BUS 306 – FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING
Professor Carol Davis
MARKETING PLAN
Antoine Couturier, Dillon Foster,
Danny Girard, Janice San Nicolas, Alex Tone
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Table of Contents
Executive Summary
p.5
Situation Analysis
p.7
Market Summary
p.7
Geographics
p.8
Demographics
p.9
Behavior Factors/Psycographics
p.10
Market Needs
p.11
Market Trends
p.14
Market Growth
p.14
SWOT Analysis
p.15
Strenghts
p.15
Weaknesses
p.16
Opportunities
p.17
Threats
p.17
Competition
p.18
Product Offering
p.19
Keys to Success
p.20
Critical Issues
p.22
Marketing Strategy
p.23
Mission
p.23
Marketing Objectives
p.23
Financial Objectives
p.24
Target Market
p.27
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Positioning
p.27
Strategies
p.27
Marketing Mix
p.28
Pricing
p.28
Distribution
p.29
Marketing Communication
p.29
Marketing Research
p.29
Sales Forecast
p.30
Expense Forecast
p.30
Controls
p.31
Implementation
p.31
Marketing Organization
p.32
Contigency Planning
p.33
References
p. 34
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
List of Tables and Figures
Figure 1: Consumer Levels of Mishandling Phones
p.12
Figure 2: Case Characteristics when Purchasing
p.13
Figure 3: Brand recognition
p.17
Figure 4: Purchase Locations
p.21
Figure 5: Break Even Analysis
p.26
Table 1: SWOT Analysis Summary Table
p.18
Table 2: Cost Breakdown
p.24
Table 3: Costing Analysis
p.25
Table 4: Contribution Margin
p.25
Table 5: Sales Forecast
p.26
Table 6: Fixed Costs
p.30
Chart 1: Case Logic’s Organizational Chart
p.32
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Executive Summary
Case Logic produces and sells a variety of technology cases, but for this first time will
produce a durable yet attractive mobile phone case. Case Logic will market this product as
Business-to Business, while operating in a Business-to-Consumer fashion as well. The
competitive nature of the smartphone accessory market makes it necessary for Case Logic to
build strong relationships within its retailers it distributes its product to, but create one-on-one
relationships with consumers as well.
Case Logic’s first target market are consumers between the ages of 18-34, who are not
only interested in protecting their smartphones, but express that visual appeal is also necessary
(SurveyMonkey, 2013). Case Logics new cases allow consumers to protect their phones without
the expense of foregoing visual appeal. Aside from this specific target market, Case Logic will
target all other consumers who have smartphones. With targeting the entire market of
smartphone users, will allow Case Logics new phone cases to be successful due more people
being able to use.
Case Logic’s lead competitor is OtterBox. Otterbox dominates the durable case market,
offering similar phone cases not only for smartphones but a variety of tablets. However, not only
will Case Logic’s phone cases contain high durability, but be visually appealing, a quality that
OtterBox cases do not have. Aside from these phone cases being durable and appealing, Case
Logic will offer its products below the prices OtterBox offers, for similar products.
Case Logic will enter the market by offering these phone cases in phone carrier stores
(AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, etc.,), mega retailers (Target, Wal-Mart, etc.), and on its official online
website. With the product on the shelves, the next step is brand awareness. Case Logic will
promote this product with small viral advertisements, mass email to current and new potential
consumers, and with purchase advertising space directly in the carrier stores. These strategies
will cause potential consumers to recognize the brand Case Logic and associate the name with
quality accessory protection.
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
There is one glaring obstacle that may hinder the success of Case Logic’s newest product.
Otterbox dominates the protective phone case industry and has developed a reputation for
dependable accessory protection. Case Logic will have to market this product correctly in order
to draw the 1% of Otterbox’s business away from the phone case juggernaut.
America’s prevailing demographic tendencies show that over 90% of Americans own a
cell phone. They also show that 56% of those Americans own a smartphone. We understand the
potential for Case Logic phones and how to address our target market. Targeting Americans
between the ages 18-24 and 25-34 will help expose Case Logic phone cases most efficiently.
This targeted audience yearns for the latest technology at a price relevant to their lifestyle.
Fixed costs include marketing travel, marketing misc., employee salaries, promotion, and
advertising, which will accumulate a total of $1,970,000 per year, and $164,166.67 per month.
Fixed production costs will accumulate a total of $27,400 per month, which includes rent,
utilities, maintenance, and machinery. Also, variable costs will total at $12 per unit, which
includes necessary, raw materials, wages, assembly, and manufacturing. We will obtain a
positive net income by the third quarter of the first year, at a breakeven point of 66,667 units,
with a total variable costs of $2,015,352.
