Developing Brand Positioning Strategy for Canadian Club

Developing Brand Positioning Strategy for Canadian Club Whiskey [pic] Developing branding strategy for Canadian Club A. Assess and fully critique the success of Canadian Club’s repositioning strategies used in the case. Use brand theories and concepts to evaluate the company’s branding strategies listed in the case. According to Keller(1993) the effective brand positioning gives a brand a competitive advantage or â€Å"unique selling proposition† that determines a reason why consumers are buying this product or service (Keller, 1993).Similarly, Kay (2004) argues that brand’s strength depends on its successful positioning within consumers’ mind. Furthermore, it is claimed that strong brands should possess â€Å"difference† and â€Å"consistency†, however the difference should be meaningful for consumers. In the case of Canadian Club whisky it aimed to differentiate its quality and uniqueness through exciting advertising campaigns such a s â€Å"Adventure Series†, â€Å"Hide A Case†, â€Å"CC Find-A-Case Challenge† or â€Å"Damn Right Your Dad Drank It†. Also, Keller (1993) claims that brand knowledge consists of brand awareness and perceived brand image among consumers.Brand image is further divided into favourability, strength and uniqueness of brand associations. Therefore, in the case of Canadian Club a brand image is conveyed through unique and distinctive experiences that consumers associate with a brand. For example, introduction of â€Å"Adventure Series† advertising campaign in 1920s aimed to increase CC’s global sales whilst showcasing print ads of travellers going to remote locations all over the world and performing brave actions. After that they were relaxing with a glass of CC.As a result a brand’s image is distinctive from the category as it appeals to its target audience as a unique and exclusive drink associated with adventures. Also, it benefits cons umer experientially. In addition, Keller (1993) claims that developing a brand equity requires four value stages: marketing program investment, customer mind-set, market performance and shareholder value (Keller, 1993). Furthermore, marketing program should be clear, relevant, distinctive and consistent throughout all the marketing communications.For example, CC introduced â€Å"Hide-A-Case† campaign in 1967 which aimed to challenge drinkers to search for bottles of Canadian Club kept hidden at remote locations all over the world. CC cases were hidden in places such as the Swiss Alps (Switzerland), Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), Angel Falls (Venezuela) etc. Therefore, the campaign was interactive and engaging which is another distinctiveness for the category. Also, the campaign was communicated through the hints of where to find CC cases published in magazine ads or sport pages in daily newspapers.Therefore, it was relevant for targeted audience and consistent throughout all the communications. Other campaigns involved â€Å"CC Find-A-Case Challenge†(1981) and â€Å"Find A Case Challenge†(2004) which were similar to earlier launched â€Å"Hide-A-Case† campaign, however CC cases were hidden in locations such as in Death Valley in California, on top of a skyscraper in New York City, etc. Also, the campaign involved a form of contest where teams were participating in 7 different fun-filled events or games assessing their physical and mental skills like CC Poker Run, Roll the Barrel, CC Hockey Challenge etc.The winning team was awarded of US 10000. Hence, all these campaigns were interactive, engaging and communicating brand’s uniqueness and exclusivity to the target audience. However, due to failure to address declining sales in 1990s the company had to develop new repositioning strategy for a brand. Therefore, they launched â€Å"Damn Right Your Dad Drank It† campaign aiming to expand their target audience into young male d rinkers. The campaign was based on nostalgia branding concept. According to Kay (2006) reviving brands is a viable strategy.Furthermore, it is claimed that retro branding or nostalgia branding is where perception towards brand depends upon consumers’ nostalgic leanings can be a powerful management option (Kay, 2006). Similarly, Kessous and Roux (2002) argue that nostalgia can be used to reposition company’s product in the market and differentiate it through creating emotional appeals to the consumers of their past experiences (Kessous, 2002). Therefore, nostalgia is defined as a preference towards objects (people, places or things) which were common when one was younger.The nostalgia can be further classified into â€Å"first-time nostalgia† and â€Å"long-standing nostalgia†. However, nostalgia branding is usually used within confectionary or sweets market which is why pursuing this type of strategy for Canadian Club whisky was criticised as being risky. Furthermore, whisky category itself is viewed as drinks for mature and old consumers and there was a threat to strengthen this image even more whilst using nostalgia branding. However, the campaign succeeded as it was relevant to the target audience (young males) and consistent to its brand image as it provoked masculinity and stylishness.Also, it was consistent through all the marketing communications such as billboards, point-of-sale items, radio advertising, out-of-home advertising, in-market events, and experiential elements. In addition it was distinctive to the usual category’s advertising campaigns that usually consisted of stereotyped â€Å"sex sells† ads playing on hot chicks and smoking’ bods or â€Å"James Bond† appeal. Finally, the brand’s image and values were clearly communicated through the campaign. Therefore, nostalgia branding enabled company to reposition itself from being