Analyzing Marketing Strategies: A Case Study of Intel and Starbucks

This case study analyzes the marketing strategies employed by Intel and Starbucks to achieve customer satisfaction and gain a competitive edge. Intel leveraged celebrity endorsements during the London Olympics to increase fan engagement, while Starbucks utilized music and emoticons on WeChat to foster customer relationships and drive sales. The analysis highlights the importance of innovative marketing approaches, including SWOT and PEST analysis, in understanding market conditions and customer expectations. Both companies demonstrated how strategic use of celebrity sponsors and social media platforms can enhance brand image, increase customer engagement, and ultimately lead to higher revenue and a stronger market position. The study concludes that effective marketing strategies, tailored to specific market conditions and customer preferences, are crucial for achieving sustainable competitive advantage.

Running head: MARKETING
Marketing
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Case selection and description.........................................................................................................3
Case study 1.................................................................................................................................3
Case study 2.................................................................................................................................4
Evidence of sustained competitive advantage.................................................................................4
Analysis and explanation.................................................................................................................6
Conclusions......................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The topic introduces the concept of marketing and its effectiveness in delivering products
and services to the customers. The two organizations included here are Intel and Starbucks,
which have managed effective marketing approaches to ensure customer satisfaction and achieve
competitive advantage in business as well. This report will analyze the different marketing
strategies to determine the products and its distribution in the different market segments along
with the various factors associated with the marketing approaches. The report will focus on the
two case studies where Intel hired two celebrity hosts to provide audio updates to the fans during
the London Olympic competitions for increasing the fan base while Starbucks has reached the
customers through music and even used emoticons as useful marketing strategies to maintain
good relationships with them (Baker 2014). These two case studies will illustrate the benefits
obtained through effective marketing and how it has resulted in customer satisfaction and made
the companies gain competitive advantage too.
Case selection and description
Case study 1
During the London Olympics competition at midnight in China, Intel found new ways of
marketing to attract a large fan base and make more people inclined towards the sports events
held at the competition. The two celebrities were considered as hosts who provided updates
about the events in audio three times every day (intel.com 2018). Every morning, the messages
and information about the previous night’s events were illustrated and even the fans were
provided contest questions and lastly the winners were announced with further sports updates.

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There are no companies that can become successful by maintaining consistency and prevent risks
from arising while operating within the free market. To change the nature of life and manage
changes to adapt to different situations, Intel has enabled innovative thinking of branding by
managing two popular celebrities as hosts and kept the fans updated with the latest information
about the sports events held during the London Olympics competition (Solomon et al. 2014).
Case study 2
The second cast study illustrated the influence of music created by Starbucks to reach
customers with the use of emoticons and even using songs to match the mood of fans. It is an
effective marketing strategy that enabled using music as an effective marketing tool to increase
the fan base. The retail chain further was able to make more than 270000 friends in WeChat
during the fur week campaign, which ensured keeping good relationship between the business
and its customer along with increase in sales too (starbucks.com 2018). Starbucks, being a
popular retail supermarket chain has managed to utilize the WeChat platform for increasing the
customer base and made them aware of the kinds of products and services delivered along with
the places from where those could be accessible (Leonidouet al. 2013). This has not only made
the company obtain more fan followers but also influenced the buying behaviors of the clients,
which further increased the sales and profit level of the company too.
Evidence of sustained competitive advantage
In the field of technology, Intel has made a huge mark by rebooting its marketing strategy
by introducing a new, innovative and more agile approach to content marketing, which has
powered the computing company’s marketing plans. With the formation of modern electronic
equipments, the company leads in the industry by developing “Intel inside” campaign, which

