Barclays Bank - Impact of Advertising on Retail Banking for Increasing Level of Brand Awareness - Research Paper Example

An Analysis Of The Impact That Advertising Has On Retail Banking For Increasing The Level Of Brand Awareness; Case Study On Barclays Bank, UK Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Literature Review 4 Importance of Advertising for Business Establishment 4 Effectiveness of Advertising Strategies for Banks 4 Brand Loyalty 5 Choosing Proper Medium for Advertisement 7 Research Question 7 Research Design and Instrument 7 Research Strategies 8 Data Collection Method 9 Quality Measures 9 Ethical Issues and Considerations 10 Limitation in Research 10 Evaluates the Research Process 11 Recommendation for Future Research 11 References 12 Introduction In the recent years, the retail banking has become highly competitive because of the advent of large number of competitors in the market, providing unique products and services to its consumers. Therefore, in order to sustain in the competing environment it is necessary for the banks to differentiate their brand along with the products and services being provided to gain the competitive edge. An effective targeted and integrated marketing plan is inherently necessary to be implemented by banks that would lead to critical success in which advertising would play the most vital role (Grankvist & et. al., 2004). However, in this paper discussion will be made regarding the impact of advertisement in creating brand awareness of Barclays bank of the UK. Barclays is considered as one of the largest banks of the world having it’s headquarters in London. The bank operates in more than 50 countries consisting more than 48 million customers (Barclays 2015). It is therefore necessary for the bank to retain existing customers as well as attract new customers that would help in maximizing the amount of profit. Barclays bank has been spending millions of dollars on advertising in order to promote its brand to the public to create awareness (SAGE Publications, 2015). The advancements of technology have provided opportunity for the bank to use digital channels of advertising including social media and other online sources. Moreover, the bank also provides personalized products and services to the selected customer that helps in increasing brand value for the bank (WIPRO, 2013). Advertisement is the most important tool that helps in an effective promotion of any brand as well as the popularity of the company also increases. Advertising through celebrities is also considered as one of the most effective means that may help in improving the brand equity, brand awareness as well as positive financial return (The New York Times Company, 2015; Olum, 2010). In this context, the focus of the paper is on Barclays Bank of the UK and advertising impact. Literature Review Importance of Advertising for Business Establishment The primary motive of any business establishment irrespective of whether it is a private or a public company is to maximize its profit through the sale of products and services. It is also essential for any business establishment to maximize the volume of sales that would help in covering various types of costs incurred during operating business. For this, it is necessary for the company to market their products and services in an effective manner considering the 4P’s of marketing that includes product, place, price and promotion (NEPIC, 2015). Among all these variables promotion plays a major role in enhancing the overall sales of a company. Advertising is therefore an essential component of promotion that helps in increasing the brand awareness of a company and thereby serves profitable for the company. According to Newton (2008), through an effective advertising strategy, a company can attract more customers and generate revenue by influencing the perception and buying decision of customers. In today’s world majority of the companies, spend millions of dollars on advertising their brands, services and products. According to survey, it has been found that the advertisement expenditure of UK is comparatively higher than other countries million (Brand Finance, 2012). Effectiveness of Advertising Strategies for Banks However, with the increasing globalization the financial institutions and banks are also growing at a rapid rate and thus the competition among the banks are also increasing. It has therefore become a challenge for banks to survive in the competing environment and plan for long-term sustainability. However, Barclays bank has also been facing the same challenges and thereby implementing effective marketing strategies that helps in creating brand awareness among the customers and other people (Redactive Publishing Ltd, 2015). Among the marketing strategies the advertising strategies being adopted by the bank serves most beneficial. The success of advertising depends on the selection of proper tools of advertising. The advancement of technology has increased the scope of advertising strategies to be adopted by the bank (Barclays, 2015). Advertisement through various social media and through mobile has served as the