teachthe4ps.com - teaching the 4 ps

This article “The iPad Leads Apple to the Elderly” (Bloomberg BusinessWeek, August 12, 2010) describes how the ease of use of the iPad appeals to the elderly. The examples are mostly from Japan — where a fast growing elderly population make it a prime target market. The examples here work when talking about opportunities (chapter 2 in our books), demographic trends or market segmentation.

You might ask students:  What else Apple could to do make the iPad more appealing to senior citizens?  Encourage them to think about each of the 4 Ps.  [NOTE:  This article has also been posted over at our “Learn the 4 Ps” blog for students.

Customer referrals have a powerful influence on business buyers and consumers.  We have previously reported on the Nielsen survey that found recommendations from others as the most trusted source of information.  Articles in Inc. are usually practical — and this one fits that bill.  In “How to Get Customer Referrals” (August 27, 2010) you will learn how to get referrals as well as when and how to ask for them.  We all talk to our students about the power of word-of-mouth, but we should make sure they understand that marketing managers can influence customers to offer more referrals.

The depressed economy has American consumer behavior acting in a strange way.  While they (collectively) cut back on purchases — they still stand in line to buy the new iPhone and buy their $3 latte at Starbucks.  Many malls are still busy.  What is happening?  This story — the cover story in the latest issue of Bloomberg Businessweek, attempts to get to the better understand this schizophrenic consumer behavior.  See “The New Abnormal,” (July 29, 2010).   [NOTE:  Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.]

John Sviokla posted this on the Harvard Business Review Blog a couple months ago – “Create “Choosing” (Not “Shopping”) Experiences” (May 5, 2010).  I like how the post offers some ideas about how much we have learned from internet retailers — and how some of this learning might be applied to brick-and-mortar stores.  I try to remind my students that many of the best ideas are simply stolen from another industry and re-purposed.  There are several small ideas that might be useful classroom examples.

Behavioral targeting is a controversial practice.  Marketers want their online ads served up to customers who might genuinely be interested in their products.  On the other hand, consumers find it a bit eery when websites seem to know their shopping habits.  Privacy advocates have been pressuring for more transparency in this process.   To hold off greater regulation from the FTC, the advertising industry figured out how to regulate itself.  This article, “Targeted Ads Will Let You Spy on Them for a Change” (Wired, June 21, 2010) describes what is coming.

Another May 20, 2010 Bloomberg BusinessWeek article, “Procter & Gamble’s Root-to-End Pantene Makeover.”  This one discusses P&G’s latest attempt to makeover the Pantene brand.  The makeover is recent, so no results are in yet.  You could assign the article and ask students if they believe the changes in marketing strategy will work — and why?  This could be a short written assignment or an in-class discussion.

I found this interesting infographic “How Much The Average American Spends on Entertainment” over at the VisualEconomics site.  A good infographic presents a great deal of information in an easy to digest format.  I am not sure this is easy to digest, but the information is interesting — and might interest our students.  I could see handing this out (it would look nice in color but with budgets tight I might have to make it in B/W) or assigning it to students to view before class.  I think there is too much information to easily show on a screen in class.  I could see asking students to review the information and find five useful facts for a) Levi’s, b) Sony pictures (movie maker) and, c) Olive Garden Italian Restaurant.   The graphic could be used as an example of marketing research.

Brandweek‘s (June 2, 2010) article “Why Do Consumers Visit CPG Web Sites?” provides a brief summary of a recent Ipsos survey “Engaging CPG Consumers in the Digital Space.”  Consumer package goods companies have been investing in websites, Facebook pages, and Twitter.  This data will tell them which of these sites customers will visit for various reasons.  I was also surprised to see how many consumers actually figured it was likely they would visit a CPG site.   This ties consumer behavior and promotion objectives with social media.  You might highlight the survey results in class and ask students what type of information they might put on a website, Facebook page, or Twitter for Coca Cola or Tide detergent.  They should see that each will require different information to best meet customer needs.

One of our goals here at Teachthe4P’s is to keep marketing faculty up-to-date with the latest trends in marketing.  Location based marketing is one area with huge potential.  The last few years have been predicted to be “the year of mobile,” so I am not sure if Foursquare is the breakthrough application.  If you want to know more about this new social media platform, check out “Social Media’s New Mantra: Location, Location, Location,” (Bloomberg BusinessWeek, May 6, 2010).

CNN is on a roll with the global green consumer.  Earlier today I posted an article and video clip about a store in London.  Now we have an interesting story from China, “Would Chinese consumers ‘go green’ — if given the choice?” (CNN.com, May 4, 2010) including, to my surprise, the following revelation:

Landor recently conducted a brand survey that shows consumers in China are actually more concerned about green issues than consumers in the United States or Europe. For example, 45 percent of those surveyed in China said they consider it very important that a company is green when thinking about which brands to purchase, compared to 23 percent in the United States.

This video clip could be shown along with the earlier one to try to get a better handle on how green affects consumers.  I have seen other studies which suggest Chinese consumers can be very price conscious — one study we cite in our text books indicated a willingness to pay a premium of only 2% for branded products they purchase regularly (as opposed to unbranded products).  In the U.S. and many other developed countries the premium is typically 20% or more.  There can be many reasons for that of course.

The aricle and video clip raise interesting issues around sustainability, consumer behavior across cultures, and international marketing.