Wednesday 1 February 2012

M2 Market Research in Action

The 2005 Market Research Society Code of Conduct is a law that is used to contribute to the development of Kelloggs. The code of conduct is intended to support the general public that research is carried out in a professional and ethical manner. The Data Protection Act 1998 law & Market Research: Guidance for MRS Members September 2003 is used to keep Kellogg’s customer information secure and safe. Their role is to represent and communicate good practice in research to the business community, government and the public. The difference between a law and a code of conduct is that a law is for the general public code of conduct is for businesses and organisations. Kellogg’s have to abide by both the Data Protection Act and the Market Research Society so that they do not offend consumers or customers. On the Kellogg’s website they say, ‘Kellogg approaches our communications on the Internet with respect for, and commitment to, individual privacy rights, and concern and respect for the various sensibilities of our consumers.’ By market research, the company can then decide what is suitable for their specific customers and suit their needs and wants. Kellogg’s care about personal privacy and recognize their responsibility to their customers. By keeping customer information secure, the company is abiding by the Data Protection law. Kellogg’s cares about the safety and security of your credit card transactions or shareholder information and uses Secure Sockets Layer when providing credit card or other similar sensitive personal information to them online. This assures users that their information is safe. Kellogg’s have to use the Data Protection Act otherwise it is against the law. Kellogg’s say ‘Kellogg will be used for the purpose for which it was provided or for the company’s internal marketing or product development purposes, and will not be sold or provided to third parties outside of the Kellogg family of companies for their marketing purposes without your permission’ This also assures customers that their information that they gave, is protected and secure within the business

Monday 5 December 2011

Alternative Marketing

A coherent marketing mix for Kellogg's Brain Food would be a female adult between the ages of 34 - 40. I am targeting busy mothers which do not have time in the morning for a substantial breakfast, the New Brain Food snack is an easy, but healthy option. The female would have a family car with 3 children and has a busy work life during the day. Her favourite drink is a glass of Rose wine in the evening with her husband. The female adult would have a high income from her job. Her favourite programmes to watch are Eastenders and Coronation Street while relaxing after the busy rush of the morning, and the demanding work place. In her social life, the female adult likes to eat out with her friends and meet up for shopping trips on her days off. Her high spending items would be weekly shopping for her family, petrol when transporting her children to school and herself to work and activities for her children.
The benefits of the product are that it is an easy way to eat on the go when mothers are busy looking after their children. It is a well priced product, that can be brought from local supermarkets. The wholegrain within the product, gives boosts of energy throughout the day.
To communicate the product, I will use images to advertise the product and have a short television advert which is shown in the evenings, which catches the eye of mothers who are busy throughout the day.

Other places that this Brain Food product, 'Boost Bites' can be sold are local newsagents, coffee rooms at colleges, and smaller express stores. Other people that benefit from this could be working business men that often get trains can eat the snack on the way to work. The product can have a wide range of flavours which can engage new customers who do not enjoy the original flavour. By developing the product into variety packs and multi-packs, the price can be better value, instead of buying one pack for £1.29

Thursday 24 November 2011

Task 2

The communication is very effective for TNS Global because it has descriptive information that informs readers about the company.  The website includes links and different types of research of their main objectives. The information given is detailed about what they offer and the background of the company.
The types of communications used on the TNS global website are blogs, which can be created by a viewer of the website if they want to. They also have video links and images. These videos show strategies of selling and traditional tradeand how they function. There is a link that allows watchers to contact the company and direct them to their local home office. With names and addresses, you can get through to the different departments. There are brochures and case studies that customers and the general public can download.
The positives of using this type of communication are that there is a varied amount of ways that people can view and interact with the information. All the information is given on one page, which is easy to find and easy to use. Users of the site can search for what they need. This saves time when searching for information about TNS Global.
the drawbacks of using this type of communication are that the website can crash or be hacked without anti-virus systems. When wanting to update the website with new media and information, it takes time and money to employ staff to update it. People need to be employed to monitor emails and phone calls and this also costs TNS Global money.
TNS Global could improve their communication in the future by using more links to media sources, like videos and interactive means. By having a better structure and organising the site more, they could advertise the company with television and magazine adverts. This could bring in more page views and more customers.

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Corporate Communication

The media used for to publicise my online blog were video, flyer and newsletter. This showed off my blog well and appealed to the target market. These methods are effective and efficient to use when advertising my blog. The target market of this blog is to new starters of the Stormtrooper company. The reasons why I chose to use a flyer, email newsletter and a video is because they are an efficient and cheap way to publicise the blog.

