laptops - promotions

Marketing Report

Laptops – Promotion Strategies

Group 7

Abhishek Daiya (0015/48)

Adishiva Dikshit (0019/48)

Ajitabh Chaudhuri (0027/48)

Alok Agarwal (0033/48)

Chirag Srivastava (4008/18)

Devavrata Golangade (4010/18)

2 LAPTOPS PROMOTION STRATEGIES

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INTRODUCTION

Sep 05, 2011

Introduction

The concept of „Portable Laptops‟ first came up in the paper

“Dynabook” by Alan Kay in 1972.

Why the Necessity

Till 1975 people were using desktops but there was the hidden need

of portability which existed. It also provided convenience to carry

the information.

In 1973, IBM SCAMP (Special Computer APL Machine Portable)

which was based on PALM processor.

IBM 5100, was the first commercially available portable computer,

in September 1975.It was based on the SCAMP prototype

Osborne 1 was released in 1981 almost 6 years after the release of

IBM 5100. It was the first laptop of its own kind. Companies who

released Laptops afterwards copied the design of Osborne 1 which

looked like briefcase.

The New Generation Laptops: The sale of Laptops was still not

closer to their counterparts as the so called portable computers which

were released weighed around 15-18 pounds. Screen was also mere

5-6 inch. It was in 1987 when US government put a huge order of

2000000 Laptops, people started seeing them seriously. Afterwards

the need of Laptop was generated through innovative ads, better

technology, sleeker machines with more storage, more ports and

connectors, improved displays, and a concentration on keeping the

weight down. 1990s saw the emergence of The Apple Macintosh

PowerBook line and the IBM Thinkpads driving the Laptop market.

But till 2000 Desktop was still the first choice of common man with

easier affordability and it was not until 2008 that laptops outsold the

Desktop nearly 33 years after their birth. The advent Wi-Fi also

played the crucial role in the increasing the presence of the Laptops.

MARKETING MANAGEMENT

PROJECT

Research By: Group 7

LAPTOP HISTORY : MILESTONES

1981

Osborne 1 was released. First

Laptop released in the market.

1983

Gavilon introduced the Gavilon

Mobile computers. It had a

clamshell design where the

screen could be folded over the

keyboard

1988

First time a Laptop was

introduced with graphics

features. Compaq released it’s

SLT/286 Laptops

1991-1992

Apple released its McIntosh and

IBM started its Thinkpad series

which revolutionized the Laptop

market as never before.


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Laptop Market: Marketing Myopia??

Laptop has helped in increasing portability and connectivity and has thus brought in immense benefits for

the customers. However, the Laptop Industry is losing share in certain segments with advent of new

products in the market. The above fact was more validated when 15% of people in our survey mentioned

that they do not wish to own a laptop.

The competition can be from “entertainment on the fly” industries such as smartphones with 3G

capabilities and tablets such as iPad. These products serve as competitors as far as light

multimedia applications, browsing/surfing and “staying connected” is concerned. Having

recognized this trend, Dell has started launching products such as Dell Streak.

For intensive processor demanding multimedia applications such as games with high graphics or

photo/movie editing, desktops are still a very strong competition for laptops as in desktops high

configuration can be assembled very easily and performance is also much better.

Laptops will face heavy competitions from gadgets like Amazon‟s “kindle” when the use is for

reading documents. It is much easier on eyes and gives a feeling of reading a printed book.

Moreover the battery life in Kindle is immense.

The laptop market might be hugely affected after the increased use of virtual desktop systems like

Chrome OS etc., where the need of a laptop will be limited to having a terminal with internet

connectivity and technical specs will no longer be relevant as minimal processing will be needed

at the terminal.


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Market Segmentation

Market segmentation is based on Configuration Requirement and Brand Consciousness. Based on the 4

options for the responses (Internet, Business, Multimedia and Gaming) to the question asked in the survey

about the purpose of buying laptop, we have defined the configuration requirement as follows:

Brand consciousness is based on market interpretation of different brands and the options to the responses

to the question asked in the survey about the brand of the laptop owned.

