MARKETING MANAGEMENT INDIVIDUAL PROJECT (MMIP) ASSIGNMENT

BUSI 520 Strategic Marketing Management

Q1. Provide a description of the product/service and a brief history of the firm. Comment by Keith Starcher: Please use headings and subheadings to guide the reader. Here is an example. Let’s assume this was the assignment prompt: Provide a description of the product/service and a brief history of the firm. Example headings: Brief description of the firm Product description Make sure the headings meet APA 7th edition format requirements. (Apply this comment throughout the paper.) Comment by Keith Starcher: Learn how to create a running head that meets APA 7th edition format standards. Running head is now the same on every page --- in ALL CAPS left-justified. See the example in one of my announcements. Where are the page numbers?

Many people have said goodbye to cable services over the past few years. For some, cable began to seem like a waste of money, for others they saw that they could stream at a fraction of the cost of cable. Not to mention you can stream almost anywhere that you have internet. Amazon Prime Video was launched in 2006 as Amazon Unbox which was an online movie rental and download service. In 2011, Amazon created Prime Instant Video in hopes of boosting the Prime subscription service giving subscribers access to stream 5,000 movies and TV shows. Unbox was closed in 2015 and Amazon Video was introduced and began to be marketed as Amazon’s streaming service. Over the past few years, it has been known as Amazon Prime Video or simply Prime Video. Comment by Keith Starcher: Indent the first sentence of each new paragraph. Comment by Keith Starcher: How do you know this to be true? Cite a source. Comment by Keith Starcher: Where did this information come from? If you do not cite authoritative sources, the reader sees nothing more than your personal opinion. This weakens your arguments. A research paper analyzes a topic and provides several arguments regarding that topic. Regardless of the type of research paper you are writing, your finished research paper should present “your own thinking” backed up by others’ ideas and information. The tough part of this for students is the phrase “your own thinking.” For students who have not had a lot of research writing this can be difficult to navigate. The student writing a research paper is entering into a scholarly conversation pulling from what they have read and incorporating that with their own thinking on the topic. Hopefully what is being read is serving to enlarge and challenge the student’s thinking and perspective on the topic. It is critical that the student provides support for their argument from scholarly sources. For the MMIP project, credible business publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Ad Age, etc. count as scholarly sources (in addition to scholarly journals).

Amazon has over 150 million subscribers. Users pay $13 a month for subscription of Amazon Prime and Prime video is included. The option to subscribe only to Prime Video is available for $9 a month. Subscribers can also add subscriptions to Showtime, Starz, HBO, and others for an additional cost. Unlike its competitors Amazon sells Tv shows and movies separately from its subscription. You have the option of renting and buying movies including new releases. Comment by Keith Starcher: What are the differences in benefits ($13 versus $9)? Comment by Keith Starcher: TV

A few perks of Amazon Prime Video are that Amazon’s ownership of IMDb allows you to use X-Ray which is a feature that allows you to scroll up and see information on cast members, the music, and trivia while watching the show or movie. Prime Video is mostly ad-free which allows you to watch shows without the interruption of commercials. You are also to see what movies and shows are coming to Prime Video for the month and you can make up to 6 profiles on one Prime Video account which is extremely convenient when sharing an account with your household. Comment by Keith Starcher: Numbers one through nine must be written out in word format (APA, 2019, section 6.33), with some exceptions (such as ages-see section 6.32). Numbers 10 and up must be written out in numerical format (section 6.32). Always write out in word format any number that begins a sentence (section 6.33). Comment by Keith Starcher: You did not provide a brief history of the firm. Please fix this for the final MMIP paper. Thank you.

Q2. Explain your current or possible global marketing efforts.

Most companies go through learning curves when trying to expand their business globally. When Prime Video initially came on the market it was only available to residents in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. Prime video is now worldwide (except for Mainland China, North Korea, Syria, and Iran). The Prime Video team has offices in 15 major cities across the globe. The strategy of global marketing with local content advertising seems to be of use. Amazon is constantly gaining broader perspective on how to connect customers to the Prime Video brand and grow its business by marketing its content in innovative ways in hopes of developing a stronger emotional connection with its audiences. The Prime Video team is responsible for end-to-end ownership of the product, design, technology, and overall user experience. Ingesting content and metadata into the supply chain is the beginning of the process. The final stage is carried through to the last degree of polish in the client’s applications on Amazon and other third-party devices. Campaigns are driven to develop content, engagement, customer acquisition, and international expansion. Comment by Keith Starcher: You are providing no in-text citations. Thus, all of this information must be interpreted as personal opinion only. Where is your research? Comment by Keith Starcher: Where are the details about the global strategy? I look forward to reading your revision in the final MMIP paper in week eight. Thank you.

