Marketing 230 - Microsoft XBox Essay PDF

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This essay regarded the question "How does marketing apply to the advertisement (shown in class)?" ...

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Marketing 230 - Microsoft XBox Essay Microsoft’s XBox has recently released the Xbox Adaptive Controller, which, “gives disabled gamers a power up,” according to The Wire. The goal as expressed by James Shields was to create a new controller for gamers with limited mobility that felt natural for them. Through an advertisement released during the Superbowl, the controller was praised on social media platforms worldwide, racking up $35 million USD in earned media, 1.1 billion impressions, was listed as the number one most effective Super Bowl ad, and empowered 33 million disabled gamers worldwide. Along with its own success, the company empowered its competitors to adapt their controllers as well. This is all possible thanks to the marketing strategy of XBox through their campaign XBox Adaptive Controller, which involves considering the consumer buying behaviors, the segmentation of the market, targeting the market, differentiation in the market, positioning of the market, and the products development and branding. As we learned in class, buying behavior has two categories: business buying behavior and consumer buying behavior. XBox focused on consumer buying behavior when establishing a marketing plan because they were selling their products to consumers, not providing exports to different companies. Consumer buying behavior entails the final consumers of the product for personal consumption. It has to do with why, what, when, and how the consumer would purchase the product or service, in this case, the XBox Adaptive Controller. The final consumers purchasing the controller are households with an individual who has a mobility disability. The controller is designed to give these consumers the opportunity to be an equal player in the online gaming world. In regards to the buying behavior model, there are three parts: the environment of the marketing stimuli, the buyer's black box, and the buyer responses. The environment of the marketing stimuli has to do with the price, product, place, and promotion. In this case, the price of the product is not specified, but it is assumed to be similar to the price of a normal controller since XBox is creating it as an accessibility product and would also want the price to entail this. The product has already been stated as well as its goal; to empower disabled gamers. The place is global. XBox is a well known global industry and its products can be sent almost anywhere where there is a demand. The promotion has to do with the advertisements and how the product awareness spreads. In this case, the promotion is displayed through the Super Bowl advertisements. It was voted most impactful advertisement, and received numerous shares on social media platforms as discussed in the introduction of the case. In the buyer’s black box section of the buying behavior model, the characteristics of the consumers are those with disabilities that limit mobility. There are ranges of disabilities that were shown in the video, but most have to do with hand disabilities which most affect the gamer’s ability to play on a normal controller and create the need for the adaptive controller. The black box also has to do with the buyer’s decision process, which is impacted by the advertisements use of persuasive notings. In the video, XBox said that, “Videogames let us experience incredible things,” that one might not be able to do in real life, such as skydiving, driving a race car, experiencing victory and emotions. The buyers responses were their attitudes and preferences and their relationship with the brand. In the ad, XBox focused on telling the stories of the kids with a before and after experience with the product, the XBox Adaptive Controller. It included children and teens with limited mobility. XBox also created the first esports tournament so the disabled gamers could play alongside

players without disabilities. This made XBox achieve their goal of making an experience where playing video games is the same for everybody. Segmentation has to do with dividing the market into smaller segments of buyers with distinct needs characteristics or behaviors that might require separate marketing strategies and mixes. The advertisement mostly focused on demographic segmentation because the target market is those with limited mobility. The demographics of the group with disabilities is measurable, accessible, substantial and differentiable which makes creating the adaptive controller an actionable idea as it can be marketed to this market segment. It did not focus on geographic segmentation, since the XBox is available worldwide. It also didn’t include age and life cycle, however videogames are more catered to the younger generations. Gender was not important, as the ad showed both. Targeting is selecting which segments to enter. It involves evaluating each market segment’s attractiveness and selecting one or more to enter. The target market for XBox Adaptive Controller is the demographic segment which includes those who have mobility disabilities. These buyers all share a common need for an adaptive controller to enable them to have an equal advantage in the gaming world. This is why XBox chose this market segment to target and sell and create a product for, as it hasn’t been touched by other gaming companies until after the release of XBox’s Adaptive Controller. XBox created the controller as a way to tap into this market segment to enable these gamers.Differentiation involves differentiating a brand or product in the market by offering the creation of superior customer value. XBox created customer value by differentiating themselves as a brand by tapping into a fairly untouched market. By reaching out to customers with disabilities, they were able to create a product to add value to their playing experiences by making them feel equal and providing them with accessibility. The controller also has other benefits, as the kids in the advertisement showed while explaining how to use the controller as well as the ease with which the entirety of the product captures, even opening the box which is specialized for persons of limited mobility. The positioning of the market involves the arrangements for a market offering to occupy a clear distinctive and desirable place relative to competing products in the minds of target consumers. XBox establishes their position by tapping into a demographic of consumers that is not well reached by the gaming companies. By creating a new product altogether, XBox is able to occupy a clear place in the market for such products and establish their position of providing opportunities to disadvantaged gamers. The final part of their marketing strategy is the products/services development and branding.The controller is a product, which is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a need or want. In this case, it is the adaptive controller which satisfies the need of accessibility among disadvantaged videogamers. It is not a service because the final consumer owns the controller. The product also establishes the goals of the brand and allows the consumer to see their identity as a provider of accessibility to all gamers. As the marketing strategy statement in the video, XBox first explains the target market: disadvantaged gamers. They then express the value proposition plans with the facts about distribution and the success of the product. The third part discusses the long run and goals of the product and how it is unique to the marketing mix. The development of this new product has to do with the original product and entails the concept of the product, and goes through all of the stages of the development including the idea generation, screening,

concept development and testing, marketing strategy development, which was applied in the video, the business analysts, product development, and test marketing until commercialization. The product has proved to be a success and has already encountered all of these stages. This is how XBox used the following aspects of marketing in their strategy to promote the XBox Adaptive Controller and with great success. Works Cited Changing the Game. XBox. Accessed 31 March 2020. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_70gTo482Jg&feature=youtu.be Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Harris, L. C., & He, H. (2017). Principles of marketing. Harlow: Pearson....