service marketing group project

8/7/2019 Service Marketing Group Project

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Service Marketing Group Project:

Peppermint Club Dubai Evaluation

and Analysis

Submitted by: George Dedoussis, Hayat, Loay

Dr. Tarek MadyMKTG 411- Service Marketing



INTRODUCTION:

Within this report we will evaluate and analyze a local company based in Dubai,called Peppermint Club. Following a service marketing plan we will be able tounderstand what this company has to offer to clubbers in Dubai in terms of customer

satisfaction, how well it does this based on it competition and industry, and also try tofind solutions in which it could improve its marketing problems, if any. Dance orientednightclubs have being around for a good two decades, in this time they have being able tolure customers with their music, lighting schemes, and decors which has made them oneof the highest cash flow businesses in the world. Finally as most clubs target customersin the 21 to 35 age range, and mainly childless young professionals or university students,it is an area of key interest to us as consumers of this service and members of this targetmarket to understand.

INDUSTRY ANALYSIS:

In order to understand how well Peppermint Club actually does to satisfy itscustomers we must look at the industry as a whole and the key competitors it faces.Some of the main competitors that Peppermint Club faces are as follows: TheApartment, Chi @ the Lodge, The 400 Club, Trilogy, and Buddha Bar, although there aremany other clubs these are the key ones that big Peppermint Club some of its keycompetition. A distinction must be made at this point, Peppermint Club like Trilogy ismanaged by an event management and entertainment company; Peppermint beinghandled by Fluid Productions and Trilogy or now newly opened Elegante is managed byDeep Lounge another event management company. This distinction must be made inorder to fully understand the operating abilities and management structure of the clubs inquestion. Although sales figures and market share information cannot be found on theclubs in Dubai, each one plays a very distinct role and targets different customers havingboth advantages and disadvantages in services offered and marketing strategies used.

THE APARTMENT:The Apartment is located in the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, being in such a location,

most of its customers are tourists. These tourists have no idea where the hotspots of Dubai’s nightlife are and their most predictable information will come from the hotelfront desk. Any staff there will of course mention The Apartment and hand them one of the brochures that can also be found in the hotel rooms about the club. To further lurethem if a guest is staying at the hotel a no entrance fee applies. For other customerscertain promotions come into place every week, for example Tuesday and Wednesday isfree entrance, ladies receive free selected cocktails before 12pm, while Thursday andFriday free entrance for men before 10pm and women before 12pm with womenreceiving a free glass of champagne before 12pm. With staff that have received proper training through the hotel program and recognition programs for employee of the month,staff working at the club are eager to help and satisfy consumer’s needs. On the other hand a small crammed underground space with only 400 people capacity and not muchroom to dance leaves many customers dissatisfied due to its physical facilities. Also TheApartment has being one of the first clubs to implement a smoking only in designated



areas rule, much too some customers discontent. Finally with Dubai being one of the keytourist destinations and Jumeirah Beach Hotel being one of the best Hotels to stay inalthough its physical facilities may suffer to an extent The Apartment targets a marketthat has basically no other option to go to, or doesn’t know of one.

CHI @ THE LODGE:Overhauled in 2007 Chi @ The Lodge was suffering from being over packed withcustomers but waiting in lines for ages and crammed like sardines when inside. However now it boasts one of the largest ‘outdoor’ areas that can hold 2000 capacity and 3 other zones. In terms of physical facilities it does well to satisfy customers, with also a newsound and lighting system installed by Triangle Entertainment Services which was takenfrom Peppermint’s venue. Yet it employees lack in training and employee empowermentisn’t given to all, lowering customer satisfaction. The bathrooms are most of the time amess and drinks take ages to order simply because there aren’t enough people to mendthe bars, or enough bars for that matter. Also it has still to fix the problem of peoplewaiting in line before entering the club, which may last up to 45mins, leaving the

customer in a very discontent mood and without any service recovery intention byanyone. On the plus side management has done well to create 4 different areas within theclub, each is focused at a different type of customer or music genre; thereforedifferentiating its customer base and also being able to charge different customersdifferent prices for drinks and tables, without customers coming into contact with oneanother.