We have categorized the market segments based on the above two variables:

Elitist- These are the people who give very high importance to brand and configuration

Gamers- These are the people who require very high configuration Laptops with graphics card, high

RAM and since only top brands provide such features as a result these people by default fall in the region

of very high configuration and high brand

Configuration Requirement

HighLow

Internet Business Multimedia Gaming

Brand Consciousness

HighLow

Asus Lenovo Toshiba Dell HP Sony Apple

Multimedia

Brand Chasers

Basic Users

Professionals

Gamers

Elitist

Brand Consciousness

Co

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rati

on

Re

qu

ire

me

nt

High

Low

Low High

Brand Champs

Aspirers

Tech Savvy

Simple Users


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Brand Chaser- These are the people who give very high importance to brand though their requirements

are very basic.

Multimedia- These are the people who generally use Laptops for entertainment purpose. Their brand as

well as configuration requirement is not too high. They want a Laptop with medium configuration and

brand value just enough to meet their need.

Professional – These are the people who are designers, photographers, artist and people using high end

softwares like MATLABS

Basice User – These are the people who require Laptops for very basic use like MS Office, Internet.

*Based on survey of 59 respondents who had their own laptops

Market Segments Percentage*

Basic users 20%

Brand Chasers 4%

Multimedia 46%

Elitist 7%

Gamers 13%

Professionals 11%

Multimedia

Brand Chasers

Basic Users

Professionals

Gamers

Elitist

Brand Consciousness

Co

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eq

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em

en

t

High

Low

Low High

Acer AspireDell Inspiron

Acer Travel Mate, Dell Inspiron Mini

HP Pavillion

Compaq Presario, HP Probook

Dell XPS

Mac ProSony Vaio Z

HP Elitebook

Acer Timeline

Mac AirSony Vaio E

Alienware

HP Essentials

Brand MappingTECH SAVVY BRAND CHAMPS

ASPIRERS SIMPLE USERS


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As from the above graph we can see that different brands with their product lines cover the different

segments. Dell product line Alienware is very high on configurations well as high on brand value and

thus Gamers prefer these Laptops. While Brand Chasers look for Laptops like Mac Air, Sony Vaio E

series Laptops which satisfy their need of very high brand. As we can see that size of Multimedia users

are highest and most brand with their product line lie on this part.


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PROMOTION STRATEGIES

1)PRODUCT FOR MODERN, SUAVE MEN 2)EXCITING PRODUCT BOOSTING INNOVATION Use of Saif Ali Khan as a Brand Ambassador who projects an image of a Modern, Suave man due to his royal lineage. Saif Ali Khan‟s Image in Movies is usually a person who is creative and knows how to enjoy life (Eg: Cartoon Artist in Hum Tum). Lenovo thus aims to capitalize the image to encourage youth of similar nature to buy the good. Recently Soha Ali Khan and Saif Ali Khan have been used to showcase that Lenovo likes to innovate. Lenovo hence aims to target the segment “Multimedia” through this campaign

1)HIGH PERFORANCE 2)HIGH BRAND VALUE Transformers: Dark of the Moon was the highly anticipated conclusion to the Transformers trilogy. The main characters in the movie were high performance Robots with capability to transform and disguise themselves as vehicles and other machinery. One of the Transformers named “Brain” transformed into a laptop and was recognized for its “never say die” attitude in face of any challenge. Lenovo used the character to project a similar image for itself to attract segments which demand high performance from their products “Kaun banega Crorepati”, a show hosted by Amitabh Bachhan uses Lenovo. Association with Amitabh Bacchan is utilized to help Lenovo raise its brand value

SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESS (SMB) Corporate discounts are used for encouraging SMBs to use Lenovo. Lenovo‟s image of robustness and good service developed over years plays an important role in SMBs using Lenovos

STUDENTS Discounts are made available to Students. Promoted in website and colleges

Social Networks have also been used to communicate with customers

LENOVO

PRODUCT LINE IMAGE

ThinkPads – Fast, more uptime

IdeaPads – Super Thin, stylish,

entertainment

Essentials – Budget friendly,

small business

ADVERTISEMENTS

A man (Saif Ali Khan)

stranded on a lonely island

looks at a photograph of his

wife and his dog. After

rescuing from there he

comes home and get

surprised to see that his wife

and his dog are not able to

recognize him. He runs

inside the house and go

straight to his laptop. The

laptop recognizes him via

the inbuilt face recognition

software.


