Advertisement Campaign of Stanfords Master Program - Essay Example

 Artefact of marketing communications campaigns Introduction The purpose of the current research is to decode meanings of the selected advertisement campaign of Stanford’s Master Program. Various important concepts such as, advertisement’s imbroglio, simultaneous usage of media and measurement of effectiveness of brochure advertisements, have been studied and applied, while analysing advertisements in different media channels. In order to understand effectiveness of the chosen advertisement, it will be evaluated in terms of product placements, creativity, content, authenticity as well as overall acceptance by target consumers. Evaluation The advertisement to be studied is of Master’s Degree Program from Stanford University. Stanford University is one of the renowned and most respected universities across the globe. Most of the programs under this university are of high demand and students from various parts of the world come to study and gain knowledge and information. However, in order to successfully achieve 100% student enrolment as well as to ensure that the university and its programs are consistently preferred, the management needs to establish successful marketing campaigns for the same. The current media environment is extremely fragmented. It is characterised by huge number of alternatives in media, competing for students’ time. This has also resulted in significant decline in their cognitive attention to a particular media and advertisement (Robinson and Godbey, 1997). For instance, Stanford University is facing tough challenge from other universities in California, such as, California University and San Diego state University. The above situation has created difficulties for management committees in handling various marketing campaigns for different educational programs across universities. This increasing growth in simultaneous usage of media has a direct impact on overall allocation of advertiser’s media money (Pilotta, et al., n.d.). It has become imperative for advertisers to allocate their advertisement budget into different media spaces, as focussing on only one or two media channels is not enough for the new age consumer. Apart from that, current research in media and advertisement suggests that media exposure always takes place in isolation (Livingstone, 1990). This means one particular medium is not in competition with other media for customer attention at a single timeframe. In order to explain further, an analysis of the advertisement campaign of Stanford’s Management Program has been done, where the major advertisement channel was brochure, supported by television commercial and social media marketing. The evaluation will help in understanding simultaneous media usage as well as the way concepts used in billboards and television commercials were successfully perceived by consumers. The campaign chosen for evaluation is promotion of Stanford’s Master Degree Program. Stanford uses various media channels to publish and promote its graduate and post-graduate programs. Nonetheless, majority of promotions is done with the help of brochure distribution, as it is still the best method to reach millions of students across the globe. The master degree program is one of the leadership degrees provided by the international university. The master’s program provides majors in subjects, such as, policies, organisations and leadership studies. It is a joint MBA or MA program for management as well as arts and science students, so that the program can be pursued by students from various educational backgrounds. Even though this master’s program is well-known and liked by various student categories, the university still needs to revive its communications strategy and implement a more effective one for enhancing volume of enrolments from current as well as potential students. With proper research, an effective marketing campaign was launched. The dominating communication channel for this campaign is brochure as well as online media marketing. Success or failure of any advertisement depends on its overall communication pattern, perceived message by target consumers, frequency of message as well as placement. Nonetheless, there are numerous obscure and overlooked factors, which influence overall effectiveness and ROI of any advertisement campaign (Stout and Burda, 1989). Sometimes, a complicated or difficult situation can occur in advertising. This situation is termed as advertising’s imbroglio (Shankar, 1999). With an objective of gaining a greater and stronger foothold in the global student market, the master’s program chose to revive its marketing communication campaign. After an exhaustive market research, the management decided on a strategic objective, which was to create a tangible difference. This means every message delivered by different communication channels will be supported by a tangible offering, thereby making it more lucrative. In order to make the campaign successful, the degree program was launched with various effective strategies. The campaign has been able to support its offering with tangible benefits. There was an advantage in the overall positioning strategy as perceived messages were found similar among the management as well as the