Effects of Promotion Mix on Customer Brand Awareness - Dissertation Example

?The Effects of Promotion Mix on Brand Awareness towards Lebara Mobile Table of Contents The Effects of Promotion Mix on Brand Awareness towards Lebara Mobile 1 Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Background 3 Aim and Objective 3 Research Questions 4 Review of the Literature 4 Brand Awareness 6 Advertising 7 Promotion Mix 7 Sales Promotion 9 Public Relation 12 Contest 13 Methods 16 Methodical Approach (Research Design) 16 Data Analysis plan 16 Conclusion 18 18 References 19 Introduction Background This proposal involves study of promotion mix on consumer brand awareness of Lebera Mobile. Lebara Mobile provides inexpensive international communication service and customised SIM (subscriber identification module) cards according to the needs of customers throughout the world. Its operations are situated in France, Australia, Switzerland, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Denmark and the UK. In the beginning of 2010, Lebara Mobile had almost 2.5 million customers throughout their business areas. Through proper marketing strategies, Lebara has become one of the global players of mobile service industry (Lebara, 2011). Aim and Objective The aim and objective of this research is to find the impact of promotion mix on customer’s brand awareness. In other words, the ways a promotion mix such as sales promotion, public relation, advertising and personal selling attract a customer towards a brand are the basic aims of the paper. The objectives of this research are to study the impact of sales promotion, public relation and advertising on brand awareness and preference. The company chosen for this research is Lebara Mobile, a ‘low cost and high quality’ mobile service operator, which runs their business internationally. By conducting this research, the researcher can find the impact of Promotion Mix on Customer Brand Awareness towards Lebara Mobile by resolving certain questions. Research Questions Q1. How ‘promotion mix’ influence the customer to purchase a product or service? Q2. Does a customer purchase any product or service because of the benefits or the promotion mixes which create a positive impact about the brand in the mind of customer? Review of the Literature According to Rossiter and Percy (1987), brand awareness is significant for communication procedure. A customer must be aware of the brand first if he intends to buy any product of the brand. Buying intention cannot be made without brand awareness. Brand awareness can build a bundle of connection about any brand in the memory of consumer. In a situation when a customer is aware of several brands that can fit his need criteria, then it is unlikely that a customer will seek further information of any unknown brand. A brand which has good awareness will be considered and therefore would be preferred by most customers than unknown brand (Rossiter & Percy, 1987). It has been found that brand awareness can increase the possibility of choosing any brand without any complementary change in attitude or opinion of customer. Higher the awareness of brand, higher will be the purchase intention of that brand in consumer’s mind and thus it can increase the sales of that brand (Sharp & Macdonald, 2003). Brand Awareness Brand awareness, familiarity and selection of brand are interrelated to each other. This connection primarily reveals the fact that a plethora of option increases brand awareness. The brand awareness plays a vital role in the selection of product. Even if a customer possesses adequate amount of knowledge about a great number of brands for a particular product or service, he may consider only few of those brands while purchasing for any particular purpose. There are several factors for choosing a particular brand. The brand knowledge helps customer to make immediate and easier perceptual recognition of a brand and facilitate purchasing. Brand familiarity develops encouraging and affective response about any brand. This affect can provide as an input to selection of brand. If a customer is familiar about any brand it can mediate his choice pattern. Brand familiarity is affected by advertising publicity, purchase activities and product expenditure or usage. The publicity through advertising becomes more effective when the viewer engages in same operation which is needed during the time of purchase. The advertising must be designed in such a way that it can drive attention towards the brand name and services. Advertising which are short but efficient in creating adequate attention can generate good brand awareness among consumers (Baker & Et. Al., 1986). Advertising For creating good brand awareness, Lebara Mobile had developed advertising in the year 2010. The advertisement was targeted towards ethnic migrant customer segment to develop knowledge about Lebara Brand which provides cheap national as well as international mobile communication service. The advertisement was developed with ‘Eurosport’ during ‘2010 Africa Cup of Nations’ so that large number of customers can enjoy watching game as well as know about services of Lebara which is ideal solution for customer to stay connected with their friends and relatives. Through this advertisement, Lebera had successfully promoted its brand name and its services all over Europe (Fernandez, 2010). For better promotion, Lebara Mobile had spent 4 million euro in marketing their brand in the year 2008. The objective was to expand their customer base. By proper promotion strategy, Lebara had expanded their customer range. Lebara Mobile had established its first mobile service in Netherlands