How to Write an Award Winning MBA Project on Product Marketing?

In this article on how to write an award winning MBA Project on a latest Product Marketing through brand extension, we shall study Sheela Foam as an organisation and discuss marketing strategy of Sheela Foam’s flagship brand Sleepwell mattress which has recently forayed into home comfort solutions with the launch of premium personalised bedding sets. As part of the MBA Project work in Marketing Management, we shall look at the marketing strategies of M/s Sheela Foam’s Sleepwell mattress and understand the brand’s new products and how it continues to stay relevant in the increasingly competitive market. We shall study the new products of Sheela Foam’s Sleepwell and its marketing strategy on how the brand continues to stay relevant.

What is Marketing Strategy?

A marketing strategy is a company’s plan for reaching the prospective consumers and turning them into customers of their products or services. Marketing strategies should revolve around a company’s value proposition. The ultimate goal of a marketing strategy is to achieve and communicate a sustainable competitive advantage over rival companies. A marketing strategy should revolve around the company’s value proposition, which communicates to consumers what the company stands for, how it operates, and why it deserves their business. To guide students on how to do an MBA Project on marketing strategy and write MBA project report, through this sample MBA Project work, we shall present how the company under consideration has formulated its marketing strategy by new products and stayed ahead of competition.

About the company

The Organisation selected in this MBA Project is Sheela Foams Ltd, which is a leader in Polyurethane Foam. Sheela Group is a multi-billion rupee entity and has nationwide presence in manufacturing PU Foam with a global marketing perspective and an impeccable track record, since 1971. Sheela Group is committed to a one-point programme of bringing comfort, convenience and luxury to enhance the lifestyle of a modern customer.

The winning brands of Sheela Group are (i) SLEEPWELL - The flagship brand for mattresses and comfort accessories, (ii) FEATHER FOAM - A Pure PU Foam and (iii) LAMIFLEX - A superior quality POLYETHER/POLYESTER foam for lamination. The product selected for the MBA project study on brand extension is Sleepwell Mattress.

Why Sleepwell Brand Selected for Study

Sleepwell is a flagship brand of the Sheela Group. It manufactures Polyurethane foam and is an ISO 9001-certified company. It has been serving consumers for over the last five decades. It has 10 state-of-the-art manufacturing units, a strong support of over 100+ distributors and over 8,000 dealers in India. Sheela Group commands approximately 30 % market share of the Indian P.U. foam industry. Sleepwell recently entered home comfort solutions with the launch of premium personalised bedding sets. Thus the brand has been selected for this MBA Project on brand extension so that the results of the MBA Project work can be shared with its peers for their future course of action.

The Brand Extension story of Sleepwell

When one visits a retail store or a website to buy a mattress, it rarely happens that one buys the mattress alone. Quite instinctively, they look for a new bed sheet, pillows and a comforter. So, it came naturally to Sleepwell to offer these items for extension-sell of sorts. The credibility of the brand Sheela Foam has built over the years, helps the company to sell these effortlessly. A buyer doesn’t need to hop to a different store to look for home comfort products as Sleepwell has become a one-stop shopping destination. As part of the brand extension, the company provides bed sheets, pillows, comforters, blankets pre-matched. Even mattress covers come in coordinated colours and patterns. Products of similar designs and patterns under the Sleepwell brand are available in various price ranges for different segments of customers. As a category, its pre-matched bed sets are a first in India. As part of brand extension MBA Project study, a student can visit customers and find responses as customers’ feedback.

Strategy to stay relevant in future

Sleepwell has been one of the prominent players in the mattress segment, but recently, we have seen a number of new entrants in the market with unique offerings. Therefore, the future ready strategy to stay ahead of the competition, as firmed up by the brand needs to be studied and some improvement in the strategy has to be worked out as part of the MBA Project study. As we know, it’s a 50-year-old brand and original manufacturers. Thus the company understands Indian consumers very well and can do research very quickly to tailor-make the mattresses as per consumer needs. The same can’t be said about the new entrants as most of them are more or less functioning like trading. Sleepwell has devised different strategies for different channels. This helped the company to become the second-leading brand in e-commerce. They have launched a brand exclusively for the young customers with a different product line and price range. It is solely for online marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart. The company has a plan to build an omni-channel network by integrating both offline and online to become a hybrid brand. Customers will soon get the new Sleepwell 2.0 brand experience. Its physical stores are getting a face-lift, where buyers will get a unique shopping experience — demonstrations will be powered by AR and VR. Majority of brands still follow a single strategy for the entire country, Sleepwell have started designing region-specific schemes. The company shall foray into some new categories, which will serve as useful adjuncts to its pre-existing ones. In addition, have introduced mattress-cleaning service and patented neem-fresh products. Therefore, as such future ready initiatives of Sleepwell needs to be studied in the proposed MBA Project.

Conclusion

Sleepwell has been growing steadily over the last few years and intends to continue with that growth momentum. After the introduction of demonetization and GST, a lot of unauthorized traders moved out of the sector. Moreover, with the FinTech industry taking off, EMIs have become very popular. Also the millennial consumers are moving from unorganized to organized, thus helping the brand to grow faster than earlier. If an MBA student intends to start his/her MBA Project work on brand extension referring to Sleepwell as a live case study but feel unclear of where to start, then this article is for you. Dedicated faculty member of Madembaezy can help a student during the MBA project study and to find a subject, select a topic, find an organisation for the MBA Project work and plan the MBA project and will act as a liaison between the student and the host organisation.