THE 400 CLUB:The Fairmont Dubai is home to one of Dubai’s most exclusive clubs, The 400

Club; only Dubai’s rich and famous go there to be seen. It has hosted private parties for rapper Ludacris and Akon and many others, however one would expect the best customer treatment for such celebrities, however nothing exemplary is to be seen. Its capacityholds 400 customers and there aren’t any musical thrills to be heard of either.

TRILOGY / ELEGANTE:Run by Deep Lounge events management Trilogy was Peppermint’s toughest

competitor, however a recent membership scam and relocation to Elegante has leftregular customers dissatisfied and brought down the image it had. Trilogy was operatingin Medinat Jumeirah a 3 floor venue with a rooftop as well, that had every customer’sdesire handled. Lines weren’t horrendous, quick service at the bar was accomplished;different rooms meant different musical tastes could be satisfied within the same venue,not to mention a state of the art Dj booth for international superstars to play in. All wasgoing extremely well for Trilogy, so much so that it decided to create a membership cardthat would in essence, lower the waiting period in lines and also create certain benefitsfor card holders. With such satisfied customers many were in line to buy the specialcards that would give them cheaper and swift entrance, however plans didn’t go well for the customers. Management decided to collect the cash from these card holders and thenstate that due to new plans the cards had to be canceled and the venue wouldn’t openagain. This brought great distrust from customers as many had paid up to 4000dhs for



the cards and customer satisfaction was obviously lowered, without any option for arefund or any type of service recovery plan customers felt cheated.

BUDDHA BAR:Targeting a different customer base Buddha Bar is a chic bar-cum-lounge club

that also serves good Asian food with soft lounge music in the background. Its customersare always taken care of and their every need satisfied, from the moment one walks in thedoor they are greeted and taken to a table if needed be or to the bar where a well trainedwaiter or waitress is at their service. With a higher income class target group as their customers, Buddha Bar can afford to properly train its staff, which it does avidly. Alsothey allow empowerment of the frontline employees if a customer asks of something to awaiter or whoever is next to them at the time it is that person’s responsibility to find thema solution, and it usually happens.

CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS:Although customer expectations will differ from customer to customer there are

certain elements that are accepted as a minimum standard for a company or serviceprovider to be able to accomplish. Within the clubbing industry these can be as follows;provide quick entrance into the club, quick and courteous service at the bar, physicalfacilities are visually appealing, providing the services at the time it promises to do so,and employees never being too busy to help a customer. These are some of the keyelements that a common customer entering a club will demand, however certaincustomers, (especially those that pay for tables) will demand more. These VIP customerswill pay around 2000dhs for a table at most clubs in Dubai and obviously expect theservice that comes with this extra fee. This can be anything from having a private waiter to give prompt service or a security at the table to deter free-rollers, or understandingtheir specific needs and ensuring that they are filled. Dubai nightlife has risen to such acompetitive state that most of these needs will be satisfied at the major clubs withoutmuch hassle to ensure that they will have repeat customers entering through the door every week. In particular many clubs go to the extend to have their most regular highpaying customers needs understood and on a database for future reference and ease, sowhen they call and ask for ‘my’ table which one they are referring to is known.

MACRO-ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES:Today Dubai has become an important tourist destination with 5 million visitors

in 2004, and expected to reach 15 million by 2010, also its economic growth is expectedto increase and more expatriates are expected to come and search for jobs in Dubai. TheUAE’s GDP per capita is in line with other West European countries and it hasdiversified its revenues to come from other industries. Its population is around 4.6million people based on the 2005 census, including a significantly higher estimate of netimmigration of non-citizens then previous estimates. The age structure of the populationis as follows: 0-14 years 20.5%, 15-64 years 78.6%, 65 years and over 0.9%, while73.9% of the 15-64 years age group is non-national. The 2008 median age showed 30.1years to be the average for both sexes while 24.6 the average for females and 32 years theaverage for males. Also a net immigration rate of 24.41 migrants / 1000 population in2008; all of these factors have a great affect on the way the clubbing industry is to grow.



