Integrated Marketing Communications: Timberland - Research Paper Example

? Integrated Marketing Communications: Timberland Integrated Marketing Communications: Timberland Introduction Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is a newly developed concept that coordinates different brand communication mechanisms in order to create seamless experience for the customer. IMC is presented in a definite way so that it would reinforce the organization’s core brand message. The main goal of this concept is to integrate different marketing communication aspects including advertising, direct marketing, public relations, online marketing, and social media networking so as to capture market attention effectively and maximize cost effectiveness. The consumer product chosen for this research is footwear, which is manufactured and marketed by the Timberland Company. Timberland is a US based global manufacturer and retailers of products such as footwear, clothes, watches, and glasses. The company extensively uses traditional as well as modern advertising/promotion techniques to increase its market share. This paper will analyze the integrated marketing communications approach of Timberland Footwear. Promotion Mix The major five aspects of promotional mix are advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing. While analyzing the Timberland’s advertising practices, it seems that the company keeps its advertising expenses relatively lower than those of its direct competitors. Instead of spending huge amounts on advertising practices, the company emphasizes more on product availability and brand recognition. To illustrate, as Adhlakha, Baker, Decker, Iden and Xia (2010) reports, Timberland’s advertising expense was $43.1 million in 2009 whereas the firm’s direct competitor COLM incurred an advertising cost of $72.237 million in the same year. Even though Timberland uses web-based modern advertising techniques, the company still focuses more on traditional media outlets like television, direct mail, and digital communication. The company promotes its footwear business through personal selling also. The company management believes that the one to one marketing technique would assist the firm to build strong brand-consumer relationship, which is the key aspect of sustainable market growth. The firm’s consumer loyalty can be observed while comparing the Timberland’s facebook page with its competitors. Currently, the company has over 829,000 fans on its facebook page whereas many of its competitors have below 500,000 fans. The company largely depends upon sales promotion techniques like marketing campaigns. ‘Nature Needs Heroes’ is the most recent marketing campaign of the organization and it was supported by an integrated promotional campaign designed to attract more youngsters between the ages 18 and 35 (Adhlakha et al 2010). As Reidy and Staff (2009) point out, the company particularly highlights its reduced energy usage and eco-friendly manufacturing activities in marketing campaigns. As Billings (2002) reports, Timberland pays specific attention to direct marketing by operating its own stores worldwide; and the company considers the direct marketing as an effective mechanism to cut down intermediary costs and thereby pass the savings to buyers. Finally, the company gives due care to public relations as the management believes that this policy is necessary to build brand reputation. Hence, the company maintains close relationship with governments and many other social organizations. In order for promoting public relations, the company has taken a number of initiatives to enhance environmental sustainability and thereby public acceptance. This is the reason why most of the Timberline marketing campaigns particularly highlight the significance of eco-friendly business operations. Evidently, the company depends more on mass selling rather than personal selling. Clearly, store sales account for a large percent of the Timberland’s total sales. In addition to the general physical retail locations, the organization has national retailers and departmental stores selling Timberland footwear. Company reports indicate that Timberland also sells its products through independently owned footwear retailers and outdoor retailers (Insideview). Today, the organization is generating a significant portion of its sales through the company website. As online sales mechanism benefits the company relatively more in terms of cost efficiency and marketing efforts, Timberland strives to generate more sales revenues from the online sector. As part of this policy, the organization is planning to shut down its underperforming retail outlets. Timberland management claims that this strategy would assist the company to save millions of dollars in SG&A. In addition, it is observed that Timberland footwear is popular among the public. The company considers mouth publicity as one of the best ways to publicize its products and services. For instance, when it comes to mountaineering activities, usually vast majority of the people give first priority to Timberland boots. Target Markets While analyzing the market operations of the Timberland, it is observed that the company particularly focuses on young people (between the ages 18-35) of both sexes, because the management assumes that children and old aged people are less likely to buy relatively costly Timberland footwear. To illustrate, the organization’s recently designed marketing campaigns including ‘Nature Needs Heroes’ give particular attention to the needs of youngsters. Since the Timberland footwear is widely used for mountaineering activities and hiking, the company gives a specific attention to these areas. Market researches indicate that many of the Timberland branded boots are considered as prestigious goods. Furthermore, a huge collection of Timberland boots are specifically designed to meet the interests of youth. Since young generation always likes to be fashionable, youngsters are eager to buy Timberland boots. Another reason why the company focuses more on young people is the recent global recession. Rasmussen, Mason, Bruce and Giard (2011) state that the 2008-09 global financial crisis adversely affected the organization because people put off boot purchases or refused to buy costly products during this period. Since footwear (boots) is not a necessity product, it was a very difficult task for the Timberland to grow or even stabilize its sales volumes during the recession. In this context, the company’s management identified