Cadburys Marketing Campaign - Essay Example

Cadbury’s Marketing Campaign Cadbury’s competitive advantage is in its core functional characteristic such as quality taste; s expect to buy the company’s products due to the unique flavour and specific creamy aroma that appeals to all (Vignali, 2001). Cadbury’s halo characteristic such as the logo and associations has played one of the key roles in building a differentiated brand in the UK market and beyond (Park, 2013). Bengtsson and Barhi (2010) in their able analysis supports the idea of name and product standardization and states that consumers need consistency and usually trust recognizable brands. Bamossy (2010) adds that consistency in packaging designs encourages brand loyalty by up to 80% because the customers are attracted to well-managed and confident brands that understand its value proposition to the audience. The very concept of consistency can be applied to Cadbury’s marketing strategy; a brand established in 1905 with its dairy milk-flagship still going strong a century later (Cadbury, 2014). The company understands the needs of its consumers, delivering products such as chocolate that is consistent is consistent in terms of taste and pleasure that more than offers self-reward and enjoyment (Mintel, 2014). Cadbury has over the years maintained its innovative culture, creating numerous packaging designs and chocolate tastes to match the ever-changing consumer wants. More than anything else, the company has developed a strong multi-brand recognition that targets numerous segmented markets, extending its line of production to include kids as well as the elderly populations (Cadbury, 2014). The company’s pricing strategy also shows that the brand applies multi-pronged brand strategy, offering premium pricing for working audiences, as well as the standard prices for the younger and the lower income groups. Company’s brand differentiation also follows its innovative culture, inculcating humorous communication techniques that more than encourages brand recall; the “Gorilla” advert featuring a drum-playing gorilla attracted instant cult status online, with numerous imitations, thus, its naming as the favourite TV advert in a number of polls (Chester, 2009). Such campaigns are geared towards enhancing brand awareness, with the company taking bold steps to recall brands among its consumers to preserve its reputation. The middle-aged population in the UK is highly familiar with Cadbury’s chocolates, for the company has been in existence for a long time serving its customers (Smith, 2014). The company, however, still needs to win the brand recognition of the new crop of the younger generation, which is a growing segment market in the UK. And thus, the new campaign strategy yet to be released should aim at consumers ranging in the 17 to 23 age bracket to win their attention. These younger generation buyers are an important target because it is the second highest population in the UK (Mintel, 2014). The company has the opportunity to gain tremendously in terms of maximizing its profit should it succeed in its campaign aimed at reaching this audience. The new campaign strategy will promote the new packages as a gift alternative that consumers can buy their family during holiday outings. Due to the low disposable income of the population, the chocolate box fits perfectly as a gift choice because it is a less expensive option compared to other types of presents. Moreover, younger consumers are the most frequent chocolate eaters, and thus, extend their generosity by purchasing the Cadbury’s product for themselves and their peers as well (Mintel, 2014). A departure from strategies utilised in the past, the campaign will utilise both the traditional and the digital marketing tools to create a balanced communication campaign. The tactic will definitely be highly efficient because it bring on board mass awareness of the new product release in its entirety on a whole new platform that conforms to the 21st century dynamics (Egan, 2007). The main advantage of using such a campaigns is also due to its ability to convey the intended message to the target group (Raju, 2013). Like other techniques used in the past, the advertisement will have emotional appeal, focusing on factors such as family holiday spending, close relationships, under the tree Christmas gifts and cosy times. Due to young consumer’s relatively quick decision making, the advert concludes with the message of sales promotion: “Buy One, Get another Package For Free”, a strategy that more than resonates with every consumer’s preference of more to less (Luxton & Reid, 2008). The price strategy will also be an advantage on their side, for the competitors also include such product offerings during the holidays. The advert’s personality, UK singer Cheryl Cole, given the lines such as “Guess what I will buy my loved ones for Christmas”, or “Cadbury should always be present under the tree among the gifts” is obviously the correct button to press, for young consumers tend to have affection for such celebrities, giving them the warm feeling of including Cadbury