Marketing Research: Tide

MKT 337 - 6-2 Blog: Preliminary Findings and Limitations for Product Launch Tide Laundry Strips

Marketing research supports organizational objectives by bringing a marketing concept to fruition through strategic research before it can first be developed. By performing marketing research and “monitoring the environment for signals indicating a business opportunity” will enable the success of a product launch that can benefit customers and firms (Babin, 2019). This can also help companies forecast upcoming trends and avoid mistakes to maximize profitability by using many performance criteria.

One plausible future trend that may drastically change present findings is the rise of social media analytics and the use of social media metrics to evaluate the success of marketing campaigns. Likes, followers, re-shares, re-tweets, views, comments, and engagement are all factors that many companies use in order to measure success. This is a wonderful tool, but it also has its cons as there are many bots and fake accounts as well on social media to manipulate statistics. Therefore, a more traditional approach such as marketing surveys is a better way to capture the consumers’ views, feelings, and direct responses.

Marketing research might be supported by industry trends because it is listening to what people want and need. For example, Tide created Cold Water detergent that can help reduce the energy consumption of hot water and it was very successful. Since more customers are asking for eco-friendly, plastic-free, and biodegradable laundry detergent options, this can help fuel the future products of Tide. There are also many different types of people who have skin conditions and sensitivities, so having products that are safe enough for babies will be a very important factor for families. Marketing research always supports industry direction because people can make or make a product and brand. Things can go from very popular and in demand in the market, to something being forgotten and no longer needed. As technology advances, brands will need to continue to be creative and innovative and anticipate what consumers want to best serve their needs.

My proposed marketing strategy aligns with legal, ethical, and industry standards because I am putting consumers’ privacy and safety first. Without their trust, I cannot gain loyal fans and happy consumers who would easily recommend my product. Demand for safer, phosphate-free products for people has become a top priority in households as “the United States began restricting or banning phosphates in laundry detergent in the early 1970s, culminating in a nationwide voluntary ban in 1994” (Data M Intelligence, 2022). Other than product safety, ethical marketing is also very important so that consumers are fully aware of their rights and have full transparency in how their information is being used, especially in marketing research. Marketers must also be careful and use a mix of different marketing orientations such as product orientation, marketing orientation, and customer-orientated approach in their marketing strategies. Since the focus is on the Laundry Strips product, having a product orientation means “a firm that prioritizes decision making in a way that emphasizes technical superiority in the product” (Babin, 2019). This ensures that whatever is being created and promoted lives up to the quality of standards that it promises and delivers that expectation to customers. Other than making consumers happy, stakeholders must be happy as well using the marketing orientation approach, which means customer orientation is the main focus and “long-term profitability over short-term profits, and a cross-functional perspective” (Babin, 2019)

Some implications for implementing the marketing proposal are marketing tactics such as social listening for my target audience. After the marketing survey has been completed, there should be a clear time and date when all marketing communications ends with the consumer and all information should be laid out on how the consumer information will be used.
Some legal and ethical influences can also be from outside of the United States as interest will grow for the Tide Laundry strips to be available outside of the United States. There will be very different laws and regulations in each country in terms of manufacturing, production, shipping, and pricing, as it might differ from the United States. The main thing is that Tide creates a product that is unique with a different formula that doesn’t infringe on any intellectual information and patents from its competitors. There will also be some difficulty in keeping this product launch a secret if Tide Laundry Strips are handed out as samples for people to use and review. The use of social media influencers can raise awareness of this product and help customers trust through honest online reviews.

The limitations of the marketing proposal based on available research are that Tide is very late to producing this product and it has already existed in the market for several years. The main competitors started with only two companies, but now there are over 8 companies that produce it and have most of the market share. Proctor & Gamble will need to put a lot of their marketing budget into pushing advertisements for their Laundry Strips in order to gain momentum and catch up, possibly slowing down production and phasing out any of their detergent that uses plastic. Since over “700,000,000 plastic washing jugs are discarded in landfills across North America” the numbers keep increasing every year as the world population grows and a plastic-free, compostable solution such as laundry strips can help eliminate this problem (Data M Intelligence, 2022). There is room for growth from 2023-2023 as the laundry strips are lightweight and “reduces transportation fuel consumption and global-warming carbon emissions by 94% compared to today's leading-brand liquid and powder detergent” (Data M Intelligence, 2022).

References:

Babin, B. J., & Zikmund, W. G. (2019). Essentials of marketing research. Cengage.   

Laundry detergent sheets market size share growth opportunities and forecast 2022. DataMIntelligence. (2022, December 2). https://www.datamintelligence.com/research-report/laundry-detergent-sheets-market