Importance of Marketing Innovation and Competitive Advantage

This document discusses the importance of marketing innovation and its impact on gaining competitive advantage in the market. It explores different strategies and concepts of marketing innovation, such as the 4 P's of innovation and Porter's generic strategy. The document also provides examples of companies that have successfully implemented marketing innovation to differentiate themselves from competitors.

Marketing Design Innovation
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Table of Contents
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................3
Importance of marketing innovation and competitive advantage................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................7
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13
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TASK 1
INTRODUCTION
Marketing refers to promotion and advertising of products and services to target people. It
is done with help of various sources such as social media, TV, newspapers, etc. Marketing
innovation is defined as applying new marketing strategies and concepts within market. The
concepts applied unique and distinct which are not been used before (Hernández, Cooper and
Murphy, 2018). Usually, it represents significant change in design or feature or product
packaging. With marketing innovation, promotion, pricing as well as positioning strategies are
changed.
Innovation is process of implementing new idea, concept, process, etc. within an organisation.
With help of innovation organisation is able to gain competitive advantage in the market.
However, concept of innovation is broad as it includes use of new technology and resources in
process or method and doing things in new way. furthermore, innovation must be related to
implementing idea at reasonable cost or to fulfil specific goals and objectives. For instance-
Samsung implement innovation in their products. They launch new smart phones with latest
technology and providing more storage (Ungerman, and et.al 2018).
Besides that, it is necessary for companies to sustain in market and gain competitive
advantage. A competitive advantage is advantage gained by organisation over others. It is either
in terms of value of product or service, low cost, high quality, etc. here, an example can be taken
of Apple that offer high quality smart phones like iPhone X, XR, etc. as compared to its
competitors (Kim, Kim and Choi, 2019).
However, strategic competitive advantage is gained through strategies that are applied by
company in the market. Generally, they are marketing strategies which distinguish firm from its
rivals. Thus, it has been analysed that marketing innovation and competitive advantage are
interrelated with each other.
Importance of marketing innovation and competitive advantage
As said by Molina-Castillo, Meroño-Cerdan and López-Nicolás, 2019 in such a
competitive business environment it has been identified for every organisation it has become
difficult to sustain. They need to implement innovation in order to differentiate themselves from
other in the market. Innovation enable in finding out new and distinct ways of competing within
industry. In this way they are able to gain competitive advantage into the market. There is great
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importance of marketing innovation for company. they are able to distinguish products from
others easily. The importance of marketing innovation is it in developing new products and
attracting people. With it , competitive advantage is gained. New features are added into
products with its design, etc this makes it easy to distinguish it from other products in the market.
Porter generic strategy
This is also a strategic model which helps in gaining competitive advantage. It provides
an overview to business that how they can achieve goals and compete with other firms.
Cost leadership – It is a strategy in which company can gain competitive advantage by
becoming the lowest cost provider within industry. They can offer goods at low cost than other
competitors in market. Basically, this type of strategy is applied by large firms that offer goods
with little variation. (Kim, Kim and Choi, 2019).
Cost focus- It is similar to cost leadership strategy where business gain competitive advantage
by offering products at low cost. But the difference here is they firm only do it specific markets
where customer base in large (Singh, Kennedy and Cohen, 2018).
Differentiation focus – It is a business strategy where company focus on differentiating its
products in target market segment. Here, needs of customers are identified and then products
are offered to them. Basically, niche market segment is focused in it. In addition, goods are
placed at premium price as it reflects its high quality and standards (Aksoy, 2017).
Differentiation leadership – This strategy is similar to differentiation one but here company
gain competitive advantage within industry. The product is differentiated on basis of one or two
criteria and then presented in market. They charge premium price for it and also provide value
added features as well (Sánchez-Gutiérrez, and et.al., 2019).
Moreover, there is another concept of innovation and marketing which is 4 P’s of
innovation. They are mentioned as :
Product – It is a type of innovation in which new products are offered to people by innovation.
The design is changed or new features are added and then offered to people. So, innovation is
made in product only. (Singh, Kennedy and Cohen, 2018).
Process- This P refers to changing process of operations. Here, production process, delivering
process, etc. of goods is changed (Tabeau, Gemser and Wijnberg, 2017).
