Questions in Marketing Communication - Essay Example

Q1. The four major marketing communications mix according to Kotler are advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and public relations. Intensive selling is the most important marketing communications factor (Avlonitis & Papastathopoulou, 2000). An airline has to adopt, alter and change the marketing communications mix as the market demands. It has to keep introducing new products from time to time as innovation today is a necessity rather than a strategic option in the turbulent market with shorter product life cycles. There is a shift in the marketing communication targeting only the customers. Marketing communication should reach a range of stakeholders and other players peripheral to the target market and which influence the business success (Clulow, 2006). Benefits and pitfalls of stakeholder responses should be anticipated and used to advantage. In the case of BMI the main marketing objectives was to introduce its product. It was planning to launch a low-cost airline subsidiary to compete with other low-cost carriers. They needed the services of an advertising agency because the launch required strategic brand development before the advertising plan could be developed. The marketing communications objective for BMI was challenging because the advertising agency had to launch a product with no brand name or brand image. Corporate communications in an airline must have certain differential features to influence travelers and establish brand image (Driver, 1999). BMI enjoyed a reputation for friendliness but the branding and positioning of the new product needed to have a low-cost approach. This required a strong brand image to distinguish it from long-established competitors. Another objective of marketing communications for the new airline was that even though the market for low-cost airline was still growing, it would reach a saturation point within 2 or 3 years. The passengers would then make a decision based on their experience. Consumers retain images of their experience with an airline or any service and this personal experience becomes the key driver for future purchases (FitzGerald & Arnott, 1999). Consumers are known to retain that brand in memory and if satisfied, it becomes their preferred choice. The attributes related to the image of the airline are only partially related to direct operational and flight factors. Relationship marketing emphasizes the need for firms to establish lasting relationships with customers, suppliers, employees and stakeholders through trust, relationship commitment and co-operation (Chenet, Tynan & Money, 2000). Services are intangible, invariable, perishable and inseparable (Long & Schiffman, 2000). As such advertising becomes the most important means of achieving the marketing communications objectives through the use of media like television, radio, print, outdoor and ambient media. Although BMI had reservations about using television as the media initially, the advertising agency convinced them that television has a strategic value in generating widespread awareness fast and in building brand image. Ambient media also proved to be every effective in launching the brand as passengers actually followed the trails of baby-sized foot-prints around the concourse floor. Q2. An advertising agency is essential to draw up the advertising plan. Normally products come to advertising agencies with an established brand image but BMI wanted to introduce a new product which had established competitors in the market. BDDH had to work on the launch strategy taking into account product differentiation. They had to maintain the friendly characteristics of BMI in their strategy. To create a brand image takes time but BDDH had to expedite and popularize the brand immediately as the growing market was expected to reach saturation point within 2 or 3 years. The advertising agency had to select the brand name for the product suitable to the market environment. While choosing a brand name they have to ensure that it maintains a link with parent company while depicting what the product is. They had to decide on the communications marketing mix and the media which would help to launch the brand quickly. They prepared the creative brief which was simple and straightforward. The message had to be delivered clearly. They have to constantly review, refine and receive a feedback from the company before a final decision on the campaign can be taken. The advertising agency also had to liaise closely with BMI to develop the scripts and voices for the televisions and radio appearances. They were even involved in selection of the right music and the right character to convey the message to the target audience. The role of an external agency is to provide guidance to the company on product launch, brand image and marketing mix. With their expertise they can provide the best solution to the client. The advantages of having an external agency is that they provide creativity, clear concept, advise on the communication plans, customer relationship management (Triki, Redjeb, & Kamoun, 2007). They support in market analysis and segmentation. They are also in a position to execute the ideas of the client which the client or the company on its own may not be able to. While the external agency is expected to have expertise, it may not always happen that they posses this expertise in the field in which a client needs their services. Besides, the personnel at the agency keep changing