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Executive Summary First and foremost we would like to highlight in this report that there are two crucial types of music that people are interested to listen. This music includes Analog and Digital music. It is interesting to notify that certain particular group, people or consumers, i.e. Baby boomers, audiophiles, and etc are looking for Analog (vinyl/Turntable) rather than Digital in music sound, and willing to pay more with their economic resources. On the other hand, we would like also to address here in this report what are the major differences between Analog and Digital music. In other words, what are major logistic operations that makes Analog differ from Digital music? Meanwhile, in the domination of digital technology in music with all its benefits and disadvantages, there is an interesting phenomenon of outpacing supply demand of analogue (vinyl/Turntable) music. It is worth to mention that there is significant increasing number of people or customer that is looking for quality in music rather than the digital one. Moreover, we would like to highlight in this paper SWOT analysis which covers two environmental sectors that contains internal analysis and external analysis. The main objective of internal analysis is to identify firms strengths and weaknesses whereas external analysis is aimed to measure and diagnose organizations threats and opportunities. In addition to this, the overall objective of SWOT analysis is to intensify the strengths and minimizing weaknesses as well as increasing firms opportunities and reducing threats in order to survive in the market and gain more profits. However, it will also be discussed in this report target market such as Generation Xers, Baby boomers, and Audiophiles. Furthermore, it is worth to mention that younger music audiophiles are and will be the most important target market for lower-priced turntable. Responding to the demand of Analog music, producer or music label reissuing classic album and starting issue new music from famous current artists on vinyl by hoping it will interest younger people. Finally, we will underline how branding play an integral role in marketing strategy. Especially brand recognition will surely play its major important role in marketing of the lower-priced turntables. Lack of brand recognition and operating in smaller market are the main market challenges / problem for lower-priced turntables producer. By a good marketing plan, action and brand stretching will significantly increase the sales volume than ever before which are already excessive.

1.0.

Introduction and background to the problem

Apples iPod have transformed the way people listen to music. People want their music mobile and available anywhere anytime. However there is one tradeoff: music quality is lower on a MP3 player. Millions of people who listen to music on their iPods are not aware that there is a format that provides much better sound quality---vinyl records. Today, music is distributed in digital formats, but despite the lack of new releases on vinyl, demand for turntables is outpacing supply. For example, one high-end audio/video dealer in New York, sound by singer, sold one turntable in 2003 but is now selling more than 50 turntables a year priced at $18,500 to $30,000. The market for turntables can be segmented into several target markets. First, baby boomers, the last group to purchase vinyl records in significant numbers. Second, audiophiles unwilling to accept the sound quality of compressed MP3 music files. Finally, a small but growing number of generation Xers and Millennials have learned about the better sound quality available on vinyl records. Music labels are responding to the demand for records by reissuing classic albums from artists so that making new music available on vinyl will encourage younger music enthusiasts to consider the advantages of vinyl over MP3. Problem Companies producing lower-priced turntables such as Pro-ject, Rega, and Avid are extending high-quality vinyl sound reproduction creating a mass-market appeal but they are still faced with tough competition as digital, portable music continues to dominate the music business. And also many of the most popular turntable manufacturers lack significant brand recognition and operate in smaller, niche markets. Apple, for example, is invested in digital music and not interested in perpetuating the better sound quality of vinyl. History of vinyl record Seventy-two years ago, the 33-1/3 long-playing vinyl record was invented. And while most music fans have moved on to streaming Bluetooth audio, MP3s and other digital music formats, long playing vinyl sales are higher today than at any time in recent history. According to Nielsen Entertainment, vinyl record sales have been booming over the past four years. In 2009, 2.5 million albums were sold in the U.S. up from 1.88 million in 2008.

In other words, digital music dominates, but analog isn't dead yet. In addition, younger generations of music fans is also buying vinyl albums because of the mediums historical significance and because they appreciate the album cover artwork and the extensive liner notes available with long playing vinyl records. Record companies are also making it easier for younger consumers to listen to their artists even when mobile. For example, many new vinyl albums come with digital download cards that have a code that customers can redeem online to get the digital version of a record at no additional cost. "The trend sure does seem sustainable," Bakula said. "And the record industry is really doing a lot of cool things to not only make the format come alive but to make it more exciting for consumers."

