The Labor Department says the economy created 100%...
...created in Tokyo. We'll be watching closely what happens in New York.
The increased demand is creating a growing market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average...
The stock market has grown.
...from a selection of more than 8,000...
...changes would still have to be approved by the securities and exchanges...
...because these bases on creativity.
Look, from now on, I'll serve Coca-Cola and you serve the steak.
It's not on your life. Parties are more fun when you do the cooking.
Here, have a Coke and cheer up.
That's the best idea yet.
The history of marketing reflects the gradual shift from a product orientation...
...to a customer orientation and the growing influence of customer demands on business decisions.
In companies around the world, the process of selling gave way to marketing.
A group of business activities focused on satisfying customer needs.
Grant, it's time to look beyond basketball. I'm thinking made for TV drama.
Today, customers are so sophisticated and competition in many industries is so intense...
...that marketing is a vital tool for both satisfying and influencing customers.
Marketing is a way to differentiate one product from another...
...because in today's day and age, there are many products that will meet consumer needs.
What marketing does is it provides a distinctive value, either through advertising, through PR...
...through production, packaging, or through distribution...
...and provides information to the consumer that allows them to choose which product...
...indeed best meets their individual consumer need.
That's good.
If you think about it as having an input of consumer needs and an output of a product...
...that is available at retail to buy, marketing is the process that gets that product made...
...manufactured into the retail store so that it can meet that consumer need.
The consumer is basically you and me. If you've ever had a Coca-Cola, ever had a Diet Coke...
...ever had a Sprite, then you're an end consumer.
The customer is the local supermarket that you might go into, the local convenience store...
...and so we have consumer satisfaction as paramount and we have customer satisfaction as equally paramount.
It'd sound a little bit better if you dipped your reed dip dip in a little bit of my root beer.
Taste that bite and you'll have the edge of Coltrane.
Coltrane?
The first step is identification of an unmet consumer need and there's a wide variety of ways to do that.
The next step is development of a product if one doesn't exist or taking an existing product...
...and determining that it will meet that unmet consumer need.
So bring along a few names to drop and bring your own Sprite.
Then producing the product, testing the product and then determining how you're going to go about getting it...
...to manufacture to the point of sale through a channel of distribution.
Market research is important for really two reasons.
The first is to identify unmet consumer needs such that we can decide whether we want to try and meet those...
...with an existing product or go through the process of developing a new product.
And then more importantly what market research allows us to do is make certain that...
...we understand what ongoing consumer needs are.
Once we've identified an unmet consumer need or evolving consumer need...
...a marketing strategy helps us or allows us to determine where we're going to place our resources.
Which buttons are we going to punch to impact that consumer need.
I can see! I can see!
Really?
No.
Well it got the bite to it though.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
The changes or the multiple forms of packaging that we have are certainly influenced by our customer needs also.
Until the late 70's much of Coca-Cola was sold in glass bottles, returnable glass bottles.
Our customers, our major supermarkets finally decided that that was not a business they wanted to be in.
They did not want to dedicate space to holding our empty bottles.
That forced us to move very strongly into cans and into plastic bottles.
Marketing encompasses a wide range of interrelated corporate functions and activities.
All of which are aimed at satisfying customer needs while achieving the company's overall business objectives.
It's a code red from Coca-Cola.
Look for winning codes behind labels of specially marked bottles and can multipacks of ice cold Coca-Cola Classic.
Marketing mix is another part of a marketing strategy.
And you can choose your own exciting getaway to one of four locations around the world.
And basically what marketing mix consists of at its most fundamental is the product, the place that we're going to sell the product,
the package form that we're going to have the product in, the advertising that we're going to put behind it,
the media we're going to buy and the promotions that we might or might not run against that brand.
So grab a code and look for the code.
What a marketing strategy does is says which one of these is most important.
Again strategy forcing us to make decisions on where we're going to invest our resources.
You don't just get caught, you get thirsty. But now there's Citra.
In addition to satisfying customers, companies often use the marketing process to stimulate demand.
We use several techniques to stimulate demand for new products.
And they're kind of twofold. One is focused against the consumer.
That takes very obvious form in advertising, in packaging, in promotion,
what we do in retail with displays and with pricing so that when the consumer walks into a store,
they know that something new is going on.
The second phase is really with our customers.
We've got to provide them with a reason and a rationale to put the new product in their store.
Barks, the one with bike. What do you mean Barks has bike?
Educating the consumer is critical to a new product launch.
If the consumer is unaware that the product has been launched, you're bound to fail with it.
