Prius Essay Example for Free

Prius EssayAnalysis of 4Ps Product, Place, Price, Promotion f. SWOT Analysis of Toyota push back Corporation and Toyota Prius g. Competitors Against Toyota Prius h. Target food market of Toyota Prius 3. Objectives a. Corporate Objectives b. IMC Objectives 4. Time Frame 5. Promotion Strategies a. Print Advertising b. cyberspace Advertising c. Sponsorship Activity d. parade 6. Promotion work out 7. App displaceix 8. References 1. EXECUTION SUMMARY This Integrated Marketing Communications Proposal is a one-year communications plan, which is to be launched in Hong Kong, for the Toyota Prius.It aims to further raise the aw atomic number 18ness of the Prius and in turn increase the market share and sale. Market analysis identified the bulls eye market, which consists of two groups private and corporate buyers. Consequently a communications strategy that makes use of various media has been created. Newspaper and rail auto magazines as the home run advertisements, the Internet , sponsorship activity and battle array ordain be the of import media. The Creative strategy is intentional to emphasize the unique selling points of the Prius and weaken the target markets objections. The budget (HK$1,000,000) has been allocated for the events and advertisements this year.The majority of the budget lead be spent on the 2 two-day exhibition, fol mooed by the print advertising. 2. SITUATION ANALYSIS a. scene Information of Toyota push Corporation Toyota is a Japanese car manufacturing company founded by Sakichi Toyoda in 1937. They have four linchpin strategies which aim at customer satisfaction, quality assurance, continuous mitigatement and reduction of waste. Toyota has manufactured various types of cars such as Corolla and Carmy. After continuous improvement, Toyota is likely to be the best seller in the world this year in terms of sales. . Communication History of Toyota Motor Corporation Crown Motors, the local agency of Toyota, has print various adve rtisements for its vehicles through newspapers, magazines, TV commercials, exhibitions and sponsorships, etc. However, there are merely few local sponsor activities and exhibitions for Prius and thus it is still new to local drivers. c. Background Information of Toyota Prius Toyota Prius is one of the worlds first commercially mass-produced and marketed hybrid automobiles. It released in Japan in 1997 and then worldwide in 2000.By the end of 2003, closely 160,000 units had been produced for sale in Japan, Europe and North America. In Latin, Prius means before or first. Technologies applied in the Prius are brand new and advanced ideas so that the Prius suits the name for the series. The Prius has won a number of awards, which are shown below. d. Awards Attained by Toyota Prius 199798 Car of the course of instruction Japan 2003 Scientific Ameri throw out names Toyota Motor Corporation as Business Leader of the Year (Scientific Ameri suffer 50 December, 2003) for its singular ac complishment in the commercialization of affordable hybrid cars. 2004 Motor ignore Car of the Year Car and Driver Magazines Ten Best List North American Car of the Year Award 2005 European Car of the Year e. Analysis of 4Ps Product, Place, Price, Promotion The Prius was released locally in 1999. Apart from the large comfortable driving environment, it was the first vehicle that introduced the Hybrid Synergy Drive, which helps the car become exceptionally terminate economical. The distri unlession of the Prius is mainly located at the six local Crown showrooms. The price of the Prius is around HK$230,000 which is a bit high than the ther series or Japanese cars because Toyota positioned it as advanced technology vehicle with the features of environmental friendly and fuel-saving technologies. The major promotion channels used were exhibitions, car magazines and sponsorships of environmental protection events. check to the previous brand promotion of Toyota, newspapers, tele vision commercials and the Internet were similarly used. f. SWOT Analysis of Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota Prius i. Strength Toyota is Japans largest and the worlds third largest car manufacturer with assurance of reliability and high quality propose.Toyota was one of the first manufacturers to introduce the concept of Just in Time mathematical production that allows to trend operating cost and overheads and to respond to customer demand quicker. The yearly budget for RD is set at the highest amongst car manufacturers for various interrogation centres around the world. This willingness to invest has brought Toyota an innovative image and created products such as the Prius. The Prius has advanced technologies which aim at environmental protection. It lets drivers save fuel and thus needs low maintenance cost in the long run at affordable price. i. Weakness Reputation of Toyota is non enough to convince buyers who like to express themselves with their natural selection of car, thus prefer cars with higher prestige from manufacturers such as Mercedes. Appearance