Fledglings Events Marketing Company - Research Proposal Example

Make Poverty History Marketing Plan Developed By Presented to ______________ ID Executive Summary Fledglings Events Marketing Co. has been given the go-ahead to create all aspects of marketing and promotion for next year's Make Poverty History concert. The event Make Poverty History 2006 has a budget of 400,000 and the goal of the event is to spread awareness for causes of poverty and to help to raise funds to tackle the causes of poverty. Strategic plans for the work ahead are discussed here. 2. BACKGROUND Make Poverty History1 is a coalition of the world third sector which is been heavily involved in a variety of activities and events, around the world, in an attempt to tackle world poverty and injustice (Make Poverty History, 2005). Some of the latest activities undertaken by the organization have been the Live 8 network of live concerts, around the world, in July 2005, and the latest campaign 'One'. "Vote Justice Now" is the manifesto for another lobbying campaign. Musician turned activist Bob Geldof was one of the main organizers of Live 8 in July 2005 and a prominent international figure for his efforts to raise money for Ethiopia in 1984, through the release of the single 'Don't They Know it's Christmas', and Band Aid concerts in 1985 (among his highly quoted bits: "People are dying NOW", "Give us the fucking money NOW"), when for the first time he urged the entertainment industry to get involved by taking a leading role (Bob Geldof, 2005) in eradicating poverty. The Make Poverty History 2006 will be not only a lobbying instrument, but also it is designed to raise money for Africa. 3. THE VISION The vision of the concert is to end world poverty and the special focus is on Africa. As a marketer, our goals are three fold - a. We want to sell out the event, b. We want to establish the 'Make Poverty History' brand, and c. We want to increase the public's understanding of the causes that are part of the 'Make Poverty History' campaign 4. THE IMAGE 4.1 Overview The Make Poverty History 2006 event is the most prestigious event of this kind in that we have created methodology to deliver a global promotion designed to attract donors and performers from around the world. We intend to create an image of the company and the cause by associating with performers who have ethical concerns and help in spreading awareness on global poverty issues. This theme will be repeated in websites, newspaper ads, flyers, posters and letters requesting support from high profile donors. This will be promoted as a major event of 2006 and it will be attended by not only the high profile and affluent donors, because of the large area we are able to provide for an audience along with prices to suit everyone's budget, the Make Poverty History 2006 is also going to be next year's highest 'market demand' event among entertainment seekers. 5. MARKETING STRATEGIES 5.1 Marketing Campaign Objectives Marketing Strategy Overview The objectives of this marketing campaign are: To create global understanding of the Make Poverty History concept to spread awareness around the world so that donations to help end poverty continue to flow in even after the event is over. To develop synergy around the idea of a global community working together to end pain and suffering caused by poverty To create the biggest and best ever Make Poverty History event. Marketing methods and techniques that will be used in promoting Make Poverty History 2006 will include: Some of the long term marketing objectives include 1. Raising Public Awareness 2. Lobbying to raise money for poverty eradication 3. Working in association with the UK government to spread awareness on the world poverty situation especially in Africa 4.2 Marketing Methods and Techniques (Theoretical Perspectives) The Four Ps of Marketing will be used as the basis for our marketing technique. The marketing plan could be analyzed in terms of the Marketing theory of Four Ps. Marketing Theory - The Four P's Promotion: Advertising, Sales Promotion, Publicity and Personal selling. The term promotion refers to the varied methods used to promote the event. Product Management - "dealing with the specifications of the product and how it relates to the end user's actual needs and wants" Pricing - While the prices for tickets have been set we will be offering discounts for early bird sales as well as block purchases of tickets. Propaganda: Specific information about the reality and reasons poverty exists Press Conferences-Times to announce major launching of the event; appearances of celebrities who will be performing Press Releases- Summaries of progress with focus on aspects of the program development that will appeal to the media (celebrities, massive campaign and objectives, progress with the campaign, etc) Place, or Distribution - This refers to how one gets the product (in this case tickets) to the customer. While we will be making connections in order to have tickets available at standard outlets in major centers around the world an internet service for purchasing tickets will most likely be the most effective point of distribution. Tickets will be made available from the Make Poverty History 2006 website and consumers will have the option of paying by credit card, pay pal or money order. Publicity Events The Circuit - We are intending to see some of the