All of these trends seem to be great opportunities for the clubbing industry. For the clubs such as The Apartment which is located in a top tourist hotel, the fact thatDubai rates as a top tourist destination and will continue to do so is very good news. For their target customers are those tourists visiting a country they no nothing about thenightlife, convenience and the hotel employees will make sure they at least check out The

Apartment. The fact that the UAE has a high per capita GDP ($55,200, (2007 est.) meansthat there are people with the disposable income at hand to spend a bit for their enjoyment at clubs, either simply going in as a regular customer or paying the extra cashand getting a table for the night. Further, most clubs target either the young childlessprofessionals or university students, with a average median age for both sexes at 30.1years means there are plenty of such consumers to be found. On top of this both the GDPgrowth that is expected and the net migration rate of 24.4 migrants per 1000 of thepopulation means that plenty more of these consumers shall be there for the demand toincrease for clubs and competition for these consumer to exist.

On the other hand all these opportunities may actually create some threats in thelonger run. For example there has being talk that English based Ministry of Sound may

want to make Dubai home to one of its 3 worldwide super clubs to open, this club wouldbe build in the Palm Jumeirah within the near future. Such positive outlooks for theclubbing industry are bound to bring in new competition from abroad and local sources.Also being a Islamic country every club must make sure not to offend the local laws thatare governed, for example one of the main regulations applies during the Holy month of Ramadan, where no clubs are to be open or to serve alcohol under any circumstance.Finally the under 21 years of age drinking policy must be strictly upheld by all clubs, notdoing so would result in loss of their license for 2 weeks and a substantial fine; althoughcustomers may be lost and dissatisfied in the process it would hurt the business muchmore if they weren’t.

COMPANY BACKGROUND:Peppermint Club Dubai is a trademark of Fluid Productions, a event and

production company that was set up in August 2002 to promote and bring to the Dubainightlife new concepts of entertainment. Since its conception it has brought to Dubaisome of the biggest names in the Dj’ing scene with great success each time. AlthoughPeppermint has moved its location a few times it seems that the consumers follow it, as itis able to still be the largest club in Dubai filling approximately 1200 people eachweekend. Although no sales data were found on the company, an interview with residentDj Ahmed Ajam (MadJam), brought much light to the company’s structure. PeppermintClub is a mobile club, “meaning that all equipment for an event can be set up within 24hours anywhere”. Fluid Productions sets up contracts with hotels in Dubai to book theballrooms they have for a certain fee over a certain time. It has had contracts withFairmont Hotel and Grand Habtoor, and recently with Crown Plaza Hotel, when askedabout why Peppermint Club wasn’t renewing the contract with Grand Habtoor Ahmedcommented the following, “Whoever takes over the ballroom is their business if they cangenerate enough profit to pay the rent, (that has doubled in 2 years)”. Fluid Productionsalso has strong ties to its partners which allow it to be at the forefront of the Dubainightlife. Some of these are in the advertising industry and produce magazines thatclubbers read, or websites that they visit, (Mumtazz, Timeoutdubai, The Buzz), others are



beverage suppliers that also help with hosting special events, (Smirnoff, Pepsi), or evenpartners that like having their names mentioned at events and also help with specialgames or promotions at events, (Virgin, Axe, Motorola, Sony, Nokia, Volvo). But their key partners are BoxOfficeME, which provide web based tickets for events that FluidProduction organizes, Emirates Computers that re-supplies them with any lighting,

sound, or Dj’ing equipment they may need. If figures for the number of customers thatgo to their events are any measure of the amount of success they have then it is obviousthey must be doing something right.

TARGET MARKET:Focusing on target markets using mass appeal to those markets Fluid Productions

has being able to focus on three particular groups. The university students this is a keygroup partly because they can become lifetime customers, or at least for the next 10 yearsand secondly because they are the group that seeks this type of nightlife entertainment.Childless young professionals, (that may come from previously university students) areanother target group because they have both the income and free time to enjoy such

events. Most people who spend in the UAE are young people, their way of thinking,beliefs and life style of this group fits perfectly with the entertainment Fluid Productionshas to offer. More and more tourists come to Dubai every year, and a good percentage of them also seek to have a good time during the night, these tourists and business travelersare another target group that Fluid Productions also targets these. Much of FluidProduction’s advertisement of its events goes through the radio or by repeat customer’sword of mouth which at times is much better then any other form of advertisement. Alsohaving good words written about the club in major clubbing magazines and websites,(that it is partners with) also lures these target customers.

ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT SERVICE:Fluid Production’s current service in terms of assessing the demand of events has

being mostly spot on. Each event they organize has seen the venue however large or small, packed. They are able to predetermine the amount of people that would come for aspecific Dj event, even events that have being hosted in the very large trade hallexhibitions have being packed with over 4000 people attending. In assessing theperformance of their service providers, Fluid Production sets certain criteria when takingthem as partners, if at any one point these criteria fail their partnership goes under review.Such was the case with Fluid Production’s partnership with Fairmont Dubai when theyraised the rent for the ballroom for Peppermint Club. They set clear objectives as of whatis required from their service providers, if these cannot be met then Fluid Production alsohas secondary providers which it can also rely on. However its close partnerships with itsservice providers means that feedback is provided from both ends of the partnership so asto make the relationship work to the benefit of both sides. However to determine theperception of how well all this comes in the eyes of the customer we conducted a surveyto capture customer perceptions and expectations of service quality.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION:Peppermint Club’s regulars would say that the club serves their every need and

satisfies their clubbing experience, but is this, the case with most of Peppermint Club’s



customers. Does the company actually seek repeat business and favorable word of mouthor is there just enough demand in the market to not have to worry about this. Negativeword of mouth hurts businesses to such an extent that there must be a huge demand, for new customers to always enter into a new service provider so that the company would notlose customers. However this is obviously not the case, Fluid Production’s goal is to

satisfy the consumer by creating a memorable and new entertainment service that isunmatched by any rival.One particular example of how Fluid Production keeps an eye on the customer’s

satisfaction and smoothes it out can be told. As evidence arose about customers arguingwith employees about the correct amount of change they had to receive during hecticoperations, Fluid Production had an ingenious idea to introduce. On Sasha’s appearanceon July 12th 2008 they introduced the casino chip payment system, with cash beingexchanged for 10dhs tickets at the door and at specific points around the club, alsotraining employees holding General Packet Radio Service machines allowed customerswith credit cards to purchase the tickets too. Drink and shot prices were adjustedaccordingly and actually saw increased beverage turnover by 15%. Also as Tony

Chouchani, (Fluid Production events operations manager) commented ‘People werepreviously waiting up to half an hour to get served, and this has removed theresponsibility of cash and hassle over allegedly incorrect change from the bar area”, hefurther adds “and it has minimized the work for service staff and definitely createdgreater customer satisfaction”. This obviously shows that Fluid Production cares aboutits customers and responds to dissatisfaction as best as it can.

On other nights that technical difficulties have meant that a Dj would play for lesstime or if a Dj was late to show and the crowd started to get dissatisfied and complain,Fluid Production would immediately recover from this service failure. They wouldannounce that with the day’s ticket you could enter for free on another night for example.Therefore Fluid Production closely monitors customers’ satisfaction and dissatisfactionso that the minimum experience a customer may expect is only the best acceptableexperience. Treating it customers well and making them feel valued, respected and partof the experience that Fluid Productions has to offer is key to their organizational beliefs.

SURVEY:The following survey was created using SERVQUAL analysis to assess customer

perceptions and expectations of service quality in their favorite clubs. These surveyswere administered to some university students and to random people at certain bars thatare hangouts for clubbers, (Barasti Bar, BarZar, and Long’s Bar). The first and secondquestion seeks to understand if indeed young professionals and university students are thetarget groups clubs should be aiming at. Question #3 determines which club is their favorite. Questions #4 - #10 seeks to determine customer’s perceptions and expectationsin terms of reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles dimensions.

Results of the survey showed Peppermint Club as the favorite club in Dubai andrespondents showed why, in their answers. However respondents for the rest of the clubswere too low to determine any particular trend most of the times, although some clear ones were able to be determined. Also the key age for club goers seems to be under theage of 36 with most being under the age of 25. Therefore the survey further agreed withmost perceptions that were made before hand.



Please fill in the blank or check boxes below relevant to you.

