Principles of Marketing Communications - Essay Example

 Principles of Marketing Communications Introduction Marketing communication can be understood as a critical subset of the overall marketing concept idealized and implemented by organizations across industries. Marketing communications helps in identifying and establishing the relationship of an organisation with its consumers as well as other stakeholders. It is an important concept as it helps in establishing long-term relationship with the consumers. It comprises of all promotional activities implemented by marketers. It can also be said that marketing communication is one of the critical component of marketing mix. Few of the activities falling under marketing communications include brand language, branding, advertising, graphic design, direct marketing, publicity, packaging, public relations, sponsors, online marketing and sales promotions (Baker, 2000). The objective of the current essay is to analyse a marketing communication campaign. The research will include assessment of the approaches and techniques used in the campaign in order to attract customers and retain constant communication channel. Relevant concepts and theories will help in revealing the critical connection between these theories and their underlying applications. The study will include an in-depth understanding of the various components and elements of the marketing communication campaign. The study will also shed light on relevant issues in the campaign and how the organisation resolved these issues in order to establish a smooth campaigning process. Critical Review The current marketing communication campaign of IKEA can be regarded as an effective strategy for building long-term loyalty and relationship among its customers. Though marketing communication is an age-old concept, its strategies and implementation techniques are evolving as customer demands and preferences are changing. It is no doubt that the marketer has shifted from product marketing to customer marketing and ultimately to relationship marketing (Kitchen and Li, 2005). In order to create long lasting relationship with customers, it is important to send messages which are creative and offer more than just products or service. As a result, organisations are increasingly trying to attract customer attention offering service which helps them to improve their overall quality of life. Creating advertisements and campaigns with a social propaganda has become one of the major trends among big and successful firms (Balmer and Gray, 2003). The same concept has been implemented by IKEA in its current brand campaign where the objective is to encourage children and adults to spend more time together. The campaign explores an interesting insight that, unlike the perception of parents, children like spending more time with parents. It can be at home doing activities such as, baking, cleaning or simple relaxing, apart from playing and making merry. As a result, the organisation upheld a three minute documentary of a particular family created by the mother. The idea was to send customers the message that IKEA understands how individuals stay at home and various challenges that they face especially when it comes to working at home. Thus, the campaign is able to generate needs which are yet to be identified by other competitors and instantly provides solutions through its range of services and products (Zahay, Peltier, Schultz and Griffin, 2004). The campaign offers products designed that allow adults and children to be together, have fun, be creative as well as socialise. The theme of this campaign ran through various online websites, including YouTube and specific online sites where the contents are re-run. The campaign also included online brochure sharing tips, for children and parents, on enjoying time together as well as others such as, home furnishing with children. Essentially, the campaign moved its value proposition from home improvement to a life improvement strategy. The campaign essentially used a provocative approach in order to raise awareness and understanding among consumers that they are offering more than just products (Mumbrella, 2013). The success of the new IKEA campaign can be attributed to its extensive research on children and families across the globe. The firm conducted an extensive research in 25 countries, covering topics such as, child development, family life as well as importance of play among kids. Various key points were found out from the results, which in turn provided a basic plan for IKEA’s current campaign. Only 9 percent of the total children surveys agreed that they always want to play with games and toys. Majority of the children as well as parents agreed that the best moments in their life were unplanned such as, hanging out, relaxing, doing nothing or just casual talks among their family. It was also found that very little time is spent by families together in their daily lives. The above research not only gave the firm a useful and critical insight on the current as well as potential customers, but also opened an opportunities which was not identified by its competitors yet. Thus, the campaign created a niche for itself by establishing a social bond with its customers. It should be noted here that a good market research form a critical component of the integrated marketing approach, helping marketers to develop viable and SMART strategies. The insights were taken from reliable quantitative and qualitative research. The campaign included a two minute online firm and an online content hub. The firm recruited four different families from the loyalty program of IKEA. After that, makeover of their gardens and homes were carried out, so that they can enjoy their life more. Galleries and videos of