Building Brand Reputation Through Marketing Mix

A Case Study On Aarong

Building Brand Reputation Through Marketing Mix

A case Study on Aarong

Table of Contents

Contents Page

Introduction 1

Objectives 1

Research Design

Type of research 1

Data source 1-2

Scaling technique 2

Sampling technique 2

Fieldwork 2

Methodology

Sample discussion 3

Theory 3-6

Company History 6-7

Findings 7-9

Limitation 9

Conclusion 10

Recommendation 10

References 10

Exhibits 11-12

Executive Summary

This report was conducted to find out the relationship between marketing mix and brand reputation. Also, to find out peoples attitude to the brand basis of marketing mix and vice versa. This report includes interviews of respondents who participated to the questionnaire. Also, current finding about this topic in internet database and reports of other researcher related to this topic. We found that product quality of Aarong is best and it plays key role in case of increasing brand reputation. Next is promotional activity which people likes much and get inspired to buy their products. This report recommends that Aarong should care about their product price. Also, they should make their product convenience for the people. People find their product less consistent which is major concern for consumers.

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Introduction

Brand is a set of perceptions and images that represent a company, product or service. A brand is the essence or promise of what will be delivered or experienced. Reputation of the brand depends on the experience that they give to their customer. To increase the brand reputation marketing mix can play a great role.

In the course of Business research methodology we have learnt so many things. To give us real world experience our course instructor, arranged a research project. In this research, we tried to know how marketing mix of Aarong increase its brand reputation. Aarong is the leading brand in fashion industry and has established themselves as strong brand among others.

Objectives

The main objectives of this research are to:

- Determine how to build brand reputation through marketing mix.- Find out the buyers attitude toward marketing mix and brand of Aarong.

Research Design

Type of the research

Causal Research: causal research is conducted to obtain evidence of cause-and-effect relationships. Causal research requires a planned and structured design. It is done for the following purpose: To understand which variables are the causes and which variables are the effects. To determine the nature of the relationship between the causal variables and effect to be predicted.

Also an Exploratory Research: This type of research is used to define specific problem of questions and it is undertaken when one is seeking an insight into the general nature of a problem. This type of research is quite informal & unstructured.

In the research, we took marketing mix as an independent variable and Brand Reputation as dependent variable. Our purpose is to see what happens when marketing mix changes and its effect on brand reputation.

Data Source

From what sources data is collected to conduct this research.

Primary data

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Our main primary data source was survey. We have surveyed many places including college students, under graduation students, businessman, relatives, housewives and few of them from market places. Primary data are expensive, took much time to gather.

Secondary data

Secondary data are not like primary data. Secondary data means data that generated from other researcher, surveyor etc. That we find easily and less expensively. Those are kept in data centers, internet, library, journals, magazines, articles etc. In our cases we collect data from internet and books.

Scaling Technique

In the questionnaire, description type scaling was used. Description scaling means unique labels or descriptors that are used to designate each value of the scale. Example:

1= Strongly Disagree

2= Disagree

3= Average

4= Agree

5= Strongly Agree

Or

1. Male2. Female

Sampling technique

We followed a structured questionnaire to interview the respondents. 5% of total sample are relatives, 5% of total sample are businessman, 15% of them students, housewives and others. Convenience sample technique was used for easy, cooperative and accessibility.

Fieldwork

Most of the sample collected from urban area. Sample was taken from several residential areas. Interview was taken in formal manner. Time to take a response was 5-8 minutes.

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Methodology

We prepared the report on primary data sample. Data collection process was done by a questionnaire. Questionnaire was formal and structured in nature. (See exhibits 1)

Sample Discussion

Sample Sources %Rural Area 4.67Urban Area 95.33Married 46.67Unmarried 53.33Male 42.67Female 57.33

Theory

Marketing mix, also known as the Four Ps, is probably the most famous marketing term. Its elements (product, price, place and promotion) are the fundamental and tactical components of a marketing plan.

Understanding the customer attitude toward 4Ps marketing mix is important. Marketing mix is a framework of the dominant marketing management paradigm to identify market development, environmental changes and trends. Several studies confirm that the 4Ps is indeed the trusted conceptual platform of practitioners dealing with operational marketing issues. The wide acceptance of the 4Ps among field marketers is the result of their profound exposure to this concept.

