Building Brand Reputation Through Marketing mix - A case study on Otobi

Building Brand Reputation Through Marketing MixA Case Study on Otobi

Reputation

Table Of Contents

Introduction 1

Research Design & Type 2

Data source 2-3

Scaling techniques 3

Sampling Techniques 3

Fieldwork 3

Data Analysis (Methodology & Sample discussion) 4-5

Limitation 5

Theory 5-8

Company At a glance 8-9

Major Findings 9-12

Conclusion 12

Recommendation 12

References 13

Exhibits 13-15

Executive summary

Marketing mix plays a key role in terms of increasing market share. Brand reputation depends on the various elements in which marketing mix that are product quality; price, place and promotion are notable. This report answers basic questions that are prior to any business. We choose our own brand for this research which is “Otobi” to find out whether marketing mix influence brand reputation of Otobi or not? What people think about marketing mix and brand reputation of Otobi? We found that product quality of otobi is the major part where people like it best. Total marketing mix score increases brand reputation score by average which is notable to any business. People have ranked its promotional activities as good. Otobi is most publicly recognized and favorable in brand reputation category. Recommendations are to reduce price of the product and make it more convenient. Otobi should focus on consistency of their product.

Introduction

We know that when a company succeeds to establish a positive brand reputation in customer’s minds, they will attract more customers and thus increase market share. Brands with low reputation need to focus on fixing image problems and also to increase share in the market. Brand is important to companies because stronger brands are able to acquire and gather 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. 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.

Marketing mix is a popular term introduced by the Neil Borden which main objective is to focus on several recipe of marketing. 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 thus branding. The marketing mix is not only an important concept, but a guideline of implementing the price, promotion, product, and distribution. It is used to set strategy of the company in a competitive market to get most of the market share increasing brand reputation.

This research was conducted to find out relationship of marketing mix with brand reputation of Otobi. A leading furniture brand in Bangladesh.

Problem

Though there are many other elements that affect reputation of brand of a company. Our objective is to find out

How to build brand reputation through marketing mix? What is buyer attitude toward marketing mix and Brand reputation

of Otobi?

Other objectives are:

Whether the marketing mix (4P’s) helps company to build (or increase) brand reputation or not?

If it does affect then to what extent?

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Which of the 4p affects more than others to brand reputation?

Research Design

There is no best approach but the most effective approach for the resolution of a given problem depends on a large number of variables. The research design and methodology is a compromise between options that are determined by the availability of resources. The research design can either be qualitative or quantitative. Analyses expressed mostly numeric in this Research; the quantitative design will be most suitable.

Research Type

Exploratory Research: The primary research design which objective is to provide insights, understanding of the problem. And it is used when researcher must define problem precisely, identify courses of action and gain additional approach. Data are qualitative, gain loosely. Process is flexible and unstructured. The insights gained from exploratory research needs to verify further by conclusive research to utilize the findings.

Causal Research: A part of conclusive research. It is used to obtain evidence of cause and effect relationships of two variables. Where, variable X is independent (cause) and Y is dependent (effect). Test units are taken to acquire response toward (X) independent variable and measure relationship between variables. (Y) Dependent variable is examined to see the effect and predict.

There is difference between ordinary causality and scientific causality. Scientific causality is more defined, through, cross-connected and including more possibility. The scientific causality is more appropriate to marketing research than ordinary causality. Because, Marketing effects are caused by multiple variables, and the effect tends to be probabilistic.

In this research, we took Marketing mix (4p) as independent variable. We studied, interviewed and collect respondent’s data to see whether it changes Brand Reputation which is dependent variable.

Data Source

Secondary Data

Data that is already collected such as company record, government statistics or previous studies are examples of secondary data. This data

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must be evaluated on the basis of relevance to the research question. Secondary data can be gathered from data banks, already existing written materials, documents and reports. In case of this research we collect data from internet, several websites and blogs.

Primary Data

Data that are originated by the researcher for the specific purpose of addressing the problem at hand. This could be qualitative or quantitative in nature. We followed quantitative nature by conducting survey, observation.