an exclusive and sophisticated drink into more of a mass market product.Finally, Shamma (2011) claims that total brand equity consists of product and corporate brand equity which depends on company’s market, social and financial performance. Furthermore, there is a positive relationship between company’s corporate brand and socially responsible marketing and total brand equity (Shamma, 2011). Similarly, Grace and King (2011) talks about employee brand equity, which is the result of positive and productive employee brand-related behaviour and is strongly linked with brand’s strength (Grace and King, 2011).In contrast, Kay (2004) argues that corporate branding differs from product and service branding as it is aimed at different target audiences. For instance, corporate branding usually targets company’s shareholders and employees whereas product and service branding is focused on consumers who are not really interested in corporate brand identity (Kay, 2004). However, it is also claimed that some companies, esp ecially those that started as niche businesses that appealed to small segments of socially conscious customers succeeded in creating strong and distinctive corporate brands.Referring to CC and Jim Beam corporation consumers are not that concerned about company’s overall image, however introduction of corporate social responsibility and socially responsible marketing could enhance employees’ satisfaction and therefore employee brand equity. B. You have assumed the role of, Brand Manager for Canadian Club. Develop a brand positioning plan to strengthen the Canadian Club brand for the next three years (2014-2017). Suggest a variety of branding strategies that are appropriate for the brand’s identity and target market.Use current research about the brand and the whiskey industry prior to answering this part of the assignment. Use theory to justify your arguments! Canadian Club whiskey belongs to UK spirits market which was estimated to be worth ? 11. 09 bn. at curre nt prices in 2011 (Keynote, 2012). The UK spirits and liquors market is expected to grow by 16. 4% reaching a value of ? 13. 42bn in 2016. Thus, there is an opportunity for Canadian Club to further increase and strengthen its share of market. Canadian Club whiskey is a prestigious brand owned by Beam Global Spirits & Wine Corporation which is US-based company.It also owns brands such as Jim Beam, Courvoisier and Tequila Sauza. Since 1920s Canadian Club differentiated itself as a high quality, exclusive whisky offering experiential experience for its drinkers. Its current target market is those from legal drinking age to 34, however company is looking forward to strengthen its appeal among younger consumers in order to capture their life-time loyalty (Twiss, 2012). Referring to its main competitors the direct competitors are Diageo’s Johnnie Walker scotch whiskey and Jack Daniels â€Å"Tennessee Whiskey†.Diageo is a leading distiller which currently owns more than 35% o f the spirits and liquors market globally and is expanding to emergent markets such as India and Asia (BBC, 2013). It also owns brands such as Smirnoff Vodka and Gordon’s Gin. Furthermore, Scotch whiskey is the leader of whiskey category in UK and worldwide and its exports were worth ? 4. 23bn in 2011 (BBC, 2013). However, there is an increasing trend among younger consumers to choose vodka and other â€Å"white† spirits to mix them in their cocktails.Therefore, in order to sustain and increase its market share Canadian Club needs to tackle competition arousing not only from â€Å"dark† spirits but also from â€Å"white† spirits such as vodka, rum, gin etc. Referring to category’s recent adverts Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky (Diageo) launched a new global advertising campaign in September 2012 entitled â€Å"Where Flavour is a King†. The campaign uses facebook application to educate users about different flavours that make up each Johnnie Wal ker label (MarketingWeek, 2012).Meanwhile, Jack Daniels â€Å"Tennessee Whiskey† has recently introduced their â€Å"Legend† campaign where it is positioned as a whiskey of â€Å"Rock & Roll† era (International Business Times, 2013). On the other hand, Canadian Club recently introduced its â€Å"Beer fairies† campaign in Australia featuring unattractive beer drinker possessing all the negative traits associated with beer drinking. The campaign seeks to position CC as a refreshing alternative through the use of parody and provocative advertising (Campaign Brief, 2012).Furthermore, it introduced â€Å"Join the Club† campaign where company’s CEO is represented as a brand ambassador and is sharing his â€Å"Whiskey wisdoms† with consumers about masculinity and manhood. It is evident that several classic liquor companies have been recently using manly images in order to appeal to growing macho men population. For instance, John Jameson and its campaign â€Å"legend of John Jameson† with images of its founder arm-wrestling or Canadian Wiser’s whiskey and its â€Å"Wiserhood† campaign featuring a â€Å"society of uncompromising men† who applaud any man who resists an occasion that threatens his manhood (Krashinsky, 2012).Also, many of spirits and liquor companies are incorporating social media when creating a branding strategy in order to target younger and more affluent audience. For instance, Canadian Club whiskey fans are encouraged to share their â€Å"Whiskey Wisdoms† on facebook in order to get an access to exclusive content, invitations to local events and wisdom (Lukovitz, 2012,). Similarly, Smirnoff promoted its Vodka Ice drink through social media whilst encouraging fans to participate in a drinking game and share experiences and photos on facebook page.According to Avery and Fournier (2011) open source