Optimal media mix strategies for corporate advertising campaigns

Corporate Advertising Campaigns

EXPLORING THE RIGHT MEDIA MIX FOR A COPORATE ADVERTSING CAMPAIGN

Committee on Degrees in

Requirements for the XXXXX Degree

Research Questions or Hypotheses & #8230;.9-10

Deciding on what types of media to use in a corporate advertising campaign can be a bit tricky because it is not a single product that is being advertised. To advertise for a product such as toothpaste, you know who your target audience is because every uses (or should use) toothpaste. This is not to imply that corporations are not trying to sell products because most are. However, with a corporate advertising, the brand name of the corporation is just as important as the product or products it is selling. We are fortunate to live in a time where information can be disseminated not only quickly, but efficiently. As such, corporations have a myriad of advertising options at their fingertips. The problem is determining the right blend of media in order to get a message across to consumers that will make the name of the company stick with them.

Introduction

Corporations are in business to turn a profit. Even nonprofit companies must be profitable in order to stay in business. All companies must do some type of advertising to bring their brand into the consciousness of consumers. Corporations rely on consumers to keep them in business so they must have advertising campaigns that are appealing and not only should these campaigns be appealing to the consumer, they have to be effective enough to make the consumer loyal to whatever product the corporation is selling or the services it is offering. With so many different methods of advertising in today's market, the corporation must determine the right mix of media that it will use to get its message across.

To some, using every type of media available would be the best option and this may seem logical, but the corporation does not want to run the risk over saturating the market with its message. The goal is to use the right blend in order to keep the image of the company in the minds of the consumers long after the television or radio commercial has ended, or long after the consumer has passed the billboard while driving on the highway, or long after whatever type of media mix is used by the corporation.

The type of corporation will determine the type of media that should be used. For the purposes of this proposal, the corporation will be for profit. It will be a department store chain similar to Wal-Mart or Target with stores all over the country. Because both of these stores are extremely popular with consumers, this corporation will have to make use of advertising and marketing strategies that will place it in the number one position. As mentioned before, there are a number of media tools that a corporation can use. For a situation such as this, it makes senses to use the same types of media that the competitors use, but find ways to make them more appealing to the consumer.

We know that both Wal-Mart and Target use a media mix of television, radio and newspaper ads. They also make use of billboards and the Internet. This seems to work well for them so we will take the types of media mixes that they use and try to improve upon them. Along with advertising, we know that it is important for customers to associate a corporation with a brand. People identify easily with Wal-Mart when they see the little yellow ball with the smiling face. Consumers also identify with Target when they see the red target. So, in addition to the advertising campaign, it is imperative that the corporation come up with a strong, identifiable brand that customers will identify and relate to.

If the corporation already has established its brand, it should always look for ways to enhance the logo or perhaps come up with a new company slogan. Even though it is still the same corporation selling the same products and services, a new logo or new slogan has the potential to convince the consumer that the corporation has been revamp and is doing something different with products, pricing and services. There are several different types of marketing strategies that corporations can use in the advertising campaigns. These strategies should be thought out carefully before the type of media used is decided. If the advertising campaign is carefully thought out and planned, then choosing what media will be used should not pose any problems.

Statement of the Problem

The problem statement is as follows: Corporations seeking to maintain and increase business cannot rely on what they have done in the past. They must research their competitors and find out what is working and has worked well for them and take these findings and improve upon them. Advertising is not only about coming out with something new, but it is also about taking what already exists and making it better. This is not to say that new ideas and concepts are not welcome. They are always welcome in the advertising industry, but should always be tested on a select sample of individuals before being deployed fully.

A corporation's image is strongly tied to its brand. The most important goal is to make the corporation's brand recognizable to the consumer. For this reason, the corporation must not only focus on the advertising campaign. The brand must first be established along with a recognizable logo to give consumers something to identify the corporation with. Corporate branding will determine the type of media mixed used to advertise the company and position it so that the products and services the company offered as well as the advantages it has over the competitors in this area can be showcased.

Literature Review

Simmons, J.A. 2009. Both sides now: Aligning external and internal branding for a socially responsible era. Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 27(5): 681-697.

