotion aspect can occur via several outbound and inbound marketing techniques. In addition, I also found his assertion that arousing curiosity in the potential consumer is important very interesting, especially in light of the fact that the consumer and the company must first identify the value delivered by the product or service, which has to be the thrust of the event. Marketing with events as part of strategic marketing is important in today’s consumer-centric world, in which marketers must seize on potential opportunities to enhance consumer relationships, as well as earn their trust (Gerritsen & Olderen, 2014). Indeed, I remember hearing Mr. Bester mention that modern consumers are looking for more than a pitch when making purchases or evaluating solutions to their problems. Events, therefore, provide unique opportunities for companies to interact with the brand, while getting an immediate sense of what the personality, perspective, and focus of the company entails (Robinson et al, 2010). Marketing with events must be an essential aspect of demand generation, making them memorable enough to impact on the consumer. Mr. Bester was careful to mention that the desired impact of any event used in marketing is dependent on the company’s goal, but I also think that majority of companies wish for their events to be at least more than a simple staged ad aimed at promoting their brand. From Mr. Bester’s talk, it occurred to me that talent is critical in ensuring that an event is well done, which ensures that the event will create a powerful and lasting impression on the customer. Events allow the customer to interact with and experience the company and its products, in turn enabling the company to connect with potential consumers (Temporal, 2012). Indeed, Jackson (2013) notes that companies and marketers should consider events as an extension of their content and brand marketing, while doing their best to ensure that their events are really engaging. To me, this indicates that events should place the customer at the centre, meaning that the event should be all about the experience of the customer that the company wishes to portray. This leads in to what Mr. Bester was saying when he told us that using events for marketing requires the marketer to have extensive knowledge of the organizational goals of their company. It is this knowledge, he noted, that enable the marketer to influence the behaviour of the consumers in a manner that is beneficial to the company, either through inspiration or manipulation of their experience. Consumers are more likely to gravitate towards a company and, in turn, its products, if they believe that the company shares their beliefs and is just like them (Phillips et al, 2013). Events provide an excellent opportunity to sell the company’s experience to the customer, motivating them to want to know more about the company that shares their beliefs. Marconi (2012) argues that the major reason why companies use events to market their products is to build their brand, especially by using these events to express and cultivate the product’s identity firsthand. Mr. Bester noted the importance of brand positioning through differentiation, which was also well discussed by the first speaker, Mr. Perriard. Both speakers were quite emphatic on the importance of brand positioning, although they approached this concept from different angles. Mr. Bester was more focused on the use of events to send a message about the product, noting that events can be used to share thoughts and ideas in the exact manner the company wishes to present itself, providing a perfect avenue for brand positioning. This also works to aid the company in differentiating itself from its competition, which Mr. Perriard also noted as being crucial to marketing a brand. Some ways in which brands can be positioned through differentiation include customization, as well as creating image conscious brand products for non-conformists (Phillips et al, 2013). To me, events seemed like the perfect tool to achieve this differentiation for brand products. The use of events as a marketing tool was put into even more perspective by Mr. Noel Mooney, who works as a marketing manager for UEFA, and he focused his talk on the Champions League. He noted that UEFA is internationally respected for creating value for football by leveraging its product through broadcast sponsorships. This means that their events must be well managed to protect the brand image (Hoyle, 2012). Again, here was another speaker telling us about the importance of the brand and, therefore, I am already beginning to understand that branding is one of the most important aspect of contemporary marketing practice. In relation to Mr. Mooney’s talk about the UEFA Champions League, it emerged that marketing an event to enhance UEFA’s brand image by leaving a lasting, indelible experience in the minds and hearts of audiences requires the marketer to adopt a holistic and strategic approach. Thinking about this further, I totally agreed with his contention that events must seek to build brand perceptions in the consumer through experience, personality, knowledge, reason, and emotion (Cornwell, 2014). I found a close association between Mr. Mooney’s and Mr. Bester’s assertion, in which they both propose that building a truly positive impression of a