branding is a new concept in marketing where a â€Å"brand is embedded in a cultural conversation such that consumers gain an equal, if not greater, say than marketers in what the brand looks like and how it behaves† (Fournier, 2011, pp. 194). It is enabled through social media technologies such as blogging, video sharing, social bookmarking, social networking, and community platforms (Fournier, 2011).Furthermore, it is evident that engaging with the â€Å"right† individuals through social media platforms can help to promote word-of-mouth for a brand, spread brand knowledge, generate sales and increase return on investment (Kumar, 2012). However, since the marketers do not have so much control on the overall brand’s image in open source branding social media can also have a negative impact on brand’s equity.Therefore, it is claimed that when incorporating social media in their marketing activities companies should take into consideration four powerful and challenging Web-enabled themes: The Age of the Social Collective, The A ge of Transparency, The Age of Criticism, and The Age of Parody (Fournier, 2011). Referring to social collectiveness it is evident that online communities provide an opportunity for in-depth discussion of shared interests among consumers, therefore strengthening group bonds. Also, some of the companies developed their business models based on social collectiveness concept.For instance, Groupon offers a variety of daily deals for restaurants, spas, massages and other activities for its members but offers are valid only if enough people sign up to receive them (Fournier, 2011). The Age of Transparency and The Age of Criticism claim that due to significant technology changes the news and opinions about particular brand spread very fast and can have a significant impact on brand equity (Fournier, 2011). For instance, due to transparency BP recently experienced a fiasco with its leaking Deepwater Horizon oil rig.The news had a significant impact on negative brand’s reputation as B P was pursuing an image of the environmentally-friendly petroleum company and was developing activities to strengthen this image. Similarly, there is a power of disappointed company’s internal employees revealing market’s and firm’s secrets to a wider public that can damage company’s image. Criticism enabled through social media technologies can also have a great impact on company’s brand equity even if a small number of consumers is complaining. For instance, when introduced its new product formulation called Dry Max,Pampers had to deal with a negative impact arousing from consumers who claimed that a product caused diaper rash and was not suitable for consumers. Finally, The Age of Parody refers to online users’ view of social media being a pastime or a source of entertainment. Therefore, it is not surprising that many companies are trying to grab consumers’ attention through creating funny and interactive campaigns that go viral. H owever, the difficulty is to evaluate the impact and reach of these campaigns. Another recent trend in social media applications is mobile marketing and mobile social media.With increasingly powerful mobile devices, many social media applications have gone mobile in order to reach customer instantly without any time or location limitations (Kaplan, 2012). Thus, mobile marketing is defined as â€Å"any marketing activity conducted through a ubiquitous network to which consumers are constantly connected using a personal mobile device† (Kaplan, 2012, pp. 130). In contrast, mobile social media is defined as a â€Å"group of mobile marketing applications that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content† (Kaplan, 2012, pp. 31). It is also claimed that mobile social media applications can be classified according to users’ time and location sensitivity. For example, quick-timers involve transfer of traditional social media applications to mobile devices to increase immediacy such as posting Twitter messages or Facebook status updates. In contrast, space-timers involve exchange of messages with relevance for one specific location at one specific point-in time, for example Facebook places, Foursquare and Gowalla.Space-timers are the most sophisticated form of mobile social marketing applications as user’s participation does not primarily depend on user’s monetary motivation. According to the theory the increasing willingness to check in certain locations through Foursquare can be explained through self-presentation and self-disclosure concepts, and impulsiveness theory which claims that individuals often struggle between displaying long-term control and giving into short-term temptations (Kaplan, 2012).Therefore, lots of companies are collaborating with Foursquare to promote their sales and discounts, develop relationships and loyalty programs. Furthermore, it is estimated that by 2020 a mobile device will be the primary Internet connection tool for most people in the world (Kaplan, 2010). However, when integrating mobile social marketing applications companies should also make sure that it is integrated into the lives of consumers, offered activities or promotions are individualized according to each user’s preferences and interests and users are involved through engaging in conversations.Otherwise, it can become intrusive, annoying and threaten personal privacy. Nevertheless, mobile marketing provides high rate of personalisation, interactivity, low cost of reaching large audience at the right time at the right place, immediate, one-to-one communication, does not depend on time and space etc. Hence, followed the benefits of increased brand awareness and sales through social media and mobile social marketing applications here are proposed