The Marketing Trend Challenge

I have read your summary regarding your current challenge with changing marketing trends and the upcoming renewal of your 5 year contract with a large quick service restaurant. You have had a long and profitable relationship with this international fast food company and this relationship has been an Important part of your firm’s growth. While you do face some obstacles, there are solutions to overcome these. First hand and most Importantly lets point out and discuss the problems you face.

First the market trend issue: The marketing trend challenge you currently face is a decline in the sale of kid meals. With technology advancing kids no longer value the toys you market. In addition, child obesity and health problems are receiving greater attention in the media and the threat of advertising regulations is increasing, these regulations are already in place in Europe. Your manufacturing costs in China have gone up 40% due to an increase in raw material costs and export tariffs. And to top it off the overall time to market these toys is lengthy.

Last and most important your team has been ineffective in addressing these market trends, and working collectively to resolve these Issues. Renewing this contract and maintaining relationship Is important to your firm. Are you assuming the USSR wants to renew the contract and do they want toys? Is your firm prepared to take on this large account at this time? These are 3 recommendations to help you. Restructure of your organization this should be done prior to renewing the contract, ask the USSR for extension of contract renewal.

Re evaluate and define your mission and goals. Establishing an innovation team or a R and D department. Teams and managers should have regular meetings with an agenda to implement your business strategy, improve communication and use critical thinking as a method to problem solving. Ineffective teams and quality assurance and Improvement should be monitored regularly to address future problems. A facilitator may be helpful to gulled the team’s decision making process during meetings.

You may have employee resistance and cost and there will be cost and time to train and recruit managers, but this must be done to endure success in your firm. Establish a technology based company relationship to market new products/incentives and incorporate into your marketing. Examples Tunes, Apple APS, Play station, Mineshaft, Game Stop, are a few technology ideas you can work with to offer new products or incentives in your marketing. The incentives should be correlated with some type of healthy choice the USSR offers. An example of this would be vegetables or fruit as part of the happy meal.

Incorporating the product into a healthy choice will also improve the public and media perception of your organization and demonstrates your flexibility for new innovative ideas that adjust to market trends moving towards health and wellness. Move manufacturing to domestic location- you can respond to the market quicker, avoid Import and export tariffs, and Increase positive media volleyball by supplying more Jobs In the U. S. You an contract or set up your own manufacturing plant to supply your other accounts that use toys and incorporate your new products into production.

With and provide Jobs to low income workers and or migrant workers. You can publicize these new opportunities for Jobs and community growth to improve media visibility. One drawback to this would be time. You will have to establish resources and connections to build or contract a manufacturing plant. In conclusion I think you will find these solutions effective with some drawbacks but in the long run will help your organization thrive and adjust to the demanding changes of the future.