students. Tangible benefits form an important source of attraction, while offering any product or service (Gronhaug, Kvitastein and Gronmo, 1991). Nevertheless, the advertisement campaign was able to send the right message. Brochure advertisement includes placing of brochure on strategic websites. While creating media advertisements, colours and placements have critical influence over the overall effectiveness and perception among consumers; in this case, students. The brochure created for promotion was compressive, but carried all necessary details as well as links to various other sites of the program. This helped interested students to check out more information on the program and its offerings. The objective of this advertisement was to highlight the major differentiator, in terms of product and at the same time, adhering to the fundamental idea. Online brochures were provided on the website of Issue (Issue, 2013). Issue is one of the largest growing platforms for digital publishing. It has a loyal base of millions of customers, including students, researchers, marketing professionals and other corporate executives as well as avid readers, who like to update themselves with the latest information and occurrences all over. The digital library is stocked with numerous publications, covering subjects such as, lifestyle, management, arts, global and economic affairs, sports and fashion, career and technology, to name a few. Apart from that, this digital library has also become a burgeoning platform for new age and independent publishers to utilise and promote their latest offerings. The above brochure placement of Stanford’s master degree program can be considered as strategic in various ways. Firstly, the program is related to leadership, organisation and policies, which are rather general topics, capturing the interest of not only students, but also practitioners from various fields. Secondly, placing this program on a global site, like, Issue, helps the master’s program in gaining global attention and that too for a longer period. Thirdly, placement of the brochure successfully attracts students from diverse academic backgrounds, thereby increasing the value of the program as well as its global competitiveness. The strategic placement of the brochure was a major differentiator in driving traffic to the campaign sites or call centres, where individuals could register for the master’s program as well as get necessary information regarding entrance test, passing marks and joining date. For instance, the brochure conveyed the message that smaller, but important, changes were made in the program with the objective of increasing the program’s overall effectiveness. This was a creative distinction point for the master’s program, which is not usually present in other similar university programs. This was a very unique offering and the management had to convey the message in exactly the way they perceived it (Soberman, 2005). It is seen that most of the universities do not prefer changing their courses and curriculum for a long time. Stanford makes sure that all its programs are updated and match with requirements of the market. Unlike other marketing campaign, current marketing campaign of Stanford’s leadership program can be considered as hugely successful. In general, content advertisements are considered as one-way communication route. Here, the meaning and context of the advertisement is supposed to be conveyed by the advertiser (Proctor, Proctor and Papasolomou-Doukakis, 2002). In the present case, content of the brochure of the master’s program plays a very critical role in persuading global students to opt for the program. Contents of the program’s brochure can be considered as exhaustive, informational and at the same time, not too prolonged. The perception and interpretation of images and messages in advertisements can be different for both colleges and prospective students (Buttle, 1991). Taking a cue from the above strategy, the campaign for the master’s program was written in simple and easy-to-understand language. Any formal claim or assertion presented in any form of advertisement and marketing campaign needs to be supported with substantial evidence, so as to avoid misinterpretations or fear of being rejected outright by readers. Management programs creating advertising messages expect their potential students to process and perceive them in a favourable manner, thereby resulting in positive behavioural reactions, such as, attention, interest development in the product or service as well as stimulation of desire (Fiske, 1990). This marketing tactic is usually considered as safe as these advertisers are only legally and morally responsible for formally asserting their proposition. It can also be argued that advertisers, creating these advertisements, cannot be held accountable for any presumption or inference drawn by the viewers, since these inferences will differ from consumer to consumer. The interpretation and perceptions of students are not controlled by the advertisers or management and the latter is only responsible for their advertisement’s literal interpretation. Therefore, fragile and weak claim for a service or product as well as unpersuasive sales arguments might result in potentially confused students (Lannon, 1992). In