Marketing Brompton Bicycle

Only two companies still manufacture bicycles in the UK, and one is Brompton Bicycle of West London. Brompton's MD says its folding bike is favoured by city-dwellers who want 'a solution to an urban living problem'. He tells the Guardian: 'We are in the urban transport industry; the competition for Brompton is the tube or the car'.

Brompton's bikes are differentiated by their sturdy frames and, more importantly, by how compact they become when folded for storage. The company has a cult following, with some customers chronicling their bike adventures on blogs or via other social media. (Brompton has more than 17,000 Twitter followers and 42,000 Facebook likes plus more than 7,000 Instagram followers.)

Brompton is growing rapidly to meet ever-higher demand for convenient transport in cities domestically and abroad (urban locations and consumer behaviour are clearly key to its market segmentation). This year, the firm projects unit sales of 50,000 in more than 40 nations, with only 20 percent of its output remaining in Britain. Asia and the United States are particular target markets with strong demand for commuting options such as folding bicycles.

By 2021, the company plans to double its output and is therefore relocating to a larger production facility next year. And it's also stretching its product line by planning for an electric version of its popular folding bike, to 'get rid of the sweat and Lycra' and make bike commuting less strenuous and more fun.

Among UK New Product Winners: Ella's Kitchen

The Grocer presents new product awards every year, for the best food and for non-food products introduced during the previous year. Entries for 2015 are now open. Categories include coffee and chocolate drinks, dairy drinks, fish products, frozen desserts, laundry products, infants' products, soups, and teas and infusions, among others.

Who were the winners in 2014? Both large and small marketers entered and won. Cadbury was a winner in the chocolate confectionery category; Persil won in the laundry category.

Among the smaller companies to win in 2014 was Ella's Kitchen (winner in the infants' category). Named after a real baby named Ella, the company markets a range of organic baby food.

Paul Lindley is the founder of Ella's Kitchen and also Ella's father. He had an idea for marketing nutritious, all-organic baby food products to delight 'tiny taste buds' and tempt even finicky babies to eat. He also knew he needed colourful packaging to 'sell from the shelf'. Once Sainsbury's began to stock his products, the company gained national distribution.

Lindley had worked for Nickelodeon before becoming an entrepreneur, and this connection enabled him to arrange for free TV promotion in exchange for some of the firm's profits. As a result, Ella's Kitchen gained brand recognition and established itself nationally.

When Ella's Kitchen undertook global expansion, however, Lindley experienced considerably more competitive pressure in the US market. He sold Ella's Kitchen to Hain Celestial, known for its all-natural food products, and remained as the division head, using the parent's marketing muscle to boost Ella's Kitchen.

Today, nearly a decade after its founding, Ella's Kitchen is active on social media to educate and inform parents about nutrition and, of course, explain how its products are good for baby. On YouTube, for instance, the company posts videos about feeding babies, weaning babies and other topics of interest to families with infants. It offers Q&A with experts on its Facebook page and its Twitter page.

London's Hello Fresh cooks up market segmentation

Hello Fresh is for home cooks who want the convenience of receiving packages of ingredients with creative recipes every week (or one-off), for making gourmet meals in their own kitchens. Everything but the chef is the company's tag line.

The online subscription service offers packages for family meals, for vegetarian meals and for 'classic' meals (with meat). Customers can choose packages that provide multiple meals for either 2 or 4 people, with step-by-step recipes including nutritional values and cooking times.

With a lot of venture capital backing, the company is expanding rapidly and already faces competition in some of the markets it serves. To continue its success, London-based Hello Fresh is segmenting its market by geography, attitude and behaviour.

• Geographic segmentation: Hello Fresh operates in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US, adapting its recipes for local markets and sourcing ingredients from local producers. This allows the company to appeal to local tastes and preferences.
• Attitude segmentation: Cofounder Patrick Drake explains: 'There is that intimidation factor with cooking . . . "I have never tried this recipe before so I am not going to try it", an attitude that discourages experimentation. Hello Fresh targets people who want to experiment with little risk (financial or culinary), a key element in its marketing.
• Behaviour segmentation: Many people enjoy cooking at home (or want to cook at home) but don't have time to shop or don't have access to specialised shops for international ingredients. Hello Fresh addresses this segment's needs by delivering boxes with exactly the foods and extras needed for each meal.

Hello Fresh has already attracted 200,000+ Facebook likes, 7,000+ Twitter followers and 9,000 Instagram followers.

To grow, Unilever trims its product portfolio

Updating the chapter 12 preview example in my Essential Guide to Marketing Planning, Unilever has been adjusting its marketing plan to drive growth by focusing on core brands. The idea is to cut costs and provide marketing efficiency for a streamlined portfolio.

Here, from Unilever's 2013 annual report, is a graphic of its business model, showing a virtuous cycle of growth.

In recent months, Unilever's brand divestments have included:

• Selling its Ragu and Bertolli pasta sauce brands to Mizkan, based in Japan.
• Selling its Peperami meat snack brand to Jack Link's, based in the US.

Still to be sold are hair-care brand Brylcreem and diet shake brand Slim-Fast.

Even with these portfolio changes, Unilever markets brands in three broad product categories: (1) food and drink, (2) home care and (3) personal care. Earlier this year, it became majority owner of a water purification company in China, to profit from that firm's knowledge of the local market, distribution ties and technological skill.

With marketing investment concentrated on fewer but stronger brands, Unilever expects to stimulate growth in turnover and further enhance its bottom-line results.

Vietnam's new marketing vitality

Vietnam has new marketing vitality, thanks to ongoing economic growth and rising household buying power for a population of 90 million (see right).

Here are a few of the ways marketers are paying attention to Vietnam:

• Starbucks will soon open its first coffee shop in Ho Chi Minh City, as part of the Seattle-based company's international expansion strategy.
• Procter & Gamble markets many of its best-known products in Vietnam, including Gillette razors, Pampers disposable diapers and Pantene shampoo--in competition with Unilever and other multinationals.
• E-commerce is growing in Vietnam, including daily deal sites, "Amazon-like" retailers and other online businesses.
• Retailing is an industry undergoing expansion, with a mix of smaller stores and multi-city chain stores competing for shoppers.
• Vietnam has had a thriving tourism business for years, drawing vacationers from Russia and China in particular. Among high-profile visitors, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and friends spent Christmas 2011, in Vietnam.
• HSBC Bank offers full-service banking in Vietnam and, with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, has developed a guide to doing business in the country.
• Danish companies such as Mascot are profiting from B2B and consumer relationships in Vietnam.
• Chevron is developing a gas pipeline project in Vietnam, only one example of the nation's infrastructure improvement initiative involving multinational corporations.

Mulberry: Watch this brand grow!

Maybe the world economy is still struggling, but not Mulberry, the UK brand best known for its luxury Alexa and Bayswater handbags. Mulberry is growing and highly profitable, with a lucrative presence in the Chinese market and planned expansion to Europe and South Korea.

Above, as mentioned on the brand's blog, today Mulberry's flagship stores in New York City and London are giving away small treats (fashionably presented) to promote their featured items for holiday buyers. Twitter is part of Mulberry's social media outreach, as well. Watch this brand grow!