The way we do it at Coca-Cola is through extensive advertising, through extensive public relations,
and through relevant promotions to the target.
At the same time, our sales force is out providing information to the customers
so they can understand why they need to put this product in their retail establishment.
Through in-store pricing, through sheer availability,
the number of locations where you can buy a Coca-Cola is at the foundation of our marketing efforts.
It's Paris feeling the heat, it sizzles in Rome, it's a sigh of relief, it's getting away, this is hard work not play.
Coca-Cola has been an international company since 1910, and like many global corporations,
knows from experience that economies, cultures, and business environments differ from country to country
and require different marketing strategies.
We have to be conscious that what might or might not work in the United States, might or might not work in China.
We do extensive testing before we introduce a new product or a new campaign or an advertising element into a country.
At the same time, we pride ourselves on hiring native people from that country.
So if you're in China, the vast majority of people working for Coca-Cola will be Chinese nationals
who understand the culture, who understand the language, who understand the implications,
and that's true around the world.
Recognizing the importance of satisfying customer needs, more and more companies are making the shift
from product-focused marketing to marketing that is customer-driven.
As populations become more diverse and consumer demographics change, businesses around the globe
also face the challenge of applying different marketing strategies tailored specifically to different customer groups.
So what did they make you do for all this?
Well, I play with all this stuff, and then I go in and I tell them what I think.
That's it?
Yeah.
And they pay you for that?
Yeah.
You're the luckiest guy I know.
In the movie Big, a 13-year-old boy trapped in a grown-up's body lands a job at a toy company
where he brings a child's perspective to the marketing process.
What's fun about playing with a building? That's not any fun.
This is a skyscraper.
Well, couldn't it be like a robot that turns into something like a bug or something?
In a real-life version of the movie, the employees of Kinex Industries, a toy company based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania,
approach marketing much the same way.
Whenever we're about to introduce a new product, we have a large group of people who get together
from our sales department to our marketing department to our product development to our president.
We sit down, look at the product, and try to pretend we're nine-year-olds and think whether we think it would be fun or not.
Did you take it outside?
Yeah, I took it outside.
Kinex introduced its first product in 1992 in a test market launch and quickly captured the imagination of kids and retailers alike
with a line of innovative construction-type toys that are educational and fun.
We've now grown from that very modest beginning to a company that's in 25 countries around the world,
that has a joint venture with Hasbro overseas and has grown from zero dollars to nearly $100 million in sales.
We're now the number two construction toy company in the world and the fastest growing construction toy company in the world.
The Kinex customer is basically children between five and 12 and their parents or the gift-givers.
Our trade customer is different. It's the specialty toy retailer, the large toy retailer, as well as the mass merchandiser.
And we sometimes then expand beyond it. For instance, in our education department right now, we have a build-it-read-it combination book
where you get the pieces and a storybook, and that we're beginning to sell now through bookstores.
At Kinex, we use market research constantly to help us improve our product. We do regular focus groups.
Typically, when we focus group, we have between five and ten kids, boys and girls, depending on the topic, and a moderator,
and their ages are usually eight, nine, ten years old.
When we're about to do a focus group, we identify what it is we want to find out about, whether it's the new advertising that we perhaps have developed,
products that were under development or whatever, and then we develop a questionnaire with a professional focus group moderator
and have her take the kids through the specific questions.
Like many companies, Kinex relies on feedback from focus groups, along with competitive data, in shaping its marketing strategy.
Our marketing strategy is affected by competition constantly.
We're always looking at what they're doing, where they're advertising, who they might be tying in with,
what they're doing at trade level, what kind of sales they're offering,
and we try to adjust our strategies to learn from what they've done, what's effective with them, what's effective with our retail partners.
Our major competitors are Lego, Mattel, which now has constructs, the Steel Guys, Meccano, and Steel Tech,
so anyone who actually has something that involves creativity is an extended competitor of ours.
The thing that makes Kinex different from our competition is that we build and bring to life.
The best things we do, a kid can build it and bring it to life, whether it's a simple picture frame that he builds,
puts the picture in, gives it to his parent and makes it come to life that way,
or it's one of these big walloms that with constant movement.
Kinex is about creativity and imagination. If you can imagine it, we can build it. Actually, the kids can build it.
Kinexploration, building fun, traffic, and your bottom line.
Kinexploration, an interactive traveling exhibit created by one of the most exciting new companies in America,
where learning is challenging, creative, and just plain fun.
We use promotion, both consumer promotion and trade promotion, as one of our weapons in our marketing arsenal.
