Theme 1: Understand the role of marketing in business and society

Video: The market: the meeting place between supply and demand

Supply :

- product
- service
- cause
- idea

Demand :

- consumers (BtoC)
- professionnals (BtoC)
- citizens
- constituents
- employees

The market : meeting place, can be physical or virtual. Wherever there is a market or a
demand meets a offer : there is marketing

Henkels (marketing 1970). The distribution doesn’t work. England and USA : first agencies of
advertising (1936). After newspapers : posters (became main force of media)

Marketing has gradually developed into other sectors, and therefore different types of
marketing (luxury, political, territory). Marketing is defined as the study of the consumers
needs in the aim of meeting those needs.

Video: Towards a detailed definition of marketing, future trends

Consumer experience, a way to :

- take into account all the steps in the consumption

- distinguish from the others
- generate satisfaction

To go beyond clients expectations (expectations can be unconscious)

Marketing Management comprises :

 - the study of audiences
- the creation of supplies
- the diffusion of supplies

Video: Understand the role of marketing in the company

The evolution role of marketing :

1. Product logic (how can we produce the best product ?)

2. Customer logic (how can we propose the best solution to the consumer ?)

Marketing principle attention is the consumer relation

Is also at the front ligne of collect and analyse data on consumers

3. Give a unified meaning to a brand

The point of view of marketers

The marketing manager

- his place
- his interactions
- his skills

The marketing manager must

- make the brand grow

- be present at every stage of the client’s journey
- be a genuine facilitator

To move from a “push” logic to a “pull” logic. The skill set must evolve :

- to analyse the collected data

- to facilitate online communities
- to create digital content

The marketing manager has a much more cross-functional role today

Video: Understanding the role of marketing in society

Should all the companies do marketing ?

Marketing plan :

- to match supply with demand

- the existence of the market is indispensable

Market conditions :

- buyers are free of their own choices

- supply exceeds demand
- competition
- long term goals

Client satisfaction is critical to the market process

Video: What and how do marketing managers decide?

The marketing manager’s missions:

- strategy
- marketing studies
- commercial

The marketing manager uses :

- a marketing information system (MkIS)

- his analytical skills

Video: Is marketing always ethical?

Fair exchange :

- fair relation (between both parties, nobody forced)

 - transparent information

The guarantors of ethics :

- public policy
- independent agency
- product labelling

QUIZZ

Business to consumer (BtoC) marketing is defined as:

→ marketing that targets a customer who is the (real) end consumer

What element of the ecosystem enabled developpement of marketing in the 19th century ?
→ A distribution network: network of stores and department stores
→ a logistics network for transporting and delivering products: train, postal services
→ the developpement of advertising

Marketing can be exercised on :

→ all types of markets
→ activities in the market and non market domains

The skills of the marketing manager are evolving. A marketing manager must :
→ know how to manage projects
→ master market knowledge tools
→ have analytical skills
→ animate and mobilize internal and external ressources

The value of an offer

→ can be measured by the maximum price a customer is willing to pay
→ is different for each client
→ has 4 dimensions (functional, hedonis, symbolic and ethical)
Additional Resource: The value proposition and the different types of value created

Theme 2 : Analyze the marketing environment (Guillaume et Maxime)

Video: How to identify the different ways of creating value?

Have to understand what clients perceive as valuable --> what they will be willing to pay for
them

To idenfify the source of value creation, marketers must gain a deep understanding of
customers needs and tastes and what constraints their consumption of products

--> this is figured out through marketing studies

TWO MAIN METHODS

1) Ask consumers directly but

● there can be a comprehension bias
● And a memory bias
● Social desirability bias --> want to present yourself in the best possible light to the
person asking the questions
--> even consumers themselves cannot be very reliable in their answers because they are
biased

2) Observe consumer behavior

--> look at the pages consumer visits, their search history etc.
BUT How do we interpret and make sense of these behaviors?
→ Hence, both of the research methods have limits.

