Hi-Tec Case Study

1. In this article, a unique selling point means that their product offers something different and unique from their competitors product.  This is meant to set their product apart from their competitor's in a positive way.

2. Hi-Tec's values in the marketing messages include; "proud, as Hi-Tec delivers more than their competitors," ,"honest, as products deliver on their promises," ,"fun, as it works creatively to provide positive solutions," , and "hungry, as there is always a desire to improve products."  These values relate to creating a USP because they are stating what is good about their company and saying that they are better than anything out there.

3. Hi-Tec adapts its marketing mix by creating new targeting markets.  They have the junior market which is a sector the offers hard-wearing shoes, an outdoor sports market which offers high performance footwear, and a specialist sports market which focuses on niches markets.

4. In my opinion, I believe that the methods that they are using are affective because their product is being see where it needs to be seen.  You`re obviously not going to advertise running shoes on the food network, you are going to advertise somewhere where your target market will be watching.  They have covered all the places that their target market could be watching, which is a great thing to be able to do.

5. After reading and evaluating the benefits of Liquid Mountaineering, I have an idea on how to link this to another promotional activity.  Since this campaign is relative to nature and being repellent to water, they could link it to eco-friendly footwear.  This is a very popular subject right now in the world, everyone is worried about their ecological footprint and this is something that would be beneficial to everyone

The Price is Not Right

On July 27, 2006, Grafton-Frasor Inc. was charged with false and miss leading pricing.  This company owns clothing stores such as Mr. Big & Tall, Tip Top Tailors, and The Suit Exchange.  They have been caught raising their initial prices really high before they go on sale to make it seem as though the item at the new price is a great deal.  On the price tags of these items, stated the regular price and the sale price but in fact the item was never sold for the regular price.  The payment that was put on them was $1.2 million, $1 million for the administrative penalty and $200,000 for the Bureau's Inquiry.

7 Mian Types of Promotion

Personal Selling

Advantage: with this type of promotion, the seller is able to better connect with the customer on a more personal level
Disadvantage: with this type of promotion, it is very expensive to have a seller go to individual houses.

Direct Marketing

Advantage: with this type of promotion, it is cheater for the consumers because they can get coupons and information about the company without having to go the the actual store.  this is also very cheap marketing for the company.
Disadvantage: with this type of promotion, the customer my develop a negative view towards the company because they may feel annoyed that they are getting emails from them.

Advertising

Advantage: with this type of promotion, the message gets across the best and easiest because everyone reads the newspaper, watches TV, listens to the radio and reads magazines.  By connecting with this many people, the company is able to get their message across.
Disadvantage: with this type of promotion, the audience may become annoyed with the constant advertising especially when watching television.  Some people change the channel when advertisements come on.

Public Relations

 Advantage: with this type of promotion, a company can really show their customers their positive details about their company through a third-party.
Disadvantage: with this type of promotion, a company has no control over what exactly is being said about their product or company, which can be negative.

Sponsorship

Advantage: with this type of promotion, your logo can be viewed by millions and millions of people and it helps you associate a company with other businesses through whatever your sponsoring.
Disadvantage:  this type of promotion can be extremely expensive.

Sale Promotion

Advantage: with this type of promotion, customers may have a sense of urgency to buy the product since there are usually a time period on the sales.
Disadvantage: with this type of promotion, customers may see the product as low quality since it is on sale and at a lower price.

Digital Communications

Advantage: with this type of promotion, it is cheap, easy and fast to get a message across to your audience.
Disadvantage: with this type of promotion, it is very easy to send the wrong message since it is just a click of the mouse away.

Example 1

Shreddies had a brilliant extension strategy when they had a huge marketing campaign promoting their new product.  The funny thing is that it wasn't new, they just changed the packaging.  By saying that they had a new product, they were able to make a new marketing campaign that increased the longevity of their product.

Example 2 

Kellogg's mini-wheats cereal has use the technique of slightly changing their product and packaging.  They changed the flavour of their cereals to try and gain back some lost appeal for their products.










Example 3

To extend the product life of Jell-O, instead of only making Jello-O powder, they began making Jell-O pudding cups.  This helped to renew the brand awareness and increase the profitability of Jell-O.







Example 4

Doritos is a perfect example of a company who continually uses extension strategies to lengthen their products life cycle.  The major strategy that they use is making new flavours.  they are always creating new chip flavours that are really tasty.

Product Mix/Product Line/Product Item/Product Depth

Apple Product mix

Blackberry Product line

Apple Product item: Iphone 4S

Product Width: Apple

The product width for Apple would be Ipod, Imac, Iphone, and Ipad

Product Depth: Apple
The product depth for Apple's Ipod would be Ipod touch, Ipod shuffle, and Ipod Nano.  These products can range in memory for 4GB to as much as you want.

The Product Life Cycle

1. A fad- pet rocks- I believe that this product did not last very long because it is not a very good  idea.  I have a hard time trying to figure out how it became popular to begin with.  I see no attraction in having a pet rock and do not understand why people did.  The founder was able to sell over 1.5 million pet rocks.

2. Long Lasting product- Ketchup-  I believe Ketchup has lasted as long at it has because it has a solid company producing it.  Heinz is very popular when it comes to food.  I also think that Ketchup has lasted so long because it is an ingredient that goes on everything.  With the increase in popularity for fast food products such as hot dogs and hamburgers, there is an increase in Ketchup sales too. 

 3. Tech Product- Ipod Nano- This product is made by Apple.  I believe that this product lasted a fairly long time because when it was released, it was the newest and most innovative piece of technology on the market.  The popularity of this product eventually went down because of the introduction of the Ipod touch.  Apple basically had the best product out there and then made it bigger and better.

Luxury Brands

Ferrari is a luxury car dealership that has been producing sports cars for many years.  Most of their vehicles are built in Italy.

Price range: $190,000-over $500,000

They sell their cars and accessories online and in dealerships.  The accessories that they sell start at $5 and goes up.  They sell watches, jackets, t-shirts, shoes and many more memorabilia.  Since the target market is so small, it is hard to open a lot of dealerships, and since their products are so expensive and desired, people are willing to travel to the big cities to pick out their dream car.

Their target market would be older, wealthy males and females, and young wealthy males and females

  These products appeal to me because they are luxurious and stylish.

People would be willing to spend ridiculous amounts of money for theses products because they are stylish, luxurious, and a lot of people dream about driving one.  It's all about the dream.  People grow up wanting to own a fancy sports car. 

This is a picture of basketabll star LeBron James standing beside his Ferrari.







,