Hospitality Marketing: Burger King, McDonald's, and Travelodge

This report examines the significance of marketing within the hospitality industry, using Burger King as a case study. It details Burger King's marketing roles, responsibilities, and its relationship with other organizational departments. The report includes an organizational chart and analyzes the marketing environment context, including advertising, brand value management, and customer retention strategies. A comparison of Burger King and McDonald's marketing mix elements (7Ps) is provided, along with tactics employed by Burger King to achieve business objectives. Finally, the report proposes a marketing plan for Travelodge, outlining strategies to meet its business objectives. The report covers topics such as marketing mix, roles and responsibilities of marketing, interdepartmental relationships, marketing environment analysis, and the development of a marketing plan. All of this is done within the context of the hospitality sector, using real-world examples.

Hospitality Marketing
Essentials

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
Roles and responsibility of marketing within Burger King........................................................1
Marketing relation to wider organisational context ...................................................................3
Marketing roles in marketing environment context ...................................................................4
Importance of interrelationships between other functional departments and marketing ...........6
Critical analysis of key elements of marketing and interdependency between marketing and
other departments of Burger King...............................................................................................6
LO 2 ................................................................................................................................................8
Comparison between Burger King and McDonald on the basis of 7 elements of marketing mix
.....................................................................................................................................................8
Tactics used by Burger King to achieve business objectives ...................................................11
LO 3 ..............................................................................................................................................11
MARKETING PLAN FOR MEETING BUSINESS OBJECTIVES OF TRAVELODGE .........11
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is defined as an integral component of organisational success. It aims at
developing a plan as per the needs of organisation and behaviour of consumers and marketing
trends so that profit margins can be maximized and brand value of organisation can be enhanced.
The inefficient marketing plan can put the growth of organisation at risk. Particularly in
hospitality industries where each and every operational activities is judged by the customers
(Abratt and Bendixen, 2018).
The report will describe the significance of marketing and its interrelation with other
functional units of organisation. It will consider the case study of Burger King which is an
American multinational company and is one of the popular fast food restaurant famous for its
hamburgers. Currently it has 15000 stores all over the world. The report will compare the Burger
King and McDonald on the basis of marketing mix elements. Further the document will also
provide a marketing plan for hospitality organisation of given case study.
LO 1
Roles and responsibility of marketing within Burger King
Organisation chosen: Burger King
Operational activities: The organisation was founded in 1953 and its head quarter is located in
United states. At present organisation receives worldwide revenue of around 1.22 billion dollars
(Burger King - Statistics & Facts, 2018). The food chain is growing continuously through its
effective marketing strategies. Its marketing team accomplishes following responsibilities.
Roles & responsibilities Implementation in Burger King
Promotion The marketing team of Burger King develops strategies for
promoting the organisation so that its brand value is
maintained. The marketing department ensures that every
targeted customers is aware with name of organisation and
recall only Burger King when they think about hamburgers or
fast food. This department conducts market research so that
effective promotional methods can be used.
Service management Marketing team also prepare guidelines for methods of
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providing services with high quality standards and
innovations. It helps Burger King to make itself unique and
superior from other competitive organisations.
Customer management The aim of marketing is to develop strategies to retain
customers for long term as well as to attract new customers.
Marketing department of Burger King monitors that
customers do not face any difficulty in services. For this
purpose company also strictly review its performance and
feedbacks (Kaufmann, 2014).
Selling To increase the profits by raising sales marketing department
formulates attractive policies which encourages customers to
buy more products. The Burger King marketing strategies
focus on price, distribution and product related factors to
enhance its sales records.
Marketing relation to wider organisational context
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(Source: Marketing Organization Chart, 2018)
The product manager in the marketing team has to establish coordination with other
departments. In order to finalise any product specification its price, execution, operational cost
and possible risks must be analysed. This is possible only when marketing team has regular
interaction and coordination with other functional units. Marketing research team also plays
important role in success of the company (Baker and Saren, 2016). This team conducts various
researches and analyses the performance of Burger King as well as its competitors. It gives
innovative strategies to company so that it can sustain its position in competitive market
environment as well. For example with marketing research the organisation can analyse the facts
which influences the customers and reasons due to which customers are disappointed with
company. The analysis of these facts will help organisation to improve its performance.
