Marketing Case Studies Flashcards
McDonald’s - strategic role of marketing goods and services
Accelerating the Arches
- New Growth Strategy
- Major focus on brand and affordability
- Goal is to increase brand advocacy
Apple - interdependence with other key business functions
When Apple discontinued the iPhone 5 and launched 5c and 5s instead,
- The operations would have to restructure to suit the demands of the differing products
- The human resources would have to retrain the employees to construct the different products
McDonald’s - production, selling, marketing approaches
- Shifted from Selling to Marketing Approach
McDonald’s - factors influencing customer choice – psychological, sociocultural, economic, government
Psychological
- Displays signature items close to entrance without a price, exploiting a concept known as ‘‘decision anchoring”, where all subsequent purchase decisions are made in reference to that first image seen by the consumer
- “price anchor”, where the customer feels “better” about buying a cheaper, traditional meal - and in fact may even buy more as it is perceived as great value
- “health halo”, where the proximity of healthy foods near unhealthy foods creates the perception of healthiness
Sociocultural
- McDonald’s delivers value, quality and convenience to the customer – focus on offering ‘‘compelling value”
Economic
- In an annual report, McDonald’s stated: “Our results of operations are substantially
affected by economic conditions … and by a variety of factors including hostilities, epidemics…”
Government
- For a period of time, during lockdown, stores could only open for Drive-Thru, takeaway and delivery
Apple - factors influencing customer choice – psychological, sociocultural, economic, government
Psychological
- The iPhone 5c was released in green, blue, yellow, pink and white
Sociocultural
- Society’s needs and uses for a phone – social media, gaming, and streaming – resulted in Apple developing and promoting the iPhone’s camera, screen and processing specifications
Economic
- Created ‘budget’ models and re-released outdated models in poor economic conditions
Government
- China’s governmental policies delayed the release of the iPhone in China as officials were concerns over the privacy issues and accessibility of third parties to the accounts of users
Apple - consumer laws [-] deceptive and misleading advertising
In 2015, a class action was filed against Apple by more than 100 iPhone 4 and 4s users in the United States who claimed that the company was intentionally rendering their phones unusable via iOS upgrades. The legal action extended to complaints regarding Apple’s advertising campaign, claiming it misled consumers by suggesting the upgrade would increase the performance and battery life of the iPhones
Apple - consumer laws [-] price discrimination
Apple is legally bounded to selling its products at a same price throughout Australia to all retailers and consumers
Apple - consumer laws [-] implied conditions
It is implied that the iPhone:
- are fit for purpose
- correspond with their description
- will have spare parts, repairs, and Apple will comply with express warranties
Apple - consumer laws [-] warranties
According to Apple, the warranty states that “customers are entitled to a replacement or refund for a major failure and for compensation for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage … to have the goods repaired or replaced if the goods fail to be of acceptable quality … Repair of the goods may result in loss of data.”
McDonald’s - ethical – truth, accuracy and good taste in advertising, products that may damage health, engaging in fair competition, sugging
The products could damage one’s health hence advertising is unethical
Ethical Considerations
- Product causes obesity
- Target market is children
In 1997, the McLibel case was when McDonald’s was found guilty of exploiting children in advertising
Apple - ethical – truth, accuracy and good taste in advertising, products that may damage health, engaging in fair competition, sugging
Ethical Considerations
- Product placement
- E-waste
- Radiation from exposure to devices
McDonald’s - situational analysis - (SWOT), product life cycle
Life Cycle of McDonald’s French Fries
Introduction: In the 1940s, French fries replaced packets of potato chips
Growth: The growth of MacDonald’s led to the French fries becoming a global icon
Maturity: In 1990, under pressure, McDonald’s changed the recipe for cooking the French fries, eliminating beef tallow, heavy in saturated fat - danger to health. Change affected quality in taste
Post Maturity/ Renewal: Creation of variations, such as ‘‘Loaded fries”, “Twisted fries’, “Chicken salt fries”, and “Cheesy fries”
McDonald’s - market research
Uses customer data for research
McD Tech Labs, established in Silicon Valley, aims to analyse customer data
Apple - market research
Collects most of its data through feedback surveys
McDonald’s - establishing market objectives
Senior Marketing Executive, Alistair Macrow, outlined McDonald’s overall market objective, stating: “Raising our marketing ambition is about elevating our focus. Moving beyond brand engagement - when customers feel a personal connection and eat McDonald’s - to brand advocacy - when people feel really good about visiting McDonald’s.”
