Final Project

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School

Baruch College, CUNY *

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9703

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Marketing

Date

Jan 9, 2024

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docx

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Uploaded by ConstablePanther3914

Executive Summary Brand was founded in New York City in 2023, and built on the belief that consumers needed to have a better understanding of their home energy usage and carbon footprint. As the next leading name in home energy monitoring, we are committed to leading the way in creating the ultimate home energy monitor for consumers. Taking “O3'' from Ozone (O3), and combining technology, prevention, and awareness, our target goal is to help block the harmful effects of ozone emissions in the earth’s atmosphere. To solve this problem, we have designed a smart home hub, featuring technology that enables users to connect and remotely monitor their home energy usage, carbon footprint, and weather through a user-friendly device. Our mission is to lower carbon emissions and make the world a greener place while making homes more energy-efficient. We bring awareness to consumers by making homes smarter, safer, and more connected while helping families save money and conserve energy through technology. As global warming and climate change increase each year, the effects are becoming more apparent, but to some, the effects are still out of sight or “invisible”. We at Brand want to make consumers aware of the status of global warming in real-time to understand the urgency this issue is causing around the world and how they can make a difference in their own homes. The three main causes of climate change and global warming are burning fossil fuels, cutting down forests, and farming livestock. Through our initiative, we have partnered up with two nonprofit environmental organizations whose missions align with our own, The Climate and Clean Air Coalition and TerraPass. The Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) is an organization with over 160 partnerships with government, intergovernmental, and non- governmental organizations that was established in 2012. TerraPass is a climate-conscious enterprise that provides carbon offsetting products, by using proceeds from members to fund greenhouse gas reduction projects. Our partnership with Terrapass offers carbon offsite products for individuals and businesses to provide our customers with more options for the active removal of unavoidable CO emissions. Through ₂ these initiatives, users have the option to pay carbon costs, which are costs that are applied to greenhouse gas emissions, encouraging polluters to reduce the combustion of coal, oil, and gas – the main cause of climate change. The additional costs will go directly to CCAC or Terrapass, where the consumer will have the option to choose which organization they would prefer to donate to. At Brand, we want to see change and educate consumers on how they can make little, digestible changes over time that will ultimately lead to major results. With the need for more global awareness and environmental transparency, we believe in our product and we believe it will make a difference. Product Brand is a 6" HD screen monitor and hub that uses AI and climate predictions to forecast pollution levels, global warming, weather, and household energy usage for each day. Brand displays your daily carbon footprint “score” by monitoring and calculating your energy usage within your home. Over time,

as the device learns your home, users will receive suggestions and tips on how they can lower their energy usage, thus lowering their carbon footprint. The device will also notify users of weather conditions and environmental disasters, and how they can donate or help. We have created two versions of Brand, for homeowners, we have created our Smart Hub which connects to a home electrical panel to read energy usage. For apartment dwellers, we have developed our SmartPlugs, which are compatible with all existing two and three-prong wall outlets, allowing users to monitor and control devices that are plugged into our SmartPlugs. With both options, this allows consumers to see their global impact every day, in a tangible and digestible way. Along with our devices, users will be able to download a compatible app that will work in tandem with the Brand monitor, sending notifications directly to their smartphone. Brand’s technology works by detecting devices by identifying their unique electrical signals. Every device in your home has a unique signal that our technology over time can learn, and decipher, allowing Brand to essentially “learn” your home. For example, your dishwasher will look different from your microwave. From the time that a device is turned on, to the duration of its use, this will teach our software how to differentiate each device from one another. Brand will also notify users of devices that are on but inactive, suggesting that certain devices be shut off. For example, users will receive an alert where they can turn devices off if they are not needed. Over time, a user will see their carbon footprint “score” lower. Our product is manufactured in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, using Intel semiconductors. Our high- density plastic casing surrounds the Beaglebone wireless custom energy monitor system. Using two high sample rate ADCs (14bit 2MSPS) and a MAX® V CPLD, the cells inside the CPLD perform the reading from the ADCs and multiplication/accumulation to compute energy usage, then transmit computation results to the TI CPU. The main CPU is a Linux-compatible AM3352 CPU from TI. Our packaging is made from 100% recycled and recyclable packaging, which helps reduce CO2 emissions, and consumption of water and oil and prevents deforestation. We have designed our packaging with our branding in mind, with our logo printed on all sides. Customers Current research indicates the profound impact that Millennials have on the global economy, they constitute approximately “23% of the world's population... with a spending power of over $1 trillion in the US alone,” (Piggott) 1 . Within this demographic, unique characteristics and preferences have been identified, making it clear that Brand can strategically target millennials to maximize its market penetration and impact. One key segment that Brand can effectively cater to comprises environmentally conscious Millennials. Piggott also highlights that around 63% of this demographic is willing to pay more 1 Stacey Piggott, Millennials and the Future of our Environment

