Marketing Plan: Headphones Launch, BSMAN 3008, Semester 2 2018

This report presents a comprehensive marketing plan for QUAD, an Australian-based brand under PROTECTA, aiming to launch a new range of headphones in Australia. The plan includes a detailed marketing situation analysis, identifying the target customer segments (sports and fitness enthusiasts, travelers, and youth) and key product features such as audio compatibility, water resistance, and long battery life. A SWOT analysis is conducted to assess the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, followed by clearly defined marketing objectives, including increasing brand awareness and revenue. The marketing strategy encompasses positioning, product, pricing, promotion, distribution, and marketing communication strategies, with a focus on competitive pricing and product innovation. The report also outlines an action plan, controls, a budget with a profit and loss statement, and contingency planning to ensure the successful launch and market penetration of QUAD headphones. Desklib provides access to this and similar marketing assignments to aid students.

STUDENT NAME
MARKETING
MANAGER
Running Head: MARKETING MANAGER 0

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Contents
1.0 Introduction...........................................................................................................................3
2.0 Marketing situation...............................................................................................................4
2.1 Marketing description............................................................................................................4
2.2 Key features of the product....................................................................................................4
2.3 Major competitors..................................................................................................................5
3.0 SWOT Analysis.........................................................................................................................6
4.0 Objectives.............................................................................................................................8
5.0 Marketing strategy................................................................................................................9
5.1 Positioning.............................................................................................................................9
5.2 Product strategy.....................................................................................................................9
5.3 Pricing Strategy...................................................................................................................10
5.4 Promotion Strategy..............................................................................................................11
5.5 Distribution Strategy............................................................................................................12
5.6 Marketing Communication Strategy....................................................................................13
6.0 Action Plan.........................................................................................................................14
7.0 Controls....................................................................................................................................18
8.0 Budget and P&L......................................................................................................................19
Estimated Budget.......................................................................................................................19

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Profit and Loss Statement..........................................................................................................19
9.0 Contingency planning..............................................................................................................22
10.0 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................23
References......................................................................................................................................24

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1.0 Introduction
A marketing plan is a subsection of a business plan, which includes various steps for
development like analyzing the market situation, understanding the objectives of the marketing
plan, analyzing SWOT of the brand or company, and creating marketing strategies for the brand.
Moreover, a budget is fixed, within which the marketing plan is to be developed. The report aims
to understand the marketing plan and its aspects in detail, for which a fictitious company case
will be considered (Adam & Kotler, 2014).
QUAD is an Australian-based brand, of PROTECTA, willing to launch a headphones range in
Australia, with various innovation. The company was founded in August 2002, and the current
marketing director of the company is Mr. Allen Chen. The company prefers to import the goods
from another nation that is China but the packaging is done in the home country itself. Four new
products would be launch by the company in Australia, for which the marketing plan will be
developed in the report further.

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2.0 Marketing situation
Initially, before developing the marketing strategies for the brand, it is essential to understand the
current situation of the target market that is headphone market of Australia. This is to analyze the
competitive industry of headphones, for better strategies to create.
2.1 Marketing description
As already mentioned in the previous section, the company is trading Quad headphones in
Australia, which is the home country of the company. The target customer segment of the
company is bifurcated into three groups that are sports and fitness person, travelers, and youth
for playful use or fashion (Ang & Rusli, 2018).
The needs that the products will be able to fulfill are music listeners for people who are traveling
or travel often. Moreover, the sportsperson would be the target segment while fulfilling the need
of listening to music while exercising, doing gym, running, or sports practicing, to enhance the
mood for a workout. Moreover, youth is very much indulging in listing music, watching videos,
and playing online games, and it is one of the latest fashion that youth like to follow, for which
the QUAD headphones wireless, and wired will suffice according to their needs (Armstrong &
Giardina, 2016).
2.2 Key features of the product
Two types of product category are made available by the brand that is wired headphone, and
wireless headphone. The key features existed for both types of headphones are as follows:
 Audio compatibility – the product is compatible with most of the smartphones, which is
one of the key features of the headphones. Especially in the case of wireless headphones,
as compatibility with Bluetooth is essential (Bach, 2017)

