Marketing Report

Laptops Promotion Strategies

Group 7 Abhishek Daiya (0015/48) Adishiva Dikshit (0019/48) Ajitabh Chaudhuri (0027/48) Alok Agarwal (0033/48) Chirag Srivastava (4008/18) Devavrata Golangade (4010/18)

LAPTOPS PROMOTION STRATEGIES MARKETING MANAGEMENT PROJECT

INTRODUCTION

Research By: Group 7

LAPTOP HISTORY : MILESTONES

1981 Sep 05, 2011 Introduction The concept of Portable Laptops first came up in the paper Dynabook by Alan Kay in 1972. Why the Necessity Till 1975 people were using desktops but there was the hidden need of portability which existed. It also provided convenience to carry the information. In 1973, IBM SCAMP (Special Computer APL Machine Portable) which was based on PALM processor. IBM 5100, was the first commercially available portable computer, in September 1975.It was based on the SCAMP prototype Osborne 1 was released in 1981 almost 6 years after the release of IBM 5100. It was the first laptop of its own kind. Companies who released Laptops afterwards copied the design of Osborne 1 which looked like briefcase. The New Generation Laptops: The sale of Laptops was still not closer to their counterparts as the so called portable computers which were released weighed around 15-18 pounds. Screen was also mere 5-6 inch. It was in 1987 when US government put a huge order of 2000000 Laptops, people started seeing them seriously. Afterwards the need of Laptop was generated through innovative ads, better technology, sleeker machines with more storage, more ports and connectors, improved displays, and a concentration on keeping the weight down. 1990s saw the emergence of The Apple Macintosh PowerBook line and the IBM Thinkpads driving the Laptop market. But till 2000 Desktop was still the first choice of common man with easier affordability and it was not until 2008 that laptops outsold the Desktop nearly 33 years after their birth. The advent Wi-Fi also played the crucial role in the increasing the presence of the Laptops. Osborne 1 was released. First Laptop released in the market. 1983 Gavilon introduced the Gavilon Mobile computers. It had a clamshell design where the screen could be folded over the keyboard 1988 First time a Laptop was introduced with graphics features. Compaq released its SLT/286 Laptops 1991-1992 Apple released its McIntosh and IBM started its Thinkpad series which revolutionized the Laptop market as never before.

September 5, 2011

LAPTOPS PROMOTION STRATEGIES

Laptop Market: Marketing Myopia??

Laptop has helped in increasing portability and connectivity and has thus brought in immense benefits for the customers. However, the Laptop Industry is losing share in certain segments with advent of new products in the market. The above fact was more validated when 15% of people in our survey mentioned that they do not wish to own a laptop. The competition can be from entertainment on the fly industries such as smartphones with 3G capabilities and tablets such as iPad. These products serve as competitors as far as light multimedia applications, browsing/surfing and staying connected is concerned. Having recognized this trend, Dell has started launching products such as Dell Streak. For intensive processor demanding multimedia applications such as games with high graphics or photo/movie editing, desktops are still a very strong competition for laptops as in desktops high configuration can be assembled very easily and performance is also much better. Laptops will face heavy competitions from gadgets like Amazons kindle when the use is for reading documents. It is much easier on eyes and gives a feeling of reading a printed book. Moreover the battery life in Kindle is immense. The laptop market might be hugely affected after the increased use of virtual desktop systems like Chrome OS etc., where the need of a laptop will be limited to having a terminal with internet connectivity and technical specs will no longer be relevant as minimal processing will be needed at the terminal.

