1 TRệễỉNG ẹAẽI HOẽC Mễ TP. HCM HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITẫ LIBRE DE BRUXELLES SOLVAY BRUSSELS SCHOOL ECONOMICS & MANAGEMENT MMA6 Author: NGUYEN NGOC TRAM DO ANH TAI The Marketing Plan to launch one of the ABBOTT maternal nutrition products: New SIMILAC MUM-Advance EyeQ Plus đ MASTER PROJECT MASTER IN MARKETING & ADVERTISING Tutors Name SERGE BYWALSKI Ho Chi Minh City (2013) 2 COMMITMENTS & DISCLAIMERS We, the undersigned, Nguyen Ngoc Tram and Do Anh Tai commit that we have executed this final project by ourselves based on the information collected either    or from A V N . This document is designed only for the academic purpose of the completion of our Master in Marketing and Advertising. It is therefore not expected for any other commercial uses. In present this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Master of Marketing and Advertising at the Solvay Business School Economics and Management, we agree that this material shall make it freely available for reference and study. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to express our sincere thanks to Mr. Serge Bywalski for his initial guideline of the structure of this project. Prof. Alain definitely deserves a deep gratitude from us for his comments, advices and approval on this paper. We are grateful to the marketing department at Abbot Vietnam Nutrition for their continued encouragement and useful documents and recommendations. Finally, we must express our deep appreciation to all the helpful staff at the Post- graduated Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Open University, our colleagues, friends, and our family, who have, as always, given us their throughout supports. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS  COMMITMENTS & DISCLAIMERS 2  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3  TABLE OF CONTENTS 4  ABBREVIATIONS 6  INTRODUCTION 7 CHAPTER I: ABOUT THE PRODUCT BRAND 11 1. Abbott Laboratories Global 11 2. Abbott Nutrition Vietnam 13 CHAPTER II: ABOUT THE MARKET & BRAND KEY MILESTONES 14 1. Market Situation 14 2. Competitive Landscape 15 3. Market Share 16 4. Brand Key Milestones 17 CHAPTER III: BRAND POSITIONING 18  New Similac Mum Brand Key Attributes 18 1. Root Strengths 18 2. Competitive Environment 20 3. Target Group 20 4. Consumers Insight 20 5. Benefits 23 6. Driving Beliefs & Personality 23 7. Reasons To Believe 23 8. Discriminator 23 9. Brand Essence 23 5  New Similac Mum Positioning Charts 24 1. Brand Awareness Positioning 24 2. Market Share Positioning 24 CHAPTER IV: COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN 25 1. Communication Strategy 25 2. Interpreted Communication Architecture 26 3. Integrated Communication Execution 28 4. Budget & Timeline 34 CHAPTER V: COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN EVALUATION 34  REFERENCES 35  APPENDIX 36 6 ABBREVIATIONS CMR: Customer Relationship Management CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility FOS: Frebiotic Fiber HCPs: Hospital-Clinic Practitioners HTML: Hyper Text Markup Language IOM: Institute of Medicine KPI: Key Performance Indicator LCD: Liquid Crystal Display ME: Mother Education OTS: Opportunity to See PR: Public Relation ROI: Return on Investment SEC: Socio Economic Classification SEM: Search Engine Marketing SOM: Search Engine Optimization TVC: Television Commercial WOM: Words of Mouth 7 INTRODUCTION The Importance of a Marketing Plan These days, no business can afford to trade without a marketing plan. This applies to all types of businesses, large or small, online or bricks and mortar. A marketing strategy enables us to reach new audiences, raise awareness of our brand and sell our products or services (Internet, adaptiveconsultancy.com, Adaptive Consultancy 2013) The Benefits of a Marketing Plan There are several which include:  A             U            E          T our products or services to the right groups of customers, e.g. market segmentation.  U           A  -effective The end result is an increase in customers or web traffic if we trade online, which leads to increased sales. This provides a very good return on investment (ROI) as well as boosting our bottom line (Internet, adaptiveconsultancy.com, Adaptive Consultancy 2013). Stages of a Marketing Plan A marketing plan consists of a series of stages which are reviewed at intervals. These stages include:  C            if applicable. Once you know who your customers are, you can target your plan at them.  C       “    weaknesses. How do you stand out from the rest?  D              e building your brand identity, generating new leads, retain existing customers and establishing your position in the marketplace.  D            individual plan. Think about which marketing methods are appropriate for your business and how these will be measured. Set a timescale. 