International Marketing Plan Of An Australian Brand - Case Study Example

International Marketing Plan Of An Australian Brand Executive Summary: The aim of this paper is to create an outline for the development of an international marketing plan and for this reason this paper will high light things that need to be taken into consideration when dealing with such a plan. The company that has been chosen is the Penfolds Grange. Company Overview: The company has been in operations since t :D who is beside you in this pic http://thecoolpics.com/friendpic1.jpg so good-looking he 1800s but the most major break through came in the 1950s; the mission statement of the company is to deliver the best red wine possible and it has been able to do so successfully. Introduction: Penfolds Grange is basically a red wine that is manufactured totally in Australia and has been a leading brand in the Australian as well as the international market since its inception in 1951, ever since then it has won over 50 gold medals in vintage wine competitions and has been a major influence in the international arena as well. It is made from 2 kinds of grapes: the Shiraz and the cabernet sauvignon, the Shiraz being the major component where as the cabernet sauvignon is only used in small portions, in 1971 the Penfolds Grange also won the wine Olympics that were held in Paris at that time. Product Description: Penfolds is one of the major labels in the Australian wine industry and is a major exporter to a multitude of companies in the world; it has been one of the best red wine brands ever since its inception in 1951 and has been a major award winner in its category. The relative advantage of this brand is that it is made from an unusual blend of grapes that are specially grown at the company’s vineyards and hence is a unique red wine and has been able to set standards of its own. Since penfolds is a major brand, it is exported to various countries in the world, the country that has been chosen for the purpose of this paper is the United Kingdom which is a major wine consumer nation and wine is a commodity which can be categorized as a house hold item which is consumed on a regular basis. Since wine is consumed on a nation wide basis, penflods would be tried by consumers more often than not and hence it is very compatible with the tastes of the people on the country. There would not be any major limitations to the product because it is a widely acceptable product in the target market but the only issue that the product will have to over come is that there would be competition and it should implement strategies so that it is able to over come this major obstacle. There are no limitations as such to the product because it comes in various shapes and sizes and hence it can very easily be picked off the shelf by people with various purchasing power. Environmental Scan: The general dynamics of the country at hand have to be studied in order to truly understand the country and also to devise a plan to cater to the market. The essentials that need to be studied while scanning the environment are the family structure, education within the country, social organizations, religion, the diet and in this case it is extremely important to know the climatic conditions and it is extremely important that days of festivity have been pin pointed because these are the days when people would be more inclined to consume red wine and it is extremely important that once these days have been identified they are utilized to the maximum. The literacy rate in the United Kingdom is 99% and that is basically due to a public sector educational system which disseminates free education to all and this has been one of the plus points of the British economy for a very long time now, the ability of the consumers to think rationally will definitely influence the decision to choose Penfolds because customers can then be made to think rationally by effective advertising. Diet and nutrition in the UK is of the optimum level and malnutrition or what so ever of that had been left has been steadily on the decline and this is a very positive point from the point of view of the PENFOLDS company because this would boost sales as wine is a regular item of consumption on the table of most of Britains populace. There are several misconceptions about Britains climate but the truth of the matter is that when it comes to climate Britain is a moderate country, the summers are not very hot but are in fact fairly cool but not to the the point of being chilly by any regard. The winters are quite gentle as well with the temperature dropping steadily but never reaching the point where it would make one uncomfortable, there is also a misconception that Britains climate is all about rain and fog, that is not the case either, Britain has a quite delicate mixture of sunshine, rain and fog, which makes it ideal for the consumption of wine. Britain is a very diverse country in all aspects but the most diverse element is the ethnicity and hence the religion of the British populace. 