Marks & Spencers Integrated Marketing Communications - Case Study Example

Marks & Spencer’s Integrated Marketing Communications Student’s Name Class Institution City and State Date Marks & Spencer’s Integrated Marketing Communications Firms’ marketing methods vary from approaches that are effortless as stand-along billboard adverts to multifaceted multilingual international websites. The ways of reaching prospective consumers increase persistently for all companies. In the face of cluttered and complicated market circumstances, companies are attempting to be heard. Firms’ marketing tools have to communicate using a clear voice. This has resulted in the need for coordination of the different promotional constituents and other marketing activities, which correspond with a company’s clients (Belch & Belch 2009). Marketers embrace the conception of integrated marketing communications, and they begin demanding that their advert synchronize the use of various promotional tools, as opposed to relying primarily on media advertising. Promotional money has to add value because it generates new sales and higher profits. Furthermore, the companies’ marketers have seen the need to plan, develop, carry out, and assess coordinated, persuasive, measurable brand communications over time with customers, employees, prospects, associates, and other targeted relevant internal and external audiences (Belch & Belch 2009). This process generates short-term financial returns and builds long-term brand as well as shareholder value. Marks and Spencer undertake integrated marketing programs, which illustrates the benefits of integrated marketing communication. Marks & Spencer is one of UK leading retailers. M&S shops specialise in selling premium, stylish, great value clothes, and home products such as furniture as well as exceptional quality food. There are more than 700 stores in the UK and an expanding international business. The company’s retail shops are the number one provider in women wear, lingerie, menswear, kid wear, and home. The home ware and clothing sales account for 49% of M&S Company whereas food takes 51%, it sells everything including groceries, fresh produce, ready meals, and partly prepared meals (Marks & Spencer 2012). Marks & Spencer coordinates and integrates all its marketing communication tools, avenues, and sources in the company into a faultless program, which capitalises on the influence on customers and other users at a minimum cost. The integration influences each of the company-marketing channels, business to business, internally directed, and customer focused communications. Marks & Spencer is responsible for developing business unit strategies, which identify and prioritize key customer needs as well as their opportunities to address the brand strategy. The stores recommend key product priorities and develop commercial cases for marketing investment, which contribute to the overall good of the brand. The company also controls the volume and variety of client messages across the commodity offer to balance business requirements, as well as the cohesion or clarity of the brand. For instance, the company leads strategic direction of the Christmas campaign for business and it delivers advertising as well as in store campaign that meets the needs of all business units while at the same time underpinning the entire brand position to the customers. M&S promotion comprises of activities like direct marketing, database marketing, internet marketing, public relations, and sponsorship marketing. Its complete integrated marketing communications plan integrates each aspect of the marketing mix such as prices, products, and distribution and promotion methods. For instance ‘Your M & S’ campaigns in 2006 were based on the fact that in the past M&S became the subject of several takeover attempts by its competitors as its fortunes flagged. The aim of the idea was to re-instil M&S important historical values of service, quality, and value and to try to communicate to the UK customers that the company was theirs (Sweeney 2006). In 2006, M&S changed its tagline to read “This is not just food, this is M&S food” with an end line that read, “Look behind the label.” These changes yielded results because the M&S campaign estimated 18 million additional customers after the campaign first year. In 2006, the Institute of Practitioners named the ad the most effective British advertising effort (Sweeney 2006). This ad campaign shows how effective advertising helped to turn around the company’s difficult situations. M&S has been doing well since then and has posted increased returns. It has a 3 billion pounds or $4.9 billion, United Kingdom property portfolio and sales have been rising in its categories (Conti 2009). This shows that promoting products and services is a key marketing activity in M&S since the very beginning; however, there is more to promotion when it comes to marketing in M&S, the company uses a variety of techniques to communicate to the target audience. The company’s range of techniques includes advertising, publicity, sales promotion, sponsorship, direct marketing, internal marketing, and personal selling. M &S uses