Strategic integrated marketing and communications †Free Samples

Question: Discuss aboutt the Strategic integrated marketing and communications. Answer: Two ethical issues needed to be considered: Every single organization needs to follow some set of ethical considerations which help to establish a good and trusted image in the market. Consumer behavior in contemporary market is not the one that happens in the ancient times. It has gone through a significant change. Modern-day consumers now have concerns about health aspects also when they make up their mind to purchase goods (East et al. 2016). The proposed Green Cow should be introduced to market only after fulfilling the few ethical considerations which are as follows (Sheth and Sisodia 2015): Informing consumers on the unique aspect of the product which is to offer them an environment-friendly drink. The information can be communicated through integrated communication modes. Following Green Standards for Manufacturing Justification and explanation of the selection: There can be other considerations as well; however, the selection has been done keeping in mind the needful activity which the company requires after being criticized in media for polluting the environment. The requirement to communicate with the customers, to make them informed on the uniqueness the proposed product has, is important for attaining their trust. Customers trust on the product can turn things in favor of the company (Egan, Hughes and Palmer 2015). Adherence to Green standards is important while during the manufacturing process as this will communicate the environmental aspects that the company had considered for the proposed product (Egan, Hughes and Palmer 2015). Recommendation for addressing the issues through integrated communication: There can be the various modes of interacting with customers; however, Ms. Printup should go with the Public Relation (PR) activity. They have already been criticized in media for being less careful to environmental aspects at its manufacturing plants. Addressing the media and the target audience by mean of a live session in the form of PR may help to restore the lost trust of media personnel as well as of customers (Ots and Nyilasy 2017). The company has earlier been dusted by the media reports. Now, by through PR activities, they will have a chance to speak a lot about their proposed product. Media will be able to ask a series of questions, answering which the company may be in a good position to supply the necessary information related to the proposed product. Moreover, the company will be able to present a good image of it to the media. It will also be able to communicate the environmental aspects that the product carries with it. Those customers who are concerned with environmental values, they will be able to relate them to the company's product. Target audience from the perspective of behaviouristic segmentation: Behaviouristic segmentation can be defined as a segmentation process which identifies the different buying behavior of customers. Customers have different buying behavior on different occasions like the Christmas or the New Year. They also behave differently when they have a reason to celebrate or make fun. Celebrations can be for various reasons like getting a dream job, scoring good marks in academics, completing a project successfully and finding ample reasons to enjoy at homes. In all such situations, customers react differently while purchasing their required or desired product (Bruwer and McCutcheon 2017). It is necessary for the case study organization that it identifies the behavior of its target audience. Young men drink more than the women of same age group. Men aged 18 to 49 should be targeted particularly. Additionally, the product will be more specifically targeted on those who have concerns for an environment-friendly product. Celebrities like sports players can also be targeted as they will get health-oriented drinks in the form of Green Cow'. Moreover, the theme will find its relations with the mentality the sports players have. The target audience will also be the family members who prefer a huge purchasing of beverage during the Christmas and New Year. These are the few occasions when a family member does purchase drinks in huge numbers. Most importantly, the target audience will, in particular, be those who are concerned with environmental values of the product. This means they do examine the environmental benefits before they make the purchase. Those customers will be in the age group 18-49. In particular, they will be the young consumers who desirably look for products meeting the environmental values. They will pick up only those which are high in meeting the environmental standards in its manufacturing process. Identifying the one group that is strategically desirable for the product: The one group that is desirable to the products like Green Cow is the young people who analyze their desirable products from the environmental aspects. Once they find their desired products meeting all the standards, they decide to make up the purchase. The group, in particular, is strategically desirable for any product like such. Other ways to strengthen the products validity with this one group: The products validity with this one group can further be strengthened by making small-scale sales on a third-party platform like Amazon, Etsy, and eBay (Wang, Cavusoglu and Deng 2016). This will bring a lot of difference to the products validity as case study organization will be able to identify the customers expectations with the proposed product. Young age men find Smartphone in their hands from their early childhood. They are brought up in such an environment