Scandalized advertising.

Tom Ford

Tom Ford is very popular in a scandalized type of advertising. Everybody knows his idea with Gucci ad where the model Carmen Cass is pictured pulling down her  underwear and showing the letter "G". Moreover, this ad was illustrated in Vogue's edition in February. Many people said that it is "vile, coarse and degrading to women" picture. The photo was made by Mario Testino, one of Princess Diana's favorite photographers. He called it "Public Enemy". In spite of it,  the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK, which has a right to prohibit the insulting material, said it was investigating after receiving a number of complaints, which claimed that it was "offensive and sexually suggestive". There was one similar case with Yves Saint Laurent's Opium advert featuring a naked Sophie Dahl that provoked 730 complaints to the ASA but this one was available for children and Gucci was oriented on "modern, fashion-conscious and sophisticated adults", not children. "The authority considered that the execution had been carefully targeted and that its sexual nature was unlikely to offend the fashion conscious readership," the ASA said, adding that it was "unlikely to cause serious or widespread offense". 

Nowadays, Tom Ford uses this type of advertising in his own company. Ho supposes that sharp and scandalous images more clearly convey bold and provocative shape and image.

The source was used - http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2003/feb/26/advertising

Adidas strategy.

The core of Adidas is passion: passion for sports, passion for athletes and passion for products. The company follows the technology development and creates an appropriate design. Adidas has three different groups of products: Forever Sport, Originals and Equipment. It represents the brand’s commitment to meet changing market demands, while remaining anchored to its brand principles and heritage. Moreover, Adidas sticks lifestyle, fashion and music trends.

The first part, Forever Sport, is oriented on five main sports categories: running, basketball, football, tennis and training for sport. Adidas tries to meet the requirements of world's sportsmen. Through its sponsorship of the world’s leading competitions, Adidas interacts directly with athletes to find out what they need. Forever Sport products aim to be both highly functional and visually appealing. In this division, Adidas is committed to introducing at least one new footwear technology or a major evolution of an existing technology every year. Adidas to offer their products everywhere in the world and the company also has cooperations with some designers, for example, with prominent Japanese designer, Yohji Yamamotoin 2001. Adidas takes part in global events such as FIFA World Cup, marathons, and etc. 

The second one, Adidas Originals, is a combination of heritage sport authenticity and global street style. The Original division is geared specifically toward consumers who may be less active sports participants, but who are style setters and style leaders. With the demand for the limited editions and vintage reissues Originals creates Trefoil-branded footwear, apparel and accessories. Each collection is a balance of Reintroduced (one-to-one replicas reissued in limited quantities), Reinterpreted (material updates of successful models), and Redesigned (new models inspired by original performance products) items. The most common advertising in this group of Adidas is published in magazines and says that  "Every Trefoil has a Story". The brand builds up the lifestyle apparel and accessories business, targeting new distribution channels and working with retail partners.

Nowadays, the aesthetics plays an important role in sport that it is not only the win or the defeat but also  entertainment and fashion. Sportsmen become more stylish rather they were last decades. In spite of it the quality of a product is still the key point for athletes, therefore branded products rank high.

The source was used - http://ar2001.adidas-salomon.com/adidassalomon2001/strat_adidas/

Brand repositioning.

Philips.

It is a global company, so it has quite a lot of customers and requires global qualitative researches. Qualitative research implies working with small focus groups that included Philips' consumers and professionals (trade and opinion leaders, for example: hospital surgeons who use its scanning equipment). Furthermore, this research helps to find out a huge amount of detailed information e.g. current perceptions of the company and its products, the types of new products and the image that consumers would like to see Philips develop. As a tool of this research questionnaires and surveys are used to statistical analysis. 

The results contained the following points:

• the customers suppose that they can "rely on Philip's products"
• these products "make life better"

Then the research showed that people want and need simple products. It extends to consumers in Healthcare, Lifestyle or enabling Technologies. Moreover, there is only one company called Apple that is very close to "sense and simplicity" and that has limited product variety. 

An analysis revealed such minuses as not following the innovations and not having a sense of direction as competitors do.

Philips' new brand positioning intends more comfortable and more straightforward relationship with technology and with Philips, but inspire of customers' wishes the Technology Revolution does not  make our lives easier, simpler and better. On the contrary, it makes things more complex. 

Philips' new position 'sense and simplicity' is based on three foundations:

1. 'Products are designed around you'.
2. 'Products are easy to experience'.
3. 'Products are advanced'.

Philips is becoming more popular on the market because of the needs of the customer. Advertising campaigns designed to communicate its repositioning exercise focused on a core target group, consisting of the 20% of rich people from 35 to 55 doing 80% of the buying. The company started to use new language - fresher, cleaner, more human.  Every advertisement and insert that is used in the campaign tells part of a story. One advertisement reinforces another, so for example multiple insertions are used in consecutive TV commercial breaks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6M1jS8BWIuE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-JM7CvGAxnA

Philips has always been associated with value for money high-tech products. However, in the past it would have benefited from having a stronger brand image.

The new strategy helps the people to better understand Philips as a consumer focused organisation that is continually providing appropriate simple-to-use solutions for everyday needs through the application of the latest technology.

