Improve MOTO E398 sales by enhanced programs of new product launch in South China.doc

improve moto e398 sales by enhanced programs of new product launch in south china论文摘要2004年6月初摩托罗拉面对潜力巨大的年轻人市场推出了一款主打产品娱乐型音乐手机e398，但是在连续两个星期大量的电视、平面媒体及户外广告投放基础上，南区的e398零售销售业绩几乎为零。从销售渠道反馈的原因估计是南区消费者不认识e398的形象代言人-北京著名歌星卜树, 且产品广告主题“moto主打”没能清晰明地传达e398的主要卖点和利益点。在这种情况下, 如果重新替换一位南区消费者喜爱的名人歌星重拍电视广告是不现实的, 不仅费用高且两个不同版本的产品广告会令消费者困惑。相反, 如果通过提升卜树在南区消费者的知名度和喜爱度, 同时在零售店加强宣传e398音乐手机的产品卖点和利益点，也许可以顺势而行即加强了线上的广告的宣传也弥补了线下与目标消费者沟通的不足，从而提升e398在南区的销售量及产品份额。作为南区市场部高级市场发展主任, 我必须在极短的时间内策划有效的活动保证e398新品上市发布成功. 本论文前期通过零售终端面对面的目标客户及店员的问卷调查、swot分析等调研方法确定了本系列活动的目标方向。在中期的计划执行过程中，通过采用项目结构表，项目活动时间表以及项目进度跟踪表等检查评估形式确保计划得到有效执行。在后期计划评估部分，本论文通过赛诺调研公司提供的七月份手机市场份额报告，及对零售终端的目标客户和促销员的前后的市场调查和培训，征询对e398产品的意见及反馈。项目组成员根据反馈的意见总结出了e398产品认知度调查分析报告。经过前期周密的调查分析及制定切实可行的项目计划，以及中后期的严格执行与分析评估，此次e398新品上市发布的一系列线下活动得以顺利完成并在部分主要城市取得了预期效果。目标消费者不仅较清晰地了解到e398的主要的产品卖点而且对歌手卜树的认知度有所提高，更重要的是成功地拉升了e398的零售销售量，恢复并加强了零售商和代理商对e398的信心，也对稳定摩托罗拉娱乐型手机的产品份额奠定了基础。通过此次新品发布的一系列的加强型活动的策划和实施，我们意识到产品形象代言人的知名度和产品广告语是否能准确地将产品利益点及定位传播给目标客户是很重要的，当发现有偏差的时候，需要策略性地配合全国线上统一的产品定位前提下，在线下策划及调整具有针对性的产品推广活动才能既保持线上与线下一致的声音且又能化危机为机会从而提升产品销售令产品顺利上市。abstract in jun.2004, motorola launched a hero entertainment product, e398 which was expected to contribute more product share for motorolas entertainment product segment. but the sales performance was very poor although heavily tv and print advertising had been released in south region for two weeks. as per the feedback from sales channel, the key reason can be assumed that the image of e398 advertising is a famous musician from beijing, but the target consumers of south region dont recognize him as well as in north region. meanwhile, the layout and the slogan of “ moto key hit” dont effectively present the key benefits of e398 and features to consumers. as a senior marketing development executive in south region marketing department, i would take the responsibility to enhance the new product launch by effective activities. under the situation, its unrealistic to apply another famous musician of south region to re-shoot e398 tvc advertising, but it is hypothesized that if we improve bushus recognition and reputation in south regions consumers and accurate communicate e398 product benefits and features in accurate channel through series below-the-lines activities, then e398s sales volume and product share maybe improved after we confirmed the key reason by quickly face to face market survey. this dissertation presents a detailed report of a series projects developed and implemented to enhance the e398 new product launch and improve product share within one and a half months in south region. scientific research methods of customer survey, such as face-to-face interviews in retail shops covering end consumers and retail clerks, and swot analysis were used in the identification and analysis of the problems. flowchart, project framework and several other methods were also adopted in the design, implementation and evaluation of these projects. with the efforts of all our project members, we basically meet our final goal. the repositioning in-store pop and demo phone mini. road show effectively presented e398 key benefits and features for consumers. meanwhile, the recognition of bushu and e398 product awareness had been build up in guangdong by the big road show. e398s product sellout and share had been improved in jul.2004. the results of these below-the-lines projects demonstrated that accurate communication with target consumers about products benefits and accurate communication channels are very important for a successful new product launch. table of contentspages1. introduction 7-82.project rationale and hypothesis 9 2.1literature review 9 2.2project hypothesis 103.summary of the preliminary research 10 3.1companys current situation10 3.1.1financial status11 3.1.2human resource 11 3.1.3physical resource 11 3.1.4social and political environment12 3.2needs and wants analysis 12 3.2.1customer profile13 3.2.2trainee profile13 3.2.3research methods14 3.3the swot analysis 15-164.project design 17 4.1project objective 17 4.2planning activities 18 4.2.1activities planed to take place18 4.2.2time-scale of the activities 19 4.2.3critical path of the planed activities 20 4.2.4roles and responsibilities21-22 4.2.5cost analysis 23 4.2.6monitoring and evaluation plan of the project24 4.3risk analysis 24 4.3.1the potential risks analysis 25 4.3.2management and control 255.project implementation and evaluation 25 5.1project implementation 25 5.1.1general introduction 25 5.1.2working steps 29 5.1.3monitoring 30 5.2project evaluation31 5.2.1evaluation criteria 31 5.2.2examining project with criteria326.project findings and discussion 33 6.1data (results) analysis41 6.1.1the previous problem analysis 41 6.1.2records of the project implementation42 6.1.3trainees feedback 42 6.2results discussion 437.conclusion 44bibliography 44appendix44appendix 1: bushu version pop design25appendix 2: new pop version design 26appendix 3: road show pictures27appendix 4: questionnaire for customer survey29appendix 5: customer profile analysis32appendix 6: questionnaire for retail clerks36appendix 7: flow chart with time-scale37appendix 8: project framework39appendix 9: merchandising evaluation form40improve moto e398 sales by enhanced programs of new product launch in south china1. introductionmotorola, a famous global communication leader has basically kept no1. market share in mobile phone market since it entered in china in 1987. in 2003, mobile phone market became fury competition. in order to get more profit and market