Developing an Integrated Marketing Campaign for Kimpton Hotels: Brand Management and IMC in Action

San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants is the first and leading collection of boutique Hotels throughout the United States and Canada. Kimpton Hotels offers services and design elements focused on care, comfort, style, flavor and fun. Every Kimpton hotel reflects the energy, personality and pulse of its location, history and architectural style. With presence in several big cities across the United States, Kimpton fuses art, social responsibility and fine cuisine into its hotels and restaurants such that each hotel is uniquely branded to reflect the characteristics of the cities where the hotel is located. Kimpton uses this strategy to target specific market segments in these key cities. In doing so however, a significant challenge that they faced, was a lack of overall recognition for the Kimpton brand. This originated from the fact that travelers usually remembered each individual hotel that they visited in a respective city, but failed to recognize that particular hotel was a part of the Kimpton chain. This was because Kimpton’s efforts to give each hotel its own unique theme culminated in the individual hotels’ brands becoming more famous, prominent and identifiable than the parent brand itself. Moreover, bookings done via online mediums such as Priceline failed to identify a certain hotel as a part of the Kimpton group. Another problem Kimpton faced with these websites was that of inability to allocate points for their “In-Touch” loyalty program. Also, efforts to communicate information about this program were undertaken by local properties and failed to target the specific customer groups identified by Kimpton. Based on online research, Kimpton Group identified the likes of The Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons and Peninsula Hotels to be their specific prime competitors. From a broader perspective, it is reasonable to infer that competing hotel chains offering similar services and within the same price bracket, but with superior parent brand awareness may also pose a significant threat to Kimpton.

     Of the identified target audiences, if Kimpton were to focus on Pet lovers and Eco-conscious travelers, they can tailor their “In Touch” campaign in the following ways. Redesigning all the forms of communication such as e-mails, posts. Etc. to reflect an environment and animal friendly theme, preferably with the use of earthly colors like blue and green. They should also highlight these aspects of the hotels’ overall theme and any environmental or animal rights programs that they may be a part of. A few minor adjustments to the hotels decor could go a long way in procuring the interest of these target groups. This could include the introduction of creative customer centric methods of beautification such as the use of self-sufficient fish tanks and small botanical gardens, which could make for a picturesque ambience as well as be used to leverage the appeal of these audiences. Some kind of association with environmental protection groups and animal right’s activists such as PETA is another way to attract desired attention to the program. The use of social media to propagate these messages, ideas and initiatives whilst subtly advertising the “In touch” campaign could prove equally effective. Alternatively, the “In Touch” program can be integrated into their communications mix with the use of PR. The best way to communicate various aspects of this program to the masses effectively is directly and so it would be useful to host invitation based complementary events for the Kimpton faithful at select locations for the sole purpose of spreading awareness about the “In-Touch” program as well as the association of the parent brand. If these events can include a presentation by the group’s management or PR division promoting a catchy campaign tagline such as ‘Live and Let live’ (Live being a Pun for living at the hotel as well as supporting harmonious and holistic living with the environment and all life forms by and large), it could prove paramount to achieving the established goals.

     The utilization of client centric and customer specific media vehicles such as the Internet advertising, forms of new media like SMS and e-mail, localized print ads and targeted narrowcasting should suffice for introduction of this campaign. This is primarily because it is easier to assess effectiveness with a concentrated low budget media campaign rather than the highly risky, expensive and unnecessary use of larger media vehicles such as Broadcasting. With the exception of narrowcasting efforts such as radio commercials, the performance of social media campaigns can be easily and cost-effectively measured using tools such as Facebook analytics. Similar tools are available to numerically quantify the response rates of SMS and e-mail communications. 

