This is how NIVEA reached the top using marketing research.


Nivea skin care products are part of the German company Beiersdorf. The company’s line of skin care products is marketed in about 100 countries. The product line has been around for about nine decades, originating with a scientific breakthrough with the first skin cream that did not separate into water and oil.  That coupled with intelligent marketing led to a strong positive brand image, which accounts for much of their success. 

The company’s continual success is due to the marriage of marketing and research and development within the company. Research and development is continual and the latest findings in dermatology, products technology, and raw materials are applied to existing products. The goal of improved product performance and quality is central to the Nivea product line. They help ensure this quality through constant testing and consumer feedback obtained via marketing research.

Nivea began marketing in the 1920's when they changed their logo and began selling their product around the world.
Early on they established their brand identity as a pure and gentle product on which families could rely. They advertised with a picture of the Nivea Girl. In 1924, they broke from tradition and began advertising with the Nivea Boys. This helped them convey the message that Nivea was made for the entire family. Their brand image has transcended decades with the help of a foundation built upon advertising that stresses family relationships and values.

In the 70's, Nivea had to defend itself against true competition for the first time. They relied heavily on marketing research, which helped them formulate a two-pronged strategy. The first part was the defense of their core business through a new advertising campaign "Crème de la Crème". The second part was the introduction of new products, which helped keep the brand fresh and introduced new sources of sales.

In the 80's, when marketing research indicated brand differentiation was becoming increasingly important, Nivea began branding with sub-brands. These sub-brands included skin care, bath products, sun protection, baby care, facial care, hair care, and care for men. They used an umbrella strategy with the sub-brands, which means that they were using their core brand to encompass all of the sub-brands. The goal was to establish individual images that were distinct but consistent with the core image of Nivea and were focused on not diluting the brand name and wanted to link the new sub-brands with the traditional values of the core brand. 
The result was an explosion in sales.
Nivea was able to continue their success in the 90's as their sales grew rapidly throughout the decade. The growth was due in large part to the introduction of new products, each based on extensive marketing research. The most successful products were their anti-wrinkle cream and an entire line of cosmetics.

Nivea entered the new millennium as the number one skincare and Cosmetics Company in the world with $2.7 billion in revenues. However, they still face challenges and their greatest challenge is in U.S. market, where their brand is not as strong as it is in other parts of the world. The U.S. market poses many obstacles because it is the largest and most dynamic market in the world. Nivea hopes to overcome these obstacles through the use of extensive marketing research. This research will lead Nivea to conduct more product launches and to develop focused marketing strategies.

Nivea focuses on consistency in their marketing, which is another difficulty because it can be troublesome for them to communicate the same message across various cultures. 

However, Nivea will do whatever it takes to maintain this consistency because they believe it gives them an edge over competitors. It helps consumers relate all their products to their core brand and identity. Nivea will continue to rely on marketing research to retain and refine the consistency in their marketing across global markets.

BMW positioning the brand as to create a new category "luxury performance cars".




Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) is a German luxury vehicles, motorcycle, and engine manufacturing company owning and producing Mini cars and serves as the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motor-rad, and plug-in electric cars under the BMW i sub-brand. It is one of the best-selling luxury automakers in the world. Before discussing how BMW positioned the brand in the global market, we must mention a small piece of brand information.

 Brand positioning is at the heart of marketing strategy. It is the act of designing the company’s offer and image so that it occupies a distinct and valued place in the target customer’s minds. As the name implies, positioning means finding the proper “location” in the minds of a group of consumers or market segment, so that they think about a product or service in the desired way to maximize potential benefit to the firm. 

 Deciding on a positioning requires determining the target market and the nature of competition and the optimal points-of-parity and points-of-difference brand associations. In other words, marketers need to know who the target consumer is, who the main competitors are, how the brand is similar to these competitors, and how the brand is different from them. 
In brand management, points of difference are formally defined as attributes or benefits that consumers strongly associate with a brand, positively evaluate, and believe that they could not find to the same extent with a competitive brand. On the other hand, points of parity are not necessarily unique to the brand but may in fact be shared with other brands in three types: category, competitive, and correlation.

