Advertising and Public Relation of Ready-to-Drink Green Tea - Term Paper Example

Advertising and Public Relation Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Company overview 4 Situation Analysis in beverage advertising industry 4 Product Attributes 5 Product Class 5 Different levels of the products 5 Assessing target audience for developing PR strategies 6 Identifying the Segment 6 Segment Needs 6 Segment potential 6 Public Relation Strategy 6 Identifying the product USPs 6 Objectives and goals of the PR campaign 7 Message 7 Public relation plan and implementation 7 Evaluation 10 Conclusion 10 References 11 Bibliography 12 Introduction Marketing plan is an important part of the overall business plan of an organization. A marketing plan can be defined as the application of the marketing mix elements such as product, price, place and promotion. Promotion or communication as it is often called is one of the most important parts of the marketing. The key elements of the promotional mix are advertising, sales promotion, personal selling and public relations (Kazmi and Batra,, 2009, p.255). The focal point of the study happens to be the public relations. Public relations are the way companies or even individuals look to enhance the image and reputation. It is needless to say that the modern business world is extremely competitive. Therefore the companies look to find the x-factors to stand apart from the rest of the crowd so that the company becomes more interesting and appealing for the media and the public. A favorable reputation can help the company. On the other hand negative publicity can also have negative impact and damage the reputation of the company badly. In simple ways PR can be defined as a way to build up long term relationship with the public or customers. Although PR is an element of promotional mix and there are certain differences between PR and other elements, it is important to understand that positive can only be achieved by using each of the elements of the promotional mix effectively. The study looks to focus on the application of PR to aid the performance of a newly launched product in the market. The product selected is a ready-to-drink green tea. The concerns over the contents of the soft drinks have increased as people are becoming more health conscious. Also recent controversies related to the hygienic factors and product has not helped the reputation of the soft drinks. Although the product to be discussed cannot be exactly categorized as hardcore soft drinks, still the product is likely to serve purpose as the soft drinks. The study includes market situation analysis, probable PR strategy, different modes of communication to be used and also a way to successfully evaluate the PR strategy. (Chattopadhyay, 2009. P.370). Company overview Fun fruit Pvt. Ltd. is a six years old company. The company produces soft drinks made from fruits such as mango and pineapple. The company looks to achieve concentric product diversification through packaging and pricing strategy. Here it is to be mentioned that the company operates in UK market only. However, the company has launched ready-to-drink green tea called ‘Fizz’. The company looks to brings in a unique drinking experience to the consumers. The company looks to provide an alternative to the traditional tea and soft drinks. Situation Analysis in beverage advertising industry During the initial days consumers referred to soft drinks as cold drinks. This mainly included drink such as Coke and Pepsi. However during the 90’s other types of drinks such as bottled mineral water entered the market. Companies like Pepsi and Coca-cola took this opportunity in the form of alliances and acquisitions such as Coke & Nestea and Coke & Minute Maid. However since the late 90’s till date the total value of the soft drinks industry has gone up. The sales volumes of the carbonated soft drinks have witnessed a decline as consumers have become more health concern. The consumers are switching towards healthier options like fruit juices, energy drinks or sports drinks. Therefore companies have actively indulged to produce new products not only to combat the growing concerns about the negative impact of the soft drinks, but also to take advantage of the contemporary market demand. This functional market is expected to exhibit consumer preference and sustainable growth in the future as people are shifting towards healthier, trendier and sophisticated options. Current media publicity for the beverage companies can be explained as mixed. Most of the major soft drinks companies have positioned themselves as cool and funky soft drinks. Most of the commercial ads of the beverage companies market themselves as a product that is socially and environmentally friendly nature. However, the companies have also starred up huge amount of controversies due to the beverage content. Even governments round the globe seemed quite concerned with carbonated soft drinks that are being consumed by adults as well as children. As a matter of fact the soft drinks companies have taken some of the blame also. But it needs to be mentioned that despite of the efforts of the soft drinks companies to position themselves as an environmentally responsible business unit the health aspect related to the soft drinks are still missing. This is mainly due to the content of the soft drinks. Product Attributes Product Class Functional Drinks, Soft Drinks, Beverages. Different levels of the products Core Product: Healthy green tea in a bottled ready to drink format. Actual Product: Round shaped, prominent fizz logo developed in modern attractive font, attractive bottle color. Augmented Product: Energetic, cool, consistent, innovative, funny and healthy Assessing target audience for developing PR strategies Identifying the Segment Primarily the beverage companies target the youth or the generation Y. This includes the market segment belonging to the 18-35 age groups. This should be the ideal age group for Fizz also. However, the product is a bit different from other conventional beverages or soft drinks. Therefore the product has the scope to cater to a larger market segment also. However, for the initial period at least the company should target the youth as the primary market segment (Wenderoth, 209, p. 359). Segment Needs The product will gratify both social as well as physiological needs. The physiological needs may include nutritional and hydrating value. The social needs may include the perception of a fun drink with the sense of belongingness among the friends. Segment potential The present trends show a shift away from the fast foods and carbonated drink. Irrespective of the age group the people are moving towards healthier products that are likely to beneficial for body and mind. According to reports the segments likely have a growth of 1.73% percent by 2015. Public Relation Strategy Identifying the product USPs Ready to bottled green tea Healthy ingredients Variations in flavors Healthy alternative option to heavy sugar drinks Functional Packaging Objectives and goals of the PR campaign To increase about the product. To generate