the prime media such as the television, press, posters, radios, and billboards to communicate its ideas or products. There is a series of television ads featuring celebrities. Elements of M&S TV campaigns are an important part of retailers’ identity in the stores. The company also advertises its products and passes its ideas through radio adverts. It also relies on print media to reach its target customers. The company displays its poster ads on numerous places including on the side of buses. The company also has a magazine, M&S magazine, which is UK most read woman lifestyle title. In some of the stores, there are posters of models, which hang next to the product that they wear in the ads. This encourages customers to relate the products to the models they see on television. M &S also employ sales promotions and offer incentives to consumers to stimulate purchase and to acquire repeat customers. It stimulates sales through promotions and discounts. M&S discount vouchers include promotional coupon codes, money off vouchers, free delivery codes and promo offer, marksandspencer.com discounts, gift vouchers and voucher codes. For instance, currently there is a 20% off 2 or more selected cabinet or bedroom furniture plus free deliver and 25% off mix and match beer or wine cases. These two offers expire on 31 March 2012. There is also a 20% off selected cashmere knitwear. These promotions and discounts have boosted sales. UK sales went up 4.8%, and its focus of promotions helped its food to outperform the market (Baker 2010). When it comes to publicity, M&S places information about its products in the media without paying for the time or space directly. The hello kitty competition is a good example of M&S publicity. The winners are required to take place in reasonable post competition publicity for the company. M&S gets the media to cover and run favourable stories about its products to affect opinions and awareness. Concerning sponsorship, the company associates its clothing with famous persons such as Frankie Cocozza, Jamie Redknapp, Twiggy, Dannii Minogue, and Myleene Klass. Jamie Redknapp, Sky’s Sports Commentator is a model for M&S menswear campaign. M &S also uses direct marketing by distributing its product information as well as promotional advantages to target customers through interactive communication in a manner that allows the company to measure its responses. Concerning Internet marketing, Marks & Spencer uses its website and other sites such as social network sites. M & S website has plenty of helpful information available for every product; it markets its new and existing products. Online customers find a huge range of M&S products with everything from furniture and electronics to the latest fashions, school wear, wines, gifts, and flowers. Customers can purchase most of these products online. Personal selling enables oral communication with prospective customers. In the retail stores, there are sales personnel who inform customers about the company products so that they can influence them to buy. The personnel also advise customers. M&S also uses store layout and visual merchandising in marketing as they enhance the shopping experience of customers and encourage repeat purchasing. For instance, there is Cold Chain of fridges for promoting M&S foods. The company also uses fixtures, displays, and fittings such as baskets and racking to promote their products. The seven marketing promotional blend assists M&S to be in touch with the target audience. The company coordinates its marketing communication means to convey a consistent, understandable, realistic, and competitive message about it and its products. For instance, the website images are in line with images represented and adverts, and the messages communicated in a direct marketing campaign correspond with the ones by public relations department. The company customer represents the starting point for all marketing communication activities. The marketing strategies used by M&S are up to the task, and their multiple messages speak with one voice; they present the similar message and deliver that message constantly across diverse point of contact. All messages and media by M&S are coordinated, and this has been critical in achieving the company strong and unified brand image, which has moved customers to action. There are no contradictory messages in M&S marketing mix, and this has resulted in an enduring link between M&S brands and its customers. The successful relationship between the brands and customers leads to repeat purchasing and ideally loyalty towards the brand. M&S goal is to affect the behaviour of the target audience, the mere achievement of intermediate goals such as positively affecting attitudes and creating brand awareness are not satisfactory. The company aims to move the target audience to action. Communication lines are open between marketing and other departments in M&S. Marks & Spencer usually face a big challenge of keeping up with the changing customer preferences and thus it is concerned with managing the marketing mix to ensure that the benefits are delivered effectively. M&S uses the 7Ps marketing mix; Product, Price, Promotion, Place