Porsche AG Company: Promotional and Advertising Strategies
Must pass turnitin!! No plagiarizing! Select one (1) of the following categories of products to research: sports apparel, automobiles, home furnishings, or televisions. Use the Internet to research at least two (2) companies within the selected product category. Take note of the leading companies in this product group, as well as the types of marketing, pricing, and consumer-oriented promotional strategies that these leading companies within the product group use. Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you: Compare and contrast the promotional strategies used by two (2) different companies for a similar product within the category that you selected. Recommend two (2) ways in which a company within the selected product group could use marketing information to differentiate itself in the marketplace to gain an advantage over its competitors. Provide a rationale to support your recommendations. Propose two (2) uses for consumer-oriented promotions that could assist a company in both the short and long term for the product group that you selected. Provide a rationale for your response. Analyze the strategic manner in which the leading company in this product group has made its pricing decisions by using one or more of the four (4) pricing objectives. Suggest two (2) actions that other companies within the same product group may take in order to differentiate themselves and gain a competitive advantage. Provide a rationale for your response. Determine the most effective advertising medium for a company in the selected product category. Support your response with two (2) examples of the effectiveness of the chosen medium. Use at least five (5) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia does not qualify as an academic resource.
Promotional and Advertising Strategies
Student’s Name
Business and Marketing
University Affiliation
Promotional and Advertising Strategies
The Porsche AG Company is a motorsport company. It manufactures and sells vehicles of the brand Porsche and has developed a considerable range of high grade and high-performance cars. Ford Motor company, on the other hand, is an automaker and has developed its brands as a company that mass produces vehicles, practicing large- scale manufacture and large-scale management of machinery and industrial force that uses moving assembly lines. These two companies have been ranked the fourth and fifth in motor vehicle annual sales in terms of returns. These two companies have shown resilience in terms of economic stability. The markets for motor vehicles has been shifting in recent years, and this has hit hard on sales volumes for the two companies, but they both managed to make admirable margins for the years with lower sales. Their strategies on the fields of both production and marketing make these two companies enjoy the ability to introduce new brands to the market every now and then, and still survive competing automobile firms offering different brands – that in other markets would be expected to topple these two giants (Cravens & Piercy, 2008).
The Porsche AG company employs specifically modeled promotional strategy that is designed to attract the high- income market, which is somewhat compelled to spend big on Porsche vehicles. Porsche cars have been associated with flashy lifestyle, as is the norm- this brand promotion strategy is enforced by the use of these cars in movies and music videos, where the vehicles are associated with success. The company prides itself with producing vehicles ‘for those who are worth’. This company’s vehicles are branded as ‘fast, high-performance machines’, and this is an admiration for many car lovers- with many going out of their financial limits to get themselves a Porsche (Neumann, 2008). This promotion suits their brand quite well, since it does not matter much the real price- value of the product; as much as the envisioned value is, and that is all that is important to the buyer (Kotler, & Armstrong, 2013). All the manufacturing company (Porsche) does, is to deliver quality.
On the other hand, the Ford motors Company observes the offering of an expanded range of vehicles, with their brand offering options in terms of image, performance and affordability. The Company introduced reverse engineering as a promotional tactic, which makes them stand above their competitors. The company compares a product from all the companies, and in reaction to the superior features, the company can produce superior quality product, with the flaws reduced. This makes the new product the best in its selling class, and since the buyer has to consider the quality, they end up choosing a product from Ford Motors.
The two companies however use a similar customer loyalty program. Loyalty in the motor vehicle industry is complex, since consumers do not require the product as frequently as other products. The two offer extensions on vehicles, where the client is allowed benefits for a purchase in the case that it is not their first. This strategy adds longevity to the client- seller relationship, where both parties benefit (Kotler, & Armstrong, 2013). The two companies do produce sports cars, which target high-end customers with enormous financial appetites. The Porsche 911, Ford Shelby GT500 are classic examples of exact similar products by the competing firms in the motorsport market. The two sports cars are high-performance vehicles, pushing more than 1000 horsepower each, with a 0 to 100 rating of 6 seconds for each.
It is however interesting that the Porsche 911 has seen more sales within the United States. This is simply because, in the country, Porsche has done much brand promotion. The vehicles are both within a similar price range, but since the Porsche seems more value oriented (since the Porsche brand is expected to be more expensive) hence on choosing between these vehicles would be inclined to purchase the Porsche 911 (Neumann, 2008). These Ford Company could take advantage of the advantage of pricing aspect, and offer the Ford Shelby GT500 at a better comparably better price than the 911. Since the other vehicle is seen as the value for money preference in the market, the Ford Shelby GT500 would attract attention as the better priced vehicle, thereby attracting the car enthusiast to the features of the vehicle, since the pricing has established an interest in the vehicle. These recommendations would only work on future productions since the GT500 has been announced, and significant sales made.
Offering consumer-oriented samples in the motorsport industry is disregarded as a customer- oriented promotional method since it majorly involves the driving of a real sports car, which would lower its value. The companies should consider the introduction of external sampling, where the potential clients are ‘shown’ what the vehicle can do. In the past, racing with vehicles tha...