Brand Positioning - Hewlett-Packard - Essay Example

?Marketing Table of Contents Introduction 3 New Product 3 Target Market 4 Brand Positioning 5 Marketing Mix 6 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction This report aims at introducing a new product idea, developing its marketing strategy and analysing the marketing ingredients required to make the new idea a success. The report would initiate with the overview of the company which would be taking the initiative to develop the new product idea into an innovative product. The company chosen for this report is Hewlett-Packard (HP). Hewlett-Packard (HP) is an American company which is in the information technology industry. The headquarters of the country is California United States, but HP operates its business around the world. HP was founded in 1939 by Bill Hewlett and David Packard. HP offers wide range of products such as laptops, printers, inks, toners, PCs, etc. HP launched its first inkjet and laser printers in the year 1984. However, these printers were specifically designed for the desktops. In the 90s, HP decided to enter the printer market with range of high quality and innovative printers. Now HP is among the top players in the printer industry. Companies are coming forward to invest their earning in planting more trees, reducing pollution and chemical wastes and gases. They are also bringing out several new eco-friendly and technologically improved products by using 100 % recyclable materials. In this study we would recommend a new product idea HP to introduce an eco-friendly technology in the printer which involves reprinting of the same paper by erasing its ink. This would not only give HP an edge over its competitors, but also make it a market leader from a major player. New Product HP can introduce a green or eco-friendly printer which would reduce the wastage and usage of paper. In this manner it would also assist in saving natural resources like trees and water. A new technology would be integrated in the green printer through which the printer can reprint on the same paper for many times. Not only the individual customers but also business houses, companies or firms are willing to pay higher prices for using eco-friendly products. This would also help in reducing the carbon footprints. It would be one of the most appropriate and innovative technology in the printer industry, so HP should patent the idea and the technology to protect the product manufacturing rights and the product idea. This technology can be also called the reverse printing technology. Though this product would be priced higher than the general printers because of its unique selling proposition, but it would reduce the cost of papers for the customers. Target Market Target market involves a group of customers for whom the company designs, and develops a product or service. The marketing strategies and mix are designed and prepared by the marketers to satisfy the target customers. Targeting can be differentiated and undifferentiated. Differentiated targeting signifies focusing a particular type of customers and leaving out the rest, but in undifferentiated targeting, the marketer focuses on the mass, so customized product is not developed in this case. The printer market can be segmented into three divisions, first is the personal or individual users, second is the business houses, firms or companies using for their official purposes, and third is the printing businesses that use printers to print for other companies (Atkielsk, 2001, p. 1). Since reverse printing technology is niche and obviously HP would set the price of green printer higher than that of general printers. So the individuals building for personal usage might not afford it. Moreover, the company cannot launch it at a low price because of its high cost of production, promotional and other costs. Therefore in the initial stage the target customer groups would be the firms, companies and the printing businesses that use it for commercial purposes. Another reason is that the printing companies, firms or organizations print millions of pages every day, so level of paper wastage is high. The objective of launching a green printer with reverse printing technology is to promote eco-friendly printing technology and green product (Stone & Desmond, 2007). So only if the wastage of natural resources and usage of paper in companies and organisations can be reduced then only the mission of HP behind launching the product would be fulfilled. So according to the selected target customers, the approach to introduce the product to them would also have to be equally different and sophisticate. HP can launch its product in highly renowned seminars or conferences specially conducted for discussion on global environment. This would grab the attention of not only multinational companies but also the attention of the government of different countries, who can think of exporting these products for major offices in their countries. So the mission is to target those first who are willing to pay the price for environment friendly products (Pahl & Richter, 2009, p. 7) Brand Positioning Brand positioning involves targeting the reasons of the customers for buying the product and ensures that the product or brand has those qualities in it by firstly incorporating those features in the product, and secondly positioning the product in such a fashion that customers take it as a solution to their problems or an offering for their requirement. The positioning of HP would depend on the customer’s perception regarding the reverse printing technology. In this initiative the first step of HP is to make its target customer group believe in the