Marketing: National Alcohol Campaign - Assignment Example

NATIONAL ALCOHOL CAMPAIGN Marketing: National Alcohol Campaign September 22, 2009 Discuss the rationale for using segmentation as a basis for theNational Alcohol Campaign (NAA) Answer: The NAA has based its campaign on segmentation because segmentation is seen as the first step in the three phase marketing strategy of segmentation - targeting - positioning. By segmenting the market into homogenous clusters, the required clusters that are most suitable and appropriate for the products or services are targeted. Segmentation is used by marketing departments to target focussed groups and unlike TV ads or print Ads, an attempt is made to seek out groups based on their demography, age, personal habits, education and so on. For non-profit organisations that are involved in raising funds or providing service and remedial treatment for social ills, segmentation helps them to be more effective (Beane, 1987). Segmentation operates with the belief that all people are not alike but can be grouped into segments according to some common characteristics that they share. In certain cases, segmentation studies have been already performed and marketers can use this ready information to launch their marketing campaigns. The retail and consumer market is a good example of such well-researched segmentation. In other cases, some amount of segmentation research has to be performed to know how various consumer groups are organised. Firms often carry out repositioning of their products based on the segmentation studies (McKenna, 1988). For the NAA study, the campaign was based on primary segmentation of youth as per the age groups of 15 – 17 years and the secondary segmentation for parents of 12-17 year olds. This segmentation is important for teens since this was the age that first takes up experimental drinking once a week and then graduates to binge drinking. Children younger than 15 years are still under relative influence of their parents and there would not be many drinkers. However, the age group of 15 to 17 years are still influenced by campaigns and social messages and they can be set on the right path. The primary group also has a greater chance of harming itself by drinking and these teens indulge in violence, crime and sex when they are drinking. Parents were also selected since they have an important role in controlling and advising their kids about the ill effects of alcohol, set the standards and limits and also can serve as role models in consuming alcohol and behaviour consumption (Ball, 2003, p. 2-3). 2. This campaign used demographic segmentation. On what basis could the campaign have been segmented? Answer: The NAA Campaign was based on primary demographic segmentation of teens in the age group of 15 to 17 and secondary segmentation of parents of 12-17 year old teens. However, this is a rather very broad segment and according to Schiffman (2008, p. 36), the percentage of teens below 17 is 21.2% and people in the age group of 35 to 49 are 13.9%. Therefore, collectively about 35.1 % of the people were being targeted through the campaign. This is rather too broad and the campaign message would be lost as the campaign in itself would be very much broad based. Secondary segmentation for parents could have been done based on the parents Education, Employment Status and income. For the primary groups, there should also have been socio cultural segmentation based on social class - lower, middle and upper; User related segmentation based on usage rate and awareness status. Socio cultural segmentation speaks of the family background and the external environment in which the teen grows up. There are different aspects to the socio cultural segmentation and this includes family life cycle social class, core cultural values and other such issues. With family life cycle segmentation, it would be seen that many families go through similar phases in their formation, growth and final dissolution. Social class can be used as the basis for market segmentation and it is measured by the weighted index of different demographic variables such as education, occupation and income (Peter, 1987). These have a strong effect on the incidents of alcohol consumption, parental attitude to drinking. NAA should have used these segmentation to first research the teens and parents and elicit their responses and this would help them to find out which teen group was more prone to drinking, what the parents attitude towards drinking was, family background of heavy teen drinkers and so on. The more the effort spent on segmentation, the more focussed the campaigns can be. This is especially true for certain socio cultural groups and religion. It would be observed the teens form Asia and with Hindu or Muslim religion would be far lesser inclined to consume alcohol since drinking is regarded as evil in their religion. Hence the campaign should have considered different segmentation as discussed. 