When using a qualitative approach, we are trying to understand the logic behind the
behaviors (1 on 1 interviews, group interviews or focus groups, or ethnographic methods)
Usually small, diverse sample of population

When using a quantitative approach, we are looking to measure how many consumers have
biased attitudes and behaviors
Usually interpreting big data
TWO TYPES OF MARKETING
1. Demand marketing --> first needs easy for consumers to express : important to use a
qualitative approach
2. Supply marketing --> observation is more useful : quantitative approach more useful

Video: Why and how to observe consumer behavior?

Steve Jobs said that it is very difficult to design a product basing ourselves on focus groups.
Most of the time, people don't know what they want until you show it to them --> this quote
illustrates the limitations of these type of market research, where innovation is the end goal

To make the most out of observation, ask the right questions :

● Who should we observe? --> can choose to observe average consumers, but can be
more efficient to look at trend setting consumers (lead users)
● What should we observe? --> have to identify the source of value creation to observe
the global experience of the client. Then, can identify the constraints
● How should we observe? --> quantitative method can offer an overview, the qualitative
approach can help develop a deeper understanding over a longer period of time
Final objective : find insights and understand better the subconscious/internalized feelings of
consumers

Video: Brand choice and the market

Ex : instructor proposes you to work on an inspiring brand : the Michel et Augustin brand
Define the scope of your market --> products market and direct competitors. In our example :
yogurt drink BUT also have to define generic markets. In our example : fresh dairy products
market, after school market, etc.
Have to make a choice --> in which market will we develop?

1. Analysis of the market and its environment

Political --> stability

Economic --> growth, interest, and exchange rates + inflation
Social --> any social factor that will have an impact on demand (ex. population growth)
Technological --> rate speed of technological changes for my sector of activity
Environment --> consumer expectation when taking into account the environment in your
category of products
Legal --> standards and norms considering your area activity
To idenfity strengths in terms of presence and consumer expectations, necessary to
understand the notions of offer and demand
Offer : competiton (direct and indirect)
Demand : consumers

To analyse your market in this environment, you have to to carry out a thorough search of
information data :
→ Start with the internet
→ Use specialized resources
→ Sector survey researches
+ meet consumers to understand how they make their purchasing decisions

Video: What is a SWOT?

Consists in an assessment and diagnosis in order to help managers in their decision making
for the month to come
--> gives insight on the market and the environment in which your brand evolves
It leads to KEY DECISIONS (repositioning of products, recommendations relating to the 4 Ps)
--> step to brand strategy

3 phases to SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses (internal analysis), Opportunities, Threats (external

analysis))
1. Opportunities and threats concern the market (Use
the PESTEL analysis)
Strengths and weaknesses concern your business
2. Use qualitative or quantitative (or both) research to
measure consumer behavior
3. Internal analysis --> what is your performance, your
profit? What is the position of your product?

Performance assessment :
After you have completed all the steps, very
important to make a DIAGNOSIS to reach efficient
strategic decisions.
Do not mix strengths and opportunities

Additional Resource:

1) Study approach and choice of methodology

2) How to write an interview guide
3) How to draw up a questionnaire
4) Tips to make a SWOT

QUIZZ

To understand the motivations for buying a slimming cream, would you use a quantitative
or qualitative approach ?
→ qualitative

Through the observation f purchasing behaviour, one can identify without risk of bias the
criteria for choice of an offer
→ false

An interview guide differs from a questionnaire because

→ all questions are open-ended questions
→ the order of topics discussed can be changed during the interview

For amusement park business, the increase in the length of paid holidays is:
→ an opportunity

Element relating ti the evolution of competition:

→ are to be considered in the external diagnosis part
→ are part of the threats.
Theme 3: Understand consumer behavior

Video: Is the aim of marketing the satisfaction of its clients?

Goal of marketing → satisfy clients

But limits to customer satisfaction:

1. Balance between the customer and the company: both parties must find interest in
the exchange → should satisfy clients but also generate profits
2. The role of influencers: one single person does not make the decision itself to buy
something but is influenced by other people around who each impact the decision in
their own way (many people involved in the process of buying: the consumer or user
of the product/service, the one who pays, the one who buys, the informer, the
councilor, the prescriptor
3. Select customer requirements: Impossible to satisfy everyone so number of choices
has to be made

→ Marketing should go further than only satisfy → societal marketing goes beyond fulfilling the
immediate needs and focus on the long term interest

Video: Does marketing create needs?

