AMMK700 Strategic Marketing Report: Antipodes' Marketing Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the strategic marketing strategies employed by Antipodes, a New Zealand-based cosmetic company. The report begins by outlining the application of strategic marketing theories, focusing on how Antipodes differentiates its products and competes in the skincare market. It delves into the marketing mix, examining product, price, place, and promotion strategies, alongside newer elements like people, processes, and physical evidence. Furthermore, the report explores resource allocation theories, particularly the BCG matrix, to determine how Antipodes allocates resources to various aspects of its marketing mix. The report also includes SWOT analysis, market analysis, market segmentation, and positioning strategies for Antipodes, offering insights into its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats within the competitive landscape. Overall, the report provides a detailed examination of Antipodes' strategic marketing efforts, highlighting its approach to resource allocation and marketing mix strategies.

Running head: STRATEGIC MARKETING
STRATEGIC MARKETING
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1STRATEGIC MARKETING
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Application of strategic marketing theories...........................................................................2
Resource allocation theories to marketing mix strategy........................................................7
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11

2STRATEGIC MARKETING
Introduction
The report will focus on the application of strategic marketing of the Antipode
cosmetic company located in New Zealand. Mainly the report consists of two parts describing
the theories, models, concepts, and approaches of the marketing mix strategies of the
products of the company. The second part of the report will identify various application of
resources such as concepts and process that has been allocated to the marketing mix strategy.
The article will measure how an efficient strategic marketing process is important for a
business concern to attain maximum profitability as by framing an adequate marketing mix
strategy, the company can get a scope for further expansion and growth of the business
(Adamopoulos & Todri, 2015). The company operates in the skincare and cosmetic industry,
which is increasing rapidly because of strong competitive market situation. If, by taking into
consideration the present market situation, the company needs to implement innovative
strategic marketing concepts to sustain in the market for an extended period (Aghazadeh,
2015). Evaluating the correct and proper marketing mix strategy for all products must be the
ultimate aim of the business concern as without framing adequate and innovative strategy, the
organization would not be able to gain maximum profitability and cannot meet customer
expectations (Hanssens et al., 2014).
Discussion
Application of strategic marketing theories
Antipode is a renowned cosmetic brand operating in a new niche in skincare, almost
in many countries. The company offers premium natural skincare products that are
scientifically tested and proven safe for skin. The Antipodes products are extremely popular
and award-winning skincare products. Recently, the company launched its new moisture to

3STRATEGIC MARKETING
boost natural lipsticks. The owner of the company was well aware of the rapidly increasing
market opportunity related to skincare products that were prepared from natural compounds
and were certified organic. Customer prefers the company’s product as it can protect skin
from signs of aging. However, in this present competitive market condition, the company can
maintain a leading position in the cosmetic industry and that too, with providing excellent
products and services to the customers (Olson et al., 2018). Achieving this leading market
position is only because of the innovative application of the strategic marketing theories as to
stand out in the market and to give tough competition the company needs to implement
strong strategies that will prove to be profitable for the company (Kapoor & Si, 2014).
There are numerous marketing strategies, and it entirely depends on the company
which strategy to use that will give maximum benefits. The company knows that before
launching any products in the market, an appropriate marketing strategy must be prepared
based on customer demand and value that will ultimately lead to success. Marketing strategy
is one of the significant tools that measure specific ways by which a company can efficiently
deal with the competitors and stand out in the market (Pappas, 2016). By adopting an
effective marketing strategy, company can make full utilization of its resources and can
provide a sales message to its target market. By taking into consideration the importance of
strategic marketing approaches and concepts, Antipodes also, adopt various application of
marketing strategies to the marketing mix of the skincare products of the company. The
company implemented the marketing strategies to differentiate its products from its
competitors by focusing on its potential strengths that will provide better value to the
customers than its competitors. Antipode efficiently used its technological development, such
as anti-aging technology, that has been used in the vitro research activity. To make a
profitable marketing strategy, the company takes into account the assessment of marketing
mix that includes price, place, product, and promotion (Sharma, Davcik & Pillai, 2016). By

4STRATEGIC MARKETING
analyzing the four factors and implementing various strategic marketing process concerning
these factors, the company can reach its ultimate goal. In the present competitive world, due
to various new strategies, the marketing mix also evolved and included many new elements
such as people, processes, and physical evidence (Fan, Lau & Zhao, 2015). The additional
elements are included in the marketing mix to address the modern competitive environment
efficiently and to identify how the new advanced technology affected the current market
environment; even it identifies customer value and demand (Arseculeratne & Yazdanifard,
2014).
Usually, the report will focus on the skincare product range of the company that
consists of pure fruit extract, anti-aging series, and organic products (Khan, 2014). By taking
into account these products, we will discuss various implications of strategic theories that
have been adopted by the company.
Product: Antipode used separate product lines for selling its products. The company sells
skincare products by offering a wide range of variety, thus allowing customers to choose the
product that is best for them. Antipode skin care product is highly differentiated with
innovative features that differentiate it from its competitors. As the company used high-
quality products that are unique and even backed by scientifically proven, the customers are
willing to pay higher prices for the products.
The company needs to implement innovative product strategy such as introducing new
products that are in trend in the market. The company needs to identify opportunities in the
market and launch products as per the requirements of the customers. The company must
offer new product lines that can fulfill customer needs and demand. After-sale service and
helpline services must be introduced by the company that will attract a positive brand image
for the company.

