Brand Positioning and Marketing Mix Strategy for Sony A7SMK

This report analyses the market segment and decides marketing strategy for Sony A7SMK. The target segment is youth with the age of 18-35. The report recommends marketing mix such as product designing, promotion, retail channel, and price skimming strategy. The report also discusses the PLC and diffusion of innovation, type of consumer product, and recommended marketing mix.

Sony

MARKETING 1
Executive Summary
The main purpose of this report is to build the brand positioning by setting the target segment
of the product. The Product which is considered in this report is Sony A7SMK. Youth is set
as the target segment of the product; it has unique feature which makes it different from
others. The company uses pricing strategy to build the brand positioning in the market. The
marketing mix is recommended such as product designing; product promotion, retail channel
and the price skimming strategy. The recommendation strategy is ethical and socially
responsible which is measured by compliance program.

MARKETING 2
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction.....................................................................................................................................3
2.0 Target Segment................................................................................................................................3
3.0 Brand Positioning............................................................................................................................4
4.0 Marketing Mix Strategy...................................................................................................................6
5.0 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
6.0 References.....................................................................................................................................15
7.0 Appendix.......................................................................................................................................17

MARKETING 3
1.0 Introduction
This task is continuity of earlier task which was based on the market analysis of Sony
A7SMK; now the main purpose of this report is to analyse the market segment and decide
marketing strategy for the same. Market segment helps to promote the product to increase the
sale. Some limitations were found in the process of building the positioning map because the
product has many features. It is difficult to measure the main quality feature of the product. It
is difficult to measure the price strategy of the company with the other companies. These
challenges are discussed in the report and appropriate recommendations are provided. In the
starting of the report, target segment of the product is discussed. After that brand positioning
of the product will be discussed. At the end of the report, the recommendation will be
provided for effective communication of brand positioning in the market.
2.0 Target Segment
The target segment of Sony A7SMK is Youth with the age of 18-35. Nowadays, Youth are
more conscious about their social sites posts; they want to attain whole attention on their
single picture. Some of the people adopt the passion of photography to attract the people
towards their pictures. It is observed that the girls are more conscious about their pictures
within the particular age of 18-35. 47% of girls are observed that they are very sensible for
looking good in their pictures. 95% of girls are conscious for their picture and wants to look
gorgeous in their picture; this is good for the company. Sony camera helps them in adopting
their passion with its features of 2.2 megapixels.
The company get the advantage by targeting the youth between the ages of 18-35. The
company can easily influence the youth through advertisement for the product. The company
gained high percentage of profit by increasing the sale of the product. Nowadays, people are

MARKETING 4
finding the best camera features in their smart phone but if they get the camera product with
the best quality of megapixels then the consumers run to buy the product of the company.
Sale of product is increasing as it is satisfying the consumer demand and the youth is the only
segment which shows their interest in clicking different pictures wherever they go. Thus, the
Youth with the age of 18-35 is the right target segment for the company to increase the sale
(Cross, Belich, and Rudelius, 2015).
3.0 Brand Positioning
The positioning statement of the product is “A Camera with many shooting modes -
manufactured for the youth who love adventures”.
Sony is already known worldwide for its grate lenses and image quality. This makes
the company a great brand all over the world. The company can position the product with its
high quality features of Camera. Sony A7SMK has the unique features which can attract the
customers towards it; such as excellent image quality, high quality electronic feature, Wi-Fi
and advance feature with custom options. The company can launch its new global positioning
with the product of high quality features. It can use the marketing mix strategy to boast the
sale of the product. The company can promote the product through advertisements such as
television advertisement, radio advertisement and many others (Armstrong, Adam, Denize,
and Kotler, 2014).
Brand positioning of the product is set by using the strategy of promoting the product
for its great features. Samsung, Panasonic, Philips are the major competitors of the company,
it develops the product to differentiate the camera from its competitors. Its high quality image
is different from the other competitors which makes it unique. It’s simple sharing and control
with Wi-Fi feature is the USP of the product; it is simply different with the product of
competitors. Competitors of the company develop the camera with the feature of quality