share, most brands aimed at a great potential market, the youth market. in jun.2004, motorola launched a hero entertainment product, e398 which was expected to gain more market share from youth market. but the new products sales performance was very poor although heavily tv, outdoor and print advertising had been released in south region after two weeks. according to sales channels feedback, the possible reason was that the image of e398 advertising ,bushu, who was a famous musician from beijing, but the target consumers of south region didnt recognize him comparing with north regions consumers. meanwhile, the layout and the slogan of “ moto key hit (moto主打)” dont effectively communicate the key benefits of e398 and features to consumers. as a senior marketing development executive of south region marketing department, i must developed and implemented an effective projects immediately to enhance the e398 new product launch and improve product share and sellout within 45 days from jun.25th,2004 to aug.6th ,2007 in south region. otherwise, the new product launch would be failure after one month ago. in my opinion, it was unrealistic to re-shoot e398 tvc advertising by another musician because of not enough marketing budget, and two versions advertising would confuse consumers. but it was hypothesized that if we could improve bushus recognition and reputation in south region and accurate communicate e398 product key selling points by accurate channel with below-the-lines activities, then e398s sales volume and product share maybe improved after we confirmed the key reason by quickly face-to-face market survey. before kick off the project design and execution, i need to confirm and clarify the key reasons of un-successful e398 product launch by quickly market research. meanwhile, the most important objectives of the research was to find out accurate communication channels with target consumers, appropriate ways for promoters e398 product training, projects approach by comparing survey data collected before and after the project to evaluate projects result and provide a method to measure new data collection from target consumer feedback after below-the-line projects execution and promoters product training. i adopted those helpful techniques and methods which leon g. schiffman and leslie lazar kanuk introduced in their book of “consumer behavior (consumer research)”. scientific research methods of customer survey, such as focus group, face-to-face interviews and swot analysis were used in the identification and analysis of the problems. the marketing strategy and accurate communication channels result from the analysis of the marketing survey. in fact, after the first round market research, the analysis showed that the key reasons of un-successful new product launch has a little difference points from sales channels feedback. firstly, 23% target consumers recognized bushu instead of nobody know bushu in south region. the more, retail clerks and promoters werent familiar with e398 key features and benefits. so the marketing strategies are focus on building up bushus recognition and reputation in south region, re-designing e398 pop and arranging e398 new product training for front line retail clerks and motorolas promoters. furthermore, the book of “marketing management (philip kotler)” mentioned good samples of tactic utilizing celebrity domino effect to establish brand and product image and stimulate product sales. if bushus recognition and reputation can be built up in south region, perhaps we also can utilize the celebritys domino effect. the other book of “marketing management (geoff lancaster and lester massingham)” provides very interesting methods how to communicate with target consumers. it guide me how to make accurate communication methods with target consumers by b-t-l activities. flowchart, project framework and several other methods were also adopted in the design, implementation and evaluation of the project from the book of “the perfect and the most detailed solutions”. with the project rationale and hypothesis, the below-the-line enhanced programs have been come out four major projects. firstly, product training team provided e398 product training for motorola promoters and retail clerks. secondly, two big road show of e398 product launch would be initiated to build up bushu and e398 awareness in guangzhou and shenzhen. news release would maximize media coverage in south region. thirdly, redesign and reposition e398 in-store pop including poster, leaflet, banner and wobblers to merchandise retail shops again. target consumer would clearly recognize e398 key benefits. finally, set up product demo display booth in key retail shops to show e398 mp3 outstanding product feature by motorola promoters and retail clerks who also need to be trained up how to use the e398 demo phone.before putting these projects into practice, i set up three project teams to handle each projects and also devised some measures to control and manage potential risks. the result of these projects basically met our expectation comparing with survey result in jun. the total cost of three projects was rmb252, 000 which included redesign pop production, two venues big events, in-store demo display mini road show, pr release and etc. in the whole process of four projects, within the one and half months after the three key projects implementation, e398s product share increasing rate is 40% in jul.2004. meanwhile e398 product awareness and bushu recognition had been improved comparing with the first round market research.2. project rationale