 When BMW first made a strong competitive push into the U.S. market in the early 1980's, it positioned the brand as being the only automobile that offered both luxury and performance. At that time, U.S. luxury cars like Cadillac were seen by many as lacking performance, and U.S. performance cars like the Chevy Corvette were seen as lacking luxury. By relying on the design of its cars, its German heritage, and other aspects of a well-designed marketing program, BMW was able to simultaneously achieve a point-of-difference on performance and a point-of-parity on luxury with respect to luxury cars and a point-of-difference on luxury and a point-of-parity on performance with respect to performance cars. The clever slogan, “The Ultimate Driving Machine” effectively captured the newly created  umbrella category—luxury performance cars.

How did McDonald's corporation won the Indian market.




McDonald’s Corporation is a fast-food legend whose famous golden arches can be found in 118 different countries. The company is the undisputed leader in the quick-service restaurant segment of the hospitality industry, with more than twice the system-wide revenues of Burger King. 

 McDonald’s built its reputation by promising and delivering three things to customers: inexpensive food with consistent taste regardless of location; quick service; and a clean, familiar environment. The company was also a pioneer in the development of convenience-oriented features such as drive-through windows and indoor playgrounds for children. 

 Today, thanks to memorable advertising and intensive promotion efforts, McDonald’s is one of the world’s most valuable brands: In 2012, Interbrand ranked it as the world’s number 7 brand overall (Coca-Cola is number 1). The golden arches are said to be the second-most-recognized symbol in the world, behind the Olympic rings. In the United States alone, McDonald’s typically spends about twice as much on advertising as Burger King and Wendy’s. Today, however, the company faces competitive attacks from several directions. 

 During the 1990s, a wide range of upscale food and beverage purveyors arrived on the scene. For example, consumers began flocking to Starbucks coffee bars, where they spend freely on lattes and other coffee-based specialty drinks. The “fast-casual”  segment of the industry, which includes companies such as Panera Bread, Cosi, and Baja Fresh, is attracting customers seeking higherquality menu items in more comfortable surroundings. Meanwhile, Subway overtook McDonald’s as the restaurant chain with the most outlets in the United States. Some industry observers suggested that, in terms of both food offerings and marketing, McDonald’s was losing touch with modern American lifestyles.

 Until recently, the picture appeared brighter outside the United States. Thanks to changing lifestyles around the globe, more people are embracing the Western-style fast-food culture. McDonald’s responded to the opportunity by stepping up its rate of new unit openings. McDonald’s International is organized into three geographic regions: (1) Europe; (2) Asia/Pacific, Middle East, and Africa (APMEA); and (3) Other Countries. In 2005, the offices of the country heads for Europe and Asia were moved from the U.S. headquarters to their respective regions; now, for example, the head of APMEA manages his business from Hong Kong. Commenting on the change, Ken Koziol, vice president of worldwide restaurant innovation, explained, “McDonald’s was built on a strong foundation of a core menu that we took around the world but we need to make sure we are more locally relevant. Taste profiles and desires are changing.”

 Asia-Pacific The Indian market appears to hold huge potential for McDonald’s. The company opened its first restaurants in New Delhi and Bombay.
In Delhi, McDonald’s competes with Nirula’s, a QSR chain with several dozen outlets; in addition, there are hundreds of smaller regional chains throughout India. The U.S.-based Subway chain opened its first Indian location in 2001; Pizza Hut, KFC, and Domino’s Pizza have also entered the market. The Pizza Hut on Juhu Road in Bombay is housed in a three-story-tall building with large plate glass windows and central air conditioning. On most nights a long line of customers forms outside. 

 Indian demand for meals from the major food chains is growing at a double-digit rate; annual total sales exceed $1 billion. With those trends in mind, McDonald’s identifies strategic locations in areas with heavy pedestrian traffic, such as the shopping street in Bandra in the Bombay suburbs. Other restaurant locations include a site near a  college in Vile Parle and another opposite the Andheri train station; in all, McDonald’s India operated more than 250 locations at the end of 2012. Prices are lower than in other countries; most sandwiches cost about 40 rupees (less than $1). Drinks cost 15 rupees, and a packet of French fries is 25 rupees. 

