Applied Buyers Behaviour in Global Context - Report Example

Applied Buyers Behaviour in Global Context Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Target group of advertisement campaign 3 Brand or services offered 4 Occasion for advertisement 5 Position of the campaign 5 Reason for campaign 6 Perception 7 Buyer Process 9 Involvement Levels/ Risk Perception 10 Elements of Marketing Mix 10 Product 10 Price 11 Place 11 Promotion 12 Critique and Recommendations 12 References 14 Introduction An advertisement campaign can be considered as an integral part of marketing activities. Over the years there are many companies who design innovative advertisements to attract target audience. These campaigns comprise of series of advertisements conveying specific message to target group. Lays is the brand name and even company name that founded this specific product type in 1932. Since 1965 Lays is owned by PepsiCo. This group is known as Walker’s in Ireland and United Kingdom, Chipsy in Egypt, Margarita in Columbia, Poca in Vietnam, Smith’s in Australia, Tapuchips in Israel, and Sabritas in Mexico. The advertisement campaign to be focused on this particular study is “Do Us a Flavour” campaign of Lays. Major aim of this campaign was to boost the product’s reach on tablets and smartphones. This time the advertisement campaign of the brand even incorporated Twitter and Instagram. It can be stated as a social media campaign of the company that was created to grab attention of target group customer towards the brand. The source of the campaign is any microsite, accessible by both desktop and mobile devices. This brand is running the particular campaign across many territories and even under the Walker’s brand name in United Kingdom. It has been observed that Lays generally associate its product with some specific events like World Cup but through this campaign it tried to connect more with its customers. This campaign enabled customers to choose their chip flavour that highlighted their food preferences so as to create a perfect flavour. Target group of advertisement campaign Market segmentation is a vital component while designing an advertisement campaign. The variables basically used for segmentation are age, race, gender, marital status, education, occupation and income. Advertisement campaign designed by lays targeted majorly the young generation. This particular segment comprised of individuals belonging to both gender and within age group of 15 to 30 years. The campaign was designed in such a fashion that not only different flavoured chips was promoted but even customers were given an opportunity to put across their respective preferences. On the other hand a particular age group was selected by the company as only a significant consumer segment prefers to consume such product. Lays has been a well known brand through its wide range of chips. In a competitive industry where achieving sustainable competitive advantage is a challenge for most organizations, Lays maintain its position by offering innovative product line. Income group is not considered as a segmentation variable for this advertisement campaign as individuals belonging to lower income group can also afford the product (Cheverton, 2005). The major reason behind this selected target group is that only these individuals will be inclined towards participating in the contest highlighted in the campaign. Brand or services offered “Do Us a Flavour” advertisement campaign initially was launched for consumer market in United States. However the campaign later in 2014 was transmitted across the globe. Public Relations Director of PepsiCo stated that this was transformed into global campaign in order to broaden and gain scale of program’s reach. There were varied services being offered through this campaign. It provided an opportunity to customers to win a decent prize amount for participating in the contest. Simultaneously, customers could even design flavour for the product that was rarely done by any other chip brand (Smith, 2011). The competition was further extended by the management where individuals could even select their chip type such as wavy, original or kettle cooked. It can be stated that the major benefit of this campaign was it attracted large base of consumer market to try Lays products. On the contrary, customers were not only offered prize money but even they could design particular chip flavour as per their taste preference. It proved to be a medium for acquiring innovative ideas and implementing them for higher levels of customer satisfaction. Occasion for advertisement Originally Lays advertise its products on a particular occasion or rather link its product with a specific event. However for this advertisement campaign – “Do Us a Flavour”, there was no such event highlighted. The reason behind this is consumer market started to link Lays products with an event such as World Cup. This approach happened to be monotonous for the company as well as customers. Through this campaign the brand intended to celebrate the flavours of life. There was no seasonality involved in the advertisement campaign but an occasion can be effectively outlined for the campaign. Lays as a brand wanted to gain innovative flavour ideas from customers directly. This happened to be the main reason behind the campaign launch. On the other hand, the company was focusing on developing a brand new innovative product line taking into consideration specific choices of customers. It offered 1million dollar as prize amount for an individual who succeeds to innovate a delicious flavour. The company had a strategy to connect with its customer base more closely through all possible social networking sites but mainly Twitter was the prime focus. Position of the campaign Positioning of an advertisement campaign is highly important as it helps to acquire rapid attention of customers. There are various factors