Find a commercial that sells an unfamiliar product to you. My definition of ‘unfamiliar’ is pretty loose and obviously I would have no ability to know if a product category is truly unfamiliar to you. I am, however, asking that you refrain from picking a product category that is completely gender-specific. I expect you to be more creative than picking an obvious opposite-gender-based-product. A good example for me might be motorcycles. While I certainly know what a motorcycle is and can differentiate it from other forms of motorized vehicles (impressed?!), I have not spent much time around them/riding them at all. I could easily use motorcycles as a product here as I am not familiar with the ins/outs of motorcycles. In short, it honestly does not matter what you choose, I just think there is some added value to picking a product that is less familiar to you – especially if that product category might be of interest to you down the road! Find a commercial for this unfamiliar product, then go to a physical retail store/website that sells this unfamiliar product and learn about this product. Your assignment is to discuss the Marketing Mix as it relates to this product. No Page Limit; I would expect the average paper to be 5-6 pages, given all that is being asked of you. As you can see, “why” is a strong component of the paper and the quality of your explanations will be the biggest differentiator between the good and great papers. The key to getting a good grade on this paper is accurately identifying the segmenting, targeting, and positioning (STP) of your product and then relating that to the other three Ps (place, price, promotion). I strongly recommend that you analyze the Marketing Mix prior to writing your paper. The marketing mix will help inform your idea of the product’s STP. Six Components to the Assignment: 1. Introduction/Product (40 points) - What is the product and what does this product do? - Why did you choose this product? Why is this product unfamiliar? - Does the company that sells this product sell any related products? How does this product fit in with the rest of the company’s product portfolio? - Describe the commercial that relates to this product (this is where you will start to form your idea of the product’s STP). - Describe (take a page, detail it out, make it clear) this product’s STP (this is the key to the success of this paper and is worth the most points). Common mistakes to avoid with STP. ▪ “This product is targeted towards everybody.” – Unless you chose flour or some other commodity as your product this is almost NEVER true. Even with flour there is a difference in how the brands target their consumers. Don’t believe me? Check out the baking products grocery aisle. ▪ “This product is targeted towards high income consumers.” Really, that’s it? Surely you can add more. Marketers use demographics as the base level. From our first module we talked about this being the equivalent to saying that rich people drive Porsche 911s (not exactly insightful). The value that marketers add is in their imagination and they back it up with WHY they think this is the case. Tell me something about their behavior. I’ve provided a simple example here next. Both customers match along those lines but exhibit different behaviors and consume different brands. This is what tells you something about what they might buy! Your challenge is to come up with a similar description of a customer, BUT YOU MUST ALSO TELL ME WHY YOUR PRODUCT AND COMMERCIAL HAVE BROUGHT YOU TO THIS CONCLUSION. Customer 1: “This customer has a college education, buys a Starbucks’ Frappuccino every morning with his Starbucks Gold card, drives a BMW, works out at the gym for two hours a day, his favorite clothing brand is Polo, and his favorite evening drink is a Hendricks Gin Martini with two olives. His favorite sport is football and he has season tickets to the Cardinals. Customer 2: “This customer has a college education, drinks the coffee he gets for free at his office, drives a Ford F150 pickup, hates the gym, his favorite clothing brand is whatever he can find at Ross, and his favorite drink is Bud Light. He is also an avid Cardinals fan and watches every game at home with his friends because he can’t stand the crowd and the price of beer at the stadium. 2. Place – In this section, I want to know how the “place” of the product supports the product’s STP. (15 points) What is the name of the physical store that sells this product and that you investigated? Do you believe that the physical location of this store is an important driver of this product’s success? Why? Why is the company selling this product at this store? (if you are looking at a private label product, DON’T say that it makes sense because it is the store’s brand, rather, answer the question from a product category viewpoint. In other words, answer the question, why does this store have a private label for this product?) What products are located around and near the product you are focusing on? Any from the same company that makes your product? - How are your product and the others near it related? Does this location within the store make sense? Why? 3. Price – In this section, I want to know how the “price” of the product supports the product’s STP. (15 points) Who are its potential competitors? How do you know they are potential competitors? How many direct competitors are being sold at the store? How much does this product cost? How does its price relate to its competitors? What does this price indicate to you about the firm’s marketing plan, and, most importantly, why do you think this is the case? Do you believe that this is the right price for this product? Why do you think so? 4. Promotion – In this section, I want to know how the “promotion” of the product supports the product’s STP. (15 points) Is your product currently being promoted? If so, in what way (discounted price, 2 for 1, in aisle coupon, prominent display)? Are competitor’s products being promoted? If so, in what way? 5. Summary (15 points) How effectively is the marketing mix being utilized with regard to this product? In your opinion, in which of the four pieces of the marketing mix is there room for improvement (make sure you talk about one that needs improvement). Is the firm that manufactures this product doing a good job? Why do you think so? Same note from the first assignment: I have high expectations. I will subtract substantial points from papers that are not well written (i.e. misspelled words, poor grammar, and poor readability). PLEASE reread your papers prior to turning them in. Additionally, the above is designed to give you an idea of the content that I want to see in your paper. Make sure that you write a well-organized, easy to read paper.