Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Prepared for
Ms. Dilara Afrooz Khan
Course Instructor
Business Ethics & Leadership (Z105)
Prepared by
Group D
Khandker Aumio Shahriar (Roll# 02)
Hasib Ahmed (Roll# 08)
Afia Kabir (Roll# 24)
Joydeep Chowdhury (Roll# 45)
Nusrat Haque (Roll# 53)
Dear Madam:
Please be informed that this report entitled XYZ has been presented as a partial requirement for the
course, Business Ethics & Leadership (Z105). This report is based on the interviews conducted for Big
Boss, a brand of the Partex Beverages regarding the respective ethical guidelines followed and the
marketing policies used.
This report discusses the existing ethical guidelines used in the energy drinks industry taking Big Boss as
the model of our discussion. The ethical guidelines were then revised applying theories and applications
that were studied in the course. The report also includes a hypothetical company for which the revised
guidelines were used to develop a marketing campaign.
The purpose of the report was to develop insights into the guiding principles followed by the producers
of energy drinks in Bangladesh and to see what adjustments can be made in the guidelines and
marketing policies used that would be most appropriate for our countrys perspective.
We sincerely hope that the work will come up to the level of your expectation and any further query
regarding the report will be welcomed.
Sincerely,
________________ __________________
Joydeep Chowdhury Nusrat Haque
Roll-45 Roll-53
Acknowledgement
Executive Summary
Energy drink can be formally defined as a soft drink designed to boost the drinker's energy
levels. It first made its entry to Bangladesh in 2001 and is now recognized as a product with
significant market growth and potential. Though this market is showing many positive signs, it
also poses threat to its consumers as the market is yet to establish any ethical rules or
guidelines.
Big Boss, an energy drink brand created by Partex Beverages and the model of discussion in this
report, is one of the leading members in this industry. The company promotes its product as an
absolute non-alcoholic energy drink aimed at young and mostly urban students. The company is
no exception from its competitors in not having any pre-determined code of ethics. However,
to remain one step ahead, Big Boss follows some of its own company principles and core values
which helped it to remain customer oriented and thus gain a large share of the market.
Taking Big Boss as an example, we have proposed a revised code of ethics which, if established,
can be a suitable guideline for the energy drink industry of our country. The recommended
guideline is then used to establish the principles and values of our hypothetical company
SportyCo. Sporty Energy Drink, a product of SportyCo, is proposed as an ideal model for the
energy drink industry. Its branding and organizational measures are made to give an active,
energetic as well as a positive vibe to the consumers. The target market is also broadened to
include female consumers, long distance drivers etc.
The marketing campaign of Sports Energy Drinks is aimed to start with a bang but also keeping
the ethical values in mind. Giving consumer safety the priority, the major features of the
campaign will include promoting awareness on proper labeling and non-alcoholic beverage. The
campaign will also include detailed roll-out plan of before, during and after launching activities
which will involve both above and below the line communication (ATL & BTL). The policies of
the campaign will strictly adhere to the revised ethical code and principles as set by NORM. The
outcomes expected are not only product awareness for Sporty, but also a behavioral and
perceptual change towards energy drinks as a whole.
Finally it can be said that the guidelines and the promotional campaigns aided by those
guidelines were all prepared keeping the nature of market in Bangladesh in mind. These
guidelines will not only ensure a proper functioning of the company but will also ascertain the
gain of customer faith and the proper utilization of the potentials in this industry.
