The overall average

With an average overall of 1.38 the response obtained from the focus group, implies that overall Sony's advert obtained the highest score among the other adverts, taken into the account the layout, style, message and other important factors. In addition, the response obtained from the focus group suggested that an average of 1.88 implies that overall Raymond Weil's advert obtained the second highest score among the other adverts, taken into the account the layout, style, message and other important factors. Although, Philips' advert didn't get the highest rating in each category, overall its was a fairly effective type of advert and an appropriate use of promotion for this particular type of product. An overall response, obtained from the focus group, suggested that an average of 2.16 implies that overall Philips advert, wasn't too bad among the other adverts, taken into the account the layout, style, message and other important factors. However, it could have been better. With an average overall score of 2.69, obtained from my focus group, it implies that overall Bose advert obtained the worst score among the other adverts, taken into the account the layout, style, message and other important factors, which implies that the way Bose promotes some of its products or their adverts are not particularly effective or in some cases inappropriate.

Analysis of the questionnaire

From this diagram it is evident that 80% of my respondents are between 14 and seventeen years old and 20% between 18 and 25. This was affected by the fact that I’ve conducted my questionnaire at school. However, I think that this doesn’t make this data bias, because my potential customers are most likely to be young people, who are currently interested in all products produced by Apple such as iPods and iPhones and, therefore, will be most likely to support an introduction of the new product. In addition to this, I will conduct a further research targeting older groups of people.

From this diagram it is evident that 52% of my respondents were male, which implies that most of the people who agreed to fill my questionnaire and who were interested in the new product were men. This data can be useful in terms of targeting my promotional strategy at particular gender groups. For example, I may introduce the promotion that if a woman buys new Apple Headphones, she may receive a discount for perfume or cosmetics.

The diagram shown above identifies how often my respondents fly. It can be clearly seen that 24% of the respondents fly relatively frequently and other 44% fly more than 3 to 5 times a year. On the diagram below, I’ve shown out of those respondents who chose ‘other’ types of flights, how many times a year they fly and its percentage.

It can, therefore, be seen that out of those 44% of those respondents who chose ‘other’, half of whose fly from 6 to 8 times a year, 17% fly 10 and 12 times a year, and 8% fly 7 and 16 times a year respectively. This, therefore, means there’s a higher chance that these people will find this product useful and are also more likely to be attracted to buy this product by my promotional strategy.

The diagram shown above clearly identifies what types of flights in terms of their length are most popular amongst my respondents. This data will help me to identify whether to introduce my promotional strategy on particular flights or maybe introduce a different price for rent strategy for particular flights. From this pie chart it can, therefore, be seen that 80% of the respondents fly short distance flights up to 1 hour, which implies that it isn’t sensible to charge people on short flights a high rent price for the new headphones. This data also allows me to target short flights in particular operated by different airlines, rather than spending time and money on less perspective types of flights. However, 16% of flights chosen by my respondents were long distance flights 8 hours and longer. Although this figure is relatively small comparing to the percentage for short distance flights, on the long distance flights there isn’t much to do on the plane. Therefore, there’s a higher chance that people will use headphones to listen to the music, and comfort and such function as ‘noise-canceling’ might also be beneficial and encouraging to buy these headphones.

From the diagram shown above, we can identify the top three airlines, 36% of my respondents use British Airways airlines, 11% use Lufthansa airlines and 9% use Easy Jet airlines. This implies that it may be more sensible to promote new headphones by Apple on these particular airlines or maybe use them more frequently than others. However, this data is relatively bias, because most of my respondents were citizens of UK, and such airlines as British Airways and Easy Jet are very popular in UK in particular. Those people who may potentially be on my flight and buy new headphones might actually use other airlines and fly from another country where these airlines are more popular than in UK. Therefore, further attention to the other airlines should be paid. If we look at the rest of the airlines chosen by 4% to 5%, they are such airlines as: BMI, Air France, SAS, Virgin, SWISS, KLM and even Singapore Airlines. From my own knowledge and experience I know that all of these airlines offer different level of customer service and quality of the flight. Therefore, it’s not necessarily that there’s no point promoting new Apple headphones on the Singapore Airlines, it’s the fact that some of my respondents haven’t yet flown on these airlines yet, cannot afford it, prefer a different class, or some of the airlines might have better routes and prices on particular flights, which might also affect people’s choice. However, I also need to take into the account the fact that although Apple is a big company, it has limited marketing budget, and is therefore unlikely to be able to afford to promote new Apple noise-canceling headphones on all airlines and routes, as well as advertise them in the media sources. My initial aim was to develop an effective promotional strategy and this also includes that it will be cost beneficial for the company I choose. From perspective, new Apple headphones and my promotional strategy should first be introduced on the most popular flights and airlines. It can then be analyzed whether this method was effective. In the long term, if my promotional strategy works out well, it may then be introduced on the other routes and airlines, which will minimize the risk of making losses due to an introduction of a new promotional method.

