Marketing paper on: Mitre sports and its target audience

Executive summary:

Intend of this essay is to talk about marketing plan or strategy for Mitre football’s re launch. For this, first company’s introduction and its current situation have been outlined. Afterward, paper has made a customer analysis in order to know their preference and buying behavior. Next segment of the paper has also analyzed the market and competitors for Mitre Football. In addition, political, economical, social, technological, and legal environment analysis is also a part of overall discussion. Similarly, SWOT analysis has depicted strong and weak points of company which can be improved upon. Threats and opportunities direct Mitre to mitigate the risks and to challenge both internal and external environment. As per the aim of this paper, marketing mix also has been included for taken into account as a part of marketing strategy. Therefore, both marketing and financial objectives of Mitre has been discussed and focused upon. Going forward, target market and its segmentations have also been explained so that a general idea can be taken about market and customers. Next, marketing strategy also involves competitive advantage for company. Finally, the stage of implementation of an appropriate marketing mix including product, price place and promotion has been illustrated in this paper. This would also provide the idea for controlling the strategic planning and proposed marketing mix for Mitre Football.Background/Current situation:

Mitre sports international is world’s oldest and largest football manufacturer company. It is England based company and owned by pent land group there. It supplies the footballs for professional matches such as League Cup and football league those which are competitive in nature. In addition to this brand, it has launched a new ball named Delta V12 which is also professional. The idea behind launching this new ball is to celebrate the season of 2012-13. Moreover, company is on its way to progress and winning the goal for every year. While doing all such activities, Mitre remembers its ethical promises established and maintained by Company. Furthermore, Mitre’s marketing manager stated that their company is completely dedicated to improve and develop the quality and performance of the balls manufactured. He also added that balls are extensively tested in the labs and on field with experienced and professional players (Mitre sports, 2012).

In addition, Mitre has made its gripped in other nations such as Indonesia and Venezuela where it decided to put freestyles into footballs. Nick Palmer, the managing director of Mitre footballs has commented that Mitre Company’s mini site has been proved a good vehicle in order to foster every range of Mitre’s footballs. Thus, they are offering high quality and affordable range of footballs to their customers by making it favorite among them and extending company’s reach (PR Buzz, 2012).

Company Analysis:

Mitre sports were established in England in 1817. Mitre is known for its footballs to be used in professional sports. Mitre still makes its presence when football, Cricket, Rugby and Netball games are played. It maintains its brand and always strives to be favorite brand of people; Mitre uses its heritage and technical expertise for this. As a result, Mitre’s technical performance can be viewed in its high class footballs. These products of Mitre represent the sense of history keeping Mitre brand alive for current and new forthcoming generation to follow this. On the other hand, Mitre focus on its team and values it because it knows the value of a team, as it realizes that combination of two teams make a game where Mitre’s football is used. In simple words, balls made by Mitre provide people high level of confidence to play (Mitre, 2012).

The products made by Mitre are not only used in professional sports, but they are also famous in parks and school playgrounds. Apart from this, Mitre has also introduced its site on which it sells its products online. The site is totally committed to Mitre footballs and owned by Club line football which is Mitre footballs’ UK’s leading supplier. Balls are supplied to schools, domestic markets, local authorities and other teams through online site of Mitre and have established a history in doing this. Additionally, Mitre offers high quality, affordable and best priced footballs and on the other hands it has expertise those who are specialized in customer service and can satisfy customer’s expectations. Office manager of Mitre adds that it continues to be the most popular brand of football. Therefore, online buyers believe the quality and fantastic price presented by Mitre footballs and acknowledge their value (PR Buzz, 2012).

Customer Analysis:

Customers for any particular brand or product are identified and evaluated on the basis of their preference, buying pattern and behavior. They may directly go to the shop or mall to buy the product or can place an online order. Te choice of customers toward a brand may be different like someone may be price sensitive or someone may be quality and features sensitive. In case of Mitre football brand, customers are professional players, schools, domestic players, etc. Professional player’s desire is to have world class quality football which could bring confidence in them while playing on the field. On the other hand, players at school and domestic level require the football which should be affordable and of good quality for their regular use.

Market/Competitor analysis:

There are a number of competitors available in the market who is selling high class and best quality products. Competitors are also providing football kit, boots, base layer, football fashion and other ranges related to it. Some of these competitors offer affordable price to the customers. Competitors are as follows;

• An official football from Adidas manufactured for 2012 finale of UEFA champions league’
• Nike, which has brought its official match ball forward for maxim la liga. Nike is offering this ball in both black and white color in market.
• Besides, Umbro has presented its official ball that is neo pro and is available in affordable and lesser than Mitre’s price.
• Others are Adidas Euro, Umbro FA, Manchester United Prestige, Barcelona Prestige, Nike Luma football, and Adidas Tango Rosario.
• A few competitors such as Barcelona metallic signature, Umbro Ceramica football, Celtic supporters, Chelsea premier metallic, etc are offering the footballs at very lesser price (Kitbag, 2012).

