MKTG 1000: Market Segmentation and Brand Positioning of Brands

This assignment provides a detailed analysis of market segmentation and brand positioning, focusing on an American Airlines print advertisement and the fast-food industry. It examines how American Airlines uses psychographic, behavioral, and demographic segmentation to promote relaxation and multiculturalism. The report also includes a perceptual map of the fast-food industry, positioning brands like Subway, McDonald’s, KFC, Hungry Jack’s, and Domino’s based on price and choice. The analysis uses interpretivism to assess consumer perceptions and strategic market positioning. Desklib offers similar marketing assignments and study resources for students.

Running head: MARKET SEGMENTATION
Market Segmentation
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author notes:

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Part 1
Image: American Airines print advertisement

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(Source: Americanairlines.au 2019)
The following paper will be based on the print advert that was developed by American
Airlines, in order to promote the spirit of taking a break from the busy lives. The above
advertisement deserves accolades as it is unlike a general advertisement aimed at generating
turnover for the company. It has been witnessed that the company has applied intensive
segmentation approach in developing the advertisement.
Market segmentation is an approach that is undertaken by companies in order to narrow
down their target or potential markets (Li et al. 2013). Segmentation gives a company the unique
ability to implement and incorporate their strategies according to the needs and requirements of a
particular target group. Proper segmentation helps in breaking down the down a large group of
audience. The adverts that marketing teams develop have been are formulated keeping in mind a
specific target group. Thus the marketing team can devise their plan and strategies according to
the needs and requirements of the target market. In large markets there are a large number of
potential customers. That is the reason it becomes difficult for companies to formulate plans
through which they will be able to target the entire groups. It further, gives the marketers the
ability to focus their message towards a particular group. Targeting gives the marketer the option
to attract and potential consumer by creating a message that would be applicable for them (Wang
et al. 2018). Moreover, segmentation helps in reduction of waste. Being able to identify a target
group helps companies in identifying the requirements regarding the materials that they need to
formulate the plan.
In the print ad, American Airlines have segmented the potential market on the basis of
psychology. The psychographic segmentation that the company has made is of great significance
for the sustainability of the consumers. They have also segmented the ad on the basis of

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behaviour of the people and the demographic. The targets of the particular advertisement has
been devised for the people of the community who show an affinity for travelling. Thus, the aim
of American airlines is to convey the message that they care for the passion of the people of the
community and thus provide service that can help them stick with the passion of the former. The
demographic that the company has targeted is the working population of the society. The amount
of stress that is built up in the then to eight jobs, is huge, thus the company offers their services
which help the people in relieving themselves of the stress that is being accumulated. It has been
witnessed that the amount of stress that gets built in an individual if they do not take a break can
turn out to be catastrophic. Such levels of stress can turn out to be unfavourable for the
organisation that the employees are engaged to. Furthermore, the CSR activity of the company
has been recognised by their initiative of corporate social responsibility. The Company has
realised that there are certain people in the population who are engaged to rigorous schedules and
hardly get a break from their work. Thus, the initiative of the company behind the creation of the
advertisement is to promote the drive of relaxation and break form the same boring work habits
of the people. The aim of the developers of the ads is to create an urge of relaxation within the
communities. The company aims to capitalise on the psychology of the people, and thus deliver
valuable experiences to the communities. The initiative of corporate social responsibility of the
company has been highlighted in the following print advertisement. The company aims to
encourage the people to find their soul by sticking with the airline company. The aim of the
company is to help the community get out their daily regime and embark on journeys to find
their SOUL.
The surfer who is featured in the advert is has been recognised as the one of the first African
American surfer who has spread his arms upright and is on surf board that is not in water. The

