Research Project Report

(Hico Ice-cream)

By

Muhammad Haroon L1f02bbit2040

Ahmad Saad L1f02bbit0001

Punjab College of Business Administration

University of Central Punjab Lahore, Pakistan

Summer 2006

Research Project Report

(Hico Ice-cream)

BBA Program Summer 2006

Submitted To

Mr. Umar R Butt

Submitted By

Muhammad Haroon L1f02bbit2040

Ahmad Saad L1f02bbit0001

Table of content

Executive summary ………………………………………………………………….1

Hico profile …………………………………………………………………………..2

Situation analysis …………………………………………………………………….2

Target market ………………………………………………………………………...3

SWOT analysis ………………………………………………………………………4

Key players in the industry …………………………………………………………..6

The consumer survey ………………………………………………………………...7

Company orientation to market place ………………………………………………..11

Advertising strategy ………………………………………………………………….12

Selecting the advertising media ……………………………………………………...14

The concept of integrated marketing ………………………………………………...17

Unique six sigma marketing method …………………………………………………20

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………..22

Acknowledgements First and foremost we thank Hico ice-cream for providing us this opportunity. Mr. Ijaz

Abbas, Marketing Manager Hico ice-cream, for his help. Prof. Umar Rehan Butt for his

guidance and last but not least Prof. Basma Abidi for her invaluable support.

Executive summary

Hico was established in 1965. It is a division of Pakistan fruit juice Company private

limited. In 1997 they established proper marketing and sales department to improve its

business. The key strength of Hico ice-creams is its heritage. According to companies

management institutional buyers and general consumers use to queue up outside the factory

and get there ice-cream. The primary weakness of Hico ice-creams is its weak marketing.

This in turn leads to no proper positioning in the minds of consumers. Because of no proper

positioning, brand equity of Hico is very low.

At the start the only market Hico served was Lahore. After the year 1997 they

expanded there business and entered in other cities as well including Karachi, Rawalpindi,

Faisalabad and Peshawar. Hico is the only company which is offering the Diet ice-cream for

those people who have diabetes problem or are diet conscious. Hico has ice-cream for nearly

all demographic segments.

Hico has competitors in the market as well. Walls ice-cream is the division of Lever

Brothers. In Pakistan Lever brothers was established in 1956. Another major competitor is

Yummy ice-creams. It was founded in July 1981.The Company suffered losses in 1989 and it

was sold to present owners, who made changes to improve the performance of the company.

Third major competitor of Hico is Rocco. It is registered by the name of Prime Dairies

limited, basically the company was in the textile industry and the owners of the firm were in

import export business of textile but later they came to consumer goods product and

introduced prime yogurt. In July 1985, Rocco ice-cream was launched in Lahore and Karachi

market

This report analyzes Hico’s strengths and weaknesses and suggests the ways to grow

its business by improving its positing in the minds of consumers. The report also suggests the

ways to improve its marketing operations.

1

Hico Profile

Hico which stands for Happy Ice-cream Company has its base of operations in

Lahore. Hico was established in 1965. It is a division of Pakistan fruit juice Company private

limited. RC and Flora juice are other divisions of the same company. Hico has its only ice-

cream plant in Lahore and from here they distribute ice-cream to others cites of Pakistan.

Initially Hico did not make sales through retail stores and bakeries. People use to

come at factory and buy ice-cream. In 1990 Hico introduced the push cart system to target

the different areas of Lahore including school, colleges and colonies to increase its reach. In

1995 Hico started home delivery on orders but did not continue it for long as it was not a

feasible option if they wanted to target the mass market. They subsequently changed there

distribution channel and started to sell ice-cream through retail stores and bakeries. In 1997

they established proper marketing and sales department to improve its business. They also

expanded there business with the entry in to markets of Karachi, Peshawar and Rawalpindi.

Hico is a medium sized business, with limited resources as compared to its major competitor

Walls. Hico did not expand its business as large as its competitor because they have a

philosophy of internal growth with there own profits.

