Marketing Plan - Introduction, product and location background - The product that I have chosen is Wrigley's Airwaves. Wrigley's Airwaves is a chewing product or chewing gum. The country that I have chosen to market this product in is Singapore.

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

Marketing Plan

Introduction, product and location background.

The product that I have chosen is Wrigley's Airwaves. Wrigley's Airwaves is a chewing product or chewing gum. The country that I have chosen to market this product in is Singapore.

The Plan

My marketing plan is to market my product in Singapore as a medical product that will combat bad breath and offer relief to colds and flu symptoms. At this present time the purchase of gum unless for medical reasons on prescription is illegal. It is because of this reason that I would market Wrigley’s Airwaves as a medical product to be purchased on a prescription basis and then go mainstream across the country as a confectionary when this ban is lifted.

Product Background

Wrigley is a huge multi national company, it was first founded in 1891 by the Wrigley family but has traded since 1923 (). Wrigley accounts for over 50% of all chewing gum profits worldwide and is marketed all over the world.

Wrigley's Airwaves was first launched in 1998 (), it is currently available in 18 countries worldwide.

The reason that I have chosen this product and this country is due to the fact that chewing gum is actually outlawed in Singapore at this time. It is only considered legal on a prescription basis for health reasons (bad breath etc). Singapore outlawed the sale of chewing gum in 1992, arguing that discarded lumps of gum were hard to clean from its tidy streets and that it stuck in train doors causing delays to public transport. This said over the years the chewing gum ban has become more and more relaxed. It is now only seen to be an offence to be littering (i.e. spitting out gum on the street) and is not actually an offence to chew gum. There is also a new trade agreement between Singapore and the U.S.A that looks like it will see the ban overturned altogether ().

I would initially market this chewing gum as a health product to be purchased on a prescription basis and then as the chewing gum ban law disappears (as it already appears to be doing); Market the product to the main stream of Singapore.

The best thing about bringing this product to Singapore would be the fact that there would be pretty much no competitors within our niche. You can already buy chewing gum on prescription in Singapore but it is all sugar free and tasteless. Wrigley’s airwaves are also designed to unblock you airwaves and offer relief from nasal congestion and bunged up sinuses, there is no gum currently on a prescription basis in Singapore that can do this. I would also market this product in all its different flavours to make it more interesting to the consumer (Cherry, Menthol Mint, Menthol and Eucalyptus, Lemon Ice, Casis and Vitamin C, Spicy Cocktail and Honey and Lemon).

The fact that we will have the monopoly of the chewing gum market in Singapore is key to the success of this product. By getting the product (Wrigley's Airwaves) into the country now to be purchased on a prescription basis gets the company's foot in the door and will create interest in our product for when/if the chewing gum ban is lifted.

Market Entry Plan

My short term objectives for this product are to get it on the selves of chemists across Singapore and make it the number one bad breath/ cold or flu relief product in ...

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Market Entry Plan

My short term objectives for this product are to get it on the selves of chemists across Singapore and make it the number one bad breath/ cold or flu relief product in the country. My long term goals are to market the product as more of a sweet and providing the laws change go mainstream with the product. There will be a slight segmentation to the market that I will be aiming this product at, our target age group will be from about 16 to 45. I have chosen this because I believe that this is the age group that would be most concerned by keeping their breath fresh. Apart from that there is no real market segmentation as the product should be affordable to everyone and is not age or gender specific. I would like to make the product within the country to cut out import costs, this will also create jobs for local people by setting up factories.

The PEST environment (Macro environment)

Political

As stated before the law on chewing cum being illegal is becoming more and more relaxed and the subsequent waver to this ban should happen soon. Singapore has a parliament (much like Britain) and the political climate is very stable and not likely to change. Singapore is an international trading port and therefore on very good terms with the rest of the world.

Economic

Singapore is a developed country that has a highly successful free market economy; it has a market place that is considered to be very stable. The countries G.D.P is £61.3 billion approx (2002est) and £14,000approx per capita (CIA - World factbook). Singapore is one of the world’s richest countries and has a G.D.P to rival most countries in the western world. It is a nation with very strong international trading links and is a country that exports goods worldwide. People in Singapore are getting wealthier over time, the average Singaporean earns six times as much as in 1965 for their annual income.