 A complete meal costs the equivalent of about $2. Because the Hindu religion prohibits eating beef, McDonald’s developed the Chicken Maharaja Mac specifically for India. Despite protests from several Hindu nationalist groups, the first McDonald’s attracted huge crowds to its site near the Victoria railway terminal; customers included many tourists from across India and from abroad as well as locals commuting to and from work. In short order, however, Hindu activists renewed their protests, this time accusing the company of using beef tallow in its cooking. 

 Management responded by posting signs reading, “No beef or beef products sold here,” but the doubts raised by the controversy kept many potential customers away. Since that time, McDonald’s has worked steadily to prove that it is sensitive to Indian tastes and traditions. As is true throughout the world, McDonald’s emphasizes that most of the food ingredients it uses—as much as 95 percent—are produced locally. In addition, to accommodate vegetarians, each restaurant has two separate food preparation areas. The “green” kitchen is devoted to vegetarian fare such as the spicy McAloo Tikka potato burger, Pizza McPuff, and Paneer Salsa McWrap. 

 Meat items are prepared on the red side. Even the mayonnaise is made without eggs. Some of the new menu items developed for India are now being introduced in Europe and the United States.

How Nike became more recognizable outside the United States more than inside?



Nike Inc. is the number one U.S athletic footwear company and one of the most recognized American brands among foreign consumers. The high degree of recognition is one of the main reasons Nike has been so successful. At the end of 2006, the company operated 23 distribution centers in Europe, Asia, Australia, Latin America, Africa and Canada.

However, Nike’s success could be attributed to its concept based advertising campaigns. The company uses a strategy that is often called “image transfer”. Nike traditionally does not place a specific product or mention the brand name but it creates a mood or atmosphere and then the brand is associated with that mood. Nike says “We don’t set out to make ads, the ultimate goal is to make a connection.”

Nike uses much of the celebrity endorsement to create the desired atmospheres. Many popular athletes participated in Nike ads such as Michael Jordan and Jon McEnroe. They aim to infer that real athletes prefer Nike and that perhaps if the potential customers buys the brand, they will play better.

In 1998, Nike shifted to a new phase in its marketing strategy and emphasized more of its product, innovation skills than the jokey, edgy attitude that it displayed in previous years. They realized that their ads need to tell consumers more about Nike’s products innovation and not just athletes and exposure. They also wanted to prove to consumer that they are not just slapping the company trademark to make money. With the launch of the “I Can” campaign, Nike showed fewer of the celebrity athletes who previously adorned its marketing output and showed more product usage than in the previous “Just do it” campaign.

At the same time, competitors Reebok and Adidas recently featured more product-focused ads and were met with a great deal of success. Despite this rearranged strategy, Nike did not back away from innovative marketing. On September 2003, Nike acquired converse Inc. and as a response on August 2005, Adidas confirmed that it had agreed to acquire Reebok.

In 2005, the CEO of Nike stated that developing markets such as India, Brazil, China, Russia and the development of converse presented a big growth opportunity. Nike started to introduce women’s fitness wears and became the number one of the world’s leading on-field performance brands. They have been able to leverage that success by creating an entirely new category of soccer-inspired street footwear.

However, Nike future strategy is the international arena which represents the hardest challenge Nike could undertake. Reaching 2016, it seems Nike became more recognizable outside the United States more than inside as they established this goal in 2010.

One year ago, Nike introduced “the last game” campaign which achieved high success globally with over than 94 million views on YouTube and enhanced its innovation strategies in creating the desired atmosphere through their ads even if they are celebrity endorsing and associating the products to that atmosphere.
Nike and Adidas battle with both companies having huge resources, budgets, creative minds and great managements is one of the fiercest brand competitions globally that is worth following up with the updates.

So stay tuned, we will deliver the latest updates to you as soon as they happens. 