technology that they are going to introduce (Okonkwo, 2007, p. 116). The competitors should not be forgotten because though reverse printing technology is a new and innovative business idea, but it is not so difficult to copy it. This is the reason why positioning should be strong enough. Since HP already has strong brand equity customer would trust the new proposition made by the company. In order make the customer believe in the objective of the company and its new green printer, HP has to show the USP of the green printer to its customers through ample promotion. Companies, organization and others spend millions on buying and maintaining equipments and other office machineries. So in case of product like printers, it is likely that quality of the output, quality of the product, maintenance cost would be the area of concern rather than the price. The new green printer can also be positioned as a replacement for the old model printers which have become a cost incurring device for the company. This new technology will not only print papers, but would reprint them many times. So this would also save the paper cost of the company, as special papers would be required in this case which can be used many times. This would also grab attention of those customers who are unwilling to change their old printers (Mohr, Sengupta & Slater, 2010, p. 253). Marketing Mix The marketing process comprises of many actions such as developing a new business idea, segmenting the market based on the idea developed, identifying the target customers for the product, understanding the taste and preferences of the target customer group and integrating those features in the product idea. Before the product is made available in the market, all the marketing ingredients should have to blended in the right proportion for a perfect marketing mix in order to draw out an effective marketing plan (Richter, 2012, p. 70-71). These are sets of activities which are performed to influence the target customers. After performing all these functions, the product is made available to the customers. The product, its price, distribution channel, promotional strategies, such as choosing the right media vehicle would play a significant role in this case and the combination of these ingredients is collectively called the marketing mix (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2011, p. 47) Product The reverse printing technology is the augmented feature in the product. The core product is the printer which has the ability to print on pages. So the basic features of the printer would be similar to any printer of HP. The customers would be also expecting the features similar to a normal HP printer such as printing, and in case of multifunctional printer, it would be scanning, photocopying also (Kumar, and Sharma, 1998, p. 52). The product would be available in green and white combined colour to give an eco-friend feel to the customers. The body of the product would be made using 99% recyclable materials. The augmented technology in the product would be able to erase the print on the special paper and reprint on it. Apart from this, a one year warranty can be provided to attract customers. A 24 hours helpline for customer services would be opened for anytime purchase, installation or repair (Gilbert, 2003, p. 113). Price Price is one of the major components of a product and the decisions of the customers are highly depended on the price of the products. This is the reason why company should develop their pricing strategies carefully so that they earn revenue and also attract customers (Keegan, 2002, p. 180-182). The technology is niche and new in the market, so the price would be on the higher side in comparison to the other HP printers due to the availability of resources, production cost and other overhead costs. The general printers of HP and the other major companies are available in the market for the price range of 30 ? - 300 ?, depending on the volume and area of usage. HP should follow a top-down pricing approach like the eco-innovative technology embedded products. In such case the price would be higher in the initial level because of the high production cost and also high promotional expenses that the company has to bear in order to create a value spot in the minds of the customers. After the product is successfully launched and have achieved recognition in the market through its green printer, the cost of production would gradually reduce due to increase in the volume of sales and growing demand. The target segment for reverse printing technology printers are the large business and enterprise, organisations, medium sized companies (Lao, 2001, p. 180-182). Printers available for the commercial use, range between ?100- ?2000 approximately. But in the category of green technology, similar kind of a printer was launched in the market for 500 ?. So we can well assume the difference in the price range for just a printer and an eco-innovative printer possessing a reversible printing technology. However, HP would be launch the green printer within a price range of ?110 to ?120, so as to enjoy monopoly in green printing market for a long period of time (Little, E., and Marandi, 2003, p. 10-12). Place Printers of HP are sold through the company dealers like the consumer durable goods. Though HP has a well established supply chain which manages its product supply all around the world, but specifically for the green printer, HP has to develop strong distribution channel. The online visibility of the product is important because nowadays most of the sales are done through internet (Kotler, 2009, p. 102-104). Even direct sales method can be applicable, as the sales