September 5, 2011

LAPTOPS PROMOTION STRATEGIES

Market Segmentation
Market segmentation is based on Configuration Requirement and Brand Consciousness. Based on the 4 options for the responses (Internet, Business, Multimedia and Gaming) to the question asked in the survey about the purpose of buying laptop, we have defined the configuration requirement as follows:
Configuration Requirement

Low
Internet Business Multimedia Gaming

High

Brand consciousness is based on market interpretation of different brands and the options to the responses to the question asked in the survey about the brand of the laptop owned.
Brand Consciousness

Low
Asus Lenovo Toshiba Dell HP Sony Apple

High

We have categorized the market segments based on the above two variables:

Configuration Requirement

Gamers
High

Professionals
Tech Savvy Simple Users

Elitist Brand Champs Aspirers

Multimedia

Low

Brand Chasers

Basic Users
Low High
September 5, 2011

Brand Consciousness

Elitist- These are the people who give very high importance to brand and configuration Gamers- These are the people who require very high configuration Laptops with graphics card, high
RAM and since only top brands provide such features as a result these people by default fall in the region of very high configuration and high brand

LAPTOPS PROMOTION STRATEGIES

Brand Chaser- These are the people who give very high importance to brand though their requirements
are very basic. Multimedia- These are the people who generally use Laptops for entertainment purpose. Their brand as well as configuration requirement is not too high. They want a Laptop with medium configuration and brand value just enough to meet their need.

Professional These are the people who are designers, photographers, artist and people using high end
softwares like MATLABS

Basice User These are the people who require Laptops for very basic use like MS Office, Internet.

Market Segments Percentage*

Basic users Brand Chasers Multimedia Elitist Gamers Professionals 20% 4% 46% 7% 13% 11%

*Based on survey of 59 respondents who had their own laptops

TECH SAVVY

Brand Mapping
Alienware
Gamers

BRAND CHAMPS
Mac Pro Sony Vaio Z HP Elitebook Elitist

High
Professionals

Configuration Requirement

Acer Timeline

Compaq Presario, HP Probook Dell XPS

Multimedia Acer Aspire Dell Inspiron Low HP Pavillion Mac Air Sony Vaio E

Acer Travel Mate, Basic Users Dell Inspiron Mini

Brand Chasers

HP Essentials

Low

High

SIMPLE USERS

Brand Consciousness

ASPIRERS

September 5, 2011

LAPTOPS PROMOTION STRATEGIES

As from the above graph we can see that different brands with their product lines cover the different segments. Dell product line Alienware is very high on configurations well as high on brand value and thus Gamers prefer these Laptops. While Brand Chasers look for Laptops like Mac Air, Sony Vaio E series Laptops which satisfy their need of very high brand. As we can see that size of Multimedia users are highest and most brand with their product line lie on this part.

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LAPTOPS PROMOTION STRATEGIES

LENOVO
PROMOTION STRATEGIES 1)PRODUCT FOR MODERN, SUAVE MEN 2)EXCITING PRODUCT BOOSTING INNOVATION Use of Saif Ali Khan as a Brand Ambassador who projects an image of a Modern, Suave man due to his royal lineage. Saif Ali Khans Image in Movies is usually a person who is creative and knows how to enjoy life (Eg: Cartoon Artist in Hum Tum). Lenovo thus aims to capitalize the image to encourage youth of similar nature to buy the good. Recently Soha Ali Khan and Saif Ali Khan have been used to showcase that Lenovo likes to innovate. Lenovo hence aims to target the segment Multimedia through this campaign 1)HIGH PERFORANCE 2)HIGH BRAND VALUE Transformers: Dark of the Moon was the highly anticipated conclusion to the Transformers trilogy. The main characters in the movie were high performance Robots with capability to transform and disguise themselves as vehicles and other machinery. One of the Transformers named Brain transformed into a laptop and was recognized for its never say die attitude in face of any challenge. Lenovo used the character to project a similar image for itself to attract segments which demand high performance from their products Kaun banega Crorepati, a show hosted by Amitabh Bachhan uses Lenovo. Association with Amitabh Bacchan is utilized to help Lenovo raise its brand value SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESS (SMB) Corporate discounts are used for encouraging SMBs to use Lenovo. Lenovos image of robustness and good service developed over years plays an important role in SMBs using Lenovos STUDENTS Discounts are made available to Students. Promoted in website and colleges Social Networks have also been used to communicate with customers PRODUCT LINE IMAGE ThinkPads Fast, more uptime IdeaPads Super Thin, stylish, entertainment Essentials Budget friendly, small business ADVERTISEMENTS

September 5, 2011

A man (Saif Ali Khan) stranded on a lonely island looks at a photograph of his wife and his dog. After rescuing from there he comes home and get surprised to see that his wife and his dog are not able to recognize him. He runs inside the house and go straight to his laptop. The laptop recognizes him via the inbuilt face recognition software.

