Diagnostic Advertising Profile - Build-a-Bear Workshop - Research Paper Example

Diagnostic Advertising Profile Build-a-Bear Workshop, like any other company, faces severe advertising decisions regarding the advertising and promotional strategies it has to employ. One of the first tasks in making advertising decisions is to set objectives. Objective setting involves setting communication as well as sales objectives (Kotler & Armstrong, 634). Hence, the advertising objective is designed to incorporate the communication goal which the advertising and promotional activities aim to achieve with the target market in terms of sales. Build a Bear Workshop targets its stuffed toys, outfits, accessories, and other reasonably priced products towards young children between the ages of 6 to 14. The primary purpose of Build-a-Bear Workshop’s advertising campaign is to persuade potential customers in the age bracket of 6 to 14. Its mascot, the Bearemy, is also an adorable looking stuffed animal especially chosen to represent its target audience which consists mainly of little children (“Our Mascot, Bearemy”, n.pag.). Its persuasive and informative advertising objective focuses on promoting people to buy their products by changing their perceptions about the product’s value. One of its commercials shows a small girl talking about how you can literally “build a bear” by buying additional accessories along with the bear to fit the child’s own linking (“Build-a-Bear Workshop Commercial”, 00:20). So far it has been successful in effectively communicating its message of creating a customized teddy bear to suit the linking of every child. Though it did experience a drop in its net income in 2007 when it failed to retain its customers (Farrell, n.pag.). Build-a-bear Workshop has sought the services of various advertising agencies over the past and seeks the promotional services so as to increase its brand awareness, help build technologically advanced retail outlets, and carry out integrated marketing. It has taken the services from agencies like Cannonball (Cannonball, n.pag.), SteadyRain, and even Samsung to put together its interactive and highly technological outlets creating superb brand recognition and value among its young customers. Its Bearville website also plays a critical role in the promotion and sales of its products online (“What is Bearville”, n.pag.). It sought the promotional services of SteadyRain in order to enhance its brand awareness online (SteadyRain, n.pag.). Since Build a Bear Workshop enables customers to buy online, it looked for an analysis of the company’s website. The Search Engine Optimization allowed SteadyRain to evaluate the traffic and the possible sources of organic search that yielded productive visits to the website. Its high tech outlets at various areas provide an interactive environment and digital gadgets to help the children design their customized toys (Kotler & Armstrong, 35; Olson, n.pag.). There are work stations at each stage starting from “Stuff me” where the child stuffs in fluff inside their teddy bear. The process ends with “Name me” where the bear is complete and a birth certificate is issued (Kotler & Armstrong, 35-36). Samsung has provided its services to Build a Bear Workshop to create its high tech stores containing interactive work stations and other technologies to enable the company to cater to its customers’ needs (“Case Study: Build-A Bear Workshop”, 2). Build-a-Bear Workshop’s advertising mainly uses emotional appeals to reach out their target market consisting of young children. Its television commercials often show young children and their product line of assorted teddy bears to inform its young audiences of its attractive option of customizing teddy bears. Most of advertisements aim at appealing the young children using tactics that stimulate the younger children to buy the customized teddy bears. One of its advertisements includes a young girl talking about how she can add different accessories to create her own tailored teddy bear (“Build-a-Bear Workshop Commercial”, 00:20). The work stations present at its stores also produce a rather emotional appeal among its target customers. The rich colors used appeal to the emotional side of its young customers who are attracted to purchase their own customized bear. Build-a-Bear’s advertising strategy has changed significantly over the years and has transformed into a high tech concept that produces superior customer value for its young customers. Over the years, it has changed it traditional stores into technologically advanced outlets with work stations helping children to stuff their own toys using mechanical systems including pedals and stitching machine which produces the finished teddy bear of the desired elements. By enhancing the young generation concept, Maxine Clark, the founder aims to bring a remarkable experience for the young as technology has changed (Olson, n.pag.). Since the technology has drastically changed over the years, Build-a-Bear Workshop has changed its concept at the same time keeping it fun and appropriate for children. Although Build-a-Bear has remained consistent with its retail business, however it has differentiated its products based on customization. It positions itself in an environment where children feel involved in the making of the teddy bear unlike other teddy bear manufacturing companies, which Build-a-Bear does not consider as competitors (Kotler & Armstrong, 36). This is the main reason why the company has been able to maintain customer loyalty with its ability to provide personalized teddy bear to its customers thereby expressing creativity and novelty. Build-a-Bear allows its customers to make their own plush toy and give it a name at a very reasonable price which ranges between $10 and $30. The major reason for the concept’s popularity among children is due to the experience it provides to the children from choosing their own bear to dressing it various additional accessories being sold at its stores. The Build-a-Bear Workshop creates several television commercials and uses other forms of advertising. It creates different advertisements for its various product lines. In the commercial we have chosen to analyze, the advertisement focuses on the customization aspect of the Build a bear concept. It shows a young girl named Aundrea talking about the store and how she makes her own personalized stuffed toy using the various options. In the advertisement, Aundrea talks about how she can give a heart to her bear and dress it up with various accessories and make her own personalized favorite animal. The advertisement shows her walking around Build-a-Bear workshop choosing her own accessories. Towards the end, the advertisement provides information about the stores persuading potential customers to visit the store and get a customized bear of their own. The advertisement is aided by a childish background music which is sure to appeal its young audience (“Build-a-Bear Workshop Commercial”, 00:31). The advertisement effectively communicates an appealing message to its target audience thereby helping stimulate sales. The advertisement has an appealing element to it since it chose to adopt an endorsement approach to creating credibility. By showing a young girl, it has effectively reached the young target audiences around that age group (6-11). The advertisement has an adorable hint to it and is capable of attracting similar children in the same age group. The advertisement is capable of increasing sales by encouraging its viewers to visit the Build-a-Bear workshop. Also, it adopts a mix of informational and persuasive advertising thereby promoting visits to the company’s stores and hence purchases of its products (“Build-a-Bear Workshop Commercial”, 00:31). While advertisement effectively communicate its message and serves its task, it could be enhanced by showing a more graphic view of the digital work stations resent in its stores enabling the digital fluffing up and stitching of tailor made teddy bears. The interactive technological systems together with details of how children use it to make their customized toy would enhance the advertisement and help bring more sales. This will attract more children to rush to the Build-a-Bear “Workshops” to create their own bears. Works Cited "Build-a-Bear Workshop Commercial." YouTube. Colorwheeltv, 5 Mar 2010. Web. 14 Nov 2013. . "Build-A-Bear Workshop Online Marketing." SteadyRain, 2013. Web. 14 Nov 2013. . "Cannonball Agency: Build-A-Bear Workshop." Cannonball Agency, n.d. Web. 14 Nov 2013. . Case Study: Build-A-Bear Workshop. Samsung, 2013. E-book. Web. 14 Nov 2013. < http://www.samsung.com/us/system/b2b/resource/2013/06/14/CaseStudy_Build-A-Bear_HIRES_Final.pdf>. Farrell, Andrew. "Build-A-Bear Gets Stuffed." Forbes, 2007. Web. 14 Nov 2013. . Kotler, Philip & Armstrong, Gary. Principles of Marketing. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Higher Education, 2012. Print. Olson, Elizabeth. "Build-A-Bear Goes High Tech." New York Times, 2013. Web. 14 Nov 2013. . "Our Mascot, Bearemy." Build-A-Bear, 2013. Web. 14 Nov 2013. . "What is Bearville?." Bearville, 2013. Web. 14 Nov 2013. . Read More