5STRATEGIC MARKETING
Price: The Company follows a competitive based pricing strategy, as there are numerous
competitors within the industry. For the new products, the company takes into account the
costs, as there is no information available in the market related to the product. Generally, the
skincare products of the company come at high costs as the products has extremely high-
quality features and even manufacturing cost are high for the products. The company even
adopts optional pricing for the skincare products where the customers need to pay a fixed
amount for the skincare product and other products; a separate price is fixed. The products
that are sold online come for higher costs as the delivery costs are included in the total price.
The company has already established its position in the market, and to expand its customer
base, the company can introduce some discounts and allowances facility that will attract more
customers. The company can use a price penetration strategy where the price of skin care
products is lower than its competitor’s price.
Place: The Company sells its products via two channels. The first one direct selling via its
online website and second one via wholesalers, where the company sells its skincare products
to the wholesaler, and then the wholesaler sells it to different retailers. The company thus
ensuring that products are available to customers all across the world as it follows an
intensive marketing strategy. The company integrated online and off-line store by which
customers can easily access to its products.
The company must use the influencing marketing tool, such as a social media platform where
the company can open its online shop in social media, thus allowing numerous customers to
purchase products via social media. The company needs to increase its selling activities to
various retailers and must ensure that it is covering almost all-cosmetic retail shops in the
targeted market.

6STRATEGIC MARKETING
Promotions: The company uses various platforms for its promotional activities such as social
media platforms, television, and many more by which the company can reach its customers.
The company is using social media tools and taking benefits of the current situation where
social media is one of the significant influencing marketing tools (Wang & Kim, 2017). Even
the company carries out its promotional activities in various trade exhibitions and beauty
events.
The company must launch various campaigns on the social media platform where it can
organize some contest related to cosmetic and beauty products. The company can take the
help of some celebrity face for conducting its promotional activities (Tiago & Veríssimo,
2014). The company, in its marketing strategies, could use digital marketing techniques.
People: The Company has an efficient marketing sales team that can deal with the emerging
market situation and framing efficient strategies that are profitable for the company. People
are the greatest strength of the company, and in this case, people are given adequate training
to provide excellent services to the customers. The people help the company to maintain and
improve the quality of the manufactured products.
The company should organize a workshop and training for new employees who are new to
the business. The company must offer some additional bonuses and incentives to employees
who are achieving their targets.
Process: The customers can access the products directly by visiting the retail shops or can
order online via the company’s website. The company has tied up with various delivery
system services. The company gives extra importance to customer feedback and try to
implement customers' demand in various products.

7STRATEGIC MARKETING
The company needs to implement strategies by which it can reduce its manufacturing cost, as
ultimately, it will lead to less price for its products. The company must try to increase the
efficiency in terms of timely delivery of the skincare products.
Physical evidence: The Company has excellent packaging quality that protects the product
from any type of destruction. Even the company style of packaging is unique that can be
easily differentiated from other products. The company online website is user friendly and
gives a response to customer queries.
The company must try to encourage its customers to give regular feedback so that they can
implement changes wherever it is required. Even the company needs to open up its stores
where customers can directly contact with the salesperson and enquire about the product
details as per their choice.
Resource allocation theories to marketing mix strategy
Resource allocation is an art of management that continuously evaluates the existing
resources which are available to the firm. And try to achieve efficiency in distributing the
resources among different stages of production and selling of the product. It also takes into
consideration the uncertain situation that may arise during the development of the product
(Huang et al., 2019).
The application of Resource-based theory has been changed over a period of time.
The resources help a company to use its strategic capabilities for executing its marketing mix
strategy successfully. The availability of tangible and intangible resources helps in shaping
the marketing mix planning into success. Resource allocation is the process that the company
follows for deciding where and how much the scarce resources will be utilized by the
business for producing any product (Sadeghi, Ghiyasi & Dehnokhalaji, 2019). The resources
can include tangible and intangible resources. The examples of tangible resources are labour,

