MKT00720 | Marketing Processes of Real Organisations

Basing your arguments on the academic literature that you have studied in the first four topics of this unit, write a report on the ways two different organisations have been able to compete in their markets. Your report should discuss the following points about each of the two organisations:

Evidence that the organisation has a gain a competitive advantage from their marketing processes.


Theoretical analysis of the reasons for the achievement of this advantage.

Answer:

Introduction 

The topic introduces the concept of marketing and its effectiveness in delivering products and services to the customers. The two organizations included here are Intel and Starbucks, which have managed effective marketing approaches to ensure customer satisfaction and achieve competitive advantage in business as well. This report will analyze the different marketing strategies to determine the products and its distribution in the different market segments along with the various factors associated with the marketing approaches. The report will focus on the two case studies where Intel hired two celebrity hosts to provide audio updates to the fans during the London Olympic competitions for increasing the fan base while Starbucks has reached the customers through music and even used emoticons as useful marketing strategies to maintain good relationships with them (Baker 2014).  These two case studies will illustrate the benefits obtained through effective marketing and how it has resulted in customer satisfaction and made the companies gain competitive advantage too.

Case selection and description

Case study 1 

During the London Olympics competition at midnight in China, Intel found new ways of marketing to attract a large fan base and make more people inclined towards the sports events held at the competition. The two celebrities were considered as hosts who provided updates about the events in audio three times every day (intel.com 2018). Every morning, the messages and information about the previous night’s events were illustrated and even the fans were provided contest questions and lastly the winners were announced with further sports updates. There are no companies that can become successful by maintaining consistency and prevent risks from arising while operating within the free market. To change the nature of life and manage changes to adapt to different situations, Intel has enabled innovative thinking of branding by managing two popular celebrities as hosts and kept the fans updated with the latest information about the sports events held during the London Olympics competition (Solomon et al. 2014).

Case study 2 

The second cast study illustrated the influence of music created by Starbucks to reach customers with the use of emoticons and even using songs to match the mood of fans. It is an effective marketing strategy that enabled using music as an effective marketing tool to increase the fan base. The retail chain further was able to make more than 270000 friends in WeChat during the fur week campaign, which ensured keeping good relationship between the business and its customer along with increase in sales too (starbucks.com 2018). Starbucks, being a popular retail supermarket chain has managed to utilize the WeChat platform for increasing the customer base and made them aware of the kinds of products and services delivered along with the places from where those could be accessible (Leonidouet al. 2013). This has not only made the company obtain more fan followers but also influenced the buying behaviors of the clients, which further increased the sales and profit level of the company too.  

Evidence of sustained competitive advantage 

In the field of technology, Intel has made a huge mark by rebooting its marketing strategy by introducing a new, innovative and more agile approach to content marketing, which has powered the computing company’s marketing plans. With the formation of modern electronic equipments, the company leads in the industry by developing “Intel inside” campaign, which created huge scopes for the computer systems’ users to manage the business processes effectively. They have been considered as the major faces of the brand who have sponsored the events and provided the viewers with necessary updates with proper support by the broadcasters (Hawkins, Mothersbaugh and Best 2013). The celebrity sponsors acted as important aspects of the marketing strategy, which facilitated the individuals to enjoy public recognition on behalf of the consumer goods and services. The celebrity sponsors helped in keeping the views updated, developed interest among their minds regarding the sports events during the Olympic and made them take part in contests, where the winners could get merchandise and gifts from the company (Nobre and Silva 2014). It fostered the endorsed brand’s credibility and improved the brand equity, which kept the viewers engaged and positive mindsets regarding the brand were created as well. This was be the sign of better sales and higher revenue generation, which were considered as essential aspects of gaining competitive advantage.

On the other hand, Starbucks wanted to make more followers who could visit the website daily managed by the company, furthermore to ensure that they were aware of the latest information and news about the products and services delivered by the company, This was an effective marketing strategy, which favored the company’s ability to achieve the objective of getting more followers and enhance the customer base too (Carrillat, d'Astous and Christianis 2014). It has been a successful year for Starbucks with its extensive services delivered all over the world and thus the company aimed at getting more friends on Wechat so that they could be influenced to visit the company. The marketing strategy started with a simple question asked to the customers “How are you feeling today?”, which was responded to by the customers by providing an emoticon describing their emotions and feelings towards the company. The company then managed to respond again, but this time, with a song or by playing music that suited the moods and feelings of the customers (Tzoumaka et al. 2016). Thus, the customers were easily reached and its innovative marketing strategy helped in drawing them more in large numbers. This strengthened the relationship between the company and its customers and influenced their buying behaviors too.

