BIZ301 : Organisational Creativity and Innovation

Marketing and channel strategy approach:

Product:

Car smell detector is an innovative product which is designed in such a way that it automatically immobilizes the car as soon as it detects high alcohol level in the driver’s breath. An aggressive marketing strategy would enable the firm market the car smell detector and encourage risk less driving (Yang &Gabrielsson, 2017).

                                               Figure 1. Accident graph in Australia

                                                    (Source: tac.vic.gov.au, 2018)

The product would immensely help in reducing the accidents related with drinking and driving.This innovative product would imminently minimize car accidents and add value to the consumers. However,it can be said that this procedure of automatically locking down the car systems would generate a feeling of resentment among drivers and thus, consumers may be hesitant towards this feature.Thus, the firm should carry out aggressive marketing strategies to counteract this resentment. The target market of this innovative product would primarily include the people possessing carsand commercial vehicle owners (Guajardo, Cohen & Netessine, 2015). One must point out that,majority of the people possessing cars belong to the upper stratum of the society. This means that the restriction that the car smell detectors place on rich people from driving after getting drink may repel them. The firm should use an aggressive marketing strategy to get access to maximum number of consumers and generate huge revenue. The firm should sell the products through its own outlets and leading retail chains. The firm in additional can allow some local retailers sell the products, thus benefitting them as well(Kushwaha & Sharma, 2016).The competitive strategy of the firm should be selling of car smell detectorsat reasonable prices.It should position itself as marketer of high quality car detector by using appropriate marketing mix that would be as follows:

Product:

The product, the carsmell detectors should consist of highly advanced car smell detecting machines thatwould be able to detect minute particles of alcohol in the breath of the driver and even among the passengers.Theyshould be available in different variants like high advanced variants as well low priced variants. The expensive variants would target the upper class customers and should have appropriate packaging to match up to their tastes. The car small detectors should be available in several sober colors that would befit the expensive cars of the upper class people. Similarly, the low price variants should have appropriate colors and heavy duty attributes to be suitable for use in the commercial vehicles (Yang & Gabrielsson, 2017). The products can have additional properties like releasing a fragrance to create a soothing ambience in the cars. These attributes would create value for the customers.

Place:

The place strategy of the car smell detectors should be aligned with the purchase pattern of the upper class customers and commercial consumers. The products should be available in the leading car showrooms and service outlets. This would enable the upper class customers to obtain the products easily. The next strategy should be availability of the car smell detectors in places like car garages thatare frequented by commercial vehicle owners. Similarly, the smell detectors should be available in the local shops and remote areas. This would enable the firm to sell these products among the customers residing in remote areas (Specht et al., 2014). The products should also be available online for the customers to view and order. The products would enable car companies reduce accidents of the customers, adding value to both.

Pricing:

The pricesof car smell detectors cannot be determined in true sense since they are priceless because they save lives of customers.The pricing strategy of the firm should enable it to get access to both upper class domestic customers and commercial customers. The company should fix premium pricing to attract domestic premium customers. This pricing strategy would enable the firm to create a perception of high quality among this customer segment. Similarly, the firm in order to attract commercial customers should fix commercial rates for the car smell detector models designed for commercial vehicles. The firm can bundle other products like small car parts to create value for customers (Chou et al., 2015).

Promotion:

The car detectors should be advertised in business magazines to attract upper class people and business companies. These products should also be advertised on the digital platform to attract large number of customers (Specht et al., 2014).

References:

Chou, C. W., Liao, W. C., Wu, S., & Wee, H. M. (2015). The role of technical innovation and sustainability on energy consumption: A case study on the Taiwanese automobile industry. Energies, 8(7), 6627-6640.

Drink driving statistics - TAC - Transport Accident Commission. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.tac.vic.gov.au/road-safety/statistics/summaries/drink-driving-statistics

Guajardo, J. A., Cohen, M. A., &Netessine, S. (2015). Service competition and product quality in the US automobile industry. Management Science, 62(7), 1860-1877.

Kushwaha, G. S., & Sharma, N. K. (2016). Green initiatives: a step towards sustainable development and firm's performance in the automobile industry. Journal of cleaner production, 121, 116-129.

Yang, M., &Gabrielsson, P. (2017). Entrepreneurial marketing of international high-tech business-to-business new ventures: A decision-making process perspective. Industrial Marketing Management, 64, 147-160.