these activities were uploaded on different websites and online hubs and customers were invited where they could upload their own videos and images in order to get involved and participate with the brand. The online documentary worked as a teaser generating sufficient curiosity and awareness among consumers. The online digital campaign was a grand success with more than 9 lakhs views. Once sufficient awareness was generated among current and potential customers, it was followed by television advertisements. The television ads used emotional as well as informational approach in order to engage customers. A nine year boy was used to convey the advertising message. The advertisements illustrated that majority of families live a spontaneous life and majority of daily events are unplanned. The idea behind this campaign was to shift the value proposition from the price clutter. Majority of the competitors rely on pricing comparisons and sales promotions. However, the new campaign was more integrated in terms of providing value as well as quality to the everyday lives of the customers. It brings out the issues and problems faced by children and teenagers. Apart from the television campaign, the firm also engaged customers in an online campaign. IKEA created an online hub, basically a content hub with editorial style. The content focussed on locally relevant styles of home decorations and furnishings and provided tips for open and planned living (Schultz and Kitchen, 2000) The firm followed a 360 degree approach in its marketing communication plan. Apart from controlling the digital space, the organisation was also engaged in magazines and outdoor campaigns (Low, 2000). The primary demographic target of the home furnishings organisations are women, as they are the decision makers, in terms of requirements for the home. So, the IKEA successfully integrated traditional television, online as well as print advertising, television integration and advertorials to cover every possible media and reach as much potential customers as possible. Corporate and marketing communication are the major persuasive elements which organisations implement with the objective of connecting with the market and imparting particular brand perceptions, services and products to customers and stakeholders (Gronroos, 2004). An increasing variety of communication and promotional tools embedded with modern array of online as well as offline media and channel forms are widely used in order to disseminate information. The traditional concept of above the line and below the line marketing has become fairly irrelevant. Even though these communication tools are used separately, a lack of tactical and coordinated strategy might result in contradictory communication. In the present business environment, this has become one of the major barriers in getting desired synergies in order to influence and leverage various stakeholder relationships with respect to financial performance and brand equity. According to Duncan and Moriarty (1998), many of the marketing roles essentially comprises of positions where communication is the central element of all marketing activities. Communication is not only an element of marketing activities, but also forms a core element of all organisational functions. E. Schultz and H. Schultz (2003) argued that planning, development as well as implementation of various marketing programs should be seen in a different and more comprehensive manner. According to him as well as various other researchers in the field of marketing communication, marketing requires coordination of certain activities and functions for influencing and impacting the dynamic flow of information between a firm and its stakeholders. The current market environment can be termed as saturated, characterised by high competition, synergistic approach as well as a customer-oriented approach (Mohr and Nevin, 1990). The approach is establishing relationship through marketing communications. Various theories and approaches have been described by researchers and authors in terms of conceptualising marketing communications. Few of the known theories include push and pull theories, AIDA model and advertising exposure model. IKEA has been successfully implementing the underlying applications of these theories in its campaigns. In order to create meaning among audiences, marketers use different message tactics. These tactics use different appeals and approaches in order to successfully pass the message from company to target audiences without being distorted. In general, message contains characters, situations, visuals and backgrounds. IKEA has successfully implemented a predetermined and careful planning for the dissemination of message to its target audience with the purpose of achieving its organisational objective. The systematic and deliberate attempt in order to shape customer perceptions, manipulation of cognitions as well as control over the direct behaviour, with the objective of achieving a positive response, has been one of the major propaganda for marketers while creating meaning among target audiences (Moriarty, 1993). Majority of the messages from the IKEA campaign are a mixture of emotional and informational content. This is a very efficient tactic for creating need among audience through emotional appeal and simultaneously satisfying those needs through current and appropriate information. In an integrated marketing communication, one channel cannot satisfy all the needs and demands of the customer as well as marketer. Hence, a communication mix is essential for the marketers, so that the strategic plans can be put to action in a successful manner (Kliatchko, 2005). Communication mix basically includes advertising, personal selling, public relations, sales promotions