teachthe4ps.com - teaching the 4 ps

I found Gareth Kay’s post at TalentZoo.com, “The Future of Marketing,” very insightful.  While he posted this article last May, I just found it myself.  Kay identifies four trends — and I think he is on track here.  We are watching these trends as we think about revising our text books.  Of course with all the changes in technology and customer behavior, we need to be preparing our students for an evolving marketing world.  What do you think of Gareth Kay’s prognostication?

In our text books we discuss the external market environment, including the economic and social and cultural environments in chapter 2.   This Wall Street Journal article (subscription required — or search the web using the article title and you will get “back door” access), “As Sales Drop, Burger King Draws Critics for Courting ‘Super Fans,’” (February 1, 2010) describes how two external trends are having a negative impact on sales for the fast food giant.

Thanks to high unemployment and healthier eating habits, those super fans haven’t been so super lately. Burger King has felt the impact more acutely than its main rival, McDonald’s Corp., whose sales are growing.

This might provide a good example to use when discussing chapter 2.  The article also questions Burger King’s targeting strategy.  The chain has focused on its “super fans,” those 18-34 year old, mostly male customers who account for half of all visits to Burger King.

This video (below)/article (“The Accidental Hero,” BusinessWeek.com, November 5, 2009) combination tells the story of a very successful Subway promotion.  The promotion was originally the idea of a Miami franchisee who successfully launched it locally.  It was later picked up nationally and has helped Subway provide more value during hard economic times.  The video can be used as an example of sales-oriented pricing objectives or as an example of odd-even pricing.  The story also shows the value of listening to franchisees.

Retailers are trying many new strategies to deal with the economic downturn. Many are concerned that they are witnessing the beginning of a long-term shift in consumer behavior. This BusinessWeek combo includes an article (“’The Hard Sell,’ How retailers are fighting for the hearts and minds of the new consumer,” BusinessWeek.com, October 15, 2009 ) and video interview (”Retail’s New Normal,” BusinessWeek.com, October 15, 2009, 2:08 — see video below) with the story’s primary author. There are several related articles on specific retailers. The video is an interview with the story’s author primary Jena McGregor.

“Brandweek’s Grand Marketer of the Year ’09: Joel Ewanick of Hyundai” Brandweek, September 14, 2009.   This is a great package of story, audio, and video content.  The article describes how Hyundai came to understand that customers weren’t buying new cars because they feared losing their jobs.  So Hyundai promised consumers that they could return the car if that happened.  Below you can see the television commercial Hyundai used on the Super Bowl to launch the program. The program resonated with consumers and spurred sales.