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PRODUCT WITH A STYLE STATEMENT

Kareena Kapoor is used by Sony Vaio as the Brand Ambassador. The advertisements usually focus on design and elegance of the VAIO which is complimented by Kareena Kapoor who is given a very stylish look. Kareena Kapoor is also a fashion icon, and role model for many girls; hence, Girls usually tend to buy Vaio as validated by our survey. The feel of the advertisements are very colorful and stylish enhancing the brand perception of SONY However the presence of Kareena Kapoor has less effect on the male population who buy the product more due to the brand value of SONY Kareena Kapoor is also used for print advertisements to keep up the image of a stylish brand For attracting men to the brand, SONY had partnered with the Movie “Casino Royale”, which was a reboot of the James Bond franchise. The target segment is further validated by its catchphrase “Go vivid” BRAND AWARENESS

The awareness of the brand is maintained by sponsoring major events such as the Cricket World Cup to target men and Femina Miss India to target Women Sony also uses billboards and wall hangings at retail stores to increase awareness. The images utilized in the medium mentioned are usually those of Kareena Kapoor Social Networks have also been used to communicate with customers

Discounts are used during Festivals to increase sales. Discounts are usually marketed through the website and retail stores.

SONY

PRODUCT LINE IMAGE

S – thin and light, perfectly

balanced

C – homer users,

entertainment

E – largest screens, 15”-17”,

everyday laptop

Y – compact mobile sub-

notebook PC

F – large screens, extreme

performance and

entertainment

Z – business purpose

The ad opens up with Kareena

entering into a golden jazzy room

wearing a golden dress and

carrying a golden colour laptop.

Kareena keeps on going to new

room with different colour and

the her clothes and laptop colour

changes accrodingly to the colour

of the room. VAIO laptops are

slim, light and stylish which are

synonyms to Kareena .


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YOUTHFUL, TRENDY AND FRIENDLY IMAGE

Acer Advertisements utilize Hrithik Roshan good image to portray its friendly nature. In the advertisement, although a person faces problems with a certain brand, he is helped by an Acer owner (Hrithik Roshan) who without discriminating any brand simply solves the problem. This gives a heartwarming image of Acer which will be liked by Youth who have very basic needs in Laptop. Amateurs who do not wish to be bullied by the number of options might opt for Acer Hrithik Roshan is used often by Acer to show that it is a brand to be reckoned with. It also sponsored a contest during the release of Jodha Akbar which featured Hrithik in a leading role

TARGETING YOUTH Sports Team Sponsorship: Ducati Corse Motor Racing Team, Scuderia Ferrari Racing team, FC Internationale Milano football club Sports Team Sponsorship: The Olympic Partner (TOP) in the official computing equipment product category, for the Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 & London Olympics 2012 Designed supercomputer for Taiwan‟s National Center for High- performance Computing, rated among fastest 50 supercomputers in the world

ACER

PRODUCT LINES

Aspire Series – For personal

use: Digital entertainment,

communication, aesthetics

Travel Mate Series –

Professional use: Portability,

Processing power, security,

communication, eco-friendly

Timeline X Series – Portability:

Thin & light design, High

performance, 8+ hr battery

back-up

Ad shows passengers in a flight

working on their laptops.

Suddenly, some of the laptops

crash or run out of battery. This

causes considerable frustration

and embarrassment to the

owners. A cool Hrithik Roshan

then displays his Acer laptop and

effortlessly solves the passengers’

problems while singing a jingle.

