Marketing Week 3 You Decide

To help introduce the Pinnacle brand to the US market place, a marketing campaign focused on how customers use Pinnacle as part of their lifestyle. The idea will be to create a lifestyle message that others can relate to. Pinnacle owners have proven themselves to be strongly committed to the brand. They have formed owners clubs, and associations. The idea is to create an image that will be able to be conveyed to other potential customers.

I think there are definite pros and cons for each of the various strategies. The first strategy being proposed is to partner with a US company that already has a distribution network already established in the United States. There are various advantages associated with this strategy. First, it is significantly less risky than the alternative, because it requires a much lower capital investment. It is quicker to deploy through an existing network, and quicker to pull out in case it doesn't work out. Another advantage is that it will allow a much broader reach of customers.

The other option is to create an internal distribution network across the United States with devoted dealers. The advantage with this is that will strengthen customer loyalty and allow for Pinnacle specific sales people who are familiar with the brand and able to concentrate their sales efforts. This will allow Aero to build stronger customer loyalty. Again, the downside will be the cost.

My recommendation for the CEO would be to go with the external distribution option. I think the risk is substantially lower, and it will allow for the maximum amount of exposure with the least amount of capital outlay. Building a chain of dealerships is extremely expensive and capital intensive. Those resources can instead be committed to marketing the brand and creating brand awareness.