Marketing Mix: Product

This is our product, " We define a product as anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need." (Marketing: An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler pg 209.). Rock-It vodka begins with the finest organic wheat and rye grown during the deepest colds of the mid-west winter.  This results in our highly distinct and refreshing taste.  Once fermented we mix this with only the purest mountain spring and rain water from our wells high in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Then our vodka is triple distilled with a charcoal distillation method for a crisp, clean, and refreshing taste.  As far as variety goes we will maintain our focus on delivering only one high quality type of vodka for now.  The design  of our bottle to house our premium vodka will be the shape of the body of a guitar, elegant yet with hard edges on the sides of the bottle.  The neck of the bottle will resemble part of the neck of the guitar and will taper off into the cap.  The neck and strings of the bottle will be clear glass and you will be able to see through the bottle. This part of the bottle represents the clear, visible, and classy side of everyone, or the part that is easiest to see.  As for the body of the guitar, it will be all black, to represent the wild side in everyone; it is reminiscent of a dark rock club at night.  Designed into the body will be our brand name Rock-It in a curving, stylish and recognizable font, that part of the bottle will be clear as well, as we want our customers to know that is both our name, and our message.  Our message is that we dare the customer to be the very best at whatever they do and Rock-It.  Our bottle, which is made completely of recycled glass helps contribute to our company's commitment to sustainability, where we hope to be recycling our own bottles one day to create greater value for consumers.  It will be a good density and won't break easily.  The bottle size will be the standard 1.75 liter bottle, if we are succesful we may also create a half gallon or 'handle' size as well.  Through all of this we hope to capture customer value and that customers begin to adopt our product, "The product adoption process is made up of five stages: awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and adoption."( Marketing: An Introduction. Armstrong/ Kotler pg 168).  Through our product design, quality, and focus on delivering the highest quality product Rock-It Vodka has its strategy for its product laid out for the future.

Target Market Strategy

At Rock-It Vodka we hope to create the highest customer value by finding the perfect target market for ourselves to thrive in. " Most companies have moved away from mass marketing and toward target marketing—identifying market segments, selecting one or more of them, and developing products and marketing programs tailored to each."(Marketing: An Introduction. Armstrong/Kotler. pg.175).By differentiating ourselves as the vodka that drives our customers to be the best at whatever they do,  and our unique take on environmental sustainability we hope to capture long time customer value. Our position in the market is, "To be the perfect vodka for whatever eccentric lifestyle you own.". "Positioning, arranging for a market offering to occupy a clear, distinctive, and desirable place relative to competing products in the minds of target consumers."(Marketing: An Introduction. Armstrong/Kotler pg 175.). We are intially aiming for two target markets; 21-35 year old hip, artistic middle class youth, who seek interaction with others, with a joy for the night life, a refined sense of taste, and a care for the earth.   Our other target market is for 36-50 year old upper-middle class who in this economic downturn aren't willing to sacrifice a quality product for a highly reduced price-tag.   We hope to create brand awareness between our two main target segments via our online community which promotes our customers to be the best at whatever it is they do, and to share their gifts with the rest of our customers.  This will increase value for our customers who are looking for something that is a little more than just something to drink.  Using social media tools as we explain in the promotion part of our marketing mix we will be able to reach out quite easily to much of our target market, and create some one on one experiences with both markets.  With proper care are precision Rock-It Vodka will grow exponentially as a brand and outward to new and fresh markets here in the United States and throughout the world.