Case Logic’s success will not solely be based on its durable quality and visual appeal, but
its ability to satisfy customer needs at a justifiable price.
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Situation Analysis
As the value of smartphone devices continue to grow, so will the value of protection for
those devices. In our marketing plan, we are entering the cell phone accessories market in an
attempt to develop a visually appealing, shock proof cellphone case to compete with top
competitors such as Otterbox and Trident. We saw the simple design of the industry-leading
Otterbox as a flaw in their development. The consumer wishes to protect his or her cell phone
but does not wish to sacrifice image as a result. With this in mind, our developers at Case Logic
see potential of taking on the smartphone accessory market and expect to create a strong
consumer relationship.
Market Summary
Almost every consumer owns a cell phone, and nearly half owns a Smartphone (Pew
Internet, March 2012). Human nature has made those consumers clumsy, which means people
often mishandle their phone. Current technology tends to produce phones that are not made to
last, meaning that their components are made to malfunction really quickly and the phone
themselves are fragile. Both human behavior and technology trends have created the need for a
solution to protect phones for breaking. That is why our company Case Logic tries to meet those
needs by offering a brand new kind of phone case, durable, sleek, and fashionable.
First, the market of phones is tremendous. In 2012, Samsung sold 384.6 million phones
and Apple sold 130 million units (Gartner.com, February 2013). The Smartphone market is
mostly dominated by those two brands and four main phones stand out: the iPhone 4S, the
iPhone 5C/S, the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Samsung Galaxy S4. Those Smartphones are well
known to be fragile and the screens are likely to break after the first drop.
The market for phone cases is divided in two categories. The first category includes
phone cases used as fashionable accessories, sleek but not durable and that do not protect the
phone from breaking. The second category includes bulky phones cases meant to protect the
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
phone from breaking and mostly unattractive. Case Logic tends to solve those two problems by
offering one single kind of phone case for those most popular phones. In addition to offering
regular phone cases for a more fashionable purpose, our company offers phone cases competing
with the most durable phones cases our competitors offer. The experience of our company has
allowed us to develop a technology able to create a sleeker phone case as strong as the existing
bulky ones, which offers both attractiveness and customization. Phones are now subtly protected
with an attractive sleek phone case that does not double the size of the phone in the pocket.
Geographics
Business-to-Business
The long term goal for our product is going international. Cell phones are popular
amongst a variety of age groups across the world. Although our product has endless potential,
we must first establish our product in the U.S. market.
Our product is already heavily marketed, but our phones superior attributes will allow our
company to compete with other firms selling phone cases. Using geography we can learn where
we want to market our product. In large cities there are a variety of both small and large
business firms that have a need for our product. Many companies, offer their employees
“company phones” which the employees are allowed to use freely. Because our product is
superior in price and style, marketing to these types of firms, could be very attainable.
Business-to-Consumers
For our product to be successful we want to have efficient marketing strategies. We have
compiled a list of demographic strategies which we plan to help market our phone case to
consumers. In certain regions of the country, there is potential to reach our targeted consumers.
Other areas of the country will not be part of the geographic area that we market to. By
understanding the geography, we can better market our product to the right audience (Gartel).
Geographically the northern regions of the Midwest are mostly comprised of plains and plateaus.
There are hundreds of miles of flat open land with very little area for settlement. States such as,
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota would be areas that should be
carefully evaluated because our product will not be reaching our targeted consumers.
One area that is important to the successful marketing of our phone case is coastal
regions. On both the East and West coast, there are large bays and ports which inform us that
there will also be a large or significant city nearby. Coastal regions are often times vacation
destinations for people that do not live on the coast. Having our product highly regarded in these
areas creates popularity from outside visitors who will then bring it back home with them. Using
the coast as a geographic marketing strategy ensures that a large amount of people will be
exposed to our dynamic phone cases.
Demographics
Business-to-Business
Using demographics can be a huge advantage when trying to identify areas of marketing
interest. By simply using a map of the United States, we can pinpoint areas we wish to sell our
product in. Areas of interest for our product include major cities such as Los Angeles, San
Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, New York, and Miami. These cities have a large population density
and offer the most potential for our product to be seen. In addition they bring an international
dynamic to our product. The high volume of tourism in these cities exposes our phone cases to
different cultures and standards.
Our plan is to market primarily to both males and females from ages 18-24, and 25-34.
Cities with some of the largest populations of these age groups include New York and Los
Angeles (King 1). We want to sell our product in the most popular retail stores (Verizon, Apple,
AT&T) in these cities to effectively reach our target customer. Because our product is new to
the industry, our best strategy is to expose our superior product to the market. We are confident
in our phones cases ability to attract customers because of its sleek design and affordable price.
