The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling
After the successful release of the first Hunger Games film in 2012, the film's distributor, Lionsgate, was preparing to release the next movie in the series, Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Fan expectations had grown after the success of Hunger Games and Lionsgate faced the challenge of keeping moviegoers interested and engaged in another Hunger Games movie. In an era marked by the rising popularity of digital and social media, Lionsgate knew that attracting fans to a sequel meant pushing the boundaries of traditional marketing tactics. Digital brand storytelling is about using digital media in a holistic way to tell a brand story and build excitement for an audience. Brand storytelling seeks to make a connection with the audience by giving them an emotional experience that resonates with them. While Lionsgate was aware that traditional marketing would need to be blended with a digital campaign to bring in moviegoers, it also needed to strike a careful balance between the two and choose the appropriate platforms to tell a cohesive story. Should Lionsgate launch a brand storytelling campaign to appeal to fans? Lionsgate's comparatively small marketing team gathered to brainstorm about how to execute such a campaign and position the film for another big success.
Swot Analysis of "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling" written by Mohanbir Sawhney, Pallavi Goodman includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Lionsgate Hunger facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social platforms and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Lionsgate Hunger, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Lionsgate Hunger operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Lionsgate Hunger
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Lionsgate Hunger
Strengths The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Lionsgate Hunger in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Lionsgate Hunger has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Lionsgate Hunger has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Analytics focus
– Lionsgate Hunger is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Mohanbir Sawhney, Pallavi Goodman can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Strong track record of project management
– Lionsgate Hunger is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Lionsgate Hunger is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Lionsgate Hunger has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Lionsgate Hunger is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Lionsgate Hunger are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Lionsgate Hunger in the sector have low bargaining power. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Lionsgate Hunger to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Lionsgate Hunger to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Lionsgate Hunger to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Lionsgate Hunger digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Lionsgate Hunger has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Weaknesses The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Lionsgate Hunger has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Lionsgate Hunger 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Lionsgate Hunger has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Lionsgate Hunger even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Need for greater diversity
– Lionsgate Hunger has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Lionsgate Hunger is planning to shift buying processes online.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Lionsgate Hunger is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Lionsgate Hunger needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Lionsgate Hunger to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Lionsgate Hunger has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Lionsgate Hunger is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling, in the dynamic environment Lionsgate Hunger has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Lionsgate Hunger has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling, it seems that the employees of Lionsgate Hunger don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Opportunities The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling are -
Manufacturing automation
– Lionsgate Hunger can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Lionsgate Hunger can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Lionsgate Hunger can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Lionsgate Hunger can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Lionsgate Hunger can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Lionsgate Hunger can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Lionsgate Hunger operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Lionsgate Hunger can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Lionsgate Hunger can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Lionsgate Hunger has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Lionsgate Hunger to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling case study. Lionsgate Hunger can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Lionsgate Hunger can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Sales & Marketing segment.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Lionsgate Hunger in the consumer business. Now Lionsgate Hunger can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Lionsgate Hunger can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Lionsgate Hunger in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling are -
Environmental challenges
– Lionsgate Hunger needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Lionsgate Hunger can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Lionsgate Hunger has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Lionsgate Hunger needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Lionsgate Hunger in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Lionsgate Hunger in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Lionsgate Hunger needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Lionsgate Hunger can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Lionsgate Hunger is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Lionsgate Hunger high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Lionsgate Hunger can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Lionsgate Hunger can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Lionsgate Hunger will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Using Digital and Social Media for Brand Storytelling is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Lionsgate Hunger needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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