Icebreaker Marketing Strategies: A Sustainability Analysis

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INDIVIDUAL REPORT
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Introduction
Marketing has been one of the factors that have been in the market for a long time and
organisations are finding ways to make their marketing more sustainable (Dabija, 2015).
Icebreaker is such an organisation that has used different sustainable marketing principles in
order to maintain sustainability in the market. The marketing mix is done in order to see how
sustainability is being maintained by the organisation. Also, PESTLE analysis is being done so
that the competition can be analysed and how the organisation can gain an upper hand on
them.
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Icebreaker Background Sustainable marketing key principles
The organisation deals in providing clothes of various types to its customers. It basically deals in
merino wool clothing for both outdoor activities and clothes that can be worn at home. The
company also focuses on making sure that its products are environmentally friendly and also
they do not harm any animals while making the products. These products are made from
natural fiber hence showing the reality of merino layers. The organisation was started in 1994
as a small organisation and later on became such a huge and renowned one in New Zealand.
The founder was only twenty years old when the organisation was started and this person’s
name was Jeremy Moon. The organisation is also located internationally hence showing how
much it is known across the world.
The organisation believes in sustainable marketing has adopted key principles which makes it
stand out in the market.
Innovative marketing is one of the principles that is adopted. This is an important principle as it
helps in the growth of the organisation. Icebreaker was the first organisation that bought in the
natural layering system into the market which showed how much of warmth its products could
provide. It has now organisation recently has gone in a partnership with VF Corporation
(Apparel service provider) so that it could expand into more markets than before (Jung et al.,
2013).
Societal marketing is another key principle of sustainable marketing that is done by the
organisation. In this principle, this organisation must meet the demand of the targeted
audience. Icebreaker has achieved this by making sure that it provides clothes based both on
activities that can be done outdoor and also cloths that are comfortable to wear at home. This
would help in providing more of a wider customer base that can lead to more markets the
organisation can penetrate (Rosohata, 2012).
Customer value marketing is yet another key principle that is adopted by the organisation. In
this principle, it is seen that more requirements of the customers are to be met. The
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requirements need to be managed by appropriate resources that do not harm the environment
(Sun, et. al. 2016). Icebreaker does this by making sure that the products which are
manufactured do not cause any harm to the environment or to any animal (Serbanica et. al.
2015). Merino wool is known as sheep wool hence the organisation makes sure not to harm the
animals while harvesting their wool.
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Marketing Mix Theory
This theory helps an organisation to promote itself on a better scale than before. For Icebreaker
it would help in bringing all of the factors that are involved in marketing into one place making
it easier for the whole process to be handled in an effective and efficient manner.
Place
The place that the organisation is present is across the world and needs to manage the
products according to the needs to the customers. Icebreaker has both physical stores and
online through which it sells the products. The manufacturing of products is present in three
countries which are New Zealand, China, and the USA. The company has made sure that there
are no waste products which are spent after manufacturing. Also, the organisation believes that
it should leave the world in a better place than it had found it. This shows how much
sustainability is maintained by the organisation (Liu, et al., 2017).
Product
The products which are manufactured by the organisation have a uniqueness in them which has
helped to create a competitive edge in the market. The products which are manufactured by
the organisation are made from merino wool which is taken from animals. The organisation
makes sure that none of the animals are harmed in this process. This shows how much of
sustainability is maintained as animal welfare is thought of. Also, the products which are
developed are in accordance with the need of the customers which also makes it sustainable
marketing done form the side of the organisation.
Pricing
The organisation does not focuses that much on pricing but instead makes sure to provide a
quality of product to the customer. The price of the products is not that high making it
affordable to all of the targeted customers. The revenue which is generated by the organisation
is very high even though the products offered by it are not that high (Sinapuelas et. al. 2015).
This is because there is a wide range of products which are offered hence making the customer
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base large. By meeting the customer needs the organisation showing that it is maintaining
sustainability by fulfilling the needs of its customers.
