Sunset North Car Wash & Detail Center

Marketing Plan

Produced by Phoenix ConsultingDecember 2014

Part I: The BasicsExecutive Summary

Sunset North Car Wash & Detail Center is a local Central Coast hand car wash company that has four locations, two in San Luis Obispo, one in Paso Robles and one in Arroyo Grande. Sunset North is looking to increase the awareness and effectiveness of their quality driven message to their loyal customers who seek out the ultimate care in their automobiles. Sunset North should continue to offer to the elder upper end community in San Luis Obispo as well as the ‘car obsessed’ college students that are in the large market of almost 35% of the local population. Currently Sunset North currently uses a website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to spread awareness. But to gain the competitive advantage over its competitors and truly relay the desired ‘quality message’ to these new segments, Phoenix Consulting suggests Sunset North make detailed changes in it’s branding, quality of wash, facility appearance, customer experience and interaction during the service, and its media strategies and website.

Company Overview Sunset North Car Wash and Detail Center focuses on providing environmentally-friendly hand wash services by conserving as much water as possible. There are four locations across the Central Coast; two in San Luis Obispo, one in Arroyo Grande, and one in Paso Robles. They claim: “wherever you are on the Central Coast, from Paso Robles to Arroyo Grande, Sunset North Car Wash and Detail Center is your car's best friend. After all, it's the home of the Happy Car!” Our client’s mission statement is: “At Sunset North Car Wash and Detail Center, we use the finest products to hand wash your car or truck.” Our client, Sunset North Car Wash and Detail Center, wants to achieve a successful marketing plan in order to broaden its target market base by separating their strategies into demographics and consumer needs. In the San Luis Obispo college town, Sunset North Car Wash can reach out to its younger consumers through modernizing their social media, special student deals, fundraisers, campus focused advertisements, and more. In the Paso Robles and Arroyo Grande locations, Sunset North can reach out to their family-oriented consumers by providing customer loyalty programs, family discounts, local school fundraisers, advertisements where families usually shop, and more. Overall, they need to improve their marketing beyond word of mouth and become more involved in their modern communities.

Target Segment Review Sunset North Car Wash and Detail Center’s current target market includes residents of the San Luis Obispo County above age thirty. In our interview with Bart of Sunset North, he informed us that these people over thirty that come to his car wash typically have an annual income of over $75,000. Bart informed us that their target consumers have a disposable income, so they have a bit of extra money to spend on their car washes. These consumers live fast-paced lives so they are consistently busy and always out and about, leaving them with little to no time to wash their own cars. Bart did not specify gender or a very specific age range of his target market, but found on GfK Mediamark Research & Intelligence (2013), gender and age are not significantly related to the purchase of car wash products in past years. Men and women of all ages buy similar amounts of car wash products (Gfk Mediamark, 2013). According to the database, adults that have graduated high school but did not attend college are more likely to buy car cleaning products. Also, in concurrence with what Bart informed us of, residents with a household income of $75,000-$149,999 are the most likely to buy these products. Through our interview with Bart, we have come to realize that students are not targeted by this service. Although younger with little to no income, Cal Poly and Cuesta students make up over half of the population of San

Luis Obispo. As seen in the graph below, San Luis Obispo’s population of adults ages 18-24 (the typical age range of college students) are the dominant age group living in the community. While not all students drive, a good amount do and they potentially make up a viable market for Sunset North to pursue.

Product Review According to their slogan, Sunset North is the “Home of the Happy Car”. Also, they use a distinctive character of a cartoon, friendly car that is smiling while getting a wash. These current branding features are posted on their website, shirts and around their facility, which reveals a certain value to the customers who come in contact with them. So, with these branding features, they invoke a family-oriented playful image, and reveal the value of being friendly, ‘not so serious’ side. So, as one can see, branding is extremely important and gives a customer a preconceived judgment of the quality of the service. According to the McGraw Hill textbook “Marketing” by Grewel and Levy branding facilitates purchases, establish loyalty, protect from competition and price competition, are assets, and affect market value. Grewel and Levy stated that, “having a well known brand can have a direct impact on the company’s bottom line and overall monetary worth”. So revealing the best branding will dictate Sunset North’s success. Sunset North Car Wash has two different levels of car wash service/ hand wash service. The first service is a basic exterior wash, where they run the car through their automated exterior cleaner. This is the cheapest option that Sunset offers. It also has the least amount of amenities included with it. The basic exterior wash offers bug removal, towel drying, and clean exterior windows; for “small cars” they charge $9.99, and for “large” cars they charge $12.99. the next car wash option is the Basic Hand Wash, where employees vacuum the interior, wash the outside of the car, remove bugs, rinse off the under-body of the car, towel dry, clean the windows on both the inside and outside, clean out cup holders, center console, door panels, and rims. For a small/ midsize car, the price is $16.99, and for large cars it’s $18.99. Sunset North Car Wash also offers detailing options, broken down into four categories: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. Each package is designed for the consumer who comes with a certain idea in mind of how they want their car detailed. The Bronze package includes rainbow conditioner, tire dressing, an underbody rinse, and an air freshener. The Bronze package is $24.99. The Silver package includes the bronze package, and additionally it offers a Rain-X complete surface protectant along with Rain-X for the wheels, for $29.99. The Gold package offers a Silver package along with exterior dressing and Armor-All shine wax, and is priced at $34.99. The Platinum package is the most premium package that Sunset North offers, and that package is a gold package and included as well is interior dressing/detail. The platinum package is priced at $44.99. These are all price for small/midsize cars. If a large car wants to go through one of these aforementioned services, every package is $2.00 more. The last type of deals that Sunset offers are custom car washes, where the customer makes a package that they want for their car, and that is $29.99. They also offer car washes for limousines, which costs $49.99. Furthermore, if the service does not meet up to customer standards, they will run your car through the wash one more time free of charge, and then reapply hand towels to dry. Another warranty service that Sunset offers is the 72 hour rain policy. If it rains within 72 hours of your carwash, Sunset will wash your car again when it stops raining free of charge with proof of a receipt. Sunset Car Wash is in the mature phase of the product life cycle. The late majority of consumers are aware of the product and service of Sunset North and there is serious competition from various other car washes in the area. Sunset North needs this marketing plan to rejuvenate their image and come up with new ideas to take their service to new heights before they hit the decline of their product.

