Middlesex University Business School

MBA 4646
Marketing

Markstrat
Strategic Marketing Simulation
Group Project

Ayyapa Rao
Nitisha Sancheti
Prachi Parasrampuria
Shivani Arora
Shoaib Khan
Smitha Ghimire

Submission date: 29th April 2013

Word Count: 2496 (excluding references and
appendices)

Executive summary
The report describes the Communication plan developed for firm E in the
Markstrat industry - A31970. Following key aspects were identified:

Focusing on full market coverage using differentiated marketing strategy.

This will help in increasing the total sales of the firm which will eventually
result into high share price, market capitalisation and net contribution.

Identifying the target audience on the basis of market size, market growth
and profitability.

Developing communication objectives on the basis of hierarchy of effects

model in line with our business strategies to create a clear, consistent and
competitive message for our products.

Developing effective communication using AIDA Model and using

celebrities as a credible source of communication to interact with our
customers in a better way resulting in high brand loyalty.

Selecting a combination of personal and non-personal media channels to

communicate with our target audience. This will help in delivering
communication message effectively, increasing brand recognition and
building customer base.

Developing various marketing measurements to analyse the effectiveness

of the current marketing communication and decide on future marketing
strategy changes.

Setting total marketing communication budget using objective-and-task

method to achieve the advertising objectives within the allocated budget.

Successful implementation of this communication plan will help us to increase

our total sales and gaining huge market share in near future.

Contents

Introduction
Communication plan
1. Target audience
2. Communication objectives
3. Message
4. Media
5. Message source
6. Measurement
7. Promotion budget
Conclusion
Appendix
References

1. Introduction
This report gives an outline of marketing communication plan developed for
Firm E in Markstart Industry A31970. The plan will focus on retaining and
targeting new customers through existing products using differentiated
marketing strategy (different products to different segments) (Kotler & Keller,
2012). Communication plan ensures that all activities are coordinated to
support the firms marketing and communication strategies and fit within the
given budget 18,200K for next period (Hutchins Crang Marketing Group,
2011).

2. Communication Plan
1. Target audience
According to Product Level Customer-value hierarchy, all our brands fall
under expected product level (Refer Appendix 1.1) where we deliver what
the customer expects (Levitt, 1980).
We will select our target audience on the basis of following factors (Kotler
& Keller, 2012):
Size of market- We will target Singles and Others as they together
comprise of 64% of the market share.

(Source: Markstrat)

Growth- Another reason for targeting Singles and Others is that they
have a high estimated growth rate over next five periods (38.1% for
Singles and 74.3% for Others) compared to other segments.

(Source: Markstrat)

Profitability- SELF, SEEN and SEHI together generate approximately

80% revenues for our firm. Hence, targeting Buffs, High earners and
Professionals would be profitable for us.

(Source: Markstrat)

Below table lists different segments targeted and a wide range of products
offered to them based on their needs, price and wants through preferred
distribution channels:
Segment

Buffs

Singles

Professionals

Hi-Earners

Others

Offered Brands and Characteristics

SEEN
High performance
Less focus on convenience
Average priced
SEXY
Average performance
Average convenience
Low priced
SELF
High quality
Easy to use
High performance
Highly priced
SEHI
Average performance
Average convenience
High priced
SEMI
Less focus on performance
Average convenience
Low priced

3. Communication objectives
Developing communication objectives are essential in terms of marketing our
products (Stafford, 2009).Moving generic objectives to more measurable
gives a more realistic picture in terms of result (Cindy, 2011).Based on
Hierarchy of effects model (Refer Appendix 1.2), we have identified four
possible objectives (Rossiter, J. & Percy, L., 1997):
3.1

Brand awareness - Increase awareness about our existing

products in order to retain and attract customers by 50% by end of
the next period. Awareness of our products and specifying what
makes us different from competitors, identifying our Unique Selling
Point (USP) and marketing it would form the base of brand equity.
E.g. SEEN is our USP, since it comprises of about 60% of
revenues. Market it further by its high performance and average
price as preferred by Buffs.