Contents
Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................................................ 3
Executive Summary....................................................................................................................................... 4
1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 1
1.1 Origin of the report ............................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Objectives............................................................................................................................................ 1
1.3 Scope ................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.4 Methodology....................................................................................................................................... 1
1.5 Limitations........................................................................................................................................... 1
2. Case study: Big Boss .................................................................................................................................. 2
2.1 Industry Overview ............................................................................................................................... 2
2.2 Company Overview ............................................................................................................................. 3
2.3 Mission and Vision .............................................................................................................................. 3
2.4 Core Values ......................................................................................................................................... 4
2.5 Customer Welfare ............................................................................................................................... 4
2.6 Code of Ethics of the Company ........................................................................................................... 5
2.7 Target Market: .................................................................................................................................... 6
2.8. Marketing Policy: ............................................................................................................................... 6
3. The Revised Code of Ethics ....................................................................................................................... 8
3.1 Preamble ............................................................................................................................................. 8
3.2 General Guidelines .............................................................................................................................. 8
3.3 Field of Application ............................................................................................................................. 9
3.4 Guiding Values and Principles ............................................................................................................. 9
3.5 Code of Ethics.................................................................................................................................... 10
3.5.1 Packaging and commercial communications ............................................................................. 10
3.5.2 Marketing and Communication Targets .................................................................................... 10
3.5.3 Violation and Accountability ...................................................................................................... 11
3.6 Theoretical analysis of SportyCos code of ethics ............................................................................. 11
4. SportyCo: Our Proposal .......................................................................................................................... 13
4.1 Mission and Vision ............................................................................................................................ 13
4.2 Core Values of Sporty........................................................................................................................ 13
4.3 Organizational Measures .................................................................................................................. 14
4.4 Brand ................................................................................................................................................. 14
4.4.1 Brand Name ............................................................................................................................... 14
4.4.2 Tag line: Unleash the energy within ........................................................................................ 14
4.4.3 Logo ............................................................................................................................................ 14
4.5 Market Scenario: ............................................................................................................................... 15
4.6 Target Market ................................................................................................................................... 15
4.7 Functional and Emotional Benefits ................................................................................................... 16
4.8 Positioning of Competitors ............................................................................................................... 17
5. Action Plan: Marketing Campaign .......................................................................................................... 18
5.1 Major features of the campaign ....................................................................................................... 18
5.2 Campaign Roll-out Plan ..................................................................................................................... 19
5.2.1 Pre-Launch: ................................................................................................................................ 20
5.2.2 Launching Activities: .................................................................................................................. 21
5.2.3 Post Launch: ............................................................................................................................... 21
5.3 Campaign Policy ................................................................................................................................ 24
5.4 Desired Outcome .............................................................................................................................. 26
5.5 Measuring Success of Campaign ....................................................................................................... 26
5.6 Feasibility .......................................................................................................................................... 26
5.7 Limitation of the Campaign............................................................................................................... 27
6. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 28
1. Introduction
1.1 Origin of the report
This report has been prepared to fulfill the partial requirement for the course Business Ethics &
Leadership (Z105), for our course instructor Dilara Afrooz Khan.
1.2 Objectives
To study the emerging energy drink industry in Bangladesh
To understand the underlying principles and core values followed by Partex Beverage
that it uses to promote its energy drink brand Big Boss
To find out the ethical guidelines used by Big Boss for its marketing policies
To create a hypothetical company, Sporty Co., and establish its code of ethics
To propose a marketing campaign based on the code of ethics
1.3 Scope
This report is based on the interview of Md Aktaruzzaman, Marketing Manager, Partex
Beverage. It discusses the values and guidelines used in the current energy drink market and
attempts to provide a necessary revision of those guidelines for an imaginary company that
would be suitable in the context of our country.
1.4 Methodology
Primary data: Personal interview
Secondary data: books, articles on internet
1.5 Limitations
Since energy drink is still a new concept in our country, not much expert opinion was
found on this topic even from the senior executive of the discussed company
Obtaining relevant information proved to be quite difficult due to lack of proper
documentation within the company
Lack of updated information available on articles and websites
It is claimed by the industry sources that Energy Drinks are currently taking between 10-20
percent of a drink market that is presently worth around Tk 650 Crore a year. It should also be
mentioned that the Energy Drinks market is steadily gaining momentum despite costing about
twice as much compared to normal soft drinks.