Competition Review Since their origin, Car Washes have provided people an easy and professional outlet for keeping their car clean with minimal effort by the owner. With more than 150,000 retail car wash locations and 14,000 companies, according to the International Carwash Association, competition is definitely a huge factor given they all basically provide the same end result: a clean car. So, car washes have to distinguish themselves and stand out to be the service of choice. But, because customers in the community can only choose car washes that are close enough to get to, car washes’ main competitors are the local, nearby car washes. So, for Sunset North’s two San Luis Obispo locations, their main competitors are Fast Eddies Car Wash and Quiky. First, Fast Eddies car wash is an individually owned full self-wash that advertises “fast, friendly & fun” and has a big space for campers, boats and RV’s. It is $3 per six minute cycle and you are given a vending area with towels, glass cleaner, carpet shampoo, foam brush wax, spot free rinse, wash bays, and vacuums. Also, because it has been owned by community man Eddie Marcon since 1976 whom is a member of the Western Car Wash Association, it attracts the traditional, local customers. Next, Quiky is the “most technologic car wash in the Central Coast” with a state-of-the art facility, computer driven wash and self-clean interior stations. For annual sales, according to Hoover database, Quiky makes 76K, which is similar to Sunset North’s 86K, and shows that Quiky is definitely coming up in the competition. Also, Quiky has a basic wash for $8.99 and a detailed wash for $14.99, which is cheaper than Sunset North’s. Also, as you can see on their modern, organized website, Quiky facilities are very technologic and appealing, which can attract many customers who would correlate it with quality. Last, Quiky has a loyalty program, a buy online before hand option, has many fundraisers, offers service to fleets, and advertises their focus on the community and water conservation. Next, the Arroyo Grande’s locations main competitors are the gas station Shell car wash and Bob’s Self Serve Carwash. Shell is a big competitor because of it’s gas station company brand, global reputation and impact on the community with events, fundraisers, and donations. Shell has a cheap option of $4 for cars and $9 for big trucks with a simple quick machine with no employees needed. Next, Bob’s Self Serv Carwash is a timed self service ‘do it yourself’ station for $9 for five minutes. Lastly, the Paso Robles’ main competitors are El Camino Car Wash and Bubble & Squeak Self-Serv And Automatic Car Wash. El Camino is a 100% hand car wash with a 3200 sq ft facility that cleans RVs, boats and bigger vehicles along with cars. El Camino makes 67K and has a basic wash of $9.99. Last, Bubble & Squeak is also a self serv where you swipe your card and have self machines and bays for a certain amount of time. It’s rates are $2.50 for 4 minutes or $5 for 8 minutes. Free bonus time can be added with more money.

Distribution Review With it’s car wash services, Sunset North utilizes a direct-to-user distribution, a single channel that runs directly from the company to the consumer since car washes are a service based industry. On the back end, the company relies on several players in their supply chain in order to provide their services.Car washes rely heavily on water and electricity in order to perform their services. Sunset North uses about 16-18 gallons of water per car wash, making the City of San Luis Obispo one of the most important distributors in its supply chain. However, Sunset North tries to treat and reuse as much water as they can and any water that they cannot filter on site goes to a treatment facility. PG&E also supplies the company’s electricity used to power their machinery, office spaces, and gift shop. Sunset North Car Wash receives the vast majority of their car care division products from Zep Incorporated. Zep Inc., based in Atlanta, Georgia, is committed to providing sustainable cleaning products and solutions. Sunset North also has a gift shop area where customers can purchase novelty items, greeting cards, drinks, snacks and car accessories. The main vendors that supply their merchandise are Coca-Cola for their cold drink case, Hallmark for their greeting card section, and Superior Auto Extras who supplies car accessories. Similar to their supply chain for car care products, the supply chain for the convenience stores is relatively short. It is helpful that all aspects of their sold supplies are provided by one company each. While this sector of their business is not the main focus, it still brings in about 3-4% of their income.