SWOT Analysis

To fully understand and know how to best achieve our goals we must look at the wider marketing environment."A company’s marketing environment consists of the actors and forces outside marketing that affect marketing management’s ability to build and maintain successful relationships with target customers."(Marketing: An Introduction. Armstrong/ Kotler pg 66). For whatever is out there in the marketing world we must first understand where we are at as a company and where we are going.  A SWOT analysis is certainly a great way to organize ourselves as a company.  As far as our strengths, using renewable water sources and use of more inexpensive recycled glass bottles helps with our product cost a great deal, which in turn allows us to deliver value to customers.  Another strength along with that is Rock-It Vodka's commitment to daring our customers to be their best and helping them share their work is another strength; the ability to directly be in touch with our customers gives us an advantage to understand what it is they value.  Fortunately, we have a dedicated team who are striving to be apart of the customer value experience.  Weaknesses are always hard to address, but none-the-less, extremely important. As a new brand we face a lot of challenges, which is a weakness in and of itself. One weakness is that we are limiting our range of customers by using a wheat vodka, which contains minute amounts of gluten.  This inhibits us from any potential customers who have a wheat gluten allergy. Without any current brand ambassadors we don't have any currently developed interaction with our audience as we have yet to release our product.  Opportunities are all over for a fresh brand like ours, and if we set up a great customer perception for ourselves it could draw in a larger market of customers. "Perception, the process by which people select, organize, and interpret information to form a meaningful picture of the world." (Marketing: An Introduction Armstrong/ Kotler. pg 150). Another opportunity of ours would be to take full advantage of our position in the market to really create the culture around our brand like we hope. And even another opportunity would be to use different types of grains for the vodka to include a larger number of customers who may be allergic to gluten.  Threats to our company involve any backlash from other brands on the market to try to put us out of the market early on.  Another would be any possible shortage on our supply chain, without enough product being readily available we may lose our place in the market. All of the problems we face can be overcome, even here at Rock-It vodka we strive to be the best at what it is we do.

Objectives

Rock-It Vodka has a few main objectives for which we are striving. "Here we will be stating the marketing objectives that the company would like to attain during the current marketing plan’s term and discusses key issues that will affect their attainment."(Marketing: An Introduction. Armstrong/Kotler pg. 56).One main objective of Rock-It Vodka is to masterfully handcraft and deliver the most refreshing vodka of our generation. To achieve this end we would begin by staying in close contact with our wheat and rye growers across the mid-west.  If we are taking care of our farmers they will take care of us.  Additionally, we will have a team to assure the organic integrity of that same wheat and rye along with the mandatory inspection from the USDA to confirm that we do indeed use organic ingredients in our vodka.  We will also make sure to use only the most pure and refreshing rain and mountain spring water, maintained at our wells in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.  As stated in the first main objective, to assure the highest customer value we must maintain and grow positive relationships with our entire value delivery network. "Good distribution strategies can contribute strongly to customer value and create competitive advantage for both a firm and its channel partners. It demonstrates that firms cannot bring value to customers by themselves. Instead, they must work closely with other firms in a larger value delivery network."(Marketing: An Introduction. Armstrong/Kotler pg .310). Achieving our goal of being the most refreshing vodka of our generation will require us at Rock-It Vodka to facilitate and grow a culture among our customers.  We don't just want to bring people together but create a worldwide culture of enjoyment and unity among our customers.  As our customers have a common interest we can use their love of our product to help this process along.  We dare our customers to do their best at whatever they do, so we will create a network on our company website for our consumers to share what they love and check out other peoples work as well.  It may be something as small as someone's independent art to a video created either serious or funny.  Whether it has anything to do with our brand will be entirely up to our customers.  We believe that creating this positive environment for our customers to interact in will create a buzz about our interest in the world around us. That is just the reason why, "Customer relationship management is perhaps the most important concept of modern marketing."(Marketing: An Introduction. Armstrong/kotler pg 13.) and why if we maintain these main objectives there is nothing Rock-It Vodka can't do.

Business Mission Statement

Rock-It Vodka's mission is not just to masterfully handcraft and deliver  the most refreshing vodka of our generation.  From our water wells high in the Sierra Nevada's that capture our crisp, clean mountain spring and rain water, to our devotion to our organic wheat and rye mixture grown during the deepest cold of a Minnesota winter leaves our vodka with a highly distinct and unbiased flavor. We don't just want to bring people together,  but to create a worldwide culture of enjoyment and unity among our customers.Whether they love a smooth, sophisticated evening on the town, or a night of socializing and playing hard; we are the best of both worlds.  The only drink for whatever eccentric lifestyle you own.  Rock-It dares you to be your very best at whatever you do, no matter what you do! This is Your drink, your night, your party, your life; enjoy it however you want!