Promotion
Promotion is being done both on the online website and in the physical stores of Icebreaker. It
offers various discounts that help in attracting more and more customers to the products.
These discount offers can be seen on various social media websites or printing of posters hence
increasing the awareness of the products. This is done so that the customers can buy the
products at a lower price hence meeting their needs. This is done on different occasion like
different holidays would have their own discounted prices. This is considered to be
sustainability as the requirements of the customers are being met (Blut et. al. 2018).
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Other marketing principles that can be used by Icebreaker
There are other marketing principles which will have a positive impact on the organisation. One
such principle is known to be differentiation. In this principle the organisation sees what type
of customers it has and bifurcates them according to their requirements. This would help in
seeing what each consumer group wants and what the organisation should do to fulfil such a
requirement. This is a part of sustainability because the consumers’ needs are being given top
priority (Seddon, 2015).
Another principle is known as sense of mission marketing (Kim et al., 2012). In this it would be
seen that the products should not be made in a narrow thought of mind. This would mean that
the products would be made in an innovative manner keeping in mind the needs of the
customers. It would also make the organisation look at the needs to the employees as well. In
all, the organisation is socially responsible for all of its factors as it is maintaining their
requirements effectively.
The last marketing principle that can benefit the organisation is known as consumer-oriented
marketing. This is when the organisation makes sure that the marketing activities are thought
from the customer’s point of view. This is done to see how the customer would want the
product to be and where would the customer want the product to be advertised. There are a
number of customers that Icebreaker caters to hence it needs to make sure that marketing to
each of these customers is done in a different way. This would show that sustainability is
maintained as different requirements are being satisfied by the organisation (Allyson Dooley et.
al. 2012).
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Marketing Opportunity analysis
For finding out what opportunities are present for the organisation that will help in achieving
better results than the competition. One of the ways to do this is by a PESTLE analysis. This will
show what the factors are which are having an impact on Icebreakers.
Political
The main headquarters of Icebreakers is in New Zealand which is known to be a quiet place
without that much political confusion. This has helped the organisation grow efficiently hence
making itself available across the world. There are other clothing companies which are situated
across the world like Burberry in the United Kingdom which is in problem due to the decision of
the country to leave the European Union. This shows that Icebreaker is far better off than other
organisations in this aspect (Barrett, & Zirker, 2016).
Economy
The organisation markets most of its products according to the needs of the local customers.
This is where most of the revenue is generated from as it understands the needs to such
customers more easily. The resources like merino wool are easily available to the organisation
as it found in New Zealand easily. Other organisation may have to import most of their
resources hence increasing their costs by a lot (Verma, P. et al., 2018).
Social
The country is mostly in business with the locals of New Zealand. This is because it understands
what type of clothing is required by them the most. It also operates in countries where cold
weather is prominent hence increasing the demand for its products. But the organisation must
be aware that there are other organisations present which will want to take the opportunity of
this advantage. The competition in this factor is very high.
Technological
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The organisation is known for promoting its products on various social media application and
also has a website of its own where products can be easily be purchased. But this is not enough
to gain a upper hand in the from its competitors. For this the organisation uses technology
present in China, which is known to be having very good technology, hence gaining and
advantage over the competition.
Environmental
The idea of environmental safety is the main motive of the organisation. It makes sure that
animal welfare is thought of and every one of its customers knows this. This makes it better
than other clothing companies as it does not harm the environment in any way.
Legal
The organisation pays attention to all of the rules and regulations that it needs to follow hence
not doing any kind of misconduct.
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Conclusion
From this, it can be understood how much important marketing analysis is to an organisation.
In the case of Icebreakers, it was seen that the marketing done by it is sustainable due to which
it has gained such popularity in such low time. Also, the PESTLE analysis helped in identifying
how the organisation could gain a competitive edge in the market over its competition. There
were some parts in which the organisation lacked behind but it could be easily handled. In
conclusion, the use of marketing analysis is beneficial for organisations in various ways.
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