The term "marketing mix" was coined in 1953 by Neil Borden in his American Marketing Association presidential address. However, this was actually a reformulation of an earlier idea by his associate, James Culliton, who in 1948 described the role of the marketing manager as a "mixer of ingredients", who sometimes follows recipes prepared by others, sometimes prepares his own recipe as he goes along, sometimes adapts a recipe from immediately available ingredients, and at other times invents new ingredients no one else has tried. The marketing mix (price, product, distribution, promotion) forms the entire promotional campaign. “The term became popular in the article written by Niel Borden called “The Concept of the Marketing Mix.” He started teaching the term to many after he himself learned about it with an associate. The marketing mix is a broad concept which includes several aspects of marketing which all inquire to obtain a similar goal of creating awareness and customer loyalty. The marketing mix is not only an important concept, but also guideline. A prominent marketer, E. Jerome McCarthy, proposed a Four P classification in 1960, which has seen wide use.

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Elements of the marketing mix are often referred to as the "Four 'P's", a phrase used since the 1960's

Product - It is a tangible good or an intangible service that is mass produced or manufactured on a large scale with a specific volume of units. Intangible products are service based like the tourism industry & the hotel industry or codes-based products like cellphone load and credits. Typical examples of a mass produced tangible object are the motor car and the disposable razor. A less obvious but ubiquitous mass produced service is a computer operating system. Packaging also needs to be taken into consideration. Every product is subject to a life-cycle including a growth phase followed by an eventual period of decline as the product approaches market saturation. To retain its competitiveness in the market, product differentiation is required and is one of the strategies to differentiate a product from its competitors.

Price – The price is the amount a customer pays for the product. The business may increase or decrease the price of product if other stores have the same product.

Promotion represents all of the communications that a marketeer may use in the marketplace. Promotion has four distinct elements: advertising, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion. A certain amount of crossover occurs when promotion uses the four principal elements together, which is common in film promotion. Advertising covers any communication that is paid for, from cinema commercials, radio and Internet adverts through print media and billboards. Public relations are where the communication is not directly paid for and includes press releases, sponsorship deals, exhibitions, conferences, seminars or trade fairs and events. Word of mouth is any apparently informal communication about the product by ordinary individuals, satisfied customers or people specifically engaged to create word of mouth momentum. Sales staff often plays an important role in word of mouth and Public Relations.

Place – A way of getting the product to the consumer and/or how easily accessible it is to consumers.

Any organization, before introducing its products or services into the market, conducts a market survey. In recent years the 4 P's have been updated to include several more factors. Some people even go up to as many as 27 P's.

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."

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A brand can take many forms, including a name, sign, symbol, color combination or slogan. For example, Coca Cola is the name of a brand make by a particular company. The word brand has continued to evolve to encompass identity — it affects the personality of a product, company or service. It is defined by a perception, good or bad, that your customers or prospects have about you. A brand is the sum of all the associations, feelings, attitudes and perceptions that people have related to the tangible and intangible characteristics of a company, product or service.

The American Marketing Association defines ‘brand’ as “a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers…A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller.” But the meaning of brand extends to intangible aspects as well, such as associations, feelings and experiences.

Philip Kotler, one of the world’s foremost experts on branding offers this definition: A brand is a complex symbol that can convey up to six levels of meaning:

The extent to which a brand can convince the customer that they provide more meaningful tangible and intangible benefits than competing brands determines the overall strength of the brand. Brands are important to companies because stronger brands are able to command and sustain higher margins than weaker brands. Brand strength is judged by many measures, including ‘substitution’, the likelihood that the customer will purchase another brand if their brand is not available, price premium, awareness, etc.

Brand positioning strategies attempt to shape the associations, experiences, feelings, attitudes and perceptions that people have about a brand so that they not only view the brand positively, but see the brand as a solution to a specific need, want or ‘pain point’ that they may have.

Without a brand image which in some way reflects what you want to achieve, you won’t be able to meet your objectives, as you will get the wrong customers, or in the extreme case, no customers and this will lead to you making no money and therefore no profits. You have to set out with a clear target and the easier way for people to get the message of what you want to do, is through your brand image. Everything leads back to brand image, the promotion you do, the prices you sell your products at, even your staffs attitude.

The completed brand positioning strategy is used as a guideline to determine how the brand is represented, i.e., in logos, taglines, names, colors, products, services, distribution channels, communications channels, messaging, etc.

Brands enable a buyer to easily identify the offerings of a particular company. Brands are generally developed over time through:

- Advertisements containing consistent messaging

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- Recommendations from friends, family members or colleagues- Interactions with a company and its representatives- Real-life experiences using a product or service (generally considered the most

important element of establishing a brand)

Once developed, brands provide an umbrella under which many different products can be offered--providing a company tremendous economic leverage and strategic advantage in generating awareness of their offerings in the marketplace.

