Advertising Proposal for SONY Online Entertainment LLC - Case Study Example

Advertising Proposal for SONY Online Entertainment LLC I. Situation Analysis SOE SONY has definitely achieved an enviable reputation as a universally attractive company and brand name, but consumers generally associate this super-brand status with the long entrenched categories of SONY products such as video cameras, computers, VCD-DVD players and other audio-visual equipment created as SONY brand extensions. Little of this consumer success radiates on SONY Online Entertainment (SOE) as yet, probably because it was established fairly recently as the online gaming firm of the SONY Corp. of America. Notwithstanding its distinguished corporate lineage, SOE is a fledgling company that needs to position its own brand, broaden its marketing base and overcome the heavy competition in online gaming through innovative thinking and ideas. Agency FGH Associates, a full-service advertising agency, proposes to give SOE top-of-mind consumer recall and preference through a one-year advertising blitz that utilises every major medium - TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, cinema, video games, Internet, billboards - to deliver the message. The message: SOE is the online gaming firm for quality, innovation and delivery. This message will be delivered to the target market through meaningful advertising modules that exude warmth, energy and ingenuity. Advertising is meaningful if it is true-to-life and effective, warm if gentle and sensitive, energetic if lively and appealing, ingenious if imaginative and silly but clever (McKay, 2005). Objectives 1) Build the SOE as a company and brand image separate from that of the mother company through its groundbreaking and genre-defining games. 2) Communicate specific messages such as the annual SOE Block Party for gamers, GIRL Game Design Competition and Fan Faire, which events promise tremendous media mileage and goodwill for the company. 3) Generate direct sales for SOE's games such as Everquest, Star Wars, Matrix and Planet Side by portraying the company as the world leader in multiplayer online games. 4) Counter in a subliminal way competitor activity and any negative publicity that may come up during the specified campaign period. II. Review of Advertising In adopting an advertising strategy, positioning plays an important part. Positioning a product for a feasible market involves communication, which has become difficult in an "over-communicated" society (Goldman & Papson, 1994). There are just too many companies, too many products, and too much marketing noise such that in the US alone, per capita consumption in advertising is placed at $200 per year. In 2006, adspend worldwide was placed at $385 billion and is expected to reach $500 billion in 2010 (Chowdhury, 1994). Through all this noise, however, a firm can manage if it considers not only its own strengths and weaknesses but also those of its competitors. The easiest way to get into a person's mind is to relate to customers in a personal way (Desmond, 2003) and appeal to emotions in some ways (AllBusiness.com, 2008). This can only be done if the advertiser believes in his product. Even the most carefully thought out and highly creative ads would fail to connect if the product is not as good as advertised. The American Research Group (2007) sets 10 rules in making advertising more effective: 1. Tell a simple but good story instead of just purveying information. 2. Make the desired call to action an essential part of the story. 3. Use emotional appeal as basis. 4. Use easy and simple arguments. 5. Show instead of tell the message. 6. Use symbolic languages and images that relate to the senses, 7. Match what viewers see with what they hear. 8. Stay with a scene long enough for more impact. 9. Let a powerful video speak for itself. 10. Use identifiable music. When advertising takes these rules to heart and still fails to sway consumers, it may be worthwhile to follow Leahy's Law and resort to repetition. According to Leahy's Law, a thing may be wrong but if done often enough it can become a right since volume becomes a defense to error. Thus, if an ad does not work well, there is nothing to lose and everything to gain if we increase the frequency of its exposure (Percy & Elliott, 2005). It helps if the advertising campaign concentrates on a single message and find a song or jingle that will make consumers relate to the product (Pricken, 2002; Zaltman & Higie, 1995). Another technique that is becoming popular is covert advertising through such venues as TV programs and movies. For example, the character of Tom Cruise in the film Minority Report uses a Nokia phone and sports a wristwatch engraved with the prominent logo of Bulgari. Finally, it is foolhardy not to use the Internet for advertising extensively. Internet advertising is less costly but more effective in the computer age when every advertiser is on Popup, Flash, Banner, Advergaming and email. III. Market Analysis Advertising today is planned with increasing attention on the psychology of marketing, factoring in such considerations as age, personality, message relevance, consumer trends, social and group pressures. Advertisers also target specific markets for better positioning of the product or idea that is being promoted. Without market segmentation, targeting and positioning, advertising is conceded as a haphazard affair, unlikely to achieve its objectives (Smith, 2004). Experts suggest that to get the right combination, companies must first identify their audience or market, then choose the right message for the right medium. The message must be new and personalized, not something that has been flogged to death by others. In choosing the audience, the selection must be based on such attributes as age, gender, income, married or single, family or couples, housing types, car ownership, hobbies, holiday preferences, attitudes. Establishment of a strong bond between brand and buyer is at the core of this kind of advertising. To build that bond, the literature suggests six strategies: 1) link the brand to a particular need, 2) associate it with a pleasant mood, 3) appeal to subconscious motives, 4) condition consumers to prefer the brand through a reward system, 5) break through perceptual and cognitive barriers to consumer preference, and 6) provide attractive models for consumers to emulate (Desmond, 2003). In the