of the Prius may relatively not as outstanding and attractive to potential buyers. According to Wikipedia, the Prius has been criticized for its aesthetics and handling characteristics. Toyotas life cycle assessment shows that the amount of life force required to manufacture a Prius is higher than that of a similar gasoline cater vehicle. iii.Opportunities Toyotas new hybrid technology has proven very successful worldwide and already created several brand extensions and derived models. Toyota could obtain the benefits of being the first in the market, currently 90% market share in hybrid vehicles. The introduction of new models in growing segments offers opportunities. The Internet also helps the marketing of cars, thus improve communications and reduce operating cost by offering online showroom, online booking of test drives, nearest dealer locator, online purchasing and e-brochures, etc.I ncrease in fuel prices can also be treated as one of our opportunities as the Prius is fuel-conservative vehicle. iv. Threats Major threat comes from rich and big competitors. Indirect competition comes from alternative methods of transport. some other government incentives are also aimed at reducing the usage of cars, such as the increase in tax. These actions can reduce the number of car purchases and reduce eventual profits. g. Competitors Against Toyota Prius Toyota Prius being an environmental-friendly and energy-efficient vehicle, competitors will be defined as those which have similar technologies in the manufacture of fuel-saving engines.Honda Civic GX and Insight are energy-efficient vehicles but not for sale in Hong Kong. Also, General Motors FlexFuel series and Hybrids series are powerful competitors in the same situation. Hence, Toyota is the local trailblazer in this product line. h. Target Market of Toyota Prius The target market can be split into two major categorie s B2B customers and private consumers. B2B customers are fleet and corporate buyers, who buy cars either for hire or rental or for company fleets. The environmental features make the Prius particularly interesting for business buyers because of his low operating cost.Private consumer is either male or young-bearing(prenominal) and between the age group targeted at 25 and 39 historic period old. Some of them are likely to be married and with family responsibilities. They are affluent, well-informed and educated adults. They may be of upper middle class. They pursue environmentally-friendly lifestyle. 3. OBJECTIVES Objectives exist on triad levels, corporate, marketing and communication, in which marketing and communication are regarded as the co-ordinated marketing communications (IMC) objectives. a. Corporate ObjectiveIt can be summarized as shareholder wealth maximization and is ultimately achieved through higher profits and change magnitude sales. b. Integrated Marketing Com munications Objectives Toyota Prius is at the growth stage of product life cycle. As the environmental friendly technology of the Prius still being the pioneer in the industry, the objective is defined to be long term. It is important to further raise the awareness of this feature to the public by 30% at the end of this year, which in turn increase the market share aimed at 25% and increase the sales by 25%.It is consentd that by the proposed promotion strategies, it can fully reach the target market and make the potential buyers aware of the Prius. Then, during the events and in the advertisements, we can educate them and explain the technical knowledge and advantages of the Prius, so that they are horny about the Prius and develop the word-of-mouth. It is hoped to motivate buyers to find out more about the Prius by visiting our website to order brochures or a test drive. Visits to exhibitions and showrooms may ace to the act of purchase which is our ultimate goal. 4. TIME FR AME 5. PROMOTION STRATEGIESTo heighten the Prius, we have considered several means including the use of newspaper and car magazine as print advertising, Internet advertising, sponsoring activities and exhibition. a. Print Advertising i. Newspaper The main objective of newspaper advertisement is to perform the function of teaching consumers in the learning process. The conterminous step is to attract the readers to the exhibitions and showrooms to do the feeling process. In the newspaper advertisement, we use the theme that the Prius only emits leaves but not pollution. It is a fresh car. We have two sets of advertisements.The first one is for advertising the Prius during the exhibition period. Another one is during the period without exhibition. The slogan Prius, its fresh is still used in these advertisements to make the wholly campaign consistent. Here explains the two designs. The first one is used during exhibition period. It is published in a coloured full page. As the main theme of this set of advertisement is to connect the Prius with a fresh sensation, the main color of the page will be park. A white Prius runs down a green road. At the back of the car is a