More importantly we feel we are capable of reaching large populations of people that either need
a phone case or prefer an upgraded model.
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Business-to-Consumer
Demographic factors like race and ethnicity do not play a very important role in helping
our product develop on the market. Therefore we have decided to pay less attention to these
demographic characteristics and identify factors we find more essential for our product.
By advertising our product in large retail stores in large cities, it will undoubtedly give
our device exposure to a large amount of people. But this does not necessarily ensure that
everyone that sees our merchandise will decide to purchase it. We want to expand our marketing
to outside of the cities and into the suburbs where we can reach more age groups and families
with children (Wood).
Generally speaking, families with married spouses and children tend to have larger
incomes than single people. This does not necessarily mean that they will buy our product
because they can afford it; they will most likely purchase our product other reasons. For instance
our sleek yet fashionable model appeals to children and teens keeping up with trendy activities.
Our products affordability makes it desirable for the mother and father to purchase multiple units
to serve all members of the family. By marketing to this suburban audience we are able to
market to our most important age groups (Kotler 18-34) as well as attract consumers from other
age groups.
Behavior Factors/ Psychographics
Business-to-Business
Local businesses in our targeted areas may not have significant interest in our product.
We have anticipated that small businesses will naturally adopt our product after it gains
popularity on the market. Ideally, the behavior of the small businesses firms would change once
they saw the sales benefits of our products. Small grocery stores, surf and skate shops, drug
stores, and local shops are all types of stores that sell cell phone cases. The amount of cases
available in these stores is limited in comparison to cell phone retail stores. Generally they sell
one type of case, which is usually the most popular. Our goal is to have our product become the
most popular by exposing it in the larger markets identified in our geographic and demographic
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
strategies (Gartel). This will ensure that our product is being correctly marketed to our desired
audiences. We are relying on a trickledown effect from large businesses to small businesses. As
a result our product will continue to reach targeted families who shop at small suburban stores.
Our strategy for reaching small businesses will have taken some time to implement. However
we are not using this strategy as a primary source to reach our targeted consumers. Getting our
product into more retail stores over a period of a few years will help our product in the long run.
Business-to-Consumer
To impact the decisions of our target consumer, it is crucial that we can influence their
perceptions and behaviors. As of May 3, 2013 over 90% of Americans own a cell phone. In
addition 56% of adults own a smartphone (Wood). These statistics help simply helps us
understand that a lot of people need phone cases.
It becomes fairly obvious that we want to market to these consumers. They have cell
phones and many have sophisticated phones, which require protection. We want to pick out the
sophisticated consumers. The sleek phone case we have designed goes hand in hand with those
trendy fashionable shoppers wanting to keep up with the latest looks (Kotler 147-148). They will
want our product because it keeps up with their lavish lifestyles.
We are not only focusing on the sophisticated shoppers. Our hopes are to influence the
buying behavior of consumers between the ages 18-24, specifically college students. Because
our phone is “cool looking” it is extremely affordable. College students want to have the most
new technology, but often times they do not possess the capital to purchase these items. Our
product will change this targeted consumers perception (Kotler 142-145) The phone case that
we have made, fits their physiological needs, being cool, as well as their budget needs.
Market Needs
Smartphones are a device whose purpose is to allow the consumer communication
through multiple channels and have qualities of computers in the palm of their hands.
Smartphones have become a tool that better assists consumers to organize their lives more
efficiently, through the multiple apps available, which also allows them to personalize their
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
devices. With smartphones becoming the norm of cellular phones today, and as a daily tool
comes the need to protect these expensive devices.
In the survey conducted by SurveyMonkey.com, the need for a durable, yet visually appealing
phone case is in demand in today's growing smartphone market. The survey found that 38
percent moderately mishandle their phones (see Figure 1). The survey also found that 62.17
percent of those same people who were surveyed felt look was the main factor in purchasing a
phone case, followed by 47.83 percent as though durability and price were the second factors
when purchasing a phone case (see Figure 2) (Antoine Couturier, Dillon Foster, Danny Girard,
Janice San Nicolas, Alex Tone. SurveyMonkey. October, 2013).
The Y axis in figure 1 represents each individual consumer who took the online survey. The X
axis in figure 1 represents the level on how each surveyed consumer mishandled their phones on
a one-through-five scale, one being the least amount they mishandle their phones, and five being
the largest amount of mishandling their phones.
Figure 1: Consumer Levels of Mishandling Phones
(Antoine Couturier, Dillon Foster, Danny Girard, Janice San Nicolas, Alex Tone.
SurveyMonkey. October, 2013)
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Figure 2: Case Characteristics when Purchasing
(Antoine Couturier, Dillon Foster, Danny Girard, Janice San Nicolas, Alex Tone.
