Week 1 Dr. Jenne Meyer

Market research compiles information about the product, the product category, competitors, and other details of the marketing environment that will affect the development of advertising strategy.

Consumer research is used to identify people who are in the market for the product.

Advertising research focuses on all the elements of advertising—message, media, evaluation, and competitors’ advertising.

IMC research assembles information to plan the use of a variety of marketing communication tools..

Strategic research uncovers critical information that becomes the basis for strategic planning decisions—influences message and media strategies.

Secondary Research

Background research using available published information

Sources include government organizations, trade associations, secondary research suppliers, secondary information on the Internet

Primary Research

Information collected for the first time from original sources, such as primary research suppliers

A.C. Neilsen, Simmons Market Research Bureau (SMRB), Mediamark Research Inc. (MRI)

Quantitative Research Delivers numerical data such as numbers of users and purchases, their

attitudes and knowledge, their exposure to ads, and other market-related information

Use large sample sizes (100–1,000) and random sampling to conduct surveys and studies that track, count or measure things like sales and opinions

Qualitative Research Explores underlying reasons for consumer behavior

Tools include observation, ethnographic studies, in-depth interviews, and case studies

Used early in the process of developing advertising plans, message, and strategy

Exploratory in nature and designed for generating insights, as well as questions and hypotheses for more research

Experimental Research

Scientifically tests hypotheses by comparing different message treatments and how people respond to them.

Reactions may be electronically recorded using MRI or EEG machines, or eye-scan tracking devices to measure emotional responses.

Neuro-marketing is a subfield of experimental research in which planners try to determine how the brain and emotions react to various stimuli.

Research firms and departments collect and disseminate secondary research data and conduct primary research for advertising.

The need for research-based information in advertising has increased as markets have become more fragmented and saturated, and as consumers become more demanding.

Both the creative team and media planners need to know as much as they can about the people they are trying to reach.

Researchers try to find out what motivates people to buy a product or become involved with a brand.

The goal is to find a key consumer insight that members of the target audience will respond to.

Video Snippet

Dunkin’ Donuts discusses the

importance of the consumer.

Evaluates an ad for effectiveness after it has been developed and produced; before and after it runs as part of a campaign.

Pretesting is research on a finished ad before it runs in the media.

Evaluative research (also called copy testing) is done during and after a campaign.

Aided recognition (or recall)

Unaided recognition (or recall)

Survey Research In-depth Interviews Focus Groups Observation Ethnographic research Diaries

Other Qualitative Methods

Fill in the blanks

Purpose-driven games

Theater techniques

Sculpting and movement techniques

Story elicitation

Artifact creation

Photo elicitation

Photo sorts

Metaphors

Validity means the research actually measures what it says it measures. Poorly worded questions and samples that don’t represent the

population hurt validity.

Reliability means you can run the same test again and get the same answer.

Three objectives of advertising research: Test hypotheses

Get information

Get insights

Quantitative methods are better at gathering data, and qualitative methods are better at uncovering reasons and motives.

Suppose you are developing a research program for a new bookstore serving your college or university.

What kind of exploratory research would you recommend?

Would you propose both qualitative and quantitative studies? Why or why not?

What specific steps would you take?

The research director for Angelis Advertising always introduces her department’s service to new agency clients by comparing research to a roadmap.

What do maps and research have in common? How does the analogy of a map reveal the

limitations of research for resolving an advertising problem?

Sean McDonnell is the creative director for Chatham-Boothe, an advertising agency that has just signed a contract with Trans-Central Airlines.

TCA has a solid portfolio of consumer research and has offered to let the agency use it. McDonnell needs to decide whether demographic, psychographic or attitude/motive studies are best for developing a creative profile of the TCA target audience.

If the choice were yours, on which body of research would you base a creative strategy? Explore the strengths and weaknesses of each.

A new radio station is moving into your community. Management is not sure how to position the station in this market and has asked you to develop a study to help them make this decision.

What key research questions must be asked?

Outline a research program to answer those questions that uses as many of the research methods discussed in this chapter as you can incorporate.

Three-minute debate: You have been hired to develop and conduct a research study for a new upscale restaurant coming into your community. Your client wants to know how people in the community see the competition and what they think of the restaurant’s offerings. It uses an unusual concept that focuses on fowl—duck, squab, pheasant and other elegant meals in the poultry category. A specialty category, this would be somewhat like a seafood restaurant.

One of your colleagues says the best way to do this study is with a carefully designed survey and a representative sample. Another colleague says, no, what the client really needs is insight into the market; she believes the best way to help the client with its advertising strategy is to use qualitative research.

In class, organize into any number of small teams with pairs of teams taking one side or the other. Set up a series of three-minute debates with each side having half that time to argue its position. Every team of debaters must present new points not covered in the previous teams’ presentations until there are no arguments left to present. Then the class votes as a group on the winning point of view

For marketing communication, strategic planning is the process of identifying a problem that can be solved with marketing communications, determining objectives, deciding on strategies, and implementing tactics.

Objective—a goal you want to accomplish.

Strategy—means, design, or plan for accomplishing objectives.

Tactics—actions that execute the plan, such as how an ad is designed or written.

The business plan and

marketing plan

provide direction for

advertising planning

and other areas.

May cover an SBU (strategic business unit) which is a line of products or all offerings of a brand.

