Marketing_Definition_and_the_Importance_of_a_Good_Ad_Campaign

Most business experts would consider marketing to be a critical function of its operation. The marketing department helps generate the income that the business relies on for survival and growth. The real challenge lies in generating income profitably, by creating happy customers in a socially ethical manner. For this student, marketing is; taking a product, or line of products and showcasing them in the most positive way possible. Marketing makes the product appealing and indispensible in the eyes of the consumer, and if marketed properly the product, line of products, and hopefully itself will be foremost in the front of the customers’ minds. According to the American Marketing Association, which published a definition of marketing in 1985, “Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, promotion, distribution, and pricing of ideas; to satisfy objectives both individually and organizationally by using services and goods to create an exchange,” (Wilson & Gilligan, 2005, p.3). In a relative definition, a professor at Michigan State University, E. Jerome McCarthy, states “Marketing is the performance of certain activities, ones that look to achieve the objective of an organization by predicting customers’ or clients’ requirements and guiding a flow of essential compliance from manufacturer, to clients and customers” (Ries & Trout, 2005, p.2). At its very core, marketing is really about tactics and strategies that can be used to find and grow the market of the services and products that the company produces. Therefore it would appear to a very important to overwhelming success for the organization. The level of just how important marketing is for an organization can be directly tied to the industry it is in. There are not many businesses that will be successful if some type of marketing plan is not used. For a great number of businesses, the marketing department has to be a central part of the organization; otherwise companies that are driven by consumer sales will not be as successful as desired. There was a recent article written on the Coors Brewing Company, when it teamed up with HP’s marketing department to come up with a way for the local distributors to produce a marketing campaign and still hold fast to the ideology that the Coors Company had relied upon since its inception. The marketing plan gave the local suppliers the capability to come up with a promotion that was geared towards area target groups. Through the joint venture with HP, Coors was also able to develop another business venture with those selling the Coors products by allowing those distributors to modify the products to gear them in the direction of their target group. In the past, every supplier was given the same type of advertising equipment or product, by changing their way of thinking, the Coors Company saw a jump in sales due, in part to the change the POS (point of sale) campaigns. The arena of soft-drinks is another area where a marketing campaign can either make or break a product. For example Coco-Cola; On April 23, 1985 Coca-Cola had the bright idea of changing the formula that had been a true testament of American ingenuity and the result was “New Coke”. This was an ultimate failure and Coca-Cola, after many consumer complaints, realized the error of their ways and on July 11, 1985 pulled ‘New Coke’ off the market. The company president, Donald R. Keough gave this reasoning as to why ‘New Coke’ failed “We did not understand the deep emotions of so many of our customers for Coca-Cola.” But a professor of marketing and international business at New York University’s Stern School of Business gave this explanation as to what he and many market spectators really thought Coca-Cola’s grave error was: “By failing to ask that critical question, they had to backpedal very quickly”, (Ross, MSNBC, 2005). Electrolux Vacuum Cleaners is another company that should have thought twice before using this ad slogan “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.” Needless to say, they pulled that marketing campaign very quickly. Then there is Puff’s Tissues, when Proctor & Gamble began marketing the Puffs line of tissues in Germany they quickly found out that in German the word “puff” means brothel and hence quit marketing the product in Germany. But perhaps the worst marketing failure came to light when Ford tried selling their “Pinto” in Brazil. The word ‘Pinto’ in Portuguese is slang for ‘small penises’, so let’s just say Ford decided not to try selling the Pinto in Brazil. But not all companies need to have a marketing campaign to build up or sell their product. Take Morton-Thiokol for example. The product this company manufactures is so exclusive of a product that very few customers could purchase it. The product happens to be solid fuel rockets that were most recently used by National Air and Space Association (NASA) for the space shuttle. Whether the company is large or small, specialized or generalized, marketing plans can, if though out properly, get a company’s line of products out to the proper consumers in the best light possible. Smart marketing departments will spend the extra time needed to research the target audience and tailor the marketing plan accordingly. References 10 Product and Campaign Blunders to Learn From: by RITU (nd) –www.MarketingHackz.com Thiokol Corporation: www.fundinguniverse.com Ries, A. & Trout, J. (2005): Marketing warfare (20th Edition): New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. Wilson, R.M.S. & Gilligan, C. (2005): Strategic marketing management: planning, implementation and control: The Marketing Series (3rd Edition): Butterworth-Heinemann Publishers.