brand positioning strategies for Canadian Club 2014-201 Strategy OneFirstly, a new brand positioning campaign called â€Å"Canadian Club-Unexceptional Qua lity† will be launched in September 2014. A campaign will focus on promoting major brand’s assets quality and exclusivity in order to capture wider audience. The main company’s strategy will be to use facebook application to educate users of brand’s quality and suitability for various occasions in order to increase the usage. It will involve posts of various taglines such as â€Å"There’s no better way to impress a woman than†¦ Canadian Club-Unexceptional Quality† or â€Å"To be well groomed is an exception†¦Canadian Club is Unexceptional! † in order to strengthen marketing communications message. The campaign is also going to encourage users to post and share photos of various occasions when CC can be consumed. This way brand tries to engage with audience whilst suggesting that CC is not only old men drink and can be consumed during various occasions. Additionally, in order to boost users’ confidence and strengthen th e relation between brand’s image and quality the campaign will provide tips on their facebook page for exclusive Canadian Club consumers of how to best dress up when drinking Canadian Club.These tips will only be accessed if users liked a page. This campaign’s aim is to engage users in open and active conversations about the brand and its quality, as well as increase awareness. The campaign will be supported by billboards, radio and youtube videos. Strategy Two Secondly, since company aims to target younger audience in order to capture their life-time loyalty the use of mobile social marketing is essential. Therefore, it is suggested to develop a mobile application that either engages, interacts or benefits consumer.Furthermore, many of the companies nowadays collaborates with mobile social media applications such as Foursquare in order to generate users’ word-of-mouth, facilitate sales promotions and discounts or develop relationships through loyalty programs. Hence, Canadian Club will use foursquare website to promote brand’s image and increase sales. Therefore, users will be encouraged to check-in at five high class luxurious bars, restaurants or hotels listed on Canadian Club’s foursquare web page in order to get a 40% discount for a suit for upcoming occasion from a local high quality retailer.The check-ins should be followed by user’s comment about Canadian Club’s exceptional quality and shared on facebook with his friends. The number of discounts will be limited and the promotion campaign will run until all the discounts will be given away. Users will be updated of the remaining promotions on Canadian Club’s facebook page and personally reminded how many more locations they need to check-in if entered a competition. The campaign firstly will be tested in US and then adopted in emerging markets such as India, China, Russia. Some adjustments will be made if needed to adapt to local market. Conclusion sFor decades Canadian Club whiskey was known for its exclusivity and unexceptional quality. A brand always tried to differentiate itself from competitors whilst launching various interactive and exciting advertising campaigns that were unusual and innovative for the category. Therefore, when suggesting different brand positioning strategies for 2014-2017 Canadian Club should remain enforcing its distinctive image and promoting high quality in the market. Hence, a number of social media and mobile social marketing strategies were suggested in order to capture younger users’ attention and build life-time loyalty towards the brand.For instance, the use of facebook application to educate users about Canadian Club’s high quality and suitability for various occasions is suggested, which will increase brand’s awareness whilst engaging in users’ conversations and encouraging them to share comments and photos. Also, due to increasing number of mobile applicationsà ¢â‚¬â„¢ users and forecasts of mobile phone becoming as a primary internet connection tool marketers should pay a great attention into mobile social media marketing when developing a brand positioning plan.Therefore, a Canadian Club’s collaboration with Foursquare website was advised in order to grab consumers’ attention, spread word-of-mouth and increase sales whilst asking users to check in at 5 high class listed locations to get a 20% discount for a high quality suit from a local retailer. Overall, both of these strategies will allow Canadian Club to position itself as high quality and suitable for various occasions drink among younger consumers and will help to achieve a competitive advantage through the use of mobile social marketing. References E-jounals: Fournier, S. , 2011.The uninvited brand. Business Horizons, [Online]. 54, 193-207. Available at:http://www. sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S0007681311000024  [Accessed 02 March 2013] Kaplan, A. M. , 20 10. Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, [Online]. 53, 59-68. Available at:http://www. sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S0007681309001232  [Accessed 03 March 2013] Kaplan, A. M. , 2012. If you love something, let it go mobile: Mobile marketing and mobile social media 4Ãâ€"4. Business Horizons, [Online]. 55, 129-139. Available at:http://www. ciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S0007681311001558  [Accessed 06 March 2013]. Kay, M. J. , 2006. Strong brands and corporate brands. European Journal of Marketing, [Online]. 40, issue 7, 742-760. Available at:  http://www. emeraldinsight. com/journals. htm? articleid=1562577&show=abstract[Accessed 11 March 2013] Keller, K. L. , 1993. Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Managing Csutomer-Based Brand Equity. Journal of Marketing, [Online]. 57, 1-22. Available at:  http://www. jstor. org/stable/1252054? seq=2&uid=3738032&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21101887384081  [Accessed 12 March 20 13] Kessous, A. , 2008.A semiotic analysis of Nostalgia as a connection to the past. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, [Online]. 11, issue 2, 192-212. Available at:http://www. emeraldinsight. com/journals. htm? articleid=1718576&show=abstract  [Accessed 11 March 2013] King, C. , 2011. Employee brand equity: Scale development and validation. Journal of Brand Management, [Online]. 19, issue 4, 268-288. Available at:  http://www. palgrave-journals. com/bm/journal/v19/n4/abs/bm201144a. html  [Accessed 14 March 2013] Kumar, V. , 2012. Increasing the ROI of Social Media Marketing. MITSloan Management Review, [Online]. 4, issue 1, 55-61. Available at:  http://scholar. google. co. uk/scholar? q=Increasing+the+ROI+of+Social+media+Marketing&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_vis=1  [Accessed 03 March 2013]. Shamma, H. M. , 2011. Integrating Product and Corporate Brand Equity into Total Brand Equity Measurement. International Journal of Marketing Studies, [Online]. 3, i ssue 1, 11-17. Available at:http://scholar. google. co. uk/scholar? q=Integrating+Product+and+Corporate+Brand+Equity+into+Total+Brand+Equity+Measurement&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_vis=1[Accessed 14 March 2013] Websites and Industry Reports: Campaign Brief. 2012.Canadian Club hires comic legend John Cleese to poke fun at ‘beer fairies' in new campaign set to launch tomorrow via The Works, Sydney. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www. campaignbrief. com/2012/04/canadian-club-hires-comedian-j. html. [Accessed 05 March 13] Fraser, D. 2013. How Scotch whisky conquered the world. BBC News. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/uk-scotland-20946411. [Accessed 15 March 13] Joseph, S. 2013. Johnnie Walker launches first umbrella brand campaign. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www. marketingweek. co. uk/news/johnnie-walker-preps-umbrella-brand-campaign/4003702. article. Accessed 11 March 13] Key Note (2012) Spirits and Liquors Market 2012. Hampton: Key Note Krashinsky, S. 2012. M ustache marketing: Selling ‘whisky wisdom’ to younger drinkers. [ONLINE] Available at:  http://m. theglobeandmail. com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/mustache-marketing-selling-whisky-wisdom-to-younger-drinkers/article5508749/? service=mobile. [Accessed 05 March 13] Lukovitz, K. 2012. Canadian Club Intros â€Å"Join the Club† Campaign. Marketing Daily. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www. mediapost. com/publications/article/188057/canadian-club-intros-join-the-club-campaign. html#axzz2O2P5U9uX. [Accessed 14 March 13]

Marketing Intelligence

Market intelligence is a term that is widely used, widely misunderstood, and often mistaken for a mysterious art requiring high-level detective work. Before providing advice on how market intelligence can potentially benefit your business, it is therefore essential that we begin this paper by agreeing on a definition. It is defined by Wikipedia as follows: â€Å"Market Intelligence is the information relevant to a company’s markets, gathered and analyzed specifically for the purpose of accurate and confident decision-making in determining market opportunity, market penetration strategy, and market development metrics. In simple terms, market intelligence is information that is gathered for the purpose of making business decisions. It is largely synonymous with market research, the systematic gathering, recording, analysis and interpretation of information about a company’s markets, competitors and customers. * Types of Intelligence Sources Intelligence can be described as the summary of internal and external data and information, paired with expertise and experience in any given environment and brought into context with the own doing and goals. Primarily though, market & competitive intelligence is based on sources providing the critical mass and substance to deal with as it comes to knowledge of any type. External Market & Competitive Intelligence Sources External market & competitive intelligence sources can and should provide a rich and realistic view of the external environment any business is operating in. Market & competitive intelligence has become a major marketing discipline and industry supplying much needed insights into business figures and trends. Desk Research for Intelligence Desk research might be the most common intelligence discipline regardless how advanced the organizations intelligence programs and systems are. Published information and data, pushed by partners, consultants and MI specialists as well internal resources pointing towards external intelligence is being scoured, gathered and pre-analyzed. Acquired Intelligence & Market Reports Industry reports, market studies and other business intelligence are being made available in many formats and sizes. Any industry or market have their major players in terms of research, market observation and monitoring who create and provide studies, reports, overviews, key market data, trends and indicators. Business Journals & Trade Magazines Business journals and trade magazines are excellent intelligence sources for both market intelligence as well as competitive intelligence. Most importantly here, the intelligence consuming organization needs to make sense of it all. Condensing and bringing relevant intelligence into context of immediate business needs and long term market strategies are crucial elements of intelligence preparation. Industry & Market