Developing Marketing Communications: Case of Game Of Thrones Season Three - Essay Example

PROMOTIONAL PRACTICE REPORT Table of Contents Table of Contents i 1.0 Introduction 1 2.0 Campaign Objectives 2 3.0 The Target Audience for the Campaign 3 4.0 Promotional Tools Used in the Campaign 3 5.0 Media Used in the Campaign 3 6.0 Suitability of Tools and Media 5 7.0 Recommendations for Possible Improvement in Marketing Communications Activity 8 8.0 References 10 1.0 Introduction Game of thrones season three spans several months but not as much as other seasons’ lasts for a year’s time. Game of thrones season three is generally much easier and it is very awesome more than the previous seasons. It has a combination of supernatural, political and pseudo-historical aspects. These aspects make the season to be thrilling and unique and to have easy understanding. For a product to sell faster, consumers and potential customers must be in a position to explain the product and to have a great understanding of the product. Game of thrones season three fulfils these aspects as well. As HBO explains it, it makes sense of a show by all rights. Intrigue and back standing are other aspects that din the Game of thrones season three (Shimp & Andrews, 2013). There is magical defending of realm from the ice zombies and wild raiders. The nudity and violence in the season plus the incest provides every one with sort of thing for enjoying the season. This makes the movie to have everything for every person, this makes the movie to attract a wide range of viewers and appeal to a wide variety of tastes. The season leaves the viewers wriggling with discomfort as well as quivering with a lot of excitement. The scenes make the viewers eager to rewind to witness and see again the happenings. One of the attributes of this movie that attracts people of all nature and kind is its ability to creating suspense. This keeps the viewers eager to know what will happen next and therefore it keeps the holding on and increasing their desire to see what is next (Samsten, 2013). 2.0 Campaign Objectives The Game of thrones season three has various campaign objectives these are; As for any organization or any entity, increasing sales is crucial and the ultimate goal. As such, the increasing sales are one of the essential objectives of this campaign. The organization wants to drive the business by increasing the sales. It is very important for the organization to receive good returns from their investment and this is signified by sales increase exceeding the cost of the investment (Fill, 2009). Another campaign objective is to increase the awareness of Game of thrones. Increasing awareness will revive the consumer’s interest in the product or the service and therefore increase sales. Brand management is another objective of this campaign. This is purposely to maintain a place in the mind of the viewers and customers. Although this may seem not to be profit oriented, maintaining prominence in the public is crucial. To remind consumers and potential customers of your existence rather than promoting the brand reminds customers of the product and services of the organization. Another campaign objective is to establish and cement a relationship with the customers that would lead to loyalty. Maintaining customers is important in sustaining the organisational growth and increasing sales. This campaign aims at increasing customer loyalty by encouraging the consumers to believe in the services of the organization and their ability to provide excitement and meeting their needs (Smith & Zook, 2011). It is the objective of this campaign to build confidence. It is important that the customers have confidence with the organization and its ability to provide and satisfy their wants and needs. 3.0 The Target Audience for the Campaign The target audience for this campaign is the potential customers. These are customers within the age bracket of 18-37 years. Persons in this age bracket are outgoing, adventurous, love excitement and therefore they are a good target for this campaign (Kotler, 2011). 4.0 Promotional Tools Used in the Campaign Displays - in the retail stores and high traffic areas Premiums – examples are loyalty programs, discounts and bonus Contests and symposiums Fairs and exhibitions Trade fairs Specialist magazines Consumer magazines 5.0 Media Used in the Campaign Snapshot Social media such as facebook, twitter and whatsApp Television both digital and terrestrial Cinema Ratio Billboards Transport Mailing Internet Daily newspapers Special newspapers such as regional and Sunday newspapers According to Samsten (2013), promotional campaigns when done appropriately facilitate the introduction and disseminating information about the product brand or service to the targeted group. For any promotion campaign to be successful then there is need to make use of the appropriate promotional tools by considering the strengths and weaknesses of each tool before applying it. The tool used is dependent on the resources available to an organization, the goals to be achieved and the market size being targeted. In the promotional campaign of Game of Thrones, there was a variety of promotional tools that were used. These included (Marleni, & Isnurhadi 2012). Advertising is a non-personal promotional tool that involve releasing information to target customers that informs and facilitates persuading them to consume the good or service. This is effective if the information to be passed across is wisely selected and an appropriate medium is used in passing it across. In Game of Thrones promotional campaign, this was widely used through different media instruments and strategies. Personal selling is also another tool that if appropriately applied results to increased consumption of the good or service in question. This involves face-to-face contact with customers where one uses their mouth co convince and persuade the target customer about the product or service in question. The advantage with using this promotional tool is that individuals are able to develop contact with the customers thus marketing is done directly. Public relations that involves passing information about a product or service through media in an interactive session. This session allow target customers to interact with the product brand or service through media interaction program. To effective use the above named promotional tools in promotion of the Game of Thrones, there were various promotional media used. Any organization desiring to promote their products or services can do that effectively by applying suitable and appropriate media. The media applied in promotional campaign depends on the resources available to the organization, customer’s needs and the information to be supplied. The media applied in promoting Game of Thrones include (Miglani, 2013). Print media, which are written documents that have articles containing information about the product or service being promoted. This media includes billboards, newspapers, aerial displays, magazines and directories. Electronic media this involves use of electronic devices to avail information about products and services to customers with the aim of persuading them. This media enables the marketer to access a wide group of targeted consumers at the same time. Some of the electronic media applied in Game of Thrones promotional campaign include, television, radio and websites. Social media which involves having a social platform online through which customers are accessed and provided with information about product brands and services available for their consumption. The available sources for social media include twitter, face book, Google+ among others. This media is only used when the customer and the marketers are able to access internet use. 6.0 Suitability of Tools and Media The suitability and