External marketing audit and SWOT analysis of Monster Energy

Marketing Activities of Monster Energy

Market Activities of Monster Energy

Monster Energy is an energy drink produced and launched in 2002 by the Monster Beverage Company through an affiliation of another company the Sacks and Schlosberg (Gitman & McDaniel 2007). The beverage was produced after the demand increment of the drink to the customers. Its most target consumers are the university students, truckers and much of the sport fanatics. The company works under a slogan "Unleashing the beast" that has attracted the much clientele; enhancing the brand's successful marketing. It has enabled its marketing operations through micro and macro environment as depicted in the research below.

Research Analysis

As the company's marketing consultant, I have conducted a quasi-analysis through secondary data collection methodologies. A number of resources have been used alongside the brand's website to get proper and appealing qualitative and qualitative leads on Monster's Energy marketing activities. The main objective of the analysis is to effectuate and oversee how Monster Energy is marketed all globally and how to acquire necessary weaknesses that hamper better marketing actions. The data analysis is a comprehensive outlook of the company external organization and a SWOT analysis and how these two affect the marketing of the brand.

External Organization

An external organization is the outside entity that significantly affects the development and survival of the products and services offered by the respective companies. It is necessitated for a company to investigate this notion since the externalized environment of the company is under no control of the latter (Gupta 2009). These outside entities, mainly the environs, interact with the organization, as well as their brands, and in this case, Monster Energy. The main external entities that immensely affect marketing functionalities of monster Energy are competition, law, socio-culture, ecology, economy and technique. It composes of both the macro and micro environment

a) Law environment

Though the notion of following laws by companies is being ignored, it is essential that prior introducing a brand or product or service to the market, a company should be conversant with the different laws of business. Organizations and companies should devote extensive time and efforts in learning regulations among other compliances in availing and marketing their products in the market. Most of these rules are integrated by international bodies; Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), occupational Safety and Health Administration and other constitutional clauses. The laws are essential since they are resultant to additional expenses, development of new technology, tax issues and other necessary legal fees (Gupta 2009).

Due to the increase in market of caffeine-induced drinks in the market and the ever increasing boom in the beverage industry, several legislative strategies have been introduced. This has been effectuated to avoid other entrepreneurs from discarding more brands in the market in attempt to have imaginable profits (Farrey 2010). Legal regulations in the beverage industry were inculcated by the FDA. Scam drinks were attributed to being dietary supplements as the outside appearance communicated to the consumers. However, they have been scientifically experimented and proved to have disastrous effects on the health of an individual. For the Monster Energy, its firm has had approval from FDA for having released a heath-friendly drink hence, ensuring continued marketing of the drink all over.

b) Technique environment

Techniques are aspects used in the macro-environs. Such an environment is used in marketing and productions of products and is essential in controlling the marketing strategies and operations of the brand, in this context, the Monster Energy. Technologically, a lot of science has been incorporated in manufacturing, of which it is essential since other methodologies may not be 100% effective in producing a quality brand. This is also related to the environmental trends emerging in the respective industry. An effective technique environ provides credible strategic planning and marketing of the new brand.

Despite some of the use of internalized techniques, marketing actions of Monster Energy require other techniques have been effectuated. One of the methodologies is through the benchmarking of other brands' technique environment. An example of a brand used is the Redbull. Through such investigations, Monster Energy is now being marketed through advertisements, promotions in magazines and having marketing campaigns under a strategized marketing team (Ayala 2007).

c) Competitive environment

Competition is the backbone of motivational marketing of products and services in the real market. It is the relationship of one company to another, but with the same end products under different brand names. Competition is also dependent of the locale and market. Through a proper market mix research, a competitive environment is categorized into two: inter-company relations and the entire global perspective.

1) Company relation

A lot of companies produce the same product, especially in the beverage industry. Renowned companies such as the Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Inc., among others have been affiliated with the success of having the best energy drinks in the market (Gupta 2009). These two companies are affiliated to producing new energy drinks into the market such as the Full Throttle and SoBe & Mountain Dew brands. Competition in marketing of Monster Energy has resulted to differences in tastes, familiarity of the brands to the consumers and prices. These are the main determinants that have competitively aggravated the innovation of unique marketing strategies to promote monster deeper in the marker, just as its competitors.

