Market Behaviour
Titan brand values are nearly one-third of our entire watch business. Titans average purchase value has a comfortable lead over rival brands such as Timer and HMT. Average value on a Titan watch sold is Rs 1,100, with Timex and
HMT watches sold at Rs 700 and Rs 500. Other competing international labels such as Esprit, Swatch and Crtizen are restricted to the premium end, have also entered the mid segment, between Rs 1,200 and Rs 3,500.
Tends are the growing role-played by fashion, branding and design. With a gain to get consumers to pay more for these aspects and for higher quality.
Growth in total market but primarily at higher price point, which will include higher price point market (mass market) this price range will range from £50-100. Through to premium watches at £150-500 and on to luxury watch sectors.
Displaying innovation in styling, making sure that the watch market is truly active and existing. This stimulates visibility and purchase and will provide an incentive to pay more for good design or quality watches such as Seiko and Accurist are consciously moving upmarket.
Fashion elements have a product purchasing cycle, and this affects mainstream watch brands as well as the fashion labels. It will also consider all levels of market from budget to luxury. As a buyer you need to be attracted to style as a part of self expression leads to brand peruse, which plays a role across the market.
Quantified Expressions
We have chosen to increase our percentage by 10%, as it’s a new company entering the UK Market. We also asked people based on our observations and survey’s and found out that the majority were unaware about the company and product (Titan), with only 5% knowing what the brand is or even heard of it. This is why we want to increase our brand awareness by 10%
Advertising Strategy
Product competitive positioning (appendix)
Our Unique Selling Point is the price and the way it is suitable for different types of styles. This is why our watch is stylish but affordable for the quality it holds. The watch is in the formal and fashionable category.
We can illustrate the position of the product with the use of the Positioning Map (figure ). From this we can decide on the competitive position which we can distinguish our products from those of competitors (i.e. position strategy).
The position we have set for our watch is to compete in the lower middle class price range as you can see from the positioning map. There is scope and room to place our product in this particular area. The watch is a quality watch set at a affordable price, which is one reason we believe it will be successful. We can create this differentiation by the price that has been set. (More info see appendix)
Price (see appendix)
The price we are setting for our watch is the exact price for the watch, which is set by titan itself (£90). We aim to keep this price level to breakthrough into the market, as it is set below that of our competitors.
By adding this we aim to attract more customers with the help of our advertising, we can create an image of a fashionable watch charged at an affordable price. This will help achieve our objectives.
Product Life Cycle
In India, the product is in the maturity stage that is why they have decided to concentrate on other countries. In the UK, the product is in the introductory stage of the product life cycle. The reason for this is because it is new and it is entering the UK watch market.
Target audience
- In order for us to understand and analyse our target audience we will have to segment the market, this is because markets differentiate and they each have a different tailored marketing mix and different opportunities and threats (See appendix)
Market Segmentation
This consists of demographic, psychographics or geographic variables.
The demographics for the target audience for our titan watch are: -
- All males and some females
- Aged between 25-35
- BC1 social class
- Young-medium professionals
(See appendix)
- We put the psychographic factors into consideration when designing our advertising campaign; which is why we came up with the findings that the lifestyle of our target audience tends to be slightly formal and fashionable, and considering their personality we have come up with an advert to reflect their self-expression as the new generation of young-medium professionals. (See appendix-adverts)
- The geographic elements are that the watches will be advertised mainly in the major cities in the UK due to the increase in standard of living and population.
The behaviour of our target audience is basically their attitude towards buying; also it is their loyalty and the stage of readiness they are at.
Our watch could be bought as either a gift or as self-purchase and it will be price sensitive, we feel that Titans current pricing for the watch is suitable for consumers without them being too sensitive to its price. Another variable of the behaviour is the readiness stage. For us to be successful in this advertising campaign we will firstly make consumers aware of our product, which is the point we are concentrating on in this report.(For more information see appendix)
Communications media
As for our media strategy we are going to use two men’s magazines, which are GQ and FHM, and one celebrity magazine read by both sexes, which is OK. (See appendix)
We will be implementing a strategy known as flighting. (See Appendix) The advert will be put up for a period of three months and stopped for the next three months then put up again for another three months; this is because we want to raise awareness of the product and by doing so we will have to remind our target audience that we are still here after the three months break.