Marketing roles in marketing environment context
Role Responsibilities Interrelation with marketing
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Illustration 1: Organisation chart Burger king

environment
Advertising Marketing functional unit of
Burger King has effective
strategy to promote their
product and services so that
organisation can achieve its
sales target. The marketing
personnels also monitors the
latest marketing trends of
promotion so that it can
approach wider range of
audience.
The advertising trends and
strategies of Burger King are
greatly influence by marketing
environment. The
technological, economical and
social factors can decide the
mode of advertising in
particular market segment. On
the other hand advertising is
also affected by micro
environment factors like nature
of customers and competitors
(Bowie, Buttle, Brookes and
Mariussen, 2016). For instance
most of the competitors of
Burger King are currently
using social media and digital
marketing for promotion thus
to achieve goals organisation
must also adopt these modes of
advertisements.
Brand value management Brand value plays a key role in
determining and sustaining the
success and popularity of
organisation. Marketing
department of Burger King
aims at regularly improving
the quality of services so that
the organisation can become a
Brand value management is
interrelated with the marketing
functions. The market
researchers have ability to
analyse the preferences of
different customers and
advancements which can help
organisation to meet their
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global brand name. This
management helps
organisation to manage its
business activities all over the
world instead of any specific
region only (Kaufmann, 2014).
When Burger King has higher
brand value then company can
open its outlets in any corner
of the world and can get huge
response from the customer.
objectives. The customers and
relations with suppliers can
play a crucial role in making
the brand popular. The macro
environment factors such as
social, political and legal
factors can greatly affect the
brand value management. For
instance if company will fact
any legal issues then it will
surely have adverse impact on
its performance and brand.
Customer retention Customers are the key to
success for any business. For
achieving business goals it is
necessary that satisfactory
services are provided to
consumers. Marketing plan of
Burger King focus on
requirements of its customers.
The organisation is very strict
towards reviews of its
consumers and consider these
feedbacks for its improvement.
For example to facilitate the
service experience
organisation provides online
booking, cashless payment and
home delivery services.
The marketing environment
plays an essential role in
affecting the purchasing
characteristics of consumers.
Marketing team must
understand this behaviour. The
social and environmental
factors will affect choice of
customers. Similarly, if Burger
King will have fast and
efficient supplier and
distribution chain then
customer will experience good
quality services and will be
retained for long term despite
of strong competition form
other organisations.
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Importance of interrelationships between other functional departments and marketing
Marketing and resource allocation department:
During the promotional events and customer retention activities of marketing department
interior and architecture of Burger King greatly affects the marketing goals. For instance; the
architecture and service equipments like crockery and sitting arrangements must be comfortable
and pleasant. If these will not be pleasant then customers will not visit again restaurant and it will
cause loss to organisation. Marketing team uses the attractive images of its organisation for
promotion so that people can be attracted (Solomon and et.al., 2014). This interrelation is
essential for improving the quality of services and to increase sales. Marketing research team
makes plans that how they can make their company more attractive for consumers as well as for
staff members so that its brand management goals can be accomplished.
Marketing and operational department:
The operational activities of Burger King also have interrelation with the marketing
events. Many customers prefer organisation because of its brand value and method of executing
its operational activities. For example earlier company was using only cash mode for payment.
But when marketing team analyses that sales can be increased by offering home delivery and
online order management and payment system, they changed their operational mode. It brings
significant increase in the performance of Burger King and also provide it huge opportunity to
explore the global market. This interrelation helped organisation to expand its market segment
and targeted audience (Scarborough, 2016).
Critical analysis of key elements of marketing and interdependency between marketing and other
departments of Burger King
Key elements: The key elements of marketing covers all the aspects of marketing functions.
These elements consider the various aspects of products and services provided by organisation. It
includes elements like price, product innovations and specifications, as well as the promotional
strategies which can be used by organisation for promotion. It also includes the description of
target audience and concepts like market segmentation which can improve the performance of
Burger King. The processes used by the organisation for executing its services also serves as an
important criterion of success.
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Marketing and human resource (HR) department: The organisation functions can be executed
with high efficiency it is importation for Burger King to recruit skilled human resources. If HR
and marketing department will not coordinate with each other than company may not get
required talent pool. It will affect the consumer satisfaction also because behaviour of employees
is one of the key factors in performance evaluation (Hunt, 2018). The interaction between human
resources and marketing will also enable organisation to represent itself as highly skilled team.
For instance if HR department is not known that marketing team need some technical experts
then the new recruited employee may not meet the expectations of marketing team. It will lead to
unnecessary wastage of organisational resources and time.
