Unit 18 Business Advertisement and Promotion Assignment

Introduction

Advertising and promotion are a very useful aid for an organization to attract the consumers and eventually convincing them to make a purchase. An organization, with the help of advertising and promotion companies, communicates the information and knowledge about their services, products and their benefits to the consumers. The organization becomes successful and rich if they are able to persuade the consumers through their effective marketing and communication strategies. Therefore, to attract and persuade the consumers, an organization utilizes various surveys, advertising, methods, and approaches to present its different and unique image in the minds of the consumers. This unit 18 business advertisement and promotion assignment talks about the advertising and promotion techniques adopted by the Westfield Stratford City, a shopping complex based in London.

Westfield Stratford city is a large shopping complex established in 2011 in Stratford, London. It is known as the third largest shopping complex in UK. It has more than 350 shopping stores. It offers various services like shopping, entertainment like casinos, pub, bowling, movies etc. and various other services like free Wi-Fi, Kids services, meeting room, The Westfield App, gift cards and many more.

Task 1

1.1 Explain the communication process that applies to advertising and promotion.

In terms of advertising and promotion- Communication is the medium of transferring information or message to the target audience or customers. The organization will earn more profits, if the communication is effective because the effective communication attracts and persuade more people to buy the products. In order to survive in the competitive world, it is very important to effectively communicate through advertising with the market, existing and prospective customers and stakeholders.

Advertising communication can also be known as sharing or exchanging the information between the seller and the buyers. It is very important to attract and convince the customers and their buying behaviour. Advertisements are communicated through the various mediums like newspaper, radio, television, hoardings etc. A promotion on the other hand, is the method through which the consumers are persuaded and the buying patterns are influenced. The aim of promotional activities is to maximize the profits, sales and market share of the organization. A product or services can be promoted by various methods like discounts, special schemes, promotional offers, displaying the products in the malls, shopping complexes etc. Now days Westfield Stratford city has noticed a decrease in the visitors and customers at the shopping centre. Because of which the business and its profits is decreasing. With the help of advertising and promotional activities, the Westfield Stratford city will try to promote its improved services and products among the consumers to increase or capture the lager market share and to improve its status and reputation among the customers.

1.2 Explain the organization of the advertising and promotion industry.

Advertising and promotion are co-related to each other, one cannot survive without the other .The main concern for both advertising and promotion is to deliver proper service to customers in order to attain their loyalty of the customers. Their main aim is to carry out proper advertising and promotional plan .this plan includes what target market Westfield wants to reach, how to convey proper advertising campaign etc. For implementation of such plans it is necessary to overview, the participants involved:

Advertiser or client: The clients are considered to be the key participants, since they are the people who have the products and services or the products that need to be marketed. The advertiser or clients are the most important people, since they are the ones who will pay for the advertisements and followed by promotions.

Advertising agency: An advertising agency’s main role is to work with clients for the successful development of an advertising campaign. an advertisings agency is well equipped with copyrighters , media planners , who are responsible for the creation of a add and placing in the appropriate media within the assigned budget. They carry out extensive research for creating campaigns for the clients and making it more appealing to its customers .For example : Abbot Mead Vickers ( AMD ), which is a part of BBDO group Is one of the biggest Ad agency in UK providing various services to huge industries like Sainsbury, Home base , Walkers and The Economist.

• Media is the channel or medium through which messages are sent or received. In advertising Media in advertising refers to mass media or large group of people different modes like Television, Radio, Newspapers, Magazines, Internet, Outdoor and other branded Entertainment. The main purpose of media is to maximise the impact on consumers and minimizing the costs.
• Specialized marketing communications services: A marketing communication specialist serves as the main voice of the organisation with the external environment or outside world. it is duty or responsibility of the specialist to advance the business and present it in the best possible manner.
• Collateral services: In advertising, collateral services are the wide range of supporting functions which is being used by advertisers, media, and add agencies like brochures , post cards , newsletters , business cards , electronic direct mail and free locusassignments.etc.

1.3 Assess how promotion is regulated in the UK.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is UK’s regulator in advertisement across all advertisements at all platforms. Their primary job is to act readily on every complaint that has been received either by the public or by any other companies and to continuously regulates the media, in order to make sure that no harmful, misleading or offensive advertisements are being made. It is a non – statutory body. All non – broadcast advertising like, online advertisements, billboard posters must comply with Sales Promotion, Direct Marketing and ‘Code of Non – Broadcasting Advertising. A breach of any of CAP (Committee of advertising practice (CAP) codes can lead to off- air marketing .All broadcast Advertising like (teleshopping, Television advertisements and television text and sponsorship of programme on television is being licensed by Ofcom , should abide by the “UK code of advertising). For example: home base in their TV Add claimed that each and every customer will get an extra 15% off in store, this was complained and challenged by B&Q to ASA as a misleading act., Soon after ASA, after research found out that Home base has breached the TV Advertising code rules and thereby ordered the add must not be broadcasted again.  

