Lenovo Marketing

Lenovo Acquisition Analysis Product/ deformity decisions Some of the issues Lenovo had to deal with in the acquisition of IBM was how to capitalize on the union of disgraces and how to win somatic respect with the Lenovo trademark. The acquisition allowed Lenovo to move quickly into the planetary marketplace. Given that IBM had one of the most trusted brands around the being, this allowed Lenovo to build on past IBMs reputation. But Lenovo completely had the right to engross the IBM logo for five years so they valued to leverage that asset.The media intuition of Lenovos knowledge with the Chinese g overnment was also c erstwhilerning to Lenovos executives since firms with this type association tend to get low marks for trus iirthiness. In response they did buttock to face surveys to determine client concerns. After choosing to focus on mental home and quality the follow eventually settled on a system with dickens elements build up the Lenovo brand as obtain brand and continue to strengthen the ThinkPad brand which rated high among corporate buyers. Pricing decisions Lenovos pricing decisions was a case of how to position itself in the minds of consumers.They had already give out very efficient with the cost of manufacturing since most of the components were already being do in post of China. But they had to choose what its brand essence would be and over how many categories its brand would be stretched. As they saw it thither were two groups with which to argue. One group included the discounted pricing model like dell, HP, genus Acer and such. An other(a) group included Apple and IBM which distinguished their intersections on plan and quality. So to remain competitive, Lenovo planned to launch their brand-new PC serial 3000.This was an attempt to keep the master brand and the ThinkPad as luxury products at a premium cost and to create another product that was priced turn away and could compete in the market on another level. They chose not to compete directly on price with the 3000 family by applying what they learned business consumers wanted which was worry free computing. They were going to stress in their marketing strategy that the Lenovo brand stood for knowledgeableness. Competing on price would have given the perception of a cheap product from China. But they learned that consumers put a premium value on quality, reliability and durability.Distribution decisions The acquisition allowed Lenovo to acquire dissemination channels that IBM had already built up. It now had a marketplace to 138 countries where some(prenominal) businesses had been selling previously. Prior to the acquisition sales in China for Lenovos were 70% transactional through business partners and 30% by relationships or consulting. globally for Lenovo it was the opposite with only 30% of sales through partners. IBMs customer base had been predominantly corporate customers. On the supply chain side IBM pcs were already sourced in China so there were operational efficiencies to be gained.According to one executive there appeared to be no channel conflict since they had complementary products and client bases. They could assembly a spacious product portfolio and use global distribution to take products around the world. cartel the two cultures still posed a altercate to making the company function in the manner it was the merger was conceived. Even though Lenovo had model itself after(prenominal) HP and IBM by focusing on meritocracy, the potential for corporate and operational clashes had not been clearly removed. However, the young CEO Yang exhorted them to work unneurotic as they integrate the two companies. The key message was to trust the other person. This helped foster an atmosphere that would help the transition. Promotion decisions Lenovo had many challenges approach them with regard to progression of the brand and product portfolio. One was how to position the ThinkPad brand with the market and whe ther to put this brand on existing Lenovo products. The marketing private instructor thought this would dilute the ThinkPad brand and decided to keep the ThinkPad as a separate product class that would build on its reputation of a premium business notebook.This became part of their strategy of a one-two punch edifice up the Lenovo master brand and continue to strengthen the ThinkPad product brand. entirely before the acquisition Lenovo had negotiated an Olympic sponsorship in order to introduce the world to the brand. They would be able to use the Olympic logo for marketing and promotion but this arrangement would come at a hefty price of $80 million to start and another $160 for the extra announce requirement a large sum for a company with $3. 2 billion in sales.Lenovo would also be able to continue to use the IBM logo for five years as part of the acquisition which they think to leverage. The promotion strategy led to a three class ad plan. First, they ran a worldwide run ning where each ad ended with a mention of the ThinkPad instead of Lenovo to reassure customer and maintain the ThinkPad momentum. The second campaign was labeled ThinkPad Unleashed which ran during the Olympics to emphasis that the ThinkPad was being made even better. The third phase stressed that Lenovo stood for innovation which is how they intended to differentiate themselves from their competitors.In order to continue to uprise awareness, the marketing manager studied brand-tracking research from 10 countries every quarter. They would chose product placements on TV shows in countries like India as a root of the studies. They also explored unconventional ways to position the company as Dell and HP continued to outspend them in ad dollars by as much as 20 clock in the US and 10 times in Japan. Upon introducing a 3000 family of pcs for the small business market, the challenge was how to position it as price-competitive without the perception that they were cheap products from China.This might dilute the master brand. They would investigate more in depth about what business customers finally wanted in their pcs. To help with what their research revealed, each PC came with a set of tools labeled LenovoCare for worry-free computing. Marketing strategy The marketing strategy would eventually stress a family of innovative products that resulted from the marriage of the two brands. This would help support their mission statement We put more innovation in the hands of more people so they can do more amazing things.Delivering on this mission would prove to be harder than full saying it. From the outset, Lenovo strived to create a management team that was representative of the new global market. They achieved this by hiring employees in the countries where they sold the PCs. Developing a marketing strategy that spanned the globe was a daunting task that would only be successful if their diverse team of executives worked unneurotic. Having multiple cultures wo rking together toward the same goal would be difficult. Within the first several months after the acquisition the Lenovo did lose market share.Now the company would have to stand on the Lenovo brand to get them through the next several difficult months of renovation that share and getting more entrenched in the US market. They would see to it that even in their own home country of China where they once had the advantage that competition had become more intense due to additional ad dollars they were spending. As long as they continued to support the innovative culture which won IBM so much recognition and to work to mold the cultures manage together this would lead to a successful future.