Notion of “need” → Starting point for marketing

New product/service won’t create new needs BUT customers will feel subconsciously or
unsubconsciously it will meet some of their needs

A product/service has a principal function but might also responds to other needs → logic
behind societal needs

These needs can create conflicts between short and long-term goals

Video: The major stages of the purchase process

1. The recognition of a need which can be met through an act of consumption

2. Customers will look for information to know how to meet it
3. Evaluate the different options: compare the options available
4. Act of purchase
5. The post-purchase: degree of customer’s satisfaction is assessed

Video: The particular role of involvement and behaviors in the decision process

Order and steps of the purchase process can change

Routine purchases VS Purchases of new products → after the initial process, the purchase
becomes more and more routine, and the customer is more likely to rely on her experience
and habits to choose brands

Routine character of a purchase: Not always related to the degree of implication that it
generates → a purchase can be both routine and involving

Impulse purchase: purchase step before all other steps → the customer begins by buying and
only later might see a tentation to rationalize the purchase and to link it to a need

Video: Cognitive bias

Pre-existing attitude: favorable or unfavorable predisposition that a person may have towards
an object, a brand or even a person

Multi-dimensional predisposition → 3 components:

1) cognitive: the beliefs of a consumer with respect to the object in question
2) emotional: the consumer’s feelings about a product
3) behavioral: the consumer’s intention with respect to the product or brand

Search for consistency:

- Search for confirmation: it is so difficult for brands to change the attitudes of
customers towards them. Customers are looking for consistency between the different
elements that shape their brand’s attitude → They tend to focus only on information
that confirms what they think and feel about the brand, and to minimize or even ignore
what would call their attitude into question
- Search for justification: people like to justify their decisions. It allows them to reduce
the cognitive dissonance they feel when confronted with conflicted information
- The importance of mood: if a feature of a product puts the customer in a good mood, it
will facilitate the access to positive memory

So customers are influenced by their pre-existing attitude and are also subject to a number of
biases.

Video: Should we listen to what the client says?

The “short-sightedness” risk → If a company is too focused on the needs of their customers
risk impeding the ability to innovate

Marketing Paradox: if we listen too much to what clients think they want, the company won’t
see what the clients really need

Causes of this “short-sightedness”:

 - potential customers are not aware of the scope of possibilities that technologies
offers: they may not be capable of imagining all the possibilities available to them
- “subconscious” or “internalized” needs: the client has internalized thee problem to the
point that they don’t think about it anymore BUT if the problem is solved it would
create feelings of satisfaction

So, there are 2 types of marketing procedures:

- demand marketing: conceiving a product/service to satisfy an identified need → leads
to better products rather than real innovation
- supply marketing: determining what is possible in order to respond to subconscious
needs

→ We should listen to what the client says but we should not stop there

QUIZZ

Would you say the following purchases are involving for the customer?
→ a computer
→ a perfume

Who is the priority target of marketing actions?

→ the decision-maker
→ the buyer
→ the product

What are the three components of an attitude?

→ cognitive, affective and behavioral

The five classic steps in the purchasing process are:

→ recognition of need, information gathering, evaluation of alternatives, decision making,
purchasing, post-purchase evaluation

As a result of their search for consistency in their attitudes, consumers will tend to :
→ filter the information they receive
→ align their behavior with their beliefs
→ focus only on information that confirms their beliefs
→ evaluate their past purchases in a biased manner
Theme 4: Select a marketing strategy

Video: The importance of understanding your positioning

Having a clear and coherent Positioning necessary.

Ex : Carrefour didn’t have a clear and coherent positioning (compared to its competitors)
which lead to losses in the next years

Video: Positioning is subjective

Even if a company choose a positioning

The client vision (subjective) defines the final positioning

Examples of clients vision :

volvo and security (even if all brand have the same)
Debitel and quality (even if other operators use the same network)

However it is not because it is subjective that you cannot quantify and analyze it to deliver
concrete action and efficient levers.

