-
Marketing: An introduction
Assessment 1 - Outcome covered 1
Assessment instructions
Before answering the following
questions you should read the accompanying
case study (Day Dream Toy Company). The
case study outlines background
information about the company and you
should make reference to the
organisation in answering the
questions. The same organisation is used in
Assessment 2 of this unit.
1 Identify three key characteristics of
the marketing concept.
2 Explain and
give examples of the key factors influencing the
micro and macro
environment of Day
Dream Toys.
3 Explain why market
research and the information gathered are
important to an
organisation like Day
Dream Toys.
4
Explain
how
Day
Dream
Toys
might
collect
and
use
market
research
information. Include one quantitative
and one qualitative research technique in
your response.
5 Explain
the process of market segmentation and targeting,
and the benefits of
segmentation and
targeting to Day Dream Toys.
Day Dream Toy Company
—
A case study
Background information
The
Day
Dream
Toy
Company
has
a
workforce
of
over
1,000
based
in
three
different sites in the
UK. The company was established in the early 1990s
and its
marketing activities are co-
ordinated from its headquarters in Chester.
The original company produced a limited
range of wooden toys aimed at the
pre-
school market. Its range of
products was originally limited to wooden building
bricks, simple wooden jigsaws and a
limited selection of wooden animals. As the
company became more established, the
product range was expanded to include
dolls’ houses and wooden train sets.
In the early days the
company sold through small, independent toys
shops, but
despite numerous attempts,
it was unable to persuade any of the large chain
stores
to stock its products. Despite
this, the company maintained a reasonable
turnover,
and it slowly expanded its
product portfolio to include a range for the
5
–
8 year
old
market.
Disenchanted by its inability
to become accepted by any of the larger chains,
the
company toyed with the idea of mail
order selling. A catalogue was produced and
distributed through some of the leading
Sunday newspapers, and although sales
increased, this was not a particularly
successful venture.
Mail order selling
was dropped after only a year, but it did serve to
bring the
company’s name to the
attention of the public, and more importantly to
the toy
industry. The company’s image
of high quality toys, made from natural products,
appealed to the increasingly vocal
environmental lobby, and at last, a leading
depa
rtment store chain
agreed to stock Day Dream’s products. This proved
to be
a lucrative agreement for Day
Dream, and it helped the company expand during
the late 1990s.
The
company’s big break, however, came when the Welsh
language TV channel
SC4 introduced an
animated series featuring an assortment of animal
characters
collectively known as the
‘Country Cousins’. Against fierce competition, Day
Dream won the contract to make a
limited range of merchandise featuring the
characters,
and
the
popularity
of
the
series
resulted
in
sales
which
were
way
beyond Day Dreams most optimistic
expectations.
Following
the
success
of
‘Country
Cousins’,
ITV
decided
to
give
the
series
national airing, and in the lead up to
the national launch, Day Dream expanded
and
developed
its
range
of
merchandise. At
the same
time,
the
company
also
introduced
‘Country
Cousins’
books
and
to
this
end,
it
acquired
an
ailing
publishing company in
Exeter.
This was Day Dream’s first
venture into publishing, but by retaining the
existing
expertise within the newly
acquired company, and through its own established
distribution
network,
this
became
a
highly
profitable
part
of
the
company’s
portfolio.
The books were sold principally through
toy shops and department stores as part
of the overall ‘Country Cousins’
package, and by concentrating on its established
toy
retailers
rather
than
bookshops,
Day
Dream
did
not
need
to
employ
any
additional sales
representatives. This proved to be a successful
and cost effective
approach, which is
still employed at the moment.
As
the
business
continued
to
expand,
Day
Dream
bought
over
a
soft
toy
manufacturer which was initially
devoted to the production of ‘Country Cousins’
figures.
The
‘Country
Cousins’
phenomenon
reached
its
peak
in
the
late
1990s,
and
although
the
company
is
still
turning
in
reasonable
profits,
there
are
growing
concerns for its future security. The
success of ‘Country Cousins’, however, has
given
Day
Dream
a
foothold
in
the
market,
and
having
firmly
established
its
brand name and identity, Day Dream
products are still stocked by some of the
major toy retailers.
Although the sales of ‘Country Cousins’
merchandise are declining, the range is
still an important part
of
Day Dream’s business. The range currently includes
wooden
figures,
cuddly
figures,
wooden
play
houses
and
scenery,
a
series
of
thirty
‘Country
Cousins’
story
books,
a
‘Country
Cousins’
Annual
which
has
been produced each year since 1996,
‘Country Cousins’ stationery, pencil cases,
note pads, cards, etc and ‘Country
Cousins’ toiletries, including soap, shampoos,
sponges, bath salts, etc.
In
addition
to
the
‘Country
Cousins’
range,
Day
Dream
still
produces
its
traditional
wooden
jigsaws,
wooden
animals,
wooden
building
blocks
and
various other wooden
toys aimed at the pre-school market.
A
major turning point in the popularity of the
‘Country Cousins’ range came in
2008
when
ITV
decided
to
drop
the
programme
from
its
schedules.
The
popularity of the series
had been waning for a number of years, and its
demise
had
been
inevitable
for
some
time.
In
the
year
following
the
programme’s
withdrawal,
sales of ‘Country Cousins’ merchandise fell to 40%
of the 2002 peak.