Common Variables of Public Relations in Mix Modelling - Dissertation Example

Common Variables of Public Relations in Mix Modelling Introduction During the past two decades, it was a common practice for large multinationalcompanies to establish a separate department for public relations and marketing activities (Schultz, 1996). Considering the tight competition in the global markets today, it is no longer advisable to separate public relations from the business’ marketing activities. Instead, it is necessary to promote the establishment of integrated marketing communications (Kim, Han, & Schultz, 2004). Within the consumer level, integrated marketing communications aim to increase consumers’ awareness about large multinational companies’ business communication. Synchronizing the corporate communication activities is a significant factor that could improve the competitive advantages of large multi-national companies. Even though most of the empirical studies in the past suggest the need to coordinate advertising, sales and promotion with public relations (Stammerjohan et al., 2005), little is known with regards to the roles of public relations and marketing activities within the integrated market communications. Research Aims and Objectives Aside from exploring how public relations could be a part of the marketing mix model, this study will identify and analyze significant factors that are commonly used in creating a marketing mix model. In line with this, the proposed research study will determine strategic ways on how the business contribution of strengthening and incorporating public relations in marketing activities can be measured and evaluated. Since it is not clear how public relations is directly or indirectly related to marketing activities, this study will explore how a large multinational company can benefit from integrated marketing communications. As part of the analyzing how public relations is directly or indirectly related to marketing activities, the researcher will scrutinize the possible link between public relations and the marketing mix model. Chapter II – Literature Review Based on the corporate vision, integrated marketing communication can be used to enable the target consumers not only to self-select but also identify themselves with the corporate brand (Duncan, 1993, p. 18). Since the effectiveness of business communication strategies could either positively or negatively affects the product and corporate brand (Kitchen et al., 2004), it is a challenge on the part of the large multinational companies to learn more about how these business entities could improve the use of integrated marketing communication. Depending on the main purpose behind the need to communicate the corporate product, marketing managers can make use of integrated marketing communication strategies in order to deliver not only harmonious messages to its target consumers. Today, the availability of new media technologies changes the traditional way of communicating the product and corporate brand to the public (Kitchen et al., 2004, p. 33). Instead of heavily relying over the use of print advertisements, marketing managers today are utilizing a more diversified media sector depending on the type of marketing media that could provide them with the most cost-efficient option and most effective way to meet the personal preferences of its target consumers (ibid). In order to establish a strong corporate and product brand, the marketing mix (categorized as product, price, place, and promotion) should be carefully studied when making use of integrated marketing communication strategies (Keh, Nguyen and Ng, 2007). Likewise, it is necessary on the part of the marketing manager to integrate the significance of the marketing mix when deciding for the type of marketing media to use in marketing communication since this strategy will make the target consumers be able to self-select and successfully identify themselves with the corporate brand (Hallahan, 2007, p. 310; Duncan, 1993, p. 18). A good example of a company that utilizes integrated marketing communication technique is the case of BMW. Aiming to capture the target consumers of BMW, the company established the BMW Films as part of its interactive marketing campaign. “The Hire” which is composed of five series was created back in 2001 and ends on the 21st of October 2005 (BMW Films, 2005). Through the use of famous Hollywood directors, actors and actresses, BMW was directly promoting the car performance and automobile category of the latest BMW model in each series of “The Hire” (Hespos, 2002). By creating short-film series online, BMW was able to capture as much as 100 million viewers online (BMW Films, 2005). Although BMW has maintainted its customer-base which is composed of married men 46 years old and above who are earning approximately US$150,000 each year, the target audiences of BMW Film are men and women between the age brackets of 25 to 45 years old who are first-time potential owners of a luxury car (Ewing, 2010). Since not all of BMW’s target consumers can be reached online, the company decided to make use of traditional advertising channels such as television spots, print and radio advertisements as a way to encourage its target consumers to view “The Hire” online free of charge (Hespos, 2002). Aside from increasing the company’s potential annual sales, Moon and Herman (2005, p. 61) explained that the decision of BMW’s marketing manager to create a short-film series online is to create a synergy between the use of different media channels. On top of closely monitoring the personal opinions coming from the target audiences, the success rate of implementing an integrated marketing communication strategy can be measured not only by tracking the Gross Rating Points or number of online views but also whether or not there is a significent increase over the company’s annual income (Calloway, 2003, p. 119; Albion, 1994). Back in 2001, the company managed to increase its annual sales by up to 12.5% as compared to the previous year due to the positive impact of BMW Film series over BMW’s target consumers (Calloway, 2003, p. 119). To measure and evaluate the impact of an integrated marketing communication strategy, it is possible to make use of econometric or marketing mix modeling. According to Frances (2005), marketing mix modeling is actually referring to a time-series type of evaluation method which can be used to forecast future business performance. In most cases, controllable variables includes the amount of money spend on advertising and the market price of each product whereas uncontrollable variables include the size of the household, seasonality, etc. (ibid). Contrary to the use of marketing mix modeling, econometric modeling is more difficult to use since this particular measurement technique requires amount of information and time to complete the study (Hugh, 2002, p. S4). Aside from gathering a large amount of corporate information, the use of econometric modeling requires the need to learn more about the current business challenges the company is currently going through (ibid). In general, marketing managers should base the measurement on the end-results of public relations and marketing strategies instead of focusing on the message being communicated to the target audiences when measuring the link between public relations and marketing strategies (Schultz & Kitchen, 2000, p. 19). Base on statistical measurement using these models, it is possible on the part of the researchers to measure potential overlapping between public relations and marketing strategies. Regression analysis can be conducted using the historical sales information