Newsletters Keeping customers and partners in the loop of developments and offers can be done quite effectively via newsletters that are delivered in hard copy format or electronically. Not only is this a crucial customer retention measure but a competitive tool as well where customers find another comparison opportunity across products and service offers. Individual Intelligence Subscriptions A large corporation with thousands of employees hardly has any overview of how many subscriptions are being ordered and offered to staff. Subscription providers never care about consolidation. Neither do bothered employees if asked to openly acknowledge their subscriptions to market websites, news portals or periodicals. Market Intelligence: Wholesale Sourcing Drop Shipping, Bulk Wholesaling, General Wholesaling, Liquidation / Overstock Sourcing are sourcing strategies that need and naturally produce a lot of intelligence both market intelligence and competitive intelligence. External Soft Intelligence Any sales force and other field operators possess and handle unbelievable amounts of external intelligence about customers, market players, associations, industries and events with all developments and dynamics. Not to utilize this vast amount of intelligence in any organizations is a major competitive disadvantage. Internal Market & Competitive Intelligence Sources Most important and generally of extremely high value are internal sources for business intelligence. Legacy systems, ERP, any transactional data as well as soft information such as meeting transcripts and verbal communication with customers, suppliers and partners need to be exploited. The intelligence found in internal resources such as management and marketing or sales force is invaluable for any business decision. Business Data & Databases Major databases such as ERP systems, legacy systems, transactional data archived and stored for reference should be considered standard intelligence as they provide the very base for any data comparison and measurement. As well as for external intelligence, soft knowledge residing in the heads of the employees regarding internal view of markets and customers, competitors and other business variables can be invaluable for the entire intelligence prospective. Utilize Internal Soft Knowledge. As well as for external intelligence, soft knowledge residing in the heads of the employees regarding internal view of markets and customers, competitors and other business variables can be invaluable for the entire intelligence prospective. * Steps to be taken by a Company to improve its Marketing Intelligence (1) Train and Motivate Sales Force: A company's sales force can be an excellent source of information about the current trends in the market. They are the â€Å"intelligence gatherers† for the company. The acquired facts can be egarding the company's market offerings, whether any improvements are required or not or is there any opportunity for new products, etc. It can also provide credible source to know about competitor activities, consumers, distributors and retailers. (2) Motivate Distributors, retailers, and other intermediaries to pass along important intelligence: Specialists are hired by companies to gather marketing intelligence . In order to measure the quality of production, the way the employees are behaving with customers, quality of facilities being provided; retailers and service providers send mystery shoppers. Firms can also assess the quality of customer experience with the shops with the use of mystery shoppers. (3) Network Externally: Every firm must keep a tab on its competitors. Competitive intelligence describes the broader discipline of researching, analyzing and formulating data and information from the entire competitive environment of any organization. This can be done by purchasing the competitor's products, checking the advertising campaigns, the press media coverage, reading their published reports, etc. Competitive intelligence must be legal and ethical. 4) Set up a customer advisory panel: Companies can set up panels consisting of customers. They can be the company's largest customers or representatives of customers or the most outspoken customers. Many business schools set up panels consisting of alumni who provide their knowledge and expertise and help in constituting the course curriculum. (5) Optimal usage of Government data resources: Governments of almost all countries publish reports regarding the population trends, demographic characteristics, agricultural production and a lot of other such data. All this data must be or can be referred to as base data. It can help in planning and formulating policies for the companies. (6) Information bought from external suppliers: Certain agencies sell data that can be useful to other companies. For example, television channels will require information on the number of viewership, ratings of TV programs, etc. An agency which calculates this information and generates this data will provide it to companies that need it. (7) Collect Competitive Intelligence through online customer feedback: Customer's view about a product is most essential for any company. Ultimately it's the customer who's buying the product. Hence customer feedback must be taken. Online platforms like chat rooms, blogs, discussion forums, customer review boards can be used to generate customer feedback. This enables the firm to understand customer experiences and impressions. It becomes easier for companies to apply a structured system to do so as it can then scan out the relevant messages without much of a trouble. With the above steps being applied, a company's marketing intelligence system will prove to be beneficial to its effective functioning.