The flyer advertises more important information, but not overly amounts of writing. It is a short, sharp method of catching the viewers’ attention. The flyer introduces the companies Kellogg’s and Diesel and the URL to view the site.  The email newsletter is more detailed but with pictures and striking colours to engage the viewer. The email newsletter includes information about me and the company, Stormtrooper. It also has an overview of what the blog involves and where to visit the blog.
The video is a short advert that publicises the blog in a way that makes the audience want to visit the website and expand their knowledge on market research in action. It introduces me and what the blog displays. The video has audio and images to entice the viewer and also advertises the website address to view the blog.
Other options that I could of used to publicise my blog would be radio adverts, TV adverts, magazine articles and billboards. The reason why I did not use these sources of media is because they are expensive and more time consuming.



Thursday 17 November 2011

Task 2

Kellogg’s target consumers because they are the people who are using (eating) the product and therefore they are the critics. For the Brain Food, the parents are the customers who buy the product. The consumer, the teenager or young adults are who the product is aimed at. By using market segmentation, Kellogg’s can accurately see what their target market is, and aim their product to them, with flavours and packaging. A real life example of this would be either the Rice Krispies advert or Coco Pops because the advert is aimed at the children with characters and animations, when in reality, the parents need to know about these adverts to go and buy the product for the consumer, the children.

Marketing Plan for Kellogg's

Marketing Plan for Kellogg’s

By Sian Brookman & Lewis Willoughby

Executive Summary

This marketing plan is a one year strategy to introduce Boost Bites into the Kellogg’s brand. The plan describes the company analysis and what the goals are by next year, for example, the marketing mix and the SWOT analysis.

The Challenge

The product created for Kellogg’s is ‘Boost Bites’, which is a small pack of wholegrain bites with a layer of chocolate. These bites of energy keep the college student motivated throughout the day.

Situation Analysis

In 1876, William Keith Kellogg produced the breakfast cereal, ‘Corn Flakes’. The philosophy of Kellogg’s was to introduce a healthy cereal, which improved the consumer’s diet. This built up the reputation of the company and now is the most successful cereal manufacturer in the world.

Company Analysis

The goal for the brain food of Kellogg’s, ‘Boost Bites’ is to be the most recognised cereal brand in the UK market. The focus of Boost Bites is to be a healthy, energy releasing cereal bites. The advantages and strengths of this product are that it is a healthy breakfast snack, which is a brain food that can increase concentration levels in the classroom. It is also a light, travel sized product that can be eaten on the go, as well as in the household. A weakness of this product would be that it doesn’t appeal to every target market. This is because some people do not consider snacks as a healthy option, and prefer a more substantial breakfast to start off the day.

Customer Analysis

From market research and focus groups, the number of customers/consumers can be found. The target audience are between the ages of 17 – 21. This means that it decreases the amount of customers that this product attracts. The type of customers that this energy snack appeals to would be the sporty type that likes a high energy release, with a healthy diet. Boost Bites targets male consumers, with little time for sit down meals. This product is not highly priced, which means teenagers and young adults can grab and go, without paying great amounts of money. The brand Kellogg’s is known over the UK, which means customers and consumers are willing to go out of their way to try and experience new products within the brand. The reputation of Kellogg’s is widely known because of the quality of every product. As a new, healthy brain food snack, customers are more likely to want to try out the new item. The decision process for Kellogg’s Boost would be that parents would buy this product, as a customer, for their teen children to consume. Parents can purchase these as a breakfast meal or as a snack for throughout the day. The concentration of customer base would be around schools, colleges and universities. This is because the products target market is for teens and young adults. If this product was based around nurseries or primary schools, there would be a decrease in the sales of the product.

Competitor Analysis

Direct is a substitute of the product. This could be a Nestle cereal bar or Nature Valley bars. An indirect product can be any other product that a customer can buy with their money. This could be anything from pillows to a sandwich.

Climate

As a country we have a coalition government. This is the political and legal environment. A coalition is when two parties have joined together in the government. When having a coalition, it means that they both have different opinions, which they have to agree on. The economic environment has nearly hit a recession again. This means customers have less money to spend on luxuries. Social and cultural environments mean that less people are sitting at a table, eating together, as a family. People are now more likely to eat on-the-go, with snacks and fruit for energy. The technological environment has improved dramatically in the last few years. Developments in technology means that companies, including Kellogg’s, can now inform customers through text messages, email and Facebook advertisements.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths – The strengths of Kellogg’s Boost Bites are that is well priced for the quality of the product. The Unique Selling Point of the product is that it is a portable, lightweight product which is designed for people on the go. Another strength would be that it is easily reached, in local supermarkets and petrol stations. As it is a snack type product, they have an easy target market.

