Marketing Report: Slingbox

Essay by sunriseparkUniversity, Master'sA, November 2007

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Table of Contents1Introduction42Market Analysis52.1Competition:52.2Users and Uses:63Issues74SWOT Analysis85Marketing Plan95.1Marketing Objective95.2Target User95.3Marketing Mixes105.3.1Price:105.3.2Promotion:105.3.3Place: Selling Slingbox at more retail chains and web sites like Costco, Sam's Clubs105.3.4Product: Add new product features that would appeal to consumers.115.4Reassess Market116Strategic partnerships117positioning statement118Exhibits12•Kotler, Philip & Kevin Keller, A Framework for Marketing Management, 3rd Edition, Prentice-Hall, 2003.

1INTRODUCTIONLove to travel but hate missing your home TV? Whine no more. Thanks to a recently developed "place shifting" technology, you can take local programming on the road with you.

SlingMedia's Slingbox redirects your home TV signal from an antenna, cable box or satellite to your Net-accessible PC or laptop. The Slingbox connects to the TV and to the Internet, while the accompanying SlingPlayer software is uploaded to your remote PC($200; http://www.slingmedia.com).

Sling Media, which markets Slingbox, was founded by Blake and Jason Krikorian, brothers and baseball fans who wanted to watch their hometown San Francisco Giants' 2002 playoff run while they were away traveling on business.

Over the next two years, with the help of friend Bhupen Shah, they refined the device, making it Smaller and simpler to use. The company at the forefront of placeshifting is Sling Media, a startup based in San Mateo, California. Last year it launched the Slingbox, which in effect lets you watch your own television from anywhere in the world via the internet. Shaped like a giant, silver chocolate bar, the Slingbox sits on top of your television, takes in video feeds from cable or satellite set-top boxes, DVD players and PVRs, and then retransmits a video stream via a broadband internet connection to wherever you happen to be. The remote device can be a PC, a laptop or even a handheld computer or mobile phone, provided it has a fast internet connection. You can then watch television (or programmes recorded on your...