Recyclable Drinking Water - Essay Example

?Recyclable Drinking Water By [Presented to] of EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Integrated marketing communication is one of the highly preferred marketing tools within the competitive business environment. It can be defined as the coordination and amalgamation of marketing communication tools and functions into a program or function that helps in impacting customers along with enhancing the feasibility and acceptance of the product (Adcock, Halborg, Ross 2001, p-15). The assignment aims at highlighting the use and importance of integrated marketing communication in developing a marketing plan based on recycle water usage for drinking. Recycle water is waste water that is treated with chemicals to remove impurities in order to be used in irrigation and other industrial purposes. However, the common perception states that recycle water is not safe for drinking and can be used in irrigation, industrial usage and flushing toilets. The primary purpose of this marketing plan is to introduce recycle water that can be used for drinking and other usage. The marketing plan aims at targeting the current flood situation in Thailand affecting the population along with making them deal with massive piles of garbage piling up around the different parts of the country. Bangkok has been severely affected by floods creating shortages for safe drinking water. It needs to be mentioned that common people in the city are facing serious water crisis with tap water pouring contaminated and dirty water (Kummetha (2011) On the other hand, packaged drinking bottles are quite limited in the market and the city does not have a marketer offering recycled drinking water. It can be assumed that development of recycled drinking water would help in offering a useful product to the masses using an integrated marketing communication approach. This would also help in assessing the present use of recycled water and its importance and acceptance in the business and social environment. Thus, the marketing plan has a great scope that requires effective planning and implementation. Introduction An effective integrated marketing communication plan requires understanding over the political environment, customer perception and geographical position of the city. The city chosen for this purpose is Bangkok considering the current flood scenario that has affected the lives of locals and tourists. The shortage of drinking water has jeopardised the physical and mental state along with the health of people. Bangkok is the capital and largest city of Thailand known as a tourist destination across the globe. The influx of tourists from different parts of the world has strengthened the economy of the country boasting on impeccable infrastructure and hospitality that is good enough to allure people across the globe. Bangkok has 50 districts and each district is managed by the district chief appointed by the governor. There is also an elected government body; Bangkok Metropolitan Council that managed municipal ordinances and city’s budget pertaining to infrastructure and other activities. The government of Bangkok of is known as Bangkok Metropolitan Administration that manages the city and its resources in an effective and efficient manner. There are a number of national and international retailers present in Bangkok with the likes of Tesco, Family Mart and Big C dominating the market. The economic activities are majorly restricted to agriculture and tourism. In Bangkok, Metropolitan Waterworks Authority offers tap water that is used for the purpose of drinking and other activities. Many households have water purifying machines that further purifies water through different mechanisms and processes. At the same time, a number of packaged drinking water bottles are available that can be bought to ensure good quality of drinking water. However, there is no organisation developing or promoting recycled water for the drinking purpose. This marketing plan would ensure successful introduction of the product in the markets of Bangkok along with communicating its advantages to customers. Bangkok Water- Recycling The city of Bangkok has been developing wastewater treatment system from a long period of time and efforts have yielded good benefits in last few years. There are a number of sewerage zones that have helped in improving the overall water shortages in the short as well as in the long run. The collection system constitutes of pipelines that use advanced nutrient and odor removal to make wastewater more effective for wide arrays of use (House, 1995, p 12-15). More importantly, government is increasingly conscious of understanding and analysing the need and importance of drinkable water sources and consumers are asked to pay premiums for such commodities. It can be assumed that the government is quite focused on introducing recycled water as a major product and service in the business and social environment. Recycled Products and Services The discussion aims at highlighting the importance and value of recycled products and services in an effective and analytical manner. Recycled water is basically used for irrigation and industrial purposes and usage with little significance to drinking needs. There are hotels like Four Seasons willing to use recycled water for laundry and flushing waste products but not many are engaged in using recycled water for drinking and personal consumption purposes. The proposed marketing plan would be an innovative approach to deal with the current drinking water problems. Most hotels are short on pure water supply and are dependent on importing them from other parts of the world. However, it is important to analyse the demographics along with developing a plan to target the audiences through effective segmentation and positioning. The marketing plan also assesses different kinds of media vehicles to be used in promoting the product in different parts of the city in an impactful manner. The next part highlights the planning and implementation of integrated marketing communication tools. Marketing Plan for the Proposed Product The marketing plan for the proposed product includes product definition, its impact, utility and social relevance. It includes: Marketing Elements Importance and Usefulness Proposed Product Recycles Packaged Drinking Water Name of the Product Re-Cycled Aqua Social Relevance Useful in conversing Water Safe and healthy option Use of the available