LAPTOPS PROMOTION STRATEGIES

SONY
PROMOTION STRATEGIES PRODUCT WITH A STYLE STATEMENT Kareena Kapoor is used by Sony Vaio as the Brand Ambassador. The advertisements usually focus on design and elegance of the VAIO which is complimented by Kareena Kapoor who is given a very stylish look. Kareena Kapoor is also a fashion icon, and role model for many girls; hence, Girls usually tend to buy Vaio as validated by our survey. The feel of the advertisements are very colorful and stylish enhancing the brand perception of SONY However the presence of Kareena Kapoor has less effect on the male population who buy the product more due to the brand value of SONY Kareena Kapoor is also used for print advertisements to keep up the image of a stylish brand For attracting men to the brand, SONY had partnered with the Movie Casino Royale, which was a reboot of the James Bond franchise. The target segment is further validated by its catchphrase Go vivid BRAND AWARENESS The awareness of the brand is maintained by sponsoring major events such as the Cricket World Cup to target men and Femina Miss India to target Women Sony also uses billboards and wall hangings at retail stores to increase awareness. The images utilized in the medium mentioned are usually those of Kareena Kapoor Social Networks have also been used to communicate with customers Discounts are used during Festivals to increase sales. Discounts are usually marketed through the website and retail stores.

PRODUCT LINE IMAGE S thin and light, perfectly balanced C homer users, entertainment E largest screens, 15-17, everyday laptop Y compact mobile subnotebook PC F large screens, extreme performance and entertainment Z business purpose

The ad opens up with Kareena entering into a golden jazzy room wearing a golden dress and carrying a golden colour laptop. Kareena keeps on going to new room with different colour and the her clothes and laptop colour changes accrodingly to the colour of the room. VAIO laptops are slim, light and stylish which are synonyms to Kareena .

September 5, 2011

LAPTOPS PROMOTION STRATEGIES

ACER
PROMOTION STRATEGIES YOUTHFUL, TRENDY AND FRIENDLY IMAGE Acer Advertisements utilize Hrithik Roshan good image to portray its friendly nature. In the advertisement, although a person faces problems with a certain brand, he is helped by an Acer owner (Hrithik Roshan) who without discriminating any brand simply solves the problem. This gives a heartwarming image of Acer which will be liked by Youth who have very basic needs in Laptop. Amateurs who do not wish to be bullied by the number of options might opt for Acer Hrithik Roshan is used often by Acer to show that it is a brand to be reckoned with. It also sponsored a contest during the release of Jodha Akbar which featured Hrithik in a leading role TARGETING YOUTH Sports Team Sponsorship: Ducati Corse Motor Racing Team, Scuderia Ferrari Racing team, FC Internationale Milano football club Sports Team Sponsorship: The Olympic Partner (TOP) in the official computing equipment product category, for the Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 & London Olympics 2012 Designed supercomputer for Taiwans National Center for Highperformance Computing, rated among fastest 50 supercomputers in the world PRODUCT LINES Aspire Series For personal use: Digital entertainment, communication, aesthetics Travel Mate Series Professional use: Portability, Processing power, security, communication, eco-friendly Timeline X Series Portability: Thin & light design, High performance, 8+ hr battery back-up

September 5, 2011

Ad shows passengers in a flight working on their laptops. Suddenly, some of the laptops crash or run out of battery. This causes considerable frustration and embarrassment to the owners. A cool Hrithik Roshan then displays his Acer laptop and effortlessly solves the passengers problems while singing a jingle. The ad ends with Hrithik and the co-passengers emphasizing the Acer tagline Life is busy, Acer makes it easy.