After analyzing Mitre’s customer and competitive market, a full PESTEL analysis can be made to take a general idea of its both internal and external environment. Therefore, forthcoming section of this paper highlights political, economical, social, technological, environmental and legal environment of Mitre footballs.

PESTEL Analysis:

Political

There are many countries where Mitre supplies its products such as England, UK, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Denmark, etc. In these countries, political environment is stable and government is elected by common people in particular country. Many of these countries have inserted euro in their export and domestic market which means that it becomes easier for Mitre to trade with these countries. This can be taken as an advantage for Mitre, as it would not face any issues regarding exchange rates when exporting or supplying their products to other countries. In country like UK, elections influence interest rate which makes an impact on Mitre. It means that majority of that country’s people will have their disposable income and then Mitre can take an action to use good advertising campaigns.Apart from this, Mitre will have to be aware of pressure groups or political parties those trying to put bans on methods that it may use in manufacturing footballs. This may be a ban on using leather which is made up of animal’s skin, to make football boots. On the other hand, it should also be aware of any kind of help it can get from government. Helps may be in terms of getting subsidies from government in order to establish Mitre branches in highly unemployed areas. It would be a great help for Mitre as it would also make them sure for developing their brand all over the world (Inside view, 2012).

Economical:

Economic environment demonstrates the trends and events of a particular region or country and also explores the influence of such changes on buying behavior of consumers. England, a part of UK, where Mitre is established is known for one of the largest economies of the entire world and having a population of more than $50 million. Additionally, the inflation rate, rate of unemployment and total debt of the country influence Mitre to decide upon its pricing and promotion of the products.

Social:

As Mitre is a multinational company, decisions made with respect to designing of a new product and advertising campaign affect the company. A very big decision that has to be made by Mitre is how it will make the products available to its customers, be it professional player, school players or local buyers. To make this possible and effective, it should analyze the buying habits of consumers so a general idea can be gripped of what customers actually want. Moreover, it will also include assessing the increasing usage rate of online shopping as compared to buying products directly from shop or the market. In this regard, Mitre can consider both religious and political aspects of countries it is trading with.

Technological:

Mitre uses different technologies to make their product different and unique from others. In this context, company needs to be aware of new and updated technologies through which products would be made easily and reasonably. This advancement can provide Mitre with a competitive advantage to gain in the market. Another specific area for Mitre to get focused upon is online sales because Mitre can realize that if they expand their online business, they can gain much profit out of it in this technical world. On the other hand, it can use various technologies in advertisement of products. Technologies can be put forward in order to get a lot more from its advertising campaigns such as Mitre introduced freestyle campaign (Oxford University Press, 2007).

Environmental:

Environment plays a vital role in any kind of business, be it domestic level, national or international level. There are a few environmental factors which should be considered by Mitre while planning for a marketing strategy. First, it has to choose the type of raw materials to be used in manufacturing of football. It uses mainly animals’ skin to make their products from leather. In this framework, it requires to take synthetic materials into account instead of using animal’s skin so that animal’s killing could be stopped and cost of obtaining such materials can be reduced as well. It totally depends upon company that how it obtains the material without harming the environment as much as possible. On the similar hand, it will also influence the pressure groups if they do not harm the environment and will result in profit from other countries as well.

Legal:

The laws are made to be implemented and followed by every organization because these laws help determining how a company conducts its business. Therefore, it becomes necessary for a business to comply with these laws and regulations established else they would have to pay high price on account of not abiding by laws. One of the most known legislation that has to be obeyed is consumer protection legislation. Others may be trade description act, sales and supply act and act of weights and measures.

SWOT Analysis:Strength:

• Innovative design and technology
• Oldest football manufacturer
• World class products
• Long history
• Strong subsidiaries and staff

Weakness:

• Overexposure
• Not exist in known countries
• Undifferentiated products as compare to its competitors
• High price of products compared to Adidas and Nike

Opportunities:

• Online marketing
• Ultra global
• South Africa 2010 and London 2012
• Mitre ID in shops

Threats:

• A large number of competitors
• Losing consumer preference’s awareness
• Competitors’ marketing approach and competitive strategies
• Economic recession
• Revenue basically relies on discretionary income of customers

(Source: Business strategies, 2008)

Objectives:

There are certain objectives which Mitre has decided and established in order to accomplish them throughout their relaunch.

Marketing objectives:

Mitre has planned to relaunch their site with a new and attractive logo. For that, they have aimed to work on broadening its products’ appeal so that company could present a broad range of products it sells. Similarly, the site re launched by Mitre will not only offer a range of products but also local level information and event news in order to capture a great number of consumer audience for their products. Moreover, the redesigning of site will include much more than information and events. Therefore, effective and qualitative advertising campaigns will be taken into consideration. In addition, Mitre will step out of its predominant football market and sell other relative products to the customers (Sweney, 2001).

Financial objective:

The company is performing strong financially and thus concentrates on a range of environments. Mitre aims to concern about the sustainable growth, profitability and sturdy cash-flow and strong balance sheet. Its main financial objective is to have flexibility in investing in their unusual business and then building up shareholders’ value. Some financial objectives are as follows:

• High growth in company’s total turnover
• Growth in earning per share
• Growth in return on investment and dividend per share
• Company’s net worth is more than 8,000,000 euro and it aims to gain more than 9,000,000 euro (Duedil, 2012).