Situation analysis

Hico ice-cream is an established brand but its positioning in the minds of consumers

is very weak. According to the survey results consumers take Hico ice-creams as a second

choice and, in many cases, will not like to make repeat purchase. Moreover, Hico is not

readily available in all major retail stores. Hence Hico also has distribution problems. Other

than the consumer sector Hico has a strong institutional buyer base. They include; Avari

Hotels, Gym Khana and Heera 36. Marketing is critical to its success in consumer sector and

future profitability. Hico is also strong in family take away packs. Hico buckets and other

family packs are a prime choice among families.

The basic market needs are high quality, innovative tastes and easy availability. Hico

will only meet these demands with an appropriate marketing plan, execution and control.

2

Target market

The question of target market is pivotal for any organization’s success. Organizations

take special care while identifying and defining their target markets. On one end the target

markets can provide new horizons and on the other hand a wrong selection can play havoc

with company’s resources and image.

Earlier the management of Hico Company did not define their target market properly

and there was no segmentation of customers. As stated earlier, customers use to come to

factory and buy the ice-cream. Hico has some what established its marketing department now

and they segment there target market as follows:

Geographic: At the start the only market Hico served was Lahore. After the year 1997 they

expanded there business and entered in other cities as well including Karachi, Rawalpindi,

Faisalabad and Peshawar. Hico covers Punjab Cities more strongly because they are closer to

its Lahore factory. Hico has near 20% share of Lahore ice-cream market1.

Demographic: Hico has ice-cream for nearly all demographic segments. They have Ice Lollies and

Creamy Pops for kids. For teenagers they are offering Mega New Bar, Mega Cone and Cups.

For the families they have all there flavors in family take away packs.

Behavioral segment: Hico is the only company which is offering the Diet ice-cream for those people who

have diabetes problem or are diet conscious. It is a large untapped market segment which

Hico is serving.

1 Accuracy of the figure is un-confirmed as the source is not authentic.

3

SWOT Analysis

Strengths: The key strength of Hico ice-creams is its heritage. According to companies

management institutional buyers and general consumers use to queue outside the factory and

get there ice-cream. Even today Hico has very good reputation among the bulk quantity

buyers and supplier to the business buyers like Gym khana, Avari Hotel, Heera 36, Freddie’s

café and Pearl Continental. Hico enjoys high customer loyalty among these buyers.

Just like Hico has a strong presence at business buyers sector, it is also strong in family take

away pack segment. 2, 5 and 10 litter packs are a first choice when ever families want to buy

ice-cream for parties or other occasions.

There are people who suffer from obesity, have diabetic problem or are health

conscious. Hico offers there diet line for these people. It is strength of Hico ice-cream that it

serves a market segment which is not yet served by its competitors. Another of key strengths

is Hico’s product with unique flavors like paraline and Oreo cookies. Not only that they are

unique flavors, Hico also takes advantage of using co-branding strategy with a very well

know brand Oreo. Last but not least, unlike its major competitor Walls, it has dairy ice-

creams. All Hico Ice-creams are made of milk and butter.

Weaknesses: The primary weakness of Hico ice-creams is its not so strong marketing. This in turn

leads to no proper positioning in the minds of consumers. Because of no proper positioning

brand equity of Hico is very low. Hico has another disadvantage that its major rival, Walls

ice-cream, is a multinational company and uses its international experience and R&D to

come with very high quality products and popular tastes. Using there resources they can

conduct all the techniques necessary for conducting proper marketing. Techniques like

Market research and test marketing requires large resources. As Hico do not match Walls

resources, it can not conduct R&D up to the extent of walls ice-cream and has not yet used

the techniques of market research and test marketing.

4

Hico has a very week distribution network. Our consumer survey suggests that Hico

ice-creams are at times out of stock even at major retail stores. There trolleys are also not as

much present as walls trolleys are. Hico does not raise finances throw public offering of

stock hence have to rely on growth internally through there own profits. This is a weakness

as its competitor, Walls, have a large availability of finances through public offering of its

stock.

Hico products are slightly expensive then the competition and our informal consumer

interview revealed that Hico has unattractive packaging as well. Furthermore, Hico is

primarily serving Lahore market and has very limited availability in Karachi, Islamabad and

other major cities of Pakistan.

