Tag Archives: Marketing strategy

by | Thursday, December 2, 2021 · 8:22 am

Rebranding Facebook into Meta

Ask any marketer and they will tell you that rebranding a company is tough – and expensive. Once a company’s brand is firmly established, it has a value that carries to the company and all its products/services. Consider that a brand is the position a company holds in the consumer’s mind. State a brand name such as Nike, Tesla, or Google, and a specific image will quickly come to mind.

Let’s try it. “Facebook.” What thoughts and images did you immediately recall?

Now let’s try another name – “Meta.” Any thoughts?

Meta is the new company name for the formerly-known Facebook company. Why the shift? After all, Facebook is already one of the most well-known and valuable brands in the world.

To explain the change, Facebook/Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated it this way: “We are a company that builds technology to connect…. But over time, I hope we are seen as a metaverse company.” The new name is designed to help the company (and its audience) transition from being seen primarily as a social media company into something much broader and more ambitious, encompassing the “metaverse.”

What is the metaverse? The term originated in science fiction from writer Neal Stephenson. It refers to a virtual space where people can do virtually everything from playing games, meeting with friends, attending concerts, and of course buying many different kinds of digital (and physical) goods and services. (Think “Ready Player One” or “Snow Crash.”)

In the past 15 years, Facebook has bought a whopping 78 companies in many areas of technology. The most well-known and valuable acquisitions are Instagram (acquired for $1 billion in 2012), WhatsApp ($19 billion in 2014), and Oculus VR ($2 billion in 2014). These acquisitions have helped the company expand using social media and advanced technology – most geared towards young users. They also set the stage for developing new services into gaming and the metaverse interactions.

Facebook has also been under intense pressure this fall after stories emerged about its calculated social media strategies and toxic handling of Instagram for teenage girls. Other issues that Facebook faces includes antitrust regulations and privacy concerns in the U.S. and Europe.

What does the future metaverse hold for us?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Discuss the importance and value of a strong brand.
  2. Poll students: Should Facebook rebrand? What does ‘metaverse’ mean to them?
  3. Show Meta website: https://about.facebook.com/meta/
  4. Ask students to define “metaverse.” What is its appeal to consumers?
  5. View a video from WSJ: https://on.wsj.com/3mnxucW
  6. Additional videos are available on Meta’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC04FyDIvYXNecpbG8gyOw4A
  7. Discuss other corporate rebranding efforts such as Google’s rebrand to Alphabet.
  8. When does rebranding make sense for corporations? When should it be avoided?

Source: Forbes; New York Time; The Verge; Wall Street Journal; other news sources

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by | Thursday, August 26, 2021 · 7:58 am

The Changing Face of America

Demographic information is very important to marketers. Demographics are descriptors; data that can be somewhat easily described such as age, gender, education, occupation, ethnicity, household size, and more. With this information, marketers can best target campaigns to the correct target market.

The recent census results highlight the changing American demographics from 2010 to 2020. Population has significantly changed in many ways since the 2010 Census results.

  • U.S. metro areas grew 9%, resulting in 86% of the population in metro areas compared to 85% in 2020.
  • The largest cities in the country are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Phoenix.
  • The fastest growing U.S. metro area was The Villages, Fla., which grew 39% to about 130,000 people.
  • People who reported being more than one race spiked.
  • Multiracial population is now 33.8 million people, a 276% increase since 2010 (Note that the census tool has been revised since 2010 to give a more accurate racial report.)
  • White population declined by 8.6%.
  • African-American population grew 5.6%
  • Asian population grew by 35%.
  • Hispanic population grew by 23%.
  • The overall U.S. population growth has slowed to 7.4%, the slowest rate in a century.
  • More than 77.9% of the population were age 18 and over.
  • Housing units increased 6.7% to more than 140 million units.

No one expects the country to stay the same. What surprised you about the results?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Discuss the importance of demographics as part of environmental scanning and marketing plans.
  2. Show the recent Census results: https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021/population-changes-nations-diversity.html
  3. The 2020 Census map viewer can be found at: https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2021/geo/demographicmapviewer.html
  4. Divide students into teams. Have each team review the results. What surprised them? How can the data be used?
  5. Class discussion: What are some of the broad implications of the changing U.S. demographics?

Source:  U.S. Census Bureau; New York Time; other news sources

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by | Wednesday, March 3, 2021 · 7:36 am

Netflix in Africa

Netflix seems to be in a stage of constant product development, as well as market development. While it originally started as a U.S.-based service, the company has moved aggressively into new geographies and now streams its programs in 190 countries and territories. The company now serves more than 100 million subscribers outside of the U. S.

ix has a complex business model in that it must secure content agreements by region and country. Regulatory restrictions also limit what content can be made available. Also, many international viewers are not fluent in English and prefer local-language programming. Such is the case in sub-Saharan Africa where Netflix is producing original content. The region has 1.1 billion citizens and is a largely untapped market. Streaming in Africa is estimated to grow from 3.9 million subscribers in 2020 to 13 million in 2025.

While Netflix is investing in African programming, it faces challenges in piracy, expensive mobile data, slow Internet speed, and a high rate of poverty. There is also plenty of competition in the market from both local and global providers. Pricing and sales requiring U.S. currency are issues as well. Netflix is testing a mobile-only subscription at $4.03 per month (59 South African rand).

Ready to watch?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Discuss the four primary marketing strategies: market penetration, market development, product development, and diversification.
  2. Which strategy is Netflix using? Why?
  3. Show video on Netflix global expansion: https://youtu.be/JdtnX_P-4Qc
  4. Divide students into teams. Have each team select one of the four different strategies and explain why that strategy could be used to market Netflix.
  5. Discuss how to build and use a SWOT analysis grid: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (internal and external factors).
  6. Divide students into teams and have each team build a SWOT analysis grid.
    1. Strengths: what is company good at?
    2. Weaknesses: what needs work?
    3. Opportunities: what is going on in marketplace?
    4. Threats: what should company be wary of?
  7. Based on the analysis, what are the issues and risks that might occur?

Source:  Wall Street Journal; other news sources

 

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