How Coca-Cola used marketing research to solve diet cherry coke declining sales issue.




Marketing research is one of the most important attributes that every marketer should master. Despite in Egypt, few only knows a little about marketing research. Marketing research are classified to either problem-identification research or problem solving research. when companies gets to define a problem or develop an approach, the marketers has some tasks involved in this process that include discussion with decision makers and industry experts to understand more about the problem origin and nature. Moreover, analyzing secondary data analysis which are other data collected for some purpose other than the problem in hand. let's get to demonstrate this knowledge.

As of 2006, Coca-Cola is still the world’s leading manufacturer, marketer and distributor of nonalcoholic beverages to over 200 countries, with over 400 beverage brands.  Sales of Diet Cherry coke had been languishing however, down from more than 8 million cases sold in the peak years. Coke system bottlers had begun to cut back distribution of Diet Cherry Coke.

Faced with this issue, Coca-Cola had to determine the cause of such a decline in sales. When industry experts were consulted, the real problem was identified: Diet Cherry Coke was not positioned correctly. These experts emphasized that brand image was a key factor influencing soft drink sales and Diet Cherry Coke was perceived as conventional and old-fashioned, an image inconsistent with that of Cherry Coke. Hence, the marketing research problem was identified as measuring the image and positioning of Diet Cherry Coke. 

The research undertaken confirmed the diagnosis of the industry experts and provided several useful insights.
Based on the research results, the product was re-positioned to align it more closely to the image of Cherry Coke. The aim was to target younger drinkers. The packaging was remade to also be more consistent with the Cherry Coke packaging. Bolder, edgy graphics were used to appeal to the youth segment. 

Finally, Diet Cherry Coke was placed with Cherry Coke in a teen-targeted promotional giveaway. Positioning Diet Cherry Coke as a youthful soft drink and targeting the teenage segment led to a turnaround and increased sales 2005. Sales have shown an upward trajectory since, thanks to the industry experts who helped identify the real problem.


The Diet Cherry Coke example points to the key role of industry experts. However, information obtained from the decision makers and the industry experts should be supplemented with the available second data. 

Mercedes-Benz C-class creative advertisement



Mercedes Benz promoting the new C-Class car model that has a new braking assistant feature with a creative ad.
What do you think about this ad? Creative?

Reasons to why Coca-Cola Egypt strategy in Ramadan 2016 is hard to anticipate?








From year to year, Egyptians wait for the most important month of the year “Ramadan”. Since Ramadan is knocking the door and few days are left in the countdown and with an increased purchasing power throughout this month. Brands compete fiercely in the market during this month especially the production companies.
However, the marketing battle that takes the Egyptian society sights away, is the battle between Coca-Cola and Pepsi during Ramadan.
Throughout the previous years, both companies designed and executed wonderful campaigns and strategies to benefit the most from this special occasion. Our concentration will be on Coca-Cola Company analyzing their strategies in previous Ramadans.

As most of us concluded, Coca-Cola’s main target segment are the youth segment. Actually during Ramadan, Coca-Cola did not follow just one marketing strategy but they designed their strategy based upon situations. Yet, it seems that Coca-Cola intentions and concentration was to increase their sales volume during Ramadan every year.

Coca-Cola introduced the campaign “Nerga3 tany wahed” in 2013, which included a song by famous youth band “Cairokee” that aimed to remind people they are all Egyptians after having many political disputes between them. The youth loved the ad, loved the song and was emotionally touched by the idea.

In 2014, Coca-Cola had plans of conquering the market and introduced “Coca-Cola ahla ma3” by putting a huge variety of Egyptian names on cans and a variety of activity names on the family bottles along with an energetic ad. Egyptian society went crazy and they really enjoyed searching for their names. The campaign made a huge success and Coca-Cola achieved high sales volume that Ramadan.

Previous Ramadan, they did not introduce any TV ads. Coca-Cola marketing research was rewarding in satisfying their youth customers whom asked not to spend money on ads but yet, spend the money on charity works and so did Coca-Cola. With Coca-Cola spending on developing poor villages, it only introduced the ad “Thanya wahda tefreq” on Facebook and YouTube. Coca-Cola did benefit as they satisfied their customers and that is the most important aspect in marketing.