Multi-Attribute Positioning Map

SWOT Analysis Chart

SWOT Analysis Explanations

Strengths: Quality: Sunset North Car Wash and Detail Center is one of the few car washes in the area that washes cars by hand and will leave both the inside and outside of cars spotless at a competitive price. Having one’s car washed by hand not only entails a higher quality service than most automated washes, but also that the customer can tailor their car wash to their specific needs and wants. By having employees physically there, customer interaction and experience is increased. Community: They are involved with their local community by offering “FUN- raiser” Saturdays where local clubs, teams and business can promote themselves and the car wash will donate part of the day’s earnings to that organization. It started in 2005 and goes all year round. They sell pre paid vouchers and attend a Saturday car wash drawing in more cars. Then they receive a percentage of presales and day’s total sales. In total, they have helped local groups raise $308,019.20 with the Fundraiser Saturdays. Variety: Their services range from simple exterior wash to a complete detail. Instead of being 100% hand wash or 100% self serv, they offer and can satisfy all customer needs. Eco-friendly: They advertise that they monitor their water usage very closely at each location. They us 16-18 gallons of fresh water per car which is far less than home washing and other washes such as gas station or self serve. Including this information proves they are aware and take action to the global issue at hand.

Weaknesses: Branding: with a cartoon car and old fashioned website, it does not reveal the ‘quality’ based hand wash Sunset it trying to portray. Even though it looks family based and friendly, sleek modern quality would be a better approach. Appearance of Facility: The facility is small, tight, old and falling apart.

Media: Currently, Sunset North has social media sites that customers through facebook, twitter, blog and instagram. While it has started accounts with the best media sources, they only have 435 likers on facebook, 121 followers on instagram and 21 posts, and 78 tweets with 89 followers. With San Luis Obispo having a population of 46,000 people, the number of followers should be significantly higher. Modernizing, having competitions and frequent deals and posts would highly benefit Sunset North. Facility: After a visit to the local San Luis Obispo facility, it seemed outdated and a little run down. With limited areas for customers to sit, not enough signs, signs falling apart, we feel that a modernization and revamp of the facilities would really drive customers in. Website: When viewing the website, as seen to the side, the hot pink and blue with a cartoon kid like theme, we feel that it reveals a cheap, discounted message versus quality which we are trying to portray. Opportunities: Students: Because of the large student population in the surrounding area of about 20,000, Sunset North could focus on reaching out to the college students that care about the quality of their car (not necessarily discounts all the time). Showing customer loyalty to this segment would be a great opportunity. Adults: Also, according to recent polls most individuals that aren’t students in the SLO area are in their 40s with a decent job and family. Because they are older and most likely have ‘nicer cars’ they take pride in, they would more likely value the quality. So targeting them as a quality seeker would benefit them highly. The median family income is 72, 327 which is very high for such a small college town. Facility Revamping: since the facilities are outdated and old, there is much room for improvement. Good Locations: Sunsett North’s four locations are local, family oriented towns with a lot of people. So it will be easier to catch people’s eyes and gain loyal customers.

Threats: Water Stigma: With California being in a severe drought, many people are being cautious about their use of water. This may deter people from washing their cars because they believe it isn’t an environmentally friendly practice. Economy: When the economy is at a downturn, individuals may not have a clean car be a priority versus food on the table. So when things are good, they may have the luxury to upkeep their car. But if it’s not, services in general, especially car washes, are at risk and not seen as a necessity. Self Serve: Self serve or ‘do it yourself wash’ has become a very popular fad because it gives more power to the customers. The hard work is done by the machine on the outside but detailed interior is quick and easy when vacuums and other resources are supplied directly to the customer. Even though they have to spend a little more time and effort, they solve the needs they want themselves without having to communicate to employees. It has become a fun experience for customers using professional machines instead of relying on someone else to do it, which sometimes customers have their doubts in employee capability. But if Sunset North portrays their service as efficient and reliant to customer request and needs this can be conquered. The biggest threat to Sunset North, however, is a local competitor in town, Quiky Car Wash. Quiky Carwash is a cheap modern alternative to both hand wash and automated car washes. The user experience at Quiky gives the user the opportunity to clean their own car as well as using computer driven machines. Technology: In the technology era, people are impressed and immediately correlate quality with the most ‘techy’ ‘smart’ looking objects. So, facilities with the most technologic looking machines may draw more customers versus an old fashioned family company that Sunset Currently portrays. They may correlate value and quality with the most up to date technology used at the car washes.