2.0.

Main differences between Analog and Digital

It is a subject of debate whether analog audio is superior to digital audio or vice versa. The question is highly dependent on the quality of the systems (analog or digital) under review, and other factors which are not necessarily related to sound quality. Arguments for analog systems include the absence of fundamental error mechanisms which are present in digital audio systems, including aliasing, quantization, and the absolute limitation of dynamic range. This Advocates of digital point to the high levels of performance possible with digital audio, including excellent linearity in the audible band and low levels of noise and distortion. Accurate, high quality sound reproduction is possible with both analog and digital systems. Excellent, expensive analog systems may outperform digital systems, and vice versa; in theory any system of either type may be surpassed by a better, more elaborate and costly system of the other type, but in general it tends to be less expensive to achieve any given standard of technical signal quality with a digital system, except when the standard is very low. One of the most limiting aspects of analog technology is the sensitivity of analog media to minor physical degradation; however, when the degradation is more pronounced, analog systems usually perform better, often still producing recognizable sound, while digital systems will usually fail completely, unable to play back anything from the medium. The principal advantages that digital systems have are very uniform source fidelity, inexpensive media duplication (and playback) costs, and direct use of the digital 'signal' in today's popular portable storage and playback devices. Analog recordings by comparison require comparatively bulky, high-quality playback equipment to capture the signal from the media as accurately as digital.

3.0.

Logistic/Technical/Engineering part: Why Analog is better than Digital?

Early in the development of the Compact Disc, engineers realized that the perfection of the spiral of bits was critical to playback fidelity. A scratch the width of a human hair (100 micrometers) could corrupt several dozen bits, resulting in at best a pop, and far worse, a loss of synchronization of the clock and data, giving a long segment of noise until resynchronized. This was addressed by encoding the digital stream with a multi-tiered error-correction coding scheme which reduces CD capacity by about 20%, but makes it tolerant to hundreds of surface imperfections across the disk without loss of signal. In essence, "error correction" can be thought of as "using the mathematically encoded backup copies of the data that was corrupted." Not only does the CD use redundant data, but it also mixes up the bits in a predetermined way so that a small flaw on the disc will affect fewer consecutive bits of the decoded signal and allow for more effective error correction using the available backup information. Unlike analog duplication, digital copies are usually exact replicas, which can be duplicated indefinitely without degradation, unless

imposed DRM restrictions apply or mastering errors occur. Digital systems often have the ability for the same medium to be used with arbitrarily high or low quality encoding methods and number of channels or other content, unlike practically all analog systems which have mechanically pre-fixed speeds and channels. Most higher-end analog recording systems offer a few selectable recording speeds, but digital systems tend to offer much finer variation in the rate of media usage. Analog advantages It can be argued that analog formats retain some inherent advantages over digital formats. The relevance of these advantages depends on the quality of specific digital or analog equipment. The advantages of analog systems are as below: 1) Absence of aliasing distortion. 2) Absence of quantization noise. 3) Behavior in overload conditions.

Early digital recordings Early digital audio machines had disappointing results, with digital converters introducing errors that the ear could detect (Watkinson 1994). Record companies released their first LPs based on digital audio masters in the late 1970s. CDs became available in the early 1980s. At this time analog sound reproduction was a mature technology. There was a mixed critical response to early digital recordings released on CD. Compared to vinyl record, it was noticed that CD was far more revealing of the acoustics and ambient background noise of the recording environment (Greenfield et al. 1986). For this reason, recording techniques developed for analog disc, e.g., microphone placement, needed to be adapted to suit the new digital format (Greenfield et al. 1986). Some analog recordings were re-mastered for digital formats. Analog recordings made in natural concert hall acoustics tended to benefit from re-mastering (Greenfield et al. 1990). The re-mastering process was occasionally criticized for being poorly handled. When the original analog recording was fairly bright, re-mastering sometimes resulted in an unnatural treble emphasis (Greenfield et al. 1990). Analog warmth Some audio enthusiasts prefer the sound of vinyl records over that of a CD. Founder and Editor Harry Pearson of the Absolute Sound journal say that "LPs are decisively more musical. CDs drain the soul from music. The emotional involvement disappears". Dub producer Adrian Sherwood has similar feelings about the analog cassette tape, which he prefers because of its warm sound. Those who favor the digital format point to the results of blind tests, which demonstrate the high performance possible with digital recorders. The assertion is that the 'analog sound' is more a product of analog format inaccuracies than anything else. One of the first and largest supporters of digital audio was the classical conductor Herbert von Karajan, who said that digital recording was "definitely superior to any other form of recording we know". He also pioneered the unsuccessful Digital Compact Cassette and conducted the first recording ever to be commercially released on CD: Richard Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie.