which disturbs continuity. Within the client company also there has to be one single person liaising with the agency to avoid confusion. Q3: Evaluating the effectiveness of advertising campaigns is a difficult task. To get a qualitative research of the effectiveness of advertising, it can be done after the campaign has run one full year. This is because advertising stimulus has to be traced through a behavioral chain of events that may culminate in a sale long after the advertising has been delivered (Ryan & Rae, 2005). BDDH will face difficulty in measuring the effectiveness immediately. BDDH has suggested the use of television as a medium which is not commonly used by low cost airlines. They have also experimented by using ambient media where the evaluation may not be tangible. Companies today use web advertising and well integrated multimedia strategies, which makes it difficult to segregate the responses from each individual advertising campaign. In the case of BMI, BDDH has not used different media and has stuck to television and ambient media so segregation will not be a problem. Organizations want quick responses to alter they advertising strategy if need be. This demands the use of tools to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. The basic awareness level of the brand has to be monitored and attitudinal research is required on whether the target audience has assimilated the message. One measure of the effectiveness can be determined by the impact on the staff. If they accept it favorably and wholeheartedly, it is half the battle won. Achievement of sales targets is another measure of effectiveness of the advertising campaign. If the sales exceed the targets in the first three methods, the campaign has been successful, which has been proved to be effective in the case of BMI. Q4. BMIbaby’s advertising campaign had translated into sales, which is the ultimate outcome which every company seeks. The response was very positive and there was a good response to the brand name. The range of marketing communications had started to evolve. At thus juncture, the company appointed its own sales and marketing manager. As BDDH’s account manager, a few things need to clarified to the new sales manager so that the pace and style of promotion remains unaffected. From the sales achieved it is evident that the campaigns are effective and hence the new sales manager should be apprised of the timelines for any future campaigns. BDDH has not been involved in setting up the sponsorship deals but has been involved in designing and producing associated signage and advertising materials. The new sales manager should be informed that after receiving brief from the company on any launch, BDDH would take 2 to 4 weeks to submit a creative brief to the company. Since the company is concentrating and has received results from the television campaigns as was suggested by BDDH, the new sales manager should be aware that it takes 10 to 18 weeks to source the production company, to sort out the actors, costumes, location, and finally shoot and edit the production. As the outdoor media tend to get booked very early, television slots have to be booked very much in advance as there could be penalties if booked after a specified date. This may require an early commitment from the firm. Radio, print and poster advertising can be developed in much shorter time span. Ambient media and television media have been every effective in fetching the sales and brand equity. These should be stuck to for the time being as competitors do not generally use these channels for advertising. Advertising budget should also be substantial. Even though the company has penetrated the market and made its presence felt, BMI sales manager should note that marketing communications perform three functions: to inform, to remind, and to persuade (Holm, 2006). The repeated advertising will keep the target audience reminded about the product. References: Avlonitis, G. J., & Papastathopoulou, P., (2000), Marketing communications and product performance: innovative vs. non-innovative new retail financial products, International Journal of Bank Marketing 18/1 [2000] 27-41 Chenet, P., Tynan, C., & Monay, A., (2000), The service performance gap: testing the redeveloped causal model, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 34 No. 3/4, 2000, pp. 472-495. Clulow, V., (2006), Futures dilemmas for marketers: can stakeholder analysis add value? European Journal of Marketing Vol. 39 No. 9/10, 2005 pp. 978-997 Driver, J. C., (1999), Developments in airline marketing practice, Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science, Vol. 5 No. 5, 1999, pp. 134-150 FitzGerald, M., & Arnott, D., (1999), Understanding demographic effects on marketing communications in services, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 7 No. 3 1996, pp. 31-45 Holm, O., (2006), Integrated marketing communication: from tactics to strategy, Corporate Communications: An International Journal Vol. 11 No. 1, 2006 pp. 23-33 Long, M. M., & Schiffman, L. G., (2000), Consumption values and relationships: segmenting the market for frequency programs, Journal of consumer Marketing, VOL. 17 NO. 3 2000, pp. 214-232 Ryan, D., & Rae, D., (2005), Quantifying Advertising’s Impact, 30 Jan 2007 Triki, A., Redjeb, N., & Kamoun, I., (2007), Exploring the determinants of success/failure of the advertising agency-firm relationship, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal Vol. 10 No. 1, 2007 pp. 10-27 Read More