and in the year 2008, approximately 700,000 customers had connected with Lebara in seven countries (Centaur Media plc, 2008). Promotion Mix Promotional strategy is a preparation for best use of promotional factors such as advertising, public relation, personal selling and sales promotion. The major function of promotion mix is to convince the target customer about the company and develop brand awareness among them. There are several types of promotional tools, such as advertising, sales promotion, public relation and personal selling that increase the brand awareness of a company’s products or services (Lamb & Et. Al., 2008). Lebara has strong promotional campaign which helps the company to position themselves in the international market. In the year 2006, Lebara was awarded as fourth fastest rising private corporations in the UK by ‘Sunday Times’ in their ‘Fast Track 100 Listing’ list. In the year 2009, Lebara was recognised for providing most inventive services at the ‘Mobile News Awards’. In the same year, Lebara got MVNO award by ‘Mobile News Best’. One of the big reasons for the success of Lebara was successful brand awareness by the means of good promotional strategies. The purpose of Lebara is to stay connected with the customers and help to save money by providing cheap international call and charge reasonable cost in national call (Lebara Mobile, 2011). With their good marketing strategy, Lebara Mobile had captured the Danish market with this inexpensive international offering. The service of Lebara was popular among immigrant customers who used to make international calls to be connected to their friends and families (Centaur Media plc, 2005). Sport sponsorship has become an important promotional tool for several companies to boost their brand awareness. Various companies use sports as a marketing tool to promote their products or services to the whole world. The commercial spending on sports had been increased in several developing countries. Sports sponsorship can range from regional events to international sports such as Olympic Game or World Cup Cricket. According to Hefler, senior vice president of worldwide promotion for ‘MasterCard’ stated that in future, sport sponsorship will be more popular and increasing form for promotion. Sport promotion is altruistic in nature. At times a company involves with sales promotion only because the authority has an affiliation with any sport activity rather than increased sales. However, nowadays this approach had changed and companies are applying sound business principles to relate sport with marketing. The selection of sport and the services associated with it is important to make successful sport promotion. Sport which can enhance the brand image of a company is a significant factor for sponsors. The sponsors have to be cautious because there is a possibility of risk and insecurity to the success of their sponsorship and future consequences. If the sport on which sponsorship had been made, failed for some reason, it can make negative impact on that company and associated expenditure. If a company aligns their image with a particular sport, it can enhance the image of the company brand. Matching product and services to the lifestyle image related with sport can improve brand image of a company. Sports play a vital part in seeking to receive sponsorship. Companies that receive less attention from customer can use sport for better branding (Wilson, 1997). In the year 2010, Lebara and Brylcreem had sponsored live cricket of IPL (Indian Premier League) on famous website ‘YouTube’. The sport promotion was targeted towards foreign customers. In the past, Lebara Mobile had sponsored cricket on ‘Setanta’ channel (Baker, 2010). Sales Promotion Price discounts help the customers to use the benefit of reduction on the amount they have to pay for any product or service. A company offers price discounts to attract customer who might prefer other services and thus can create a good price image of the brand. Lebara Mobile had created brand image of providing inexpensive international call. It developed a promotional plan named ‘Pay As You Go’, a SIM which was targeted for those customers who use international calls to a great extent. This plan offered the customer 50% cost reduction in any call in first month (PrepaidMVNO, 2011). This promotion mix had successfully created brand awareness among customers. In 2009 Lebara had almost 1 million customers in the UK, which was 90% more compared to 2008. Lebara had acquired more than three million customers internationally (Lebara BV, 2009). In the year 2011, Lebara had updated a new promotional offer for new as well as existing customers, which is to earn extra 10 Euro credit with a top up of 20 Euro. Lebara had become one of the most successful Mobile Virtual Network Operators in Europe (PrepaidMVNO, 2011). The sales promotion had helped Lebara to magnetise new customers and extend the leading position in market. For supporting 50% discount offer, Lebara Mobile had established advertising campaign all over the UK which comprises billboards, advertising, print media posters, cultural TV, radio advertising and also online advertising (Lebara BV, 2008). In the year 2011, Lebara UK had won the award of best ‘Mobile Virtual Network Operator’ due to its success in telecom industry (PrepaidMVNO, 2011). In the year 2001, Lebara had introduced ‘Lebara Prepaid Master Card’. This card allowed customers to manage security, money transferring and withdrawal. The customer can also take the benefit of direct payment and cash loading at almost 30000 pay-points and post office divisions all over the UK without having