Presently the local beverage industry is experiencing a slump in the sales of traditional soft
drinks. According to the industry experts this decrease in sales of the traditional soft drinks is
caused by the growing demand of energy drinks. In March 2001, Energy Drinks was first
launched in Bangladesh. Globe Beverage introduced its brand Tiger at that time. Globes Tiger
was the first locally produced energy drink to compete with the imported ones. Witnessing the
huge success of Tiger, other local beverage companies also introduced energy drinks in the
market. Shark and Tiger were the first two local brands to enter the beverage market in
Bangladesh. Recently, Akij Food & Beverage has introduced its own brand of energy drink,
Speed in the latter half of 2007. While Partex Beverage launched Big Boss in February 2008 to
enter this growing market.
The experts expressed, as the beverage industry all over the world is dynamic; so new flavors
whenever launched will get a fair share of market. Popularity of energy drinks in the developed
countries also played a pivotal role in getting quick acceptance among Bangladeshi consumers.
The experts believe that the current situation has occurred due to changes in taste and
awareness of the consumers; especially the young generation who are more interested towards
energy drinks now.
Last year was very encouraging for the Energy Drinks producing companies. The Energy Drinks
market experienced a significant market growth of 300% last year. But due to ongoing
economic crisis and excessive price hike of the essential commodities, the beverage industry is
taking a big hammering. The overall sale of the beverage industry has dropped significantly this
year resulting in a slower growth of Energy Drinks market. According to Partex Beverage
officials, the growth of Energy Drinks market has been 20-30% this year.
Partex Group started modestly in the year 1959 in tobacco trading and presently it has stakes in
the tobacco, food, water, soft drinks, steel container, edible oil, wooden board, furniture,
cotton yarn and the IT sector. Today, with a dedicated work force, aspiration and determination
to be the best and sustained by a market oriented corporate strategy, Partex Group aspires to
be the finest.
Partex Beverage primarily commenced its journey with the launching of RC Cola in the year
1997. It began with the innovative and thriving revelation of their chairperson; who
conceptualized the prospect of RC beverage brand in the country. After the completion of the
negotiations and formalities being performed, RC Cola was publicly launched in the local
market on October 6, 1997 with grand success and currently it holds the tag of being the
market leader as far as the beverage market is concerned. Since then, in the past ten years,
they have successfully added many more new flavors to their existing product line of beverages
as well as the leading bottled mineral water, MUM. More recently, Partex Beverage has
stepped out of its product line of regular beverages and has added the new dynamic Big Boss
energy drink to its product range.
Partex Beverage is a company that always explores new prospects and avenues to grow and
expand further.
Our mission is to provide value at an economic cost, progress in diversity, and continue to
contribute to the growth of industrialization in Bangladesh by being the market challenger
Since introducing Royal Crown Cola Co. International as RC Cola in the local beverage market,
Partex Beverage has come a long way in the past ten years. They have successfully launched
At this time, being the market leader in the beverage market through its highly successful soft
drink RC Cola, the company has only recently entered into the energy drink market. Its market
vision for Big Boss is to pose challenge to the existing energy drink brands such as Speed, Tiger,
Shark, etc. Concurrently, they are playing a vital role in industrialization of the beverage sector
of Bangladesh.
Conforming to their mission statement, Partex Beverage maintains premier value of its
products within the economic range of the target consumer group. They attempt to challenge
or keep out competition from other imported beverages such as Pepsi, Coca Cola by offering
competitive; often lower prices. For instance, a 500 ml pet bottle of Pepsi costs Tk 25 where as
Partex Beverage are offering RC Cola at Tk. 22. Consequently, they are meeting their objective
of providing value at an economic cost.
The ethical principles in the Code relate to things such as fair and impartial corporate rules,
integrity, transparency, accountability to the stakeholders, etc. They are goals to be attained,
but at times may conflict with one another (e.g. transparency and confidentiality) and so
require dialogue and consensus building in the top level management when applying them to
everyday decision-making.