8STRATEGIC MARKETING
equipment and machinery, invested capital of the company as financial resources etc. the
intangible resources the company uses are the intellectual property rights, technology used by
the company and the reputation of the company among its users and in the market as a whole.
Resource allocation activities cannot be done without strategic planning. The strategic goals
of the organization are important for the allocation of resources (Beloi et al., 2019).
Marketing mix involves strategies related to product, price, place, promotion. The
resources that are required for developing a product are the physical raw materials, advanced
technology for processing, investment in the physical distribution etc. When the product is
made by utilizing the 60% of the allocated resources for the entire product life until it reaches
the hands of the consumer. 60% of the budgeted figure is allocated in the product
development as it must maintain the expected quality by the consumer. The reason behind
allocating less than 70% allocation of resources is that future challenges may arise, and there
can be shifts in the original product characteristics, which can further demand more resources
to adopt and implement the changes (Nguyen, Paswan & Dubinsky, 2018).
The other part of the marketing mix is determining the price of the product. This
decision is done strategically that it covers the cost of production and also the cost of
marketing it to the customer. It should also include the profit margin as per the applicability
of the product features and quality. The resource allocation is required for the product
development phase and the product promotion phase. The second part of the resource
allocation would be to the promotion, which is the marketing stage of the product. TV ads,
social media and television. The cost of appointing lady actresses or models for promoting
the products on television ads will require a significant amount of resources. Other
promotional activities are giving ads on newspapers and magazines will have a different
amount of allocation that would be lower than the television ads, which is more expensive
(Madsen, 2017).

9STRATEGIC MARKETING
The resource allocation is tricky for many a time. When the focus of a company is
more on one project as it may be generating huge revenues for the business. The business
must not take a chance by compromising the allocation of resources for it. This indicates that
the allocation of resources can be based on the BCG matrix. If the product is in the ‘question
mark’, the company needs to make the choice that if it wants to sustain in the market,
resource allocation required in it, or if not it is better to move out of the competition. The
other section of the BCG matrix shows that the stars. It becomes the first priority of the
business for strategic investment. Investment should be done in such a way that it prevents
the losses for the firm. Cash cows are the product or services from which the company
generates the maximum revenue. The section requires the highest investment and allocation
of resources to sustain the growth rate of the business. However, the planning of the
investment amount should not be for increasing the market share because the product is
already at its highest point of sale. ‘Dog’ is the complicated section, where businesses stop
producing goods as the trend of revenue generation is following a declining trend.
The skincare products are of different variants such as pure fruit extract, Anti-aging
series and organic products. Antipodes' Kiwi Fruit Eye Cream is the cash cow for the
company. The new product introduced by Antipodes is the Kiwi Gold Eye Cream. This is a
new product that is at the ‘question mark’ stage of the BCG index. Moreover, if we see the
category of variant, which is generating the highest revenue for the business, then it is the
organic products (Shanbhag, Dutt & Bagwe, 2016).
The allocation of resources in the Antipodes' Kiwi Fruit Eye Cream would be higher
than other products as it has reached its optimum level of market share. The company must
try to secure the position as a leader in this product. The allocation of resources on the
Antipodes is the Kiwi Gold Eye Cream is the toughest task for the business. The market for
an organic product is already grown in the market. The company’s main aim should be to

10STRATEGIC MARKETING
make the product to the star section. This needs a sufficient amount of resource allocation as
it will compete with those products in the market which have already acquired a market
share. The allocation of resources to it would be 25% of the amount allocated for the product
development while rest will be other variants. It is evident that the company has a different
category of products, and different products are at different stages of product life. The
allocation of resources can be done strategically so that the revenue can be generated to the
optimum level, and the chances of making losses on the new introduction of the product can
be minimized (Du & Yu, 2017).
Conclusion
Lastly, the report concludes that to attain sustainable competitive advantage and to
remain in the market for a longer period, the company needs to implement innovative
marketing strategies by taking into account various factors that consist of the marketing mix
of the business. The company already has an established position in the market. For further
growth and expansion, the company needs to use marketing strategies that will bring
profitability to the business and will increase the customer base of the company.

11STRATEGIC MARKETING
References
Adamopoulos, P., & Todri, V. (2015, August). The effectiveness of marketing strategies in
social media: Evidence from promotional events. In Proceedings of the 21th ACM
SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (pp.
1641-1650).
Aghazadeh, H. (2015). Strategic marketing management: Achieving superior business
performance through intelligent marketing strategy. Procedia-Social and Behavioral
Sciences, 207, 125-134.
Arseculeratne, D., & Yazdanifard, R. (2014). How green marketing can create a sustainable
competitive advantage for a business. International business research, 7(1), 130.
Beloi, A., Charafeddine, M., Somashekariah, G. K., Mishra, A., Quintela, L., & Srinivasa, S.
(2019). U.S. Patent No. 10,515,381. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office.
Du, Q., & Yu, X. (2017, November). Research on Diversification Optimization of Investment
Business of A State-owned Company in Corps-Based on BCG Matrix. In 2nd
International Conference on Education Technology and Economic Management
(ICETEM 2017). Atlantis Press.
Fan, S., Lau, R. Y., & Zhao, J. L. (2015). Demystifying big data analytics for business
intelligence through the lens of marketing mix. Big Data Research, 2(1), 28-32.
Hanssens, D. M., Pauwels, K. H., Srinivasan, S., Vanhuele, M., & Yildirim, G. (2014).
Consumer attitude metrics for guiding marketing mix decisions. Marketing
Science, 33(4), 534-550.