Personal Data:

#1: Age (years)□ 1: Under 25

□ 2: 25-35

□ 3: 36-45

□ 4: 46-55

□ 5: Over 55

#2: Sex□ 1: Male

□ 2: Female

#3: Favorite Club□ 1: Peppermint Club

□ 2: The Apartment

□ 3: Chi @ the Lodge

□ 4: The 400 Club

□ 5: Trilogy / Elegante

□ 6: Buddha Bar

□ 7: Other

The following questions will help us determine the level of satisfaction you have from

your favorite club. Please circle the most appropriate level below (for your favorite club,(question #3).1 indicating strongly disagree2 indicating disagree3 indicating neither agree nor disagree4 indicating agree5 indicating strongly agree

# Questionnaire Item Scale from 1 to 5

4 When a problem arises Club “X” shows asincere interest in solving it.

1 2 3 4 5

5 Employees in Club “X” are never too busy torespond to your request. 1 2 3 4 5

6 You feel safe in your transactions with Club“X”.

1 2 3 4 5

7 Employees of Club “X” understand your specific needs.

1 2 3 4 5

8 The sound, lighting equipment and physicalfacilities are visually appealing at Club “X”.

1 2 3 4 5



9 Cues at Club “X” aren’t much of a problem. 1 2 3 4 5

10

Employees at Club “X” try to make up for anyservice failure.

1 2 3 4 5

GRAPHICAL INTERPRETATIONS:

Under 25

25 - 35

36 - 45

46 - 55

Category

46 - 553, 3.0%

36 - 4517, 17.0%

25 - 3540, 40.0%

Under 2540, 40.0%

Age (years)

This graph shows that indeed the target groups that most clubs target are the ones withthe highest clubbers. An equal share of respondents are in either the under 25 years of age group or from 25 to 35 years old, a further 17% are 36 to 45 years old and only 3%are over 46 years old.



Male

Female

Category

Female43, 43.0%

Male57, 57.0%

Sex

Of the 100 respondents 57% were found to be male and 43% to be female, a rather unbiased population in terms of sex genre.

Peppermint Club

The Apartment

Chi @ the Lodge

The 400 Club

Trilogy / Elegante

Buddha Bar

Other

CategoryOther7, 7.0%

Buddha Bar4, 4.0%

Trilogy / Elegante17, 17.0%

The 400 Club10, 10.0%

Chi @ the Lodge8, 8.0% The Apartment

13, 13.0%

Peppermint Club41, 41.0%

Favorite Club



Strongly disagree

Disagree

Neither disagree nor agree

Agree

Strongly agree

Category

Strongly agree10, 25.0%

Agree12, 30.0%

Neither disagree nor agree7, 17.5%

Disagree4, 10.0%

Strongly disagree7, 17.5%

Employees in Club “X” are never too busy to respond to your request.

The above graph shows a clear customer perception that Peppermint Club employees areresponsive to a customer’s requests, with 55% agreeing that employees are never toobusy to respond to your request and only 27.5% disagreeing to this.

Strongly disagree

Disagree


Agree

Strongly disagree

CategoryStrongly agree

1, 5.9%

Agree2, 11.8%

disagree nor agree2, 11.8%

Disagree7, 41.2%


You feel safe in your transactions with Club “X”.



The above pie chart shows the level of assurance of customers when dealing with Trilogy/ Elegante, obviously since the card debacle, assurance of customers has declined and70.6% of customers disagree with the fact that they feel safe with transaction withTrilogy / Elegante, while less the 20% agree that they feel safe.

Disagree

Neither agree nor disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

Category


Agree4, 30.8%


Disagree2, 15.4%

Employees of Club “X” understand your specific needs.

The above graph shows respondents of The Apartment 53.9% of respondents agree thatemployees of The Apartment understand your specific needs and only 15.4% disagree,showing that The Apartment employees show a great deal of empathy.



Disagree


Agree

Strongly agree

Category


Agree15, 37.5%


Disagree5, 12.5%

he sound, lighting equipment and physical facilities are visually appealing at Club “X

The respondents that choose Peppermint Club as their favorite club may have done sodue to the sound, lighting equipment and physical facilities, because 67.9% found themappealing and only 12.5% disagreed.

Strongly disagree

Disagree


Agree

Strongly agree

Category


Agree12, 30.0%


Disagree5, 12.5%

Strongly Disagree3, 7.5%

Cues at Club “X” aren’t much of a problem.



