Media Plan for Jays Sporting Goods - Essay Example

? MEDIA PLAN FOR JAY’S SPORTING GOODS Executive Summary This project is intended to assess the current market scenario and design a marketing strategy that would meet the marketing objectives and help Jay’s Sporting Goods to grow in terms of revenue as well as market share. To get this we have first carefully observed the company’s philosophy and the 4P’s of marketing namely Product, Price, Place and Promotion. The study here tries to understand the current position of the company in the market. It evaluates the competitors like Gander Mountain and Cabela’s, present in the market with same product and tries to understand their marketing strategy. Jay’s Sporting Goods is compared with the competitors from every possible aspect. Thus after considering the marked differences in the marketing strategy of all three of them we finally reached the SOV that is Share of Voice. After going through some of the survey data available the market condition is judged in terms of demand for any particular product or liking towards any particular game. The study was also done to see whether any segment is untapped or not. SWOT analysis was done to understand the company’s position more properly. Based on the findings, recommendations are made. The company’s market objective is outlined and the marketing strategy is planned. The plan includes type of promotions required by the company, target segment of the company, how can they be reached, the medium that can be used to reach them. To understand the medium again the survey data were referred to understand the most popular mode of advertisement. SITUATION ANALYSIS Marketing strategy and objective The marketing objective of a company can be achieved only by planning the marketing strategies in a correct manner. To outline the marketing strategy for Jay’s Sporting Goods understanding of the 4P’s of Marketing that is Product, Price, Promotion and Place for Jay’s is very essential. Product Jay’s Sporting Goods deals in every item required for Camping, Fishing, Archery and Hunting. Beside these they also deal in accessories like clothing and footwear for men and women. They also deal in Ammunition. Jay’s Merchandise includes special items like jackets etc with Jay’s logo on them (Jay’s Sporting Goods). Pricing Jay’s Sporting Goods has a wide variety of product from different brands whose prices also differ. Since they have tie ups with many brands so the prices range is huge. One can get any item at cheaper price as well as at high price too (Jay’s Sporting Goods). Place Jay’s Sporting Goods is an online and outdoor superstore with two locations in Michigan. It’s a 41 years old business who started their operations in 1971 with 78,000 square ft building in Clare and a 40,000 Square ft building in Gaylord. So customers can visit them not only in their superstores but also online through their websites (Jay’s Sporting Goods). Promotion The various promotional strategies have been adopted by the Company. They offer discounts of certain percentage on certain products. They have also organized some seminars inviting some renowned personalities who are into the world of adventures. They have several outdoor partners, which are mainly different shows telecasted in television and radios. The company Jay’s Sporting Goods also has a product named Gift card which provides you opportunity for not only online shopping but also shopping at their store (Jay’s Sporting Goods). Thus we have thrown a light on the existing marketing strategy from where we can plan our future marketing and promotional strategies which will lead to the growth of the company. SWOT analysis of the company Strength The company deals in a wide variety of products both for men and women. So the company is not gender biased which opens up a huge market for them. The company has gone for an online store where one can buy any item right from their home, at a single click on the mouse. "Give the customer what they need and give them the best service possible" is the philosophy of Jay’s Sporting Goods which clearly shows that they consider their customer as the king. Moreover they consider their customer as a member of their family so that the customer can feel warmth in their stores and can share their growth (Jay’s Sporting Goods). They are heavily promoting their goods through various promotional activities, which make them more and more recognizable. Their attachment with Facebook, one of the most popular social networking sites makes it popular among the younger generation (Jay’s Sporting Goods). Weakness The major weakness of the company Jay’s Sporting Goods is that the presence is limited to only Michigan that also through only two stores one at Clare and the other at Gaylord. So many parts of US remain untouched to them. Though they have their online store but some people still like to visit the stores physically and then go for buying decision. The website designed by the company doesn’t contain too many information regarding them. Lastly the working hour in Sunday is too short. Since Sunday is a holiday so the company can miss some potential buyer due to shortening of working hours (Jay’s Sporting Goods). Opportunity As per the market research conducted by MRI Fishing is liked by more number of people whether it is male or female. Moreover it is popular over all the age group who are more than 18 years, so the company has a huge opportunity in fishing accessories (GrK MRI Doublebase). Various surveys conducted by National survey in 2011 shows that hunters, wildlife watchers and anglers has spend $145 billion last year on related gear, trips and other purchases such as tags, ownership and tags. Hunting is a “recession proof” occupation as per studies (Roney). License sales in different states have increased over the years (see appendix). So it is evident from the finding that the company has a huge potential since the demand in the market is increasing (SPORTSONESOURCE MEDIA). Jay’s