Promoting a new product in the realm of the globalized economic environment is a complicated task. Not only does the producing company have to come up with a strategy for attracting rather numerous audience with a range of unique demands, but also to compete with a number of powerful competitors, who have already established themselves within the realm of the market in question and, thus, are practically invincible.
Herein the necessity for introducing a specific platform for the product promotion lies. It is crucial that the target audience should notice the product immediately and recognize it among an increasingly large number of similar products. In addition, it is imperative that the promotion campaign should convince people in the outstanding qualities of the drink, therefore, making it possible for the drink to survive even in the process of competing with such giants as Red Bull, Monster and other brand names (USA top selling energy drink brands, 2014).
Among the key objectives, an increase in sales and the consequent rise in the company’s net revenues should be listed first. This is the key goal, which the creation of a new brand was supposed to help achieve. As far as the objectives regarding the brand in question are concerned, it will be imperative that the introduction of the product into the global market should trigger at least a 10% increase in the amount of the company’s customers. Another obvious objective, which must be listed among the key goals of the branding, the design of an adequate advertisement strategy, which will appeal to the general audience and at the same time cost comparatively little money, should be designed.
Finally, it is imperative that the brand in question should be advertized via both traditional and modern media (Gherasim, Gherasim & Vasiloaia, 2012). In fact, the emphasis should lie on the latter, since the significance of IT and modern media is getting increasingly huge (Friat & Fuat, 2013); therefore, it can be assumed that, promoted via social networks and directly to the customers via e-mail messages (Meng, 2010), the product will become recognizable much faster than it will be once advertized on billboards and public transport.
Living in the fast lane means adjusting to the environment of the modern fast changing world. For those, who feel that they have slackened their pace in this unceasing chase for innovations, a new energy drink has been designed – our brand product will keep our customers in pace with the contemporary world and quicken their pulse! An energy drink, easily distinguishable from a range of others, our brand product will keep our customers fresh and ready for new experiences. The energy drink suggested has a unique taste and outstanding quality. It is produced in two variations, a traditional one and its diet (sugarless) version. The drink contains no GMO and is absolutely safe for consumption for everyone over three years old.
As it has been stressed above, the drink does not have any particular age restriction. Therefore, the target audience that the company embraces ranges from sixteen-year-old people to adults and, therefore, has specific age boundaries (Romero, 2014). Moreover, it should be noted that the drink is most likely to seem attractive to a particular demographics; to be more exact, it is assumed that teenagers and young adults are most likely going to consume the product as an alternative to alcoholic beverages.
Therefore, it is crucial that the target audience should be stretched to all age groups possible, yet that the message underlying the advertisement should be targeted at teenagers, young adults and adults in their 30s primarily. As the specified age groups are rather big, it would be wrong to assume that their interests and, thus, demands are going to be homogenous.
Consequently, the advertisement strategy chosen for the product promotion among the demographics specified above should be appealing to every single stratum of the population in question. This does set certain restrictions; for example, the slogan should not be age specific, otherwise, a rather significant part of the target audience will discharge the product as unsuitable for them and unfitting for their image of themselves as members of a specific social class and playing a specific role in it.
The competition issue is, perhaps, the greatest concerns of the company. There is no need to stress that Red Bull and Monster have been on the Olympus of energy producing industry for several decades running (Duncan, 2013), and they are not going to give up their place to a new and inexperienced competitor. Therefore, it will be reasonable to resort to taking a specific niche in the aforementioned industry instead of trying to take it over and compete with the companies mentioned above.
To be more exact, it will be necessary to focus on certain properties of the product, which none of the competitors may have. This can be impressive nutrition rates, specific taste, a unique design of the bottle, which prevents the drink from losing its “fizzy” properties, etc. The latter seems to be the most promising idea for an advertisement, a move, which will set the rivals a couple of steps behind the company’s brand.
The benefits to the customer are quite obvious – with such corporations as Red Bull and Monster, people have a comparatively limited amount of choices in terms of energy drinks; therefore, a fresh brand with a new taste is going to be a welcome change of pace for most people. What will keep the customers returning to buy the dink are its unique tasting properties; in order to make the drink attractive to the potential customers, it will be required to reduce the amount of sugar added to the drink, therefore, removing the candy-like flavor that seems to have worn out its welcome completely. Instead, the company will entice the target demographics with unique flavors of mint, black currant and even cucumber. While refreshing and tasty, these flavors are nothing like the traditional flavors, which allows for a unique experience for the people consuming them.
The rationale behind the key benefit is quite simple – the incredibly high competition rates demand original and unexpected solutions. There are tons of orange- or lemon-flavored drinks, which no one even bothers to check. A cucumber energy drink will at least raise a few eyebrows.
As it has been stressed above, a powerful slogan will help promote the drink to the customers In addition, the company will have to “sell” a legend together with the drink. Given the original tastes that it is going to have, the slogan may concern unique experiences and call the target demographic for being original in their choice of the drink.
Judging by the legend behind the brand, creating a theme related to the concept of exotics is the next logical step in the product promotion. The soft sell will incorporate graphic elements, such as original ornaments and images (comics style drawing may fit the theme), whereas the hard sell will consist of the slogan (e.g., “Take a gulp of exotics!”) and the affirmative messages, such as “See a whole new world!” and “Buy our drink!” With an intriguing legend behind the product, it will become a stellar success.
Reference List
Duncan, G. (2013). Monster v Red Bull: High octane energy drinks battle brews in UAE. The National Business. Web.
Gherasim, A., Gherasim, D. & Vasiloaia, M. (2012). Communication in marketing promotion. Economy Transdisciplinarity Cognition, 15(1), 293–299.
Friat, A. & Fuat, A. (2013). Marketing: Culture institutionalized. Journal of Macromarketing, 33(1), 78–82
Meng, X. (2010). Study on combining of e-commerce and e-marketing. Journal of Software, 5(5), 546–553.
Romero, D. (2014). Energy drink age restrictions in L.A? LA Weekly. Web.
USA top selling energy drink brands. (2014). Caffeine Informer. Web.