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China represents a huge potential market for all kinds of companies — vehicle sales in China grew more than 32% in 2010 to more than 18.1 million (more than in the U.S.).   As the average Chinese gains more disposable income, many are in the market for a new car.  At the low end of the market — less than 50,000 yuan (about $7500) — three out of four cars sold are domestic Chinese brands.  These brands — like the Tianjin FAW Xiali pictured here — don’t have a great reputation for quality.   Volkswagen, GM, Nissan, and Honda see an opportunity and are responding with lity with lower cost models.  So this is what many of these car makers are trying to do with stripped down variations of traditional models — with new brand names. This article “Foreign Carmakers Try Brands Just for China“  (Bloomberg BusinessWeek, March 3, 2011) provides a good example of international product adaptation.   The decision to use new brand names — instead of the more well-known Western brand names could also be discussed.

What do you do when changes in the social environment reduces demand for your core product?  That what happened to Zippo — best known for its windproof lighters.  Cigarette smoking in the United States has been declining for decades — and if you don’t smoke, you probably have little need for a Zippo lighter.  Zippo has had mixed results with various product extensions.  The article “Zippo Preps for a Post-Smoker World” (Wall Street Journal, March 8, 2011 – non-subscribers click here) provides a nice foundation for discussion the effects of social trends and for brand extensions.

With demographics you can see the changes coming from a long way off.  The oldest baby boomers turn 65 this year — and many companies are changing marketing strategies to appeal to this growing market.  This article “How to Market to an Aging Boomer: Flattery, Subterfuge and Euphemism” (Wall Street Journal, February 5, 2011 – non-subscribers click here) provides some great examples about how a diverse range of companies from ADT Security Services, to Kimberly Clark’s Depend brand, bathroom fixture maker Kohler and paint retailer Sherwin-Williams are carefully approaching the new baby boomer.  Great examples of how these companies are adapting promotion, place, and product to better meet the needs of this target market.

Sometimes marketers just shoot themselves in the foot.  Such has been the case for consumer electronics firms trying to reinvigorate the television market.  As prices for HDTVs plummeted, they foisted 3DTV and web connectivity on us — creating mass consumer confusion and delayed purchases.  This article, “How Faulty Marketing Has Stalled TV Sales” (BusinessWeek, January 20, 2011) provides lessons from these mistakes.

The oldest of the baby boom generation are reaching retirement age.  How are companies preparing for these customers?  A series of short articles in Fast Company (February 2010) highlight some people and companies that are preparing for the onslaught:

• Volvo is studying older drivers to figure out how to develop cars that keep roads safer.
• At the MIT Agelab, researchers have developed a bodysuit that helps researchers empathize with the physical challenges faced by the elderly.
• GE’s industrial designers also try to emphathize with the elderly while developing new applicances and lighting to better meet their needs.

See the table of contents of this issue — right side “Fast Talk” for a few more.  These examples can work at many places in your course including demographics, consumer behavior, marketing segmentation, marketing research, or new product development.

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 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.

We have reported before on the interesting decisions Panera Bread made about price.  This article, “How Panera Bread Kept Rising Through the Recession” (Bloomberg Businessweek, November 8, 2010) offers more insight on its strategy through an interview with the chain’s Executive Chairman, Ronald Schaich.  By mostly staying the course with its marketing strategy, Panera was further differentiated as its competitors went on cost-cutting sprees.   The example would fit with a discussion of competition, competitive advantage, service, and/or retailing.

With the launch of the Nissan Leaf and the soon-to-be available Chevy Volt, Americans finally have access to mass produced electric cars.  But how will consumer respond to these new products?  There are many challenges facing Nissan and Chevrolet.  This article “Electrics power into mainstream” (USA Today, November 8, 2010) outlines some of these challenges.  You could have your students read this article and then ask how Nissan should deal with these challenges?  Run through the marketing strategy elements – target market and the 4 Ps.  Our students can relate to this market.  How Chevrolet, Nissan, and eventually Ford and other automakers deal with these issues will have a profound impact on how quickly electric cars are adopted — and on our environment.

We love the Nintendo DS and Wii!  It is such a great example to use for market segmentation — and we use it as a chapter opening case scenario in our segmentation and targeting chapter (chapter 4).  Nintendo found a market segment, the casual gamer, that was under-served.  They designed products for this market and soon was selling more game consoles than Sony and Microsoft which targeted hard-core gamers.  Now things are changing.  Sony and Microsoft are attacking the casual gamer market as “Nintendo Goes for the Hard Core with Its 3DS” (Bloomberg Businessweek, October 28, 2010).  Read about it here.

This shows new product development, but also how a product category is moving from growth to maturity.  Nice supplement to segmentation and targeting — and an update to chapter 4 if you are using one of our books.