The ad ends with Hrithik and the

co-passengers emphasizing the

Acer tagline “Life is busy, Acer

makes it easy”.


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DREAM BIG CAMPAIGN

Shah Rukh Khan is the brand ambassador for HP. Shah Rukh Khan is a real life rags to riches story. The advertisements show, that no matter whatever the circumstances one is born in, as long a person owns HP, he/she always have a way to success. This campaign not only increases the brand presence of HP and increases its recall factor but also connects with the youth who are highly ambitious

TOUCHING PEOPLE’S LIVES The “Everybody On” campaign shows the presence of HP in the everyday lives of people from a vast range of backgrounds. This emphasizes HP‟s multiple capabilities. The advertisement is again targeted at the youth

CUSTOMER BENEFIT With Internet becoming a rage within the youth, it became a necessity to have it on the go if one owns a laptop. HP having observed the same started releasing their product in Bundle with Airtel Data Cards

HP

PRODUCT LINES

HP Pavilion Series & Compaq

Presario Series –

Home/Home Office use:

Performance, portability,

aesthetics

Probook and HP Compaq

Series – SMEs:

Communication,

performance

Elitebook Series: For Large

Enterprises: Performance,

portability

HP Essential: Affordable

business notebooks

ADVERTISEMENT

The ad shows how technology

touches everyday lives of

people across the world. The

campaign shows people

connecting with friends,

working on tasks, on a flight,

clicking photos, dancing, using

high-end technology gadgets.

The jingle “Everybody Touch,

Everybody Tap, Everybody

Move, Everybody App…” plays

in the background. The

language of the jingle can be

particularly related to by the

tech-savvy. The ad ends with

the Femina Miss India 2011

contestants vouching for the

brand

People dream of being

Shah Rukh Khan and HP wants

people to dream bigger. Hence,

Shah Rukh, with his success and

personality, was chosen to be


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POPULARIZING CUSTOMIZATION

Dell is very popular for its Direct Selling Model of business. Although other brands have provided option of customizing one‟s laptop as per their needs, only 15% of the customers surveyed were aware of this fact. Dell also popularizes Customization by framing their catchphrase to portray this feature. Some of their popular catchphrases are

“build yours”

“the power to do more”

“power to you” The catchphrases very strongly convey the benefit Dell provides to customers allowing customization of laptop

TARGETING YOUTH Dell Advertisements target youth. Although the subject of the advertisements are as simple as allowing change of cover design for laptop, the people shown in the advertisement are between the 18-20 age group who are looking to enjoy life It also targets young mothers who are not very tech savvy

TARGETING PROFESSIONALS AND GAMERS Dell‟s Alienware brand is very popular among gamers. As Gamers are usually customers who will search internet to decide their choice, Dell designs the webpage for alienware separately to not only focus on its strong processing and graphics power but also on its sleek design Dell Studio which has been scrapped was aimed at professionals. The advertisement for Dell Studio showcase professionals from art and theatre backgrounds

TARGETING SMALL BUSINESS Small Business was targeted using “I choose Dell” campaign where pictures of CEOs of different firms were used showing they vouch for Dell

BUNDLING WITH EMI OPTIONS AND STRONG WARRANTY PLANS

DELL

Dell Inspiron: Consists of

Netbooks and laptops to

cater to simple

Multimedia and business

needs

Dell XPS: Caters to higher

multimedia needs and

professional artists

Alienware: Very popular

among Gamers


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APPLE: THE BRAND NAME

Succesful innovation in the multimedia industry has made Apple very popular. Success of iPhone and iPad has made people come to Apple instead of Apple coming to customers. Events such as WDCC where Apple provide their future plans are heavily covered by News Channels Apple is popular also in the OS Market and the entertainment market. With a fantastic graphic user interface, the products in Apple have become the biggest promotional tool. Apple also makes icons out of their employees with Steve Jobs (ex-CEO) being the biggest example Apple however does focus on marketing heavily at retail stores during launch of a new product line