any bank account. This promotional strategy had great success and gave Lebara Mobile a fantastic platform of marketing their products as well as services. Through this promotion, Lebara had positioned itself as an innovative brand with an insistent, highly strategic and community oriented marketing approach. In the year 2011, Lebara had launched ‘Lebara Money’ a sub-brand of Lebara, targeted towards the ethnic minority communities of the UK. With the help of this promotional activity, Lebara had spread a message for the brand that it doesn’t just provide communication service but also allows their customers to remain attached with their family through sending money. Lebara thinks providing financial service is most important to remain attached with family and friends (Lebara, 2011). In the UK, Lebara Mobile had increased the market expenditure and budget for promotional activities (PrepaidMVNO, 2011). It had changed their call charge in almost 30 destinations at a cost of ?.01 per minute (landline) (PrepaidMVNO, 2011). In Switzerland, Lebara had introduced internet package for mobile customers. This new promotional package had allowed customers to download 120 MB with a cost of 4.90 CHF per month and also allowed for cancelling the package if they don’t prefer the offer (PrepaidMVNO, 2010). In the year 2010, Lebara Mobile had launched bonus for the immigrant communities of Spain. This promotional bonus allowed customers to earn extra money than usual rate. For example, any top-up of 30 Euro or more will give extra 33% more credit to customer (PrepaidMVNO, 2010). This promotion mix had successfully increased the brand awareness in Spain. In 2010, Lebara was acknowledged as one of the best 5 mobile operator services in Spain (CMT, 2010). In Germany, Lebara Mobile had reduced the call rate to €0.09 per minute and also allowed customers to make free call in Lebara’s Network all over Germany (PrepaidMVNO, 2010). In the year 2010, Lebara Mobile had formed partnership with one of the biggest mobile manufacturer companies Nokia to offer reliable and reasonable packaged solution in France. French people often call to foreign countries and there was no good international calling package in market. To meet the needs of French customer, Lebara Mobile had developed good mobile solution in joint partnership with top mobile manufacturing company Nokia. Lebara Mobile offers the customer to make international call in less than 30 Euros (PrepaidMVNO, 2010). To strengthen its promotional activities and good brand position, Lebara Mobile had acquired ‘Chippie’, a network operator of Dutch. Through this acquisition of Chippie, Lebara Mobile targets the customer of Middle East, North & South America, Asia and Caribbean. It offers international call 3 Cents in those countries to increase their brand awareness and in 2010 almost 20% of Dutch population had made connection to other countries (Lebara, 2010). Lebara Mobile had also made sponsorship with A.R Rahman, a music legend and visionary composer of Asia. Through this sponsorship, Lebara had developed its relationship with music industry as well as music lovers. Lebara considered the relationship between communities and A.R. Rahman was the best option to promote the brand to Asian communities as well as across Europe and the UK. This promotional strategy helped Lebara Mobile to add brand value through satisfied stipulation and customer can know about the service of Lebara, which is an important factor for rapid development of Lebara Mobile. The innovative promotion of Lebara Mobile helps to expand the business across four territories (Dont Delaymagazine, 2010). Public Relation Public relation and marketing often conflict with each other. Public relation is an effective way by which a company can create brand awareness. Public relation focuses on short term accomplishment and it can improve a company’s reputation. Public relation can be a significant component of company’s success if applied correctly. It can provide bigger return on investment than promotion advertising or other marketing activities. A successful public relation campaign can increase the brand awareness as well as the sales of the company. A correct public relation campaign can make publicity and maintain company’s marketing effort. Thus, it can influence potential customer and develop new sales prospects (Chartier & Et. Al., 2007). Lebara Mobile had increased public relation to promote their brand awareness. In the year 2010, Lebara had formed partnership with the musicians of Manchester named ‘Bonafide’ to assist the residents of Pakistan in devastating flood of 2010. Lebara and Bonafide had formed a charity named ‘Single’ and tried to raise 200000 Euro for Pakistan’s people. All proceeds of ‘Single’ had donated to IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross) through Lebara Foundation. Lebara’s contribution had actively helped the major devastated regions of Pakistan. Through this charitable movement, Lebara had created good public relation and good image of the brand. With the help of this promotional strategy, Lebara gave a message of hope during terrible times to the whole world. Lebara made possible for everyone to donate in the charity ‘Single’ by purchasing iTune at a cost of 99 paisa or through visiting their own music portal for 1?. The support and commitment of Lebara proved invaluable that helped several families to rearrange their life in Pakistan (Lebara, 2010). Contest Sales contest is effectively used by numerous companies in influencing sales force and such contest receive considerable attention from people in business and media. The designing of contest is vital