Goals and Issues: Phone Interview with Mr.Devaney

! After speaking with Sunset North’s owner Bart Devaney, we found many goals and concerns we must adapt to and focus on. Bart’s goals for Sunset north were to increase car count, increase sales by 5% per year in his newer locations, increase customer experience, and to specifically talk about the value/labor intensive quality of of their service instead of discounts. Currently, Sunset North looks to a marketing consulting firm who handles their brand image and creates their graphics and logo. Mr. Devaney wants to know what else the company could be doing in terms of marketing its business and how much money the company should spend on its advertising. Tactics that will fill in the gaps at slow times would be a great starting point. As a company he wants to understand what would moves customers and will motivate them to come in. From wondering if they value full detail or limited, what time they prefer, and how to promote time to shop, understanding customers is Bart’s number one priority for Sunset North. He doesn’t want to just change the media options but more the kind of message they put out there. As stated by Bart himself, “What message should we be trying to send? It should be unique and novel”. In order to successfully attempt to fulfill Sunset North’s goals, we had to discover the restraints. First, Bart mentioned that college students are looking for discounts, which is hard to compete with their cheaper competitors. They advertise quality with their price instead of discounted and fast. Also, they currently use a marketing firm for their marketing tactics. So with our recommendations we need to make sure we don’t overlap or interfere with their tactics because they are the middle man we don’t have contact with. !

Field Trip To Sunset North

Part II: Marketing StrategyOverall Strategy

! Sunset North, “Home of the Happy Car” has been a big competitor in the Central Coast since 1993. The overall strategy of Sunset North is to supply a quality based hand wash that relays a message of value to its customers. While we agree this is a great strategy and value to uphold, Phoenix Consulting seeks to implement and dig deeper in modern, creative strategies to increase the awareness of the unique quality Sunset North provides to it’s loyal customers. After our ‘field trip’ to Sunset North, we recognized room for improvement and specific strategies that will add competitive edge, reveal the quality message, and further enhance the Sunset North experience.

Targeted Market Segment Strategy Sunset North needs to further target for the middle/upper class working professionals as well as the younger wealthier ‘car obsessed’ college students that value professional appearance, quality, and the utmost care for their car. Archetype 1: Dan O’Hare: local accountant, president and managing director of firm, BMW, 2 kids, married, upper middle class, golfs, drinks black coffee, exercises regularly, generation X Archetype 2: Michael Smith: College student at Cal Poly, 3rd year, works 20 hours a week, has accounting internship, obsessed with cars, wealthy, and regular car washer. We are targeting customers from the Generation X who value individualism, meaning that they appreciate when employees go out of their way to tend to the customer’s needs and follow up with them afterwards. Also known as the “Friends” generation, they highly value the opinions of their peers and friends, meaning that they will spread Sunset North via word-of-mouth. Being sure to say “Hello” and ask them if they are pleased with their services will go a very long way for people of that generation. Being ‘work-a-holics’, they appreciate a good work ethic and high quality results. Also, we are targeting the Millenials. Millenials are the generation of social media and technology. They value connectedness and are predicted to be the “civic minded” generation with a strong sense of community and global awareness. Millenials appreciate “green” business practices and look for ways to help the environment. The best way to be relevant and reach out to members of this generation is through social media and online marketing tools.

Proposed Multi Attribute Positioning Map

Product Strategy! After going on our ‘field trip’ and personally experiencing Sunset North in a customer perspective, we found certain areas in the product strategy that can be improved. We will tackle this by improving the branding, quality of wash, appearance of the facility, customer experience and interaction, and website. These recommendations will be more sleek, quality, and value based in order to attract our new target segments who represent the customer that desires quality over efficiency and price. First, we are completely changing Sunset North’s branding. Sunset North’s character is a friendly looking car and their slogan is ‘Home of the Happy Car’. Also, their main colors are pink and blue, which is childlike and emits a sense of playfulness. But, all these branding features fail to reveal the quality, upper level care message they are striving to send out. So, we recommend completely changing them in order to revamp the company. First, we feel changing the company colors to a sleek black and silver would correlate with quality and class. Next, we have drawn up a new logo (seen at the top of the next page) into an all black outline of car and sunset that is swift, modern and clean. Last, the new slogan will be “Focus on the Details” which reveals the quality in hand washing and their intense focus on the small details in the customer’s car. With this revolution in branding, they will change the customer’s perception to match their service quality and success.

Second, even though Sunset North is known for a quality hand wash, we would like to still improve the current quality through training and specific policies. First, a training conference where employees are treated seriously and trained would highly benefit all workers and customers directly. If the whole company is on the same page skill and expectation wise, they are on the path for success and consistency. Next, there should be a visible employee of the month for best effort/quality to serve as an incentive to keep up the levels of quality and strive to be ones best. Using a plaque that is nice and visible to customers and other employees, employees feel appreciated and genuinely want to give a great service. Last, we would like to implement a “Walk Around Policy” where every employee must ask customers to walk around the car after each service to make sure they are fully satisfied. They may point out any missed spot or dissatisfaction and the employee will fix it right away. This will open the door to communication between employee and customer and create a friendly, hard working atmosphere. Next, the appearance of facility must be improved. Because the facility is the first thing that customers see, it is key to keep it clean, modern, and in shape. As we revealed in the pictures from our visit, the facility seemed to be run down with many broken signs and dirty areas. This doesn’t reveal a top quality company. So they must redo signs, make a bigger gift shop area, have a visible Sunset North sign popping out into street, change the facility color to silver and black, and all members wear black sleek polos with silver writing. Even if Sunset North is the best in the area at washing cars, their facility doesn’t reveal this and won’t attract new customers. Also, we believe the customer experience can be improved. Because customers sit around waiting for their car to be done, the way they are treated and the atmosphere is very important. Because there weren’t many comfortable spots to sit and customers seemed to be shoved to the side with nothing to do, it didn’t seem that their comfortability was a top priority. We recommend having music, comfortable seating like couches and cushioned seats, a homey environment, entertainment for bored customers such as games or magazines, charging stand for Iphones, hand out a free competition “trivia” to turn in at end of car wash for a free car wash drawing, and friendlier staff that is required to say hi and ask how their day is. These are only a few of easy, effective strategies that can make the customer feel special and wanted at Sunset North. Lastly, work needs to be done on the current website. As stated before the current logo, motto, and color scheme of the company is recommend to be a sleek black and silver. So, the website should match and consistent with the new and improved quality based company message. In order to get the best product and spread the word of Sunset North’s quality we believe a competition of Cal Poly graphic communication majors should be implemented. This is a great way to see customer expectations and let the creativity, organization and modernization be done in a fun, professional, and student oriented.