Position- This innovation is referred to change in positioning of product in the market. Here,
target market is changed or way of positioning is modified.
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Paradigm–the innovation is referred as change in business models or concepts. Usually, goals
and objectives are framed of product or market.
In this an example can be taken of Apple which uses different types of innovation P’s.
they produce new product and also bring changes in their production process. This leads to
innovation and gaining competitive advantage in industry. The company can develop their own
search engine that is Apple search. It will help customers to use this to search info. besides
that, it will enable in attracting more customers as well. The Apple search can be made more safe
and secure. So, by having their own search engine Apple will be able to compete with Google
and gain competitive advantage (Kim, Kim, and Choi, 2019).
In the opinion of Hernández, Cooper and Murphy, 2018, an organisation can only be
successful when they have gained competitive advantage in market through innovation. They
become market leaders by establishing a large customer base. Also, customers are automatically
attracted towards them because product generate value. Apart from it, company is having ability
to recognise customer needs and develop new products through innovation. In this the only effort
they need to make is marketing innovation. Thus, with help of it they are able to gain
competitive advantage. For instance- Apple continuously do innovation and develop iPhones, so,
they have established themselves distinct from others. In a study done by Singh, Kennedy and
Cohen, 2018 many companies only need innovation to become successful. It can be based only
on one factor like technology. Here an example can be taken is of Tesla who is auto car maker.
They have become successful in such a short period of time with help of innovation in
technology only
On contrary it is said by Kim, Kim and Choi, 2019 that marketing innovation is not
useful in gaining competitive advantage. It is because change in customer needs can highly
impact on it. So, if organisation is able to fulfil customer needs by generating value of product
they are able to differentiate themselves from other in market. However, the company needs to
do continuous innovation to maintain brand image for long term. This requires huge capital and
other resources. Besides, sometimes innovation fails that results in huge loss. It is because
competitive advantage depends on marketing innovation. Alongside, customer loyalty has to be
gained as well for it. here, firm can develop new ways of doing marketing so that more
customers can be attracted. It will help in creating awareness more easily as well. they can
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change product design, packaging, etc. to attract people. this can be done through developing
strategies. It will help in gaining competitive advantage (Singh, Kennedy, and Cohen, 2018).
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Hernández, R.J., Cooper, R. and Murphy, E., 2018. Design, the language of innovation: A
review of the design studies literature. She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and
Innovation, 4(3), pp.249-274.
Kim, S.J., Kim, K.H. and Choi, J., 2019. The role of design innovation in understanding
purchase behavior of augmented products. Journal of Business Research, 99, pp.354-362.
Molina-Castillo, F.J., Meroño-Cerdan, A.L. and López-Nicolás, C., 2019. Impact of business
model objectives on marketing innovation activities. European Journal of Innovation
Management.
Singh, H., Kennedy, R.D. and Cohen, J.E., 2018. E-cigarettes and weight loss—product design
innovation insights from industry patents. Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 20(8),
pp.1010-1014.
Tabeau, K., Gemser, G. and Wijnberg, N.M., 2017. Exploration and exploitation activities for
design innovation. Journal of Marketing Management, 33(3-4), pp.203-225.
Ungerman, O., and et.al., 2018. The impact of marketing innovation on the competitiveness of
enterprises in the context of industry 4.0. Journal of Competitiveness, 10(2), p.132.
Aksoy, H., 2017. How do innovation culture, marketing innovation and product innovation affect
the market performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Technology in
Society, 51(4), pp.133-141.
Sánchez-Gutiérrez, J., and et.al., 2019. The impact on competitiveness of customer value
creation through relationship capabilities and marketing innovation. Journal of Business
& Industrial Marketing.
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TASK 2
INTRODUCTION
Every business requires to do innovation and effective marketing to compete with others and
gain competitive advantage. Along with this, it is important for them to identify and fulfil people
needs. This allows in attracting people and expanding. Marketing innovation provide a platform
for company to do something unique. It allows in changing way of marketing so that people can
be attracted in different way (Adam, Mahrous and Kortam, 2017). this is a position type of
innovation where firm changes its position within market.
