International Marketing Communication Plan For Brew N Bread’s Coffee Bags In Malaysia And Singapore

Discussion

International marketing refers to the application of the principles of marketing to more than one nation or national boundary (De Mooij 2018). It is basically done to satisfy the needs of the different people belonging from different segments residing all over the national and international boundaries. It is based on different strategies that are created in the home country of the company and then, is distributed to the other offices. Expanding the business internationally requires much effort and strategic planning. However, it is to note that the process of planning, execution of the rates, the promotion strategies as well as the distribution of the product and the services are same all over the world. In this contemporary world, the companies are not limited to their national boundaries (De Mooji 2015). In fact, they are open for internationally marketing their products and services worldwide. Along with the ever increasing change in the demands of the customers, their choices, preferences and tastes, the world economies are expanding and is giving way to some more competitive marketing. Thus, organizations need to respond rapidly to the demands of the customers with well-defined marketing strategies.

The main purpose of this report is to formulate an international marketing communication (IMC) plan for a new product of Coffee Bags of Brew N Bread in one of the two chosen countries- Malaysia and Singapore (Yilmaz, Acar-Tek and Sozlu 2017). Brew N Bread provides diversities on both the food as well as beverages along with chef recommendations specified for each of the section in the menu such as for the main course, dessert, appetizer, beverages etc. This report shall briefly elaborate on analysing the competitive edge and internal and external environment of the two chosen countries in order to find out which would be the best suitable location for the product. This paper shall present a summarised IMC situation analysis and with the same, it shall discuss on the strengths and weaknesses of the brand. Furthermore, it would provide a brief on the industry trends in the identification of the threats and opportunities for the chosen product. The identification of the consumer trends shall also be included under this segment.

IMC situation analysis stands for Integrated Marketing Communication or International Marketing Communication situation analysis. A situational analysis helps in providing a deep insight into both the external and the internal conditions which could result in a more effective marketing communication strategy (Ots and Nyilasy 2015). It is also to note that this is also often referred to as SWOT analysis. It is a well-structured method for the evaluation of the internal weaknesses and strengths of the company or the product and the other potential external opportunities and the threats that could influence its business and operation in the international market (Luxton, Reid and Mavondo 2015). In this paper, for implementing the IMC strategy, both the external and the internal relevant situation are required to be analysed. By assessing these two components, the determination of the core competencies of the company would be very useful. With the same, it would also help in shaping the potential profits as well as in strengthening the overall performance of the organisation.

1. a) Variety- There are different flavours to the coffee bag such as vanilla, caramel, mocha and cinnamon dolce With the same, for other aged groups and for the youths, it would manufacture top-quality and fresh products and with the same, it would sell them all these at very low and affordable costs. Brew N Bread provides diversities on both the food as well as beverages along with chef recommendations specified for each of the section in the menu such as for the main course, dessert, appetizer, beverages etc. It is done especially to cater the needs of the customers for the uniqueness at their visit to the shop for the first time as well as to satisfy the different types of customers. With the same, it allows the customers to choose from its vast portfolio of products and services. It has high quality and unique products and services to offer its customers. Furthermore, it does not need added hot water for making it. It can work on both cold and hot water. With the same, the price that has been set for the product is also affordable to buy by any customer segment as it comes in all the three types of packaging- small, medium and large. Brew N Bread provides board games, chess and various other card games as well to keep the young ones involved. It also enables the customers to enjoy their beverage and meals along with having fun with their friends and families.
2. b) Employee engagement- The Company has a good level of employee engagement. It have potential and well-skilled employees who give their best to provide best services to the consumers. With the same, Coffee bags are prepared with top quality processors.

1. a) Brand awareness- The customers are not aware of the brand as well as the product as it is new in the Malaysian and the Singaporean market. Although, the product is unique and can be consumed very easily, still, the customers are completely unaware of it and also, buying a product and a brand that is completely new to them is matter of great concern for almost every customers. Near about every individual hesitate to buy a product about which they are not sure and are new to the market.
2. b) Prices- The price of the Coffee bag for the low-income customers is very high. As a result, customers could change their mind to buy Coffee bags from this brand and would go for its other potential competitors who are selling the product with comparatively lesser price range. Although, it comes in various packaging right from small to large packages, still, for the poor customer segment, it might be hard to afford.

