Understanding Reference Groups in Marketing Communication - Assignment Example

Question 1. Explain what is meant by “reference groups” in marketing communication. Offer an example of how your brand uses a reference group as a persuasive tool in one of its marketing communication campaigns. A reference group is a standard of comparison for an individual’s behavior or attitude. It is therefore, in essence, a group to which one uses as a comparison point to their own actions and convictions. Reference groups are of three forms; aspirational reference groups, associative reference groups and dissociative reference groups (Smith & Haefen, 1997, p.53). Aspirational reference group refers to people against whom others would like to compare themselves. Associative reference groups include people who represent a person’s current equal; while dissociative reference groups include people someone would not like to emulate. Reference groups have been proved to be effective in changing others’ attitudes and behavior because people often compare themselves with these groups. These groups are associated either to a brand or a product. In cases where the product and brand are not strongly influenced with reference groups, advertising is required to show the product’s qualities, price and advantages over competitive products in the market (Butterfield, 1997, p. 83). ABC TV contains ABC 1 ABC2 and ABC 3.ABC 3 are an exclusive children’s channel with no commercials (ABC, 2012). ABC uses cartoons and other catchy pictures whenever they want to pass their messages to children. They want to capture the attention of most children so that most children associate themselves with the ABC 3 channel. ABC has over time contemplated changing from analogue to digital transmission. Through the knowledge of reference groups, most people are likely to believe information that is given by professionals in their fields of specialization to be true. ABC TV uses telecommunication engineers to explain to their viewer the advantages of digital transmission; and how easy it is to install set top boxes that convert analogue transmission to digital transmission. In the study of reference groups, people are more likely to agree to decisions that are endorsed by executives of organizations that issue the decisions (Fill, 2002, p.3). In the appointment, of Carol Sklan as the ABC TV head of fiction, the director of ABC TV Kim Dalton said he was optimistic that she was ready for the challenge. Kim Dalton also supported the appointment of Arul Baskaran as head of Controller for Multiproduction department. The viewers of ABC TV are in a position to accept the change in head of controller because of the support the director has for the employees. In reference groups, it is clear that celebrities are part of a specialty group and most people admire their lifestyle and would like to emulate them. ABC TV used the celebrity chef Matt Moran to encourage people to visit the Kangaroo Island. This is with regard to his celebrity status and the influence that he commands among ABC TV viewers and Australians in general. ABC TV tries to make sure that the content that is aired in each of its channels is relevant to the target reference group (ABC TV, 2012). The director of ABC TV called on the Nation Broadcasting Network (NBN) to focus more on the content that it delivers rather than emphasizing on the method it uses in delivery of content. This move was aimed at keeping the target reference group interested in the content ABC TV has to offer. 2. Define “attention” from the perspective of consumer behavior theory. Can you provide two examples of how marketing communication is used by your brand to attract “attention” [as defined by the theory]? Consumers have to make decisions on whether or not to purchase a product. Modern day consumers get a lot of messages from marketers on their products, and these messages are regarded as stimuli. In most cases, stimuli from a given message are received through various sensory organs simultaneously (Schultz & Kitchen, 2000, p.81). A consumer can only remember one of them, which are often the strongest and tries to take the appropriate action. Marketers, therefore, are given the task to leave an impact on the customer. Attention is affected by three factors: stimulus, individual factors and situational factors (Wilson, 2001, p.11). Stimulus makes someone to do an action by creating an attention. Characteristics of stimulus are: color and movement, position, size and intensity and format and design. Individual factors are personal factors that create an attention and they include: Interest and needs; one’s ability; involvement. Situational factors include the condition; environment or surrounding of the consumer that have an effect their attention of certain stimuli. The frequency with which a message is relayed determines the attention that consumers have towards that message (Schultz, Tannenbaum & Lauterborn, 1994, p. 217). ABC TV acknowledges the importance of attention in their marketing communication. When they want to pass a message to their market, they pass the message in a high frequency and in intervals such that everyone will see the message. When ABC TV launched the iView channel which enables users to watch programs they had missed on their computers or play station, they advertised it more frequently at first until almost all the viewers knew of its existence. For attention to be maximized, relevance of the message is a principal contributing factor (Alan, 1993, p.62). ABC TV takes into consideration the relevance of any message it passes at any given time. For example, it only airs adverts on sporting equipment during or after a game. Toys and comic books are advertised after a cartoon program on the exclusive children’s channel ABC 3. Announcements on stock markets are done after business talks to optimize the relevance of their marketing communications. ABC TV is very observative on competitive activity on any communication it gives. If ABC TV faces competition from other service providers, then it will increase the avenues it displays its message so as to maintain the attention of the consumer (ABC TV, 20120. For example, if ABC TV tells its viewers through billboards that it has the best movies and another TV station claims the same using the same media, ABC TV will counter that by using magazines and banners so as to create more attention. For an organization’s content to create more attention, it must be in most media types (Economist, 2001). ABC TV has been a force to reckon with in media diversity. ABC has a multimedia website which has all the program lineups for its stations. ABC TV has rolled out iView, a service that enables users stream shows directly to devices and this helps ABC to give users any marketing information they had missed. ABC TV also does some of its marketing communication through print media to increase its chances of sparking attention from their viewers. 