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THE EDEN GARDEN TOOLS COMPANY LTD Ch 11 Positioning After Umar Sayeed presented his thinking to Mike and Hugh, the three decided that adding the children's market segment to their existing segments would make sense in the short run. Although Umar was reluctant to admit his error in failing to segment the market properly, he did say that the company should, in the longer run, commission some qualitative market research to complete its understanding of the market as a whole, not just its existing customers. Having decided on the segments Eden Garden Tools would be tackling, the three then turned to considering the position the brand currently had in the minds of consumers, and (perhaps more importantly) the position they thought it should have, relative to competitors. This would be a crucial piece of information once the company started planning its communications campaign and if the company were to compete successfully against other firms in the garden tools business. According to Umar's discussions with staff, the company appeared to be positioned as being old fashioned and reliable. The 'reliable' part of this seemed fine, but the 'old fashioned' part had come as a shock to Mike and Hugh, who thought the company was go-ahead and innovative. At present the senior management team had no real idea whether the staff view of the company was close to the customers' view or not. Having said all that, the company would still need to reinforce its position as an innovative company - the situation was not that it needed repositioning, it needed to be positioned firmly in the first place. This would be especially true in the new markets (children's tools, pruning saw) where currently the firm had no presence. Given the very ready availability of cheap garden tools made in the Far East, Eden Garden Tools would hardly be able to compete on price, Mike knew that UK manufacturing costs meant high prices if the firm was to be profitable, and although John Peters (as a salesman) would tend to prefer prices to be cut to the bone, he also knew that positioning Eden Garden Tools in the 'cheap and cheerful' category would be a disaster. There were other aspects to consider apart from the price quality relationship too. Another perceptual dimension was innovativeness, and yet another was the fun aspects which could be played on for the children's market. The Eden Garden Tools Maps would hardly be able to compete on price. Mike knew that UK manufacturing costs meant high prices if the firm was to be profitable, and although John Peters (as a salesman) would tend to prefer prices to be cut to the bone, he also knew that positioning Eden Garden Tools in the 'cheap and cheerful category would be a disaster. There were other aspects to consider apart from the price/quality relationship too. Another perceptual dimension was innovativeness, and yet another was the 'fun' aspects which could be played on for the children's market. The Eden Garden Tools brand conveyed a sense of fun, but also an old-fashioned, kitsch image. The team wondered whether it was time to rebrand altogether as a simpler alternative, but the cost could be high and rebranding is always risky since it is easy to lose the brand equity one already has without gaining any new advantages. Finally, the team narrowed down their decisions. Innovativeness, solid reliability and practicality would be the position adopted for the pruning saw, which would place the tool at the high end of the medium price range. For the children's market, the team decided that they should try to come up with a fun sub-brand for the tools, retaining a clear link with Eden Garden Tools. Various suggestions were made, but by this time the team members were running out of energy, so they agreed to meet once more to discuss possibilities. Again, there would be an emphasis on innovativeness and solid quality, the children's tools would be real tools, not just toys, and they would help create a genuine love of gardening. The design of the tools would rely on Mike's expertise, but the team felt very positive about the new project. What are the dangers of repositioning a product? Ch 12 Implementing Marketing Plans When the team met again to discuss brand names for the children's tools range they decided to pool their ideas, without criticism, and decide as objectively as possible. The suggestions were: Little Green Fingers Little Gardener Play Farm Garden Elves Growing Up Play Planters. The general feeling was that anything to do with 'play' should be dropped: these were not toys, they were serious gardening tools. Garden Elves was a popular name, but there was some doubt as to whether it would play well to boys. "Little seemed condescending, especially for older children. In the end the team decided to run the names past some children of around the age of the target market. Asking round the office and factory, they found several employees with children of about the right age, and asked for their help in choosing. The result of this exercise was a victory for Garden Elves. The slightly mischievous aura of elves' may have helped, of course.Promoting the brand would rest on two factors. First, the new line would be sold into major retailers and garden centres, placing an emphasis on personal selling. John Peters would be looking to recruit some people to form part of a national sales team in order to gain much better coverage. He would handle key accounts himself, possibly with help from Hugh, who already had established relationships with many major buyers. The second element