Vizio Sells Voice-Activated Televisions, and Needs a

Vizio sells voice-activated televisions, and needs a marketing plan. The product is not a game-changer, so the company needs to have a message that emphasizes total value over gimmick novelty, if it actually intends to sell the sets. People buy televisions because of picture/sound quality, then price, and then other features, in order of importance (Katzmaier, 2013). The marketing plan needs to recognize this -- focusing on voice activation will get the company nowhere if the picture or value are poor.

The first part of the marketing plan is the place strategy. Vizio needs to sell its televisions in the places where consumers go to buy televisions -- no other approach makes any sense at all. Vizio therefore needs to look at both online and offline channels. There is significant overlap since most retailers utilize both channels. Key retailers of televisions are Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, Costco and Amazon. Vizio can also operate as its own vendor, as many companies to in order to increase their margins.

The promotion strategy needs to emphasize a total value message, with the voice-activation as a kicker, which accentuates the sales pitch. The pitch needs to be compelling without the kicker, to put Vizio in the conversation for people looking at new TVs, and then the voice activation serves as the kicker to put Vizio over the top. Because Vizio is a largely unknown brand, there also needs to be a focus on creating brand awareness and on establishing brand position.

The optimal marketing message should assume some level of awareness and positioning, not because people have awareness, but because the company wants to present a strong image that conveys something to the effect of "you know your electronics, of course you know Vizio," an approach that challenges the audience to learn about Vizio. If the message merely informs about the company, this is a pedantic approach that does not offer the audience any reason to engage with the message.

Advertising and point of sale need to be a focal point for the marketing campaign for Vizio (Hose, 2013). POS is especially important because even if the advertising has created some level of awareness, Vizio needs to convert that awareness into action at the store level. Thus, POS serves as a reminder in-store for the customer to engage with Vizio again. Point of sale should reflect high-end positioning that emphasizes that Vizio has a superior product. This is necessary to ensure that the consumer's attention has been grabbed.

Pricing strategy should also support high-end positioning (NetMBA, 2010), because Vizio is trying to establish a brand based on having more features -- more cool features -- than its competition. Thus, the positioning needs to reflect that Vizio's quality is in line with other companies, and then it gives you more because of the additional bells and whistles. The next step is to create a sales promotions schedule. We do not wish to degrade the value of our new brand by discounting right away.

Thus, we will not engage in sales promotions. Other promotional activity will be conducted on the basis of a product launch schedule. The first step is to create awareness and interest. This needs to be within two weeks of the official launch. There are two reasons for keeping the project secret so long.

The first is that the voice-activation is the kicker, but it is also very technology to replicate, so we do not want to give our competitors time to install their own voice activation software, as that would remove a key advantage of our product. Thus, we want to drop a bomb on the market, and give ourselves time to earn first-mover advantage. The second reason is that we want to create a link between awareness, desire and purchase that flows quickly.

We want people to take interest in Vizio and translate that to purchase before they have a chance to evaluate their options. This means having the product available for purchase when we start telling people about it. The two weeks' notice reflects the need to balance this with the interests of our channel partners, who want to see some pent-up demand so that the product starts to move right away. The advertising plan will therefore emphasize print, online and radio ads.

These are quick and easy to produce and spots can be purchased on relatively short notice. Television ads are effective, but they cost more and we want to be able to saturate our channels. The ads will feature a strong campaign that stimulates interest in the product's quality and touts the additional features as a kicker. There will also be an exhortation to investigate the product further both online or at a channel partner's physical location. There are some good public relations opportunities for this product.

First, media likes to talk about itself, so televisions are a good product for the media. We have a technological innovation, which is something that can generate public interest as well. Furthermore,.