Case Studies: Chapter 7, 8 & 9

Chapter 7:
ACCENTURE:
1. Question: What has Accenture done well to target its B-to-Baudience?
Answer: Within the business market of developmental and information technology
system consulting, Accenture has done very well in targeting its business to business
audience. It has done so by targeting companies with high future potential. Technology
driven companies worldwide are generally the fastest growing and most profitable
entities or “business sectors with the greatest growth prospects, most profitable
customers, and most promising opportunities” (191), which is Accenture’s target
audience. Once Accenture identified its target audience, it acquired 99 of the World’s
Fortune 100 companies, meaning their focus was successful. They’ve successfully
overcome competitors such as McKinsey and IBM by bridging the gap between those
two service industries, offering both business consulting and outsourcing implementation.
With a clever brand transition from its father company and inspiring slogans accentuating
its emphasis on success and the future, Accenture has impressively directed itself to
potentially successful technology driven companies.
2. Question: Has Accenture done the right thing by dropping TigerWoods as its
spokesperson? Discuss the pros and cons of its decision.
Answer: Initially, Tiger Woods was a great face for the Accenture name because he was a
well-known model of success in the golf world, which is quite a transitive playing field in
the world of business. After all, the golf course is a significant place of business within
many industries. When the Tiger Woods scandal was revealed, he became a negative
representative of the Accenture brand. Based on potential “vendor analysis” used in
supplier selection, supplier reputation can be a large reason for selection, almost as much
as price and reliability. By ending his contract with Woods as the face of the company
and reinventing itself using a non-offensive campaign, Accenture was able to re-establish
itself as a trustworthy entity. Unfortunately however, by ending the contract with Woods,
Accenture lost its association with the golf identity, potentially losing its association with
a commonly used business tool.
GE:
 1. Question: Discuss the importance of B-to-B marketing and astrong B-to-B brand to GE.
Answer: GE, being one of the world’s largest and yet most diverse businesses, faces a
huge challenge in developing a brand to incorporate all their endeavors. Developing an
identity, which integrated its 11 branches was a marketing feat with their campaigns.
They achieved this by incorporating one major theme throughout all of them, multiple
times. Their “Imagination at Work” campaign marketed their high-tech and progressive
tone. Now they use a green, ecofriendly approach to integrate all of their branches into
one, earth-healthy brand. GE used specific B-to-B marketing when they addressed the
recent failing economy. They provided a product which was much more attractive to their
business customer with their “Power by the Hour” sales deal. This is an example GE
using the general “buygrid framework” specified on page 195. They begin by recognizing
the problem: an unstable economy, then addressing those needs by designing a payment
system, rather than a new product, which was more financially appealing to their buyers.
The seller, GE, solved a problem and offered a solution to the buyer’s economic problem.
This is how GE maintains their marketed identity of being innovative and contemporary.
2. Question: Have “Imagination at Work,” “Ecomagination,” and“Healthymagination”
successfully communicated GE’s focus on its newer endeavors? Why or why not?
Answer: The slogans used by GE such as “Imagination at Work,” “Ecomagination,” and
“Healthymagination” each have a dual purpose in marketing the brand. Each has the
similar “imagination” aspect, which dignifies GE as an entire entity to be creative,
forward- thinking, innovative and original. Secondly it uses prefixes such as “Eco” and
“Healthy” which delve into the business consumer’s worldly conscious. By having
understood the business market to be moving to more earth and health conscious ideas
and products, GE tapped into a large and quickly developing market. They address their
target audience to be informed and concerned businesses hoping to tap into a similar
consumer market. I believe the slogans they used in there marketing campaign
successfully communicated their new focus as well as maintained their traditional brand
integration.
Chapter 8:
HSBC:
 1. Question: What are the risks and benefits of HSBC’s positioning itself as the “World’s
Local Bank”?
Answer: HSBC faces many risks and benefits by positioning itself as the “World’s Local
Bank”. It benefits because it becomes capable of making international business within
hundreds of countries. It values the global economy as its target market which brings it
opportunity to reach a growing and profitable clientele. It identifies the segment of the
consumer market as international business and business people. This demographic is
growing with more global trade on a geographic basis. With a world economy that is
developing to incorporate and bond all independent economies, HSBC can thrive.
However, HSBC is vulnerable to economic downturns in a specific economy affecting
itself as a whole. Also, HSBC spends a lot of their resources to become the “local bank”
in so many different countries in the world. The local bank idea becomes expensive when
trying to promote its value for youth, families and communities.
2. Question: Does HSBC’s most recent campaign resonate with itstarget audience? Why or
why not?
Answer: The “Different Values” campaign, which exemplified how different people,
different cultures and different demographics gave unique significances to different
things. Although HSBC targets a mass market their campaign showed that they valued
each and every individual within it, making the individual segments of the market more
of a niche based upon their values. It shows that their demographic is not only diverse
because of their global geography but upon their identification of the intricate values of
its whole audience. The campaign resonates well on their grounds of being international
yet domestically inclined.
BMW:
1. Question: What are the pros and cons to BMW’s selective targetmarketing? What has the
firm done well over the years and where could it improve?
