Strategy of Monster Mud Machine - Case Study Example

The Monster Mud Machine: Marketing Plan The Monster Mud Machine Introducing a new product to the market involves more than simply coming up with a new idea and making it work. Even the best ideas can falter unless they are supported with a strong marketing plan that informs potential consumers about the product in a way that makes it clear that the product will meet their needs or wants in some way. This requires understanding the environmental situation into which the product is being launched as well as having a clear conception of who the target market is so as to avoid wasting too much in advertising dollars. It is also helpful to have a clear idea of who the potential competitors might be and what types of products they might be offering currently or be introducing in the near future. The discovery of these elements is the purpose of this marketing report for a new mud-pie making machine called the Monster Mud Machine. Product Description The Monster Mud Machine is the latest technology in backyard warfare for young and old alike. Forget about spending hours in preparation attempting to get just the right combination of dirt and water to make the ultimate in mud bombs. This machine will do all the work from the safety of the home bunker or backyard. Just add the type of dirt immediately available, set the dial, add water and wait for the mud bombs to emerge. The mud machine will work with loose sand, standard dirt and even ready-made mud in case the ground has already been saturated due to earlier mud or water wars. Should things become bogged down, the machine can be helped along with the aid of a fancy crank which provides a more integrated appeal to the process. The machine itself is not designed to be carried about as a form of hand to hand combat material, but is instead intended to be available for the creation of ‘weaponry’ from the individual home base of the backyard warrior. From the outside, the unit looks very much like an elaborate unevenly divided box. On the smaller side is an enclosed container with a spout on the top to be used as a water reservoir. The larger side has a funnel-shaped opening leading to the interior intended to assist with the loading of dirt, sand, or mud into the container. Gravity is the primary driver of the machine as the mud and water are naturally pulled to the bottom of the tanks where it is funneled into a constricted tube the roundness of the finished mud bombs. A hand-crank at one side of the dirt container can be used to stir the materials and keep them moving and provides the user with a sense of involvement – ‘like the cement truck does’. To make the product more high-tech, a battery-operated function can be added that provides this stir function although this is not recommended as the power required for this function would drain batteries quickly and reduce the product’s appeal. A dial on the water container is marked with the letters S (Sand), D (Dirt), and M (Mud) and controls the amount of water that is released into the mixture as the machine is put to use. Dirt and water go in, a perfectly shaped mud bomb emerges ready for hand-launching in a healthy game of mud-slinging comes out. What this product offers is a low-tech solution to backyard fun that recalls the classic games of the past while offering new materials for current and future use Figure 1: Mud Machine with and without exterior case The exterior casing can be painted with a wide array of patterns but is pictured above in a solid forest green as a means of illustrating the exterior positioning of the dial, crank and mud bomb release spout. Suggested designs for this outer casing would be a dripping mud man in a position of attack or in the act of creating more bombs for those products marketed to the younger age group or camouflage designs in desert and forest for the older groups so the machine itself does not give away the defender’s position. The machine can also be made in a variety of sizes, the smallest of which can be equipped with straps for field transportation. Slight changes in design may make it possible to convert the machine into a firing canon as well, launching mud bombs into the enemy’s fort by machine rather than hand. Situation analysis The current toy market is largely dominated by high-tech gadgets and toys that require battery operation at the least in order to make use of them. The largest toy craze this year is linking more traditional toys with computers in various ways, making them seem almost useless without the computer element. For example, Mattel toys is about to release a teenaged Dora the Explorer doll that links to the computer via a USB link that enables the user to change the doll’s hair length and eye color as well as enables the user to access an online playworld (Toy Trends, 2009). This trend is repeated in the Ty Co.’s release of Beanie Babies that also access an online world unique to them. For boys, the toys have taken a similar turn, featuring robotic dinosaurs and other action figures that also link up with the computer, this time enabling the child to design their own hybrid creatures that can then do battle with other children’s creations within the online world. However, when wishing to play outdoors, many of these toys become quickly obsolete or useless once their power supply dies. Perhaps it is the influence of nearly a decade of war in the Middle East, perhaps merely a reflection of our American culture, but one of the most popular outdoor games among males, old and young, is mock war games. Whether the activity is shooting each other with laser tag, paint guns or water cannons, the object is always the same. “Playing cops-and-robbers or other ‘shoot the bad guy’ games is often seen as innocent fun and a harmless rite of passage for little boys across America. It is certainly part of an American image of manhood … In fact, guns and other tools of destruction have long been associated symbolically with male sexual prowess” (Poussaint & Linn, 2009). As a result, these games will not suddenly go out of style among the children of the nation and parents will continue to purchase the materials they need in order to carry on their fun. The Mud Machine fits easily and quickly into the available arsenal by providing a new and yet readily available weapon for children or adults to use when engaging in outdoor warfare without requiring additional materials such as power supplies or auxiliary equipment. While the ability to double-market a product with the various accessories it requires is commonly considered to be the best practice, today’s tough economy has parents seeking less expensive means of entertaining their children as a matter of necessity. A number of kids are now homeless in a faltering economy where their parents are losing their jobs, deplete their savings and fail to find new jobs in time to keep up with rising rental prices and mortgage rates. One family caught in such desperate conditions points out how her