case SOE, it is difficult to pinpoint any market specific on age, gender and civil status because people from age 10 to 70, men and women, married or unmarried, are known to play online games. However, SONY Online Entertainment can anchor its advertising campaign on income, hobbies and attitudes or personality. This means that SOE's market consist of people in the middle and upper income bracket, who have time for leisure and hobbies, and with extensive knowledge of technology. IV. Advertising Strategy The campaign will use a wide mix of publicity modules to include TV commercials, Internet ads, radio ads, print ads, outdoor ads, online advertising, public relations and sales promotion. TV will be the primary medium for the regular company and brand campaigns, as well as the occasional product launches while the Internet is the medium of choice for the actual online games. At least three of the leading national TV networks will be picked for the TV ad campaign, and the choices of programs will be based on ratings and types of audience. The proposed radio ads will focus on the same concerns but this medium will be used sparingly, for the simple reason that radio listeners are identified more with the working class than the leisure crowd. When we do use radio, regional outlets will be preferred over the national stations because provincial stations have the more loyal and identifiable and less scattered audience profile than the latter. As for the print ads, the suggested outlets for the color press include Tatler, Vogue, lifestyle magazines, motoring publications, largest-circulation broadsheets and tabloid weekend color supplements. The black and white ads will be arranged for placement in national dailies. But for the tactical campaigns, such as countering negative publicity or blunting the effects of competitors' gains, regional publications will be used extensively. In the use of outdoor ads, priority will be given to the high-impact, high-awareness billboards for brand campaign and car launches. The billboards will be put up along major thoroughfares connecting commercial centers to plush villages in the suburbs. These types of strategically placed ads are useful for targeting specific target markets. All these activities will be supplemented by online advertising, which will be placed on selected third-party sites that can deliver AB audiences, together with public relations and sales promotion. PR lays the groundwork for advertising to work, while sales promotion gives the campaign a more personal touch by going direct to the target customers. If it isn't broke, why fix it With this in mind, we shall continue the GIRL Game Design Competition, Fan Faire and SOE Block Party to make gamers feel that they are part of the grand SOE tradition of quality and challenging games. The agency will also participate in the observance of important events such as July 4th, Thanksgiving Day, Earth Day, etc. by sponsoring full-page broadsheet ads. The ads will emphasize SOE's sense of social responsibility. V. Creative Solutions The mother ads for TV will emphasize the three company values of quality, innovation and delivery. As such, the TV ad graphics will highlight the thrill and excitement derived from the online games. The sustaining ads will feature the same values but will be expanded to include the processes of creating, developing and making the games available to the market. As for the separate radio ads and plugs, they will embody the same message with more audio play than visual. In the case of the print ads, these will be executed in such a way that appeal to the emotion, with strong and positive heads. The agency is aware that, unlike TV and radio, the audience impact is lessened as print ads are repeated. Thus, a few high-impact ads will be placed near the front news sections, right hand pages, and top-right of the newspaper pages. These ad spaces cost about 20 percent more than the other newspaper spaces, but the extra investment is worth it because they are the first items that readers see. For radio ads, the agency will base the strategy on the RAJAR measurement system to gauge which specific audiences we want to reach as to age, gender, income, etc. and when they are tuned in. Radio advertising is about repetition. It is not a conversational medium, such that presenters don't shout and neither should ratio advertising. The agency will thus device one clear message so as not to confuse listeners. The radio stations that play a mix of old and pop music will be selected, based on observations that such music stations cater to all types of audiences. Specialists and celebrities will also be chosen as voice-over talents because they attract more attention. In the spirit of principled competition, will not make any overt reference to other competitor brands, if reference is made at all, it will be in a subliminal way. The same strategy and ad contents will characterize the full-page print ads that will be placed at least twice a month in the four leading broadsheets that enjoy the largest national circulation. During the launch of any new game, a full-spread, full-color supplement will be taken out in these newspapers to attract the interest of online gamers. VI. Media Solutions The TV ads will be placed as 60-second commercials for the first four weeks. In the succeeding period, they will be edited and reduced to 30-seconder ads in such a way that their message and impact are not diminished. The idea is that TV audiences would have committed to memory all the details after frequent viewing and cutting the ads' playing time would not make any big difference. In the process, we save a considerable sum in placement costs. The campaign will use a wide mix of publicity modules to include TV commercials, radio ads, print ads, outdoor ads, online advertising, public relations and sales promotion. TV will be the primary medium for the regular company and brand campaigns, as well as the occasional product launches. At least three of the leading national TV networks will be picked for the TV ad campaign, and the choices of programs will be based on ratings and types of audience. The proposed radio ads will focus on the same concerns but this medium will be used sparingly, for the simple reason that radio listeners are identified more with the working class than the leisure crowd. When we do use radio, regional outlets will be preferred over the national