Source of image: pioneeringspiritaward.com
After reading Si Jia’s blog post, I can understand the success of Dole’s marketing strategy. I also can tell that Gokusen banana had won Si Jia’s heart over other banana brands. I agree with its marketing effectiveness. The Gokusen banana is differentiated as supreme banana. It really creates a huge value with a minor cost. Most importantly, Dole makes Gokusen bananas become famous not only among runners who are the ones own this “one and only ultimate banana trophy”, but throughout the whole country. It is true that only their information are printed on the banana and trophies only belong to them, but this marketing campaign definitely increases Dole’s brand awareness and builds a better brand image. It also attracts many new customers and thus creates enormous benefits.
However, I think this effectiveness will not last for long. It may be dangerous if Gokusen bananas still remain a high price at the time. To avoid this, I suggest Dole to implement this marketing strategy for every major Marathon event in the future. Because this creates a social benefit to encourage people participating the marathon, which is good for their health, by providing them this “one and only banana trophy”. Dole may also make improvements, such as introducing similar types of “printed” banana available not only for Marathon runners but to everyone, for example, the children. As everyone wants to have their own Gokusen Banana, this marketing strategy might become even more successful.
