Survival of GM INDIA

Amongst the crowd of global carmakers who entered the Indian market GM was amongst the first wave. The company entered the Indian market with the Opel brand in 1996, launching the Astra and following it up soon with the Corsa and Vectra.
If there were an award for launching new models and brands, it would be difficult to beat GM India. In the 18 years of its existence, the company has launched 17 models till date. This is not counting the facelifts and mid-cycle freshening-up exercises.
The company not only launched 17 nameplates, it is also the only carmaker to have sold two brands – it started with Opel but shifted to Chevrolet in 2006 for better Feng shui.
As of today, GM India sells the Spark hatchback in the Mini segment; the Beat and Sail U-VA hatchbacks in the Compact segment; the Sail sedan in the Mid-size segment, the Cruze sedan in the Executive segment; the Tavera and Enjoy UVs in the UV2 segment; and the Captiva SUV in the UV4 segment. That is a portfolio of eight models, same as Toyota India and significantly bigger than Ford and Honda portfolios, both of which sell only five models each in India. In comparison, the much bigger Hyundai India sells ten models in the Indian market.
Wrong products:
Its recent products – the Beat hatchback, the Sail twins and the Cruze sedan have been fairly competent. In the hands of another manufacturer, some of these would have been bestsellers, except GM India. not all products have been competent.

Wrong Strategy
“We have learnt our lessons and have tuned our strategies accordingly,” said a senior GM executive to the mediaon 22nd December 2006, while unveiling the Aveo U-VA. Clearly the lessons were not learnt. The Aveo U-VA did not sell and its successor, the Sail U-VA is not selling as well.
Part of GM India’s problems is that its product portfolio and any future product pipeline is a mix of what its Korean cousins and Chinese half-cousins can produce. So it is normally very late to any party. The Beat is a competent hatchback but GM India spent a decade-and-a-half to reach that point in its evolution lifecycle. And it would take many more years for GM India to respond to emerging niches like seven-seater compact MPVs that are not call-center cabs.
To its credit, GM has taken some positive steps, including exporting out of India, starting with the Beat hatchback to Chile. More exports may follow while the product side would be bolstered with facelifts. The Cruze replacement is a few quarters away and so is the next generation Beat.

Integrated marketing communication

.

Below are the major steps to keep in mind when developing IMC strategy.

Step 1: Know your target audience
As a general rule, there is no “general audience”. You always want to communicate with a specific audience to make the most effective use of your resources.

Segmenting specific audiences into groups based on characteristics will help you identify who are most likely to purchase or utilize your products and services.

Step 2: Develop a situation analysis
Commonly referred to as a SWOT Analysis, this is basically a structured method of evaluating the internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats that can impact your brand.

A situation analysis can provide much insight into both internal and external conditions that can lead to a more effective marketing communications strategy.

Step 3: Determining marketing communication objectives
In this step, you basically want to document what you want to accomplish with your IMC strategy. Objectives should be measurable if you truly want to map your campaign’s effectiveness at the end of your plan’s term.

Step 4: Determining your budget
Having a realistic idea on what you have to work with is important as it will shape the tactics you develop in the next step. Once you determine your overall budget, you will want to come back to this after completing step five to further refine your budget allocations.

Step 5: Strategies and tactics
Looking back at the objectives you created in step three, you will want to develop strategies which are ideas on how you will accomplish those objectives. Tactics are specific actions on how you plan to execute a strategy.

Step 6: Evaluation and measurement
Almost as important as the plan as a whole, you want to outline a method of how you will evaluate the effectiveness of your IMC strategy. Sometimes elements of your plan will not work. It’s important to know what did or didn’t, try to understand why, and make note for future planning.

The more focused on how you will utilize your resources for promoting your business, the more you will understand where you money is going and how it’s performing. An IMC strategy is important for any business or organization.

Marketing promotion tools

For effective promotion of any product or service there are a number of marketing promotional tools that can be utilized in a promotion program. These should be applied carefully according to the given circumstances, because every promotional tool is suitable to certain circumstances. Following are some of important promotion tools that must be in your mind.

• Advertising
• Personal Selling
• Sales Promotion
• Public Relations
• Direct Marketing 

Advertising

 Customers are dispersed geographically can be reached with the Promotional Tools of advertising, which can be repeated for a number of times. The popularity, size and success of the selling organization are enhanced by the large scale advertising. The customers consider the advertising products as most legitimate due to the public nature. Moreover, it’s the quickest way to promote a product to a large portion of diversified customers. Another important feature of advertising is that it is much more expressive.

Personal selling

At certain stages of the buying process, personal selling is the most effective promotion tool in creating customer’s preferences, convictions and actions. In personal selling, personal interactions between two or more people take place that can allow both parties to understand the characteristics

Sales promotion

These Promotional tools include sales promotion which further contains a broad assortment of elements:

• Coupons
• Cent-off Deals 

The tools of sales promotion are applied to boost the sagging sales by attracting the customers and offerings of distinct incentives of purchase. A quick response is generated by using this promotion tool of sales promotion. 

