Marketing Failures and Strategic Insights

This assignment delves into marketing failures experienced by prominent companies such as Apple and Nokia. It analyzes the specific missteps that led to their struggles, including inadequate market research, failure to adapt to evolving consumer preferences, and a lack of innovative product development. The analysis highlights crucial lessons for effective marketing strategies and emphasizes the importance of understanding customer needs, conducting thorough market research, and embracing innovation.

Running Head: MARKETING MANAGEMENT 1
Marketing Management

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Topic 1: New Marketing Realities
In today’s business environment, marketplace is continuously changing. Hence, the marketers
should join and respond to several important developments, which are occurring in the market.
Small and large businesses are impacted by the internal and external environment factors. These
environmental factors that the businesses have no control over are taken into consideration while
making marketing decisions for creating a correct representation of where the organization
stands in marketplace. Present marketplace is in more constant situation of changes than in past
decades. With this transformation, there will be some new challenges, opportunities and
development of new models and frameworks. The term new market realities state the changes
during last 10 years and it is given by Kotler and Keller. The New Marketing Realities is the
computerized improvements, creative and innovative and categorized small scale media and
markets, which the service the local influent targeted, market nets1.
There are various forces, which are driving the new marketing realities. These forces have
created new marketing opportunities, behaviors and challenges for the market and its people.
Due to these forces, the market place today is very different, because it has resulted several new
company and consumer capabilities. It has transformed the marketing management significantly.
To deal with the effect of this, the organizations look for the right balance of effective methods
with discovering new and innovative approaches to attain the marketing excellence2.
1P. Kotler and K.L. Keller, Marketing Management, Pearson Education, Inc. 2012.
2 G. Armstrong, P. Kotler, M. Harker and R. Brennan, Marketing: an introduction. Pearson
Education, 2015.

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Figure 1: New Market Realities
Three of these forces, which are driving new marketing realities, are stated below;
Globalization
Globalization is a primary process of integration and interaction among companies, people and
governments of different countries. It is a force or process that is driven by global trade and
investment and supported by advanced information technology. In today’s marketplace, several
organizations have become dissatisfied with the sales and revenues on domestic level. So, they
are making efforts to expand their business in international markets. There are various factors,
like; technology advances in the shipping, transportation and communication, which have made
it easier for these organizations to expand business and market in, and customers to purchase
from, almost any nation all over the world3. Traveling to international countries and markets has
grown continuously, because most of the people work and operate their business in other
countries.
3 B. Mathieu, 3 New marketing Realities to Live By, 2009, Retrieved from
http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/3-new-marketing-realities-live/.

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Figure 2: Forces driving New Marketing Realities
It is creating different market realities and company capabilities. Globalization is the major force
that is providing various new opportunities to the companies, like; business expansion,
partnership with international organizations etc. It will improve the market geographical reach
for promoting the products and services worldwide. Apart from these opportunities, the
companies may face some challenges and risks, like; legal risks, political risks, entry barriers etc.
Technology
Development of technology is one of the major forces that are driving new realities in today’s
market. There is a significant revolution in the digital technology. This revolution in technology
has developed an Information Era, which commits to direct to more precise levels of
manufacturing and production, more targeted interactions and more appropriate and competitive
pricing. In the terms of marketing, technology is defined as a medium that assists the marketers
circulate his/her deliverables to the end users. The best result of bringing in technology has been
innovation4. This technology has been vibrant throughout right from the television advertisement
4 K. Scott, D.M. Martin, and J.W. Schouten, Marketing and the new materialism. Journal of
Macromarketing, 34(3), 2014, pp.282-290.
Three
changeing
Forces
Globalization
Social
Responsibility
Technology

