Ch. 17 Advertising and Public Relations

Burt's Bees, like other companies has to promote its product to consumers, they must successfully attempt to penetrate the market place, identifying the target market for the products they offer, while stimulating sales through advertising and public relations.

As mentioned in earlier posts, in recent years Burt's Bees launched the Natural Vs. campaign. It was widely successful in building and maintaining the brands image as one that is eco-friendly, works towards the graters good, and focuses on natural products. The natural product industry is an ever-growing one and produces millions of dollars in sales nationally and internationally as today's potential customer is more aware of its environment. and concerned with products that better our world environment.

Below are a few of the advertisement campaigns from Natural Vs.

                   

 

These series of advertisements are about the Burt's Bees product not the competitors, and like some other advertisements they do not compare brand to brand, they simply and boldly state the differences in ingredients. They focus on what makes Burts Bees different from other companies, without mention of competitors. The only comparison made is with the ingredients used in items within the same group i.e. lotions, creams, lip balms, and serums. The advertisements are persuasive with close ups of faces, lips, and bodies, using a clear distinction in why and how Burt's Bees products better fulfill the needs, of dry lips and skin.

The company also notably launched the Find Your Burt campaign, in honor of Burt, one of the co-founders of burt's Bees and a true environmentalist. Along with building a mini-site the company teamed up with advertising agency, Baldwin& to develop an interactive advertising experience devoted to environmental awareness and education. The campaign was inventive in its use of a combination of various types of media to convey one message. A website, promotional tee shirts, giveaways of products, and handkerchiefs with Burt's face on them and the company logo in there signature bright yellow. The campaign also included print and television ads to create a total package for brand awareness. After the launch and success of the 'Find Your Burt' campaign, the company which Burt's Bees teamed up with won the award for campaign of the year at the Ad Age Small Agency Awards. The mini-site that went along with the campaign was launched on Earth Day in celebration of its 40th year in existence.  

Ch. 15 Retailing

           

              For this weeks blog post I visited Saks Fifth Avenue in midtown. The specialty store is located at 611 5th Avenue and has being providing its customers with high end luxury goods since 1924. Saks is a high-end department store featuring women's and men's fashion, shoes, bridal wear, and jewelry. Although Saks looks and feels like a deptment sotre because of its size, the large amount of goods that it sells, and the various segments for shopping that it offers, within each department there are specialty items for customers and the feeling is one of being in a small boutique while being well cared for and attended to with a high level of customer service that the store offers.  Like other stores in the area offering high-end luxury goods, Saks competes most notably with Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdales, and Barney's New York, three stores which offer goods from the highest quality brands in fashion, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Prada to name a few. The store encompasses an entire city block and is located directly across from Rockefeller center, there are 10 levels ranging from high end brands like Gucci, to mid-level brans such as Marc Jacobs and Juicy Couture. Classic pieces are arranged together while contemporary styles are displayed separately in different sections of the store and on different floors entirely.

            The first thing I noticed as with most other department stores, is the massive size of the place, filled with perfume jewelry bags, ladies in black uniform selling perfumes, or giving customers directions for other parts of the store. There is a cafe inside of Saks, and a salon, providing customers with the flexibility to shop, eat and groom themselves all in one place. Everything is organized in a way to maximize the customers choices for purchase. As I walked through the first floor I passed by the booths of many brands, Chanel, Cartier, Gucci, Christian Dior. All of these options were at my fingertips, and I was literally spoiled for choice. The downside, however, if there is one, is perhaps that there too much choice, so many options that if you don't know exactly what you want, you may be overwhelmed by the endless possibilites to choose from.

           There was no point during the whole experience at Saks that I did not feel assistance and a high level of customer service were far away. I talked about lipsticks and perfumes, things I wanted for myself, and was given advice, tips on makeup, and new products that brands were featuring for the spring and summer.