As the beverage industry is very vibrant industry the components of conducts are very
important. The guiding principles of Partex Beverage are mentioned below:
As the company claims to be a Customer Oriented one, Partex Beverage pursues for
high quality at every step of its production. High quality production procedure is
followed because the company wants to ensure that it keeps the promise given to its
customers. Partex Beverage is the leading beverage company of the country. In the soft
drinks line, RC Cola is now the market leader. So the company does not want to risk any
of its product line to get into any sort of controversies as it might affect all their product
ranges.
However, Partex Beverage Limited is driven by the guiding principle which assures that
the company uses good quality ingredients and complies with all the local rules and
guidelines enforced by the regulatory authorities.
The company believes in Nothing to hide strategy. So ingredients of the drinks are
written clearly on the label of the bottle in both English & Bengali. Government has
made this mandatory for the energy drinks to write name and ingredients in Bengali.
The company also makes sure that the promotional campaign of all its product ranges,
including the energy drink Big Boss, conform the social norm.
As mentioned above, Partex Beverage does not have any set code of ethics. So they strictly
follow the guiding principle of the company to act as a socially responsible company. Hence,
with the current guiding principle functioning properly and the company performing well, the
top level management do not wish to establish a formal Code of Ethics for the company.
The target market of Big Boss includes young and trendy people who are high-spirited,
trendsetters and clubbers. The main consumers of Energy Drinks are urban solvent people.
However, customer base of the energy drink is radically growing and since the inception of the
drink it has experienced a steady growth. The target market of Big Boss includes:
Students under stress are the primary targets of the energy drinks. But as stress is a
common phenomenon in present urban life so Big Boss is now focusing on different
market segments to increase its sales volume. Until now, the signs are very encouraging.
Big Boss also targets the musicians as its customers because of its image. Also, as rock
musicians are very much popular in the main target group of the energy drinks, the
companies in this market also target to reach the musicians as they might inspire the
urban youth to consume more energy drinks.
Big Boss defines its Energy Drink as a drink with a clear purpose and therefore ideal for all who
need more energy.
At present due to economic crisis and rapid price hike of the essential commodities experienced
in the country, the beverage industry is undergoing demise in its sales. Since soft drinks and
carbonated water can be considered as luxury products, it is reasonable that consumers tend to
move away from such products in order to purchase more basic needs. As a consequence,
Partex Beverage is experiencing a grave downfall in the revenue earned from its major brand
Royal Crown (RC) Cola. This has resulted in a cutback in the promotion of its other brand, Big
Boss. But the company hopes that as soon as conditions start to improve, the company will
start to expand its marketing campaign for all of its existing product lines.
Our proposed code of ethics attempts to set ethical standards for the energy drink industry as a
whole. With increasing requirements to meet compliance standards and opportunity to export
worldwide, the energy drink industry should be following these guidelines.
The code of ethics to be practiced by this company deals primarily with the communication of
the product what guidelines it should follow while marketing the product. This, however,
does not include Code of Conducts such as employee standards of conduct, use of company
assets, financial reporting, working with suppliers, government, protection of important
information etc. In the subsequent sections, the marketing campaign that has been designed is
based on the code of ethics presented below. The purpose is to make sure that the marketing
campaign runs on the basis of structured ethical guideline that gives it proper directions, and
thus, avoiding false and misleading marketing strategy and adopting fair means to aware
customers to encourage them to consume energy drinks.
3.1 Preamble
This Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is designed to deter wrongdoing and to promote:
Honest and ethical conduct, including the ethical handling of actual or apparent conflicts
of interest between personal and professional relationships
Compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations, most specifically, the laws, rules
and regulations from BSTI
This Code is not the exclusive source of guidance and information regarding the conduct of
business.
Applicable policies and procedures should be consulted in specific areas as they apply. The
Code is intended to supplement, not replace, other policies and procedures of the company.
The policies and procedures will be under continuous reviewing and updating. The company
therefore reserves the right to amend, alter or terminate this Code at any time and for any
reason, subject to applicable law.