as well as direct marketing (Reid, Luxton and Mavondo, 2005). However, an effective integrated marketing communication mix will consist of deeper and further complex media channels such as, digital space and social marketing. IKEA identified an opportunity of connecting with the customers by building an emotional bonding. The goal of the IKEA campaign was to create a strong emotional connection among family members by engaging them in various activities inside their home. The home furnishing group successfully integrated various communication media channels in its campaigns. Advertising mix was carried out through a two minute campaign and subsequent television advertisement. The public relation channel was utilised through numerous press conferences and formal meetings with the membership customers of the group. The organisation also utilised personal selling mix by choosing families from its customer base and personally decorating their home and in turn creating an emotional bond with the customers. The integrated communication mix implemented by IKEA ensured maximum penetration as well as effective transfer of messages. The print media focussed on key styles and showed interaction among individuals within room. Online display advertisements emphasized bigger ticket items such as, double beds and sofas. Rich video ad media units increased user engagement by taking them to an online showroom, where the customers were able to browse home furnishing items, download brochures as well as find nearby stores for purchase. The communication mix also included deployment of editorial integrations allowing customers to see various quality and stylish products from the home furnishings group. These magazines and television editorials helped in lending credibility by associating with kitchen and home celebrities as well as professionals. Another public relations strategy followed by IKEA was collaborating with various seminars in different IKEA stores across regions. The company also joined forces with various famous and celebrated shows and media partners such as, Oprah Magazine and Cooking Light, which not only increased its penetration level, but also helped in lifting up its brand equity among current as well as potential customers. In order to dominate the social and digital space, the company had not only started a customised television programming, but also successfully established online campaign using media channels such as, Facebook, Twitter and Share Space. The taglines as well as the punch lines were specifically created in order to bring an emotional connect with the customers (Elliott, 2011). Selecting the right media is a critical step in the overall marketing communications plan. Marketers need consistent messages with similar meaning coming from different media channels. In the current business environment, consumers are offered with more number of opportunities. However, this also means that they readily ignore the brand message and underlying offerings associated with it. Thus, marketers need to step out and cut through the clutter of messages as well as media saturation. A successful media planning will require placing of messages where customers are willing to receive them and avoid any contact with other message clutters. IKEA’s media placement included podcasts, website, television and outdoor placement and social media. The various brand messages across different media ensured that a strong brand promise was expressed across the varying media channels (Christensen, Firat and Torp, 2008). The utilisation of creativity to engage audience depends on how the message is embedded in various media channels as well as the way communication is established between company and its audiences (Kim, Han and Schultz, 2004). The first criterion for engaging audiences is to generate sufficient interest and attention within them. The AIDA model gave four stages, namely attention, interest, desire and action. In case of IKEA, attention was generated using the provocative and emotion documentary aired on various social websites across media. After the generation of interest among consumers, the company generated a desire among audiences by using attractive home furnishings, online showrooms and personalised home decorations. So, the home furnishing group was able to successfully pull the audience towards its new strategic communications and generate sufficient desire in order to turn those interests into purchase action. Conclusion Marketing communication forms an integral part of the overall organisational strategy. However, with the evolving customer demands and continuously changing trends, marketers are constantly changing their perception and concepts towards marketing communication. The objective of the current report was to analyse the integrated marketing campaign launched by IKEA, a well-known home furnishings group. The company successfully integrated various communication channels and media in order to send appropriate message and ensure maximum penetration. Therefore, a proper and effective integration marketing communication strategy was followed by IKEA which helped the home furnishings group in not only its sales, but also ensured a long-term brand equity and relationship with its customers. Reference List Baker, M., 2000. Marketing Management and Strategy, 3rd edition, Hampshire: Macmillan Business. Balmer, J.M.T. and Gray, E.R., 2003. Corporate brands: what are they? What of them? European Journal of Marketing, 37(8), pp. 972–97. Christensen, L. T., Firat, A. F. and Torp, S., 2008. The organization of integrated communications, toward flexible integration. European Journal of Marketing, 42(3/4), pp. 423-452. Duncan, T. and Moriarty, S. E., 1998. 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