for sustainable products. Brand's ability to monitor and calculate daily carbon footprints provides an ideal solution for millennials who are looking for a way to be environmentally friendly and have no issue paying to make a change. Also, with a generation that has grown up in the era of smartphones and widespread internet access, Brand's integration with a smartphone app, coupled with its utilization of AI and climate predictions, connects with a generation that grew up with technology. We also recognize the diverse living situations of Millennials, Brand has adopted a strategic segmentation approach, targeting both homeowners and apartment dwellers. The Smart Hub is tailored for homeowners while the SmartPlugs cater specifically to apartment dwellers. Based on all of these factors the Brandk team has curated our target buyer persona. Emma is a 34- year-old Data Analyst living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, making $130k a year. She has a bachelor's degree and works from home. She tries to recycle and compost regularly and looks for products with environmentally friendly packaging. Emma, by choice, does not own a car and prefers using public transportation or biking. She donates a few dollars every month to the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Ocean Conservancy. Emma is beginning to take her finances seriously and wants to make a difference in the environment effortlessly. She wants to know more about her carbon footprint and how she can help lower it as she wants a greener world for future generations. Brand's overall targeting strategy revolves around an alignment with the values and behaviors of Millennials as well as understanding the buying power. The product's sustainability-focused features resonate with environmentally conscious Millennials, offering them a tangible way to monitor and reduce their carbon footprint. Simultaneously, the tech-savvy attributes of Brand cater to those immersed in digital interactions. The segmentation strategy acknowledges the varied living environments of Millennials, ensuring that both homeowners and apartment dwellers find value in Brand. Market Research Our main form of market research is primary market research which came from interviews and surveys. The survey results strongly align with the core features and benefits of Brand, indicating a clear resonance with the surveyed audience's preferences and environmental values. A significant majority, 41 out of 46 respondents, expressed a likelihood to engage in activities aimed at reducing their carbon footprint. This interest in environmental responsibility corresponds seamlessly with Brand's abilities. Additionally, 43 out of 46 respondents emphasized the importance of the product including suggestions on decreasing the global impact of climate change, precisely the proactive approach that Brand embodies. The survey findings reinforce the relevance of Brand's technology in meeting the growing demand for eco-friendly solutions, suggesting a promising market fit and potential adoption of our product. As well as the preset answers for the survey questions we did create an open-ended one which allowed us to see what potential customers would want to see in this product aside from what we already

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plan on putting in the product. Parts of the feedback that we received in this open-ended portion were things that we later either implemented into the device or highly considered, such as adding daily climate tips or trivia and how users can help others during environmental disasters. Pricing The price of our product is $200. The reason we chose this price, is because we took a look at our cost being $133.47 and the total price of our competitors ranging anywhere from $84.99 to $349 (Sense.com and Emporia energy), we would like to enter the market with a fair price, and we feel $200 is a good startup point. After research and calculation, for us to determine the price cost and price of our product, we have decided our product will be imported from HCMC, Vietnam, because we have our chip manufacturer, Intel, which created our chip and CPU control of the device, the device calculates energy usage, through an AI system that will allow the device to calculate the carbon footprint derived from the energy usages and which devices consume the most. This chip will be manufactured at $60 . The touchscreen costs $30. For the exterior of the product the chosen material is ABS plastic, which costs around $1.75 per kilogram, which is enough for two devices. Some miscellaneous materials are small screws, glue, and plugs, which cost around $2 . We also took into consideration the labor, the product can be made within one hour, due to assembly line production, allowing us to pay $2.40 . This number was calculated by allocating the minimum wage in Vietnam being $72 per month, allocating around 180 hours per month, (40 hours per week schedule). The total will be ¢ 45 per hour, but we have decided to count on plant managers and specialized workers who know how to mold the plastic to the desired shape. The rent in HCMC is around $5 per square foot. We have decided to add one square foot cost into each product we make, to ensure a spacious warehouse. As a new starting business, we believe that setting up a good example from the beginning is key, so we have decided to personalize a 35x25x12 (centimeters) box, including a hand- written thank you note and bubble wrap to protect the devices, this cost us $2.50 . The total production cost in Vietnam is $102.90 . For the shipping process of bringing it into the USA and distributing it here, the cost of duty tariff and state (NY) taxes needed to be paid is $30.57 per device. The way we calculated our duty, shipping, and taxes needed to be paid; we will be making our shipping through an aircraft directly through the Saigon Central Post office, which the cost of one pound which is the estimated weight of our product, will be $15.80. Once the product is here, we pay customs the 5.1% of the trade tariff through our HTS code. Also, since we are bringing to the NY metropolitan area, the combination of state and local taxes gives us an average of 8.532%. our target price is $200 + $15.80 (shipping) + $5 (insurance coverage) will be 220.80 multiplied by 5.10% will give us a $11.26 duty tariff. To calculate the taxes needed to be paid, we will use the same math $200 + $15.80 (shipping) + $5 (insurance coverage) + $11.26 (duty tariff) which will be a total of $19.31 .The manufacturing cost in Vietnam is around $102.90

