Advertising Campaign: Hexagon - Essay Example

? Advertising Campaign: Hexagon Advertising Campaign: Hexagon Executive Summary To cope up with the challenges that organizations face in the modern and globalized business scenario, organizations need to design their corporate strategies in a way, that these strategies becomes a competitive advantage for them (Suder 2006; Kim 2007). For this reason, organizations strive to develop promotional strategies in such a manner, that these marketing efforts provide complete information about the brand and its products and services (Frank 1992). This marketing plan entails the advertising campaign for a fashion event management company Hexagon. Introduction to the Organization Hexagon is a fashion event management business established to meet the needs of event planning for new and existing fashion and accessory designers. London, England is the current home of Hexagon with plans to expand to branch offices in other cities of England and then in Milan, Paris and Madrid within five years. Six marketing professionals founded the basis of Hexagon and under them, are working their assistants along with 6 employees who are responsible to look after different operations of the company. Besides, internees are also hired by Hexagon for a period of 6 week training and these programs are offered to students who are seeking education in the field of event management. Situation Analysis Considering the increasing number of competitors in event management industry of UK and the efficient marketing strategies adapted by these competitors of Hexagon in order to attract customer. This intensive competition has caught the eye of Hexagon’s management, and they have decided to promote their business by acquiring the services of Media agency. For this reason, our company, i.e. Prompt Marketing has been selected by Hexagon’s management to prepare an advertising company for their business. The first step that Prompt Marketing took before designing Hexagon’s marketing campaign is to understand the strength, weaknesses, threats and opportunities for the client. Strengths Professional expertise of the management. Strong capital investments. Huge margin of profits. Weaknesses Seasonal business opportunities. Comparatively new in the industry and have less experience of the business. Opportunities Changing social environment and customers’ preferences. Improving business scenario since great recessionary period in UK. Threats Intense competition in the industry. Technological advancement in the industry. Table 1 Hexagon: SWOT Analysis Competitor’s Analysis The major competitor of Hexagon in the fashion show organizers’ market of England is Catwalk Production. Catwalk is a leading UK based production company engaged in producing fashion and media events. The company also provides models, make-up artists, hair stylists, choreographers, dancers, photographers, locations, stylists, stage and lighting facilities to its clients. The company has its headquarters in Glasgow and regional offices in London and Edinburgh (Catwalk Productions 2012). Another source of competition for Hexagon is JLP Events, which has also proved its worth in UK’s event management industry. The company specializes in organizing fashion shows and is considered to be delivering high quality and value added services to its clients. The management team of the company is also passionate and dedicated towards becoming one of the finest fashion show organizers in the world (JLP Events 2012). Marketing Vision The agenda discussed at the first meeting with our clients, Hexagon helped us to identify their marketing vision and mission. The marketing vision of Hexagon is: “To achieve its lofty aims and objectives, Hexagon must focus of incorporating its mission into its operational activities which will facilitate the achievement of our vision. Hexagon should become one of the front runners in fashion event planning industry in England and become an icon in providing a platform where fashion brands can promote their businesses” The mission of Hexagon identified in the meeting is as follows: “Hexagon believes on making good choices to produce services that cater our customers’ requirements and satisfy them with intensive efforts of the company. These efforts aims at becoming the foremost choice of fashion designers and their brands by facilitating their launching of brand or promotion of their products and services through state of the art event management services. For this reason, Hexagon strives to produce hassle-free events for fashion brands and designers at an affordable cost” Hexagon’s Advertising Campaign The advertising campaign of Hexagon will be designed, keeping in view the necessity of the business, the background theme and expected behavior of the target audience towards these advertisements. As suggested by Ajzen (1991), that the marketing efforts of organizations should aim at identifying the link between the intention and attitudes of the customers towards a service or product. Further addressing to the planned consumer behavior, Ajzen (1991)stated that his theory of consumer behavior would help in predicting the behavior of the consumers when they see or hear about advertising campaign of an organization (Schiffman. 