Public Policing vs. Private Policing Essay

Before the increase in the trend of private policing, public policing has monopolized the field in the U.S. Both public and private policing, when compared, displays many similarities and differences, however their distinctions are frequently blurred. Even though they are classified as private police their behavior, roles and responsibilities appear parallel to the public to an extent (Wilson 1994). According to Shearing and Stenning, advancements in society, e.g. gated communities and large shopping centers, has sparked the need for the growth in private policing (Shearing and Stenning, 1983). These forms of properties ensure safety to customers and/or residence, therefore require continued surveillance. In addition, proper security has become a perk to residents and/or shoppers. With the advances in technology, private security has increased the adequacy of their analyzing, investigating, and monitoring. Private policing have been classified as many things whether crowd controlling, crime preventing, or an individual body guard, it is private security. In order for the policing to be considered private, service must be provided by a private organization or person, in comparison to public policing which is provided by the state or governing body. Private police are viewed as concerning of the safety of corporations or individuals. Whereas Public police are focused on the public, and enforcing the laws of the justice system. As Shearing and Stenning said, the police (public) are employed and given legal status by the government to ensure and maintain peace (Shearing and Stenning, 1983). Private policing is proactive, and preventative, in comparison to public policing, which is reactive. Meaning in private police aim to prevent crimes through surveillance, and public police respond once a crime has been committed (Wilson 1994).

Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 3

Philosophy - Essay Example Culture, is a dynamic process subject to change in response to internal contradictions and critical social thought. There exist numerous positions within a culture, as well as distinctive values shared by members of a culture. The price of toleration, George argues, of serious deviance from a society’s constitutive morality is the loss of a distinctive form of interpersonal integration in community understood as something worthwhile for its own sake. (1993: 65). It is perhaps in the nature of humans that they look for someone metaphysical and supernatural for the solution of their problems and difficulties whenever they feel themselves unable to do the same. It is therefore the both philosophy of ethics and institution of religion came into being.  Looking into the history of the world at large, it becomes evident that religion existed in all human societies from the most primitive to the most modern ones. â€Å"Humans have formed their own beliefs (called probability belie f in mathematics and science) about the set of unknowable elements of the universe.   They have branded their beliefs about the unknowable as religion.† (Acharya, 2006) The questions of life after death and reincarnation exist among almost all religions of the world at large the concepts of virtue and vice are also based on the teachings of the religions. The philosophers and spiritualists strongly believe that there is always present the representative of virtue in the form of the moral voice that forbids man from indulging into malpractices and doing harm to others. Moral voice refers to the call of conscience that regulates mans activities of everyday life and controls him from wandering astray on the one hand and involving in any type of deviant behaviour. It is indeed the warning from the powers of virtue based on religious beliefs and practices. The concept of distinct moral voice is the outcome of distinct behaviour of the members

Professnational email Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Professnational email - Essay Example The third step involves clearly stating the reason for writing the e-mail. The sender needs to begin by telling their recipient that they are writing for a specific intention such as, â€Å"†¦I am writing to outline my response on†¦Ã¢â‚¬  or even, â€Å"†¦in line with your request, I hereby respond to the allegations†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This step makes it easy for the recipient to understand the reasons for writing the e-mail without reading the entire email. This part also allows the recipient have a clear reference to previous communication with the sender. If the e-mail is a response, the sender needs to begin by thanking the recipient (Chan 22). If not, it is still important that the sender briefly appreciates the chance of writing to the recipient. Proper grammar and punctuation needs to be followed at all times. The sentences in the purpose statement must be short and very precise in their meanings. After the brief purpose statement the sender to give more details o n the contents of the e-mail with an aim to clarify their subject (Chan 63-5). The next step is the closing remarks. This part involves showing gratitude to the recipient (Chan 54). The language should be very courteous and polite. A good example is, â€Å"†¦I value your patience and hope that you will consider my remarks†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The last step is the closing section. In this section, the sender should include a suitable closing. Appropriate closing remarks for professional e-mails include â€Å"Best Regards†, â€Å"Thank you†, and â€Å"Yours sincerely†, amongst others since they are appropriate for professional e-mails (Chan 54). The sender should then include their name and signature. The signature proves the authenticity of the e-mail and should come before the sender’s name. After the writing the e-mail, it is of great essence that the sender proofreads their email to check for grammar and spelling mistakes. The sender should then read the e-mail one more time to countercheck on the structure and flow