most effective means through which Barclays has been able to increase the brand awareness among the people (Burton, 2015). However, the strategy for advertising is necessary to be selected based on market segmentation and it is believed that effective market segmentation leads to success of a company and gain competitive advantage. Report suggests that among the advertising strategies, the celebrity advertising serves as the most effective means that is one of the contributing factors of success. It has spent about £15 million on the celebrity campaign in which two most famous celebrities, Tim Roth and Anthony Hopkins were being hired for the advertisement (Guardian News and Media Limited, 2015). However, there was a good response of advertisement strategy, which represented increased rate of customers towards the bank. In the similar context, advertising for banks will be effective if people are made aware of services and benefits provided. Brand Loyalty Advertisement also helps in creating brand loyalty through which the customers prefer to attach towards a particular brand and does not purchase products and services of other brands, whatever might be the situation. Creating brand loyalty is one of the most effective means of retaining existing customers as it creates faith and reliability toward the brand (Bain & Company, Inc, 2013). However, behavior of the consumers highly affects the type of advertisement strategies that are necessary for the company to implement for an effective success. Different consumers have diverse perception and behavior towards a particular brand and thus it is necessary for the company to formulate advertisement strategies considering the characteristics of the targeted segment. However, in context to the case scenario, the Barclays bank has also been successful in creating brand loyalty by implementing its successful advertising strategies that created faith and reliability towards the bank (Homburg & et. al., 2010). Through these strategies, bank has been able to retain the existing customers and new customers are attracted through the referral of existing customers. Moreover, the bank also implements advertising and promotional strategies based on the behavior of the targeted consumer segments that helps in creating brand awareness in a more effective manner (Haymarket, 2013). In order to promote the brand along with their products and services, Barclays generally chooses the local media for the purpose of advertisement that are easily accessible to all. However, the effective advertising strategies being adopted by the Barclays bank also helped in penetrating into the markets of the UK and other countries where there is high demand for financial products and other banking services (Ghodeswar, 2008). The main motive behind market penetration is to boost the use of financial products and services in the existing markets and bank does it by advertising through the local media regarding the benefits of its products to consumers. Choosing Proper Medium for Advertisement Barclays faced several challenges such as the high cost of advertisements through print media in advertising its products that did not serve to be much effective because of the limitation of area coverage of print media (Barclayscorporate, 2012). Therefore, in order to overcome challenges and maintain cost effectiveness bank adopted electronic media such as advertisement through televisions and online websites (Haymarket Media Group Ltd, 2015). However, this advertising strategy served beneficial for the bank, as the electronic media are easily accessible to the large section of the community (Cognizant, 2014). Bank carries out their advertisement through various social media and social networking sites, as these are easily accessible and therefore reaches potential customers easily. Therefore, the effective advertising strategies being implemented by the Barclays bank of the UK served highly beneficial in promoting brand awareness among people that has resulted in an increased financial turnover of the bank. It is evident that advertisement influences behaviour of customers and increases the brand awareness of banks such as Barclay’s. Research Question The research question for the study is to “What is the impact of advertisement in creating brand awareness of Barclays bank of the UK?” Research Design and Instrument There are generally three approaches used for conducting any research that includes qualitative, quantitative and mixed research approach depending upon the scenario of the research. Qualitative research provides in details regarding the emotion, personality, human behavior and personality of the researcher that cannot be revealed through quantitative research. Whereas quantitative approach interprets the data generally in numerical and various statistical tools are being used for the analysis. Mixed approach is the combination of qualitative as well as quantitative research approach. However, for conducting the entire research, qualitative approach has been used for in-depth analysis as well as maintains the effectiveness of information (Community Tool Box, 2014). Qualitative