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gesture of the individual symbolises the airline company. The surf board being on the ground
symbolises that the experiences are yet to take off. Furthermore, they have incorporated a degree
of multiculturalism into their approach. The company intends to communicate the information
that they support the view of multiculturalism, thus they have featured the story of and African-
American Individual in the advertisement. Thus, they aim to capitalise on the ethical
consideration of the people and thus have incorporated the same in their advertisement.
The words SOUL and SURFER also convey a message to the viewers of the advertisement.
While, the image depicts an image of a Surfer with arms spread wide, it should be understood
that there exists a deeper meaning and message. The advertisement has been designed in order to
instigate the imagination of the people would be exposed to the advertisement. In a generalised
meaning, soul surfing implies, surfing in the ocean, however, on deep analysis it can be
understood that soul surfing refers to looking for one’s own soul form the services that are
provided by the company. While there might be different meanings that might be interpreted, the
trained eye could break down the message in its desired form.
On a concluding note, it can be said that the company has developed the advertisement that has
been segmented on the basis of psychology, behaviour and demographics of the customers. The
advertise promotes multiculturalism and instigates the consumers into thinking. SOUL SURFER
might convey different meanings to different people. However, it has been identified that the
main aim of the initiative cove the message that the services that are provided by the company
can help the consumers, in taking a break from their busy schedules and educates the consumer
community about the needs of taking breaks at work.

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REFERENCES
Li, Zhibin, Wei Wang, Chen Yang, and David R. Ragland. "Bicycle commuting market analysis
using attitudinal market segmentation approach." Transportation Research Part A: Policy and
Practice 47 (2013): 56-68.
Wang, Jingya, Xiatian Zhu, Shaogang Gong, and Wei Li. "Transferable joint attribute-identity
deep learning for unsupervised person re-identification." In Proceedings of the IEEE Conference
on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, pp. 2275-2284. 2018.
Americanairlines.au, 2019. Airline Tickets and Airline Reservations from American Airlines |
aa.com. [online] Americanairlines.in. Available at:
https://www.americanairlines.au/intl/au/index.jsp?locale=en_IN [Accessed 2 Apr. 2019].

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Part 2
Positioning is a concept in marketing and is used by companies and their marketers to
differentiate their products form their competitors (Kwak and Harrison 2019). The aim of
positioning is to create an image in the mind of the customer community. Positioning refers to
the place that a product or brand occupies in the mind of a customer. A product that is
successfully marketed and is backed up by the effectiveness and customer satisfaction can be
successfully positioned in the mind of the customer community. Such products define the
repertoire of the company and are the basis of recognition of the company. In order to position a
product properly in the minds of the customers a company and their creative wing must devise a
campaign and marketing strategy through which they are able to justify the reason why behind
the choice of the customers. Moreover a favourably positioned product generally creates a need
of the product in the mind of the customer. A company can say that their product is favourable
positioned in the market if the customers recognise a particular product category using the brand
or product name that they have devised. Brand positioning is the outcome of the promotional
tools that are employed by a company in promoting a certain product or brand. In cases it has
been witnessed that brand ambassador help in successful positioning and one various rare cases
the product design and campaign is favourable enough to satisfy a response form the consumers.
Positioning has been identified as one of the most important and powerful marketing concepts
that exists (Urde and Koch 2014). Positioning determines the goodwill that is earned by a
company as is an important factor that has to be concerned in order to determine the
sustainability of a company. Products and brands cab be positioned in the mind of the
community as luxury, cheap, durable, tasty, powerful, reliable, fashionable, trendy and much

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more. It is the perception that the customers have on the brand or product and it determines how
the latter recognise the brand.
Perceptual map: Fast food industry
Figure: Perceptual map
(Source: As created by the Author)
Aggressive
Pricing
Limited options
Wide range of choices
Highly
priced

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The category that has been selected for the particular section is fast food. The position of the
perceptual map have been made by utilising interpretivism. There are five brands that have been
taken for the section and will be placed in the perceptual map on the basis of assumptions made
on the behaviour of the customer community. The criteria that have been presented for the
particular perceptual map are choice of options the price sensitivity. Segregation has been made
on the basis of limited options or wide range of options and on the basis of high pricing of the
products offered by the fast food companies and the ones who offer comparatively low prices.
The aforementioned factors play a vital role in formulation of perception of the consumers of the
products.
Subway have been detected as the brand who have offer the Australian market with the
maximum number of choices at favourably low prices. They have been identified as a brand who
supply numerous healthy food choices to the community at favourable prices (Counihan and
Esterik 2012). The prices at which they supply product to the market are considered to be on the
lower size and thus this is the justification behind their position on the perceptual map.
McDonald’s has been identified as the company have highly priced their products and
offer favourable amount of choices to the Australian fast food consumers (Counihan and Esterik
2012). In the perceptual map as stated above, McDonald’s is the company who have priced their
products. Furthermore, they offer a decent amount of choices to the consumers.
KFC is the company who have supplied the community with decent amount of choices at
favourable prices (Counihan and Esterik 2012). Although the prices of the products that the
brand provides the consumers is priced on the higher side, it is not so highly priced that it would
break the bank. Furthermore, numerous choices are available for the consumers who choose to

