Contemporary Issues in Marketing - BMP4004: The Marketing Mix Role

This report provides an analysis of the marketing mix and its significance within the marketing process, focusing on Unilever as a case study. It begins by defining marketing and the marketing mix, followed by a theoretical explanation of the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). The report then introduces Unilever and its product lines, particularly highlighting Magnum ice cream. The application of the 4Ps marketing mix is thoroughly discussed in relation to Unilever's products and services, detailing product innovation, pricing strategies, distribution channels, and promotional activities. The report concludes by emphasizing the crucial role of marketing in business and summarizing the key insights gained from the analysis of Unilever's marketing strategies. Desklib provides a platform for students to access similar solved assignments and study resources.

Business Management
BMP4004
Contemporary Issues in Marketing
The nature and importance of the
marketing mix within the marketing
process
1

Contents
Introduction 4
An explanation of marketing 4
An explanation of marketing mix 5
A brief theoretical explanation of 4Ps marketing mix
6
Introduction of product/service
7
Application of 4Ps marketing mix to the selected
product/service 7
Product 7
Price 8
Place 8
Promotion 9
Conclusion 9
References 10
2

3

Introduction
Marketing means the activities of selling of products and services through
various types of promotion and advertisements of the company. This is a wide term as it
includes selling, advertisements, delivering goods to the ultimate consumers (Deepak and
Jeyakumar, 2019).This tool is used by the companies to target the potential audience who
want their products. Marketing uses marketing mix strategy that consists of four P's which
helps the companies to find the best opportunities that are available in the market. This
report is based on Unilever brand, it is a multinational consumer goods brand that is based
in London, England. It was founded by Dutch margarine and Lever brothers on 2 September,
1929. They have operation in mainly three segments like foods and refreshments, beauty &
personal care and home care. This report will include explanation of marketing along with
marketing mix. Four P's of marketing will also be discussed in this report. This report
consists various types of methods that how a business can promote it's products and
services in the market. There is an introduction of products of the company in below report.
Practical applicability of 4 P's of marketing mix will also be discussed in relation to the
products and services.
An explanation of marketing
Marketing can be defined as set of actions that a company takes to advertise and
promote their products or services through various kinds of promotional activities. This
involves high level of research in finding the specified area for promoting the products in the
market. It includes offline as well as digital marketing (Wang, 2021). This also helps in
building the relationship with the customers as it facilitates the companies to find out the
needs of the customers. For the growth of the company marketing is a key concept and
without this tool, it is very hard for the business to compete in the market. Marketing in
relation to Unilever company. Unilever conducts marketing process on a very large scale as
they spends lots of money on this. They do advertisement by telling the benefits of the
products and about the new innovations to their consumers. They build trust in the eyes
their customers as they ensures that each and every information regarding the product
should be given to their consumers. Unilever continuously target the global market for
4

promotion of their products as they sell good quality products at affordable price which
attracts customers through out the globe. Before entering into the new market they
conduct complete research and development about the market. They advertise their
products in the market by telling them the health benefits of the products and nutritional
values. They use various social media platforms in order to advertise their products which
helps them in getting more customers for the business.
An explanation of marketing mix
Marketing mix refers to the tools that are used by the firms and business
organization to fulfill their marketing objectives. It helps the business to choose the
right market for their products. Marketing mix contains 4 P's of marketing tools that
involves in the promotion of the products and services in the market. These are 4 P's
are referred to as product, price, promotions and place (Mothersbaugh and et.al.,
2020)). These helps the business to grow more in the market. 4 P's of marketing
plays an important role in the advertising and marketing of the products. This helps
the marketer departments of the companies to formulate a efficient marketing
strategy which helps in deciding the price, place and promotional areas of the
products. This ensures that the firms should serve the best quality products and
meets the new needs of the customers as well. These 4 P's of marketing mix are
also known as product mix and is very valuable for the business in deciding their
positioning in the market. This facilitates the firms to adopt a effective price strategy
which directly results in growth of the business. It also facilitates the companies to
determine the location of business operations which helps them in finding the
potential buyers for their products. It is the best tool for the companies to determine
the product that is to be offered to a particular market. By using this strategy
companies can increase their revenue and can capture a huge share in the market.
A brief theoretical explanation of 4Ps marketing mix
5

Product: Product refers to the goods and services that companies offers to their
customers. Business organization should satisfy the needs and wants of the
customers. In this point companies determines the features of the products and
services that is to be offered to their customers.
Place: This refers to determining the place where the product and services are to be
offered. This involves in accessing the right distribution channels for the business
organization which makes the product easily available for the consumers (Kamps
and Schetter, 2018). This may include online as well as offline selling of the
products. It also focus on to choosing the right market place for the product.
Price: This p of marketing means that how much a business organization should
charge to their customers. This means that the company should set the price
according to the competitor's price which helps the companies in easy survival in the
market.
Promotion: This is the last stage of the marketing mix as this helps the companies
to advertise their products in the market which helps in attracting more customer
towards the business (Ferrell, Hartline and Hochstein, 2021). It also facilitates the
business to create a brand image in the eyes of the customers. It also helps in
spreading the awareness of the products and services.
Introduction of product/service
Unilever is a multinational consumer brand that deals in various products.
They includes products like food, minerals and supplements, beauty products etc.
They have operation in many countries and they are well established as a brand.
There main food divisions are home care, foods & refreshment and beauty &
personal care. Unilever consists of 400 well known brands in the market. Some of
their major brands are Lipton, Sunlight, Lux, Lifebuoy. Ice cream of magnum that
Unilever owns is a main product of the company (Galak and Kahn, 2021). This is
6