Scaling techniques

We used Description scaling, that are unique labels, descriptors to designate each value of scale Such as-

1. ⧠ Male 2. ⧠ Female

Marketing mix and brand reputation scaling example- respondent have to mark one of the following

Sampling Techniques

Per member, questionnaire was distributed to collect data from convenience places. Sample was taken from relatives, students, user of goods of given brand, businessman and other person.

Fieldwork

Group was formed by 5 members. Each member has to collect sample data by interviewing respondent via telephone or personal presence. In case of telephone, respondent replies was added quickly and shortly to the questionnaire. In case of personal visit, respondent’s facial expression,

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1 2 3 4 5

Strongly disagree

Disagree Average Agree Strongly

Agree

body movement, overall state is observed closely. Most of the data collected from urban area, only 16.8% from rural area.

Data Analysis

MethodologyBasically we prepared the report basis of primary data. Developed structural questionnaire (See exhibits 1) was given to respondent and filled up by the respondents in cases of personal visit. Telephone was used to collect data and filled up by the interviewer. And respondent’s qualitative answers were interpreted to quantitative answers in order to meet the questionnaire structure.

Sample Discussion

Sample percentageAge (20-30) 59.2 (30-40) 19.2 (40-50) 11.2 (other) 10.4

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We tried to find same amount of male and female but unfortunately that was not worked out. Instead we got 90.4% male that is majority of sample. We got 59.2% sample whose age from 20-30 & 11% 40-50. From total sample 60.8% was single and 39% married.

Limitations

We felt the secondary data source isn’t sufficient for making such report. There is not much information in the website of Otobi. The personnel working in Otobi didn’t help us much about getting primary data. There is also absence of reading materials. The idea of taking only 4p to measure brand reputation is not good enough as there are other elements that affect brand reputation. In case of, cause and effect relationship ordinary causality was taken mostly, where scientific causality is preferred. Most of the time, the respondents are not participating spontaneously other than few which was discouraging. Sample size was not big enough to draw a certain conclusion and also information wasn’t sufficient to see the big picture of the company. Sample collection time was very short. English isn’t our mother language so difficulties arise when trying to use beautiful phrases and words. Inexperience in such research is also notable.

Theory

The word "brand" is derived from the Old Norse brandr meaning "to burn." It refers to the practice of producers burning their mark (or brand) onto their products. The Italians were among the first to use brands, in the form of watermarks on paper in the 1200s.

Brand is the total perceived functional and emotional value of a product or service. Branding is about adding a higher level of value to a product or service, thereby increasing its value to customers and other partners of business. A brand's value is related with emotional relation of its business partners. Brands are increasingly becoming the key element of any business. Most of this reason is people take brands as a means of personal identification and their emotional attachment to it.

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 branding began simply as a way to tell one person's cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp. The

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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.

Brand awareness refers to customers' ability to recall and recognize the brand under different conditions and link to the brand name, logo, jingles and so on to certain associations in memory. It consists of both brand recognition and brand recall. It helps the customers to understand to which product or service category the particular brand belongs and what products and services are sold under the brand name. It also ensures that customers know which of their needs are satisfied by the brand through its products (Keller). Brand awareness is of critical importance since customers will not consider your brand if they are not aware of it.

There are various levels of brand awareness that require different levels and combinations of brand recognition and recall. Top-of-Mind is the goal of most companies. Top-of-Mind Awareness occurs when your brand is what pops into a consumers mind when asked to name brands in a product category. For example, when someone is asked to name a type of facial tissue, the common answer is “Kleenex,” which is a top-of-mind brand. Aided Awareness occurs when a consumer is shown or read a list of brands, and expresses familiarity with your brand only after they hear or see it as a type of memory aide. Strategic Awareness occurs when your brand is not only top-of-mind to consumers, but also has distinctive qualities that stick out to consumers as making it better than the other brands in your market. The distinctions that set your product apart from the competition is also known as the Unique Selling Point or USP.