3.2

Category Need Keeping target audience in mind, products have

been designed and modified. Further, promoting it in such a way
that it would satisfy the perceived notions. E.g. SEXY has been
designed to cater Singles need for average performance and
convenience.

3.3

Brand Attitude- Evaluating our brands to satisfy current need of

the consumers. Increase understanding by 75% by reinforcing the
position of brand in the market. Brands provide positive orientation
such as social status and intellectual stimulation. E.g. SEHI is a
high priced product targeting High Earners who aim for social
status.

3.4

Brand Purchase Intention- To consistently walk customers

through the purchasing process, we will inform as follows

(Armstrong, et al., 2012):

Why our product should be bought
Comparisons to the competitors product
Feedback from our current clients.
Offer deals and discounts

This will help in attracting consumers to purchase our products,

thus increasing revenues and market share by 20% by end of next
period. E.g. SEEN provides better performance at low price as
compared to SIBB (competitors product) for Buffs.

4. Message
We will use AIDA model to develop effective communication strategies and
messages that will help in interacting with customers in a better way. This will
enable us to target a particular segment in an efficient way (Functional
Marketing, 2012). The message for all our brands are designed in such a way
that it helps in:

Gaining customers attention,

Arousing their interest by specifying the benefits and features of our brand
o E.g., Performance and convenience using multidimensional
scaling,
Creating a desire among customers to buy the product.
Finally, encouraging them to purchase the product (Functional marketing,
2012).

4.1 Message Content:

We plan to use rational appeal method relating to the self-interest of
target markets to produce the desired response (Mukesh et. al, 2007).
o A message showing performance and convenience will help in

attracting Singles for our new product SEXY

The messages are also designed in order to stir up positive emotions

of customers to motivate them to purchase (Solomon, 2007).

o A message showing an expensive good quality product will help in
motivating high earners to purchase the product as a symbol of their
social status
4.2 Message Structure:
As a part of message structure strategies:
a.For High Earners:
We will give end conclusion in our message to this market segment for
our product SEHI through use of perceptual objectives such as quality

and performance (Engel et. al, 1997).

As high earners prefer to hear positive messages, a one-sided
message with strong argument at first will be designed describing
qualities of SEHI (good design). This will lead to increase in customer

base hence, increasing the brand loyalty (Sternthal and Craig, 1982).
b.For Buffs and Professionals

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We will allow these customers to form conclusions according to them

for existing product SEEN as they are well educated about the brand

(Engel et. al, 1997).

A two sided argument will be designed for critical audiences like Buffs
and Professionals describing both positives and negatives of the
product. This will increase their confidence and belief in SEEN thus
making them more loyal to the brand (Reed, 2006).

4.3 Message Format:

For all our products, we will
Create a strong message format using print ads with proper heading,
illustrations and colours making the message look more attractive

(Pieters et. al, 2004).

Carry message in-person (sales force) so the proper gestures, face
expressions and posture of the person helps to deliver message
effectively (Kotler et. al, 2012).

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5. Media
The below figure lists different channels that we will use to communicate with
our targeted customers:

5.1

DIRECT MAIL It is the most cost effective way of reaching the

customer by sending personalized message through mail to them
individually (Kotler & Keller, 2012). We will use direct mail to provide
information about our newly launched products like our product SEXY
as an Informative advertising.

5.2

SOCIAL MEDIA We will use highly effective medium like Facebook

and twitter to reach a wider group of customers to communicate our
existing, new and modified products and offers (Kotler & Keller, 2012).
We will upgrade our social media pages regularly through dedicated
social media experts. We will be benefited most by SELF, SEEN and
SEHI as Professionals, Hi-earners and Buffs access internet the most.