Opportunities: There are opportunities in the market which can work in Hico ice-cream’s favor. Ice-

cream eating culture has already been developed. It has become a favorite dessert for many

people. For Hico ice-creams there is large untapped market to grow its business

There is a reputation about ice-cream in the minds of consumers that it can cause

severe throat aches if taken in winter. A recent campaign from Walls ice-cream has

addressed this concern. Now ice-cream is taken regardless of season. This campaign from

walls has presented opportunity to the ice-cream industry. It can now achieve high sales

figures even in the winter.

Threats: The major threats that Hico is facing is the introduction of new products and flavors

from Walls. Walls have introduced the new Cornetto with sauces and new limited edition

Magnum bar. These new flavors have received wide appreciation and Hico is not yet offering

these flavors. There is also a threat of new entrant in the market, Nestle Moven pick. Like

Walls, Nestle is also a multinational company and its resources easily match or beat Walls. If

Nestle enters in Pakistani market, it will further side line Hico ice-creams.

5

Key players in the industry

The key players in the industry are as follows:

• Walls.

• Yummy.

• Rocco.

• Igloo.

Walls ice-cream is the division of Lever Brothers. In Pakistan Lever brothers was established

in 1956. It is a Multinational consumer product company with a portfolio of many consumer

products. Before starting its operations in Pakistan, Walls was already established in many

parts of the world. Polka was the market leader in ice-cream industry at the time of Walls

launch. Lever Brothers took a bold step and through a planned strategy they introduce Walls

ice-cream in the year 1995.

Lever Brothers first launch Walls ice-cream in Lahore at the festival of Eid. They

received a very good response from public. By making large investments for advertising and

through careful media planning they took a major share of Lahore market. After Lahore they

launched Walls ice-cream in Karachi. They used the same strategy and choose the occasion

of 14th August to launch the ice-cream. They next launched the ice-cream in Rawalpindi and

Islamabad.

Yummy ice-cream started its operation by acquiring loan from the government. It was

founded in July 1981. The company suffered losses in 1989 and it was sold to present

owners, who made changes to improve the performance of the company.

Rocco is registered by the name of Prime Dairies limited, basically the company was

in the textile industry and the owners of the firm were in import export business of textile but

later they came to consumer goods product and introduced prime yogurt. In July 1985, Rocco

ice-cream was launched in Lahore and Karachi market giving a complete range of ice-cream

from ice-lolly to ten liter family packs. Rocco was the first company to introduce plastic

packing for its products and later on it was followed by others ice-cream brands, not only this

Rocco has also given the dairy concept in its ice-cream range. In the first ten years company

got very good response from the market and there was increase in the sales graph. But in

1995, when walls was introduced in the market the hole trend got changed. Good

6

presentation of the products, fine quality and above all heavy bombardment of promotional

campaigns enabled Walls to capture huge market share. People were attracted to it very much

and it gained great popularity among the customers in 1999, later on Walls acquired polka

ice-cream which had the largest distribution network, it also gave an edge to walls.

Igloo ice-cream is not a direct competitor of Hico because its primary operations are at

Karachi. Igloo and Hico are serving two different geographic markets.

The Consumer Survey We conducted a consumer survey to find out about market’s attitude towards ice-

cream in general and Hico in particular. We placed the questionnaire at some retail stores in

different areas of Lahore. It was filled by about 200 people ranging in there age, gender and

occupation. Following is the response:

Q.1 how often do you take Ice-cream?

a. I don’t take ice-cream.

b. Every day.

c. Once a week.

d. Occasionally.

18%

8%

23%

51%

abcd

Q.2 I take Ice-cream because.

a. I like to eat cold in summers.

b. I love the taste of ice-cream.

c. It is fun.

7

d. It is my favorite dessert.

19%

56%

9%

16%

abcd

Q.3 Pick your favorite ice-cream forms.

a. Cups.

b. Wafer cones.

c. Stick.

d. Family Packs.

17%

25%

31%

27%abcd

Q.4 my favorite ice-cream flavors are.

a. Chocolate

b. Vanilla

c. Strawberry

d. Praline

e. Other _____________

8

25%

30%23%

14%8%

abcde

Q.5 when you think of ice-cream, which brand comes to mind?

