THE FALL OF LORD VOLDEMORT
We have analyzed the failure of many products
and services till now but let us do something more exciting
this time. We will analyze why the greatest dark wizard
of all time lost against a 17 year old wizard who wasn’t
even half as talented and powerful as he was, from the
marketing perspective of course.
Rise of Lord Voldemort:
Voldemort is our product and let
us see how he made himself so
popular. For starters Voldemort
understood what marketing was
very clearly. He knew that it was a
process by which companies create
value for the customers and
build customer relationships. His customers were his followers
and were called Death Eaters.
Voldemort offered a
world where wizards will rule the muggles and only Pure
Bloods will be a part of wizard world (Value proposition).
His only competitor was Albus Dumbledore who offered
a world where muggles and Wizards co-existed harmoniously
and no discriminations between Purebloods and
other wizards (Half-bloods and muggle borns). Some wizards
agreed with Voldemort’s views so Voldemort had to
make sure they became his loyal supporters (Brand Loyalists).
He therefore, created strong bonds with them by
showing his magical prowess which dazzled them and
then used fear of punishment (Cruciatus Curse) to make
sure they don’t become defectors (Customer Relationship
Management).
He also divided the human existence
into four groups based on the magic in them:
1) Muggles
2) Pure-Bloods
3) Half-Bloods
4) Muggle-Borns
(Segmentation).
He wanted the Pure-Bloods and the Half-Bloods
to follow him and used ways to make them follow
him (Targeting). Also, Voldemort portrayed himself as the
savior of the wizarding community who would bring a new
order where Wizards won’t have to hide from muggles
and can live openly (Positioning).
Voldemort isn’t even
his real name, he was born with the name Tom Riddle.
He hated muggles so much that he removed his muggle
father’s name (Tom Riddle) and gave himself a new name
which reinforced his belief that he preached that Wizards
are superior to Muggles (Brand Consistency). Tom Riddle
was a name but Lord Voldemort was more than a name,
it represented many ideas and beliefs (Brand). Dark Lord,
‘He-who-must-not-be-named’, the Dark Mark (a skull with
a snake coming out of the mouth), the death eaters, all
of these brought Lord Voldemort to the minds of People
(Brands Imagery). This was his way of making people
more aware of what he stands for (Branding strategy).
He
also made sure to have an inner circle who were his most
loyal followers who also had the responsibility of garnering
more followers (Sales Force). They were sent to recruit
Giants, Dementors and other magical creatures to be on
his side by offering those creatures gifts and other short
term incentives (Sales promotion).
Despite
of such a strong Marketing Strategy Voldemort
couldn’t win against his only competitor
Albus Dumbledore. Let us see why.
Fall of Lord Voldemort:
Voldemort offered something that most
of the wizarding community didn’t want.
He was under the impression that he will
be able to make them his followers with
his might (Production concept of marketing) which obviously
didn’t work. His proposal also didn’t appeal to a lot
of witches and wizards because in return for their freedom
they had to part with their humanity (wrong Pricing).
He also thought that he knew everything there is to
know about magic but he was obviously mistaken as he
didn’t know about magic that involved Love, sacrifice.
He
also was unaware about the deathly Hallows and hence
couldn’t really understand how the elder wand actually
works which proved fatal in the end (Lack of market information).
He also focused on only himself and pictured a
future where he will always be there to satisfy the needs
of his followers of maintaining a wizarding order where
Wizards rule. He thought that the followers wanted him
but the truth was that they wanted a free world where
wizards could live openly and rule the muggles (Marketing
Myopia). They wouldn’t have cared even if they got
it without him. And therefore he never came up with solutions
to satisfy the needs without him being there.
His
competitor Dumbledore on the other hand was wiser than
him and made sure that even he wasn’t there the needs
of his followers be satisfied of a world where muggles and
wizards live harmoniously. He therefore made sure that
Harry Potter and his friends continue to do this even after
his death.
Conclusion:
You may be Apple, Microsoft, Reliance or the
TATA group. You might think that you are too big to fail
and may overlook things because of your confidence that
you have the financial muscle to always come back. This
is a very flawed strategy as we have seen that with small
mistakes you might fail. So always be careful of the assumptions
you make about the market and your customers.
Market Research is something that should be used
extensively to make sure your chance of succeeding increase.
It is like Dumbledore said “for the greater good”.
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