4.0.

SWOT Analysis for Vinyl Recorder:

Strength: 1. Better sound quality: The reason why vinyl recorder has better sound is because the grooves on records offer more musical data to your amplifier. When the stylus (needle) fits into the groove of the record, it vibrates in such a manner thats reminiscent of the sound waves present when the artists performed the song. When amplified, you get a reproduction of the original performance. When the musical data is converted into a digital format, you will find numerous resolutions. 2. If damaged partially still playable If vinyls disk partially damaged the rest of the disk can still playable. Back-to-back playback will introduce slightly more distortion than a fresh play. This is believed to be a temporary effect and goes away after approx. 10 minutes. Repeated playback (no matter what the timeframe) carries the risk of permanent damage. Obviously, records are observed to wear out with repeated play. No published evidence exists of back-to-back playback causing any more permanent damage than if repeated plays are separated by any longer period of time. 3. Long lasting quality Just because MP3 and CDs are newer technology doesnt theyre better. If we put the vinyl correctly and carefully the quality of the sound stills the same. For the best long-term record care, its recommend combining wet vacuum technology for deep cleaning, and a good dry brush for maintenance. Use a vacuum record cleaning machine when the record is new, and then several times throughout the life of the disc as required (a quality cleaning solution is critical). A good dry brush should be used prior to each and every play, and again after the record is played. Don't forget your stylus, which should be thoroughly cleaned before each play as well. 4. Classic Vinyl is classic because they were famous in twentieth centurys. Old music is sold by using vinyl records. All the musicians sell their song with these records. But still until now vinyl is not dead because in 2009, Radiohead was the #1 selling artists on vinyl.

Weakness: 1. Harder to maintain Vinyl is harder to maintain than CDs, and should ideally be stored in temperature- and humiditycontrolled environments. Records should be stored at a temperature no warmer than 70 degrees Fahrenheit, but are safe in temperatures down to 45 degrees. (However, air conditioning, perhaps with a dehumidifier, is almost always sufficient.) Mold can grow on vinyl and may permanently damage it and its sleeve, and can spread from record to record. The environment in which your records are stored is very important to a long shelf life. If you want a long shelf life for your prized recordings, keep the records away from dirt, dust, smoke, fingerprints, and oils from human skin as well as faulty phonograph needles. Never stack your records on top of each other, albums should be stored vertically. Avoid storing them too tight as it can lead to ring wear on the cover or sleeve and cause unnecessary stress to the record's materials, surface and label, often resulting in warps and contact damage. Additionally, the records should be stored in a low humidity setting with a temperature between 60 and 70 degrees if possible. Obviously, it is imperative to keep your treasured vinyl away from heat sources such as sunlight, heater vents and even lighting. Avoid dusty environments and if possible store the records in a relatively airtight container such as a cabinet with doors or sealable boxes or bins. 2. Very easy to damage during playback Vinyl is very easy to damage during playback. Any scraping of the surface can permanently compromise the sound quality. 3. Expensive Investing in a high quality vinyl system is hundreds to thousands of dollars more expensive than investing in a high quality digital audio system. 4. Cannot be downloaded Vinyl record cant be downloaded in internet like Mp3, Mp4, and any digital recorded.