Respondents showed that Peppermint Club has no problems in their cues with 67.9%agreeing that there are no problems with their cues and only a small percentage of around20% disagreeing with this statement.

Strongly disagree

Disagree


Agree

Strongly agree

Category


Agree2, 25.0%


Disagree1, 12.5%


Employees at Club “X” try to make up for any service failure.

Chi @ the Lodge showed nearly equal agreement and disagreement on the fact thatemployees try to make up for any service failure, with 25% strongly disagreeing and 25%strongly agreeing.

DETAILED ASSESMENT OF CURRENT SERVICE DELIVERY PROCESS:Using the Gap assessment of what the expected service is and what the perceived

service is we are able to understand how the service is handled by Fluid Productions.Fluid Productions does well to determine what the customers expect and covers Gap 1well in all its areas. Adequate research goes into understanding what the customer wantsand focus is spent on service quality that is achieved. There is a great deal of communication between management and customers as is evident by the recoveries FluidProduction overcame and satisfying dissatisfied customers that were waiting to get drinkswith improper change in return. Finally Fluid Productions has being able to segment the

market into adequate target groups and has focused on creating relationship customers.Further Fluid Productions has being able to have in place the right service quality

designs and standards. Unique service designs that are customer driven and a system bywhich management can create a service quality goals has being in place since itsconception as a service provider. Finally appropriate action has being taken together withits key partners to keep the servicescape properly maintained and updated according tocustomer wants and expectations. Although we found Fluid Productions to do well in



both Gap 1 and 2 we found that Gaps 3 and 4 could be better managed and needs greatimprovement which we will talk about in the last section of the report.

SERVICE BLUEPRINT EXPLANATION:Following the diagram we follow what a regular customer would undergo during

a normal visit to Peppermint Club or a Fluid Production event. Step one see a customer buying a online ticket from BoxOfficeME, a registration process occurs backstage andthen a registration system occurs at the support services where the data is kept for confirmation during the day of the event. Arriving at a Fluid Production event a onstageinteraction occurs where the customer gives the car to a valet and is then taken backstageto be parked somewhere. Passing the security guard another onstage interaction occurswhere the customer’s id is checked. Next buying tickets this can either be linked to thefirst event, (buying the ticket online) or at this specific moment, either requires a onstageinteraction with a certain employee to purchase the ticket. Next buying the coupons,(coupons are required to purchase drinks) again another onstage interaction occurs muchlike the previous step. Once entering the club the customer will want to dance and at

some point later buy a drink. Here the customer interacts with an onstage employee thattakes the order and fills it. However drinks must be re-supplied and glasses cleaned thisinvolves backstage employees that re-supply drinks from a storeroom and glasses from akitchen. The customer will then drink and dance away till at some point again in time itis time for him to leave, whereby a onstage interaction occurs with the valet driver thatbrings his car from the parking where it was left. Although the diagram may seemsimply may other processes occur to keep events such as these working however theblueprint would be too cluttered to understand if we included every process, therefore welook at the blueprint from the customer’s perspective and only the interactions he or shecomes into contact with or creates as a chain of events.



SOLUTION TO THE MARKETING PROBLEM:Peppermint Club and Fluid Productions do well under provider gap one and two

in the Gap model to assess the organization’s service strategy, however gaps three and

four could be accomplished far better. Fluid Productions could do better to deliver service designs and standards that are in place. Provider gap 3 is the discrepancybetween development of customer driven service standards and the actual serviceperformance by company employees.

To have a more effective human resource policy Fluid Productions needs to hire,train, compensate and empower employees at all levels. Not just upper and middlemanagement, even though in terms of cost it might be cheaper for them to hire Asianworkers and barely train them, those workers are the ones that come into contact withcustomers the most. These employees are the ones that play the biggest role whencustomer interactions come into play. Fluid Productions needs to hire the best bartendersand waiters or at least have an effective training program in play and clearly defined roles

each must accomplish. A new Human Resources manager must hire under these newstandards, each new employee must adequately fit their job description and be capable of accomplishing it well. This means that they must know what is required of them, howthey can go about accomplishing their jobs, and also to be able to use any technologicalequipment they will need well enough. Also these employees must be adequatelycompensated; possibly linking their pay and benefits to satisfied customers, a happier employee means a happier customer. They must be able to work as a team and notsimply see themselves as individuals, teamwork helps in accomplishing the greater task at hand. Further letting customers know what is required of them as consumers wouldalso aid in closing the gap, if customers know what is to be expected of them it givesemployees an easier job to accomplish. Having them not get into fights in the club for example is one key factor, also not shouting at employees for quick service or entranceinto the club may prevent mass rebellion of such factors.