The statutory bodies: are the acts which are being directly regulated by the government within the authority for checking the whole industry.

1.4 Examine current trend in advertising and promotion, including the impact of ICT

Customer relationship management refers to a set of activities which is performed by a company in order to mange and analyse information regarding customers mainly for the purpose of communication with new customers , to market new goods and services .A CRM system is a combination of applications that supports the functions of Customer relationship management. The other operational functions are :

• Single customer view
• Permission management
• Campaign segmentation
• Customer analysis
• Customer services or customer support
• Loyalty schemes of customers

A data – warehousing is a power bank of storing databases, which helps in easy data extraction and analysis. In this context of CRM, the date warehousing is being designed to provide a absolute view of customers as a clear data’s, that is extracted from a traditional database. In view to the fact that its primary function is analysis of the data , in compared to supporting functions , as a result performing certain ask is usually becomes faster .Data ware housing is uses to store information in 360 degree view, in order to guide the customers interactions . Westfield Stratford City has been facing decreasing profits and earning from the last three years. If the owner and the managements tries to implement a higher strategy by introducing advanced database in order to reach to its customers. By doing so Westfield city will be benefitting a lot . By taking the help of social; media like facebook, twitter, where people talks about the reason behind a dissatisfaction of a certain good, or product, then the management team of Westfield will be able to chalk out a more concrete CRM system using data warehousing.

Now- a – days, cloud based CRM or SaaS (Software as a Service or on Demand) data is being stored on an external network , so that the employees , people can access internet from anywhere. Social CRM deals with engaging customers directly with social media like face book , twitter and LinkedIn. It is due to advanced data management system that new applications such as Amazon which does not have any tangible stores are getting bigger and bigger due to the concept of shopping from anywhere and anywhere .the future of online shopping is increasing day by day. People tend to save time and get more. In this 21^st century, almost every brand is launching online shopping app, because it is medium of interacting with customers directly. Brands like mango, victorias secret, are launching online applications in order to reach every corner of the globe and increase the sales planning target to a great extent. The future of online shopping is huge and is expected to double its sales target, so a company should allocated each criteria’s minutely. For the success of online shopping growth:

• Availability of goods and products : it is very important that whatever departments are being mentioned online should be readily available so that if a same product is being ordered by numerous consumers , it should be readily  available , this will help in gaining confidence among consumers
• Geographical areas if a company like Amazon who is international brands and globally renowned should arrange proper delivery services. Like in US ,Amazon guarantees delivery of a particular product within 2 days , for this prompt delivery service should be made available
• Exchange and offers : Sometimes it happens that a certain a consumer purchase certain product but he or she is not happy with the product and wishes to return it , so the exchange offer should be made available and with quick services.
• Due to globalisation all products from one corner to another corner of the globe is available, this helps in brings consumers under one roof and gain customer’s relationship.

2.1 Explain the role of advertising in an integrated promotional strategy for a business like Westfield Stratford City.

Advertising plays a major role in marking a company’s success. it is through successful advertising that a particular bands gets so popular . Let us take the example of well – known brand Coco- Cola, but why? The answer to this question is very much clear .It is because of successful advertising, and advertising plays an important role as an integrated promotional strategy. Due to the tactics of the advertisements of coco – cola it has reached its top most level. Coco – Cola now spends more than 6 million dollars only on effective promotion.

Taking a look at Coco- cola’s integrated Promotional strategy :

• Mode used: Coco – Cola always uses traditional mode of advertising like television , billboards and on posters.
• Coco-Cola always is seen sponsoring on sports events , inorder to be more highlighted by consumers and investors.
• It always uses Online promotions , which is the fastest and latest mode of promotions
• Local promotions of Coco- cola is being handled by local retailers only .
• Coco-Cola is now- a – days using its own technology by creating cartoon images or pictures for the purpose of promotion.

This , The renowned brand Coco – Cola is using an innovative integrated promotional strategy , which makes the advertisement more significant  for any kind of integrated promotional strategy for any products or business or firm .In the same way Westfield city can be successful , by using effective integrated promotional strategy .