that youth is the only potential customer group that would continue to purchase Timberland footwear regardless of recessionary pressures. This assumption persuaded the company to pay specific attention to youngsters. As Reidy (2009) points out, today the company’s marketing campaigns are centered on colleges and universities; and the organization adopts the same approach worldwide. Market analysts point out that Timberland has been shifting its focus to emerging countries like India and China since the recent global economic turmoil. Some recently published study reports indicate that the company is taking potential advantages of this strategic shift and therefore the firm may pay increased attention to developing economies. Product Positioning While evaluating the firm’s strategic marketing operations, it is clear that the firm still relies more on conventional tactics to position its new products. The company mainly uses television advertisements to keep customers informed about its new product launches or product innovations (Kimberley, 2011). In addition, the firm uses printed advertisements in the form of flex boards or banners. Furthermore, the company gives particular importance to building customer relations and this practice assists the company to deal with product positioning effectively. In order to enhance the process of product positioning, Timberland follows some recent trends in customer relationship management. The organization considers direct e-mailing as a better way to retain the interests of its existing consumers and to attract new ones. Therefore, the organization sends detailed e-mails to its existing customers prior to a new product launch. As Timberland maintains a large group of potential customers, this direct e-mailing technique would assist the company to make its product positioning process easier. Likewise, the firm provides people with an opportunity to send feedbacks and suggestions to the company mail with intent to identify the changing needs and requirements of buyers. One of the major benefits of e-mail communication is that this practice may aid the organization to keep in touch with its potential customers. Marketing experts believe that loyal customers significantly contribute to the product positioning process. Digital communication is another technique used by Timberland to enhance its product positioning process. Here the company employs promotional SMS alerts and phone calls to inform people about an upcoming product launch. As discussed earlier, Timberland gives particular focus to marketing campaigns to enhance its product positioning practices. Today, the company makes use of online media and social networking sites to fasten the process of product positioning and hence obtain returns rapidly. As there are millions of people accessing social networking websites like facebook, Twitter, or Google+ everyday, it is very easy for the organization to announce and publicize a new product launch effectively and cheaply. Evidently, Timberland’s “product launch strategies align with a focused positioning approach, allowing better segmentation through product and market specialization.” (Timberland). More precisely, the organization’s focused positioning approach necessitates product and market targeting, which in turn helps to identify markets effectively in accordance with different buyer characteristics. The firm’s marketing of Timberland Mountain Athletics and Earthkeepers is a good example for how the organization establishes its products. The organization segments its markets on the ground of people’s attitude but not demographics. This unique positioning approach is obvious throughout the firm’s activities including eco-friendly product innovations, corporate social services, boot centric offerings, and dynamic market campaigns (Adhlakha et al, 2010). Timberland’s high degree of environmental consciousness benefits the company to make its positioning activities stronger and faster. The reputed market position greatly assists the company to position its products effectively even though it sets a higher profit margin than its competitors. Finally, “selling fewer, higher value, classic offerings” is a crucial part of the organization’s product positioning approach (Adhlakha et al, 2010). Hence, people tend to believe that the company sells only high quality products, and this belief in turn would increase the brand loyalty. IMC Efforts The foundation, communication tools, promotional tools, integration tools, brand focus, consumer experience, and corporate culture are the important components of integrated marketing communications (IMC). A close analysis of the IMC components of Timberland will reveal the firm’s IMC efforts. Obviously, Timberland has a clear understanding of its products and market as the company has been a leading player in the market since its start up. The strong consumer relations assist the company to be in constant touch with consumers. In addition, the company uses a number of traditional and modern techniques in order to be in line with varying market trends. Timberland always specifically focuses on brand value creation and this approach has benefited the organization to develop a globally recognized footwear brand. As De La Merced (2011) points out, the organization is never willing to compromise brand quality for short term profits; and such strict brand quality concerns have notably aided the company to maintain highly reputed footwear brand despite increasing competitive pressures. Promotion of environmental sustainability has also assisted the company to add value to its brand loyalty because modern people are greatly concerned over environmental affairs. As discussed already, the organization focuses more on conventional promotional strategies even through recently it has begun to employ modern promotional tools. In case of communication, Timberland deploys highly developed technologies because the company’s management believes that stakeholder communication is important in enhancing organizational growth. The organization has developed many innovative mechanisms to enhance customer communication since customer loyalty is a crucial factor affecting the firm’s long term sustainability. The company has integrated many innovative features to its website to collect customer information which would enable the organization to make its future customer interactions better (Timberland: Privacy policy). To illustrate, Timberland possesses technologies to identify the frequency of people