- ______________

8%

65%

9%

18%

YummyWallsHICOunanswerd

Q6.What ice-cream you take the most?

a. Yummy.

b. Walls.

c. Hico.

d. Home made ice-cream.

8%

63%

23%

6%

abcd

9

Q.7 what ice-cream kids at your home like? (Can select more than one option)

a. Ice lolly.

b. Milk ice-cream.

c. Cone ice-cream.

39%

14%

47% abc

Q.8 which attribute is more important when you take ice-cream? (Can select more than

one option)

a. Quality and taste.

b. Price.

c. I take any which is available.

19%

56%

9%

16%

abcd

Q.9 Do you find Hico ice-creams easily?

a. I find Hico when ever I want to.

b. I find Hico In major retail stores.

c. I don’t find Hico ice-creams.

10

10%

43%

47% abc

Besides the questionnaire we also conducted an informal interview and main

questions we asked were. Which Hico cream you take often? What new flavor would you ask

from ice-cream companies? And can you recall Hico or any other ice-cream commercial?

Company orientation to market place

After the analysis of company we have found that, at present the company’s

orientation to market place is one of selling philosophy. The starting point for Hico’s

business is its factory, the focus is on products and it uses selling and promotion to sell its

product the profits are through sales volume.

Our objective in this project is to change the orientation of Hico towards the market

place. We suggest a model which is radically different then Hico’s current model of doing

business. The starting point in our suggested model is the target market; focus is on customer

needs, means to achieve its target is through integrated marketing and profits will be through

customer satisfaction. We have suggested few alternatives for the advertising strategy. The

strategy talks about customer needs, customer satisfaction and the target market. In the end

we have used Six Sigma approach to integrate the marketing department of Hico with other

Factory Products Through sales and Promotion.

Starting Point Focus On Achieve objective Profits

By sales volume.

11

departments. Hico can use these alternatives as a guideline to improve its marketing and

positioning.

Advertising strategy

The first step in forming any advertising strategy is to define the purpose of

advertising strategy by creating measurable, specific objectives. In other words, we must

decide, “what do we want to accomplish with our advertisement?” Some ads are designed to

stimulate immediate response by encouraging customers to purchase a particular product in

the immediate future. The object is to trigger a purchase decision. Other ads seek to build

brand recognization among the target market. These ads try to create goodwill by keeping

firm’s name in the public memory so that customers will recall the firm name when they

decide to purchase the product. We have two major purposes for our ad campaign. We want

to build the brand recognition and we want to improve the positioning of Hico ice-creams in

the mind of consumers.

The next step in developing an advertising strategy is to identify the company’s target

customers. The idea is to match both the message and the media to target audience. We have

thought of a few questions answering those questions will help us define our business, profile

our customers and focus our advertising message on specific target market to get more for

our advertising rupees. Following are the questions and there answers:

Question: what business Hico is in?

Answer: Obvious answer to this question would be that Hico ice-cream is in the business of

selling ice-cream. But from the marketing point of view we suggest the real business Hico is

in is to delight the customers with a pure dairy ice-cream treat.

Target Market Customer needs.

Integrated marketing.

Starting Point Focus On Achieve objective Profits

Customer satisfaction.

12

Question: who are our target customers?

hic and behavioral segmentation to segment its

uestion: Where can we best reach them?

quitous among our target market. More over

uestion: How do we want to position our company in the market?

y ice-cream. We will

oing students we will position Hico ice-creams as a first

ositioning campaign will deliver the message of a dessert to be

taken at festive occasions. Positioning campaign will show a gathering of people all having a

Answer: Hico uses geographic, demograp

market. Hico primarily serves Lahore market, and it also has presence in Karachi, Faisalabad,

Multan, Rawalpindi and Peshawar. Each city differs slightly in there needs and cultures.

Hico have products for kids, teens and families. Each of these demographic segments has

different needs and different motivational factors to take ice-cream. Hico also targets health

conscious people with there diet ice-cream.