Opportunities: 1. Partnership with other famous brand The brand is effectively seeking to have a presence on the style market. The more known the brand to the customers, the more people will look into our brand. So, it is one of the marketing strategies in promoting our brand to be known by people. 2. Develop new models to cater need of the customers People respond to new products in different ways. If the product attracts their attention, they might buy it. Every person has different perspectives in finding a new model. Style describes the product's look and feel to the buyer and design offers a potent way to differentiate and position a company's products and services. 3. Making a great promotion with involving singer/artist One of the marketing strategies is using an artist or singer in promoting the product. It is because an artist will have fans that usually follow what he or she is doing. So, if the company using a famous artist to promote a new product, it is means the more fans will bring more opportunities to the company and its one of a great promotion which will bring a good impact the company. 4. Expanding sales nation wide Every company will have a goal to promote their products and services throughout the world. Vinyl record is already known by their quality and people should consider of using Vinyl record because if vinyls disk partially damaged the rest of the disk can still playable and its one of the opportunities that the vinyl record should expose in order to differentiate with the digital music rather than quality.

Threats: 1. Strong competition with digital recorder Most businesses have competition. Almost everyone in business understands the principle of trying to offer something better than what their competitors are offering. Digital recorder offering music free to be downloaded compare to the vinyl recorder which are more expensive. However, gaining an advantage is the key to success and even survival. 2. Expensive price The vinyl recorder is tagged as an expensive recorder compared to the digital music. Investing in a high quality vinyl system is hundreds to thousands of dollars more expensive than investing in a high quality digital audio system. 3. Downloading free music from online sources Vinyl record cant be downloaded in internet like Mp3, Mp4, and any digital recorded. However, the digital music express their downloading free music from online sources which make the customers to think of using the digital music compared to the vinyl recorder. 4. Lose sales to substitute product There is also a high product substitution effect in the innovative and fast moving IT consumables market. Tomorrow's technology might be completely different.

5.0.

Analysis Of The Case (Q&A)

Q.1) As a marketing manager for Project (manufacturer of low priced turntables based in the Czech Republic) what target market would you consider most important over next three to five years? Why?
We would like to divide the target market for Czech Republic into three categories:

1st Generation Xers: They are the most common followers of alternative music like - rave, techno, drum n bass, jazz, etc. Alternative music has "attitudes" that define Gen Xers. Vinyl record is actually common in the alternative music scene.

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You can find hundreds hip hop or jazz vineyards being sold the moment you walk into a Virgin Record. Alternative music comes with attitude; it's rebellious, anti-establishment, counter culture, individualistic, hedonistic. These attitudes define half if not majority of the Gen Xers. Therefore, the first target market is the Generation Xers. They are the biggest follower of alternative music. Most of them fall under middle working class level in the society. They have limited money to spend but they crave for good alternative music which coupled with their image and attitude attachments to the music have made them a good target market. While a retiree (who has money) would go for Sony turntable to listen to his Elvis Presley vinyl, a young working class chap (with limited money to spend) will go for Project low cost turntable to listen to his John Dig weed. 2nd Baby boomers: When most people hear the word analog in relation to electronics or music they think of something from the past or old technology. And when they hear the word digital electronics or music they think of better sound quality and high tech electronics. Many people dont understand the difference between analog or digital music and this could very well be a generational misunderstanding of the 2 types of recording formats. . Baby Boomers were brought up listening to analog music on the radio which was broadcasted from studio recorded tapes and vinyl records. At home they listened to analog music from their record players (turntables) that played vinyl LPs, 8 track tapes or cassette tapes. In fact many of the older vinyl records were recorded directly to vinyl making those LPs unique. Many listeners of todays younger generations may have never experienced listening to analog music due to the fact that most all of music now is recorded on cds, hard drives and mp3s which are digital.. This is not their mistake, but their ears are accustomed to listening to low quality mp3s, iPods and headsets they will never know the value of good quality audio. This could be another reason why most audiophiles are of the baby boomer age group and they enjoy listening to analog music from vinyl LP recordings on traditional turntables as they can hear the difference. Recently more serious music listeners have gone back to playing vinyl records on analog turntables because there is a difference in the quality of sound. The music industry has forced digital products into the market not because its better but because it easier to produce CDs and MP3s than vinyl records.