stations because provincial stations have the more loyal and identifiable and less scattered audience profile than the latter. As for the print ads, the suggested outlets for the color press include Tatler, Vogue, lifestyle magazines, motoring publications, largest-circulation broadsheets and tabloid weekend color supplements. The black and white ads will be arranged for placement in national dailies. But for the tactical campaigns, such as countering negative publicity or blunting the effects of competitors' gains, regional publications will be used extensively. In the use of outdoor ads, priority will be given to the high-impact, high-awareness billboards for brand campaign and car launches. The billboards will be put up along major thoroughfares connecting commercial centers to plush villages in the suburbs. These types of strategically placed ads are useful for targeting specific target markets. All these activities will be supplemented by online advertising, which will be placed on selected third-party sites that can deliver AB audiences, together with public relations and sales promotion. PR lays the groundwork for advertising to work, while sales promotion gives the campaign a more personal touch by going direct to the target customers. If it isn't broke, why fix it With this in mind, we will continue the BMW tradition of putting out April Fools Day ads, the tongue-in-check ads run in broadsheets on April 1 to highlight any revolutionary piece of technology from BMW. The idea is to make intelligent BMW owners feel that they are part of the grand BMW tradition by dropping their guard for once and have a laugh at themselves. The agency will also participate in the observance of Earth Day and other world celebrations on economic sustainability by running full-page broadsheet ads projecting BMW's full commitment to the environment. The ads will emphasize BMW's product development strategy of reducing fuel consumption, vehicle space, exhaust emissions and waste, along with efforts to develop alternative driving concepts. We will also arrange to have BMW 3-Series featured in appropriate films, TV documentaries and police drama serials. In sum, the bulk of the proposed advertising budget will be allotted to TV advertising, followed by radio, print ads, outdoor advertising, online ads, public relations and sales promotion, in that order. Taken together, these modules will serve to reinforce each other. In carrying out the advertising blitz, we shall give more weight to reach over frequency. What matters is less the frequency of the ads than the extent of the audience reached by the fewer ads. Other Ideas In this effort, the agency will use the two proven techniques of sales promotion to coincide with the launches of new online games: the trial and loyalty techniques. The idea in a trial technique is to get customers to sample the product in the hope that they would take a liking to it. In our case, such sampling means allowing gamers to play in selected showrooms. We then try to earn their "loyalty" by seeing to it that nothing goes amiss while they test-play new games so that this increases the probability of the customer using the product again. Sales promotion is effective if you offer customers something extra and of value like free product samples, gifts or prizes. The goal is to identify a specific market need and generate interest for the company and the brand. Of course, the gifts and prizes will sport the company and brand names, which are expected to generate goodwill for the firm. The branded gifts that immediately come to mind are give-away items like ballpoint pens, key chains and umbrellas with the SOE Online Entertainment logo on them. These giveaways will be distributed to all guests at the game launches car launches and among newspapermen. As for prizes, these could be anything of value that will be placed at stake in occasional contests and raffles that will be conducted to promote consumers' interests and sales. From time to time, we will strike an arrangement with TV and radio programs to squeeze in a portion for us to conduct such raffles. The sales promotion activities to be undertaken as part of this campaign will consist of direct marketing and the printing and distribution of supply sales literature, brochures, price lists, and point of sale materials. This will go with the direct mail campaign, public relations and sponsorship campaigns. For the direct mail campaign, we will draw a list of suitable customers to receive the sales materials that we will farm out on a regular basis. V. Implementation Grid If this proposal is approved in principle, the agency will present a compre each of the TV, print and radio ads. Once approved, production of the ads immediately commences, which will be subject to further approval of Client. The estimated cost of the entire advertising campaign is at least 40 million euros, of which 70 percent will be set aside for media placement and 30 percent for production of the publicity materials. This amount is based on the industry standard that pegs the advertising budget at 5 percent of the company's annual sales and 3 percent of its operational budget. The cost estimate also covers the requirements of the advertising mix discussed in the Media Plan. An itemized accounting of the budget plan will be submitted later once the advertising plan is approved in principle. Production cost for a TV commercial is estimated at 1.2 million euros. Let us say the placement cost for a 60-second spot in a prime-time show at station XYZ is 1,000 euros, the total amount is 4,000 euros for a 1-hour show that features 4 commercial spots for its duration. That means an expense of 1.6 million euros per month for TV placement. In one year, this adds up to 19.2 million. Together with the 1.2-million production cost, our total annual expense will come up to 27 million euros. This excludes the production cost for other TV ads that will be produced for the campaign. Bibliography 1) Aaker, D.A. & Jacobson, R. (2001). "The Value Relevance of Brand Attitude in High Tech Markets." Journal of Marketing Research 38 (4). 2) Allbusiness.com (2008). "The ABCs of Effective Advertising." Available online at: http://www.nytimes.com/allbusiness/AB10063285 3) American Research Group (2007). "Ten Rules for More Effective Advertising." NH-03101, Manchester. 4) Belch, G. (2001). 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