InstructionsCase studies are an important learning strategy in business classes as they provide an opportunity for you to critically analyze events that have taken place in real-life businesses. This

InstructionsCase studies are an important learning strategy in business classes as they provide an opportunity for you to critically analyze events that have taken place in real-life businesses. This
Marketing Excellence Red Bull Red Bull’s integrated marketing communications mix has been so successful that the company has created an entirely new billion-dollar drink category—energy drinks. In addition, Red Bull has become a multibillion-dollar beverage brand among fierce competition from beverage kings like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Anheuser-Busch. To date, the company has sold more than 40 billion cans of energy drinks across 166 countries. How? Red Bull became the energy drink market leader by skillfully connecting with youth around the globe and doing it differently than anyone else. Dietrich Mateschitz founded Red Bull with a single product in Austria in 1987. By 1997, the slender silver-and-blue can was available in 25 markets globally, including Western and Eastern Europe, New Zealand, and South Africa. Its size and style immediately signaled to consumers that its contents were different from traditional soft drinks. Red Bull’s ingredients—amino acid taurine, B-complex vitamins, caffeine, and carbohydrates—were specifically formulated to make the drink highly caffeinated and energizing. In fact, some users have referred to it as “liquid cocaine” or “speed in a can.” Over the past decade, the company introduced other products and flavors, many of which did not succeed. Today, Red Bull offers the original Red Bull Energy Drink, Red Bull Total Zero, Red Bull Sugar Free, and special editions infused with berry, lime, and cranberry flavors. As the company continued to expand worldwide, it developed an integrated marketing communications plan that reached its target audience on many different levels and built its brand image of authenticity, originality, and community. First, Red Bull focused on pre-marketing, sponsoring events like the Red Bull Snowthrill of Chamonix ski contest in France to help build word-of-mouth excitement around the brand. Once the company entered a new market, it built buzz through its “seeding program,” micro-targeting trendy shops, clubs, bars, and stores. This enabled the cultural elite to access Red Bull’s product first and influence other consumers. As one Red Bull executive explained, “We go to on-premise accounts first, because the product gets a lot of visibility and attention. It goes faster to deal with individual accounts, not big chains and their authorization process.” The company also targeted opinion leaders likely to influence consumers’ purchases, including action sports athletes and entertainment celebrities. Once Red Bull gained some momentum in bars, it moved into gyms, health food stores, restaurants, convenience stores near colleges, and eventually supermarkets. The company’s primary point-of-purchase tool has always been its refrigerated sales units, prominently displaying the Red Bull logo. These set the brand apart from other beverages and ensure a prominent location in every retail environment. To guarantee consistency and quality in its point-of-purchase displays, the company hired teams of delivery van drivers whose sole responsibility was stocking Red Bull. Another essential aspect of Red Bull’s marketing communication mix is product trial. Whereas traditional beverage marketers attempt to reach the maximum number of consumers with sampling, the company seeks to reach consumers only in ideal usage occasions, namely when they feel fatigue and need a boost of energy. As a result, its sampling campaigns take place at concerts, parties, festivals, sporting events, beaches, highway rest areas (for tired drivers), and college libraries and in limos before award shows. Red Bull also aligns itself with a wide variety of extreme sports, athletes, and teams and artists in music, dance, and film. From motor sports to mountain biking, snowboarding to surfing, rock concerts to extreme sailing, there is no limit to the craziness of a Red Bull event or sponsorship. A few company-sponsored events are notorious for taking originality and extreme sporting to the limit. For example, at the annual Flugtag, contestants build homemade flying machines that must weigh less than 450 pounds, including the pilot. Teams launch their contraptions off a specially designed Red Bull–branded ramp, 30 feet above a body of water. Crowds of as many as 300,000 young consumers cheer as the contestants and their craft try to stay true to the brand’s slogan: “Red Bull gives you wings!” Red Bull uses traditional advertising once the market has grown mature and the company needs to reinforce the brand to its consumers. As one executive explained, “Media is not a tool that we use to establish the market. It is a critical part. It’s just later in the development.” Red Bull’s “anti-marketing” marketing communications strategy has been extremely successful connecting with its young consumers. It falls directly in line with the company’s mission to be seen as unique, original, and rebellious—just as its Generation Y consumers want to be viewed. Sources: .Kevin Lane Keller, “Red Bull: Managing a High-Growth Brand,” Best Practice Cases in Branding, 3rd ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2008); Peter Ha, “Red Bull Stratos: Man Will Freefall from Earth’s Stratosphere,” Time, January 22, 2010; “Red Bull to Go on Sale in U.S. with Fruity Flavors,” Businessweek, October 8, 2012; www.redbull.com..