Value
Energy drink is a popular product in many developed countries. Misuse is what casts it in
a negative light.
Energy drink is accepted within our society and is suitable for people of all age
Abusive drinking can cause harmful effects on the drinkers, their friends and families,
and society at large.
1
A psychoactive drug or psychotropic substance is a chemical substance that acts primarily upon the central
nervous system where it alters brain function, resulting in temporary changes in perception, mood, consciousness
and behaviour. These drugs may be used recreationally to purposefully alter one's consciousness, as entheogens
for ritual or spiritual purposes, as a tool for studying or augmenting the mind, or therapeutically as medication.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoactive
It is legitimate to sell and promote energy drink under clearly specified rules and
regulations.
The energy drink industry has social responsibilities, which it must assume without
reservation.
Statutes, regulations and the Code of Ethics must be respected with honesty and
integrity, and applied justly and equitably.
Neither packaging nor communications shall associate the product in any way with any
illicit substance.
Neither packaging nor communications shall in any way be sexist, or associate the
product with sexual performance, or imply that it will enhance sexual prowess or
attractiveness.
Neither packaging nor communications shall in any way imply that drinking is an
indicator of, or contributor to, social success or popularity.
Neither packaging nor communications shall in any way imply that drinking improves
physical or intellectual abilities or has health benefits.
No advertising communication or promotional activity shall target people who are drug-
addicted.
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No advertising communication or promotional activity shall target vulnerable individuals
with limited financial or psychological resources.
Any person or company named in the complaint shall have an opportunity to rebut the
charges, according to a protocol to be determined by the Ethics Council.
If the person or company is found to be in violation of the Code, the Ethics Council shall
set a time limit within which specific corrective action is to be taken, unless it is a repeat
offense.
If the person or company complies with the Ethics Councils instructions, there shall be
no public reprimand.
If the person or company does not follow the Ethics Councils instructions, the Council
shall be free to publicize the brand and activities concerned.
In terms of Deontology, the process is ought to be right regardless of the consequences it poses
and the ten moral rules has to be met. The envisioned set of rules for SportyCo does meet and
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abide by all the moral rules such as not cheating, keeping promise, obeying the law etc. In this
way it can be stated that our code of ethics completely supports the viewpoint of Deontology
as the principles and rules proposed are clearly stated and specified, thus facilitating the
decision making process of the consumers.
The ethical code of conduct for Sporty energy drink can also be justified from the perspective of
NORM. Generally put, Norm stands for Neutral, Omnipartial Rule-Making. It generally refers to
a rule which is morally accepted by all those who shall be directly or indirectly affected, simply
put the stakeholders of SportyCo in this instance. Here, its stakeholders are the owners,
employees, agents, contractors and the consumers. In order to justify the position of all the
stakeholders, we have put ourselves in each of their place and considered the situation from
the sole perspective of those who are being benefitted or affected by this code. Thereafter the
immediate effects of this code and its impact as moral rule have been weighted and by doing
so, the rules have been created and applied for all the concerned stakeholders.
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4. SportyCo: Our Proposal
SPORTY ENERGY DRINK
Vision: Our vision is to be an epitome of producing high quality beverages for organizations in
the beverage industry in this region.
Mission: We want to reach new heights in producing high quality beverages through careful
planning and dedication, while we use the most efficient, state-of-the-art technology and
superior standard ingredients. We aim to create a healthy and friendly work environment,
rewarding our employees. We look forward to add greater stakeholder value, as we continue to
expand our business. This, for us is the means by which we can effectively participate in the
social and economic development of the communities we serve and promote professional
growth.
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4.3 Organizational Measures
Sporty believes an organization cannot promote fairness unless it practices it itself. That is why
Sporty has taken great strides to ensure fairness within the organization by practicing fair
recruitment, strictly avoiding gender discrimination by applying gender policy, providing equal
growth opportunity, ensuring fair evaluation, and maintaining healthy and safe working
environment with proper compensation packages to all employees.