Q

Answer: Television is a media almost ubi

internet has also become a media of choice for many. Then there are always newspapers and

magazines. Launch of many trendy FM channels also provide us with a new choice of media.

Q

Answer: The basic message we want delivered is that Hico is pure dair

have three different messages for three target market segments that we will be positioning.

For kids the message will be that Hico ice-creams are nutritious and eaten by super heroes.

Hico can not use heroes like Super man, Spider man or Batman because they have copy

rights with there respective owners. However, Hico can create its own story around a “Hero”

character. There have been examples in the past where companies created there own stories,

Ding Dong bubble gum had a story centered around a cat and more recently Safe guard has

been running a campaign with a super hero character “Captain safe guard”. The nutritional

factor in the advertising message will give satisfaction to parents that Hico ice-creams will

not harm there child’s health.

For teens and college g

choice for a dessert when hanging around with friends. In our positioning campaign we will

show Hico ice-creams as inciting sentiments. This positioning theme is used by almost all of

our competitors. We will differentiate our positioning campaign by adding an element of

humor in our campaigns.

For families the p

13

great time. They will, of course, be taking Hico ice-creams. We will also position unique

flavors of Hico like Praline and Oreo Cookies flavor as classic delicacies. These delicacies

will be shown taken in parties set around a very sophisticated and delicate themes.

There will be a positioning campaign specifically directed to the health conscious

people. The theme will be a bulky middle aged man and a lady running along the jogging

ack. B

r competitors take?

nswer: Our prime competitor walls have the same advertising strategy as we plan to take.

e

e media for delivering it. We will build our ad campaign around a Unique Selling

A few years ago ss at the University of

Pennsylvania in Philadelphia set out to estab sh the definitive answer to the question of

tr oth are enjoying life as it is. They love to take ice-cream but are health conscious as

well. They see a Hico trolley and happily takes diet ice-cream. They have enjoyed ice-cream

now and it will not affect there health also.2

Question: What advertising approach do ou

A

As we have defined the target audience, we can design an advertising message and choos

th

Preposition that Hico is pure dairy Ice-cream. To summarize our re-positing in one line we

will not win customers by boring them into buying. We will create a desire for our product.

Selecting the advertising media

, a team from the Wharton School of Busine

li

which advertising media to use. Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Colgate-Palmolive and a host of other big

companies collectively invested more than a million dollars so that Wharton might track the

return-on-investment experienced by several dozen small businesses as a result of

advertising. These businesses were scientifically monitored and measured for seven long

years. The final report filled more than 2,500 pages. Only three conclusions were reached:

2 The positing campaigns depicted in these paragraphs are only guide lines. They will not be shown exactly as they are explained.

14

1. There is no direct correlation between money invested and results gained.

In other words, how much you spend and what you can expect to see in return is not

Two advertisers invest the same amount of money reaching the same target audience.

receiving no response whatsoever. The

h an ad campaign. It has so far

When we have identified a message that generates a positive response and we deliver

growth in year two will be approximately twice the

?" Again

directly linked by any kind of mathematical equation.

2. Results are inextricably linked to the message.

One succeeds brilliantly. The other fails miserably,

difference between these two is in the message of their ads.

Ads that speak to the heart of the customer and touch a nerve are the ones that turn little

companies into big companies. Hico so far has not run suc

used advertising with the goal of merely getting their name out. And there is no evidence to

suggest this will help Hico in the slightest. The Wharton study indicates that everything

hinges on the message you attach to your name. Is your message predictable and,

consequently, boring? Is it believable? Is it relevant to the perceived need of the

reader/listener/viewer? Tempt a dog with a bowl of rice, and he'll ignore you. Put a steak in

the bowl, and you'll have his undivided attention. Our prospective customers are no different.

What have we been putting in their bowls?

3. Results increase with repetition.

that message consistently, business

growth of year one. Growth in year three will be approximately triple the growth of year one,

with growth measured in rupees, not percentages. But following year three, anything can

happen. Your business can explode exponentially, or it can flatten out as though hitting an

invisible glass ceiling. There are examples of companies grow to 70 times their original size,

and there are examples that show companies grow slowly to only double or triple their

original volume and then flatten out. The difference is in the clients, not in the ads.

