Case background: Jiangzhong brand Jianweixiaoshi tablets is a famous brand of Jiangzhong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. In the early days of its launch, the product knocked on the market door with an Avanti advertisement, and sales increased rapidly. In 1997, sales reached 100 million yuan. However, in the next five years, the sales volume of Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets has basically remained the same and stagnated.

In April 2003, an advertisement for "Shenfang Brand Children's Digestive Tablets" from Hongjitang, a century-old factory in Shandong Province, suddenly appeared on CCTV 6 and other media. The specific plot is: in a During the filming of the TV commercial, the male protagonist poked his head out of the product packaging bottle and said, "The child doesn't want to eat, please use a digestive tablet." At this time, the director suddenly said, "Cut (stop), it's a pediatric digestive tablet." So the male protagonist repeated "If your child doesn't want to eat, please use children's digestive tablets", followed by the voice-over "Shenfang brand children's digestive tablets, sour and sweet, century-old technology, Jinan Hongjitang Pharmaceutical."

It is worth mentioning that, until 2003, Jiangzhong Brand Jianweixiaoshi Tablets had always been a single product, spanning the adult and children's digestive medicine markets. Although the launch of "children's special stomach and digestion tablets" has been proposed within the company many times, in terms of implementation, the company has many doubts about the necessity of the "self-segmentation" strategy, resulting in frequent "difficulty" in subdivision. First, from a medical professional perspective, it seems unnecessary. The main ingredients in the product formula of Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets, such as hawthorn and malt, are plants that are both medicinal and edible. They are safe and green, and the treatment scope is suitable for both adults and children. Secondly, Jiangzhong Company internally believes that , the market of children's digestive aids has matured and tends to be stable, with the largest share occupied by Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets. The launch of special products for children's digestion aids is "from the left pocket to the right pocket". What is being snatched is Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets themselves. market. While channel, promotion and other series of marketing costs have doubled, market share cannot increase significantly. Finally, Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi has not encountered flanking attacks from its opponents in the past. Is it too dogmatic to independently choose such a strategy, as if it is segmentation for the sake of segmentation? Due to these hesitations and the fact that competitors may not be so quick to take chances, Jiangzhong Company has been unable to launch children's digestive medicines. Instead, it has long adopted a strategy of covering two market segments with one product, targeting the adult and children's markets. , carry out different advertising appeals: for adults, the advertisement is "Stomach bloating and abdominal distension, please use Jiangzhong Brand Jianweixiaoshi Tablets"; while for children, it is "If the child does not eat, please use Jiangzhong Brand Jianweixiaoshi Tablets" ”, thus providing opportunities for market segmentation for competing products such as Shenfang Children’s Xiaoshi Tablets.

Therefore, the purpose of Hongjitang’s advertising campaign is to directly target Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets and segment its children’s market. Because the children's market directly segmented by Shenfang Children's Xiaoshi Tablets is one of the core markets for Jiangzhong Jianwei Xiaoshi Tablets, and Jiangzhong Jianwei Xiaoshi Tablets is the main source of profit for Jiangzhong Company. The occurrence of this incident quickly awakened the company's crisis awareness, making Jiangzhong Company truly feel for the first time that Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets may lose its share of the children's drug market at any time, and it is imperative to launch new children's digestive medicines. OK.

In the face of this crisis, Jiangzhong Company implemented the following response strategies:

1. In Hongjitang’s home bases of Shandong, Anhui, Henan and other places, we have increased the promotion of Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets, including tripling the amount of TV advertisements, and conducting large-scale and long-term "buying" of Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets. One for one” campaign. In order to prevent and prevent its nationwide expansion by comprehensively suppressing its sales and cutting off its cash flow. In a short period of time, Shenfang Children's Digestive Tablets were driven out of the market.

2. Conduct detailed market research to find out what consumers really think. The survey found that: (1) Parents lack "children's digestive medicines" to choose from, and are worried that children's use of "adult medicines" will harm their health, resulting in an alarming number of children who do not use medicine, and there are a large number of gaps in the market; (2) there are many local competing products. , most of them are "unknown brands", lacking the protection of brand barriers and easy to snatch;

(3) The existing children's user satisfaction in Jiangzhong is "falsely high", and parents are worried about children using "adult drugs" , causing the dosage to be low, leaving room for improvement.

3. At the end of 2003, Jiangzhong brand Jianweixiaoshi tablets for children were officially launched.

4. Mobilize all elements to create differences in subdivided categories and let consumers fully feel the differences.

(1) In order to get rid of the influence of "adult drugs", Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi tablets for children are completely designed for children. The tablet size is 0.5g (0.8g for adults), which is more suitable for children in terms of specifications and capacity. The tablets are also embossed with "animal" cartoon patterns, and the taste is children's favorite sweet and sour taste. At the same time, children's cartoon avatars are prominently marked on the packaging to highlight the identity of children's medicines... These improvements enable children's products with Jianweixiaoshi tablets to better meet the needs of children in all aspects, and constantly remind parents that this is a product specifically for children.

(2) The packaging design follows the overall style of Jiangzhong brand Jianweixiaoshi tablets.

(3) Try to display Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi tablets for children next to Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi tablets; if conditions permit, display them at the children's medicine counter at the same time.

(4) Set the retail price at 6 yuan, which is basically the same as Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets.