4.4 Brand
4.4.1 Brand Name
The brand name is often used interchangeably with "brand", although it is more correctly used
to specifically denote written or spoken linguistic elements of a brand.
Keeping this in mind, we propose the brand name SPORTY for the energy drink. The name
Sporty associates itself with sports in general. Although it is not intended for sportspersons
only, it capitalizes on the common analogy of Sport with Energy, and giving the feel that the
energy content will be high enough to even participate in energy-consuming activities like
sports. Through the name, we want to characterize the product as an exciting drink for all fun
loving people who are actually young at heart.
4.4.3 Logo
The logo also conveys the message the brand wants to give it to its consumers. The motion blur
in the characters depict the motion that would be caused by the energy. But, as opposed to
typical deep red/orange color combinations showing anger and vigor, sporty uses a blue-white
combination to prove its sensible and controlled self. Combined with the motion blur, it signals
of energy not through anger and vigor, but through sensibility and composure.
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4.5 Market Scenario:
The carbonated drink market is increasing at 15% growth rate and is extremely competitive.
The commercial beverage market is largely dominated by soft drinks like RC Cola, Coca Cola,
Pepsi, Virgin etc. In this huge market there are about 10 operators producing Carbonated Soft
Drinks in different flavors and pack sizes. The major flavors include Cola, Cloudy and Clear
Lemon, Orange and the Diet Cola. As this market is very vibrant, newer flavors are constantly
introduced as per the demands of the consumers. Keeping this in mind, the beverage
companies recently introduced the Energy Drinks in the Bangladeshi Market. Of late, this
segment of drinks has been able to capture a large portion of the market segment making it a
lucrative product line for all the operators in the market. Cola, despite being the most popular
flavor in the market, has recently observed a drop in its sales.
The companies in the beverage industry spend about Tk. 40 crore per annum in electronic
media alone, which is a significant portion spent in the Energy Drinks product line. Soft drink is
a product the purchase of which is impulse-driven. Hence, we can imagine the role of
promotion in building a brand in this industry. Since the purchase is not planned, products have
to be within arms reach of consumers. The most common places of purchase of the energy
drinks is the super stores, general stores, followed by confectionaries.
The Soft Drink retailers choose to stock brands based on their demand. The market survey for
this study reveals, that most of the retailers now stock all the four main Energy Drinks produced
in Bangladesh which clearly indicates the growing demand of Energy Drinks in Dhaka city.
According to the information collected from the Partex Beverage Officials and study conducted
on few retailers located in important areas of Dhaka we came to know that, Tiger is by far the
market leader of the energy drinks market. Utilizing the first mover advantage, Tiger holds a
staggering market share of 60%. The other major players like Shark, Speed and Big Boss cover
the rest 40%.
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we do not aim to narrow down the potential market to only young and trendy people. We aim
to reach some more categories of customers, including:
Long distance drivers, especially people who work during the night as for example lorry
or taxi drivers or even employees working out of the office and rushing from
appointment to appointment
Top-level as well as free time sportsmen like football and cricket players, also people
going to the gymnasium
Female consumers and also consumers over 55, who are increasingly active, are joining
health clubs, and are therefore more likely to be a strong potential market for our
product
Pupils or students under stress who carry whole cases of cans back home
The motivation for all the aforementioned consumers is the same. The typical consumer of
energy drinks looks after his health, is self-confident, active, young and/or dynamic. He wants
to live his life in a way which allows him to have as much fun as possible without putting his
health or vitality at risk. Users of energy drinks buy/drink them to be mentally and physically
top fit and wide awake. They are achievement-orientated and active in their jobs as well as in
their spare time.
Brands are largely operating under the functional benefit category, by promising to provide
instant energy. But in order to become successful, a brand must build emotional relationships
with the consumers. It must go beyond functional benefits to offer its emotional attachments.
Unlike typical carbonated beverages, which are consumed mostly for pleasure, energy drink is
more of a need-based drink, each individual will be triggered in certain occasions to drink it.