performers and Sir Bob making every possible appearance on famous talk shows such as Oprah, Dr. Phil - all of the popular ones - in order to create the global synergy about the need for concern and the need to participate in the event. The Circuit is known to be highly effective in promoting causes like this one and we believe there will be no exception to that unwritten societal 'rule' in regard to promoting this fabulous show for a totally worthy cause. We postulate that the 'marketing mix', as previously described will be effective in attracting not only performers and audience members but also large numbers of people who will be participating by viewing the event on television and phoning in donations. It is well known that most successful marketing plans exhibit effective use of the four P's to 'reflect the wants and desires of consumers in the target market. In this case, the target market is "Citizens of the World Who are not disenfranchised by Poverty." Members of our group believe the methodology described above has the potential to produce expected results. We foresee increases in public awareness and support for our cause as well as a complete ticket sell out long before the concert date next summer. While this in-house research has given us the basis for the current plans we will most definitely be keeping a close watch on the campaign as it evolves and should there be evidence that the proposed plan requires modifications in order to attract more and better support we contend that adaptations will be made if and when the necessity arises. The main focus for the marketing campaign will be in relation to three primary areas: the circuit the advertisements featuring performers and Sir Bob as they connect with the disenfranchised people the campaign is designed to help and the Make Poverty History 2006 website Our group of highly motivated, creative professionals is well aware that "employing a large combination of varied marketing methods "leads to a winning situation"The four Ps of marketing is the basic theory we use to analyze the marketing of this event that we hope will culminate as the most successful event of its kind. 6. CAMPAIGN TARGETS 6.1 Target demographic audience The target demographic audience and associates will include Charities in the UK, musicians who will be the performers and the governmental authorities providing funding and possible aid. The audience will be the youth and people interested in attending music events. 6.2 Campaign Targets Ticket Sales to the concert: Sell Out Public Awareness: Global recognition and support Donations to the Cause: Triple the amount received from Ticket Sales 6.3 BEST/WORST case scenario In considering the possibilities for "best, worst, and average scenarios" the management and staff at Fledgling have determined that: 1. The best case scenario is that we have a complete sell out along with a need to book a second concert in order to accommodate those who were unable to attend. 2. The worst possible scenario we could imagine would be that there is absolutely no support, recognition or attendance to the event. 3. An "average" scenario, in our opinion would involve a complete sell-out to the concert, good but not outstanding public response to the project and at least the same amount of donations as we are able to raise from ticket sales to the concert. 4. Evaluation of the venue capacity and reports from previous similar events may have to be considered to determine the advantage scenario 6.4 SUCCESS/FAILURE Awareness and Attitudinal Market Research is the model we unanimously agreed would be the 'best practice' choice for determining the success of our marketing strategies. The process of measuring success will involve conducting surveys regarding potential support prior to launching the promotional campaign and comparing the results to a second survey. This can be followed by comparisons to results from both surveys to the actual outcomes of the preliminary work regarding requests for donations, attendance to the concert and responses to the televised interviews that are conducted throughout the campaign. Ultimately, evaluations and results of this process along with attendance and the dollar value of responses to requests for donations will create ample evidence of whether our campaign has been a "success or a failure." 6. TARGET AUDIENCE First and foremost we will be focusing on the most affluent and influential sectors: Royalty, Politicians, Bureaucrats as well as highly influential, well known and financially secure (Fortune 500 Members) people from around the world. Members of the segments of society typically referred to as youth and young adults will be focused on as a target group for attending the concert Baby Boomers are also a major potential market for all components of this project as many of them are typically sensitive to the need to move forward as a global community (former hippies) as well as the fact that many of them are affluent members of society who are capable of providing support through donations as well as by attending the concert Having agreed on the preceding group of quantifiable targets our company has created a plan for measuring the success of this endeavor. For target audience we determine the number of live music goers, charity donors and supporters of this event considering people interested or involved in ethical behavior and with social awareness in ethical issues of poverty. 