(5) Provided ample funds for the advertising and dissemination of Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi tablets for children.

(6) In the children's clothing Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi tablet advertisement, the category should be first developed. The advertisement must repeatedly inform consumers that "it is specially used for children to solve the problem of children not eating", thereby attracting the target consumer group to keep trying. and purchases, making Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi tablets for children the first in the minds of consumers in this category.

(7) In order to clearly distinguish the children's version of Jiangzhong Jianwei and the adult version of Jiangzhongjianweixiaoshi, the protagonist of the commercial is the highly relatable film and television star Fei Fei (Shen Dianxia), while the adult version of Jiangzhongjian is used as the protagonist. The TV commercial for Weixiaoshi continues to feature sketch star Guo Donglin.

Not long after the children's Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets were launched, its sales have been rising rapidly across the country. In just six months, sales have exceeded 200 million. This greatly strengthened Jiangzhong Company's confidence in children's clothing. Therefore, in the fund allocation of Jiangzhong Company in 2005, the children's Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets were prioritized as a product, and a huge amount of promotion expenses were invested in order to seize the mental resources of "children's digestive medicine".

Questions:

1. Combined with case analysis: What are the main reasons for the success of Jiangzhong Company’s marketing strategy?

2. In this marketing campaign, how to ensure the effectiveness of market segmentation of Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets?

3. How to carry out an effective marketing mix in the children's market of Jiangzhong Brand Jianweixiaoshi Tablets?

4. Why should the overall style of Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets be used in the packaging design of Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets for children?

1. Answer: If a brand wants to achieve fundamental victory in the market, the key is the formulation and implementation of its brand positioning strategy. Regarding this point, Philip Kotler’s original words are quoted: “Solving the positioning problem can help the company solve the marketing mix problem. The marketing mix (product, price, channel, promotion) is essentially the result of the application of positioning strategies and tactics. . ”

In the case of insufficient market competition, a company may win if it succeeds in a certain link of marketing (such as channels). In modern marketing wars, formulating and implementing a successful brand strategy is the key to winning the war. At present, many companies are still talking about "magic weapons for winning" such as distribution rate, strong promotions, etc., in the cruel market competition. , will soon become commonplace and boring - it is just a necessary condition for every enterprise to survive, and the correct brand positioning strategy is the "fundamental method" for an enterprise to win, because - "Positioning has completely changed today’s marketing operations”.

2. Answer: Rather than being segmented by competitors, it is better to segment yourself” has now become the common sense of most companies. For pharmaceuticals that cover both adult and children’s digestive medicine market segments, For Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets, due to the different situations of consumers and competitors in the two markets, Jiangzhong Company was forced to formulate two sets of competitive strategies and implement two sets of promotion plans for one product, but took two photos of the same product. Therefore, "launching children's digestive products", as a consulting company, Chengmei has always had this suggestion, and it has been recognized by some personnel of Jiangzhong Company, especially the marketing department. It is not a new topic for a long time. .

However, in terms of implementation, there are many doubts within Jiangzhong about the necessity of the "self-subdivision" strategy, which has caused difficulties in subdivision.

First of all, from the perspective of the medical profession. From a perspective, it seems unnecessary. The main ingredients in the product formula of Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets, such as hawthorn and malt, are all plants with "both medicinal and food uses". They are safe and green, and the treatment scope is suitable for both adults and children. ;

Secondly, Jiangzhong Company internally believes that the market for children's digestive aids has matured and stabilized, with the largest share being occupied by Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets. The launch of special products for children's digestive aids is "from the left." "Pocket to right pocket", it is only grabbing the market of Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets. While the marketing costs of channels, promotions and other series have doubled, it cannot achieve a substantial increase in market share.

Finally, Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi has not encountered flanking attacks from its opponents in the past. Is it too dogmatic to choose such a strategy independently, as if it is segmentation for the sake of segmentation?

Due to these hesitations, competition exists at the same time? Opponents may not be so quick to take chances. Jiangzhong Company has been slow to launch children's digestive medicines. Instead, it has long adopted a strategy of covering two market segments with one product, thus providing competitive products such as Shenfang Children's Digestive Tablets. Opportunities for market segmentation.

In early 2004, Jiangzhong's marketing department commissioned Chengmei to conduct a research on "the profit growth points of Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets in 2004". The researchers were able to conduct a comprehensive and in-depth investigation, thoroughly clarifying the position and perception of Jiangzhong Jianweixiaoshi Tablets in consumers' minds, and correcting Jiangzhong Company's misunderstanding that "the market growth of children's digestive aids is limited."

The results of the research, which lasted nearly 2 months, show:

1. Parents lack "children's digestive medicines" to choose from, and are worried that children's use of "adult medicines" will harm their health, resulting in an alarming number of children who do not take medicines. , there are a lot of blanks in the market;

2. There are many local competing products, most of which are "no-brands", lacking the protection of brand barriers and easy to snatch;

3. There are children in Jiangzhong User satisfaction is "falsely high" and parents are worried about children using "adult drugs", resulting in low medication dosage and there is room for improvement.

There are many ways to segment a market.

However, not all segmentation is effective. Among them, the segmentation misunderstanding that companies are most likely to fall into is to develop a market segment that does not exist in the minds of consumers, and these segmentation concepts are simply not in line with consumers’ existing needs. Cognition and experience, like the "smokeless" incense launched by Reynolds Company