Marketing Communications and Promotion - Coursework Example

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS AND PROMOTION al Affiliation) Key words: Marketing, Communication Introduction Communication and marketing are two essential tools that businesses and other types of organizations adopt in their quest to reach out to their consumers and the general public. A good communication strategy that clearly indicates that an organization’s product is at the realm of the market can greatly augment a company’s sales output. Marketing also appeals to consumers to purchase products based on certain elements and modus operandi (Clow & Baack 224). The paper herein discusses various communication and marketing parameters. Sustainable branding functions to put forward a company’s vision to its customers by presenting its products as being in sync with nature, as well as through communications aligned with the values of consumers. The integrated marketing approach I would adopt for the green car would encompass three tenets; deep social networking, physical installations, and traditional media (TV ads). Social network participation seemingly continues to grow without bounds owing to the fact that more people look forward to connecting, sharing, and connecting with individuals who are like-minded via the internet (Paley 2005). The current number of signed up online users in social sites stand at hundreds of millions. This number continues to grow, with many being affiliated to more than a single network. This marketing avenue would be viable since for green marketers, the approach of social networking affords a compelling medium of communicating with consumers affiliated towards green products, or have an open mind to listen. Currently, such users traverse a wide expanse of social networks which include networks of general interest as well as those that are vertically focused and connect individuals with interests in social responsibility; to be more specific-the environment. My advertising focus would be placed in shopping sites and interaction sites. Profile placements within social networks would greatly build awareness across and within peer groups via the internet (Paley 2005). The TV ad would comprise of an immaculate display of the manner in which the car brand is in touch with and harmonizes with nature. Its aesthetic appeal being in line with the very essence of a sustainable environment would be the focus of the ad. The ad would target a major sporting league event that attracts a considerable populace, namely the NFL. As such, it would be able to appeal to an enormous consumer base. The physical placements would be placed in public locations visited by a myriad of people (Ryan & Jones 2009). I would place ads in seats within public parks, and in bus shelters lit by photovoltaic cells to depict the green consumerism tied with the car brand. The Toyota Prius campaign that harmonizes nature, man and machine highlights want the consumer wants-advanced technology, interior space, and more power while simultaneously being friendly to nature through tailpipe emissions of low quantity. Their ad depicts a utopian landscape entirely constituted by clouds, the sun, people, as well as blades of grass. They have physical installations in more than twelve cities, including large sculptures of flower and bus shelters solar panel roof tops-exemplifying the solar moon roof of the Toyota Prius. A small restaurant looking to reopen in Lincoln under a minimal four-thousand pound budget for marketing campaign would work best through satellite vending, social media and web presence, vehicle advertising, link exchanges, and budgeted advertising. Satellite or cart vending gives a mobile presence to the restaurant, as well as an opportunity to showcase its menu’s best parts to members of Lincoln’s general public. A moving food cart that displays signature dishes and serves food at local sporting events and holiday events enables the restaurant immerse itself into the community in a manner that conventional advertising does not. Social networking within the community is a powerful avenue of building awareness on the restaurant’s services as well as its menu (Levinson 2007). A Facebook page can function to establish a sense of legitimacy, transparency, in addition to trust amidst the local populace. A livened web presence via live web cam, daily updates, a merchandising section and updated information can enable consumers who continually rely on the social media and mobile gadgets select the dining establishment instantaneously. Vehicle advertising undertaken by emblazoning adverts on vehicles is highly visible for a small business. The vehicle would reach out to the populace on a daily basis without additional costs and reach out to the masses as it makes deliveries and conducts other business activities. Link exchanges are also great especially with a limited budget like this one. In this approach, the restaurant would look for merchants to sell its complementary products as well as trade out text links with them. Numerous companies would not turn down a chance to get more exposure, hence a few will be willing to share links with the restaurant. Budget advertisement like Google ad words would enable the restaurant to buy a set of portal key words, establish a spending limit, and display an ad based on that limit. Tis method has a specific use tracking the campaign’s success, and would be a boom to a small business like the local restaurant (Levinson 2007). For the charity on the protection of cats, the first approach towards raising money would be approaching each and every local business like restaurants, department stores, retail stores, tanning salons, and many more, and asking them to make donations towards the venture. In this light, it would be imperative to accept whatever they offer and implement it in a similar