United Airlines Reveals New Dreamliner

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United Airlines revealed the newest addition to their fleet – the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner.  While it’s not the largest passenger plane (the 747-400 holds 416 passengers versus 318 on the 787-10) it is the largest Dreamliner in Boeing’s product line and United is expanding consumer seating choices with the new plane.  Consumers are used to the standard economy, business, and first class cabins.  Years ago United added their “Economy Plus” seating which provides slightly more legroom for their frequent fliers or those willing to pay extra.  Now United has added a fifth class titled “Premium Plus”.  They have also upgraded their business class seats to a new “Polaris” design that includes a large entertainment display and lie-flat seats.  As a side note, United is trying to build a sub-brand around Polaris with themed amenities, Polaris airport lounges, and premium service.  You can read more about the new plane in this USA Today article.

Offering more seat choices to customers and upgrading amenities on the plane shows how much United is investing in trying to provide a differentiated customer experience in a highly commoditized market.  You might consider having a discussion about the target market for this new plane, how United could determine if adding a fifth class of seats is a good or bad idea (remember they take up more space than a standard economy seat), and whether the experience actually affects purchase behavior or if that will be driven entirely on price.

Covergirl Opens New Flagship Store Focused on Experiences

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Every generation presents new marketing challenges.  As consumers flock to online shopping, CoverGirl decided to open their first brick-and-mortar location in Times Square, NY.  You can read about the new store and it’s planned opening (Black Friday) in this article.  The new store is designed around providing “an experiential beauty playroom”.  The new store will be utilizing Google’s artificial intelligence platform, DialogFlow, to power a virtual greeter (Olivia) and augmented reality stations to help shoppers visualize the different options.  Of course they will utilize personal sales representatives as well to assist in any areas not covered by their new technological assets.

Will this be a good move for CoverGirl?  Should any of their current retail partners feel threatened by CoverGirl’s forward integration?

Halloween Marketing – Behind the Scenes

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Americans are crazy about Halloween and that works out great for costume companies, candy manufacturers, decoration providers, and of course the retailers that carry those goods.  In fact, according to this report from the National Retail Foundation, Halloween represents a ~$9B sales opportunity.  $2.6B of that is spent on candy (if you want to give your students an interesting exercise, have them try to calculate/forecast how many individual pieces of candy that represents).

With that much money on the line you can bet candy companies give the event special attention.  The Mars Wrigley company even created a job position specifically for the event – Chief Halloween Officer.  The current Chief Halloween Officer, Victor Mehren, was recently interviewed regarding the role and it’s unique challenges and opportunities.  Students often appreciate the creativity delivered in commercials but they don’t often think about everything that goes on behind the scenes.  In the interview, Mehren talks about Halloween’s rise in popularity outside North America, he talks about the planning timeline for Halloween (it starts roughly 6 months before the event!), and he talks about challenges from consumer trends toward more health-conscious consumption.  He also talks about some of the marketing campaigns put together including a link to the first new M&M commercial in 11 years.  It’s a great interview with many different topics that could fit a good post-Halloween discussion.

Burger King’s “Nightmare King”

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Capitalizing on Halloween tradition, Burger King is trying to drum up some business with their new “Nightmare King” burger.  Their latest ad (watch here) highlights the quarter-pound beef, chicken fillet, cheese, bacon, mayo, and onion combination all on a green sesame seed bun.  The ad claims Burger King partnered with the Florida Sleep & Neuro Diagnostic Services to conduct a clinical study designed to measure the burger’s ability to induce nightmares.  Spoiler alert – their research claims nightmares increase by 3.5 times after eating the new burger.

While the legitimacy of the claims is dubious at best, it is a good example of Burger King’s efforts to grab share in the overcrowded Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) market.  This isn’t Burger King’s first seasonal stunt either.  Three years ago they created a Whopper served on a jet black bun and last year they offered free Whoppers to customers who visited the restaurant dressed up as clowns.  Burger King is also partnering with Postmates (a courier service who’s model is similar to Uber or Lyft) to offer free delivery of the new burger between October 22 and Nov. 1 suggesting an effort to push customers to mobile ordering.  Read more about the campaign here.

 

Responding to Cultural Pressure

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As we discuss in Chapter 5 of Essentials of Marketing, there are numerous factors that influence consumer buying behavior.  Sometimes company image, specifically how company image ties to cultural norms can be an influence – either positive or negative.  Papa Johns had to deal with this recently when their CEO admitted using a racial slur.  The CEO was forced out of the company and is now attacking the company.  Papa Johns has taken a great deal of criticism and has seen a decline in sales, in part due to this issue.  In response, they put together an apology video.  You can view the video on their Twitter page and read more about the situation here.  What do your students think of their response to the situation?  Was this the right approach?  Would it have been better for them to ignore the criticism and instead put more emphasis on a different marketing campaign?