2.2 Explain branding and how it is used to strengthen a business or product

In order to understand the meaning of branding, let us first know what is a brand? It refers to a idea of a specific product which consumers connects readily by identifying its logo, design, name or image. Therefore, the utmost focus of Westfield would what kind of idea it should make, the branding technique etc for the success. Branding is the process which involves in the creation of a unique image and name of a product for the consumers.

Importance of branding :

• Providing a competitive edge : it is very important for organisations to keep competing for the finding talent , funding , adequate resource , even if it is a profit or non – profit organisation . For the success of any business organisation , it is very important to plan and implement concrete strategy – where specific actions will be outlined, and measures for reaching the goal .Thus after successful strategic plan and promotions, the organisation moves forward towards more effective competition.
• Brand as a stable asset : Stability is a huge factor in today’s world . Companies can be bought and sold, technologies may change on a regular basis, but only the strong brands can sustain throughout. It requires developing innovative strategic plans on a daily basis. a strong example is Coco-Cola , this brand has been into the market beyond 120 years , while it is a blessing and the various promotional strategy of coco- cola has have led this brand sustain .
• Providing economic value : Organisations value depends highly on its value in this context , it is being segment into two areas , intangible and tangible assets. Brands are considered as intangible assets. For example: a non – profit brand like Red CROSS is attracting innumerable volunteers and donations. So it is brand which plays the key role in attracting employees, students , partners and audiences etc to an organisation.
• Expectations set by branding : We live in a world of promises . Branding is a promise which conveys to the audiences about who you are, what unique value you provide and what you believe in . The ability to fully comply with your promises marks the success or failure of a branded company. if any promise made by the brands are broken it highly affects the relationship between the customer and the organisation , the brand suffers.

In order to strengthen its business Westfield should apply these procedures:

The first and foremost task is to find a logo. It is first step towards the creation of a fantastic brand. So Westfield has to think of a logo first.

• Image: the customers are very careful while selecting a brand, a brand which is consistent is much successful to attract customer’s loyalty. For this Westfield has to take some time to prepare proper logo, chalk out a impressive slogan and eye catching colour scheme.

• Promotional materials: Distributing personalised business cards, posters, flyers among consumers and all other people helps to awareness and thus strengthens it. Like shows, free family buffet, discounts etc.
• Assessing Competitors: it is very important to know your competitors or detailed study.  in other words , in order to succeed , it is very important that you know what is the branding strategy of your competitors , like in Westfield , one has to study about the competitors and their strategies.
• Social media: In today’s world, nothing is possible without media, it is that channel which is recognised worldwide. A page can be opened in facebook, twitter and LinkedIn, and continue monitoring how many people are approaching, their comments, upon posting any kind of offers the consumers of Westfield are reacting.
• Creating Network: creation or building strong networks is very important. At Westfield, one has to study the various sources then interact with prospective people associated via social media like LinkedIn, twitter.

2.3 Review the creative aspects of advertising.

Brand strategy in advertising: Advertising agencies plays a major role of enhancing the image, developing and sustaining a brand in the market along with serving the client .the insight of a brand by consumers is the most important factor in its durability and recognition. This bestows a huge responsibility upon the advertising agency via consumer’s perception and their deep understanding.

The role of advertising agency in transforming a product or good in to more advance one is a measured one. This is usually done by communicating brands personality and making the consumer attentive of what products is being offered, along with the benefits.

The market is full of substitute products; there is always a substitute or resemblance found in one way or another. The main focus of advertising agencies is concentrate their full talents into making clients products or services the best among all, therefore making the product successful and emerging as a brand .It is the effort of good campaign system that will be eye catchers for all consumers and will convince the mind of a consumer to buy that particular brand .The success mainly depends on solely identifying the goals of the clients. Thus this marks the standards for identifying and planning the path for achieving the goal through successful and well – implemented campaign.

The most prominent role of an advertising agency is to design advertisements. This takes into account the newly generated ideas via print films and when they are put forward before the consumers, makes a positive impact. Advertisement is therefore just the ice berg tip , where underneath lies the uncountable efforts of various people in market study , studying consumer behaviour , working day and night with various media channels and clients goal.