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LAPTOPS PROMOTION STRATEGIES

HP
PROMOTION STRATEGIES DREAM BIG CAMPAIGN Shah Rukh Khan is the brand ambassador for HP. Shah Rukh Khan is a real life rags to riches story. The advertisements show, that no matter whatever the circumstances one is born in, as long a person owns HP, he/she always have a way to success. This campaign not only increases the brand presence of HP and increases its recall factor but also connects with the youth who are highly ambitious TOUCHING PEOPLES LIVES The Everybody On campaign shows the presence of HP in the everyday lives of people from a vast range of backgrounds. This emphasizes HPs multiple capabilities. The advertisement is again targeted at the youth CUSTOMER BENEFIT With Internet becoming a rage within the youth, it became a necessity to have it on the go if one owns a laptop. HP having observed the same started releasing their product in Bundle with Airtel Data Cards PRODUCT LINES HP Pavilion Series & Compaq Presario Series Home/Home Office use: Performance, portability, aesthetics Probook and HP Compaq Series SMEs: Communication, performance Elitebook Series: For Large Enterprises: Performance, portability HP Essential: Affordable business notebooks ADVERTISEMENT The ad shows how technology touches everyday lives of people across the world. The campaign shows people connecting with friends, working on tasks, on a flight, clicking photos, dancing, using high-end technology gadgets. The jingle Everybody Touch, Everybody Tap, Everybody Move, Everybody App plays in the background. The language of the jingle can be particularly related to by the tech-savvy. The ad ends with the Femina Miss India 2011 contestants vouching for the brand People dream of being Shah Rukh Khan and HP wants people to dream bigger. Hence, Shah Rukh, with his success and

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LAPTOPS PROMOTION STRATEGIES

DELL
PROMOTION STRATEGIES POPULARIZING CUSTOMIZATION Dell is very popular for its Direct Selling Model of business. Although other brands have provided option of customizing ones laptop as per their needs, only 15% of the customers surveyed were aware of this fact. Dell also popularizes Customization by framing their catchphrase to portray this feature. Some of their popular catchphrases are build yours the power to do more power to you The catchphrases very strongly convey the benefit Dell provides to customers allowing customization of laptop TARGETING YOUTH Dell Advertisements target youth. Although the subject of the advertisements are as simple as allowing change of cover design for laptop, the people shown in the advertisement are between the 18-20 age group who are looking to enjoy life It also targets young mothers who are not very tech savvy TARGETING PROFESSIONALS AND GAMERS Dells Alienware brand is very popular among gamers. As Gamers are usually customers who will search internet to decide their choice, Dell designs the webpage for alienware separately to not only focus on its strong processing and graphics power but also on its sleek design September 5, 2011 Dell Studio which has been scrapped was aimed at professionals. The advertisement for Dell Studio showcase professionals from art and theatre backgrounds TARGETING SMALL BUSINESS Small Business was targeted using I choose Dell campaign where pictures of CEOs of different firms were used showing they vouch for Dell BUNDLING WITH EMI OPTIONS AND STRONG WARRANTY PLANS

Dell Inspiron: Consists of Netbooks and laptops to cater to simple Multimedia and business needs Dell XPS: Caters to higher multimedia needs and professional artists Alienware: Very popular among Gamers

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LAPTOPS PROMOTION STRATEGIES

APPLE
PROMOTION STRATEGIES APPLE: THE BRAND NAME Succesful innovation in the multimedia industry has made Apple very popular. Success of iPhone and iPad has made people come to Apple instead of Apple coming to customers. Events such as WDCC where Apple provide their future plans are heavily covered by News Channels Apple is popular also in the OS Market and the entertainment market. With a fantastic graphic user interface, the products in Apple have become the biggest promotional tool. Apple also makes icons out of their employees with Steve Jobs (ex-CEO) being the biggest example Apple however does focus on marketing heavily at retail stores during launch of a new product line ATTRACTING FRESH BLOOD Apple is popular for its student discounts. Students aware of the Apple name are eager to buy Apple at a lower price. Apple also bundles printers and iWorks (Equivalent of MS Office) to cater to the complete need of students Macbook Pro: Caters to Higher Graphic and Processing Requirements Macbook Air: Highly portable and low configuration

