Evaluation of Social Marketing of the UK Based Company - Essay Example

Social Marketing Table of Contents Introduction 3 Social Marketing 3 Brief Introduction of Marks & Spencer 4 Social Marketing and Marks & Spencer 5 M&S’s Competitors and Social Marketing 9 Recommendations and Conclusion 10 Reference 12 Introduction The intensity of competition in global business world has been increasing significantly. Companies are trying to exploit the potential market by identifying the underlying opportunities before the competitors can move strategically. To avoid such encounter with the rivals that hampers the overall profitability of the industry, the companies use different concept of marketing strategies. The primary objective of marketing strategy is to increase profitability by avoiding the unnecessary competition for achieving the common goal of organization. The competitive strategies focus on four components of marketing i.e. price, product, promotion and place. Various strategic models, tools and concepts are made to enhance the effectiveness of overall strategic formulation. This paper will attempt to discuss about social marketing followed by an UK based company and how its social marketing has contributed to the success of the company. The Marks & Spencer is UK based company that has been selected for this report. At first, this essay will present a brief introduction of the Marks & Spencer followed by the discussion on social marketing strategy of the company. The next section will discuss about the competitors’ move in respect of social marketing comparing the Marks & Spencer. Finally, proper recommendations will be provided in order to bring improvement in social marketing strategy for obtaining term sustainable competitive advantage. Social Marketing ‘Social marketing’ is a concept that concentrates on communicational and promotional aspect of marketing. As per the Social Marketing Institute, “social marketing is the planning and implementation of programs designed to bring about social change using concepts from commercial marketing” (Social Marketing Institute, “Social Marketing”). According to Kotler Roberto and Lee, “social marketing is the use of the marketing principles band techniques to influence the target audience to voluntarily accept, reject, modify, or abandon a behavior for the benefit of individual, groups or society as a whole” (Kotler Roberto and Lee, p.5). Social marketing is meant to bring social changes to its targeted groups. Social marketing can be used to achieve profit making or non-profit making organizational goals. The social marketing is basically customer, client or audience centered. Therefore, for successful social marketing, it is very necessary to identify the appropriate and potential group and to develop proper communication for increasing the effectiveness. For planning and implementing social marketing, the organizations must follow the proper process and in this process, market segmentation and targeting is the first and most important step. Brief Introduction of Marks & Spencer Marks & Spencer (M&S) is a world renowned UK based company and a leading retailer in Europe. The company offers high quality and stylish clothing and home products including quality foods. The Company has established 600 stores in UK and 300 stores in international territories. The company is planning to develop its business in new markets of the world including US and Asia. The retailer is operating with the support of more than 2000 suppliers and over 75,000 employees (M&S-a, “About us”). The core values of the company ensure service, innovation value trust and quality in operational activities. For maintaining its unrivalled reputation, the management of M&S has improved its supply chain by increasing the efficiency level. The retailer is also concerned with the social corporate responsibility and hence, currently, it is following its five year eco plan that is meant to reduce global warming. This five year eco plan of M&S is known as ‘Plan A’ and it contains 180 commitments guiding the company to do ‘the right things’ (M&S-b, “About Plan A”). Social Marketing and Marks & Spencer Social marketing is an integrated part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and it has become general phenomenon that interlinks corporate world and social responsibilities. Most of companies are aware of their social responsibilities and they implement social marketing strategies for meeting the CSR objectives. The companies are using the concept of social marketing for promoting the CSR in order to develop sustainable and better economy and society. The government authorities of different countries encourage the companies to perform social activities. For example, the European Council aims to develop European Alliance foundation for increasing the CSR. In UK most of the well established companies are engaged in CSR activities and social marketing helps these companies to perform and promote their responsibilities. Marks and Spencer, the giant leading UK based retailer is also popular for its CSR activities. The company has included the social welfare in its daily operational activities and business policies. The company strives to take its responsibilities to employees, customers, supplier, partners and local communities. M&S uses its core values i.e. service, innovation trust and quality to underpin the CSR. For better handling of the social responsibilities, the company has developed its specific policy that is known as ‘Plan A’. In January 2007, M&S developed its Plan A by establishing 100 commitments for achieving in 5 years i.e. within 2012. At present, the retailer has expanded its areas of responsibilities and increased its commitments to 180 that are to be achieved by 2015. As per the Plan A, there are five major agenda that will be achieved. These are climate change, obtaining sustainable raw materials, fair partner, reducing waste and improving health of society & its people. M&S is aiming to be one of the most sustainable companies in world b y 2015. In order to promote these responsibilities and commitments, social marketing is best marketing tool. By implementing, the effective social marketing strategies, the company has been able to meet its sustainability objective. M&S has focused on its marketing communication strategies to fulfill the commitments of Plan A. The company has targeted its stakeholders including the loyal customers for social marketing of CSR responsibilities. The company has understood that it is very