Unit 19 Marketing Planning

1.1 Introduction and guidance

The marketing plan is one of the most important parts of a business plan because it directly communicates the nature of the intended business and the manner in which that business will be able to succeed. In this unit, learners will learn about the fundamental marketing concepts that any entrepreneur needs to master.
This unit is challenging but also interesting with many practical elements, enabling you to enhance and embellish your marketing planning skills, communication and analytical skills. The unit contains practical along with theoretical learning outcomes and thus unit is delivered using a variety of methods and styles to engage both your reflective learning styles alongside the more pragmatist approach to learning.
The tutorial sessions, facilitated by a tutor, are used to support and enhance student understanding and include a variety of classroom-based exercises that consolidate on the material visited in the

1.2 Case Study

Tommy Hilfiger

The early success of the Hilfiger brand was largely due to two men: U.S. designer Tommy Hilfiger and Indian textile magnate Mohan Murjani. Hilfiger designed blue jeans for Jordache, but in 1984, Murjani sought him out to be a designer for Murjani International. As one of the instrumental people in bringing about the designer blue-jeans craze of the 1970s, Murjani wanted to develop a new brand of clothing by offering a line of slightly less preppy and less expensive clothes than those offered by Ralph Lauren that he thought would attract a young mass-appeal audience.
Maintaining that “Fashion brands have to reinvent themselves, just like Madonna does,” Hilfiger has gone from preppy to urban and back again. Hilfiger initially encountered some negative reactions abroad to its image of being a U.S. brand. Although some U.S. clothing products have been well received abroad (such as jeans), many have encountered problems among Europeans who tend to see France and Italy as the upscale fashion centres. To accommodate European tastes, Hilfiger has switched to wool sweaters, adjusted to the European preference for slimmer-looking jeans and smaller shirt logos, and created a line of added-luxury items, such as leather jackets and cashmere sweaters for the Italian market. To make these changes and adapt its look to the European demands, Hilfiger set up a design staff in Amsterdam that includes almost 30 different nationalities.
In terms of promotion, Hilfiger has used celebrity advertising, including Sheryl Crow, Jewel, Beyoncé, and the husband-wife team of entertainer David Bowie and supermodel Iman. Film actresses Renée Zellweger and Claudia Gerini and France’s first lady Carla Bruni helped the company sell a limited edition bag to support Breast Health International.
In the United States, Hilfiger traditionally relied mainly on wholesaling to about 1,800 department stores, many of which contained stand-alone Hilfiger departments. It has stayed away from chains considered more low-end, such as JC Penney and Sears, though it does sell its outdated stock to discount chains T.J. Maxx and Marshalls. Distribution is perhaps the biggest difference Hilfiger found when entering Europe. Because the company succeeded in the United States by first going into department stores, it put an early European emphasis on them as well, which led to its entry into such leading chains as Galeries Lafayette in France and El Corte Inglés in Spain. Hilfiger entered most Asian countries through licensing agreements; however, as sales grew substantially in China and Japan, it turned to self-ownership within those markets.

2.1 Scenario

You have been recently appointed as Marketing Manager at HILFIGER. Your line manager has asked you to prepare an essay on marketing audit as one of your first tasks.
Task One- Essay

LO1 Be able to compile marketing audits

This task offers you an opportunity to achieve LO1: – AC 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 M1 and D1
In your essay, include a review of the changing approach to marketing planning using the case study of Hilfiger(1.1)
Guidelines
In order to complete the above task, your answer should:
Assess traditional marketing planning focuses
Assess the modern marketing planning focuses
Review the changing approach to marketing planning using the case study.
Evaluate Hilfiger’s capability for planning its future marketing activity. (1.2)
Guidelines
In order to complete the above task, your answer should:
Human capabilities
Physical capabilities
Financial capabilities
In a section of your essay, examine techniques for organisational auditing and for analysing external factors that affect marketing planning .In addition, carry out organisational auditing and analysis of external factors that affect marketing planning in a given situation for an organisation like Hilfiger(1.3 & 1.4)
Guidelines
In order to complete the above task, your answer should:
Examine and apply at least two tools one internal and one external
Internal: SWOT analysis, Value chain analysis, The McKinsey 7S Model, Stakeholder analysis
External: Porter 5 forces, PESTEL analysis and use Hilfiger as an example
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Merits and Distinctions
M1
Write an audit report to chief executives accessing Hilfiger’s capabilities and suggest two appropriate strategies to improve the marketing department.
D1
In your report provide a critical evaluation of the capabilities accessed in Q1.2 and M1.
Include a description of your recommended strategies to improve the marketing as in M1 and the advantages and disadvantages of the various strategies you have recommended for Hilfiger.
2.2 Scenario
Having completed task one, it is likely you must have experienced some of the challenges to marketing planning encountered by marketing managers.
In this task, you have been assigned a task to prepare a presentation for your executives regarding the main barriers facing Hilfiger marketing planning managers and how to overcome them.
Task Two
Power point Presentation with Speaker Notes

LO2 Understand the main barriers to marketing planning

This task offers you an opportunity to achieve LO2: – AC 2.1, 2.2, M2 and D2 In your PowerPoint presentation, include the following:
Assess the main barriers facing marketing planning managers in Hilfiger(2.1) and examine how Hilfiger may overcome these barriers (2.2)

2.3 Scenario

As a part of its global expansion, Hilfiger has decided to enter into one of the most fast growing market in the Middle East; Dubai.
As a Marketing Manager, you have been asked to create a marketing plan for the launch of a new range aimed at supporting Hilfiger’s business strategy in Dubai.
Task Three
Produce a Marketing Plan

LO3 Be able to formulate a marketing plan for a product or service LO4 Understand ethical issues in marketing

This task offers you an opportunity to achieve LO3: – AC 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4,3.5 LO4: – AC 4.1, 4.2, 4.3  M3 and D3
You should include the following in you marketing plan.

3.1Executive Summary

This section summarises the content of your marketing plan. Complete this section after you have fully developed the marketing plan. (3.1)
Role of Marketing Plan in Corporate Strategy:
Describe the relationship between corporate strategies, marketing strategy. Identify the goals/strategy of your chosen organisation. Explain why and how the plan you are developing supports the strategy and support achieving specific goals of chosen organisation. (3.1,3.2)
Techniques for New Product Development
Examine at least two means by which the new range can be developed. Consider discussing two of the following: experimentation, learning from failure, test marketing, observation, co- creating, entrepreneurial culture, etc. (3.3)
Product Description
Describe the brand for which you are developing this marketing plan. Describe the service in terms of benefits, taste, colour, and size, packaging, or usage occasion. What ‘problem’ does the product solve for the customer? (3.3)
Pricing Strategy
Recommend and justify a suitable pricing strategy for the new range. Does it match your marketing objectives? Does it appeal to the preferences and behaviour of your target market? (3.4)
Distribution Strategy
Recommend and justify a suitable distribution strategy for the new range. Does it match your marketing objectives? Does it appeal to the preferences and behaviour of your target market? (3.4)
Communication Strategy
Recommend and justify a suitable communication mix (TV, displays, internet, radio, print, mobile, social media, spokesperson, etc.) relevant to your target market segment and promotion objectives.
Implementation
Explain What would it take for your plan to be implemented successfully? What metrics (key performance indicators) would you use to track the objectives mentioned in the “marketing objectives” section? (3.5)
Ethical consideration
Explain how ethical issues influence marketing planning.
Analyse examples of how organisations such as Hilfiger respond to ethical issues
Analyse examples of consumer ethics and the effect it has on marketing planning (4.1,4.2,4.3).