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stick with the company. It can be also said that the company is constantly innovating and coming
up with items that satisfy the diverse palette of the consumers of Australia.
Hungry Jack’s is a subsidiary of Burger King. The latter has not been mentioned since the
former has been created especially for the Australian Market. The company has been highly
appreciated in the Australian community since they have provided the market with good quality
food at low prices. It has been found out that the company has priced their products aggressively
in order to align themselves with the strategy of market penetration. However the company does
not offer their consumers with varied choices to choose from. It has been that they have priced
their products competitively in order to gain exposure to the masses. Furthermore, it is believed
that they will increase their price in the future with increased brand awareness and only then will
they start offering more options to the customers. Thus their position on the perceptual map is
justified.
Dominos is one of the most recognised brands in the list of the chosen brands. Dominos
is a reputed company and have brands established all over the world. Even though options are
available for the customers, it has been deemed to be fairly low as compared to the competitors.
The high prices of the product can be justified by taking in consideration the reputation that the
company has in the market. Thus, they have secured the position in the perceptual map.
KFC has been identified as the brand who have the most favourable position in the
perceptual map for a company’s point of view. From a customer’s point of view, the most
favourable position can be awarded to SUBWAY. The latter has the ability to offer the highest
number of options at lowest prices. Thus they have gained considerable appreciation from the
consumer community. However, KFC has been recognised as the most successful brand in the

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Australian market. They have been identified to be favourably aligned with the consumer
behaviour related to consumption of fast food in Australia.
“KFC are the market leaders in Australia and rightfully so” (Mooij 2018). They have
earned their spot as the market leaders by implementing strategies and marketing campaigns that
help them gain acceptance form the Australian consumers. KFC has been positioned in the minds
of the Australian foodies as the perfect snack and meal. Once chicken comes to the mind of the
Australian consumers, they can directly relate to KFC before any other fried chicken. The
company has been successful throughout the world and have been most appreciated in Australia.
Even though the company roots back to Kentucky, USA, the Australian division is one of the
highest providers of dividend that the company receives overall. The reason behind the success
of the brand in Australian community is due to the repertoire of the marketing team of the
company. They have been able to establish their position in the minds and hearts of the
Australian through numerous and varied marketing campaigns. Furthermore, they have also
devised sales promotional campaigns that have supposedly boosted the sales of the fast food
joint. The company has been made visible to the whole world and the country ever since they
were identified as the chief sponsors of the Big Bash T20 league in Australia (Sherriff, Griffiths
and Daube 2010). The logo of the brand is visible to all the cricket enthusiasts across the country
and the world. Thus the name KFC, has been recognised as a household name in Australia.
Furthermore, they have been the main sponsors of the Australian T20 team. Additionally, with
ads such as the above and the highly recognised face of Colonel Sanders, the company has been
subject to serious amount of appreciation from the Australian community. A campaign can be
identified when the company planned to engage the customers using the paper buckets (Greene
2011). The popularity of the cricketing events were identified by the marketers of the company

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and they decided to boost the sales of their product by devising a campaign were the consumers
of the community could use the paper buckets where the chicken were served, as hats. Multiple
people doing the same at the same time would give the consumers a sense of engagement while
supporting their home team in a T20 cricket game (Sherriff, Griffiths and Daube 2010). Colonel
Sanders has expired however, his iconic look was used by the company in creating mascots
looking similar to the Colonel. Thus, the company figure out that it was an effective way to
communicate about the latest deals and offers that were being offered at KFC. The latter involve
two integral part of the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), marketing and sales
promotion.
Thus, on a concluding note it can be said that KFC has been identified as the company who have
been perfectly aligned to the needs of the Australian consumers. The company has priced their
products favourably and have been identified to be offering various options to the Australian
community. Along with decisive marketing tactics and favourable positioning the company have
been deemed to achieve competitive advantage.