LIGHTSPEED ZULU MEDIA

PLAN

Justin flatt

11 november 2011

Company History

Lightspeed Technologies was created by a goup of people that previously worked for Tektronix,

a large electronic instrumentation company. Lightspeed Technologies manufactures precision

audio equipment and instrumentation for aviation. In 1996, they took the market with their

Active Noise-Cancelling headsets, gaining Lightspeed Technologies attention in the aviation

community. The product, which was priced very competively, easily and quickly grabbed 10%

of the market for ANR headsets. This success led to the creation of Lightspeed Aviation, Inc.

Lightspeed began marketing their products to be “…the quietest,

most comfortable aviation headsets while offering a compelling value

to general aviation and proffesional pilots.” Lightspeed quickly

became known as the innovators for such technology in the aviation

community and grew to become the ‘standard’ for ANR headsets.

Their products, as well as their customer support, have increased their popularity and resulted in

domination of the ANR market.

In 2007, they launched a new product, Zulu, which became the new technological buzz that soon

became the premium standard for competitive companies to follow. From clairty, comfort, and

andvances in technology, aggressive price differences of their competitors, Lightspeed was a

company widely know in the aviation world.

Media Objectives & Strategies

Media Objectives

Increase sales for Zulu by at least 10% in 1 year while

effectively staying under $600,000 budget

Inhibit competitors from arresting Zulu’s climb to the

top of the market

Use imaginative and creative new media to grow

brand

Target males, age 25-64 with household income of

$80,000 or more, married, with 2-3 children

Use media to communicate the advantages of Zulu over competitors

Maintain and grow awareness of Zulu by continually reaching effective percent of

aviation population

Media Strategies

Focus on seasonal marketing- May-December

Use air shows and events as marketing opportunities for Zulu throughout the seasonal

year

Increase presence in Social Media to grow WOM advertising by taking advantage of

“hangar talk”

Focus on features offered with Zulu that compare or succeed to competitors at cheaper

price range

Concentrate 50% of budget on new media (Sales promotion, event marketing) to shift

away from traditional media

Determine which online aviation organizations accept advertisement and implement

advertising online using these venues

Note on Traditional Media

Traditional media is still recommended

for sake of presence and for bottom

percent of consumer audience, however

focus will be shifted towards newer, more advanced media

Competitive Analysis

Bose was founded in 1964 with the quest for better sounds as its

main goal. In 1968, Bose became widely appreciated and proclaimed

as they created a new speaker system that reproduced sound in live

concert quality. Their systems approach has paved the way for

numerous Bose solutions, resulting in the creation of new, advancing

technology that is prevalent and can be found in the Olympics, the

Sistine Chapel, NASA space shuttles, and all the way to the Japan National Theatre. Bose still

maintains over 90% awareness in the aviation community.

In 1989, along the same time Lightspeed produced the technology, Bose created their fist

Acoustic Noise Cancelling headset. This headset actively reduces airplane noise, enabling more

effective noise reduction in a comfortable headset. Bose hit the market running with the

innovation of the new headsets utilizing the most current and advanced technology. In 1998,

Bose was awarded the Aviation Consumer Product “Product of the Year” for their newly

launched ANR headset that featured proprietary.

Bose, which currently holds about 40% of the market, has become a major competitor to

Lightspeed, providing ANR technology with similar benefits and features of Zulu. However,

Bose maintains a broader, more recognized brand advantage which accounts for such a high

market awareness in the aviation community. Lightspeed must create and continue to use a

strategy to market and establish a brand advantage in the pilot community, advancing their

corporate values and products to become recognized more in the aviation community.

