IMC Strategy for Launching New Car Model in Eastern Canada - Essay Example

? Integrated Marketing Strategy North American Marketing VP Isla Driver Mr. X. Senior Brand Manager October 20, Integrating Marketing Communications Strategy for launching new car model in Eastern Canada Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) Strategy can be defined as the process which is considered by modern day organizations in order to serve adequate information about the company, its products and/or its services to the customers generating brand awareness in the targeted market. The primary objective of IMC is to evaluate the various factors of marketing communication in order to relate the factors for representing simplicity, reliability and utmost communication impact. IMC includes five major aspects based upon which the process can be utilized for interacting with the customers that can be identified as follows: Categorize and select the actual target customers Identify the decision making processes adhered by the customers when purchasing the offered products and/or services Establish the relevant factors when placing the products and/or services within the targeted market obtaining the advantages in order to support the position Frame communication objectives Recognize the proper media option in relation to communication objectives in order to facilitate customers with the actual information regarding the products and services (Percy, 2008) Contextually, the competitive market of automobile industry reveals that companies are currently facing various problems while launching new products in the market. In relation to this aspect Zamada Motor Company from Japan should consider certain strategies prior to the final launch of its products in Eastern region of Canada in relation to IMC. It is in this context that adequate significance towards the IMC approach shall enable Zamada in obtaining greater competitive advantages when introducing its “2.2” model car in Eastern Canada over its major rivals including Mini, Fiat, Ford and Toyota among others. With the intention to gain competitive advantages and better return from its diversity planning, i.e. the launch of “2.2” model car, Zamada has been targeting customers aged between 22 years to 34 years, irrespective of their gender based classification. However, for female customers, the age bar has been relaxed upto 45 years. Hence, it can be affirmed that Zamada has been primarily targeting towards the female group of customers belonging to the age group of 22 years to 45 years in order to gain competitive advantages over the available substitutes. Hereby, the sole intention of this particular marketing approach should be augmenting customer awareness regarding the brand and subsequently, increase their preferences towards Zamada through effective IMC strategies. It is worth mentioning in this context that IMC is a multidimensional approach which functions on the basis of various channels, such as direct selling, audio-visual communication channels, personal selling, and public relations among others. However, concerning the objectives of Zamada in launching a new car model as well as its targeted market segment, the channels that can be beneficial for its IMC program are advertizing, public relation and interactive marketing (RD Marketing, 2011). With the help of the selected communication channels, Zamada shall be able to develop adequate awareness among the potential customers. Stating precisely, advertising through print, audio and audio-visual media is considered to reward better accessibility to the potential customers in the modern day context which certainly increases the chances of generating increasing sales through effective brand awareness. Similarly, effective concern towards public relation has often been regarded to be virtuous in yielding satisfactory customer loyalty towards the brand developing effective customer relationship. Nevertheless, interactive marketing assists in obtaining an in-depth understanding of the requirements and perceptions of the customers which further assists in continuous improvement of the marketing approach. It has been fundamentally based on these virtues that even though the above noted three channels shall incur huge marketing costs, those shall also contribute extensively for the purpose of Zamada (Smith, Pulford and Berry, 1999). The other channels, which might not prove as quite virtuous to accomplish Zamada’s marketing objectives, can be identified as sales promotion, direct marketing and personal selling. A few reasons based on which these channels have been excluded from the IMC approach can be identified as the limited reachability of these tools to access a wide range of customers throughout the targeted market, complex procedure of execution and lower return in comparison to the incurred expenses. Contextually, sales promotion is regarded to be an effective tool when it is implemented with the sole intention to increase sales on the basis of the already generate brand awareness amid the targeted customers. Thus, the channel might prove to be ineffective when applied in the launch of a new model where customers are primarily needed to be made aware of the product. Additionally, direct marketing and personal selling shall require the hiring of additional manpower generating substantial costs apart from being time-consuming in rewarding the expected outcomes. Therefore, concerning the requirements of Zamada when launching the product, only three channels, i.e. advertising, public relations and interactive marketing, have been selected for this particular IMC program (Smith, Pulford and Berry, 1999). It is worth mentioning in this context that the allocated budget for this particular IMC approach amounts to $ 1 million for a period of 6 months, assuming that the returns from the developed strategies shall be recovered within the specified period. Based on this assumption the costs to be incurred during the implementation of the entire process of IMC program can be estimated as follows: Components Variable Costs Aggregate Expenses Advertising Audio media (popular radio stations) $50,000 Audio-Visual media (television) $100,000 Print media (automotive, IT, and lifestyle magazines) $150,000 $300,000 Public relations Sponsoring sports events $200,000 Sponsoring shows which are women centric as the main targeted group of customers are the females aged from 22 years to 45 years $200,000 $400,000 Interactive Marketing Hiring experienced local staffs in Canada $150,000 Social media promotions $100,000 $250,000 Reserve $50,000 Total $1,000,000 It is worth mentioning in this context that the estimation of the costs likely to be incurred is based on various assumptions in accordance to which the amount planned might differ. Subsequently, if the difference indicates a negative balance, the deficit shall be mitigated through the utilization of the reserved amount. The assumptions mainly considered while allocating the funds have been focused on the significance of the selected channels and the respective costs of the services needed to be availed. For instance, with regards to advertising, print and audio-visual media is considered to have wide reachability to the targeted female population along with the young males owing to which greater proportion of the budget has been allocated for these two channels in comparison to the audio media. Similarly, public relations and interactive marketing approaches are believed to play the most crucial roles in generating customer awareness concerning the newly launched product and can also be used to create initial demand for the car model, even prior to its ultimate launch. Hence, a greater percentage of the allocated budget has been estimated for the channels. Furthermore, as the budgetary planning is an approximation, actual costs incurred might differ during the ultimate implementation of the program owing to legal charges, additional operational expenses and other similar reasons. With this concern, a reserve of $50,000 has been allocated to enhance the financial flexibility of the plan. Furthermore, it needs to be mentioned in this context that prior to the ultimate execution of the proposed IMC plan, Zamada should intend to recognize the customer requirements and market trends through the implementation of market survey processes. Even after the implementation of the IMC approach, the brand should continuously monitor the customer purchasing trends and incessantly attempt to create a valuable relationship with respect to its customers’ values and perceptions, along with considering their suggestions in the production as well as in the marketing processes generating a sustainable market position. References Percy, L. (2008). Strategic integrated marketing communication. Retrieved from http://teddykw2.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/strategic-imc4.pdf RD Marketing. (2011). Creating an integrated marketing communications plan. Retrieved from http://www.rd-marketing.com/communications-plans.htm Smith, P. R., Pulford, A. and Berry, C. (1999). Strategic Marketing Communications: New Ways to Build and Integrate Communications with Disk. United States: Kogan Page Publishers. Bibliography Kaijansinkko, R. (2003). Product placement in integrated marketing communications strategy. Lappeenranta University of Technology, pp. 1-226. Read More