In similar way, Wrigley’s is a large company which produces variety of products such as
chocolates, chewing gum, etc. it is expanded in US and offering different taste and flavours of
their products. Moreover, there are various brands operating under Wrigley’s. it has enabled
them to compete with rivals in US. Now, the brand under company that is Orbit is selected. They
have launched recently a new product that is Orbit extra chewing gum in UK. this product is
launched as there is change in needs of UK people. They want new flavour chewing gum which
taste good. However, Orbit extra chewing gum is selected as it will reflect on how people have
adopted it in market. (Clack and Ellison, 2019)
Marketing innovation can be applied by Wrigley’s in which they can promote it in different
way. Here, they can create an ad in which robots are working and consuming company product.
the video can be created and promoted on You tube. It will help company to attract more
customers. It is necessary to do marketing innovation so that Wrigley’s can compete with others
and increase sales and profits. They can also change their product packaging as well to attract
people. In addition to it, Wrigley’s need to gain competitive advantage so that it can sustain for
long term. This is important for company as it will help in making innovation in strategies. It
will bring change in strategies and applying in market. with that Wrigley’s will be able to
increase market share and create a strong brand image (Joueid and Coenders, 2018,).
MAIN BODY
Consumer trends
Consumer trends are those which are related to change in trends. These trends are related to
change in their behaviour. Thus, trends are emerged due to change in behaviour. It has been
analysed that in recent times, there is high change in consumer trends. Their taste and preference
are changing with time. Similarly, in food industry there is high rise in demand of chewing gum
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in UK. they want different types of flavours and new taste. For example- mango, mint, raspberry,
mix fruit and others (Adams, Freitas and Fontana, 2019). This has resulted in rise in demand of
chewing gum. However, it is necessary for company to find out consumer trend so that they can
produce products accordingly. Along with this, it gives insight on what their needs can be in
future. In order to identify consumer behaviour there are some theories which can be applied.
They are as follows : (Clack and Ellison, 2019)
Maslow hierarchy of needs theory
According to Auruskeviciene and Senkevic, 2020, Maslow need theory defined basic five
need of human. It shows that how behaviour changes when one need is fulfilled. Through this,
consume trends can be easily identified. They are defined as :
Self-actualization: it is a need in which individual has fulfilled all his needs. The self-
actualization needs of its consumers were understood at first and these needs were fulfilled in
order to achieve better consumer understandings.
Esteem: Here, needs were identified where consumers esteem needs such as their goals, needs
and developments were identified. (Clack and Ellison, 2019)
Love/Belonging: It allowed Wrigley to understand at what places the consumers emotional
needs can be targeted and fulfilled.
Safety: The safety needs ensured that in what ways the products needs to made so that the safety
of the consumers feel safe to consume it and their needs does not gets compromised.
Physiological: here, physiological needs to the consumers were identified to understand the
demands of chewing gum in the new market. It ensured that the products produced must be as
per consumer physiological needs (Clack and Ellison, 2019)
Moreover, there is another model through which consumer trends can be identified. It is
related to innovation. Innovation adopted by people also bring in change in trends. It reflects on
new needs and expectation of people. Besides, it is easy to identify whether people are ready to
accept innovation or not.
Diffusion of innovation model
Innovators –in this those people are included who want to try something new. They are
interested in new ideas and products. Usually, they are risk taker and always ready to develop
new ideas and implement it (Lučić, Dabić and Finley, 2019).
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Early adopters- They are leaders of those who want change. Also, people are aware about need
of change and how it will benefit. Moreover, these people easily adopt new ideas and concepts
and are comfortable with it. (Joueid and Coenders, 2018).
Early majority- as name depicts the people do not easily adopt new ideas easily. But they find
out evidence about innovation adopted by other people and then only tries to adopt new idea.
These people are not from average one (Correia, Braga and Braga, 2019)
Late majority- These are those people who are rigid and do not adopt new ideas. However, they
only do it when innovation has been adopted by majority of people.
Laggards– They are those people who are very rigid and do rarely adopt new ideas. The people
are different from society and it is hard to change their mindset.
Link between consumer trends and launch of new product
Joueid and Coenders, 2018, stated that change in consumer trend is related to launch of new
product. It means that whenever new product is developed it is because of change in trend.