Our advert is going to be in full size A4 in the middle of the magazine specifically in the right hand side because according to a website (listed in the appendices) right hand pages are read more often than left hand pages and also there is a bigger chance it will be spotted in the right hand side by browsers than the left hand side.
Our next media tool was the public transport; we will put it inside train carriages; that is 3 in each carriage and 2000 in total for all trains running mainly through central London, Birmingham and Manchester. Also on the side of buses with central London routes and through the cities mentioned in the UK, 100 adverts are going to be put in a large print so it is visibly clear for everyone on the road. Also we are going to put 500 adverts in the bus stops so when passengers are waiting for their bus it will be easily noticeably for them as well. This campaign is going to be run in the same sequence as for the magazines.
Our next media tool is billboards; we have decided to put it in billboards all across the capital and in the city centres. The size of the billboards we are going to use is 13ft
wide and 8.5 height, and there will be 100 adverts in these cities running through the same period as the magazines and public transport. (See budget table)
Our message is “WHAT’S YOUR STYLE” we feel that this has an emotional link to the brand. This is titan’s current slogan and we feel that this will be an effective message for our campaign (For More Information on this see appendix).
Communication Objective
There are three correct media selection: Visual content
Advertising Budget
Internal considerations
As we have been given a budget of £500,000-£1million, we feel that this is an adequate amount for our campaign as it will cover the costs of our resources with some to spare.
External considerations
- We considered doing TV but as our budget doesn’t allow for this, we therefore decided to use magazines to advertise titan watches (see appendix)
Method of allocation
From our budget the amount has been allocated accordingly to each method of advertising throughout the whole period. See table below.
Advertising Costs
Test and Evaluation
Research is an important aspect of a successful marketing campaign. It will help you to see whether it will be effective for your target audience and will also give feedback on what improvements should be made. This needs to be carried out prior to the launch, which is why we have done pre-testing.
Pre-tests
We decided not to do focus groups as they are inappropriate for pre-testing executions (Percy & Elliot 2001). This is why we opted to do surveys so we could record what people’s reactions were in the first instance of seeing the advertisements.
We asked a mix of male and females between the ages of 25-35years. (See appendix)
After analysing these pre-tests, we decided that the advert had to be altered for different reasons. These pre-tests were very helpful as this feedback was used to form our final advertisement. It was beneficial to do these, as what we thought of the adverts was quite different to what our surveys have shown.
Post-tests
The post tests that we plan to carry out is:
- Questionnaires
- Sales
- Recording the percentage of internet users
This will be measured using the sales and Internet usage at the beginning of the campaign and at the end to find the difference.
Methodology
The research approach that we have undertaken is both primary and secondary research. The primary research that we completed was surveys (see appendix) and the secondary research had already been carried out in the background research. We used the Titan website as well as different search engines to find information for our campaign. There was a variety of marketing and advertising textbooks used to understand the theory behind our campaign.
Additional Costs
These costs include £300 for the surveys and £200 for the questionnaires. Production costs which include printing, account for £6000.
Conclusion
From the research and information we have gathered it is clear to see that there is scope for Titan to establish itself in the UK market.
As the 6th largest manufacturer of watches in the world, it will need to promote its brand name and image, not just in India but also to other parts of the world in order to compete with the likes of Seiko, Sekonda and Swatch. Failing to do this may mean loosing market share to the likes of the major competitors.
Majority of the UK population at the moment is unaware of the Titan brand name, thus making it more difficult to sell its products, as consumers will tend to purchase proven and well-known brands.
Following the steps we have outlined in this report we feel Titan can establish itself and its products into the UK market effectively. We will be aiming to gain 1 - 2 % of brand awareness and we feel this is adequate with the resources we have been given (in this case 500k to £1 million).
Titan has in the past attempted to launch itself in the UK market, but has been unsuccessful, due to unsuccessful marketing campaign to launch itself. Providing Titan takes into account the culture difference and adapts accordingly we feel Titan can strive and break into the UK market.
Having a well-known brand name and image will be vital to how well Titans products sell in the overseas market (UK). In the steps we have taken to advertise Titan and its Watch, we will hope to create an image of fashion and style in the minds of the targeted consumer.