 

     An efficient method for Kimpton hotels to communicate their philosophy throughout the internal organization and their community would be by first considering the analogy of the service triangle. They can convey their messages and ‘set the promise’ to their faithful customers through an adoption of the external marketing methodologies discussed above. In order to internally market themselves to their employees, they can arrange seminars and training programs to explain the characteristics of their brand thoroughly. This will be critical because in the service sector, there is a high level of contact between the front line staff and the customers and it is up to an organizations employees to deliver the promises established by the company through interactive marketing. For this, it is important that they themselves understand the mission, values and everything that Kimpton stands for in order to properly enable these promises. A significant challenge that Kimpton may face in doing is that of miscommunicating or not clearly these messages to the customers or even their employees for that matter. This could potentially amount to a breakdown of the entire system and consequently the market themselves in the manner that they so please.

Jeep - America Will Be Whole Again: A review of the 2013 Super Bowl commercial

This emotionally charged commercial opens with two impactful and unavoidable quotes that speak directly to the heart of every patriotic American - an appeal on behalf of the troops and a quote from Oprah Winfrey. The rest of the ad, narrated just as exquisitely by Oprah as well, plucks just as masterfully at the heartstrings with wives waiting anxiously, children playing innocently and people waiting eagerly in hope and anticipation. The icing on the cake is when the fighting heroes, come home - In a Jeep Grand Cherokee or a Wrangler and quite fittingly, the new Jeep Patriot which Jeep is primarily trying to market through the campaign. This is a well calibrated ad for an SUV that excellently tie’s together a call to honor and support the USO with an emotionally pressing appeal to purchase the new offering.  

The intended audience that this Ad looks to target are primarily the most patriotic of Americans, both young and old, who are instantly moved by this campaign’s emotional message. The secondary target audience would include socially responsible Americans who would weigh supporting their nation’s heroes more heavily as opposed to simply buying a vehicle that best meets their needs. It also looks to target ardent Jeep lovers obviously who are quite clearly able to associate the national carmakers brand with certain core American values such as loyalty to one’s nation, integrity and freedom. In whole, Jeep aims at creating awareness about a critical national phenomena that they possible hope will result in consumers making emotionally impulsive purchase decisions to support theirs and their country’s cause. The needs of this targeted category might well be quite diverse considering the alternatives and competition. This could range from performance, design, price, value, mileage and so on. However, by taking an emotional and patriotically significant stand with marketing their offering, Jeep is able to differentiate it by creating a strong lasting connect with their audience that can potentially sway them away from even thinking about the technical specifications of the vehicles, of which no apparent mention is made. 

  

The key benefit claim that Jeep wishes to communicate is expertly presented through this commercial – Buy Jeep and do your bit to support your country and its troops. Jeep has always had a legacy of communicating patriotic and socially intuitive messages through mass media in order to market their products and this stems from their close proximity with the American military operations. Another similar example of this was the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Spot. For decades, Jeep’s have been used as military vehicles to transport troops for combat or otherwise and this reinforces its public opinion as America’s very own SUV. Thus, in a way, this ad goes off of the advertiser’s existing campaign in terms of its central theme although it is unique in a very specific sense of patriotism. It is hence not hard to see why the advertiser selected this kind of emotional appeal for the campaign which also involved American troops acting as brand endorsers in a way. 

In terms of generating awareness about its products, Jeep rather subtly displays flashes of its new and existing models while it does do a fantastic job of reminding people about its role in defending the country, thus reinforcing its brand image as a national icon while simultaneously creating interest among potential buyers to further research the offering. In doing so, it will be able to direct TV audiences to its various selling points such as the website or store front where a desire to purchase the product will possibly emerge. Finally, to initiate action from the consumer, it seems less likely that this ad will instantly result in consumers purchasing the product even impulsively as there is a significant build-up that will eventually and probably culminate in a purchase decision. In terms of effectiveness, this ad certainly creates a very impactful and lasting impression on the viewers that is evident from its immediate publicity that has pushed it up the ranking charts as one of the most impactful commercials ever made. Based on this analysis and also from my own judgment of the potential returns from this communication, I believe that this ad is worth the amount as it looks to be set up for successful long-term impact on account of its strong emotional message that will be well engraved in the minds of the target audience for a long time to come, irrespective of whether or not they purchase the offering.   

