Advertising Campaign - Case Study Example

Advertising campaign The aim of the present work is to analyze advertising campaign from the viewpoint of how advertising campaigns should be performed theoretically and main aspects they should account, and to create new improved advertising campaign. The object chosen for the present discussion is the Sheraton network of hotels, as the task for this paper was to choose an object out of hospitality/ tourism business. Sheraton's campaign analysis The last and the most recent Sheraton advertising campaign was launched on 10th of April, 2006. This advertising campaign cost the network about $20 million and was supposed to be one of the best advertising campaigns of the year 2006. The aim of this campaign was to use emotions as the means of attracting new clients and visitors; the campaign implied the use of emotion of experience and not physical experience as the basis for the development of the new global instrument of expanding the range of clients. The use of the core human values as the values which are peculiar of the personnel and the creators of the Sheraton hotels network, and thus provide their visitors with homelike warmth and comfort, has become the central theme of the 15: and 30: second TV spots. The development of the campaign was ruled by the Duo Rene Villar-Rios and Jan Vogel, who had become well-known for the development of successful ad campaigns for Coca-Cola and Nike. The central slogan of the advertising campaign 'we belong' was meant to make people understand they 'belong' to any hotel they decide to visit within the Sheraton network, and as people need to belong, hotels become the means of making people feel at home while in reality they are far away from it. (http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2006_2nd/Apr06_SheratonCampaign.html) The aim of providing people with all homelike options possible has also been achieved through provision of the clients with 10-minutes free telephone card to call those 'who matter'; Sheraton has also created new Internet site for the promotion of its services online. Now let's analyze this advertising campaign from the viewpoint of how it should look and be conducted with the account of the principal theoretical notions which have been given through lectures. The first interesting aspect to analyze in the advertising campaign is the two way communicative models. It is interesting to note, that this model has been used as the basic one for the creation of the Sheraton's ad campaign. I have come to the conclusion that this model has made this campaign very successful. What is seen here in more detail is that the coded message which appears as a slogan in each TV spot, namely 'we belong', is the coded message which each of those who see it interpret in his (her) own way. However, it is also important to note that interpretation should also be directed, because the consumers of the advertising products should decode the message the way the seller (advertiser wants it), thus it is not a simple process here. (Mittal, 2004) While the message is 'interpreted in different ways', the advertiser should care for these ways to be limited within the desired range. Thus, the message 'we belong' should first of all carry meaning of belonging to the hotel network, becoming its permanent clients and show the way the visitors will be treated during their stay there. This is why the core message here 'you don't just stay there - you belong'. Probably it would sound better is this message were made fuller and used in a wider form, but as the campaign has mostly been aimed at TV channels, thus capturing both visual and hearing attention of people (potential consumers) it is possible to say, that the decoded message has reached the targeted audience, but the message 'we belong' should be very brightly depicted, so that the audience interprets it in the necessary way through additional visual effects. (James & Kover, 1992) In this advertisement the source was the Advertiser, carrying the coded message 'we belong' in combination with coded visual effects, with TV serving as the channel and the audience watching it as receivers decoding these messages. Another side of analysis of the advertising campaign will be the analysis of the emotional (reaction process) side, meaning the structure of the audience' reaction to the advertisement they see on the TV screen. The structures of the audience reaction to the ads they see or hear are different; moreover, these reactions should be also accounted through the development of any advertising campaign, because they way the audience reacts will later determine the way the same audience purchases the advertised products or services. As we here speak of the hospitality industry, it is essential to understand that 'feel' and 'do' are inseparable here; they usually define the results of the advertising campaign. (Alwitt & Prabhaker, 2002) The explanation is simple: as far as in the tourism and hospitality industry people are meant to receive pleasant emotions of their stay in the hotel, for example, or traveling with this or that company, it means that these pleasant emotions will later define their attitudes towards this or that company, and thus the profitability and success of this company on the market with the growing number of clients who are pleased and satisfied with the level of service. This is why seeing the advertisement of the Sheraton hotel, people should first think (first, to decode the message they receive, and second, to weight all arguments, whether they should use the offered service), then they should do it (experience the services offered by Sheraton hotels worldwide), and then feel - whether the expected emotions were confirmed, appeared to be real or whether they have become disappointed at the level of the services they received. Probably, the accent of the Sheraton advertising campaign has made the accent on the another structure - think-feel-do, which meant that a person should feel the desire to book a room in the Sheraton hotel while