Weaknesses – The weaknesses of the Boost Bites would be that more people are needed to promote and sell the product. As a new product, not many people know information about it. This means customer service need to be trained within Kellogg’s to know what the product is and the qualities.

Opportunities – The opportunities of the product would be that it could be advertised and sold overseas. This is increasing the profit for Kellogg’s and increasing the amount of customers purchasing Boost Bites. In the future, this product could lead to new product development to attract more customers to the brand. Local competitors could have bad promoting of their products and therefore more people would be engaged with Kellogg’s.

Threats – In the winter, a non-heated snack could not sell as well as it could in the summer. By promoting Boost Bites, Kellogg’s could be distracted and pay less attention to the core business. Bad advertising and promoting could give the company a negative publicity. This could then mean that the reputation of the company could decrease and less sales would come into the business.

Market Segmentation

Primary Research

Our target markets are aged between 17 – 21 and are males. We will be targeting students that would probably be single and lives at home. He would have a car preferably a Citroën (Saxo 1.1). The student would be a games console user with a low income of about £6 – 8k a year. His favourite drink would be WKD. The guy would like playing and watching football and would have high disposable income and low commitments. Their favourite programmes would be match of the day, Inbetweeners and misfits. In their social time they would to go to the cinema perhaps go to pubs and clubs. They would have high spending items like Car Insurance, mobile phones and Clothes.

Secondary Research

The secondary markets for Boost Bites are males aged between 14 – 16 years old and are single. They would live at home and would play games consoles. Their income would be around £2k a year and their favourite drink would be coke and would have low disposable income. Parents control their purchasing.

Alternative Marketing Strategies

Alternative marketing strategies include texts, concerts, and festivals. An example from another company would be Orange Wednesdays. Sponsors are another example. They can be advertised at sporting events and concerts.

Selected Market Strategy

Our chosen marketing strategy is festivals. Advertising and promoting Boost Bites at these can target the teens and young adults to become engaged with the product and to purchase it in the future.

Marketing Mix

Product

The brand name is ‘Kellogg’s Boost Bites’ which advertises bites of wholegrain and chocolate that release energy.

Price

The price of ‘Boost Bites’ is £1.29 this is a reasonable price for a packet of cereal bites which is an easy on the go snack.

Distribution (Place)

The product will be distributed at supermarket, small shops (corner shops), petrol stations and small retailers that sell food and snacks.

Promotion

20% - posters

20% - leaflets

60% - Television Adverts

Short and Long-Term Projections

Short term projections are to sell as many of the product as possible to get the product known and for healthy numbers of sales. Long term projections are to be the top breakfast snack in the world.

Conclusion

To conclude, by the end of next year, Boost Bites will be a product in the local supermarkets and petrol stations. Our customer audience is parents that are buying for their young adult and teen children for a healthy snack to release energy throughout the college/university day. By focusing on our target market, we have produced this marketing plan based on them. We have included the marketing mix to help us show the product, price, distribution and promotion of the Boost Bites.

Kellogg’s Events Calendar

JANUARY -6 NATIONS RUGBY PROMOTING
FEBRUARY - SNACK MONTH PROMOTIONS
MARCH
APRIL - MARATHON PROMOTING AND ADVERTISING
MAY - ADVERTISING IN GREGGS MONTH
JUNE - GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL
JULY - SNACK MONTH PROMOTIONS
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
OCOTBER - SNACK MONTH PROMOTIONS
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER - CHRISTMAS MULTIPACK OFFERS

Friday 14 October 2011

Conclusion Comparision

Comparing Diesel to Kelloggs, there are many similarities and differences between them within the marketing strategies. Both companies choose their target audience, based on the product. The difference between Diesel and Kelloggs is that Diesel based their business on a 'dynamic lifestyle' whereas Kelloggs had a variety of children's cereals, as well as more mature, healthy option cereals.

Customers are key to both companies. Without the stakeholder, they would not have survived. Relationship marketing is important because it engages individuals to become lifetime customers to each company. Diesel have a more formal and individual approach when dealing with customers, even though they are a transactional marketing company. Keeping customers happy and returning is what Kellogg's concentrate on. Kelloggs do not have stores that customers can visit. Kelloggs products are in leading supermarkets where customers can choose from a variety of their products. Relationship marketing for Kelloggs is put across by a more informal way, including emails and texts.
This is still a good way of attracting existing customers.