Augmented Reality & Visual Retail: Tesco’s smart phone enabled virtual grocery stores in South Korea

This is an article analysis which I conducted for an IMC (Integrated Marketing Communication) class project and presentation at Atkinson, based on Tesco’s Homeplus and its smart phone enabled virtual grocery stores in South Korea.  

In the spring of 2011, Tesco PLC – A UK based retail giant renamed its South Korean branch operations to Homeplus, in an effort to become the nation’s prime grocery retailer without increasing the number of stores. They adopted an approach that involved expanding their online sales rather than opening new stores. As South Korea has more than 10 million smartphone users in a population of less than 50 million, it made sense to look at mobile shopping just as much.

Based on research conducted by Cheil Worldwide, South Koreans were dubbed as the second most hardworking people in the world. Long work hours, busy schedules and crowded stores made grocery shopping a burden rather than an enjoyable experience as it left little time, energy and interest to perform the task. Thus, offering the opportunity to shop while doing something else had a lot of value and so Tesco aimed at utilizing unproductive waiting times more efficiently. Take for instance, commuters waiting for their train: they have time on their hands, quite likely have jobs and are usually susceptible to dynamic and relevant forms of marketing communication. With Homeplus, Tesco were able to capitalize on this opportunity by building virtual aisles on the platforms at Subway stations in the nascent stages on the concept’s implementation. They created lifelike, enormous and rich images of food items and plastered them across the walls of train platforms, laid out in the same way as they would be in the shop. Every item had a corresponding QR barcode, and people waiting on the platform could check out the items on the huge billboard and scan the QR code of the relevant item using their smartphones. This immediately added the item to their Home Plus shopping basket. The idea was to make online shopping more visually appealing at a time when people were captive and bored. Deliveries of the goods could be arranged to arrive within hours of the order, meaning that in some cases they could arrive just as the commuter gets home. The strategy proved successful and Home Plus online sales went up by 130 percent in three months, and the number of registered users went up by 76 percent. The retailer also closed the gap on its main competitor, E-Mart.

        

Cheil Worldwide – The organization accredited with creating the virtual subway stores for Tesco's Homeplus, won three awards for its marketing, adverting and communications campaign for the concept and brand at the 56th annual Cannes International Festival of Creativity in addition to a Grand Prix in Media and two Gold Lions in the direct advertising and Outdoor advertising categories, for the virtual subway stores.

‘The long tail of PR’ is one of the principles that Scott mentioned in his book “The New Rules of Marketing,” which was what Tesco applied to its model in Korea. Instead of spending millions of dollars trying to attract customers to a normal supermarket, they decided to attract their customers with the use of a ‘push mechanism’ rather than a ‘pull mechanism’. Thinking outside the box and understanding their potential customer persona, Tesco identified a need that even their customers didn’t realize they had, and were paramount in successfully pioneering a strategy to service that need. According to Scott, “Smart marketers understand buyers.” and this is exactly what Tesco’s model focused on. Instead of competing head-to-head with huge supermarkets, they decided to study their consumers’ requirements and lifestyle in depth in order to engineer a service that was designed to best accommodate this lifestyle.

Another principle that Scott mentioned was ‘driving buyers into the sales process’. This is what Tesco did when they created a marketing buzz by the way they presented their services and products to the public. Going after their buyers and having a direct relationship with them was something that Tesco tried to do with building their virtual stores in the subways. At this point, it is crucial to understand that Tesco isn’t only selling grocery products - They are also selling convenience, time-saving and a promise of ‘on-time delivery’ to the consumer. This is another phenomena that Scott explains in his book under the headline “You are what you publish.” One of the questions that a marketer should ask according to Scott’s book is, ‘what do you want your buyers to believe?’ In this case, Tesco wanted their customers to believe that they didn’t need to waste their time and effort shopping in crowded supermarkets and that the experience Homeplus offered was faster, easier, enjoyable, more productive and simply better - They conveyed this message in the most exquisite and ingenious fashion.