InstructionsCase studies are an important learning strategy in business classes as they provide an opportunity for you to critically analyze events that have taken place in real-life businesses. This
MBA 5501 , Advanced Marketing 1 Cou rse Learning Outcomes for Unit VIII Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to: 5. Distinguish between market segmentation, market targeting, and brand equity in the market planning process. 5.1 Compare the strength of brands when determining brand equity. 7. Compare holistic, direct, personal selling, retail, and wholesale marketing concepts. 7.1 Compare marketing tactics within a company with respect to their effectiveness. 8. Examine the key aspects in managing advertising, sales, promotion, events, and public relations. 8.1 Analyze the strategies used in advertising, sales, promotion, events , and public relations. 8.2 Recommend the next steps in marketing and advertising strategies. Course/Unit Learning Outcomes Learning Activity 5 Case Study; Chapter 23 5.1 Case Study; Chapter 23 7 Case Study; Chapter 23 7.1 Case Study; Chapter 23 8 Case Study; Chapter 23 8.1 Case Study; Chapter 23 8.2 Case Study; Chapter 23 Reading Assignment Chapter 23: Managing a Holistic Marketing Organization for the Long Run Additional Reading Assignments: In order to access the following resources, click on the links below: Bucher, L. (2016). 25 ways millennials will change the grocery industry forever. Canadian Grocer , 130 (8), 21 – 24. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/docview/1833129421?accountid= 33337 Chanchal, P. C. (2016, November 6). Ridi ng the festive tide. Business Today. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/docview/1830259262?acco untid= 33337 Unit Lesson Marketing is everywhere! Now that you have traveled through this marketing management course, do you believe this statement to be true? While we are sometimes annoyed about marketing and advertising, think of a world with absolutely no marketing. How would you find out about products/services? How would yo u learn about new product/service offerings? How would you be educated about new prices or new locations to obtain the product? The first thing to cross your mind might be that you would find out from your friends. In UNIT VIII STUDY GUIDE Sustainability and Evaluation of the Marketing Organization MBA 5501, Advanced Marketing 2 this scenario, consumers would be rely ing 100% on the opinion of others. While this may be appropriate in some cases, it might not be a favorable situation in all cases. Thinking of marketing as a necessity for society, marketers need to manage the marketing organization toward overall susta inability. Kotler and Keller (2016) suggest that marketers must plan, implement, and control the marketing activities in order to maintain the overall brand. Planning in the largest sense suggests that actions are not spontaneous but instead calculated and pre -determined with a vision on the objectives of the organization. This more -or-less sets an overall direction of the marketing efforts allowing for specific tactics to be determined. Implementation applies all the plans and strategies toward actual exec ution, and control brings in some level of measurement in order to determine the overall effectiveness. To state that marketing has changed over the course of the last 15 years is an understatement of significant magnitude. Technology created efficiencies in all aspects of marketing; the Internet has become a primary form of communication, and information can be obtained in record time. Kotler and Keller (2016) discuss other shifts in marketing, including how outsourcing and supplier partnering create addi tional marketing opportunities. Another significant change is that of the overall organization of the marketing departments. Additional focus has been placed on the product or brand management organization, which supports the traditional functional organiz ational setup. These brand managers become champions of the product/service by taking upon the overall responsibility of the assigned product. This includes both short -term and long -term strategy development as well as the fiduciary components of the annua l marketing plan and sales forecasts. Product or brand managers basically eat, drink, and breathe their assigned product category and work with all functional areas within the organization to ensure that their product is represented, funded, and taken care of in order to meet the continuously changing needs of the customer. While socially responsible marketing practices have been in existence for years, the importance of this corporate social responsibility (CSR) has never been greater. In definition, CSR is behavior on the part of the company that reflects ethical and socially responsible behavior. It is thought that this type of behavior not only benefits the employees, customers, community, and environment but also the stakeholders (Kotler & Keller, 201 6). The idea behind this is that, if given the chance, customers will buy more often from companies that demonstrate good CSR practices. Companies are coming up with innovative programs such as Toms’ One for One program where Toms pledges to provide a pair of shoes to children in need for every shoe purchased. This business model has been trending as other companies incentivize and motivate customers to buy their products over their competitors’ products while also providing a program of social good. Movi ng away from the CSR programs, at the opposite end of the spectrum is that of controversial marketing and advertising practices. These practices include discussions around whether advertising directly to children is ethical. Should we allow companies that are motivated toward the desires of stockholders to potentially influence these young minds into purchasing the products/services? But, then, why should these companies be unfairly targeted with additional restrictions? Another area of controversy is that of the advertising of tobacco or legal marijuana. Click the link below to view the first marijuana commercial that debuted on a major network. MarijuanaDoctors.com. (2014, February 26). First marijuana commercial debuts on major network [Video file]. Retr ieved from https://youtu.be/jyzxs33B6FA Click here for a transcript of the video. Since tobacco and/or legal marijuana represent unhealthy ventures that could lead to addictions, should advertisers be allowed to advertise these products? One has to remember that these are legal products. Should con sumers not be given the opportunity to make their own choices? The use of sex in advertising is yet another area of controversy. At what point does this become distasteful, and how do we protect young children from viewing and interpreting these advertisem ents? The advertising of unhealthy food products brings another controversial topic to the forefront. With obesity rising at alarming rates, should we allow advertisers of these products to continue to advertise? Finally, the use of shock or scare advertis ing to influence consumers’ actions comes into question. At what point is it unethical or unhealthy for individuals to be shocked into acting in a certain way? An example of this might be the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) attempting to adv ocate for a reduction in animal cruelty with the use of visuals showing abused animals. The anti -smoking campaigns also publish commercials focused on convincing people to stop smoking; click the link below to see an example. MBA 5501, Advanced Marketing 3 Centers for Disease Control a nd Prevention [CDC]. (2013, March 28 ). CDC: Tips from former smokers – Terrie: “Terrie, What Are You Doing?” [Video file] . Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQIbIpjWEmc Click here for a transcript of the video. Should these types of commercials be restricted, or is this type of technique ne cessary to curb the abuse of tobacco? While one side of the controversy suggests that there should be legislation prohibiting these advertising attempts, the other side suggests that all companies have the freedom of speech and the right to present the ben efits of their products/services to consumers. Who has the ultimate responsibility here? Is it the company, government, legislating bodies, or consumers (parents) themselves? Social responsibility in advertising is becoming more relevant in today’s world . We, as consumers, prefer to buy from companies that represent socially responsible behavior. In order to be considered as socially responsible, the advertising must be truthful. The presentation of factual information that is not deceptive is crucial. Th e second requirement is that the advertisement should not promote anything that is damaging to society. Obviously, both of these requirements can be misconstrued and is up to interpretation in many situations. The ultimate goal is for companies to ensure t hat their actions have a positive impact on all of the company’s stakeholders, which include employees, the community, consumers, and shareholders. Marketers then communicate these actions to the public through social marketing campaigns. Understanding e thical behavior in the marketing area is complicated as many facets are not necessarily black -and -white in nature. Click the link below to view an introductory video, which explains the basics of ethical marketing. Marketing Strategy. (2013, September 12) . Marketing strategy_ethical behavior in marketing – What are marketing ethics [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/cX5W z9fElJk Click here for a transcript of the video. Now that you have a good understanding of how ethical development intertwines with the marketing discipline, how might companies promote an ethical culture within their marketing efforts. Remembering that profit motives can sometimes counter ethical behavior, how can a company move beyond this? The video discusses consequences. Is this a sound method of implementation? W hat about policies and procedur es? How might a company go about establishing a culture of ethical behavior within the organization and subsequently within their marketing efforts? A related topic is that of corporate social responsibility (CSR), which involves companies that implement initiatives that benefit society as a whole. This concept reaches beyond just the marketing area to the entire company. These efforts can involve simple donations of funds or manpower to implementing green operations within the company. This concept is sel f-regulated and viewed positively by consumers, employees, stockholders, and all stakeholders. Consumers again prefer to work with companies that are promoting a healthier world, and employees are more engaged and supportive of the company they work for if they are employing these CSR practices. An additional perk of these programs is the building of teamwork, collaboration, and morale among employees. One such example of this is when a company shuts down operations for a day to employ the entire staff to b uild playgrounds for a neighboring community that is struggling or to visit a local food pantry and pack food for the hungry. The feeling of working together as a team on these socially good programs translates to a better working atmosphere when employees return to work the next day. As marketers compile their marketing plans/strategies as well as their marketing budgets, control or measurement needs to be conducted in order to ensure that the firm’s marketing dollars are most efficiently being used. Kot ler and Keller (2016) summarize four types of control, which include the annual plan control, profitability control, efficiency control, and the strategic control. The annual plan review determines whether the overall planned results are being achieved, wh ereas the profitability control looks at whether the company is achieving a profit. The efficiency control evaluates the specifics of the marketing dollars spent, indicating whether these dollars were actually spent in the best way. Finally, the strategic control reviews whether the products, target markets, and channels used are actually the most efficient. Marketing managers use a variety of different measurement devices within each of these overarching categories. Comparative and longitudinal analysis pr ovides marketers and the executive team with a solid basis of measurement and control. This MBA 5501, Advanced Marketing 4 might be conducted through the marketing audit, which provides a holistic look at all aspects associated with the marketing strategy for the company. At the end of the day, these measurement processes provide marketers with important information allowing for strategic changes in order to adapt to the changing needs of consumers and, specifically, the target market. Accountability is the key component in this holistic approach to measurement and control. Reference Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2016). Marketing management [VitalSource Bookshelf version] (15th ed.). Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781323591512 Suggested Reading In order to access the following resource, click on the link below: American marketing influences consumers all over the world. Philip Kotler, best known for the marketing principle of the four Ps (product, price, promotion, and place) speaks on American marketing in the video below. Chicago Humanities Festival. (2012, November 26). Philip Kotler: Marketing [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR -qL7QdVZQ