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to internet marketing. Technology is the major factor that assists the organization and marketers
in generating new company capabilities like; they can utilize the internet as a most strong
channel for information and sales. They can gather the information about the customers,
prospects, markets and competitors. Furthermore, these marketers can tap into social media to
intensify their brand message.
Social Responsibility
In today’s business environment, social responsibility is another force that is driving new
marketing realities, because people are becoming very concerned about the welfare of
environment and themselves. So, the organization needs to include social responsibility in their
practices. In marketing, it is very important as it includes emphasizing on enticing the customers,
who wish to make a positive experience with their purchases. There are so many companies,
which have implemented social responsibility strategies in marketing process because it assists
the community and manufacture the products, which benefit the targeted society5. Engaging in
corporate social responsibility also offers new company capabilities, like; it will promote the
brand image and reputation of the company that can primarily affect profitability and
productivity positively.
The above given factors may change in the future with new developments. In the future,
technology can be improved with the up-gradation and advancements. It may affect the business
operations as all of the employees will not be familiar with advanced technology. Under
globalization, there may be some challenges, which may force the organization to make changes
in global trade6. Apart from these factors, there are some other factors, which may impact the
5 Y.J. Wind, Toward a new marketing paradigm. The Routledge Companion to the Future of
Marketing, 2014, pp.3-24.
6 , J.N. Sheth and R.S. Sisodia, Does marketing need reform?: Fresh perspectives on the future.
Routledge, 2015.

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marketing, such as; privatization, increased competition, retail transformation, de-regulation,
consumer purchasing power etc.
Topic 2: Brands and Products, which are successful and not successful in
target marketing
There are many brands and products, which successfully speak to the people and effectively
target the age group. Targeting an appropriate market is very important, when an organization
wants to communicate its products to maximum customer base. For this, marketers divide the
overall population into different age groups to dividing by targeting the levels of age, needs of
different age groups etc. So, these marketers try to manufacture the products, which will be
preferred to purchase. They will make efforts to attract the target customers by the products,
which can satisfy their desires and needs7.
In modern business environment, each and every brand targets the different customers’ market as
they provide different benefits accordingly. Here is the discussion about two brands and their
products, which are successfully targeted appropriate age groups. First brand is Apple that has
offered different premium brands under its different segments, like; iPhones, Mac and iPad,
which have successfully covered the people in appropriate age group. The company has
introduced its iPhones with IOS operating system and targeted the people with the age group
between 18 and 35 years. This age group includes the young people, which cover students and
working professionals. The company has also targeted the children as their parents can download
and install learning game apps on their devices8. The company has successfully introduced its
specifications, which were actually aligned with the needs and expectations of targeted market,
i.e. youth population.
7 J. Gallaugher, and S. Ransbotham, Social media and customer dialog management at
Starbucks. MIS Quarterly Executive, 9(4), 2010.
8 M.R. Leipnik, S.S. Mehta, and V. Rajendran, Strategic and tactical issues with Apple’s mobile
maps. Mobile Electronic Commerce: Foundations, Development, and Applications, 2014, p.449.

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In addition to Apple, Starbucks is another brand, which has successfully placed its products
among its target age groups, i.e. students. This company has strategically positioned its outlets
and products in the locations, where the students are likely to explore, like; cafes, Universities,
college canteens, town centers etc. It has provided its products in the areas, which are arranged
and well-established to enhance the social interaction among people. Moreover, the company is
offering variety of coffee and other soft drinks, which provides choices to consumers and assists
in creating youth uniqueness in choice of coffee and other beverages. Thus, the company was
completely successful in targeting this age group and providing the quality services, which were
committed by Starbucks in its promotion and advertising campaign9. Apart from these products,
Xbox 360 is also a home video game, which provides students ability to communicate and play
games against friends online and it offers the design, iPod and multimedia capabilities to the
users. Thus, this was also a very successful product in targeting best suitable market. These
above-mentioned players are successful because they are able to understand and fulfill the needs
and wants of customers. They implemented effective strategies, so that they could attract the
people towards their products.
Apart from this, Apple can also be included in the category that is failed in satisfy the target
market. It was in the case of its iPod, where company was not able to include the specification
required by students and their age group. There are various reasons behind it, like; Apple iPod
just represented just as a fashion accessory that has the customizing ability in terms of music and
color. It is highly portable and suitable for the high paced lifestyles. The students face the issues
as it was not easy to operate. Apple could make their iPod a bit user friendly. For example;
Microsoft has an option of folders on window, but iPod has so many sub-levels. Sometimes,
students feel it very difficult to search the songs10. The company can enhance its marketing by
targeting the Generation X in addition to millennia people. It could make the iPod look more
9 J. Gallaugher, and S. Ransbotham, Social media and customer dialog management at
Starbucks. MIS Quarterly Executive, 9(4), 2010.
10 S.A. Park, Consumer health crisis management: Apple's crisis responsibility for iPod-related
hearing loss. Public Relations Review, 34(4), 2008, pp.396-398.

