Question

A case can be made that sound reproduction has become one of the areas in which technological innovations have made the most profound leaps forward. Leading the way are major competitors such as Sony, Philips, Tivoli Audio, and Bose. Many forms of sound delivery exist, some featuring earphones and headphones, and others through stand-alone speakers.

The Bose Corporation began operations in 1964. Amar G. Bose, a professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, became frustrated during his attempt to purchase a high-quality stereo system. He believed that the speakers that were available had impressive technical specifications but failed to reproduce the realism of a live performance.

Four years later, the first Bose product reached the market. In a very short time, Bose has delivered a series of innovations in sound.

Currently, the Bose Wave products are at the forefront of quality sound, including the Wave radio, Wave music system, and Acoustic Wave music system. Each is designed to deliver the most realistic sound through a compact, attractive device that will fit in any room in the home or office. The product can be linked with a dock that both plays and recharges an iPod. Another product allows the user to wirelessly play and store music from an internet radio station. Other Bose products include headphones, home theater systems, speakers, and sound systems for various locations, including boats and businesses.

Bose systems are on the high end in terms of price. For example, the most widely purchased Wave music system had a list price of $499.95 in November 2009. To entice buyers, product discounts are routinely offered, including a $100.00 price reduction when the Wave is purchased with the accompanying multi-CD changer. Also, Bose offers one-year, interest-free financing.

The Bose marketing program includes use of traditional media, most notably television, newspaper, and magazine advertising. The company’s website allows buyers to find and purchase all items online. The company employs a limited number of retail stores that feature the Bose line. The primary marketing emphasis remains focused on quality. For example, Fortune rated the Bose QuietComfort headset, which cancels outside noise, as the best-quality option for headphones.

Although a company’s reputation for quality may help to drive sales, outside factors can interfere. The recession that began in 2008 and continued into 2009 led many shoppers to cut back purchases, especially for more expensive luxury items. Bose was not immune to this trend. The company was forced to lay off nearly 1,000 workers, or 10 percent of its labor force, during the decline.

At the same time, Bose forged ahead, seeking to develop new technologies in areas other than sound. As the economy continues to recover, business analysts expect Bose to build on its core products while moving into new areas, furthering the growth of this innovative, energetic organization.

Questions

(1) Explain how the IMC planning process would apply to future marketing ​efforts for Bose Wave products.

(2)Identify the market segments that the Bose Wave products should continue to maintain.

(3) Should Bose continue to compete based on the high-price/high-quality positioning, or develop programs to reduce prices and entice a wider variety of shoppers?

(4) What should be the primary marketing communications objectives for Bose?

(5) What type of budget should be used for the Bose promotional program?

(6) Which IMC components best match the target market, position, objectives, and budget for Bose products?

this is a comprehension

Answer 1

Question 1

The Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) planning process concentrates on the three Cs, namely customers, competitors and communications.The customers are further sub-divided into four categories namely:

1) Present customers

2) Former customers

3) Potential customers

4) Competitor’s customers.

Having identified the customers will lead to identifying the market segments and focusing on the target market. The most important is to determine the product positioning which in turn will lead to defining the main objectives of the communications.This leads one to working out the budget and basing one’s selection of the various IMC components to be used.

Bose’s products are at the high end of the audio products market. They are well known for their quality and technology which is un-matched in the world. Their customers are from a small but very discerning group of individuals who appreciate the difference the quality and technology of Bose products brings. They are usually from the upper middle class and upper class since Bose products are usually very expensive.

Bose suffered a loss of sales due to the global economic downturn. This means that they lost some of their market due to the reduction of the disposable incomes in their customer’s pockets. These are customers that Bose can target to get back.Although the economic downturn has affected the western countries to a great degree the effect on the emerging economies is much lesser. Also the markets in Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa have been experiencing a boom. This is where the new potential customers could be found.Having identified the customers and markets the rest of the IMC planning process can be now followed.

Question 2

Bose Wave products should continue to maintain its present customer base by offering various incentives. One has to remember the old rule-of thumb that it cost six times as much to acquire a new customer than to retain an old customer.Bose’s strategy of going on with their technological development will pay rich dividends since the global down turn has not affected the upper crust of their markets and these customers can still afford to buy a new product. Also with the improving economic situation world-wide they can expect their old customers to come back and a revival of the sales.

Question 3

This question is very difficult to answer without the full financials of the company being available. Whether it can survive without diluting its image would depend on the level of reserves that the company has. However having said that, a glance at their website shows that they are in a lot of other diversified businesses which are totally disconnected form their core business of audio systems. These will help sustain the company over the lean times in the audio systems business.Hence one can conclude that they should not dilute their brand-equity by trying to enter the low cost market.

Question 4

The primary communications objective of Bose should be to maintain their positioning in the market of audio systems as a high quality and technologically innovative manufacturer.All the advertising messages as well as the website should concentrate on this fact. Also the communication should emphasize the “snob value” of the brand. For instance they also manufacture audio systems for automobiles. However these are found only in the more expensive brands of the automobiles and are custom designed for every car model.

Question 5

The Objective and Tasks Model would be the best model to be followed by Bose. Since it has a presence in various international markets it should evaluate its objectives in each of its markets. These could range from maintaining a market position to penetrating a new market.The sum of all these objectives would define the tasks required to achieve these objectives. Once these are defined the cost associated with each task can easily be calculated to define the total budget.

Question 6

Bose needs to deliver a lot of information for all its products. This is especially true in case of ether new products or old products in new markets.Hence the best IMC components to be used would be websites, print media as well as direct mail to a targeted segment.