However, it is essential for company that Orbit extra chewing gum launched must link with
consumer trend. This is because it will be useful in fulfilling their expectation and needs. If new
product is not able to meet customer expectation then innovation done will result in failure.
Therefore, link between consumer trends and new product can be illustrated with help of a
certain model. In the view of Lučić, Dabić and Finley, 2019, Kano model is based on principle.
It states that customer proposition possesses hygiene components. Thus, customer loyalty is
reduced if they are absent. However, delighting components if present, result in positive
behaviour. But Kano stated that hygienic components will be turned into delighting one.
Therefore, focus must be on finding out customer proposition of hygienic components. Besides,
it has been identified that when customer behaviour changes it directly reflect on developing of
new product. Furthermore, ideas and suggestion of people is considered in such a way that their
needs are determined. (Reinecke, 2016).
According to Reinecke, 2016 there is another concept through which relation between
trend and new product is stated. Here, product anatomy is used. It briefly describes the various
components of product which fulfil people needs. Thus, the concept is explained a
Product anatomy
The core product – As name depicts it is basic benefit of product which is offered to people. It
helps in satisfying their needs. In Orbit extra chewing gum, basic product is gum.
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Generic product- in this the basic features of product is included that customer highly expects
to be included in it. Thus, in chewing gum it will be taste and jelly contained in it ( Lučić, Dabić
and Finley, 2019)
Expected product–It consist of features that customer only expects to be in product. Thus, in
chewing gum it will include various flavours like mint, mango, raspberry, etc.
Augmented product – At last the augmented product comprise of those features which
consumer do not expect and if they are added into it then it helps in generating product value.
Through that, it can be easily distinguished from competitor product. Likewise, in Orbit extra
chewing gum features are combination of flavours (Smyth, Razmdoost and Mills, 2019).
Market performance of new product
As elucidated by Sukamto and Setiawan, 2017, it is important to measure the
performance of new product in the market. This is because it helps in analysing whether chewing
gum is able to fulfil needs of people or not. Furthermore, the data and info is gathered regarding
response of people towards product. Alongside, reviewing performance enabled in finding out
success of chewing gum in UK market. Furthermore, on basis of that changes are made in
marketing strategies. Market performance is defined as efficiency of market to use scare
resources in order to fulfil people needs (Steger, 2017). But there are several factors which has to
be considered in analysing the market performance of new product. They are brand awareness,
sales, market share, etc.Brand Awareness: reflect the awareness of brand among people mind and
in the market. It has also allowed the company to reach such levels of growth where consumers
choose and admire the products of Wrigley. Engagement is related to increase in number of the
customer (Reinecke, 2016). Launching new products with new flavours has made the company
engage to new customers. Also, sales shows number of sales of per unit in market and market
share reflect percentage of share of product in overall market as compared to competitor’s
product. So, any change in it highly impact on performance of new product (Wright, Robin and
Aravopoulou, 2019). Similarly, Wrigley also evaluate launch of Orbit extra chewing gum with
help of some criteria that are defined as :
Balance scorecard – it is a performance metric which is used to find out and enhance internal
functions. This enables in getting desired outcomes. Moreover, BSC assist in providing feedback
of organisation so that strategies and decision making can be done accordingly. In addition to it,
BSC include some financial statistics as well. In there are many other elements included in it
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which are measured. Generally, BSC is based on SMART objectives. Hence, the various
elements are mentioned as (Reinecke, 2016).
Financial perspective- here, data related to operating income, return on investment, economic
value, etc. is evaluated. The perspective is measured monthly, quarterly or yearly. Besides, it
depends on organisation that in what periodic time performance is evaluated (Adams, Freitas
and Fontana, 2019).
Customer perspective- in this it measures customer satisfaction, market share, retention, etc. of
customers. This makes it easy to analyse how many customers are satisfied and whether Orbit
extra chewing gum is able to fulfil their needs or not. Along with it, customer response is also
analysed in it. Also, it is done on periodic time basis.
Business process perspective–in this performance of business is evaluated. It included elements
that are employee turnover, production cost, and many others. Thus, the outcomes achieved are
measured with set goals and objectives.
Learning and growth experience – it measures elements such as employee skills, retention,
percentage of customer retained, and others (Auruskeviciene and Senkevic, 2020).
