teachthe4ps.com - For instructors of marketing.

Electronic Arts (EA) has been a dominant player in gaming — especially with their live action sports games that are usually played on computers or TVs.  Then, along came Zynga, which offered mobile games through social media like Facebook.  Since this market is relevant to many of our students, it might be useful to keep up with the latest competitive battles.  Now EA is trying to play catch up; EA has a lot of cash to invest into these new markets.  n this “listen” at NPR’s Morning Edition, “Game Giant Forced To Play Catch Up” (May 4), you can hear what EA is trying to do.  The strategy relies on mining customer data and anticipating customers’ behaviors and needs.  While Zynga has been mining customer data for many years, they traditionally monitored customer behavior to decide how to adapt or when to drop current games.  EA hopes that its efforts to anticipate behavior will help it leapfrog Zynga.

We have posted before about Zynga’s strategy which includes a move away from relying on Facebook.  But it is not clear if that strategy is working, see “Zynga Posts Loss, Sees World Beyond Facebook” (Wall Street Journal, April 26, 2012).  We have also posted this in Learn the 4 Ps.

The financial services industry believes it may have identified a new and underserved target market — women.  More than a quarter of all the world’s millionaires are women — and that number is growing.  In the U.S., women control$8 trillion in assets with that number expected to grow to $20 trillion by 2020.  This Wall Street Journal article “Clients from Venus,” (April 30, 2012 – non-subscribers may need to click here) explains how women investors have different needs than men.

The article might have broad interest in an introductory marketing class — as many of your finance and accounting majors might be considering post-college work as financial advisers or in insurance sales  The article might stimulate discussion about how financial services firms might better adapt marketing mixes to better meet the needs of this target market.  A prime area for discussion could be the sales force — it might be interesting to ask how sales training should be adapted to address this market.  Students might also be encouraged to think about how to adapt a website, advertising, and products.  This article with some of these questions has been posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

Target stores is launching a new concept — specialty shops they call “Shops at Target”.  This short article “Would You Pay More For Fancy Versions of Target Products?” (Fast Company, April 16, 2012).  provides examples of the efforts to sell upscale and considerably higher priced products just a few aisles from Target’s usual discount fare.  The article is short, but it might be interesting to use this as a small case study to get your students thinking in class.  You could show some of the examples and ask them if they think it would work?  Will Target’s usual customers buy these products?  (I believe the Target shopper tends to be more upscale than the Walmart shopper).  You might ask students if this is consistent with Target’s positioning?  (I think an argument can be made either way here — as Target has this “cheap chic” image.)  You could also ask them what other products might be sold in the Shops at Target.  We have asked all these questions in our post at Learn the 4 Ps.

This example might be used when you discuss consumer behavior or retailing.

Showrooming is the practice of shopping in a physical store and then purchasing the product online from home.  Online retailers often have cost advantages over their brick-and-mortar competitors; online retailers don’t build stores in high-traffic, high-cost locations, and they don’t need to employ a large, knowledgeable sales staff, many do not have to charge sales tax.  Brick-and-mortar retailers do have those costs – and increasingly, customers are going to those physical stores to view products and talk to sales staff before buying online.  These advantages, and some great marketing and technology, have fueled Amazon’s rapid growth.  This article from the Wall Street Journal, “Can Retailers Halt ‘Showrooming’?” (April 11, 2012, non-subscribers may need to click here) discusses how retailers like Target and Walmart are fighting back. The 3:54 video (an interview with kind of weak sound quality) might be shown in class to stimulate discussion.  Also at Learn the 4 Ps.

The article provides great examples to use when you cover competition, consumer behavior, retailing, or discuss the impact of the Internet or technology.

Many of us have used the fact that grocery stores place milk at the back of the store as an example of how the stores try to get you to buy more.  In this recent  Consumer Reports video titled “Supermarket Savings,” reporter Tod Marks explains some “tricks” that grocery stores use to get consumers to spend more.  We have also posted this at Learn the 4 Ps.

It might be interesting to show this to students and ask if they think these are ethical practices.  Should it be buyer beware?  Are these customer-oriented practices?  I think one could question whether they are customer-oriented — and even raise a debate on their ethics.