traveling on business and pleasure, and the suggestion that the level of service is high is implied as a constant. The issue is dubious and argumentative, but I see that pleasure and feelings are very important within the advertising campaigns connected with hospitality industry, and though Sheraton was able to exercise all possible theoretical structures within its campaign, it still needs certain improvement. (Condry, 1991) I see Sheraton's advertising campaign as the soft-sell strategy, which uses emotions. As it has already been noted, emotions are essential for any campaign of similar type. Soft-sell strategies imply the use of feelings which will lead the audience to the necessary conclusions (in our case, the desire to visit one of Sheraton's hotels). The campaign is based on the core human truth - the need to belong, and as the greetings message is explained, it becomes clear that the idea is much deeper than it seems at first glance, and it was designed very properly - the idea of people belonging to someone or something is the same all over the world, this is why the campaign was very successful and aimed at international audience. The warmth of welcome is similar across the nations, and Sheraton bases its campaign on the need to be welcome anywhere within the Sheraton network, no matter what time and what day the visitor appears there. What is even more important to note in this analysis, is that the developers of the campaign were able to transform the advertised services into the brand association, and it is true that Sheraton is not associated with the phrase 'we belong', which is short, deep, meaningful and easy to remember. The likeability of the designed commercial was 60%, which is far beyond the limits of the DRI accepted in the modern advertising industry. (http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2006_2nd/Apr06_SheratonCampaign.html) Brand association is what many companies dream to have; brand association is the successful instrument of advertising, because slogan with which the consumer associates the brand, he also associates with high quality, reliability of the company and the desire to support stable relations with the company, which will be mutually profitable. (Stewart & Sylvester, 2004) As the addition to the TV campaign, all Sheraton's hotels changed their way of performance, to make people feel that 'they belong' - this included the creation of the pleasant hypoallergenic aroma which is present in all Sheraton's hotels as lobby scent; however, the scent has been rather risky step of advertisers, because though it is hypoallergenic, but the attitudes towards scents are too personal, this is why it is difficult and almost impossible to find the universal scent which everyone will like; this scent may potentially become the reason of client's dissatisfaction. Developing new campaign for Sheraton (recommendations) The principal aspects, which should be given the basic attention while developing new improved advertising campaign for Sheraton, are as follows: increasing the scope of the target audience through the use of radio and internet media; re-thinking the structure 'think-feel-do' into 'think-do-feel', which seem to be very close and sometimes can be confused, but for hospitality industry this connection is one of the most important factors; As far as the previous advertising campaign of Sheraton network was very successful, it will be a good idea to take it as the basis for further improvement with the aims of attracting broader audience and using Global network technologies in advertising. The first stage will be defining target audience for the advertising campaign; in order to plan target audience in the best way, short information on Sheraton hotels network is appropriate here. 'Sheraton, the largest brand of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT) has more than 394 hotels in 65 countries. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with more than 740 properties in more than 80 countries and 110,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. With internationally renowned brands, Starwood is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchiser of hotels and resorts including: St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Sheraton, Westin, Four Points by Sheraton, W brands, as well as Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts'. (http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2006_2nd/Apr06_SheratonCampaign.html) Thus, the audience at which the new advertising campaign will be targeted is represented by business people traveling on work, middle class travelers for pleasure. It is also essential to analyze the market; hospitality industry is one of the branches with the highest competition, and in order to attract new clients players of this market share have to invent something new which will surprise and increase the level of service quality simultaneously. (Wells, 2005) First of all, as far as Sheraton already occupies stable position on the market and needs supporting its image and broadening the range of clients, it will be beneficial to use additional media technologies. Radio can be viewed as the means of making Sheraton more popular, as well as printed media. The previous campaign was mostly using TV as the instrument of carrying the coded message to the public, but business people mostly take newspapers and magazines as the source of business information; simultaneously, the slogan 'we belong' appears to be very short and meaningful for the use in business printed media. This will allow business layer of society to use their business trips without need to search for information about hotels, getting this information from the business media they read on the regular basis. (Sutherland. 