We use trade promotion to try to make sure we've got the right product on shelf, at the right price point, on feature, on ad, whatever,
and we use consumer promotion to try to tie in with kids wherever they might be.
For instance, we have tie-ins with the Duracell battery company, the Energizer battery company.
We've had tie-ins overseas. We're always trying to be wherever kids might be.
We have sometimes in the past tied in with movies or tied in with TV programs.
Basically, we are often of interest. As you can see, our visual interest is very high, so often we find them calling us.
We think carefully about how we market internationally. We actually have a separate organization outside of the United States.
Outside of the U.S., we have a joint venture with Hasbro and our own organization in Europe,
and they coordinate the marketing on a local, country-by-country basis to make sure that we adapt to the cultural norms and the marketing opportunities.
And we decided that Hasbro had the better organization, a better fit with us, could really help us expand more quickly than we could do it ourselves.
Not only did they have extensive toy knowledge, they also had knowledge of the local economies, the local retailers, and the local business in each country.
So they were a great help to us in our rapid expansion to become the number two construction toy company in the world.
The way we proceed on international marketing from a consumer point of view is to make sure, first of all, that all kids can build it everywhere.
So all of our products are color-coded. Our instructions are color-coded. There are no words.
Any kid anywhere in the world can follow the same instructions.
The answer for Connex and thousands of companies like it is a marketing philosophy and process that is focused on the customer,
from product research and development to channels of distribution to advertising to promotional tie-ins.
From toys to snack foods to computer software, companies are constantly creating new products that give customers more choice.
One of the fastest growing product categories on the market is non-prescription painkillers,
where customers can choose from more than two dozen formulas and brands.
For years, aspirin dominated the market. There was no other choice.
But some people couldn't take aspirin without experiencing side effects.
So competitors went to work developing aspirin-free alternatives to satisfy a wider range of customer needs.
Oh, my doctor has a headache. You know what he takes? Excedrin. The aspirin-free kind of excedrin.
Now, with so many painkillers available, making the right choice can sometimes be a headache in itself.
Still, providing customers with choices they understand and want can be vital to a company's success.
The advantage of having several different non-prescription pain relievers on the market is because there are many types of pain.
And the different types of pain relievers treat the different kinds of pain.
Some are needed for inflammation purposes, some just for a headache, just a pure pain reliever.
And so there are many, many types of pain, and therefore there are many different products for each one of those.
The reason we have so many different kinds of strengths and forms and packages is because people have individual preferences.
Some people can swallow a capsule easier than a tablet.
Some people perceive that a tablet is safer than a capsule, and there are many different personal preferences, and so we try to cater to all those desires.
The doctor gave me Tylenol, extra strength.
Tylenol? With everything they have here.
Man, this stuff works.
One company can advertise that their particular product is better because it comes in a certain form.
And of course it enables the customer to have a choice, and they like that.
If the products in their form do not meet the customer's needs, then they soon disappear from the market.
Name?
Name, please.
Office?
One, nine, one, five, five, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Which means that marketing efforts must be aimed not just at satisfying customer needs, but also at stimulating demand.
More business with Fridays free.
They're doing more because thanks to Sprint, all their long distance on Fridays is free.
Telecommunications is no longer about someone picking up the phone and calling someone else, but much more sophisticated video applications, data transfers at very, very high speeds, image transfers.
We also do audio and video conferencing.
We publish directories.
We provide pay phone services.
And we also provide access to the Internet, as well as wireless communication.
How are you?
Good.
Fridays free?
You bet.
Sprint markets these and other services to residential users and to business customers using different strategies for each group.
The company also uses different strategies for small and large businesses.
Our primary marketing approach to small businesses is that we help businesses do more business and that we also have very attentive and caring relationships with our customers.
Once someone becomes a small business customer with Sprint, we have a business solutions organization that is responsible for calling our customers,
really getting to understand their business and providing advice on how they might be able to use telecommunications to increase their business performance.
With large businesses, technology is going to play an even larger part.
As an example, with a global customer, we might use an intranet application where their employees might work together as a team in different countries, all on one project.
Anticipating or responding to a changing competitive environment is also vital to effective marketing.
Our marketing strategy has been affected by competition dramatically.
If we look back over many years, most telecommunications carriers have really struggled with how does one define value and price in what to some traditionally was viewed as a commodity market.
And what that has provided Sprint is a significant opportunity to really differentiate itself and to really address proactively the needs of our customers by helping businesses do more business.
We find ourselves in a position where our marketing strategy is actually driving our competition.