of Distribution, People, Process and Physical evidence. M&S Products offer a complete package of benefits; they offer numerous benefits be it clothing, furniture or food. Most of M&S customers are repeat customers because of the value derived from the company products. M&S is best known for women’s wear with 11% of the market shares. M&S has numerous product lines and sub brands in its department stores. Recent product lines include M&S money, Walkers and Heinz. The company introduced wise buy sub-brand to appeal customers with less disposable income because of economic downturns. When it comes to its product, M&S always adapts to meet the customer demands. When it comes to Price, the company prices are slightly higher than those of its competitors; however, the quality of the products is extremely high. M&S has been offering a special price offers to generate interests or awareness. M&S stores are located (Place) across the UK in retail parks, high streets, airports, station, and other strategic areas, which range from large flagship and out of town stores of more than 100, 000 square feet to Simple food stores of around7, 000 sq ft. The company largest retail shop is on London’s Oxford Street AT Marble Arc, and it occupies 17,000 (sq). ft of selling space (Marks & Spencer 2012). M&S also focuses on all People, including customers, suppliers and the fashion retailer’s staff, who are engaged in the transaction of buying and selling of its products. It is proud of its workforce, and it makes sure that individuals involved in the supply chain have a clear understanding of the customer’s fashion product needs and expectations. The sales people in M&S stores are very friendly to customers, and they take their time to assist customers. M&S also has a very high-profile marketing strategy (Promotion). It uses taglines such as ‘Exclusively for Everyone’ targeting all people apart from kids. The company rebranded in 2006 to ‘Your M&S’ to ensure customers have an emotional attachment to the stores. There is also high media involvement in the promotion and also hire celebrities to endorse its products especially clothing. When it comes to Physical evidence, different stores have different designs and layouts. Its windows, fascia and stock are classic: It takes pride in its stores appearance with a clear image and style. There company log appears on bags, receipt and lots of the own branded products; they all reflect the brand image of M&S. M&S Processes range from a store and website layout and function to more specialist personal shopping and home delivery features. These features vary tremendously among larger stores and smaller stores. In 2009, M&S spent £400m to improve processes such as new SAP system, hand held computers for stock taking and a dedicated e-commerce warehouse. The company realized that it needed to be able to react faster and adopt better technological equipment and processes. The other theory applicable in the M&S case is the Michael Porter Competitive structure. This competitive structure is useful in identifying the strategy that M&S uses to build a competitive advantage. Porter identified three main strategies for attaining competitive advantage; differentiation, cost leadership, and focus. These advantages originate from M&S positions in the market, and they rely on the tactics and strategies employed by its competitors. M&S competitive advantage arises from differentiation; it seeks to be outstanding along dimensions that customers widely appreciate. M&S areas of differentiation are marketing, products, distribution, image and service. M&S also has a focus competitive advantage; it achieves focus by setting out to be the best in the fashion industry. It seeks a differentiation focus by seeking differentiation in its target segment. Through differentiation, it qualifies its products in a manner that enables it to emerge exceptional in the fashion industry. M&S identifies the qualitative elements that are most significant for its clients and finds ways of adding worth along those dimensions. Although M&S prices are slightly higher than those of the competitors, the quality of product drives the sales. Its differentiation focus enables it to differentiate its products and services within the market. These strategies allow M&S to achieve a local and international competitive advantage in the fashion industry. Reference List Baker, R 2010, M&S sales boosted by promotions and innovation, Marketing Week, Available at: Accessed 20 March 2012 Belch, G. & Belch, M 2009, Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective, 8ed, McGraw Hill, New York. Brady, D 2004, Making Marketing Measure Up, Business Week, pp. 112-113. Conti, S 2009, Marks and Spencer First-Half Profit Dips, WWD: Women’s Wear Daily, vol. 198, no. 95. Mark & Spencer, 2012, Company Overview, Available at: http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus/company_overview, Accessed 20 March 2012 Sweeney, M 2008, A successful ad campaign has revived the fortunes of Marks & Spencer, The Guardian, Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/nov/06/retail.mondaymediasection, accessed 20 March 2012. Read More