Answer

Communicating the Value

Marketing is one of the core activities undertaken by organizations. According to Blakeman (2018), marketing is the strategic process through which an organization promotes the buying and sale of its services and products. It entails processes such as advertising, promotions, selling and delivering the products and services to the final consumer. Juska (2017) seconds this definition noting that marketing focuses on communicating the value proposition of an organization and managing the resultant relationship. This is done through the application of theories such as customer relationship management which ensures that the relationship between the customer and the company is not only mutually beneficial but also sustainable. This paper evaluates important concepts and topics that facilitate the communication of value to customers and consumers. The key topics covered include integrated marketing communication, advertising, communication brief and branding strategies.

4.1 Decisions

1. Integrated Marketing Communications

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) denotes the process through which an organization integrates its promotional tools to ensure proper coordination of its communication efforts with the intent of maximizing cost effectiveness and increasing sales. Solomon, Marshall and Stuart (2017) clarify that IMC emphasizes the need to enhance the coding and decoding of promotional messages in a manner that enables the brand to communicate consistent, coordinated and clear communication to the target consumers and audiences.

2. Five Benefits of IMC

• It ensures consistency in presenting the same message across all communication channels. Such an approach to sharing promotional messages reduces instances of communication that is confusing to the audiences. This reason explains why brands opt to use a similar tagline across different channels namely, print advertisements, social media, and other commercials.
• IMC ensures clarity of message. Using different promotional tools and channels to communicate a similar message has the effect of reinforcing the communication. Rather than sharing different messages, disseminating the same tagline across all channels will enhance the clarity of communication.
• IMC enables multiple placement thus increasing visibility of the promotional message. Patti, Hartley, van Dessel and Baack (2017) explain that not all the customers have access to advertisements or print media, others use social media for their daily communications. Therefore, reaching these diverse customers means using diverse communication channels.
• Carefully linked promotional messages guide the customers through the buying process. Some of the channels have reminders and innate features that enable them to communicate special offers and update information on promotions. When done correctly, IMC guides customers into making the right choices. This increases their post purchase satisfaction.
• Consistent communication across different channels nurture long term relationships between brands and customers. For instance, the channels provide links to retail outlets and online purchase points. In the process, the company accesses information on their purchases. Such database is important in rewarding customers and conducting direct marketing initiatives. This enhances the relationships between the customer and the brand.

3. Two important IMC Initiatives for this year

The two most important IMC initiatives for this year are digital marketing and advertising. Luxton, Reid and Mavondo (2015) explain that advertising is important for marketers since it is a paid form of reaching out to customers. It disseminates messages to customers using mass media such as magazines, radio, newspapers and televisions. These channels are still effective in reaching the elderly consumers above 35 years of age. On the other hand, digital marketing uses the internet to disseminate messages to millennial and tech savvy consumers. The message can be communicated through websites, social media marketing, and search engine optimization. These two initiatives are important to marketers since they help create buzz among consumers. This translates to increased visibility of the brand, high sales volume and profit margins.

4.2           Critiquing Two Advertisements

Figure 1: Effective Advertisement (Nike’s Ad) (Nike 2019)

Good Ad from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOVkEHADCg4

The advert was aired on television and social media. The advert by Nike for the Women’s World Cup for 2019 features celebrities such as Sam Kerr of Australia, Andressa Alves from Brazil and Lieke Martens of Netherlands alongside the 10-year-old Makena Cook.

1. Description and Critique of Nike’s Ad

Nike’s 2019 advert for the Women’s World Cup can be described as one of the best adverts of the year. First, it was classified by Acuity (2019) as one of the most viewed video adverts of the year. Second, its appeal to the audiences is derived from its perfect timing of a national event where the USA played against Netherlands in the finals of the Women’s World cup title. Third, the advertisement continued to capitalize on Nike’s sustained reputation of endorsing and championing for self-improvement and eradication of social issues using the ‘Dream Further’ slogan. A critique of this advert will be guided by the following headings:

• Target Audience

Given the timing of the advert and its association with the Women’s World Cup, it is arguable that the primary target market for the advert was women and young girls. It encourages these audiences to dream further. It is important to note that as much as women and girls are the main audience, the ad attracted both genders thus reaching a wider audience (Mulcahy, 2019). It sought to encourage society to empower and support women.

• Communication Objectives

The advert’s slogan was ‘Dream Further”. This was complemented by Nike’s tagline stating ‘Don’t change your dream. Change the world. Just do it” (Nike, 2019). The last part of this tagline represents the brands motto, which means that the communication objective was to motivate the audience to pursue their dreams of changing the world and no matter the obstacles, they had to do it. Analysts further noted that the communication was not only aimed at showing support for the World Cup but also a tribute to the winners of the game.

• Overall Communication Strategy

Nike used the public relations (PR) strategy to build and reinforce awareness of its brand among ideal customers. This strategy worked by affirming Nike’s commitment to empowering women and young girls to achieve their dreams.

• Positioning Statement and Key Messages

The position statement is ‘Dream Further’ while the key message is: Don’t change your dream, instead change the world. Just do it”.

• Communication Tactics

Nike capitalized on two communication tactics. First, it used the hype for the Women’s World Cup to reach out most of the target audiences. Secondly, it used international soccer stars such as Crystal Dunn, Andressa Alves and Lieke Martens (Mulcahy, 2019). This is an equivalent of celebrity endorsements of the Nike brand.