8  Set a budget: cost is always a factor. Many businesses avoid marketing due to the cost but it is possible to market your business on a budget (Internet, adaptiveconsultancy.com, Adaptive Consultancy 2013) The important of Advertising Advertising is a favorable representation of product to make consumers, customers and general public aware of products. It lets the potential buyers, general public and end users to be aware and familiar with the brands and their goods and services. (Internet, SimonCotter.com, important of advertising, 2009) Advertising is a paid form of persuasive communication that uses mass and interactive media to reach broad audiences in order to connect a brand with potential customers (the target audience). Advertising helps to identify a brand, provides information about the brand and persuades people to buy things. (Professor Alain, Solvay-ULB Vietnam, 2012) In a successful business, advertising play an essential and important role. Though advertising does not mean selling of products and services but it helps in increasing the sales. Advertising create awareness in people. When general public be conscious to the products, services and goods under the brands and pursuit people towards brands and make them buying better brands. Advertising can be used to create brand awareness in general public and to make business more popular within the circle of potential buyers. Advertising, in a straight line, increases profit of the companies by escalating its revenue. The expenditure made on advertisement can turn as good boost in earnings. (Internet, SimonCotter.com, important of advertising, 2009) The Roles of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) B         H     people, not just shareholders. A company should be a responsible member of the society in   I W B C  “ D   Businesses and their role in society are subjected to more intense scrutiny than ever. What is the main purpose of a company? Is it to make as profitable business as possible in order to                  perspective in the society? Should this perspective go beyond pure financial aspects of the activities? The quotation above refers to the ongoing discussion about what kind of responsibility a company has. Besides making profitable business the responsibility of a company can, for example, be connected to programs for fair treatment of employees, using 9 sustainable environmental friendly methods and participating actively in discussions about ethical social dilemmas (Löhman & Steinholz, 2003; Philipson, 2004). It is a discussion about how companies chooses to do business; solely with financial objectives or in a responsible way that might affect the financial return, but support other values. CSR is all about how a company chooses to run its business i.e. in which way business is done. A company with a serious CSR intention is likely to gain a competitive advantage, while a company with a neglecting attitude might face overwhelming problems. The discussion about CSR and communication of CSR shows that CSR should be an important part of a  brand management. Communicating positive CSR is a way of strengthening a brand, while neglected or negative CSR news can lead to dramatic consequences. Communication Platforms In marketing, there are different ways of formulating and creating a message that is intended for the receivers. These messages are seen as an important part of communication and they may be divided in terms of so called communication platforms Kotler (2003). These five communication platforms are presented in the figure below. Advertising includes the traditional marketing communication tools; newspapers ads, television ads and symbols and logos are some examples (Kotler, 2003). Sales promotion refers to communication through events like fairs, exhibits, games, lotteries and demonstrations and to give away free samples and gifts. Public relations and publicity is the platform that is not directly aiming to communicate to customers. Examples of public relations are the annual reports from a company, participation in seminars and sponsorships and publications. Personal selling is when a sales person from the company approaches potential customers through sales meetings and presentations. Direct marketing means that ADVERTISING SALES PPROMOTION PR & PUBLICITY PERSONAL SELLING DIRECT MAKETING Corporate communication platforms in terms of different channels and messages, each of these platforms is an important part of creating awareness of the business and the products among various stakeholders (inspiration from Kotler, 2003, 564). 10 the company contact potential customers through mail, e-mail, fax or telephone and offer the products in a direct, but non-personal, way. An alternative way of describing the different communication platforms is to talk about communication options (Keller, 2001). The division between the different options can be done in a similar way as in the model by Kotler, but the main point is that the sender of a message must make an active choice of which channel to use for communication. Understanding the possibilities and managing the risks of communication a company can create a strong brand (Keller, 2001; Kotler, 2003). The main idea of branding is that everything a company does communicate and that successful brand management will secure      cts in the mind of the customer (Carolina von Schantz (MSc) & Cecilia Mark-Herbert (Ass.Prof.), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SLU). Based on the above theory and consultancy, we will apply for the below project: The Marketing Plan for one of the ABBOT maternal nutrition products New Similac Mum-Advance EyeQ Plus (Low Fat Maternal Supplement with Fibre (FOS) for Pregnant & Breastfeeding Mothers) Primary objective: to increase products awareness Secondary objective: to push sales (No.1 in value share) New Similac Mum-Advance EyeQ Plus [...]