Public relations:

Public relations are much different from the ads and they are more influential than these ads. Public relation consists of news stories, events and features that are considered as more real and therefore the readers also consider them more believe able. Many prospects avoid the advertisement and personal selling, but they can also be influenced by the public relations. The real message in the public relations is considered to be as “news” by the customers rather than as a sales centered communication. 

Concepts on Marketing audit

Marketing audit is essentially a great way to assess our marketing plan.
A market audit is useful for getting back in touch with your brand, products and services and re-focusing your marketing efforts. It can also be used to remind you of your initial goals and objectives and fine-tune your current efforts to be certain they align with those original objectives. Additionally, you can see what's working and what isn't and re-invigorate your marketing efforts.

A successful marketing audit should a couple of things:
• Comprehensive, in that it looks at all the marketing issues of a business
• Systematic, involving an orderly set of steps
• Independent, so that it cannot be influenced by those who developed and are implementing the marketing plan
• Periodic, conducted with regular frequency. A good frequency is yearly or every two years.
A marketing audit should look at not only internal factors such as the efficiency of the marketing department and their marketing plan, but also external factors including a company's customers, competition and overall marketplace. Among the fundamental components of a comprehensive and systematic marketing audit are the following:
• Environmental audit: The environmental audit is where you focus on your customers and the competition. What are your customers' demographics and buying habits? What are competitors doing? What is the overall condition of your company's market?

• Strategic audit: This is where you take a look at your current marketing plan and strategies and how well or poorly they are performing. Are the marketing objectives you set the appropriate ones for your business? This is a very measurable part of the audit where you can observe the strategies you've attempted to implement and if they are effective.

• Organizational audit: The organizational audit is an internal look at the resources available to you and your marketing department such as finances, time, production, labor, equipment and more. It also allows you to take a look at the marketing team itself, revenue, effectiveness of the marketing plan, products, pricing and distribution channels.

Process of analysing competition :

Analysing competitors calls for considering a lot of aspects. A company needs to know everything about its competitors. Note that analysing competitors is not incidental task, a manager must know about his competitors on a continuous basis. So, it must develop a system to facilitate the task on regular basis.

Process of analysing competitors begins with knowing who our competitors are. A company can easily identify its competitors. For example, Coca-Cola knows that Pepsi-Cola is its main competitor

Basically there are four levels of competition:
(1) Brand competition, in which companies offer similar products and services to same customers at similar prices,
(2) Industry competition, in which all companies makes similar products or class of products,
(3) Form competition in which, companies produce such products that offer the same services, and
(4) Generic competition, in which companies are competing for the same consumer rupee.

Major Competitors:
But, more meaningfully, we can identify two major types of competitors, industry concept of competitors and market concept of competitors.
Industry Concept Competitors:
Competitors deal with industrial products. On the basis of production process, number of sellers and degree of differentiation, entry and mobility barriers, exit and shrinkage barriers, cost structure, degree of vertical integration, and degree of globalisation, there are different industries in which a number of companies operate.
Market Concept of Competitors:
They deal with consumer products. It indicates competitors trying to satisfy the same customers’ needs. It includes the companies offering the products that can satisfy particular need of the same segments.
In fact, meaningfully identification of competitors consists of liking industry analysis with market analysis.

It involves:
(1) Studying their areas of operations,
(2) Identifying the customer needs they are trying to satisfy,
(3) Finding the territories in which they are selling the products,

Clearly, effectiveness of competitors’ strategies in achieving objectives depends on resources and capabilities. To assess competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, a firm must gather data on key criteria.

The last but much conclusive step of competition analysis process is to balance customer- orientation and competitor-orientation. A company must watch every movement of its competitors to grow and/or safeguard its interest. But, it should not be so competitor-centered that it loses its customer focus. It must maintain a balance between customer and competitor orientation.

HOW A CUSTOMER INVOLVES IN BUYING DECISION PROCESS

The buyer decision process represents a number of stages that the purchaser will go through before actually making the final purchase decision. The consumer buyer decision process and the business/organisational buyer decision process are similar to each other. The purchase is generally of value in monetary terms and that the consumer/business will take time to actually assess alternatives.
For FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) the purchase decision process tends to be shorter/quicker, and for habitual purchase behaviour or repeat purchases the decision process is short-circuited.