2000) Of course, printed media represent certain limitations for the advertisers, the slogan and the visual basis for this slogan should be very well developed, to appear as one picture, creating the single for the reader to remember it. Second, media are pressed in time, and are limited in the means which are used in television through movements; the basic advantage of printed media is that they can be kept and remembered, as one cannot record all TV spots he sees and needs for information. This is why in the present advertising campaign business newspapers as well as those within the hospitality industry and entertainment will me used as the basis. Advertising and promotion are somewhat different categories and in the present situation with Sheraton holding strong marketing positions advertising is essential for supporting this style, while promotion should be avoided which ultimately lowers the price point. The benefit of advertising for such category of enterprises (networks) is that it maintains loyalty and maintains brand awareness; promotion on the contrary is used for the products and services which display poor market performance. (Rich, 2000) This is why advertising campaign will maintain the popularity of brand among those who already know and use it, and will also attract new clients who will receive the necessary information through printed media. Combination of television, print and direct response is the most effective for successful advertising, but we will also add internet technologies which will make advertising not only effective, but will erase physical boundaries between audience, with Sheraton being international network, internet is irreplaceable in advertising. (Heath, 2001) Television and magazines (paying attention to frequency), as well as newspapers are often used for the recall of brand awareness and appear among the high-involvement brand attitude strategies' means. Thus, the two basic steps are made - the target audience and the instruments of conveying the coded message are determined. Some more words should be said about Internet technologies and Internet as the instrument of online support for the brand awareness. Sheraton realizes the importance of internet, and this realization has been displayed through the creation of its own new web site in 2006. However, web site is not enough for supporting brand awareness; this web site itself needs advertising and online marketing through search engines and banners, as well as it needs constant support and renewal. But online advertising campaigns are gaining more popularity. For Sheraton it is suggested to use online for the following considerations: 'In 1965 advertisers could reach 80% of Americans ages 18-49 by running TV commercials on only CBS, NBC and ABC. By 1994 the 'big four' broadcast networks (with Fox) commanded a 52% prime-time audience share. By 2004 this share was down to 31%' (Schumann, 2005) This means that TV advertising campaigns are not so popular anymore and don't bring the expected response from the audience. While the average US household has around 90 TV channels, it is obvious that running TV spots on four principal channels will catch less attention, and running them on all channels is impossible and unnecessary. Online advertising involves the same stages as the advertising in traditional media needs; it also often appears more cost-saving that advertising in traditional printed media. It is suggested to use the Sheraton website as the basis for the online part of advertising campaign; the web address should be present in the printed advertisements to give people additional advantage of learning more about the offered services and products through entering web address in Internet browser. Within the new advertising campaign the ideas as for advertising at place (in each hotel, as suggested by the previous advertisers) should be kept only partially. The idea of using the special Sheraton scent within the hotel lobbies should be closely-reconsidered and possibly eliminated for the understanding that scent is not a universal means of advertisement and it is difficult to associate scent with any brand or service; the scent should be replaced by more appropriate means of brand association; for example, the same scent may be proposed in the form of optional perfume (soap, etc.) within the network in the rooms of the hotel. In advertising the client should have the choice, and creating the scent within the lobbies may appear as the instrument of imposing certain ideas and associations on the visitors, which is absolutely undesirable. Thus, the main steps of the new advertising campaign should be as follows: 1. The slogan will be the same as through the previous campaign 'we belong'. 2. The use of TV-spots will be combined with advertising through printed media. 3. Online advertising through improvement of the Sheraton website, its popularity in search engines and website as the means of delivering the necessary information to the public. 4. The physical delivery of the brand association through use of scents in hotel lobbies should be replaces by making this scent optional (soap and other means of carrying scents in each hotel rooms). Conclusion The present work was designed with the aims of analyzing the chosen advertising campaign and proposing new steps for another advertising campaign of the same brand. The analysis made has given the basis foe the creation of the new campaign, revealing the benefits and the drawbacks of the previous campaign. Even the most successful advertising campaigns can be improved to become even more successful and profitable for business. It has been concluded, that emotions and special stress on emotions and pleasure should be made for advertising within hospitality and tourism business. Internet should play more important role in advertising campaign; especially bearing in mind that Sheraton is the biggest international network of hotels. The analysis was carried on through the use of the theoretical knowledge in the sphere of advertising campaign strategies; the new campaign was developed with the account of the major trends in modern advertising as well as the targeted audience and the aims of advertising - maintaining strong marketing position of the network and its brand awareness. 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