Integrated Marketing Communications - Essay Example

Integrated Marketing Communications – JWT Question A. IMC Organizations Profiling an Ad-agency and their Current Choose an advertising agency which is in the top ten in the United States (find information from the websites mentioned in the course timeline), and present a brief profile of that agency that includes: a. Revenue b. Growth c. Position in the Industry d. Sample list of Clients e. Number of offices in the U.S., headquarters Answer JWT, as an advertising agency is one of the biggest to have its offices at literally all the locations possible across the globe. It is indeed the benchmark when it comes to hallmark and state of the art advertising. Without a shadow of a doubt, its affiliates the world over, have held on firmly to its beliefs of creating ideas and concepts which are unmatched and have no parallels whatsoever. Their commitment towards brand building with the dedication of its staff and employees and more so the devotion in terms of time and hard work is something that needs to be understood in the proper perspectives before we delve any further into this equation. The mission of JWT is to recognize the talents of the people who are the very best and nothing less is ever tolerated or compromised upon. It is because of this ideology that JWT has been able to create brands which have broken the clutter; no matter the campaign was of US origin or one that a short term tactical tilt to it, even in Australia. The belief and dependence on time is something that holds a lot of importance for the agency staff and it is apparent from their working regimes as well. The major competitors of JWT in terms of agency work and media buying include McCann Erickson, Saatchi & Saatchi, Foote, Cone and Belding (FCB), Leo Burnett and so on and so forth. [JWT] The current clients of JWT Worldwide include Unilever, Vodafone, HSBC, Ford, Kraft Foods, Shell, Rolex, Reckitt Benckiser, Pfizer, Nestle, Kellogg’s, Domino’s Pizza, Diageo and a host of others. Unilever is handled by JWT in more than seventy nations across the globe and thus it goes to show that the products of Unilever are marketed, advertised and promoted courtesy JWT. [Unilever] Unilever is one of the biggest revenue generating units in the world and more so, within the US and European markets. The efforts and endeavors of Unilever have made their due mark even in the developing markets like India, Pakistan and United Arab Emirates to name a few, where there has been seen tremendous growth. Domino’s Pizza chains are handled by JWT across the United States. It was about a decade back, in the year 1996 that the agency took over the advertising and promotion handling of the pizza chain which at the present times is one of the most developing and promising across the foods category around the world. Handling 7000 stores worldwide means so much for the Domino’s guys and the same is shared by the agency staff at JWT. Nestle, the third major contributor in terms of JWT’s revenues stands as one of the biggest companies worldwide which has huge sales returns year in year out. Nestle made it big across the globe within a short period of time and surely a lot of credit for this goes on to the shoulders of the people who are at the helm within the JWT environs. The growth trends for the clients that come under the auspices of JWT have been phenomenal. With the passage of time, the world has witnessed that JWT has taken giant leaps and the reason for the same is that the sales trends have increased due to effective and more efficient form of reaching the target audiences in the most reasonable (and cost-effective) manner that there could be in the first place. Similarly, the revenues that have come as a result are something to write home about. These have increased the standing of JWT within the major revenue earning organizations within the world, where JWT gained number 4 standing in the same category within the United States alone, in the year 2004. Question B. Choose THREE current accounts (brands) that this agency handles. For each brand, do the following: a. Briefly describe the industry, competition and current situation for the brand. b. Describe some of the IMC work that the agency has done, on this brand. c. Critically evaluate the IMC work on each brand. Answer We have chosen Nestle, Domino’s Pizza and Shell for this section. JWT handles all three brands with regards to their creative and art work, media buying and placement (at certain locations) and research (partially) since the same is better conducted by independent research companies like Dunn & Bradstreet and A C Nielsen. Nestle has been with JWT since the year 1931. The long lasting partnership has ensured that the two understand each other’s values well and share common goals nonetheless. The industry in which Nestle operates has been booming with the passage of time and diversifications are being made. Nescafe has been the premier brand of coffee which comes under the Nestle’s umbrella. Its direct and indirect competitors have included the largest coffee brands that are available in the market and even those which are prepared in a local fashion. The competition is one that is asking Nestle to make rigorous adjustments every now and then with regards to its global positioning and hence the offerings that it comes up with due to its different promotional and marketing mix techniques, both in the long term (strategic) perspectives and