Sporting Goods has its presence in Michigan only but they can spread their business in some other parts like South Dakota, Alaska or Vermont. Since surveys have shown that huge potentials are there. Moreover in 28 countries there is an increase in the number of wildlife-related activities (SPORTSONESOURCE MEDIA). Threat Jay’s Sporting Goods can be compared with two other companies dealing with the same products namely Gander Mountain and Cabela’s in order to get the Share of Voice (SOV). Cabela’s has a segment in their website called “Bargain Cave” which is almost same as Gander Mountain’s “Holiday Special”, which shows all the items that are available for sale on discount. But no such segment is present in Jay’s website. In the website of both Cabela’s and Gander Mountain have special offers for the upcoming Christmas but there was no such offers displayed in the website of Jay’s Sporting Goods. So we can conclude that the Website of Jay’s Sporting Goods is not so eye catching and less user friendly. This may hamper Jay’s revenue which comes from online sales. Where Cabela’s offer free shipping for “Cabela’s Club Visa member” and Garder Mountain offers free shipping everyday, Jay’s doesn’t have any such lucrative offers for their customers. Such offers can attract customer to buy from that particular brand. Jay’s Sporting Goods has facebook as its outdoor partner whereas the other two are also linked with Twitter and Youtube also. Cabela’s in addition to these two is also linked with Pinterest. Thus we can say Cabela’s has the highest Share of Voice among these three. Cabela’s and Gander Mountain operates in more than one city unlike Jay’s Sporting goods, which is a threat to Jay’s in terms of market share (Jay’s Sporting Goods; Gander Mountain; Cabela’s). Creative History With the dream of developing a first class sporting goods Jay Poet Started his new store nearly thirty years ago in a small garage in Clare, Michigan. He started to sell fair amount of guns, ammunition and reloading supplies. In 1974 the first official store of Jay’s Sporting Goods was opened. Beside guns and ammo the store added fishing gear, archery supplies and athletic equipments. Jay’s two sons Jeff and J.J. also joined their business. Their goal was “to run the business as a family and to stay together as a family”. On July 1, 1988, the new Jay's Sporting Goods was opened to the public. Since that time, the store has continued to grow, as per Jay's wishes (Jay’s Sporting Goods). Target Audience The target audience should be such that the investment made by the company towards advertising and promotion must give maximum returns in terms of revenue. Our target audience is mainly the customer who goes for hunting and fishing. Studying the demographic and psychographic profiles we can group our target segment into eight segments based on sex, age, income, education, employment, marital status, race and type of employment. As per the market research about 85.88% of the total people who likes hunting are male while the rest 14.12% is only female. Hunting is more popular among males rather than fishing. So we should target the male segment for marketing our hunting accessories. 23.13% of adults of age group 45- 54 are more interested towards Salty water fishing. Among all the races 89.91% of white people has shown interest towards hunting whereas for fishing is only 86.88%. Hunting using bow and arrow is more popular among the high school graduates or diploma holders. Again hunting using bow and arrow is popular among 66.34 employed people as compared to salty water fishing which is only 55.39%. Employed customers excluding professional or related occupation, management business and financial operations, sales and office occupation and natural resources, construction and maintenance occupations are more interested towards hunting using bow and arrow. About 18.01% of people having an annual income of $100,000- $149,000 prefer hunting with bow and arrow rather than fishing. Hunting is more preferable to married people (GrK MRI Doublebase). Timing and purchase cycle Hunting or fishing doesn’t follow any such seasonality, but holidays like Christmas are peak time when people engage themselves in activities like archery or any other entertaining games. But one cannot go for fishing or hunting since generally in the month of December there is snowfall. For fishing and hunting purpose it’s generally the spring time. The company has to see if there is any holiday in those months. So that Jay’s Sporting Goods can utilize these time optimally. Media The medium through which the new product of the company has to be promoted plays a vital role in the promotional strategy. The company has to look for such a medium which is more acceptable to the common people. About 83% of the people those who go for hunting or fishing listens to FM radio. Moreover among them about 63.26 people who goes for hunting likes to listen to FM in the vehicle. So FM radio can be a medium for advertisements. Nearly 83% (approx) people those who go for hunting and fishing likes to watch television in the prime time. 66.20% of people prefer to watch TV in weekdays between 8 to 11 in Eastern/Pacific region and between 7 to 10 in Central/Mountain region. So television can be another medium of promotion but during the prime time. Jay’s Sporting Goods has Facebook as one of its outdoor partner. They can also make Youtube as their outdoor partner since it is the second most visited website of common people (GrK MRI Doublebase). CREATIVE BRIEF The advertisement should portray the discounts and special offers on various products of different brands for the upcoming Christmas holidays. The advertisement should highlight a very strong brand image along with the philosophy of the company. The customers should feel like Jay’s Sporting Goods is offering them some gifts and celebrating and sharing the happiness of the upcoming festival. Jay’s can also provide some additional benefits for their loyal