Emirates Group Communication Mix - Case Study Example

Emirates Group Communication Mix s al affiliation Emirates Group Communication Mix Introduction The Emirates group is a company that has invested in the aviation, tourism, travel and leisure industries. The company started its operations in Dubai, and it has since expanded and grown to become the biggest employer in the region. Today, the company employs more than 62,000 people in all its businesses and associated firms. The company has created the corporate communication division that handles all the communication with the company between the customers and the company (“The Emirates Group”, 2015). This essay discusses the communications mix of the Emirates Group today and recommendations for the 2016 communication mix. Communication mix that is also referred to as promotional mix refers to all activities and methods that a company uses in promoting its products and services to the target market. Customers buy products that they are aware of and thus high need of promotion in companies to the targeted customers and market segments. The Emirates Group just like any other organization that is profit driven has had communication mix methods that it has been using for a couple of years. Currently, the Emirates Group undertakes the following communication mix in the bid to promote its products and services to the customers. Advertising The Emirates Group has developed an advertising team that deals with delivering first class advertising communications to the customers. The department launches market research prior to coming up with the advertising strategy so as to understand what the customers will connect with in terms of an advert. The company has grown and developed in its advertising media where it focuses on relevancy and credibility on the messages its sends to the customers. Since the inception the Emirates Group, it has embraced advertising as one of the important methods of communication to the customers. The company has been using 30% of its communication budget to finance advertisements. The company uses the print media such as newspapers and magazines for its advertisement purposes and also the electronic media such as radio and television to advertise its products and services. In addition to the above traditional advertising methods, the company has embraced the social media where it advertises its products in social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. The internet has also provided a platform where the company advertises its products, job vacancies and services to the public (“The Emirates Group”, 2015). For instance, in 2011, the company advertised approximately 4,000 cabin crew jobs through a music site on the internet where 30% of the applicants accessed the job advert. The company always sets a 3% of total revenues as the amount of money it will spend on advertisements. The company has been setting up a budget of 3% of total revenue on advertisements, but this has continued to change to the high cost of oil globally. In 2006 and 2007, the company spent less amount of money on advertisement compared to the 3% budget. For instance, in 2006, the company made Dh31.5 billion in revenues but used only 2.8% in advertisements. Till today, the company has embraced advertising using the same rate of spending as it used before though some changes have been taking place due to changes in the economy and inflation around the globe (“The Emirates Group”, 2015). Events Sponsorship The Emirates Group has embraced events sponsorship as one of the main communication methods among its communication mix. For many years, the company has been associated with sponsoring various types of sports in the bid of promoting its products and services to the customers. The company takes a hand to sponsor international high-profile sports such as football, horse racing, rugby, sailing and golf. The company has set up a team that build the company`s brand and image when these events are ongoing by providing promotional materials to the people in attendance. In football, the company has sponsored the world cup and top football clubs Europe and Asia. Arsenal is one of the most remarkable clubs which has been sponsored by the company for a quite a while. The company sponsors the F1, Golf cups and cricket world cup among others. The company usually sets a budget of 30% of its communications budget (“The Emirates Group”, 2015). Public Relation The company has not underestimated the need to maintain its brand image and thus it has invested in the public relation as one of the communications mix. The public relation in the Emirates Group entails media relations, crisis communication, reputation management and corporate social responsibility. The company has to ensure it has high media coverage on its positive image and also building relationships with its esteemed customers across the globe. The company arranges for meetings with journalists so as to brief them on the new events in the company. The social media has also been used entirely to create a positive brand image for the company. The public relation department runs on a 10% budget of its communication budget (“The Emirates Group”, 2015). Promotions The Emirates Group has also embraced promotion as one of its communication mix. Apparently, promotion functions to make the customers aware of the company`s products and services. The Emirates Group organizes fairs, exhibitions and events with the aim of promoting its services and products. The promotion team on such occasions distributes promotional materials such as trophies branded by the Emirates Group, banners, give a ways and flags. The promotions are aimed at attracting more customers to the brand and creating awareness to the people who may not know about the brand. The company uses 20% of the communication budget on promotion (“The Emirates Group”, 2015). In addition to the four major communication methods, the company uses in-flight magazines and in-flight communications as a way to promote its products and services. The sole reason to communicate to the customers on the plane is to encourage them to use the company for travel again and again. Recommendations For the previous years, the Emirates Group has been using the above-discussed communication mix. The Emirates Group is planning to come up with a new communication mix that will include new promotional activities that the company will undertake for the 2016 business. The company has to come up with a 12-month implementation plan that will have the projected costs. The recommended communication mix for the next operation year includes some of the following. Personal selling The Emirates Group having established itself as a market leader in the leisure and tour travel company, it has to embrace personal selling in its new communication mix plan. The company has offered its services to many people around the world, and it is time to develop the close