... activities to invite mums to join All based on the customer data base of the brand SALES PROMOTION Package Pregnancy Check-up & Cash Away Launch a big consumer promotion with integrated mechanism Mom buy New Similac Mum get the code in the pack Mom come to website of New Similac Mum Advance EyeQ Plus www.happykick-happymoment.com, enter the code and play with the games to win prizes (Easy mechanic of playing... an expert column to give consultancy and advice for mums with a sub column to introduce best choice for mums: New Similac Andanced EyeQ Plus Event & Trade Organize conference to invite HCPs to announce the launch of new maternal product with the presentation of our innovative formulas and ingredients which bring great benefits to mums and fetus Distributor conference to announce the new scheme and big... brands in Vietnam NEW PRODUCTS LAUNCHED PIPELINES The leading market share and improving position thanks to its continuous introducing innovative products to the market together with the efficient advertising & CSR communication investment To be more competitive and developed, Abbot Vietnam will launch new products for Vietnam market and New Similac Mum- Advance EyeQ Plus (Low Fat Maternal Supplement... achieving # 3 rank from # 4, surpassed Anmum, winner of Abbott Global Best Practice 2008: Surpassed Dielac Mama to be no.2 player in vol share 2009: Revitalized label to be consistent with EyeQ range 2011: Similac Mum EyeQ Plus launched with media campaign support TVC 2013: New product launch: New Similac Mum- Advance EyeQ Plus 18 CHAPTER III: BRAND POSITIONING New Similac Mum Brand Key Attributes 9/ ESSENCE... consultancy for mum to track their pregnancies and take care of themselves and their babies Weekly activities like instructing mum how to breathe, how to sleep, nutrition programs and supporting mum and dad in communicating with their child since the happy kick Give advices for mum how to take care their womb in the best way and product information advices to help mum have the smart choice Happy Mum Fund... on the ratings, OTS, readership, accession, number of doctors, retailers, moms joined the brand activities The reaction to the media content (positive, neutral or negative) Integration efficient between the brand and consumers: number of collaboration, feedbacks, to the campaign through website, facebook, youtube The sales of New Similac Mum- Advance EyeQ Plus period May 13 to July 13 35 REFERENCES Abbott. .. Features and Claims The most advanced and outstanding formula ever for mums As a mother a woman wants the very best for her baby This desire is birthed the moment she begins to plan for her pregnancy She needs the strongest foundation that nutrition can provide to support her precious baby as he or she journeys from her womb to the world New Similac Mum- Advance EyeQ is a low-fat milk-based maternal supplement... Application: Develop application to track mum pregnancy period, push useful information about the development of fetus inside the womb following weeks of pregnancy, for ex: How the womb develop during week 20th, giving hints for mum to drink Similac Mum Direct Calls: Abbott experts contact mums through phone to consult about pregnancy nutrition program as well as invite mum to use Similac Mum Push information... New Similac Mum is the only one in the market that offer the most advanced and outstanding formula ever for babies and mums that the other brands could not 8 Reasons to Believe Similac Mum let my baby absorb the most advanced Unique EyeQ Plus system for both brain and body development Most advanced immunify ingredients and lowest in fat supports appropriate weight gain and provides me a host of valuable... playing the kick of the baby and add element to make the baby and the mom, daddy happy + attractive prizes: package of pregnancy checkup at FV hospital and cash 100,000,000 VND to support Mom take care of her giving birth) Dry Sampling & Gifts Away Practical gifts for mum to use to take care of the baby later upon buying products at points of sales Dry sampling to offer at promotion stands at key stores . DO ANH TAI The Marketing Plan to launch one of the ABBOTT maternal nutrition products: New SIMILAC MUM- Advance EyeQ Plus đ MASTER PROJECT MASTER IN MARKETING & ADVERTISING. Marketing Plan for one of the ABBOT maternal nutrition products New Similac Mum- Advance EyeQ Plus (Low Fat Maternal Supplement with Fibre (FOS) for Pregnant & Breastfeeding Mothers) Primary. will launch new products for Vietnam market and New Similac Mum- Advance EyeQ Plus (Low Fat Maternal Supplement with Fibre (FOS) for Pregnant & Breastfeeding Mothers) is obviously one of the