MARKETING WARFARE

Military strategy Marketing situations

How does a country win a war?

Marketing is WAR

Customer-orientation is inadequate

Become Competitor-oriented

The principle of force:

Easier to get to top than to stay there.

Disagreement

Once at the top, a company can use the power of its leadershipposition to stay there.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Warfare Marketing

Enemy Competition

Warring sides Competitive firms

Territory Market Share

Weapons Marketing Mix

STRATEGIES

•Frontal•Flank•Encirclement•Defence•Guerilla

•Pre-emptive•Positional•Counter-offense•Mobile•Contraction

IS THE COMPARISON JUSTIFIED

• Zero Sum Game

• Cold War – 80s – Let’sMove on

• Is Marketing WAR

• Price Wars

• Market Invasion

• SWOT Model : Strengths, weakness, opportunities &threats

IS THERE A BETTER METAPHOR

• Game : Team Work

• Organism : Life Cycle; growth & adaptation

• Marriage : Commitment & Trust

Can there be cooperation

Apple & Nike Bundle

• Business War Games by Barrie James, 1984

• Marketing Warfare by Al Ries and Jack Trout, 1986

• Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun by Wess Roberts, 1987“Do not assume the enemy will not come,

but be prepared for his coming…

Do not presume he will not attack,

but instead make your own position unassailable.”

Sun Tzu

MARKETING WARFARE LITERATURE

Market leader• Largest Share

• Initiator of Price Change in the Market

• First in product development

• Financial Strength

• Widest Distribution

• Promotional Budget

• Examples :• Hero Honda, Maruti, HUL, McDonalds, Coca Cola, Tata

Strategy : Monitor & Confront the competition

Hold Objective

DEFENSIVE MARKETING WARFARE

DEFENSIVE MARKETING WARFAREMarket leader

DEFENSE

Type Example

Positional Rin

Mobile ITC-ever evolving

Flanking Red Bull

ContractionSelling of tower business

by Reliance

• Add Value/features/lower prices

• Exploit weakness

• Pepsi/Burger King/Honda-Navi

Strategy – Build Objectives• Market expansion (Users/uses/frequency)

• Market Share(Product/Promotion/Distribution – Innovation)

• M&A

• Startegic Alliances

CHALLENGER

CHALLENGER

ATTACK

Type Example

Frontal Pepsi

Flank Cannon on Xerox

Bypass Ipod to Walkman

Encirclement HUL & ITC

• Against market leaders by challengers who are smalland have limited resources

• Launching small, intermittent hit-and-run attacksoften aims at harassing, demoralizing, andweakening an opponent through random attacks

• Attacking specific products or segments with salespromotion initiatives including coupons, rebates,and temporary price cuts

GUERILLA WARFARE

SPECIAL CASE : LOW COST RIVALS

COURTESY:-Strategies to Fight Low-Cost RivalsNirmalya KumarFROM THE DECEMBER 2006 ISSUE

FINALLY