and the shipping and tariffs to bring it to the USA being $30.57 gives us a cost of $133.47 . Communication Investing $1 million in market promotion of Brand requires a calculated approach to effectively reach and interact with the intended audience. First, Digital Marketing will be given 40% of our budget, roughly $400,000. Social Media Advertising will receive 25% of the budget, which will be $250,000. We will use Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to reach users who care about the environment. We will promote the product's attributes, advantages, and up-to-date environmental impact reports by running sponsored posts and advertisements. Online Display Ads will receive 15%, or - $150, 000. We will use this funding to focus on targeted display advertising to reach people who are actively looking for information on technology and sustainable living while boosting brand visibility on relevant websites and environmental forums. Second, we will invest 25% or $250,000 of the budget towards Public Relations and Influencer Marketing. We will allocate 15% or $150,000 towards Influencer Partnerships. We will collaborate with environmental activists and eco-friendly influencers to produce genuine content about Brand, making use of their reach to raise awareness and credibility for our brand. Press Release Distribution and Media Communication will receive 10% or $100,000 of the budget. We will benefit by sending out press releases to technology and environmental books and magazines. Media interviews and articles showcasing Brand's unique features will be very beneficial for our brand. Third, we will allocate 15%, which will be $150,000, for Content Marketing. We will focus 10%, roughly $100,000 towards content for blogs and videos. Creating interesting videos and blog entries for the business's YouTube channel and website will generate brand awareness. We will also make an impact by talking about issues like energy conservation, climate change, and Brand's contribution to lowering carbon footprints. Educational resources and infographics will receive 5% , or $50,000 of the budget. We will use the funding to make aesthetically appealing instructional materials and infographics that describe the science underlying Brand's technology and how it advances environmental sustainability. Fourth, we will utilize sponsorships and participate in events, allocating 10%, or $100,000 of the budget towards this. We will support or take part in relevant expos and conferences that emphasize technology and environmental sustainability, highlighting Brand's qualities while establishing a strong connection with prospective clients. We will develop community education programs and events to inform people about energy conservation, climate change, and the influence on their own decisions, as well as provide interactive Brand demonstrations. Fifth, we will allocate 5%, or $50,000 of the budget towards traditional advertising. We will invest in succinct, powerful radio and television advertisements to expand our audience. Advertising in newspapers and magazines that belong to environmentally conscious readers who are interested in sustainable living

will be very beneficial to reaching target markets. The purpose of this budgetary allocation is to develop a thorough marketing plan that makes use of a variety of media to increase reach and engagement. While public relations, content marketing, and event participation help to establish credibility and promote community involvement, digital marketing guarantees a powerful online presence. Conventional advertising reaches a wider audience by adding an extra layer. Distribution Strategy Brand's distribution strategy is intended to optimize impact and accessibility, in line with its mission to advance energy efficiency and environmental awareness. Critical business partners and important distribution channels have been formulated to create our network. Our online sales channels will include our official website. Consumers will be able to make purchases straight from the official website of Brand thanks to our e-commerce platform. This channel provides an effortless and managed client experience. We will utilize online merchants, by partnering with well- known e-commerce companies like Amazon, BestBuy, etc to increase our online visibility and attract a larger customer base. We will also utilize brick-and-mortar retailers. We will establish collaborations with retailers of electronics stores to offer Brand in physical stores so that consumers can test the product out for themselves. Working together with home improvement stores will allow us to reach customers who are looking for smart home solutions. To increase our visibility among tech-savvy consumers, we will collaborate with retailers who specialize in smart home appliances and technology. By working together with utility companies, we will collaborate with utility companies to include Brand in incentives or programs that promote energy conservation. This partnership improves the product's usability and encourages energy conservation. CRM : Company success depends on precision in identifying the target market, understanding the needs of its ideal customers, and creating good relationships with every customer who decides to purchase products from that business. That is why Brand has a strategic plan of activities that will be carried out to identify, develop, and nurture strong and long-lasting relationships with its customers. A strong online presence is essential for every business and that is an important part of Brand’s digital marketing strategy. Brand’s website is easy to navigate, is optimized for search engines through keywords, backlinks, and enhanced videos, and is adjusted for mobile devices. It will be shared through social media to facilitate interactions with customers. Brand's marketing strategy will be tailored to the Buyer Persona, Emma, described in detail in the customers section, and environmentally conscious Millennials.