resources Available Through Retail stores Super markets Hotels and Restaurants Economic Benefits Much cheaper compared to mineral water Available in large quantity Target Audience Segment Analysis Segmentation analysis is based on identifying the needs and demands of the targeted audience in an effective manner. The targeted audiences for this particular integrated marketing plan are retailers, hotels and restaurants where recycled water would be introduced in an effective manner. In this case, the segmentation is not based on age, income and sex but on the basis of behaviour and acceptance. The segmentation is primarily based on B2B and up to some extent B2C business model where preferences and behavior of the targeted audiences matter the most unlike demographic factors playing an important role in identifying the marketing needs for the launch of products and services (Clow, Kenneth, Donald, 2007, p 9-10). The identified markets are hospitality and tourism industry along with consumer products retailers. These markets would help in reaching to the end consumers through direct selling that would be further strengthened by effective brand promotion and positioning of the product (Selden, 1997, p-23). The next step would be to understand the existing scenarios and behavior of these markets in terms of packaged drinking water in terms of lack of drinkable water because of the heavy floods contaminating the tap water along with creating serious drinking water issues. After analysing the segmentation process, the next step to be followed is to analyse the prospects of targeting by analysing few questions. It needs to be understood that not many organisations are engaged in manufacturing recycled water and there is not much competition in that category. However, the existing brands offering packaged drinking water would emerge as a potential threat in the success and acceptance of the proposed product especially when it is based on recycling of wastewater. However, this would also act as a strength considering an initiative of changing the perception of society in an exemplary manner. The use of billboards, television advertising and word of mouth would help in targeting the audiences in a desired manner. The positioning of the product would be based on creating awareness on recycling of water and its benefits in the social and business environment. In a world where water is treated as an important natural resource, it is important to conserve it to meet present and future demands in a systematic manner. The positioning would also include use of advertising and direct communication along with initiatives from the government to assist the promotional programs and initiatives in a supportive and desired manner (Kotler, Armstrong, Wong, 2009, p- 07). Literature Review Recycle water is former wastewater that is treated with chemicals to make it pure and ready for wide arrays of usage. The primary purpose of recycling the waste water is to conserve water in order to safeguard against the future calamities and uncertainties. When we perceive about recycled water, the image of wastewater being transferred through the pipeline comes in our mind that is treated well for wide arrays of purposes. The concept of recycling water can be traced in the 18th century when sanitary sewages were developed with the growth of the cities. By the end of the 19th century, potential developments were made to recycle water but treatments were blamed with odor. The odor issue was further eliminated by introducing oxygen into the decomposing sewages through biological treatments. This helped in removing the odor along with making water easy to use and consume in wide arrays of commercial activities. The abundance of fresh water often restricts the use of recycled water but governments across the world have taken initiatives to sold recycled water at the cheapest rates in order to create awareness and increase its usage and consumption. It needs to be mentioned that with increasing population and cost of distribution involved in the distribution of water, the supply of fresh water would suffer in the future and there is a need to create long term awareness on recycled water. There is no denying that recycled water contains high amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, oxygen and chlorine that is useful for agricultural activities and not for the drinking purpose. (Oliver, 2005, p 93-100). A water quality study published in the year 2009 stated that water quality differences of recycled water, surface water and ground water are very much similar in terms of constituents. The major difference between recycled water and ground water has been the disinfection that can be considered as a positive sign to create awareness amongst the masses (Cooper, 2001) The demand for recycled water has been increasing at a rapid pace with the United States even charging consumers on the basis of actual usage of recycled water. The only problem is that recycled water is not considered as good enough to meet the proposed water standards by the World Health Organisation. However, many municipalities in the United States have been investigating indirect portable use of recycled water by pumping down to the groundwater, pumping it put, treating is again and making it useful for the drinking purpose. This can be considered as great advantage and sign of improvement in taking technology to the next level for the betterment of the society. There is no denying that world requires clean water and better treatment of disposable water in order to meet present and future demands. The current scenario of Bangkok where people are suffering from the shortage of clean and drinkable water, an initiative taken to recycle water would have helped in addressing the crisis. The United States is the leader in using recycled water for various purposes followed by Australia and other European Nations. This has also helped in meeting existing and future crisis in a great manner. The Australian battle with drought has compelled to initiate wide arrays of programs and activities pertaining to recycling of water. This has also helped in creating awareness amongst the masses in a significant manner. However, the awareness is limited to industrial and agricultural usage and very nations have taken an initiative to use recycled water for drinking purposes along with highlighting its value and importance (Brown, Andrew2007) The literature analysis clearly suggests