Strategic marketing assignment
BCO211 STRATEGIC MARKETING FALL, 2020 FINAL ASSESSMENT Task brief & rubrics
Task
From the Marketing Case BWT each student may consider the case from a global perspective or from their own countrys perspective. This is a continuation of
the mid term assignment.
Use official cover provided on Moodle, table of contents and introduction. Each question should be clearly identified as a headline and answered as a separate
section of the paper.
Questions:
You need to prepare a new launch for your brand (remember it has to be based on customer needs), Develop and explain the steps of New Product
Development.
Describe the strategic decisions that you will apply to the marketing mix.
o Product
o Distribution
o Price
o Communication (IMC)
Marketing Plan proposal
Formalities:
Wordcount: 2,000 2,500, approximately
Be creative and use pictures and schematic formats
Cover, Table of Contents, References and Appendix are excluded of the total wordcount.
Font: Arial 12,5 pts.
Text alignment: Justified.
The in-text References and the Bibliography have to be in Harvards citation style.
Upload PDF to avoid Turnitin rejection.
Submission: Week 4 Via Moodle (Turnitin). Due date: 1st November, 11:59 pm. (CET)
Weight: This task is a 60% of your total grade for this subject.
It assesses the following learning outcomes:
Demonstrate understanding of the principles of Marketing and their applicability.
Understand the processes of interaction between key stakeholders in the domain of Marketing.
Identify and analyze the major forces in the marketing that impact business operations.
Illustrate the impact of effective marketing programs and marketing plans
Rubrics
Exceptional 90-100 Good 80-89 Fair 70-79 Marginal fail 60-69
Knowledge &
Understanding
(30%)
Student demonstrates
excellent understanding of
Marketing key concepts
and uses vocabulary in an
entirely appropriate
manner.
Student demonstrates
good understanding of the
task and mentions some
relevant Marketing
concepts and demonstrates
use of the relevant
vocabulary.
Student understands the
task and provides minimum
Marketing theory and/or
some use of vocabulary.
Student understands the task
and attempts to answer the
question but does not
mention key Marketing
concepts or uses minimum
amount of relevant
vocabulary.
Application (20%) Student applies fully
relevant knowledge from
the Marketing
Management topics
delivered in class.
Student applies mostly
relevant knowledge from
the Marketing
Management topics
delivered in class.
Student applies some
relevant knowledge from
the topics delivered in
class. Misunderstanding
may be evident.
Student applies little relevant
knowledge from Marketing
topics delivered in class.
Misunderstands are evident.
Critical Evaluation
(20%)
Student critically assesses
in excellent ways, drawing
outstanding conclusions
from topics delivered in
class.
Student critically assesses
in good ways, drawing
conclusions from topics
delivered in class.
Student provides some
insights but stays on the
surface of the topic.
References may not be
relevant.
Student makes little or none
critical thinking insights, does
not quote appropriate
authors, and does not
provide valid sources.
Communication
(30%)
Student communicates
their ideas extremely
clearly and concisely,
respecting word count,
grammar and spellcheck
Student communicates
their ideas clearly and
concisely, respecting word
count, grammar and
spellcheck
Student communicates
their ideas with some
clarity and concision. It
may be slightly over or
under the wordcount limit.
Some misspelling errors
may be evident.