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5.3

WEBSITES & E-MAIL

Another inexpensive and effective way of advertising our products is by
creating websites and sending emails to the customers. We will use
internet publishers (advertising agents) to advertise the website link to
customers by pay per click method (Hochman, J).
E-mail is another way of keeping customers up-to-date about our
products, offers and services (Armstrong et. al, 2012). Social media
even websites and E-mails will target mostly buffs, Hi-earners and
professionals.

5.4

SALES FORCE We will use in stores sales people effectively to

market our products to customers (Ross et.al, 2001) through face to
face interactions. Unlike other personal communication channels, sales
force allocated in various stores will market all our products depending
on customer requirements.

5.5

ADVERTISING It can reach geographically dispersed buyers building

a long-term image for the product and trigger quick sales. We will
classify advertising as below for our products, (Kotler & Keller, 2012)

Informative advertisement: Newly launched products i.e.

SEXY and SEHI need to be advertised in such a way that target

audience will be able to understand the product information.

Persuasive advertisement: We will advertise product SEEN by
providing comparison with the competitors product in market so
as to persuade Buffs to develop liking and conviction towards
our product and prefer it over others.

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Reminder advertisement: By continuous advertising we will

remind customers about our existing mature products SEMI and
SELF thus helping to increase their purchase intentions.

The key aspect in advertising is to choose the right medium of

advertising for right product depending on the profitability of products
(Armstrong et al., 2012). For example, TV advertising is appropriate for
so high end products like SEHI, SELF and SEEN as TV is expensive
whereas, Newspaper advertising, a cheaper way to reach greater
audience for SEMI and SEXY as these two products will fetch us low
profit margins.
5.6

SALES PROMOTION We will use sales promotion tools like free

product delivery (for our Sonite products), loyalty cards, free gifts,
product warranty etc. to persuade customer using pulling method to
create customer loyalty and increase brand value (Kotler & Keller,
2012).

5.7

EVENTS& SPONSORSHIPS We will invest on events and

sponsorships in a way that it explains our brand attitude and beliefs
(Armstrong et.al, 2012). For example, product designed for
Hi-earners (SEHI):
o Target luxury events ( GOLF, Luxury Parties)
Professionals (SELF):
o Knowledge based events (e.g. Quiz competition)
Others & Singles (SEMI & SEXY) :
o Entertainment events (sports, movies, theatre etc.)

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6. Message source
We will use celebrities such as athletes, actors, and cartoon characters etc.
as spokespersons as messages delivered by these creditable sources are
highly persuasive. These celebrities have high expertise (specialized
knowledge to back the claim), are trustworthy and likable (attractive,
humorous, natural etc.) (Kelman, 1953). One important factor to be
considered while using celebrities is maintaining the principle of congruity
where the consumer might start disliking the brand or the celebrity if he sees
his favourite celebrity praising the brand he dislikes (Tannenbaum, 1955).

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7. Measurement
Marketing measurements provide clear and quantifiable evidence to the
management on how our marketing expenditure helps to achieve the goals
and financial objectives (Kotler & Keller, 2012).
MARKETING METRICS:
To analyse the marketing plans effectiveness, we will use marketing metrics
which helps to quantify, compare and interpret the marketing performance
using external and internal metrics (Kotler & Keller, 2012).
For example, we have built a marketing metrics for our product SEEN:
EXTERNAL
Awareness

INTERNAL
(77.8%)

Awareness of goals

Market Share (5.1%)

Commitment to goals

Relative Price($ 410)

Active innovation support

Marketing Expenses($ 2850K)

Staffing or skill levels

Product Sales (128,882)

Willingness to change

Sales cost ($646K)

Autonomy

From the above metric we can analyse the Return on investment (ROI) (Refer
Appendix 1.3) through which we can judge the effectiveness of marketing plan
(Taking the mystery out of marketing metrics, 2009).

MARKETING ROI MANAGEMENT PROCESS:

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(Source: Adapted from Marketo, 2012)

From the above Measurement ROI management process we will:

Use the calculated ROI which will help to shape the future objectives,

strategies and tactics.