youngest son runs around parking lots with little more than his matchbox cars and a handheld video game as his only form of entertainment (Manning, 2009). While these individuals are not within the target market for this product, the struggles they’re facing are experienced throughout the lower and middle classes of today’s society. Finally, many children who live within the target range for this product are susceptible to another common condition of modern life – obesity. According to the American Obesity Association, the percentage of children diagnosed as obese has nearly doubled what it was 20 years ago based on body mass index (“Childhood Obesity”, 2005). Childhood obesity creates many more problems than the simple physical issues one might expect. For children as well as adults, food often becomes equated with love, good times, special occasions and celebration thanks to centuries’ old social traditions. To deprive children of the foods that bring these associations automatically induces an impression of punishment making enforced diets difficult which makes exercise more important than ever. At the same time, because of natural awkwardness or as the result of an increasing middle section, many of these kids are not as coordinated, quick, able or flexible as other kids, inducing a further punishment idea behind the concept of activity which pushes them to avoid exercise. Following an intensive study of the issue, Dr. Sylvia Rimm (2004) concludes that if childhood obesity is to be reduced, there needs to be some widespread societal changes that encourage, rather than discourage, less coordinated children and those who are overweight to become more inclined to be involved in physical activities and social events. The Monster Mud Machine can help fill that gap by providing overweight children with a means of joining in the war games without the necessity of being light on their feet or having a great deal of endurance to chase down the enemy. Instead, he or she can ‘man the fort’ and produce the mud bombs required to help supply his army. Target Market The target market for this product is relatively limited to those individuals interested in backyard warfare games although the age range of this group is widely varied. The product is primarily geared toward younger boys who are more interested in playing mud throwing games. These boys are generally athletic and interested in outdoor activities. They are competitive and interested in the challenge of overcoming the other side. While the product can be marketed as a toy for the active child, it can be advertised with some images of overweight children using the machine, thus subtly delivering an underlying message that overweight kids can use this machine and fit in just fine with the more active children on the block. It can be marketed to younger children as a fun monster creation that gives them the fire power to really mess up their friends. Parents could be sold on the product as the messiest clean fun their kids will ever have and advertisements can include the image of a family having fun hosing down the victorious team in a sun-splashed victory march through the front yard. Because it is marketed primarily to younger children who cannot reasonably be trusted to check that the dirt they are using is free of larger rocks or stones that could cause harm to a child, a screen can be included at the opening funnel area of the machine that would automatically filter out these more dangerous elements. Although the machine is primarily intended to be a toy for younger children, slight modifications in decoration and design of the product can make it more suitable for adolescent boys who are involved in more serious mock war play. This is where a smaller version with straps could be marketed as a field weapon of mass destruction as mud bombs are seen littering down from the sky on a field full of cammy-clad teenagers crawling toward the enemy lines. Adolescents take their games more seriously and want to know both that the weapons they have are suitable and less-deadly replications of weapons actually used in real warfare and they want definitive proof that the weapons they’ve deployed have hit their mark. While adding a quantity of food coloring into the water used to make mud bombs may be sufficient to properly ‘mark’ the target, this is an area where auxiliary sales might be made in the production of a special ‘mud additive’ that will ‘paint’ the victim a particular color to accurately reflect which team got him as well as provide a safe, non-toxic and washable dye that leaves no permanent damage to child or clothes. There is a final market to which this product may be particularly well-suited and this is the so-called and self-styled ‘redneck’ market. These are adults who glory in games that involve shooting things, launching things and playing in the mud. These individuals may enjoy the playtime, but have even less patience than the kids in forming up the perfect mud bombs for later use in an all-out mud war. Packaged appropriately, this machine can become a staple for all future barbecues and backyard parties throughout the more rural communities of the nation. Competitors and Substitutes This machine has no direct competitors at this time and no obvious substitutes for its unique characteristics. There are other products on the market that might be adaptable to encompass the features of this machine, such as some of the Super Soaker products offered by Hasbro, but these are designed more for hand-held combat and use with pure water rather than mud. It is doubtful that these products would contain enough fire power to continue working with mud instead of water and certain that the carrying capacity of the weapon would render it useless when working with mud as well. The Monster Mud Machine offers a highly unique and imminently appropriate addition to the mock battlefield and currently stands in the field on its own. The time is ripe for its introduction to the market as a less expensive alternative to other toys that require a number of additional accessories to be used effectively and will provide hours of entertainment to children without the need for replenishment of power supplies (as in laser tag games), ammunition (as in the case of paintballs) or more specialized equipment (as in the case of the water guns currently offered). References “Childhood Obesity.” American Obesity Association. (May 2, 2005). Available August 29, 2009 from Manning, Rob. (June 4, 2009). “Hard Times: Ben Perrins and Cindi Shipley.” OPB News. Available August 29, 2009 from < http://news.opb.org/article/5128-hard-times-ben-perrins-and-cindi-shipley/> Poussaint, Alvin & Susan Linn. (2009). “Toy Guns: Just Fun and Games?” Back to School. Available August 29, 2009 from Rimm, Sylvia. (2004). Rescuing the Emotional Lives of Overweight Children. New York: St Martin’s Press. “Toy Trends.” (February 18, 2009). Product Design and Development. Advantage Business Media. Available August 29, 2009 from Read More