Final Team Toyota Post

The final Team Toyota: Marketing of the Prius is ready and waiting!
Great job team!!

Topic Post 3: Target Marketing - The perfect Vodka

In an article in CNN Money the discussion today was related to the perfect martini more than the perfect investment. The Worlds Most Expensive Vodka is being born in a joint venture between French disteriller Peureux and Florida based Legacy Imports for a vodka named "Perfect 1964". The United States is becoming a fast growing population of vodka drinkers with a 2% increase in sales last year which is prompting the joint venture and permitting a marketing budget of $5 million. The vodka will sell for $40 to $45 dollars and will be become the most expensive bottle on the market when it is debuted in the United States in October.
The marketing of the distilled white spirit has been more toward younger drinkers who are passing beer and wine in lue of upscaled social drinks such as the martini. While drinking of all types declines with age, the martini and vodka have grown in popularity with movies, such as James Bond who drinks his martini shaken not stirred, and the diet craze for low carb. Older drinkers have also taken to buying premium products and an affordable luxery that the younger drinker might not be able to afford with Grey Goose and Belvidere vodka being prime examples.
The best bet for using the $5 million dollar marketing and advertising budget would be for target marketing the Perfect 1864 to adult professional drinkers who do not want to have dinner with the boss or an important client and order a beer. The older, more sophisitcated drinker would be the targeted market for this brand of vodka.

Team Post: Marketing Segmentation for Toyota Prius

The hybrid craze has started and it is not going to stop. And the Toyota Prius is the big brother on the block marketing itself for the energy efficiency it offers, the environmental friendly emissions, and the ever-saving dollar that it saves.

Toyota has been marketing this car at all levels of consumers. When it was first introduced, the car was a smashing hit with the older driver 50 to 80 according to Seniors Attracted to Hybrid, an article in the Oakland Tribune in 2003. This car was thought to have an appeal to the youthful driver, so why the over 50 crowd? They value the fuel economy as well as the rating that the EPA gave the Prius, the highest on its environmental impact. This age population is well aware of the impact on the environment that gas guzzling cars have and are young enough to remember the gas crisis in the 70’s.

AutoWeek says that the futuristic look of the sedan also helped the Prius outsell its competition. The initial design was unique and helped to foster the popularity of the car by targeting those consumers looking to be the first on their block to own a hybrid. This futuristic design also helped owners broadcast their concerns for the environment, simply by driving down the street in a novel automobile. Not only does this car make a statement on the street and at the gas pump, the car has status too, as Toyota had to create waiting lists across the country to equal the demand for the car. Waiting lists that people were willing to pay to climb up, implying the market segment is also one with money to spend.

According to many resources, this car is being redesigned and remarketed for the next generation of car buyers in an attempt to remove the idea that the owner has to compromise comfort and power for the economy and the environment. Toyota’s marketing strategies today barely mention the benefits of saving at the pump, mainly due to the fact that the average driver might have to double or even triple driving habits to make that “bonus” pay off. Today’s targeted market hears a line about making no compromises, implying comfort and design, for the benefits the Prius has to offer. This comes as the automobile makers begin designing and building the SUV hybrids which come with higher price tags and higher speeds. As summer months heat up, the strategy of down marketing the money savings at the pump might change as gas prices continue to rise to higher and higher levels.

The market segment for Toyota and the Prius? The consumer who is 40-plus, wanting to be kinder to the environment, having a desire to get a better bang for their buck, and who has a commitment to reducing oil dependency. This targeted group is considered influencers in that they are more educated, more affluent, and older, which helps shape the (car) buying decision of the rest of America.

Blog to Blog: Ageless Marketing

I posted a (quite heavy) response to a blog I found on Ageless Marketing:A Reader's Response about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and its relationship to transcendentalism and marketing in 3rd world countries. The topic is profound, and the comments equally so, but the contemplation coming from this post and the follow-ups it generated is more than just a little intriguing and potentially even action provoking.

Response: Marketing & Supply Chain Management

On Toyota Marketing Machine I found a posting about Supply Chain Management in which the concepts explained used company examples and analysis. The concepts behind SCS, a subsidiary of UPS, was a good example of supply chain use and one for a new business trying to expand into a new arena or attempting to increase its product line or grow its name recognition. Because consumers tend to have brand familiarity (Kolter, page 198), it is not surprising that smaller companies would be looking for someone to help them spread their words and their products. Without such companies as you mentioned, FedEx, DHL and UPS, the ability to move goods over large distances might be cost prohibitive for smaller businesses and might therefore take pure competition and turn it to pure monopoly (Kolter, page 353).
This is also a great niche market (Kolter, page 253) for UPS. As a way for them to increase their company recognition, they too can segment the market into smaller target populations (in this case, companies) that would benefit from their services as a corporation to help move products across North America and internationally to aide in getting products to market faster. UPS is clearly able to see changing trends in the industry, economic, political and technological, and was able to come up with a concentrated marketing scheme to maximize their benefit.
It appears to me that UPS is the company that was able to spot the trend and change its own networks to open the opportunity for other businesses. By not only being a company to move objects small or large, UPS is also able to assist by increasing supply networks. It appears that UPS took what they do and found a new place to do it – a new target market if you will. They are permitting other businesses to use hybrid marketing – the process of using many channels to distribute information and products.

Blog related Blog:Diva Marketing

I posted a comment to Diva Marketing about a little snippet posted on Bob Lutz, Chairman of GM using bloga. Mr. Lutz found comments on other blogs that he wanted to respond to in an attempt to discuss issues that consumers posted regarding one of their automobiles, the Saturn. What Mr. Lutz was able to do was use a staff of 3 or 4 people to take his comments and drop them into the blog for him. He did not have to get lost in any of the technical jargon of the internet. The short, but informative link, suggests that other company heads might steer clear of blogging as it is an avenue for potentially reactive responding, but Lutz had no issues. The "Diva" questioned if his comments were filtered, and I was wondering the same thing. Someone had to keep him from "over reacting" versus responding. I like the idea of using the internet but I personally get lost in the tech stuff that I get easily frustrated.
Oh, to have a staff of computer techies to do this for me!