Student communicates their
ideas in a somewhat unclear
and unconcise way. Does not
reach or does exceed
wordcount excessively and
misspelling errors are
evident. Running head: STRATEGIC MARKETING 1
STRATEGIC MARKETING
Mid-term assignment
Karim Al-Bustami
Professor Marinas
November 22nd,2020
Strategic Marketing 2
TABLE OF CONTENT
1. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3
2. ABOUT BWT AG ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3
3. THE TARGET SEGMENT …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 5
3.1 Demographic Segmentation ………………………………………………………………………………………… 5
3.2 Geographic Segmentation …………………………………………………………………………………………… 6
3.3 Psychographic Segmentation …………………………………………………………………………………….. 7
3.4 Behavioral Segmentation …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 8
4. The VALUE PROPOSITION AND CREATION OF VALUE …………………………………………….. 10
5. BRAND POSITION AND STRATEGY …………………………………………………………………………….. 12
6. CONCLUSION …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 14
7. References ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 15
Strategic Marketing 3
1. INTRODUCTION
BWT is an international and Europe’s leading water technology group that
provides state-art water technologies and services in various areas of water
treatment and filtration. BWT focuses more on offering technologies and services
that promote high-quality water, safety, and health to its consumers by involving in
extensive innovation and research. BWT targets consumers globally, works with
more than thousands of partners in more than 80 countries, and has research
facilities in five nations. The paper seeks to analyze BWT from a global perspective
based on its target market, value creation, and industry position.
2. ABOUT BWT AG
Best Water Technology Group (BWT) is Europe’s leading water technology
group. Through its workforce, the company provides industrial, private, business,
public sector customers and hotels with economic, innovative, and ecological
technologies that offer safety, health, and hygiene in their day-to-day contact with
water (https://www.bwt.com/en/). The company provides water treatment services
and technologies for process water, drinking water, pharmaceutical water, heating
and cooling, swimming pool water, and water for conditioning systems.
BWT has a comprehensive product portfolio covering filters, water softeners,
disinfection, AQA total limescale protection, membrane technology, metering
technology, and hygiene management. The company has five primary facilities in
Australia, Russia, Germany, France, and Switzerland, with more than 80
subsidiaries and affiliated companies globally. BWT began in 1823 in Germany
https://www.bwt.com/en/
Strategic Marketing 4
through Johann Adam Benckiser, and later through mergers and acquisitions, it was
purchased by Andreas Weienbacher in 1990 through a management buyout. It is
currently located in Mondsee, Austrian.
Strategic Marketing 5
3. THE TARGET SEGMENT
Segmentation involves dividing the target market into more defined and
smaller categories. It mainly divides the target audience and customers into smaller
groups that share similar interests, personalities, locations, demographics, and
needs (Camilleri, 2018, pp. 69-83). BWT target market consists of households,
industries, public sectors, and hotels. To better understand the segment that BWT
targets, it’s essential to consider the four segmentation; demographic, geographic,
psychographic, and behavioral.
3.1 Demographic Segmentation
It is a marketing segmentation that entails dividing the target market based on
variables like family size, family life cycle, occupation, religion, race, nationality,
education level, and social class (Camilleri, 2018, pp. 69-83). BWT targets
households representing families or groups of people living together with its water
treatment technologies and services. This because its product portfolio covers all
activities involved by households. Besides, since BWT technologies and services
cover every section of a house from the basement, kitchen, heating system to pool,
it mainly targets middle to large family size. This because the large the family size,
the higher the necessity of acquiring the BWT technologies and services.
Moreover, due to the uniqueness and distinctive feature of its products, which
contributes to a relatively higher price, BWT targets households with medium to
high-income levels. Low-income families cannot easily purchase products like the
modern heating system, filters, and water generators. Besides, BWT also considers
Strategic Marketing 6
age and the life cycle stage in its products. BWT water treatment technologies
consider all ages, from young children to adults. For example, a child often requires
clean and treated water to avoid water-related diseases. BWT provides various
technologies like the magnesium mineralizer that reduce calcium level and particles.
It covers the youths and teenagers who prefer consuming water with less effect on
their bodies and the elderly who are more concerned about their health and prefer
drinking only treated water.
3.2 Geographic Segmentation
This segmentation entails serving the customers in a particular location when
the broad target market has different preferences based on their location areas. It
merely involves grouping and serving the target audience based on their
geographical boundaries like the state, region, city, and neighborhood. BWT AG
operates internationally and currently works with thousands of partners in more than
80 nations worldwide. It also has a research and development department and
facilities in five countries; France, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, and Russia.
BWT is looking and working towards expanding its geographical reach
(https://www.bwt.com/en/).