An abbreviated or summarized IMC situation analysis

The new products and services could be retailed in the market (Valos et al. 2016). The product- coffee bag would get a huge chance of expanding its business in national and international market. With the same, it can also engage in co-branding activities with the other manufacturers of coffee present in Malaysia and Singapore region. The company can also form a long term relationship with the other significant coffee producers in the market in order to improve and enhance its product quantity and quality.

One of the most significant threats for Brew N Bread in the Malaysian and Singaporean region is that there are several potential competitors who are leading the business market. The demand for coffee is rapidly increasing among the customers and this has resulted in an increasing competition in this sector. In Malaysia, its main competitors are Pacific Coffee, Dr Café Coffee and Doi Chaang Coffee. On the other hand, the major competitors of it are Dazzling, Schmear, Spinelli and the Fine Coffee Company.

PESTLE Factors	Malaysia	Singapore
Political	§ As far as the political stability is concerned Malaysia witnesses an average of 0.22 points (Milner 2018). § Type of political framework is republic with parliamentary democracy. § As per the corruption index, Malaysia ranks 54 all over the world (Milner 2018).	§ On the contrary, Singapore enjoys more stable political environment. § The average political stability is 1.22 (Teo 2015). § Lowest political risks in the continent with a low corruption index is identified as an important aspect in Singapore.
Economic	§ The economic growth is slow. § The rate of growth is 4.7% in 2018 in compare to 5.9 last year that is considered to be a great threat for the country. § The government tries to resolve the problem with National Transformation, 2050 program. § High unemployment rate with an average growth of 3.5% or 22.3 thousands. § In terms of the foreign exchange rate the depreciation rate is about 27.5% against the USD in 2015.	§ High GDP and increasing economic development are the basic factors of Singaporean economy. § The GDP increase from 309.75 billion in 2016 to 346.62 billion in 2018 that is brilliant for Singapore. § As per economic freedom Singapore ranks 2nd with a score of 88.6 out of 100. § Diversifying economy with a number of industries like the tourism, pharmaceutical, IT and so on. § However, high labor cost is a problem for Singapore to manage human resource.
Social	§ Diverse ethnicity and religious differentiation are the key features. § Moreover, high rate of alcohol abuse is a threat. § Problems in high unemployment rate.	§ High tendency among the young generation to follow western culture and values. § High purchasing power of the customers. § High literacy rate with god knowledge in English. § Primary schooling is compulsory with proper parental care.
Technological	§ Growing adaptation of technological skills. § Expected growth in the e-commerce business up to US$ 6.2 billion from e-commerce (Phelps and Dawood 2014). § Strong banking sector with good distribution networks. § As per the report in 2015 Malaysia had 20.6 million internet users.	§ High trend in technological advancement. § Growth in communication and increase in connectivity are the main characteristics. § High IT infrastructure with the emerging trend in the e-commerce business. § 70% of the household has broadband internet (Spieser 2014).
Legal	§ Following the British legal framework. § Minimum wage law for the laborers. § The minimum wage is 1000 ringgit which is higher than most of the South-East Asian countries. § Adverse impact on the foreign investors to penetrate into the market. § Putting emphasis on the educational sector with highest fund.	§ E-Commerce program launched in 1996. § Supporting both the interests of the customers and the investors. § Important acts are Electronic Transaction Act, Intellectual Property Rights, Content Regulation, Tax related acts and duty acts.
Environmental	§ Eco-friendly approach with more emphasis on the tourism and farming. § Highest rate of deforestation. § It proves the inadequacy of the government to take the environmental issues seriously.	§ One of the greatest Carbon dioxide emission rates. § Ministry of Environment and Anti-Pollution Unit are responsible to control the environment. § Depends on Malaysian Water Supply due to lack of water resources.