Target Audience

Snapshot of Persona

Gender: Male

Age: 25-64 (Average 45)

Income: $80,000+

Marital Status: Married with 2-3 children

Education: College degree or college credits

Geographic Distribution: North America (US & Canada)

Lifestyle Characteristics:

o Politically conservative

o 70% are church-goers

o Technologically interested

o Risk taker

o Likes anything sporty (motorcycles, planes, cars)

o Active in outdoors

o Enjoys social events and gatherings

o Subscribes to both aviation magazines and aviation websites

o Attends air shows and events regularly

SWOT Analysis

Recognized in market

Priced lower than market standard

Innovators of ANR headsets

Reputable customer service

Quality products

Broad geography presence

Recognizable values in business world

20% of market share

General aviation <1% of US population

Brand awareness lagging behind

competitors

Not implementing new/current media

Seasonal market/not year around

Broadening promotion of brand in such a

wide geography

Implementation of new media

Substantial budget

Niche company competing against ‘do-it-

all company’/focused

Target persona reachable with budget

Innovating market standard

Technological product development

Feature rich products

Promotion easy at air shows and events

Instable economy could impact sales

Competitors copying trends

Market consistency during stagnant

months of year

Brand awareness is shadowed by

competitors

Product lifecycle/ keeping up with the

trends

Strengths Weaknesses

Opportunities Threats

Geography

Lightspeed is interested in marketing to North America which included the continental US and

Canada. This will include both national and regional spot markets to cover the broadest range of

aviation consumers. The budget will be divided up, $400,000 to national markets, with the

remainder going towards spot marketing. Markets will consist of the following regions:

o Arizona

o California

o Florida

o Georgia

o Illinois

o New York

o Ohio

o Pennsylvania

o Texas

o Washington

These markets consist of the bulk of our target audience, consisting of the majority of airports,

general aviation pilots, and aviation interests.

Timing

Since 80% of aviation sales take place

between May-December, there is no

reason to exhaust the budget during

this time; rather, Lightspeed can utilize

the stagnant time as a chance to use

traditional media to grasp attention of

the population that still is engaged in

the aviation economy during the off

months. Traditional media has proven its success over many decades and can be utilized here and

can be a more cost effective way to remain consistent in the market than extending the bulk

media throughout the entire calendar year. Magazines and radio will be used to promote

Lightspeed’s products as well as their participation in events and shows that will take place in the

coming months. Our purchases will be minimal during the off months, keeping the bulk of our

budget to be spent on months from May through December.

Attached is a flowchart plan for media selection breaking down month by month for the year.

This includes all ratings, budget, and timing of media used.

Media Mix

Magazines:

Magazines have been selected that have a high

subscription rate with the aviation community and a high ROI for the avionics for pilots. The

magazines selected will include:

Avionics

Rotor & Wing

Both magazines should provide 30 GRPs, respectively.

Due to the majority of the budget going towards non-traditional media, these two magazines will

be the only ones with advertisements purchased to save the budget for other mediums. The

magazines will consist of Full-Page, 4 Color ads. The cost for both magazines is:

Avionics- $8,654

Rotor & Wing- $7,645

Web:

Online advertising is a must with a technological audience like

this. The target person is always looking to the internet to

research the aviation community. All websites will consist of

“leader board” type ads on the page. The websites and cost are:

www.avionicstoday.com - $175 CPM (impressions)

www.landings.com - $124 CPM (impressions)

www.aopa.org - $265 CPM (impressions)

Ads will maintain on media websites throughout year to draw attention provide information on

upcoming events.

Newsletters:

Avionics Today also offers newsletters offered to their audience of over

18,000 subscribers. News letters are mailed out every week to the

subscribers and give a chance for thousands of general aviation pilots,

professionals, and military to see Lightspeed’s products. Lightspeed will

place an ad in the news letter one week a month during the months of May through December.

The cost will be:

“Content Box”- $950/week

o 1/week x 8 months (May-December)- $7,600

Blog Sponsor:

Leading up to air shows in North America, there will be buzz and talk

online about the shows and what to expect. This is a crucial time to

capitalize on consumer awareness to provide them with the correct

information of what to expect from Lightspeed.