Coca-Cola knows exactly how to reach the desired target segment “The Youth” and what makes Coca-Cola effective in reaching them, is the operation excellence in executing the strategies designed. Moreover, every year the company designs different strategies in Ramadan which makes it unpredictable.


How do you think Pepsi reacted to Coca-Cola’s campaigns? What is Coca-Cola up to in Ramadan 2016?

What is Pepsi Egypt preparing for Ramadan 2016? Will they be using the same strategy?


Since Ramadan is knocking the door and few days are left in the countdown to the most important month for Egyptians. In a market rich with millions of citizens, brands compete fiercely in the market during this month especially the production companies. However, there is one battle that not only marketers wait for but also the Egyptian society, the battle between Coca-Cola and Pepsi during Ramadan.

Throughout the previous years, both companies introduced astonishing campaigns during Ramadan with a variety of marketing strategies to benefit the most from this special occasion. In this article, we are going to analyze Pepsi and their strategy throughout previous Ramadan’s.


From 2013 and for 3 consecutive years, Pepsi with the help of it's partner "Chipsy" adopted the nostalgia in their marketing campaigns. Nostalgia means sentimentality for a period with happy personal association. With Pepsi introducing the first nostalgia marketing campaign involving past Egyptian TV characters “Bogy & Tamtam”, “Nelly”, “Fatota” and the biggest surprise “Fouad Al-Mohandas” a famous Egyptian actor who died in 2006. The campaign created a huge buzz in the society and was touching to almost every Egyptian especially those who were contemporary with those characters.


In 2014, Pepsi introduced “Yalla Nekamel Lametna” with nearly the same previous campaign idea but with different characters including “Abo-auf Band” and “Motzawegon” stage act stars. Once again Pepsi was successful in creating nostalgia to the people.


Continuing their strategy in 2015, introducing one of the most touching marketing ads “Khoyot men noor” starring the famous singer “Hussein Al-jassimi”, famous current celebrities and a surprise from Pepsi to remind Egyptians about the famous actor “Ahmed Zaki”.

 

With these campaigns, Pepsi added to their brand value in Egypt, capturing sights to its products and making it must to choose Pepsi when you stand alongside a soft drink refrigerator in the supermarket. Pepsi knows well that Egyptians are emotional and using nostalgia is the right choice to be more memorable in the heads of Egyptians.

 


How do you think Coca-Cola reacted to each campaign? What is Pepsi up to in Ramadan 2016?

How Juhayna successfully deals with the Egyptian society and market?


We all know Juhayna company, Juhayna products has surely entered our homes even for once by our mothers, our children and even millions of husbands who have the purchasing power. Yet, when we consider who decides which beverage and yogurt to choose, it’s definitely the housewives.

Juhayna is known for its great marketing strategies since it penetrated through the Egyptian market. No matter how many competitors are in the market, juhayna knows how to defend itself and secure the market share owned.
If you look at the beverage and yogurt market, Juhayna offers many products at different categories, you can see Juhayna milk, 0% fat milk, foam milk and “Bekhero” in the milk category. Juhayna classic juice, mix and pure juice in the juice category. Moreover, in the yogurt category, Juhayna offers mix yogurt, “Zabado”, “judo” and many more.

Definitely, offering different products in the same category is rewarding to the company if they well manage them, in which they satisfy different consumer’s tastes, keeps consumer in a circle full of choices from juhayna products and increase the company's brand equity.

 Two of the most important marketing strategies juhayna conducted and we must say they are successful, which are “Al-Ahly” club sponsoring and “cheering Egyptian mothers” campaign.

Starting with sponsoring “Al-Ahly” club, we all know the most famous sports club in Egypt with the largest fan base in Egypt. Sponsoring this club for 16 consecutive years means reaching audience of nearly 70% of Egyptians and therefore, it helped juhayna position itself in the market for many years so far and even increase their market share owned.