The follow-up question we are sure any one would ask is, "OK, let's assume we've found a

message that works. Now which medium is going to give us the most for our money

there's no simple answer, but we will try to give you a frame of reference. These are the

15

major media, with some more expensive than others. The one that's right depends entirely on

Hico business goals.

• Outdoor advertising/billboards: These reach more people for a rupee than any other

Radio: Reaches the second most people for a rupee, but traditional radio cannot be

• Cable television: Offers the impact of moving images as well as spoken words. Can

• Broadcast television: It is big prestige and also requires big money. But able to

• : Reach customers who are in the market to buy today. Unfortunately,

Magazines: These ads are expensive, but have high-impact with tight targeting and

Direct mail: Highly targeted, all the way down to the level of the individual. But

media, but are limited to a picture and no more than eight words. Hico already have

some billboards at major places in Lahore.

•

targeted geographically and can only be loosely demographically targeted.

Introduction of many new FM channels have solved this problem as well. It can be

targeted geographically and there are specific channels for different demographic

segments. For example City FM 89 is more targeted toward energetic and fun loving

people.

easily be geographically targeted. But the advertising will likely look homemade.

target psychographic profiles. We recommend that if Hico wants to use this option it

should buy specific shows and do not buy a rotator, which repeats same add time and

time again.

Newspapers

people not currently in the market for Hico products are less likely to notice

newspapers advertisement than if it had appeared in another media.

•

little waste. They also have a weakness that there is infrequency of repetition.

•

shockingly expensive to do right. Limited resources of Hico Might prevent it in

running a direct mail campaign, and also direct mail campaigns are not an ideal

16

choice for a product like ice-cream. The message delivered is usually to mass market

and direct mail is not a mass market media.

• Blogs: They are a new development in the world of internet. Basically defined, blogs

The concept of integrated marketing

In our model we suggested that to achieve its objectives Hico should use the concept

of departments

t as a problem-solving process. The problems

are opinion forums. They have a specific topic, people come and share there views

and opinion on them. Hico ice-creams have no presence on the web. Instead of using

vital resources to develop a static web page, which can only show pictures and

written messages, we recommend that Hico launch an official blog. Blogs are

dynamic in nature as they give users an opportunity to interact with them by writing

there opinions. It is not at all expensive to create a blog and can be done fairly easily.

A blog will be an excellent marketing tool as it will provide users a ground for

interesting stories and Hico can extract public opinion and innovative ideas from the

blog.

of integrated marketing. This portion explains how to integrate the marketing using six sigma

approach. Six Sigma for Marketing and Sales are relatively new approaches to enable and

sustain growth. They are part of the bright future offered by adapting Six Sigma to the

growth arena. The linkage of Six Sigma for Marketing and Six Sigma for Sales is where the

Six Sigma discipline adds measurable value to marketing and sales team performance. There

are matrices which measure the team performance and set achievable targets.

Six sigma further integrates the marketing department with all the rest

in the company. The departments like R&D finance and procurement all work in harmony

with the marketing department.

The Six Sigma concept started ou

generally concerned eliminating variability of product quality, defects, and waste in a product

or process, all of which undermine customer satisfaction. Six Sigma practitioners call this

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original method DMAIC —Design, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. The five steps

are as follows:

1. Define the problem.

2. Measure the process and gather the data that is associated with the problem.

3. Analyze the data to identify a cause-and-effect relationship between key variables.

4. Improve the process so that the problem is eliminated and the measured results meet

existing customer requirements.

5. Control the process so that the problem does not return. If it does return, it should be

controllable using a well-designed control plan.

The key elements in a DMAIC project are team discipline, structured use of metrics

and tools, and execution of a well-designed project plan that has clear goals and objectives.

When people across a company use the simple steps of DMAIC, objectives and result targets

are much harder to miss. If everyone solves problems differently, non-systematically, they

become a great burden.

The new frontier for Six Sigma is in problem prevention, which should occur as part

of our daily workflow. As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Six

Sigma for Marketing and Six Sigma for Sales, like Six Sigma for Research and Technology

Development, are methods of problem prevention during the product development, product

commercialization, and post-launch product-line management processes.