Lightspeed can sponsor the whole blog for the duration of the blog leading up to the event,

allowing for “buttons” to be placed on the blog site as well as a newscast video starting by noting

the sponsor of the blog. The rates for the duration of the blog are:

Exclusivity- $4,500/week (or duration of blog if longer than week leading to event)

Promotional-Events and Shows

To promote Lightspeed Zulu, it is crucial to promote face-to-face with the

target consumer. To do this, Lightspeed will take advantage of next year’s air

shows and events to promote their products and brand, as well as offer special

incentives for new consumers and old. The events range from $8,000-$30,000

depending on location and time of year, as well as business and promotion. To

provide best chance to display to entire target audience, Lightspeed will attend only shows that

are in the peak season for aviation. Shows that Lightspeed will attend 2012:

May 4-6 Central Texas Airshow- Temple, TX.

May5-6 Canadian Aviation Expo- Ontario, Canada

May 19-20 March Field Airfest- March AFB, CA.

June 29 Freedom’s Call Tattoo- Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio

July 11-15 Arlington Fly-In- Arlington, WA

August 25 Thunder Over the Coconino Fly-In- Williams, AZ

Cost for all shows will range between $48,000- $180,000 total for travel, set-up, booth rental,

and other fees.

Social Media:

Social media is attracting a storm of attention to the advertising

community right now, and anybody that has anything to do with

tech will be a part of the media outbreak. Lightspeed has to take

advantage of media such as Facebook and YouTube.

YouTube is an effective way to advertise either using spot

categories or advertising on website as whole. The price for

YouTube advertising:

Targeting entire site- $1 CPM (impressions)

YouTube content categories- $2 CPM (impressions)

Google Adwords is a product of advertising for YouTube and must be used to target entire

YouTube website. This proves beneficial though because it advertises for Lightspeed via

YouTube, but also increases Lightspeed’s presence on Google’s search engine, helping achieve a

better SEO.

Facebook uses a CPC method to advertise with on their website. The more

times that someone is directed to Lightspeed’s website due to clicking on

the ad, the more Lightspeed pays for the advertisement. This is the cost per

click method. The ads display similar to YouTube, making it easier to

categorize ads towards target persona with interest in Lightspeed products. Ads are indefinite as

long as account is open and Facebook and Lightspeed come to a negotiable agreement of CPC.

Average CPC for ads on Facebook:

$0.40- $1.20 CPC Depending on ad, pictures, and target persona.

Facebook also uses a built in program to provide insights on advertising that comes at no

additional cost.

This also allows Lightspeed to determine where they want the advertisements to target,

geographically.

Media Plan

The media that Lightspeed will select to utilize this year

focuses primarily on events and shows as well as internet.

There will also be traditional media employed to help achieve

greater functioning of new media being implemented. With

regards to budget, Lightspeed will focus the majority on new media integrations.

The changing market, as well as the increasingly growing popularity in technological tools and

devices, will help Lightspeed successfully execute their media strategies, gaining results

highlighted in the media objectives.

Lightspeed will increase the rate at which they actively engage in the market audience by

attending and promoting at more aviation events. This will engage Lightspeed in expanding

consumer awareness and increase brand recognition for Lightspeed Zulu. The need for brand

recognition in the market field for ANR headsets is a must, assuming competitors such as Bose

continue to progress in the market as well.

The use of magazines will not be discarded due to the readership of this niche market segment.

When compared to other market segments, aviation magazines appear to have a low subscription

base. But aviation is such a unique and exclusive audience that the reader base is loyal to the

aviation magazines and will most likely take notice in what magazines feature.

With the technological and electronic world advancing faster than society can keep up with, the

involvement in social media seems a must in any successful business venture today. Lightspeed

can make use of social media to grab attention of those more involved on internet sites, such as

Facebook and YouTube, and draw them into Lightspeed’s bull’s-eye, increasing brand

awareness and ultimately driving sales upward.

Lightspeed will integrate this plan into their marketing decision, utilizing all of its components to

the fullest extent of the budget to achieve the goals set forth by the company. The increased

brand recognition of Lightspeed will also increase the recognition of the Zulu headset,

concurrently. Implementation of this plan will be started at the beginning of next year.