Simmons discusses the relationship between external and internal branding and aligning the two. He relates the consumer to the external and the employee of the company with the internal aspects of branding. Both must be in sync in order for corporate branding to be effective and socially responsible. He states that consumers are more conscious of products and services that are beneficial to society and that the employees producing these goods stand behind their products. This is important for this research because when devising a brand for the corporation, everyone should be on board with the methods, logos and even image that the brand projects. When internal customers (employees) believe in and stand behind the brand of the company, the products produced and services offered are of high quality and consumers benefit greatly from this.

Asworth, G. & Kavaratzis, M. 2007. Beyond the logo: Brand management for cities. Journal of Brand Management, 16(8): 520-531.

This journal article deals more with the branding of a city than with the branding of a corporation. It is still useful in picking up ideas on the concept of branding in general. The authors do touch on corporate branding a bit in this article which makes it relevant for this proposal. They state that cities are now using eye catching logos and slogans in order to capture the attention of people to increase tourism which in turn generates revenue for the city. City branding and corporate branding are similar in that they both seek to separate themselves from other cities or corporations in order to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

Branding a city may sometimes seem easier than branding a corporation because each city has its own history and different things to offer. Cities with warmer climates may use this as one if its drawing points, but at the same token people who like cold weather and skiing may be more drawn to visiting a city with a colder climate. With corporations it is a bit difficult to be established as an individual entity because many companies offer similar goods. Given this, it is up to the corporations to come up with innovative marketing strategies that will appeal to the highest number of consumers.

Moroko, L. & Uncles, M.D. 2008. Characteristics of successful employer brands. Journal of Brand Management, 16(3): 160-175.

The authors say that the characteristics of successful branding are: being known and noticeable; being seen as relevant and resonant, and being differentiated from direct competitors. In order to accomplish this, corporations must align themselves with Human Resources who will seek out and recruit talented marketing individuals who recognize the importance of branding and the effect it has on a successful corporate advertising campaign.

Being known and noticeable is crucial because it ties back the corporation's logo and slogan. Corporations want to choose logos and slogans that are memorable and stick with the customers. It is also important for the corporation to be relevant. The products and services being sold should be something that consumer's not only want, but need. With so many businesses selling similar products and services, it is often difficult for a corporation to stand out. However, this is not impossible. Clever and unique advertising campaigns can help to achieve this goal.

Sora, K. Haley, E., and Gi-Yong Koo. (2009). Comparison of the paths from consumer involvement types to ad responses between corporate advertising and product advertising. Journal of Advertising, 38(3): 67-80.

The authors discuss the role of consumers and how they respond to advertising for a particular product as opposed to how consumers respond to corporate advertising. The consumer response to product advertising appears to be stronger because of the way that the advertising campaign is designed for the consumers. Product advertising may used more visual media to appeal to its audience and they may even throw in a catchy jingle that will stick in the consumer's mind. Depending on the type of corporation, this blend of media will not be appropriate. For instance, a pharmaceutical corporation would not want to use the same media mix as a fast food restaurant chain.

Heath, R., Nairn, A., and P. Bottomley. (2009). How effective is creativity? Emotive content in TV advertising does not increase attention. Journal of Advertising Research, 49(4): 450-463.

Creativity is important in any type of advertising. The type of creativity used in corporate advertising may be different from any other type of advertising. The authors of this article state that emotive creativity has the effect of decreasing consumer interest in a product rather than increasing attention. Studies show that most people leave the room or find some other small task to do while a television commercial is on. Because of this, it might be best for corporations to rely heavily on information and persuasion to be effective.

Berte, K. And E. De Bens. (2008). Newspapers go for advertising! Challenges and opportunities in a changing media environment. Journalism Studies, 9(5): 692-703.

Before television, radio and the internet, the main way that people got their news and other information was from newspapers. With so many changes in technology, people can now practically read an entire newspaper online. One thing that a person cannot do while reading an online newspaper is take advantage of the circulars and advertisements contained in the hard copy version. In order for newspapers to continue to compete with other types of media, the authors say that the inclusion of circulars as well as changing the format helps.

Pfeiffer, M. And M. Zinnbauer. (2010). Can old media enhance new media? How traditional advertising pays off for an online social network. Journal of Advertising Research, 50(1): 42-49.

The authors say that a media mix of old and new types of media is effective. The internet has become the popular mode of communication for many in the past few years because of its ability to allow users to get fast, accurate information. However, traditional media such as television, radio and newspapers are still important for a segment of the population and the authors feel that a mixture of both should be used when designing an advertising campaign.

McKenzie, K. And M. Royne. 2009. Defining and understanding communications planning: A current assessment and an exploratory study. Journal of Promotion Management, 15(3): 341-356.

