Peculiarities of Successful Marketing - Case Study Example

Whatever, Anything: A Case Study in Successful Marketing Assignment MK 314 The food and beverages market is an intensely competitive one and over the past few decades, few have successfully penetrated this market. The beverages market is dominated by a handful of multinational corporations, each of which produces an incredibly wide range of beverages to suit a variety of tastes. Not only is it extremely difficult to compete against beverages' manufacturers such as Coke, Pepsi or Nestle, but it is just as difficult to launch a successful local beverages outlet/caf. Competing against Costa, Starbucks or Columbus, to name but a few, is a daunting prospect and a highly risky venture. Whatever, Anything, a local Singaporean beverages product manufactured by Out of the Box Pte., has successfully met the challenges of the prospect of intense competition and has successfully penetrated into this seemingly closed market. Marketing is the Key Even though the market situation, as outlined above, communicates the impression of the beverages' market as a closed one, this is not entirely true. The key is marketing. Maoz and Tybout (2002) contend that a well-design marketing campaign is based on the accurate identification of the product's most likely consumer segment and speaks to potential consumers in their language, addressing their needs and even personality traits/quirks, A marketing campaign which subscribes to the principles of advertising and communication excellence will facilitate a new form/product's successful entry into an otherwise closed and highly competitive market. Excellence But what is excellence in marketing, communications and advertising According to Hastings and Saren (2003), the theory of excellence in marketing is predicated on the principles of social marketing and interpersonal communication or, at least, the impression of it. In order to give the impression of interpersonal communication with consumers and, as such, garner their loyalty to the product, it is imperative that both the nature of the product meet consumer expectations and demands and the campaign in question combine between public relations and social marketing (Hastings and Soren, 2003). Expounding upon the characteristics of successful campaigns, Barlow-Hills and Soren (2003) begin with the concepts of product choice and innovation. The product must address a market need or aspiration and, within the context of highly competitive markets, be innovative enough to attract consumer attention. While the fulfillment of this first requirement invaluably contributes to the market success of a product, success is ultimately predicated on the marketing and communications campaign which introduces the product to consumer and incites an interest in it, and desire for its possession. Such a campaign, according to Barlow-Hills and Soren (2003) is characterized by innovativeness, on the one hand, and the exploitation of the language and the lifestyles of its targeted consumer market segment, on the other. Whatever, Anything fulfils the two requirements for success outlined in the preceding. The product, per se, may not be innovative since, as already mentioned, the beverages market is practically saturated with drinks to suit all tastes and age groups. Anything is a group of carbonated and Whatever a group of non-carbonated cold drinks. In other words, the product is not new in itself and hardly offers consumers something which is not already present in the market. What is new is the concept behind the product. Both Whatever and Anything come in six different flavors each but are packaged in generic cans with non-identifiers. Accordingly, the customer does not know which flavor he/she will receive, bringing the element of surprise into the equation. in other words, even though the product is not innovative, its manufactures, Out of the Box Pte., imposed innovation upon it through its packaging. It is, thus, that the first requirement for successful marketing was satisfied - product innovation. The satisfaction of the second requirement for the successful market performance of consumer goods was basically in the hands of Out of the Box's advertising and marketing agency, Clear Channels. The product, needless to say, specifically targets a very well-defined consumer segment - the youth, young executives and the experimenters. Its appeal is to the youthful, the experimental and the risk-taking spirit. Hence, its marketing and communications campaign must not only target that segment but reflect the youthful, experimental and risk-taking spirit of the product's targeted group. The two highly popular television advertisements launched as part of the Anything, Whatever marketing campaign reflect this spirit. The focus in both is on youth and the communication gap between the generations/different personality types. This is a very well chosen focus not only because the communication gap is something which the youth are constantly complaining about but because by acknowledging it in the ads, the product is embracing its targeted consumer group and sending them the message that they know their likes and dislikes, understand their problems/annoyances and believe in their aspirations and lifestyle. In this way, the campaign, just as the product, engages in what seems to be a form of interpersonal communication with its consumers. The success of the Anything, Whatever marketing campaign is only partly explained by the above mentioned. A deeper understanding of how and why this campaign facilitated the successful entry of Whatever, Anything into an intensely competitive, even closed, market is dependant upon a comprehension of marketing theory. "Brand As Person" According to Rothschild (2001), Aaker's concept of the brand-as-person is one of the most important and relevant perspectives for successful consumer product branding and marketing. Rothschild argued that marketers who seek to bolster a specific product and brands should "focus on the brand as person and the meaning of the brand. When we can associate our offering with the enhancement of the target's life experiences and the realization of the target's goals, we are more likely to achieve commitment" (p. 39). The implication here is that successful marketing is predicated on the embrace of the consumer as a person, an individual, and not on his treatment as a faceless collectivity. This is precisely what Clear Channel achieves in its campaign, largely facilitated by the nature of the product itself. The advertisements, the campaign, may not mirror individual consumers; personalities but they certainly do reflect their worldview, albeit in exaggerated and comical form. Added to that, the product packaging is a reflection of the risk-taking, excitement-seeking spirit of the targeted consumers. In this way, the brand seems to embrace its consumers and, to a large extent, emerge as one with the consumers - something which has arisen from amongst them. As such, Whatever, Anything is "brand as person." "Brand As Symbol" Aaker's (1996) concept of the brand-as-symbol is another perspective that is particularly important and relevant successful consumer product branding. Aaker (1996) claimed that a strong symbol "can provide cohesion and structure to an identity and make it much easier to gain recognition and recall" (p. 84). He mentioned three types of symbols: visual