Besides, BWT also targets consumers in nations that are developed based on
the construction of water infrastructure. It majorly considers industrial countries like
the U.S. and Western Europe because of their water infrastructure improvement and
developing nations like China and India due to their continuous construction of new
water infrastructure. The progress and construction of new water technologies
https://www.bwt.com/en/
Strategic Marketing 7
increase the demand market for BWT through the demand for its water technologies
like disinfection facilities, treatment and filtration plants, sanitation facilities, and
technical equipment.
BWT geographical segmentation is also based on the nations’ population. It
targets countries with a high and increasing population because as the population
increases, they increasingly invest in water infrastructures, increasing the need for
its water treatment technologies and services. It targets nations like the U.S. and
India because of their growing population. Besides, BWT targets consumers in
highly industrialized countries like the U.S. and France because its product portfolio
entails technologies that target industries like heating and cooling water, water
processing, and water purification technologies.
3.3 Psychographic Segmentation
This involves dividing buyers into different segments based on internal
features and characteristics like values, personality, lifestyle, attitude, and social
class (Dolnicar, Grn, and Leisch, 2018, p. 324). BWT considers various
psychographic variables in its segmentation. The company aims its water treatment
technologies and services to consumers with medium to a high social class who are
more concerned about their health through water usage and have enough income to
purchase the products.
BWT also considers the lifestyle of consumers in its psychographic
segmentation. It considers consumers who have a deep concern for the water they
use, such that they prefer water of correct minerals and free from various particles in
Strategic Marketing 8
areas like drinking, bathing, or cleaning. They also consider consumers who have
interests and hobbies like swimming as it offers multiple swimming pool technologies
and services in its portfolio. Besides, BWT targets an audience who have high value
and interest for themselves, their families, and even their consumers (hotels and
industries) in terms of health. Consumers with such high interest and value in their
or other lives aim at interacting with treated and clean water to avoid any related
effect or infections.
3.4 Behavioral Segmentation
This form of marketing segmentation entails dividing the target audience into
groups based on specific and common behavioral patterns. It involves variables like
purchasing behavior, the benefit sought, usage, occasion and time, user status, or
customer loyalty (Dolnicar, Grn, and Leisch, 2018, p. 324). BWT water treatment
technologies and services do not target customers based on specific occasions, as
water is required by consumers every time and anywhere. BWT considers the
variable of usage in its segmentation. It targets customers who are medium and
heavy users of its water since it increases the need for consuming its services. That
is one reason why its target audience comprises households that interact with water
in all their activities, hotels, and industries that depend on water to initiate their
operations.
The other variable considered by BWT is the benefit sought, which entails the
benefits that consumers seek in a service or product. BWT targets consumers who
are familiar with the advantage of using clean and well-treated water in their
Strategic Marketing 9
operations, whether it is households through drinking, cleaning, or bathing or hotels,
and industries through their operations. BWT targets this audience with its water
technologies and services that treat and removes all the chemicals unnecessary for
their usage.
Strategic Marketing 10
4. The VALUE PROPOSITION AND CREATION OF VALUE
The value proposition is a promise of the value stated by an organization that
summarizes how the organization’s products and services benefits will be delivered,
acquired, and experienced. It merely specifies what makes an organization’s
products and services attractive, reasons customers should purchase them, and
how the products’ value is different from competitors (Payne, Frow and Eggert,
2017, pp.467-489). Generally, a value proposition is often addressed to the target
audience or target segment.
BWT value proposition mainly focuses on quality products, safety, hygiene,
and health of its consumers through their day to day interaction with water. BWT
focuses on improving customers’ quality of life through high-quality water treatment
systems, technologies, and services. The BWT high-quality water treatment
technologies are geared towards providing customers with high-quality water, better
experience and enjoyment. Through its technologies, BWT ensures high safety,
hygiene, and health in consumers in their day to day contact with water. The
company aims and promises to satisfy the customers with high-quality water
treatment systems and, at the same time, conserve the blue planet’s resources.