ATTRACTING FRESH BLOOD Apple is popular for its student discounts. Students aware of the Apple name are eager to buy Apple at a lower price. Apple also bundles printers and iWorks (Equivalent of MS Office) to cater to the complete need of students

APPLE

Macbook Pro: Caters to

Higher Graphic and

Processing Requirements

Macbook Air: Highly

portable and low

configuration


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Calculation of Brand Happiness Index (BHI) and Brand Desire Index (BDI)

(As per survey results)

BHI – People who are happy with their laptop brands

BHI (for the brand) = (No of users who want to Retain/ No of existing users)

BDI – People who desire to buy (may not actually buy due to budget constraints) some other laptop brand

BDI = Fraction of total users surveyed who are willing to use the brand

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PROMOTION

Configuration Portability Battery Life

Offers Customization After Service

Graphics Design

Basic Users + + + + +

Brand Chasers

+ +

Multimedia + + + + +

Professionals + + + +

Gamers + + + + +

Elitist + +

+ Features which almost all users in that segment will look for

Features which users in that segment may or may not look for

Segmentation:

Basic Users: Those who are looking for just the basic features like internet, MS office etc.

Brand Chasers: Those who are looking for specific brands. Don‟t require high config.

Multimedia: Those who are looking for multimedia features like Movies, Music etc.

Laptop Users Wants to switch Wants to Retain BHI Wants to buy BDI

Apple 3.1% 0.0% 8.3% 1 53.6% 0.5

Dell 37.5% 35.0% 41.7% 0.41 26.8% 0.39

HP 31.3% 40.0% 16.7% 0.2 1.8% 0.07

Lenovo 10.9% 10.0% 12.5% 0.42 3.6% 0.07

Sony 12.5% 10.0% 16.7% 0.5 14.3% 0.18

Toshiba 4.7% 5.0% 4.2% 0.33 0.0% 0.01

Total 100% 100% 100% 100%


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Professionals: Those who are designers, photographers, programmers, artists etc.

Gamers: High end gamers with very high graphics processor requirements

Elitist: People who give very high importance to brand and configuration

Product Benefits:

Configuration: RAM, Hard Disk, Processor Speed etc.

Portability: Light weight, small screen etc.

Battery Life: Higher battery life

Offers: Deals, Promotional Offers, Coupon Codes

Customization: Choosing components and features according to your preference

After Service: Onsite warranty, complete damage cover, quality of service etc.

Graphics: High end graphic cards

Design: Look and feel

SEGMENT WISE PROMOTION

Basic Users

HP is attracting this segment by naming its product series as „Essentials‟, thus emphasizing its simplicity and

affordability. Dell is promoting Inspiron products for this segment as an everyday, popular range of products.

Acer is promoting the TravelMate series by offering it as a laptop for professionals to experience good

performance and communication.

Promotion strategy should focus around ease of use, simplicity, performance, affordability of laptops.

From the survey, we see that customers in this segment are looking out for portability, battery life, service,

promotional offers, etc.

Thus, we infer that HP and Dell are doing promotion well as per customer requirements, but can be

improved upon.

The promotion strategy can be done via advertising the simple yet powerful features of a product for this

segment, and affordability.

Professionals

The laptops that serve this segment are HP Probook and Lenovo ThinkPads. HP promotes its laptops for

professionals as stylish, Instant access, advanced multi-media support, security etc. while Lenovo promotes its

professional laptops as fast, more uptime, tough, safe, graphics, extended battery life etc.

From our survey we found that people from professional segment are looking for good

configuration, portability, battery life, after service, graphics and design. So, we can infer that Lenovo is able

to convey the right message through its promotion while HP is lagging behind in this segment.


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Multimedia

One of the laptops that serve this segment is HP Pavillion. HP promotes for users as movie player, playing

games, graphics booster, beat audio etc.

From our survey we found that people from multimedia segment are looking for good configuration,

portability, battery life, after service. So, we can infer that HP is focusing on Design and graphic which the

user may or may not be looking for.

