Direction: This case study is prepared to practice how to apply what students have learned in the classroom to real marketing problem(s) and at the same time, figure out any marketing solutions to the same issue(s). During the class, the instructor will have discussions with all the students regarding the following case study. Then, they need to submit their answers in the WORD format individually to the dropbox in D2L by due date. If they do not submit their answers, they will not achieve their participation score. (30 points)

Case Example. Read the following case and consider how to develop any positioning strategy for the introduction of new luxury brand for Cadillac business unit. Specifically, choose one specific position in the following perceptual map and design your positioning statement for the design of Cadillacs repositioning strategy, as the response to recent declining sales of GMs old-fashioned brand Cadillac.

Cadillac Reaching For Icon Status in New Positioning

(By David Kiley July 27, 2006 in Business Week)

Cadillac has become a cool brand in the last four years thanks mostly to the embrace of the Escalade SUV by the fashion and hip-hop crowd, and the good reception of CTS sedan by the auto press. But with sales down 9% in the first six months of this year and not enough new buyers coming in, the General Motors brand is shaking up its advertising and marketing to reach more women and young well-heeled luxury car buyers.

When Caddy launched its Break Through campaign four years ago with Led Zeppelin music, it was a game-changer at GM and the Caddy brand, which had become associated more with the white-shoe and matching belt crowd than those wearing Dr. Maartens or Gucci. And while four straight years of sales gains is nothing to sneeze at, Caddy recently identified a problem. Beyond the Escalade, young people had no clue about the rest of the lineup. Also, while the average age buyer had come down to 59 from 64, that's still too old and too few women have been shopping the brand.

Your Mission. After reading the short case above, follow the following steps for the design of new repositioning strategy of old Cadillac brand.

• Step 1: For the category of car products, develop one market structure map which has the number of smaller segments for the Segmentation Process. Using the guidelines in PowerPoint slides, identify proper segmentation bases and develop one market structure map having the tree structure. Given that, indicates that you are supposed to choose one luxury segment which includes Cadillac brand.
• Step 2: Identify one empty area for Cadillacs repositioning strategy in the following perceptual or positioning map. It means that students are choosing one specific area in the perceptual map as the new position of a new Cadillac brand.
• Step 3: Given the identification of new position in the perceptual map, develop your positioning statement as mentioned in the lecture notes or PowerPoint slides. This statement needs to highlight two types of benefits offered to new target customers with new Cadillac brand.
• Step 4: It indicates that moving from the old to new position of Cadillac brand refers to the perception change in customers mind. Discuss what the firm needs to do for the change of customers perception as the part of implementing repositioning strategy for new Cadillac brand.