Therefore, sporty plans to capture these moments and communicate in a way so that, it can
carve out a space in the consumers emotional mind-space.
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4.8 Positioning of Competitors
Brand Image
Tiger (Euro) Ayub Bacchu Deep brown, Tiger PET bottle, Moderate
orange can
As it can be seen from the comparison in the table above, Big Boss, Tiger and Speed have
similar marketing strategies. They are priced on the lower end, SKUs are mostly PET bottles,
labels are of deep red/brown/black colors. Shark, on the other hand, is premium priced, comes
in glass bottles and cans, and with a label of blue tone similar to Sporty.
Tiger, and a former energy drink brand now obsolete called Crown, featured prominent
rockstars like Ayub Bachhu and Ajam Khan in their ads.
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5. Action Plan: Marketing Campaign
5.1 Major features of the campaign
Before laying out the plan of the campaign in step-by-step pre-launch, launch and post launch
stage, it is necessary to look at the important features of this campaign, described below:
Proper Labeling
Labeling on Sporty would include the name of the ingredients, their actual amount present in
the bottle, as well as the safe range of each ingredient. This would make consumers more
confident of the product and make them aware of the fact that other products are deliberately
hiding these necessary information.
Non Alcoholic
One initial objective of the campaign is to eliminate the common misconception of energy
drinks containing alcohol. The label would include the words non-alcoholic beverage and will
be tagged wherever the brand name is shown. This would encourage a vast type of consumers
to venture to consume energy drinks for the first time.
Break Stereotypes
Energy drinks are not only for 25 year old macho men. Ranging from an 18 year old appearing
at a major exam to girl in the college volleyball team, anyone can drink Sporty. Another
common association between energy drink and drug-addicts has tarnished the image of energy
drinks to a large extent. This stereotype also needs to be broken with examples of students,
professionals from all walks of life preferring to drink Sporty.
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Word-of-mouth and Buzz Marketing
Positive word of mouth can facilitate the growth of a product as it enters the competition.
Especially, in an industry that does not enjoy much of positive WOM, it is important that Sporty
does not become just another energy drink, but is referred as a new and different type of
energy drink. The pre-launch campaign would solely be dedicated to creating this positive
WOM. The campaign can begin with catchy jingles, offered free as mobile ringtones, to create a
buzz and raise interest among people.
Point-of-Sales (POS)
Energy drinks remain camouflaged under other carbonated beverages.
Sporty will concentrate on creating customized POS using banners and
danglers in popular retail outlets.
Internet
A significant portion of urban youth has access to internet nowadays. This segment can be
captured through banner ads, pop-ups, hyperlinks in the frequently visited local websites.
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Campaign
5.2.1 Pre-Launch:
Objective:
Tools:
Electronic Media
Balloons
o Three days before the launching the balloons will be decorated as per the design
of the PET bottle, thus showing the transformation of the product just before
launch.
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Leaflet
Billboard
o Meant mainly to acquaint the potential customers with the brand name
Concert
o A mega concert will be organized in the Kamalapur Stadium to attract our main
target group, youth. As music and musicians complies with our brand image of
excitement and fun so it would be quite logical to launch the product through a
concert.
o In the concert, Physicians and Fitness Instructors will provide tips to the
audience on maintaining good health. They will also promote energy drinks and
try to clear the confusions surrounding energy drinks.
Objective:
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Increasing Sales
Tools:
Electronic Media
Promotional Activities
Let the target group know about the features and ingredients
o Internet
Banner Ads in the Music Forums, Life Style Websites & other popular
webpages
Billboard
o Meant mainly to acquaint the potential customers with the brand name
Others
o 10-15 feet large PET bottle will be placed in different hot spots of Dhaka
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o Provide vending machine in educational institutions, gymnasiums, pool & billiard
clubs, fast food chains, super markets and general stores
Event:
o Sporty Person
The students (SSC and above) will be given some physically challenging
games
All the Campus Sporty will qualify for the national round and the winner
there will be Sporty Person 2008
The event will be televised and the national winner will be selected
through sms polls
During the event in the campus, appropriate branding will be done in the
campus and free bottles of Sporty will be distributed among the students
Customer Database
o The company will conduct surveys and make a comprehensive database. It will
be done as thoroughly as possible. After the completion of the database, the
company will then organize musical events in six divisional head quarters all year
round. The consumers listed in the database will be invited to attend the event.