gathered directly from the company. As explained by Doyle (2004), it is possible to measure the link between public relations and marketing strategies through the use of regression techniques in marketing mix modeling. Aiming to estimate the impact of integrated marketing communication strategies over the business performance, it is possible to measure the impact of public relations by evaluating the past and current sales performance of the company. With the use of either marketing mix or econometric modeling, large multinational companies could examine its actual sales performance together with the type of marketing strategy used to convince its target consumers to purchase the corporate products and services (Hugh, 2002, p. S4). By doing so, the marketing manager could easily identify specific marketing and public relations strategies that are ineffective in terms of improving the overall business performance of a large multinational company. Chapter III – Proposed Research Methodology To determine how public relations and marketing strategies can be incorporated in an integrated marketing communication, the proposed research study will not only gather existing corporate documents but also conduct an in-depth interview with a total of four (4) highly qualified research interviewees who managed to earn many years of work experience as public relation and marketing experts. As part of the proposed research method, the researcher will contact two (2) senior marketing directors or managers who are currently employed in a marketing company and two (2) senior public relation directors or managers who are currently employed in a media company through telephone. Aside from setting a 30 to 45 minutes appointment with the highly qualified interviewees, the telephone conversation is necessary in order to obtain their permission to participate in this study. To make it easier on the part of the researcher to track down highly qualified interviewees, the researcher will make use of Google search engine to locate individuals who are currently working as marketing managers and public relation managers. This particular convenience sampling strategy is effective in terms of narrowing down the number of highly qualified research interviewees. Snowball sampling is referring to referral sampling technique (Craig & Douglas, 2005, p. 286). It means that the researcher has the option to invite more highly qualified research interviewees through referrals. In case a potential research interviewee cooperates well with the researcher, a snowball sampling technique will be applied in the recruitment process of other highly qualified research interviewees. To increase the chances of persuading the target interviewees to participate in this study, the researcher will limit the official interview time between 30 to 45 minutes. The rationale for conducting an in-depth interview with a couple of experts in the field of public relation and marketing is to enable the researcher gain a better understanding on how public relations and marketing are link with one another. Conducting the proposed interview will also enable the researcher have the opportunity to identify key variables which can be used in measuring the effectiveness of marketing communication strategies within a marketing mix model. As part of going through the proposed interview process, the researcher will focus on asking questions related to the process and variables behind integrated marketing mix modelling based on the company each interviewees are currently employed. Aside from allowing the interviewees to discuss their personal approach to public relations and marketing, highly qualified interviewees who will personally agree to participate in this study will also be requested to discuss general issues related to marketing, public relations, and integrated marketing communication including the variables that can be used in measuring the link between public relations and marketing strategies within a marketing mix model. To increase the chances that the researcher will be able to gather all the necessary information from the 30 to 45 minutes interview, the researcher will transcribe the data that was recorded during the actual interview. To comply with the research ethics, the researcher will not only treat the personal information of the qualified interviewees as confidential (i.e. name of interviewee, company name, etc.). Since the researcher intends to record the entire interview process with the research participants, it is necessary to inform and seek their permission before conducting the official interview. The information used in the literature review will be gathered upon the use of the Internet and some of the available library resources. In line with this, related academic journals and books will be utilized in determining the potential link between public relations and marketing activities within the marketing mix modelling. As part of evaluating the primary research findings, the researcher will seek to interpret the gathered data together with the literature review. By integrating the qualitative interview results together with the literature review and the corporate documents, there is a lesser chance wherein the researcher will develop a bias or inaccurate research finding. Chapter IV – Programme of Work The proposed research study will be completed within the time span of three (3) months. As part of the proposed research study schedule, the Gantt chart provided below will be used as a guide in monitoring the research progress of this study. Events 1 Conduct related literature review   2 Design & print a semi-structured interview questionnaire     3 Contact & set appointment with 2 marketing experts and 2 public relation experts     4 Analyze & interpret interview results together with the literature review       6 Finalize research study       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Week References Albion, M., 1994. Suave. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. BMW Films. (2005, October 21). THE HIRE - THE ACCLAIMED FILM SERIES BY BMW - WILL END A FOUR AND A HALF YEAR INTERNET RUN OCTOBER 21ST. [online] Available at: [Accessed 4th March 2011]. Calloway, J., 2003. Becoming a category of one: how extraordinary companies transcend commodity. John Wiley & Sons Inc. Craig, S. and Douglas, S., 2005. International marketing research. 3rd Edition. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Doyle, S., 2004. Which part of my marketing spend really works? – Marketing mix modeling may have an answer. Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management , 11, pp. 379-385. Duncan, T., 1993. To fathom integrated marketing, dive! Advertising Age , 64(43), p. 18. Ewing, S., 2010, May 13. Autoblog. Mirror In The Bathroom: BMW Canada starts sexy new ad campaign to promote 3 Series Coupe [w/video]. [online] Available at: [Accessed 4th March 2011]. Frances, P., 2005. The use of econometric models for policy simulation in marketing. Journal of Marketing Research , 42, pp. 4-14. Hallahan, K., 2007. Integrated communication: Implications for public relations beyond excellence. In Toth, E.L. (ed.) "The future of excellence in public relations and communication management" (pp. 299-336). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Hespos, T., 2002, July 10. iMedia Connection. 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Journal of Advertising Research , 40(5), pp. 17-21. Stammerjohan, C., Wood, C., Chang, Y. and Thorson, E., 2005. An empirical investigation of the interaction between publicity and advertising, and previous brand attitudes and knowledge. Journal of Advertising , 34(4), pp. 55-67. Read More