Going through the other very important point, “Cheering Egyptian mothers” marketing campaign. Mostly in Egypt, housewives and mothers are the one with the purchasing power when it comes to yogurt and beverage category. What could be better than introducing a campaign with a touching ad showing a mother’s life cycle in looking after her children from birth to adulthood. This campaign was highly effective not only for the Egyptian mothers but also for the young ladies.
Juhayna did not stop here but also sponsored “Baheya” foundation, specialized in providing and treating early detection of breast cancer for free, showing how it truly supports ladies in Egypt society.

Juhayna Egypt is one of the marketing masterminds in the Egyptian market and especially in the beverage and yogurt category. Recently, juhayna has celebrity endorsed the famous actor “Dora” to promote the juice it produces and it was fascinating. However, a question to think about, do you think juhayna could lose market leadership in the future?

Etisalat Egypt Reacts To Vodafone’s Comeback And Bounces Back With “Nezam Hekaya”.


Etisalat Egypt reacts to Vodafone’s comeback and bounces back with “Nezam Hekaya” marketing campaign.

Marketing battle is like a chess game, one player makes a move and another player tries to anticipate the next move and makes a move that would ruin the other player’s plan. Not that complicating, isn’t it?

With Etisalat Egypt Spending a huge marketing budget in previous years and acquiring a large base of customers including a high youth percentage. Yet, at some stages a company could pass through maturity stage or even a declining stage. After Vodafone’s Revolution at the Egyptian telecommunication market and achieving huge success recently through its campaigns. Etisalat Egypt designed a come back starting with the campaign“Nezam Hekaya”.

“Nezam Hekaya” is the newest Etisalat marketing campaign which aims to introduce new offerings with transferring perception of being better than other operators and by indirectly attacking the competitor’s offerings with their funny ads that are carried by "Tarek Nour" one of the biggest marketing agencies in the middle-east.

The best way to attack is to defend, Etisalat Egypt introduced this defensive marketing campaign for many reasons:
  •     To keep the competitors out of balance.
  •     To attack the competitor so it has to pull back and defend itself.
  •     Occupying most desirable space in its consumers mind and preventing them from turning to competitor.
  •     Trying to make competitor’s customers mind off-balance.
  •       Ruining the competitor’s current and future plans.
  •      Attracting potential customers with the current offerings.


In the marketing world, you have to ethically fight in the market, you may pass through crises or you might be the market leader. In both cases, you should be ready to defend and attack and that’s what Etisalat Egypt has been doing recently, until they truly bounce back again with huge campaigns. However, Etisalat Egypt recently signed celebrities, Mohammed Salah and Mohammed El-Neny (Famous Egyptian Players) and it seems they are up to something huge.


How did Vodafone manage a comeback in the Egyptian market through Vodafone "IN" ?

Previous years were tough for the Egyptian market due the economic problems faced that affected consumer’s purchasing power. However, the fierce competition of telecommunication market kept going with Mobinil deflecting from the competition, Etisalat and Vodafone went through great battle. Etisalat spent a huge marketing budget and with some creative variety of offerings, it acquired a large base of customers including great percentage of youth.
A long time ago, Etisalat was leading the market until a year ago were Vodafone Egypt designed a comeback and started executing it, starting with “Al-Mared” and Ahmed Meky in “Felix” continuing to sponsoring once again “Al-Ahly Club” and to what we are going to talk about “Vodafone IN”

Vodafone IN by Vodafone is a successful Service offering that was mainly targeted for youth. Vodafone started its marketing with street advertisement boards everywhere with just the words “IN – Without you it’s not complete” leading people to wonder what is “IN”. Vodafone attracted everyone’s attention with the huge number of advertisement boards occupied and what could be “IN”. Moreover, they created a Facebook page named “IN” only and started their count down reveling some of youth favorite artists. Due to the huge propaganda and the excellence in executing the marketing strategy, people in thousands including a huge number of youth surfed a browser tab with their Facebook page open waiting for “IN” to revel its identity.
After the wait, “IN” Reveled itself with a wonderful advertising song including variable youth segments favorite singers in Egypt and the Vodafone logo. People loved it, with the right offers, youth started changing to “IN”. Vodafone did not stop here, it continued recently making a tour around Egypt with those singers under the name of “IN tour”, creating loyalty and attracting more of the fans.

