Linking promotional activity to the product life cycle Products Essay

BIC was founded in 1950 by Marcel Bich with the introduction of the head start gritty quality globpoint pen at an affordable price. In 1975 BIC tacked the outset unrivaled-piece baby and become a marketplace leader indoors that sector too. In the early days, BIC concentrated on a bosom range of crossroads which mainly oerwhelmd BIC hug drug and Orange Ball compose and the Classic kidskin. In the 1990s the company realised it needed to suffer its intersection point range to act changing consumer needs and to compete with sunrise(prenominal)ly competitors entering the writing and baby bird categories. BIC has therefore set about re-shaping itself. It has looked to attention deficit disorder value to its growths (e.g. by moving from a single blade to a twin blade, then to a triple blade razor) and to develop a range of new products. BICs introduction of the Classic one-piece s chooser, rebranded as BIC 1, illustrates this process.The re-branding was intended to enhance the brands simplicity whilst still maintaining the highly recognisable, orange packaging. BIC has further heighten this re-branding by launching BIC 2, which satisfies consumers looking for a functional twin blade at an affordable price. Through the launch of BIC 1 & BIC 2, BIC has created a branding synergy. In the twin blade sector, BIC has launched insurance premium products such as blow pair off and Twin Lady. These products target consumers demanding enhanced features and benefits while still offering excellent value for money. In 2003, BIC launched its first triple blade youngster for men BIC protect 3 and one year later BIC Soleil Lady for women. Both of these products offer greater digiting and technologically enhanced features and benefits at attractive prices. The capital of Massach functiontts intercellular substance and BIC productsMulti-product businesses manage BIC argon aware of how products in their entire portfolio contribute to the overall egres sion of the business. Established profitable lines make a vital contribution that enables a company to invest in the development and promotion of new lines.The Boston Consulting Group developed The Boston box or BCG matrix. This relates closely to product life cycles and identifies four classes ofproducts in an organisations portfolio. Problem children These are newly-launched products. This name is appropriate because many products fail to move beyond this phase. such products are in like manner referred to as Question Marks or Wild-cats. In order to grow, they require large amounts of investment and promotional support. Wise firms monitoring device each products progress and recognise whether or not on-going support is justified. Stars These are products that have successfully reached the growth stratum in the life cycle. Although they need on-going promotional support, they are already providing high bullion returns.They present good future prospects. Cash overawe These products have reached the due date stage and are direct yielders. They have a high market plow in markets that are no longer rapidly expanding. However, they testament need on-going marketing support and will need freshening up from meter to time. Dogs These are products in decline. These have a low market share in a low-growing or declining market. Because they generate a negative interchange flow, they will usually be disposed of. The Boston matrix arsehole be apply to BIC productsThe exaltation Ball Pen and Classic Shaver are popular and well established products with very high whole sales. BIC produces them on a large scale. These cash cows provide excellent cash profits for the company. The Cristal Grip and Cristal Gel Pens, and Twin Lady shavers are stars with well-established growth patterns. For example, the Twin Lady filled the cattle farm in the market for shavers for women. Problem Children that have recently entered their respective markets include Cristal Col ours and Cristal Pocket Scents in the pen market, and Comfort 3 and Soleil in the shavers market. Currently BIC is investing in these products. Over the following two or three years the company will resolve whether these products have succeeded (moved into the star category) and warrant continued support. Products such as Soleil (a shaver for women) are rapidly moving into the star category. Of course, some products fail to flash off sufficiently and/or go into decline. The Tough Beard shaver has not warranted further development and BIC has taken it out of production. Developing the product rangeThe Cristal range of pens demonstrates how to throw in new life into a product range BICs Cristal Ball pen was launched in 1951. It has over 30% marketshare and is the UKs best-selling en pen. In 1964 BIC launched BIC Orange. This is a fine-point version of the Cristal pen, easily recognised by its orange barrel. In the 1990s, as the Cristal and Orange Ball pens became much mature and encountered fierce competition from lower priced brands, BIC invested in developing the Cristal range to attract new users and to contraryiate itself from the competition. This led to the launch of a range of new productsCristal Grip, for more comfortCristal Colours, for swanky coloursCristal Pocket, for a more convenient sizeCristal Pockets Scents, for fun and fruity inksCristal Gel, for smoother writing.By continually adding to the range, BIC manages to inject new life into the product life cycle of the overall range. BIC now offers a full range of Cristal pens using both ball point and gel ink technology. The ranges development has also helped to support the enhancements of the core brand, and each year sales of Cristal pens increase.The product life cycle and promotional performanceBIC analyses its products, and promotes and supports these in line with their stage in the product life cycle. For example, BIC Cristal and the Classic shaver have a long life cycle and although they have had technological improvements over the years and are produced using more advanced manufacturing techniques, the style and design of these products have not changed. They are still recognisable worldwide. Initially, when these products were launched, promotional activity would have focused on generating awareness and encouraging consumers to trial the products. in a flash that these products have become well established icons, the promotional emphasis is on rewarding loyal customers who continue to buy these products.The illustration shows the way in which promotional activity is tailored to stages in the product life cycle. When BIC launched the Comfort 3 razor, it chose Martin Johnson to represent the brand. BIC invested heavily in outdoormedia such as billboards and conducted national press advertising to raise awareness. With Cristal Gel, BIC carried out a large amount of below the line activity. To build awareness of the new product, BIC supplied existing Cristal Bal l pen users with Cristal Gel samples finished limited promotional packs and other sampling campaigns to office users. This was supported by advertising and direct marketing. During a products growth period, BIC continues to use market research data to help it better understand market developments and consumer requirements.It also continues to support the product so that more and more consumers search it out and are converted into regular users. At this stage, advertising and special offers encourage new users to try the product. As a product moves towards maturity, BICs marketing experts need to identify ways of injecting new life into it. They must also identify new product developments that can meet like consumer needs. This explains why, for example, BIC has developed extensions to the Cristal range. Once a product has saturated a market, sales will stagnate. However, it is important to continue to support cash cows because they play a vital role in injecting profits that p ose new product development. Once a product has moved into decline, a company like BIC will look to replace it with new products that meet existing and evolving consumer needs. For example, the razor Tough Beard was taken out of the product portfolio because other new BIC razors were better able to meet the needs of customers with unsound beards ConclusionBusinesses that understand the Boston Box and product life cycles are able to target appropriate promotional activities to support the various products in their portfolio. Well established products such as BIC Cristal and Classic shaver are the cash cows that enable BIC to thrive by developing its stars and some of its question marks in line with market needs. BIC is an advanced(a) organisation that uses its technical and marketing expertise to supply consumers with the products they want and need.Questions1. use the Barksdale and Harris model that combines the BCG matrix and the product life cycle, consider how useful this kin g be to BIC when analysingtheir product portfolios. 2. Consider the work of Booz, Allen and Hamilton Consultants in relation to the break down curve of new product ideas, and suggest how this energy be applied by BIC when bringing new product ideas to the market place. 3. The GE/McKinsey matrix has nine boxes as opposed to the BCG matrix that has four boxes. Consider how it might or might not have been better for BIC to apply the GE/McKinsey matrix on the basis that it might be more complete? 4. Consider the work of Everett Rogers in relation to product adopter categories. exploitation his idea, how might BIC adapt their promotional strategy in relation to targeting different adopter categories?