The communications planning of the corporation Proctor and Gamble is discussed. The authors say that Proctor and Gamble is successful because of the careful planning of its advertising and media mix. They also state that many corporations do not do any type of communications planning when designing their advertising campaigns.

Goby, V. 2008. Radio commercial listening behavior: Barriers and avoidance. Australian Journal of Communications, 35(1): 27-39.

The radio is another form of media that a corporation could use in an advertising campaign. The author questions the effectiveness of radio advertising stating that much like television, people find other small tasks to engage in while a commercial in one. The author says that men will listen to the radio commercial more than women, but that both sexes have a tendency to either daydream or focus on something else into their program resumes.

van den Putte, B. 2009. What matters most in advertising campaigns? The relative effect of media expenditure and message content strategy. International Journal of Advertising, 28(4): 669-690.

This article examines the effect of message content strategy, advertising expenditure and previous consumer behavior as they relate to an advertising campaign. All three of these are important components to an advertising campaign and they are all interrelated.

Research Question and Hypothesis

The research question posed is: Does re-examining the brand of a corporation determine the method and media mix used in advertising campaigns?

The hypothesis or assumption with this research is that a strong corporate brand must be established before a successful advertising campaign can take place. The corporation must first work with internal stakeholders to increase awareness in order to the external stakeholders or customers. It will be easier for external stakeholders to express interest in the products and services a corporation is offering if they are familiar with the company logo and slogans.

Methods

In order to get a clearer picture of the media mixes to use for the corporate advertising campaign, a survey will be sent via Survey Monkey to current customers of Wal-Mart and Target. Customers will be asked to fill out a short survey included in the Sunday newspaper circulars and will be required to include a working e-mail address in order to be sent the survey. The insert in the circular will run long enough to get at least 1,000 working e-mail addresses in order to gather a good sampling. Customers who provide a working e-mail address and who respond to the survey will receive a valuable coupon for a product or service offered at the corporation sponsoring the survey.

Once enough email addresses have been received, they will be coded by numbering them from one to one thousand. Every odd numbered survey will be used with will give us a sample of five hundred (500) responses. Two hundred and fifty people will receive a survey asking questions regarding Wal-Mart and the other two hundred and fifty respondents will receive a survey with questions regarding Target. This is done to differentiate between the two competitors to find out what makes the consumer decide to shop at either store. The survey will consist of Likert style questions and each of the two groups will have the same questions except half will be name the store Wal-Mart and the other half of the surveys will reference Target. Below is a sample of the questions that will be asked on the survey.

Sample Survey Questions

1. I shop at Wal-Mart/Target based on the following types of advertisement. (Please rank the following from 1 to 4 with 1 being the highest and 4 being the lowest).

a. ____ Television advertisements

b. ____ Radio advertisements

c. ____ The company's Web site

d. ____ Newspaper circulars

2. I prefer to shop at Wal-Mart/Target because of the following: (Choose all that apply):

a. ____ Prices

b. ____ Location

c. ____ Services offered such as pharmacy, photo, optical, etc.

d. ____ The convenience of shopping for groceries, electronics, clothing and other merchandise in one store.

3. Please give your opinion of Wal-Mart's/Target's logo. Is it easily identifiable?

4. What is it about Wal-Mart/Target that makes you a loyal customer?

The survey will consist of several more questions similar to these. Careful attention will be taken not to make the questions leading. It is hoped that a 100% response rate is achieved. In any case, an equal amount of the Wal-Mart and Target surveys will be used to get a fair assessment. Surveys will be coded and entered into a database and analyzed. From the analysis, a determination can be made as to what attracts customers to each company. Once this has been determined, an effective advertising campaign can be developed that will improve on what has been successful with both Target and Wal-Mart.

In addition to the surveys, research will need to be done on pricing, products and services to determine how the corporation can used advertising to place its products and services in a prime position to encourage customers to want to become loyal customers. Marketing and research will need to be done to come up with a logo and slogan that customers can identify with based on responses to survey questions. Also, if it is decided that a celebrity will be used to promote the corporation, a determination will have to be made on whether or not an internationally known celebrity will be used or an up and coming celebrity. A radio commercial done by the celebrity may be used first along with the person's likeness on the corporate Web site. If these methods are successful, a 30 or 60 second television ad would be used to gain even more interest and increase business.