Chapter 9

Integrating Marketing Communications 1: Mass Communications Techniques

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Key Promotional Mix Tools

Advertising Direct Marketing Publicity Sales Promotion Personal Selling Sponsorship Digital Marketing 2

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

Choice of promotional blend depends on:

Resource availability and the cost of promotional tools Market size and concentration Customer information needs Product characteristics Push versus pull strategies 3

Apple Mac v PC

The famous campaign contrasting the PC owner on the left with the Apple Mac owner on the right illustrates the power of marketing communications to transfer meanings 4

Source

The Communication Process

Noise Encoded message Transmission Decoded message Receiver 5 Feedback Noise

Strong and weak theories of how advertising works

Strong (AIDA) Weak (ATR) Awareness Awareness Trial Interest Desire (or conviction) Action Reinforcement

Diesel

The Diesel clothing ‘Be Stupid’ campaign generated a significant amount of buzz due to its clever graphics and strong headlines 7

Developing Advertising Strategy

Marketing strategy Identify and understand target audience Define advertising objectives Set the advertising budget Message decisions Media decisions Execute campaign Evaluate advertising effectiveness 8

Setting the Advertising Budget

Percentage of Sales Affordability

Stimulat e

Matching Competition

Sales

Objective & Task

Advertising Media Spend

10 Advertising expenditure by media – Western Europe, 2011 Source GroupM

Message decisions

Customer convergence  consumers across different countries share common experiences, needs and motivations  Advertising platform  foundation of the advertising message, the basic selling proposition it should be:  important to the target audience  communicate competitive advantage  Advertising message  translates the platform into words, symbols and illustrations which are  attractive and meaningful to the target audience

Ethical Issues in Advertising

Advertising in the UK should be legal, decent, honest, and truthful. The advertising Standards Authority administers the British advertising codes of practice. Sometimes these codes are broken using some of the following practices:

Misleading advertising can take the form of exaggerated claims and conceal facts.

Advertising may deceive by omitting important facts from the message.

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Media Class Options

Television Press

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National

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Regional Radio Magazines

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Fashion

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Technical

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Trade Cinema Posters

Defining Opportunities to See (OTS)?

Television  Presence in the room with the set switched on at turn of clock minute to relevant channel, providing presence in the room with the set on is for at least 15 consecutive seconds  Press and Magazines  Read or looked at any issue (for at least two minutes) within the publication period (e.g. for weeklies within the last 7 days)  Posters  Traffic past site including pedestrians  Cinema  Actual cinema admissions

The structure of a large advertising agency

Managing director Account management Account directors Account executives Manage account Creative Media Copy writers Art director Planners Buyers Layout Develop concepts and create copy and artwork Decide upon media and negotiate price Production and traffic Planning Production manager Strategists Traffic manager Researchers Make the ads and get the right ad to the right media at the right time Commission, conduct and interpret marketing research for use in campaign planning

Sales Promotion

The growth of sales promotion is attributed to:

Increased impulse purchasing (at the point of purchace) The rising cost of advertising and advertising clutter 16 Shortening time horizons (shortening life cycles) Competitor activities (general practice in certain businesses) Measurability (effect is more direct and usually, short term)

Sales Promotion Strategy

Objectives for the promotion short term sales increase, reducing inventories, meet budgets prior to the end of the financial year Encourage trial: Home sampling and home couponing of a brand Encourage repeat purchasing of a brand over a period of time Gain distribution and shelf space Decisions on which techniques are most suitable Consumer & Trade promotion (see Fig 9.4) Evaluation of the effectiveness of the promotion pre-testing and post-testing approaches Group discussions, Hall tests, Experimentation 17

Consumer and Trade Promotions

Money off appealing to existing customers

Premiums

free or at low cost encouraging bulk purchasing maintaining share Consumer promotions Bonus packs Coupons at homes or in magazines Trade promotions Free samples 13 for the price of 12 encourage trial New brand or brand extentions Prize promotions special offers Loyalty cards Bensin kort Price discounts 18 Free goods Competitions extra shelf space providing prices for a distributor’s sales forces Commission offers to sales forces Allowances in store demos sum of money in return

Cosmopolitan

Free in-pack gifts have been used by many magazine publishers in a bid to counter declining sales 19

Public Relations & Publicity

Public Relations (PR) is concerned with managing the interactions between a company and its publics, e.g., consumers, suppliers, the local community, employees, shareholders, pressure groups.

20 1. The message has high credibility 2. No direct media cost 3. No control over publication There has been a significant growth in PR. Key reasons are recognition by marketing teams of the power and value of PR, increased advertising costs, and improved understanding of the role of PR.

Public • Local communities • Pressure groups • Opinion leaders • General public

An Organization and its Publics

21 Media • Television • Press • Radio Finance • Shareholders • Stockbrokers • Fund managers • Banks Organisation Government • Parliament • Civil service • Local authorities Commercial • Customers • Distribution • Suppliers Employees • Staff • Trade union representatives

Potentially Newsworthy

Marketing issues:

•New products •Research breakthrough • potentially new products •Large orders/contracts •Sponsorship •Price changes •Service changes •New logos •Export success •Training awards •Winners of company contests •Promotions/new appointments •Success stories •Visits by famous people •Reports of interviews

Production issues:

•Productivity achievements •Employment changes •Capital investments

General issues:

•Conferences/seminars/exhibitions •Anniversaries of significant events

Financial issues:

•Financial statements •Acquisitions •Sales/profit achievements 22

Sponsorship

A business relationship between a provider of funds, resources or services and an individual, event or organization which offers in return some rights and association that may be used for commercial advantage.

The five key principles of sponsorship are: Gaining publicity Creating entertainment opportunities Fostering favourable brand and company associations Improving community relations Creating promotional opportunities

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Specsavers Specsavers has cleverly sponsored referees and has also been quick to build advertising around major sporting controversies 24

Other Promotional Techniques

• Exhibitions • Product Placement • Ambient Advertising – På bussar och flygplan, väskor mm • Guerrilla Marketing – T ex One Direction

Chapter Summary

The promotional mix consists of 7 elements, including advertising, sales promotions, direct and Internet marketing.

Adopting an integrated approach toward the use of marketing communication enables firms to deliver a clear, consistent, credible and competitive message to the market place. It is important to adopt a systematic approach towards communication planning.

Advertising is a highly visible component of the promotional mix. Sales promotions are a powerful technique for giving a short-term boost to sales. Publicity plays a very important role and has more credibility than other communication techniques say advertising.

Sponsorship can generate publicity and foster favourable brand and company associations.

Other important mass communications techniques include exhibitions, product placement, ambient marketing and guerrilla marketing. 26