Marketing

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Warming Ups

'The four Ps' form the basis of the 'marketing mix'. If you want to market a product successfully, you need to get this mix right.
Match the Ps (1-4) to their definitions (a-d).

1- product

a) the cost to the buyer of goods or services

b) informing customers about products and persuading them to buy them

c) where goods or services are available

d) goods or services that are sold

2- price

a) the cost to the buyer of goods or services

b) informing customers about products and persuading them to buy them

c) where goods or services are available

d) goods or services that are sold

3- promotion

a) the cost to the buyer of goods or services

b) informing customers about products and persuading them to buy them

c) where goods or services are available

d) goods or services that are sold

4- place

a) the cost to the buyer of goods or services

b) informing customers about products and persuading them to buy them

c) where goods or services are available

d) goods or services that are sold

A- Listen to four consumers talking about different products.
Decide which of the four Ps each speaker is discussing: product, price, promotion or place.

Consumer 1

Consumer 2

Consumer 3

Consumer 4

B- Think of some products you have bought recently. Why did you buy them?
Which of the four Ps influenced your decision to buy?

C- Tell your partner about a marketing campaign that impressed you.

Vocabulary

match each of the three word partnerships to the correct definition (a-c).

1- Market

1- the percentage of sales a company has

2- information about what customers want and need

3- a group of customers of similar age, income level and social group

2- Consumer

1- description of a typical customer

2- where and how people buy things

3- things people buy for their own use

3- product

1- introduction of a product to the market

2- length of time people continue to buy a product

3- set of products made by a company

4- sales

1- how much a company wants to sell in a period

2- how much a company thinks it will sell in a period

3- numbers showing how much a company has sold in a period

5- advertising

1- business which advises companies on advertising and makes ads

2- an amount of money available for advertising during a particular period

3- a programme of advertising activities over a period, with particular aims

Choose a well-known brand for each of these categories

• car/motorbike Mercedes • mobile phone I camera
• clothing/perfume • food/drink
• magazine/newspaper • computer I electronic goods

For each brand, think about these questions.

1 What is the product range of the brand? The range includes cars , vans and trucks.
2 Which market segment is it aimed at in your country?
3 What is a typical consumer profile for the brand? Include the following:

• age • gender • job/profession • income level • interests/hobbies
• other products the consumer might buy

Listening

Richard Turner is the European Marketing Manager for a pharmaceutical company. Listen to the first part of the interview and answer these questions.

1 What is very important when you market to doctors?
2 How much time do marketing people usually have with doctors?
3 What are 'rational' advantages?
4 What are 'emotional' advantages?

Richard talks about 'the regulatory environment'. This is where the authorities have official powers to control the production and safety of drugs. Listen to the second part and complete this audio-script extract.

I think the biggest 1 for us is the regulatory environment. The laws that we need
to follow are quite 2 - and quite rightly so. We in the pharmaceutical industry have
the same interests as the doctor. We want to help 3 lead better lives.
We have to present the data in a 4 and balanced way, not to overstate the
advantages of our 5 . Because we're trying to develop 6 which are
consistent across many different countries across Europe ... it's often a challenge ...

Listen to the third part and say if these statements are true (T) or false (F). Correct the false ones.

1 The key to good marketing is being able to speak directly to patients.

true

false

2 Marketing people are gaining from all the benefits of the Internet and new communication methods.

true

false

3- Companies are starting to look at using technology such as the iPad when presenting data to doctors.

true

false

3- Listen to the final part and put these stages in the correct order.

a) Peak sales b) Clinical trials

c) Present data to the doctor d) Scientist comes up with an idea

What can you say about the different product Lifecycles of these things?

• pharmaceutical drugs • computer software • cars • English-language textbooks
• Rubik's cubes • skateboards • football shirts of a famous team

Reading

Discuss these questions in pairs.

1 Who do you think is the biggest manufacturer of sports goods in a) Europe,
and b) China?
2 What do you know about Nike, Adidas and Li Ning?

Before you read, match these questions (1-6} to the answers (a-f).

1 Why is Adidas expanding in China? a) 550

2 How many stores does Adidas have b) It is planning to focus on low prices.
in China at the time of writing?

3 Who is Christophe Bezu? c) Adidas

4 How did Li Ning get its name? d) He is the Chief Executive of Adidas

5 What is Li Ning hoping to do? e) It comes from the President of the
Beijing Olympics Committee.

6 Who is the market leader for sports f) Because it wants to become the
goods in China? market leader in China.

Read the article below and correct all the answers (a-f) i n Exercise B.