on which positioning of a campaign depends like the target market, product features brand image, etc. Over the years Lays has developed a unique brand image. The campaign was specifically designed to support the branding activities of the company. It was positioned as a platform for customers to contribute their ideas toward product development of the company. This campaign was not only about linking target group with business strategies but can even be considered as a brand loyalty program. To be more precise it was a social media campaign developed for staying ahead from the competition. Positioning is important as it gives clarity to customers in relation to understanding the message being conveyed through an advertisement (Baker and Hart, 2008). The campaign even involved some celebrities that effectively gave a higher standard to the campaign. There were celebrities such as Eva Longoria who is an actress and restaurateur, and Michael Symon who is a restaurateur and celebrity chef involved in the advertisement campaign of Lays. This strategy of celebrity endorsements can be regarded as a successful positioning component of the brand. Reason for campaign The advertiser through this significant campaign desires to inform its target customers that the company takes into consideration customer preferences. On basis of this innovative campaign the organization aims to expand its customer base. The most important message being conveyed through this campaign is that customers are an integral part of Lays brand. Through this approach, advertiser not only associates the brand with younger generation but even makes the product – people’s product. In majority firms it has been noticed that effective mechanisms are adopted to deliver superior quality products. However the scenario is different in case of Lays as it aims to develop their product line based on specific flavour preferences of customers (Ståhlberg and Maila, 2013). Lays as an advertiser, is not selling its product through the campaign, since the main focus of the campaign is to involve more individuals in the contest. Such branding activities often proves to be successful for companies as customers feel valued and it enhances their level of brand preference. This can be stated as a hidden reason behind the campaign as it gives the company an opportunity to sustain its business operations in the competitive market place. Perception The entire advertisement campaign creates a positive environment and even initiates greater degree of enthusiasm within individuals. Figure1 highlights the innovative advertisement campaign designed by Lays. Figure 1: Advertisement campaign of Lays A thorough analysis of the campaign outlines the major objective behind such advertisement. The company aimed towards designing something creative which can grab attention of customers. Hence the colour combination used in the campaign was appropriate as it appeared to be attractive. On the other hand, the company did not remain bounded to colours or textures of the campaign but it even involved some celebrities to reach out to global customers. This proved to be effective as customers believed the campaign to be genuine and even participated in “Do Us a Flavour” contest. The celebrity endorsement even enhanced the brand image. All the factors such as colours, texts and celebrity endorsements have been utilized appropriately in the campaign (Pride and Ferrell, 2014). The brand highlights the usage of social media through this campaign and even portrays all possible ingredients that can be utilized by participants. Buyer Process The buyer process model comprises of various stages and all of them are associated with purchase of a product or service. These stages are problem recognition, information search, and evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post-purchase evaluation. This advertisement campaign of Lays is inclined towards the third stage of buyer process. The idea behind the campaign was to motivate customers so that they opt for Lays chips. This idea has been successfully implemented and the firm has achieved its desirable goals (Onkvisit and Shaw, 2009). There were many customers who participated in the campaign and the winner even received prize money of 1million dollars. It can be stated as alternative evaluation stage of buyer process since with growing competition and large number of players in the market, often companies need to adopt most innovative strategy. Customer loyalty of a chip brand cannot be analysed appropriately since it depends on taste preferences of customers. Hence the best strategy was implemented by Lays as it involved customers in the process where they can design creative chip shapes and flavours. On the contrary, customers while evaluating other brands will be inclined towards Lays as it has taken an initiative to give consideration to wide variety of taste preferences of customers. Involvement Levels/ Risk Perception The level of involvement of customers is high in the advertisement campaign. This is because customers are the ones who are entirely responsible for success of this advertisement campaign. High involvement basically means that an advertiser focuses on target group of customers. On the other hand, customers need to understand well the message being conveyed through the campaign and take necessary steps. The contest which was designed by the company demanded full participation from customers in order to deliver innovative ideas. Risk perception is medium in case of “Do Us a Flavour” advertisement campaign. There are huge investments done by the company in this campaign in terms of celebrity endorsement, prize amount, telecasting the campaign in all possible media, etc. The type of risks displayed is financial and marketing risks. Financial risks indicate the low return on investment if customers are not convinced for participation (Urban, 2004). Whereas