Video: How to analyze the positioning of a company?

PCA tool : Principles Components Analysis

On PCA graphs you can compare company products (close products have the same
characteristics)
You must well choose your analysis segments to run an effective PCA
The better segments are the segments which maximizes the variance of all the products
characteristics

Video: The importance of understanding your positioning

Your goal is to serve your client better, thus you need to know who your clients are, what their
main characteristics are. In order to create a product adapted to their needs
To do so, we use : Client segmentation
Example of method to segments your clients : KNN
(K-Nearest Neighbors)
The clients are represented by points and segmented into colored categories
. on the left graph
Video: The elements of positioning

What defined the (subjective) positioning on the clients mind :

1) Ads displayed
2) The customers using/buying the product
3) The stores
4) The product

Video: The characteristics of a useful segmentation

1) Homogeneous segments
2) Distinct segments
3) Segment is a substantial part of the company
4) Measurable segments (relation d’ordre)

To do so, we use PCA (statistical method) to maximize products characteristics variance by

choosing the right segments

Additional Resource:

1) Know the different types of segmentation criteria

2) Targeting Strategy
3) Select segmentation
Theme 5: Analyze a brand policy

Video: What is a brand?

Brand: set of signs who identifies a product or service and distinguished it from others
- discussive: words, pseudonyms, acronyms
- audible: sounds of musical phases
- figurative signs
Example: Louboutin, red sole (distinctive sign)

A brand is a symbolic enveloppe, can be related to a person (ex: Dior, Chanem)

Video: Brands as a tool to create value for businesses

The brand increases the value.

Brand equity: defines the added value a brand brings to a product. Set of attitude and
behaviors. Can be positive or negative and influenced by:
- consumer loyalty to the brand awareness
- the perceived quality of the brand
- brand associations
- brand engagement or presence of the brand on social networks

Financial
- market share of the brand
- the brand resistance to the action of their competition
- the brand image
- the ability of the brand to retain consumers
- the brand potential for stretching
- the weight of the brand with regards to distribution players

Employer brand : marque employeur

Video: Building brand identity

Brand platform:
- vision
- mission
- values
- personality
- communication style
- graphic charter

Brand identity =/= brand image

Manager vision =/= consumer vision

Video: Structuring a brand portfolio

Brand portfolio : refers to all the brands owned and used by a company
- 2 main types of architecture (brand dominant or dual brand system)
- corporate brand : Unilever

Video: Should a brand be extended to other categories of products?

Brand stretching :
- horizontal : extending to new markets
- with the core values of the brand
- legitimate and accepted in the new product category
- if it perceived as relevant as relevant in relation to the competition offer
- vertical :
- higher-end segment
- lower: easier

Video: Should brands collaborate with other brands?

Co-branding: collaboration between two or more brands based on the co-definition of the
product and the co-signature of the product.
- medium or long term relationship
- advantages: reinforces the strength of the offer, broadens the potential customer base

The host brand: the original brand of the category where the product is co-branded.
The guest brand : indicates the presence of a specific component in the manufacturing of the
product.

Which of the following statements is true ?

→ A brand with a strong awareness has a better image than as less well-known brand
→ A brand is all the stronger the wider the range of products it signs
→ The more loyal customers a brand has, the stronger.
→ The older a brand, the greater its extension potential
The various headings od Brand Identity Prism are :
→ physical facet, personality, reflection, culture, consumer mentalisation, relationship

What is the element that is not part of the brand equity assessment :
→ brand awareness
→ brand identity
→ consumer loyalty to the brand

Milka chocolate brand recently partnered with the oreo cookie brand to launch new
chocolate bar with both brand names. What are the elements of a successful cobranding
initiative ?
→ the awareness of the Milka host brand
→ the awareness of the guest brand Oreo
→ the reputation of the guest brand
→ the reputation of the host
→ the image complementarity between the two brands
Theme 6: Produce Value

Video: What is customer experience?