SurveyMonkey. October, 2013)
Market Trends
When assessed the cell phone case market, there are many trends involved. The first trend
is those considered to be durable cases. Durable cases have qualities that withstand common cell
phone accidents. Some elements of these cases include being dirt resistant, water resistant, crack
resistant, shock-proof, and more. Qualities of these durable cases focus on protecting
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
smartphones “...which have slim designs and glass materials…” (www.npd.com, August 2012),
extending the lives of these expensive products that people has adapted into their daily lives.
The second cell phone case trend is novelty cases. Novelty case purposes are geared towards
fashion and trendiness, with less focus on protection. These cases have become the dominant
trend in the cell phone case market coming in varieties of colors, materials, shapes, and graphics.
Novelty cases have caught the attentions of various companies and high-end designers, who have
entered this market adding additions to their company’s product mix. These cases have become a
fun, interchangeable accessory, which caters to the cell phone owner’s moods and tastes
allowing them to express themselves through their chosen case.
The last trend is wallet and purse cases. These cases are the newest trend in the market,
which are a two-in-one contraption working as a cell phone case and a wallet, or a cell phone
case and a purse. These cases have become an item that is not just fashion-forward but they
eliminate space and bulk, and create ease by allowing personal items such as money, keys, and
identifications to be in the same gadget as a phone.
Market Growth
With the cellular and smart phone device markets continuing to grow profoundly each
year, the cell phone and smartphone device accessory market will also continue to grow and
flourish with the rise in overall demand for the product. The growing complementary market of
cellular phones will allow our product to be successful in the cell phone accessory market, but
more specifically in the case segment.
The first variable in the cell phone case market segment is the inclining amounts of
phones that are sold worldwide. “The global count of active mobile subscriptions reached 6.7
Billion at the end of 2012,” and will for “...the first time ever on this planet, a consumer
technology will match the human population in size. (www.communities-dominate.blogs.com,
March 06, 2013). The worldwide human population is totaled at 7.1 billion. This number of
subscriptions has grown 14% from last year’s number of cell phone subscriptions.
(www.communities-dominate.blogs.com, March 06, 2013). With the cell phone market
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
continuing to grow at this rapid pace, leave the case market to incline as well. The incline of
phone sales will translate into the case market, since they are complementary goods.
The second variable is the growing population of smartphones and their users.
Smartphones have contributed to half of the cell phone market, influencing the sales of cell
phone accessories. Every three months companies are releasing new Androids, Iphones, and
Windows phones every couple of months changing the physicality of the phones. This in turn
grows the need to purchase new cases due to prior cases not being able to fit their new products.
Also, smartphones have higher consumer interaction that call for higher end accessories, and
account for 50% of the total mobile accessory market (www.prweb.com, July 26, 2013). The
growing demand for smartphones and their penetration into the market as an essential everyday
tool grows the needs of purchasing a case for protection purposes, and or to personalize it with a
unique case. According to the ABI Research technology marketing group put the value of the
smartphone accessories market at $20 billion in mid-2012 and it is forecast to grow to $36 billion
by 2017. Although sales of feature phones – aka basic cell phones – are declining, the feature
phone accessories market still accounted for $12 billion in 2012, ABI reported. Further, feature
phone owners spent an average of only $28.17 per phone on accessories, while smartphone
owners spent twice as much, $56.18 per device. That $20 billion in sales potential is on display
at any retail store where they sell phones or at the carriers’ stores such as AT&T and Verizon
where they sell phones and service contracts. (ABI, 2012).
SWOT Analysis
In order to analyze the factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving our
objectives, Case Logic must evaluate its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Strength
Case Logic’s major strength is the experience gained regarding the electronic-device
cases market since the creation of the company in 1984.
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Our company offers quality products at relatively affordable prices regarding the
competition and our product line is the most complete of the market. With a wide product mix
offering laptop, tablet, e-reader, camera, portable electronics, CD/DVD, and phone cases, Case
Logic has the most complete portfolio on the market and offers the best solutions for any
electronic-device storage.
Our channels of distribution are strong, from regular big box superstores such as WalMart to online platforms such as Amazon.
Weaknesses
The major issue is the lack of awareness from the consumers regarding the brand. The
survey conducted by our company has shown that 85% of target customers do not know the
brand Case Logic (see Figure 3). This major issue is likely to be due to the complete absence of
advertising from Case Logic. Despite being easily available on Amazon.com in the top results,
the brand does not stick to the products in the customer’s mind.