cluster of leaves.It shows the idea that the Prius would make the place it runs green. At the top left corner we can see the awards that the Prius got in the last few years. They tell customers that even professionals appreciate the Prius much. At the same time, three icons are used to conclude the main features of the Prius low emission, high energy efficiency and the auto-charge function. The bottom of the page includes information about the exhibition, the venue and the time. At the bottom right corner there is a coupon. People can hire the coupon to the exhibition and get a model of the Prius.The plan is to attract more readers to come to our exhibition and feel the Prius. Another advertisement will be published during non-exhibition period. It will be published in a coloured quarter page. The design of this advertisement will also be used to hit the Prius to a fresh atmosphere. The mount of the page is a large piece of grasslands. The back of the Prius is coloured with a pattern of cluster of green leaves. The slogan and three icons are also put in the page to recall readers memory that it used to be the Prius advertisement. At the bottom of the page is a list of showrooms demonstrating the Prius.We hope that readers who are interested in will go to the showrooms directly to feel how fresh the Prius is. ii. Car Magazine Besides newspaper, car magazine will also be used as one of the printed advertisements. According to the result of our questionnaire, most of the interviewees obtain the car information by the car magazine. It shows that car magazine is the main channel to promote. We have chosen CarPlus ( ) to promote because it is one of the members of South China Media Limited. Car Plus is positioned as the middle-class car magazine and it is suitable for our ta rget group. Also, CarPlus is top three car magazine in Hong Kong.It is believed that after we have post the printed advertisement on CarPlus, it can increase the awareness of the Prius among potential car buyers. The theme is Prius integrates with the nature. The design of the print advertisement divides into two pages. The first page creates a natural environment so grassland is used as the background. Then, the grassland has a blank car act upon and there is only a slogan Today, Tomorrow. The print advertisement is made simple and being curious so that it can create stopping power and let the reader to feel interested in the advertisement first.The second page is different from the previous one. The background is green and the car place at the middle. It is to create a fresh look of the advertisement and provide more details. There are several watchword describing the feature of the Prius. b. Internet Advertising Internet is one of the most important media channels of automobile products. Based on the questionnaires result, Yahoo is the main research engine of our target group. Therefore, a floating advertisement is used in order to bring awareness of the Prius. When the Internet users open the Yahoo ebsite, the image of the Prius will appear in the screen, followed by a sound effect which is the sound of car engine. If the user is interested, he/she can click it and it will link to Toyota website. The Internet floating advertisement aims to raise the awareness of the customers and give them a fresh impression about the Prius. c. Sponsorship Activity For sponsorship activity, HK$50000 is spent on the World Widelife Fund (WWF) to promote environment protection. We will sign contract with WWF to makethe Prius the appointed car of the organization. As WWF focuses on nvironmental-friendly events, using the Prius will not only increase the reputation of the organization, but also increase the awareness of the Prius. We will give WWF a special price, near the w holesale price. The objective of this campaign is to connect the Prius to environmental-friendly business. Every time when stack see the Prius, they will be able to think of fresh environment. d. Exhibition According to the findings of the survey, it shows that (% of interviewees ) usually visit car exhibition before purchasing cars. In order to raise the awareness of the Prius among our target audience, two exhibitions will be held this year. . Time Two exhibitions which will last for 2 days are plan to be held on 29th and 30th July, and 24th and 25th November this year. In order to better allocate the available resources, Flighting scheduling method will be used. The exhibitions are arranged to be held at these two periods since it is expected that peoples purchasing desire are higher before the summer pass and Christmas. ii. Venue Shatin New Town Plaza is chosen since it is one of the largest exhibition venues in the New Territories. In addition, the rent ($80,000/day) and spa ce provided (3,600sq. ft) are suitable to pass out the exhibition.As Shatin is a well developed town, many people, especially middle classes, settle there. Holding the exhibitions in Shatin would probably increase the chance of range our target audience. The circulation of Shatin New Town Plaza per day ranges from 250,000 to 300,000, estimating 15. 