BWT invest heavily in innovation and research and development in all areas
of water treatment to improve the processes involved in water filtration,
decarbonization, pure steam generation, pure water distillation, ion exchanger
membranes, among others, to increase the quality of its technologies, and offer
services that promote high-quality water, good health, safety, and hygiene. For
decades, BWT has been committed to attaining a single goal of improving people’s
Strategic Marketing 11
quality of life in areas where water is involved. This is through its custom-tailored
water treatment solutions that offer high-quality water for the customers.
BWT believes that the primary way to improve its products is through
extensive research and innovation. BWT mainly creates value for its consumers
through extensive innovation to help develop the best water treatment technologies
and services that help provide high-quality water and ensure better health, safety,
and hygiene. Innovation helps the company set new water treatment standards that
increase the quality of their services more than the competitors
(https://www.bwt.com/en/).
It believes that the water technology edge can only be gained through
innovation and action. Therefore, continuously research in all water treatment areas
in its innovation centers to improve multiple processes related to filtration, softening,
decarbonization, pure water distillers, ozone generators, and chlorine dioxide
generators to come up with the best water treatment technologies.
https://www.bwt.com/en/
Strategic Marketing 12
5. BRAND POSITION AND STRATEGY
The water treatment industry has many companies that are under very stiff
competition globally. BWT has competitors like the Rain Soft, Eco Water system,
and Hague Quality Water. Based on the analysis of BWT and the competitors, BWT
is more of a leader than a follower in the water treatment industry. Being a leader
means a company sets itself apart from competitors by being adaptive, innovative,
and providing high-quality products and services to the target market (Chernev,
2018, n.p).
The water treatment industry is based on water treatment technologies, and
due to technological advancement, these water treatment facilities continuously
change. BWT is the leading innovator in the water treatment industry. It continuously
involves its staff in the research regarding areas of water filtration and treatment in
its various innovation centers (https://www.bwt.com/en/). BWT doesnt restrict itself
to existing standards and shelf products; instead, it consistently sets new water
technology standards. Its innovation strategy is driven by a philosophy “Feel Taste
See the Difference,” which enables them to offer high-quality products to the
customer with real innovation.
BWT has won various awards in regards to innovation. In 2018, it won the
“KitchenInnovation of the year 2018” for the table water filter based on
functionality, innovation, design, and ecology. It was also granted the first position in
the Innovation Award for its Magnesium technology used in consumer and
professional table water filters (https://www.bwt.com/en/). In 2017, BWT also won a
Plus X Award for being the best product of the year regarding the AQA, being the
https://www.bwt.com/en/
https://www.bwt.com/en/
Strategic Marketing 13
best domestic softener. In the same year, it also won a Trend Product of the Year
award and the Golden Award Best of the Best in cleaning and household for its
quick and clean limescale protection system. These various awards, among other
global awards, are evidence that BWT is a leader mostly in the sector of innovation
and production of quality products for its consumers.
Moreover, BWT is also a leader in the water treatment industry because it
satisfies a wide range of customers internationally compared to its competitors. BWT
works with thousands of partners in more than 80 countries compared to
competitors like Rain soft, which operates in only 20 countries. Besides, based on
the GfK research market companys report this year, BWT has a market share of 43.
9% in regards to electronic retailers. This is almost half of the total market
percentage, meaning BWT controls a large proportion of the water treatment
industry. BWT Group is also among the leading companies in revenue in the
industry for example in 2016 it reported a revenue of $610M sales. It is committed to
increase its revenue every quarter by investing extensively in innovation, it reports
more than $320m in every quarter. Besides in 2020, it had 500M turnover, with a
93% and 96% rating in its Magnesium water and tea/coffee respectively.
BWT follows a broad differentiation strategy. This strategy involves providing
broad customers with unique and distinct products from rivals to increase
competitive advantage (Sousa, and da Silveira, 2020, n.p). BWT aims to satisfy a
broad market consisting of households, hotels, industries, public and private sectors
with unique and distinct water treatment systems, technology, and services. It
continuously invests heavily in innovation and research to develop new and unique
Strategic Marketing 14
products for its customers. BWT has won multiple awards in regards to the
production of the best, different and unique products in various categories. BWT is
often not satisfied with its shelf products and consistently set new standards in the
water treatment industries instead of restricting itself to the existing standards.
6. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, BWT is an international company and a leading water
technology company in Europe. The company’s target market is households, hotels,
industries, private customers, and public sectors. It focuses on the middle to high-
level class consumers based in developed, industrialized, and high populated
nations. It targets medium to high social class customers who are more concerned
about the quality of water they use. BWT is more of a leader than a follower in the
industry because it has won multiple innovation awards, satisfies wider groups
through its operation in more than 80 nations, and offers quality and unique
products. Its value proposition mainly focuses on the quality, health, and safety of its
customers.
Strategic Marketing 15
7. REFERENCES
Camilleri, M.A., 2018. Market segmentation, targeting, and positioning. In Travel
marketing, tourism economics, and the airline product (pp. 69-83). Springer,
Cham.
Chernev, A., 2018. Strategic marketing management. Cerebellum Press.
Dolnicar, S., Grn, B., and Leisch, F., 2018. Market segmentation analysis:
Understanding it, doing it, and making it useful (p. 324). Springer Nature.
https://www.bwt.com/en/.
Payne, A., Frow, P., and Eggert, A., 2017. The customer value proposition:
evolution, development, and application in marketing. Journal of the Academy
of Marketing Science, 45(4), pp.467-489.
Sousa, R., and da Silveira, G.J., 2020. Advanced services and differentiation
advantage: an empirical investigation. International Journal of Operations &
Production Management.
https://www.bwt.com/en/ 1
Business Case
Assignment Case
BCO211 Strategic marketing
2
BWT The Company
Vision:
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3
The Internationally Leading Water Technology Group
4 production facilities
500 million turnover
2,800 employees
R&D departments in France,
Germany, Switzerland and
Austria
Globally leading know-how in
all areas of water treatment
BWT The Company
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4
4
Leading R&D Competence
5
5
Water filtration at the Point of Entry
Filtration Softening
Limescale Protection AQA total
6
6
Water filtration for trade & industry
Softening Reverse Osmosis PERMAQ
Reverse Osmosis &
Electro-deionisation UV- & Ozone-Disinfection
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7
Water filtration for Pharma and Biotech Water
BWT Osmotron Pro PW BWT Ultrastil
BWT Multitron BWT Combitron
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References BWT- industrial partners
Beverage
Pharma
http://www.janssen-cilag.de/?product=none
http://www.gene.com/gene/index.jsp
http://www.bbraun.de/cps/rde/xchg/bbraun-de/hs.xsl/index.html
http://www.abbott.com/
http://www.pg.com/de_DE/index.shtml
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KitchenInnovation of the year 2018 for the BWT table water filter in the
categories functionality, innovation, design and ecology
No. 1 Innovation Award of the State of Upper Austria for the Magnesium
Mg2+-Technology used in professional and consumer table water filters
Winner of the award Trend Product of the Year 2017 and Golden Award
Best of the Best in the category Houshold & Cleaning for BWT Quick &
Clean limescale protection system
Plus X Award Best product of the Year 2017
AQA perla for the domestic softener
No. 1 Innovation Award at Technopharm for the BWT OSMOTRON
product strengths in innovation, quality, efficiency and economic operation
No. 1 Design Award of the Republic of Austria for the
RONDOMAT duo S large softener series
Award Winning Products
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Why BWT?