Figure 3: Brand recognition
(Antoine Couturier, Dillon Foster, Danny Girard, Janice San Nicolas, Alex Tone. SurveyMonkey. October, 2013)
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Opportunities
The phone case market is a growing market with promising opportunities, which Case
Logic is able to benefit from. In 2012, Samsung sold 384.6 million phones and Apple sold 130
million iPhones (Gartner, February 2013). Those new phones released every year are always
slightly different from the previous ones and hence require a new phone case. Additionally to
market trends, human behavior is a great source of opportunities for our business. People will
always mishandle their phone and drop it by accident. Today phones are not made to last and are
more and more easy to break. That is why phone cases are becoming the number one solution to
protect phones from breaking and a phone case will always remain more affordable than phone
insurance.
Threats
Finally, there are several threats Case Logic will face on the phone case market. The
major threat is the number of competitors already present in this market and some of them are
pretty established and can be considered as leaders. Our main competitor is Otterbox, the current
leader on the market regarding durable and life-proof phone cases. But this main competitor is
not the only threat; hundreds of small business produce phone cases for cheap and sell those at a
really low price. Those phone cases are made to be fashionable and not durable, but still remain a
relevant competition for our company.
New entrants are threats for Case Logic. As phone cases do not require patents to be
produced, a many companies can enter the market with different kind of phone cases. The
patent-free issue also threatens our company regarding copycats. Phone cases are easy to
counterfeit, that is why our company needs to focus on brand awareness, quality and durability.
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Table 1: SWOT Analysis Summary Table
Internal
Positive
Negative
Strengths
Weaknesses
- Experienced company
- Lack of brand awareness among
- Quality products
consumers
- Competitive prices
- Lack of advertising from the company
- Strong product line
- Phone case line little developed
- Efficient channels of distribution
External
Opportunities
Threats
- Growing smartphone market
- High number of competitors
- People will always mishandle their
- A few big leaders
phone
- A lot of small cheap competitors
- Phone insurances are expensive
- Fashion trends
- Phone carriers sell more and more
accessories in their stores
Competition
Our key competitors in the phone case market consist of: Otterbox, Trident, Targus, and
Ballistic. The current market leader of the cell phone case market however is Otterbox. The one
main advantage over our competitors is that we, as a corporation, will not be using the same
materials as the other phone cases manufacturers and will have a larger consumer appeal. By
using a second mover advantage we can observe what has made Otterbox successful and make
such improvements on the sleekness and appeal of the product yet keeping the durability of the
product vital. We will price our product a little higher than our competitors’ price to prove the
value-added of our phone case and we will use the same distribution channels to compete on the
same field which efficiency has been proven by the success of Otterbox’s phone cases.
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Product Offering
Our product differentiates from the rest of the selected market because the current
product from our competitors design and construction consists of a two piece phone case
construction. The major difference with our cell phone case will be the use of a two piece
structure made of aluminum and rubber. By using an aluminum internal shell and a higher grade
rubber outer shell than our competitors we can mold together a case that is durable yet visually
appealing which is the key demand from consumers, instead of the bulky hard plastic internal
frame with a cheap feeling rubber outer shell that our competitors’ products have. Our product
instead will consist of a thinner aluminum inside shell with a higher grade rubber outside shell to
insure protections yet give the phone a slimmer and sleeker design. Our company is using a
similar ideology to Apple when it comes to our product because our goal will be to have a
consumer hold of our phone cases next to the traditional Otterbox case a consumer will notice
immediate quality differences just with the simply look and texture upgrades yet still competing
within the same market segment.
Also similar to our competitors our consumers will have access to a warranty that will
include a 1-year coverage for the case itself. We as a corporation will not be liable for the phones
within the case. For example, if the phone case is to bend or break, simply send it in and we will
replace it. However, if the phone within the case is damaged, we will not be liable. Furthermore,
the product is self-installed by the user since they will be putting the phone case onto their own
phone. Our product will also come with a product guide/manual that will demonstrate how to put
the case on properly. Also similar to our competitors, we will create a phone case assembly video
that will be available via our Case Logic website or on YouTube so our consumers will be insert
the phone into the case correctly.
Keys to Success
The main key to our marketing success is the development of a quality phone case. It is
our goal to develop a durable, yet visually appealing case that will attract consumers and draw
the away from the market leading phone case brands such as Otterbox and Trident. If Case Logic
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
is unable to develop an appealing, shock proof case at a price manageable price to make a profit,
then our marketing plan will surely fail.
The next keys to the success of our product involve marketing our case and promoting
our brand, Case Logic. We are a leading provider of many protective cases for alternative
devices such as: Laptops, Digital Cameras, Tablets, DVDs, GPS’, and Mp3 players. With our
extensive line of quality products, we wish to attract previous purchasers and introduce them to
our line of protective phone cases. Consumers are more likely to revert to a brand that they are
comfortable with and can be sure that they are receiving a quality product.
