Azteca Sports Marketing Strategy and Simulation Analysis Report

This report analyzes a marketing plan developed for Azteca Sports within a business simulation game. The plan involved a group of students assigned different roles to create a comprehensive marketing strategy. The report details the application of STP (Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning) to identify the target market, focusing on athletes and young consumers. It highlights the team's efforts to increase online presence, invest in R&D, and develop a competitive value proposition. The report evaluates the extent to which the initial goals were met, such as reducing production costs, competing with established brands, and growing social media presence. It examines the challenges encountered, including the focus on the domestic market and the impact of investment decisions. The report also provides insights gained from the simulation, including the importance of marketing insights, effective promotion, and the need to consider local market conditions. The author reflects on their contributions to the team, the application of marketing concepts, and the impact of their decisions on the final outcomes. The report further discusses the budget allocation across different market segments and the use of various marketing tactics, such as celebrity endorsements and the impact of promotion strategies, which were used to achieve the stated goals. It concludes with key takeaways and insights gained from the overall experience.

Marketing Strategy
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
I was involved in a business simulation game we worked in a group of 4- 5 people. we were
given a task to prepare a marketing plan of Azteca Sports. in that we were assigned different
roles and responsibilities (Angell and Kraemer, 2017). Also, as I was having some experience
in doing simulation so I was having idea and in depth knowledge of what it is all about. thus, I
searched it on internet and got to know that this is a business game where a particular business
problem has to be analysed and solution or strategy is developed.
So, I also took part in simulation game. here we developed a marketing plan. then, its results
were analysed to identify what variation occurred and whether goals and objectives set was
attained or not.
Highlights of plan
In my opinion there are some highlights of plan that we did a STP that is segmentation
targeting and positing to identify the target market. this enabled us to get insight on what basis
target market is determined. for that segmentation was done on basis of demographic factor
where people having similar characteristics was selected. here, we focused on increasing sales
and brand awareness about company product (Hansen, McDonald and Mitchell, 2017). Now,
we selected target market from it. this was done to determine specific target group. In this I gave
some suggestions as well which allowed in taking effective decision. so we specified target
people as athletes and young consumers. they were encouraged to buy sports products. Along
with it, we also focus on increasing online presence as well. at last we develop strategy that
where product is to be positioned. for that high performance and low price was used.
besides, rebranding and value proposition needs to be increased to attract more customers
and generate revenue. here, my team focused on investing in R&D. the objectives developed by
team was to compete with brands Nike and adidas in 5 years along with it, to reduce production
cost less than $5 per unit in 2 years. the last was to grow social media of 500,000 people.
the highlight is that in home marketing plan invest in R&D was done and investment
made in it was increased in next year. so, investment arise up to £2,000,000. this allowed in
gaining competitive market. however, in price was increased to £90.00 to £110.00. but it did not
reduce cost of production. moreover, in place a website was developed to increase presence of
online sales. However, as objective set was to reduce production cost but in promotion
investment in R&D increased. in domestic market primary research was done to find out needs
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of people. so, investing in R&D will improve in compete in market (Kennedy, Kemper and
Parsons, 2018).
the differences were managed by my team by changing tactics and strategies of decision
making. we suggested many plan and strategy to Azteca Sports that they should apply in order to
attain goals and objectives. for example- as there was difference in investment cost of consumer
and dealer promotion so it was decreased to £1,000,000 which created no marginal impact on
promotion.
Have goals met in plan
It is evaluated from marketing plan that the goals set in starting were not achieved. here,
it is found that in domestic market plan the goal accomplished was of reducing production cost
as pricing of shoes was reduced from £15.99 to £10.99 within two years. this enabled in
attracting more customers in domestic market and increasing sales and profits. this goal was
attained by reducing the investment done in market and in R&D (Key and Czaplewski, 2017).
similarly, I concluded that goal of develop a strong brand and compete in market with rivals such
as Nike and Adidas is achieved as well. this was done with help of celebrity endorsement. it led
to generate awareness of shoe at global level. Besides that, the other goals mentioned that are
launch internationally in next 3 years was also not achieved. in my opinion the reason behind
that is focus on London and domestic market. thus, Azteca Sports emphasised on local market.
Likewise, I realised that another goal of grow social media of 500,00 people at global
level was not attained as well. it is because in marketing plan under promotion strategy there was
nothing mentioned about use of social media platforms or website to attract people. therefore,
this objective was not attained.
I examined that main reason due to which goals was not achieved is focus on local
market and increase in investment cost. As company developed various marketing plan so they
were not able to focus on specific one. furthermore, in budget there was no fund allocated to
social media marketing which allowed in attracting people (Kingsnorth, 2019).
Journey of simulation
In class I and my team members learned about simulation game. the tutor also taught us
about some theories and concepts that is applied in simulation to develop strategies. the journey
is specified as we all made notes on simulation game and theories taught by teacher. I asked
some questions as well that how theory is applied in game. Then I searched it on internet and got
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insight about some practical example of simulation theory and concepts. So it gave me a clear
idea of how to apply it in our game and take effective decisions. the concept learned in class was
first to develop a goals and objectives. for that teacher told us to use concept of SMART
objective that is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound. similarly, I applied
this concept in simulation (Olson, Slater and Olson, 2018). here, I analysed reality of market
situation and on basis of it formed goals. the game was played with help of a software where we
have to take decision on basis of real market situation. this was just done to improve our
knowledge and skills in taking decisions. In class I learned concept of graphs where decision is
made on basis of analysing graph. it is applied in case of marketing. in this charts and tables are
shown as well of each market and competitors. Moreover, concept of STP in marketing plan was
taught in class. It reflected segmenting, targeting and positioning. I applied it as well in
simulation.
