Marketing discussion 3: Welcome to the discussion. In this course you will be introduced to a topic in the discussion. The first week of the module you will write about your initial thoughts after reviewing the resources. The initial post should be at least 600 words. During the following week you will reply to at least two of your classmates. The replies should be at least 200 words. See the discussion rubric for more details on grading. Discussions should always be completed prior to "class." If you are in an online class or an on ground course this is prior to the lesson portion of the week. Are you ready to begin?

1. Watch Ted Talk: Martin Reeves: Your strategy needs a strategy https://www.ted.com/talks/martin_reeves_your_strategy_needs_a_strategy 2. Review Pepsico’s Responsible Marketing website http://dev.pepsico.com/Purpose/Human-Sustainability/Responsible-Marketing 3. Research the strategy of your company. 4. Initial Post (600 words) What are the benefits and detriments of strategy? How different is Pepsico's marketing strategy from your company's? 5. Reply Posts (2 200-word posts) Do you agree or disagree with your classmates' posts, or can you offer different insight? Reply to 2 students. student#1: Marketing Strategies A marketing strategy is a continuous process where an organization uses its resources on opportunities that are most likely to increase sales and create a good relationship between the society and the organization. Marketing strategies eventually build a brand name for the organization which helps to sell their products quickly, through advertising, pricing, and CSR. However, if marketing strategies are not carried out right, they can cause more harm than good to the organization. Therefore, adequate research should always be conducted to ensure that the strategy will have a positive impact. Advantages and Disadvantages of a Marketing Strategy It is impossible to make sales of products or services without appealing to the target consumer. Therefore, a marketing strategy will help the organization come up with the right persuasive tactics to appeal to the consumer. Another advantage is that since a marketing strategy requires research before implementation, it helps the organization comprehend the preferences and specifications of their target audience hence work on fulfilling them. Apart from increasing sales and understanding the consumers, marketing strategies also play a significant role in creating a brand name for an organization. A brand name helps the organization stay ahead of its competitors. However, coming up with a market strategy is costly. This is primarily for small and medium organizations. Investing in the whole process may use a lot of funds hence reducing the profit margins expected from the products or services. Also, in some cases, the marketing strategies implemented do not yield the expected results. It ends being a waste of time, effort and resources invested in the whole process of coming up with the strategy. Finally, a marketing strategy could go wrong. This is very common with advertisements. When such occurs, it ends up creating negative publicity for the organization. Pepsico’s Marketing Strategy The company manufactures both soft and diet drinks as well as fast and nutritional foods. It has established its brand name in more than 200 countries across the globe and is the second leading distributor of soft drinks in the world. Pepsico operates on one primary strategy that is known as “performance with purpose.” The strategy aims at expanding the portfolio of nutritious products and the opportunity circle that will enable to provide relief in times of need as well as lifting people and families. This marketing strategy is different from most companies because it aims at fulfilling the needs of the whole population rather than a segment of the population. The company has soft drinks that are sugar-free to cater to the needs of its target consumers who do not prefer sugared beverages. It also has drinks with a reasonable amount of sugar for the population that prefers sugar. The same strategy is applied to fast foods where both nutritious and fast meals are manufactured. For Pepsi Co, it is never about the right product, but about the right products for diverse consumers. Another different strategy is that it is not only interested in making sales, but also concerned with the future of the current generation. The company has applied this by making sure that they serve healthy products to its consumers. It is the first company to voluntarily do reduce the amounts of sodium and saturated fats and added sugars to do away with Trans fats. This move increased its revenue income; the society felt its well being is taken care of. This is one of the unique strategies in the food and beverage industry. student#2: In the Ted Talk, “Your Strategy Needs a Strategy,” Martin Reeves begins by examining the idea of the death of strategic planning. Many today feel the problem with planning, is you spend months doing it, writing a perfect road map to check all the boxes and dot all the I’s, but the plan winds up then being obsolete in a month. However, the speaker argues that this is not totally the case. It is an old adage in business and marketing that bigger is better. Consider the concept of Scale advantage, for example. Larger companies have the advantage on cost and volume and can, therefor, make more money. But is this still true? Not really and neither are the core concepts of strategy. Winners are still winning bigger and losers are still losing greatly. Strategy has never been more important in today’s constantly changing and volatile marketing and businesses world. He points first to Apple, who successfully took over the Smart Phone industry in five years, despite never having made one before. Simply lucky? Not likely. Understanding and applying a successful strategy such as Apple did can be done by asking ourselves three questions: Can we predict it? Can it be planned? Can we shape it? Can we survive it should it go horribly wrong? Martin Reeves believes that despite businesses being stretched further than ever before by the forces of change (technological advancements, globalization, etc), strategic planning is still possible, prudent, and necessary to maintain a competitive edge. Strategy should still be employed, covering the wide expanses of various businesses out there today. To better understand your personal strategic needs, you must first ask yourself, “what is your best chance to increase your ability to win?” First of all, it is important to accept that in such a diverse climate, no one size will fit all strategy scenarios. There can be no universal approach. He also explored the need to be visionary in your product, but also in your planning. Experimenting, implementing and influencing are now very important pieces of the puzzle. Understanding what type of approach will work best for you, your product, and your environment will depend largely on which of his five approached you should adapt. Perhaps it is classical or visionary, as in tech companies. You could be better suited for a strategy instead that focuses on adaptation or shaping (or even re-shaping). The last one he touches on is choosing an approach to winning based on renewal. The benefits of strategy are planning, budgeting, and scaling up and scaling down. As long as you remain adaptable, this is still true and useful. However, strategic planning faces a number of challenges depending on your environment. PepsiCo, for example, has taken an interesting approach. Their strategy centers on responsibility for both the larger global community and investors- so named “Performance with Purpose.” Their strategy is built on two pillars, marrying sustainability and profitability. The marketing plan for my company will marry two in-demand components in a particular area: 1. Academics (competitive, accredited degree programs in Food and Beverage) 2. Professional Experience (approved and monitored externship program incorporated into curriculum) 3. Set in internationally (recognized area for the curriculum) My strategy will highlight the benefits of English-language (unbelievably in-demand in this area), accredited degree programs in food and beverage coupled with a regulated externship program to provide the students with real-world work experience to build their resumes. This program will be set at Istituto Lorenzo de Medici, in Florence, Italy- a city with one of the largest international student populations in the world, for both culture and food and beverage tradition and innovation. In an area with such tremendous demand for a culinary arts and viniculture accredited program, attracting a large customer base with exceptional interest in the topic, adding this department to the offerings at LdM should prove extremely successful.