The success that Case Logic will have on our product directly relates with the availability
of our product with the consumer. We wish to have our product readily available for customers
at the same time as their phone purchase. Market research shows that 31% of smartphone
consumers purchase their phone case simultaneously along with their phone (See Figure 4). Case
Logic will benefit from the reliability prescribed by the largest wireless providers such as AT&T
and Verizon Wireless carrying our product on their shelves.
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Figure 4: Purchase Locations
(Antoine Couturier, Dillon Foster, Danny Girard, Janice San Nicolas, Alex Tone.
SurveyMonkey. October, 2013)
Case Logic will also strive to partner with retail stores such as Target, Walmart,
RadioShack, and BestBuy. These locations are incredibly important in order to promote Case
Logic as a quality brand and grow our reputation amongst the casual public. Cases bought at
these types of retail stores are purchased out of necessity; whether the consumer was not satisfied
with their previous phone case, or they do not yet have one. As the consumer begins to browse
the isles of smartphone cases, the attractiveness of our case will surely draw the consumer’s
attention.
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
One last key to the success of our product includes successful international marketing.
Case Logic has already established a reputation for quality protective cases all around the world.
Case Logic distributes to 80 different countries and our company has distribution offices in Hong
Kong, Japan, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. All of these locations will
work toward developing a positive reputation that will surely lead to success made from all
around the world.
Critical Issues
Many issues have the opportunity to arise in a market such as smartphone cases. The
major problem is the lack of knowledge and association with our brand, Case Logic, and quality
smartphone cases. In this instance, the market leading Otterbox can be considered our show
stopper. This product has a following due to its name and the reliability of its shock proof
guarantee. The consumer knows what they are getting with this product and will buy it for the
sheer necessity of phone protection.
The main show stopper for our product is if we cannot provide the consumer with a
smartphone case with the qualities and aesthetics that we are promoting. If our design does not
meet the consumer needs for a protective smartphone case, then our product will surely fail. We
are competing with an industry giant, so we must develop a strong relationship with our product
consumers in order to succeed in smartphone accessory market.
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Marketing Strategy
Today Smartphone owners purchase a phone case both to customize and protect their
phone. Case Logic offers the perfect combination with durable but fashionable phone cases for
both the iPhone 5S/C and the Samsung Galaxy S4. This product targets every customer that
carries for their valued phone as well as customers only seeking a good looking and sleek phone
case.
Value Proposition
Smartphone owners should not have to sacrifice appeal to have a strong and durable
phone case. Current protective phone cases are bulky and unattractive, when fashionable phone
cases are not made to resist shocks. By offering a strong, sleek, and fashionable phone case, Case
Logic competes on both markets and is able to attract consumers looking for a durable and
protective phone case as well as consumers seeking a good looking phone case. Our phone cases
are the perfect compromise between a strong and a fashionable phone case, and for an affordable
price.
Mission Statement
Case Logic continues to simplify people’s lives by developing exceptional products to
organize and transport ever-evolving technology. From conveniently-sized compact cameras to
full-featured SLRs and all photo equipment in between, we have cases, slings and backpacks to
take them wherever people are capturing moments. For those who carry the most popular laptop,
a tablet, or the brand new Smartphone, there’s a Case Logic backpack, briefcase, attaché, sleeve,
or phone case to fit and protect with confidence.
Marketing Objectives
With $575million revenue in 2012, (Forbes, February 2013) Otterbox is the leader in the
phone case market. Our primary objective is to enter the market by stealing 1% of the company’s
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
market share, which already represents $6million. Our company will allocate 20% of this
forecast revenue on marketing expenses for a total budget of $1.2million. According to a survey
Case Logic conducted (see Figure 3), 87% of the people asked did not know the brand Case
Logic that is why our main objective is to promote the brand and its whole product line before
the phone case itself to prove the expertise of Case Logic. Our goal is to focus our promotion
directly where we sell the products, which means directly within the retail stores, phone carriers
stores, and online platforms such as Amazon.com. This promotion will be supported by a “brand
awareness” advertising campaign through mass emailing and shorts ads on YouTube.
Financials Objectives
Table 2: Cost Breakdown
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Table 3: Costing Analysis
Table 4: Contribution Margin
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Figure 5: Break Even Analysis
Table 5: Sales Forecast
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Target Markets
Targeting the right consumers will be very important for the success of our product. We
firmly believe that our phone case possesses the capacity to compete with other brands. In order
for this to take place we must firmly identify the audience we want to market to. Our product
has certain attributes that are more appealing to certain geographies and demographics. Now is
our opportunity to identify how we want to address our potential consumers.
