Marketing Strategy of Message Without Words - Essay Example

Message without Words An appropriate message for this image would be: “We are one”. This message together with the image will aim at creating controversy and an emotional appeal to customers. Arguably, all customers are touched and influenced by emotional messages. Therefore, this message will send emotional influences that will link the audience to the message. Through the use of shock or controversy, this advert will induce immense feelings among the customers. A research by Dhal et al (2003) established that the use of shock and controversy in an advertisement considerably increases recall and attention and positively affects behaviour. From this study, it is critical to note that consumers exposed to this advert are more likely to recall controversial and shocking details of an advert than an advert without shocking contents. By having the white girl depicted as an angel and the black girl as a devil shows a societal stereotype of good and evil. Although this image is shocking and may be attached to racism, it exposes the people who have prejudiced against other people on the basis of race. This picture will create awareness of equality and racial predispositions. Though this will not advertise the products offered by Benetton, it will address the real world situation with social and universal significance and assist in breaking the hurdle of indifference which revolves around the two issues. This image makes a logical appeal on how the company accommodates everyone and does not discriminate on the basis of race. The team will identify emotions that may be understood by the target market. The effectiveness of controversial advertising has been explained by the theory of selective perception. Selective perception is a process by which customers identify, organize, analyse stimuli from the environment to offer significant encounters for themselves (Mooij, 2010). This implies that individuals concentrate on aspects of the environment to the marginalization of others. With the use of emotional adverts, an advert can inculcate positive attitudes and brand recall and recognition. According to Solomon (2008), consumers viewing an advert will adopt the mood presented in it. They will filter out what they want to see in the advert. Therefore, this message’s primary goals are to create brand recognition and recall and generate positive attitudes among the customers. This message targets all groups of customers as it portrays equality for all races. Marketing model This marketing model will integrate the overall objectives of the organization. This advert will use a marketing strategy model that will elicit interest, attention, desire and action. The advertising strategy will circle around positioning the products of Benetton, through communicating its role in calling for equality for all people. The image will position Benetton’s brand in the market through the message that will accompany the image. This statement, “We are one”, will give the values held by the company on customers. The message will aim at giving the audience a clue of what the image is communicating (Zaltman & Zaltman, 2008). This will aim at eliminating any other interpretations that customers may have for the image. In this case, the use of the message will eliminate the interpretation that the image aims at showing the blacks are devils while the whites are angels (Sandhusen, 2008). In this case, the image together with the message will evoke emotions among the customers. This message gives the customer a reason to purchase the products of Benetton. This image targets all the groups in the market as it aims at communicating the company’s philosophy of fighting inequality. After understanding the target audience, the advertising strategy will utilize numerous channels of communication. The different channels employed will be through the use of print media, World Wide Web and direct mail, and outdoor advertising channels such as billboards and adverts on public transportation (Sandhusen, 2008). In this regard, the advertising strategy will follow the following steps: first, the team will define and understand the Benetton brand; and secondly, the team will understand what the advert should accomplish. Integrated marketing communications plan This plan encapsulates the strategies that will be used to raise awareness on the philosophy of Benetton through the image. This image will focus on changing people’s opinions towards other races and promote equality. At the same time, this image will show Benetton’s stand on racism, and this will have an emotional effect on customers, thus promoting Benetton’s brand image. This message will be conveyed to the target audience through internet advertising, outdoor advertising and print media. i. Purposes of the promotion strategy The eventual purposes of this promotion strategy are to generate increased brand awareness and market share of Benetton, as well as increase the sales of all categories of clothing collection. Conversely, the communications will purpose to make 35% of the target audience aware of Benetton’s philosophy and stand towards inequality for the first three months, which will be the first round of promotion. Alternatively, this plan will purpose to increase the number of clicks and views in the internet adverts by 30 percent. ii. Environmental analysis This advertising strategy also will focus on evaluating the external environment in the market. This will be done after completion of formulation of the aims of the marketing strategy (Sandhusen, 2008). This analysis will encompass apprehension of the pertinent markets in order to evaluate the consumer attributes, competition and market developments. The world clothing market is a multi-billion dollar sector. It consists of different subsectors, which have contributed immensely to the growth of the industry. The competitor analysis should focus on the different philosophies and stands towards other social issues. Additionally, competitor analysis should centre on the products offered by competitors. This will highlight on what Benetton should focus and emphasize. iii. Communication strategy The communication strategy will follow the cognitive trail that customers adopt before