Ziqi's marketing blog

It’s hard for me to associate the Tiffany &Co. with Costco Wholesale, so the posts with a title of “Tiffany vs. Costco” brought my attention. The post talks about Tiffany &Co. accused Costco Wholesale Corp. for using “Tiffany” name in the sale of engagement rings at Costco retails and thus misleading customers; on the counter side, Costco defended that “tiffany” is used to define a generic diamond setting rather than the brand name.

I have a strong feeling that the prestigious Tiffany brand has been damaged. The two companies provide two different types of products: Tiffany provides specialty products while Costco provides convenience products. Their company’s objective is different as well. Tiffany & Co. is consumer-oriented; its premium price and limited sales offers are aimed at enhancing the company’s reputation, and eventually, increase its value in consumer’s mind. Along the history, Tiffany brand represents a sense of prestige and cherish, which is an asset for the firm. Undoubtedly, its brand image and awareness are ruined when it appears in a low-end wholesale retailer, and perhaps the tiffany-blue box would no longer be pure and unique. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to protect the iconic image and remain the company’s position of luxury and prestige. And in this case, it is essential to protect its landmark by suing Costco for infringing its name.

On the other hand, I believe Costco’s conduct is lack of business ethics, since its internal knew that it is an error of using the “tiffany” word to describe the engagement ring. However, the company continued implementing this strategy to attract customers and boost profit. This one-time transaction will be ended sooner or later. To retain customers’ trusts in the long run, what Costco really needs is to balance shareholder interests and social needs as behaving ethically. After all, it’s hard to build trust but way too easy to destroy it.

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2013/03/21/Tiffany-Costco-Ring-032113.aspx#continue

When I read the post from fellow classmate Mille Wu, I was quite surprised of the marketing strategy of “Powerful Yogurt” that targeting at male customers. Like Mille mentioned, yogurt has been considered as a feminine product and companies has always been targeting at women: different companies has been launched a variety of products one after another. Now, we can see that the market of yogurt products is becoming saturated.

Not until I saw the “Powerful Yogurt”, have I truly experienced that innovation is the secret of successful marketing. The company offers “Powerful Yogurt” with high protein and zero fat, which perfectly overlaps with male customer needs of “building muscle, burning far, and improving digest health”. It brings the firm to a valuable position without overlapping with competitors’ offering, since competitors haven’t tapped at men before. The company’s positioning statement is effective: it states their targeted segmentation (“for men, by men”), benefit (“health and nutrition need”) and their competitive advantages (“first yogurt designed for men”).

Powerful Yogurt

In addition, the company effectively     uses label to communicate the product’s benefits by highlighting the nutrition contents of high protein and zero fat; it satisfies male consumers needs in building muscle through a healthy and nutritional diet. The “bull head” logo also attracts to male consumers as it sends consumers a message of strength and power. People can easily connect to the well-known Red Bull, and subconsciously relate to energy drink.

Nevertheless, under the competitive environment, the company is going to face challenges of maintaining its value position sooner or later, once competitors launch the same kind of products. As such, it becomes crucial to maintain and further increase the firm’s value proposition, and I believe constantly communicating and promoting the products “benefits” to their consumers is one of the effective and efficient approaches.

https://blogs.ubc.ca/milliewu/

http://www.powerful.yt/