Marketing: Bread Wars are Heating Up
This week I read about fierce competition between Paris Baguette and Tour Les Jours. In fact in one neighborhood where the two competitors were squared off , one rival placed a dead rat into the other’s food product to create a marketing nightmare for the other.
The problem here is that the two rival companies have products that are almost indistinguishable. In marketing terms these are sometimes called “me too products” – products that copy a market leader who has innovated something new. Companies that have had runaway success in the past are those that have been able to find a point of difference, also known as their competitive advantage. For example, when other companies were making simple MP3 players, Apple came along and created the first iPod, or the entrepreneur Richard Branson’s Virgin Air who entered a mature market, but made his success by considering how the existing players were not doing things well and found a way to do it different and better.
So you see, the problem between Paris Baguette and Tour Les Jours is the perception that there is no real point of difference between the two. If they plan to expand then they are going to have to innovate, or at least appear to have something different.
Guessing Meaning From Context
Try to match the words/phrases on the left with the closest definition in the right column. (answers are at the bottom of the page. Note: 2 answers are possible to some questions).
|
squared off |
1 |
A |
Something unique about your product or service |
|
marketing nightmare |
2 |
B |
Becoming more intense, something is going to happen |
|
Heating Up |
3 |
C |
Gives your company something that is hard to copy that is unique. |
|
point of difference |
4 |
D |
About to fight |
|
me too products |
5 |
E |
Copying existing products/services or business models/ideas |
|
competitive advantage |
6 |
F |
Company whose product/service is number 1 |
|
existing players |
7 |
G |
Disaster for the image of a company or product. |
|
perception |
8 |
H |
Something that sells beyond expectation. Everybody is buying. |
|
market leader |
9 |
I |
How we view or think about something |
|
runaway success |
10 |
J |
Those companies already doing business in a market |
|
Mature market |
11 |
K |
Products or services that are sold in a market that is not new. |
1=D, 2=G, 3=B, 4=A, 5=E, 6=C, 7=J, 8=I, 9=F, 10=H, 11=K
Questions
Try to answer using the words/phrases from the story and if you can, use forms different to the one given.
Example: “Next week Doosan Bears and LG Twins will square off in Korean baseball series.
1. What two teams were squared off in the soccer World Cup finals last year?
2. Name a marketing nightmare that a company you know experience?
3. Can you name another industry where competition between two players is heating up? Comment on why it is heating up.
4. Have you shopped at the two bread shops in the story? Do you think there is any point of difference between them? If not, then think of a company that you know and explain its point of difference.
5. I’ve noticed that some neighborhoods have a lot of the same kind of shop such as pizza shops or cafés. Would you consider these “me too” services? How? Can you name another “me too” service or product?
6. What is the competitive advantage of a company or service that you know?
7. Who are the existing players in the Korean banking industry? Do any of them have a point of difference?
8. What is your perception of a brand you know?
9. Who is the current market leader in a market you know in Korea? For example the market leader in the Korean luxury car market is Genesis/BMW etc.
10. Can you name a product that has been a runaway success in your lifetime? Why?
11. Would you agree that the cell phone market is a mature one? Why?
ECK Education