Appendix
Marketing mix:
Product:
The product that we are focusing on has 3 link bracelets with curved glass and smart dial in steel and is in the formal/fashion category. Younger age groups are buying the fashion/sports labels which would be in the £50-£150 price band. Research has found that the preference for a leather strap rises with age as does the preference for an analogue face.
Price:
The price of the watch is £90, which is affordable for our target market. Although ABC1s have more of affluent lifestyles, there are more stringent as they are more likely to cite price on goods.
Place:
The product distribution will be at jewellers i.e. Ernest Jones, Goldsmiths and Leslie Davis. The reason for this is because it would be suitable for our product. These types of shops are quite classy which would be suitable for our product. We will not be distributing in retail shops such as Argos as these would be too lower class to sell our product to.
Promotion:
We will focus our campaign on advertising on billboards, posters and in magazines. Much of the advertising budget is spent during Christmas and on Valentines Day as gifts are very popular during these times especially on luxury goods such as watches.
Print media is where a lot of the advertising money is spent – especially for luxury brands which can be used selectively making them relatively cost effective in terms of targeting the relevant audience. Retailers will use brochures. In the future when the company is performing better, we will use a celebrity endorser to create more awareness as they are used as an authority figure.
TARGET MARKET- the 5 buying roles
There are five roles identified as the participants of the decision making in buying (according to Blackwell et all, 2000) the first is initiator and this is the person who begins the buying process so in our case it could be a man looking for a watch to buy or the partner of a man intending to buy a watch for her partner as a gift, the second role is the influencer and this is the person whom persuades others into buying now in our case this might be less likely to happen as it generally happens for children influencing their parents to buy them what they want although this is generally the case it may well happen in our market of watches mainly when a man wants a watch for his birthday and therefore influences his partner to buy it for him. The third role is the decider and this is the person that has the power or funds to buy the watch and so in our case it could be either the man buying the watch for himself or his partner or family member buying it for him. The fourth role is the buyer and this is the person whom conducts the transaction and in relation to our case this is generally the same person as the decider only in rare cases that they are different. The final role is the user and this is obviously the actual consumer and user of the product and in our case it is the man because our watch is a men’s one.
COMMNUICATION
Watch advertised:
Even though our watch advertised is a men's one it would still be bought by women to give it as presents for either their partners, fathers and even sons or just for their friends.
(Appendix- we decided to choose these men’s magazines because when we did our surveys, we asked our target market what the main men’s magazines they read and these were the most appropriate to suit the watch style. ‘Nuts’ was also mentioned but this was not suitable. These magazines would reach the target audiences to increase sales figures. The reason we chose OK magazine over HELLO was because it is the most popular and bestselling magazine out of the two. OK also use incentives such as free gifts to promote the magazine. OK has more relationships with retailers in order to generate awareness. This will be valuable for achieving our objective.
Flighting:
This is done by ‘scheduling the media in the market’ (Percy & Elliott) for a few months then out for a few months before returning.
Message
In relation to the advertising message, logos appeals use logical arguments, whereas pathos appeals address our passion and ethos appeals deal with ethics (Percy&Elliott). For our message appeal we are using the pathos category to wake the senses of passion of men towards titan watches. We feel our adverts create a stopping power as they produce perception and awareness to our target audience. It creates staying power due to the design of the adverts, which are eye-catching due to the visuals, colour scheme and layout. These were important factors that we took into consideration when designing them so they were attractive but also very persuasive as the image being portrayed may be reflective of themselves. Our research has shown that consumers respond to this very well as it creates a locking power. The techniques used for the message appeal is the use of a typical person endorser as our adverts show a variety of men, and sex (sensuality) appeal. This would mainly be for the female target market due to the facial expression, body language and clothing of the men in the adverts. However the males that we questioned were not totally interested in the any of these factors but were rather more interested in the look and design of the watch.
Product competitive positioning
Positioning a product refers to the customers perception of a product or service in relation to its competitors. So we need to ask ourselves what the position of the product is in the mind of the consumer.
Every product has competition or substitutes. Ways in which we can identify competition is “where would my customers go if they didn’t come here?”
- Consumers constantly rank price as one of the most important features of branded goods.
- Another important feature is the brand image of quality, which reinforces this image. The quality of our watch is very high as it is considered number one watch in India and for such a large country with a larger population.
