teachthe4ps.com - For instructors of marketing.

This is another segment from CNN’s Poppy Harlow’s interview with Howard Shultz. This might fit in one of several marketing class sessions. Starbucks is a retailer so it might fit there. But I think it works best when talking about implementation and control of marketing strategy. Thus it might fit with our books with chapter 2 or with chapter 19 in Basic Marketing. Note: I can usually resize videos to make them fit my column, but it did not work with this one — so click here to see it larger on the CNN site.

For a nice green example of segmentation and targeting, see “Electric Car Strategy: Follow the Fleet,” (The New York Times, March 1, 2010).  Definitely shows how to tie characteristics of the market (technology, customers, company, and competition) to the target market.

We have posted earlier on Hyundai’s award-winning marketing program from 2009.  For an update, see this NPR story “A Year After Program, Under 100 Hyundais Returned.”

This neat little article might work well as you teach chapter 2 — and need relevant examples of marketing opportunities.  Many of us in the U.S. (and our students) can relate to an unusually cold winter.  Some brands see this as an opportunity — and not only makers of coats, gloves, and snow shovels.  In this article “Marketers Make Most of Falling Mercury” (AdAge, January 11, 2010 – sorry subscription required, so I am providing a longer post than usual to give you some ideas.  If you don’t subscribe, you might be able to find the article through your library database.)

• Campbell’s Soup increases radio advertising in cities with miserable weather,
• Online retailer Zappo’s promotes coats and boots more often,
• Snuggie reported shortages of their blankets with arms and legs — so it cut back on promotion activities,
• Sales of Ugg boots and electric blankets jumped, too.

At a local level, you can read about what New Orleans businesses are doing in response to the cold spell “Cold snap creates business opportunities for some,” in the New Orleans Business News, January 8, 2010.

This 5 minute video clip is an interview with P&G’s new CEO Bob McDonald and A.G. Lafley, its recently departed CEO. They talk about P&G’s focus on developing markets as its source of growth. They mention that demographics drive this focus. The clip would have a nice tie-in with demographics as we talk about it in chapter 5. While the video clearly demonstrates the opportunity here, it might be fun to show the clip in class and ask students – “what P&G should do with its marketing strategy to appeal to this target market?” it might also provide an example of an opportunity that could be discussed with chapter 2.