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professional, so that young professional could use them. Under this category, one more example
is of Nokia, which was not able to understand the needs and preferences of people and stayed
with its older operating system. It just focused on the battery life of its phone more than proving
some innovative and entertaining features11. The company could do better by conducting market
research and understanding the expectations of customers. Thus, the companies were failed to
target appropriate market in above specific cases12.
11 V. Venkatraman et al, Predicting advertising success beyond traditional measures: New
insights from neurophysiological methods and market response modeling. Journal of Marketing
Research, 52(4), 2015, pp.436-452.
12 A. Chang, 5 Reasons Why Nokia Lost Its Handset Sales Lead And Got Downgraded To
'Junk, 2012, Retrieved From Https://Www.Wired.Com/2012/04/5-Reasons-Why-Nokia-Lost-
Its-Handset-Sales-Lead-And-Got-Downgraded-To-Junk/.

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Bibliography
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M. and Brennan, R., Marketing: an introduction. Pearson
Education, 2015.
Buckley, P.J., The contribution of internalisation theory to international business: New realities
and unanswered questions. Journal of World Business, 51(1), 2016, pp.74-82
Chang, A. 5 Reasons Why Nokia Lost Its Handset Sales Lead And Got Downgraded To 'Junk,
2012, Retrieved From Https://Www.Wired.Com/2012/04/5-Reasons-Why-Nokia-Lost-Its-
Handset-Sales-Lead-And-Got-Downgraded-To-Junk/.
Gallaugher, J. and Ransbotham, S., Social media and customer dialog management at
Starbucks. MIS Quarterly Executive, 9(4), 2010.
Kotler, P. & Keller, K.L., Marketing Management, Pearson Education, Inc. 2012.
Leipnik, M.R., Mehta, S.S. and Rajendran, V., Strategic and tactical issues with Apple’s mobile
maps. Mobile Electronic Commerce: Foundations, Development, and Applications, 2014, p.449.
Mathieu, B., 3 New marketing Realities to Live By, 2009, Retrieved from
http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/3-new-marketing-realities-live/.
Park, S.A., Consumer health crisis management: Apple's crisis responsibility for iPod-related
hearing loss. Public Relations Review, 34(4), 2008, pp.396-398.
Scott, K., Martin, D.M. and Schouten, J.W,. Marketing and the new materialism. Journal of
Macromarketing, 34(3), 2014, pp.282-290.
Sheth, J.N. and Sisodia, R.S., Does marketing need reform?: Fresh perspectives on the future.
Routledge, 2015.
Venkatraman, V., Dimoka, A., Pavlou, P.A., Vo, K., Hampton, W., Bollinger, B., Hershfield,
H.E., Ishihara, M. and Winer, R.S., Predicting advertising success beyond traditional measures:
New insights from neurophysiological methods and market response modeling. Journal of
Marketing Research, 52(4), 2015, pp.436-452.

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Wind, Y.J., Toward a new marketing paradigm. The Routledge Companion to the Future of
Marketing, 2014, pp.3-24.