Topic Post 2: Market Segmentation

In an article in the Boston Globe the idea of market segmentation is explored and explained with the marketing of a television show. The TNT network is, according to the article, slicing and dicing its market by making use of detailed databases and cable channels that caters to certain genders and age groups. To the younger crowd, the marketing strategy is hyping the young actors in the miniseries. To the adult mal, the miniseries is being sold as a part of history and the truth of the period. And to those watching family based television shows the miniseries is hypes as a heart-wrenching family saga. Based on the television channel and show being watched, the marketing ad for the miniseries changed.
In the world and text of Kolter, this is micromarketing (page 254), which is the practice of tailoring the marketing program to the specific individuals and locations that would make use of them. The practice of some companies running the same ads with different endings is such a practice. With the ability to collect and review data regarding spending practices, buying habits, and television watching tendencies, the company Claritas Inc is able to market their services as one to collect and analyze such information for others to use. This company does market research and is therefore able to help TNT target market their upcoming television miniseries to all age groups and gender mixes
Some are talking about an invasion of privacy but most are willing to exchange the ideal of invasion by the cable channels reporting their watching habits for the personalized ads that target their needs and wants. As customized ads start to make their way into the mainstream media, being able to place your segment into a smaller target market and then with the ability to individualize the field, the “selling to me” feeling of consumers may help a company using this method to keep a strong hold on their market share.

Team Member Response: Men,Women and Marketing

In a post by one of my team members, Lisa Kraus a discussion was started on the perceptions of gender and car buying decisions. It leads to a very good point - we look at things, cars included, very differntly. The article Lisa sights, What Makes a Guy Car from CNN Money is an insightful look at how men want a fast car and women want a reliable, responsible, affordable car.
This, according to the class text by Kolter, is an example of Gender Segmentation (page 242). The process of breaking the population up into male and female to market products has been the most basic marketing strategies. This is how even the NFL began targeting advertisers who realized that women who watch football also influence the purchases made in the household. I think that this is why commercials are less Bud Bowl and Super Bowl commercials more diversified with the target market that they gear towards.
Using this concept for car buying is nothing new. It does point out, as Lisa did, the importance of understanding the consumers needs, outside appearance (four headlights) or inside performance (reliablity and practicality).
Knowing your target market and knowing how to use behavior segmentation (page 244 in the text) is a way to make sure that the marketing advertising you use is approrpiate to your audience. Companies who air commericials during the Super Bowl might be using occasion segmentation (page 244 in the text): marketing the fast food delivery for pizza at half time would be an example of this. Occasion marketing is the process of grouping consumers according to when they get the idea to purchase or use your product. Hungry watching the game? Order food that was just advertised.
The marketers are also counting on the Buyer Decision Process (page 198-199 of the text) and the buyer being at the Need Recognition phase of identifying a want/need and then making a purchase decision. The phases with a food commercial are less involved than with a car purchase, but the stages are just the same.
So, whether watching a TV ad from the Super Bowl or standing in a show room buying a car, the gender differences are noticable. The decision making process between men and women make marketers work twice as hard to make sure that they address the needs of both segements.

TEAM: Marketing Prius with Gay Pride?

When searching again tonight for information relating Toyota and the Marketing strategies of their hybrid car, Prius, I stumbled across this link in the Swift Report. The article talks about a speech President Bush gave to the Small Business Association regarding the issues facing consumes as the summer driving months approach. Evidently, some assume that the Prius is the car of choice for the homosexual crowd, linking the car to the homosexual energy agenda. This was the satire put into the general public by the Swift Report, a gag that some took seriously enough to write multiple blogs and email reponses to this sight and many others. The advertising that the Toyota Prius recieved as an energy efficient car was huge, good or bad, it's marketing a product to the people who will remember the product, and days from now, might not remember the source.
Is there such a thing as bad publicity??
When I tried to look up the meaning of the word "Prius", the dictionary had nothing and when I tried to Ask Jeeves what he thought, he had no significant opinion either. I thought that if I Googled "Pruis", it would give me something to go on, to target Toyota's marketing strategy, but the answer, sadly, was no.
I can only now make assumptions as to who Toyota is trying to market this automobile to and why.
Stay tuned for more insightful thoughts and tid bits!

TEAM: Toyota and Prius Marketing Strategies

So, all the articles I am seeing about the Prius seem to be pointing to a very possiblity that the marketing is focused on the environment and the ever saving dollar. This article in Forbes talks about the happiness of the "greenies" meaning environmentalists.
The Prius and Toyota are making a push to educate the public with the accepatnce fro alternative-powered vehicles in an attempt to push the public to wanting more. In an attempt to continue to target not only the environmentalist (with a car that will emit 30% fewer pollutants, Toyota is also remaking the Prius to increase the usable space inside and making this a marketable automobile to the
"mom squad" as well. The target market - the educated, family oriented, environmentally conscious consumer.
I think that as a target market, this is a smart strategy for Toyota. The Gen X famiy is made up of 40-somethings who may or may not have family units. They have more disposable income than their parents did and tend to be more socially conscious. This makes the Toyota Prius an affordable statement for taking your turn to drive the office car pool or shutteling the kids to after school activities. Toyota did their part and produced a car affordable targeting the middle to lower income groups causing a waiting list for their car.
As far as marketing, maybe not the wises move, but is any gimmick a good gimmick if it brings public attention to your product??