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 Water resistant – it is one of the major problems in various electronic devices, that they
are damaged in case got wet. This is the key feature of QUAD headphone that they are
water resistant
 Easy to carry – the product is handy and packaging is more forced over the ease of
carrying the product while running or traveling. This is taken into account especially in
case of wireless headphones, as the risk of dropping increases
 Long hours battery life – the battery is a major issue for most of the people, which
QUAD products are full filling with its key feature of long battery life
 High sound resolution – the sound is the major aspect for headphones, and the company
is providing high sound resolution
 Call and volume control – controlling the volume of the product and call acceptance and
reject with the headphones itself
 Latest designing – the designing of the product is according to the latest fashion, and
available in three different colors that are black, red, and white (Bakir & Rose, 2015)
2.3 Major competitors
1. Philips – Philips is one of the key competitors of the company, as the company is dealing in
electronics for many years, and has created a good brand image. The marketing strategy for the
company is innovation, high quality, and reliable products
2. Samsung – this is another major competitor, as it is one of the global leaders in the electronic
section. The key strategy of the company to target the audience is offering products for different
income group customers.

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3. Sony – this company is considered as another global leader in electronics. The company’s
unique selling proposition or one of the marketing strategy is focused product over sound and
high audio compatibility with different smartphones, and electronic devices.
3.0 SWOT Analysis
Strengths
 Innovation
 Company image
 Attractive designing
Weakness
 Declining revenue
 New customer attraction
 Rapid changing market
Opportunity
 Extensive promotion
 Brand awareness
 Targeting new customer segment
Threats
 High competition
 Customer acceptability
 New entrants
Strengths
 Innovation – the key objective of the company while introducing this product range is
innovative and unique products to offer to the customer. This is one of the major strength
of the products, which is considered to be a unique selling proposition (Balmer & Abratt,
2016)
 Company image – the existing goodwill of the company is building, and good. This will
be helpful while creating a brand image of the product range and positive customer
perception for the products (Bao & Xia, 2015)

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 Attractive designing – the designing of the product is very attractive and available in
three colors to attract different customer segments according to age and usage, that is
white, red, and black. Moreover, the designing of the product is according to the latest
fashion scenario, and ease of use and carry. This seems to be a great strength of the brand
(Boone, 2016)
Weakness
 Declining revenue – it was observed that the revenue was decreasing of the company,
which is one of the weakness, as the pressure for earning revenues for the new launch
products increased to a large extent (Chari & Feng, 2018)
 New customer attraction – the need for attracting new customer increases according to
the target market, for which the company needs to spend a large amount of finance in
promotional activities
 Rapid changing market – the industry in which the company exist is a dynamic and
changing rapidly, which could be one of the weakness for the brand (Burdo, 2018)
Opportunity
 Extensive promotion – one of the future opportunity for the company is attracting new
customer with the help of marketing, and promotion to a large level, for increased sales
and profits of the company
 Brand awareness – another opportunity of the company is to enhance brand awareness
through marketing strategies for the company to enhance sales, and increase the customer
base of the brand

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 Targeting new customer segment – other than the existing target segment, the company
has an opportunity to target other customer groups as well for increased customer base
and sale (Ho, 2014)
Threats
 High competition – one of the major threat of the company is the global leaders and a
large number of competitors like Philips, Samsung, apple and many more
 Customer acceptability – the acceptability of the customer is another threat to the
company. For illustration, wireless headphones may be not accepted by old age group
customers
 New entrants – since in this industry, the entry for new companies is not much restricted,
and they could be a threat to the existing products or services as they will bring new
technology and innovative idea to the market (Forster, Gill, & Dunn, 2018)
4.0 Objectives
1. Increase brand awareness to 25% – the objectives for QUAD product range is to enhance
brand awareness among the customers and attract more and more customers. This has to
be achieved in next six months, which could be measured in form of increment in
customer database. The issue of negative publicity could affect this objective to achieved
on time.
2. Increase in revenue – the revenue is declining, which seems to be one of the major issues
for the company, for which the QUAD product objective is to increase the revenue by
minimum 15% within a year. The existing revenue was declining, which is one of the
major issue to hamper this objective to achieve.