company’s brand requires companies to build relationships and trust with the customers. In my opinion, the UEFA Champions League follows a ‘build it and they will come’ stance by branding their Champions League event. Branding allows companies and institutions like UEFA to separate their brand from its competition, such as the domestic leagues and FIFA branded tournaments. Funk (2013), states that a memorable event brand name has a higher chance of standing out in crowded markets by making the branded event more unique. Mr. Mooney told us of how UEFA marketers have developed strong brand partnership deals and marketing platforms aimed at promoting the European game, in turn making their brand name more memorable to football fans. One of the things that most stood out from Mr. Mooney’s talk was the idea that branded events like the Champions League can help build a community around the company, in this case UEFA. Saget (2011) argues that anyone who spends money and time to attend a branded event is already boosting the image and prestige of the brand and that, therefore, the consumers attending these branded events must be treated with honour, and their opinion on the event sought to make them better advocates for the brand. Possibly the most difficult theme presented during the speaker sessions was Mr. Henrik Edelbring’s talk on idea generation in advertising and Intergrated marketing communication, which was a slightly different view of contemporary marketing compared to the other three speakers, although it was still concerned with branding. Shah and D’Souza (2014), state that determining the type of message that will communicated by an ad constitutes the creative strategy, while the determination of how this creative strategy is to be executed constitutes the creative tactic. Indeed, as noted by both Mr. Edelbring and Mr. Perriard, while a company may possess a distinct and brilliant brand that offers products of high quality, it is still essential that this message is communicated to the customers, which is where advertising comes in. A creative team would have to be set up, echoing Mr. Bester’s assertion that talent is essential in branding, to generate the right ideas for communicating the brand message (Shah and D’Souza, 2014). In fact, Duncan (2012) argues that the production of a unique ad campaign requires the involvement of creative talents to generate ideas required for the business to gain a competitive advantage. This immediately reminded me of Young’s steps of the creation process, such as immersion, digestion, incubation, illumination, and verification, which I believe are essential to idea generation in advertising. Idea generation also plays a critical role in integrated marketing communications according to Mr. Edelbring, especially with regards to the use of creative thinkers who can blend technology and design to help ideas take shape. Moriarty et al (2012) define integrated marketing communication as a strategic process of marketing designed to specifically ensure the unification of all communications and messaging strategies across all channels, as well as ensuring that these channels are centred on the consumer. From Mr. Edelbring’s insightful remarks, it can be deduced that IMC is emphatic on the identification and assessment of the customer’s prospects, which means that all messages are tailored to customer prospects that are profitable and serviceable. This would, obviously, require idea generation if the marketing process is to be transformed into a profit-centre rather than an expense. Idea generation, therefore, is an essential part of both advertising and integration on marketing communications. Duncan (2013) identifies the identification of customers from behavioral data as an important role played by creative talents in marketing, followed by valuation of the customer prospects. Idea generation would then come in during the stage where the marketer is required to create and deliver incentives and messages, specifically to ensure that the message being communicated is coherent and insightful to the consumer. Most importantly, as marketing efforts shift towards niche marketing and away from mass advertising, companies have turned to integrated marketing communications in developing advertisements that deliver customer value, while achieving cost efficiency (Duncan, 2013). In conclusion, the four speakers really made an impression on my current understanding of marketing as a practice and a discipline, especially with their emphasis on the importance of branding for today’s marketers. Mr. Bester and Mr. Mooney provided a different perspective on branding by identifying the importance of events in enhancing the brand image perception of consumers. On the other hand, Mr. Perriard enhanced my understanding on the importance of branding a product in order to position it in the correct market niche where it is likely to be most profitable, especially as markets become more saturated. Finally, Mr. Edelbring furthered this concept by identifying the move away from mass marketing towards niche marketing, which necessitates the positioning of brands through advertising and IMC to ensure cost-effectiveness. References Blythe, J. (2013). Marketing. London: SAGE Publications. Cornwell, T. B. (2014). 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