Sainsbury's 'Christmas and Marketing Strategy - Coursework Example

Promotional Practice Report of the of the Contents Sainsburys Christmas in a Day 3 Sainsbury’s Christmas Campaign 3 Target Audience 3 Campaign Objective 4 Promotional Mix 4 Media Mix 5 Suitability of Media and Tools 5 Future Improvements 8 References 9 Sainsburys Christmas in a Day 2013 Sainsbury is one of the largest supermarket chains in United Kingdom. The retail chain was founded in the year 1869 by J.J. Sainsbury (Sainsbury, 2013). The retail chain runs through supercenter, hypermarket, supermarket, super store and convenience stores. The mission of the grocery retailer is to be customer’s first choice, in terms of food, while offering outstanding quality products as well as great services as competitive cost. Sainsbury’s Christmas Campaign Christmas is one of the most celebrated festivals among all western countries. Thus, marketers have a huge opportunity for not only cashing from this festival, but also securing a long-term relationship with its customers through greater bonding and quality offerings. On 13th November, 2013, Sainsbury kicked off its widely awaited Christmas campaign (The Guardian, 2013). The campaign included a three and half minute trailer for an upcoming film, which the brand has been working on, in conjugation with well-known directors. The final documentary was fifty minutes long and was very well-accepted by the audiences. The campaign became a huge hit among consumers, which ultimately resulted in high sales for Sainsbury during Christmas (Metro, 2013). Target Audience Target audience is those which a company aims to serve, through its services and products. Sainsbury is a big retail market. The company promotes both external brand as well as its own level goods. Thus, Sainsbury caters to almost every population in the demography. However, families are the major target as it provides a complete grocery store experience, thereby meeting needs of every member in a family. The major target segment for the Christmas campaign was ordinary people and the way they celebrated their Christmas. The target audiences were basically family members (Marketing Magazine, 2013a). According to various marketing theories, different groups of target customers can be identified within a market. Nevertheless, marketers will have to devise specific marketing strategies for each target segments or groups. So, segmentation of a particular market into specific buyers with different characteristics, needs, behaviour or choices is an important element while targeting audiences, which was a critical element in the Christmas promotional campaign by Sainsbury. Sainsbury had a huge database through their various membership cards and loyalty programs, which helped them in various marketing and segmentation decisions. As Sainsbury catered to large customer segments with a huge line of products, it can be said that the company used various demographic segments such as, location, age, gender, product usage and interest, in order to successfully establish its marketing communications strategy (Brand Republic, 2013a). Campaign Objective The major objective of the Christmas campaign was to deliver an evenly growing shopping experience for customers. The retail chain also aims to provide value products at best available prices. This is the underlying aim behind every promotional campaign. The key message which Sainsbury tried to boost through this campaign was promoting healthy eating habits as well as great quality products (Creative Review, 2013). The objective behind this campaign was to make its target customers understand that healthy food does not always need to look good and unattractive food can also be tasty and healthy (Simms, 2000). The major target segments for this promotional campaign were ordinary families. Therefore, the campaign was mostly aired during day-time, when this particular target audience was at home and tuned in. In order to make this campaign, thousands of families across United Kingdom were invited to share their videos of Christmas and other special moments of their lives. The basic idea was to emotionally connect with average families and establish a relationship or bonding with these target audiences (Gupta, Su & Walter, 2004). Promotional Mix Almost every communication channel was utilised in order to promote the campaign. The company majorly followed above the line advertising, in order to convey its message to the customers (Shimp, 1990). Supermarkets centre their campaigns on various product promotions. They also follow a more traditional approach for advertising and promoting their campaign. However, in order to drive greater footfall in their stores and generate more revenue out of the campaign, Sainsbury had decided to opt for a more aggressive and rather intellectual approach to connect with its consumers (Chaney, 2004). The brand also went for online and social marketing, which helped the retailer to communicate in a more interactive manner with its followers as well as gain real time feedback. Media Mix Sainsbury used a variety of media channels in order to reach its customers. This included; Television broadcasting Social media- You tube, Facebook and Twitter In store promotions- distributing leaflets and catalogues Outdoor advertising- Billboards and signage in major traffic areas Suitability of Media and Tools In a nutshell, the promotional mix and media channels used by Sainsbury were appropriate and strategically placed. The brand was able to properly use media tactics and effectively implement a 360 degree or an integrated marketing approach. According to this marketing concept, a coordinated and unified effort for promoting a product or brand concept will only be successful, if it uses strategic and multiple tools for communication (Chatman, Polzer, Barsade & Neale, 1998). The basic marketing strategy used for this campaign was storytelling. Storytelling is considered as an expensive and long process, but if implemented properly, the return on investment can be very high (Be