Marketing of a Product or Service in Singapore Context

¶ … marketing of a Singaporean product: by carrying out a secondary search about the company that manufactures the product or provides the service, a review of the marketing of that product is presented. The paper covers the following areas: Introduction, in which the dissertation if briefly introduced, the product or service is also introduced, and the objectives that are intended to be achieved in the paper are highlighted; Literature review, in which a review of the literature available on the company and its products/services are discussed. Next, the main body of the paper covers the following marketing aspects of the company: Company background; The marketing of its products/services; Segmentation of its markets; The Target Customers; The Product/Service Offering; The Marketing Strategies of the Company; The Marketing Program of the Company; The Strengths of its Marketing; The Weaknesses of its Marketing; Recommendations; Conclusions.

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to analyze a product which is of Singaporean origin, and which is marketed within a Singaporean context. The product chosen is a men's magazine, FHM Singapore. This magazine is produced wholly within Singapore, and is marketed to a Singaporean market. The magazine is sold widely in many Singaporean newsstands, and regularly sells 25,000 copies at each monthly issue. FHM Singapore is a branch-off of the popular FHM titles, which are sold widely throughout Europe, and which were launched in the UK in the mid-1990's. The Singaporean version differs from most of the European issues, however, in that along with the men's interest articles and features, which includes features such as "the then best underwear shops for your mistresses underwear" and "which electronic gadgets do you really need?," there is a great deal of business information packed in to the magazine. The magazine targets affluent men, aged 20-45, with money to spare and an interest in women.

The aim of the paper from this point on is to analyze the marketing strategy of the producer of the product, and to highlight strengths and weaknesses with this marketing strategy. This will be done by reviewing the product, its production, its marketing, and its success within its chosen field.

Literature review

This section will first give a general overview of marketing, and will then highlight the marketing of the product of interest, FHM Singapore.

What is marketing? Marketing is the means by which a business identifies, anticipates and then satisfies customer demand: if carried out effectively it will not only ensure that the business is seen and heard but will give the business flexibility to adapt to changing customer demands and a changing business environment (Williams, 2004; My Business, 2004a). It is generally recognized that without marketing, a business will certainly falter, as properly planned, holistic, marketing is essential for bringing in customers.

Businesses that really succeed are those where the owner has a vision for the firm and is dedicated to seeing it through: it is recognized that a marketing plan will help achieve focus and establish the vision (My Business, 2004a). Marketing helps the managers of the business to understand who the potential customers are, and to place and price the product well, compared to the competition, and also to position the company in the market place: it will also help identify future opportunities for self-promotion (My Business, 2004a). Essentially, marketing needs planning, but that planning the marketing can help to assure the success of small businesses, by guiding businesses through the minefield that is marketing and advertising.

Learning the secrets behind producing a good marketing plan is therefore essential to implementing a good marketing plan for any small business (My Business, 2004a). Though there are established guidelines to follow, marketing is more of an art than a science and it is recognized that marketing is a difficult skill to develop, but in terms of its potential for having a successful impact on the future commercial effectiveness of the business, it is worth cultivating, as it can offer improved returns and profitability and a greater understanding of realistic business development opportunities (My Business, 2004a). One of the major problems for businesses when considering marketing is quantifying in advance the expected result for a given spend (My Business, 2004a).

One of the first steps in successful marketing, and the successful development of an effective marketing plan is to not confuse sales with marketing, and it is a common enough mistake for any small business to lump sales together with marketing under the perception that the two disciplines are different heads of the same beast, because tactics can overlap: they are not, however, the same (Williams, 2004; My Business, 2004a). The mission of sales is to increase turnover through a number of tricks such as margin reductions, discounts, two for the price of one, special offers and so on; the mission of marketing, however, is to identify the market, build the company and promote the product, as we shall see later (My Business, 2004a). Marketing, which attempts to embrace the two areas, is a complex, expensive and resource intensive activity, and in the long run it is often far more productive to have a dedicated marketing manager or assign the task to a marketing team, as far as this is possible within a small business (My Business, 2004a).

Planning a marketing strategy is essential, and planning should be developed and launched from the thoroughly researched and developed marketing plan. A marketing plan should be a statement of intent i.e., a statement about where the company is, where the company wants to go and how the company is going to get there (My Business, 2004b). Building a plan can be fairly straightforward for small businesses, and any marketing plan should include the four Ps of marketing: Product; Pricing; Placing and Promotion (Williams, 2004; My Business, 2004b). Building a plan also means setting down a blueprint for effective marketing, and it is worthwhile remembering that a marketing plan can also be a useful way of ironing out differences between colleagues about where the business is heading and creating a common goal (My Business, 2004b).

