Bayer Materials Case Study

Makrolon: The High-Tech Material

What was the original motivation behind Bayer's decision to launch the Makrolon ingredient branding concept?

It can be difficult to communicate with the end users in regards to material quality. For example, in the eyes of most consumers, the difference between a polycarbonate and Makrolon polycarbonate would be indistinguishable. Therefore, when a materials company creates a new material that adds value to products it must do something to convey this value to consumers. In 2000 Bayer Polymers began a business-to-consumer marketing strategy.

Before that time the material was only marketed to manufactures who could understand the benefits that the material offered. However, for the company to continue growth in the polycarbonate sector, it realized it needed to engage with the consumer and create a "pull" strategy. There are many branded polycarbonates and if Makrolon was to develop a differentiated position then it would have to undergo branding efforts to this end.

What factors were responsible for the success and failure of the efforts?

One of the factors that made the branding efforts a success was the availability of ingredient branding partners. There were many manufactures that were willing to partner with the Makrolon label to add value to the products from the consumer perspective. However, Makrolon had to be selective with partners to be able to protect its image and maintaining is advanced materials image was another critical success factor. For example, Bayer did not want poor quality manufactures to use their brand image because it would damage the materials reputation and be counterproductive to branding efforts.

What was the brand promise and how was it materialized?

The quality of the Makrolon product must be perceived as credible by the consumer to have the most impact. If a consumer believes that the Makrolon ingredient is superior to other standard materials then it will actively look for products that are made with the material which adds value to Makrolon and all of its partners. Thus the brand promise represents a quality standard that must be maintained at all times. This level of quality materialized because Bayer maintained a strong reputation management stance and only partnered with manufactures that could uphold high levels of quality standards.

How did they manage the ingredient branding concept and what other options does the management have?

Bayer MaterialScience realized that its product was successful in many segments and wished to leverage this success. The material industry is a difficult environment to advertise to the end users. The ingredient branding concept allows material manufactures to create a value added factor to the consumer through the marketing partnership that is created. This strategy can increase the perception of value from the consumer in products that contain Makrolon.

The other options that are available to Bayer MaterialScience deal with marketing to manufactures which is how the company originally marketed its materials. Bayer would create value with the manufactures by promoting the quality of their materials to these businesses and was successful in many segments because of their quality inherent in Makrolon. However, going beyond manufactures and marketing ingredients to the end users can create a "pulling" force among consumers. For example, if a consumer is familiar with the high-quality standards contained in the Makrolon material then they might look for it while making purchasing decisions. This puts pressure on manufactures to meet the material standards that the consumers are expecting and will "pull" manufactures into considering the use of Makrolon and partnering with Bayer MaterialSciences.

Discussion

The Bayer Makrolon case represents an innovative way to reach their target market. Prior to devising the ingredient branding concept, the company only marketed directly to manufactures or business-to-business (B2B) marketing. However, the new marketing environment is continually evolving as marketing channels continue to innovate. For example, ubiquitous access to the Internet from a range of devices has made niche marketing more important than ever and easier to do; more important because all that information encourages comparison shopping, putting tremendous downward pressure on prices and profits in highly competitive mass market and easier because it eliminates much of consumers' uncertainty about new niche products (Clemons, Nunes, & Reilly, 2010). If consumers see the Makrolon brand then they can easily research it and the quality mark it represents.

The evolution in marketing strategies will be somewhat revolutionary when compared to the previous generations of mass marketing. Tribal marketing is centered on the idea of community and many of these communities can be found in social networking or niche group sites online (Cova & Cova, 2002). Marketer are now putting together target markets based on the focus of the individual rather than simply similar demographic or other similar characteristics. There is a high level of competition in marketing for new consumers and the level of personalization has expanded rapidly.