Pr Plan for the Launch of in Scope - Report Example

INSCOPE: A RESEARCH TOWARDS NEW GENERATION PR PLAN FOR THE LAUNCH OF INSCOPE PRODUCED FOR BELCHER ROLLINS BY SUPREME PUBLIC RELATIONS 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report has been prepared in for Belcher Rollins and focuses on public relation strategy for the international launch of “InScope”, a new academic abstracting and indexing tool for libraries which is to be launched very soon. The report highlights the market position of Belcher Rollins and the estimated potential market for its new product InScope. It analyses the macro environmental factors and the internal factors along with a focus on key elements which may impact the launch of the product. Stakeholders are reviewed and key publics are identified using marketing techniques which has enabled to make clear and achievable campaign objectives with defined targeted messages. A recommended strategy is planned with international standards for a 12 month campaign. The strategy has been segregated into three segments which are pre launch awareness building, integrated communication and finally a follow-up. The report is concluded by outlining the required resources, potential budget and evaluation criteria to ensure smooth running of the research and further ensure that the public relation of the new product creates a revolutionary change. Recommendations are made on necessary internal structure to ensure no hindrance in the path of desired results with ease and effectiveness. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 Executive Summary 2 2.0 Background to the brief 4 3.0 Situation Analysis 4 4.0 Key Target Public 5 5.0 Goals and Objectives 6 6.0 Key Messages 7 8.0 Strategic Approach and Time Scale 7 8.0 Campaign Tactics 8 8.1Pre-Launch Activity 8 8.2The Real Launch 8 8.3Follow up Activity 9 9.0 Budget 9 10.0 Evaluation 9 11.0 References 11 2.0BACKGROUND TO THE BRIEF Belcher Rollins is the world’s largest academic publisher with its headquarters situated in London (England). The company provides huge employment to over 7000 employers in over 28 offices. The company is listed in London, Tokyo and New York Stock Exchange. The company has set up its offices in many parts of the globe like United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and China. The annual turnover of the company is over 5.5 billion pounds and the company serves over 30 million scientists, academics and information professionals round the globe. The company works with global academic communities and publishes over 5000 journal and 2000 books annually. Major publications are sold in Europe and North America. Its major competitors constitute learned societies, commercial publishers and university press. InScope is a user friendly search engine focused to find peer-reviewed, academic research among Belcher Rollins publications which equates to over 27 million document entries. The product is estimated to have a competitive edge as it provides a catalogue covering all academic fields of different research areas to produce innovative publications. It is anticipated that through this product the world’s most prestigious academic titles will now be available to all researchers at one place thus saving both time and money to a considerable extent. The research had been conducted on a new launch of an international product InScope for Belter Rollins. The report highlights the existing market of the company and the potential scope of the new product to be launched. An extensive research through public relations has been planned with an estimated time span of 12 months which is further divided into three phases which are pre-launch, integrated communication and finally a follow up. Goals and objectives had been laid down accordingly along with identification of key target public and finally concluded with a budget estimation and evaluation to ensure success of the research (Wagner and Leydesorff, 2005). 3.0 SITUATION ANALYSIS Situation analysis includes understanding the external environment of the organization along with internal factors. It focuses on the problems that the company currently faces and opportunities available to the company in terms of its public relations. An EPISTEL analysis has been conducted as under to better understand the external factors affecting the organization (Brown and Swan, 2007). Economic Shifts in international markets as US declines and opportunities increases in far Eastern countries. Cost of soft ware has reduced drastically with new companies entering the market place (Brown and Swan, 2007) Freer online search engines are readily and easily available. Political: Benefits of electronic publishing for low carbon agenda Market globalization ensuing international collaborations Government strategies becoming more stringent. Information Market for printed copies decline due to electronic information availability. Huge growth in internet use to access information easily. Few arts and humanity journals available electronically. Social Researchers are more inclined towards electronic content 24 hours availability of information with easier accessibility Requirement of librarians to adopt new skills and knowledge Geographic borders are no more an issues due to globalization Technological Internet seen as a new medium for information and research. Demand for sophisticated search tools in increasing. Threats from hacking, privacy and technological failure. Environmental Environmental friendly products demand has grown significantly. Potential environmental benefits like reduced pricing and distribution strategies. Reduced storage space and lesser library visits. Thus we see that an EPISTEL analysis provides complete information on the external environmental factors to which the company is subjected to. The internal factors of the company has also been studied critically which reflects that the company has done well in the academics field and has always come up with new ideas and innovations (Klavans and Boyack, 2009). Thus, ensuring that the new product launch of InScope have higher chances of achieving success and increase growth for the company with higher returns and better brand awareness of its products and services offered. 