MARKETING 5
images but Sony launched the product with sharing features which is different from the other
competitor. This can be considered as Unique Selling Point for Sony A7SMK. The different
features provided in Sony A7SMK attract the consumer towards this camera (Wei, Samiee,
and Lee, 2014).
The idea of covering a compact camera with the same features and high quality
images is a highly appealing. The FE lenses are also the unique selling proposition of the
product because that covers the camera’s full frame sensor. The FE sensor of the camera
includes the kit of 28-70mm, and Zeiss 55-35mm (Henkel, Boegershausen, Aquino, and
Lemmink, 2016). Sony FE lens is equal to 15 lenses which is beneficial for the photographers
because the photographers are making good use of adapters. The company uses the price
skimming strategy that is why it has high price (Solomon, Dahl, White, Zaichkowsky, and
Polegato, 2014).
High Price
Low
Shooting
Modes
High
Shooting
Modes
Low price
Nikon
Samsung
Sony
A7
Cannon

MARKETING 6
The camera has high customisation quality which makes the product different from the other
companies. It also has a feature of spectrum which can easily focus on multi point (Thach,
and Olsen, 2015).
4.0 Marketing Mix Strategy
4.1 PLC and Diffusion of Innovation
High
Customisation
Single Point
Focus
Spectru
m
Low
customisation
Samsung
Nikon
Sony
A7
Cannon

MARKETING 7
It has been seen that Sony A7 SMK is at the maturity stage of Product Life Cycle; the
two models were launched on 16th October 2013 and the third model was launched on 6th
April 2014. From the date of the launch; people are excited to buy the product and it has seen
a great sales figures. The sale of this model is high as compared to the other models of Sony
camera. The price of model is also high as compare to the other competitors such as Cannon,
Nikon and Samsung. The consumers quickly adopt this camera in use which states that this
camera is on the maturity stage.
Diffusion – Early Majority – Reception
Sony A7 SMK camera is at the early majority stage which states that the consumers
are quickly adopting the product’s innovation. This model of Sony received a positive
reception from critics. This model achieved the higher rank in full-frame mirror less camera
as compare to the other competitor. It achieved a score of 90 which is higher than the Nikon
Df ; even it achieve the higher rank from the Sony SLT-A99. It is awarded as a “Camera of
the Year” due to its high quality images. EPhotozine also rated the camera with the 5v stars
for the smaller and lighter lenses as compare to the other cameras. These awards and
achievements of models states that the camera has high sale in the market that is why it is in
the early majority stage.
4.2 Type of Consumer Product

MARKETING 8
Type of consumer product of Sony A7SMK can be decided using the below matrix:
Sony A7 SMK is a shopping product which has infrequent sale that requires some
efforts. Brand name of the camera is also important for the sale of the product. It has
moderate and high price to sell the product and which is affordable by the higher and middle
class only. This camera uses the retail channel to reach at the various consumers and it also
uses mass media to promote the product. Mass media is right way to promote the product
because nowadays people are spending time on social media more as compare to the other
channel.
4.3 Recommended Marketing Mix
Product
It has been seen that the company should design the camera with its core benefits. The core
benefits of a camera are quality of images; the company should design the product with the
main purpose of the camera which is capturing high quality images.
The second level of actual product is related with the customer values and demands. The
company should design the product with different features that makes their product different
from the competitors. The company should maintain the quality as the higher level so that the

MARKETING 9
consumers can attract towards the services and features of product. Packaging of the product
also attracts the consumers and makes the product different from the other (Datta, Ailawadi,
and Heerde, 2017).
The third level is augmented product that defines the consumer benefit and expectation of
consumers from the product. The company should deliver the product with many benefits
schemes such as delivery and credits, warranty, installation and many others. The services
after the sale of the product; increase the demand of the consumer towards the product of the
company. The company should provide the installation services without any charges and also
provide the scheme of delivering the product on the credit basis and other as well. The
company should provide the warranty so that the trust of consumer for the product is build
and they can buy the product without any worries. The company should design these facilities
to build the brand image in the market.
Promotion
The company should promote the product by using the different channel of communication to
build the brand image in the market. There are many channels which the company use to
promote the product such as TV commercial, sales promotion and many others (Huang, and
Sarigöllü, 2014).
TV commercial
The company should promote the product through the advertisement videos on television.
Emotional videos attract the consumers towards the product.
Sales Promotion