and hypothesis2.1.project rationale the issue what i was facing was our distributors and retailers complained that e398s image of the celebrity of bushu who are not recognized by south target consumers. so the new product launch didnt successful although heavily above-the-line advertising release for two weeks. the goal of my project is to initiate an effective amendment plan to re-launch in success. to find a really effective and practical way to solve the problem, i refer several books to seek appropriate scientific theories and methods start my plan. as geoff lancaster and lester massingham say in order for marketing communication to become strategic, it needs to be planned and implemented in a way which is consistent with and supportive of overall corporate and marketing strategies in the book of marketing management, we must keep the same product positioning and image of bushu in south region instead of applying another celebrity of south region. and its unrealistic due to very poor marketing budget for re-launched program. we just think of how to consist with bushu above-the-line advertising and integrate below-the-line activity to maximize bushu, the celebritys domino effect which is introduced in the another book of marketing management whose author is philip kotler. he proved appropriate celebritys domino effect can stimulate target consumers highly awareness for a product or a brand by several famous brand such as nike, coca-cola and johnson. he suggests the celebrity should be known as popularity, proactive and highly representative for product. for bushu, he basically matches with the requirements except not many south consumers recognize him. in addition, in order to learn and clarify whats the target consumers needs and learn more clear about the issues, a quickly market survey must be taken action. although we havent extra budget to do market research, but we can do face-to-face interview by on-site promoters in retail shops since our target consumers also will appear in the channel. as the leon g. schiffman and leslie lazar kanuk introduce how to do consumer research in the book of consumer behaviors, i adopt the appropriate methods such as face-to-face interview and focus group to kick off our survey. in fact, after the first round market research, the analysis showed that the key reasons of un-successful new product launch has a little difference points from sales channels feedback. firstly, 23% target consumers recognize bushu instead of nobody know bushu in south region. the more, retail clerks and promoters werent familiar with e398 key features and benefits. to generate a clear marketing strategy and objective, the swot analysis and smart goal setting is quite important for me, i also referred the book of world class english for business book for project planning. flowchart, project framework and several other methods were also adopted in the design, implementation and evaluation of the project from the book of “the perfect and the most detailed solutions”. 2.2. project hypothesisbased on above the study of theories and measure related to appropriate celebritys domino effect, consistent with and supportive of overall corporate and marketing strategies and market researchs result, the paper bring forward a hypothesis for the project. it is hypothesized that if bushus recognition and reputation can be build up in south region market and accurate communicate e398 product benefits and features in accurate channel through series below-the-lines activities, then e398s product share increasing rate maybe 30% in south china by the end of jul.2004. 3. summary of the preliminary research 3.1company current situationthe problem that i faced is a new product launch of e398 didnt achieve expected result after the above line advertising had been released in tvs and print media for two weeks. after quick market visit and communicate with retailers and distributors, i found most of them complained that although e398 advertising has been released since last two weeks, but it was still very low awareness for consumers. the key reason of unsuccessful product launch was the product image advertising which heavily focused on the image of bushu who was a beijing famous musician more than e398s key product benefits and layout. although we got the information from retailers and distributors, but we still needed to do a quick market survey for target consumers, retail clerks and our promoters through by a designed questionnaire form in 50 key retail shops in tier 1&2 cities in south region to confirm the issue. meanwhile, another objective was that we could get what were the needs and wants of target consumers of e398. then, we would have right direction to make marketing objective and strategy. after one weeks face-to-face research, total 100 samples were selected to do analysis. we found that 23% target consumers recognized bushu instead of nobody knew bushu as sales channels feedback. but the same as their feedback, the product image advertising was heavily focus on the image of bushu more than e398s key product benefits and layout. target consumers didnt note that there was a new product of e398 which was launching. in addition, retail clerks and promoters werent familiar with e398 key features and benefits. that means the unsuccessful key reasons of the new product launch had two key reasons which one was the talent advertising didnt stimulate target consumers interest and the other is both motorola promoters and retail clerks didnt familiar with e398 product knowledge. so if the new product launch didnt success in fi