Brand Chasers

The laptops that serve this segment are MacAir and Sony Vaio E. Vaio E is promoted as Active design,

vibrant colours, performance, speed etc. while MacAir is promoted as thin, light, solid laptop.

From our survey we found that people from professional segment are looking for Battery life and design.

Both the brands are able to convey their message properly as such.

Gamers

Dell Alienware at their site mentions mentions itself explicitly as the Gaming Laptop. It also mentions Core i7

processor which many of our respondents interested in games first look for. Along with it clearly mentions

the graphics card used in the Laptop i.e Nvidia Gt series which also was the requirement of our respondents

of this segment. In the same way Sony Vaio Z series also clearly mention Core i7 processor and graphics card

on its page.

Elitist

The laptops that serve this segment are Sony Vaio Z and HP Elitebook. Both of these are promoting them as

high performance with lightweight and portability but they fail to address the requirement of elitist for design

i.e. look and feel. The design and look of these models can also be used to highlight in promotion so as to

attract the customers falling in this segment.

PREFERRED SOURCES OF INFORMATION FOR SELECTING A LAPTOP BRAND

1 2 3 4 5

TV Advt 42.2% 20.8% 22.7% 4.9% 2.2%

Newspaper Advt

35.6% 35.4% 16.7% 8.2% 4.3%

Internet Research

13.3% 8.3% 9.1% 31.1% 47.8%

Friends/Family Opinion

2.2% 10.4% 13.6% 39.3% 39.1%

Retailer’s Opinion

6.7% 25.0% 37.9% 16.4% 6.5%

(Top horizontal rows are ratings, 1 being the lowest)


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Sum of vertical columns is 100%, e.g. 1st row, 1st column means that 42.2% users gave rating 1 to TV Advt

out of total surveyed users.

Here we have asked the users to rate different mediums of promotion from 1 to 5. The question that we

asked was “How much importance do you give to these sources of information for deciding upon a brand?”

Internet Research

As evident from the above table, internet research is the most preferred source of information. So, companies

should focus firstly on promotion via this medium. The strategies for this channel are also very cost-effective.

Few strategies that could be use for promoting through this channel are:

Blogs

Social Media – FaceBook, Twitter, Google Plus, YouTube

Newsletters

PopUps

Exchanging links with other websites

Ads on other websites

Friends/Family Opinion

Friends or Family Opinion is the second most preferred channel for information for users. This category also

includes the promotion from „word-of-mouth‟. For people who are less technology aware, this source plays a

very vital role. They could get help from their friends and family for deciding on brands

Retailer‟s Opinion

Retailer‟s Opinion is the third in order. The company could actually give some incentives to retailers for

promoting their brand. Also, company could provide discounts to consumers via retailers. „Exclusive stores‟

could help company in positioning their brands. A well informed and more brand savvy user will go to an

exclusive store while an uninformed and price savvy user will go to a multi-brand store.

Some consumers have high search costs. These types of consumers follow „word-of-mouth‟ and

retailers‟ advice in selecting their product.

Newspaper Advertisement

Advertisements in the newspapers are at the fourth place. Through our survey we found that professionals

and working people give importance to Newspaper advt. They get more idea about the laptop configuration

and offers through these ads. Like Lenovo can give ads for their ThinkPad series.

TV Advertisement

We found in our survey that though TV advt play crucial role in initiating a thought in consumers‟ mind

regarding different brands but people do not carry these thoughts while selecting their product. One of the

reasons may be that people are not able to differentiate between brands as the advt are of very short time

period. PoD could be find through proper research via other channels.


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As is very clear from the above analysis that the most relied on source of information for selecting laptop is

internet and word of mouth. Hence, we suggest that the company should focus the most on these two

sources for promoting their product.

For promotion through Word-of-Mouth:

Companies can create a "buzz" around their products by promotional strategies such as -

Experiential Marketing: Allowing trade show visitors to experience the brand via actually playing games (for

Gamers), or playing songs/movies (for multimedia)

Sponsoring sports events like Olympics, organizing promotional events at college campuses, etc.

laptops - promotions

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