The traditional "reactive" DMAIC methods should be used to reduce variances in

product quality, cut costs, and streamline processes.

Marketing professionals want to avoid suppressing creativity of there employees with

structured and standard way of doing things. Process-centric work may at first seem slow,

routine, and burdensome. Moreover, marketing may think statistical analysis can hinder

spontaneity and innovation. But industry experience suggests that the opposite is true3. The

Six Sigma model described here plans for innovation and creativity to occur. If implemented

correctly, a proven methodology averts rework (caused by mistakes), ensures completeness, 3 “Six sigma marketing processes” by Clyde M. Creveling, Lynne Hambleton, Burke McCarthy

18

and reinforces quality standards. A well-constructed method that requires improvement

should plan for innovation and identify the appropriate participant employees. Moreover, Six

Sigma can help tackle the new, the unique, and the difficult as is the case where Hico has to

tackle a new and popular product line from Walls. If Hico can follow guide lines suggested

by the six sigma approach, it can easily improve its own product line and introduce new

flavors easily. The key is to develop structured methodologies for R&D, market research and

consumer survey.

Few dispute the value of measurement. However, that which is easily measured rarely

produces real or optimal value. Real value comes from measuring what others cannot or will

not measure. Hico ice-creams measure there sales, there return on investment and all other

standard measurable metrics. We suggest that they also measure the creativeness of there

employees by requiring them to bring new ideas to table every now and then.

The benefit of integrating Six Sigma into your marketing processes includes better

information to make better decisions. Using the more robust approach reduces the

uncertainty inherent in marketing. Processes like product development and factory operations

with Six Sigma embedded in them can better sustain growth.

The marketing methodology of Hico should facilitate the customer, product and

financial linkages. Marketing should develop products according to consumer tastes and

development cost should also justify its results. The marketing department at Hico must

integrate these three areas:

• Strategic area: The Portfolio Renewal process. What products should be in the Hico

line of offering?

• Tactical area: The Commercialization process. How the products be positioned?

• Operational area: The Post-Launch Line Management process. Managing the

launched products.

The natural flow of marketing work starts with strategic renewal of the offering

products, to the tactical work of commercializing new offerings, and finally to the

19

operational work of managing the product lines in the post-launch sales, support, and service

environment.

Unique Six Sigma Marketing Methods

There are unique Six Sigma marketing methods which were created for each of the

three areas: strategic, tactical, and operational. The method to guide marketing's strategic

work is called IDEA. The approach for tactical work is called UAPL. The method to direct

marketing's operational work is called LMAD.

The strategic marketing process environment has the following four distinct phases,

known as the IDEA process for portfolio renewal and refresh:

1. Identify markets, their segments, and the opportunities they offer.

2. Define Product requirements and product portfolio alternatives.

3. Evaluate Product alternatives against competitive products by offering.

4. Activate Utilize the resources of the company in the are which is decided by the

companies executives.

The tactical marketing process environment has the following four distinct phases,

defined as the UAPL.

1. Understand the market opportunity and specific customer requirements translated in

to product requirements.

2. Analyze customer preferences against the value proposition.

3. Plan the linkage between marketing and sales to successfully communicate and

launch the product

4. Launch: Prepare the new product under a rigorously defined launch control plan.

The operational marketing process environment has the following four distinct

phases. This process is called the LMAD.

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1. Launch the offering through its introductory period into the market according to the

launch control plan of the prior process.

2. Manage the offering

3. Adapt the marketing and sales tasks and tools as required changes.

4. Discontinue any product offering, if necessary, with discipline to sustain brand

loyalty.

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Bibliography

1. Six Sigma for Marketing Processes by Clyde M. Creveling, Lynne Hambleton, Burke McCarthy.

2. Marketing Management by Philip Kotler.

3. Strategic Marketing by Mark E. Parry.

4. Consumer Behavior by Leon Schiffman, Leslie Lazar Kanuk.

5. Advertising by Gerard J Tellis.

6. Small Business Management by Justin G Longenecker, Carlos W Moore

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