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Using data analytics, the Customer Relationship Management team (CRM) together with the Research and Development team (RD) will make every effort to establish a connection with the customers on a personal level. For that reason, Brand customers’ preferred contact channels will be identified and target marketing content communication will be sent to these customers based on segmentation: their common characteristics and reported interests and needs. The e-mails they will receive, including sales follow-ups, will be personalized and will consist of high-quality content: anything from “Tips on how to lower electric bill” to “How to assess one’s carbon reduction goals and what carbon footprint offset solutions can help with meeting these set of objectives''. Customers will be able to opt in and out of receiving this type of communication at any time. Additionally, Brand’s customer relations management team will make it their priority to respond to customers’ phone, e-mail, or social media inquiries and address their concerns in a timely manner, and will engage in conversation with customers via chat in real time. Brand intends to treat its clients as partners. They will always receive a handwritten thank you note after their first purchase as well as a follow-up call after the product installation to make sure everything is going smoothly. Brandk will foster connections with its customers through communications letting them know that they are appreciated and asking for their valuable feedback via surveys. To ensure long-term relations, customers will be presented with a monthly and annual subscription option at a discounted price. The subscriptions will include automatic product software upgrades and intensive educational programs. Brand’s customer retention efforts will include customized incentive programs for loyal customers. In addition to discounts, coupons, or free shipping, based on the points customers will receive for their individual purchases, subscriptions, or referrals, they will be able to enroll in educational meetings, webinars, or demos that Brand will offer in partnership with TerraPass. These activities aim to increase customers' knowledge about the calculation of their personal carbon footprint in addition to the measurements received from Brand and to equip them with information on how they can engage in carbon offset initiatives or purchase carbon offset products tailored to our customers at a discounted price from our partner Terrapass. Competition: Part of successful product implementation is to know your competitors to identify unique selling propositions. Although carbon footprint monitoring is a relatively new initiative, there are companies on the market that sell products that could be compared to Brand. Sense (https://sense.com/) is a device that monitors energy usage and, for homes with solar power systems, solar production versus usage. The device generates reports on an app to inform users about devices that are connected, for how long, and what is the corresponding energy consumption. Sense aims to enhance user awareness regarding their

energy usage and related safety risks, carbon footprint, and potential energy bill savings. The website is user-friendly and well-structured, making it easy for consumers to familiarize themselves with the product and the company which offers discounts through the web on product purchases for joining the company newsletter. With over 10,000 followers on Instagram, it’s evident that brand awareness is high. Availability in major retailers like Amazon and Walmart adds to the convenience for consumers. The marketing strategy targeting homeowners may exclude tenants in NYC due to regulations limiting access to electric panels. Sense user engagement is relatively low on social media pages. The technology might be too complex for beginners, suggesting a need for simplified language. Emporia Energy (https://www.emporiaenergy.com/) is a home energy monitor and software company that tracks home energy usage through its Vue or wireless devices as well as smart plugs. Notable partnerships, including one with Reliant Energy, enhance the company’s credibility. Selling car charging stations and collaborating with car dealerships diversify their offerings. Emporia uses YouTube for informative videos and Google Ads for promotion. The company has a weak social media presence, with minimal activity on its social media pages. Offers savings through bundle product savings. Their Instagram page has only 1,433 followers, showing that their brand awareness is low. The website appears outdated and could benefit from a refresh. Brand’s sustainable competitive advantage is primarily based on technology and product design. We offer a uniquely designed smart home hub that combines many features enabling users to connect and remotely monitor their home energy usage, carbon footprint, and forecast pollution levels, global warming, and weather for each day through a user-friendly device and none of our competitors offers all these options. Our Customer Relations Managing team adds to our competitive advantage by offering the highest level of customer service by responding to customers’ inquiries and addressing their concerns in an attentive and timely manner. Brand's unique selling proposition is the lifestyle aspect of the product with an added-on value through partnerships with Terrapass and The Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC). It makes life easier for users to monitor their energy consumption, and get real-time notifications about pollution levels, global warming, sudden weather changes, and natural disasters. When you buy Brand, you buy into an environmentally friendly lifestyle with increased awareness not only about energy usage and carbon footprint but also about the impact that these emissions have on the environment and about the need for reduction and active removal of unavoidable CO emissions. ₂ Launch We will divide our launch into three phases, the marketing phase, the product phase, and finally the post-launch phase. The first phase will consist of the marketing phase, by focusing on brand awareness. We will launch our professional website that will be easy to use and informative for customers, while also