Contribution in team
I was highly involved in conducting simulation game. so, I contributed in it by applying
my knowledge and experience. As I have played simulation game many times. therefore, I guide
and direct other members. here, first of all I analysed goals and objectives. then, I interpreted that
what outcomes are obtained from it. so, accordingly I developed strategy that how goals can be
attained. Along with it, I supported them in doing simulation. Besides, I showed them some
tactics and techniques that how strategies are developed. hence, I applied my experience and
strategy in that. on basis of it, I applied some new tactics.
I realised that changing tactics highly impacted on final outcomes. I changed the
promotion tactics in local market (Patrutiu-Baltes, 2016). here, I analysed that if advertising
budget is cut than we can hire sales person which will be beneficial in doing direct selling. so,
the variance cost can be utilised in this technique. However, cost incurred will be less as
compared to variance and also hiring sales person will benefit in promotion. similarly, for
foreign marketing plan I decided that tactics that can be applied here is of using variance cost of
budget. so, for that we did celebrity endorsement to increase awareness about our product in
foreign market. this has led to rise in product awareness. so, it was successful and helped in
achieving goals and objectives. In addition to it, my contribution in team was that I showed them
way of gathering data and info about results and ways to analyse it. Also, with help of an expert
member in team I guided them to play simulation and how short terms goals is achieved. other
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than it, I evaluated market situation of company and then according formed some tactics. hence,
after my involvement in team there was major changes in final outcomes.
At last I contributed in preparing budget by segregating it into three types of market as in
plan. here, as I was having some knowledge of finance ad cost estimation. it was easy for me to
prepare budget (Samiee and Chirapanda, 2019). besides, I decided variable and then proceeded
it. in this way I contributed in simulation game. I also made notes on certain concepts and
theories of simulation game. and I applied in it which was helpful in accomplishing goals.
Marketing insights
As the simulation was entirely based on marketing plan so, by doing the simulation I gain
knowledge about different marketing insights. besides, by interpreting outcomes I was able to
identify that what is best way or strategy to attract customers. also, I got to know about why it is
necessary to gain market insight about customer as well market. this is because it is useful in
understanding their needs, perspective and taking views and opinions (Hansen, McDonald and
Mitchell, 2017). I learned that marketing insights is related to consumer experience and reality
of market. for this it is required to collect in depth data and information so that strategies are
developed. I took some insights that is investing only in R&D does not help in attracting
customers or increasing sales. but it also requires an effective promotion and pricing strategy as
well. Moreover, I learned that focusing on online is essential in order to generate awareness
within people. besides, it enables in finding out how well product is able to compete in market.
this provide an insight of whether customer is interested in buying product or not.
I realized that before expanding in foreign market it is essential to find out current market
situation of local market. it makes it easy to analyze overall reality of local market. then,
accordingly strategies are developed on basis of foreign market. usually, in sports industry it is
necessary to do promotion with celebrity endorsement as athletes doe not chose to buy products
that are of low quality. so, I think that this method is highly beneficial in attracting athletes. the
same technique is used by Nike and Adidas as they do agreements and endorse celebrity. another
insight gain was that at local and global market the experience and perception of people varies.
there is difference in way of interacting with brand. in order to attract price sensitive customers, I
it can be done by reducing price of product. they are easily attracted with it. along with it, I
learned that to improve quality investment has to be made into R&D. but it does not result in
competing with rivals and attracting people (Kennedy, Kemper and Parsons, 2018). for
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rebranding and increasing value proposition, marketing plan is to be developed. in value
proposition cost goal is to reduce production cost and sell at low price. this leads to generate
value through price reduction.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Angell, R.L. and Kraemer, J.R., International Business Machines Corp, 2017. Automatically
generating an optimal marketing strategy for improving cross sales and upsales of items.
U.S. Patent 9,685,048.
Hansen, J.M., McDonald, R.E. and Mitchell, R.K., 2017. Marketing Benchmarking, Triangulated
Isomorphism, and Firm Strategy. In Creating Marketing Magic and Innovative Future
Marketing Trends (pp. 533-543). Springer, Cham.
Kennedy, A.M., Kemper, J.A. and Parsons, A.G., 2018. Upstream social marketing
strategy. Journal of Social Marketing.
Key, T.M. and Czaplewski, A.J., 2017. Upstream social marketing strategy: An integrated
marketing communications approach. Business Horizons, 60(3), pp.325-333.
Kingsnorth, S., 2019. Digital marketing strategy: an integrated approach to online marketing.
Kogan Page Publishers.
Olson, E.M., Slater, S.F. and Olson, K.M., 2018. The application of human resource
management policies within the marketing organization: The impact on business and
marketing strategy implementation. Industrial Marketing Management, 69, pp.62-73.
Patrutiu-Baltes, L., 2016. Inbound Marketing-the most important digital marketing
strategy. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Economic Sciences. Series
V, 9(2), p.61.
Samiee, S. and Chirapanda, S., 2019. International marketing strategy in emerging-market
exporting firms. Journal of International Marketing, 27(1), pp.20-37.
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