personnel can visit the big business houses or companies for demonstration and also to those firms who are existing HP printer users. If the sales personnel satisfy the management of the company through his/ her demonstration, they can even purchase green printers for all their offices to replace the old printers and reduce their operational cost (Czinkota, and Ronkainen, 2007, p. 18-19). Promotion The promotion of Green Printer would be done as an environment friendly initiative of HP, which would be propagated through eco-friendly messages and also depicting the features of the new green printer of HP. It would be done through social media networking, creating eco-friendly blogs which would promote the new green initiative of HP. The product should be launched through IT trade fairs in different countries. Advertisements through hoardings, magazines, especially in technology, business or educational magazines should be given. Since the goodwill of HP and its products are high, so word-of-mouth promotion would also play an important role in this case. Apart from this, direct mail services to the prospective clients such as companies, and organization chiefs can also be form of promotion. People, Physical Evidence and Process HP has skilled workforce with expert knowledge who have enough expertise to develop new products and generate innovative ideas. The after sales service should be excellent because this really matters a lot for the customers. Infrastructure of HP is already well-established and it also uses highly sophisticated technology, and machinery in its offices, warehouses, factories, etc. So infrastructure establishment cost is negligible in such a case. Only the reverse printing technology that needs to be integrated in the green printer requires separate production unit for the development of new assembly line specifically for green printers. The warehouse location and logistics should be planned according to the location of the target customers. Services are also vital in this case because in cases of repair and installation customers do not prefer to wait and since the green printer is a new product, so minor defaults in service may spread negative worth of mouth. Conclusion Innovation does not only mean creating new products, but it also offers solutions to the world for their major problems. This report includes a new product idea for HP which is a true reflection of the aforesaid line. Printers were the greatest discovery in the printing industry after type writers and other primitive printing options. But now the issue of environment has come up which was not so significant previously. Reverse printing technology will bring yet another revolution in the printer market. This new idea would not only transform the printing business, but also take the printer industry to a new level. Since UK is considered to be the major printing markets of the world, so HP’s green printer would be highly in demand in other countries as well. The report discusses the new green printer with a reverse printing technology. It would be using special papers on which the printer would not only print but erase the old printing and reprint on it many times. It would save trees and water and reduce the cost of papers in the companies. The target customers in the initial level would be the companies, business houses, etc. This means places were printers are used for commercial purpose would be targeted first because in these places papers are used in large quantity and they can also afford to buy a costly printer which would reduce their cost in the long-run, but the customers buying for personal use would not be willing to do so (OECD, 2012, p. 2-3). A perfect blend of marketing mix is designed and appropriate promotional strategy for promotion of HP as a green brand has to be designed, so that HP not remains a major player in the printer industry, but also becomes a leader. References Atkielsk, A., 2001. Computer Printing: Current and Past Technologies. [pdf]. Available at: [Accessed 5th December 2012]. Czinkota, M. R., and Ronkainen, I. A., 2007. International Marketing. 8th ed. Connecticut: Cengage Learning EMEA. Gilbert. D., 2003. Retail Marketing Management. New Delhi: Pearson Education India. Keegan, W. J., 2002. Global Marketing Management. 7th ed. New Delhi: Pearson Education India. Kotler, P., 2009. Marketing Management. 13th ed. New Delhi: Pearson Education India. Kumar, A., and Sharma, R., 1998. Marketing Management. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distribution. Lamb, C. W., Hair, J. F. and McDaniel, C., 2011. Essentials of Marketing. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Lao, F. M., 2001. Marketing Management. Florintino, St. Quezone City: Rex Bookstore, Inc. Little, E., and Marandi, E., 2003. Relationship Marketing Management. Connecticut: Cengage Learning EMEA. Mohr, J. J., Sengupta, S. and Slater, S. F., 2010. Marketing of High-Technology Products and Innovations. New York: Pearson Prentice Hall. OECD, 2012. The Future of Eco-Innovation: The Role of Business Models in Green Transformation. [pdf]. Available at: [Accessed 5th December 2012]. Okonkwo, U., 2007. Luxury Fashion Branding: Trends, Tactics, Techniques. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Pahl, N. and Richter, A., 2009. SWOT Analysis- Idea, Methodology and a Practical Approach. Berlin: GRIN Verlag. Richter, T., 2012. International Marketing Mix Management: Theoretical Framework, Contingency Factors and Empirical Findings from World-Markets. Berlin: GRIN Verlag. Stone, A. M. and Desmond, J., 2007. Fundamentals of Marketing. London: Taylor & Francis. Read More

 

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