BWT is technology leader and continually sets new standards in the
area of water filtration through innovations
BWT offers economical and ecological products and methods in all
areas of water filtration
BWT invests in state-of-the-art infrastructure with the highest
production standards
BWT sustainably invests into the brand development and the
communication towards the end consumer
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Market situation and potential
table water filter
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water is element No.1 for healthy lifestyle
water consumption is still increasing
Water element No.1
Per capita consumption of bottled water rapidly increasing:
2020: 189 Litre*
1990: 80 Litre
*source: VDM, 2020
Water is the No.1 beverage in Germany
4,5 Mio. households already own a table water filter*
Further 1,2 Mio. households plan to buy a table water filter in
the next two years**
**source: study Typologie der Wnsche, 2019
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The market needs competition
Market entrance of BWT:
BWT brings the B-to-B know-how to the consumer
Competition is pushing the total category
BWT is investing massively in the brand and the sell-out
Actual status:
Until now: brand monopoly by Brita
A monopoly is only positive for the monopolist,
not for the market
No innovations and successful breakthrough for years
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BWT already grows the market
Total Market Development (Germany):
12-month-comparison Sept 18 – Aug 19 vers. Sept 19 Aug 20 (Source GfK)
Value Volume
Cartridges + 19% + 20%
Systems + 21 % + 18%
Regarding electronic retailers BWT already has
a market share of 43,9% (Source: GfK 10/2020, El.+I Trade/Indep BuyGr)
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Our target group
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Megatrends
Most important trends over the past years:
Convenience
Wellness
Sustainability
Indulgence
Table water filters perfectly fit consumer trends and will
grow in importance.
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Target group LOHAS
important values:
sustainability, responsibility, quality, environment, indulgence
healthy products have to also provide good taste
Mostly 2- and/or 3-person households, high income
Information seekers, active in social media
LOHAS
Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability
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Our Innovation:
Patented Magnesium-Technology
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1919
Our patented innovation
BWT is one step ahead!
Most water filters reduce limescale, heavy metals and taste
inhibiting elements like chlorine.
But also minerals are removed out of the water, the pH-value is
reduced and therefore the water has a sour taste.
NEW: thanks to the BWT magnesium technology the filtered water
is enriched with the valuable mineral magnesium.
Magnesium is a flavour carrier and perfectly enhances the aroma
of coffee and tea. Thanks to the magnesium the pH-value of the
water stays neutral and the water is considered as soft, fresh and
pleasant.
The BWT Gourmet water sets new standards in terms of
taste and performance verified convincingly in tests. Result:
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Our approved innovation:
Convinced experts and consumers
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BWT is convincing experts
Magnesium makes the difference
BWT is No. 1 in the sensoric test from institute Fresenius regarding the
taste of drinking water, tea and coffee.
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2222
BWT is convincing consumers
Product test and Word-of-mouth-Activity:
Independent online test platform Konsumgttinnen
1.000 test persons, only existing Brita-users have tested
More than 93% of all testers rate the taste of BWT Magnesium water as
excellent or good
96% rated tea and coffee, prepared with BWT water as excellent or good
91% would recommend BWT to other consumers
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Brand positioning
BWT table water filter
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Strong USP
The Magnesium-technology allows a positioning towards branded
mineral water. A clear differentiation towards competition!
Tests are underlining that BWT is perceived as an equivalent to
brands like Evian, Vittel and Volvic in the category of taste.
We have to convince the consumer of the brilliant smooth taste
of BWT, followed by the rational argument of cost advantage.
(5 Cent per litre for BWT vs. up to 80 Cent for branded mineral water)
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BWT Gourmet water is making bottled water unnecessary!
Strong USP
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Our assortment
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Premier Filter Collection
Safety EditionGourmet Edition Mg2+Gourmet Edition
Silver free
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Gourmet Edition
29
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NEW as of May 2013: Black Penguin
First Layout
NEW
2,7l Black Penguin
translucent dark grey
improved UV-protection
smoked frosted funnel
lid and grip in black
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Product features
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Product highlights
with electronic indicator
with Easy Fill
total capacity: 2,7 L
filtered capacity: 1,5 L
available in white, aubergine, blue, green
RRP: 24,95
entry level jug
electronic or manual indicator
total capacity: 2,5 L
filtered capacity: 1,3 L
RRP: 17,95
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2,7 Litre Colour Edition
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Easy Control
Counts volume and time easy filling without fitting for most common fridges
New timer from may 2013 taking off the lid
Easy Fill Easy Fit
Product highlights
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