Mkt501 Assignment No. 1 Announced

Semester “Spring 2011”

“Marketing Management (MKT501)”

Assignment No. 01 Marks: 20

“Case Study”

Right Marketing Mix Combination Framework: Analytical Tool to understand the

success or failure of a brand There has been a simple secret to success in marketing and that is designing and developing right marketing mix combination for any product offered by any business. Generally it is advocated that if a right product is delivered to a right customer at a right price and at a right place and supported by right promotion it succeeds to win customer. Some practitioners and theorists in marketing believe that mainly the time factor makes the four Ps right which is partially true because time is not the whole but a partial factor. What actually makes marketing mix combination right? This is known to marketing students and practitioners that marketing mix is the combination of four Ps of product, price, place & promotion which if match with their corresponding four Cs of customer solution, customer affordability, customer convenience and customer communication result in right marketing mix combination.

It is clear from the introductory paragraph that if for any market offering marketers develop 4Ps according to 4Cs then success is guaranteed. And failure to match 4Ps with 4Cs may lead to the failure of a brand/market offering. We all know that each P of marketing mix has further parts and details which fulfill different needs and sub needs of a customer. Here we are not concerned with the details of four Ps rather our sole intention is to use right marketing mix combination as a framework to analyze the causes of success and failure of a brand/ market offering. Following is the concept of Right Marketing Mix Combination Framework:

Right Marketing Mix Combination Framework:

Product Customer Solution

Price Customer Affordability

Place Customer Convenience

Promotion Customer Communication

Question is this that what is presented in the table above is not new except its title as it is being used by theorists and practitioners in marketing after this idea was presented by James Culliton in 1948, then what is new? In fact this framework is being used in a new way as an analysis tool to understand the success and failure of a brand/market offering.

How to use?

Any product or brand or market offering which needs to be analyzed it should be selected one by one to be tested on each P vs C criterion to judge whether each P matches with its corresponding C or not. If all Ps match with all corresponding Cs then it means from marketing point of view product is a success and if the case is otherwise then reason of failure will be obvious.

Now to better understand the things we first take the examples of some failed and then some successful brands/market offerings. Candia a brand of drinking milk introduced by then CDL (Now Haleeb Foods) under the license of a European company in plastic bottle but it failed soon after its introduction. If we try to know the reason by applying the framework we will do it as follows:

1. Was product right? or was it as per the solution customer was looking for?

Analysis shows that Candia’s color was not as white as Pakistani customers expect and its packaging was also not liked. Second it was positioned as drinking milk whereas in Pakistan milk is considered a multi functional product so product was not right as it was not as per the solution customer was looking for.

2. Was price right? or Was it affordable for the customer or customer was ready to pay? Analysis shows that Candia was priced higher than other premium quality milk brands which was not justified given its product and rejected by customers. So its price was not right.

3. Was promotion right? or Was its message effectively communicated to the customer? Analysis shows that Candia’s message was well communicated so its promotion was right. 

4. Was place right? Or was it distributed as per the convenience of customers?

Analysis shows that it was easily available so its distribution was also right.

Conclusion: Above discussion is the example of application of Right Marketing Mix combination Framework by which the reason of failure of a brand we have come to know and corrective measures can be taken to make offering right.

Assignment:

You are required to select any brand of a known company which has failed in the past and analyze it under the light of “Right Marketing Mix Combination Framework” discussed in the above short article. Aim of your analysis should be to identify the actual reason(s) of failure of that brand along with complete facts and figures available to you i.e. the source of information.

You are also required to advise corrective actions which could have been taken by the company to avoid the failure.

Important Tips

1. This Assignment can be best attempted from the knowledge acquired after

watching video lecture no. 1 to lecture no 15 and reading handouts as well as

recommended text book).

2. Video lectures can be downloaded for free from Online VU Lectures.

Schedule

Opening Date and Time Apr 25, 2011 At 12:01 A.M. (Mid-Night)

Due Date and Time Apr 28, 2011 At 11:59 P.M. (Mid-Night)

Note: Only in the case of Assignment, 24 Hrs extra / grace period after the above mentioned due date is usually available to overcome uploading difficulties which may be faced by the students on last date. This extra time should only be used to meet the emergencies and above mentioned due dates should always be treated as final to avoid any inconvenience.

Important Instructions:

Please read the following instructions carefully before attempting the assignment solution.

Deadline:

• Make sure that you upload the solution file before the due date. No assignment will be accepted through e-mail once the solution has been uploaded by the instructor.

Formatting guidelines:

• Use the font style “Times New Roman” and font size “12”.

• It is advised to compose your document in MS-Word 2003.

• Use black and blue font colors only.

Solution guidelines:

• Use APA style for referencing and citation. For guidance search “APA reference style” in Google and read various website containing information for better understanding or visit

http://linguistics.byu.edu/faculty/henrichsenl/apa/APA01.html

• Every student will work individually and has to write in the form of an

analytical assignment.

• Give the answer according to question, there will be negative marking

for irrelevant material.

• For acquiring the relevant knowledge don’t rely only on handouts but

watch the video lectures and use other reference books also.

Rules for Marking

Please note that your assignment will not be graded or graded as Zero (0) if:

• It has been submitted after due date

• The file you uploaded does not open or is corrupt

• It is in any format other than .doc (MS. Word)

• It is cheated or copied from other students, internet, books, journals etc…