Various studies have shown that consumer trend is linked with new product development.
So, from above it can be analysed that competitive advantage is gained through innovation.
Without that it is not possible to become market leader (Reinecke, 2016). In this, there is vital
role of marketing innovation. It provides a framework of how things can be done differently.
Moreover, it is stated that innovation of launching a new Orbit extra chewing gum in UK was
done as per change in consumer trend. So by evaluating data and info it is found that people have
started accepting innovation but not to that great extent (Clack and Ellison, 2019). Their needs
are fulfilled but they are finding flavour of chewing gum similar to other companies. However,
there is difference in taste of flavour which has resulted in little gaining competitive advantage
by Wrigley’s. however, organisation should do market innovation in order to gain full
competitive advantage. They need to bring something new to meet people expectation. It can be
in terms of product or quality. The product launched is not so much successful in achieving
strategic competitive advantage (Adams, Freitas and Fontana, 2019).
CONCLUSION
From above report it is evaluated that marketing innovation enable firm to become
successful. the marketing innovation and competitive advantage are interrelated to each other.
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Similarly, Orbit extra chewing gum is been launched in UK. It is due to change in consumer
trends. However, there are certain theories like Maslow hierarchical needs and innovation model
which is used to identify change in consumer trends. Also, the Kano model and product
autonomy state link between consumer trends and launch of new product. Furthermore, the
market performance of new product is measured via balanced score card. In this there are many
perspectives such as financial, customer, business, etc.
There are some suggestions that can be followed by Wrigley’s which is explained as:
 The company should change their way of marketing so that people can be attracted in
different way. For this they can organize campaigns, etc.
 They must promote it on social media as well in order to attract more people. This will
also be useful in creating awareness among them. Here, social platform like Facebook,
twitter, etc. can be used. It will help in increasing sales of Orbit extra chewing gum.
 Wrigley’s can distribute free samples to people and then take their feedback. It will be
useful in analyzing people reviews and finding out what changes is required in taste,
flavor, etc. it will help in making further improvements.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Adam, S., Mahrous, A.A. and Kortam, W., 2017. The relationship between entrepreneurial
orientation, marketing innovation and competitive marketing advantage of female
entrepreneurs in Egypt. International Journal of Technology Management & Sustainable
Development, 16(2), pp.157-174.
Adams, P., Freitas, I.M.B. and Fontana, R., 2019. Strategic orientation, innovation performance
and the moderating influence of marketing management. Journal of Business
Research, 97, pp.129-140.
Auruskeviciene, V. and Senkevic, S., 2020. Product design innovation and functional innovation
effects on consumers adoption of soft furniture. In Innovation Management. Edward
Elgar Publishing.
Clack, L.A. and Ellison, R.L., 2019. Innovation in Service Design Thinking. In Service Design
and Service Thinking in Healthcare and Hospital Management (pp. 85-92). Springer,
Cham.
Correia, A., Braga, V. and Braga, A., 2019. Strategies and obstacles for marketing innovation
activities. Global Business and Economics Review, 21(3-4), pp.519-532.
Joueid, A. and Coenders, G., 2018. Marketing innovation and new product portfolios. A
compositional approach. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and
Complexity, 4(2), p.19.
Lučić, A., Dabić, M. and Finley, J., 2019. Marketing innovation and up-and-coming product and
process innovation. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 37(3),
pp.434-448.
Reinecke, S., 2016. What is it that Design Thinking and Marketing Management can learn from
each other?. In Design Thinking for Innovation (pp. 151-162). Springer, Cham.
Smyth, H., Razmdoost, K. and Mills, G.R., 2019. Service innovation through linking design,
construction and asset management. Built Environment Project and Asset Management.
Sukamto, A. and Setiawan, A., 2017. Development Geometric Pattern Of Paradila Weaving
Need Design Innovation. In Proceeding of International Conference on Art, Language,
and Culture (pp. 390-396).
Wright, L.T., Robin, R. and Aravopoulou, D.E., 2019. Adoption of Big Data technology for
innovation in B2B marketing. Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, 26(3-4),
pp.281-293.
Online
Steger, M. B., 2017. Conducting a Market Analysis for Your Business Plan. [Online] Available
through:<https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/78002>
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