accord. The next approach would be talking to vendors at local favorite stores such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola. These organizations can make donations like drinks, snacks, and prizes which can be recompensed for advertisements for sponsoring the charity. Raffles for charity can be sold based on these products, with the cat charity message being passed on to members of the general public during an open event in which individuals make donations towards the course. Social networks are also a powerful tool for building awareness in the community with regard to the charitable course in which the organization is involved. A page on twitter can create transparency, legitimacy, and support amongst ardent supporters. For the donations made via the social media, the firm should be keen to exhibit how the money raised was put into use, in order to ensure that in future such entities will raise money towards facilitating the course. It is imperative that the social web page is kept current and highlight how the contributions are bound to maintain a consistent relationship with the audience while at the same time giving them the encouragement to give once again (McIntosh & McIntosh 2004). Celebrities emerge as general public figures. Their features, personalities, and general experiences stand out amidst the audience; therefore consumers are easily able to associate the products they are endorsing with them. Globally, Nike is renowned amongst the iconic brands. Nike is known very well for its consistent celebrity use in endorsing its products. One of Nike’s most successful celebrity endorsements was with renowned golfer Tiger Woods in the golf divide with accessories, apparel and equipment. Before that, Nike did not have prior experience in golf. In addition, the fact that golf is considered a sport for the elite, it was extensively held that Nike would not emerge successful in marketing products from this market niche. The probability of this being true would have been high in the event that Nike would have opted for conventional marketing avenues in trying to build its way up in the golf arena. Data on retail indicates a clear sale increment as well as well as brand share during particular points in time that coincide with the endorsement of Nike’s products by Tiger Woods, as well as during the negative publicity ascribed the personal scandal that faced him. In terms of golf balls, the endorsement of Nike products by Tiger Woods which started in 2000 propelled the company to acquire approximately 4.5 million customers as well as a 60milion dollar profit over the past ten years. Nike has been able to establish quite a strong brand personality and brand identity over the years owing to the use of celebrities to endorse its products. An attractive celebrity appeals to the consumers through athletic competence, physical attractiveness and intelligent capacity. The celebrity therefore enhances consumers’ memories of the brand that they endorse (Hunter 2009). Shock anti-smoking campaigns have been shown to considerably reduce regular smoking’s progression among adolescents and adults. On the basis of encouraging intense advertisements that highlight graphic images depicting dire health consequences associated with smoking or portraying hardships related to smoking as well as personal loss, these ads create a paradigm shift from habitual smoking (Mathios 2006). Complementing these graphic images with message is seen to increase the self-efficacy of smokers to quit. The government anti-smoking ads use message-based types of campaigns including; appeal to fear, manipulating tobacco marketing, and peer norms. Such ads have been lauded for lowering the intentions of the populace to smoke. Data has been presented by the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program (MTCP) on the response of the youth and adults to eight distinct TV ads under three classifications; funny, normative and sad. An analysis of the ads drew the conclusion that the sad ads that elicit strong negative emotions result in the highest rates of recall and have the highest scores in terms of rating. A funny anti-smoking ad shows a male teenager during his first visit to the girlfriend’s home at dinner. The teenager smokes. In the commercial he is nervous and starts coughing. As the commercial winds up, he ends up coughing out one lung on the dinner table. A poll on this anti-smoking campaign indicated that it deterred numerous individuals who were starters in smoking from advancing with smoking habit. For individuals with considerable experience in smoking, it was influential in making them cut down on the number of cigarettes they smoke in a single day (Mathios 2006). References Top of Form Clow, K. E., & Baack, D. 2004. Integrated advertising, promotion & marketing communications (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall. Hunter, E. 2009. Celebrity entrepreneurship and celebrity endorsement: Similarities, differences and the effect of deeper engagement.. Jönköping: Jönköping International Business School. Levinson, J. C., Levinson, J., & Levinson, A. 2007. Guerrilla marketing: easy and inexpensive strategies for making big profits from your small business (4th ed., Completely updated and expanded ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Mathios, A. D. 2006. Regulating Advertisements the Case of Smoking Cessation Products. Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research. McIntosh, D., & McIntosh, A. 2004. Marketing: a guide for charities,. London: Directory of Social Change. Paley, N. 2005. The managers guide to competitive marketing strategies (3rd ed.). London: Thorogood. Ryan, D., & Jones, C. 2009. Understanding digital marketing: marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation. London: Kogan Page. Top of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More