Article Link: http://www.travbuddy.com/travel-blogs/96909/Smart-Phone-Enabled-Virtual-Grocery-9

The CP+B way ..

I applied to CP+B (Crispin Porter + Bogusky) for a summer internship position and was amazed by the whacky casual response that they sent me!

Dear Craig,

A wise man once said, “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with one step.” It might have been Marco Polo. Anyway, you have taken that first step by submitting your resume to Crispin Porter + Bogusky, and we are tickled that you have expressed interest in joining us. Another wise man once said, “Now the ball is in our court.” This means, we will now review your resume to see if we have the right opportunity for you. If so, we’ll be in touch lickety-split. If not, we’ll keep your information handy in case the right opportunity presents itself.

Sincerely,

The Crispin Porter + Bogusky Talent Relations Team
(Crispin Porter + Bogusky is one of the Top 10 advertising agencies in the U.S)

Competent Jerks, Lovable Fools and the formation of Social Networks: Article Analysis

The central theme of the article states that an individual’s persona, attitude and behavior may result in both positive or negative perceptions and reactions from his/her peers or colleagues. It focusses on the necessity to maintain a balance between competitiveness and likeability while partaking in informal social relationships at the workplace. Furthermore, it examines various methods a manager can utilize to extract the best out of people of diverse personalities and competencies by capitalizing on their unique strengths. The reading states that people at the workplace are different and thus classifies them as follows:

          1          The competent jerk that is resourceful but has a bad personality.

          2          The lovable fool who is not very insightful, but has a great with people.

          3          The lovable star that is both loved by everyone and is resourceful.

          4          The incompetent jerk that is not competent, nor likeable.

While I agree with the above stated categorization, a statement made in the case mentioned that when people who are familiar with each other and who like each other work together, it is usually harder to point out negatives in each other’s ideas, strategies, etc. I do not believe this to be true as I have experienced otherwise during my own interactions with people. I feel that it is easier to convey honest opinions and criticism while working with someone you know well rather than someone who is absolutely new to you. In all honesty and simplicity, this reading has taught me that it is best for one to stay humble and down to earth despite their respective levels of intelligence, expertise, productivity or otherwise. This is essentially true because adopting a persona that can potentially alienate an individual from their peers or colleagues will inevitably result in them compromising on a vital element of success that they singlehandedly do not have entire control over – popularity. It is a quality that is earned rather than merely developed like most other soft skills and the only route towards achieving it is to ensure that the people around you like & support you. This has been the case with the lovable star, who is always at the top of the pecking order – both intelligent and loved by everyone.

I certainly believe that if the lessons learnt from this case can be well synthesized and applied correctly in real life scenarios, they can have very resounding and prominent results on a person’s work life and relationships, by and large. For these very same reasons would I strongly recommend this article to any colleague of mine, whom I would consider to be a victim of their own professional behavioral downfall simply because they may not be aware of the implications that their attitudes or actions have on those around them. I believe that this article compels one to think beyond his/her respective horizons. It helps uncover many blind spots of whose existence we may not necessarily have known. In other words it helps us identify those weaknesses that we may never have known to have had simply because we may have been blinded by the fog of our own pride and arrogance. This allows us to reflect on ourselves and take corrective action in a timely manner, before the matter goes out of hand which in relation to this article would mean rejection from your peers/co-workers. The ability to see what cannot necessarily be seen is in many ways a divine endowment and is the one crucial takeaway from this article, in my opinion. Hence, I feel that this article is instrumental in undertaking an analysis of oneself and thus remedying the situation instantaneously. 

I think this article relates to managing oneself from week 7 as it advocates managing others and being managed. It explores the process of self discovery of one’s strengths and reviews ways in which to build a personal brand around these strengths.