Last year we posted about Puma’s efforts to re-position itself in the highly competitive athletic shoe market, “Puma is no longer a sneaker, it’s a lifestyle” (Teach the 4 Ps, May 22, 2011).  I recently ran across a 3 minute case study that provides an update on Puma.  I used this video (Puma | Social Case Study – this YouTube video is restricted from embedding in my blog or in your PowerPoints, but you can link and show it in class)  as a “hook” for my students as we started the first of three chapters on Promotion.

The video and article allow you to walk through the marketing strategy planning process with your students.  Here are some ideas:

• Customers: You can highlight customer needs – many don’t really need the high performance promoted by Nike and Under Armour.  Puma figured they could address the needs of the “after hours athlete.”
• Company:  You can briefly highlight some of Puma’s strengths (solid brand, good distribution, design reputation) and weaknesses (not as much money or strong a brand as major competitors)
• Competitors:  Nike, Under Armour, Adidas — all strong brands with deep pockets.  Each of these competitors also focuses on the hard core weekend warrior (or wannabe).
• Segmentation:  the video gives you an idea about how Puma segments and who they target.
• Differentiation and Positioning:  Puma clearly chooses to position itself as a fun fashion accessory.
• The video gives some examples of product and place decisions — but the focus is on promotion.  The brief highlighting of TV, print, outdoor, and online efforts provides a nice example of integrated marketing communications.

All that — plus a market my students can relate to — this is a winning video clip.  I hope you and your students enjoy it as much as we did.

Setting retail prices has always been a challenge for marketing managers.  Two factors make it even more difficult today.  First, customers are better informed — the internet and smartphone apps let them easily check the prices of products they see on retail store shelves.  Second, consumers have been conditioned to wait for steep discounts — in department stores very few sales are made at full retail.  Retail giants J.C. Penney and Macy’s are trying new strategies to try to maintain profits.  Read more at “Knowing Cost, the Customer Sets the Price,” New York Times, March 27, 2012.  Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

This article would be good to read for examples relevant when you cover price setting — but could also be used to talk about consumer behavior and retailing.

Millennials (or Gen Y) refers to those born between 1978 and 1994 (that is the definition we use in our text books).  Right now this group is 18-34 years old and fits right at the heart of many marketers’ target markets.  Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons — both economic and cultural — these consumers are not spending in the same way as earlier generations.  In “Young Consumers Pinch Their Pennies” (Bloomberg Businessweek, March 22, 2012), you can read a wide range of statistics from a recent Pew Research Center survey.  Among the findings, 46% of 18-24s would choose Internet access over owning a car.  For previous generations, cars were an important part of life.  This has companies like GM looking at new strategies, “As Young Lose Interest in Cars, G.M. Turns to MTV for Help” (New York Times, March 22, 2012).  Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

Did you know that only 40% of British households own a dishwasher?  That compares to 78% market  penetration in the U.S., 77% in Germany, and 52% in France.  Did you also know that dishwashers are more economical and use less water than washing by hand?  So why aren’t the British buying more dishwashers?  It appears that at least part of the problem comes from a lack of understanding about the benefits.  You can read about a marketing strategy that hopes to change these numbers in “Will More Britons Buy Dishwashers?” (Bloomberg Businessweek, March 22, 2012).  It might be fun to ask your students (as I do at Learn the 4 Ps) if they think the plan will work — and what other ideas they might have to promote dishwasher usage.  It is not like appliance makers have not been trying. Changing ingrained consumer behavior can be a challenge.

This article might be interesting to use when you discuss promotion or consumer behavior.

Many Western firms have struggled in China — see Home Depot, Dunkin Donuts, and Best Buy as recent examples.  Success, not surprisingly, revolves around effectively adapting a marketing mix for the Chinese consumer.  Today I am offering two case studies that highlight how firms can succeed in China:  the Oreo cookie (see “Rethinking The Oreo For Chinese Consumers“, Planet Money, January 27, 2012) and Starbucks (“Why Starbucks succeeds in China and others haven’t,” USA Today, February 10, 2012).  The Oreo story highlights how the brand has changed consumer habits in China — teaching them how to open the cookie and as well as the practice of dunking cookies in milk (previously unknown in China).  Advertising like the one below, featuring Yao Ming (former NBA star), was key to the campaign.  Both articles share sales data that helps attest to the success of the campaigns.

These examples will play well when you cover international consumer behavior, product adaptation, and retailing.