Measurement process will also help us to find weaknesses and guide
us to improve the effectiveness of marketing plan (Marketing
Measurements, 2012).

To measure the effectiveness of marketing plan through ROI process we

follow the following steps:

How well the marketing investments connect to the incremental

revenues and profits.

What impact would a small change in the marketing budget has on the

profit margins in future.

Research on customer behaviour, awareness, satisfaction and
perceived quality (Marketing Measurements, 2012).

From the measurement process, we can understand how successful we are in

communicating our product to customers and it also shows us on what
changes to be made in strategies for an effective marketing plan

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18

8. Promotion budget
Objective-and-Task method will be used to set the total marketing
communication budget (Kotler, P., & Keller, K., 2012). As things appear to be
going well for our firm and there is no requirement to take big risks, we have
selected this method (West, D., & Prendergast, G., 2009). We will be able to
achieve targeted objective levels by using this market-based and researched
sophisticated budgeting technique (West, D., & Prendergast, G., 2009).
The various advantages of Objective-and-Task method are as follows:

It will help us to clearly state the advertising objectives and identify the

relationship in between them (Carlson, D., & McDevitt, P., 2007).

It also highlights the size of budget allocated for achieving those
advertising objectives (Carlson, D., & McDevitt, P., 2007). Thus, it
increases our firms probability of covering the overall marketing costs

by setting aside sufficient amount of money.

It relates the advertising effect theory to the budgeting decisions made
(Artzt, E., 2010). For e.g., there are fewer requirements of influencing
customers through advertising if the purpose is to only build product
awareness. But these requirements are increased in case the main
advertising goal set is to achieve consumer preference for the product.

Even though this method has various advantages; there are several
challenges to be taken care of by us:

Determining and prioritising the tasks to be accomplished in order to

achieve the set advertising objectives (Carlson, D., & McDevitt, P.,

2007).
We will be required to set accurate and realistic costs to each of the
tasks. Thus, the overall promotion budget is determined from specific
costs allocated to each of these activities (Kotler, P., 1997).

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Below table lists the total marketing budget allocated towards different
marketing communication channels:

Following figure lists the percentage distribution of marketing budget towards

different communication channels:

Budget Allocation(%) of Advertising and Digital Marketing Communication

for Next Period Events & Sponsorship
Salesforce
Television
Sales Promotion
Newspaper
Direct Mail
Social Media
Display Marketing
E-mail Marketing

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9. Conclusion
The key conclusions that can be drawn from the above communication plan
are as follows:

An integrated marketing communication plan has been created that will

help in matching budget with the most effective means of distributing

the message.
Our firms focus is on full market coverage using differentiated
marketing strategy. This will help in increasing the total sales of the firm
which will eventually result into high share price, market capitalisation

and net contribution.

We will segment the target audience based on market size, market

growth and profitability.

The four communication objectives: Brand awareness, brand attitude,
category need and brand purchase intention will help us to create a

clear, consistent and competitive message for our products.

Using AIDA model to develop an effective message and celebrities as a
credible source of message communication with a correct state of
congruity will help us to interact with our customers in a better way

resulting in high brand loyalty.

In order to deliver a strong message to our customers in an efficient
manner, we will use a combination of personal and non-personal
communication channel. This will also increase brand recognition, and

build customer base.

The measurement process will help us in analysing the effectiveness of
current marketing communication and also, provide us with changes to

be made in the future marketing strategy.

Using sophisticated budgeting tool i.e., objective-and-task method will
help us in achieving our communication objectives efficiently within the
allocated budget.

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Appendix1
1.1 Product Level: Customer-value hierarchy

1.2 Hierarchy-of-effects model:

(Source:http://gimmecca.wordpress.com)
1.3 Return on Investment (ROI):
ROI = (Product Sales x % Gross profit) - Marketing & sales Expenses

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