Marketing Concepts and Practices

This assignment explores Addison Lee's marketing strategy and its effectiveness. Students are required to analyze the company's target market, segmentation approach, and brand positioning. The analysis should draw upon relevant marketing concepts and theories, such as market orientation, consumer behavior, and integrated marketing communications. Students will evaluate Addison Lee's strategies based on their alignment with current trends in the transportation industry and their contribution to the company's success.

Running head: MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY OF ADDISON LEE
Marketing and Communications Strategy of Addison Lee
Name of the University
Name of the Student
Author note

1MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY OF ADDISON LEE
Executive Summary
The primary focus of this report is to analyze and discuss the marketing and communications
strategy of Addison Lee, a hire company based in United Kingdom. The report involves a
chronological discussion of the company’s overview, its marketing orientation, marketing
environment, the macro, micro and internal environmental factors, marketing strategies and
marketing mix. Addison Lee mostly operates in London is in service for more than forty years.
The company looks to develop its business and apply a new marketing strategy that targets
customers between the ages of 16 to 25. The report focuses on the application of new marketing
strategy in order to expand Addison Lee’s business and achieve the desired target. The report
concludes with a comparative analysis of the company and describes its present status.
Recommendations made at the end of the report includes changes need to be made in the
product, promotion and pricing strategies of the company.

2MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY OF ADDISON LEE
Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Marketing orientation......................................................................................................................3
Marketing environments..................................................................................................................7
Marketing environment analysis..................................................................................................7
Macro environmental factors.......................................................................................................8
Micro environmental factors........................................................................................................9
Internal environmental factors...................................................................................................10
Marketing strategy.........................................................................................................................11
Market segmentation.................................................................................................................11
Segmentation approaches..........................................................................................................11
Marketing mix...............................................................................................................................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................15
References:....................................................................................................................................16

3MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY OF ADDISON LEE
Introduction
Addison Lee is a London based private hire company that was founded in the year 1975 by John
Griffin. The company’s services include pick-up on demand, availability of cars with pre
indicated price, advance bookings, Wi-Fi connectivity, easy cash payment and so on (Addison
Lee 2017).
Marketing communications is the implementation of various communication tools in order to
market a product or service (Pearsoned.co.uk 2017). It is a part of the overall marketing strategy
of a company.
The report discuses the marketing strategy applied by Addison Lee to focus on a new
target group of customers in the age of 16 to 25 years.
Marketing orientation
Businesses previously used to stress more on other factors such as production, product and
selling rather than on consumers. However, this trend has changed and today, the consumer is the
ultimate ruler (Study.sagepub.com 2017). Through marketing orientation, one can identify which
factor a particular business focuses on. The four basic factors include production, sales, product
and marketing.
Production, product, selling and market orientations
In production-oriented business, companies mainly stress on mass production to reduce
costs.

4MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY OF ADDISON LEE
Product-oriented businesses rely mostly on the quality of their product or service.
Companies orientating their focus on product quality neglect the demands and desires of the
consumers.
Selling the product to the customer is the sole target of a sales-oriented company. A
sales-oriented company does not consider the wants of the consumer, rather presumes what the
consumer wants.
The most favored and applied strategy for companies in today’s world is the marketing
orientation. This type of companies put all their efforts to lure the customers and satisfy their
needs in every way possible (Dalgic and Leeuw 2015).
Figure 1: Graphical representation of marketing orientation
(Source: Created by author)
Addison Lee is undoubtedly a market-oriented company. The company invests all its
energy in providing services that cater to the needs of the customers.
ProductionSellingProductMarket

5MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY OF ADDISON LEE
In its attempt to connect with the new generation customers, Addison Lee rebranded itself
by launching its new logo with a modern look. The digital redesigning of the logo allows
Addison Lee to have a distinct look amidst a host of other similar businesses.
Figure 2: Former Black & White logo of Addison Lee
(Source: Addison Lee 2017)

6MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY OF ADDISON LEE
Figure 3: Addison Lee’s new look
(Source: Addison Lee 2017)

7MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY OF ADDISON LEE
Figure 4: Addison Lee new logo being unveiled
(Source: Addison Lee 2017)
Addison Lee was initially a business-to-business (B2B) company focusing more on profit
through other businesses. However, with the emergence of social media and increasing
competition, the company decided to shift its focus to a more consumer-based approach (Rogers
et al., 2017). This has been evident from the personalization strategy where the company allows
its customers to grab personalized deals through emails and through the company’s app.
Marketing environments
Marketing environment analysis
Environmental analysis of market refers to the process of identifying every internal and
external element that can influence a company’s performance. The best and the most common

8MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY OF ADDISON LEE
way to analyze the marketing environment are to do a PESTLE analysis. It includes, political,
economic, social, technological, legal and environmental (Percy 2014).
In case of Addison Lee, analyzing the different marketing factors becomes crucial as it is
undergoing a transformation phase. With its launch of premium look last year, the company
looks to expand its business beyond UK. To achieve this, it has to devise a marketing strategy
that encompasses demographical, geographical and other factors. In order to plan a strategy,
marketing environment analysis is extremely essential (Campaignlive.co.uk, 2017). This allows
Addison Lee to map the behavior of consumers, the shift in behavior, and the political conditions
of the targeted region, assess the economic strength of the company and so on. Most importantly,
Addison Lee’s strategy to target new consumer group comprising the younger generation can
only be achieved through environmental analysis.
Macro environmental factors
The chief macro environmental factors include political, economic, socio-cultural and
technological (Boone and Kurtz 2013).

9MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY OF ADDISON LEE
Figure 5: Macro Environmental Factors
(Source: Created by author)
To Addison Lee, economic factors like consumer assurance, service, inflation and interest
rates do have a significant impact on its business. Consumer assurance is a key to success.
The social elements such as family, reference groups and influential people and the
society overall are the factors that influence business strategies. Education, language, aesthetics,
religion and such may be termed as cultural factors.
Consumer assurance, as mentioned earlier, is the key to success and with its fresh vision
to be a consumer-centric company, Addison Lee can utilize this factor. The younger generation
is tech-savvy and almost all the leading firms have targeted it. The personalized features give it
an edge over its rivals.
MacroEnvironmentalfactors

10MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY OF ADDISON LEE
Micro environmental factors
In contrast to the macro environmental factors, six micro environmental factors are there
that affect a business.
Uber
Figure 6: Micro Environmental Factors
(Source: Created by author)
Addison Lee faces stiff competition from a number of minicab private hire companies.
Uber, Kabbee, Mytaxi (formerly Hailo) and Taxify are its top competitors.
Uber and Mytaxi are however, the two toughest competitors that pose threat to Addison
Lee. Uber, a San Francisco based private hire company has even surpassed Addison Lee’s
success. The smartest thing Uber did to dominate the London taxi hiring market was to offer a
Micro Environmental
Factors
Customers
Employees
Suppliers
Competitors
Investors
Media and public

11MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY OF ADDISON LEE
much higher pay to the drivers that was never offered by any company. In addition, it also gives
cheaper rides to passengers in comparison to Addison Lee.
Mytaxi on the other hand utilizes the 21,000 Black Cab drivers to attract passengers. It
also offers a discount of ten pounds for the first order a passenger places. Other than that, Mytaxi
sets its fare based on Transport for London regulations.
Internal environmental factors
The internal factors are the ones within an organization or a firm that have an effect on
the firm’s performance.
Figure 7: Internal Environmental Factors affecting Addison Lee
(Source: Created by author)
Among the above-mentioned factors, location and performance are the two primary
factors that could be chosen to determine Add Lee’s operations.

12MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY OF ADDISON LEE
In terms of strength, location is one of Addison Lee’s biggest strengths. Operating from
London enables Add Lee drivers to navigate places easily and satisfy passengers.
Performance is an internal factor that depends upon the decision taken by the company
(Arnett and Wittmann 2014). In case of Addison Lee, it could prove to be a weakness since the
success rate has fluctuated after the arrival of Uber in particular. The 2016 financial year
witnessed a decline in the total revenues by 7.5%.
Marketing strategy
Market segmentation
Market segmentation refers to a marketing theory, which segregates the entire market
system into smaller groups that comprises consumers who have the taste, demand and preference
(Howell 2015).
Segmentation involves various approaches by which the market is categorized into
particular segments. These approaches include, demographic, geographic, psychographic and
behavioral.
Addison Lee is a firm that needs to consider the segmentation precisely keeping in view
its objectives. With its new strategy to target customers between the ages of 16 to 25, it becomes
even more important to utilize the elements of market segmentation. The marketing strategy thus
has to look into the possible segments of the overall customer base.
Segmentation approaches
Market segmentation involves four major approaches Cross, J.C., Belich, T.J. and
Rudelius 2015).

13MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY OF ADDISON LEE
Figure 8: Market Segmentation
(Source: Created by author)
When the market is divided based on the age group, gender, family, social class,
occupation, religion and marital status, it falls under demographic segmentation.
Geographic segmentation refers to the categorization of the market based on country,
population, city and climatic zone.
In psychographic segmentation, the market is divided by the lifestyle of the consumer and
that is why it is often called lifestyle segmentation. Consumer’s opinions and interests are
considered under this segmentation (Armstrong et al. 2014).

14MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY OF ADDISON LEE
Behavioral segmentation includes variables such as purchase occasion, user status,
loyalty, readiness of the buyer, benefit-sought and so on.
Demographic and behavioral segmentation of the market is what Addison Lee should
choose to attract its newer target keeping in mind its objective.
Addison Lee has targeted the younger customers to increase its revenue and hence it is
imperative for the company to design its premium services in a way that attracts youngsters.
Behavioral segmentation may come in handy to specify the target customers as the
company can research on the buying behavior, the benefits customers seek from its services and
so on (Solomon 2014).
Marketing mix
The marketing mix means a set of measures, or plans, used by a company to promote its product
or brand in the market (Us.sagepub.com 2017). The marketing mix comprises of the seven Ps
that include, Price, Product, Place, Promotion, Physical Environment, Process and People.
Product – Addison Lee offers wide range of services to its customers. These include, car
service, courier service under which a customer can book same day, next day and international
courier. Executive services, airport transfers, coaches and events are the additional services
offered by Addison Lee.
Price – Addison Lee charges a minimum fare of 7.5 pounds for each journey. The
company uses a fixed postcode-to-postcode pricing strategy. Customers are charged an addition
admin fee when they book through Add Lee’s Customer Service Center. However, bookings

15MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY OF ADDISON LEE
made through its App or website has no extra charges. Addison Lee does not have surge pricing
and the price is set at the time of booking.
Place – Addison Lee operates mainly in London, United Kingdom however, it provides
services throughout Europe. In addition, the company has expanded its business in other parts of
the world, the first and latest being New York City, USA.
Promotion – In its recent promotional activities, the company has announced to target the
younger generation. The company has also evolved its digital marketing in order to promote the
brand on a higher level. The new premium look unveiled this year was a part of the promotion
strategy as well.
Physical Evidence – Addison Lee has more than 4,800 cars in London that carry 10
million passengers every year. The brand Addison Lee is renowned the world over and its
services have seen a consistent rise for over 40 years. To a common Londoner, executive,
premium car services mean Addison Lee.
People – People refers to the ones who run the business and the ones who consume the
business that is the consumers. Addison Lee has been successful in maintaining good bond with
its customers that has resulted in its consistent performance. However, the people within the
business have to be valued more. Recent cases of drivers’ dissatisfaction and consequent trials
and verdicts in courts ruled against the company portray a negative picture.
Process – Addison Lee, as mentioned earlier has over 4,800 cars in its fleet that range
from Mercedes to Toyota to BMW. The drivers hired by the company are independent workers
and earn wage in terms of journey rates, commission charges and other performance based
incentives (Pavlou and Stewart 2015).

16MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY OF ADDISON LEE
Based on Addison Lee’s new objective to target 16 to 25 year olds, there can be some
changes made to the product, price and promotion strategy.
The product can be given a young look different from the executive, professional look.
The cars at service already have 4G Wi-Fi facility so the younger customers will have access to
what they mostly prefer- the internet.
The pricing strategy might include some additional features. To cite an example, the
lowest fare of and Add Lee booking is 7.5 pounds, this can be reduced to five pounds for first
timers. In addition, the company may offer gift vouchers to the first time travelers.
In case of promotion, technology can be best utilized to attract the young customers.
Addison Lee has its own App and website that is used by customers to book services. However,
the company can organize events for youngsters and allow them to have a drive in the luxury
cars to have a feel of what the company has to offer (Charter 2017).
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be deduced that Addison Lee’s target to
achieve 3% growth in their services by targeting 16 to 25 year olds can be definitely achieved.
The company has to encourage its employees to map out a plan that suits the taste of the younger
generation. The various elements and factors of the marketing research and strategy have to be
outlined concisely and each point must be minutely covered. The target group is vulnerable to
influence and hence, the company must make sure that they possess a positive influence.

17MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY OF ADDISON LEE
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https://www.addisonlee.com/services/about/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2017].
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