2002, Hoyer and Macinnis 2009). The theory of consumer behavior or planned behavior implies that if a consumer show greater inclination towards an advertisement, chances for a positive purchasing decision on consumers’ side increases and the advertisement is said to be successful in attracting customers (VanNorman 2011). Considering the suggestions made by Ajzen in his theory, Hexagon’s advertisement campaign should be designed in such a manner, that it compares the services provided by the organization against the services provided by the competitors. Moreover, benefits that customers can avail by using the services of Hexagon should also be highlighted, for example the ad campaign should also state the prices of the services and how these prices are competitive against the prices charged by Hexagon’s competitors. Brand Positioning Young and Rubicam defined brand positioning as an effort for classifying the choice of products by focusing on the expectations and perceptions of the target market regarding the products and services to be offered to them (Petley 2003, MacRury 2009). In their theory of brand positioning, Young and Rubicam defined the importance of positioning by stating that it is the first and foremost decision that a marketer or advertisement strategist might make, in order to develop a successful ad campaign (Sengupta 2005; Aaker 1996). Considering the importance of brand positioning, it is essential for Prompt Marketing to develop a positioning statement that clearly defines the target audience and how the company would fulfill the requirements of its valued customers. Prompt marketing has decided to address each element of brand positioning which are provided in the diagram below: Considering the above mentioned theoretical perspective of brand positioning and identifying the target market of Hexagon, Prompt Marketing has decided to develop a marketing strategy that in the initial phase introduces the brand to the target audience and then aims on designing a print and electronic media advertising campaign. Prompt Marketing’s advertisements for Hexagon will address a niche sector. Keeping in view the expectation of our client, i.e. Hexagon’s expectations from the advertisements, Prompt Marketing will put efforts in positioning the brand as a provider of state of the art value added fashion event management services to its valued customers. While positioning the brand, Prompt Marketing will emphasize on two factors which will be helpful in developing competitive advantage for Hexagon. These factors are specialization in services delivered to the customers and use of latest technology. The advertising campaign will highlight the specialization of Hexagon and its work force and management in managing fashion events and that the expert knowledge allows Hexagon to provide services that satisfy its customers at reasonable prices. The second factor of competitive advantage, which will be highlighted in the advertising campaigns will be technology. Anyone cannot be good at everything. Hexagon believes it is better to concentrate on a few things, excel in those areas, and acquire state-of-the-art technology and equipment that no one else has in the fashion industry. As the company is focusing on a single area i.e. organizing fashion shows therefore it must have all the related and latest knowledge and technology to look different from its competitors. Marketing Objectives The underlying objectives that Hexagon wants to achieve from its marketing strategies are as following: 1. To create awareness about Hexagon’s services among target audience, 2. To communicate, how services of Hexagon are better than others and what benefits can be achieved by acquiring services of the company, to the target audience, 3. To capture 10% of the market share within the first 2 years. Creative Strategy To make Hexagon’s launch in the market a remarkable event, Prompt Marketing has decided to adapt a diverse yet reachable creative strategy. The best way to penetrate the market is to organize a fashion show (Solomon. 2005, Bohdanowicz and Clamp 1994). This fashion show is a launch promotional strategy that will bind together the related professionals of the field with Hexagon and introduce to them a whole new experience of fashion event management in England. As this fashion show will be organized by Hexagon and Prompt Marketing will perform the marketing activities, the later will be responsible for inviting fashion designers, photographers, fashion industry’s analyst, fashion magazines’ managements and other dignitaries. The fashion show would consist of England’s leading fashion designers like Alexander McQueen and John Galliano. These two designers would launch their new clothing lines in the show and will be asked to give their views about the event and how successful Hexagon is in attracting fashion world’s eyes. The creative strategy adapted by Prompt Marketing has been picked under the influence of Hybrid approach which requires marketers to understand and touch customers’ touch points, channels of influence, market dynamics, challenges and opportunities step by step through different advertising strategies (Solis 2010). The step-by-step process outlined by Prompt Marketing for Hexagon is as follows: Media Strategy For developing a successful marketing campaign for Hexagon, Prompt Marketing has selected a variety of above and below the line marketing activities. Above the line marketing or advertising campaigns are usually those marketing efforts which are contingent and people can see them physically (Yadin 2002). These efforts might include advertisements in print media, billboard advertising, brochures and etc. On the other hand, below the line marketing activities are those marketing campaigns which take place in the background, for instance, email marketing, word of mouth marketing and inner circle marketing (Egan 2007). These marketing efforts are not easily identifiable by the competitors (Smith and Taylor 2004, Dunai 2007). Considering the nature of business, Prompt Marketing chose a fashion show as a marketing effort for launching the business and acknowledging people about Hexagon’s services. Now in the second phase, Prompt Marketing has decided to adapt a print medium for promoting Hexagon’s services. The print mediums utilized for advertising campaign of Hexagon are summarized in the following section: Advertisements in News Papers and Magazines Advertisements of Hexagon’s services, the benefits that the customers might achieve by acquiring the services of Hexagon and how these services are different from the services offered by Hexagon’s competitors will be published in news papers and fashion magazines. Moreover, special supplements will be issued which contains information regarding the expertise of Hexagon, its management, its assets and pricing plans for arranging a fashion show will be provided. These supplements