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3rd Audiophiles: Audiophiles prefer to listen to music at a quality level that is as close to the original performance as possible using high fidelity components. These specialized components include turntables, digital-to-analog converters, equalization devices, preamplifiers and amplifiers. Both high quality solid-state and vacuum tube amplifiers are used. Audiophiles play music from a wide variety of sources such as phonograph records, compact discs (CDs), and digital audio file formats that are uncompressed as well as ones that are compressed using lossless data compression like FLAC, Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless and Apple Lossless. Since the early 1990s, CDs have become the most common source of high-quality music. Nevertheless, turntables, tone arms, and magnetic cartridges are still used, despite the difficulties of keeping records free from dust and the delicate set-up associated with turntables. Q.2) How important is branding in the marketing of audio/video equipment? The IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING IN THE MARKETING. American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of all of them are intended to identify goods and services from one company or group companies and to distinguish them from other companies. It is therefore perfectly reasonable to understand that branding is not just chasing the target market to choose you over the competition, but about getting prospects that you are the only one who can provide solutions to their problems. SONY is the best exemplar in this case as even though it is going through a rough phase in the industry because of increasing competition it is still standing owing brand image of the consumers. For example by 1970s SONY introduced its Walkman, uniting its skills of miniaturization and tape technology which is considered one of the industries most thriving products that also helped in backing SONY Research. Sony as already discussed, is among the strongest consumer electronic brands. However, today Sony is also fighting for its survival owing to the upcoming brands which are getting at par with SONY with their cutting edge technology. In USA as example Apple, which has set itself up as a leader in the digital music with its iPod, Dell and HP being rated as the most innovative brands? Apple used the band U2 to launch its iPod MP3 player, which not only iPod had U2 printed in front but also had bands signature etched at the back.

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This practice is good way to attract the customers attention So I would like to say that the role of branding is getting more recognized than ever. Apples iPod display this as the users can play and download as the users can play and download songs from the iTunes with just a swipe of finger, this crushed SONYs Walkman Mp3 player wish was too bulky to use. Q.3) As a marketing manager for Sony, would you recommend the company develop a line of mid-to-high quality turntables? Why or why not? We would like to recommend for Sony to develop a line of mid-to-high quality turntables based on these several strong points: A) Pioneer company and demand is increasing It is important for Sony to take advantage to become the pioneer company to develop the mid-tohigh quality turntables. Sony is a big, trustworthy brand and company. By introducing the midto-high quality turntables, people who love the feel of rich and warm sounds from analog music will looking for Sonys turntables. From these opportunities, Sony may have a higher possibility to become the market leaders and become the first company to monopoly the market for this product. Statistic has proved that the demand for turntables is increasing by year. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry reported that global sales for record doubled during 2007 from 3 million to 6 million units. The Recording Industry Association of America reports 1.3 million record were sold in 2007, 36.6% more than 2006. As a result, turntables sales grew nearly 80% during this same time period. Therefore, Sony must take this chance to develop the mid-to-high quality turntables and became the pioneer company that develops such product. Sony must use this opportunity to increase the market share, make more people to buy their products by providing a more experiential and active listening experience to Sonys customers. Turntables have their own market customer. This people are people who are willing to experiment the growing trends and technology, progressive, socially active and influential. People who are listening and demanding for analog music and turntables are different from people who prefer digital music. By having this unique and professional people as a market target, these mid-to-high quality turntables have a great chance to become another hits product by Sony.