making a purchase. This trail engrosses five stages that include understanding, inducement, decision, adoption and endorsement. In the acquaintance stage of this model, the customers will require to know the presence of Benetton products and understand the philosophy of the organization (Anderson, 2010). Through communicating the image together with the message on “we are one”, this strategy will offer a novel belief on Benetton’s philosophy. This will attract people of different races to Benetton, and many will want to be a part of the company since no one wants to be alone (Sandhusen, 2008). Many consumers will make purchases and try out Benetton’s products. The application stage will be attained through recognized channels such as internet marketing, print media, direct mail, and outdoor advertising. The recognized advertising networks will be selected on the foundation of their usefulness. These channels will be used through unceasing and pulsating programmes. The primary channels employed include direct marketing, internet marketing, outdoor advertising and print media. a. Internet Marketing The internet will be utilized to promote the image together with the message through the use of search engine optimization and banner ads. Banner ads will be purchased from the following websites: CBSNews.com, CNN, Photobucket, Social networks such as linkedIn, Facebook, Whatsapp, and Twitter, and other renowned search engines such as Google, MSN, Yahoo, Bing and Ask (Anderson, 2010). The banner ads will also include pop ups in the websites identified. These pop ups are expected to influence prospective consumers, and many are expected to click on the pop ups, which will direct them to Benetton’s website. This image will also utilize the search engine optimization where the ad will be paid when a consumer clicks on the advert. In choosing the search engines, the team will identify the search engine with the highest number of search traffic. Google tops the list in the volume of searches among the search engines with 52% followed by Yahoo with 22% and Microsoft at 8% while the rest has 18 percent search traffic in a day (Anderson, 2010). The team will use the three primary search engines. The use of the internet is also expected to be efficient since almost 70% of people in the United States, and United Kingdom have access to the internet. Additionally, 60 percent of the people who use the internet are likely to rely on information available in the internet. Notably, internet advertising will be effective as almost 68% of the population has turned to use social networks. With the increase in the use of internet, this advert will rely on making recommendations to people. The search engine optimization is expected to be efficient as many people use search engine optimization in search of new products (Sandhusen, 2008). The effectiveness of this media will be evaluated through such tools as click-through rate, time spend on the advert pages and the number of new visitors to the web ad. b. Direct Marketing Direct marketing will entail sending messages with the image directly to the customers. This makes it an efficient advertising media for communicating this image. The advertising team will use direct mail to send notes with the image on its cover. A primary facet of the direct mailing campaign will be the mailing list. The team will have to acquire a mailing list from Benetton’s customer list and any other guest that may have accessed its website. By having this list, Benetton will reap a high return on its investments (Sandhusen, 2008). A direct mail advert with a note with the image embed on it will allow the company create awareness of its philosophy and values to the people. c. The print media Newspapers and magazines are among the most efficient print media networks that this image can utilize. The most common magazines that this image can be portrayed together with the message include Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Redbook, and Details. These magazines will be selected since they are the most widely read magazines across the world. The advert on these magazines will include the image and the message “We are one”. People love to be appreciated and not discriminated against, and it is expected that this ad will be of great impact. Additionally, individuals do not want to be linked to a company that discriminates against people on the basis of race; therefore, this advert will pull more people (Zaltman & Zaltman, 2008). In addition, the image will be displayed in newspapers across nations in order to target all people who read newspapers. This is expected to target the busy people who have no time for watching TV. Another print media to be employed is the use of the image on packaging bags. This will assist in sending the message to all people in the streets and at home. On top of the high convenience, availability and involvement, the magazines will offer an exceptional flexibility and convenience and the high reach to people (Sandhusen, 2008). The use of these magazines will also attach some prestige to the image of Benetton. d. Outdoor Advertising The team will use billboards and public transport vehicles to show the image and the message. When using these advertising forms, the image is the first thing that a prospective consumer will see. In fact, it is expected that this will influence people as almost 40, 000 people use the roads and transport means in a day. References Anderson, E. (2010). Social media marketing: Game theory and the emergence of collaboration. Heidelberg: Springer. Dahl, D. W., Frankenberger, K. D., & Manchanda, R. V. (2003). Does It Pay to Shock? Reactions to Shocking and Nonshocking Advertising Content among University Students. Journal of business research, 65, 268-280. Mooij, M. K. (2010). Global marketing and advertising: Understanding cultural paradoxes. Los Angeles: SAGE. Sandhusen, R. L. (2008). Marketing (3rd ed.). Barrons Educational Series. Solomon, Michael R. (2008). Consumer behaviour: buying, having, and being. 8. ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall. Zaltman, G., & Zaltman, L. H. (2008). Marketing metaphoria: What deep metaphors reveal about the minds of consumers. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press. Read More