The Nut Island Effect: Article Analysis

The central theme of the article highlights the importance of having a linkage between management and the workforce. It explains how even productive, dedicated and hardworking teams can succumb to failure when there is discrepancy between management and the team. These shortcomings, which may result on account of management’s indifference or lack of interest in the team’s activities or cause, can result in the team losing faith in them and taking crucial decisions and actions themselves for which they aren't necessarily skilled. This has grim consequences on them such as lack of motivation, poor results and various other inconsistencies.

I completely agree with the teachings of this reading as I had experienced similar situations in my own career and it was easy for me to empathize with it. The learnings I derived from it have not been particularly unknown to me and have proved to remind me of a lesson I learned in the past wherein a group, of which I was part of, was working on a project and lost trust and interest in their supervisor owing to her lack of involvement. Hence, it served to reinforce my understanding of this issue. It taught me that having a good active connection with ones superiors/managers is vital to ensure smooth functionality of operations, promote synergy & effective flow of information, exchange ideas, keep people motivated and resolve conflicts in a timely manner. 

At work, I believe that it is absolutely critical to inherit this mentality of engagement and so I would make it a point to mention it to any colleague of mine who works in a functional team or who may be the leader themselves for that matter. I consider it to be the responsibility of the subordinates as much as it is that of the manager as to ensure proper integration of this ideology because a team also needs to respond effectively to their respective tasks and the advice of their supervisors, without which a disconnect in the system would be inevitable. In this case we notice that the fault was solely that of the upper-management, but often in real life situations, it is also the other way around and equal contribution and cooperation of both parties is required. I take away 2 principles for integration from the case – One, as a manager, to always remain hands on and physically present to support my team making sure that I am well aware of everything that is happening with an air of sincere interest and commitment to my colleagues and to their project.  Secondly, as a member of the team, to retain faith in my superior and respect them for their position by following their instructions closely and whole-heartedly. 

With regard to current business trends, I believe that this article is very relevant in an age where autonomy has become an essential element of a young professional’s persona. Today, the lines of hierarchy in modern organizations have blurred to an extent that even subordinate newcomers consider their own judgment and abilities to be more developed than those of their seniors, albeit their numerous years of experience. This article relates to various concepts discussed in class that can be used to derive managerial insights:

·         The presence of linkage between management and the team of workers at Nut Island wasn’t evident. This fundamental flaw stemmed from the lack of engagement on management’s part and marked the beginning of turbulent times at the plant that was met with much dismay.

·         Human beings are a social species. They desire recognition for their work just as they need criticism for their shortcomings. This is possible by means of active interaction between management and the high performing team that was absent at Nut Island. Thus, despite their best efforts to perform, stay motivated and keep the plant alive, they eventually succumbed to a classic case of negligence by upper level management.

·         The strategic & political lens can be applied to this case. Strategically managing relationships appropriately and having the right inputs can produce the right results. Mismanagement of people is a strategic failure for a manager. MDC’s rash decision to focus on other areas while neglecting an efficient project depicts how management can crumble under political pressure. 

Terra Byte Case Analysis - A new Location, A new beginning

Terra Byte is a Kirkland, Washington based Coffee shop that operates on a business model wherein customers are given the liberty to decide on the price they pay for food and drinks. They believe in trusting their customers and relying on their judgment and honesty. In this way they were able to create loyalty among frequent customers toward the brand. Also, since customers can decide on the value of the products, their satisfaction quotient always remains high. Moreover, their target audience largely comprises of an affluent, well-educated and diverse demographic. On an average, Terra Byte makes $3 per customer and has an average of 80 customers a day. In order to break even, 200 customers per day are required. The business model largely depends on a few patron customers to pay a greater amount of money to make up for those that pay smaller sums or none at all. One of the co-founders, Ervin Peretz wants to start a new café at another promising location. It was important that the new location have a customer base that would at least allow them to break even. Even though the original café was in an affluent neighborhood, Ervin believed different types of neighborhoods would also be appropriate. It is essential that the new location resemble the dynamics of Kirkland in a manner that would allow Terra Byte to cater to their current class of customers in the same way.  