Pricing StrategyCurrent Pricing Strategy Currently, Sunset is known for having some of the highest prices in town because of the quality services that it provides. They currently charge $16.99 for a full service hand car wash which includes vacuuming and wiping down the interior. The hand-wash aspect of their business is what makes them unique in their area. Many places charge a lower amount, but cannot provide as many services, such as vacuuming the interior. The hand wash aspect allows the employees to tailor the wash to each car’s individual needs and treat problem areas, opposed to an automated car wash that doesn’t allow for individualization. Because consumers are more likely to pay more for something seen has having higher value, Sunset North is able to charge slightly higher prices. However, while their car wash service is better than most of their competitors, we felt that their was still room for improvement as we mentioned in the Product Strategy section.

Target Pricing Strategy For Sunset North’s pricing strategy, they want to communicate value by having slightly higher prices. Their main focus for their marketing strategy should be emphasizing quality and targeting a customer with a higher income, who values quality over thrift. Customers on a budget are more likely to go a cheaper car wash or do it themselves because they are not as concerned with all of the additional services that Sunset offers. However, to increase sales among their target demographic, we think that there needs to be an increase in price, which customer’s will accept if there is a increase in quality to match. To improve quality, they would need to update their facilities and provide the customer with a more high-end experience. !

Distribution Strategy ! Sunset North’s car wash service is a single channel in which their services are run directly from the company to their consumers. Thus, the car washes are only operable right on site of the locations; there is no service provided away from the car wash. Sunset North does a great job at minimizing their water use, only using 16-18 gallons per wash which is about five times less water than people normally use at home. This is also impressive compared to the average 38 gallons per wash (database). Also, because they are a hand wash car wash, they minimize the use of heavy machinery typically used at other car washes. This cuts the costs of utilities provided by The City of San Luis Obispo and PG&E. On the tail end, the Sunset North does a fairly good job at managing to keep their supply chain relatively short, minimizing costs and maximizing efficiency. They receive all of their car care division products from Zep Incorporated, a supplier of top-quality industrial cleaning products. According to their website, Zep Inc. is “committed to creating [and providing] sustainable cleaning products and solutions” (zep.com). Zep Inc. is a great partner for them because their philosophy goes hand-in-hand with Sunset North’s message of providing a quality wash while minimizing their carbon footprint. Since all of Sunset North’s car cleaning products are provided by Zep Inc., they are able to reduce intermediaries in their supply chain. Minimizing the amount of businesses in their supply chain allows Sunset North to cut costs and reduce the time it takes to receive their products. In their convenience stores, their greeting cards (which generate 3-4% of their revenue) are supplied by Hallmark, car accessories are provided by Superior Auto Extras, and beverages are brought to them courtesy of Coca Cola. Sunset North should continue their greeting cards from Hallmark since they bring in quite a bit of revenue; they should also keep their car accessories provided by Superior Auto Extras because they supply a broad range of quality and desired accessories. After speaking to Bart, he informed us that they will soon be phasing Coca Cola beverages out of the store. He told us that he wants to sell higher quality beverages. In order to do this, Sunset North could reach

out to local beverage companies and farms to replace their current beverage supply. This would also create more value for these drinks because they are local, and the members of the SLO community tend to support their local businesses. It would seem that the most expensive cost in their supply chain would be shipping. If Sunset North wishes to reduce their cost of shipping, Phoenix Consulting has come up with several options for them. The car wash could attempt to localize all of their suppliers. Zep Inc. is located in Atlanta, Georgia, but they provide quality and environmentally sound products. We would suggest continuing business with them, unless Sunset North could find a similar supplier based closer by. Like our recommendations for the beverages, they could reach out to a local greeting card company such as Grace’s Feet to replace the Hallmark brand cards. The Hallmark cards already generate 3-4% of the car wash’s revenue, and the switch to a local card maker could potentially increase that statistic. Finally, Superior Auto Extras has a west coast headquarters based in Sylmar, California, approximately three and a half hours from San Luis Obispo. Like our suggestion for Zep Inc., if they could find a similar supplier closer to the area, a switch to that company may decrease shipping costs. !