essential to win the trust of its loyal customers for success of the Plan A. M&S is providing the required skills and tools to its people for bringing the positive changes in society. The following figure presents the objectives and themes of M&S’s Plan A. Figure 1: M&S’s Plan A themes and objectives (Source: M&S-c, “Our Plan A Commitments”) The above figure clarifies the five major areas of responsibilities. The first major agenda is the climate change and the company has implemented several methods to reduce harmful effects on climate. The company has successfully communicated with their customers to teach them the various methods of cutting carbon footprints. Besides, the retailer has restructured its stores, operational activities and supply chain for saving the climate from global warming. For example, the company is attempting to make its operations carbon neutral in Ireland and UK. The products offered by the company are having low carbon impact. For bringing reduction in waste, the company follows very strict policies. In the each operational activity, it has controlled the level of wastages. The waste reduction activities of the company include food waste, construction waste, packaging waste etc. M&S’s Plan A policies ensures the selection of fair partners that helps it to meet the pre-defined commitments. It has developed unique trading standards that lead to bring improvements in communities. These partners also include the suppliers who are responsible for assuring the availability of fair natural resources and products. The health of customers is another major area of concern for the retailer. In order to provide the healthier products and to spread the awareness among the customers, M&S has increased the range of healthier food lines. For example, the company offers full information about the composition of food by labeling and it also launches various health campaigns for supporting its healthier products. There are some CRS milestones that have been achieved by M&S through effective social marketing. It has launched an online newsletters and forum for teaching people to lead a healthy life style. It has conducted Sustainable Agriculture Program for its 10000 cultivators who supply dairy products, meats etc. It has improved 35% fuel efficiency, 35% energy efficiency and reduce 50% carbon footprint caused by refrigeration by developing internal networking. It offers £100000 prize money for the best idea that improves its green business (M&S-c, “Our Plan A Commitments”). It is the first UK retailer introducing clothes made of 100% ‘Fairtrade cotton’. It is running a campaign in the UK stores for informing the customers about the manner in which products are made (Saha and Webb, “A trend gathers pace”). M&S’s Competitors and Social Marketing The social marketing of CSR has created new platform of competition for UK retailing sector. The establishment of respectable brand image is one of the major advantages of social marketing for CSR. The primary objective of social marketing is not increasing the profitability but to bring changes in society. However, the companies who practice effective social marketing strategies enjoy an upper hand position in market due to increased brand value. The key competitors of M&S are Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons etc. These are the leading retailers in UK and they focus on the CSR activities through social marketing for establishing and maintaining their reputed brand image. Unlike M&S, Tesco does not follow any specific policy aimed for CSR. However, the company’s CSR activities include all the major activities. In UK Tesco attempts to increase the product with carbon labels and conducts campaigns for spreading customer awareness. It has also committed to reduce the usage of carrier bag by 70% by the end of 2010 (Tesco, “a selection of next year’s targets”). J Sainsbury Plc is committed to meet five set of values for making difference. Sainsbury’s CSR commitments include health, sourcing, environment, community, and working environment (J Sainsbury Plc, “Commitments and Progress”). The largest retailer companies are trying to get the lead over issues relating to CSR and in this respect their social marketing strategies are instrumental. The companies are using innovative ideas to bring the positive social changes. For example, Sainsbury has set the campaign for reducing childhood obesity by spending £34mn and it subsidizes its sports equipments. The UK retailers are facing steep competitions for acquiring market share as well as for CSR activities (NESTA, p.13). M&S has developed its unique platform in this respect by developing effective CSR policies and effective social marketing strategies. Recommendations and Conclusion The above research and discussion has reflected the role of social marketing in achieving the CSR objective that ultimately helps to establish a reputed brand image. M&S has been very much concerned with their CSR activities. The Plan A reflected their strict commitments for enhancing the society and lifestyle of people. The company is very efficient in meeting its CSR objectives. There are some useful recommendation given below that must be implied by the company for improving long term sustainable competitive advantage. It must improve its efficiency level by implementing innovative ideas and technologies. It must increase the awareness among its stakeholder about its Plan A commitments. It must keep investing in various CSR and social marketing activities, which must be communicated to the target audience by implementing effective social marketing. It must develop teams for supporting social marketing campaigns The company must use effective ways to communicate with its target consumers. It must try to evaluate the perception of target audience. Reference J Sainsbury Plc, “Commitments and Progress”. 2010. Corporate Responsibility. October 22, 2010. . Kotler, P. Roberto, N. and Lee, N. Social marketing: improving the quality of life. 2nd Edition. SAGE. 2002. NESTA. December 2007. Innovation in UK Retail Sector. October 22, 2010. . M&S-a. 2010. About us. October 20, 2010. . M&S-b. 2010. About Plan A. October 20, 2010. . M&S-c. 2010-2015. Our Plan A Commitments. October 22, 2010. . Saha, P and Webb, T. “A trend gathers pace” No date. Ethical product marketing - brave branding. October 22, 2010. . Social Marketing Institute. No date. Social Marketing. October 22, 2010. . Tesco, “a selection of next year’s targets”. 2010. Environment. October 22, 2010. . Read More