Advertising Strategy and Planning - Essay Example

Advertising Strategy and Planning Background Analysis Howley Group is a young chain of restaurant that puts into combination a menu for vegetarians with an environmental conscious range of catering such as locally made ingredients. The restaurant has established a menu with a carbon footprint for every item with intentions of demonstrating its environmental consciousness. The restaurant will be positioned in the city centers and immediate suburbs of main cities where the target population is located. The company also intends to establish a brand based on the concept of “casual ethical eating”. As a result, the company wishes to create a market promotion strategy which targets more of the vegetarian population. Vegetarian population About 6% of the UK population is vegetarian which approximately 3.5 million individuals are. In early 1990’s this population was about 3-4% (Case study notes). The diet for vegetarians comprises of nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables and grains and at times eggs and products. Fundamentally a vegetarian does not take fish, meat or poultry. There is a considerable section of the UK population that inclines towards minimizing meat in their diet. According to the survey conducted by TGI, 6.3% of the people admitted to be vegetarian while 13.3% admitted to have done away with meat diet on voluntary basis (Case study notes). The largest populations of vegetarians are women aged between 20 and 44 years and those living in the southern part of UK (The Vegetarian Society 59). There is a close relationship between the high consciousness of issues to do with environment and the vegetarians like carbon footprint, sustainability and global warming. The forces for the pattern in consumption of less quantity of meat are attributed to the current lifestyles and an interest in wellbeing and health. The five day campaign launched by the government in 2003 encouraging five segments of vegetables and fruits per day is attributed with the supporting awareness of the advantages of consuming vegetables and fruits (The Vegetarian Society 59). The rise in ethnic food has resulted into more foreign spices and savoring into the diet of the country and supported increased shift away from the conventional diet of two vegetables and meat. There are about 110,000 restaurants in UK with joint sales revenue of £25 billion (Powers and Cathy 47). Even though majority of the restaurants provide vegetarian foods, reasonably very few offer exclusively vegetarian alternatives. Development of Effective Advertising Objectives The company intends to use the right and most effective media channels to help in the promotion of the restaurant. To this effect the intended objectives include; To use 5% of the advertisement budget on social media, 39% on digital advertisement, 27% on public relation, 18% on print media and 1% on print materials. The rest will be applied on other forms of advertisement. To reach out to about 60% of the vegetarian population this is approximately 2.1 million of the vegetarian population in the United Kingdom using the selected media channels. To continuously conduct evaluation on the effectiveness of the channels and the audience reached with the adverts. To provide the best quality foods to the customers specifically vegetables and fruits that are less processed (Farhad and Karami 74). Target Audience The connection between the value proposition of the company and target audience can be considerably complex for social entities based on the assortment of stakeholders usually involved. External stakeholders are essentially described as the population or companies who affect or are affected by the operation of the company. Recognizing the external stakeholders will help the restaurant to define the target customers for the advert hence give room for the marketer to state the proposition of value (Ralf 57). Therefore, it will critical for the marketer of Howley group to apply the classes that will entail essential stakeholders for the groups of restaurant. Therefore this marketing campaign will focus on the various groups of vegetarians depending on their reasons for being vegetarians. The target audience for this advertisement strategy is majorly, the female aged between 20-44 years who are aware of their health lifestyle. Besides, the advertisement targets vegetarians who emerge from all walks of life. This class of target population is highly learned, very conscious of the rights of animals and aware of the environmental concerns. Besides, the target population is passionate about their lifestyle of consuming vegetables and fruits where the restaurant aims to meet these needs (Beamish 37). The market segment for vegetarian diet is large based on the research conducted in the United Kingdom. At the same time, the population is increasingly becoming aware of their diet concerns for a healthy living. Moreover, the vegetarians are least sensitive to pricing of the foods compared to the general population who consume all foods. This target population is more willing to buy more products of much significance to their life and restaurants or companies they support (Boone and Kurtz 13). Positioning Strategy One of the most critical aspects in the strategic plan for a restaurant rests in the creation of the menu. The restaurant’s management is well aware that designing and creating a menu that is more appealing with menu items are priced competitively in marketplace is the root for success for the business. Pricing of the menu at times is a tricky affair hence the marketing manager understands that the pricing should be done appropriately to operate under profitability (Burrow and Bosiljevic 23). The vegetables and fruits that will be offered will be matched basing on price and related value. Furthermore, to position the foods offered at the restaurant, the management intends to analyze the population’s income, age and income of the target market to establish whether the pricing and menu concept is precise (Chew 11). The restaurant also intends to position its products and services by offering a wide range of fruits and vegetables majority of which will be in their most natural form. Given that most of the target consumers are not price conscious hence pricing will purely be based on the type of foods offered in the menu (Tony 47). The concept of product differentiation through unique services and diet offered as well as the design of the restaurants will be crucial in establishing an effective positioning strategy. Works cited Analoui Farhad and Azhdar Karami. Strategic management in small and medium enterprises. London [u.a.]: Thomson, 2003. Print Celine Chew. Strategic positioning in voluntary and charitable organizations. Routledge. 2009. Print Case study Notes Jim Burrow and Jim Bosiljevic. Marketing. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2009. Print Karen Beamish. CIM Course book 03/04 marketing planning. Routledge, 2012. Print Louise Boone and David Kurtz. Contemporary Marketing. Cengage Learning. 2013. Print Strauss, Ralf E. Marketing Planning by Design: Systematic Planning for Successful Marketing Strategy. Chichester, England: Wiley, 2008. Internet resource. The Vegetarian Society. The history of vegetarianism in the UK. Mintel, London. 2007. Print Tom Powers and Cathy H.C. Hsu. Marketing hospitality. Wiley and sons. 2008. Print. Yeshin, Tony. Advertising. London: Thomson Learning, 2006. Print. Read More