Fixing this gap would in effect create better trained and knowledgeableemployees that could deal with more situations themselves rather then seeking for assistance from high management. Also it would create employees that would be happier to help a customer out if a problem arose not only because their pay would be linked tocreating satisfied customers but also because they would have received the training inorder to do so. Training these employees would obviously put a burden on the companycosts, however in the long term these costs wouldn’t have to come up again as employeeswould stay with the company and also even profits may rise from the benefits of havingrepeat satisfied customers.

Provider gap 4 shows the relationship between service delivery and the serviceprovider’s external communications, for example Radio One advertisements byPeppermint Club and magazine advertisements and reviews on various websites andmagazines that clubbers read and listen to. Because of the extend that Peppermint Clubhas become the leader in Dubai for event promotions and management, it has created aexpectation in customers minds that any event hosted by Fluid Productions would be thebest to offer and not one to miss out on. In a sense it has created a certain amount of always promising its events to be the best and to a degree over promises customers.



Downgrading just a bit on the promises and possibly hosting a “bad” event could lower customer expectations and then make other events after it to seem like they are the best inyears. Further associated with pricing, customers have no particular reference point for pricing of services. For example ticket prices for events have ranged from 80dhs to300dhs and all events seem to be packed. This means that the customer is not well

educated in these areas. This could be to the advantage of the company as it is in thefront line of the Dubai nightlife if it slightly raises the prices of all events this would inturn become the normal price to pay for an event. Finally better managing customers’expectations of what it is they are to expect during their hosted events would do better for both customers’ expectations and the service delivery process. Clearly stating what acustomer should expect either over the radio and the advertising means that it currentlyuses, (phone messages, radio, websites and magazine) would create a more manageablecustomer. Less prone to arguing that this was not what they expected and less prone toasking for a refund of their ticket for example. Stating when a Dj would come and playand for how long lets customers beware of what to expect and not grumble when a Djonly plays a one hour set or a set too late for them to be able to hear. Finally this would

in turn lead to un-inflated promises and manageable customer expectations.These are only some very minor points that Fluid Productions could work on, itwould be very hard to determine any other points since their marketing plan seems towork very well and has kept customers satisfied, (as was proven by the survey wecommitted). Also Fluid Productions seems to have determined the key elements of asuccessful marketing plan and has being able to use it well over the past 6 years it hasbeing in business. Fluid Productions is at the forefront of Dubai’s nightlife industry andseems that with its current mind set this is not set to change any time soon.

REFERENCES:

Al Sadik, A.T. (2000). Evolution and Performance of the UAE Economy 1972–1998 athttp://www.uaeinteract.com/uaeint_misc/pdf/perspectives/10.pdf Retrieved April 2nd

2008.

Cash-free profits.at http://www.arabianbusiness.com/499847-cash-free-profits?ln=en&start=1 Retrieved March 22nd 2008.

Greenwood, Aaron. Groove Metha at http://www.arabianbusiness.com/13160-groove-metha-?ln=en Retrieved March 21st 2008

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum the UAE Vice President,Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai official 2007 cite athttp://www.sheikhmohammed.co.ae/ Retrieved March 28th 2008.

Keegan.J.Warren 2003 Global Marketing Management, Published by Pearson EducationPte ltd, Seventh Edition.

Shihab, M. (1996).‘Human Development in the United Arab Emirates’, EconomicHorizons, vol.17, no.66, pp 9–31.



The World Fact Book at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ae.html Retrieved March 22nd 2008.

United Arab Emirates: Recent Economic Developments. IMF Staff Country Report No.

98/134. Washington, DC: 1998Worlside Look at Reserves and Production, Oil & GasJournal, Vol. 103, No. 47(September 19,2005), pp.24-25.

Interview with Ahmed Ajam (MadJam) conducted April 6 th 2008.

service marketing group project

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