Our mission statement, as you read above, "begins with the following questions: What is our business? Who is the customer? What do consumers value? What should our business be? These simple-sounding questions were among the most difficult we will ever have to answer."(Marketing:An Introduction. Armstrong/Kotler pg. 39).  When we started out, from where we were standing, there was nothing to really bring many people together.  We found that strange, as enjoying a drink is often to be a social occasion, why did there have to be such division in the world of enjoyment.  This seemed silly to us, so we began to plan how we could create such a delicious beverage that people from all different walks of life could get together and discuss the good, the bad, and the in-between of the world; more importantly to us though is that they could enjoy themselves while doing it.  So our brand Rock-It dares people to be their very best, no matter what it is that they're doing, and to challenge others to do the same!  "Customer-driven companies research current customers deeply to learn about their desires, gather new product and service ideas, and test proposed product improvements. Such customer-driven marketing usually works well when a clear need exists and when customers know what they want." (Marketing:An Introduction. Armstrong/Kotler pg. 11). And because we drive our customers to be their best, they expect nothing less from us as we strive to be THE new legendary name in our industry.

Week 7 EOC: Pitch

Picture yourself sailing upon white-caps on a beautiful, windy lake in the summertime, enjoying drinks with your friends in the sun.  Each person has their own glass, yet each drink and, of course, each person is an individual! We all have different tastes, so why be boxed in?  Rock-It Vodka wants to inspire you to take-off and do your own thing. Take a sip of this ultra-smooth premium vodka, triple distilled with purified mountain spring and rain water from high atop the Sierra Nevada mountain range.  Once you taste its clean, rich flavor you will know this is vodka like no other.   Perfect for a nice evening out in your finest dress clothes; try a Rock-It on the rocks, or even an exciting night surrounded by the sights and sounds of a grungy music venue.  To embody all of this we deliver Rock-It to you in a shapely glass bottle which resembles the body and neck of a guitar. Guitar is an instrument that embodies both class and unpredictability, much like the vodka. The bottle, made entirely of recycled glass, is part clear; representing that bright, classy side that we all flaunt from time to time.  The other half of the bottle is opaque, which is there to represent the wild side in all of us.  Because of our stand on sustainability for ourselves and our planet, Rock-It can share our premium wheat and rye vodka with you all at a highly affordable price. As we do our best to consume resources responsibly, we hope that you will be sure to consume our vodka responsibly as well, life is too short and far too many things to do!  This vodka is the perfect drink for whatever eccentric lifestyle you own; this is your drink, enjoy it however you want, and Rock-It!

Week 6 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting

Companies are beginning to search for employment opportunities in place of the traditional method of hiring new employees.  "More companies are trying to tap Facebook Inc.'s 750-million-plus user base to find new employees, threatening
traditional job boards and competing with LinkedIn Corp., which has dominated the online professional
networking arena."(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903885604576490763).  While this could lead to many opportunities in our current economic downturn providing opportunities to many who would otherwise have none; doing such could be a double-edged sword.  Getting too involved in a potential employee's Facebook account could potentially damage their reputation and chance for a job because a company decided to dig into this persons life.  Just as I am sure that sometimes people are put off if a company contacts them through Facebook for a potential job opportunity. "Jeff Vijungco, vice president of world-wide talent acquisition for Adobe Systems Inc., said that in focus
groups, prospective job candidates were sharply averse to being contacted through Facebook for jobs." (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903885604576490763).  While there are risks from that end using social networking to increase the market of a brand is becoming more popular with each passing day.  Most companies that are around certainly have a social network page to connect with their consumers. Some companies are even  using it to their advantage by creating roles for the consumers to express their love of a brand to friends, family, and other fans over the web.  "Brand ambassador programs leverage the power of peer-to-peer communication. Consumers hear about products and brand experiences from others just like themselves—people they trust—rather than from commercial marketing sources."(Marketing: An Introduction. Armstrong/Kotler pg. 143). While it is hard to say where this trend is leading is it certain to say that it will be most interesting to see where it leads.
eting: An Introduction