Marketing Communications Strategy In 2012, Sunset North spent 1.85% of their total sales on their marketing communications and advertising, and in 2013 they spent 2%. Sunset North currently uses a marketing agency to create their logo and everything on the marketing side, including direct mail, clipper magazines, and their website. The average car wash company of their caliber typically spends 2-3% of their sales on marketing communications according First Market Research, which means Sunset North can spend more money on their advertising and marketing campaigns. We have come up with various creative and effective strategies to focus on in order to advance Sunset North to the to the top. In this day and age, social media is the easiest and most effective way to catch a customer’s eye and get their attention onto specific products. Social media uses a pull strategy that many companies and corporations use. Some effective social media campaigns that we would like to incorporate into our market communication strategy would be an Instagram campaign and a Youtube campaign. For Instagram, we want to implement our idea “New Clean, New Me” photo challenge. In this challenge, customers take an artistic picture of them with their newly cleaned car from Sunset North Car Wash. The picture with the most likes on the photo and the “hashtag” of #SunsetNorth every month will get a free car wash. We also want to implement a viral Youtube video that would display Sunset North’s “new” and “revolutionized” look and their quality facilities. We would like to have this video be created through a community competition. The “My life Leaving Into the Sunset” youtube competition will be a video the customer creates and submits to Sunset North of their life and happiness post wash. The objective for the customer is to show how Sunset North has changed the quality of their life and day by how clean their car is. The winner of the competition with the best short video will win a free car wash once a month for 6 months. Last, another pull strategy would be a business card raffle. This strategy reaches a hand out to the most highly targeted segment for the car wash, the business man/woman. These various social media campaigns will make Sunset North’s quality message spread throughout the community and be a leader in the local car wash industry. Next, an example of a push strategy that we want to implement is “Wash Wednesday”. Sunset North will send out promotional emails and various social medias to promote a discount for all customers who get a car wash on Wednesday. Because the middle of the week is particularly slow, this will enhance the number of customers who would not have particularly felt they needed one until the discount came along. This will create a positive word of mouth and increase awareness of Sunset North’s care for it’s community and customers. Also, after revamping the facilities and branding, we want Sunset to promote their new image and increased quality with promotional emails and Instagram promotions about a grand re-opening. The promotion will say everyone that gets a car wash within the first three days of re-opening will receive a free car wash for a later date. This will create an exciting tone and incentive to head to the new and improved Sunset North.

Last, to build customer loyalty, there will be a loyalty program for customers who get the most car washes. The top three customers who have received the most car washes in one year will get four free washes for the next year. This way Sunset North will increase their sales for that year by having more customers come repeatedly for their chance to win, as well as rewarding and appreciating their loyalty.

Part III: Implementation Plan ! After interviewing Mr. Devaney and personally participating in the Sunset North Car Wash experience, our implementation plan’s focus is on maintaining and improving the quality message Sunset North seeks to portray. Our goal is to give Sunset North a heightened competitive advantage in order to separate them from their main local competitors. By targeting two new customer archetypes of the elder hard working professional as well as the higher class ‘car-obsessed’ college student, we developed various marketing strategies to connect Sunset North’s revamped quality with the customer’s needs. As Phoenix Consulting, we believe that the main actions Sunset North needs to take in order to improve it’s quality message is through detailed changes in it’s branding, quality of wash, facility appearance, customer experience and interaction during the service, and its media strategies and website. We briefly mentioned these various tactics in the first section of our marketing plan but will go further into the necessary details and actions needed to actually implement and make these strategies successful. First, before everything starts, Sunset North must redo and spread their new and improved branding. As stated earlier in the product strategy, we are implementing a big change in the branding and overall image of Sunset North that correlates with the desired quality message and adds value to the customer. This needs to be changed immediately and can be easily implemented right now by relaying the new ‘black and silver’ look, slogan, and logo to their current marketing firm they use. By starting this now, it will reveal what is coming soon with Sunset North’s improvements and revamping and kick start the positive word and quality look. Next, Sunset North needs to improve to enhance their new message of “quality” is to revamp and update their website to match the new branding and facility. The basic improvements of the website should be revamped before the improvement of the facilities. This will start them off on the right foot of improved “quality” to give customers an idea of where the company is headed. First, they need to change the color scheme of their website from more friendly colors, like pink and blue, to sleeker colors such as black and silver. Along with changing the color scheme, Sunset North needs to move toward a more professional look, including changing the font on their website, the amount of links on their website, and changing their logo and motto. Then, once the improvement of the facilities are completed, Sunset North should hire a professional photographer to take pictures of the new facilities and update the photos on the website. The way we are making the desired website change happen is to hold a Cal Poly Graphic Design “website building competition.” We could provide an outline for students to follow such as keeping it professional, using colors specific colors, and including the professional photos taken of the new facilities. We will spread the word of the competition by posting flyers around campus, having radio commercials, and having a student representative say a brief presentation in some classes. Bart and other head executives will choose the winner and use the winning design as well as giving them credit for it. This will be a hands on, learn by doing project, and the winner of the competition can have their website published once the improvement of the facilities in completed. This puts the trust in the customer, helps spread a positive word, and reveals Sunset North’s involvement in the community. One of the most important implementations is using the budget to improve the facility appearance. Even though it is expensive now, Sunset needs to think in the long term and how appearance correlates with quality to the desired customers. This must happen after the branding and media strategies have been implemented so the facilities can match exactly what they have been advertising and planning. By hiring a top local construction and architect

