Altius

Practical Issues in Marketing

Altius Golf

4/30/14

Words Count: 800

Launching Elevate

By: Nehal Mehta

Risks

One of the greatest risks that Altius faces with the introduction of Elevate is the possibility of hurting their brand position in the industry. They are currently viewed as a prestigious, premium brand and maintain high gross margins due to their increased suggested retail prices. Once you drop to a low-cost option, it is very difficult to climb back up the ladder without devoting significant dollars to aggressive marketing outreach and realistic differentiation between product offerings. Altius has already differentiated itself and identified itself as a leader in quality and launching Elevate can jeopardize their brand image.

A way to mitigate this risk is for Altius to really define its value and help customers that aren’t yet loyal to the brand, understand why they should be. A possible way to do this would be to demonstrate their return on investment associated to the Altius brand by reinforcing quality factors such as durability, innovation, or the like, which differentiate it from either Primiera or Meridian. Often times even simple things like service can set a brand apart. Altius might potentially want to consider offering some post purchase follow-up customer service. This may help build brand loyalty and contribute toward maintaining their superior brand perception with a possible changing pricing architecture.

Alternatives

A significant area of opportunity to grow the golf ball business for Altius is to educate their consumers. The feasible concern with low involved, non- golfers and the agnostic segment, is that they may not know the difference between brands let alone a non-conforming ball versus those within the USGA’s parameters. A viable way to communicate with and attract more consumers is through social media. Through setting up a Facebook page, or a Twitter account, they can reach a younger demographic and address the...