Integrated Marketing Communications Plan for Travelpod - Essay Example

The Travelpod is the world's first mobile hotel room. This 6m x 2.4m clear polycarbonate glass box replicates the conventional Travelodge hotel room. It has air conditioning, heater flat screen TV, DVD player, ambient lighting, tea/coffee making facilities and a washroom with biodegradable toilet and washbasin with running water. Travelodge are planning to be able to offer to transport these mobile hotel rooms to any outdoor venue such as music festivals, sporting events or large outdoor events for the same price as their conventional hotel rooms.

Competitiveness in business the world over is so acute that survival is possible for only those organizations, which are ready to employ every possible means to increase profit by reducing cost in production, while remaining uncompromising in quality and aggressive in marketing. The role of marketing communication in modern business practices has been identified as a key factor in survival in modern day business. As part of the search for business effectiveness the entire process of marketing communication is being approached in a comprehensive and unified manner where by all activities of business communication functions in unison.

This approach is called Integrated Marketing Communication. This is a relatively new concept in management. . 3.1 The Importance of Integrated Marketing CommunicationAn integrated marketing communications program guarantees that every chance to send a message to a customer functions efficiently and smartly. Many needs of the enterprise like increasing membership, ensuring member retention, or increasing non-dues revenue, entry into an impenetrable market etc is achieved by stretching and straining all the sinews and muscles of the enterprise.

This can be also called persuasive communication. Chris Fill has observed the complexities that communication involves. Persuasion can be experiential in of a negotiation process between people. It might need propaganda material typically associated with the government. Sometimes the sender or speaker may be presenting their opinion to a large group of people with no chance for feedback from the crowd (Fill 1995).Marketing communication can succeed only if the communicator has a clear idea of his task.

Based on the target market and target's need he or she should have a unique selling proposition. Communication should help the target group to see you differently form other competitors. In addition, the sales targets should be planned and achievable levels should ear marked and budgetary provisions and a marketing strategy should be in place to achieve these levels. The message delivered in all places, occasions should be consistent, and reliable quantitative tools should measure results.3.2 Integrated Marketing communication-Barriers and GatewaysThe main problem in implementing integrated marketing communication is elitism at the helm.

All organizations run the danger of developing an elite group who have become conservative and might try maintaining statuesque because of the self imposed image of superiority. These may