seen Marketing, 2013). Storytelling was used by Sainsbury in its 50 minutes campaign, which was aired in various mediums such as, television, online and other offline channels. The campaign was majorly hosted on YouTube, which helped in even higher viewer engagement and created more value for Sainsbury brand. Internet is considered to be a very powerful tool for brand communication and Sainsbury effectively employed this emerging channel. Online advertising has become an important element in any marketing strategy. As technology is becoming cheaper and highly available, the volume of potential customers using this medium is increasing fast. Online advertising is also effective for customer’s interaction and real time feedback. It gives the marketer power of detailed information, which the individual can use for making innumerable marketing and communication strategies (Vel & Sharma, 2010). In order to build and maintain relationship with its target audiences, the brand employed an interactive and emotional approach to connect with its audience. The campaign was aimed to involve the middle class and average income group families. Directed by Oscar Kevin Mcdonald, the documentary was inspired from a similar campaign that was a huge success in the past. The 50 minute documentary included video footage from the lives of ordinary people and their experiences on Christmas Eve (Marketing Week, 2013). Though the trailer of the campaign was considered a bit controversial, it was successful in generating sufficient attention and interest among target audiences as well as potential customers. To track down customers, Sainsbury used its extensive customer database. The company has established loyalty card for regular purchasers. This card works by adding points to customer’s basket, every time he or she shops from Sainsbury. This helps in maintaining a regular customer footfall as well as analyzing their purchase behaviours. This huge customer database also helped Sainsbury in targeting customers for its campaign (Rowley, 1997). Supermarkets and grocery stores basically run on traditional brick and mortar format. Though online selling is becoming increasingly popular, mom and pop stores are still major places for customers to make purchases (Wrigley, 1997). Therefore, it is important to include interactive communication strategies inside the stores too. In order to supplement its Christmas marketing campaign, the company launched an interactive and creative based media communication channel in its various stores. This had covered decorating the stores with colourful Christmas trees and lighting the entire market (Burt & Carralero-Encinas, 2000). The overall service design helped in generating and establishing loyalty among the customers. It also helped Sainsbury to take its brand onto the next level in the relationship ladder theory. According to this theory, customer acquisition and retention can be implemented through a five-stage process, which includes awareness, expansion, exploration, commitment as well as dissolution (McGoldrick & Davies, 1995). In order to establish loyalty and long-term relationship with its customers, companies will have to reach the final stage, which is commitment. With the help of this Christmas campaign, the retail chain not only created an explicit emotional connect with its audiences, but also enhanced its level of relationship with its customers (Brand Republic, 2013b). The interactive campaign was made further interactive through online engagement. The target audience was invited to participate in various online websites such as, Twitter and Facebook. By establishing interactive sessions and discussion forums, the campaign generated real time feedback and suggestions. The interactive campaign was based on effective sales promotions and direct marketing techniques. Direct marketing tools used by the company were in the form of catalogues and leaflets (Marketing Magazine, 2013b). The catalogues mostly contained information about the various product lines offered by the company. In order to increase awareness, online catalogues were also placed on the company’s website. The major advantage of direct marketing is that through this, the company or brand is able to convey mass communication messages in a much personalised manner (Blattberg & Neslin, 1990). It is also an effective method for targeting only those customers, with highest chances of response as well as with highest possibility of building a long-term relationship. This objective of Sainsbury was supported by television advertisements, You Tube campaign as well as outdoor media campaign. The major benefit of catalogue marketing is that consumers might keep it with themselves for some time, but with regular brand awareness, these catalogues will become an important point of differentiation from other competitors. It will also act as a reinforcement of the Sainsbury Campaign by allowing them to browse in a traditional manner and reinforcing their option for online purchasing at the same time. Another important feature of this promotional tool is that it is accessible by almost every family member (Pellegrini, 1994). Thus, while making purchase decisions with all members of the family, these catalogues can come in handy. Sainsbury used an emotional approach theory and strategy of storytelling in order to connect with its customers. This connection was further supported by various advertising and promotional tactics (Brand Republic, 2013c). Sainsbury attempted to create a need among its target audience. Once the need was successfully created by the Christmas campaign, it was followed by offering various promotional discounts and freebies in order to generate store traffic and increase overall profits and revenues. Sainsbury’s strategy of promotional mix was supported by the Kotler’s theory of marketing mix, wherein consumer-centric firms place critical importance on sales promotion and advertising because of the market nature and process of making purchase decisions by consumers (Henley, Raffin & Caemmerer, 