Shuttersong is an app which is described as providing a new way of sharing your images by allowing sound or music to be added effortlessly.

 It is available free from the App Store on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/shuttersong/id700873970?mt=8.

Please see the web-site http://www.shuttersong.com/to find out more about how it works. You may also like to download the App and try it out.

The App was launched in the US in November and while available internationally through iTunes it has only been actively marketed in the US to date.  Its initial aim is to get it used and talked about among consumers. 

To monetise the App, the intent is to sell Shuttersong to advertisers on the basis it can be used to deliver visual and audio messages to consumers in both social media and traditional marketing environments. It can do this at a fraction of the bandwidth needed to stream a 15 second video. Production costs are much lower than video and time to market is much quicker – can be hours instead of days or weeks.

It could also be used to promote consumer involvement and  generate content by, for example, getting them to prepare their own 15 seconds of brand-specific content – a song, a poem, a vocal impression, a piece of music – and use them in viral advertising campaigns.

You are to write a 2000 word (excluding references and any tables or diagrams) international marketing strategy and plan for Shuttersong.

In putting together your ideas it is important to consider the detail as well as the big strategic ideas.  Make sure that you cover the following within your document:

·         The expansion strategy in terms of which markets would have short-term priority and which would be left for the longer-term. Important here is the time frame you are attributing to short-term and longer-term

·         The target market for both consumers and advertisers with examples of possible brands

·         Research that would be needed to inform and evaluate proposals.

·         Proposals for which elements of the total offer should be standardised and what may need to be localised. These proposals need to be underpinned by the logic of your thinking

·         Future developments either in terms of additional functionality or range extension.  Consider the branding and positioning of these proposals

·         Suggestions for the overall marketing communications approach with specific suggestions for entry into your proposed short-term market entries.

This should be made through the AS2 Shuttersong TURNITIN submission point.

The assignment is therefore linked to the following learning objectives:

a)          Appreciate the complexity and interconnectivity of the constantly shifting international marketing environment and interpret the consequences for international marketing decisions.

b)         Critically engage in the ‘glocalisation’ and ‘standardisation-adaptation’ debates and apply the arguments to a range of international marketing decisions.

c)          Compare and contrast alternative methods of selecting and entering markets

d)         Explore and explain the major organisational issues when a company moves from national to international/global  marketing

e)         Critically assess the methodology and interpretation of international marketing research and information.

g)          Identify and evaluate options to achieve international marketing strategic aims.

h)      Explain concepts and theories clearly and apply these appropriately to new problems and contexts

i)        Synthesise, evaluate, and present information from different sources in a clear and objective fashion