Strategic Marketing for Bristol Cars Company

The assignment explores the importance of strategic marketing for Bristol Cars Company. It discusses the use of adaptation as a viable technique to differentiate marketing strategies and enhance brand image. Additionally, it touches on the customer-based brand equity model, social media, and profitability as effective methods for measuring success.

STRATEGIC
MARKETING

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Marketing Mix of Bristol Cars Limited..................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
Customer-Based Brand Equity Model....................................................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
Integrated marketing communications (IMC)........................................................................5
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
Measurement of Marketing Success.......................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The report below covers the application of Strategic Marketing for the company Bristol
Cars Limited which is launching a new type of car by the name of “Driverless Car” in the
markets of Argentina. In the previous report, strategies were covered that could help the firm to
enterthe elected country. . The agenda of this study, however, was to derive and recommend
strategies through which the firm could successfully establish itself in the Argentinian market.
To achieve this, the report covers all the 7 elements of the Marketing Mix to suggest
strategies that could help the firm market its new car in the market, in ways that it could reach
maximum customers. To successfully derive the strategy, adaptation has been used as a viable
method by which the firm could cover this aspect.
Another agenda of the report was to successfully build a strong brand image in the
Argentinian Markets. To attain this, Customer-Based Brand Equity model has been used which
defines the 4 stages through which the firm could help in building a strong and positive image in
the market.
Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) was another factor that was aimed towards
critically evaluating different marketing methods used for the company's success. Out of the
three, Social Media was used as a prominent and effective method through which Bristol Cars
Limited could reach a wide range of customers together, hence, enhancing its target market.
Lastly, the report also covers how best the firm could measure the success of Driverless
Cars. Out of all the measures, Profitability was the most appropriate and relevant method which
could help Bristol Cars Limited to effectively measure the performance and success of Driverless
Cars.

INTRODUCTION
Strategic Marketing is a strategy that uses a forward looking approach to achieve the
objective of competitive advantage (Proctor, 2014). To effectively achieve this, the firm, Bristol
Cars Limited is introducing a new model by the name of “Driverless Car” in Argentina. It
covers the marketing strategies of the firm whereas application of Customer-Based Brand Equity
Model. It also covers Integrated Marketing Communication methods that are crucial for the firm
to gain most attention from customers. The report also includes methods by which the firm could
measure the success of its Driverless Car.
TASK 1
Marketing Mix of Bristol Cars Limited
After entering a new country successfully, it gets imperative for a company to develop
marketing strategies that help the firm to effectively penetrate a new marketplace. The focus of
the firm must be on either standardisation or adaptation, both of which could help it establish
itself and enhance its business performance. For “Driverless Car”, the marketing mix strategies
adopted by Bristol Cars Limited are described below: Product: The product introduced by the company is Driverless Car. With enhancement
in Artificial Intelligence and Automation Technology, the firm has completely adapted
its product strategy. However, with presence of own team of experts, it would be a
breakthrough in Argentinian markets with introduction of such advanced technologies.
However, it would enhance the demand of the product as this technology is still under
wraps in the country. This is because Driverless Car is would be using effective
Artificial Intelligence as well as automation in its systems which would be adaptation of
new technology by the company for this product (West, Ford and Ibrahim, 2015). Price: Recently, the country witnessed a rise in its inflation rates by almost 27%. The
pricing strategy of the company must focus on covering the basic cost of establishments
and manufacturing of the company. However, high costs are incurred in making this car,
the firm would adapt its pricing strategy to premium pricing for its Driverless Car. This
way, it could reach the target market as well as create a high scope for profit. Place: Since the agenda of Bristol Cars Limited is to successfully penetrate the market
and establish itself successfully as a high end auto-mobile company in the country, the
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firm would shift its distribution channels to online. To fight the cybercrime and win
customers trust, the firm is planning to use Virtual Reality for customers to track the
location of their cars and for safe delivery. With direct channels of distributions offline,
the firm is adapting to online ordering and delivery as well. Promotion: It is imperative that the firm promotes its Driverless Car in a way that it
reaches a wide variety of customers and create a positive buzz in the marketplace. Since
the concept is unique in the country, the firm must adapt its strategy to serve the
immediate needs. For this, the firm must host an event with exclusive preview of the
product to the customers. To enhance the reach, the firm could use social as well as print
media to promote the event to make a success and leave a long-term impression (How to
Promote a New Product or Service, 2018). People: Since the firm is covering a new marketplace, it is essential for the company to
adapt to a new customer market and hire employees who are familiar with the
marketplace to support the company in developing competitive strategies. The firm must
hire local employees and provide effective training programmes to adapt to the new
technology as well as the methods. Process: Bristol Cars, to reach wider customers and enhance efficiencies of its
operations, must adapt its processes of production, selling as well as distribution.
