UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK IN PRAGUE European Business Administration AN MARKET RESEARCH AND COMPETITOR’S ANALYSIS OF MADSHUS IN NORWAY FOR THE PURPOSE OF CREATING AN APPROVED MARKETING STRATEGY 2017 THU TRANG DUONG UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK IN PRAGUE European Business Administration AN MARKET RESEARCH AND COMPETITOR’S ANALYSIS OF MADSHUS IN NORWAY FOR THE PURPOSE OF CREATING AN APPROVED MARKETING STRATEGY By THU TRANG DUONG 2017 Mentor: William Pattison Statutory Declaration / Čestné prohlášení I, Thu Trang Duong, declare that the paper entitled: AN MARKET RESEARCH AND COMPETITOR’S ANALYSIS OF MADSHUS IN NORWAY FOR THE PURPOSE OF CREATING AN APPROVED MARKETING STRATEGY was written by myself independently, using the sources and information listed in the list of references. I am aware that my work will be published in accordance with § 47b of Act No. 111/1998 Coll., On Higher Education Institutions, as amended, and in accordance with the valid publication guidelines for university graduate theses. Prohlašuji, že jsem tuto práci vypracoval/a samostatně s použitím uvedené literatury a zdrojů informací. Jsem vědom/a, že moje práce bude zveřejněna v souladu s § 47b zákona č. 111/1998 Sb., o vysokých školách ve znění pozdějších předpisů, a v souladu s platnou Směrnicí o zveřejňování vysokoškolských závěrečných prací. In Prague, 11/12/2017 Thu Trang Duong Acknowledgement I would like to thank my parents who really support my studying process and provide the best advice. A very special thank the Student exchange program at UNYP where it not only brought me the exciting study abroad semester but also the great opportunity which I have met my fiancé, Linus, who has always been by my side since then and encouraged me into this topic. He is the most generous man and the biggest supporter helping me reach the goals and achieve the best success. I'm truly proud, honour and grateful having him in my life. Especially thank Mr. Pattison who was very kind and helpful throughout this thesis for my Bachelor degree. I really appreciate his knowledge in marketing, the abilities to solve problems in such intelligent way and his impressive personal experiences. Also, I would like to thank all UNYP professors that I had with during my three years of academic study. They are truly the most successful, passionate and inspiring people I know. Finally, I would like to thank all people who participated in my personal interview, survey and observation. They provided a lot of valuable comments and greatly contributed to the better outcome for my thesis. I really appreciate their efforts which motivate me moving forward and not giving up. Abstract The aim of this paper is focusing on investigating the current marketing strategy of Madshus AS, the cross-country skiing brand comparing to its successful competitors: Fischer and Salomon. Based on the research, I created the SWOT analysis and provided the new improvement marketing strategy for Madshus. I have analyzed the market for cross-country skiing in general, then the company's marketing campaigns, as well as making surveys for people in two groups of different ages, perspectives, and backgrounds. I also had a direct interview with the International sales manager of Madshus, Mrs. Tone Sunde for the depth understanding of the company’s culture, strategy and mind-sets. Additionally, there are observations of the actual in-store experiences and data from the sales team member in the three biggest retailers located in Oslo, Norway. Finally, I collected all the data and surveys' results in order to create the new integrated strategy for Madshus. Table of Contents I. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………1 1.1. Cross-country skiing - History and General Information…………………...1 1.2. Best destination and brands for cross-country skiing……………………….2 1.3. Current Problem…………………………………………………………......2 II. Madshus as a company…………………………………………………………….….4 2.1. History and General Information…………………………………………....4 2.2. Brand Story………………………………………………………...…….….5 2.3. Segmentation and Targeting……………………………………………..….8 2.4. Positioning and Differentiation………………………………………..…….9 2.5. Financial Status…………………………………………………...………..10 III. Fischer and Salomon as companies…………………………………………………12 3.1. Fischer………………………………………………………………..…….13 3.1.1. History and General Information…………………………………………13 3.1.2. Brand Story………………………………………………………………13 3.1.3. Financial Status…………………………………………………. ………14 3.2. Salomon……………………………………………………………………15 3.2.1. History and General Information…………………………………………15 3.2.2. Brand Story……………………………………………………...……….16 3.2.3. Financial Status…………………………………………………………..17 IV. SWOT Analysis………………………………………………………….…………18 4.1. Madshus's SWOT Analysis………………………………………...