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3. Sustain in the industry with Competitive advantage – another major objective is to
enhance the brand for its competitive advantage to sustain in the market or industry,
which included product innovation, pricing strategy to target more and more customers
(Hunt & Bicen, 2017). This needs to be perform within a year, and can be measured
through increase in sale when compared to the major competitor in the same product
range. Change in competitor strategies could be the major issue while achieving this
objective.
Among the above-identified objectives of the company, one of the most crucial objectives or
issue is to increase the sale of the company by 15%. This is the key objective for which new
innovative product range of QUAD is to launch in the market. The marketing strategies of the
brand are to be created in the way that the sale of the brand increases next year. To accomplish
this objective, various marketing strategies will be created, which includes a price penetration
strategy to target different income group people in the market and enhance the revenue (Read,
2013)
5.0 Marketing strategy
5.1 Positioning
Positioning is a crucial decision while creating the right marketing strategy for the company. it is
essential to position the new product launch in the market through regular, entry-level or
premium segment. Since the QUAD is a completely new product in the market, with the
innovation of four earpieces, the positioning strategy appropriate for the brand is the entry level.
This is one of the first types of the product range available in the Australian market. this brand
positioning is responsible for creating an image of the brand and product according to the

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customer. The positioning strategy for QUAD includes innovation, fashion designed product,
and high-quality product.
Moreover, brand positioning is helpful in standing out the brand amongst its competitors that are
gaining competitive advantage in the industry. This will be better executed through correct
marketing communication strategy (Salar & Salar, 2014)
5.2 Product strategy
The company is offering four types of QUAD products that are :
 Wireless in-ear headphone
 Wired in-ear headphone
 Wireless over-ear headphone
 Wired over-ear headphone
The key attractive attribute of the headphones is that they are offered with four earpiece,
which means two people can enjoy listing music at the same time with equal sound quality.
Moreover, another attribute is product designing, which includes offering the products in
three vibrant colors to offer to different age group customers and according to the usage. The
colors availability is white, red, and black.
Product innovation is a major product strategy of the company, this includes the innovative
product range through the usage of the product by two individuals at the same time. This is
one of the competitive advantages for the company, as being the first mover for this range of
the product. Therefore the product differentiation strategy of the company seems to be
helpful in achieving the objectives of the company (Trivedi, 2016)

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5.3 Pricing Strategy
1. Competitive pricing – one of the most suitable pricing strategies for the new launch product
rage in Australia is competitive pricing. Since the industry is a fast-growing and competitive
industry, in case of major difference in price, the customer could shift to another brand for
headphones. Therefore, it is essential for the company to offer the price, which is according to its
major competitors. This marketing strategy is adaptable in case of wireless products range, as it
is an innovative product, which is one of the competitive advantages for the company
2. Price penetration – this pricing strategy is suitable for marketing the wired products, as it is
not as innovative as the wireless one. For this, the company can introduce the product with
relatively low pricing, to attract a number of customers, and attract their competitor’s customers.
This strategy will be helpful while attracting customers from different income groups. Moreover,
this could be one of the competitive advantages of the company (businessjargons, 2018)
5.4 Promotion Strategy
The company focuses on extensive promotion strategies to enhance brand awareness and
increase the revenue of the company. The tools used for the promotion are:
 Advertising – this is the most common and effective way to promote any product of the
company, and reach out to a large group of audience at the same time. One of the
disadvantages is that it is expensive to tool for the company, nevertheless can be helpful
in increasing the revenue of the company, and enhance brand awareness. The advertising
can be through television ads, that is audio video promotions (chiefoutsiders, 2018)
 Print media promotion – this is another way to advertise the products of QUAD, the print
media promotion include advertisement of the company through journals, magazines,