In Taiwan, the Chinese have a tradition on the first day of the seventh lunar month, or what’s call Ghost Month. This is when the gates of hell open wide and the spirits are allowed a month of feasting and revelry in the world of the living . The Eastern societies try to appease the dead, rather than trying to reject the dead, by inviting the ghost into the world of the living. The Taiwanese prepare for their ghostly guest by setting up elaborate banquet types of feast; Hosting several Operas, Parades, and other Ceremonial events. During the month long celebrations the Taiwanese prepares special meals in honor of Ghost Month. They believe that the more lavish of offering the food is the happier the ghost will be and less likely to bring bad luck to the family.
Within the paper towel market, 72 percent to 92 percent of consumers’ households in western countries currently use paper towel products. Most every household consumer would rather spend the money on a paper product than suffer the bacterial dangers carried by cloths, including salmonella.
The one market segment that was not using paper towels was in the Taiwan market. In the case in point article, Kimberly-Clark reported that it had only 42 percent of the people using paper towels. Most of the people still used the common rag or cloth. In order to capture more of the market, Kimberly-Clark hired a marketing communication team from Golin/Harris Taiwan to create a new design for the paper towels and to create a new media campaign.
The Research paper on Night Market
ABSTRACT Night markets are usual event found in Malaysia. Occurring close to the residential area, the main supporter of the night market operation is the surrounding community who ensure the night market sustainability. This research is to investigate the perception of the community towards the existent of night market in their area and collect suggestion to improve the night market structure. ...
It was up to this communication team to recognize who the specific groups of customers were and the purchase behaviors or identifying characteristics that they could find to boost the sales of paper towels within Taiwan. Kimberly-Clark and the communication team recognized that it needed to come up with a creative market segmentation strategy that could afford the business a competitive advantage over competition. It was important to identify the underserved niche and provide the right product into the market that would lead them into a profitable increase in business. The goal was to understand the customers’ needs and develop a strategy to Attract, Satisfy, and Retain the target customer.
The Communication group began to research what they could do to attract the consumer to purchase paper towels. How could the use of paper towels be satisfying to the consumer in Taiwan? From the research they found out that the Taiwanese people had this month long celebration called “Ghost Month”. It was from this discovery that the decided to look at marketing the paper towels as an additional item that could be used for the banquet feast during the month long celebrations. The communication team identified that the paper towel’s look and design was more important to the Taiwanese than the cost. They decided to design the print on the paper towels to reflect the celebration and colors that was consistent with the values that the Taiwanese’s felt were important.
Golin/Harris hired a Forklore specialist Dr. Liu Huan-Yuen to consult on the design process and to become a spokesperson during the campaign. Dr. Liu-Huan elaborated on the meaning behind the new design motifs: “family peace, “wealth/prosperity” and “luck in study”. They also hired the local fashion commentator, Rosalie Huang, to design and decorate set’s that would be used for the media and press launches. The next phase was to execute a successful campaign to raise awareness through the media of the need for disposable paper towels during the Ghost Month.
The Term Paper on Organizational Communication 3
"Communication is the process of transmitting and receiving ideas, information, and messages. The rapid transmission of information over long distances and the ready access to information have become conspicuous and important factors of human society, especially in the past 150 years"(D'Aprix p.96). The encyclopedia definition of communication encompasses the idea of exchanging a variety of ...
The promotional strategy was to promote the newly designed paper towel through wide spread press coverage in a concentrated period. The team polled several newspaper editors and television producers to determine the best timing for the campaign. From this research they strategically positioned the specialty paper towels to be sold only for one month prior to Ghost Month, similar to what we do in the Western Countries to attract purchases that center around holidays. The focus of the coverage was to show the Taiwan consumer that the paper towel was not only for everyday cleaning usage, but also a “magic weapon for luck during Ghost Month. This would be one way to control the product mix for maximum efficiency.
The communication team used different sources of media tactics to attract buyers by placing the ad segments on leading cable television, online promotions options with leading Taiwan portal and culminated with some 45 news clippings in the weeks leading up to and during Ghost Month.
So was designing a responsive product of designer paper towels able to meet the need in the marketplace successful? In the case in point study it stated that the paper towels sales for the Taiwan Market for the month increased by 15 percent over the year. In addition, Kimberly-Clark’s share of the NT$6000 million market (US $18 million) increased by 14 percent during the month. Kimberly-Clark is now looking at ways to roll this program into other Asia markets.
References
http://www.lyberty.com/encyc/articles/ghostmonth.html 3/30/05
http://www.sinica.edu.tw/tit/festivals/1096_Ghosts.html By: Cliff Vost 3/30/05
Communication World May-June 2004, Case in Point: Campaign Turns to “Ghosts to Rally Paper Towel Sales in Taiwan” by Darren H. Burns