Marketing strategy:

Marketing strategy refers to an ongoing process of an organization that allows it to focus its available resources on the utmost opportunities to make the company sustainable, increase its overall sales volume and achieve a competitive advantage for that organization. Marketing strategy strengthen the marketing plans of the company which are designed to fill requirements of market and reach marketing and financial objectives. Strategies can be type of leader, challenger, follower and nicher, depending upon the nature of business and market needs.

(Source: Easy marketing strategies, 2012)

Target market segments:

Target market is defined for a specific group of people who are selective and most interested to a product. There are a few sections on the basis of which segmentation is made such as demographic variables like age, gender, sex, education, income, occupation and status. Therefore, Mitre’s segmenting market has basically targeted athletes and both male and female those are generally from the ages of between 15 and 35. The target market also involves professional players of different countries where Mitre supplies its balls in. To do so Mitre has mainly concentrated on creating first-class consumer experiences on eminent retail presence, product innovation and its brand leadership in global market. Apart from this, Mitre has targeted geographic expansion as well as marketing penetration in all regions where football games are played.

Competitive advantage:

Competitive advantage of an organization helps it winning and competing with its competitors. Mitre has two main competitive advantages which are as follows:

• Cost advantage: It states that similar products can be produce at lower cost
• Differentiation advantage: It demonstrates that premium price can be kept for unique, innovative and high quality products.

The key competitive advantage which Mitre has is that it sells its products to schools, domestic and international markets and to professional players demanding high-class balls and other related products. Next advantage it can have such as better cash turnover, receivable turnover, effective retail global presence, etc.

Marketing Mix:

Mitre is one of the forges in marketing and sales of football and consists of the most appropriate marketing mix. Following this, it has placed itself at the top among all its competitors like Adidas and Nike. The coming segment of this paper has illustrated the marketing mix of Mitre.

Product:

Mitre offers a wide variety of unique footballs, rugby and netballs. All of these are currently its top-selling ranges of products. It should start selling a variety of shoe, apparel and other sports equipment to gain large market share. It can also include athletic bags and all other accessory items.

Price:

Mitre’s pricing strategy is designed properly to be competitive enough in the market. This is done on the basis of segment made based on premium as their target customers. The pricing strategy of Mitre uses vertical integration wherein company’s own members participate in different level of channel. This will further result in cost reduction and will also influence product pricing.

Place:

Mitre’s products are sold by various brand stores located in various nations. It sells its products to more than 15,000 retail accounts in UK and Australia. Moreover, it sells its products through different and independent distributors and subsidiaries in international markets. Therefore, it should invest more in opening of new retail stores at global level (The economic times, 2012).

Promotion:

Promotion prepares strategic alliance for an organization by availing advertising for target customers of Mitre. For that, a proper budget is also planned and set by the company so that a preplanned consequence could be drawn out of the promotional activities. Mitre can have a number of famous athlete’s to promote and advertise their products as a brand ambassador. Apart from this, it can put its brand power forward for promoting and re launching their new products.

Implementation and control:

There are major steps that can be taken for project’s implementation and controlling the activities.

• Prepare proper infrastructure: At this stage, production environment is tested and appropriate solutions are implemented. Hardware, software and communications are reviewed because at the time of implementation, infrastructure for production requires to be in place.
• Coordinate with departments and parties involved in implementation: After setting up infrastructure, each and every department involved in implementation process has to be coordinated with.
• Implement training: There are a few solutions which require be training and developing through training and coaching sessions. To retain the complete information with respect to project implementation, it is required to complete the training in advance and further.
• Installation of production solution: Once training is gone through, information is put together and solutions are installed properly and effectively with prior permission of management.
• Convert the data: It is the changing of data from one format to another new format after implementing and installing the production solutions.
• Final verification in production: A final verification is done to check and to make certain that everything is going as per the expectation. Next verification involves assessing the solution that it is operation as it should.
• Implementation of new processes and designs: There are many areas that need to be developed and modified. Therefore, Mitre can implement new processes and bring new designs for footballs forward in the market.
• Monitor and control the solution: At this team, project and implementation spend some time for monitoring and maintaining the control of production solutions. If problems take place just after the implementation, project can monitor, identify and fix them (Mochal, 2003)

Conclusion:This paper has defined the marketing strategy for Mitre football, an England based company which is the oldest manufacturer of footballs. Firstly, paper has highlighted company’s internal and external environment considering its political, social, environmental, economic and technological environmental factors. In this regard, Company’s SWOT analysis has illustrated company’s actual status in terms of its basic strengths, weakness, threats and opportunities. Company’s marketing objective is to relaunch the company and to step out of its predominant football production and to think more. It also planned to redesign its online site for internet shopping of football for professional players, domestic and school players. Targeted segment market for Mitre is both men and women of age 15-35 those who play games and keen of having high-quality footballs on their playgrounds. Finally, product, price place and promotion of Mitre are a part of discussion of this paper.

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