visits in different pages of its website. This data would benefit the organization to improve its website contents so that the different website features would be more fittable to its customer needs. On the basis of the previous website browsing history, the company observes individual people preferences. Referring to such research results, the website gives specific ads suggestions to individual customers in their future visits. Timberland considers online survey as a potential tool to predict future customer needs cost effectively within a short span of time. The organisation extensively uses these survey results to research the market, to identify new market segments, and to direct its advertising campaigns to the right market segments. Undoubtedly, such practices would greatly assist the organization to give a better shopping experience to customers and thereby meet customer satisfaction. Market analysts say that Timberland maintains a good corporate culture that benefits the organization to integrate its marketing communication efforts effectively. While evaluating the company’s IMC efforts, it is clear that the firm has been successful in promoting operations that would create brand value. The major thing the organization did rightly is that it never compromised brand quality so as to gain short term benefits. This approach assisted the company to retain its brand credibility. On the other hand, the major pitfall in the company’s business strategy is that it still excessively relies on traditional promotional tools rather than recent technological innovations. This policy may cause the company to lose its market share to competitors because modern technologies are more cost effective and time efficient than conventional approaches. Recommendations Although Timberland still remains to be one of the most recognized footwear brands in the world, the company cannot confront with market competition effectively in future unless it makes adequate changes to its current operational policies. First, as discussed above, the organization spends less in advertising practices as compared to its direct competitors. It is advisable for the organization to increase its advertising investments in coming years as this change is necessary to take advantages of numerous promising international expansion opportunities prevailing in the current global market for footwear. In addition, the growing market competition forces also necessitate some additional investments in advertising. Currently, the company possesses large amount of cash on hand; therefore, the company does not have to raise external funds to improve its advertisement spending. It is better for the company to use more online advertisement techniques like YouTube videos or blogs as they are more effective channels to communicate the company’s message to more number of people at minimum cost and time. For this purpose, the company has to employ experts in this field. Similarly, it is recommendable for the company to focus more on online business sector because online shopping practices have dramatically increased over the last decade. Hence, the company should exploit emerging online marketing opportunities more by deeply researching online business trends and recent developments. Although the company has its own retail stores and outlet centers, majority of its products are distributed through foreign subsidiaries that facilitate sale of Timberland footwear to retailers and wholesalers. As a result of this practice, Timberland footwear is sold to end consumers at higher prices. In order to eliminate the intermediary costs and hence to offer affordable rates to customers, it is advisable for the company to own and operate its own stores worldwide or at least in selected cities and centers. In addition, the company should reduce its lead time in procurement processes and eliminate expedited shipping costs. Finally, the organization has to avoid increased dependence on suppliers by purchasing materials from different suppliers. Conclusion From the above discussion, it is clear that Timberland’s promotional mix focuses less on advertising practices while other aspects like personal selling and public relations are greatly emphasized. Young people between the ages 18-35 constitute the company’s target market segment. The company uses a focused positioning approach to position its newly launched products. For this purpose, the company also depends on conventional practices like television advertisements, direct e-mailing, and digital communication. However, the company’s IMC efforts are not so effective due to lack of modern business approaches and operational tools. The company can be more competitive if it makes additional advertising investments and focuses more on online business sector. References Adhlakha, S., Baker, K., Decker, A., Iden, T & Xia, L. (2010). Timberland: Integrated company analysis. Wisconsin School of Business. Retrieved from http://business.library.wisc.edu/resources/kavajecz/10_Fall/TimberlandCompany_Report.pdfe Billings, C. (2002). Timberland hands NCH UK direct marketing task. PR Week, 4 Sept. Retrieved from http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/156948/Timberland-hands-NCH-UK-direct-marketing-task/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH De La Merced, M. J. (2011). VF Corporation to Buy Timberland. Dealbook, 13 June. Retrieved from http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/vf-corporation-to-buy-timberland/ IMC. (n. d.). Alyssa Charles. Retrieved from http://learn.senecac.on.ca/~archarles/imc.html Insideview. (n. d.). Retrieved from http://www.insideview.com/directory/timberland-llc Kimberley, S. (2011). Timberland sets sail in global ad campaign. Campaign, 17 May. Retrieved from http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1070174/ Rasmussen, M., Mason, Bruce & Giard. (2011). Western Timberland market value drivers and trends. Retrieved from http://www.glo.texas.gov/wslca/pdf/conference-presentations-summer-2012/WLSC-2012Rasmussen.pdf Reidy, C & Staff, G. (2009). Timberland takes aim at college adventurers. Boston.com, 14 Sept. Retrieved from http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/09/timberland_take.html Timberland: Privacy policy. Retrieved from http://shop.timberland.com/helpdesk/index.jsp?display=safety&subdisplay=privacy Timberland to expand eco-friendly footwear. (2010). Boston.com, 10 Aug. Retrieved from http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2010/08/timberland_to_e.html Read More