Social

In the wake of technological advancement and productivity improvement, peoples working hours have becomes shorter and their time for leisure activities longer (K.Frith, Advertising in Asia, 1996). The Singaporean society has been influenced by other cultures over the years particularly the Japanese, English and American cultures have affected the young generation of Singapore residents, this could be a great plus point as people often associate the chewing of gum with Americans, hopefully our consumers will want to copy the Americans and get there hands on some gum.

Technical

As I said in the social category people have more time on their hands for leisure time thanks to their technological advancements. Singapore is very advanced when it comes to technology.

Operational Plan

Market Demographics

Market Geographics

As the product and the company that I have chosen are pretty big in its size I would market this product nationally. Singapore is not that big a country in size. Singapore has a relatively small population of 4,608,595 (July 2003est) and a land area of 692.7 sq km (CIA - World factbook). Singapore is a small country and has somewhat of a declining growth rate the population in 1993 stood at 2,873,800 and the natural growth rate fell gradually from 4.4% in 1957 to just 2.0% in 1992 ( Frith.K, Advertising in Asia ). As Singapore is a country that is developed and has wealth the clients location is somewhat irrelevant as I would use media and the internet to market my product.

Market Demographics

When marketing this product I would appeal to the vanity of the consumer i.e. not wanting to have bad breath, although the product would be marketed as a prescription drug to start with the whole point of chewing gum is to give the consumer fresh breath and make them feel good about themselves i.e. more confident because of fresher breath. As well as this my product would also be marketed as a help to nasal congestion; this is a consumer want as it is a cold or flu relief. The median age of the Singaporean people is 34.5 yrs; our target age group for this product would be people between 16 and 45 as this life stage is probably the vainest time in someone’s life and the time where illnesses like halitosis would cause the most embarrassment. The largest percentage of Singapore’s workforce is business related (approx 35% in the business industry). These jobs are highly stressful and Airwaves would also be marketed as somewhat of a stress reliever. The general standard of education in the country is pretty high thus the ability to understand the concept of the product and the marketing should come quite comprehensively, 93.2% of the population are considered to be literate.

Market Psychographics

Singapore has quite a fast moving society so the people consider time to be their most limited resource and security, physical and financial so the relatively low price of our product and the convenience will be a great advantage.

Market Behaviours

As my product will be starting up in an environment that has been pretty much untouched buy any competitors I feel that I will be able to develop a relationship between the product and the customer that will make the consumer loyal to my product once other companies try to muscle in on the market.

Market Needs

Today’s society is becoming more and more appearance and first impression orientated, Singapore is a highly developed country and these factors are very important here. Bad breath and cold and flu symptoms are a problem to all people all over the world and the people of Singapore are no different and therefore need this product to combat these problems. As well as being great for medical reasons chewing is also known to relieve stress and the range of flavours will make the product interesting to the consumer.

Market Positioning

I would have to price my product at a lot higher than it is sold for in the UK. The reason for this is the fact that it would have to be sold by prescription and therefore would not generate the same sort of sales figures, as well as this Singapore has a pretty small population. I would market my product at about the equivalent of £1.50 per pack (the people of Singapore have to pay for prescriptions). Although this may seem a lot more than the UK price (40p) I believe that due to the economic stature of the country and the uniqueness of this product that it would be a success. I would want to get the product mass media coverage and as Singapore is a very developed country this should not be a problem. I would set up factories to make the product and then I would distribute the product around the country to different chemists and medical facilities, to do this I would sub contract to a delivery service.

Profit Margins

The cost of making this product will be 2p, I will sell the product for £1.50. I predict that I will sell about 2 million of the product every month in the first year of its launch. This would mean that the company would earn £36 million in its first year in earnings. But out of this the price of making the product would have to be taken out along with distribution costs. Even with these costs this product will make a healthy profit. It should improve every year and reach higher sales figures especially if the law changes.

Risk Assessment

Here I have made a list of the things that could be risky and not make the product a success. I have given them a score out of ten to show how risky they are (10 being the highest).

The law not changing and chewing gum being illegal forever 8

Consumers not buying the product because the cost is to high 4

The society not taking to chewing gum 2

People not responding to marketing of product 2

Further research requirements

For further research into marketing this product I would not only look at P.E.ST but also the S.P.I.C.C (Suppliers, Publics, Intermediaries, Competition, Customers) to specialise more and look at the micro environment. As well as this I would also do a S.W.O.T (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis to make the plan more detailed.

Bibliography

Frith, Katherine Toland – Advertising in Asia, 1996, Iowa state publishing

Wright, Ray – Marketing – Origins, concepts, environment, 1999, Thompson Learning

(CIA World factbook)