Companies are giving more attention on the facts, by which their product e.g. brands could increase the company’s overall profit margin. Moreover, the brand name could become important asset of business which can be competitive advantage and future earnings streams of the company. Customers have a strong and positive attitude toward the brand. Customers will avoid product of a particular company if that company fails to keep words that they claimed before. And if company fails to ensure a trustful and stable brand reputation, then it will be burden to their market share and at last they will lose in competition. Brand reputation is a favorable and publicly estimation of a product or service.

The marketing mix is often referred to as the '4 Ps', i.e. product, price, place and promotion. To meet customers' needs a business must develop

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products to satisfy them, charge the right price, get the goods to the right place, and it must make the existence of the product known through promotion. The marketing mix concept is needed to obtain a common goal, creating awareness and customer loyalty toward brand. Product is tangible or intangible good or service that is mass produced. To retain competitiveness in the market, product differentiation is required and is one of the strategies to differentiate a product from its competitors. Price is the amount a customer pays for the product. Promotion means all kind of communications that a company use. Example: Advertising, press releases, sponsorship deals, exhibitions, conferences, seminars or trade fairs, events, word of mouth etc. Place, where consumer can acquire a product or service. The marketing mix is not only an important concept but also a guideline when implementing the price, promotion, product, and distribution of a company. Products or services: must meet customer requirements whatever these might be. For example, an important aspect is function - products should do what they say they can do and what they are expected to do. For example, Audi cars are popular because of their high performance.Appearance is also important. This is why for example, consumers are prepared to pay premium prices for some of Gillette's razors. Place: Roughly one fifth of the cost of a product is spent getting it to consumers. Of course, the actual figure varies widely from product to product but generally distribution is a very important element in the marketing mix. Different organization’s use different approaches to reaching their customers. For example, McDonald's uses a franchising system enabling it to operate in a wide variety of geographical locations, and Amway distributes through Independent Business Owners worldwide. Promotion: Is the process of communicating with customers for marketing purposes, communication of products and services contributes to the persuasion process to encourage consumers to avail themselves of whatever is on offer. The key processes involved in promotion, include: branding - creating a distinctive image and character to an organization/and or its products and services, advertising - to inform and persuade the public, packaging - presenting the product in a desirable and appropriate way, public relations activities and other forms of publicity, sponsorship, special promotions. Price: Needs to be relevant to the product/service and the market. For example, BIC the manufacturer of razors, pens and lighters seeks to provide the world's markets with products at affordable prices. A firm's pricing decision is often aimed at attracting a particular market segment. For example, if it wants to sell at the top end of the market it will charge a high price, at the bottom a low price, and so on.

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Marketing mix (the 4P's) plays a vital role in the entire marketing process. Marketing managers have to make important and critical decisions to maximize customer satisfaction on one hand and to maximize company's profit on other. But these are conflicting and balance between the two must be maintained. The following indicate the important of marketing mix.

1. Customer Satisfaction: Satisfaction refers to deriving more benefits from product compared to the cost paid for it. Marketing mix is a link between the company and its customers. Companies provide high quality products at reasonable price at times and places customer need. This is done through efficient and effective distribution channels. Promotion helps customers to select product of their choice from a wide variety that can fulfill their actual requirements.

2. Increases Sales: Marketing mix helps to maximize sales volume. To increase sales volume, efficient channel of distribution, reasonable price and effective promotion need to be undertaken. When companies take care of customers' needs and preferences, products are in high demand. This results in increased sales volume.

3. Interdependent: All the elements in marketing mix (product, pricing, promotion, physical distribution) are all interrelated and interdependent. Marketers cannot consider one element in isolation. A decision regarding one element affects the entire marketing mix.

4. Different Types of Customers: Marketing mix facilitates meeting requirements of variety of customers. Consideration of purchasing power of the customers helps in determining the channels to be used. Marketing mix also helps to determine the product features and place where the product will be made available as well as tools and media for promotional efforts.

5. Social Welfare: Marketing mix promotes social welfare. Our society is comprised of different ethnic and income groups. Consumers of all income groups are benefited in one way or the other. While determining the marketing mix, marketing managers need to consider the welfare of the society.