7.9% or 4.6 million of the British populace is from non white backgrounds which means that although it is diverse but the larger race is still white people and that means that the probability of drinking wine goes up with this sort of a populace and hence this is a very feasible market for the product. The major festivity day in England is ‘Christmas day’ but Christmas celebrations start off at least a month before and the Christmas spirit is something that the brand should be looking to score upon because during this season it is a common practice to give away wine bottles as a token of appreciation and love to others and since the country is in a state of celebration the drinking levels go up. Economic Environment: The total population for the United Kingdom as of July 2007 would be 60,776,238, the growth rate of the population has been just 0.6% which goes to show that it has achieved an optimum level with regards to the growth of their population and this acts as an indicator that Britain is right there with the top states of the world. Around 90% of Britain’s population is 20 years and above and this is a very positive sign for the product that Penfolds manufactures because the legal drinking age is 20 and above, hence the market is a very large one with regards to the number of people who can legally use Penfolds. Britain’s GDP for the year 2006 was almost 2 trillion US dollars, 1.93 to be very precise and this goes to show that Britain is an economy where massive production possibilities are available because of such a large GDP and hence this is yet another positive point for the product. Britain is one of those very few countries that have over the years grown steadily in almost every sense of the word, but the economy has been quite stable and has been conducive for growth. Political Structure: The legislative powers rest with the Parliament in the United Kingdom, the governments have been very stable through out the last few decades and there hasn’t been much political violence, the code of law is the socialistic one, the taxation system is quite and effective one and incomes are progressively taxed. The role of local governments has been increasing steadily and they have evolved into a major component of the government. Since Britain has political stability and has not experience political turmoil for quite some time now, the general environment is very conducive to growth generally and hence makes Britain a very market. Technological Aspect: Britain is a country that has been a technological hub for most of Europe with a large chunk of GDP allocated to research and development, there are almost 126 universities in the United Kingdom today and the government plans to increase this number by 50% in the near future. The labor force in the United Kingdom has been a very diverse one and since the literacy rate is high, the technological literacy matches the literacy rate; Britons are extremely skilled people and extremely dedicated to the work that they do and hence finding labor in any field would not pose much difficulty to the company. Competitor Analysis: Since the aim of the company is to launch the product in to the market it will definitely face tough competition from the rival firms, one of the top most firms in the United Kingdom is the Argentinean firm the La Chamiza which has a major share in the market through out Britain and the market position is pretty good because it has been a major hit with the local populace in Briton. The strategy for breaking into the market should incorporate some innovative ideas because market positioning would stem out from innovation only. Promotion Aspects: To break in to any market it is extremely important that proper channels of advertising be used, proper channels mean that mediums that cater to the largest target market should be used and the frequency of the ads should be taken into account because if the ads are too frequent then the customers might loose control. Television is a must use in this case because television can be used to show the packaging, the bottle, the wine it self and through heuristic processing it can also be shown that a celebrity approves of the drink and hence the image of the brand is almost instantaneously made. There should be stalls set up in malls which would give away free sample wine, in glasses so that people would know what it tastes like and there is no better means of promotion other than letting the brand speak for its own quality and this also sends out a very strong message to the competitors. Pricing should be done with a view of the prices prevailing in the market because if that is not the case it would be very tough to break into the market and specially this one where there is already such a diverse brand following. The fixed costs of production would include the land, utility bills and labor, the variable costs will constitute of the number of bottles filled and hence the raw material used in them, marketing on television is a pretty costly thing and hence a major chunk of costs would go towards marketing. Market Forecasting: Market forecasting is related to assessing the market needs over all i.e. whether the demand for that particular good would increase or decrease over all and what might be the factors that will make the difference, but regarding the brand that has been chosen, the market is a growing one and there are no factors that would hinder this growth so it is expected that the market will grow with time. Action Plan: The action plan as discussed before is to advertise on television during eating hours because on television the product looks really appealing and then hoardings should also be used because people who do not have the time to watch television should also be catered to, hoardings could be made more effective using heuristic processing i.e. a celebrity could be shown approving the drink which would definitely enhance the products image, the budget for advertising would be huge one but as for hoardings it might not be that expensive but the hoardings have to be placed where most of the target audience can see it. References: 1. Hooley, Graham (2007). Marketing Strategy. Pearsons Education 2. Solomon , Micheal (2007). Marketing. Pearsons Education Read More