Assignment 4: Part D: Your Marketing Plan – PresentationDue Week 10 and worth 200 points  Imagine that you are pitching your hypothetical product- or service-based company’s marketing plan to the

Part B: Your Market Plan

In last assignment 1, I initiated the development of a marketing plan for an organization holding expertise in the kitchenware products, i.e., Homage Company that started its operations at Alberta, Canada in 1971. The plan was focused on the expansion plan of the organization in the North America region. Now, this assignment is a continuation of the last one which will focus on branding elements of the organization such as brand image, name, logo, and extension. The assignment will also develop a positioning statement of the organization using a perceptual map for depicting the current position of the organization in the market. Finally, the paper will provide a complete rationale relating to the availability of attractive values in the logo, brand, sign, and name of the organization to attract targeted customers.

There was a limited focus on the competitors in the plan which was an obvious weakness. An organization needs to consider the offering of its competitors in a significant manner, i.e., quality and pricing to make sure that it can offer differentiated products to its customers carrying a certain potential of grabbing the customers interest positively (Bloch, 2011). The marketing plan provided limited information relating to the roles and responsibilities of the employees for the implementation of the marketing plan efficiently. The marketing plan needed to involve the roles and responsibilities of the marketing team along with the communication protocol to ensure that the collaboration of the team is carried out appropriately to meet the objectives of the marketing plan (Hunt & Derozier, 2004).

Brand Name: Homage

Brand Logo:

Brand Slogan: Adding taste with quality to your foods

Brand Extension: Honest Kitchenware will be the extension of the brand that is expected to offering products at low pricing as compared to the original products by the Homage brand. The quality of the products coming under this brand will still be better than the quality of other branded products available under this price category (‘cookware,' 2013). However, the quality of the products coming under this brand will be slightly compromised as compared to the quality of original Homage products due to the consideration of pricing factors.

Primary Market: Unemployed female and homemakers aging 40 - 60 and employed females carrying out housework occasionally aging 20 – 60 (IBISWorld, 2013)

Secondary Market: Corporate customers, Middle-class females aging 20 - 60

Primary Market belongs to the customers that are either employed or unemployed but are more interested in purchasing the things that meet their quality standards. Such customers only take an interest in using quality products and never compromise the necessities of life over money (Sriram, Chintagunta & Neelamegham, 2006). They feel that one should maintain one’s class despite the situation being faced by one.

Secondary Market consists of the customers who feel that it is always suitable to select the products balancing between pricing and quality (Yelkur, 2000). One should attempt to use quality products if they are available with little difference as compared to the availability of cheap quality products.

Primary Market: The employed individuals with high salary and having limited family responsibilities towards as they will be able to purchase quality products more conveniently (IBISWorld, 2013).

Secondary Market: The employed individuals with limited salary or dependent on parents having a high desire to utilizing quality products.

Primary Market: The customers residing in the urban areas of North America

Secondary Market: The customers living in the rural or suburbs of North America.

Homage is a company having a great concern to meet the desires and requirements of its customers passionately as the company values the customers at most. The organization is making a serious effort to the provision of quality products to the customers at reduced pricing so that there is no substantial burden on the pocket of the customers (Sriram, Chintagunta & Neelamegham, 2006). The organization respects all of its customers and offers cheap quality products at comparatively reduced prices to fulfill the desire of middle-class customers to use effective quality products. Moreover, the organization is more committed to its ethical and social responsibilities; therefore it always ensures that it can meet all the commitments made by it during its marketing or advertisement. Similarly, the marketing of Homage does not bring any unethical implication for anyone among the targeted audience. Moreover, the organization is making use of sustainable approaches to minimize its carbon footsteps as a part of its corporate social responsibility.

Figure 1: Perceptual Map of Homage

It was clearer in the previous assignment that the kitchenware products company would focus more on the provision of quality and luxurious products despite considering the pricing factor. Moreover, the organization desired the customers to make them feel valued in all possible manners (Sriram, Chintagunta & Neelamegham, 2006). Considering the same, the brand name is Homage which is refereeing to the homes of all the targeted customers making them realize that the product is quite essential for their daily life requirements.

The brand slogan of the organization is bringing quality and taste to your foods. The organization is targeting all of the potential customers by using “your” in the slogan as compared to any specific customer segmentation (Yelkur, 2000). It means that the organization carries certain respect to all the potential customers and all are equally valued for the organization despite its earnings and social status.

The brand logo is expressing the care for the customers with an attraction to the brand. It portrays itself as a premium brand that satisfies the requirements of customers looking towards the purchase of quality products (IBISWorld, 2013). The brand logo depicts a sign of leaf that is representing the care of the organization for the society and adaption of sustainable practices for delivering the final product to the customers. In this way, the brand logo is attracting both primary and secondary market as the organization is not only taking care of its customers but also the world (Baron & Shane, 2007).

The brand extension provides dual benefits to the organization. Homage emerges as a premium brand in terms of the primary target market of the organization as they are looking for high quality and luxury products, where the brand extension is offering a certain opportunity to meet their quality needs at reduced pricing (Nicholas, 2004). Homage believes that the extension will develop loyalty of the customers, and ultimately they will shift towards the mother brand.

References

Baron. R., Shane, S. (2007). Entrepreneurship: a process perspective. Mason: Cengage Learing

Bloch, P. (2011). Product Design and Marketing: Reflections After Fifteen Years. Journal Of Product Innovation Management, 28(3), 378-380. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-5885.2011.00805.x

Cookware manufacturers association (2013). Brand finder. Retrieved 26 January 2013 from http://www.cookware.org/

Hunt, S., & Derozier, C. (2004). The normative imperatives of business and marketing strategy: grounding strategy in resource‐advantage theory. Journal Of Business & Industrial Marketing, 19(1), 5-22. doi: 10.1108/08858620410516709

IBIS Wolrd (2013). Kitchen&cookware stores in the U.S.: market research report. Retrieved 26 January 2013 from http://www.ibisworld.com/industry/kitchen-cookware-stores.html

Nicholas, J.M. (2004). Project management for business and engineering: principles and practice. Oxford: Elsevier

Sriram, S., Chintagunta, P., & Neelamegham, R. (2006). Effects of Brand Preference, Product Attributes, and Marketing Mix Variables in Technology Product Markets. Marketing Science, 25(5), 440-456. doi: 10.1287/mksc.1050.0188

Yelkur, R. (2000). Customer satisfaction and the services marketing mix. Services Marketing Quarterly, 21(1), 105-115. doi: 10.1080/15332969.2000.9985409