marketing risks is inability to reach to right customer market at the right time. This in turn will greatly affect the goal of the campaign to bring forth some innovative flavoured chips in the market. Elements of Marketing Mix Product The features of the product are it’s a potato chip of different sizes, shapes and flavour. It is a ready to eat product that can be consumed by individuals belonging to any age group. The major benefit of the product is it does not encompass high fat or cholesterol level. This in turn makes it preferable for children as well as adults. The advertisement campaign is able to effectively communicate the brand features as it displays the product shape and current flavours. On the other hand, the campaign even highlights the innovative flavours implemented by the company over the past few years. This campaign effectively portrays the ingredients used for manufacturing Lays products and even those which can be utilized by customers for winning the contest. Price The advertisement campaign do not comprise of any specific price related information. This is because it was designed to attract large base of customers and not to convey any product related information. “Do Us a Flavour” was more of a promotional activity undertaken by the company rather than transmitting information regarding price and product size. The other reason is that the motive of the advertiser was to reach out to global customers through social media networks such as Twitter and Instagram. This objective is not aligned with the price related information of a product (Doole and Lowe, 2008). There are no such instances in the campaign where price has been focused on or highlighted. However participation cost in terms of prize money is outlined which is more significant as per the campaign. Place The place of distribution of the products has not been focused in the advertisement campaign. The promotional unique advertising campaign of Lays “Do us a flavour” is distributed through the social media marketing channels and other digital channels. The primary aim of this advertising campaign was to reach a wider group of customer for the product. The medium of distribution of the campaign was through the leveraging on the social media networks and through the internet which can be easily used through the mobile devices as well as the desktop devices. The distribution is done through mobile devices because the use of mobile devices has become a very common technology usage among almost all groups of customers. Promotion The “Do us a flavour” advertisement campaign is a part of the overall promotion of the famous crisp product of the company, Lays. The promotion would be done on the basis of the live communication with the customers where the customer groups can communicate their views and opinions directly through the microsites and through common social media platforms like Tweeters, Facebook, and LinkedIn etc. This promotional strategy is aimed at boosting the reach of the crisp brand of PepsiCo, Lays in the smartphones, tablets and other computing devices. The advertisement campaign is to be conducted over a period of one year through the use of microsites and social networking sites as a part of an effective and innovative promotional strategy that was aimed at building a two way communication process developed between the marketers and the consumers (Wind and Mahajan, 2002). Critique and Recommendations The advertisement campaign of Lays was an ideal example for companies who desire to attain a competitive edge in a highly competitive market place. Throughout the campaign advertisers has mainly focused on their target customers. The most appealing element in the campaign was celebrity endorsements along with an innovative contest where multiple flavours were created. This brand is associated with young generation and so bright colours such as red, yellow, blue, etc., were used in the campaign. Though many individuals fail to analyse the importance of colour and texture in a campaign but these factors are responsible for a campaign’s success. On the other hand, objective of the campaign was clear to audience from the day of its launch. This in turn motivated more individuals to participate in the contest. As a result lump sum investment done in the campaign was successfully retrieved by the management. There were certain areas of improvement in the campaign such as highlighting the product features more and its benefits. The campaign could also have involved customer loyalty initiative where those individuals are brought in front of public who never switched to any other brand. This would have not only motivated people to relate with the campaign but even outlined the wide base of loyal customers possessed by the brand. In overall context the advertisement campaign has been able to convey required message to target audience. References Baker, M., and Hart, S., 2008. The Marketing Book. Great Britain: Routledge. Cheverton, P., 2005. Key Marketing Skills: Strategies, Tools and Techniques for Marketing Success. Great Britain: Kogan Page Publishers. Doole, I., and Lowe, R., 2008. International Marketing Strategy: Analysis, Development and Implementation. Canada: Cengage Learning EMEA. Onkvisit, S., and Shaw, J., 2009. International Marketing: Strategy and Theory. New York: Routledge. Pride, W., and Ferrell, O.C. 2014. Foundations of Marketing. UK: Cengage Learning. Smith, T., 2011. Pricing Strategy: Setting Price Levels, Managing Price Discounts and Establishing Price Structures. Canada: Cengage Learning. Ståhlberg, M., and Maila, V. 2013. Multichannel Marketing Ecosystems. UK: Kogan Page Publishers. Urban, G. L. 2004. Digital Marketing Strategy: Text and Cases. UK: Pearson Prentice Hall. Wind, J. & Mahajan, V. 2002. Digital Marketing: Global Strategies from the Worlds Leading Experts. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Read More