Integrated Marketing Communication - Assignment Example

 Integrated Marketing Communication This report presents the marketing communication plan about a new drink FIZ. FIZ would be proclaimed as the next generation cold drink having all the goods of a carbonated drink that is loved by individuals such as PEPSI, COKE, but would not contain the harmful effects of the same. The following report presents an in-depth analysis of the marketing plan of this drink i.e. how the communication would take place from the organization towards its target market/audience. Introduction Integrated Marketing Communication, often referred to as IMC, defines how various marketing activities combined together perform at a single platform, forming a synergy, whose supplemented energy energizes the organization on the whole – it is all about streamlining marketing activities and all activities moving in the one single direction i.e. the goal or the objective of the organization on the whole or as a single marketing unit as the case may be. This concept has gained significant importance particularly since the time when media started to grow, and from a newspaper to radios and from radios to a single state owned television channel and thereon the multiple growth of the various media and media houses; this trend has led organizations into adopting various channels for their advertisements, so it became very important for these channels to have a synergized message i.e. consistency in the message and in the form that the message is being conveyed. Today, television advertisements are the fundamental set of acts, from which, media houses derive newspaper advertisement, radio advertisements, and so on. And all this is done to convey to the customer one single message i.e. the product being developed and sold is a useful one for them, but competition does not allow this; it attempts at retaining the customer base. The sole terminology that keeps an organization or a business alive in today’s competitive arena is ‘innovation’. More often than not, today, innovation is derived by the customer expectations and values that the customer associate with the planners and strategic think-tanks that formulate a new product launch. Innovation has really been the path-way and concluding a product that the customers expect and want has been the key to this path way. There are many ways and means by which firms analyze and realize the products that the customers expect from them. Once these are developed and created, the uphill task comes in creating the awareness about the product, thereby making the customers aware of the fact that these are the products that they are looking for, thus, pulling and encouraging them to buy the same. This, in essence, is the functionality of the marketing communication team to reach the customer base via various means. Organizational Background BPC Bottlers has been one of the most innovative beverage manufacturers in the UAE. UAE – an economy mostly relying on imports of a number of resources – has found BPC as one of its most comprehensively compliant manufacturers in terms of health and safety measures and requirements that need to be fulfilled by the business. initiating its business way back in the early 1990s, today, BPC has sole distribution network for a number of international and local beverages, apart from the distribution of its own beverages; this presents a classical example of clean competition whereby a competitor is providing its excellent infrastructure to be utilized by competitors, gaining profits on these grounds as well, but this discussion lies beyond the scope of this report. BPC has a wide spread network of distribution throughout the UAE and has excellent manufacturing facilities as well. Recently, the firm realized that its products and services have lost their ‘magic’ of selling, and therefore, the R&D department started working on possible and probably product variants to be launched in order for BPC to retain its market image of being a top class quality beverage manufacturer. The R&D department came up with the idea of a drink called FIZ, based on the idea that it would contain the goods of a carbonated drink without taking into account the bad of the same. The idea clicked in test marketing, because it has the strong-ness that a drinker would expect from PEPSI or COKE but reduced the carbonated aspect of the drink, which is harmful for health along with other critical constituents. FIZ is almost ready for the launch and its marketing communication plan is discussed in depth in this report to analyze how its launch and marketing can be made further effective. Context Analysis Context analyses include environmental analysis, in which the business operates, and the said analyses are conducted using various analytical tools, the ones that would be used in this case are discussed briefly as follows: PLEST Analysis Politically, UAE is one of the most stable states in the world however a major threat comes from the fact that it still has elements of king’s rule, which may influence the decision of investors and expatriates to stay in the country Legally, UAE is a sound nation with laws and regulations not just being deployed but also individuals and entities being kept on their toes to follow the same Economically, UAE is dependent on its expatriate population for its productivity and workings, subsequently, the locals are under threat of any significantly influencing decision that can cause the expatriates to move out as a protest; however, this threat remains lower because these expatriates know their standing Socially, UAE is an advance state with tremendous outing places, beaches, shopping malls, etc. thus giving a social life to individuals living there Technologically, UAE is an advance state, particularly with upcoming projects such as the METRO, etc. Competitor Analysis For a FIZ drink, there is huge competition in the market; apart from the traditional PEPSI and COKE competitors with highest barriers to entry, there are many small and big players in the market that exist and are doing well. These competitors have erected barriers to entry that make it difficult for new entrants to enter the market, let alone surviving. SWOT Analysis Strengths: BPC has a tremendous distribution network, which is a major strength when it comes to fast moving consumer goods, and beyond this fact, this distribution network is used by a number of soft drink manufacturers, which means BPC has a good in-depth analytics of the scenario that eventually turns into its great strength Weakness: The brands launched so far are mostly those renowned or mostly public, and not selling because of any push created, rather only distribution is eased, and the brands advertise themselves. Opportunities: The