Benefits of branding: In addition to taking advantage of the outstanding growth opportunities, the following drives the increasing interest in taking brands global:

Economies of scale (production and distribution)

Lower marketing costs

Laying the groundwork for future extensions worldwide

Maintaining consistent brand imagery

Quicker identification and integration of innovations (discovered worldwide)

Preempting international competitors from entering domestic markets or locking you out of other geographic markets

Increasing international media reach (especially with the explosion of the Internet) is an enabler

Increases in international business and tourism are also enablers

Company History

In 1976 Ayesha Abed foundation (AAF) with BRAC initiated their activities in Manikganj. BRAC provides financial support and raw materials to Aarong and they sold finished goods. AAF treated as Aarong production center.

Aarong is a chain of retail outlets located in the major cities of Bangladesh. It is an enterprise of BRAC, the largest non-governmental development organisation in the world. In the Bangla language, "Aarong" means a village fair. At present Aarong has 11 domestic outlets (6 in Dhaka, 2 in Chittagong, 1 in Sylhet,1 in Moulvibazar and 1 in Khulna), 1 franchise in London as well as considerable export operation in many European, North American and Asian countries. Aarong started its venture in 1978 and currently supports over 65,000 Bangladeshi artisans of whom 85 percent are women. Through a network of 647 production sub-centers and 13 production centers, Aarong has developed a platform for the underprivileged artisans across more than 2000 villages of Bangladesh, where they can

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utilize their indigenous skills to earn a living. Aarong works in collaboration with the Ayesha Abed Foundation, which provides the artisans the platform to exercise their expertise. Additionally, thousands of independent artisans, small entrepreneurs also earn their livelihood by marketing their craft products through Aarong. Aarong's mission is to help sustain rural craftsmanship and find a wider market for their products nationally and internationally.

Aarong began as a cause – a means to an end for a quiet organisation fighting to uphold the dignity of the marginalised. In 1976, when BRAC- a Bangladeshi NGO dedicated to alleviating poverty and empowering the poor, first began encouraging sericulture for women in Manikganj, their only buyers were a few scattered retailers in Dhaka. Weeks, even months would pass between supply and payment, until BRAC intervened. Aarong was born out of a need to ensure that the penniless silk farmers of Manikganj were paid for their goods upon delivery, so that they could feed their families.

Today, Aarong's reach has spread beyond Manikganj to the rest of the country. It has grown into a thriving international enterprise showcasing ethnic wear to beautiful crafts from silks, handloom cotton, endi to terracotta, bamboo, jute and much more. From a single shop, Aarong has grown into one of Bangladesh's biggest retail chains, with eight stores spread across the major metropolitan areas of the country - in Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Sylhet and one in London, UK.

Findings

Marketing mix Increases brand reputation

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Marketing Mix Brand Reputation502

504

506

508

510

512

514

516

518

520

508.5

518.5

Average Score

10

After calculating average of both variable we found that the marketing mix increases the total average of brand reputation by 10 score.

Attitude toward marketing mix (Rural vs Urban people)

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Rural Urban0

50

100

150

200

250

300

88.5782.38

74.29 60.7

65.71

64.2

65.71 60.84

Attitude toward marketing mix of Rural vs Urban people

Place

Promotion

Price

Quality

From the above chart, it is clear that rural people likes everything about Aarong. But unfortunately, they are minor in numbers. People in urban areas found Aarong’s product quality is 82.38% that is very good; also they like their promotional activities which are 64.2%. Aarong’s product price is high while their products are not convenience.

Attitude toward Brand Reputation

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Married

Single

Male

Female

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

36.4

40

32.4

44.4

30.67

35.73

27.2

39.73

32.53

34.53

27.87

39.73

30.53

34.27

27.73

37.47

Favorable

Recognized

Reliable

Consistent

Above figure shows that 44.4% of female described it as favorable brand while male 32.4% agrees with it. 40% Single founds it favorable in comparison of 36.4% married. 39.73% female agreed that Aarong is most recognized brand with its same reliability and 37.47% consistency. From married & single respondents we found recognized, reliable and consistency as respectively 30%, 32%, 30% and 36%, 34%, 34%. From male respondents we got lowest score in recognition of brand, reliability and consistency which are 27%, 28% and 28% respectively.

Limitations

Data collection time was short. Respondents response was not very spontaneous Limited places for sample Very limited co-operation from sales personnel Similar data sources Lack of opinion of rural area

Conclusions

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Overall performance of the brand proves that the % of loyal customer they have created maybe it’s not much but it is worth. Aarong has earned a place in the mind of people. When people talk about aarong, they find an image of standard fashion, style and creativity. Through our research, we learned that branding doesn’t mean something special or higher price but something delivers the taste of quality and style. As a local brand which is representing us in foreign country also, we found it most favorable in case of quality.

Recommendation

Brand reputation could be increased by making product convenient. People should get them at hand when they want. Price should be decreased to general level to increase profit as well as reputation of the brand. They should improve their website and provide more information to their customer as internet using increasing day by day. People now love to shop in internet; Aarong has the opportunity of letting people buy from their e-shop.