This is a step to get customer feedback and create customer satisfaction.
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5.3 Campaign Policy
The campaign will conform to the ethical codes explained in the earlier section. In each step of
the campaign, the ethical codes will be the guiding principles as set by NORM. Below we
present a set of DOs and DONTs while running the campaign based on the ethical codes. For
example, it would be false to claim this drink as health drink and should clearly state that it
contains only added flavor.
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social success or popularity energetic
No advertising
communication or
promotional activity shall Brining young children in the
Children above 13 should only
target young people under communications to promote
be communicated
the age of 13 the product
No advertising
communication or Showing its presence along Advocate use when consumer
promotional activity shall with other alcohols, cigarettes needs energy supplement as
target people who are drug- to encourage its consumption opposed to being an
addicted with other drugs accomplice in drug abuse
No advertising
communication or
Promote it in such a way that The product should be
promotional activity shall
encourages dependency on consumed at will instead of
target individuals or groups
the product a habit
who are at risk for
dependency
No advertising
communication or
Should not contain direct
promotional activity shall Encouraging vulnerable low-
provocation towards low-end
target vulnerable individuals end population to consume
population
with limited financial or
psychological resources
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promotional activity shall use it as medication patients
illustrate or focus on
situations or locations where
it is dangerous or imprudent
to consume energy drink
Conscious decision making for customers of the energy drink industry in general
More faith on Sporty due its honest and true-to-fact marketing policy
Increasing popularity of Sporty in all consumer segments, penetrating new segments like
females and elder population
5.6 Feasibility
The initial stages of the campaign will require the most of the expenditure. Once the presence
of the brand is established, and the retailers accept the product into their shelves, Sporty can
reduce its advertisement budgets and only maintain a certain amount of exposure in the media.
More below the line strategies will come into play in order to enhance customer relationship
and increase loyalty. The plan also employs only regular media and does not use prohibitively
expensive strategies like media blitz. Hence, the marketing campaign remains feasible for this
new entrant in the market
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5.7 Limitation of the Campaign
One limitation of the campaign is that it promotes energy drink as a whole. The competition
brands may well use the positive spill-over of this campaign. Yet, being the only player in the
market to dare express the truth, Sporty should be more valued than its competitors by the
consumers.
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6. Conclusion
The energy drink industry in Bangladesh, still being in its nascent stage, does not have
structured code of ethics to be followed by the major players in the industry. Almost all of the
companies follow at a minimum, the local laws and regulations, or at a maximum, follow the
corporate guidelines of the parent organization. But adhering to ethical guidelines not only
proves an organization to be socially and ethically responsible, but also structures
organizational procedures and eliminates possible conflicts. A structured code of ethics can be
the primary source of direction when faced with an ethical dilemma. Proper application of
these codes can increase efficiency of the organization and secure the loopholes left by law.
Unlike law, since ethical codes appeal to ones own conscience, its not constrained to the
clauses only. These guidelines equip the employees with the ability to make ethical decisions in
similar critical situations and ensure that these decisions do not adversely affect any of the
stakeholders. In todays world of highly competitive marketing where the agents are constantly
striving to attract more and more customers through different marketing techniques, it is
necessary that this mad-rush is controlled by moral values. Also, the consumers of today are
more educated, aware and skeptic of communication and it is very difficult to get away with
bluffing. Therefore, even from a marketers perspective, the image of an ethical company can
become a strong element while positioning the brand. As more and more organizations start
adhering to these moral reasoning, the more consumer welfare will be assured and the more
fair competition will be promoted.
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