company, Sunset needs to modernize and redo the organization and quality of the entire community to display the quality in their service. Next, once the facilities have been redone, it’s time to work on the human resource side of the company and make sure the quality is up to customer expectations. As mentioned before, it would be very beneficial to Sunset North Car Wash to host a training conference for all the employees of the San Luis Obispo facilities. This can be done at a rented out location for a full day. Meals will be provided to employees and will be a fun yet informational experience. During the training seminar, management should remind the employees of Sunset North what their mission statement is and what message they wish to express through their craft. Management should go over with their employees all of the different services they provide, from their car wash services to their express services to their detail services. The staff should be properly trained and confident in performing any and all of these services and should have activities and presentations that portray and practice them. The purpose of the training will be to standardize the car washes that their consumers get, thus minimizing errors and differences in washes. Furthermore, management need to introduce and train employees for the new “Walk Around Policy” in which employees must ask the car owner to quickly inspect their car to make sure their expectations were met. This would further improve quality and keep employees on the same page with company and customer expectations. Also, to further enhance the employee experience, management at Sunset North should also implement an Employee of the Month award and display these awards in view of customers and employees, such as near the waiting area. These awards would be given to one employee each month who goes above and beyond the expectations of the business. There would be an incentive for achieving the award, such as an end-of-the-month bonus, plaque in a visible spot, or small gift. These awards, along with their incentives, will push the employees to do more than the bare minimum and greatly improve the overall quality of their work. Next, our team felt there was huge room for improvement in the overall customer experience. Once Sunset North has trained its employees to guarantee quality in service, they must go beyond expectations and focus on making the customers happy beyond their car needs. Because the customer is investing their time to come to Sunset North and can wait up to 20 minutes for their services, the time they spend waiting at the facility can either enhance the customer’s overall experience or be detrimental to their relationship with the company. One thing our team noticed was that the waiting area in the San Luis Obispo, Marsh Street location seemed very small and pushed to the side. While we understand that there are space limitations, we would encourage Sunset North to maybe include more tables and comfortable chairs in addition to a more appealing outdoor decor, such as flowers. Also, having activities for customers to participate in makes the car wash more of a fun experience. Even though these details may seem small and minor, customers notice the extra effort and it adds to the overall experience. Sunset North should focus on improving the quality of customer’s time at sunset North. Interactions with the employees are also an integral part of the customer experience. We noticed that the employees at Sunset were nice when they first took our order, however they did not follow up with us once they had finished washing are car by asking us if we were satisfied with the result. As we mentioned earlier about Generation X, they value their sense of individualism. Being attended to closely by an employee can really enhance their experience at Sunset North. Having a training session with employees on how to best interact with their customers can help forge lasting relationships with customers who will keep returning and inform their friends about Sunset North. In a small town with a large older population that has a high median income, good customer service cannot be overlooked. Once the facilities, employee training, and customer experience has been improved, it’s time to further spread the word. In order to create excitement for the new customer experience at Sunset North, we created certain media strategies to implement. The “New Clean, New Me” Instagram campaign and the “My Life Leaving Into the Sunset” campaign will both be hosted through the Sunset North Car Wash website which will have links to their Instagram and Youtube to submit the customer videos. In “New Clean, New Me”, individuals post pictures of their post wash

happiness and clean cars. At the end of the month, an individual in the company will choose a winner and directly message them through Instagram telling them they have won. They will be given a code to take to the car wash to redeem their prize of a free wash. For the Youtube video challenge “My Life Leaving Into the Sunset”, customers post creative videos of how their life has improved after their experience at Sunset north. The winner will be selected by a committee every six months and given a bigger prize for their effort. Also, this video will be sent viral through social media outlets and used to spread the positive Sunset North quality. Next, every two weeks one name will be drawn from the collection of business cards and called by the car wash that they have received a free hand wash from Sunset North. This in turn will promote customer loyalty to our target segment of upper level business professionals. A jar will be placed at the checkout counter for the business cards to be collected in, and the second and fourth Friday of the month a card will be selected for the prize. Furthermore, we will implement a “Wash Wednesday” promotional strategy that will give the community a discount every Wednesday. This will remind people that on Wednesdays they should get a wash because a discount is available. Emails and media posts will be sent out every Monday morning to remind customers about the discount prices that will be available on Wednesdays. This will happen every week throughout the year and the promotional discount will be 15 percent off all hand washes and 10 percent off of all detailing packages. Last but not least, our customer loyalty program will start on the first of every year and collect the amount of car washes each customer gets through their customer database. On the last day of the year, after the tallies are collected, a winner we be selected and sent an email on January 3rd to claim their prize and to congratulate them for being the most frequent customer.

