Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is a set of tools that a firm can "mix" in order to produce the response they want in the market. This includes everything from creating a new ad to designing new packaging. All of these can be gathered together or "mixed" into four groups commonly referred to as the "4Ps". The "4Ps" are Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

Each of the 4Ps has significant power to influence consumer demand, however, it is only by creating and effective mix that a great campaign can be made. Based on this, it was the innovative choice of marketing mix made by Sprite that helped to carve out the success of their product launch in Ireland.

Product

Product is anything offered to a market that might satisfy a need or a want. It includes the physical objects and services, as well as persons, places and ideas. The Sprite product consists solely of its attributes - everything from the taste of the drink, to the shape and size of the bottle.

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It was found that if the soft drink was to be sold in Ireland, it did not need to differ from what had been developed for other markets, except for minor packaging changes.

In terms of the packaging changes, Sprite had a proprietary shaped pack called a "dimple bottle". This uniquely shaped bottle had proven successful, both in the market and the Irish research group.

Price

Price is what the market will bear, or what consumers will pay to acquire a product. The main factor is to determine what the price of Sprite in Ireland is compared to the main competitive brand, as well as Sprite's own cost base. Doing this made the new product attractive to consumers, as well as ensuring an adequate return on production and distribution...