7. PROMOTIONAL PLAN 7.1 Media outlets 1) TV - In addition to arranging circuit interviews and commercials about the event and the cause on television we will be sending press releases related to ongoing development of the project to all television news departments around the world as they occur. Public Service Announcements (PSA's) will be sent to the specific departments that are responsible for airing them whenever possible 2) Radio - Press Releases; Talk Shows, PSA's; cds from featured performers will be sent along with any information being offered to radio stations 3) Press - Press conferences, invitations to circuit events and promotional cds from the performers participating in the concert will be offered in order to create interest in the event from members of the press - Associated Press and all wire services will receive news releases developed by the professionals at Fledglings. (Wire service coverage is a good way of getting in to all of the sources for promotion listed in this section.) The following is a brief list of some of the more prominent ones BBC CBC CNN Associated Press Circuit Show Hosts: Oprah, Dr. Phil, etc Individual websites of all performers who will participate in the concerts, the main website of Make Poverty History 2006, and any websites devoted to music, links from all websites to each other; all websites related to ending poverty, entertainment websites news related websites 7.2 Media audience segmentation, Figures Break Down Audiences wee expect from the concert could be given considering radio listening statistics and figures obtained which is given below: The total listening statistics of all BBC music stations being a high of 54.6%, suggests the popularity of music and the chances of this concert being a success. 7.3 Media stories strategies Events in local communities will be organized in collaboration with local charities and media outlets. Emerging artists and musicians will be involved. This should build momentum around the event and reach out to people from different parts of UK. Strategies for Obtaining Maximum Coverage Stories News and General Press Releases will be based on human interest stories to influence people. Using pictures and voice clips of children who are suffering the effects of poverty is an excellent method of attracting public support and one that has been proven to be effective by other organizations that are working towards the goal of ending poverty. We have formed partnerships with two of these organizations, CUSO and World Vision, both of whom have agreed to provide us with some clips in exchange for credits on any ads in which these clips are used. Give-A ways to Media Outlets - We are offering attractive t shirts with the End Poverty 2006 logo and an striking black and white silhouette of a child holding out his hands for support and distributing calendars for the event 7.3 Event focus Event focus will be presented on TV, Radio, News Media such as News Papers, and the Web. 7.4 Cross promotion Cross promotional activities will be organized between Radio and TV with the support of all participating charities Cross Promotions with Media Outlets - Some cross promotional efforts arranged with media outlets include personal appearances by performers in their stores, tags encouraging support to the event at the end of radio and TV commercials and mention of the event in newspaper ads and on websites. 7.5 Media exclusive 'Exclusives' to News Media will be sent out whenever one of the performers who is participating in the concert is in local coverage areas; some of the performers have agreed to participate in exclusive interviews that the news media will be encouraged to initiate as a result of press releases. 8. ADVERTISING Advertising The following chart (Fig. 1) represents the Media Plan developed by the Fledglings Marketing group in order to clearly illustrate: 1) specifically where we are booking ads (e.g., Time Out, Capitol FM), 2) how many people each of those ads will reach 3) what demographic the readers, listeners, & viewers of each media outlet belong to, 3) what the costs of each of those ads are, and 4) when they will run. Ad Bookings Advertising Venue No. of People Advertising Reaches Demographics for readers, listeners and viewers Advertising Costs Dates that Advertisements Will Run Fig. 1 Advertising Copy: The theme for voice only commercials and PSA's described earlier will be used. The plaintive voice of a young child describing the reality of living in povertythe sadness in the voice is echoed by music that evokes the pain of that reality and then fades as a new and optimistic voice, the voice of one of the performers who will appear in the concert promises there is hope for the children who suffer and 'we all can help' by supporting the Make Poverty History 2006 concert. This theme (along with the voices of women and men, as described earlier) will be carried through in television and print advertisements as well as on the websites. Print ads will portray the voice as a real human being by including pictures of the victim(s) being helped by celebrities. A major part of all ads will be the tag that encourages everyone to "help us help people like(insert name) Make poverty history!support the Make Poverty History 2006 concert by purchasing your tickets or making a donation Now