teachthe4ps.com - For instructors of marketing.

This is a really interesting marketing challenge for global cosmetics leader L’Oréal.  This article and 3:52 video tell a very interesting international marketing story.  Brazilian consumers have traditionally buy cosmetics (and many other products) from door-to-door salespeople.  L’Oréal does not use this channel of distribution in Brazil — instead relying on retail shops.  The market is actually quite large — Brazilian women spend a lot on cosmetics.  But L’Oréal hopes to change consumer behavior, which is never an easy task.  Most marketers are better off adapting a marketing mix to customers rather than trying to change customer behavior.  Use these links to access the article, “To L’Oréal, Brazil’s Women Need New Style of Shopping” (Wall Street Journal, January 29, 2011 – non-subscribers may have to click here).

BredaPhoto International Photo Festival is an annual event in the Netherlands.  The company developed a clever campaign that clearly identified a target market – and personally invited them to the 2010 festival.  I really like the targeted communication, that the promotion is for a non-profit organization, and that it worked.  Plus, the short (1:51) video format makes it a great in-class use of media. This is a great example of low-cost, highly targeted media — that grabs attention.

Want to embed the video below right into your PowerPoints?  Click here.  Note, also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

We have posted on the emergence of Africa before, but this story “A Continent of New Consumers Beckons” (Wall Street Journal, January 13, 2011 – non-subscribers may have to click here) provides more examples and some data you might enjoy sharing in class.  The article is part of a series at the WSJ called Africa Rising and includes articles on doing business in Nigeria, Kenya, and Ethiopia (Ethiopia article – link for non-subscribers).  For example:

• McKinsey & Co. predicts consumer spending will grow to $1.4 trillion by 2020.
• The number of middle class consumers (defined as those who are able to spend on more than just the necessities) in Africa now exceeds those in India.

The article includes some great photos that show a side of Africa many students don’t expect — a side that looks a lot like the U.S.  Also click on the Interactive Graphics tab to get an interactive time line and refresher on African history.

While in the U.S. McDonald’s adds healthier products — in Japan the strategy appears to be going in the other direction.  In its new “Big America” campaign the top restaurant chain in Japan (by number of stores) is adding four new burgers with anywhere from 556 to 713 calories each.  The Idaho burger (see picture) features a quarter pound of beef, bacon, lettuce and a hash brown.   The article,  “Beefing Up McDonald’s” (Wall Street Journal, January 12, 2011 – non-subscribers click here) also describes McDonald’s success with a promotional strategy where products are only available for a limited time.

The article has good examples to use for product line, international adaptation, and sales promotion.

This year our planet’s population will reach 7 billion people.  This really is a stunning number and this video helps students understand it.   Thanks to my colleague Shuoyong Zhang for suggesting this post.

If you use Basic Marketing, the National Geographic video below would be a great way to start class when you cover chapter 5 on “Demographic Dimensions of Global Consumer Markets.”  In Essentials of Marketing (our shorter book) we cover global population growth in less detail in chapter 4 in a section on cultural and social trends.   The short (2:54) video might also be used to stimulate a discussion on the implications of population growth for marketing strategy planning.  The National Geographic site has more multimedia to help you understand 7 billion — see this clever (1:53) animation “7 Billion:  World Party” and a terrific photo gallery (you know how terrific National Geographic’s photographers are).

This article, ”Selling Health Food to China” (Wall Street Journal, December 13, 2010 – non-subscribers click here) will give you a versatile set of examples.  The examples can be used when you teach the external market environment or about adapting products for international markets.  The Chinese are becoming increasingly concerned with their health.  Major consumer products companies, including Nestlé, Coca-Cola and Pepsico, are adding many traditional Chinese ingredients to gain credibility for their healthy foods.

When we teach students about exchange rates, it helps to have some good examples of how the changes impact consumer buying power.  This article, “Japanese Splurge on Imports, Foreign Deals” (Wall Street Journal, November 28, 2010 - non-subscribers may have to link here).  In Japan, the yen has become very strong of late.  Consequently, many imported goods now cost 20-30% less than even just a few months ago.   This article offers examples useful in teaching exchange rates related to price and exporting.  It might also be a good example to use when discussing the economic dimension of the external market environment.

Another example of a company spotting opportunity in Africa (see recent post “The Africa Opportunity“).  This time it is KFC and its parent Yum Brands that are looking to expand in this growing market.  This article, “KFC Savors Potential in Africa” (Wall Street Journal, December 7, 2010 – non-subscribers may have to find article here)  includes some demographic and competitive information that might be useful in class discussions or examples when covering international, demographics, or channels of distribution/retail.

If you overlook the annoying background music (and the dry narrator voice), this video (4:02 long) provides a pretty good example of integrated marketing communications — with an emphasis on social media.  Skin care and acne medication Clearasil targets teens.  And where are you likely to find them – online of course.  So Clearasil’s ad agency developed a group page at the popular Russian social media site Vkontakte.ru (think Facebook clone – even looks like Facebook).  Users uploaded and shared photos, videos, and stories — motivated by a contest.  They also designed branded apps — like one that used a marker that looked like a tube of Clearasil which allowed teens to remove pimples from photos.  The site was also supported by traditional media — often designed to push people toward the website.

Plenty of good results reported as well — in one year:  1) users uploaded more than 13,000 photos, 2) posted more than 120,000 comments, 3) more than 500,000 people participated in the group or used the app at the social network, and 4) sales grew 30% over the year.

Great example of social media, integrated marketing communications, in an international market.

Clearasil: 4cab36b21ac140.39603595 from BeesAwards on Vimeo.

This article in Fast Company, “Consumers in Emerging Markets Are Even More Cause-Centric Than Western Counterparts” (November 4, 2010) describes some interesting findings from a recent survey of over 7000 people worldwide  – Edelman’s 2010 GoodPurpose Report.  While we are not ready to suggest that purpose is the “5th ‘P’ of marketing” we do find the results interesting. It looks like cause-related marketing programs might work quite well in developing countries like India, Mexico, Brazil, and China — but we would like to see more research before making that leap.