product in their gift lists. Agrawal (1995) more that confirms that young consumers trust role models in promotion campaigns and that the presence of celebrities helps a great deal in generating a greater likelihood of customers choosing the endorsed brand. Miller (2011) adds that celebrities carry the status of trustworthiness, attractiveness and expertise, and so carry immense influence on the younger generations and/or fans who generally copy the personalities. Additional interviews with Cheryl Cole about her Cadbury advertisement will be even more advantageous since celebrity interviews get maximum media coverage online and offline. Such interviews should be aired on TV networks and posted online, for instance in youtube, to bring maximum effect (Mai, 2009). Since the youth consumers are constant users of the Internet, the video adverts will most definitely go viral online where the younger generation is the most active lot. Marketing targeting tools such “CisionPoint” will certainly be of great help in identifying the key media channels which are popular among the youth. The tool can be of great importance, for example, in recognizing the magazines or TV channels such as MTV or ITV4 that target the same audience who are more than willing to spread the awareness of new products (Chester, 2009). Digital integration of the campaign will help in reaching the audience who have not seen the Cadbury’s TV advertisements (Faulds, 2009). According to Gibs (2009), companies that understand the theory of social media engage with its consumers online, in effect, enhancing brand recall of a give product by around 10%. Cadbury, therefore, has opportunities of making greater strides in terms of establishing a new product that customers will “like”, for approximately 4% of people become interested in a particular brand by borrowing a leaf from friends/fans utilising the product (Gibs, 2009). The company, thus, has a chance to maximize the awareness by following this strategy. However, the company’s presence offline is also of great importance, and that direct customer engagement must also be taken with the seriousness it deserves. The young consumers that form the Web communities are part of a larger offline community; therefore, Cadbury can directly communicate with such buyers and nurture a huge fan base that doubles up as brand advocates both online and offline (Verissimo, 2014). In essence, group behaviour can benefit from the campaign by Cadbury sending out posts about the new product release as well as spreading messages on the same on social networks and asking participants to share photos and videos of their Christmas tree’s presents and use the hash tag such as: “#CadburyXmas” and giving out the rewards publicly on the most active users (Faulds, 2009). Baldus (2014) believes that online customers most likely participate and comment on each other statuses because of the social status enhancement factor and the need to fit in (Faulds, 2009). Given that young consumers are highly vulnerable to peer-pressure, online engagement has the potential of helping a grat deal in spreading WoM, which will also help to increase brand awareness (Montgomery, 2009). Such like messages on the social media should also ask customers to visit the company’s website for gift customization options to fulfil customers’ curiosity (Calantone, 2014). Through customization, the customers can choose on the desired shapes, colours, sizes of the packages as well as the flavours of chocolates packed in boxes. The micro-marketing strategy encourages co-production, with the customer suggestions being inculcated in subsequent product brand developments. More generally, customers that can share the package designs online have greater possibilities of encouraging others to participate as well. The communication effectiveness for this campaign can be measured by online and offline research opinions that subsequently include: 1. Analytical Mathematical models of research count relative to return on investment and a comparative profit analysis before and after the launch of campaign (Kumar, 2004). 2. Tracking of “followers” that the company has gained since the launch of campaigns. 3. “Google AdWords” or PPC able to precisely show the company’s profile in the search engines for customers searching for the products that Cadbury offers, and the count numbers of the views on the official website of the company. The report evaluated numerous marketing communication tools used to connect with the customers. It has been found that relationship marketing is highly important in order to built trust and loyalty of consumers. Modern companies must, therefore, understand their customers’ wants and utilise strategic planning in marketing its activities in order to reach and keep their targets. The paper has also looked at the communication tools in practice while creating creative strategies for the new Cadbury products. It has been found that marketing communications are highly effective when brand images are combined with the existing competitive advantage to attract the customers to boost sales. Read More