that the concept of recycling water is well accepted in different parts of the world and is considered as quite effective in combating present and future crisis. This also states the introduction of packaged drinking water bottles in Bangkok require good number of marketing initiatives and strategies to create a long lasting impact over the mind of consumers in the short as well as in the long run. Integrated Marketing Communication Integrated marketing communication is the coordination and amalgamation of marketing communication tools and functions into a program or function that helps in impacting customers along with enhancing the feasibility and acceptance of the product (Strokes, Rob, 2008, p-23). It is important to identify few communication objectives and creative strategies. The integrated marketing communication plan includes: Creative Strategies There is no denying that the proposed product in spite of its relevance and importance would face several questions and speculations. This require wide arrays of creative strategies to deal with different kind of questions based on safety issue, consumption pattern, constituents of the product, license issue and water standards supported by the World Health Organisation. Creative strategies designed for this purpose are based on the understanding of social and psychological factors. Some of the creative strategies that would help in creating an impact over the mind and heart of consumers include: Media Plan After analysing the feasibility and acceptance of the proposed product based on communication objectives and creative strategies; effective media vehicles would be selected to communicate with the targeted audience. It needs to be mentioned that the targeted audience here are consumers that have not been discriminated on the basis of age, sex and culture. The media plan has been developed to attract and motivate consumers drinking bottled water. There is no denying that retailers, hotels, restaurants and bars would play an important role in offering these products but they would act as a mediator and business and social partner. The media plan has been developed for a period of 2 years to identify the overall prospect of the product along with analysing its acceptance and performance in the competitive business environment. The performance of the product would also help in understanding the social acceptance, behavior, attitude and beliefs of consumers in an analytical manner. The media plan includes wide arrays of elements that have been explained well in a logical manner. Creative Strategy Media Vehicle Cost Benefits Analysis Social Awareness through Live Demonstration Direct Communication 3000Baht per month for a period of 3 months using 10 professionals This would help in collecting views and opinions of consumers in terms of acceptance 90000 baht of investment would help in collecting invaluable information Mass Awareness through Advertisements Billboards and Television Advertisements 50000 Baht for ten billboards and 100000 Baht for TV Commercial This would help in creating mass awareness through teasers and informational contents 1, 50,000 baht of investment would help in reaching to a number of customers. Municipality Endorsement Newspapers 50000 Baht for a period of 5 months This would help in creating trust and belief among the masses Long term benefits and a positive image Highlighting Collected Feedback Social Networking Media Free of Cost This would help in targeting youths along with spreading the message of switching to recycled drinking water Expanding the reach along with marking it as a revolutionary product It can be assumed that media plan would help in creating awareness along with expanding the reach of the product in a significant manner. It needs to be understood that until and unless, customers are informed on cost and benefits, it is pretty hard to accept a new product and for that purpose, communication would include these elements. An investment of 300000 baht would offer good amount of exposure and after assessing the initial impact and response, the same plan would be continued for a long period of time in order to capture the market in a more committed manner. Other information pertaining to the IMC plan includes: Recycling Process of Water (Cho 2011) Benefits of Recycled Water Much cheaper compared to mineral water Highly useful in crisis Helps in conversing water Conclusion The understanding over integrated marketing communication has been presented in an informative and logical manner by relating it with the planning, development and introduction of recycled drinking water bottle in the Bangkok City. The discussion includes wide arrays of marketing concepts and strategies that helped in understanding the value and importance of a systematic approach while understanding the intricacies of a marketing plan. Overall, the marketing plan has been designed as per the prescribed guidelines helping in understanding key objectives with great significance REFERENCES BOOKS Adcock, Dennis; Al Halborg, Caroline Ross (2001). "Introduction". Marketing: principles and practice (4th Ed.). p. 15. Clow, Kenneth E.; Baack, Donald (2007). Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications 3rd edition. Pearson Education. pp. 9–10 House, C. H. (1995). Engineered Environments: Mimicking Nature to Clean Our Waters. WaterWise, N. C. Sea Grant College Program. Vol. 3, No. 1. Kotler, Philip; Gary Armstrong, Veronica Wong, John Saunders (2009). "Marketing defined". Principles of marketing (5th Ed.). p. 7. Paul H. Selden (1997). Sales Process Engineering: A Personal Workshop. Milwaukee, WI. p. 23. P.F.Cooper, (2001), Decentralized Sanitation and Reuse, Chapt.2, IWA Publishing, London, UK. Strokes, Rob (2008). eMarketing: The Essential Guide to Online Marketing. Quirk eMarketing JOURNALS Jess C. Brown and Andrew Salveson, (2007), Emerging Disinfection Technologies Florida Resources Journal, James D. Oliver, (2005), The Viable but Nonculturable State in Bacteria, J. of Microbiology p.93-100. WEBSITES Renee Cho (2011) From Wastewater to Drinking Water [Online] Available at http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2011/04/04/from-wastewater-to-drinking-water/ [Accessed November 12, 2011] Thaweeporn Kummetha (2011) Bangkok near chaos, with flood mobs and drinking water shortage [Online] Available at http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-10/31/c_131222234.htm [Accessed November 12, 2011] Read More