The following problems are related to the central problem of choosing a new location:

• Competition from established Coffee Shops in the area.
• Identifying a location that has customer characteristics conducive to a voluntary payment business.
• The consumer perception of an individual café or restaurant is very different from that of a chain. In a way, Tera Bite risks losing its sense of exclusivity and distinction in the minds of many of its current and prospective customers.
• Influencing customer perceptions in a negative way i.e. creating an impression that Tera Bite is a mere gimmick started by Peretz for the sole purpose of gaining tax benefits.  
• The current business model i.e. operating as a for-profit, seems less likely to convince people to donate more as would operating as a not for profit. Perhaps, Tera Bite should consider a change to a not-for –profit in order to revamp its image.
• As Tera Bite’s model relies heavily on individuals from the high-income groups to become its prime patrons, it is imminent that they target high-rent districts or cities to set up their next store. However, as the name suggests, setting up shop in such places will come at a significantly high cost along with a lurking risk of complete failure on account of the high uncertainty surrounding the model. Whether or not Tera Bite with merely break-even in this new location is also questionable taking into consideration the increased variable costs.  
• An Uneven & Anonymous distribution of customer payments make it difficult to identify true and loyal customers from the rest. This may lead to a degree of customer dissatisfaction as the true customers of the brand may begin to feel that their contributions are not being recognized. Moreover, this business model is at a high risk of being easily exploited by dishonest customers and staff.

Situation analysis.

Based on an in-depth analysis of Tera Bite and its internal & external environment, the following SWOT Analysis was compiled:

STRENGTHS	WEAKNESSES	OPPORTUNITIES	THREATS
Unique Model. Customer determined Pricing – Customers can decide on the value of the products meaning their satisfaction quotient always remains high. Highly Competitive Pricing. A legion of dedicated patrons. Low operating costs.	Financially Unstable model with a high risk factor. Uneven & Anonymous distribution of customer payments making it difficult to identify loyal customers. Low market penetration. A very small and niche target market. Potentially unsustainable model.	The business model can evolve into a dynamic phenomenon that can possibly revolutionize the manner in which consumers pay for products. If the feeling of trust can create a feeling of guilt in the minds of people, then the average payment per customer can increase immensly. Potential to evolve into a one-of-its-kind niche household Café chain.	Skepticism of business operations – Risks being perceived as a fraud undertaking. The business model is at a high risk of being easily exploited by dishonest customers and staff. High uncertainty for growth in the future.

Google Trends Research:

As Tera Bite operates in Kirkland WA, for the purpose of consideration of Statewide-competition and in part, with relevance to selection of the City of Seattle as the location to open the next shop, the following competitors were identified as the most potent in the entire State of Washington. (In-depth Analysis for selection of this location is provided in the last section):

1.  Starbucks
2. Caribou Coffee
3. Tim Horton's
4. Seattle's best

      Using the Google Trends tool, the daily searches for Tera Bite Cofee and its competitors in the State of Washington only in the past month i.e September 4^th to October 4^th were determined. The purpose of selecting this very brief period was to acquire the most recent estimates which in turn were very specific figures to gauge the current popularity of the brand and its competitors for the Location Analysis. From the Trend analysis below, its evident that Starbucks is the most searched and hence most popular brand in the area, partly owing to its strong brand presence there and also globally. Because of low Brand Awareness and regional physical presence, all the others including terra bite returned no more than 5 searches on any particular day for the entire month.

Google Ad Words/Insights Research:

The bubble chart depicts the 4 brand’s overall monthly search volume in the United States, shown by the Size of the Bubble. The X axis represents the customer ranking viz. 1-5, based on public voting in a survey of ‘Seattle’s Best Coffee Shops’. Therefore, a lower number means a higher rank, which in turn means greater popularity. The Y axis shows the average price per coffee purchased by a customer. This chart provides a good understanding of the various brands’ popularity, pricing and awareness that are crucial parameters for understanding the position of competitors, public opinion, acquiring an estimation of price versus quality and in determining the best possible areas for improvement & growth. 

