Advertising Campaign - Case Study Example

INTRODUCTION The of South Australia is a modern and successful with a rich history. It has various divisions like business, education, arts, information technology; and engineering. It is a major source of Australian higher education offshore. International students make up for about 30% of its students as compared to the national average of 21 per cent. The university has been promoting its undergraduate marketing degree in Hong Kong. It needs to further promote it as the university has not yielded expected returns.

The target audience is 1. Final year students of secondary schooling and their parents.2. Those who have left school and consider a marketing degree a way to an exciting career. 3. Those who are working and consider a marketing degree helpful for their career.The chief objective of the promotion is to double the awareness of UniSA'smarketing degree in Hong Kong in a year and increase the applications for the degree by 30 per cent. STRATEGIESThe promotion should highlight the key benefit or unique selling proposition (usp) of UniSA that should immediately appeal to the target audience.

That is to say it should tell the audience how the University of South Australia is different from its competitors. A perceptual mapping will prove beneficial in this regard to chart the target audiences' perception of UniSA compared with that of Harvard school of business. "Before you embark on an image advertising campaign, you need to know the type of image you wish to convey. A key component of your decision should be an understanding of your current image and your competitors' images. This knowledge can be gained through image research and perceptual mapping.

" (Perceptual mapping_deciding what image to project) Both the universities are doing well on the tradition attribute. So there does not seem to be any scope for promotion based on these attributes. As far as fame and reputation is concerned they are the lowest attributes in importance. So there should not be any concern regarding promotion based on these attributes. Now the real opportunity lies in the three most important attributes, that is, professional, casual and modern and employment opportunity.

UniSA is positioned as a casual university which is very inviting, is very professional and provides ample employment opportunities for the students. Also diversity is an interesting attribute for promotion. So the campaign should be developed with a theme which centers on these features. That is to say the unique selling proposition of UniSA is its professional attitude, its modern outlook, job prospects and diversity.RECOMMENDED MEDIANewspaper and magazines are the best media for this campaign.

Keeping in mind the budget that is Australian $ 120000 and the product to be advertised, newspaper will be the best source to reach students and working people. The target audience is more likely to be influenced by this media. At the same time, widely read newspapers in Hong Kong like Apple Daily, South China Morning Post and Oriental Daily News should be chosen for advertising. Similarly the magazines chosen for this purpose should be frequently read by the people in Hong Kong. For example, magazines like Jessica Hong Kong,Elle Hong Kong and Sudden Weekly would be advantageous.

TARGET AUDIENCE The campaign is targeted at the students of secondary schooling and the working people. Further the objective of the campaign is to double the awareness and increase applications. For this purpose, the target audience can be influenced in a number of ways. The initial step is to raise awareness of the brand. This could be achieved by regularly posting the ads in the paper and magazines. The size of the ads should also be large enough for them to notice. Secondly the key characteristics should be highlighted boldly in the campaign.

There should be use of pictures which should immediately make the ad stand out from among the cluster of ads. By working on its usp, the campaign should influence those who plan to apply to other universities. By providing examples of how UniSA is helping the students to seek exciting careers, the campaign can strengthen the decision of those students who wish to apply. Finally the details of UniSA should be highlighted in order to generate quick responses. The address of the URL and other contact information must be clearly stated.

AIDA PRINCIPLEIn order to persuade the target audience to respond positively, the AIDA principle should be used. This stands for attention, interest, desire, action. (Pamela B., 2002, pp.31) In order to grab the audiences' attention, the headline should be very strong. It is a significant part of the campaign which also provides a lot of information to the audience. The headline should be based on the usp of UniSA. Use of phrases like modern university, exciting career or a degree with a difference is going to speak a lot about UniSA.

Next the campaign should arouse the interest of the audience so that they notice it. For this pictures or illustrations can be used. Again illustrations should speak something about the university. Their purpose is to highlight the characteristics of the university. This will want them to read on. Once the audiences are interested, they should feel that a degree from UniSA is more desirable. The main body of the campaign should highlight the benefits of a marketing degree from UniSA. Once they find the subject interesting and the message gets across to them, the campaign needs to provoke a response from them.

Therefore the contact details should be very clearly stated.A CREATIVE SOLUTION The entire advertisement should use reflex blue color with a lot of white spaces and the UniSA logo. Next the headline should be bold and based on the usp of UniSA. For example:"a modern degree, a modern university, a career guaranteed" or "be a professional before entering a profession" or something which centers on the key features of UniSA. Next comes the illustrations part. For this any of the photographs like "perspective" or "repetition" (can be used.

These photographs will reflect the modern look of the university. The illustration should be large enough for the audience to be noticeable. Then the details of the marketing degree should be highlighted in the main body. The benefits of the degree, its application to contemporary issues, and its relevance in the marketing world are some topics that can be elaborated upon. At the same time the resulting employment opportunities should also be stated. For example:"Gain professional employment when you graduate".

(Study at UniSA: Why study at UniSA 2007)Further a brief history of UniSA, its diversity, its tradition, the benefits of studying there should be stated. For example:"UniSA graduates are problem solvers and excellent communicators. They are knowledgeable, can work collaboratively or autonomously and have an international perspective. They are committed to ethical action and understand the importance of lifelong learning".(Study at UniSA: Graduate Qualities 2007)Finally, the UniSA website or email address should be highlighted in the ad to generate responses.

EVALUATION Once the campaign is ready, it needs to be evaluated. That is to say, it must be ascertained how the campaign will perform. For this the campaign should be judged on three points. First, is the ad on strategy Secondly, is there a real idea, and lastly, is it original. (Roderick W., 2000, pp. 111) If the campaign is based on the usp of UniSA and if it provides the audience with a new way of looking at it, the results are going to be positive. The success of the campaign can be ascertained only by the increase in the amount of inquiries and applications for the degree.

The use of media can also be evaluated. It should be noted which newspaper or magazine generated the most of applications or inquiries. If a particular paper or magazine is generating more applications than it can be considered to reach the target audience effectively. At the same time if a particular magazine is providing very little applications, it points towards the fact that the campaign has not been successful in reaching the target audience. This information proves useful for further campaigns.

Reference ListBrooks, Pamela 2002, Writing Advertising Copy: How to Write Winning Copy that Boosts Response Rates and gets Results. Rowmark Ltd. HampshireWhite, Roderick 2000, Advertising. McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, Great BritainPerceptual mapping_deciding what image to project 2005, viewed22 May, 2007, Photography 6 February 2007, viewed 22 May, 2007,http://www.unisa.edu.au/styleguide/photography/default.aspStudy at UniSA: Graduate Qualities, 6 February 2007, viewed 22 May, 2007,< http://www.unisa.edu.

au/study/default.asp> Study at UniSA: Why study at UniSA 6 February 2007, viewed 22 May, 2007,< http://www.unisa.edu.au/study/default.asp>