3. Applying the criteria for effective targeting of marketing segments discussed, would these criteria are satisfied? Answer: After segmentation the next step is to select the segment to target. For an effective target, the market segment has to be identifiable, sufficient, stable, accessible in terms of media, and cost (Steenkamp, 2002). As per the NAA marketing report, the criteria have been satisfied, however, the very segmentation used need to be revised. Identification is used to split the market into different segments based on a common characteristic that would be relevant to the product. While some variables such as geography, education, and income are easily verifiable, others such as lifestyle, benefits are difficult to identify and measure (Schiffman, 2008, p. 63). In the campaign, age group of teens in the range of 15 to 17 have been targeted. Parents of children in the group of 12 to 17 have also been targeted (Ball, 2003, p. 15). Next comes the Sufficiency factor and the segment needs to have sufficient number of people so that the success or failure of the campaign can be judged. To find the size of each segment, secondary demographic data is used (Schiffman, 2008, p. 63). In the NAA case, the total market segment is estimated to be about 33% of the population and this is a very large figure. In addition, an omnibus telephone survey was conducted with 636 parents of 13-17 year olds. A campaign monitor survey and a phase three evaluation survey was also carried out for 4020 numbers of 15-17 year olds (Ball, 2003, p. 20). The stability factor relates to how stable or fickle the selected segment is and if it will change its habits in due course of time. Teens in the group of 12-17 are particularly known to have a fickle nature of likes and dislikes and for fads. However, the problem being investigated in about alcoholism in teenaged drinkers. Therefore, the issue of stability is not a relevant criteria that has to be satisfied (Schiffman, 2008, p. 63). Teens have shown a marked liking for alcohol and there seems to be no let up in their drinking habits. Accessibility is a very important factor and the campaigns should be available and reachable to the target segments. The NAA campaign has used a number of media to ensure wide accessibility for the campaigns. The campaign was spread over four months from June 2002 to September 2002. The media used for youth intervention was national TV, cinema, pay TV, magazines, website, video Ezy Partnr. For parent intervention, media used included national TV, magazines and newspapers, NESB newspapers and brochures (Ball, 2003, p. 2). 4. What segmentation strategy was used for this campaign and was it effective? Answer: Mainly demographic segmentation was used in the campaign. The primary target was the teens that would have had alcohol related problems and this was the 15 - 17 year old teens. The secondary segment was the parents of 12-17 year olds. This kind of segmentation was created so that not only would teens that had begun to drink and who could be turned away from drink, but the parents would be targeted. Parents were generally not aware of the seriousness of the problem and the campaign would make them take affirmative actions to speak to their teenaged children. A series of advertisements were launched on the national TV, radio and websites. NAA reports that the phase three evaluation shows that the campaign is communicating effectively with the target audience. The campaign awareness levels were very high at 78% and that about nine out of ten of the parents had spoken of a specific message that was consistent with the campaign communication objectives. The campaign seems to have had a major impact and relevance among parents and this is very important. About one parent in two had taken response and action after seeing the campaigns. The parents spoke to their children about the dangers and ills of drinking. About three in five parents had plans to take more action in the future. Therefore, the response rate varies from 50% to 63% among parents. NAA reports that the awareness among teens and youths has also been high, about 70%. About 90% of the trends could recognise the campaigns that were shown the commercials and the commercials were regarded as believable and though provoking. About 90% of the teens reported that they did think of the negative things that could happen when they indulged in excessive drinking. About four out of five teens though of reducing drinking and the choices they could make. Teenage girls were found to be more responsive to the campaigns and were more ready to give up drinking than men. (Ball, 2003, p. 16-17). References Ball J, Barbir N, Carroll T, August 2003. Evaluation of the Third Phase of the National Alcohol Campaign: June-September 2002. Department of Health and Ageing. Sydney NSW. Beane. T.P. ()1987). Market Segmentation: A Review. European Journal of Marketing, Volume: 21, Issue: 5, Page: 20 - 42 McKenna, R. (1988) "Marketing in the age of diversity", Harvard Business Review, vol 66, September-October, 1988. Peter R. Dickson and James L. Ginter, Apr., (1987). Market Segmentation, Product Differentiation, and Marketing Strategy. The Journal of Marketing, Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 1-10 Schiffman, L, Bednall, D, O’Cass, A, Paladino, A, Ward, S & Kanuk, L. 2008. Consumer Behaviour 4th Edition. Pearson Education Australian. Prentice Hall Steenkamp and Ter Hofstede (2002) "International market segmentation: issues and perspectives", Intern. J. of Market Research, Volume 19, 185-213. Read More