A position in which we can truly differentiate ourselves among competition that competes primarily on price.
Sprint and other telecommunications companies must also keep up with the changes in their industry.
Changes brought about largely by new technology, the emergence of a global economy, and industry deregulation.
We are in the midst of an information revolution, and that information revolution is because of technology.
Technology today means very sophisticated image transfers.
One example would be that in a very small town where there are no doctors, that they can actually utilize telecommunications image transfer to receive images.
The other thing that we see technology really impacting small businesses, as an example, is the use of the internet.
The internet has opened up all kinds of possibilities, not only in terms of communication, but also in terms of how big a business looks.
A very small business can create a website on the internet and can have just as wide a market be able to access just as many customers as a very large business can.
So their ability to grow becomes a very important element in the delivery of technology, because technology in and of itself means nothing.
It's what a customer or a small business actually does with that technology, or what it allows them to do that's going to be very important.
A global economy is going to change the way that so many businesses operate.
We saw it as very necessary to establish our presence as a global carrier.
Sprint's approach has been a bit different than some companies have taken, where rather than taking our United States-based corporate environment into a different country,
we have formed partnerships with telecoms in other countries so that we can utilize the expertise that they have,
be it about the government regulations, the infrastructure, the language requirements.
But in working in partnership, we find we have an advantage in that country.
Another key change in the telecommunications industry is in the area of government regulations.
In the past, long-distance, local and wireless communication services were heavily regulated.
But one of the effects of the Telecom Act of 1996 was to create a more open market.
Telecom deregulation is a very exciting time because what's going to be different is that the market is going to decide who's going to be successful as opposed to the government.
And this is a marketing person's dream.
I'm here. I'm with you.
It talks. Mr. Bell. Mr. Bell, I heard you. I heard your voice.
Revolutionary changes in communications technology have had a profound effect on the marketing of goods and services.
First there was radio, then television, and now the Internet.
Businesses find a number of advantages for marketing their products on the Internet.
One of them is that they can make large, large amounts of information available about their products and services
if a company tries to advertise their products on TV or radio or in print.
They're limited to a small amount of space and a limited amount of time to get their message across.
On the Internet, they can put reams of information out at virtually very little cost compared to other means of getting information out.
They can target their information and customize it to the individual user and their preferences.
If somebody calls me up and they're in Europe and I'm in the United States and they want to know about my products,
they don't have to wait for a brochure to go through the mail. I can just give them my web address.
One aspect of promoting products successfully on the Internet is having a professional design and appearance.
Because writing web pages is, from a computer point of view, very, very easy, people will think it's easy to build a website,
but to actually build an effective online marketing communication, to have a professional marketing message,
professional graphical look and feel really does require a good bit of experience and insight into use of the medium.
And having a professional look and feel to the website really helps facilitate promoting the business
and creating credibility in the eyes of a visitor that comes to look at your products.
Another advantage of marketing on the Internet is that they can support people without connection to a salesman,
without somebody having to call and talk to a salesman, without it taking staff time to support their customers and provide them information.
A lot of businesses will find synergy between their offline advertising and their online advertising,
where they will go and run and add it in the paper and put their web address on it and then promote it through their Internet presence.
Finally, one of the best methods of promoting the business is through the development of an online mailing list.
If you build a website, they won't come unless people know about it.
So if a company is going to promote its products on the Internet,
they need to employ a wide range of strategies to make the world available that the products are out there and available on the Internet.
They need to go ahead and put their web and email addresses on their business cards, on their stationery, on the sides of their trucks.
You're not so much trying to make the sale on the website.
You're trying to create the contact through a mail list, where you can then talk to these people on a regular basis and stay in their mind share.
So starting a mailing list on the website and continually putting information in front of people is one of the very best ways to promote yourself on the Internet.
For the pain of traumatic injuries, Tylenol is recommended the most by doctors.
Soft drinks and pharmaceuticals, toys and telecommunications, the products may differ,
but the marketing efforts behind them are all focused on the same thing, delivering customer satisfaction.
In a world where new goods and services appear almost daily, where customers can literally pick and choose what they want to buy,
more and more companies are applying a variety of marketing strategies to influence and meet specific customer demands.
But marketing isn't some isolated function within a company.
It's a complex process involving a number of interrelated activities.
Collectively, these activities allow a business to identify customer needs and then develop, produce, promote, price, and distribute products that satisfy those needs for a profit.
At one CEO Observe, in today's competitive marketplace, the customer decides who wins and who loses.
PBS.