where they start using electronic gadgets for playing games. The addiction becomes even enlarged and finds some added usage of it. They wish to do their maximum tasks with the help of such gadgets. Purchasing online through e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon is one of their activities (Schade et al. 2016). Moreover, making small-scale sales on such e-commerce platforms may help to find the feedbacks of their target audience which in particular are the young age men. Importance of positioning: Market positioning may be defined as a process which firms use to attract its target audience. This is basically the consumer's perception of the brand that they use to present a most relevant series of product to customers. Identifying a wrong market segment and making the customers acknowledged with an inappropriate message may lead to a destructive loss. Positioning statement encourages the consumer perception of it (Maingi, Ondigi and Wadawi 2016). Suppose for an example, a phone is being sold claiming that it offers a top-notch camera quality; however, few customers have found this partially correct after using the phone. Such gaps will create negative views in those who have purchased it. Such reviews may influence the buying behavior of others who check the reviews prior to purchase anything. On contrary to the scenario, if a phone fulfills the claims it has made to the common public, it will most certainly receive the positive reviews. Hence, further sales will also improve because of positive word of mouth. The one example is enough to understand what actually positioning means in marketing. Positioning statement should be relevant to the products quality. It should appear attractive to customers (Maingi, Ondigi and Wadawi 2016). The positioning statement for Green Cow' identifying the target audience, key benefits and category: The target audience for Green Cow will, in particular, be the young age men those who have concerns about an environment-friendly beverage. The product will have different age group as its customers; however, this is particularly being made for environmentally conscious people. The positioning statement will also be designed keeping in mind the young customers. The positioning statement for Green Cow will be as follows: A beverage especially being crafted from natural resources to please the souls of natural lovers The recommended positioning statement is designed keeping in mind the type of audience that the case study company has targeted. The statement had emphasized on the special attraction that Green Cow will offer to customers. The product will use natural resources and will produce an environmentally friendly product. Two recommended strategic adoption factors: Adoption in marketing can be defined as strategies that encourage the final purchase of the product. Adoption should be strategically planned, so that, customers are able to connect their thoughts with the products (Percy 2014). There are various adoption factors in marketing; however, the study will focus on just two adoption factors for Green Cow. Those two factors will be relative advantage and divisibility. Relative advantage means presenting a product which is even better than the previous. It means that the case study organization will be required taking the help of relative advantage'. By taking the help, they will be able to communicate to customers that the proposed product is much better than the previous one. This may also help to maintain good adoption rates provided that, if the products are being delivered as committed to customers (Percy 2014). Another strategy will be to go with Divisibility. Divisibility in marketing can be defined as a process which encourages trial on a limited basis'. This means that products should first be made available to customers with limited stock. It means a small scale sale first which provides a chance to know the reactions of customers (Vernuccio and Ceccotti 2015). The case study firm should follow this strategy and in course of action, Green Cow needs to be launched in small scales in the earlier days. By going the mentioned way, the marketing team will be able to track the initial response of customers to the product. This appears as important when looked at the recent performance of the firm. The firm was being criticized by series of media coverage on the environmental performance of Blue Cow, one of the products from the company. In this regards, it is imperative for the company that it takes a measured approach towards the introduction of a new product. Explanation of the selection and utilization of two factors in a campaign: The first selection is of relative advantage. Relative advantage will help the case study organization to present an even better product to customers. The betterment may be in any regards; however, the management had decided it earlier that difference will be in the context of environmental aspect. Moreover, in the light of concept presented from relative advantage, the concept will help the manufacturing team to follow the committed points while preparing Green Cow. In course of action, the management team will be able to deliver on the commitment made to customers. The product as looked may prove to be beneficial if being presented exactly in the form of being desired. The second selection is of divisibility. This strategy will help to launch products on a small scale. The strategy is a good way to know the response of customers. Moreover, the firm will be able to know the initial responses and will accordingly proceed ahead. Suppose if they have negative reviews or mixed reviews, the firm will be able to make useful amendments by closely monitoring