Company at a glance

Otobi -country's leading furniture brand and countries first multinational company. In 1975 – Nitun Kundu starts “The Designers” in a tiny house in Shukrabad, Dhaka. Later it was renamed “Art in Craft”. 1976 – "Art in Craft" shifts to a bigger workshop in Topkhana Road, Dhaka. Otobi makes

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its first furniture, a metallic swivelling office chair. 1977 – The first showroom of "Art in Craft" is established in Elephant Road, Dhaka. 1984 – "Art in Craft" is renamed Otobi. It moves into its first 75,000 sq. ft. factory in Mirpur, Dhaka. 1992 - Otobi opens its 2nd 8,000 sq. ft.  showroom in its own building in Dilkusha, the commercial heart of Dhaka. 1994 – Otobi exports to Ukraine for the first time. 1995 - Otobi builds its 2nd 60,000 sq. ft. factory in Shyampur, Dhaka. 1998 – Otobi opens its first exclusive dealer in Chittagong. Otobi starts producing completely knockdown panel furniture – the first in Bangladesh. 2001 - Otobi builds its 3rd 230,000 sq. ft. factory in Shyampur, Dhaka. 2002 - Otobi’s first ERP goes live. 2004 - Otobi reaches every district of Bangladesh with 8 showrooms and 100 dealers. Otobi starts exporting to India on a regular basis. Otobi builds its flagship 42,000 sq. ft. retail store in Gulshan, Dhaka. 2006 -The new leadership of Otobi, Animesh Kundu as MD and Sabbir Hasan Nasir as CEO take over from Nitun Kundu. Nitun Kundu becomes Chairman of the Boards and an Advisor. Otobi introduces Balanced Scorecard in the organization. 2007-Otobi is present in 7 cities in India through distributors and dealers.  2008- Otobi builds its 4th ultra-modern 620,000 sq ft factory in Savar, Dhaka – the first of its kind in South Asia. Otobi opens its first 6,000 sq.ft. retail store in Kolkata, India. Otobi has now 16 Showrooms, 428 Dealers (Bangladesh-400, India-28), 5,000 Employees, 80% of Market share in branded furniture.

Major Findings

Our first attempt is to find out whether marketing mix affects brand reputation or not. From the following figure we can easily understand that marketing mix changes the course of branding by building up brand image with its elements. The average score of the marketing mix is 8 score lower than brand reputation score. Maybe it’s not much in this particular stage but it is clear that it does affects.

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Product quality & Promotion – Good

84.32% respondent’s total score is 527 which is very good. Among 84.32% of respondent 41.6% thinks otobi provides best quality product also 23.2% added promotion is best with it. 40% people found their product quality good, 14.4% believes it provide average product. 30% people likes otobi’s advertising while 18.4% comment about it as average.

Price & Place – Otobi should focus

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People find otobi convenience, because most of the data was collected from urban area. Pricing of otobi’s product have showed major concern to the people as most of the people preferred it as most favorable brand among furniture brands. But they believes it provide quality goods which is have priority than price.

Figure 1 Higher is Better

Favorable & Most recognized Brand but less consistency

We haven’t found any respondent who have recognize it as “not publicly recognized”. It seems Otobi has established his position among market and that is not poor. 50.4% respondent recognized it as most recognized brand while only 11.2% replies it as not recognized. From total respondents 47.2% respondent mark it as most favorable brand but 36.8% people believes it’s consistency is good but not best and also, 32.8% of them thinks it has average consistency.

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Conclusions

“They always provide goods that are beyond expectation” – one of the respondent told us. Performance of Otobi in case of quality goes beyond question. Also, reputed in the field furniture competitors as well as consumer. Otobi delivers it product as they say, with amazing design and quality which can be compared as world class. They have also, extended their business to India which is a major step of the company toward global business.

Recommendations

Though brand has earned a place of trust in the mind of consumer through its product quality still its product is out of reach to some people. As a brand of people with innovative design, style and looking Otobi should focus more on consumer satisfaction with its product price. Brand loyalty is a hard thing to earn, to make customer more loyal they should emphasize on consistency of product. Customer looks out for product where that is convenient and easily accessible. Otobi should focus on placing their product in convenient place so consumer easily finds them.

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