According to a French study “the customer experience is a strategic priority for 95% of
businesses”.

Définition:
• Customer’s response to any direct (visit the website) or indirect (talk to other about the
brand) contact with the company
• Internal and subjective response
• Not a 1 single customer experience, but as many customer experiences as customers
• It is based on all the steps prior and posterior to the purchase

Why is it important:
• Every interaction is an opportunity to create value
• Creation of value before the purchase (well-structured website) or after (customer service)

Video: Customer experience and value creation

The customer experience doesn’t necessarily need to be perfect

It has to be memorable -> identify and neutralize “client irritants”. Generate trigger emotions.
Must be unique, distinctive and homogeneous. People are more sensitive to bad experience
and talk more about the bad than the good ones.

Video: Customer experience and satisfaction

Satisfaction is an emotional response based on a judgment: it is based on the customer

preliminary expectations.

Example: we can be disappointed of a really decent restaurant which everyone told you
wonderful things about it

How you build satisfaction?

• minimize the gap between the perceived performance and the actual performance of the
company
• strike the right balance to match expected performance

Video: How is price determined?

Different categories:
• Fixed prices
• Negociated price
• Freely defined price (pay what you want)
• Performance pricing (contingency pricing)

Few obligations:
• The company is not free to set its price (medicinal products)
• Selling at a loss is forbidden
• Price transparency
• No pricing agreements
• No imposed prices
• No discriminatory prices

Video: What general framework can be used to determine a price?

A company’s pricing policy is based on a number of decisions:

• Define the catalog price
• The discount policy
• Promotional policy

There are 2 boundaries to defined a price: minimal price (production cost) and maximum price
(willingness to pay)
Evaluation of a price is based on the production value (seller), use value (buyer) and exchange
value (market)

The objectives of the company:

• Not selling at a loss
• Maximise profit
• Fair price policy
• Brand image objective

2 observations about pricing policy:

1. it is a key approach of marketing policy
2. interacts with the other components of the marketing mix

Video: Assessing the effects of a price decision on sales

The demand function: it allows the company to assess the level of demand for each price
It is “plastic” (flexible)
The value of a price elasticity is usually negative (expensiveness effect). The higher the value
of elasticity, the higher the effect of price
Elasticity -1: turn over is table (global median =-2)
Ex: price increase of 10% leads to 20% decrease in sell volume

QUIZZ

Which of these proposals optimize the customer experience for the purchase of a natural
cosmetic product ?
→ An optimization of logistics allowing to have no stockouts
→ An improvement in store lighting, for more clarity
→ Botanical training for saleforces
→ The launch of compact and biodegradable packaging

How can customer satisfaction with a purchase or consumption experience increased ?

→ By increasing perceived performance
→ By lowering expectations
→ By increasing actual experience

What are the conditions for an optimized customer experience ?

→ memorable, positive, distinctive and consistent
→ unique, perfect, emotional and consistent
→ satisfactory, consistent, emotional and distinctive
→relevant, consistent, positive and efficient

One of the elements is not part of a compagny’s pricing objectives:

→ not to sell at a loss
→ maximize profit
→ minimize price elasticity
→ have a fair pricing polic
→ have a price image consistent with it’s positionning

Demand is said to be elastic when :

→ the sales volume increases by more than x% when the price drops by x%
→ the sales volume falls by more than x% when the price inscreases by x%
→ the sales volume decreases by less than x% when the price increases by x%
→ the sales volume increases by less than x% when the price decreases by x%
Theme 7: Deliver the value

Video: Story-telling and communication channel integration

Video: The relationship between marketing objectives and communication objectives
Video: Communication plan
Video: Main communication channels
Video: What is a distribution channel?
Video: How should distribution circuits be configured?
Video: How should distribution channels be structured?

Select one :
→ to make people like in store promotion
→ To make people like advertising
→ to get action sport sponsoring
→ to make people know

When launching an advertising campaign, are the following indicators relevant to

measuring is effectiveness ?
→ increase in awareness of the brand or offer
→ approval of the advertising campaign
→ increase in sales
→ lower prices