Street advertising (e.g. fly posting, billboards, etc) Black and white photos of the people featured in the above ads will appear as reminders of the need to support this charity event in the form of fly posting, billboards and mail outs. 9. STRATEGIC INITIATIVES 9.1 Database Databases used to market previous events (Make Poverty History Events in particular) will be used to initiate best practice in finalizing and/or making revisions to our campaign development and delivery. We will also be using data bases to monitor participation of donors from the different segments of society that have been selected for target groups. Ultimately the data we collect will be an incredibly valuable resource for future planning and contacting supporters as we continue to deliver marketing strategies for Make Poverty History and other similar events. 9.2 Contacts A Call center has been proposed to be opened as also a website for exclusive sale of tickets. This process will be linked to mobile reference number in order to retain contacts for future campaigns. 9.3 Tie-ins Corporate Involvement: We are envisioning specific tie-ins with corporations based on providing free advertising for those who are sponsoring the event in the form of tags on commercials, mention in news and press releases, name mention on programs, fliers, bill boards, advertisements, etc. A major cross promotion between End Poverty 2006 and the banks could involve banks having our posters promoting the event with the additional message that the End Poverty campaign cans "BANK ON US as a MAJOR SUPPORTER" 9.4 Promoters exposure and Creative promotion Promotional Items T-shirts (as previously described) will be given to volunteers assisting in promoting and helping with process during the event. These t-shirts will also be sold as part of the fundraising campaign prior to and at the concert. We intend to further promote the event by developing attractive bumper stickers, mugs, key chains, count-down calendars and caps, all featuring the same striking black and white design that first appeared on the t shirts. These items will also be marketed in order to raise additional funds and used as 'favors' and incentives for volunteers, supporters (donors) and the media. The items will be sold in airport and major hotel gift shops as well as in all major department and grocery stores that will agree to place them for us and some of these will be given away in the event as tokens of appreciation from our group. 9.5 Focus on MPH Bringing real stories to the audience and distributing mobile video clips of favorite artists will be some of the promotional strategies. As we have worked on developing our marketing plan for the 'Make Poverty History' event we believe we have developed a highly innovative strategic method for getting people to understand the cause. This objective will be met very effectively, we believe, as a result of being exposed to the advertising and media materials that we have created. 10. TIME LINE Timeline Fig.2 11. MARKETING BUDGET Marketing Budget Our marketing budget is 1/3rd of the original budget for the entire event which is 400,000. So the marketing budget stands at 140,000. The remaining part of the money will be utilized for the actual setting up and the arrangement of the event. For the 90,000 capacity Wembley stadium where the event will be held, the average ticket price is at 55-35. So from ticket price sales, the income expected will be 36,00,000. The expenditure being 400,000, the profits calculated at 32,00,000 can be used for debt clearance of poverty stricken countries such as in Africa and used for future promotional events and concerts. 12. REFERENCES http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/ http://www.live8live.com/ http://www.g8.gov.uk/ Bob Gedfold, http://www.answers.com/topic/bob-geldof http://www.g8.gov.uk APPENDIX 1 TRADE JUSTICE. DROP THE DEBT. MORE & BETTER AID. Today, the gap between the world's rich and poor is wider than ever. Global injustices such as poverty, AIDS, malnutrition, conflict and illiteracy remain rife. Despite the promises of world leaders, at our present sluggish rate of progress the world will fail dismally to reach internationally agreed targets to halve global poverty by 2015. World poverty is sustained not by chance or nature, but by a combination of factors: injustice in global trade; the huge burden of debt; insufficient and ineffective aid. Each of these is exacerbated by inappropriate economic policies imposed by rich countries. But it doesn't have to be this way. These factors are determined by human decisions. 2005 offers an exceptional series of opportunities for the UK to take a lead internationally, to start turning things around. Next year, as the UK hosts the annual G8 gathering of powerful world leaders and heads up the European Union (EU), the UK Government will be a particularly influential player on the world stage. A sea change is needed. By mobilising popular support across a unique string of events and actions, we will press our own government to compel rich countries to fulfil their obligations and promises to help eradicate poverty, and to rethink some long-held assumptions. MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY urges the government and international decision makers to rise to the challenge of 2005. We are calling for urgent and meaningful policy change on three critical and inextricably linked areas: trade, debt and aid. 1 1. Trade justice 1 - Fight for rules that ensure governments, particularly in poor countries, can choose the best solutions to end poverty and protect the environment. These will not always be free trade policies. 