Marketing Strategy and Planning

Question: Marketing strategy and recommendation for Monster Energy Drink based in Singapore Market Outlines the current segmentation, targeting, differentiation and positioning of the product and moves on to provide recommendations for the future. Market segments should be clearly defined using demographics , Psychographic Segmentation . Ensure the target market/s is measurable and accessible and that a clear picture of the ideal customer emerges. The product should be clearly differentiated from its competitor set and a positioning statement analysed or recommended. Recommendations demonstrate innovation and relate the product to market, and come from research. Answer: Introduction: Marketing strategy is a comprehensive planning that involves marketing research, right kind of product mix, potentiality in making profit and sustainability of the business (Cross, et al.,2015). Energy drinks have gained its fame in contemporary society as more and more consumers are choosing energy beverages to push away limitations like tiredness and energy loss. Market segmentation is the most operation that assists a marketer to deduce the target market and the target customers. Singapore is a country that has wide market possibility for energy drink. In 2015, the market of energy drink in Singapore saw minimum growth in off trade value. Researchers have scrutinized this issue and have reported that due to dearth of development of product the market value of energy drink has come down. Keeping in mind the present status of the market, the marketing strategy plan of Monster Energy Drink should be set up. Current segmentation: Market segmentation is the strategy that comprises of splitting up of an extensive market into business and consumers of the country. The market is dissected focusing on consumer needs, priorities and designing of the product (Simkin Dibb, 2013). The marketer implements strategies depending on the market segmentation. Demographic segmentation is the research that inspects age, religion, gender, occupation and education of the target market. One consumes energy drink like monster drink before or after exercise to prevent desiccation. Psychographic segmentation encompasses the opinions, interest and activities of the consumers of the target area. Demographic Segmentation: In Singapore, the target age group of monster drink should be 19-35 years as past researches have shown that this is the most active age group and they frequently indulge themselves in sports and other strenuous activities. Young generation mostly like energy drinks and the researcher that 34% of young people regularly buy energy drink evidences it. Working professionals, athletes and students of Singapore will be highly interested in buying monster drink. Psychographic Segmentation: People of Singapore maintain high profile lifestyle. They are materialistic by nature that is why they have to handle a lot of pressure and stress in their daily life. Monster drink is an energy drink that will get a lot of public acclamation. Researchers have scrutinized market and have reported that energy drinks enhance performance level. Regular dosage of 12.5 to 100 milligram of caffeine consumption enhances cognitive performance. People of Singapore are very enthusiastic about buying newly launched product. That is why monster drink can attract large amount of consumers. Targeting According to Alon, Jaffe Vianelli 2013, to understand the target market, researchers have to analyze the market and segment the market demographically and in psychographic manner. Socio economic segmentation is important to assess the potentiality of the buyers. Singapore is a multi cultural country and they live a lavish lifestyle but in overall basis, the salary structure is not high. Not everyone in Singapore can afford top brand, while marketing the monster drink, price structure of the product has to be under affordable range. As stated by Wedel Kamakura 2012, while targeting the market, it is important to take into account who is the most receptive group of consumer of that country. Everyone is sensitive to the feeling of fatigueness. Young generation is most vulnerable to exhaustion and suffers from insufficiency of energy. In Singapore, 68% of male believes on the precision that an energy brands asserts. Monster Drink through their brand triggers male reaction. Their target audience is men so in Singapore also monster drink should target men community, as they are the most receptive group in Singapore. Monster energy drink is a multi millionaire company and they have a firm control on the revolution of energy drink. The top performers Red bull and rock star were in top ranking but monster energy has side lined them by their innovation in taste (J Brouns, 2015). The drink has high caffeine content unlike other red bull and rock star. Red bull has 80 gm of caffeine but Monster drink has 160 mg of caffeine. People of Singapore like caffeine, the taste of monster drink will be largely preferred by them. The target consumer of Red Bull should be teen agers, athletes, workers and sportsperson. The range of their age should be from 22 years to 36 years. Monster drink marketer can launch their products in super market, movie halls and restaurant so that they can enhance visibility. As monster drink is an energy drink, the marketers can target sports events that take place in Singapore in order to promote their product. The primary market competitor of monster drink is Rock star but it has less than 10 percent market share so it is evident that monster drink can overpower any other brand create their market anywhere they like. Differentiation Product differentiation is the procedure through which differentiates a product or services acquainted with product to other product present in the market (Lord Baverty, 2015). The market of energy drink is ever growing since mid 80s. As the market is ever growing, its competitors are gaining strength very quickly. The way to emerge in the market is to improvise the brand so that the brand can attract consumers. Improvement of product: Almost every brand of energy drinks have same ingredients and have same target market and same set of customers (Bostrom, Bhm O'Connor, 2013). It is important to metamorphose the product so that the target consumer can find some innovative quality that will draw them towards the product. Monster drink keeps on changing their ingredients and launch new flavors in the market to suppress the growing power of its competitor Red Bull. Mean bean flavor of Monster drink is very famous in Singapore as it has high flavor of caffeine. New categories: A brand should involve new categories