will be distributed through local hawkers. Advertisements through Billboards Billboards will be placed near shopping centers, cinemas and areas where high and medium class people and celebrities live. Prompt Marketing will place electronic billboards showing different slides of fashion show arranged to launch the company, i.e. Hexagon. Moreover, these billboards will also show a list of services provided by the company. Billboards will be placed due to the fact, that they have a reach to maximum population and leave a long lasting impression over target audience. Social Network Marketing In the third phase, social networking portals of Hexagon will be created and launched by Prompt Marketing. These social networking portals include Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Bloggers will also be utilized and services of professional writers in the field of fashion will be acquired to develop blogs explaining Hexagon’s services. Media Plan Summary Medium of Advertising Name and Place Expected Reach Newspapers Sunday Times Herald Tribune The Guardian Independent 85% Fashion Magazines ELLE Factio Fashion Insider Fashionclick 70% Billboards Train Stations London School of Fashion Designing Bus stops 75% Table 2 Summary of Media Plan Target Audience The target audience is one for whom the advertisement and promotional campaigns are designed. The research conducted initially before developing the advertising campaign for Hexagon revealed the fact that the prime concern or target of Hexagon’s services is fashion industry and the fashion designers. Therefore, the advertisements of hexagon will aim at providing information regarding its services to fashion designers, fashion houses, educational institutes where fashion is studied by the students and the fashion television channels. In addition, the target audience will also comprise of people who are interested in adapting fashion event management as their profession or career. Time Schedule and Budgeting Time Marketing Effort Reason June 2012 Launching Show To introduce the brand to the target market July 2012 Onwards Newspaper advertising Billboards Fashion Magazine advertising To reach maximum target audience. To leave long lasting impression. For establishing ongoing communication. September 2012 Onwards Social Network Marketing For reaching maximum local target audience and an additional international target audience. Table 3 Schedule of Advertising Campaign Advertising Activity Costs Launching Show ? 110,000 Print Media Marketing ? 35,000 Billboard Marketing ? 22,000 Social Network Marketing ? 5,000 Total ? 172,000 Table 4 Budget for Advertising Campaigns Evaluation of Advertising Activities Effectiveness of Billboards and Print Advertisements The effectiveness of billboards and print advertisement in grabbing the attraction of the customers will be evaluated by conducting recalling tests. These tests can be aided and unaided. This evaluation will require Prompt Marketing to perform a market research on the target audience of Hexagon’s marketing campaigns. Effectiveness of Social Network Advertisements The effectiveness of social network advertising in attracting customers’ attraction towards hexagon and its services can be evaluated by the number of Likes reported at Facebook page and by the number of followers at Hexagon’s page at Twitter and Bloggers. Conclusion Hexagon is expected to offer great potential to position itself in UK’s event management industry as a provider of unique services. Moreover, the company and its management’s expertise also show that the services that will be offered by them will be innovative, value-added, unique and refreshing. The advertising strategies adapted by Prompt Marketing will prove to be extra beneficial for the company in establishing a loyal customer base and providing complete information to the target audience. List of References Aaker, D.A., 1996. Measuring Brand Equity Across Products and Markets. California Management Reviewq, 38(3), pp.102-20. Ajzen, I., 1991. The Theory of Planned Behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), pp.179-211. Bohdanowicz, J. and Clamp, L., 1994. Fashion marketing. London: Routledge. Catwalk Productions, 2012. Home. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 20 March 2012]. Dunai, C., 2007. Event-Marketing in B2B settings- An Experiential Marketing Approach to involve Business Decision Makers. Hamburg: GRIN Verlag. Egan, J., 2007. Marketing communications. NY: Cengage Learning. Frank, J., 1992. Advertising. New Delhi: Pearson India. Hoyer, W. and Macinnis, D., 2009. Consumer Behavior. NY: Cengage. JLP Events, 2012. About Us. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 20 March 2012]. Kim, J.K., 2007. Corporate strategies in the age of regional integration. London: Edward Elgar Publishing. MacRury, L., 2009. Advertising. London: Routledge. Pandey, S.K., 2011. What is Brand Positioning. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 18 March 2012]. Petley, J., 2003. Advertising. London: Black Rabbit Books. Schiffman., 2002. Consumer Behavor. New Delhi: Pearson India. Sengupta, S., 2005. Brand Positioning: strategies for competitive advantage. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill. Smith, P.R. and Taylor, J., 2004. Marketing Communications: An integrated approach. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Solis, B., 2010. The Hybrid Theory Manifesto: The Future of Marketing, Advertising, and Communications Part Two. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 18 March 2012]. Solomon., 2005. Consumer Behavior: In Fashion. New Delhi: Pearson India. Suder, G.G.S., 2006. Corporate strategies under international terrorism and adversity. London: Edward Elgar Publishing. VanNorman, S., 2011. The Theory of Planned Behavior: Why Permission-Based Marketing is Important to Mobile Marketing. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 19 March 2012]. Yadin, D., 2002. The international dictionary of marketing: over 2000 professional terms and techniques. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Read More