Price
There is normally little or no difference between the product that our competitors are offering, so we need to create some differences through pricing.
Price is one of the most important factors of branded goods, as customers will be using this as their base decision when purchasing goods.
Product life cycle
Find picture of Seiko, Sekonda and swatch
Understanding the competition
- The competition is who the customer thinks it is and not us.
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The companies Titan will be competing against are with the likes of Seiko, swatch and Sekonda. We believe these are the major competitors for titan as these watches operate in the middle class price range. With its selection of watches ranging from £100 to £500
- Positioning the product against these rivals is all about perception. As perception differs from person to person i.e. quality, value for money.
Positioning map
From the map it can be concluded that the watches tend to bunch in the low price / middle quality sector and also in the high price / luxury quality sector. There is therefore an opportunity in the low price / basic quality sector, and high price / basic sector. Maybe Titan can target its watches in this sector to gain full advantage of the market. It would therefore benefit from less competition from fierce rivals already established, thus saving on advertising costs to promote product further for it to be established. However it is all down to the perception of the individual.
Situation promotion
There are two ways to identify a brand: Brand recognition and brand recall. Recognition is when the awareness of a brand reminds you of the category need and this brand is recognised at the point of purchase (Lecture notes 3). Recall is when the category need is established first then the brand is chosen to satisfy the need. This is mainly when you need the consumer to recall the name of the brand prior to the purchase. We have decided to do brand recognition for Titan watches.
Social groups
We have decided to choose the BC1 social groups because they fit into our market. Although they are middle managers and skilled workers, they are within the age groups and would be interested in this product. Narrowing our target audience to these categories will give us more chance of being successful, as our target audience will be clear on whom to base our advertising campaign upon.
Target audience
According to Jobber (2001:185) target audience is the identification of individuals or with similar characteristics that have significant implications for the determination of marketing strategy.
Segmentation
. The process of segmentation is in three stages;
- Market segmentation
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Market targeting
- Market positioning as we have explained earlier.
Psychographics
Consists on the lifestyle and personality of the target audience therefore for us to get the maximum number of consumers being attracted to our product.
Pre-testing
We do not want to over-expose the campaign and let it be discussed in great detail as in the real world; print adverts only capture the consumer’s attention for 1-2 seconds.
There was a range of answers for the three adverts that were shown to them. Looking at the first advert in appendix , the majority of the answers were that it was not very appealing. The product was not obvious to them as the watch is not visible. Some people thought that the product was a suit shop or a boutique. This was then cleared up in the second advert, as the watch is visibly shown however the advert as a whole was not effective. This may have been due to the empty space around the man (see appendix ). The final advert (see appendix ) was the most effective as the man was more casually dressed which appealed to the target market and is in a comfortable and realistic location.
Methodology add in surveys
- How old are you?
- What gender are you?
- What is your occupation?
- What is your income?
- What do your think of this advert? (advert 1)
- What do your think of this advert? (advert 2)
- What do your think of this advert? (advert 3)
- Is it eye catching?
- Would you buy this watch as a gift or for yourself?
- How would you improve these adverts for you to be attracted to it?
Qualitative research was used as its main task is to ‘present attitudes, feelings and motivation in more depth’ (Brassington. F and Petit. S, 2003:218). This is what we were looking for.
We decided to do non-probability sampling (subjective) as no probability can be calculated prior to conducting the survey. Due to this, the results give no guarantee that the ‘sample will be representative of the actual population’ (Baines and Chansarkar, 2002:152).
External considerations
TV advertising is proven as the most effective advertising medium. However TV advertising is
- Too expensive as we have a limited budget
- Must repeat advert in order for it to work.
Magazines benefits
- Can refer back to it
- Tend to have loyal customers
- Reoccurring message is easy to achieve
- Cheaper then TV advertising
- Longer shelf life
- Quality of picture in magazine is superior to newspaper advertising
- People tend to share magazines with friends.
References:
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Percy, L and R. Elliot. (2005) Strategic advertising management (2nd edition) oxford university press
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Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill. (2003) Research methods for business students (3rd edition) FT Prentice Hall
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Duncan T. (2005) Principles of advertising and IMC (2nd edition) McGraw Hill
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Jobber D (2004) Principles and practice of marketing (4th edition) McGraw Hill