Our target market will primarily be focused on males and females between the ages 1825. There is a large percentage of people in this age group that own cell phones. Anyone that
owns a cell phone is considered a target but advertising to consumers in our specified age group
has advantages. For instance, they are more inclined to want a more stylish phone case to fit
their lifestyles. Because we know that our product has what they want it only makes sense to
advertise to these age groups (Kotler, 192).
In addition we also want to target consumers who already own a phone case. We want to
show these potential customers that our phone case is more valuable than the one that they
currently own. Customers loyal to Apple, Verizon, and or AT&T most certainly have a phone
case from one of our competitors. If we expose this audience to our product then they will see
how much more comfortable and portable our case is in comparison to otter box and other
competing phone cases.
Positioning
Case logic phone cases must be placed in attractive areas for customers. When our
product is sold in retail stores, we want it to be recognized by consumers amongst the other
brands cases. To achieve this goal Case logic phone cases must be set up on stands right next to
phone cases from companies such as Otter Box. A neat comparison begins when the customers
see our phone case next to any other phone case that is being sold in that store. With its sleek
futuristic design and color variability, the Case logic phone case will jump out at consumers. A
key aspect to the products positioning them near our competitor’s high end products. We wish to
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
show the consumer that our product offers more assets, but is also cheaper than Otterbox's most
high end products.
Strategies
Case logic’s extraordinary phone case design will delight the desires of our targeted
consumers. Shaping the marketing mix will help us attain our goal of supplying consumers with
a less bulky, yet classier looking cell phone case. Our targeted customers are young,
fashionable, trendy, and pragmatic. Potential Case logic consumers want the coolest looking
phone but they won’t pay an absurd amount for it.
Another key factor in our marketing mix is the phones placement. We have implemented
a distribution strategy to allow these consumers entry to our phone case. The phone cases will be
sold mostly in retail stores and online at a relatively close price to competitors. This way we can
build value and credibility before we increase distribution. As the reputation of Case logic cases
grows, our objective is to increase the volume of stores that our product is sold in. A strategy to
implement in the future will be increasing prices once the product has made a significant impact
on the cell phone case market.
Marketing Mix
Pricing
As we are launching a new product, we will price our phone case regarding the price our
main competitor, Otterbox, applies. Case Logic plans to sell its new phone case at $39.95 per
unit. This price is lower than Otterbox’s high-end products but remains higher than their midrange products, because our product, offering the same protection, is sleeker and more
fashionable than our competitor’s phone cases. The price is also justified by the relative high
price of Smartphones. Indeed, as many customers buy their phone case at the same time they
purchase their phone, $39.95 will seem relatively low to protect the expensive new phone they
just bought.
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Distribution
Case Logic has decided to sell its brand new phone case through three different
distribution channels: retail stores (Walmart, Target…), phone carriers stores (AT&T, Verizon),
and through our website. Those are the three main ways to reach our target customers, and are
also great ways to promote our products without the help of outside advertisement.
Marketing Communications
Our first communication strategy will be advertising directly through our distributors.
Our products will be presented on a stand in the different retail stores in the phone area as well as
in the phone carrier’s stores. This way they will be noticeable and appealing to the customer’s
eye. Besides this promotion through our distributors, Case Logic plans to advertise with mass
emailing and short commercials on YouTube with a link to our company’s website.
Marketing Research
The primary research for our product was conducted through an online survey. Through
this survey, we were given the ability to gather and analyze information on the level of
importance people placed on their mobile phones from a range of ages and sexes. This
information allowed ourselves to understand if there was a desire or necessity for mobile phone
cases and what were the contributing factors that encouraged or discouraged the surveyed
consumers when purchasing. Also, we gained information of where consumers prefer to
purchase phone cases, if they do decide to purchase one.
Secondary research about the phone case market was conducted through online research.
Through the secondary research process we focused on understanding the phone case market,
and who we felt would be our competitors.
Further research would have allowed ourselves to find alternative ways to attract more
consumers to take our survey, which would have given us more information to analyze and
interpret.
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Sales Forecast
We will begin operations by selling our phone cases in phone carrier stores (AT&T,
Sprint, Verizon, etc.), mega retailers (Walmart, Target, etc.), and on our company’s official
website www.CaseLogic.com. Within the first year of operations we hope to gain 1% of our lead
competitors’ revenue, being at a total of six million dollars. To obtain this amount it is necessary
to produce 223,928 units, one third being sold at a retail price of $39.99, two thirds sold at a
wholesale price of $23.00.