the customer reviews. Hence, this will increase the chances of being sold on the next scale of products. On the other hand, if responses are largely positive then this will mean a continued production of the same scale. Two specific integrated communications for Green Cow: Public Relation (PR) activity will be ideal for divisibility'. Customers will be acknowledged on a small scale release of the products. They will also be asked to give their reviews, so that, necessary amendments could be made to the products in next scale of products (Blakeman 2018). For relative advantage', different social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube can be used. Related videos educating on the changes considered with Green Cow' can be uploaded to YouTube. The video can be seen millions of customers in a very less time (Blakeman 2018). Rossiter-Percy Bellman Grid: Rossiter-Percy grid is a good way to understand the best feasible strategy which will make the campaigning successful. Few integrated campaigns will be required to successfully promote the product to its target customer. The model provides a very easier yet a very effective strategy making tool to make the scheduled campaign look attractive. The model is divided into four categories where every single grid has different meanings attached to it. Grids have been classified based on two factors Motivation and Involvement (Huhmann, Franke and Mothersbaugh 2012). Motivation is further divided into two categories like informational and transformational. Informational conveys a negative emotion whereas transformational is related to positive emotions (Huhmann, Franke and Mothersbaugh 2012). Justification for the selection: In the context of the case study organization, the involvement of audience needs to be high. Additionally, the campaign needs to be transforming the ideas, so that, the audience has better connectivity to it. The grid will be a combination of a yellow-red quadrant. The chosen product needs a high involvement of the audience, so that, more and more audiences are being made aware of the proposed product. Additionally, their involvement is also required because of the recent critics that the case study organization had to face in series of media reports. The transformational campaign has been felt as important as this may help their target audience to dislodge the negative perception which they are carrying since the Blue Cow' was being criticized by the media. Remote Conveyor Model: This is one of the most effective models to make creative strategies for advertisement campaigns. It is a structural model which is specifically being designed for presenting central theme to the target audience, so that; they react to the advertisement campaigns positively. A positive reaction is indeed required to ensure that information has been successfully explained to the audience. Additionally, it also allows a pre-test of the designed creative strategy which is a much better part of it. Moreover, it can be ensured that campaigns are whether correctly positioned or there are some changes needed to it (Kerr and Patti 2015). There can be several examples of such ideas like as follows (Kerr and Patti 2015): Attention-getting which is necessary these days to break through the clutter Effective in communicating the key benefits of it to its target audience Creative in meaning in context to the product Central campaign theme and the rationale for it: The most appropriate central theme in the light of Remote conveyor model will be like attention-getting. The launch of Green Cow' needs an attention-grabbing campaigning to make the audiences engaged with it. The more the audiences are engaged in the campaigning, the more will be the chances for success. Moreover, they might feel encouraged to look for the products. This is also required as one of the products of the case organization has been in criticism in the form of series of media reports. It has impacted the image that it has on the market. They had needed it to deliver something new which could revive again the feeling that their customers had on their chosen brand. They had planned the launch of a creative product which will use natural resources to provide an environmentally friendly product to its target customer. However, it is even more important that their target customers feel and realize the difference in it. An advertisement is the first way that helps a brand to influence the customers perceptions (Percy 2016). The perception may be effectively encouraged by communicating to customers. An effective communication can indeed be established by an organized integrated communication. An organized integrated marketing communication is attainable if it follows the relevant models and conceptual frameworks to make it look effective and engaging as well (Percy 2016). Nonetheless, the chosen theme which is attention-getting may produce effective results to make it a successful campaign. Conclusion and recommending a slogan: To conclude this section, it can be said that a proposed advertising campaign for Green Cow' needs to follow a few models and conceptual strategies, so that, it succeeds in delivering an attentive and engaging campaign for the target audience. The campaign needs to be involving and transforming for the audience as understood from the Rossiter-Percy Bellman Grid. This might help in involving the audience. Moreover, they might also be tried to get transformed with what has been shown to them. Attention-getting will be the central theme as understood from Remote Conveyor Model. This may help in grab the required attention of the audience. Moreover, this will also help the campaign to transform the information