Eventually, we all love music, music for youth is life and so reveling yourself with an advertising song makes the brand much more memorable than the normal advertising ad. How intelligent it is from Vodafone Egypt to create this huge propaganda for an offering. The question to be answered, how do you think Etisalat reacted?


All you have to know about progressing in the marketing career hierarchy.


Like every profession, a career in marketing also presents an individual with various designations at different levels of career progression, where this progression from lower to uppermost levels of designations is known as marketing career hierarchy. With a marketing career in mind a candidate can go in various directions with a different marketing stream but the progression of career in each of these directions is quite similar.
A fresh graduate or post graduate aiming at marketing as a career has to start from a very basic position or entry level positions in an organization and with due course of hard work, dedication and experience the individuals starts climbing the ladders in his marketing career hierarchy with the ladder steps being various designations.
Level 1
An individual who wants to start his marketing career is required to enter any organization with very basic designations like marketing executive, marketing trainee, sales & marketing executive or business development executive.
An individual on the basis of his capabilities to convert the resources into outputs, and the behavior of these resources & capabilities develops certain skills, strengths and qualities, which when combined lead to synergistic effects. After developing the competencies over a period of time and individual can move forward to the next level in the career hierarchy.

Level 2

The second level in the marketing career hierarchy includes designations at management level like marketing coordinator, product specialist, marketing analyst, product manager or marketing manager.
At this level an individual is required to utilize his inherent potential or marketing capabilities in order to exploit opportunities and manage the job responsibilities & subordinates as well in an efficient manner. After developing certain subjective attributes required in a good marketer a candidate grows further in the marketing career hierarchy.

Level 3

The third level in this hierarchy is senior management level where candidates are presented with designations like senior marketing manager of certain specialized departments.
In this role a candidate is required to ensure that proper tactical marketing decisions are being taken pertaining to efficient and effective allocation of resources & employees. Candidates at this level are responsible ensuring that right marketing actions are being implemented.

Level 4

The highest level in marketing career hierarchy is the chief executive level where a candidate is offered the position of CMO (Chief marketing Officer). This is the role for the most important strategist and candidates at this level are responsible for all the marketing aspects right from the formulation of marketing strategies to the implementation and review of the marketing practices being followed in the organization.
The chief marketing officer is the chief architect of marketing function and is required to behave like a leader, a builder, a motivator and a mentor. These professionals are responsible for providing a sense of direction to the employees for the goodwill & growth of the organization. They are also required to actively participate in the implementation of marketing practices to ensure that the right steps are being taken.


How does celebrity endorsement help in brand marketing?

We have seen many marketing campaigns involving celebrity endorsement, some of which succeeded in connecting us emotionally with the products being promoted and others that surely never faded from our memories.

Each celebrity has their own fame, esteem, relevance, image and definitely a huge base of fans. Having a well-known and admired character to promote your brand or product, can easily draw massive attention and shape the perception of the brand. 

A celebrity endorsement can save miles to go in establishing brand awareness, representing a brand image and creating secondary brand associations. 

However, there are some issues to consider when approaching celebrity endorsement:

  • Celebrity can endorse so many brands that they no longer create any specific product meaning.

  • There must be a reasonable match between the product and the celebrity to be endorsed.

  • Many customers may feel celebrities are doing the endorsement just for money, do not even believe in the brand and yet transfer wrong perception of the brand.

  • Celebrity can get in trouble or lose popularity, diminishing their marketing value to the brand.

If you handle these issues poorly, it would ruin the brand equity. Therefore, it is critical to choose the suitable celebrity that would be mostly familiar to the your target audience, influences them and supports the desired product image. 

Ever wondered what happened to Mobinil Egypt? Who is Orange ?


