Tag Archives: Marketing strategy

by | Monday, December 11, 2023 · 7:00 am

Rebranding San Francisco

San Francisco’s standing has declined since the pandemic. The city’s problems include homelessness, overt drug use, crime at stores, and homelessness and housing. Speaking of housing, it costs more to build housing in San Francisco than in any other city in California. This definitely impacts relocation and homelessness levels.

These types of issues certainly impact business investment, employment, and tourism. To improve the image, wealthy locals are putting $4 million into a new ad campaign to promote San Francisco’s innovation and creativity. The tag line: “It All Starts Here.” But is this enough to turn around the negative narrative?

One measure to track is tourism. This past August only 69% of the city’s hotel rooms were occupied, compared to 85% during the same period in 2019. Tourism is only one facet though – the campaign also aims to build local support and pride for the city at a time when retailers including Target, Office Depot, and Nordstrom have exited the city as crime at stores has dramatically increased.

Of course advertising and marketing alone can’t save the city. But it can focus the work and remind people of all the great parts of San Francisco and build pride.

What do you think?

 Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Poll students: Who has been to San Francisco? What attributes does it have for travelers? What are the negative aspects?
  2. Show ad and background video: https://youtu.be/fPqbtCiMEtE?si=abvj4mXJ-IkH-o4X
  3. Discuss how marketing can impact a city’s brand. What are the needed elements?
  4. Divide students into teams. Have each team select a town or city for re-branding.
  5. Discuss the various promotional tactics that can be used for rebranding.
  6. Have students come up with tactics and list all the tactics on the white board (ex: billboards, print, direct mail, etc.).
  7. For their town, have each team select three different tactics. For each tactic, explain why it was selected and how it will be used.

Source: Knight, H. (19 October 2023). San Francisco’s brand is in trouble. Can a new ad campaign fix it? New York Times; Knight, H. (27 October 2023). San Francisco has a new slogan, and not everyone is a fan. New York Times; other news sources.

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by | Wednesday, August 9, 2023 · 7:32 am

H&M Adds Home and Beauty Products and Stores   

Once a high-flyer in the area of fast fashion, H&M has come under increasing pressure from China’s Shein and other retailers. Swedish company H&M sales growth has stalled in recent years, forcing the company to examine its strategy and product mix. The company’s revenue in 2022 is relatively unchanged from revenue six years ago. Not good news.  

To counter this revenue decline, the global retailer is now expanding beyond its core fashion business and into new areas of home and beauty products. Although H&M has had to close some of its fashion stores, it is now adding new, stand-alone stores focused on beauty and home products.  

There are now 32 H&M Home-branded stores that sell products from sofas to linens to kitchen products. The company has also added homeware sections to 399 of its regular stores as well as on the its website.  

The company has also opened two flagship H&M Beauty-branded stores in Norway, selling products such as nail polish, body wash, makeup, and razors. Some of the products are also sold in regular H&M stores and online.  

And, in yet another move, H&M has also added other brands to its stores and now offers more than 70 other brands. In addition, H&M has grown its own private-label brands, which have sold at double the rate of the overall company.   Why the changes? According to H&M, “we see that customers spend more time with us if we offer a broader range of products.”   Shall we check it out?      

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Discuss the four primary marketing strategies: Market penetration, market development, product development, and diversification.
  2. Poll students: Who has shopped at H&M? What have they purchased?
  3. Which strategy is H&M employing for the new stores? For the new product lines?
  4. Divide students into teams. Have each team select one of the four primary strategies for H&M and develop a marketing mix for it.
  5. View H&M website: https://www2.hm.com/en_us/index.html
  6. View H&M home products website: https://www2.hm.com/en_gb/home.html
  7. And H&M beauty products website: https://www2.hm.com/en_us/beauty.html

Source: Moss, T. (15 July 2023). H&M now wants to sell you makeup, sofas, and crocs. Wall Street Journal.

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by | Tuesday, June 6, 2023 · 7:46 am

Apple Launches its First Retail Stores in India

According to the United Nations, India is on track to pass China as the world’s most populous country later this year. This is an important demographic trend for marketers to recognize; China has held the rank of the most populous nation in the world since 1950.

Along with India, the two countries combine to equal roughly a third of the world’s 7.9 billion people (and likely more by the time you read this article). However, China has an aging population, with low growth. India on the other hand has a much younger population, higher fertility rate, and decreased infant mortality.

Recognizing these trends, Apple has finally opened its first two retail stores in India –  Mumbai and New Delhi, two of India’s wealthiest cities. Until now, Apple products were sold only by third-party sellers in India, which presented its own set of problems for the company. Apple sold 6.5 million iPhones in India in 2022; compare this with the volume of 50 million a year sold in China and the U.S. China is a growing market for technology and innovation.

Of particular interest will be the iPhone pricing. The iPhone is a relatively expensive phone for consumers there. Considered a ‘premium’ product, only 11% of the market could afford iPhones. However it was also the fastest growing segment.

For all these reasons, it’s easy to understand why companies do through analysis of countries for expansion. Population size is only one indicator of potential sales. The psychographic profile is also key. India’s population is more willing to pay a premium for phones and as a ‘premium’ product,  Apple is viewed as a status symbol there.

What does Apple need to do to succeed in India?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Show video of opening of Apple in India: https://youtu.be/cRiSSV5pfzk
  2. Discuss the four primary marketing strategies: market penetration, market development, product development, and diversification.
  3. Which strategy is Apple using for this new venture?
  4. Why this marketing strategy?
  5. Divide students into teams. Have each team select one of the four different strategies and explain why that strategy could be used to market Apple.
  6. Have each team determine the marketing mix (4Ps) to support their strategy choice.
  7. Debrief the exercise.

Source:  Kharpal, A. (18 April 2023). Apple opens its first store in India as it looks for a new generation of iPhone users. CNBC.; Travelli, A., and Raj, S. (18 April 2023). Apple opens first store in India, a promising frontier for the tech giant. New York Times.; other news sources.

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