Adaptation is necessary in this case as Driverless Car is very different from the standard
cars manufactured and sold in the marketplace. The process must include effective IT
systems and the R&D department now must focus on employing efficient technologies
that ease the purpose of the firm to manufacture its vehicles. Moreover, Artificial
Intelligence could also play a prominent role in ensuring the quality of Driverless Car to
make it safe and comfortable for people of Argentina to use.
 Physical Evidence: Reassurance is quite important for the company in case of Driverless
Car as this concept is unique and is first being brought to the country by Bristol Cars
Limited. The design of the car as well as interior and exterior features must focus on
safety of the customers and must employ effective systems and unique and efficient use
of Artificial Intelligence in order to present a trend-setting vehicle in the auto-mobile
industry of Argentina (Banerjee, 2017).
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TASK 2
Customer-Based Brand Equity Model
Bristol Cars Limited is an established brand in the UK. However, in Argentina, the brand
needs to build a strong image in order to attract more customers and established long-term
customer relationships with them. To enhance its Brand Equity for customers in Argentina, the
firm must adopt Keller's Model of Customer-Based Brand Equity Model. It would allow the firm
to build a strong brand image and develop a positive perception about the product in front of the
customers (What is Customer-Based Brand Equity (And Why Should You Care)?, 2015). It is
imperative for the firm to build experiences that are favourable to satisfy the need of the
company. This model is divided into 4 stages which are described below:
Brand Identity:
Since the market is new for Bristol Cars, it is imperative that the company build a strong
identity and introduce itself in a way that customers successfully differ the organisation from
other similar companies. To build effective brand equity, the firm must communicate its
Driverless Car and company values rightfully to the public from the beginning which helps it to
create a positive image. The firm must adopt social media as well as exhibitions to enhance
knowledge of the customers about the brand and its products. This manner would eliminate the
possibility of misinformation about the firm and its products.
Brand Meaning:
After identification, Bristol Cars are required to communicate the customers in a way
which clearly conveys their operations, their products and as well as extent to which they are
reliable. This requires the company to expose its operations, usage of technology and
equipment’s, training it provides to the staff and so forth (Kashmiri and Mahajan, 2014). This
stage is divided into two parts which are discussed below: Brand Performance: The most important aspect of Bristol Cars to present its
performance to the customers. This requires them to lay out the performance of their
Driverless Cars in the front of buyers. They ways in which it can properly attempt this
is:
▪ Features: Driverless Car would be one of those first models that possess the
capability of being fully functional without human intervention. The Artificial
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Intelligence used would enable the car to perform each and every operation with
utmost perfection and without fault.
▪ Reliability: The safety systems and Automated Technology used in the car
makes it reliable for longer use. The car could take real-time actions smoothly
with access to the external environment and its safety systems are fully
functional to protect the external and internal environment.
▪ Customer Service: One of the most crucial aspect, the firm would regularly
approach its customers through online and offline methods to check the
efficiency of the vehicle. Any limitation would be immediately attended to
provide a smooth experience to the owners.