part of promotion which can motivate people to pursue contest goals and thus increases brand awareness (Murphy & Et. Al., 2011). In the year 2010, Lebara had organised ‘Lucky 888 promotion’ a sales contest for Lebara employees, resellers and the agencies associated with this promotion. To enter into this contest, an individual must have Lebara Mobile connection. This contest had provided opportunity to win trip to China, Vietnam or Hong Kong (Lebara, 2011). The online video contest can result in positive brand awareness and people can generate feelings and attractiveness towards the brand. Online video contest can generate positive advertising attitude and encourage better brand position compared to television, newspaper or magazine. A company must verify promotional objectives before putting online video contest into action. A company sponsors this type of contests in an attempt to engage the market and improve brand image. The online video contest diverges from conventional advertising because it focuses on customer involvement to an extremely high degree. This contest can encourage anyone to join in the promotion, whether it is a voter or contestant (Janis, 2010). Lebara Mobile had arranged online video contest for promotion and increasing brand awareness among consumers. In the year 2010, Lebara Mobile had sponsored MOBO Awards where several music fans were provided opportunity to work with Luke Biggins, the famous music video director. They were also provided a good opportunity to be present as a VIP at MOBO Awards. Individual can create a music video of them and upload it to the Facebook page of Lebara Mobile to win this contest. The most voted video will win the contest. People can request their friends and family members to vote for their video. The contest provided great opportunity for young musicians to make their talent recognised by music industry and one individual was given the chance to work with a renowned director of music industry. Through the involvement with MOBO Awards, Lebara Mobile had successfully raised their brand awareness in urban music industry and also helped to create new music talent from new generation. This promotional strategy of Lebara mobile had attracted the attention of multicultural audience towards their brand and almost 250 million people had become familiar with Lebara Mobile (Lebara, 2010). The promotional activities of Lebara had increased the brand awareness and had experienced increasing sales. In the year 2009, the annual income of Lebara was €371 million, which was 105% increase compared to 2008. The strong growth of sales of Lebara Mobile had made the company one of the famous growing mobile companies internationally. The exceptional marketing and promotional strategy had helped Lebara Mobile to perform well in spite of challenging business conditions. In the year 2009, Lebara Mobile had won the ‘Asian Achievers Awards’ in London. It was also renowned as ‘Best Overall Enterprise’ because of their good contribution in Asian communities. According to 2010, Lebara had almost 2.5 million customers internationally. The strong development of Lebara was the result of exceptional marketing strategy and target distribution which had helped them to become formidable and persuasive force in market (Lebara, 2010). Methods Methodical Approach (Research Design) The sample will be selected through stratified random sampling method. The data for conducting this research will be collected through primary as well as secondary sources. To collect data from primary sources, questionnaire method will be used because it is easy to collect information even if the population size is huge. The responses of respondents will not be bias because no one can influence their answer. Through questionnaire the responses can be assembled in a standardised way. Researcher can use large sample to get dependable and reliable results. Respondents who are not accessible can also be reached through questionnaire. Total 150 sets of questionnaire will be prepared for the research of Lebara Mobile. The questionnaires will be distributed randomly to the people who usually prefer to use the Hammersmith Underground Station because the Lebara Mobile boot is stated in that station. Internet will be used for secondary data collection. The reason for choosing internet as secondary data collection method is because of internet’s cost effectiveness. Large information regarding research can be drawn out from it. Internet is the faster way to collect data and coding of data is easy. Data Analysis plan The collected data will be analysed by using quantitative method. At the outset, the collected data will be prepared and managed for conducting the analysis. The data preparation entails checking the data for accuracy, testing the validity and reliability of data. Statistical method of SPSS will be used to exemplify the collected data of the research. Hypothesis will be conducted to analyse the sample and find a conclusion about the research problem. Conclusion Promotion mix such as sales promotion, advertising and public relation are tools for every company to provide the message to people about their brand. Promotion is used to establish a basic awareness of company’s products and services in the minds of people to build up a common understanding about the brand. Lebara Mobile had created profitable and successful business by offering good promotion to people. 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Cyber Journal of Sport Marketing. http://fulltext.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/1997/cjsm/v1n4/wilson.htm [Accessed May 02, 2011]. Programme of Work Read More