Ch. 6 Consumer Decision Making

Who will buy Burt's Bees? How will they make the final decision to purchase a Burt's Bees product? Will they first start with their own needs; dry skin, chapped lips or dull hair that needs a bit of life to it.

Chapter 6 sheds light on the motivating forces behind consumer purchasing decisions, and it is interesting to learn and begin to understand what processes occur when someone decides to buy a product. five key factors are involved in the decision making process - 1. Need recognition, 2. Information search, 3. Evaluation of alternatives, 4. Purchase, 5. Post-purchase behavior. These are all pretty straight forward, lending way to what a consumer wants or needs, how they find of about a product, whether through their own personal experiences or perhaps by the influence of others, an assessment of what other types of products in the same category are available in the market, the action of purchasing, and lastly a consumers reactions and feelings about that product after purchase.

Burt's Bees best selling product is there lip balm. It has been a staple of the Burt's Bees product lines for decades, and features a variety of lip balms all based with natural beeswax. Whether you want to nourish, replenishing or refresh your lips Burt's Bees makes a product that will fit your diverse needs.
The company, owned by Clorox, and accountable for over $5 billion in sales revenue last year, currently has more that 700 customer rating reviews of a single product; the Burt's Bees lip balm.


Additionally, potential consumers are influenced by cultural, social, individual and psychological factors and these are all a part of the steps taken when purchasing products.

Ch. 5 Developing a Global Vision

Entering the global marketplace for any company presents its set of challenges, obstacles, rewards and opportunities. Just like doing business domestically firms must use the knowledge and skill they implement into their marketing plans to move into international markets. From chapter 4 we remember and are familiar with the Four P’s. In the global marketplace it is the same, however now with new elements in place, are affected and are affected by a larger and more complicated environment. Where global business and the four p’s are concerned a few key factors differ from doing business in the firm’s home country.

A firm must decide if its best to alter a product before it enters the global marketplace, or perhaps after the experience of seeing how it has performed once in the marketplace. Sometimes products may need radical changes to enter and be better effective in new markets; products often fail because of cultural differences, price points, and advertising that does not meet to needs of the diverse consumer base of the international marketplace.    

As with domestic markets, managers must be inventive adaptable and forward thinking to help ensure the growth and success of the firm. New products from existing companies can be invented and packaging may be altered; cultural values and needs differ extremely through a variety of nations and this should also be considered; the price that products will be sold at and the value of a nations currency are all factors involved with going global.

In 2006 Burt’s Bees sales topped $250 million and currently the company has satellite offices in the U.K. Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Burt’s Bees sell their products to large stores like Target.com and smaller specialty boutiques in Europe and Asia. After the purchase by Clorox the company wanted to expand to new markets like China, but experts have agreed that entering into the Chinese marketplace clearly has a huge potential for growth but nevertheless presents its own challenges specific to the nation. The country is the No. 3 beauty care market in the world and is expected to rank at No. 1 with its ever-growing population and economic up-turn, providing an environment that is ripe for a large increase in sales revenue. The move into China would present high-level opportunities since the Chinese consumer it attracted to products that are natural and safe, additionally a market for lip care products is almost insubstantial, which is one of Burt’s Bees best selling products in the natural care market. In a report on Burt’s Bees move into China the VP of Global Marketing, Jim Geikie said, ‘there were lots of reasons to be excited.’ Yet the company initially found one major hurdle that struck far close to the core values of the company. None of Burt’s Bees products are tested on animals and this is something that the company stands firm on while upholding ‘The Greater Good,’ yet the Chinese government requires that all imports be animal tested. Burt’s Bees worked for two years to figure out a strategy that they were comfortable with to enter the Chinese marketplace; they worked with government agencies, local manufacturers, the use of Clorox government relations and experience, and finally figured out a way to be comfortable with the use of proper resources to work and sells products in China. 

Sources: Cosmetic Design, News Observer, Trifecta, Burt's Bees