Classic_Airlines

Classic Airlines and Marketing Concepts MKT/571 December 5, 2011 Brett Tweedie Classic Airlines and Marketing Concepts An organization’s success often revolves around its ability to market itself effectively. Corporate goals may be impossible to achieve without adequate demand for a company’s product. It is essential marketers understand that effective marketing must start with identifying and meeting human and social needs (Kotler & Keller, 2006). Classic Airlines is currently the fifth largest airline operating more than 2300 flights daily. However, the recent decreases in their stock price and consumer rewards program indicate Classic has lost sight of basic marketing concepts (University of Phoenix, 2011). This paper will identify the service Classic Airlines is attempting to market, the challenges it faces, and its current corporate culture in an attempt to explain marketing concepts in relation to the scenario. Classic Airlines Classic Airlines currently markets the service of foreign and domestic transportation and the experience a passenger has when they choose to travel with them. Classic is facing many challenges including increased operational costs, fundamental disagreements among management, and increased disconnection with customers. Additionally, the board of directors has recently issued a 15% decrease in costs over the next 18 months (University of Phoenix, 2011). Classic Airlines future success or failure will ultimately depend on its ability to market itself. The current corporate culture at Classic Airlines is conflicted. Amanda Miller, (CEO) and Catherine Simpson, (CFO) do not consider marketing to be a valuable aspect of operations. They also have shifted the focus away from the customer in an attempt to increase efficiencies through decreased call times. Amanda and Catherine also indicate a dislike for Kevin Boyle, (CMO) and his previous marketing efforts. Kevin along with Renee Epson, VP of Customer Service, and John Hartman, VP of Human Resources believe Amanda and Catherine do not understand what is necessary to improve Classic Airlines situation and feel their opinions are not heard. The Holistic Marketing Concept The first marketing concept Classic airlines would benefit from adopting is the holistic marketing concept. Holistic marketing emphasizes the interdependencies between various aspects of the organization and society. The organization’s success is dependent on each of its parts including different departments with the company, customers, society, products, and communications (Kotler & Keller, 2006). Amanda and Catherine would benefit greatly applying a holistic approach. By disregarding marketing and customer relations, they are ignoring two very valuable parts of the whole organization and setting Classic Airlines up for failure. The Production Concept The production concept is the idea that customers will prefer the most inexpensive products. Managers whose organizations operate based on the production concept emphasize efficiency, low costs, and mass distribution (Kotler & Keller, 2006). This appears to be the mentality Catherine and Amanda are currently aligned with. Classic has recently dropped their pricing to compete with their competition and became involved in a price war. Adopting this concept has helped create Classic’s current situation in which prices are dropped as low as they can go and consumers are merely making decisions based on price (University of Phoenix, 2011). Consumer Needs, Wants, and Demands Concept The concept of customer needs, wants, and demands says organizations must understand what the target customer needs, wants, and demands then cater their offerings to those findings (Kotler & Keller, 2006). Renee seems to understand this mentioning higher ups are not aware of what consumers want. Additionally the CRM system is not being used effectively and does little to improve customer service or relationships. As a result, Classic Airlines is losing touch with customers. If an organization does not continually monitor their customers, competition, and improve their offerings they risk decreasing profits (Kotler & Keller, 2006). Because Classic Airlines has not been monitoring consumers it has little idea what they need or want and can therefore, not improve its service and will continue to lose business. Conclusion Classic Airlines faces many challenges as they attempt to improve financially. Fortunately, their marketing department can be an effective tool for achieving its goals. Adopting a holistic marketing concept will allows better understanding of consumer wants, needs, and demands. This approach will also create an atmosphere of synergy within the organization allowing different departments to be more effective together. They can then work towards improving service offering and eventually reaching goals of higher profitability. References Kotler & Keller. (2006). Marketing Management (12th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson-Prentice Hall. University of Phoenix. (2011). Classic airlines scenario. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, MKT571 - Marketing Management website.