Adidas targets the Chinese interior
by Patti Waldmeir
Adidas. Europe's biggest sports-goods maker. will open 2,500 stores and expand its sales network to I ,400 Chinese cities, in an effort to regains market share lost to foreign and domestic competitors in one of the world's most rapidly growing retail markets.
The German company is one of many consumer-goods multinationals that have recently decided to shirt their focus from near-saturated cities like Shanghai and Beijing to target smaller cities and less wealthy consumers. where they believe growth potential is higher for foreign brands.
Adidas plans to reach far into the Chinese interior to open the new stores. Initially, this will be in urban areas with as few as 500,000 people and then, by 20 15 , in cities with a population of just over 50.000, company officials said in Shanghai on Tuesday.
"'We will be in much smaller cities by 2015 ,'' said Christophe Bezu, Adidas Managing Director for Greater China. At present, the company has 5 ,600 stores in 550 cities. The product mix in smaller cities will be chosen so that the entry price for consumers would be 1 5 per cent less than in Adidas's existing shops in larger cities. he added. The company would be targeting consumers with an average disposable income of Rmb5 ,000 ($753) a month.
Herbert Hainer, Adidas Chief Executive. predicted that the strategy would allow the German group to regain the number-two market position that it recently lost to Li Ning, the Chinese sportswear manufacturer.
Li Ning, named after the Olympic gymnast who lit the flame at the opening ceremony of the 2008
Beijing Olympics , recently announced plans to take its brand upmarket to compete more directly
with foreign brands like Adidas and the market leader. Nike. Li Ning 's move up to second position could prove a key moment .
Retail analysts see it as one of the first signs in the retail field that Chinese products can rebrand themselves as not just cheap but desirable.
Li Ning has strong sales and distribution networks in the lower-tier cities that Adidas hopes to penetrate.
Mr Hainer dismissed Adidas's recent problems i n China as temporary, related to overstocking in the run-up to the Olympics. Mr Hainer predicted double-digit sales growth in China over the next five years.

Match these words and phrases (1-7) to their definitions (a-g).

1 market position a) the combination of products that a company has to offer
2 upmarket b) a market filled so completely that no more products can be added
3 product mix c) expensive compared to other products of the same type
4 penetrate d) alter a product or service to change the way that people think about it
5 disposable income e) start selling goods or services in a new market
6 rebrand f) money that is available to spend after paying for essentials like taxes, food and housing
7 saturated g) the ranking of a company or brand against its competitors in terms of its sales

Complete these sentences with some of the words/phrases from the previous Exercise .

1 The Beatles were able to the U S market.
2 During the economic crisis, people had less
3 Smaller banks are struggling to compete in an already market.
4 We are trying to lose our cheap image and move with more expensive
products.
5 Coca-Cola decided to Diet Fanta in the UK, to fit in with the rest of Europe.

Language Review : Questions

In questions which we can answer with either yes or no, we put an auxiliary verb before the subject.
'Do you trust this market-research survey?' 'No, the sample size wasn't large enough. '
'Is the market going to crash again?' 'No, not in the near future.'
'Have you finished the marketing report?' 'Yes, I printed it out earlier. '
• To ask for more information, we use question words like what, why, where, when and how.
We put the question word before the auxiliary verb.
When do you want the sales figures?
How should we promote it?
How many are we expecting to sell?

Study Case

Wincote lnternational

An outdoor-Clothing company's key product range has not achieved its sales target.

Background
Wincote International is an outdoor-products company
based in Colorado, US. Eighteen months ago, it launched
a range of jackets and boots for men and women. The
company believed that the market for these products was not
saturated. The clothes were aimed at mountaineers, hikers,
snowboarders and anyone participating in extreme sports
or outdoor activities. The brand name of the range was
XWS (Extreme Winter Sports).

The launch

Following the product launch, the boots sold well, but the
jacket fell below its sales target. Few people seemed to
know that there was a new jacket on sale made from a new
all-weather material. This was very disappointing, as the
jacket was considered to have great sales potential. The
management decided therefore to relaunch the product
and change their approach to marketing it.

Read the information below about the jacket and how it was marketed. Study the charts opposite. Why do you think sales have been so poor?

Task

1 Work in groups. Each group is a team in the marketing department. Hold a meeting to discuss what you should do to improve sales of the Wincote XWS. Use the questions in the box on the right as a guide.
2 Present your ideas to the other teams in the marketing department.
3 As a whole department, hold a meeting and decide what the company must do to improve the sales of the Win cote XWS.

Questions

Product: How should the product be changed? Think about colour, sizes, changes to its design, specifications, etc.
Price: Is the price correct? If not, what should it be? Should there be a different price for the men's and women's jackets?
Promotion: Was it promoted the correct way? Is the Wincote xws targeted at the right segment of the market? Does it need a new slogan? If so, what? What kind of advertising campaign should be used to relaunch the product?
Place: Is it being sold in the right places?

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