▪ Style and Design: To enhance the driving experience, the style and design has
been modified for the car to be able to adapt with the requirements of speed,
comfort and safety of the users.
▪ Pricing: The firm would follow premium pricing strategy to target high end
customers in Argentina.
 Brand Imagery: This requires Bristol Cars Limited to build a strong image in front of
customers. To achieve this, the firm must market Driverless Car in a way that it reaches
its target customers effectively. Target Marketing could be used by the firm with the use
of social media and other forms of print media that enhance its image locally.
Brand Response:
This directly relates to the usage of the products and services of the company. This stage
would be created after the customers use Driverless Car of Bristol Cars Limited. It depends upon
the performance of the car that would ultimately develop the “judgements” and “feelings” about
the brand in minds of consumers (Giannakis and Harker, 2014).
Brand Resonance:
In case Bristol Cars Limited reaches this level, it would become Brand Advocate.
However, it is quite challenging and crucial for the firm and its Driverless Car to reach the
product. This stage could be reached by the company if its car connects the customers both
psychologically and socially. Bristol Cars Limited through Driverless Car must engage its
customers by reaching and communicating them about their feelings and expectations from the
company. This stage could ultimately be achieved by fulfilling these expectations.
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(Source: Keller’s Brand equity Model – CBBE Model by Keller, 2018)
TASK 3
Integrated marketing communications (IMC)
Integrated Marketing Communication refers to a method that is employed by the
company in order to link all the communication forms as well as messages. Basically, this refers
to integration of the promotional tools. It could be a very important aspect of Bristol Cars
Limited as it has quite extensive benefits to offer to the firm:
 Strong communication with customers and Relationship Marketing would allow the firm
to boost its sales as it would create long-term customer engagement with the company.
 A unified message within the company would allow better conveying of information and
effective achievement of target (Kim, Shin and Min, 2016).
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Illustration 1: Keller’s Brand equity Model – CBBE Model by Keller

There are various marketing communication methods that could be effectively used by
Bristol Cars Limited (What Are the Six Major Modes of Communication in Marketing?, 2018).
These are described below: Social Media: The most evident example of rise in promotion process is through social
media. Users from all over the world witness each prominent event unanimously over one
single portal like Facebook, Youtube, Instagram and so forth. The biggest advantage for
Bristol Cars Limited in using this method for marketing communication is that the
concept as well as the popularity of Driverless Car could reach to a whole new level in
Argentina. However, one disadvantage of this tool is that social media has been subjected
to major security breaches and infringements. The concept and the technology used in
Driverless Car could be stolen and claimed by other organisations which could be
negative for the firm's relationships with its managers. Sponsorship: Another major method of communication by which Bristol Cars Limited
could market its Driverless Car is sponsorship. It could approach the football clubs of
Argentina like Boca Juniours, River Plate, Independiente and so forth to provide them
with sponsorships (ARGENTINA FOOTBALL TEAMS, 2018). Football is quite
extensively played and watched in the country and sponsorships to local clubs would help
the firm in better communicate with the local audience and could build a perception that
the company is supporting culture of the country. However, it requires a huge cost, time
as well as effort for a company to establish itself as a sponsor of these clubs. Moreover, it
is also uncertain as there could arise much better sponsors for these clubs in the future.
 Direct Marketing: This is another prominent way of communicating with the customers.
Bristol Cars Limited could directly communicate its target audience through online
advertisements, text messages, websites, emails, etc. The biggest advantage that the firm
could gain from Direct Marketing is that it could reach its target customers effectively
through direct channels that could gain their attention. However, it is not necessary that
the customers pay attention to such push notifications, messages and websites. This could
cause more expense and wastage of resources which could be ineffective for Driverless
Car.
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The firm could use Social Media as an effective marketing communication method to
communicate with its customers and it could effectively protect the design and technology after
acquiring patents and copyrights.