Analysis and explanation 

Intel is a popular brand that is synonymous with the modern electronics and this makes it one of the best companies that have effectively managed the marketing activities to improve the brand image and name. The company has found new ways of marketing to ensure that more clients are attracted towards the company and thus the celebrity endorsements is considered as effective. The celebrity sponsors are mainly the athletes who may have left sports, but still are associated with the events and have willingly take part in keeping the viewers updated (Ashley and Tuten 2015). They also made sure to arouse interest among the people by making them participate in contests, where the winners were awarded with gift hampers. This allowed Intel not only to strengthen its brand image, but also helped in remaining associated with the Olympics events to draw in more clients and influence their buying behaviors regarding the purchases of products and services delivered by the company. This was a great marketing strategy adopted by the company, which favored the assessment of different market conditions and the expectations and demands of the customers were also understood. Intel conducted a SWOT analysis to determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for ensuring that the right customers are targeted through the sports events held at the Olympics (Vinerean et al. 2013). It should assist in keeping the customers updated with the latest sports news, provide them benefits through participation in contests and even make the customers inclined more towards the brand, which could improve the brand identity and generate more revenue by attracting both existing and new clients with ease (intel.com 2018).

Starbucks, being a coffee based company, focused on becoming more socialized through management of social networks and increase the fan base. WeChat current has 768 million daily users and Starbucks grabbed this opportunity willingly by integrating the concepts of e-commerce to boost the brand and influence the behaviors of the customers too. Starbucks implemented this marketing strategy by obtaining the option to send a coffee or other gifts of Starbucks to a friend with the use of a new setting within the Weixin wallet (Constantinides 2014). The recipient would receive the gift inside WeChat and when the gift would be showed at Starbucks, the person could get the coffee easily. This is a great and innovation marketing technique, which has not only influenced the behaviors of the customers, but also has created convenience for them to buy the products online and get those delivered at their doorsteps. When asked about the customers’ behaviors and about their feelings, the individuals provided emoticons based on which, Starbucks played their favorite country music to create a positive mindset among them. The PEST analysis framework was used to determine the political, economic, social and technological factors that influenced the functioning and how the involvement of WeChat benefited the company by creating more than 270,000 friends, who could also be considered as important clients of the company (starbucks.com 2018). Thus, it could be analyzed and interpreted that the involvement of social media platforms had enhanced the exposure of brand image and even made more people aware of the brand products, which influenced the consumers’ buying behaviors, created more sales revenue and achieved competitive advantage on business.

Conclusions 

The report was prepared to discuss about the essential concepts of marketing considering the two case studies involving Intel and Starbucks. Intel implemented the celebrity sponsorship or endorsements strategy to welcome new clients by influencing them to watch the sports events at London Olympics competitions while Starbucks used the WeChat platform to create more followers and strengthened their relationship with the customers through music. By implementing these strategies, both the companies have improved their brand images and identities and even created more scopes to draw in clients as well as created good relationships through positive mindsets. While the SWOT analysis and PEST framework were also used to ensure that the market conditions were understood, both these two companies prioritized on the involvement of celebrity sponsors and social media platforms to engage with the clients and provide service accordingly. It surely showed up higher level of customer satisfaction and generated higher revenue and competitive advantage in business too.

References

Ashley, C. and Tuten, T., 2015. Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology & Marketing, 32(1), pp.15-27.

Baker, M.J., 2014. Marketing strategy and management. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Carrillat, F.A., d'Astous, A. and Christianis, H., 2014. Guilty by association: The perils of celebrity endorsement for endorsed brands and their direct competitors. Psychology & Marketing, 31(11), pp.1024-1039.

Constantinides, E., 2014. Foundations of social media marketing. Procedia-Social and behavioral sciences, 148, pp.40-57.

Hawkins, D.I., Mothersbaugh, D.L. and Best, R.J., 2013. Consumer behavior: Building marketing strategy. McGraw-Hill Irwin.

intel.com. (2018). Intel | Data Center Solutions, IOT, and PC Innovation. [online] Available at: https://www.intel.com/ [Accessed 2 Aug. 2018].

Leonidou, L.C., Leonidou, C.N., Fotiadis, T.A. and Zeriti, A., 2013. Resources and capabilities as drivers of hotel environmental marketing strategy: Implications for competitive advantage and performance. Tourism Management, 35, pp.94-110.

Nobre, H. and Silva, D., 2014. Social network marketing strategy and SME strategy benefits. Journal of Transnational Management, 19(2), pp.138-151.

Solomon, M.R., Dahl, D.W., White, K., Zaichkowsky, J.L. and Polegato, R., 2014. Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being (Vol. 10). London: Pearson.

starbucks.com. (2018). Starbucks – The Best Coffee and Espresso Drinks. [online] Available at: https://www.starbucks.com/ [Accessed 2 Aug. 2018].

Tzoumaka, E., Tsiotsou, R.H. and Siomkos, G., 2016. Delineating the role of endorser's perceived qualities and consumer characteristics on celebrity endorsement effectiveness. Journal of Marketing Communications, 22(3), pp.307-326.

Vinerean, S., Cetina, I., Dumitrescu, L. and Tichindelean, M., 2013. The effects of social media marketing on online consumer behavior. International Journal of Business and Management, 8(14),