to promote their product. The company Red Bull personified themselves as the definition of energy drink. Nevertheless, gradually other energy drinks forced their authority in the market and created their own category to rule the market successfully. Monster Drink targeted athletes and sportspersons of mainly male category to promote their product. Monster drink is very famous in Singapore and they have about 76 percentages of men consumers who really likes the taste and appearance of the product. Diverged Category: According to the law of Ries, if a brand wants to succeed it should always stand opposite to leader and evaluate the competitive values of that brand so that they can position themselves far out of the reach of its competitors. Monster drink is an energy drink that reduces stress level and increases energy level. The future success of the brand lies in it s strategy that it implements to attract the consumers of the target market. Singapore is a busy country and the high stress level of the people of the country has lead monster drink to choose Singapore as the preferred market place to launch its product. Positioning: Positioning of a brand depends on the strategy of marketing of the brand. Marketer implements techniques so that the product that they are launching can occupy the place and brush off the competitors who were occupying the market earlier (Fong, Fang Luo, 2015). Marketers need to create marketing strategy in order to promote a product and assist it reach position that will engrave their brand name on the mind of the consumers (Barragan, et al.,2013). Monster energy drink is a brand that has great influence on the market place of Singapore. Positioning of a brand thoroughly depends on the impression that the brand has been able imprint in the mind of the consumer. Positioning is a significant procedure that analyses the market status of a product. The people of Singapore are trendy. They lead a super charged and exhausting life and need of energy drink is evident in their life. Need of the customer is also a factor based on which positioning of a product takes place in market. Strengths Weakness Weakness Internal Brand identity of monster energy drink is strong Innovative Packaging design is unique Less innovative in advertising Market place reach is till limited Not health conscious Caffeine rate is high Opportunities Threats Threats External Has the potentiality to reach at the top of the market The market is expanding gradually Product demand Size of the market Strong competitor (Red bull, rock star) High price Have high brand value and loyal consumers Researchers depend on SWOT analysis in order to understand the strength and weakness of the brand based on the location where they want to promote their brand and product. The SWOT analysis shows that Monster energy drink has high potentiality in Singapore but Red bull is an old brand that is why they have loyal consumers in the market. Monster energy drink can face obstacles while launching its products in market place, as they have to gain the trust of the consumers and manipulate them to like their brand (Jones Morgan, 2014). Monster energy drink is a product that changes their product according to the demand of the consumer. They make changes in quantity and cost of the product based on the location. The market of Monster energy drink is expanding as the demand of the product is increasing. In Singapore more than 77 percentage of the population have chosen Monster drink over red bull because of their innovative approach (Freeman, et al.,2014). The energy beverage is focusing on their advertising campaigns. With the help of the social media like facebook, twitter and instagram they are promoting their brand. They are also sponsoring sports events and athletics programs in Singapore so that they can gain market demand. Monster drink targets the audience who are sport specialist but they should also expand the perspective of their brand so that they can gain more customer (Emond, et al.,2015). It is important for them to modify their brand in order to dominate the market status of other existing competitor brand. Monster drink is a developing company so in Singapore, they should focus the local markets and local inhabitants so that they can gain desired market status. Conclusion: Monster energy drink is an energy drink that promotes their market value through sports and adventure exhibitions. The company development is dependent on the sales of the product and distribution structure of the product in the market. The goal of their company is to satisfy the need of the customers and enhance the quality of their product. Monster Drink analyzes the market place of a country to study the lifestyle and economic condition of the place so that they can construct the price structure and locate the target audience. The procedure is very important because it helps the company to implement strategy so that they can attract consumers. The drink can target the sports and athletes enthusiasts of Singapore. Segmentation of the market of Singapore will aid the energy drink to formulate a plan so that they can strengthen their brand name on the market. Current position of the product is determined by the competitive advantages of the product in the market place. The brand is u ninhibited and they will do anything to surprise the customers with their innovation. Recommendation: Monster needs to modify their brand perspective. They should shift their target from sports to non-sport consumers. They can gain additional sales if they start attracting audience outside male and sport enthusiast schema. They need to attract female customers by prioritizing their non-calorie energy drinks. They need to change their advertising technique so that they can make themselves more approachable to the customers. According to current survey, consumers of Singapore are getting health conscious that is why it will be better if they promote drinks that has more health benefits. It is seen that 60% of people avoid energy drink as they think it is bad for their health. Monster drink needs to highlight the beneficial factor of the drink. Red Bull is a strong contender of Monster energy drink in Singapore. They need to overcome the flaws and shortcomings that their brand has. Marketer should analyze the market to understand the feasibility of the product. Reference: Alon, I., Jaffe, E., Vianelli, D. (2013).Global marketing: contemporary theory, practice, and cases. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, c2013. xxi, 602 pages: illustrations, maps; 26 cm... Barragan, N. C., Noller, A. J., Robles, B., Gase, L. 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