2.4 Examine ways of working with advertising agencies.

A flyer of west feild mall :

For the success of your brand it is very important to work closely with them , there are some measures :

• Setting clear Goals: Without definite clear goals it is not possible for any ad agency to carry out successful campaign, for that slogans, logo, etc should be made effective. It is very important to know that my ad agency knows what are want to achieve, the proper programs, what kind of customers I like to attract, and the sales number I like to achieve.etc
• Budgeting: benchmarking a budgets is very important .while I will be working with my ad agency I will be chalking out the budgets for each campaign which will review the amount of printing required, which media channel will be selected , designing concepts etc. This is done to check upon the budgets, if the ad agency is working within the specified budget or not .
• Setting up time goals: It is very important that the ad agency is aware of the date and time when i will be launching my plan, depending on with specific time should be set of campaigns.
• Relationship: It is very important to keep in touch with my ad agency every time. It is my primary task to follow up with the dates of campaign the type of campaign used etc. It is also my responsibility to reply the people promptly via email or text whenever there is a crisis.

3.1

 

3.2

4.1 Follow an appropriate process for the formulation of a budget for an integrated promotional strategy.

Determining a budget: Budget is a crucial factor when determining the promotional activity of a good or products. There are several methods that can be used in determining the budget. The simplest method is comparing the budget of last year’s sales or the projected next year sales. This method is being used by many firms because it is simple and easy.

Budget Helps in the proper allocation of resources.

• Budget controls the resources
• Proper budget motivates the departmental heads or managers to achieve the budget goals.
• To analyse and compare the performances.

Marketing plans are resource oriented and they affect the budget. While determining the budget for the Integrated Marketing Plan, to effectively allocate the funds it is essential for the managers to study and understand the various elements of Integrated Marketing Communication. These components

The processes are:

• Determining proper plan: a concrete and clear definite plan is very important in order to chalk out the total amount of budget required. The logos, slogans, the campaign centres, etc.
• Number of employees required: No advertisement can be successful without team efforts so it is very important to recruit and identify useful resourceful talent , for this budget is important
• Mode of channel: It is important what media to be used , these can e either newspapers , tv , radio or posters , billboards etc. Different media charges different amount of budget
• Use of social media: Now a day’s social media like facebook, twitter, LinkedIn is used as a basic tool for integrated promotional activity, for which the ad agencies has to work a lot harder for the best campaign via social media.

• Foundation: It is based on the strategic understanding of the market and the products.
• Brand Focus: The logo, taglines and core message of the brand is their main focus.
• Communication methods: advertising, e-marketing includes social networking websites, e-mails etc. and the direct marketing are considered as communication tool.
• Promotion Tools: Are the methods which increase the sales of the products. It includes: Personal selling, trade promotions, sponsorship programmes, discounts, rebates etc.
• Integration tools: These are mainly the Software which tracks the effectiveness of the advertisements and consumer behaviour. It includes web analysis, marketing software and CRM (customer relation management).

Budgets are vital as they help the organization in effectively carrying out the promotional activities. The manager must be very careful while following the process to formulate a budget for the integrated marketing strategy. The process is as follows:

• determining the marketing objectives and goals
• Analysing the source of finance
• Acquiring the adequate financial resources Determining the future challenges and requirement of additional budget.
• Implementing the budget process as per the plan and allocating the resources
• Analysing, monitoring and controlling the budget.

4.2 Develop the promotional plan.

Situational analysis refers to critical analysis of an organisations current condition. It is  point where a marketing plan is being started.

A situational analysis uses the SWOT analysis, which indicates the strengths and weakness each factor, and how it can be worked upon.

• Providing a background of the organisation , the products , services
• Evaluating the products that are to be advertised, being a consumer i want to look at all the factors minutely , packaging , distribution, labelling
• Major competitors present : within the category
• To analyse current strategies of media.
• Putting g a large section of consumers who will be targeted depending upon geographic location, age , ethnicity.

Promotional plan is a statement which defines the methods and tools to be used to increase the brand name, sales of the products and services, benefits of the stakeholders and informing the customers about the existence of the organization. Every business specific needs to prepare a promotional plan in order to survive in the competitive world. The promotional plan of Westfield City is given below:

• Advertising: As it is most common and popular source of marketing, it will be used by the organization. Through advertisement the management of the Westfield City will communicate the information about its improved services, retail outlets, facilities provided in the mall etc. to the consumers. The information will be communicated in the form of advertisements in television, newspaper, magazines, websites, internet, hoarding etc.
• Sales promotion: Is the method which focuses on the short term objectives. It can be used to increase the sales and profits for a short period. It encourages the sales of the products instantly like discounts, rebates, special offers etc.
• Social media: Westfield can promote itself on the websites and various social networking sites like Facebook, & twitter. It is very beneficial as these websites has no. of youngsters and people belonging to different age groups. Through internet, the organization can reach to millions of people with a single advertisement.
• Public relations: Are the deliberate efforts or actions carried out to develop and maintain the relationship with the consumers, suppliers and various other clients which can be beneficial for the success of the organization.