customer who has been with them throughout the year. Jay’s Sporting Goods can commit them with the promise of 100% guarantee, failing which they will replace the item of the customer’s choice. Since Jay’s deals in items which are generally required by adults of 18+ age and moreover since they are giving a sort of commitment so the tone of the advertisement should be friendly rather than being humorous. The tagline can be like “Adventure optimized- one step ahead”. MEDIA OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES Since research study says that males are more inclined towards hunting than fishing so Jay’s should include hunting accessories in their promotional activities by offering some special discounts on those items (See Figure 1 in Appendix). People including male and female both of age between 45 to 54 shows more interest towards Salty water fishing rather than hunting so the company can go for a brand ambassador who is in that age group and people can get attracted to pull more and more customer (See Figure 2 in Appendix). Since the research data was confined to only hunting and fishing it doesn’t mean that other activities are lagging behind. The company should organize seminars or events where other activities like camping, firearms etc also attract people. So that more and more people participates in them and thus leads to an increase in the sales. Jay’s have other products like clothing and gift items which can attract the female segment. On these items they can give some attractive offers so that the female segment can get attracted to them. They can let people know about these offers through hoarding or advertisements. Jay’s Sporting Goods can also look towards the kid segment by keeping some sports goods in which kids participates. This segment can be a great boost for the company. The company has to choose an effective medium of advertisement for their promotion. Television and FM radios are the best means of promotion as per the research study. They have to choose the most popular radio show where they could give their ads. At the same time for TV the time between 8 and 11 in Eastern/Pacific region and between 7 and 10 in Central/Mountain region is considered to be the prime time and ads can be given during these times only. If the Jay’s Sporting Goods chooses both Television and FM Radio to be their mediums of promotion then the promotion will be much more effective. The media budget of the company is $500,000 so one can allocate about $150,000 towards promotion through radio and $250,000 towards Television. Rest $100,000 can go towards hoardings and organizing some events or seminars. Jay’s Sporting Goods can tie up with more outdoor partners. Apart from Facebook it can also go for Youtube which is highly used by the people. Ostrow Matrix Low Required Frequency Frequency Adjustment High Required Frequency Market Factors Established brand -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 New brand High brand share -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 Low brand share High brand loyalty -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 Low brand loyalty Long purchase cycle -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 Short purchase cycle Less frequent usage -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 Frequency usage Low share of voice -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 High share of voice Target other group -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 Target old people or children Message Factors Low message complexity -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 High message complexity High message uniqueness -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 Low message uniqueness Continuing campaign -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 New campaign Product-focused message -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 Image-focused message Low message variety -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 High message variety High wearout -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 Low wearout Large advertising units -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 Small advertising units Media Factors Low clutter -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 High clutter Favorable editorial setting -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 Neutral editorial setting High audience attentiveness -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 Low audience attentiveness Continuous scheduling -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 Pulse or flight scheduling Few media vehicles -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 More media vehicles High repeat exposure media -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 Low repeat exposure media Flowchart Illustration of the Process References Cabelas, December 9, 2012 from: http://www.cabelas.com/ Gander Mountain, 2012, December 9, 2012 from: http://www.gandermountain.com/ Jay’s Sporting Goods, 2010, December 9, 2012 from http://www.jayssportinggoods.com/ Roney, Marty, Hunters stay on the trail during bad times, USA Today, 2010 SportsOneSource Media, Wildlife Related Recreation grew in 28 states, 2012 APPENDIX Male (%) Female(%) Hunting with any weapon 85.88 14.12 Hunting with Bow and Arrow 84.88 15.12 Hunting with handgun 76.40 23.60 Hunting with Rifle 86.41 13.59 Hunting with Shotgun 85.84 14.16 Fresh water fishing 69.99 30.01 Salt water Fishing 70.24 29.76 Figure 1 Age 18-24(%) Age 25-34(%) Age 35-44(%) Age 45-54(%) Age 55-64(%) Age 65+(%) Hunting with any weapon 13.43 19.57 20.55 21.35 14.08 11.01 Hunting with Bow and Arrow 13.91 20.12 23.39 22.25 13.28 7.05 Hunting with handgun 15.98 20.06 19.57 19.55 17.51 7.33 Hunting with Rifle 12.53 20.83 19.63 20.73 14.94 11.35 Hunting with Shotgun 15.04 20.18 19.21 19.72 14.85 11.00 Fresh water fishing 13.15 19.62 21.05 20.81 14.26 11.11 Salt water Fishing 13.87 18.54 20.77 23.13 13.85 9.83 Figure 2 Read More