teachthe4ps.com - For instructors of marketing.

The iPhone has considerable market share and mind share among consumers.  So how do you break into that market?  Maybe you start by copying Apple’s iPad and iPhone.  Then you try to differentiate your phone with a larger screen and 4G connection speed.  Of course explaining technical differences in an ad can be a challenge.

So Samsung tries to make fun of Apple diehards with this latest ad.  Does it work?  I would imagine that Apple fans hate it and Apple haters love it — but those two groups are probably not Samsung’s target market with Galaxy (they are already too loyal).  How does it work for smartphone buyers who are not strongly pro- or anti-Apple?

Either way, this is a good example of comparative advertising.  Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

We all know how difficult it can be to change consumer behavior.  Try selling razors in India, where only half of men shave at home (the other half shave at barbers — and then not everyday).  Is this a threat or an opportunity? P&G India saw this as an opportunity — hundreds of thousands of men who were not using its product.

So last year P&G launched its “Women Against Lazy Stubble” campaign — see TV commercial below for one of the early ads. The campaign reflects subtle changes in P&G’s marketing strategy under new CEO Bob McDonald which is described in “Why Procter & Gamble Needs To Shave More Indians” (Bloomberg Businessweek, June 9, 2011).

The article and television ad (you can find more ads in the campaign by searching YouTube) could make a great example to use in a number of different class sessions.  For example, you could start a class session on consumer behavior by giving your students shaving data from the article and then ask how P&G could encourage more Indian men to shave at home.  The case might also work to show how consumer behavior differs around the world — or in international marketing or advertising and promotion.

Volkswagen’s global market share is about 11% — but it sits at only 3% in the world’s largest auto market — the United States.  Volksagen’s managers hope to change that, so they are re-doubling marketing efforts.  This article, “Volkswagen Rediscovers America” (Bloomberg Businessweek, May 19, 2011), offers some insights into its strategy — but mostly gives a few interesting nuggets of information.  For example, I was surprised to read that as compared to its European counterpart, the U.S. Passat has more legroom, larger control buttons, and a better air conditioning system.  And the U.S. customer gets these extras for for a price of about $8000 courtesy of lower U.S. wages and simplified product design.  VW has just opened its first U.S. manufacturing plant since 1988.

The article offers some examples that can be used when you teach international marketing (product adaptation) and the local factory turns a weakness into a strength.

VW’s 2011 Super Bowl commercial (“The Force” see below)  was one of the most popular — though I must confess I was not a fan.  While I found the ad cute, I didn’t think it said anything relevant about the brand.

Sometimes marketing managers are afraid to rule out segments of the market.  But that is what targeting and positioning is all about — making decisions about which target market our offering will serve and which it will not.  By designing a marketing mix that appeals more to one market segments, you will probably make it less appealing to others.  That is almost always a good trade-off.  Dr Pepper Ten makes it clear that this soft drink is for men — and a great example of targeting for our students.  Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

Are you familiar with TED?  TED (an acronym for Technology, Entertainment and Design) dedicates itself to promoting and disseminating “ideas worth spreading.”  Click the TED logo to the left to connect to its website where you can learn more.  TED has a number of different conferences around the world where it invites some of the world’s most interesting speakers — across a broad range of topics — to give the 18-minute (or less) talk of their lives.  Many of these talks are posted at the TEDTalks website and later spread virally, where you may have seen one or more.

This past fall, TED moved on to our turf — advertising.  It invited anyone to nominate “ads worth spreading” — with the idea that these ads deserved to be seen.  TED wanted nominations in four categories:  1) social good, 2) infectiously compelling (viral), 3) industry impact (innovation), and 4) Talk – a format that follows the TEDTalks style.  After reviewing more than 1000 ads, a panel of 24 judges picked 10 winners (here is the site, sorry I cannot link it up right now for some reason but just enter this address into your browser to see all the ads www.ted.com/initiatives/aws).  We posted one of the winners, the Chase Film (for Intel’s new Core i5 Processor) about a month ago.

Perhaps the one I like best promotes an idea from the Nike Foundation “The Girl Effect – Clock is Ticking” I embedded this 3:05 video below.  Sometimes I like to show advertising that promotes an idea or a cause.

Do you want to tell your students what to look for in advertising during the big game on Sunday?  Here is AdWeek‘s ‘Super Bowl Ad Playbook” (January 31, 2011) for your review.

This is the time of year for “Top 10 of 2010″ lists — and here is another one:  “Ace Metrix Top 10 Ads of 2010” (television commercials).  Ace Metrix uses proprietary software surveys 500 consumer responses to ads across a range of product categories to create an “Ace Score” for each ad.  We like that the score considers each commercial’s persuasiveness and watchability. 

The Samsung commercial below scored the highest.  This could be used in class when you talk about market research or measuring advertising effectiveness.  One way to use this in class would be to show students a couple of the highest rated commercials and ask them why they think the commercials scored well. 

Having problems with too much gasiness?  Maybe you need Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Luftal — which is sold over-the-counter in Mexico. Mostly good for laughs, the pedagogical value is admittedly limited (at least as far as I can see).

This is great stuff!  We have a wild ad for Friskies cat food (see below) — and analysis from its creator via an article by Seth Stevenson “Psychedelic Cat Food Why is the new Friskies ad so trippy?“(Slate.com, March 29, 2010). What a combination — great read, great ad, fun stuff to show and discuss in class. Works with consumer behavior, segmentation and targeting, as well as advertising. Enjoy.

Of course, not all cat owners are quite so jazzed about spooning out cat food and watching their pets munch on it. Friskies did some proprietary consumer research and found a specific segment of cat fanciers they wanted to home in on. Schlueter says the target is “owners who are very involved with their cats, and have a deep relationship with their cats. These are owners who love to get inside and experience the magical world their cats experience.” Thus the lyrics of the ad’s jingle promise that Friskies will help you “excit[e] your cat, day and night, with endless enchantment.” (At the risk of forcing some cat owners to contemplate uncomfortable notions, I will note that this pitch is not unlike that of spam e-mails guaranteeing the ability to “satisfy your partner like never before.”)

Have you been following Zappos over the last few years?  Well we have.  The online retailer (not just selling shoes anymore) is known for its “Wow” customer service and quirky culture (see “Zappos knows how to kick it,” Fortune, January 22, 2010).  They have recently come out with a new television advertising campaign (see below) and they are moving into video sharing [note:  link broken].  Looking for more?  Link through to read more about Zappos and its founder, CEO and “2009 SUCCESS Achiever of the Year,” (Success Magazine, March 2, 2010)  Tony Hsieh.

I like to talk about Zappo’s when I get into retailing.  I like to show students how one or two retailers have developed marketing strategies that work — and walk through the target market and four Ps.  I start by confessing to my students that fifteen years ago I told students that shoes would probably never be sold over the Internet because of the need to try them on (what did I know?).

You can walk through the marketing strategy — starting with big efforts at customer retention — so a major target is current customers.  Especially with shoe buyers, customer retention is key — since their returns will be much lower than new customers.  They keep customers with phenomenal customer service.  Prices are reasonable.  For Promotion, the great customer service generates word of mouth.  Promotion also utilizes advertising (see example below — that probably targets new targets and customer acquisition) and now I can add a discussion of online video.  Place befits a quick tour of the Zappos website – where you can demonstrate more Promotion with the customer reviews of several products.  you can also talk about free shipping and returns when you are talking about Place policies.  And Product is interesting as the firm has a very wide selection and now sells a lot more than shoes.