the short term (tactical) moves. [Nestle] Nestle Waters has been one department that has taken Pepsi’s Aquafina and Coke’s mineral line head on. It has proved as a blessing in disguise for the mineral water segment since it has good word of mouth recall and promotional acceptance towards it, the world over. Nestle has surely been the undisputed leader in the foods industry where it can boast of having more than 470 factories across the globe, having sales of nearly CHF 81 billion. The integrated marketing communications techniques that have been adopted on Nestle with the passage of time include a 360 degree changeover with respect to different strategies and campaigns which have evolved over a period of time. These mean that there have been shifts in the slightest of details on the part of JWT when they made a switch between two campaigns, either running parallel with each other or in a sequential fashion. Thus the IMC work has been precise, up to date and synchronous with its message and JWT holds a lot of credit for the very same. Domino’s Pizza has more than 7000 stores worldwide and 5000 out of these alone within the United States. [Domino’s Pizza] Its agency operations within the United States are being carried out through JWT since 1996. The industry of pizza going people and indeed the pizza outlets is on the rise in the recent ages where Pizza Hut is surely one of its biggest competitors on a global platform. The IMC work that has been done on Domino’s Pizza has entailed looking at the creative synergies between the past and present campaigns where details are looked upon in the slightest bit of depth. This means that the agency understands the nature of pizza lovers and thus has molded its strategies to best suit the needs and wants of the pizza eaters. The craving and desire factor is always taken into consideration before any campaign has been designed to revolved around the 360 degrees phenomenon. The work done on the account of Shell globally has been one that has focused on not only the brand itself but also on the social responsibility tenet of the firm. This is carried out so that there is a more responsible side which is communicated to the different audiences no matter where they are. Shell has been proactive in sending out its messages ever since JWT took over its operations of communications. The integrated marketing communications aspect has meshed along well with Shell’s approach towards building a better and more prosperous environment for one and all to live. [Shell] The IMC work has been hailed time and again by the experts worldwide and its different campaigns and strategies have a basic synergy with the fundamental theme as portrayed by the company itself. Question C. For each brand, describe what you would have done differently, in terms of IMC. Answer In terms of Nestle, I would have chosen an approach that would have suited the local markets more than the global appeal. This does not, in any way mean that I would have strayed from the values as jot down by the Nestle staff but my tilt would surely have been more localized right from the onset. Domino’s Pizza should focus on the provision of the experience that it gives to a pizza lover/eater and not just to his taste buds alone. The experience would be more or less on the lines of what Pizza Hut is doing but just to break the clutter, I would have moved one step ahead and cut through a more ‘slice of life’ appeal with testimonials to back up the experience which the people had at Domino’s Pizza. As regards to Shell, I would have focused more on the brand too since I feel there has been a lot of emphasis on the social and corporate responsibility aspect. It does not mean I would have minimized it but the brand should also come out clear in the advertising messages and promotional activities, which at the present times is surely missing. Question D a. If you were interested in pursuing a career in advertising, would you work for this agency? Why / Why not? b. If you worked as a brand manager for any one of those three brands, would you hire this agency? Why / Why not? Answer If I had pursued a career in advertising, I would have surely aspired to work for JWT since I believe this agency recognizes talent and thus polishes it more and more when it finds it. I would have longed to work for it more so due to the fact that it is an agency of repute, which is acclaimed worldwide. If I had been working as a brand manager for Nestle, Domino’s Pizza or Shell, I would have surely gone for JWT as my partner agency. This is because these people know what they are doing and it is tantamount to understand that if they know their own selves, then surely they will know what we would want from our brands and what our requirements would be courtesy different messages and promotional activities happening on and off. BIBLIOGRAPHY [JWT] Found Online at: http://www.jwt.com [Unilever] Found Online at: http://www.unilever.com/ourcompany/aboutunilever/history/default.asp [Domino’s Pizza] Found Online at: http://www.dominos.com/Public-EN/Site+Content/Secondary/Inside+Dominos/Our+Heritage/ [Nestle] Found Online at: http://www.nestle.com/NR/rdonlyres/FD3BBD20-A19D-40C2-A1F1-E8C7D25A8A8C/0/Nestle_History.pdf [Shell] Found Online at: http://www.shell.com/home/Framework?siteId=royal-en&FC2=/royal-en/html/iwgen/who_we_are/history_of_shell/zzz_lhn.html&FC3=/royal-en/html/iwgen/who_we_are/history_of_shell/history_of_shell.html Word Count: 1,799 Read More