of the promotional campaign would be a national gardening competition aimed at children. Details would need to be worked out, but the team envisaged a vegetable-growing theme rather than a flower-growing theme, thus tapping into the 'healthy eating campaign. With luck, children's TV programming might be persuaded to come on board and promote the competition - shows such as Blue Peter, the long-running BBC children's show, might well be prepared to give air time to the competition, or could participate in some way. The objective would be for 20 per cent of the children in the country to have at least some Garden Elves tools within five years. This would amount to 1.2 million children approximately, with total sales of around 2 million tools. The pruning saw presented another problem, since the Eden Garden Tools brand was regarded as purely a domestic, hobby brand Estimating sales was problematic, since the business-to- business market wis new to everyons and global marketing even more so. The export house the some people to form part of a national Sites Team morder to gam much better coverage. Fre would handle key accounts himself, possibly with help from Hugh, who already had established relationships with many major buyers. The second element of the promotional campaign would be a national gardening competition aimed at children. Details would need to be worked out, but the team envisaged a vegetable-growing theme rather than a flower-growing theme, thus tapping into the healthy eating' campaign. With luck, children's TV programming might be persuaded to come on board and promote the competition - shows such as Blue Peter, the long-running BBC children's show, might well be prepared to give air time to the competition, or could participate in some way. The objective would be for 20 per cent of the children in the country to have at least some Garden Elves tools within five years. This would amount to 1.2 million children approximately, with total sales of around 2 million tools. The pruning saw presented another problem, since the Eden Garden Tools brand was regarded as purely a domestic, hobby brand. Estimating sales was problematic, since the business-to- business market was new to everyone, and global marketing even more so. The export house the company had been using for the Eden Garden Tools range would be unlikely to have the expertise to handle the saw, and none of the team had much experience of dealing abroad. The best way forward seemed to be to find a company already in the garden products market worldwide, and try to piggyback the product with them. The team set an objective of achieving an expression of interest within three months, and a completed deal within a year of obtaining the funding from the venture capital company. This rough outline of objectives would need to be refined considerably, and sub-objectives developed as the plan crystallised, but the team began to feel they were getting somewhere. Forecasting the sales for the pruning saw would naturally prove extremely problematic, since this was entirely new territory for the firm. By the same token, monitoring outcomes would be equally difficult. The obvious solution, and one which appealed to Umar Sayeed, would be to measure tactics on the basis of marketing outcomes. hp/558945/mod_resource/content/1/Assignment%20%235%20%28Ch%2011-12%29.pdf 3 / 3 If this approach was adopted, the company would measure the success of its personal selling by the number of retailers stocking the Garden Elves tools. The success of the pruning saw would be judged on the company's success in finding a partner, and subsequently on brand awareness in overseas markets. Success of the gardening competition promotion would be gauged by the number of entrants and the level of press coverage gained, and so forth. Bringing the employees on board presented another set of problems. Hugh thought it would be good to have some special events to celebrate the product launches - office parties or similar and this was generally thought to be a good idea, but at the same time Mike thought a more formal explanation of what the new strategy consisted of would be more effective. Eventually the team compromised - the firm would have an 'away day during working hours, closing the factory and offices for one day and taking the staff to a conference centre. During the morning the new plan would be outlined, then the afternoon would be given over to a barbecue at a local beauty spot. Umar and Mike were to work out the morning programme, while Hugh and John took charge of organising the 'fun' part of the day. In the run-up to the away day, Umar and Mike would draw up a detailed plan of what needed to be done, and would identify individuals within the organisation who would be most effective in implementing the plan. These new roles and responsibilities would be announced at the away day, once the individuals concerned had accepted their new roles. Already both Hugh and Mike could envisage problems with some staff members. Some of the factory-floor workers were known for being conservative, putting it kindly, and at least one of the company's administrators was known to be difficult about questions of status. These people would certainly need careful handling. Assignment #5: 1. How might a company reinforce the position of its brands? 2. What is the strategic importance of positioning? 3. How might a firm provide experience of a product? 4. What are the potential dangers of depositioning a competitor? 5. What are the problems associated with giving feedback in circumstances of rapid environmental change