4.0 KEY TARGET PUBLICS A research loses its importance if the key targeted audience is unknown to the researcher. Public Relations involve communication of right message to the correct targeted audience. Variations in the targeted audience may mislead or rather create negative impact on the brand name of the company. It is to be noted that the existing market for academic journals is largely circular. A general flow of the business include three process of the academics and researchers write articles and books, colleagues peer-review them libraries support the same by making a purchase of such subscriptions (Hood, 2007). However stakeholders are diverse and need to be identified geographically and functionally. Stake holders can be segregated as under Enabling stake holders: It includes Belcher Rollins stakeholders, analysts and stock brokers. Governmental departments and agencies in targeted countries including Research councils and various commissions in the targeted countries (Hood, 2007) Functional stakeholders: This category includes the existing and potential service users, existing employees of the company, teachers, lecturers, editorial boards, review boards, national and international research bodies etc (Hood, 2007) Normative stakeholders: It mainly includes the competitors which comprises of commercial publishers, learned societies and presses. Diffused stakeholders: This segment of stakeholders mainly comprises of research foundations, publishers associations, professional associations, booksellers, specialist bloggers, trade unions, document suppliers, trusts etc. The mapping of stakeholders helps in developing public relations strategies accordingly. However, the following public has been identified as critical for the success of the launch of the product. The list is enumerated as under. Clinical, professional and industrial researchers. Employees of the company Various stakeholders of Belcher Rollins. Academic budget holders, researchers and librarians. Competitors like commercial publishers, university press and learned societies Government department and agencies. Trust and funded bodies. Thus special care is required to this list of targeted public to ensure smooth flow of the business and assure maximum advantage through the launch of new product. 5.0 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Goals and objectives are major part of any research or planning process. Since this report aims to find the strategies that will be beneficial for Belcher Rollins new product launch InScope in terms of its Public Relation issues. The goals and objectives have been laid as under. To develop strategies and plans in a systematic and coordinated manner to ensure that Belcher Rollins targets the correct audience and are provided with clear, accessible and encouraging information on InScope and its advantages within the campaign period. To generate complete understanding and support for InScope among industries and opinion leaders. To ensure cohesive planning and proper management by establishing teams to make clear communication about the product in a correct and systematic manner. To gain share holders confidence on the company’s investment in product development by linking investor relations with the launch of product (Tenopir and King, 2008). To mitigate the cost criticisms by communicating the value of product to the opinion leaders by promoting its efficiency, clear information and new innovation. To develop a position on political issues that might hamper the smooth flow of research campaign. To strengthen Belcher Rollins position as a brand leader in international market with more brand awareness and consciousness about the company and its products and services offered (Tenopir and King, 2008). 6.0 KEY MESSAGES Development of key messages is of utmost important for research campaign. Messages had been drafted in a manner to ensure that that the goals and objectives are achieved and company’s value, mission and vision statements are at no cost left unattended. Special care has been taken to ensure that that the messages does not harm the sentiments of both targeted and untargeted audience as the same can create negative impact to the launch of the new product and further harm the existing brand image of the company by affecting the sales figure to lower in a drastic manner. Belcher Rollins new product, InScope, represents a new revolutionary change in the existing market. It is expected to be the most innovative on-line research tool available to a long list of targeted audience. The product shall target to provide huge advantages to the libraries like Larger volume and better quality of information. Reduced storage space thus ensuing larger volumes. New skills and knowledge for existing and new librarians. Better efficiency with higher speed The new products will be provide added advantages to researchers as it will ensure a large number of journals at one place thus saving both time and money. Shareholders will be benefitted with investment in new source of content, larger markets, lower cost structures and value added online solutions on a real time basis. A detailed message plan is to be further developed in consultation with the organization management in line with its existing policies and strategies. 7.0 STRATEGIC APPROACH AND TIME SCALE Time span plays an important role in any research as any activity involving higher time span than the scheduled time will ultimately lead to delay of research and many factors both internal and external have to be re-considered which will ultimately affect the sales of the company (Dewatripont, 2006). The research campaign has been divided into four distinct elements Pre-launch activities, May to October 2013, creating awareness about the product before its actual launch. Intensive and integrated communication in October and November 2013 focusing on launch events. November to April 2013, follow up activities. Issue management planning, to ensure focus of stakeholders on the product launch. 8.0 CAMPAIGN TACTICS The campaign has been systematically spanned for 12 months which is discussed in details as under 8.1PRE-LAUNCH ACTIVITY (May to September, 2013) Focus on the group testing of consumer communications material. Establishment of a complete team of PR lead directed by Belcher Rollins. Targeted media planning for spokesperson to ensure maximum public relation. Establishment of a formal connectivity with key personnel and others in marketing, finance and human resource department. Creation of a complete plan and a campaign tool kit. Basic training about the products to existing employees from the HR department of the company. Features in monthly e-newsletter. Linkage with the existing company briefing system. Regular updates on intranet including specific employees to attend the InScope national launch of their choice. Use of existing database to sent e-alerts to a series of librarians making them know about the upcoming product launch (McGuigan and Russell, 2008) Advertising in Belcher Rollins 200 best selling magazines and circulars Building on international media relations and commenting in advance about the new products and the revolutionary change that the product shall create. Regular updates on e-newsletter, corporate and national websites to create more awareness about the product. Monitoring of media, competitor and public comments including training of media spokesperson to ensure no pitfalls. 