What happened to Mobinil? Is Mobinil and Orange Egypt the same operator?
Lately, rumors surrounded the Egyptian society about what is happening to Mobinil Egypt and why it is turning into Orange Egypt. Some people said Mobinil was sold to orange and others said orange just invested in Mobinil to save it. Actually, Mobinil is just another name to the original brand orange. Yes, as you saw, Mobinil is the same institution as orange. However, lots of people did realize that eventually.
Mobinil Egypt was the first mobile operator to enter the Egyptian market in 1998. It made its own success but as Vodafone and Etisalat penetrated through the market and because of some crucial mistakes from Mobinil, Mobinil lost its market share gradually. The mother company “Orange” couldn’t withstand losing such a rich telecommunication market as Egypt and therefore, tried to save their market share in Egypt and gradually could return to being a market leader. 

 Orange started with a corrective strategic plan in which it starts by washing off all of the mistakes Mobinil did and turning into “Orange” with the black background and the orange box. First, it invested a huge marketing budget where it removes all of the old logo from shops, their customer service shops and put their new logo on. Recently, it is introducing itself to the market and converting customer minds into the new brand through advertising including street banners, introducing new offerings and rewarding their current customers as well.

The corrective strategic plan was the best choice orange could do to save its brand in Egyptian market and try to retain its value in the Egyptian market. 

Starting Your own business? Here are some brand naming tips


Brand naming is one of the most important brand elements that you should consider lots of efforts to develop. There are plosives (B, C, D, G, K, P, and T) which are easier to escape from the mouth and are more direct. Moreover, there are also the sibilants (S, Soft C) softer sound which tend to conjure up romantic or scenery images.
But yet, to build a strong brand image and ensure it has the desired character in the market, here are some crucial mistakes in brand naming that you should avoid,
1.     Taking the easy way and setting initials as a brand name.
Setting initials such as (I.A.) may be easier to trademark, but an enormous budget is typically required to give them meaning to the potential market.
2.   Insisting on using a name that can be found in the dictionary.
Potential market may translate the brand name which causes confusion in delivering the desired image.
3.   A name that customers have to work too hard to remember it out.
Brand names that are easy to remember will affect the consumer purchase decision and provides an advantage of being at the top of consumers brand mind list.
4.   Combining too many names and creating a confusing brand name.
Definitely, you don’t want to mess up by combining too many name and introducing a brand name that is way confusing that can’t either be remembered or shows any brand image meaning. A name that customers have to work too hard to figure out is a turnoff—and a wasted opportunity.
5.   Asking suggestions from friends or other uniformed sources.
The results that come from this approach seldom relate to or express a company’s business strategy.
6.   Using 'innovation' or 'solution' in a name.

In most industry situations these kinds of words are so overused, they no longer have meaning.

Marketing research role in the milk industry


Ever wondered the importance of marketing research? Here is why marketers should be aware of conducting surveys, focus groups and be able to analyze situations.

In the 1980's and early 1990's, milk sales had declined and the milk industry needed to find a way to increase sales. An advertising company was hired by the California Milk Processor Board, which in turn hired M/A/R/C Research to conduct a telephone tracking survey of Californians over age 11. To identify the cause of low milk sales, the research company sought to understand the underlying behavior of consumers toward milk.

Through extensive focus groups, household observations, and telephone surveys, M/A/R/C was able to understand consumer behavior underlying milk consumption. This research revealed that 88 percent of milk is consumed at home and that milk was not the central drink of the average person, but it was used in combination with certain foods such as cereal, cakes, pastries, and so forth.

However, milk was strongly missed when there was none around, so they then developed an ad campaign around consumer behavior with respect to milk and launched the well-known “milk mustache” campaign with the “Got Milk?” tag line.
This creative advertising was really effective, showing celebrities sporting the famous white mustache. Continuing through marketing research and the advertising campaign, milk sales increased and continued to be stable through 2006.


Marketing research is often classified into either problem solving or problem identification. The magnificent use of marketing research above led to gain advantage of the 2 purposes combined and yet taught us the importance of carrying marketing research throughout every marketing job.
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