From this diagram it is evident, that I was trying to find out what airlines are used amongst those respondents who chose ‘Other’ airline in the previous question. It can, therefore, be identified that 18% of the respondents chose Emirates airlines and other 18% chose Kaliningrad airlines, and all the other 8 airlines were chosen by each 8% of those respondents who chose ‘Other’. Although, the percentages of people who chose the airlines given above weren’t very significant, it could be due to the limits of my questionnaire, and I can also use this information to track potential future increase in the demand for these airlines in my further marketing research.

Although I was initially predicting a different response from my respondents who fly quite frequently, 43% of the respondents don’t use air miles, which means it is unlikely that allowing people to spend their air miles on the new Apple headphones will make my promotional strategy more effective. However, 6% of the respondents said that they do spend their air miles on such goods as electronics, which means that there’s still a chance that they might buy new headphones using this method. Although this percentage is not very significant, my questionnaire only involved surveying 25 people, which isn’t very many, and if I did my questionnaire at a different place and time with a bigger number of people involved, I could have got a higher percentage. Also, it was beneficial for me to find on what type of goods other than electronics my respondents spend their air miles on, in order to be able to compare them and see how likely they will be to buy my headphones. In addition to this I also found, that two of those respondents who chose ‘Other’ wanted to spend their air miles on a ticket, or that 6% of the respondents spend their air miles on toys, and from my own experience I have to say, people do buy toys in the airports or on the place quite often using their air miles so there’s a similar chance of them buying electronic goods such as headphones as well.

On the diagram shown above it is clearly shown that 20% of my respondents said they were very likely to buy such goods as electronics, perfume and other goods that you can buy on the plane, and other 20% said that they were ‘likely’ to buy. Also, 28% said ‘maybe’, which implies overall, there’s from 40% up to 68% chance that my respondents will buy any good from an in-flight magazine. This, therefore, means that if I choose to advertise new Apple noise-canceling headphones on the front cover or the first several pages of the in-flight magazine as a part of my promotional strategy, it might actually be quite effective, because people are very likely to pay more attention to my advert in the in-flight magazine, as they will be on the plane and will have more free time to look at a particular product or read about it. However, in spite this relatively high percentage, 20% of my respondents said that they were unlikely to buy anything from anything from an in-flight magazine, and 12% said that will never buy anything from an in-flight magazine, from what it can evaluated that I have to keep searching for other methods of displaying or advertising new Apple headphones as a part of my promotional strategy.

The diagram shown below identifies my aim to find out how recognizable Apple brand logo is in relation to the logos of the other companies and brands. We can clearly see that recognition of the Apple logo has a phenomenal 100% rate amongst all respondents, whereas other brands of such companies as AKG and Bang and Olufsen which are specialized at producing high quality audio and video products such as noise-canceling headphones, are less recognizable than Apple, with Bang and Olufsen having 36% recognition and AKG having 8% recognition. I was also interested at looking how recognizable Apple brand logo is in comparison to the brands which are not related to electronics or headphones. From this diagram it is evident that such popular clothing brands as Gucci with 56%, and automobile brands such as BYD with 12%, Subaru 68% and Lexus with 88% are much less recognizable than Apple. This, therefore, implies that although Apple doesn’t yet have any reputation on the headphones market, it was more recognizable by respondents than some other popular brands on the headphones market as well as in other areas. Therefore, there’s no doubt that producing my promotional strategy for the Apple Inc. will also make my promotional strategy more effective, and I predict potential customers to respond with more attention to my promotion as I chose a more recognizable company on the market in UK.