Q3. Explain the organization’s mission. Provide its mission statement or create one if necessary.

Streaming services have changed the way people view TV and watch movies. Prime Video’s mission statement states “The Prime Video team comprises individuals who are all obsessively focused on one mission: to give customers the world’s best-in-class digital video customer experience”. Amazon is on a mission to attract, engage, and retain Prime members. They plan to achieve this mission by offering exclusive TV shows and movies, must-have original content, and the largest collection of titles available for rent or buy. Comment by Keith Starcher: experience.” A direct quote citation requires a page number or paragraph number. Comment by Keith Starcher: How do you know this is the largest collection? You must back up this statement with an in-text citation from a credible source. This is a major weakness in this paper.

Q4. Explain your competitive strategy.

As we know there are a few companies that offer similar video streaming services. Netflix being one of Prime Videos number one competitors. However, there are a few things that make the two services different from one another. With the pandemic closing movie theaters Amazon offering new movies to be rented or bought gives them an edge over its competitors that do not offer this option. The competitive strategies that would best suit this company are differentiation and cost leadership. Differentiation will allow Amazon to continue finding ways to enhance services to set them apart from competitors. The rent or buy option of new movies, allowing customers to add subscriptions for other channels are both features that Netflix does not offer. Cost leadership is another strategy that would be beneficial to the company. Having a team to find ways to add more perks to the service while keeping the cost down is necessary. Keeping the cost in the same range as competitors but giving customers more options than those companies will help gain and maintain customer loyalty. Comment by Keith Starcher: This is a sentence fragment. Sentence fragments are groups of words that look like sentences but are not. To be a sentence, groups of words need to have at least one independent clause. An independent clause is any group of words that contain both a subject and a verb and can stand on its own. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/exercises/5/18/38 Comment by Keith Starcher: Again…no in-text citations…

Q5. Conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis for the organization.

Strengths: Free with Amazon Prime Membership, using IMDb Database, expansion into sports streaming, expansion of option to rent or buy new movies, brand awareness.

Weaknesses: Mediocre content, quality of original content, streaming service industry is easy to enter, complicated video platform.

Opportunities: Digital advertising, IMDb data for filtering movies, global with local content aspect.

Threats: A lot of direct competitors, competitors have better original content, Amazon is banned in some countries, competitors have better content. Comment by Keith Starcher: As mentioned before, your arguments in this paper are weak because you do not provide any in-text citations. You must fix this. You can do it!

References Comment by Keith Starcher: Please follow the APA format requirements for the Reference page. Work with the experts at the Jerry Falwell Library and the Online Writing Center to learn how to create references that meet 7th edition APA format requirements.

Amazon. (2021). Retrieved from: https://www.amazon.jobs/en/business_categories/primevideo?offset=0&result_limit=10&sort=relevant&distanceType=Mi&radius=24km&latitude=&longitude=&loc_group_id=&loc_query=&base_query=&city=&country=&region=&county=&query_options=&

Boas, M. (2018). The Forgotten History of Amazon. Retrieved from: https://medium.com/@mikeboas/the-forgotten-history-of-amazon-video-c030cba8cf29

Csathy, P. (2020). Forbes. Amazon Prime Video: The Stealthy, Ominous Streaming Force. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/petercsathy/2020/01/31/amazon-prime-video-the-quiet-ominous-streaming-force/?sh=54c7500c1f1a

Floyd, N. (2020). Minttwist. Battle of the brands: Netflix vs Amazon Prime Video. Retrieved from: https://www.minttwist.com/blog/netflix-vs-amazon-prime/

Smith, W. (1956). The Journal of Marketing. Product Differentiation and Market Segmentation as Alternative Marketing Strategies. Retrieved from: http://77.37.162.71:8080/pdf/Market-Segmentation-as-Alternative-Marketing-Strategies.pdf

Wind, J. & Mahajan, V. (1993). Journal of Marketing Research. Issues and Opportunities in New Product Development: An Introduction to the Special Issue. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F002224379703400101 Comment by Keith Starcher: None of these sources are cited in your paper. That is a major writing error. Take advantage of the Writing Help Resources provided by the University. You can improve the clarity of your writing.

2