The source was used - http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/philips/brand-repositioning-and-communications/research.html#axzz2D4elUC76

Segmentation.

The Australian Tourism Commission (ATC) 

In these latter days Australia has become more popular holiday destination for UK travelers due to its variety such as city lifestyles, adventures. beaches, rain forests, and etc. It is also a result of cheap flights and the strength of pounds of sterling against the Australian dollar. Furthermore, the UK is the third largest source market for visitors to Australia behind Japan and New Zealand. Moreover, there are no language barriers for understanding each other. On the other hand, the international tourist industry is very competitive and Europeans willings to travel have many short, medium and long-lengthy destinations from which to choose. 

ATC was established in 1967 to promote Australia as an international tourism destination. ATC had two main goals: to increase the number of visitors to Australia from overseas and to maximise the benefits to Australia from overseas visitors. For achieving these objectives, ATC helps travellers to plan their trip to Australia through the provision of destination information and businesses to co-operate in mutually supportive tourist ventures, works with a range of partners to convert strong interest levels in visiting Australia into actual travel decisions. 

ATC has maximised the efficiency of its marketing efforts by breaking up the travel market into specific market segments, including:

• independent adventurers aged 25-34 (primary market)
• young independent travellers (YIT’s) aged 18-24 (secondary market)
• independent adventurers aged 45-65.

To understand better each segment, the exploration of the nature, attributes and appeal of their own products, the buying behaviour of their customers (length of stay, money to spend on travel) is using. 

For example, YIT’s are typically single students who make their own travel arrangements.  Many are on a ‘gap year’ and travel either on their own or with friends.  YIT’s see themselves as travellers seeking experiences rather than as tourists seeing sights opting for low-price products, including hostel accommodation, bus passes, sporting activities, adventure and an immersion in the "fun" Australian lifestyle and people. 

Australia is a good opportunity for individual experiences that the mass tourist destinations of the Mediterranean cannot provide.  Australia’s appeal is strongly driven by people’s perceptions of the open and outdoor lifestyle, as well as by its natural beauty and space. Younger travellers look for a sense of adventure and are attracted to the more challenging and active elements such as snorkeling, surfing, white water rafting and bungee jumping. 

ATC involves the following strategies to attack customers' attention:

• tour operators (eg STA, USIT, Trailfinders)
• airlines (eg Qantas and Singapore Airlines)
• other organisations that are seeking to tap into the Australian market based in the UK
• produces a couple of key consumer publications (the main tool for providing information to the consumer)
• the annual Travellers Guide and a consumer website, australia.com.
• participation in trade events
• providing regular newsletters for industry partners

The source was used - http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/australia/targeting-a-market-segment/introduction.html#axzz2CVO8EIRj

Ethics.

"McDonald's Legislation"

There are a lot of examples when companies' shareholders study their own interests instead instead of companies and its employees. In such cases ethical issues are caused. 

One of these instances can be McDonald's. Despite of it's global success, the public reacts negatively on the business ethics in its relationships with workers. In 1972 the founder of the company Ray Kroc made a donation of 250000$ to Nixon's reelection campaign. As a result the organization got auspicious conditions in legislation sphere. It allowed companies such as McDonald's Corporation to pay teenage employees 20 percent less rather than federal minimum wages.  Moreover, McDonald's doesn't permit staff to unionize. There was an incident where workers in St. Hubert Quebec formed a union and following which the unit was closed down at once. Between 1986 and 1990, activists of London Greenpeace distributed pamphlets with the title “What's Wrong with McDonald's? Everything They Don't Want You to Know” and the wordings “McDollars, McGreedy, McCancer, McMurder, McProfits, McGarbage,” asserting that McDonald's promoted Third World poverty, sold unhealthy food, exploited workers and children, tortured animals, and destroyed the Amazon rain forest. McDonald's sued for libel, but the court found the organization guilty. 

The source was used: http://www.brighthub.com/office/entrepreneurs/articles/115557.aspx

Me as a buyer

When i go shopping i usually pay attention to the package — it catches my eye, i look at it. Then whether its a grocery store or a fashion store I look at the quality of the product — what is the material, what is the consistency of the product. Organic food is usually more expensive, but some products are worth getting from organic sections especially if one is allergic. There are some things that are specific for fashion stores — they have to be bright, and eye-catching. If the store is gloomy, the customer service is dead and it smells like cheap product, it gets to you.
My parents are not much different from me, but most of the time they purchase things they know from companies they trust though. Quality is the most important thing in their marathon of life, since they are older and are more experienced. Younger generation is more open to try out new and colourful package. That is why there are different targets on the market starting from the location of the store ending with the package as all these things influence the decision making.

What affects marketing?

There are several factors that can affect marketing. First of all, demographic and population trends and shifts influence on a market. Moreover, it impacts not only on it, but on society in general. Different generations prefer different products. Population trends also could be caused by racial and ethic changes. New culture balance provokes new ideas and values. To purchase products customers should have money. So, consumers' income, inflation and recession are also very important here. In addition, there are some influences that can discribe the world in general. For example, technology innovations that have great effect in customers' lives and businesses cycles. In addition, competitors stimulate each others to develop their companies to be better, not to lose a market share and to get a better profit. In the long run though none can exist for a long period of time without knowledge of government regulations, laws and rules.