window of opportunity for FIZ is the rising health concern amongst individuals as they wish to stay away from carbonated drinks that trigger various health problems including sugar, increased fats on the body, etc. Threat: Big players in the market will prove to be a hurdle for FIZ especially as they wish to erect barriers to entry that are close to impossible to break. Objectives When initiating a plan, it is critical for an organization to identify the goals and objectives that are meant to be achieved by means of that particular campaign. Subsequently, the criticality associated with objectives or goals enhances; these goals need to have objectivity embedded within them; a marketing tool known as SMART defines objectives in a manner that are easy to look after i.e. the mission or the goals of the organization are defined using high level objectivity are those that include the constituents of as stated by SMART. In accordance with this, the objective stated should be: - Specific i.e. the objective developed should be precise in its context - Measurable i.e. the objective should be quantifiable, making it easier to be compared and evaluated - Achievable i.e. the objective should be attainable, being in reach of the organizational team - Realistic i.e. the objective should be the one that is possible rather than an unrealistic one - Timed i.e. it should define a time span within which said target has to be achieved The primary objective of the marketing communication plan is to increase the awareness of FIZ to at least 75% of the population within one year of its launch. The said objective is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound and these constituents are very much visible in the statement. Under circumstances of homogenous population mix, this percentage target might have been on the higher side but since UAE has a heterogeneous mix of the population, additionally all have varying choices, 75% seems achievable as well as realistic. Marketing Communication Strategies Marketing Communication strategy is critical to formulate because even if a product is the one that precisely caters to the requirements of a customer, yet the need is to bring this to the customer’s knowledge, attract and encourage them to use the product and re-purchase it at regular intervals. Formulating a strategy is difficult for a country such as the UAE mainly because the country is highly heterogeneous in its composition with the main population relying on expatriates and immigrants, and less than 10% population being that of locals, and amongst the 90%+ expatriates, there are at least a dozen of nationalities prospering, making it difficult for marketers to formulate a plan that can affectively enhance their sales volumes. However, the more challenging position it is, the greater the marketers tend to perform. On the whole, the marketing communication strategy needs to entail a number of variables before it can be formulated. Firstly, the broader target audience needs to be identified, and strata need to be formulated to that targeting each group becomes a relatively easier task. It is critical here to discuss the 3Ps of marketing, excluding the 4th P i.e. the product, since that has already been defined. The placement of the product is vital because targeting the wrong audience can lead to an awful outcome for the product on the whole. For the FIZ drink, the target market is any and everyone who consumes a carbonated soft drink. This would, approximately, entail almost the whole of the country except those who prefer diet drinks, and for them, the firm can launch simultaneously a variant of Diet FIZ. Subsequently, the whole of the population becomes the target audience for the said drink and since the whole of UAE population becomes the target, a better idea for shelve spacing would be to target the grocery stores that are present at almost all corners of every alternate road way in the UAE. This would enhance the viewership of the audience, as it would be in front of them each time they walk in to a convenience store and some incentive can also be provided to the sales manager of the respective store for pushing the product. Alongside, the stand alone vendor machines for the drinks can also be launched in certain areas as a pilot project, and then continued at a mass scale. More activities would be identified in the actions section of this report. However, having discussed these factors about the placement i.e. it would be ‘for all’ product, its pricing strategy gains significance. The pricing for the product would be on the market value basis i.e. pricing at par with the competitive products, since the product would be categorized in the same category; therefore, it might become difficult as to differentiate the product and charge a premium. On the contrary, charging a discounted rate would not sound very attractive. Therefore, pricing should be kept at par with the competition. Finally, the promotional aspect needs to be different and would definitely be on the expensive side; when it comes to television, in UAE, there are hundreds of channels available and no single channel holds a majority viewership, therefore, this mode of advertisement can be ignored for the time being. However, when it comes to the newspaper and radio advertisements, these have been found of significant influence for the mass audience. Similarly, Facebook and advertisement in malls have also gained significant points in their efficacy to reach the mass audiences. The details of each shall be discussed in the actions section of this report. Actions With the marketing communications plan, majority of the advertising would take place in the newspapers, billboards, radio, and pamphlets. Television advertisement would be there but very restricted. Advertisement in METRO Tubes, stalls and retailer push shall also be used as the technique to reach the masses. Newspapers are the most running medium of information and most widely checked media within the UAE particularly since Gulf News and Khaleej Times are the most popular and most widely read newspapers in the region; they would be used as a mass advertisement medium. Other than these, the regional languages newspapers such as Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, etc would also be targeted for local publications. Alongside insert ads would also be used in collaboration with the hawkers and distributors. Billboards are very affective as well particularly on highways such as Sheikh Zayed Road and other busy traffic roads, as their advertisements have also revealed excellent results in recent years. Radio is one of the most growing mediums for advertisement and communication in the UAE. With the changing trends, people being fed up of traffic jams, etc, are getting