Speaking to the editor of FHM Singapore, it is clear to see that FHM Singapore has a clear and well-defined marketing plan, which is reviewed periodically, at yearly intervals, in order to ensure the continued success of the magazine. The marketing plan of FHM Singapore consists, essentially, of getting as much exposure for the magazine as possible, using as many aggressive advertising techniques as possible: PR companies hired by the magazine, for example, regularly hold parties for the magazine (for its launch, for the summer issue, for the Christmas issue etc.), at which parties, there are girls and an exciting atmosphere, which generates the correct sort of publicity for magazine sales to increase. In addition, aggressive billboard advertising is used throughout Singapore, with scintillating pictures of women in provocative poses, which attract their market immediately with their almost shock-like value, and their thwarting of the perhaps more traditional roles of women in Singaporean society.

Company background

FHM Singapore, as we have seen, is a branch-off of the popular FHM series of magazines, which are popular all over Europe. FHM Singapore was launched in 1995, with initial shock reactions to its presence in Singapore, and with many complaints about its advertising to the advertising watchdog in Singapore. FHM Singapore is published by EMAP Singapore Private Ltd., a well-established publishing company within the Singaporean context. Since it's launch, circulation figures have increased steadily, year on year, and have risen to the present figure of approximately 25,000 sales per monthly issue.

The marketing of its products/services

FHM Singapore aggressively markets itself as a sexy, hip, fashionable magazine, that should only be read by forward-thinking, affluent Singaporeans. The magazine sells a type of lifestyle that many men aspire to (fast cars, pretty ladies), and the magazine trades on this lifestyle image, with features about cars, electronic gadgets, famous models, famous actresses (some of which are usually photographed half naked), managing money etc. The Singaporean issue mixes business and pleasure in a 70/30 mix, which is far more business-oriented than other European issues of the title.

As we have seen, FHM Singapore markets itself aggressively, using many media for it's advertising: TV adverts are used, as are radio and billboard advertising. These adverts in these media are aggressive, in your face advertising, usually featuring a semi-naked lady, as - as we have seen - the magazine uses sex and sexuality to sell itself, and to market itself, marketing this sensuality as a lifestyle choice.

In addition to aggressive media advertising, FHM Singapore employs a PR company to manage its events marketing. In order to generate 'free' publicity, the PR company regularly hosts wild parties, and events such as 'bikini modeling' in supermarkets, malls etc. These events are all designed to attract a scandal in Singapore's communities, and to generate newspaper interest in these stories, on the premise that any publicity is good publicity. Through these parties, and other events, FHM Singapore have established themselves well, in a relatively short time period, as a significant presence in the Singaporean magazine trade.

Segmentation of its markets

The core market for FHM Singapore is, as we have seen, mainly affluent business men, between the ages of 20 and 45. Prior to FHM Singapore's launch, this market was largely untapped within the Singaporean context, and certainly FHM Singapore has opened a floodgate for other publishers to target this sector of Singaporean society. As in many of the European countries in which FHM is issued, prior to the introduction of FHM, men of this age simply did not buy magazines. With the advent of this exciting title, which mixes sex, sexuality, and business, the men's magazine sector took off, rocketed, with many other titles soon springing up, to try and get a share of this valuable, affluent, market. Now, in Singapore, there are five men's magazines, of similar theme, but of the estimated 35,000 sales of all of these magazines in total each month, as we have seen, with 25,000 sales, FHM Singapore is by far and away the most successful of all of these titles: as with many things, the original is the best.

The Target Customers

The FHM dream, and the lifestyle which FHM Singapore promotes, is that of an easy-going, sex-filled, affluent, entrepreneurial dream. The targeted customers for this dream product are therefore affluent men, who are confident in their sexuality, their place in society, and who have made money and who have spare money to throw around, on gadgets, women, cars etc.

The Product/Service Offering

The FHM Singapore magazine is a glossy, heavy-paged magazine, with approximately 100 pages per issue, and usually eight features, concerning subjects such as 'the best way to blow $1,000' or 'the best underwear for your lady' etc. These written features are supplemented with high-quality graphics, and photos, within the features. A significant portion of the magazine is filled with photographic features, of women (usually scantily clad) or of gadgets (hand-held computers, mobile phones etc.), or of cars, luxury apartments etc. A number of pages (usually about 10) are devoted to business news: major international movements, or Singaporean events in the business world etc. The remainder of the magazine is filled with advertising, from advertisers selling luxury products: advertising within the magazine is one of the publishers greatest profit-generators, and as such, as FHM Singapore has been so successful, advertisers clamor to be involved within the body of the magazine, as they themselves, as well as the readers, it seems, have bought in to the image that FHM Singapore is selling.

