NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE NUS Business School Department of Marketing MKT1003 PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING (for Business Students) 2nd

Semester 2012/2013 Co-ordinator: Assoc Professor Ang Swee Hoon INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENTS CLASS PARTICIPATION Individual Assignment 1: The Marketing Environment
(1)

What is the difference between a need, a want, and a demand? Describe the needs versus the wants for each of the following products: (a) Lim Chee Guan bak kwa, and (b) LOreal Professional hair care. A need is the most basic concept underlying marketing. It is part of the human make up and marketers do not need to invent it. A want is the form taken by human needs that is shaped by culture and individual personality, marketers will try to invent and provide for them.
a)

Lim Chee Guan bak kwa is needed for food, to provide energy for daily activities as well as protein for nutrition whereas it is wanted to satisfy cravings, to celebrate chinese festivities Needed for washing hair and keeping clean to have a basic standard of living and to lower chances of catching bacteria. Wanted for keeping hair smooth and silky, maintaining hair colour for coloured hair, protecting from the sun rays, preventing dandruff

b)

(2)

Suppose you are the producer of the singing reality show The Voice. How would you describe your share of market and share of consumer? Who are the consumers that The Voice would have the highest share of consumer?
Market share of The Voice is : Share of customers means the portion of customer purchasing that a company gets in its product categories. Teens to middle aged group people who have interest in music.

(3)

Name and describe the four product product/market expansion grid strategies. Over the years, Starbucks has introduced tea, ice cream, and food to its menu. Recently, it introduced Via coffee, wine & liquor, juice bars, as well as energy drinks. Which growth strategy(ies) do these represent? The four product/market expansion grid strategies are market penetration, product development, market development and diversification depending if they are existing or new products and if they are existing or new markets.
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Tea : market penetration Ice-cream: product development Food : product development Via coffee:product development

Individual Assignment 2: Market Intelligence, Consumer Behavior (1)Visit google.com and log in into your Google account. Look for Documents and create a URL where you can develop a Web survey site. Design a survey on consumers perception and attitude towards buying counterfeit products. Send the URL to ten of your friends and ask them to complete the survey. Analyze the results. What did you think of this online survey method? Do you think it encourages more objective or more biased responses? What are the strengths and weaknesses of Googles survey facility? (print survey questions out) (2)Suppose you want to understand the clubbing scene in Singapore. What kind of research method would you use and why? (3)The Beijing Olympic Games was officially opened on August 8, 2008 at 8:08 pm. What consumer behavior explanation is there behind this chosen time? Individual Assignment 3: Consumer Behavior (1) Suppose Taylor Swift wants to find out why some people are keen to listen to her songs and others do not. As her agent, you have to explain to Taylor Swift these differences. Who do you think are interested in Taylor Swifts music and who do not? What would account for these differences? Those who enjoy modern country music, with relatively slow beats, those who have a penchant for fairy-tales perception (mostly female teens age & life-cycle)will be interested in Taylor Swifts music and those who like pop music with fast beats may not like Taylors music. Consumers differences in character accounts for these differences. People living in a slow-paced lifestyle ( like in a country side), with a culture that likes slow beats and where majority of their peers also feel the same will consequently like slow beats too. These people will most likely like taylors music. (2)Below are 2 ads. For each ad, comment on: (a) how well the ad breaks the perceptual barrier, and (b) how well consumers interpret the ad.

Left: Aquafresh Flexigel Toothbrush Right: Listermint Mouthwash

Ad A breaks the perceptual barrier by showing a picture of a toothbrush that can actually enter through the mouth and exit through an ear which is practically impossible. The impossibility of it catches the attention of consumers and hence helps to break the perceptual barrier. However, consumers tend to interpret and retain information in a way that will support what they already believe in. In this case, rational consumers know that it is impossible for a toothbrush to be flexible to such an extend and thus information might be simply categorized as junk. Ad B breaks the perceptual barrier by showing a shocking scene of strong men beaten by a lady during a fighting match which arouses curiosity and hence catches consumers attention. However, the ad is irrelevant to what is being promoted and consumers have a high chance of not being able to interpret the Ad well. (3)Consider the yoghurt shop Frolick. How would you assess consumers who frequent Frolick in terms of personality, lifestyle, Maslows motivational needs? Frolick sells yoghurt at a relatively more expensive price. Money used to buy yoghurt in Frolick is sufficient to buy a simple, cheap meal as well. Hence, consumers who frequent Frolick have a high chance of coming from the upper middle-income or high-income earners family. They may have needs that are expensive to satisfy and may value quality and health-eating a lot. They also bother about their image, more specifically how thin they can be since Frolick is 100% fat-free. They have achieved the physiological and safety needs and are trying to achieve their social needs as some people go to Frolick for gatherings. Individual Assignment 4: Segmenting, Targeting, & Positioning (a)
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(1)What identification variables are appropriate for segmenting the markets for (a) food retailing (eating out) and (b) singers such as Adele? Suggest two or three variables for each and provide rationale for your choices. (2)Take any well-known car like Toyota and look at its range of car models. Can you surmise what segments each or group of car models are targeted at? Why do you think Toyota used this strategy? Individual Assignment 5: Segmentation, Targeting, & Positioning (b) (1)To people who are not familiar with the K-pop, the girl groups appear to be the same. Can you identify distinctive K-pop girl groups? How do they position themselves in the market? (2)For the two ads in Assignment 3, what do you think is their respective positioning? Individual Assignment 6: Product (1) The TV series, CSI, comes in three versions CSI: Las Vegas; CSI: Miami; and CSI: New York. Based on what you know about product, explain the success of CSI? Do we have a local program that comes close to the success of CSI? Why or why not? (2) Google is thinking of introducing eyeglasses that allows you to have online access. How would you classify this type of new product? Assess how successful you think this new product will be in getting people to adopt it. New product rate of adoption

Individual Assignment 7: Pricing (1) Pricing is based on customer perceptions of value and costs in addition to other internal factors. What factors might affect the pricing of (a) MRT fares, (b) Hermes bag, and (c) your starting salary? (2) Compare and contrast market-skimming and market-penetration pricing strategies and discuss the conditions under which each is appropriate. Give examples of products that have used skimming or penetration when making the comparison. Individual Assignment 8: Distribution (1) How would you describe Singapores retail scene? (2) ExerWise, a new company marketing a high-end Ab Toner exercise machine, is considering direct marketing versus selling through a sporting-goods retailer. As the buyer for the retailer, explain the functions your retail chain can offer to ExerWise. Individual Assignment 9: Integrated Marketing Communications
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(1)How would you evaluate the effectiveness of a communications campaign? Use a recent campaign as an example to illustrate your answer. (2)When would you favor sales promotion over advertising? (3)Suppose you are the marketing coordinator responsible for recommending the sales promotion plan for the market launch of a new flavor of Red Bull energy drink sold in supermarkets. What promotional tools would you consider for this task? Explain.