6% of the people shopping there are our target customers, aged from 25 to 39 years old, according to the data from statistics of the Shatin New Town Plaza and Census. iii. Settings of Exhibition For the first exhibition on 29th and 30th July, a press conference will be held together with the exhibition.Chief Executive Officer of Toyota Hong Kong will introduce the main features of the Prius and do the queries from the mass media and the public. Hence, the press conference allows people to get more information about the Prius. At the same time, overhead projection of the Prius video will be shown on the screen during the press conferenc e and throughout the exhibition to create the feel of high technology. On the second day of the exhibition, there will be a cheque giving ceremony for sponsoring WWF to enhance the image of environmental protection of the Prius.For the second exhibition on 24th and 25th November, a famous artist who loves driving cars and is the representative of Environmental Friendly lead ( ) of Shatin Junior Chamber ( ), Miriam Yeung ( ), will be invited to share the feeling of using the Prius. With the famous artist giving professional opinions, the environmental friendly image of the Prius can be strongly established and strengthened. Background music, like birds singing, will be played throughout the exhibition, so as to create the feel of being in the nature, making people feel refreshing and environmental conscious.In addition to auditory stimulation, visual effect will also be emphasized. Flowers and plants will be used in the exhibition. They are used to enhance the environmental friendly image of the Prius. To strengthen the image, the Prius will be displayed on an artificial meadow with the shape of a leaf. All the above use the idea of classical conditioning since they serve as an unconditional stimulus and gives rise to an unconditional response, refreshing and environmental conscious.Through contiguity and repetition, this unconditioned stimulus will develop an association with the conditioned stimulus, appearance of the Prius, and thus gives rise to the conditioned response, the Prius is refreshing and environmental conscious. The deck plan of the event is shown as below. pic It is important to ensure the target audience can experience the full car visually so as to generalize more about the Prius. One of the Prius is specially processed to be a partially transparent car, thus people are able to see the natural structure, like the hybrid engine of the Prius.Two normal Prius will be exhibited. People can experience the comfort of the car and professional opi nions are disposed(p) by salesmen at the same time. According to Foote, Cone Belding Grid, cars should use the model of Informative (The thinker) since the involvement of the target audience is high and it requires more thinking processes. Therefore, learn- feel- do model is used. Through the exhibition, target audience are able to learn more about the car from the transparent car model and the professional opinions from the salesmen, also, customers can feel and experience the comfort of the car.These settings are used to increase the chance of purchase. Board and typewriter ribbon will be placed in the exhibition hall. Besides, decoration of trees and leaves will be placed so as to stress the feature of environmental-friendly of the car. The boards will show the features of the Prius and with the emotional appealing graphics. The customers could learn more about the product through the statistics and comparison. iv. Use of Manpower Personal selling in exhibition is very importa nt since cars are high involvement product and more convictions are needed for purchase.Personal selling will be carried by salesmen who are trained to be familiar with the Prius in advance. Salesmen should be able to tell the advantages and features of the Prius and to answer queries from customers. The Prius will be promoted by sex appeal. Three beautifully dressed ladies will stand in front of three Prius respectively. It is used to increase the awareness of potential customers and photographers to take photos for them. Moreover, nine salesmen will be distributed around three Prius, promoting and answering queries raised by people. v.Exhibition Rundown On 29th July, 2006 1130-1230 Opening ceremony + Press conference 1230-1500 Exhibition 1500-1700 travel queen regnant for photo taking 1700-2100 Exhibition 2100-2200 Clearing On 30th July, 2006 1100-1300 Exhibition 1300-1400 Cheque giving ceremony of sponsoring World Wildlife 1400-1500 Exhibition 1500-1700 Racing queen for photo taking 1700-2100 Exhibition 2100-2200 Clearing On 24th November, 2006 1100-1300 Exhibition 1300-1400 Sharing from artist 1400-1500 Exhibition 1500-1700 Racing queen for photo taking 1700-2100 Exhibition 2100-2200 Clearing On 25th November, 2006 1130-1500 Exhibition 1500-1700 Racing queen for photo taking 1700-2100 Exhibition 2100-2200 Clearing 6. PROMOTION BUDGET 7. APPENDIX 8. REFERENCES