appropriateness of the tools and media applied in the promotional campaigns depends on the strengths and weaknesses of each media or tool. Thus, in choosing the promotional media or tool to apply in marketing one should carefully consider the benefits that they are likely to reap from the media or tool and whether their weaknesses can affects the marketer so that they fail to achieve the goals and objects set for the promotional campaign. Each media or tool is suitable depending on its features, target group, cost effectiveness and the nature of the product or services being promoted (Shimp & Andrews, 2013). Public relation as a tool used in promoting Game of Thrones is effective in facilitating access of a wide range of target customers at the same time; it is also cheap since one does not need to pay for it directly. This make the promotional tool sustainable since it avails product information to a large target group within a short time and using the least costs and facilitate addressing of negative information about the product or service so that consumers make informed decisions. However, this media is not appropriate in adequately persuading a customer about the product. It cannot also be used in promotional campaigns for technical products that require the customer to experiment before making any decision about the product. Advertising is suitable as a promotional campaign tool for Game of Thrones because it facilitates delivery of information to target consumers as well as facilitate the persuasion of the consumer about the product. The tool is appropriate in providing information to customers who are sparsely spread in the targeted region. This method is also cost effective since one can choose their media appropriately thus reducing advertising costs and also advertising can be used for a sustainable period without losing its meaning or making the consumer disinterested thus ability to appeal the consumer about the product or service. This may fail to be effective at times because customers tend to see the information provided as deceptive and are indirect contact with the marketers to enquire about the product. Personal selling is suitable due to the ability to interact directly with that target customers. This provides a basis for customers to make enquiries and avail immediate feedback about the product or service being advertised. Using this promotional tool makes it possible for the marketer to persuade the customers. This tool can be effective where the target group is interested in a wide range of information or even require demonstration with the product or service. By using this tool, organizations are able to gather information about their competitors directly from their target audience. However, this tool may fail to be effective the target group is large and wide spread, since the tool involves many traveling, availing samples and penetration to the target customers it is often very expensive for the organization. It is also time consuming so that it will take longer time before all the target audience is accessed in case of a large target group. According to McNeill (2013), the media applied in promotional campaigns is appropriate if it facilitates the achievement of promotional goals set or the organization. Print media facilitate availability of permanent information about the product and access of a wide range of target customers. The information can be stored for a long time thereby providing reference. It is possible to reach out to many audiences at the same time. This creates both visual and print versions; this gives the audiences a feel of the object and therefore creates desire. 7.0 Recommendations for Possible Improvement in Marketing Communications Activity There are several improvements in the marketing communication activities concerning the tools and media. These improvements will help increase not only the awareness of the services but also increase the sales. Identifying and targeting the right customers is very crucial in achieving effectiveness in marketing communications activity. The campaigns have to reach the right customers for it to be successful. This will start by defining customer segments, as they are a core part of any campaign (Mangold & Faulds, 2009) Another recommendation to improve the marketing communications activity is developing creative messages that resonate with the audience and customers. This will involve evaluating the historical data as well as the industry benchmarks to determine the expected outcomes. As such, the contents will improve and the audience will take a holistic view of campaign. It is very important for this campaign to harmonize its channels. It has already identified the channels and therefore the next thing is to manage and coordinate the forms of the marketing communications activity. This will unify the various elements of marketing and communication tools and media under one platform. A survey is necessary. A survey will provide a great deal of information needs and wants of the target market. It will also monitor if the campaign is effective. Setting questions in the survey will help produce customemised services and products. Maintain goodwill to the audience is very important as well. Goodwill is essential to the success of any business because customers and potential consumers depend on the organisations dependability to produce services to meet their needs. As such, the campaign should focus on building the good reputation in order to attract new customers and create loyal customers as well. The management should be ready to opt out of the marketing communication activities that threaten their good reputation or goodwill. However, this should be done in a systematic manner to avoid customer backlash. It is essential for the organization to produce and distribute the marketing communications materials in an effective, efficient and relevant manner concerning due diligence and accountability. The implementation of the marketing communications activities and the campaign should be orderly and within the definition of individual and collective responsibility. This will ensure that there will be responsibility in fairness, equity, appropriateness, probity in all marketing communications activities. This is very important in achieving success in use of marketing tools and media in promotion (Ellis-Chadwick et al., 2009). 8.0 References Ellis-Chadwick, F., Mayer, R., & Johnston, K. (2009). Internet marketing: strategy, implementation and practice. D. Chaffey (Ed.). Pearson Education. Fill, C. (2009). Marketing Communications: interactivity, communities and content. Pearson Education. Kotler, P. (2011). Reinventing marketing to manage the environmental imperative. Journal of Marketing, 75(4), 132-135. Mangold, W. G., & Faulds, D. J. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business horizons, 52(4), 357-365. Marleni, S, & Isnurhadi, I, (2012), the impact of brand personality and promotional mix to brand equity of muba regent candidates 2011. McNeill, L, (2013), sales promotion in Asia: successful strategies for Singapore and Malaysia, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 25(1), 48-69. Miglani, B, (2013), rural Marketing: Suitability and Reaping Benefits, Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 1(5). Samsten, P, (2013), introducing Alaska to Finns: A marketing strategy for improving Ketchikan's visibility in Finland. Retrieved from http://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/69617/Introducing%20Alaska%20to%20Finns.pdf?sequence=1 Shimp, T, & Andrews, J, C, (2013), advertising promotion and other aspects of integrated marketing communications, New York: Cengage Learning. Smith, P. R., & Zook, Z. (2011). Marketing communications: integrating offline and online with social media. London: Kogan Page Ltd.. Read More