After the first year, we will have further knowledge of our phone cases within the market,
which will allow us to strategize and determine the next stages of our production. If we are
successful within the first year we hope to increase our revenue by 1%. Gaining this additional
percentage, it is necessary to double the amounts of units produced to 447,856. If year two is
successful as planned, then we will continue to grow our units of output to 671,784 to gain an
additional percentage of revenue. By year three, our company will have hoped to gain 3% of our
lead competitors’ revenue,
Expense Forecast
The following are the expenses we are expecting for our marketing strategy:
Table 6: Fixed Costs
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Controls
There are a few variables in particular that we will be monitoring to better benefit Case
Logic phone cases. We have planned to have variable costs of one million dollars to help ensure
our company has enough money to get our phone cases in retail stores in the positioning we
desire. In order to stay on pace with competitors product pricing will be closely monitored in
retrospect to our competitors. From quarter to quarter Case Logic will monitor its product in
sales, pricing, positioning, and promotion in an attempt to become the number one phone case on
the market.
Implementation
Case Logic seeks to market our newest product through three main marketing strategies:
Mass Email, short social media advertisements, and with purchased advertising space in primary
carrier stores such as Verizon or AT&T. Case Logic’s advertising budget has been allocated at
$1.2 million, which will be divided amongst the three strategies as seen fit. With these three
marketing strategies, Case Logic intends to extend the awareness of our brand name as well as
promote our newest product line in protective smart phone cases.
The first and most cost effective marketing strategy is reaching potential customers
through mass email. Case Logic is an established company with a faithful clientele, so we intend
to reach our previous consumers and many more with information about Case Logic’s newest
product line for protective phone cases. We, at Case Logic, can assure our previous consumers
that they will receive the same dependable protection that they received with their protective
Tablet and Laptop cases in our new line of smart phone protective cases.
Our next marketing strategy is to reach potential consumers through social media
commercials on YouTube. The latest market research indicates that each YouTube commercial
will cost between “0.18 to 0.20 cents” on the dollar (Alleger, 2013). At this rate, Case Logic will
dedicate $200 thousand of its marketing budget to social media advertisements with the desire to
create a buzz about our newest product line in the protective phone case industry. With this
amount of budget dedicated to social media advertisements, Case Logic intends to open the eyes
of over one million potential consumers unaware of our newest product.
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Case Logic’s final advertising strategy attempts to team up with large carrier stores such
as Verizon and AT&T in order to place out product alongside the devices bought in store.
Market research indicates that 46% of users bought their current case in the primary carrier store,
whether at the time of or at a different time as the purchase of their smart phone (See Figure 4).
Case Logic will distribute the final million dollars of its marketing budget in order to breach the
walls of chosen carrier stores throughout the country with our product.
Marketing Organization
Chart 1: Case Logic’s Organizational Chart
At Case Logic, we will have a manageable marketing department, overseen by the Vice
President of the Company. The Vice President is in charge of allocating the budget set for the
marketing department, and the decision making process will be handled by the Marketing
Manager. The Manager is also in charge of assigning specific jobs to the research team and
Public Relations team.
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
Each team has the responsibility to help better the marketing attempts of this product.
The Public Relations team will concentrate their efforts on brand promotion, one of Case Logic’s
biggest weaknesses. By developing strong brand awareness, Case Logic will be able to enhance
each product in our inventory.
Contingency Planning
Case Logic has anticipated the uncertainty of entering such a risky market such as the
smart phone case market. However, Case Logic is already known for its protective cases for such
devices including tablets, laptops, mp3 players, digital camera, and GPS so the transition into the
smartphone case industry seems necessary. We have set an attainable goal of 1% of the market
leading Otterbox’s revenue, but if for some reason we are not able to reach this goal, Case Logic
has multiple sales opportunities to fall back on.
If Otterbox’s stronghold over the market is too large to overcome, we will be forced to
retreat toward the lower end of smart phone case selling, in department stores such as Ross or
Marshalls. These are discounter stores which sell all sorts of smartphone accessories at lower
than market prices. At these retail stores, we will not seek the same margins of profit, but will be
looking toward breaking even on the floundering product line.
Case Logic can also aim their product toward small market vendors such as Kiosk
merchants. At these sorts of shops, we will be able to sell our product at wholesale prices and
present these merchants a chance to endorse our product with presenting a familiar brand name
to their shelves.
The last fallback opportunity for our product is online sales promotions. If Case Logic does not
see a future with this product, we can break even by offering a sales promotion for a smartphone
case with any purchase of an alternative product at our online store. Along with Case Logic’s
online store, various other online retail sources will be targeted to sell our product such as
Amazon or EBay.
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Marketing Plan – Case Logic
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Gartrell, J. (2008, June 8). Marketing is Geography. Spatially relevant RSS.
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