Which consumer market segments best match with benihana

W6 - East Meets West. A Cross-Cultural IMC AnalysisEast Meets West. A Cross-Cultural IMC Analysis

Two Parts to this assignment:

Part I:

Answer the DQ in 50 words or more (be specific):

What are some strategies that an American company could use to minimize negative reactions to their products in other countries where there are some anti-American feelings?

Professor Note:

Well... this should be a fun one given the events of the last year!

In thinking about this however, try to step back and consider why anti-American feeling might exist and please try to go beyond the most recent events, and think about other causes of anti-American sentiment in various places around the world.

Remember that we were a colonial power in the Pacific, for example.

In Latin America, who did the US historically support?

How have American companies behaved overseas in terms of production, labor treatment?

How do American tourists behave? (If you have been able to observe that.)

Part II:

Review this week’s required reading: “Marketing tradition-bound products through story-telling: a case of a Japanese sake brewery”.As you read the article consider the different marketing communication components employed by the sake brewery and how they are integrated.

Read the textbook case study “The Japanese Steakhouse Experience” on page 117 in the textbook.

Write a paper of 750 words in which you answer the following:

Explain the positioning approach used by Benihana.
Identify the core target audience for Benihana.
Using information from the case history on identifying a story, what story could Benihana use to explain its concept? Describe the story.
Compare and contrast the story-telling approach used by the sake industry in Japan to how alcohol tends to be promoted in the United States.
Alcohol sales are an important component of the profitability of a restaurant. Discuss how the Japanese sake industry could integrate its story-telling approach to increase its sake sales in the environment of a restaurant chain such as Benihana.