By following this detailed implementation plan step by step, Sunset North will place itself on a whole new level of quality reveal this message to customers. Going beyond customer expectations and redoing its overall strategies and

look, Sunset North will stand out amongst its competitors and create a unique quality experience that “Focuses on the Details”.

Presenting to Bart Devaney

Even though it was optional to present to our business professional Bart Devaney of Sunset North Car Wash, we decided it would highly benefit our group and further our knowledge and use of marketing in a real world setting. When we met with Bart, he made a point to let us know that we were the only group who had taken the time to meet with him so far and show him our final project; he really appreciated it and was grateful for all the hard work we had put into the marketing plan for him. He loved that we were trying to make the Sunset North experience more interactive with customers and definitely wants to implement some of the ideas that we shared with him; his favorite was our idea of a youtube video competition done by the customers! Also, he was in agreement with us about renovating the facilities and website in order to ‘modernize’ and reveal quality to customers. Lastly, even though it wasn’t in our paper, through collaborating and interacting with Bart, we all came up with an idea of having a marketing and graphic design intern for Sunset North since it’s so readily available to him in a college town. He admitted that he is ‘out of date’ with a lot of the marketing that goes on in our society and that he is a more simple, reserved individual; he would love to bounce ideas off of a college student, hear their ideas and perspective, and have them actually implement it with their practiced knowledge in the social media world. One thing he said that we could improve on was a cost benefit analysis. He thoroughly loved all of our ideas but pointed out that some would simply cost too much or take too much time without a guarantee of profit. Next time we could have thought of a concrete budget for him or offered hard data of predicted time and money that would be spent if our plan is implemented. Throughout this process we learned how to collaborate and work together as a team. We learned a lot about ourselves individually and our own personal strengths and weaknesses. But, using that, we were able to delegate tasks that correlate with people’s strengths and heighten the ultimate group experience to get the best result. Along with that, we learned how to interact with a business professional and practice our presentation skills in a real world setting. It was crucial going above and beyond and actually presenting to Bart because we tuned our skills further and saw the result of our hard work. Overall, it was a great experience.

Works Cited

Devaney, Bart. Personal phone conversation regarding Sunset North Car Wash. December 1, 2014.

El Camino Car Wash. (2014). Retrieved December 9, 2014.

First Research. (September 1 2014). Carwashes. Retrieved October 20th, 2014, from First Research Database.

GFK Mediamark Research & Intelligence. (2013) Fall 2013 Product: Automotive Aftermarket. Car Cleaner Wash/ Wipes: Bought in Last 12 Months Total. Base: Adults. Retrieved October 26, 2014, from University Internet Reporter Database.

Global Market Information Database. (2014). Automotive Dashboard. Retrieved October 26th 2014, from Global Market Information Database

Grewal, D., & Levy, M. (2013). Marketing(4th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Hoover’s. (February 14 2018). SUNSET ETC. INC. Retrieved October 26th 2014, from Hoover’s Research Database. Howe, N., & Strauss, W. (n.d.). Generational Cycles. Retrieved December 9, 2014.

MarketResearch.com (May 1997). The Auto Aftermarket Service Specialist Market. Retrieved October, 26th, 2014, from MarketResearch.com Database.

Mergent Online. (2007). Chevron Industry Report (2006, September).Retrieved September 28, 2007, from Mergent Online database.

Morgan, J. (n.d.). About Us. (2014). Retrieved December 9, 2014.

San Luis Obispo (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. (2014, December 4). Retrieved December 9, 2014.

Sunset North Car Wash & Detail Center. (2014). Retrieved December 9, 2014.

Meet the Team: Phoenix Consulting

Brooke RyanCal Poly Business Administration beryan@calpoly.edu(925) 819-2787

Jamie HolcombCal Poly Business Administration, Entrepreneurship jnholcom@calpoly.edu (562) 704-2379

Connor O’Hare Cal Poly Business Administration, Accountingcohare@calpoly.edu(805) 458-3013

Kevin HigginsCal Poly Industrial Technology, Packaging kshiggin@calpoly.edu(562) 912-9899

Amanda McKameyCal Poly Business Administration, Accountingamckamey@calpoly.edu(707) 322-6074

Table of Contents

Part I: The BasicsExecutive Summary .......................................................................................................Company Overview........................................................................................................Target Segments Review.................................................................................................Product Review...............................................................................................................Competition Review........................................................................................................Distribution Review........................................................................................................Multi-Attribute Positioning Map....................................................................................SWOT Analysis Chart ...................................................................................................SWOT Analysis Explanations .......................................................................................Goals & Issues ..............................................................................................................Field Trip .......................................................................................................................

Part II: Marketing StrategyOverall Strategy ............................................................................................................Proposed Target Segments ...........................................................................................Proposed Multi-Attribute Positioning Map ...................................................................Product Strategy ..........................................................................................................Pricing Strategy ............................................................................................................Distribution Strategy ...................................................................................................Marketing Communications Strategy ...........................................................................

Part III: Implementation Plan .............................................................................Presenting to Bart Denavey .........................................................................................

Works Cited .............................................................................................................

Meet the Team .........................................................................................................