Terra Bite’s value proposition (VP)

Tera Bite is a Coffee Shop with a unique business model that allows customers to pay what they please. This distinguishes them from their competition in the most unusual way. Their goal is to allow people the opportunity to unwind over coffee after a hard day’s work without having to go through the whole process of comparing prices of the various products. Instead, they rely on trusting their customer’s judgment and allowing them to pay whatever price they want for their purchases and whenever they want. In this way they reduce their operating costs and provide great value and convenience to customers. Their target audiences are well educated, urban, sophisticated and socially responsible individuals of varying age groups and demographics. They include teens, young adults and even middle aged people.

Where should the next location be?

In-order to identify a promising prospective and potentially succesfull market for Tera Bite, Research on the same led to confirmation that the Seattle region of Washington State turned out to be the most viable option. Since long, Seattle has been a Coffee haven that housed some of the best brands in the US including hosehold names like Starbucks that opened their first shop there. The selection of this location was based on the fact that since both Kirkland and Seattle fall under the same State, their demographics, legal structures, laws and public mindsets are relatively similar. This would give Tera Bite the opportunity to perform at a larger stage in the same State, without having to undertake too many unexpected risks. The ideology is that if Tera bite was successful in Kirkland, it will also be in Seattle. Moreover, managing both the café’s in the chain will be a lot more convenient on account of their close proximity of distance. Also, this gives Tera Bite another unique advantage and that is to leverage its resources if necessary which wouldn’t have been possible if the 2 café’s were located too far apart.

 One of the key criteria while determining the next location for Tera Bite was ensuring that the new location was similar in characteristics to the initial location inorder to maximize the potential for success. The Facebook Ad Creation tool identified 125,380 people who reside in Seattle, Washington only between the target age-group of 16 to 55 that have indicated an interest in Coffee. This raw data shows that Seattle has tremendous Market potential for Tera Bite to open their new Coffee Shop and the same was proven with the influx of several other café’s in the area that are successfully established today. Since Tera Bite largely caters to and wishes to focus its offering towards the elite high income group segment of the market, the following LMAA Research was used to identify 1,912,923 individuals that fall into the category of Affluentials in the Seattle-Tacoma, WA area. This number is significantly higher than most other afluent US Cities but what stands out is the fact that Seattle also has one of the greatest concentration of affluential groups per square mile area in the United States which form the primary target segment for Tera Bite.

The PRIZM Target Group Concentration Map is testament to the selection of a city within Washington State, which evidently falls into the much sought after first quintile. Only 5 other states fall into this group and their geographical dispersion makes them impractical locations to serve.

Other criteria for determining the next location for Tera Bite was selecting a place where citizens had high social responsibility. This was essential as it is a prerequisite for the implementation and smooth functioning of Tera Bite’s model which relies on trust. As the LMAA tool did not provide any direct parameter to filter the States on the basis of ‘Social Responsibility’ at large, similar Psychographic parameters such as ‘People that would pay more for environmentally friendly products’ were used to arrive at the same conclusion. The assumption made here is that individuals who care for the environment are naturally socially responsible since environmental protection and care are one of the primary traits of socially responsible people.

The State of Washington has more than proven that it is one of the more socially responsible states in the country by showing a concern for the environment, welfare of the needy & children and citing bans on products that pollute the environment. Moreover, the success of Tera Bite first stint in the State is vital evidence that it is certainly the most potent and viable candidate to house the next café, this time in one of its bigger cities.

Based on the above research, evidence, assumptions and conclusions, Seattle WA seems the most likely of places in the United States to open the new Tera Bite Café because of its affluent, coffee loving, diverse and socially responsible people as well as its geographical proximity to the other Café in Kirkland, making management a lot easier. While it will certainly pose more competition with established names such as Starbucks, it is one of the best places for Tera Bite to announce itself on the biggest of stages – The Coffee Capital of the United States.