Both Kelloggs and Diesel do not have a diverse product line, but each have their own way of branding their products. Colour and pictures for children cereals, fashionable photography for Diesel.

Consumer Protection Act

The Consumer Protection Act provides a right of 'compensation' for defective goods and protects the consumer against misleading pricing. As internet shopping is increasing, this act protects online shopping as well. It covers:

Consumers must be given clear information
purchases must be confirmed by the supplier
consumers must be given time to change their minds about the purchase


If the consumer of the product is satisfied, the the relationship marketing between the company and the customer will be at a high level.

Legislation


The Sales of Goods act is the first legislation that has an impact on marketing activities. Sales of Goods means that if any product is sold, it has to be sold how it has been advertised, matching the labels on the product packaging. All prices and labelling have to match the product.


Forr Diesel, if prices were lower, and matched up wrong, Diesel would then lose out on profit because they have labelled a product wrong. For Kelloggs, sell by dates, and nutrition values must be correct. If they promote a cereal that has 1 of your 5 a day inside, the product must have the correct nutritions to equal the value on the box.

Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading means misleading activities from a brand or intrusive commercial methods. Every individual customer has a right not to be hassled by a company or pester them to buy products. All staff need to be fair and friendly to each customer that enters the stores and to solve each query that they have.

All staff members of Diesel have the right information and knowledge they need to know to give the best customer service that they can give. As Kelloggs is not a specific shop, Kelloggs do not have staff that meet all customers of their business. By having online websites that you can sign up to, all customers have a right that Kelloggs will not harass them through email or phone calls to force them into buying their products.

The role of the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) is being in charge of all the uses of media in the UK. ASA makes sure that they are legal and truthful.

The ASA regulate with a lot of forms of advertising. They seem to regulate sales promotions, special offers, magazines, leaflets, brochures, television shopping, DVD, Email, SMS and most commonly through normal TV and radio. The ASA avoid advertising through the likes of credit cards, telemarketing, political advertisment and in some cases do not regulate medical advertising.

A voluntary code is a code of practice that you is an essential in order to advertise through your chosen strategy. The code says that no offensive or aggressive language should be used in the advertisment. These include Religion, Sex, Age, Race and Disability.

'Drinkaware' is a campaign that highlights facts about drinking responsibly through the use of advertisments and a website. Drinkaware are always helping to change the way people consume alcohol. Drinkaware has raised approximately 5.2 million pounds in funding from bars, clubs, pub and alcohol industries.
Kellogg's cereal can be known for containing sugar in their sweeter products including Frosties. It has been discussed about issuing a ban on advertising unhealthy food to children during cartoon and entertainment programme intervals. It also talks of banning promotion within schools with the use of celebrities and cartoon characters. All of this relates to Kellogg's, because they are known to advertise their cereal between children’s shows and use phrases like "A great snack for after school" for coco pops.

Thursday 13 October 2011

Value of a Lifetime Customer

The value of a Lifetime Customer is very important to both Kelloggs and Diesel. This is because the customers are more likely to spread the word about how trustworthy and loyal the companies have been to them, so they work as 'promoters' and advertise the brand. By having such loyal customers it make it hard for new rival businesses to survive in the economy because if customers are satisfied with the services of Diesel and Kelloggs, there would be no need for any loyal customer to try new products. Different companies reward long time customers with different rewards. Kelloggs reward customers with coupons or vouchers. Diesel on the other hand, have a 'Diesel Cult Card' which allows customers to accumulate style miles which can be swapped for gifts.Also, invitations to parties an pre sales events. Lifetime customers can benefit from them and purchase brand new products, before release date. This can build the relationship between the customer and the company and to keep Diesel customers happy and loyal.

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Transactional Marketing

Transactional marketing is a business strategy that focuses on single transactions. The aim is to maximise the  volume of individual sales rather than building a relationship with the customer. The difference between transactional marketing is that it focuses on getting the customer to buy a certain product, whilst relationship marketing sees the sale as the first step in the building of a relationship and continues to engage the customer in a formal way.

Pictures of Kelloggs Brands



Ansoff Growth Matrix for Diesel

Market penetration.

Diesel use market penetration as their main growth strategy. This is because of the dynamic lifestyle that have portrayed with the products. The customers trust the quality of the products and the formality of the company. Diesel promote the company to their existing customers who know the products well.
