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created huge scopes for the computer systems’ users to manage the business processes
effectively. They have been considered as the major faces of the brand who have sponsored the
events and provided the viewers with necessary updates with proper support by the broadcasters
(Hawkins, Mothersbaugh and Best 2013). The celebrity sponsors acted as important aspects of
the marketing strategy, which facilitated the individuals to enjoy public recognition on behalf of
the consumer goods and services. The celebrity sponsors helped in keeping the views updated,
developed interest among their minds regarding the sports events during the Olympic and made
them take part in contests, where the winners could get merchandise and gifts from the company
(Nobre and Silva 2014). It fostered the endorsed brand’s credibility and improved the brand
equity, which kept the viewers engaged and positive mindsets regarding the brand were created
as well. This was be the sign of better sales and higher revenue generation, which were
considered as essential aspects of gaining competitive advantage.
On the other hand, Starbucks wanted to make more followers who could visit the website
daily managed by the company, furthermore to ensure that they were aware of the latest
information and news about the products and services delivered by the company, This was an
effective marketing strategy, which favored the company’s ability to achieve the objective of
getting more followers and enhance the customer base too (Carrillat, d'Astous and Christianis
2014). It has been a successful year for Starbucks with its extensive services delivered all over
the world and thus the company aimed at getting more friends on Wechat so that they could be
influenced to visit the company. The marketing strategy started with a simple question asked to
the customers “How are you feeling today?”, which was responded to by the customers by
providing an emoticon describing their emotions and feelings towards the company. The
company then managed to respond again, but this time, with a song or by playing music that

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suited the moods and feelings of the customers (Tzoumaka et al. 2016). Thus, the customers
were easily reached and its innovative marketing strategy helped in drawing them more in large
numbers. This strengthened the relationship between the company and its customers and
influenced their buying behaviors too.
Analysis and explanation
Intel is a popular brand that is synonymous with the modern electronics and this makes it
one of the best companies that have effectively managed the marketing activities to improve the
brand image and name. The company has found new ways of marketing to ensure that more
clients are attracted towards the company and thus the celebrity endorsements is considered as
effective. The celebrity sponsors are mainly the athletes who may have left sports, but still are
associated with the events and have willingly take part in keeping the viewers updated (Ashley
and Tuten 2015). They also made sure to arouse interest among the people by making them
participate in contests, where the winners were awarded with gift hampers. This allowed Intel not
only to strengthen its brand image, but also helped in remaining associated with the Olympics
events to draw in more clients and influence their buying behaviors regarding the purchases of
products and services delivered by the company. This was a great marketing strategy adopted by
the company, which favored the assessment of different market conditions and the expectations
and demands of the customers were also understood. Intel conducted a SWOT analysis to
determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for ensuring that the right
customers are targeted through the sports events held at the Olympics (Vinerean et al. 2013). It
should assist in keeping the customers updated with the latest sports news, provide them benefits
through participation in contests and even make the customers inclined more towards the brand,

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which could improve the brand identity and generate more revenue by attracting both existing
and new clients with ease (intel.com 2018).
Starbucks, being a coffee based company, focused on becoming more socialized through
management of social networks and increase the fan base. WeChat current has 768 million daily
users and Starbucks grabbed this opportunity willingly by integrating the concepts of e-
commerce to boost the brand and influence the behaviors of the customers too. Starbucks
implemented this marketing strategy by obtaining the option to send a coffee or other gifts of
Starbucks to a friend with the use of a new setting within the Weixin wallet (Constantinides
2014). The recipient would receive the gift inside WeChat and when the gift would be showed at
Starbucks, the person could get the coffee easily. This is a great and innovation marketing
technique, which has not only influenced the behaviors of the customers, but also has created
convenience for them to buy the products online and get those delivered at their doorsteps. When
asked about the customers’ behaviors and about their feelings, the individuals provided
emoticons based on which, Starbucks played their favorite country music to create a positive
mindset among them. The PEST analysis framework was used to determine the political,
economic, social and technological factors that influenced the functioning and how the
involvement of WeChat benefited the company by creating more than 270,000 friends, who
could also be considered as important clients of the company (starbucks.com 2018). Thus, it
could be analyzed and interpreted that the involvement of social media platforms had enhanced
the exposure of brand image and even made more people aware of the brand products, which
influenced the consumers’ buying behaviors, created more sales revenue and achieved
competitive advantage on business.

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Conclusions
The report was prepared to discuss about the essential concepts of marketing considering
the two case studies involving Intel and Starbucks. Intel implemented the celebrity sponsorship
or endorsements strategy to welcome new clients by influencing them to watch the sports events
at London Olympics competitions while Starbucks used the WeChat platform to create more
followers and strengthened their relationship with the customers through music. By
implementing these strategies, both the companies have improved their brand images and
identities and even created more scopes to draw in clients as well as created good relationships
through positive mindsets. While the SWOT analysis and PEST framework were also used to
ensure that the market conditions were understood, both these two companies prioritized on the
involvement of celebrity sponsors and social media platforms to engage with the clients and
provide service accordingly. It surely showed up higher level of customer satisfaction and
generated higher revenue and competitive advantage in business too.

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