Risk management and analysis department: Product and price analysis are basic evaluation
parameter for marketing department. However, before implementing any policy marketing
department must discuss the strategy with risk management so that in case of failure organisation
may not bear non-recoverable losses. The lack of interrelation between both of these departments
will reduce the problem solving skills of company and Burger King will not be able to sustain its
success for long duration.
Marketing and customer relation functional unit: Marketing team makes every possible effort
to establish a coordination between customer satisfaction and profit margins of Burger King.
Though marketing team analyses sales records and its performance for evaluation of customer's
behaviour but it will not be able to get actual analysis without interacting with customer relation
management team (CRM) (Lovelock and Patterson, 2015). The customers provide their
complains and suggestions to CRM thus if both of these units will not work together then Burger
King may fail to create high brand value.
Technical and marketing functional units: According to present scenario due to technical
advancements this interrelation is getting important day by day. For example, if consumer of
Burger King face difficulty in online payment or order booking then marketing team must
communicate this issue with technical team. Similarly, data security concerns are also vital for
company to address (Kasemsap, 2018). The lack of this interrelation can completely abolish the
present working system of Burger King which greatly relies on technology and networking.
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LO 2
Comparison between Burger King and McDonald on the basis of 7 elements of marketing mix
Marketing mix elements
(7P's)
Burger King McDonald
Product Burger King follows concept
of “Have it your way”. Thus,
customers can have variety of
options in each order. To
diversify its product it also
sales beverages like coffee and
drinks. To target health
conscious people it also
provides good options in its
menu.
McDonald have large portfolio
for its product range. It follows
the theme of “Think global and
act local”. The company
follows standardised products
at its all outlets but in order to
address the cultural differences
it also served local or adapted
products. For example Big
Mac is standardised products
but it also serves products like
MacArabia or McLobster
which are limited to only
specific regions.
Price It follows psychological
pricing strategy like its prices
has last digits .99. In response
to the economical challenges
the company has more focus
on budget friendly schemes. It
follows market oriented and
bundle pricing methods.
According to these approches
its prices are based on factors
like supply and demand,
For price strategy McDonald
use local approach instead of
global. The McDonald prices
are according to economic
status of the country and
society in which it is operating.
Thus, for attracting developing
or low income value countries
its prices are kept low so that
more customers can be
attracted. Another attracting
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competitors as well as
attractive offerings on bundle
or combo purchasing.
strategy used by the company
is that its prices are decided by
its franchises and various
combo packs which
encourages more purchasing
(Scarborough, 2016).
Place Burger King is also globally
operating organisation. For
distribution purpose along with
physical stores it uses websites
and mobile applications as
well. Home delivery options
and online booking
distribution has provided
organisation great boost in its
performance.
The company operates
globally and aims at expanding
its business in developing
countries in which still there
are huge growth opportunities.
In its restaurants it provides
services such as Wi-Fi,
playgrounds, automatic order
machine to provide more
facilities.
Promotion For creating awareness among
customers the company does
not use any customized
approach like McDonald.
Rather, it uses mode such as
sales promotion, public
relations and advertisements.
The company also participate
in charity events such as
scholarship assistance to create
and increase its social brand
value (Jussila and et.al., 2015).
The promotion strategies of
McDonald are also diversified
so that they can create
significant impact on every
customer. For example in
England it uses English Soccer
players in its advertisement but
in France to create more
impact instead of using same
advertisement it used French
Soccer player.
People The company recruits skilled
employees and focus on
McDonald values the
feedbacks and suggestions of
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delivering products which are
in greater demand by its
customers.
its customers. It also ensures
that its employees are highly
trained and efficient in their
job roles. To provide quality
services to its consumers
organisation has options on its
website so that customers can
provide ratings and
suggestions. To enhance the
service experience the
company is also planning to
provide on desk service or
automatic machines.
Physical evidence The company effectively use
social media to increase its
presence among customers. Its
brand name and symbols can
easily be observed on banners,
glasses and other promotional
mediums.
The company makes effective
attempts to create its physical
evidence all over the world.
For example in its every store
the organisation uses same
interior like red and yellow
colour and the statue of
McDonald which gives
standardised format of the
company. Apart from these
aspects the company maintain
pleasant surroundings and its
logo, tag-lines and name can
easily be identified by people
at different places.
Process Burger King aims at increasing
its sales so that it can generate
At present the organisation
follow standard format of
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