relationship with them as a way to retain them forever. Personal selling is one of the best communication mixes where the company meets directly with the customer. This helps the company to learn how the customers think of the company`s brand and the services it offers. Personal selling tends to be more flexible, and the company can easily embrace it at any time of the operation period. In addition, this method helps the company get the feedback quickly from the customers compared to other methods of communication to the customers. The company should hire personal that will be located in all its branches around the world. They should then be allocated the area to cover where the customers come from and sell the companys services to them. The target customers include those customers within the capital cities of the countries where the company has its operations (Van Heerden & Drotsky, 2012). Direct Marketing Direct marketing refers communicating direct to the customer through various advertising methods. Companies all over the world have embraced direct marketing since it helps the customer retain its customers. The Emirates group should create a direct marketing department that will help create a database of all the customers who use their services. For instance, the travel department should create a database of all the customers who use their services. The same should happen to the leisure and aviation department. The database will be used to get information regarding the consumer`s tastes and preferences and communicating to them regarding their favorite services or new products in the company. The department should also advertise directly to its customers through cell phone text messages, email, creating interactive consumer websites and using online display advertising. Using this method of communication to the customers, it will help them feel preferred by the company, and they would wish to continue using the company`s services. The target customers include all those customers who have previously used the company`s services and products (“Marketing Communications”, n.d.). Promotion The Emirates Group should come up with more creative methods of promotion that will help compete in the 19th century where companies are more creative and more innovative. In this regard, the company should consider partnering with a global company that manufactures fast moving goods and come up with a sweepstake that will give the winners a free trip to one of the luxurious hotels owned by the company. The winner should also fly for free in the Emirates Airlines. In addition, the company should consider awarding its regular customers by reducing their flying ticket by 1%. This will create a good impression about the company of appreciating its regular customers. The new methods of promotion will help earn the company a good number of new customers while retaining the old customers. The target customers include the people living in countries where the company operates (Belch & Belch, 2012). Publicity To target the mass customers globally, the company should invest in publicity as one of its new promotional mix. Publicity refers to those non-communications regarding the company`s service and products. The Emirates should consider releasing press information time to time that will be directed to the mass media. The company should also ensure any press release is worth the mass media attention. This will create an opportunity to keep the company in the limelight thus attracting more and more customers (“Marketing Communications”, n.d.). 12 Month Implementation Plan January 1st to April 31st For the operation year 2016, the company should start its first phase of personal selling activity in the following countries. First, the company should focus on countries in Africa and Europe. The estimated costs of the personal selling strategy will be Dh2.5 billion. This is due to the high costs associated with the activity. More personnel will be hired leading to increase in the costs. February 2nd to March 28th The first phase of direct marketing should commence which will involve the compile of the information about the customers who have ever used the company`s services. More personnel will be required due to high volumes of information to analyze and a collection of data regarding the customers. The first phase will require approximately Dh10million. March 3rd to May 30th The first phase of promoting the company through one of the global manufactures should start. The Emirates Group should spearhead the manufacturing of a product that they feel should be worth being associated with. A lot of capital will be required at this stage since the company wants to be associated with a product of high quality. In this regard, the company should allocate 5% of its previous year`s revenues. April 1st to September 30th The company should start the second phase of Personal Selling that will cover the United States and Asia. All the capital cities within these regions should be attended to. The estimated cost for the entire project of covering the United States and Asia will be Dh3 billion. This will help the team reach more than 50% of the customers. July 2nd to August The second phase of direct marketing should start where the department should come up with the best ways to carry out direct marketing and start reaching out to the customers. The estimated cost is Dh15million that will be used in developing various medias of communication and also compensating the personnel involved. August 1st to October 30th The phase of awarding regular customers with lower cost travelling should start. The company should create a program that will run until October to award the regular and loyal customers. Dh10 billion is the estimated cost that will enable the company achieve its goals. October 7th to December 31st The second and last phase of promoting the company through a partnership with another global company should commence where the company should ensure the products are distributed globally and especially to the potential markets and target customers. This will cost the company approximately Dh 10billion. Apparently, the company has been embracing communication mix since it one of the most critical strategies for a business that determines its growth and development. Communication mix also contributes to the company`s income generation. The Emirates Group is entitled to come up with new methods that will help it capture the existing markets globally. References Belch, G., & Belch, M. (2012). Advertising and promotion. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Marketing Communications Techniques. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://lciweb.com/marketing-communications-techniques.htm The Emirates Group. (2015). Retrieved 20 June 2015, from http://www.”The Emirates Group” .com/english/ Van Heerden, C., & Drotsky, A. (2011). Personal selling. Claremont, Cape Town: Juta. Read More