Let’s look at an example based upon buying a new smart cellphone. The first stage is likely to be that you have a need for communication or access to the Internet, or problem because you cannot interact with friends using social media. The value added by products such as Android, iPhone or Windows phone and others should satisfy your need or solve your problem. So the second stage is where you speak to your friends and surf the Internet looking at alternatives, which represent stage two – or your information search. As a buyer you might visit a local cellphone store and speak to the sales staff to help you complete stage three, i.e. your evaluation of alternatives. Stage four is the selection of product and you go and make your final decision and buy your smartphone from a local store or using an e-commerce website. Stage five involves your post-purchase evaluation whereby you use the phone and have a positive, negative or mediocre experience of the product. If it doesn’t satisfy your needs you take action and more importantly you’ll tell others of your problems. If you’re pleased with the product, you will tell your friends and this will influence stage two (their information search) when they decide to buy a cellphone.

Organisations and businesses also go through this process and that teams of individuals contribute to the decision-making process. This is called a Decision-Making Unit (DMU).

Stage One
recognition of the particular problem or need
buyer has a need to satisfy or a problem that needs solving
Stage Two
We begin to search for information about the product or service. Buyers here begin to look around to find out what’s out there in terms of choice and they start to work out what might be the best product or service for solving the problem or satisfying any need.
Stage Three
Stage three sees the evaluation of the available alternatives whereby the buyer decides upon a set of criteria by which to assess each alternative.
Stage Four
We buy or select a product/service/supplier at stage four. Individuals or teams of buyers make the final choice of what to buy and from whom to buy it.
Stage Five
Interestingly the process does not stop at the point of purchase because there is a stage five called the post-purchase evaluation. The process continues even when the product or service is being consumed by the individual or business. So if it doesn’t meet your needs or solve your problem you can take action to improve the product or service. Your actions at this point might inform other potential buyers who would be keen to hear about your experiences – good or bad.

From Cocoa to Cadbury Diary Milk

Brand Strategy

The Production Flow: From Cocoa to Cadbury Diary Milk

In 1904, Cadbury Dairy Milk was born when John’s son, George Cadbury perfected the rich and creamy milk chocolate recipe. Today, Cadbury Dairy Milk is managed under Kraft foods in Singapore.

At the heart of the Cadbury Dairy Milk is cocoa. Production starts at the Singapore cocoa refinery factory (in Jurong Tuas) where the top quality cocoa beans are processed to produce the cocoa mass – which contains 53% cocoa and cocoa butter – the basis for all chocolate products. After which the ‘cocoa mass’ is transported to the Cadbury factory in Ringwood, Victoria or Claremont, Tasmania to be converted into full dairy milk chocolate.

Segmentation and Targeting

One notable form of customer segmentation that Cadbury utilitizes is behaviorial segmentation, which is based on actual customer decision-making processes towards Cadbury’s products. Once dividing these customers by that base, they target them by providing specific product offerings. The relevant segments are the following: The Break Segment, Impulse Segment and Take-home Segment.

Break Segment

This segment describes products which are normally consumed as a snatched break and often with tea or coffee. This would make up a part of a meal and usually will be used a form of dessert substitution. Some examples of products that cater to this would be the newest product to the Dairy Milk range, Cadbury Dairy Milk’s Bubbly. These products are packages in small quantity, ranging from 50grams to 60 grams.

Impulse Segment

These products are most often purchased on impulse while consumers are walking buy or shopping for other household goods. They are strategically placed at eye-level or near the checkout counter so that consumers can make an unplanned purchase. Promotions are also often used to encourage consumers to purchase the chocolates.Both the Cadbury dairy milk block-size and bite-size could be purchased on impulse, depending on its packaging and its presentation.

In terms of product packaging, they are similar to those of the “break segment” – small and compact. Their products are offered in 50grams to 60 grams.

Take-home Segment

This describes products that are normally purchased in supermarkets, taken home and consumed at a later stage due to its sheer quantity. Part of this segment is called the gift segment, where the consumers will take home a box of chocolates in the form of a gift for someone else. An example of this would be Cadbury’s large Dairy Milk blocks(top first image) or the Cadbury Celebrations box (not available in Singapore).

For the Singapore’s market, these products are offered in bigger blocks, ranging within the 190grams to 220 grams chocolate segment.

In a nutshell, this is how the brand managers at Cadbury Singapore, understands our consumer segmentation.

Cadbury’s Marketing Mix

 

Product

Cadbury worldwide has a very strong brand presence and an even stronger product range. If we were to take into account its entire worldwide portfolio, then we would end up with over 57 sub-brands under its confectionary category, over 11 different types of desserts (with at least two sub-brands in each dessert category), 7 types of beverages, 3 types of biscuits, 4 types of cooking products, and at least 20 different types of miscellaneous chocolate sub-brands. Needless to say, it’s a huge umbrella brand which balances its brand equity with its diverse product range.