most famous among the young group of people. They have specialty in making the
ice cream products as they use high quality of raw material while making. They have
different flavors in ice cream segment which attract huge customer base. They use
innovative techniques to produce ice cream which maintain the quality and reduce
the excess cost. They also offer different kinds of varieties in ice creams for health
conscious customers which includes sugar free and low fat ice creams . They use
the latest technologies for making ice creams through which they can easily meets
the demands of the customers that helps them in generation of more revenue. This
product helps in reaching more and more customers as they target all age groups.
Application of 4Ps marketing mix to the selected
product/service
Product
This means that which type of products and services should be offered to the customers in
order to satisfy the needs of them. This marketing mix is very important as this is the end
result that consumer will get and product should be made after doing research and
development. Unilever deals in variety of products like food, personal care, home care.
They keep on introducing new products in the market through which they can easily satisfy
the demands of their customers (Rauschnabel and et.al., 2022). Ice cream is a main
product for the company as this segment generates huge level of income. They regularly
innovates new flavors in the company which helps them to meet the new demands of the
customers. They conduct surveys in the market through which company get to know about
the new trends and taste of the people. They have a research and development department
in the company which ensures that the ice cream that is manufacturing in the company
should contain nutritional values.
Price
This includes the pricing strategy as in this marketing mix firms decides
the price of the product that is to be charged from the customers. The
price should be set according to the value of the product that is being
7

offered to the customers. Price should be considered after analyzing the
market strategy of the competitors that helps the firms to compete in the
market easily. Pricing strategy also includes discounts for the customers
which helps the firms to attract more customers in the market. Unilever
uses effective pricing strategy as it has products for the middle as well
as for the upper segment of the society (Wirth, 2018). For the ice cream
segment Unilever set the prices according to the demand and
competitors price. As they fix high prices for the premium quality of ice
creams and comparatively low price for the normal range of ice creams.
Unilever sometimes faces competition in the market through which they
set the prices of the ice creams lower in order to survive in the market.
Place
This marketing mix refers to choosing the location of the business or in which area
the product is to be offered to the customers. This also involves selecting the right
distribution channels which helps the business to delivering the products to the
customers in the remote areas as well. It helps in determining the place where the
product is to be distributed. Unilever finds the right places for their products and they
also chose effective retailers which helps them in selling of their products to the
ultimate consumers. Unilever maintain huge distribution network channel which
includes distributors, retailers and warehouses. They select the effective place for
the distribution of their ice cream products. The have huge variety of ice creams and
they uses this strategy by opening their ice cream stores in those areas which
attracts more people. They use online as well as offline methods for delivering the
ice creams products (Reyes, ed., 2020). They have also placed big ice cream parlors
in the city centers and malls which helps them in increasing their sales and getting
more customers.
Promotion
Promotion refers to the those activities that helps the company to reach
more and more customers. This marketing mix includes various types of
8

advertisements, digital marketing, promotional activities etc. This helps
the firms to determine the effective promotional channel through which
they can advertise their products and services in the market. There are
various types of promotions like T.V advertisement, social media
advertisement . These helps the business to increase their sales in order
to generate more profits for the business. Promotions are also
undertaken by the firms to give knowledge about the products and
services (Musarra and Morgan, 2020). Unilever spends lots of funds on the
advertisement and marketing. They majorly use digital marketing as well
as traditional methods of advertisement to promote their products in the
market. They promote their ice cream products by giving discounts on it
which mainly attracts the young age group towards their company.
Unilever caters to the health conscious consumers by giving information
about their sugar free and low fat ice creams.
Conclusion
From the above report, it can be analyzed that marketing plays an important
role in the business. Concept of market has been discussed. Marketing mix has also
taken into account in this report. 4 P's of marketing has also been discussed in this
report in order to find the new opportunities for the business. There is an introduction
of a product for better understanding of the marketing mix. The company marketing
mix has been discussed. It can be analyzed that 4 P's of marketing helps the
company to increase it sales through using various kinds of promotional activities.
References
Deepak, R.K.A. and Jeyakumar, S., 2019. Marketing management. Educreation
Publishing.
Ferrell, O.C., Hartline, M. and Hochstein, B.W., 2021. Marketing strategy. Cengage
Learning.
9

Galak, J. and Kahn, B.E., 2021. 2019 Academic Marketing Climate Survey:
motivation, results, and recommendations. Marketing Letters, 32(3), pp.275-
297.
Kamps, I. and Schetter, D., 2018. Performance marketing. Springer Fachmedien
Wiesbaden.
Mothersbaugh, D.L and et.al., 2020. Consumer behavior: Building marketing
strategy. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill Education.
Musarra, G. and Morgan, N.A., 2020. Outside-in marketing: Renaissance and future.
Industrial Marketing Management, 89, pp.98-101.
Rauschnabel, P.A and et.al., 2022. What is augmented reality marketing? Its
definition, complexity, and future. Journal of Business Research, 142,
pp.1140-1150.
Reyes, M. ed., 2020. Consumer behavior and marketing. BoD–Books on Demand.
Wang, C.L., 2021. New frontiers and future directions in interactive marketing:
inaugural Editorial. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing.
Wirth, N., 2018. Hello marketing, what can artificial intelligence help you with?.
International Journal of Market Research, 60(5), pp.435-438.
10