2011). Future Improvements While Sainsbury is still celebrating its Christmas success, the retail chain will have to work further, so as to continuously improve its marketing and promotional campaign. Every time the retail chain launches a successful campaign, it sets a bar of standard for itself. The customer expectations also become high after each successful campaign. Thus, the company needs to make sure that it keeps launching highly interactive and creative advertising and promotional campaigns in future (Grönroos, 1997). At present, Sainsbury’s online selling website is not well-known. The company can use its current promotional campaign to promote its newly-launched website. This can be done by putting the highly successful campaign on the company’s website, which in turn will increase website traffic (Garga, Ghuman & Dogra, 2009). Finally, Sainsbury should also look into the changing preferences among its young consumers. These young consumers are tech-savvy and expect everything to be available fast and cheap. It has also been realised that most of the successful brands are those, which are able to harness the immense power of various social networking sites such as, Twitter, MySapce and Facebook. The company already recognised its power through its successful online Christmas campaigning. Understanding the online market behaviour as well as customer preferences towards it, will also help Sainsbury is acquiring new customer base of teenagers and middle-aged professionals. References Be seen Marketing. (2013). Brand Storytelling. Retrieved from http://www.beseen-marketing.co.uk/blog/brand-storytelling Blattberg, R. & Neslin, S.A. (1990). Sales Promotion: Concepts, Methods, and Strategies. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Brand Republic (2013b). Why Sainsburys brave long idea won the hearts of the nation at Christmas. Retrieved from http://www.brandrepublic.com/opinion/1225679/Why-Sainsburys-brave-long-idea-won-hearts-nation-Christmas/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH Brand Republic. (2013a). John Lewis beats Sainsburys to most liked Christmas ad crown. Retrieved from http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/1225688/John-Lewis-beats-Sainsburys-most-liked-Christmas-ad-crown/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH Brand Republic. (2013c). John Lewis is 2013s most written-about Christmas ad. Retrieved from http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/1225046/John-Lewis-2013s-written-about-Christmas-ad/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH Burt, S. & Carralero-Encinas, J. (2000). The role of store image in retail internationalization. International Marketing Review, 17(4/5), 433-453. Chaney, I.M. (2004). Own-Label in the UK Grocery Market. International Journal of Wine Marketing, 16(3), 5 – 13. Chatman, J.A., Polzer, J.T., Barsade, S.G. & Neale, M.A. (1998). Being different yet feeling similar: The influence of demographic composition and organizational culture on work processes and outcomes. Administrative Science Quarterly, 43(4), 749-780. Creative Review. (2013). Ad of the Week: Sainsburys, Christmas in a Day. Retrieved from http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2013/november/sainsburys-christmas-in-a-day. Garga, P., Ghuman, K. & Dogra, B. (2009). Rural marketing of select Fast Moving Consumer Goods in Punjab. Indian Journal of Marketing, 39(5), 21-27. Grönroos, C. (1997). Keynote paper from marketing mix to relationship marketing - towards a paradigm shift in marketing. Management Decision, 35(4), 322 – 339. Gupta, A., Su, B. & Walter, Z. (2004). Risk profile and consumer shopping behavior in traditional channels. Decision Support Systems, 38(3), 347-367. Henley, N., Raffin, S. & Caemmerer, B. (2011). The application of marketing principles to a social marketing campaign. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 29(7), 697 – 706. Marketing Magazine. (2013a). Sainsburys to put content at heart of marketing strategy. Retrieved from http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1165786/sainsburys-put-content-heart-marketing-strategy. Marketing Magazine. (2013b). Sainsburys attributes profit rise to values-driven brand strategy. Retrieved from http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1220762/sainsburys-attributes-profit-rise-values-driven-brand-strategy Marketing Week. (2013). Inside Sainsburys. Retrieved from http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/analysis/essential-reads/inside-sainsburys/4007680.article McGoldrick, P. & Davies, G. (1995). International retailing: Trends and strategies. London: Pitman Publishing. Metro. (2013). Sainsbury’s Christmas in a Day Ad reduces Corrie viewers to snivelling wrecks. Retrieved from http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/13/sainsburys-christmas-in-a-day-ad-reduces-corrie-viewers-to-snivelling-wrecks-4186163/ Pellegrini, L. (1994). Alternatives for growth and internationalization in retailing. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 4(2), 121- 148. Rowley, J. (1997). Managing branding and corporate image for library and information services. Library Review, 46(4), 244 – 250. Sainsbury. (2013). About Us. Retrieved from http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/about-us/ Shimp, T.A. (1990), Promotion Management and Marketing Communications. Chicago, IL: The Dryden Press, Simms, C. (2000). Green Issues and Strategic Management in the Grocery Retail Sector. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 20(1), pp. 23-34. The Guardian. (2013). Sainsburys launches festive campaign with Christmas in a Day clips. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/nov/13/sainsburys-christmas-advert-kevin-macdonald-youtube. Vel, K.P. & Sharma, R. (2010). Mega-marketing an event using integrated marketing communications: The success story of TMH. Business Strategy Series, 11(6), 371 – 382. Wrigley, N. (1997). British food retail capital in the USA: Preface and update. British Food Journal, 99(11), 409 – 411. Read More