Assignment:
Research the current product positioning of similar products to determine the best positioning for your clients' product and explain your findings.
According to Peter and Olson (2008), product positioning is positioning the product relative to competing products in the minds of the consumers (Chapter 15). Based of this definition Exotic Smokes Cigarettes will analyze the product positioning of two of the major players in this category, Camel and Salem. Both companies produce flavor cigarettes and have experienced successes and failures in this category. They have formed a particular brand image in consumers' minds and developed a coherent strategy that involves all of the marketing mix elements (Peter and Olson, 2008, ).
Camel's line of flavored cigarettes is called Exotic Blends and offers premium, limited-edition luxury cigarettes. The line launched nationally in 2003 and five flavors were introduced throughout that year (Legacy Tobacco Documents Library at UCSF, n.d.).The strategy involved offering a highly differentiated (product and packaging) premium products, maintain the vibrancy and excitement of the family with a dynamic product portfolio (Legacy Tobacco Documents Library at UCSF, n.d.).Some of their failures were packaging design that did not extend the shelf life of the product. They conducted a survey and the results were that 50% of product at retail was outdated; this cost them a 1 time cleanup cost of $5 mm. The result of this was a packaging redesign that extended shelf life to 14 months (Legacy Tobacco Documents Library at UCSF, n.d.). Lastly, they positioned themselves as the ideal "going out" smoke for the weekends.
Salem's intent to aggressively pursue competitive smoker engagement and trial by continuing tooffer value-added highly differentiated products that set them apart in a way that is dramatic, intriguing, and sensory (Legacy Tobacco Documents Library at UCSF, n.d.). According to Legacy Tobacco Documents Library at UCSF (n.d.), their objective is to leverage Salem's "Stir the Senses" positioning in a way that engages competitive adult smokers. They carry six premium blends with flavors that span between sweet, minty, and herbal and peppery.
Because of this analysis TRIAAD suggests that Exotic Smokes position themselves by use or application, product user, and competitor. In studying the competition, it was found that those who favor flavored cigarettes like exciting packaging, live life to the fullest, regard themselves as the "hip crowd", and enjoy new experiences. Exotic Smokes will position themselves as the "new, elite kid on the block". It will appeal to those who consider themselves leaders and not followers; those who like to set trends and have extensive networks of associates. It will target 18-34 year olds and the flavors will vary according to focus group based off of lifestyles, cultures, and subcultures. It will compete with its competitors by placing fewer products on the shelves in retail stores to create the feeling of an "elite" brand and utilize smooth textured, brightly (technology enhanced) graphics in containers that extend shelf life. TRIAAD has used the success and the failures of its competitors to come up with a solid product positioning strategy.
References:
Legacy Tobacco Documents Library at UCSF. (n.d.). Camel Exotic
Blends. Retrieved from https://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/documentStore/w/q/a/wqa21i00/Swqa21i00.pdf
Peter, J. P., & Olson, C. J. (2008). Consumer behavior& marketing strategy. (8th ed.).
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Legacy Tobacco Documents Library at UCSF. (n.d.). Salem Product Line Extension
Concept Development Brief. Retrieved from https://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/documentStore/o/t/c/otc87h00/Sotc87h00.pdf
Attachment:- Product by User.rar