Marketing at Jaguar (BTEC National 2010)

Just back from our lovely two-day CPD event for BTEC teachers at the stunning Jaguar Visitor Centre at Castle Bromwich. I jotted down the following notes from a great talk given by Adam Henderson from the Jaguar marketing department today - ideal material for the BTEC National marketing units and plenty of crossover too for other business courses…

The Museum of Brands - well worth a visit

I had no idea that the Museum of Branding, Advertising and Packaging existed until I saw Robert Opie, its founder and director, being interviewed on BBC Breakfast last month about Kraft’s takeover of Cadbury’s. But having found that it is in Notting Hill in London, I visited with a group of AS level Business Studies students on Friday and we had a very good afternoon there. 

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Q&A - What is the purpose of marketing?

What makes someone buy a product?  Or more importantly, what makes them buy the product you are trying to sell? 

In business, you need to persuade a customer to part with money in exchange for a good or a service.  You have decide on what the product is going to be like (e.g. shape, colour, size, features); at what price are you going to sell it; where you are going to sell it (e.g. in a shop, over the Internet, by mail order); and how you going to help the customer find out about the product (e.g. advertise in the local newspaper or on the radio).  Marketing is all of these things.  Its hard work – but it is a vital part of running a successful business.

Advertising Coming To A Windows 7 Desktop Near You

In an interesting move, Microsoft has announced the launch of a pilot program that involves selling advertising space on Windows 7 desktops.

A number of high profile brands, including Coca-Cola and Porsche, are participating in the pilot scheme.  Advertising will appear in the Windows 7 interface itself as well as add-ons to the Internet Explorer browser, according to Microsoft.  There will also be downloadable Windows 7 Themes designed by the brands.

Why are Microsoft making such a move, and will it be effective?

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Skipping yoghurt is not honest and truthful

Danone have been told that they have to withdraw a TV advert for Actimel, the probiotic yoghurt drink, because it is misleading. The adverts, rather improbably, show a bottle of Actimel jumping over a skipping rope, and claim that it is scientifically proven to give school-age children protection against illness, but the Advertising Standards Authority say that this claim cannot be upheld. This is interesting because it gives an insight into the sort of scientific testing that is carried out by a food company, and into the level of investigation carried out by the ASA.

Using Celebrities In Adverts

Kerry Katona’s sacking from the Iceland adverts (read the full story here) raises an interesting question - is it a good idea to use celebrities in advertisements?

What’s really in our food?

Where does M&S’s lochmuir salmon come from? How can you double the size of a chicken breast in 40 seconds? Does the chicken in a Birdseye ‘Great British Menu’ prepared meal come from Brazil, and would it matter to you if it does? Was a bag of ‘organic salad’ washed in organic water before it was packed? I am kicking myself for not having set the DVD recorder for this programme on BBC1 at 9pm last night. Initially it focuses on marketing techniques used to persuade consumers to buy food products through suggestion of the origin of the ingredients. Are the marketers clever, devious or unethical here? Later the programme moves on to a more serious investigation of food fraud - deliberate misrepresentation of the ingredients used in food products. Food scientists are, apparently, developing all sorts of techniques to hide the DNA evidence of what is in our food, but others are fighting back by using the same technology as that used to identify extinct animal special such as Tyrannosaurus Rex to identify the source of protein used in our food. Some of the opinions sought from consumers shopping in British markets are clearly manipulated by the producers of the programme to get a good old-fashioned ‘Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells’ response to what marketers might call imaginative promotion. Elsewhere there is evidence that fraudulent labelling is used to imply that products made from halal chicken actually contain beef and pork. If you missed the programme, it is worth watching on the i-player.