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LAPTOPS PROMOTION STRATEGIES

Calculation of Brand Happiness Index (BHI) and Brand Desire Index (BDI)

Laptop Apple Dell HP Lenovo Sony Toshiba Total

Users 3.1% 37.5% 31.3% 10.9% 12.5% 4.7% 100%

Wants to switch 0.0% 35.0% 40.0% 10.0% 10.0% 5.0% 100%

Wants to Retain 8.3% 41.7% 16.7% 12.5% 16.7% 4.2% 100%

BHI 1 0.41 0.2 0.42 0.5 0.33

Wants to buy 53.6% 26.8% 1.8% 3.6% 14.3% 0.0% 100%

BDI 0.5 0.39 0.07 0.07 0.18 0.01

(As per survey results) BHI People who are happy with their laptop brands BHI (for the brand) = (No of users who want to Retain/ No of existing users) BDI People who desire to buy (may not actually buy due to budget constraints) some other laptop brand BDI = Fraction of total users surveyed who are willing to use the brand

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PROMOTION Configuration Portability Basic Users Brand Chasers Multimedia Professionals Gamers Elitist + + Battery Life + + + + + Offers + Customization + After Service + Graphics Design

+ + + + + + +

+ +

+ +

+ +

Segmentation: Basic Users: Those who are looking for just the basic features like internet, MS office etc. Brand Chasers: Those who are looking for specific brands. Dont require high config. Multimedia: Those who are looking for multimedia features like Movies, Music etc.

September 5, 2011

Features which almost all users in that segment will look for Features which users in that segment may or may not look for

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LAPTOPS PROMOTION STRATEGIES

Professionals: Those who are designers, photographers, programmers, artists etc. Gamers: High end gamers with very high graphics processor requirements Elitist: People who give very high importance to brand and configuration

Product Benefits: Configuration: RAM, Hard Disk, Processor Speed etc. Portability: Light weight, small screen etc. Battery Life: Higher battery life Offers: Deals, Promotional Offers, Coupon Codes Customization: Choosing components and features according to your preference After Service: Onsite warranty, complete damage cover, quality of service etc. Graphics: High end graphic cards Design: Look and feel SEGMENT WISE PROMOTION Basic Users HP is attracting this segment by naming its product series as Essentials, thus emphasizing its simplicity and affordability. Dell is promoting Inspiron products for this segment as an everyday, popular range of products. Acer is promoting the TravelMate series by offering it as a laptop for professionals to experience good performance and communication. Promotion strategy should focus around ease of use, simplicity, performance, affordability of laptops. From the survey, we see that customers in this segment are looking out for portability, battery life, service, promotional offers, etc. Thus, we infer that HP and Dell are doing promotion well as per customer requirements, but can be improved upon. The promotion strategy can be done via advertising the simple yet powerful features of a product for this segment, and affordability. Professionals The laptops that serve this segment are HP Probook and Lenovo ThinkPads. HP promotes its laptops for professionals as stylish, Instant access, advanced multi-media support, security etc. while Lenovo promotes its professional laptops as fast, more uptime, tough, safe, graphics, extended battery life etc. From our survey we found that people from professional segment are looking for good configuration, portability, battery life, after service, graphics and design. So, we can infer that Lenovo is able to convey the right message through its promotion while HP is lagging behind in this segment. September 5, 2011

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LAPTOPS PROMOTION STRATEGIES