strong awareness regarding the newly launched Fizz especially among the youth (16-35) as well the parents. To position the product as a healthy, cool and FUNctional health drink. To capture at least 4% of market share of the UK soft drinks industry. Message The PR campaign should clearly convey the message that ‘Fizz’ is a healthy ready to drink product targeted towards sporty and health conscious people. The message is going to slightly tilted towards the generation Y. The message concept may go like ‘A healthy body leads to a spirited heart’. (Kotler, 2001, p. 25) Public relation plan and implementation PR is an independent element of the promotional mix. However, it would require an integrated approach on the part of the marketers to develop long term positive relationships with the public. Therefore such like the communication message the medium or the modes of communication are going to be equally important. Before choosing the appropriate modes of communication it is important for the company to make sure that the consumers only provide partial concentration to the media. The marketers should adopt an integrated approach i.e. using more than one medium of communication at a time. This is to ensure that if the consumers do not provide full concentration to one message only, rather the consumers keep scanning the different media sources using partial attention. The company may use Television, FM Radio Magazines (Cosmo, Elle, Sports illustrated, etc.), and Banner Advertisement over the internet, Company website, Billboards in selective outdoor area for promotion (Dey, 2009, p. 95). However, a few things need to be kept in mind. All the conventional mediums mentioned above are likely to quite expensive. The company is only five years old. Hence the company may face budget constraints as the mediums mentioned above are quite expensive. Therefore one of the best options to opt for would be social media. Social Media is a lot cheaper than the modes of communication mentioned above. Add to that the main objective of the campaign is to increase awareness and create engagement, especially among the youth. Today the youth spends more time on social media; even more than the television. Therefore social media is the place to be; especially Facebook and Twitter. The company just needs to create Facebook page and Twitter account. The company may decide to start pay per click (PPC) advertisement campaigns in Facebook. Twitter can be used for free only. Both the mediums provide great platform for promotion and engagement, the two main objectives of the campaign. Apart from being cheap the biggest advantage of social media is the campaigns are going to be more targeted and customized in nature. A to that to mention t the companies can run different contests to create awareness and endearments. Again social media can be used to promote such contests. As a matter of fact people may start contests in Facebook itself. The contest could be uncover secret code beneath the cap of the bottle and win sporty goodies. The company may also go for free sample distribution in supermarkets, gyms, schools and colleges. This is will serve a dual purpose. It will increase the brand awareness and also help the company to get customer feedback. Not to mention that the free sample distribution would increase the company good will and lead to healthy public relations (Belch and Michael, 2005, p. 325). Another effective way to create healthy public relations is through corporate social responsibility activities or CSR. The company may decide to sponsor any local soccer or cricket team. It may sponsor any budding upcoming sports person. The company provides scholarships to meritorious school or colleges students. All these would lead to healthy PR. Also the company should keep in mind about events and holidays and create event or holiday specific campaigns. Such campaigns would likely to help the company develop relationships with customers. It would also help the company to stimulate sales of the newly launched product. AIDAS model of advertising All in all the communication strategy of the company should follow the AIDA model. In the initial phase of the product life cycle the brand awareness of the product is going to be low. Hence advertisement in different medium would help the product to gain awareness. Once Awareness is created, PR campaigns in the form of different user engagement techniques would help the company to generate interest among the consumers. Interest would lead to demand. Once demand is generated the company should cash in the product USP to motivate the buyers to make the final purchase decision. Evaluation Monitoring and controlling should be done on weekly basis. Cost effective ratios should be used to interpret brand awareness and sales revenue against the forecasted figure. However, it needs to be mentioned in the initial phase the focus should be primarily on creating awareness. Company should use marketing research technique to evaluate brand awareness. The concept of brand recall can be used as a potent tool to evaluate the degree of awareness makes the respondents respond in subconscious state of mind. Some of the proposed control points could be to collect sales data, adjust advertising and distribution based on the awareness and level of sales. Conclusion Public relations are one of the most important elements of the promotional mix. PR is all about building relations and marinating reputation. In the context of the study it could beat said that the days of carbonated soft drinks and fast foods are almost over. The customers are moving towards healthier options. Therefore Fizz- the healthy green tea has got great potential to succeed. But, communication and PR to be more specific is going to play a major role in the success. The company should adopt an integrated approach when it comes to communication. Although the entire medium possess equal importance, but keeping the life span of the business and budget constraint on mind social media (Twitter and Facebook to be specific) may be the wild card. Also the company should focus on CSR activities to enhance good will and reputation. References Belch, G and Michael, G.2005. Advertising &Promotion-An Integrated marketing Communications Perspective. Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd: India. Chattopadhyay. A. 2009. Marketing Management. Matrix Educare Pvt. Ltd: India. Dey, A. 2009. Marketing Research. Matrix Educare: India. Kazmi. S and Batra. S. 2009. Consumer behavior. Excel Books: India. Kazmi. S. 2010. Advertising and Sales Promotion. Excel Books: India. Kotler, P. 2001. Marketing Management. Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd: India. Wenderoth, M. 2009. Particularities in the Marketing Mix for Service Operations, GRIN Verlag: DE. Bibliography Brown, L. 2009. Marketing and Distribution Research. Ronald Press Company: US. Churchill, G. 2009. Marketing Research. Cengage Learning India Pvt. Ltd : India. Nargundkar, R. 2010. Marketing Research. Tata McGraw Hills Private Limited: India. Zarrela, D. 2010. The Social Media Marketing Book. OReilly Media, Inc: CAN. Read More