Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Info 563 Case Preparation: Pandora


Problem/Issue Statement

Problem: Pandora needs to come up with a marketing strategy that would give them a profitable margin.
-           Pandora’s advertising sales is not bringing enough revenue

-          Pros/Cons compared to other radio stations
o   Pros
§  Pandora played songs that users were likely to enjoy based on other musical selections

o   Cons
§  Listeners were not able to request a particular song
§  Unable to record songs played

Situation Assessments

Pandora needs a marketing strategy that would keep them differentiated, but at the same time bring more revenue into the company.

-          Criteria
o   Cost
o   Stay differentiated
o   Give options to the customers.
§  For example) Still have somewhat of an option to be a “free” Pandora customer

List of Plausible Alternative Courses of Action
-          Add more advertising
o   More advertising turn users away from the product

-          “Freemium” Model
o   Provide limited but free service to all users
o   Offer a premium-priced value-added membership for value-added membership

-          Implement a subscription model
o   $3 per month per member
o   Ultimate debate: What is the nexus of what users want and what the economics will allow

-          Capping the listening hours and charging only those who went over the limit
o   After 40 hours, pay $0.99.

Recommendation

Quality and Logical Recommendation:
-          Quality Recommendation:
o   Go with “Freemium” Model or charging only those who went over the limit
§  These two options are a good recommendation that would bring Pandora profit
§  The two recommendation gives users the option to be a free user, which will not turn users away

-          Logical Recommendation
o   “Freemium” Model
§  Even though, charging only those who went over the limit is a very good option to have and bring in some extra revenue, it has it’s disadvantages
·         “Freemium” Model gives you somewhat of a constant revenue giving Pandora an estimate of how much revenue will be coming in throughout the year.
·         Extra time charging option needs to have people register their credit card information before hand or every time they go over, which might have a negative effect on new and old users.

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