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B) Target market & Brand Searching Demand of turntable is increasing year by year and it has become a trend relatively to urban audiophiles who willing to experiment with this growing trend. This group is young, progressive, and stylish and takes a brand as important aspect to be considered in buying decision. Sony can be pioneer in modern and stylish turntables and captured this group of market. With the exploit from current famous recording artist to release their new hits in vinyl record, turntable will be a major trend in audiophiles selection. C) Access, quality, socialization and respect Turntables allowed consumers to access to analog music and play new records by repositioning complementary products. Besides that, audio quality of turntable becomes a major preference why turntable is preferred. Consumers able to satisfy their social needs by using turntables as it plays music for group enjoyment unlike mp3, iPod or walkman which are more solitary. Turntable ownership symbolizes trendiness and musical expertise which also garnering respect for young audiophiles. 6.0. Conclusion In a nutshell, based on the above discussion the first thing which we would like to conclude from here is that in IT based firms we cannot draft a marketing plan for a long period of time because technology changes consistently and that is too at a rapid pace, so a marketing plan should be drafted for two to three years maximum and should be reviewed consistently. By way of example, think few years back an MP3 player of 512 MB was considered to be great. However, it is interesting to note that nowadays people are not satisfied with an MP3 player of four GB even. The second thing is that we should consistently monitor the performance of our brand and the best way to do that is by focusing on focus groups. The focus groups can give us information on brand awareness and brand reorganization. For instance, to compete against Coca Cola Pepsi created a brand strategy to target young consumers. Finally one of the growing concepts today which the companies are widely using is Brand stretching, for instance Yamaha originally a musical instrument making company they shifted to motor cycles and now days to a sports company.

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7.0. Recommendation Based on long discussion and analysis, we would like to recommend several things; firstly, maintaining the existing Market and developing new products, features as well as brands. The main objective of developing new brands is that no sensible person denies that customers are much interested to purchase products that have brand name, commodity or goods. For instance, why most people purchase Lacoste T-shirt with higher price around $70 instead of $10 WallMart T-shirt? The answer is clear and it is due to its brand name. Next issue we would like to recommend is to use Reasonable Price Strategy. The core concept of this strategy is that majority of people are in between middle and low level income so if we only target at higher income people then we will not get a great number of customers. For instance, nowadays it can be clearly seen that the price of Apple I Phone is targeted to the industrial leaders. In other words, the price of I phone is too expensive. However, if the price is reasonable then, everybody would be able to purchase Apples I Phone. Finally, we would like to recommend enhancing the quality level and utility of the products in order to increase the overall satisfaction of the consumers which will lead to enhance customer loyalty.

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References: David W. Stewart, How Marketing Contributes to the Bottom Line Journal of Advertising Research 48, no. 1(2008), p. 94. Fred wiersema, The New Market Leaders: Whos Wining and How in the Battle for Customers (New York: Free Press, 2001), pp. 48-58. Jena Mc Gregor Customer Service Champs Business Week, March 5, 2007, p.63. Lenny H. Pattikawa, Ernst Verwaal and Harry R. Commandeur, Understanding New Product Project Performance, European Journal of Marketing, 2006 Vol. 40 (11/12), pp. 1178-93. Mathew Yeung and Bala Ramassary, Brand Value and Firm Performance Nexus: Further Emprical Evidence Journal of Brand Management, 2008, Vol. 15 (5), pp. 322-36. Pamela Miles Homer, Percieved Quality and Image When All Is Not Roys Journal of Business Research, 2008, Vol. 61 (6), pp.715-30. Wayne McPhee and David Wheeler, Making the Case for the Added-Value Chain, Strategy and Leadership Vol. 34,Iss. 4, 2006, pp. 39-48. Websites and Links: Www. Marketingpower.com, accessed May 17, 2008. Www. Businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2007. http://www.bloomberg.com/solutions/bloomberg_news/businessweek/
http://articlesworldwide.com/2011/06/09/reasons-why-vinyl-records-sound-best/ http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Disadvantages_%28Vinyl%29 http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Advantages_%28Vinyl%29 http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Myths_(Vinyl) http://www.recordpressing.com/2010/03/top-ten-vinyl-record-myths-2/ http://articlesworldwide.com/2011/06/09/reasons-why-vinyl-records-sound-best/

16 http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Disadvantages_%28Vinyl%29 http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Advantages_%28Vinyl%29 http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Myths_(Vinyl) http://www.recordpressing.com/2010/03/top-ten-vinyl-record-myths-2/ http://www.eauc.hk/show.asp?id=125