The marketing and management policies of Burton Company - Essay Example

Marketing policies of Burton Company is aimed to offer a high quality services to everyone who wants excellent sport equipment, from professional sportsmen to common citizens who want high quality goods. Taking into account the present day situation, the strategy followed by Burton Company is to ensure long-term success based on brand loyalty, non-price competition and high-income market segment. Recent years, Burton Company has shifted its global focus to core brands and price reduction measures.

This strategy has helped Burton Company to maintained high-speed growth through continuous optimization of its product mix and constant technological innovation. International activity allows the company to address wider target audience and create core of loyal supporters around the world. For instance, "Both Burton Sportartikel and Burton Japan function as important links between Burton North America and its retailers and consumers in those regions. In addition, these offices service the operational and marketing needs of international distributors and dealers" (Burton Snowboards, 2006).

International activity is crucial for a company to ensure its market position and long-term success. "With new direct link to the Asian market, Burton Snowboards was now truly a global company" (Burton Snowboards, 2006). Today, Burton Company follows a differentiation strategy and ensures that the higher price it charges for its higher quality is not priced too far above the competition or else customers will not see the extra quality as worth the extra cost. Focusers help Burton Company to achieve better differentiation or lower cost in separate market segments (Asia), but they also lose to broadly targeted competitors when the segment's uniqueness fades or demand disappears.

The main distribution methods include local representative and offices in 36 countries worldwide, namely dealers and distributors. A unique policy applied by Burton Company helps the company to achieve its marketing strategies. Many people around the world wanted to became distributors of Burton products and "Jake decided to pick people who were dedicated to the sport of snowboarding, rather than using people already entrenched in the ski industry" (Burton Snowboards, 2006). Burton's maintain policy of product standardization in order to sell them around the world under the same brand.

Advertising and PR relations are aimed to popularize Burton brand creating an corporate image and unique selling proposition. One of the tools used by Burton is sponsorship. Sponsorship activities include: young riders at a Factory level, Burton's Global Team consisting of the best riders. Olympic Games 2002 was a turning point for Burton promoting snowboarding as a "new" sport available for millions of sport fans. Using movie industry as promotion activity (film "Apocalypse Snow") has helped Burton Company to attract attention of potential customers around the world.

Advertising campaigns of Burton Company include media of different types. In Burton Company advertising involves local press and international press advertising and magazine display, billboard advertisements during sports events, internet promotion and internet sales, TV advertisements. (McDonald, Christopher, 2003). Company's management is aimed to develop and support its marketing activities in