Identify the variables of the marketing mix and gain skill in combining them.

Assignment Objectives
Identify the variables of the marketing mix and gain skill in combining them.

Assignment Description

Now that you’ve analyzed the environmental situation and established who is in the target market, it is time for product development. Product design is crucial because new products are being introduced every day. So, while other people focus on that aspect of development, you turn your attention to branding.

Primary Task Response: Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

This morning, walking into the office, you greet Michelle who says, “I’d like to meet with you tomorrow to develop the branding strategy for the new product. Let’s meet for a working lunch and brainstorming session.”
“That sounds great,” you reply. “I’ll schedule the meeting and order in lunch.”

Entering your office, you begin to think about the items that you will be discussing during tomorrow’s meeting with Michelle.

We haven’t even come up with a product name yet, you think. We also need to work on an advertising slogan or tag line. You know that Michelle has an extensive background in marketing, but you really want to make a good impression and bring a sound branding strategy to the meeting. How are we going to distinguish our product from our competitors? What are the benefits that we are going to highlight in our brand that will meet the needs or wants of our target customers?

You create the following list of items that you need to address:

Identify in one sentence your overall branding strategy or brand image you want to achieve in the mind of your target segment.

Product name
Advertising slogan or tag line
Product attributes
Product benefits

Scenario:

Mobile Manufacturing, Inc.
Michelle Dietrich, president of Mobile Manufacturing, Inc. (MM), stared out of her third-floor window at the traffic below her San Jose, California office and said to herself, “This new product has to be right. If we can’t gain back a significant share of the mobile phone market with this product, MM is not going to be here next year.”
Michelle’s company made its debut in the mobile phone industry in 2002 when it invented the first mobile phone that could access the Internet. At the time, this gave MM a huge advantage over its major rivals.
Mobile Manufacturing, Inc.’s first successful product and initial public offering (IPO) in 2003 raised enough capital to help the firm develop new products, but since then, the technology giants have caught up with them. Although MM had some success with other products, it has not been able to match its initial success and distinguish itself from its rivals. MM—though it was the darling of the technology world in the early 2000s—was struggling to attract first-class employees and new investors; it was floundering in the market.

After several failed attempts at new products, Michelle hired Elena Steokovich, the top cell phone designer and engineer in Europe, to help design a new product. Elena knew her stuff when it came to phone product design, and she had worked with Michelle on MM’s first product. After stints with big-name competitors, she agreed to return to MM to help Michelle restart the product innovation engine.
“I know that just designing a good phone will not be enough,” thought Michelle. “Perhaps the most important question is: How do I know if anyone will buy our phone? Certainly market research will help us identify potential customers so that we can target them effectively, and careful analysis of the research findings will lead us to a good marketing plan. Yes, the marketing plan is the key.

 

Michelle also knew the mobile phone and technology markets had changed drastically in other ways since MM first entered the market. There were new domestic and foreign companies competing, increased market demand driving prices down, and innovative products being introduced every year.

Although some consumers were happy to try out the latest and greatest products, a large number of customers were suffering from feature fatigue, a term used to describe the tiring of the bells and whistles. The customers with feature fatigue just wanted to make phone calls to their family and their friends.

To help ensure that MM has the right marketing plan for its new mobile product, Michelle has hired you as her marketing consultant for this project. As the marketing consultant, you will be responsible for planning, organizing, and implementing the marketing plan for MM’s new product.

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