The diagram above illustrates the results, which I have obtained from my questionnaire by asking my respondents to write their associations with a particular brand, when they looked at a picture of the headphones design of which is going to be used for the new Apple headphones in my promotion. From this diagram it can be clearly seen, that 48,3% of the respondents which is almost a half of my respondents said that when they have associations with “Apple”, 20,7% of the respondents said “Bose”, and 13,8% said “Sony”. However, such brands as Senheiser with 6,9%, JBL, Creative and Panasonic with 3,4% each which are particularly specialized at producing high quality headphones weren’t as popular as expected. It was also interesting to see, that although the design of the headphones shown on the picture below has no similarities with the design used in “Bose” headphones, 20,7% is a significant percentage, and it’s important that I use this information in my promotion to encourage people to have more associations with “Apple” brand than with “Bose”. The fact that 13,8% of the respondents had associations with “Sony” when they looked at the picture also suggests that I should spend extra time looking at the design and promotions used by “Sony”.

From this diagram it is evident that the top three brands rated as likely to buy were “Sony”-25%, “Senheiser”-25% and “Apple”-19%.

From the diagram given above it is evident that the top thee brands rated as ‘favourite’ were: “Apple” with 25%, “Bose”-22%, and “Sony”-19%. It is also important to mention the fact, that in comparison to the first diagram, on the diagram below “Apple” is on the third place rated as ‘likely’ to buy. This means, that although 25% of my respondents rated ‘Apple’ as their ‘favourite’ brand, only 19% of them rated it as ‘likely to buy’, which implies there are other reasons such as not being able to afford to buy Apple products, which prevent people from buying their products. This will be taken into the account in my promotional strategy, where I will have to think about other factors which might encourage people to buy new Apple headphones. The fourth most favourite brand according to my questionnaire was Bang and Olufsen with 13%, but other brands which also specialise in producing headphones and noise-canceling headphones in particular weren’t both rated as popular or likely to buy. If we look at two diagrams, then we see the rest of the brands rated as ‘favourite’ were: “Pioneer” and “Panasonic” with 6% each, “Senheiser”, “AKG” and ‘Other’ with 3% each, and in the ‘likely to buy’ category there were: “Bang and Olufsen” and “Bose” with 13% each, and “Philips” with 6%.

In addition to this, there’s also a diagram which shows the percentage out of those respondents who chose ‘maybe’ and brand ratings were as follows: “Panasonic” with 19%, “Creative”, “Philips”, “Apple”, “Senheiser” and “Bose’ with 13% each, “Pioneer’, “Bang & Olufsen” and “Sony” with 6% each. This data implies that out of those respondents who were not sure whether they would buy the headphones from any given brands and chose ‘maybe’, the obvious leader is “Panasonic”, so there’s something that still potentially encourages my respondents to buy headphones from “Panasonic” rather than other firms, even when they’re not sure.

On the pie chart given above I wanted to display percentages of my respondents who were prepared to pay a particular price to rent noise-canceling headphones on the plane. From here we can clearly see, that only 4% of my respondents were prepared to pay £1 pound, 24% of the respondents were prepared to pay from £1.01 to £2, 28% of the respondents were prepared to pay from £2.01 to £3, another 28% were prepared to pay from £3.01 to £4 and 16% of the respondents, which is relatively significant said they wouldn’t prepared to pay for headphones rental. From this data we can, therefore, evaluate that most of my respondents were prepared to pay more than £1 in order to rent the headphones. Although my initial aim is to develop a new promotional strategy and method rather than earn money on rent, this method can actually help “Apple Inc” save some of the costs on promotion, because the majority of my respondents were prepared to spend money on renting the headphones.

The diagram above illustrates the factors which influence my respondents’ choice and encourages them to buy electronic products such as headphones. From this pie chart it is evident that 39% of the respondents chose brand name as the main factor which affects their choice, 15% of the respondents gave their preference to ‘discounts’, 13% to linked offers and advertising, 10% chose headphones and free iTunes vouchers, and 5% chose money off coupons and ‘other’ factors which affect their choice. By analyzing this pie chart we can clearly see that one of the main influences which affect my respondent’s choice after the brand name are discount and linked offers e.g. Buy an iPhone and headphones for free, therefore it might be effective if I introduce discounts and ‘linked offer’ methods as a part of my promotional strategy which are likely to make it more effective in the end. However, such factors as advertising, money off coupons, and ‘buy headphones and get a free iTunes voucher’ were not as popular amongst my respondents. Out of those respondents who chose ‘Other’, two people chose quality and one chose experience with the product and what he has learnt from the other people.