1. Threats of new entrants- The threat of new entrants in the snacks industry is quite high. There is a significant threat by the new as well as the existing competitors present in Singapore. It is to note that the coffee and snacks industry is one of the most profitable industries that is quite potential of attracting competitors. The nature of the Singaporean market is competitive and this means that the demand of the customers in the market is high. As per Michael Porter, the threat of New Entrants shape the competitive structure of the very industry (Boyd, Royer and Goto 2018). The Coffee bag is quite less expensive product. However, the brand would be completely new to Singapore and also the required investment would also be quite low. Also, the barriers to entry is low and hence and this makes the threat of new entrants high as because of the low switching cost and low requirements of capital. With the same, restrictions would also be low.
2. Threats of Substitute- The threat of the substitute products is also low. As the coffee bag is something that could be consumed with both hot and cold water, hence, its competitors in the Singaporean market is low.
3. Bargaining power of the suppliers- The bargaining power of the suppliers for this product is medium. The powerful bargaining power of the suppliers, the buyer and the seller has a great influence on the totality of the business. Such impact could in turn reduce the profit of the buyers more favourable pricing, the quality of the service and the product limit. There are several farms in Africa and South America who supply coffee. Also, the coffee farms are comparatively less than a third. However, it is medium due to the fact that there is a huge array of farmlands which supply the speciality coffee beans.
4. Bargaining power of the buyers- One of the five forces of Michael Porter is the bargaining power. The bargaining power of the buyers refers to the pressure of the customer that they lay on the enterprise and this allows the firm to provide a comparatively higher quality of products as well as with better customer services and lower prices (Fabbri and Klapper 2016). It is to note that the demand of coffee is always very high among the customers belonging from every age range. Hence, the number of buyers in this industry is very large but their purchases are of very low volume. The services, experiences and the products are differentiated. A cup of coffee does not represent a significant fraction of the cost of living of the buyer. The power of buyers is low because of that they lacked the negotiation power and the ability to force down the prices and the pit competitors against one another.
5. Rivalry among the existing companies- The rivalries under the existing companies within this industry in Singapore is also medium. It is increasingly competitive in nature. When any competitor see the opportunity to develop and grow, they try their best to improve the product as per the demand of the customers. It is to note that the competition within the industrial competitiveness is a very significant issue and there would be many competitors who are trying to carry out a sufficient rate of return on the investment. With the same, the profitability is basically very low. There are several competitors in the Singapore market.

The term segmentation in the field of marketing and communication refers to the process of dividing the customers into various groups on the basis of their needs, behaviours and characteristics (Katz, Lazarsfeld and Roper 2017). It is one of the most effective strategy which could led to more efficient and effective use of marketing, particularly in the field of advertising. With the same, it is also believed that the advantages that people are looking for in the consumption of a particular product are the key reasons from the existence of the true market segments and are the better determinants of the behaviour as compared to the other approaches of segmentation. Therefore, Brew N Bread divided its service into three main segments that are- the price hunter, the health platter and the sophisticate on the basis of the sought benefit.

Moreover, the term targeting refers to the process of evaluation of the attractiveness of the each market segment as well as the process of selection of one or more segments to enter into the market as well as to determine the market segment that is the most desirable and the most appropriate for the established marketing efforts (Grant 2016). Bread N Brew is a very luxurious and unique company in terms of features, services and product portfolio. The target market for the product would be people ranging from the age range of 15 to 50 years. Under this, they shall be divided into segments- children, youth and the elder ones. For maintaining the target market, the company would offer different attractive discounts on the products and services.

Bases of Segmentation	Variables	Health platter	Sophisticate	Price hunter
Geographic	Location	Inner-city	Inner-city	Rural and Suburban
Behavioural	Benefit sought	Healthy and quality of food	Nice ambience and hygienic environment	Economic price
Psychological	Personality	Moderate consumer innovativeness	High customer innovativeness and low customer dogmatism	Low need for uniqueness and low variety seeking
Demographic	Age	25 to 50 years	20 to 40 years	15- 40 years
Occupation	Professionals	University students White collar employees	Blue collar labour Agricultural Teenagers
Education	Degree	Degree	Mid to high school and universities
Income	Medium to high	Medium to high	Medium to high