imagery, metaphors, and the brand's heritage. Verbal symbols such as slogans (or logos that contain slogans) are also important in aiding brand awareness and recognition. Visual imagery, metaphors, and verbal symbols are particularly applicable to health issue branding. Associating a product with a visual image and accompanying metaphor can be a particularly memorable and powerful way to spread awareness of new products within highly competitive markets. Whatever, Anything's packaging is, supposedly, a symbol of a particular generation. The advertisement and marketing campaign confirms it as such by stressing that it is understood only by the in' crowd and misunderstood and not appreciated by others. The success of the campaign, therefore, and the product's successful penetration into a seemingly closed market lies in the fact that it has been portrayed and popularized as a symbol. Social Marketing of Consumer Goods By humanizing its consumers and by projecting the product as inspired by its target group and symbolic of it, Clear Channel has integrated marketing principles with public relations one and consumer marketing with social marketing. Public relations serves a pivotal role in building the identity of a consumer brand by helping to integrate the components of the brand that are implemented in a campaign. From a social marketing perspective, Engelberg and Kirby (2001) described the process of identity building as "one that serves to integrate the mission, quality, philosophy and perceptions that define an organization, product or service within the context of a competitive arena. Identity building integrates internal and external perceptions to helpa brand stand out from others" (p. 14). Engelberg and Kirby (2001) stated that brand identity can be used as a tool to help strategically plan, develop, execute, and promote marketing programs, even of consumer goods. The authors claimed that "identity building can help strengthen support for social organizations, improve effectiveness and use of programs by target audiences, help organizations determine the most unique and valuable benefits they can offer their stakeholders, and provide guidance for delivering those benefits" (p. 8). Thus, Engelberg and Kirby described that building a strong brand identity and image contributes to the effectiveness of consumer marketing programs. They stated that brands with strong identities allow the target audience to "connect" with the brand by increasing brand awareness, recall, and perceived quality, and by strengthening brand associations and loyalty (p. 11). Whatever, Anything establishes this connection, whether because of its packaging or because of its marketing communications campaign and the fact that the mentioned campaign actually does communicate with its audience (or gives the impression that it does). Communication is the Key The Anything, Whatever marketing campaign, as the product itself, aspires towards the establishment of an appearance of interpersonal communication with consumers. Interpersonal communication, often necessitating the personalization of the product and the embrace of consumers within the marketing campaign, leads to emotional involvement. The latter, in turn, and as marketing theorists contend, contributes to the development of brand identity and the subsequent evolution of brand loyalty. Feig (1997) provided an in-depth description of how the concept of brand identity is linked to brand loyalty. He argued that emotional involvement with a brand builds loyalty and commitment to a brand. He stated that it is important to establish a dialogue with the target audience to let them know that their loyalty is valued. Feig described the best way to build brand loyalty: "Care about your customers [i.e., publics] and they'll care about you" (p. 125). Other public relations and marketing scholars also claim that brand loyalty is based on the creation of long-term relationships with publics (Duncan & Moriarty, 1997; Grunig, 1993; Jones & Slater, 2003). Duncan and Moriarty (1997) argued that brand loyalty develops and strengthens stakeholder relationships with the brand, and enhances brand value and awareness. The authors stated that loyalty benefits apply to all relationships, and that an organization and its brand should remind publics of the benefits produced by their loyalty, such as responsiveness to their tastes and demands (Grunig, Grunig, & Dozier, 2002). Some public relations and marketing scholars also mention trust as an essential component of brand identity that helps facilitate relationships between organizations and publics (Duncan & Moriarty, 1997; Grunig, 1993). Organizations that communicate the desired meaning of their messages and brands among publics in order to build and maintain a wider variety of relationships with their consumer goods, will build trust among their key publics, which will contribute to the organization's success in achieving market success. Interestingly enough, even though the beverage has not been long in the market, it functions as if it has a pre-existing long-term relation with its consumers and accordingly, presupposes the existence of trust. It trusted its targeted consumer group to respond to the company's reading/interpretation of its needs and characteristics and, accordingly, provided them with an unidentified and surprising product. Similarly, consumer has repeatedly expressed their trust in the company by purchasing Anything and Whatever. This evidences brand loyalty as predicated upon consumer trust. And in the end The success of Anything, Whatever is consequent to both the product and its marketing campaign's adherence to proven success strategies. It has been able to garner consumer support and loyalty because it has humanized its consumer group and personalized the product. References Aaker, D. A. (1996). Building strong brands. New York: The Free Press. Barlow-Hills, S. and Soren, S. (2003) From market driven to market driving: An alternate paradigm for marketing high technology product and innovations. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 11(3), 12-18. Duncan, T., & Moriarty, S. (1997). Driving brand value: Using integrated marketing to manage profitable stakeholder relationships. New York: McGraw-Hill. Engelberg, M. & Kirby, S. D. (2001). Identity building in social marketing. Social Marketing Quarterly, 7, 8-15. Feig, B. (1997). Marketing straight to the heart. New York: American Management Association. Grunig, J. E. (1993). Image and substance: From symbolic to behavioral relationships. Public Relations Review, 19, 121-139. Grunig, L. A., Grunig, J. E., & Dozier, D. M. (2002). Excellent public relations and effective organizations: A study of communication management in three countries. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Hastings, G., & Soren, M. (2003). The critical contribution of social marketing: Theory and application. Marketing Theory, 3, 305-322 Jones, J. P., & Slater, J. S. (2003). What's in a name: Advertising and the concept of brands (2nd Ed.). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. Maoz, E. and Tybout, A. M. (2002). The moderating role of involvement and differentiation in the evaluation of brand extensions.' Journal of Consumer Psychology, 12(2), 119-131, Rothschild, M. L. (2001). Building strong brands [Review of the book Building strong brands]. 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