approach provides a better knowledge regarding the impact of advertising in creating brand awareness for Barclays bank of the UK. Moreover, the qualitative approach is also considered as one of the most reliable sources of information as a broad range of data is easily obtainable that are related with the subject matter. Using the qualitative method helped in conducting the entire research in an effective manner as it helped in evaluating various aspects of advertisement and understanding the perception of people (ACAPS, 2012). Since the entire research is based on, qualitative method therefore the instruments used for the research includes the concepts and theories regarding the topic from earlier researches as well as various journal publications. Previously conducted researches in the similar field served as a base for conducting the research study. Moreover, the publications in the form of articles, journals and reports related with the Barclays bank also served as an important research instrument that helped in analyzing the subject matter (NFER, 2013). The data used are authentic and provide accurate reliable results. Research Strategies Research strategies help in interpreting the methods used effectively. In this context, narrative analysis has been used in the research study that helped in interpreting the literatures related to the topic in an effective manner. Narrative analysis serves as the most effective tool for analyzing the qualitative data and therefore helps in understanding the behavior of the author who wrote the journal. Data Collection Method Data collection method can generally be segregated into two categories that include primary data collection method and secondary data collection method. In this research, only secondary data collection method has been used in order to acquire reliable and accurate data that are relevant to the topic (Institute for Work & Health, 2009). Acquiring the primary data was not possible because of the limited time being available for conducting the research and personally interacting with the bank personnel or interviewing them was not possible. However, the secondary sources include journals, articles and reports that provide sufficient and authentic information regarding the subject matter. Some major advantages of choosing the secondary data collection method is that collection of data is hustle free and adequate data relevant to the topic is easily available. Using the secondary sources, literature review has been conducted regarding the impact of advertisement on creating brand awareness for Barclays. Quality Measures Various quality measures have been considered in conducting the entire research study. The secondary sources used in the form of journals, articles and reports have been acquired from authentic sources in order to ensure the reliability of the study. Various peer review journals and other scholarly articles have been acquired in order to maintain the authenticity of data. Websites of Barclays bank as well as annual reports has been used to conduct the research in an effective manner. Moreover, assurance of quality has also been ensured while analyzing the data. Sources from blogs and other unauthentic sources have been avoided in order to prevent data irrelevancy or misrepresentation of facts and figures. Ethical Issues and Considerations There are certain ethical issues that are necessary to be considered during conducting any research study. This is because due to the fact that ethical consideration highly influence reliability and validity of a particular research study. However, in certain cases, considering ethical means by the researchers may create hindrances in collecting various important data, but it is inherently necessary for considering ethics while conducting any research. Similarly, in context to the given research study, necessary ethical issues and rules have been duly considered during conducting the entire research. Since, the research study is based on secondary sources therefore the journals, articles and reports required for preparing the entire research study have been selected from authentic sources in order to ensure reliability of data and information. It has also been ensured that there does not exist any biasness during interpretation of the data or conducting the literature review. Moreover, it has also been ensured that the data that has been used in the research study are not misrepresented and therefore accurate and reliable figures have been used for proper analysis (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 2013). Limitation in Research There are certain limitations that have been identified in the research study. Firstly, for conducting the entire research only secondary sources of data have been used. No primary data collection method has been used. Secondly, qualitative method has been used for carrying out the research rather than quantitative methods. No quantitative methods have been used in the research study that can be a major limitation of the study. However, in order to overcome these challenges or limitations academic researches and reliable authentic