2) Global perspective

This is a cross-examination of the word economy and the contribution of other industries to the latter. Other areas in the world are also producing cross-related products, such as wines, beer, soft drinks, and aqua, among others. The other products take in a much larger contribution to the global economy. A close investigation of this entity in Monster's organization depicts that it is essential to endorse Monster Energy so as many have an affiliation to it.

d) Ecological environment

Marketing operations and productivity is much dependent on the availability and positivity of the opportunities granted by the ecological surrounding (Gupta 2009). Environmental ecology is the study that is fundamentally concerned with the acquisition and conservation of resources. It states that developmental activities of organizations should consider rationalizing and protecting available natural resources. The vital resources essential in successful marketing functions are having a skilled workforce, raw materials and finances.

1. A skilled workforce

In accordance to Monster Energy, an efficient organizational structure, especially a high-profiled marketing team, with educated professionals in necessary to enhance its products' market activities. This notion stabilizes the market supply, and as the trend in competition rises, the personnel also compete making the market activities settle on high momentary demand.

2. Raw materials

This is the most and essential vital aspect of a brand's external environment. Organizations retrieve their resources from the environment, and failure in re-establishing a good ecological relation could lead to substantial losses to the organizations. The Monster Energy's resources are mainly coffee beans and water, among others (Thanem 2011). The former avails the caffeine ingredient during the production. Resourceful conservation of the two components of the environment and their associate aspects ensure continued production and hence, continued marketing for the produced brand.

3. Finance

This aspect is vital in ensuring that as the production and marketing activities goes on, some funds are saved incase of an experienced recession and unexpected turn out of events. According to my investigation Monster Energy has an option to enter into ventures, capital and stock markets and investments to marginalize the market operational gaps (Gupta 2009).

e) Economic environment

Environmental economics looks at the relationship of the economic environ to a company's or individual operations. The central ideology of environmental economics is foreseeing the economy effects relate to the environment thus implicating positivity or negativity (Gerber 2007).

f) Socio-cultural environment

This is termed as the interaction between social organization, physical environment and social behavior. A business environment is influenced a lot by the social environment (Toma 2008). It also deals with the stakeholders and their societal influence in marketing the brand. The marketing operations are also dependent of social or cultural values and beliefs. This has been a major contributing factor to the success of the marketing monster energy. Most teenagers and sport-oriented persons have a strong conviction that the drinks can ease up the strenuous activities they involve in.

SWOT analysis

a) Strengths

A major strength driving the marketing activities of Monster Energy is that it enjoys the largest market of its target consumers; teenagers. Almost each economy has its largest populous of the youth who in turn increase the marketing activities of the products. This is through the high increment of the demand.

The Monster Beverage Company has an attractive image organization. The monster energy product has an edgy look that appeals and attracts any person who is under the influence of its visual. The image of a company's brand is the insight of the latter based on its operational activities. The image depicts on what the organization engages into. It also a mode of communique as it gives insights of the organizations goals and ideologies to the public. This also depicts and sells out the kind of members represented by the brand in market. Building an image is a vital, experimental step in developing a general organizational structure and as this contextual information depict, Monster Energy has achieved that.

Monster Energy is also advertising itself locally and internationally by engaging in sponsorship of social activities such as education in the grassroots' levels. The brand supports different sporting activities such as action sports, water, snow and desert among others. It also promotes itself by supporting athletes, bands and music and also hosting TV shows (monsterenergy.com).

Other strengths include the product's innovative style, affordability of the product to the customers in relation to the leading brand in market and having immense revenues through the segmentation of the DSD (Albornoz et al.).

b) Weaknesses

Despite having entered the beverage industry in a boom, the Monster Energy faces several limitations that in future need to be addressed. The financing of all the funds at once while conducting the marketing activities is a great problem.

The product, monster energy has been investigated lately and has turned positive in affecting the heart rate of the consumers. Some of the ingredients used in the products' manufacture contain harmful contaminants that hasten palpitating rates of the heart. Luckily it is not the only product with this limitation, but all energy drinks. However, this is only applicable if the consumer takes in lots of the drink but in moderation, the product has trace harm.

Through the increasing trend of the choice and market mix modeling in competition, the product has a wide range of competitors. Keeping up with the new and emerging trends in the industry is exceptionally becoming difficult. This is also attributed to lack of innovation and unswerving demands that are recorded in the energy drinks market forecast. (Albornoz et al.). Other related weaknesses are that a part of the products in the beverage industry are high-priced while in other areas the prices are moderated. Such confusion has seen the company suffer in its generated income. Unfortunately, the company depends solely on the monster energy drink making it hard to sustain its marketing operations. Since it is its own affiliate product, the consequential company has to depend fully on external parties so as to have a control in the flavor recipes chosen in the products manufacture. Monster energy also has a lower inventory proceeds in the industry as compared to other prevailing products.