However, in Singapore alone, Cadbury has not unleashed its entire product line. It has selected its few megabrands and released them to gain an appreciable market share. Cadbury’s products in Singapore alone consist of Dairy Milk, Bubbly, Dream, 3-in-1 Chocolate Drink, Chocolate Rolls, Old Gold, Boost, Freddo, Crunchie, Wispy, and Time-out. These sub-brands can be loosely segregated into the confectionary and beverages categories.

One of greatest product of all time is our Cadbury Dairy Milk. Cadbury Dairy Milk was perfected in 1904 when George Cadbury, together with Bournville experts in chocolate production, started to research for new recipe and production methods. Compared to the Swiss chocolate that uses condensed milk, Cadbury Dairy Milk uses fresh liquid milk or to be more specific – A glass and a half fresh liquid milk in every half pound of chocolate.

In Singapore, we offer 12 flavours under the Dairy Milk’s brand. These 12 flavours are the Dairy Milk itself, cashew, dream, dud, fruit & nut, hazelnut, crunchie, macadamia, marble, roast almond, top deck, and blackforest. We had also recently launched a new Dairy Milk’s flavour – Cadbury Dairy Milk Bubbly.

Because we understand and listen to our consumers’ needs and wants, we underwent a radical change in our packaging for the Dairy Milk in 2009. From using thin flimsy plastic wrapper, we switched to using thick sturdy paperboard to package our Dairy Milk chocolate so that handling and storage of our products are made easier and fresher.

The Old Packaging

The New Packaging in 2009

 

 

 

 

Price

Cadbury has tried to position itself as somewhat of an affordable luxury. By keeping its price relatively high, it has managed to give competition to some of the premium brands like Ferrro Rocher. The price of its star brand, Dairy Milk, ranges from $1.70 to $2.65 SGD (Source: Fairprice and 7-11) based on which store is selling it. It also sells its take-home 200 gram Dairy Milk bar for $5.20, which is quite a large amount for a chocolate bar.

Distribution

Cadbury in Singapore has a strong distribution network and its star products such as Dairy Milk and Time-out can be found in almost any store. Its primary distribution network consists of all convenience stores, supermarkets, hotels, airport duty-free shops, and almost anywhere else where chocolate confectionary is sold. Its targeted at families and is said to be “everyone’s chocolate” which makes it a universally available brand.

Promotions and Advertising

In Singapore, we try to continuously manage and improve our consumers’ experience with our Dairy Milk Chocolate. One of the platform that we are present is our social media presence on Facebook. Through our Facebook, we are able to communicate our new promotions, drive new campaigns and interact with our loyal customers.

As we interact with our customers, we do not focus just on discussing about Cadbury products. In trying to establish an intimate relationship (like friendship), we share the history of chocolate, chocolate news around the world, new chocolate consumption methods, and choosing our “Fan of the Month” and make them the profile picture of our Facebook page.

In terms of promotion, we strive to give our customers the best value for their money and ‘indulgence’.One of the ways is to bring in seasonal products like Cadbury Crème Egg, Cadbury Freddo, and Cadbury Milk Tray.

Complementing these promotions, we are constantly initiating new campaigns to reach out to new customers and reward our existing ones. One of these campaigns is the Cadbury Dairy Milk Shioklaty Moments where we get our customers to share a photo of them of their happiest moments while consuming Cadbury Chocolate. Adding on, we also try to co-create our Cadbury brand with our customers. Through this campaign, we will feature the winner of the ‘Shioklaty Moments’ campaign on our bus shelters’ advertising poster.

Advertisements like the “Cadbury Eyebrow” and “Cadbury World” are not locally produced. However, being part of the Cadbury (and Kraft) Family, such productions are produced locally (not in Singapore) but advertised globally. When these productions are brought into the local context, and in this case into Cadbury Singapore, our marketing team will discuss local campaigns to complement these productions.

So for example “Cadbury World” was part of a global marketing effort and was aired in Singapore through television. To ensure the success of this marketing campaign, “Win A Trip on SQ380 to London, Paris, Syndey or Tokyo” contest was initiated in 2009 and this drives up the sales of Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate.

 

 

 

 

Looking Forward

Cadbury has plans to move from a product brand to a service brand, where it intends to open up cafes termed “Cadbury Cocoa House”. These cafes will be Cadbury branded, traditional English style cafes where you can expect to enjoy a delicious afternoon tea, along with a range of Cadbury-themed goods. Cadbury aims to have an edge over rivals such as Starbucks and Pret a Manger by selling alcohol alongside its more traditional beverages. The first of these delicious chocolate themed cafes is proposed to be constructed in London.

If this service-themes proposition works out, then Cadbury can hope to go worldwide with the same idea by opening up stores in Singapore. Seeing the local success of Milo as a chocolate and family brand, Cadbury would like to attempt becoming the same in the confectionery category. They have made significant headway into breaking into Singapore’s saturated chocolate industry through their use of innovative social-media campaigns.