sources are being used to attain an accurate outcome. Evaluates the Research Process However, the entire research has been conducted using the secondary data in the form of articles, journals and reports from authentic sources. Literature review regarding the subject matter has been conducted from the secondary sources that would be used for further analysis of the topic. Moreover, qualitative method has been used for the research in order to acquire more authentic and relevant information and easy accessibility. Recommendation for Future Research It is recommended that for further research regarding the given topic, more in-depth research would be beneficial for the effectiveness of the research study. Both primary and secondary data sources should be used to make the research study more robust and reliable. Primary data sources including questionnaire survey would serve beneficial for the research study in order to collect data that are more authentic. Moreover, statistical tools for the interpretation of data can also serve effective for the research study. References ACAPS, 2012. Qualitative and Quantitative Research Techniques for Humanitarian Needs Assessment. Journal, pp. 2-14. Bain & Company, Inc, 2013. Customer Loyalty in Retail Banking: Global Edition 2013. Journal, pp. 1-48. Barclays 2015. About Us. Barclays. [Online] Available at: http://www.barclays.com/about-barclays/around-the-world.html [Accessed March 29, 2015]. Barclays, 2015. Developing a Mobile Strategy. Journal, pp. 1-10. Barclayscorporate, 2012. Social Commerce The next generation of retail. Article, pp. 1-35. Brand Finance, 2012. The Annual Report on the World’s Most Valuable Banking Brands. Article, pp. 1-106. Burton, S., 2015. Transforming Engagement with Customer First Strategies in Retail Banking. Article. [Online] Available at: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/digital-marketing-features/transforming-engagement-with-customer-first-strategies-in-retail-banking/1598 [Accessed March 29, 2015]. Cognizant, 2014. How Banks Can Use Social Media Analytics To Drive Business Advantage. Article, pp. 1-7 Community Tool Box, 2014. What Do We Mean By Analyzing Data? Section 5 Collecting and Analyzing Data. [Online] Available at: http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/evaluate/evaluate-community-interventions/collect-analyze-data/main [Accessed January 17, 2015]. Ghodeswar, B. M., 2008. Building Brand Identity in Competitive Markets: A Conceptual Model. Journal of Product & Brand Management, pp. 4-12. Grankvist, A. & et. al., 2004. Promotion Strategies for Banking Services. Journal, pp. 1-61. Guardian News and Media Limited, 2015. Scapegoat Hopkins in Barclays Row. Article. [Online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/apr/28/news1 [Accessed March 29, 2015]. Haymarket Media Group Ltd, 2015. Barclays Looks to Step up Its Social Media as UK Banks Trail. Article. [Online] Available at: http://wallblog.co.uk/2012/05/30/barclays-looks-to-step-up-its-social-media-as-uk-banks-trail/ [Accessed March 29, 2015]. Haymarket, 2013. Purpose And Values: Barclays Plots Its Return From The Brink. Marketing. [Online] Available at: http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1171248/purpose-values-barclays-plots-its-return-brink [Accessed March 29, 2015]. Homburg, C. & et. al., 2010. Brand Awareness In Business Markets: When Is It Related To Firm Performance? Intern. J. of Research in Marketing, Vol. 27, pp. 201-212. Institute for Work & Health, 2009. What Researchers Mean By Primary and Secondary Data. Article. [Online] Available at: http://www.iwh.on.ca/wrmb/primary-data-and-secondary-data [Accessed January 17, 2015]. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 2013. What is Ethics in Research & Why is it Important? Research. [Online] Available at: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/ [Accessed January 17, 2015]. NFER, 2013. How to Develop Research Instruments. Doing the Project. [Online] Available at: http://www.nfer.ac.uk/schools/developing-young-researchers/how-to-develop-research-instruments.cfm [Accessed January 17, 2015]. NEPIC, 2015. Discovering Customer Needs through Research. Barclays, pp. 13-16. Newton, L., 2008. Branding, Marketing and Product Innovation: The Attempts of British Banks to Reach Consumers in the Interwar Period. Journal, pp. 1-49. Olum, A. A., 2010. Growth Strategies Adopted By Barclays Bank of Kenya Limited. Journal, pp. 1-49. Redactive Publishing Ltd, 2015. Barclays. Article. [Online] Available at: http://www.themarketer.co.uk/archives/case-studies/barclays/ [Accessed March 29, 2015]. SAGE Publications, 2015. Defining Corporate Communication. Journal, pp. 1-36 The New York Times Company, 2015. The Media Business: Advertising; Barclays Bank Has Kicked Off A Really Big Brand Campaign, But Theres Just One Small Problem. The Media Business: Advertising. [Online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/31/business/media-business-advertising-barclays-bank-has-kicked-off-really-big-brand.html [Accessed March 29, 2015]. WIPRO, 2013. The Global Retail Banking Digital Marketing Report 2013. Report, pp. 1-33. Read More