8.2THE REAL LAUNCH (October and November, 2013) Distribution of merchandising materials like tee-shirts, pens, sticks etc with brand name and product name encrypted on the same. Internet and extranet advertisements. Distribution of i-brochure, with on-line quiz and downloadable screen savers with fre downloading. Liaison with editorial boards to explain the complete launch story in top selling Belcher Rollins publications. Use of social media and social; networking sites like twitter, facebook etc to make people aware about the new product. Complete coverage of the launch flashed on corporate and national websites. Use of both print and screen media to let people aware about InScope and its various advantages including comparison of the product with other search engines ensuring better credibility of the launched product (Dewatripont, 2006) Conducting international media relations program to target a larger audience on global fronts. Complete monitoring of media, competitor, press and public comments. 8.3FOLLOW UP ACTIVITY (November to April, 2014) Complete follow up coverage of launch activity to ensure no pitfalls. To make regular check on the ongoing use of social media. Road shows in targeted countries on which the launch was not hosted to ensure that no segment is left unattended. Sponsorship and speaker opportunities at key sector events and programs. Ensuring regular e-newsletter to librarians and other academic community with feedback forms about the launch, the products and its advantages created. Complete checking of data base to ensure that no targeted audience was left unattended. Creating a secondary plan for clear communication to any unattended audience or any recommendations made by the targeted audience for creating better awareness about the product and its benefits (McGuigan and Russell, 2008). 9.0 BUDGET The budget outlines the potential cost that is likely to be incurred for a successful launch of InScope with highest public relations being maintained to ensure the success of the research. The budget includes the entire cost structure that Belcher Rollins has to incur which includes the cost of specialist suppliers, potential consultancy fees, use of various media for making public relations including complete cost of the 12 month campaign likely to be carried out. The estimated cost is likely to be around 1.8 million pounds which is certainly subjected to market conditions and inflation rates prevailing during the 12 month span (David and Foray, 2005). 10.0 EVALUATION Evaluation plays a major role in any research or strategy conducted since it helps to find the variances from the standards set earlier and management continuously look to find measures to correct them. Further it is through evaluation that the management comes to know about the success or failure of the project. Evaluation should be done on the basis of following four steps in a systematic and coordinated manner. Complete background information with pre-testing, brief and complete planned activities being carried out. The outputs or the milestones achieved by conducting the research. This can be measured by help of gathering of event attendance, media comments about the launch, product and its advantages and disadvantages, end-user feedback about the product, use of specialist agencies to identify and score influential sites etc. Awareness, understanding and responses gathered i.e. a complete report on the outtakes of the planned activity being carried out. Last but not the least which holds the major position is the final outcomes of the research conducted so extensively by help of public relation. This can be judged by comparing the sales and profit figures of the company before the new product and after the launching of the product. Customer satisfaction survey and their responses on the same can also prove vital to know the outcome of the research so conducted. 11.0 REFERENCES Brown, S. and Swan, A. 2007. Researchers’ Use of Academic Libraries and their Services. Report commissioned by the Research Information Network and Consortium of Research Libraries. David, P and Foray, D. 2005. cited in Houghton, J, et al. 2009. Economic Implications of Alternative Scholarly Publishing Models: Exploring the cost and Benefits. JISC, London. Dewatripont, M. 2006. Study on the Economic and Technical Evolution of the Scientific Publication Markets in Europe. DG-Research, European Commission. Tenopir, C and King, D. 2008. Electronic Journals and Changes in Scholarly Article Seeking and Reading Patterns. D-Lib Magazine. 14.11/12. November/December 2008. Hood, A.K. 2007. SPEC Kit 300: Open Access Resources. Resource for librarians. Kent State University. Available from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), North America. Klavans, R and Boyack, K. 2009. Cited in Katzen, J. Technology brings challenges and opportunities for information. Research Information Magazine. February/March 2009. McGuigan, G. and Russell, R. 2008. The Business of Academic Publishing: A Strategic Analysis of the Academic Journal Publishing Industry and its Impact on the Future of Scholarly Publishing. Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship. 9 (3), 35-67 Wagner, C. and Leydesorff, L. 2005. Network Structure, Self-Organisation and the Growth of International Collaboration in Science. Digital Library of International Science and Technology. 34 (10). BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ORGANISATION The organization selected for the given report is Belcher Rollins and the report focuses on public relation strategy for its new product launch “InScope” a new abstracting and indexing tool for librarians. Belcher Rollins is one of the world’s largest academic publishers employing over 7000 employes and has its presence in over 28 countries with its offices situated therein. The headquarters of the company is situated in London, England. The company is regarded as a huge giant and serves over 30 million scientists, academics and information professionals all across the globe. It has set up international standards and publishes over 5000 journals and over 2000 books annually. Majority of its publications are sold in Europe and North America. Its major competitors include commercial publishers, learned societies and university presses. The company has recently decided to launch its new innovation which is anticipated to bring a revolutionary change in the current market scenario. The product is named as “InScope”, which is a user friendly search engine dedicated for finding peer-reviewed academic research among Belcher Rollins publications which equates to over 27 million document entries. The product is expected to provide the world’s most prestigious academic titles to researchers at one place and shall provide significant value addition to Belcher Rollins and all its end users when compared with other electronic products. Read More