TASK 4
Measurement of Marketing Success
It is very important for a company to measure success of the new products and services
There are various methods by which Bristol Cars Limited could measure the success of its
Driverless Car in Argentina. These methods are assessed below: Sales Target: This refer to a certain amount of sales that are required to be achieved
within a specific time period. For instance, Bristol Cars Limited could be to sell at least
350 cars in a period of 6 months. The biggest advantage for setting up a sales target is
that employees would be clear of what their responsibilities are as well as what's expected
from them. The firm could also employ aggressive strategies to achieve this target. This
however might have a disadvantage too. In case this target remains unachieved post the
due period, it would cause demotivation in the company. To improve, the firm might
provide personalised service to enhance the sales of its cars. Profitability: This is another success measure that could be used by the company. As an
example if the profit of the firm is targeted at 4% in a year, the success could be
measured by achievement of that percentage. Even the deviation could be measured as
the extent to which the car is successful. To improve the percentage, the firm could
provide various offers associated with the car to establish better relationships with
customers in Argentina.
 Return on Investment: Bristol Cars Limited could use Return on Investment as a critical
method to measure the success of Driverless Car in Argentina. For instance, if the
company is investing £ 5,00,000 in overall manufacture and distribution of their car, the
return must be more than the amount. The biggest advantage of using this method would
be that company could determine the overall range of its success and could measure it by
numbers. However, money may not be the only success factor and other aspects like
brand loyalty, popularity and expansion might also be gathered through this car These
might not be considered in this method.
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Out of these three, Profitability seems to be the most appropriate and effective method to
measure success for Bristol Cars Company for its Driverless Car. This is because, this method
could help the firm in determining the overall success of its product and rather not with just few
elements. Moreover, the company could measure the success in a wide range which could not be
covered in other cases.
CONCLUSION
Thus, it could be effectively concluded that strategic marketing is necessary for a
company to successfully enter a foreign market. These firms could use adaptation as a viable
technique to differentiate its marketing strategies and make it more competent. It could also
apply the Customer-Based Brand Equity Model to successfully enhance its brand image in the
public. Social Media could be used as an effective method to communicate to a wider range of
audience and present the product there to gain more popularity and enhance sales. Lastly, the
firm could use Profitability as an appropriate method to measure its overall success and could
rely on the method for long run.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Banerjee, S.B., 2017. Corporate environmentalism and the greening of strategic marketing:
Implications for marketing theory and practice. In Greener Marketing (pp. 16-40).
Routledge.
Giannakis, D. and Harker, M.J., 2014. Strategic alignment between relationship marketing and
human resource management in financial services organizations. Journal of Strategic
Marketing. 22(5). pp.396-419.
Kashmiri, S. and Mahajan, V., 2014. Beating the recession blues: Exploring the link between
family ownership, strategic marketing behavior and firm performance during
recessions. International Journal of Research in Marketing. 31(1). pp.78-93.
Kim, N., Shin, S. and Min, S., 2016. Strategic marketing capability: Mobilizing technological
resources for new product advantage. Journal of Business Research. 69(12). pp.5644-
5652.
Proctor, T., 2014. Strategic marketing: an introduction. Routledge.
West, D.C., Ford, J. and Ibrahim, E., 2015. Strategic marketing: creating competitive advantage.
Oxford University Press, USA.
Online
ARGENTINA FOOTBALL TEAMS. 2018. [Online] Available through
<https://vamospanish.com/top-5-argentine-biggest-football-teams/>.
How to Promote a New Product or Service. 2018. [Online] Available through
<https://thrivehive.com/9-ways-to-promote-a-new-product-or-service/>.
What Are the Six Major Modes of Communication in Marketing?. 2018. [Online] Available
through <https://smallbusiness.chron.com/six-major-modes-communication-marketing-
65083.html/>.
What is Customer-Based Brand Equity (And Why Should You Care)?. 2015. [Online] Available
through <http://upfrontanalytics.com/what-is-customer-based-brand-equity-and-why-
should-you-care/>.
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