Answer: BMW’s selective target marketing has successfully incorporated the many needs
of their consumers into their luxury brand. For example they have included a line of
lower priced models for their audience who want a luxury brand car for a more affordable
price as well as their newer midsize cars that meet the needs for larger family. BMW
makes good use of addressing behavioral segmentation, especially the enthusiasts, image
 seekers, and traditionalists. It identifies a specific market with its luxury brand but goes
beyond it to encompass a broader group by addressing more demands. Unfortunately
however, BMW is ignoring a larger car- buying market by upholding their prestige.
Generally its cars are two high priced for the average car market and they focus their
resources on creating a luxury image rather than increasing the value of their product
with superior cars. Value is becoming a more decisive factor than image when purchasing
an automobile in this economy. To tap into this aspect BMW should analyze companies
such as Toyota who makes a reliable and efficient product at a low cost without focusing
too much on prestige.
2. Question: BMW’s sales slipped during the worldwide recessionin 2008 and 2009. Is its
segmentation strategy tooselective? Why or why not?
Answer: BMW’s focus on a luxury seeking market segment is indeed a reason it would
lose sales in a recession. Based on a natural economic market we see a decline in the
purchase of superior goods in an economic downturn. With GDP decreasing we see that
less luxury goods being purchased and instead more affordable, normal goods replace
them. If BMW were to broaden its segmentation strategy to a lower income demographic
during the recession, it would have been able increase or maintain sales.
Chapter 9:
PROCTER & GAMBLE:
1. Question: P&G’s impressive portfolio includes some of thestrongest brand names in the
world. What are someof the challenges and risks associated with being themarket leader
in so many categories?
Answer: Procter and Gamble’s impressive portfolio of strong brand names can present
challenges because of brand overlap. For example, they occasionally represent multiple
brands within the same field such as Crest and Oral-B. Although directed at two different
market groups, these two dental product companies are competitors. By focusing on one
brand in marketing, P&G must be careful not to overlap the branding of the other.
Otherwise they would be literally competing against themselves. Analyzing and
computing brand equity is a valuable tool in deciding how each brand does by comparing
the profitability effect on each. Also, if one brand within the umbrella brand of P&G is
bad it reflects negatively upon the other brands, bringing down their value. Overall,
 P&G’s “house of brands” (Kotler 261), technique is a positive aspect in expansion and
increasing profitability.
2. Question: With social media becoming increasingly importantand fewer people watching
traditional commercials on television, what does P&G need to do to maintain its strong
brand images?
Answer: To remain relevant in a diversifying media field, P&G must keep up with social
media and online tools for marketing. As traditional advertisement such as TV
commercials becomes less appropriate to attract focus from their target audience, the
company needs to use new tools to refocus. They not only need to capitalize on media
forms that are now available but to look to the future. This “long-term outlook” technique
should be used to keep relevant and approach a fast growing, tech driven, young
consumer group.
3. Question: What risks do you feel P&G will face going forward?
Answer: Seeing that P&G has set such a high standard for themselves and their products,
it may be a challenge to remain innovative and increase profitability. Their brand could
suffer if they don’t keep up with the expectations of their consumers and partner business
such as Walmart. Another risk it could face is over extending beyond their management
capabilities. As of now they have the largest portfolios in their field and a risk is
expanding too far and overlapping brands within the same field.
McDONALDS:
1. Question: What are McDonald’s core brand values? Have thesechanged over the years?
Answer: Initially McDonald’s focused on families and children with its festive restaurant
atmosphere and affordable meal options for parents. It has expanded upon these values
since then by starting the various charities focused towards children and children’s
leukemia. Then in more recent analysis of its core brand values they used the 5 P’s;
people, products, promotion, price and place to describe their marketing objectives.
Overall however, the core of their brand has centered around addressing the needs of
their consumer which they have done quite successfully. McDonald’s “customer equity”
is very high because the company has addressed the economic and health factors that
have come to play since its beginning.
2. Question: McDonald’s did very well during the recession in thelate 2000s. With the
economy turning around for thebetter, should McDonald’s change its strategy? Whyor
why not?
Answer: McDonald’s did very well during the recent recession because they created a
more affordable menu to those affected by the economic downturn. Generally when there
is an increase in demand for a good during a recession, that good is considered to be an
inferior product. Those menu items and justifiable inferior products to a steak sandwich
that McDonalds sells which is more expensive but better quality. When the economy
comes back from this slump, McDonalds shouldn’t increase prices necessarily, but rather
increase the quality of part of their menu items. They could call their more quality
“premium menu” rather than the “dollar menu” of the recession. By increasing the quality
of the menu they can increase price without losing any value.
3. Question: What risks do you feel McDonald’s will face goingforward?
Answer: Because McDonald’s generally has menu items that would be considered
economically inferior, with a rise in GDP more and more people will be spending the
money that they would have elsewhere on normal goods and superior goods. These goods
are ones which demand increases with an increase in income. McDonald’s may have
trouble keeping the previously large market of economically downturned consumers. For
example, during the recession sales went up for McDonald’s which means we can call it
an inferior product. When the customers who usually get dinner at McDonald’s have an
additional amount of money when the economy turns up, they will frequent McDonalds
less and possibly their local Chili’s more. To overcome this McDonald’s should offer
more premium options and establish itself as a provider of normal goods while
maintaining the value that its customers expect.