Q2

-

Apple headphones- like coz of colour, shape, depends on material they’re made of, shape, colour

Q3

Style, simplicity, informative, contains useful info and has a good idea, design, they guy at the background

Sony- good idea of advert,

Philips- clear image of the product, nothing

Bose- very informative, nothing

Raymond- clear image of the product, the watch looks attractive

Q4

Bose is boring, too much text, in German

-small size of the product that is not necessarily noticeable

-don’t understand IQ, too simple

-too much written- no one will be bothered to read

-just fine

Raymond is very typical, nothing new really, NOT offering GIRLS’ watch

Q6

Sony- new interpretation of headphones, good idea,, the guy at the background looks attractive, and Philips is not like others, simplicity

Philips- nice and bright

Bose-not memorable at all

Raymond- looks desirable, close up on watches, liked the watch

Q8

Sony doesn’t interact, supports image of the product, the guy, Philips is bright and memorable, and Raymond doesn’t take much attention

-like the guy

-bright

-

-contrast

Q10

Sony-1

Philips-2

Bose-1

Raymond-3

Sony has good comparative image, strength of headphones is shown

Philips doesn’t say much, not clear what is on advert,

Bose gives explanation of the components, clear explanation

Raymond gives explanation of the components, clear picture, you can’t tell about the quality of the watch by just looking at the picture, although it’s SWISS

Q11

Sony-yes, yes, yes, maybe

Philips- probably yes, no, no

Bose- not really, yes, no

Raymond- yes, yes, yes

Q12

Sony- The sound effect, volume/sound, these headphones are for people who are addicted to music!

Philips- Size, lightness, etc. the shape, there’s a button ON/OFF on the phone, not clear

Bose- extra features, good quality, don’t know

Raymond- innovations, perfect contraction, buy this watch

Q13

Sony- yes, yes states how good is it in comparison to others

Philips- yes,

Bose-no, didn’t really get it, yes shows quality

Raymond- yes, yes sounds good,

Q14

Sony- yes, it’s new, yes good picture

Philips- yes, it’s simple, no

Bose- no, no boring

Raymond- no, yes shows different sights

Q15

Sony-yes, maybe

Philips-no, yes

Bose-hopefully, yes

Raymond- don’t know, yes- OMEGA watch

Q16

No

-no, writing is too small, Sony is original

-yes, good contrast, no

-no, boring, lots of writing, no

-yes, suits the picture, no

Q19 It’s an appropriate form of promotion or not, because:

Sony- consumers can read extra info, image is important, looks attractive

Philips- catchy image

Bose- due to explanation and info

Raymond- style, typical watch layout though, nothing special, quite good, but not competitive, encourages to buy it

Q20

Sony- it’s attractive, original, simple, and there’s a real person in there

Philips- it’s bright, light, simple, nice and pretty, sony and Raymond- easy to understand the product and its purpose

Bose- a lot of explanation about product, clear picture

Q21

No

TV is more entertaining and requires less effort to get the message across

For Sony and Raymond- No, for Philips and Bose- Maybe

Never saw one

Prefer magazine advert, coz it’s more informative

Q22

Just like the advert

-Good quality and high pricing, desire to be special

Q23

Least useful is Bose, coz it’s boring, too much text, Bose- too much info

Philips- no clear message, no explanation what the product is designed for

Q24

Bose-Put more images rather than words, put more people into it, bring some life into the advert

Philips-Write more

The advert has to be bright, show what the product is and clearly outline what it can be used for, as well as be attractive, unusual and with some info

Task 5

My main marketing objectives are:

• To bring the buying decisions forward by using two different methods of promotion. They will effectively identify the main strengths of my product and its advantages amongst the similar products currently available on the market, and effectively convincing the customers to buy my product.
• To encourage long-term loyalty, by offering my customers vouchers, discounts, long warranty period and high quality customer service.
• To encourage consumers to buy a new product, by introducing a new design of the product, which is more practical and convenient for consumers to use, as well as offering a very unique noise-cancelling function in my headphones.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-26