Product development.

When developing products that already exist, the customers you often buy from Diesel can experience improved products that have been on the shelves before. By improving products, existing customers can build their marketing relationship with Diesel.

Market development

Finding a new target audience can bring in more customers to their lifestyle brand. Using existing products to a new audience in a new region can increase the reputation of the company and could also, like Kelloggs, increase the profit at the end of each year.

Diversification

If Diesel were to produce a computing range, this is the diversification for their company. This is because it is not a normal product that Diesel sell and is also not part of the 'dynamic' lifestyle.

The 4 areas of the Growth Matrix

Market penetration  – current products and current markets
.

Product development strategy – new products and current markets
.

Market development strategy – current products and new markets
.

Diversification – new products and new markets


For Kellogs
Market penetration for Kelloggs is aimed at existing customers or other customers that buy rival products, similar to Kelloggs. By promoting their market to their existing customers with extra value, the relationship between the company and the customers will be a great way of engaging the customers to stay,


Product Development
Kelloggs develop and improve their existing products, for example less sugar in a specific cereal. This means the relationship between existing customers and the company can increase if it satisfies the customers needs or wants.


Market Development
Kelloggs products range from children cereals to adult cereals. For Kelloggs, market development can find a new target audience and pitch a new product to them. This can bring in more customers and a higher profit after each year.

Diversification

Cereal bars and snacks were a new range of products for Kelloggs. For example, 'Nutri Grain Bars' were created as a healthy 'on the go' snack which is healthy and a third of the recommended whole grain amount each day. By creating a new product to a different audience, the more customer relationships Kelloggs can build. In more depth, if Kelloggs were to, for example, make a clothing brand, this is a completely diverse strategy. This engages completely different customers that appreciate fashion.


What is Growth Matrix?

Gtowth Matrix, otherwise known as Ansoff's Matrix is the framework for identifying coparate growth. In the growth matrix., there are 4 main areas. These are diversification, market penetration, market development and market development.

Relationship Marketing for Kelloggs

As a company, Kelloggs have different ways of attracting customers to buy their variety of products. A new strategy has been created with 'Augme Technologies' to engage with the customers via text. This is a modern way on interacting and informing customers of the company and building a more formal relationship with each and every customer. This is an excellent way of communicating with Kelloggs customers which then engages the customers to experience new or improved cereals that have recently been produced.




Comparing both comapnies within relationship marketing, Diesel is more of a brand subjected to a certain lifestyle whereas Kelloggs is more a family based brand.

Tuesday 11 October 2011

Pictures of Diesel Brands



Transactional Marketing for Diesel

When talking about the transactional marketing strategy, it means focusing on single transactions In every business, keeping the customers happy and interested is key to the company's success. Diesel concentrate on individual sales, rather than building up a relationship with the customer. When customers leave a Diesel store, the staff want them to be satisfied but do not have a relationship with the customer as an individual, but buying their products regularly.
By expanding the business, each individual customer have a wider variety of products to choose from. This means more and more customers would be intrigued into the different products designed by Diesel. This is a strategy which is linked in with the relationship marketing. This is called brand extensions. Brand extensions is expanding the range of products available to the customers. The wider the range, the more likely customers are to return or experience their newer products. By having a strong and trustworthy relationship with each and every customer, they are 'out doing' other leading brands.

Branding For Kelloggs

The marketing of Kellogg's and the creation of some of their individual brand names has been key to the company's success. Kelloggs have specific cereals for each target audience. Colourful, extravagant pictures (including 'Coco Pops) for the child audience and more mature and formal packaging, for example, 'Special K', for the adult/motherly cereal.




Branding For Diesel

You might be wondering what branding actually is. Branding is the promotion of a particular product or service by advertising and distinctive design. Diesel and Kelloggs both have brands.


Diesel have a very clear brand. Within the whole company, Diesel have the 'Diesel Kid' brand within the company. Diesel have a specific lifestyle brand for their customers. If a 'dynamic' and fashionable lifestyle is you, then the Diesel brand is the right way forward. This shows that Diesel have done their job, and found their target audience.

The Market

When starting up a new service or product, making sure the market is right is a very important part  of marketing.The target audience is key when marketing. For example, a brand new make up range would not have men as the target audience.

Monday 10 October 2011

Introduction to Marketing

Marketing means the action of business, either promoting and selling products/services, including market research and advertising. Marketing have different techniqiues which are being used for both Kellogs and Diesel. These include branding, relationship marketing and growth matrix.