MARKETING 10
The company should promote the product by organising the marketing campaigns. In these
events, the company can explain the features and give the demo to build the consumer trust
for the product.
Social media
Internet media is a help to promote the product in the market. There are many social sites
through which the company can easily promote the product such as Instagram, Facebook,
Twitter and many others. By posting the attractive pictures with features attracts the
consumers towards the product.
Nowadays, People use the social media for entertainment and operate their business. The
company can easily promote the product on these sites by uploading the attractive pictures.
But some of the consumers do not believe the online marketing; the company should promote
the product by marketing campaigns too so that the rest of the consumers can be attracted
towards the product. Children and old age consumers are more interested in television. Thus,
the company can easily attract them by television. Emotional videos and attractive images
help the company in brand positioning as well (Khan, 2014).
Place
The company should use retail channel to distribute Sony A7 Camera. From this channel, the
company can reach at the various types of consumers (Steenkamp, 2017). Retail channel
makes the buying process easy for the consumers. Consumers always prefer the easy process
and due to this channel product is reached at the various consumers. Retail channel is more
effective for the consumers as well as the company. The company can distribute the product
in bulk but if it directly sells the product to the consumers then it becomes difficult for the
company to reach to a consumer. Retailers can communicate with the consumers and

MARKETING 11
influence the consumers for the product which is beneficial for the company. Thus, retailing
channel is more appropriate for the company to distribute the sale. Effective communication
of retailer helps the company in build the brand positioning in the market (Pike, Gentle,
Kelly, and Beatson, 2018).
Price
The company should use the price skimming strategy for boosting the sale of the product.
According to this strategy, the company sets the high initial price for a product at the first and
then lowers the price after a period of time (Toptal, and Çetinkaya, 2015). The company
should adopt this strategy because the high pricing strategy builds the brand image in the
market as compare to the competitors. High price develops the mentality of consumers and
believes that product contains the high quality (Jiang, Shang, Liu, and May, 2015). Below
table presents the prices of cameras of different brands for a market in India. Indian market is
considered here because Sony is a big brand in India and it has a huge customer base in
Indian market. Similar pricing strategies can be considered in other parts of the world.
Company Price (Rs)
Sony 178,587
Samsung (TL210 Point & Shoot Camera) 35,986
Cannon (EOS 3000D DSLR Camera Single
Kit with 18-55 lens)
21,990
Nikon D5300 45048
According to the table above, it can be seen that the company has the high price as compared
to its competitors. The price of Sony’s camera is Rs.178, 587 but the other companies sales
the product at the lower price such as Samsung sales the camera at Rs. 35,986 (Pfeifer, Farris,

MARKETING 12
Pfeifer, and Farris, 2017). It states that the company uses the price skimming strategy to
boost the sale which is effectively communicating the brand positioning in the market. Below
is the snap shot of the marketing mix strategy of the Sony A7SMK camera
Marketing Mix Current Recommendation Why it is
recommended
Product Sony A7SMK, RX
100, WX 100, HX
100, and so on. A
range of cameras are
manufactured by
Sony.
Need to focus on
features, include new
features, make good
packaging, light
weight camera and
excellent after the
sale service. Quality
of lenses used must
be excellent and
additional facility of
customisation should
be there.
There is a huge
competition in the
market of Camera,
especially when
mobile phones are
also coming with
high quality cameras.
In this situation Sony
has to bring some
other innovation in
order to grab the
market share.
Place All over the world Retailing channel,
Online presence is
extremely important
E-commerce is the
new area where big
businesses are
flourishing, Sony has
to utilise e-
commerce at a
greater extent.
Promotion Mainly Television Television, Sales Again Social media

MARKETING 13
Advertisements promotion, Main
focus on Social
media, Offers on
purchase of a camera
and gifts.
and e-commerce is
important, people are
spending enough
time on social media
and they prefer
purchasing products
from e-commerce
websites too.
Price Normal Competitive
Pricing
Price Skimming,
Competitive Pricing
Competitors are also
providing good
quality camera and
hence Sony needs to
take care of
competitive pricing
along with price
skimming.
5.0 Conclusion
The company should implement the marketing mix to build the brand positioning in
the market. Price, place, promotion and product helps the company in communicating the
brand positioning. Promotion strategy of marketing mix helps the company in boosting the
sale and attracts the consumer towards the product. The company should design the product
as per three different levels because it fulfils the consumer demand and with the best services
consumer attracts towards the product. The company promotes the product with the real