used to switching to various radio channels for entertainment, thus, radios are gaining momentum, and so is advertising on these channels. Pamphlets would also be affective particularly an appropriate distribution of the same would yield tremendous outcome. Pamphlets can be distributed outside schools and convenience stores to ensure that awareness about the product increases. Television advertisement would be very minimal, and the ads being run would be done on Star PLUS and Zee TV since these are the most watched television channels across the Middle East region, by individuals and families of almost all nationalities. Three more advertising channels shall be used i.e. METRO Tubes, stalls and retailer push. METRO Tubes have gotten a great response from the expatriates who live with this low cost transportation mechanism and various brands are advertising themselves big time through this channel. Stalls for free testing would be another attraction for the masses whereby free drinks shall be provided mainly targeting the school children, play grounds and busy signals during the peak rush hours to ensure that individuals are in a mood to try such a soft drink, and ultimately, liking and buying it from the convenience stores. Retailer push is critical, for which BPC is in a commanding position since it has a wide distribution network and is known amongst these retailers as a reliable source of quality drinks. Thus, the retailer push can be created by BPC using its repute and existing clientele. Pilot testing is a critical mechanism whereby the chance created by the marketer is to strike the taste bud of the consumer thereby attracting the customer into repurchase. Subsequently this would be an effective measure as well. Following is a breakdown of the costs to be attributed towards these advertising expenses: Action Cost (All amounts in AED) Newspaper advertisement 100,000 Billboards 300,000 Radio advertisement 100,000 Pamphlets 10,000 Television Advertisement 500,000 METRO Tube Advertisement 500,000 Setting up stalls 200,000 Retailer push 40,000 Pilot testing 100,000 Total 1,850,000 Control & Evaluation Control and evaluation are the critical aspects of any planning that has been made with reference to a project. Control is about making sure that the measures taken up are rightly deployed, which evaluation checks the measures and steps for their effectiveness and efficacy. On a general note, control is about keeping checks and balances on the project, and evaluation gives implication of audit checks; one is a preventive tool, while the other is an evaluative one. Control mechanism hereby would include having checks and balances on how the marketing campaigns are taking toll. The variables that would suggest the outcome would include the rising sales of particular areas and particular regions, the comparative sales volumes of various convenience areas and regions, and so on. These comparisons would ultimately yield into the organizations determining the controls. For controlling and ensuring that the advertisements are generated at the pre-designated timings, the records shall be retained and maintained ensuring that what is being promised has been delivered. Evaluation would be vital to judge the success of the campaign, and for the same purpose, daily sales volume, singly as well as the aggregation of the same shall be closely followed to judge the response. However, it may be difficult to single out the result of a single activity such as a television advertisements because the advertising shall be going on simultaneously through a number of channels. Therefore, the evaluation shall be based on the accumulative impact developed by the running transmission and it would be based on periodic or daily reports. It is critical to have appropriate control and evaluation tools in place because advertising and marketing communication plans are expensive activities, and more often than not, these constitute a major chunk of the organizational expense towards the product costing; therefore, the right application, control and evaluation gains significant importance; assume an advertisement costing USD 10,000 placed at a prime time spot which was not meaningless for that time period, implying a waste of a huge sum because prime time spots are more expensive than imagination can lead towards. Conclusion This report presented a scenario as for how BPC bottlers can develop and communicate their new product FIZ to the market and how it can reach the target audience in the UAE. The devised plan contains objectives on what is the target for the company for the next one year and the plan on how it should go about to do the same. BPC has a well established repute in the market, and using the same in an appropriate manner, the business can launch its new drink that can enhance its existence in the local market. Currently BPC has distributorship of various brands and their respective drinks, and it has local licenses for some global brands as well. However, it may be difficult to formulate and devise its own drink but at the same time, there exists a niche opportunity for the organization to run into this business, and make most of their strengths and the given opportunity in the local UAE context. The idea is effective but there marketing communication plan has to be even more effective to ensure that the product takes off in the right direction. Interestingly, prior to this, despite having the mentioned skills and resources, BPC has not launched its soft drink and as it plans to enter the market today, it has a very well defined notion, though within the same notion, the target audience is very board on the whole. Conclusively, it can be stated that the idea is very unique within itself but there are major hurdles to be taken over and forts to be conquered prior to making this product a success – quite a few of them already been discussed during the course of this report. However, a bright idea for a fresh start up, as in this case for FIZ, would be to look to stay in the market for the first twelve months, get people and consumers to know the brand and to taste it at least once because with the sort of claim it is entering, it just needs a trial and the consumers would definitely prefer it over the other brand soft drinks. And marketing communication would play a significant role in this regard i.e. spreading awareness and generating that particular pull for the consumers to actually try this product. The success of the marketing communication plan would not come from selling one million drinks in a year or something of similar sort but would actually come from the brand being able to create its recognition across the UAE, and this would be the major success for the brand, its creators and developers. Read More