order to make sure that the contents as well as claims provided in the brochure and website were trustworthy, only authentic information, supplemented by sufficient sources, were included. For instance, the number of companies and organisations coming for final placements is always exaggerated by universities and colleges for drawing in more students. However, Stanford’s master’s program never uses this trick and mentions only those companies, who have recruited students from the program. This allowed the program to improve its product value and product quality and also, minimise the gap between student perception and reality. The brochure created for promotion of the master’s program was also available on the university’s website. The objective was to increase the level of participation among students, which in turn would enhance their overall information and knowledge about the brand. The overall effectiveness of the marketing communication campaign can be understood in terms of its advantage and disadvantages. The comprehensive and small brochure ensures that the initial investment costs of the campaign is kept low, giving the management more capital to invest in promotion and advertisement (Monroe, Powell and Choudhury, n.d). The brochure of the master’s program was distributed as pamphlets to interested candidates. It was also mailed to candidates residing in faraway places. In order to make the brochure attractive and more powerful, it has previous placement information as well as details regarding well-known and globally respected lecturers, who were appointed either in a permanent or temporary position with the program. It can be said that consumers were able to deconstruct the message sent by Stanford’s master program in the desired manner (Stem, 1996). As a result, the marketing campaign turned out to be hugely successful. There was a remarkable increase in the brand value of the program and overall enrolments for the campaign improved dramatically. It can be seen here that students were able to connect as well as understand the importance of the program, as the message was appropriately conveyed, without getting changed or altered. The reinforcement process helped in improving effectiveness of the marketing campaign. The marketing campaign can also be attributed to various positive implications in future. For instance, the marketing campaign ensured a significant rise in interest level of prospective future students and with the help of positive word of mouth advertising, higher number of students will opt for the program (Pasa and Shugan, 1996). Conclusion The above study clearly concludes that advertisements and its fundamentals have seen a lot of changes with every passing decade. The overall calls and enquiries for information as well as applications for enrolment increased four folds with a minimum budget. There was a significant rise in share of voice and brand awareness objective was achieved within two months of campaign launch. The overall usage of media channels helped the master’s program to gain a firm foothold. Hence, simultaneous usage of media was successfully implemented by the master’s program of Stanford University in generating sufficient and desired enrolment as well as increasing overall brand recall. Reference List Buttle, F., 1991. What do people do with advertising? International Journal of Advertising 10, pp. 95–110. Fiske, J., 1990. Introduction to Communication Studies, 2nd edn. London: Routledge. Gronhaug, K., Kvitastein, O. and Gronmo, S., 1991. Factors Moderating Advertising Effectiveness As Reflected In 333 Tested Advertisements. Journal of Advertising Research, October/November, pp. 42-50. Issue. 2013. Policy, Organization and Leadership Studies: The Joint MA/MBA Leadership Degree Programs at Stanford. [online] Available at :< http://issuu.com/stanfordeducation/docs/pamphlet-pols-mba#> [Accessed 24 Feb. 14]. Lannon, J., 1992. Asking the right questions–what do people do with advertising? Admap, 28(3), pp. 11–16. Livingstone, S., 1990. Making Sense of Television: the Psychology of Audience Interpretation, 2nd edn. London: Routledge. Monroe, K.B., Powell, C.P. and Choudhury, P.K., n.d. Recall versus Recognition as a Measure of Price Awareness. Advances in Consumer Research, pp. 594-599. Pasa, M. and Shugan, S. M., 1996. The value of marketing expertise. Management Science, 42(3), pp. 370–388. Pilotta, J.A., Schultz, D.E., Drenik, G. and Rist, P., n.d. Simultaneous media usage: A critical consumer orientation to media planning. Journal of Consumer Behavior, 3(3), pp. 285–292 Proctor, S., Proctor, T. and Papasolomou-Doukakis, I., 2002. A post-modern perspective on advertisements and their analysis. Journal of Marketing Communications, 8 pp. 31–44. Robinson, J. and Godbey, G., 1997. Time for Life. University Park, PA: Penn State Press. Shankar, A., 1999. Advertising’s imbroglio Journal of Marketing Communications, 5, pp. 1–15. Soberman, D., 2005. The Complexity of Media Planning Today. Brand Management, 12(6), pp. 420–429. Stem, B.B., 1996. Textual Analysis in Advertising Research: Construction and Deconstruction of Meanings. Journal of Advertising, 25(3), pp. 61-72. Stout, P.A. and Burda, B.L., 1989. Zipped Commercials: Are They Effective? Journal of Advertising, 18(4), pp. 23-32. Read More