Marketing: An introduction
Assessment 1 - Outcome covered 1 Assessment instructions
Before answering the following questions you should read the accompanying case study (Day Dream Toy Company). The case study outlines background information about the company and you should make reference to the organisation in answering the questions. The same organisation is used in Assessment 2 of this unit.
1 Identify three key characteristics of the marketing concept.
2 Explain and give examples of the key factors influencing the micro and macro environment of Day Dream Toys.
3 Explain why market research and the information gathered are important to an organisation like Day Dream Toys.
4 Explain how Day Dream Toys might collect and use market research information. Include one quantitative and one qualitative research technique in your response.
5 Explain the process of market segmentation and targeting, and the benefits of segmentation and targeting to Day Dream Toys.
Day Dream Toy Company — A case study Background information
The Day Dream Toy Company has a workforce of over 1,000 based in three different sites in the UK. The company was established in the early 1990s and its marketing activities are co-ordinated from its headquarters in Chester. The original company produced a limited range of wooden toys aimed at the pre-school market. Its range of products was originally limited to wooden building bricks, simple wooden jigsaws and a limited selection of wooden animals. As the company became more established, the product range was expanded to include dolls’ houses and wooden train sets.
In the early days the company sold through small, independent toys shops, but despite numerous attempts, it was unable to persuade any of the large chain stores to stock its products. Despite this, the company maintained a reasonable turnover, and it slowly expanded its product portfolio to include a range for the 5–8 year old market.
Disenchanted by its inability to become accepted by any of the larger chains, the company toyed with the idea of mail order selling. A catalogue was produced and distributed through some of the leading Sunday newspapers, and although sales increased, this was not a particularly successful venture.
Mail order selling was dropped after only a year, but it did serve to bring the company’s name to the attention of the public, and more importantly to the toy industry. The company’s image of high quality toys, made from natural products, appealed to the increasingly vocal environmental lobby, and at last, a leading department store chain agreed to stock Day Dream’s products. This proved to be a lucrative agreement for Day Dream, and it helped the company expand during the late 1990s.
The company’s big break, however, came when the Welsh language TV channel SC4 introduced an animated series featuring an assortment of animal characters collectively known as the ‘Country Cousins’. Against fierce competition, Day Dream won the contract to make a limited range of merchandise featuring the characters, and the popularity of the series resulted in sales which were way beyond Day Dreams most optimistic expectations.
Following the success of ‘Country Cousins’, ITV decided to give the series national airing, and in the lead up to the national launch, Day Dream expanded and developed its range of merchandise. At the same time, the company also
introduced ‘Country Cousins’ books and to this end, it acquired an ailing publishing company in Exeter.
This was Day Dream’s first venture into publishing, but by retaining the existing expertise within the newly acquired company, and through its own established distribution network, this became a highly profitable part of the company’s portfolio.
The books were sold principally through toy shops and department stores as part of the overall ‘Country Cousins’ package, and by concentrating on its established toy retailers rather than bookshops, Day Dream did not need to employ any additional sales representatives. This proved to be a successful and cost effective approach, which is still employed at the moment.
As the business continued to expand, Day Dream bought over a soft toy manufacturer which was initially devoted to the production of ‘Country Cousins’ figures.
The ‘Country Cousins’ phenomenon reached its peak in the late 1990s, and although the company is still turning in reasonable profits, there are growing concerns for its future security. The success of ‘Country Cousins’, however, has given Day Dream a foothold in the market, and having firmly established its brand name and identity, Day Dream products are still stocked by some of the major toy retailers.
Although the sales of ‘Country Cousins’ merchandise are declining, the range is still an important part of Day Dream’s business. The range currently includes wooden figures, cuddly figures, wooden play houses and scenery, a series of thirty ‘Country Cousins’ story books, a ‘Country Cousins’ Annual which has been produced each year since 1996, ‘Country Cousins’ stationery, pencil cases, note pads, cards, etc and ‘Country Cousins’ toiletries, including soap, shampoos, sponges, bath salts, etc.
In addition to the ‘Country Cousins’ range, Day Dream still produces its traditional wooden jigsaws, wooden animals, wooden building blocks and various other wooden toys aimed at the pre-school market.
A major turning point in the popularity of the ‘Country Cousins’ range came in 2008 when ITV decided to drop the programme from its schedules. The popularity of the series had been waning for a number of years, and its demise had been inevitable for some time. In the year following the programme’s withdrawal, sales of ‘Country Cousins’ merchandise fell to 40% of the 2002 peak.
HND专业市场学导论Marketing题目case要求参考