What Should government do to protesct society from mass shootings Research Paper

What Should government do to protesct society from mass shootings - Research Paper Example The debate rages on. In recent years, the debate has become increasingly vocal, as mass shootings have begun to invade the American landscape. Some argue that such shootings are the very reason why the Constitution guarantees citizens the right to bear arms. Others, however, argue that society has changed in the past 300 years and the time for strict gun control has come. There are valid points to both sides and this paper will highlight some major positions, while arriving at the conclusion that the right to own and maintain a gun must remain a part of the American fabric for now and the foreseeable future. The Argument for Gun Control Individual freedom and liberty is a cornerstone birthright that comes with being an American citizen. There are certain rights that are written into the Constitution in an effort to prevent any future government from taking that liberty away. As time goes on, however, and society develops, the language written into the Constitution can become muddled and filled with doubt and uncertainty. There are some, for example, that claim the right to own a gun is not actually a fundamental right guaranteed under the second amendment. Much of this opinion involves cause and effect, and examining that actual reasoning behind the second amendment. There are multiple reasons a person might own a gun. Some may own a gun to hunt wild game, while others will maintain a functioning weapon for purposes of self-defense. Still others might have a gun due to military or police service, and some might own a gun to commit a crime such as robbing a bank. The modern day argument in support of gun control, then, largely centers on this issue. Since the Constitution does not possibly permit the right of a gun owner to use such a weapon in the commission of a crime, then it certainly does not permit the right of every individual in the country to own a gun. Guns are permitted under the second amendment for purposes of military service. Few would argue that point. Many would argue, however, that the Constitution does not inherently protect the right of gun ownership for other reasons (Stevens para. 4). The center of this debate is on the language in the Second Amendment. While it seems so clear to some, it is far from it to others. While the courts have generally upheld the principle that Americans have the right to gun ownership, there is a growing movement in government circles to have the courts take another look at the language and to issue new rulings. On this side of the issue, the opinion is that gun ownership is a right for some, but not for others. The distinction comes in the language used to write this part of the Constitution. The actual purpose governing the inclusion of the Second Amendment into the Constitution was to allow citizens to protect themselves from a well-regulated militia. In other words, if the government took away the rights of the people, the people had a right to fight back, or to defend themselves. In th is vein, people have argued for gun control on the basis that gun control, and the limiting of gun ownership, is permissible under these guidelines (Faria 133). In recent years, there has been an unfortunate rise in violence on school campuses, particularly colleges and universities. Some have used this as an argument for gun ownership and the permissibility of students to be able carry guns on campus in order to better protect themselves against threats, such as mass shootings. Others, however, have argued that this is the very reason we should have gun control. By taking guns out of the hands of all individual citizens, they claim

The Integration of Sustainability Initiatives (green) and Performance Research Paper

The Integration of Sustainability Initiatives (green) and Performance Excellence Intiatives - Research Paper Example Additionally, it led to reduction of trees consumption. Proper implementation of the initiatives enabled the company to make $ 2.4 millions in expenditure savings (Espinoza & Walker, 2007). Dow Chemical Company adopted green and performance initiatives in the 1990s. The company reduced the use of water. Initially, the company used a large amount of water in the production processes. It adopted various initiatives that aimed at improving the wellbeing of the environment. The environmental initiatives were complemented by performance structures that ensured sustained performance of the business. The other initiatives that the company developed include utilization of seed oils in the production of polyurethane foam, and use of sugarcane in the production of polyethylene. These were done in Brazil. Furthermore, the company used biodiesel waste to produce high-tech epoxy resins. The initiatives enabled Dow Chemical Company to make $ 5 billion because of savings and efficiencies that resulted (Espinoza & Walker, 2007). This occurred during the period between 2000 and the year 2005. The concepts of sustainability and performance initiatives have been used in development of promotion strategies. New Belgium Brewing has used the initiatives to market the company, improve performance and increase market share of the company. The core beliefs and values of the company relate to the environment. They seek to ensure sustainability approach in the use of the environment. The company adopted the use of wind power in the production process in 1998. Previously, the company used hydroelectric power. Since then, the company has adopted other sustainability approaches to business. An example of the initiatives includes use of heat in the brewery to light buildings. The management of the company used the sustainability approach to brand the business (Mintzer, 2008). Curtis Packaging took a