3. Define social media. Does your brand use social media to communicate with its target market/potentials? Can you describe what kinds of messages it delivers via this format, and what marketing communication purpose you think these messages serve? Social media are a description given to websites that enable users to share content. They involve the use of internet based technologies to allow the creation and exchange of user generated content (Wilson, 2001, p.61). User generated content is easily accessible; it is enabled by assorted communication techniques. Social media take on various forms, which include: weblogs; social blogs; podcasts; video rating and social bookmarking. Kaplan and Haeinlein’s classification scheme for social media classifies them into six types. The types of social media are: collaborative projects, blogs and microblogs, virtual game worlds, social networking sites, content communities and virtual social worlds (Maximillan, 2008, p.35). The technologies used include: picture sharing, music-sharing, crowdsourcing, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and instant messaging (Clow, Kenneth, Baack & Donald, 2006, p.108). Social network aggregation platforms are used to integrate various social media services. Social media have seven functional building blocks as laid out by the honeycomb framework. The building blocks are: conversations, identity, presence, relationships, reputation, groups and sharing. Most companies build their own social containment with a primary purpose of linking the seven functional blocks under their brand names. ABC TV has embraced the touch of social media in its communication. ABC has significant presence in Twitter and Facebook. The station has employed an online producer whose job is to manage content on the station’s pages on social networks. ABC TV has six pages on facebook: ABC, ABC 2, ABC News 24, ABC iView and Miss Fisheries murder mysteries (Facebook, 2012). There is an emerging trend of integrating social media and TV, and it has been dubbed “social TV”. Social TV is a service that is aimed at creating viewers interaction during streaming of shows. ABC has introduced iView which is a social TV platform. ABC uses its pages on social media to show the programs being aired and a summary of the daily news bulletins. There are two kinds of messages that ABC TV relays to its viewers through social media: marketing messages and communication messages (Silberberg, 2001, p.79). To relay communication messages, ABC provides links to news and other content that is of importance to its viewers. New programs that have been introduced as well as approved audiences for the programs are communicated to viewers through social media. Changes in news anchors or program lineups are communicated to the viewers through social media. When sending marketing messages, ABC TV used its Facebook page to inform its viewers about the introduction of digital services. ABC also used social media to inform viewers on the introduction of ABC 3 which is an exclusive children’s channel (Facebook, 2012). The various messages conveyed through social media have different purposes. Messages sent through social media help to create a sense of togetherness between the viewers of ABC TV. Information that is posted on Facebook daily pertaining to TV programs helps to popularize the TV shows that are aired on the station. The messages are relayed on social media are closely regulated so that the discussion that ensues from them is positive. When changes occur in the program lineup they are communicated to viewers, this enables management to evaluate their actions by analyzing the feedback from their viewers. References ABC TV (2012). Explore ABC Television. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/tv/ Alan G. I. (1993). The structure of neoclassical consumer theory. EconWPA (RePEc:wpa:wuwpmi:9805003). Retrieved from http://129.3.20.41/eps/mic/papers/9805/9805003.pdf Butterfield, J. (1997). Strategy development. In Butterfield, L. (ed.) (1997), Excellence in Advertising: The IPA Guide to Best Practice (65-90). Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Clow, K.E. & Baack, D. E. (2006). Integrated advertising, promotion, and marketing communications. New York, NY: Prentice Hall. Economist. (2001). The Rebirth of a salesman. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/node/569858 Facebook (2012, May 3). ABC Television. Facebook. Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/ABCTV.au Fill, C. (2002). Marketing Communications: Contexts, Strategies and Applications (3rd ed). Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Maximillan, R. (2008). Monitoring social media for security references to your organization. London: Rooutledge. Schultz, D. & Kitchen, P. (2000). Communicating globally: An integrated marketing approach. London: Macmillan. Schultz, D., Tannenbaum, S.I & Lauterborn, R.E. (1994). Integrated marketing communications. Chicago: NTC Business Books. Silberberg, E. & Suen, W. C. (2001). The Structure of Economics: A mathematical Analysis (3rd ed). Michigan: McGraw Hill. Smith, V.K. & Haefen, R.V. (1996). Welfare measurement and representative consumer theory. Economics Letters, 50(1), 57-63 Wilson, A. (2001) Creating a climate for change- The case for media neutral planning and how to get there. ATG UK. Retrieved from http://www.cim.co.uk/filestore/resources/canons/mnpchange.pdf Read More