2 - End export subsidies that damage the livelihoods of poor rural communities around the world. 3 - Make laws that stop big business profiting at the expense of people and the environment. The rules of international trade are stacked in favour of the most powerful countries and their businesses. On the one hand these rules allow rich countries to pay their farmers and companies subsidies to export food - destroying the livelihoods of poor farmers. On the other, poverty eradication, human rights and environmental protection come a poor second to the goal of 'eliminating trade barriers'. We need trade justice not free trade. This means the EU single-handedly putting an end to its damaging agricultural export subsidies now; it means ensuring poor countries can feed their people by protecting their own farmers and staple crops; it means ensuring governments can effectively regulate water companies by keeping water out of world trade rules; and it means ensuring trade rules do not undermine core labour standards. 1 We need to stop the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) forcing poor countries to open their markets to trade with rich countries, which has proved so disastrous over the past 20 years; the EU must drop its demand that former European colonies open their markets and give more rights to big companies; we need to regulate companies - making them accountable for their social and environmental impact both here and abroad; and we must ensure that countries are able to regulate foreign investment in a way that best suits their own needs. 2 3 2. Drop the debt 0 - The unpayable debts of the world's poorest countries should be cancelled in full, by fair and transparent means. Despite grand statements from world leaders, the debt crisis is far from over. Rich countries have not delivered on the promise they made more than six years ago to cancel unpayable poor country debts. As a result, many countries still have to spend more on debt repayments than on meeting the needs of their people. Rich countries and the institutions they control must act now to cancel all the unpayable debts of the poorest countries. They should not do this by depriving poor countries of new aid, but by digging into their pockets and providing new money. The task of calculating how much debt should be cancelled must no longer be left to creditors concerned mainly with minimising their own costs. Instead, we need a fair and transparent international process to make sure that human needs take priority over debt repayments. International institutions like the IMF and World Bank must stop asking poor countries to jump through hoops in order to qualify for debt relief. Poor countries should no longer have to privatise basic services or liberalise economies as a condition for getting the debt relief they so desperately need. And to avoid another debt crisis hard on the heels of the first, poor countries need to be given more grants, rather than seeing their debt burden piled even higher with yet more loans. 1 3. More and better aid 0 - Donors must now deliver at least $50 billion more in aid and set a binding timetable for spending 0.7% of national income on aid. Aid must also be made to work more effectively for poor people. Poverty will not be eradicated without an immediate and major increase in international aid. Rich countries have promised to provide the extra money needed to meet internationally agreed poverty reduction targets. This amounts to at least $50 billion per year, according to official estimates, and must be delivered now. Rich countries have also promised to provide 0.7% of their national income in aid and they must now make good on their commitment by setting a binding timetable to reach this target. However, without far-reaching changes in how aid is delivered, it won't achieve maximum benefits. Two key areas of reform are needed. First, aid needs to focus better on poor people's needs. This means more aid being spent on areas such as basic healthcare and education. Aid should no longer be tied to goods and services from the donor, so ensuring that more money is spent in the poorest countries. And the World Bank and the IMF must become fully democratic in order for poor people's concerns to be heard. Second, aid should support poor countries and communities' own plans and paths out of poverty. Aid should therefore no longer be conditional on recipients promising economic change like privatising or deregulating their services, cutting health and education spending, or opening up their markets: these are unfair practices that have never been proven to reduce poverty. And aid needs to be made predictable, so that poor countries can plan effectively and take control of their own budgets in the fight against poverty. MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY is a unique UK alliance of charities, trade unions, campaigning groups and celebrities who are mobilising around key opportunities in 2005 to drive forward the struggle against poverty and injustice. www.MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY.org 4 5 Read More