optimizing the website for search engine (SEO) to increase online visibility. We will develop social media campaigns and strategies to create brand awareness. We will utilize Facebook, Instagram, and X to engage with our audience. We will build our content marketing by creating high-quality content, including blog posts and articles to showcase the benefits of the Brand. We will invest in email marketing, by building an email list and creating email campaigns to nurture leads. We will send customers and potential customers newsletters, product updates, and exclusive offers to subscribers. We will partner and collaborate with influencers and industry leaders, and leverage these partnerships for co-marketing efforts. Phase two will include the product launch, in which we will organize a virtual or physical launch event to generate excitement. The launch will showcase the features and benefits of our product, allowing potential customers a first-hand look at the new device. After the launch, we will draft and distribute a press release to eco-conscious media outlets. This will allow us to reach out to industry-specific publications for coverage. At this time, we will ensure that the device is now available to purchase on our website, as well as the retail partner’s websites. The key benefit to partnering with retailers is to expand distribution. We will also develop a promotional campaign to incentivize retailers to carry our product. The final phase is the post-launch engagement phase, where we will implement an engaging customer service system to address inquiries and issues quickly. This will allow us to continuously collect feedback to help improve our product and the customer experience. We will encourage customers to share their experiences with us, to keep us up to date. We will also run contests and giveaways to keep users engaged. At this time in our launch, we will reassess our marketing strategy to see where we can improve and where we can maintain improvements. We will also introduce new features to keep the product fresh in the industry. We will have established analytics tools to track the performances of our marketing campaigns and sales. We can then gather enough data on customer behavior for future marketing strategies. Our goal is to achieve 1% of sales to the Metropolitan area within the first 18 months of business operation. There are an estimate of 23.5 Billion people living in the metropolitan area, and calculating that there are 4 people per household (taking into consideration that there might be more people living within one confinement, or less) that leaves us with an estimate of 5.86 billion potential customers. This will allow our goal of sales within the 18 months of operation to be 58.6 million goods to be sold. The CRM and Development team will be responsible for the reports and tracking of the progress the company makes. The frequency of the KPI reports will initially be bimonthly, this is to better track the progress and response that customers will have towards the product. There is room for readjustment as time progresses and sales increase. To better keep track of the changes through the period, there will be comparisons from the current period to the prior period to better calculate the progress, increase, or

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decrease of the customer's response. The progress will be our set goal mentioned above and we will measure how much is contributed every period, there will be adjustments and a more aggressive sales approach depending on this growth, and to readjust to ensure that the sales goal is completed in the estimated time. Being a mostly online-based company, our contingency plan in case of natural emergencies (fires, earthquakes, and other disasters like a pandemic) will ensure our employees receive the appropriate training to understand and better react to these scenarios, having a product in our hands that allows us to be on top of the news on natural disasters as soon as they occur, will allow our employees to have a better understanding on them. Our biggest concern is Cyber attacks on our system. Because of this, our company will implement a combination of firewalls, blockchain, and encrypted information to delay the attack and be able to track it more effectively. Another approach will be educating our employees to detect scams and phishing emails that could potentially grant someone access to our system and harm the company. There will be many drills going around to ensure that the employees are not clicking on any links, or responding to suspicious emails. The most important part of our product will be the chip manufacturer, Intel decides to raise prices or reject the sale of their product to us. At the moment, as start-ups, we do not have a plan B, if this were to occur. Many investigations are undergoing, to assist if this were to happen in the future. If we see that our progress percentage changes, compared to a previous period, begins to decline, there needs to be an urgent meeting as to what should we do, and where the failure is coming from, we might need to assist with the advertising budget, to direct it to the correct buyer, or provide our customers with incentives to generate a more positive review of the product. Our time goal is 18 months and having a 1% population goal might allow us to better handle the production part, if there is a surplus, we will reach out to the manufacturer to stop and or slow it, if there is a deficit in our inventory, we will incentivize and a speed up on the shipping and or manufacturing process, this could include speaking to the manufacturer into hiring more people to assemble the device. Works Cited Millennials and the future of our environment . AMCS Group. (n.d.). https://www.amcsgroup.com/blogs/millennials-and-the-future-of-our-environment/

Final Project

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