which it intends to communicate to the audience. Suitable media strategy for Green Cow and justification of primary medium and secondary media: Media strategy can be classified into two categories like primary and secondary. Primary media is all the resources which are primarily being focused on a firm. On the other hand, secondary media are all such sources which are secondarily focused by a firm (Blakeman 2015). For Green Cow', the primary medium will be the sport magazine as suggested by Ms. Printup. On the other hand, the secondary medium will be a general PR activity. Sports magazine has been chosen by Ms. Printup. The reasons behind the selection are to catch a good attention of sports lovers. The proceedings will be managed by endorsing Stem Christie in a general sport magazine as being proposed from Ms. Printup. On the other hand, PR activity is being chosen as a secondary choice for marketing campaign as it provides some good opportunity to interact with the media and indirectly answer to the customer's queries. Maintaining a balance between reach and frequency: The media strategies that have been picked up for Green Cow should well be balanced in regards to reaching and frequency. Reach is related to the numbers of the audience that were reachable through the integrated campaign. This should be positive and more than 50 percent to ensure a deliverable campaign (Ndlela and Chuchu 2016). For Green Cow', reach should be close to 99 which means almost every customer was reachable and have understood the message that is being communicated through an integrated communication. Frequency means the number of times a customer has been approached. This should also be good as it helps to respond to the rising competition in the market. However, it should be done in a measurable way to avoid any customer burnout that may also affect the customer base (Ndlela and Chuchu 2016). For Green Cow, it is important that it has a lower frequency rate, so that, it does not add more negative views to the already created image in media. Integrated guidance on facets of earned, owned and paid media: There is a need to have an effective strategy for ensuring a good mix of marketing communication. Marketing communication can be divided into three segments like earned, paid and owned media. Owned media is all such platforms that are managed by firms like the website, social media profiles, mobile apps, guest blogs and updates. Earned media are such platform where users can take part to post their reviews. Customers around the world are more in favor of earned media (Xie and Lee 2015). For an example, Google Maps receives the different reviews directly from the users of Google Maps. Paid media are all such platforms that are payable. Examples may include like sponsored links, paid directory listings, banner ads, mobile apps and others (Xie and Lee 2015). It is important for the case study organization that it identifies its needs and proceeds with the campaign accordingly. For Green Cow, it is important that it takes care of the various integrated forms of marketing like earned, paid and owned media. Apart from being focused on an advertisement in a general sport magazine and a PR activity, there is a need to put an integrated focus on the various earned, paid and owned media. This may help them to strengthen its reach to customers which is necessary for making them aware of the changes being brought in the form of Green Cow. Additionally, frequency rate will also improve which is another important point to stay strong in the rising market competition. Advantages and disadvantage of endorsing a celebrity in a sport magazine advertisement: There are several advantages and disadvantages of endorsing celebrity for an advertisement. Following are some advantages of endorsing celebrities for an advertisement: Advantages: - Celebrity helps to enhance the brand equity which stays longer and powerful. Customers are aware of their superstars. They after seeing their superstars being endorsed for an advertisement, start connecting to it. The connection gets deeper and deeper with the passage of days and hence, the bonding between the advertisement and the target audience becomes healthier (Han and Yazdanifard 2015). - These are also a very good way of enabling the customer to remember the advertisements. Customers remember advertisements through their favorite stars. Hence, this is good for the sales (Han and Yazdanifard 2015). - This also helps customers believe that the product has a superstar status added to it. This is so because they have high trust in their favorite stars which is why they build up a perception that products endorsed by the favorite stars will also be good and valuable (Han and Yazdanifard 2015). - Celebrities may also help to stand out from the gathering of surrounding clutter. People love watching their stars doing the advertisements (Han and Yazdanifard 2015). This is also worth mentioning a benefit for the firm as this will contribute to increment the frequency rate. Disadvantages: - Image change is a big disadvantage to the trust relationship which the product has with its customers. A celebrity may also be surrounded by legal allegations for various reasons like doing some unethical practice. In such cases, this may also hamper the trust that the customers have on the brand (Wigley 2015). - Overexposure to various endorsements may also hamper the trust that customers have on the brand. For an example, a celebrity is involved in endorsements for several different brands. Such things question the celebritys credibility and also the genuineness of the brand. This may also damage the image of the product as in such cases; audience might only