TL;DR turning the brand engagement into brand advocacy
McDonald’s - identifying target markets
On its website, McDonald’s states that it ‘‘aims to offer a friendly, fun environment for everyone, and we mean everyone, to enjoy. This means appealing to families who love our iconic Happy Meal, to workers grabbing breakfast on-the-go or eating in to enjoy our freshly ground coffee and free WiFi. The majority of our campaigns are communicated to everyone to ensure they have a broad reach.”
TL;DR mass market
Apple - identifying target markets
Targets nations with growing and healthy economies due to the premium nature of the iPhone
McDonald’s - developing marketing strategies
Under the 2020 Accelerating the Arches growth plan, the company aims to:
1. Maximise marketing – with the aim of encouraging brand advocacy. McDonald’s see that there are 4 drivers of this
– Food (the quality of the core product),
- Integrity (how the business behaves),
- Value (ensuring affordability with multiple price points)
- Affinity (aiming to foster customers’ emotional connection to the company).
- Commit to the core - with a renewed focus on chicken, burgers, and coffee.
- Double down on the 3 D’s (Digital, Delivery and Drive Thru) - with a focus on how the customer transacts with the company.
McDonald’s - implementation, monitoring and controlling – developing a financial forecast; comparing actual and planned results, revising the marketing strategy
Through the MyMaccas app, McDonald’s can launch marketing campaigns at the click of a button.
Plexure, an app development company partly owned by McDonalds, states that it can launch a marketing campaign within 30 minutes to 20 million customers.
Then, using real-time data (by way of digital ordering channels), McDonald’s can closely monitor the results of all aspects of a marketing plan. After analysing this data, changes can be made on a regular basis (controlling)
McDonald’s - market segmentation, product/service differentiation and positioning
Demographic
Age: Happy Meal
Religion: Fillet of Fish was created in 1962 to cater for Catholic consumers who would not eat meat on Fridays
Family size: Family Boxes
Psychographic
Lifestyle: Vegan products
Behavioural
Brand Loyalty: Free coffee for every 5 coffees
Geographic
Menu items are exclusive to geographical regions
Apple - market segmentation, product/service differentiation and positioning
Demographic
Income: Price-tag of products
Religion: Customised advertising in India to adapt to Hinduism
Psychologic
Apple products are perceived as a status symbol
Behavioural
Apple provides bundled data plans, segmented by the usage
Geographic
Introduction of smartphones with larger screens, desired by the growing Asian market
Release of the ‘budget’ iPhone SE, targeting the low-income consumers of China and India
McDonald’s - global marketing [-] global branding
In 2020, McDonald’s was recognised by Forbes as the 10th most valuable brand
Apple - global marketing [-] global branding
In 2021, according to research conducted by BrandZ, Apple is the second most valuable brand, worth US$611 billion
McDonald’s - global marketing [-] standardisation
The ‘core’ of the McDonald’s menu, the Big Mac and French Fries, are unchanged
Apple - global marketing [-] standardisation
The products sold by Apple are consistent throughout the globe
Some promotional strategies are also standardised, given that there are no verbals (language barrier) and the themes are universally recognisable
McDonald’s - global marketing [-] customisation
McDonald’s customises its menu in countries with a unique cuisine, such as India, where no beef products are sold.
Apple - global marketing [-] competitive positioning
Apple is struggling to sell in India due to low wages of the country however, has captured the high-end market of most countries
Apple - global marketing [-] global pricing
Products are sold at different prices across international borders due to economic factors, tariffs, shipping costs etc