Internal Environment Analysis

For enhancing the positioning of the brand in the Malaysian and the Singapore market, the firm would mainly focus on the product characteristic which give benefits to its consumers as well as would attract a vast amount of customers towards the coffee bag.  The positioning strategy for the children is that they would make add different flavours to the coffee bag such as vanilla, caramel, mocha and cinnamon dolce flavour. With the same, for other aged groups and for the youths, it would manufacture top-quality and fresh products and with the same, it would sell them all these at very low and affordable costs. Although, in the initial period it would give them minimum profit, but gradually, it would help them in making a good position for the brand in the international market.

Option	Target market	Positioning Strategy	Marketing mix
1	Children of 15 to 20 years	Manufacture the coffee bag with different flavours like vanilla, caramel, mocha and cinnamon dolce.	Product- Coffee bags Price Small coffee bags- 5dollars Medium (pack of small coffee bags- 15 dollars Big (pack of small coffee bags)- 50 dollars Place- Singapore Promotion- Through both offline and online advertisement
2	Youth and people belonging from age rage 23 to 50 years	Fresh and high quality product with low cost	Product- Coffee bags Price Small coffee bags- 5dollars Medium (pack of small coffee bags- 15 dollars Big (pack of small coffee bags)- 50 dollars Place- Singapore Promotion- Through both offline and online advertisement

Target Market Selection Process

	COST
Network TV	§ Average Daytime Unit § Average Primetime Unit § Average Late-night Unit § Regular Season NBA § Regular Season NFL	§ $35,000 per commercial § $150,000 per commercial § $45,000 per commercial § $80,000 per commercial § $100,000 per commercial
Cable TV	§ Channel 8 § e-Le § Vasantham § Okto § Bloomerg Television § CNN International § CNBC Asia	§ $5,000 per commercial § $30,000 per commercial § $20,000 per commercial § $30,000 per commercial § $5,000 per commercial § $30,000 per commercial § $20,000 per commercial
Radio	§ Small City § Large City	§ $50 per commercial § $2,000 per commercial
Billboards	§ Small City § Average City § Large City – Major Spot	§ $500 per billboard (monthly) § $2,000 per billboard (monthly) § $50,000 per billboard (monthly)
Newspaper	§ zbCOMMA § Berita Harian § Lianhe Wanbao § Business Times § Thumbs Up § The News Paper § The Straits Times § Today	§ $20,000 per advertisement § $60,000 per advertisement § $4,000 per advertisement § $35,000 per advertisement
Magazines	§ Manja § Her World § The Executive § 8 Days § Asian Geographic § PC magazine	§ $75,000 per advertisement § $85,000 per advertisement § $65,000 per advertisement § $65,000 per advertisement § $45,000 per advertisement § $65,000 per advertisement
Web Banners	Range	§ $50-$200 per banner (weekly)

The top five international marketing communication objectives of the brand would be the following:

1. To attain a 25% return on the capital employed by the month of September 2019.
2. To achieve 20% of the market for the coffee and other beverages by October 2019
3. To increase the awareness of the brand in the chosen international market from 11% to 24% by the month of June of the same year.
4. To increase the trail of the Coffee bag from 2.5% to 6% of the selected target group by the month of February of 2019.
5. To broaden the reach within December 2019.

Conclusion 

Hence, from the above analysis it is to state that Singapore has a much better scope for the business of Brew N Bread. One of the main reason for choosing Singapore over Malaysian region is to gain a competitive edge as well as to establish brand awareness in a wide geographic segment. As per the external market analysis of both the countries, it has been observed that the consumers in Singapore wants best quality products at lower price. They are price sensitive. However, it is also to state that, as compared to Malaysia, the population in Singapore is quite low. Although, it is one of the major disadvantage of this location, still, it is believed that the product would gain more profit in this regions because of its other favourable environmental conditions. The Coffee bags of this company has several advantages over its other competitors. It does not need added hot water for making it. It can work on both cold and hot water. With the same, the price that has been set for the product is also affordable to buy by any customer segment as it comes in all the three types of packaging- small, medium and large.

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