………18 4.2. Strengths and Weaknesses of Fischer and Salomon……………….………19 V. Madshus's current Marketing Strategy………………………………………………21 5.1. General Marketing…………………………………………………………21 5.2. Madshus's Marketing/Advertising campaigns………………………….….26 VI. Fischer's and Salomon's current Marketing (Promotion) Strategy…………………32 VII. Market Research Methods and Analysis……………………………….………….34 7.1. Observation…………………………………………………….…………..34 7.2. Survey………………………………………………………….…………..34 VIII. The New Integrated Marketing Strategy…………………………….……………35 8.1. The Multifunctional Jacket…………………………………………………46 8.2. The Packaging………………………………………………..…………….47 8.3. Celebrities Endorsement…………………………………….……………..48 IX. Conclusion………………………………………………….………………………49 X. Comments………………………………………………….………………………..51 XI. Appendices……………………………………………….….……………………..52 11.1. Appendix I…………………………………………………….………….52 11.2. Appendix II……………………………………………………………….59 11.3. Appendix III………………………………………………………………61 XII. Bibliography…………………………………………………………...…………..64 11.1. Work Cited……………………………………………………..…………64 11.2. Bibliography……………………………………………………...………65 11.3. Annotations for Charts and Photos……………………………….………70 I. Introduction 1.1. Cross country skiing - History and General Information The oldest type of skiing is cross-country skiing. It had been existing for centuries and officially developed into a sport in the late 19th century. For a long period of time, Norway only had small isolated communities with a huge amount of snow during the winter time. It was really challenging for people to get from one town to another. Then cross country skiing was created in order to let people keep their social connections with their family and friends from other towns. The word ski is a Norwegian came from the old Norse word "skid" which means a split length wood. The first type of competition was in the Norwegian army in the 18th century where its first race was held in 1842. Then, people created more events and made it into a festival in 1892. The first cross-country ski race at the Winter Olympics was in 1924 and the first women were debuted in Oslo 1952. Generally, this sport has been dominated by the Nordic countries, however, it is mostly in Norway. Cross-country skiing can be performed anywhere with thick snow from the ground. It is used to get from one location to another and considered as one of the greatest ways to exercise since the activity is similar to running except it is on snow instead. Downhill skiing, or normal skiing, however, can only be done if the mountains have lifts in order to help people get up to the top. This means normal skiing can’t be done anywhere but down in special skiing resorts locations. Cross-country skis are slim and light, while normal skiing equipment is bigger and thicker. The cross-country boots only strap to the toe of the ski, while on normal skis they are a bit bigger, has more plastic on and completely strapped front and back. 1 1.2. Best destination and brands for cross-country skiing There are many great destinations for cross-country skiing in the Nordic area which the most known are: Hemsedal and Trysil. These resorts are both located three hours away from Oslo, near the border of Sweden. However, they are for downhill skiing only. The Norwegian town called Sjusjoen is considered to have the best trail in the world for cross- country skiing. It is located beside the bigger town called Lillehammer where the 1994 Winter Olympics was being held. There is over 300 km of well-maintained skiing trails and the snow conditions are usually at its peak. Located only 2 hours away from the capital Oslo, Sjusjoen is truly a heaven for any cross-country skier. The most popular and successful brands in cross country skiing sport are Madshus, Fischer, and Salomon, where Madshus is the first and oldest ski manufacturer. Madshus currently sells their products in 17 different countries which with the biggest markets are the Scandinavian countries, Austria, Germany, Italy, France and North America. They tend to focus more on the countries that have bigger interests in cross country skiing. All of those three brands have a lot of product lines for many using purposes with the price range from low to high, and suitable for all ages people with different experiences levels. While Madshus only focusing solely on cross-country skiing, Fischer and Salomon have a wider selection of products in all type of winter sports such as downhill skiing and winter apparels. Fischer also sells hockey sticks and gear. For this reason, Salomon and Fischer have bigger target audiences than Madshus. It is also explained why they sell their products in more countries comparing to Madshus. 1.3. Current Problem According to the data collected from the Norwegian statistical office in 2016, Norwegian people are exercise more than before. The study showed