Marketing is a broad topic that has new trends every time due to the changing consumerism. It covers a raft of elements, such as marketing research, digital marketing, branding and packaging, and brand extensions, among other concepts. Thus, every media would indulge to cover market news as one way to draw attention to the respective customers on the current traits in markets. In this paper, two articles will be utilized to relate the marketing concept learned in class. First, the MarketWatch publication covers how Apple unveiled the new Air Pods and high-end Mac devices as one way to expand the market. The second article is in The New York Times, which covers Instagram’s struggles with fears of losing its key young users.
Synopsis of the Two Articles
In the MarketWatch business publication dated October 18, 2021, titled āApple unveils new AirPods and high-end Mac computers as it expands its holiday lineup’, Dow Jones covers marketing concepts by the company. Jones writes that the firm plans to unveil a cheaper Apple Music package and new Home Pod colors (Jones, 2021). Additionally, Apple Inc. announced new Mac Pro laptops that comprise the firm’s custom chips and an upgraded set of Air Pods, which would be part of the holiday plans. The new AirPods have shorter stems, a wireless charging port, and durable battery life. Other developments are on spatial-audio capabilities, whose main concern is to improve the sound from the existing technology of the same product. According to Jones (2021), the cost for the new Air Pods will be $179 while the new orange, blue and yellow Home Pods speakers would go for $99.
The second article is a The New York Times segment on October 16, 2021, titled āInstagram struggles with fears of losing its āpipeline”: Young Users.’ The work was done by Sheera Frenkel, Ryan Mac, and Mike Isaac, the trio working for the company on business productions. The first key point that the author highlights is Instagram’s exemplary success in 2018, where the social media tool reached more than one billion users. When compared to Facebook, Instagram had hit the other platforms and posed a threat as the authorās notes (Frenkel et al., 2021). However, the writers note that according to the 2018 marketing presentation, the application was complaining about the loss of teenage users to other social media apps due to competition evident for the tools. According to documents seen by The New York Times, a memo read āIf we lose the teen foothold in the U.S., we lose the pipelineā (Frenkel et al., 2021). Following the thread, Instagram developed a marketing budget of $390 million that targeted teenagers through digital advertisement.
How the Articles Relate to the Concepts of Marketing
Appleās drive to have new Air Pods and new Mac Pro laptops relate to the product, branding, and packaging concepts. First, Apple is seeking to develop Mac Pro personal computers and Air Pods, which are parts of the products for the companies (Jones, 2021). In the article, the major issue is to improve the brands by adding more capable features to the existing brands. As the author notes, the existing Mac-one would be boosted by having a new handset that has a double capability. The reason why Apple improved the two products is to ensure they remain stable in the market. To ensure that they advance the items in the right way, there was a need to undertake marketing research to know what consumers want.
In the research, the firm analyzed and found that most of the users would want to have flexible devices that have high power to perform different functions. The other concern for the company would be to add value to the brand by having advanced products that are worth the price (Jones, 2021). Product upgrading is one way to market the company over other competitors who may not offer the same functions. Therefore, Apple’s new products would be packaged differently to show the new features. Thus, the article relates to product, brand, and packaging functions learned in class.
The article covering Instagram issues relates to digital marketing tools, market segmentation, and market research. First, Instagram is a social media tool that is useful when it comes to networking in marketing. Second, the company wishes to segment by targeting the youth to be active users. Lastly, market research fits as Instagram monitored the trends that made the company’s directors conclude a decline in new users. In this case, Instagram employed a marketing strategy that aimed to capture the attention of the youth and teenagers through digital ads (Frenkel et al., 2021). All the concepts in the article have been covered, as elaborated above. The research done by Instagram analytics shows that the teenagers felt low when they saw their body image on Instagram and they sought to join Facebook and Titok (Frenkel et al., 2021). Therefore, it is clear social media and networking are shown as key factors in modern business. Companies adopt a strategy to defeat others and that is what Instagram sought to do for competitive advantage. Thus, the elements learned in class about digital marketing, networking, and market research can be related, as discussed above.
References
Frenkel, S., Mac, R., & Isaac, M. (2021). Instagram struggles with fears of losing its āpipelineā: young users. The New York Times. Web.
Jones, D. (2021). Apple unveils new Air Pods and high-end Mac computers as it expands its holiday line-up. Morning Star. Web.