4.3 Plan the integration of promotional techniques into the promotional strategy for a business or product.

SMART refers its each goal to be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time – bound.

Specific – in focusing the goal in one particular area

Measurable – it measures where the goal has finally reached quantitatively.

Attainable: the goal can be reached as per individual level

Time – bound: the time frame within which the goal should be achieved.

In respect to SMART, my strategy will be:

• To make the awareness of the brand by putting slogans. and logos
• Measurable : I will look after that whether the amount of goods or product has really quantified
• Attainable : the goal that is being set by clients can be either reached or not
• Time – bound: I have decided to promote the Westfield city complex mall in a upcoming promotional event, for that I need to see all arrangements have been completed or not . Other than this, financial forecast: It is very important to look at the budget or finance one can invest in an ad campaign. After which proper control and evaluation should be done.

Promotional techniques or tools are those activities which are carried out to attract the consumers. The advertising and promoting agency working for the Westfield City must design the creative activities to promote the brand name. Every organization adopts different promotional techniques according to their objectives. An agency must integrate or combine all these techniques to convert them into a promotional strategy which helps in achieving the objectives (Tellis, 2010). Here, the promotions of Westfield City will be carried out in the following manner:

• Arranging seminars and programs to represent the products and services.
• Developing the websites and e-business portals
• Research the information about the target market.
• Forming the group having a common interest.

4.4 Use appropriate techniques for measuring the campaign effectiveness

The different techniques used to measure effectiveness are:

Social media:

• Contests: a idea to promote your product where a customer need not have to purchase it but receive it as a free gift
• Mail – order marketing: sometimes the customers who are loyal to an organisation are often offered with free services along with the products ordered
• Product gateways: allowing customers to cater a product which are introduced new in the market
• Surveys: It is very important to survey on each product.
• Mobile marketing: Mobile marketing technique is getting a lot of spotlight. As per 2015 estimations, the revenue from bole marketing was accounted for about 30%. Mobile marketing is a strategy used by almost all company’s by directly texting the campaigns to users cell phones .Sms is presently the most common channel. The channels include:
• Location based service (LBS): Augmented reality this campaigns which overlays the display of users phone with the specific information of customer’s locations
• 2D barcodes: which scans the barcodes vertically and horizontally?
• GPS Messaging: it uses specific location messages.

Campaign is known as the complete advertisement program which has been organized and advertised to promote the Westfield City.  It is developed to increase the sales, profits, customers and market share. Once the advertisement has been done it is important to measures its effectiveness in order to find out whether the advertisement has been able to achieve its objectives or not. There are several measures to find out the effectiveness of the campaign:

For carrying out such campaign , i have taken three parameters firstly the start date of a campaign :

1 2 months ( the start date being April and end date may)

The duration – the total time taken to complete such campaign

The goal time or deadline of the campaign.

• First and foremost method is to compare the sales of each retail outlet based in the shooing complex.
• Analyse and compare the no. of visitors. All the promotional activities have been performed to increase the no. of visitors thus it is an effective way to check or measure the result of a campaign.
• Surveys: Reviews and opinions of the consumers can be gathered with the help of surveys. Westfield City must conduct general surveys to find out whether the advertisement has reached to the target audience or not. Mostly, surveys provide the accurate information.
• No. of people participating in the contest: It is also a way to measure the response of people. If large no. of people are participating in the contests organised by the Westfield City, then it can be concluded that the advertisement has been successful in attracting the consumers.
• Feedback: If the Westfield City receives feedback or suggestions, it signifies that the advertisement has reached to people and has been successful in communicating the required message. The organization can work on the received feedback and plan its next promotional strategy.

Conclusion

The above report states that, in order to survive in the business world, an organization has to select the advertising and promotional methods in order to promote and publicize its activities, products and services. It depends upon the organization to select the best approaches and strategies to promote its business as these strategies will affect the overall functions, stakeholders and the financial status of the business. An organization like Westfield Stratford city or every other organization must select the advertising and promotional activities according to its requirement, nature of business and scales of operations. Selection, communication and implementation of the promotional strategies can make or break the organization. Hence, its selection is the most important task for every organization.

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