be focused on their favorite celebrities (Bilgihan 2016). Recommending a better sport magazine advertisement: Endorsing a celebrity in a general sport magazine is being proposed by Ms. Printup. This needs to be done cautiously in order to avoid the negative consequences which all happen in different circumstances as discussed in the section that covers disadvantage of endorsing celebrity in advertisements (Chawansky 2016). The case study organization needs to sign up a deal with its desired celebrity regarding the period of a contract. Moreover, during the period of a contract, the selected celebrity should not be allowed to be featured in any other endorsements of other brands. This may help to establish a trustworthy relationship with the audience as they will get to see their favorite celebrity repeatedly with the same advertisement and brand (Chawansky 2016). Impact of marketing campaigns on customers: The statement that Ms. Printup has admitted regarding the emerging channels of communication does mean that customer's perception nowadays can be effectively influenced according to the firms needs. The integrated marketing channels have helped to control the perception of customers. Such activities do actually drive their purchasing behavior. In the light of the statement admitted from Ms. Printup, following the impact of marketing campaigns can be listed (Pescher, Reichhart and Spann 2014): - The various kinds of integrated marketing communication drive the perception builds up in favor of what is being shown to customers through the advertisements. - It also affects the decision making on purchase which is the ultimate target that is set with a product or a service. - Integrated channels of communication help to transform the deeper insight of a product or a service Control of Green Cow campaign on customers: The case organization needs to enhance its capability in context to integrated communication. This is necessary to communicate a clear and concise yet very effective message regarding the product to its target audience (GHALE 2015). Customers should know the product that they are being exposed to otherwise it is no mean to spend so much on advertisement campaigns. It is also necessary that the different advertisement campaigns are strategically managed to make it an act that has very fewer errors in it (GHALE 2015). A strategically managed move will be required during the Public Relation (PR) activity as the product will be made exposed to the media personnel and the few selected audience. This will also be required while deriding an advertisement in a general sport magazine. As already mentioned, it is important to manage and control the endorsed celebrity in order to maintain the gained trust of the audience. There is also a need for signing a contract with the endorsed celebrity f or a certain period of time. This will ensure no other endorsements are being signed by the same celebrity for different other brands. Examples to justify the designed marketing campaign: Below are the few examples which could help the case study company in executing the designed marketing strategies: - To perform the advertisement through a general magazine, the first thing will be to finalize the target magazine for the campaigning. Once the name has been finalized, the next step will be to execute the necessary steps which will be needed for getting a space in the outlined magazine. It will then followed by approaching the celebrity which has been finalized for the campaign. Nevertheless, every single step will be needed to be executed with a measurable approach and productive strategies. - For Public Relation (PR), the dedicated agency will be approached. They will be handed over with the requirements. A close study of how the agency will manage PR needs to be done to avoid any unexpected consequences. - Secondary advertisements will also be taken care with utmost strategies like closely monitoring the owned and paid media. This will help to respond to the complaints in real time and prevent from being attacked by negative responses of customers. Dangers of extensive controls to consumers: It could be the danger to provide an extensive control to consumers. The statement means depending entirely on customer reaction to integrated marketing campaigns (Natakusumah, Nursiana and Suryono 2017). It is important to attract the attention of customers towards the product which is Green Cow. However, it should be in a controlled manner. It is more important to focus on products quality and the commitments made to customers than just being involved in integrated communication while putting less focus on the products quality. Excessive dependency on consumers and having less focus on the quality part will virtually be not helping the sales in long-time. Nonetheless, customers need products that attribute values to their need (Natakusumah, Nursiana and Suryono 2017). Ms. Printup should have a high focus on the quality standard for Green Cow'. Integrated communication is also required but for grabbing a much-needed attention of customers. The company has suffered from the previous blast by media reports for its Blue Cow'. It is indeed needed that its target audience has trusted views on the new product. The case study company needs to restore the image which was to an extent being hammered from negative media reporting. This will enhance the chances of getting sold and being popularized again for the trusted quality of products. References: Bilgihan, A., 2016. Gen Y customer loyalty in online shopping: An integrated model of trust, user experience and branding.Computers in Human Behavior,61, pp.103-113. 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