MARKETING 14
information and features which states the ethical and social responsibility towards the society.
The company organises marketing campaigns to promote the product in which it can explain
all the features with the real information and it charges the right price which is right as per the
concept of corporate social responsibility. A compliance program is defined the organisation
procedure, policies and actions. Standards and procedures are the compliance programme
which ensures the action of the company is ethical and socially responsible. Triple Bottom
Line Reporting is a perspective that identifies the business performance which is affecting the
systems such as economic, social and environmental. The company uses this system to
measure the price, quality of product, and real information.

MARKETING 15
6.0 References
Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S. and Kotler, P., 2014. Principles of marketing. Pearson
Australia.
Cross, J.C., Belich, T.J. and Rudelius, W., 2015. How marketing managers use market
segmentation: An exploratory study. In Proceedings of the 1990 Academy of Marketing
Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 531-536). Springer, Cham.
Datta, H., Ailawadi, K.L. and van Heerde, H.J., 2017. How well does consumer-based brand
equity align with sales-based brand equity and marketing-mix response?. Journal of
Marketing, 81(3), pp.1-20.
Henkel, A., Boegershausen, J., Aquino, K. and Lemmink, J., 2016. The Undesired
Discounting Effect of Budget Brands: How Brand Positioning Affects Perceptions of
Customer Service Representatives’ Human Qualities. ACR North American Advances.
Huang, R. and Sarigöllü, E., 2014. How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand
equity, and the marketing mix. In Fashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors (pp. 113-132).
Springer, New York, NY.
Jiang, Y., Shang, J., Liu, Y. and May, J., 2015. Redesigning promotion strategy for e-
commerce competitiveness through pricing and recommendation. International Journal of
Production Economics, 167, pp.257-270.
Khan, M.T., 2014. The concept of'marketing mix'and its elements (a conceptual review
paper). International journal of information, business and management, 6(2), p.95.
Pfeifer, P.E., Farris, P.W., Pfeifer, P.E. and Farris, P.W., 2017. Problems in Pricing. Darden
Business Publishing Cases, pp.1-3.
Pike, S., Gentle, J., Kelly, L. and Beatson, A., 2018. Tracking brand positioning for an
emerging destination: 2003 to 2015. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 18(3), pp.286-296.

MARKETING 16
Solomon, M.R., Dahl, D.W., White, K., Zaichkowsky, J.L. and Polegato, R., 2014. Consumer
behavior: Buying, having, and being (Vol. 10). London: Pearson.
Steenkamp, J.B., 2017. Global Marketing Mix Decisions: Global Integration, Not
Standardization. In Global Brand Strategy (pp. 75-109). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Thach, L. and Olsen, J., 2015. Profiling the high frequency wine consumer by price
segmentation in the US market. Wine Economics and Policy, 4(1), pp.53-59.
Toptal, A. and Çetinkaya, S., 2015. The impact of price skimming on supply and exit
decisions. Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry, 31(4), pp.551-574.
Wei, Y.S., Samiee, S. and Lee, R.P., 2014. The influence of organic organizational cultures,
market responsiveness, and product strategy on firm performance in an emerging market.
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 42(1), pp.49-70.

MARKETING 17
7.0 Appendix
Base
Segment
Profile
Age Do they own
a
smartphone?
Do they
use social
media at
least once
a day?
Are they
price
sensitive?
Do they
shop
online?
Do they
consume
television
ondemand
or live?
Below 18 Mostly Yes Mostly Sometimes
with
parents
On-Demand
(72%)
18-29 Yes (94%) Yes (92%) Not really Yes On-Demand
(73%)
30-39 Yes (92%) Yes (90%) Yes Mostly Mixed (47%
live)
40-49 Yes (92%) Mostly
(88%)
Somewhat Medium Mixed (47%
live)

MARKETING 18
50+ Mostly (78%) Mostly
(83.5%)
Somewhat Rarely Live (62%)