Multimedia One of the laptops that serve this segment is HP Pavillion. HP promotes for users as movie player, playing games, graphics booster, beat audio etc. From our survey we found that people from multimedia segment are looking for good configuration, portability, battery life, after service. So, we can infer that HP is focusing on Design and graphic which the user may or may not be looking for. Brand Chasers The laptops that serve this segment are MacAir and Sony Vaio E. Vaio E is promoted as Active design, vibrant colours, performance, speed etc. while MacAir is promoted as thin, light, solid laptop. From our survey we found that people from professional segment are looking for Battery life and design. Both the brands are able to convey their message properly as such. Gamers Dell Alienware at their site mentions mentions itself explicitly as the Gaming Laptop. It also mentions Core i7 processor which many of our respondents interested in games first look for. Along with it clearly mentions the graphics card used in the Laptop i.e Nvidia Gt series which also was the requirement of our respondents of this segment. In the same way Sony Vaio Z series also clearly mention Core i7 processor and graphics card on its page. Elitist The laptops that serve this segment are Sony Vaio Z and HP Elitebook. Both of these are promoting them as high performance with lightweight and portability but they fail to address the requirement of elitist for design i.e. look and feel. The design and look of these models can also be used to highlight in promotion so as to attract the customers falling in this segment.

PREFERRED SOURCES OF INFORMATION FOR SELECTING A LAPTOP BRAND 1 TV Advt Newspaper Advt Internet Research Friends/Family Opinion Retailers Opinion 42.2% 35.6% 13.3% 2.2% 6.7% 2 20.8% 35.4% 8.3% 10.4% 25.0% 3 22.7% 16.7% 9.1% 13.6% 37.9% 4 4.9% 8.2% 31.1% 39.3% 16.4% 5 2.2% September 5, 2011 4.3% 47.8% 39.1% 6.5%

(Top horizontal rows are ratings, 1 being the lowest)

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LAPTOPS PROMOTION STRATEGIES

Sum of vertical columns is 100%, e.g. 1st row, 1st column means that 42.2% users gave rating 1 to TV Advt out of total surveyed users. Here we have asked the users to rate different mediums of promotion from 1 to 5. The question that we asked was How much importance do you give to these sources of information for deciding upon a brand? Internet Research As evident from the above table, internet research is the most preferred source of information. So, companies should focus firstly on promotion via this medium. The strategies for this channel are also very cost-effective. Few strategies that could be use for promoting through this channel are: Blogs Social Media FaceBook, Twitter, Google Plus, YouTube Newsletters PopUps Exchanging links with other websites Ads on other websites

Friends/Family Opinion Friends or Family Opinion is the second most preferred channel for information for users. This category also includes the promotion from word-of-mouth. For people who are less technology aware, this source plays a very vital role. They could get help from their friends and family for deciding on brands Retailers Opinion Retailers Opinion is the third in order. The company could actually give some incentives to retailers for promoting their brand. Also, company could provide discounts to consumers via retailers. Exclusive stores could help company in positioning their brands. A well informed and more brand savvy user will go to an exclusive store while an uninformed and price savvy user will go to a multi-brand store. Some consumers have high search costs. These types of consumers follow word-of-mouth and retailers advice in selecting their product. Newspaper Advertisement Advertisements in the newspapers are at the fourth place. Through our survey we found that professionals and working people give importance to Newspaper advt. They get more idea about the laptop configuration and offers through these ads. Like Lenovo can give ads for their ThinkPad series.

TV Advertisement We found in our survey that though TV advt play crucial role in initiating a thought in consumers mind regarding different brands but people do not carry these thoughts while selecting their product. One of the reasons may be that people are not able to differentiate between brands as the advt are of very short time period. PoD could be find through proper research via other channels.

September 5, 2011

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LAPTOPS PROMOTION STRATEGIES

As is very clear from the above analysis that the most relied on source of information for selecting laptop is internet and word of mouth. Hence, we suggest that the company should focus the most on these two sources for promoting their product. For promotion through Word-of-Mouth: Companies can create a "buzz" around their products by promotional strategies such as Experiential Marketing: Allowing trade show visitors to experience the brand via actually playing games (for Gamers), or playing songs/movies (for multimedia) Sponsoring sports events like Olympics, organizing promotional events at college campuses, etc.

September 5, 2011