The Marketing Strategies of the Company

As we have seen, the main marketing aim of FHM Singapore was to become as widely recognized as possible, for the particular brand of lifestyle that they promote. This over-arching strategy, according to the editor, guides all decisions that are made within the title, from design to editorial. The dream, the brand, the lifestyle, that FHM Singapore is selling to its customers, and therefore to its advertisers, is all-important, and this image must be retained at all times, within the title itself, and through any marketing that is carried out for FHM Singapore.

The marketing strategies are therefore very clear: market a lifestyle choice, and market it single-mindedly, and aggressively, to readers and advertisers alike. At first, this entailed marketing FHM Singapore as a glorious novelty, which to some extent is continued to this day, but which developed, subtly, in to a more refined marketing plan, to ingratiate the aims and image of FHM Singapore on to readers and advertisers, by using the shock advertising, to say 'look, sex and sexuality are OK, they are necessary, they are useful'. Once the initial shock of the magazine and the advertising had created the market, then the salatiousness of the title would speak for itself: after all, every man does like to look at women's bodies, and to read about gadgets, and to imagine himself as a sex god. This is the image that FHM Singapore sell to men, and they buy it in their droves. Sex, as they say, sells, and nowhere is this more true than in the case of FHM Singapore.

The Marketing Program of the Company

As we have seen, from the outset, and basically in order to impose itself on the Singaporean community, FHM Singapore has used aggressive marketing techniques, in order to establish its ethos within the market place, and to establish the lifestyle that it sells within the community. This has caused a perceptible shift in the way other companies market themselves within the Singaporean context, and the editor of FHM Singapore takes this as an enormous compliment, that the lifestyle he markets is now acceptable - and more than that, desired - within the Singaporean context.

The marketing plan of FHM Singapore was therefore initially to establish itself, and its lifestyle dream, in the market place. This was done, as we have seen, through an aggressive marketing campaign, through shocking billboard advertising, radio and TV advertising, and through using a PR company to generate publicity, usually through parties or events carefully designed to catch as much attention as possible.

Once established, the plan changed, to establish the lifestyle aims and aspirations contained within the FHM Singapore umbrella: this was done through a sustained media campaign, with the aim of opening people's eyes to the lifestyle aims and dreams they are selling.

Now, nine years after launch, the marketing aims are to keep - and possibly increase readership - and to keep existing advertisers, and attract new advertisers. As FHM Singapore is pretty much established as the brand leader in this type of publication, within the Singaporean context, attracting advertisers is relatively easy: ensuring that the content of the magazine is of a consistently high standard also ensures that readers stay faithful. Thus, at this stage, the marketing plan consists of producing a quality product, and selling the quality product as usual. In order that people (readers and advertisers) don't get bored with the ethos of the publication, increasingly raucous parties and events are arranged by the PR company, to remind people that FHM Singapore is still an attractive force, and a force to be reckoned with.

The Strengths of its Marketing

As we have seen, FHM Singapore established itself rapidly, and securely, within this particular niche market within the Singapore magazine trade. This was carried out, as we have seen, by a well thought-out marketing plan, which aimed at creating such a stir with the marketing that people could not help but be intrigued and attracted by the product. Once people had been intrigued and attracted, the quality and innovativeness of the product, within this Singaporean context, then ensured that people remained faithful, and that advertisers could be assured that the magazine would be read by many readers, and that therefore their investment in advertising their products within the magazine was safe: this, therefore, ensured regular income source for FHM Singapore, upon which they could then build, using this stability to further establish itself within this market place.

The strengths of the marketing plan are thus that it has whole-heartedly, and consistently, followed its original aims, and subsequently, its future directions. This has led to the success of FHM Singapore.

The main strength, and success, of FHM Singapore, and consequently its marketing plan, was - and is - that FHM Singapore recognized that sex sells, and that they could exploit this constant, well-known fact, in order to sell magazines and to sell advertising space in magazines to advertisers.

The Weaknesses of its Marketing

The main weakness of this type of marketing is that people very quickly become accustomed to seeing images of semi-nudity, and that no matter how pretty or how shapely the girls, men will always want a little more. This, in advertising and marketing terms, especially for FHM Singapore, has meant that the boundaries within which FHM Singapore began have had to be expanded, as people have become accustomed to this type of blatant, aggressive advertising. The editor admits that this has caused trouble for him, and for the FHM Singapore team, as the magazine is not meant to be exploitative of women, rather celebratory of women. If the readership demand more, and yet more, salacious features, however, the natural response is - as a business strategy - to follow what the buyers want. This has led to ever-more raucous features, and ever-more salacious parties and events, such that many people now criticize the magazine as too exploitative of women. Feminist groups, in particular, are very vocal against the publication, and many religious groups are decidedly aggrieved by the publication. This - at some point - looked to be denting the popularity of the magazine, but then, a strength of FHM Singapore re-appeared, and the PR company decided to use this in an event campaign, with the complaints turned in to publicity for the magazine, this generating more sales.