The objective is profit or Return-on-Investment (ROI).

ROI is revenue earned above the amount invested.

Business planning starts with a a mission statement; an expression of goals and policies.

This mission statement for

Tom’s of Maine helps its

managers develop specific

business objectives and

goals. It also guides all of

the company’s marketing

communication efforts

Developed for a brand or product line, usually annually. Parallels the business strategic plan and contains many of

the same components. A market situation analysis assesses the environment

affecting marketing. Objectives are focused on sales levels and share of market.

Advertising or IMC plan also includes objectives, strategies, and tactics (like business and marketing plan).

The focus is on the communication program supporting a brand.

More tightly focused on solving a particular problem in a particular time frame.

Includes a variety of messages carried in different media and sometimes targeted to different audiences.

Typical Campaign

Plan Outline

I. Situation analysis

II. Key strategic

decisions

III. Media strategy

IV. Message strategy

V. Other tools

VI. Campaign

management

See pg. 197 for detail.

Backgrounding

Research and review the state of the business that is relevant to the brand and gather all pertinent information

A problem statement identifies the problem to be solved

SWOT Analysis

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats

Principle: Analysis of SWOT means finding ways to

address the weaknesses and threats and leverage the strengths and opportunities.

Key problems and opportunities

Analyze the market situation for communication problems that hinder successful marketing and find opportunities advertising can create or exploit.

Advertising can’t solve problems related to price, availability, or quality; but it can address the perception of high prices or portray limited distribution as exclusivity.

Principle: Advertising can only solve message-related or

perception problems.

Objective—formal goal statement outlining what the message is supposed to achieve and how it will be measured

The six categories of effects or facets can serve as a basis for common consumer-focused objectives.

Perception, emotion, cognition, persuasion, association, behavior

Some objectives are tightly focused on a single effect; others require a complex set of effects. A campaign to create brand loyalty must

have both cognitive (rational) and affective (emotional) effects, and it must move people to repeat buying (behavioral).

Advertising is effective if it creates an impression, influences people to respond, and separates the brand from the competition.

Special K Ad

2

Objectives must be measurable so advertisers know if the campaign or advertising is effective.

Five requirements of a measurable objective: Specific effect that can be measured

A time frame

A baseline (where we are, where we begin)

The goal (realistic estimate of change to be created)

Percentage change (subtract the baseline from the goal; divide the difference by the baseline)

Sample Objective: “The goal of this campaign is to increase customer awareness of Kodak’s digital products from 20% to 25% in 12 months.”

Marketing communications strategy is based on accurately targeting an audience that will respond to a particular message.

Targeting is identifying and profiling an audience. Targeting is also getting inside the heads and hearts

of the audience to find out what kind of message will motivate them.

A brand’s position its place in consumers’ minds where the product or brand stands in comparison to the competition.

Factors that define the competitive situation: Product features and attributes, both tangible and intangible.

▪ Feature analysis is used to assess features relative to competitors’ products.

Competitive advantage is where 1) the product has a strong feature, 2) in an area that is important to the target, and 3) where the competition is weaker.

Differentiation is a strategy that focuses attention to product differences that distinguish the company’s product from all others in the eyes of consumers.

Two factors used to locate the brand position:

Psychological factors

▪ Volvo = safety, Coke = authentic, Hallmark = quality, Avis = underdog

Consumer decision factors

▪ Features or attributes such as fashion, price, quality

▪ Planners use a technique called perceptual mapping to plot competitors on a matrix based on two important decision factors

Principle: The goal of positioning is to establish a product in the consumer’s mind based on its features and advantages

relative to its competition.

Repositioning can only work if the new position is related to the brand’s core concept.

Although advertising shapes the position, the position is anchored in the target audience’s minds by their personal experiences.

The role of advertising in repositioning is to relate the new position to the target market’s life experience and associations.

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How consumers respond to marketing communications messages creates a brand perception.

Consumer Response Advertiser’s Objective Perceive Creates brand identity Feel Cue brand personality Think Cue brand position Associate Cue brand image Believe Create brand promise and brand preference Do Inspire brand loyalty

Video Snippet

Harley-Davidson talks

about its brand.

Insert Harley-Davidson discussion about brand

Noted on Video Snippets sheet.

Brand identity - Must be distinctive and familiar in terms of name, logo, colors, typeface, design, and slogan

Brand personality - Human characteristics like loving, trustworthy, sophisticated

Brand position - The soul or essence of the brand; it stands for something that matters to consumers

Brand image - The mental image consumers construct for a product based on symbols and associations that customer link to a brand

Brand promise and brand preference - Believing the promise that a brand will meet your expectations leads to brand preference

Brand loyalty - A connection built over time that leads to repeat purchases

Finding the “a-ha” in a stack of research reports, data, and transcripts is the greatest challenge for an account planner.

Account planners use strategic and critical thinking to interpret consumer research to find relevant consumer insights that explain why consumers will care about a brand message.

The outcome of research, the communication brief (or creative brief) is a document that explains the consumer insight and summarizes the basic strategy decisions.

The first step in the creative process, it is designed to spark creativity and serve as a springboard for ideas.

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Problem: What’s the problem that communication can solve? (establish position, increase loyalty, increase liking, etc.).

Target audience: Who do we want to speak to? (brand loyal, heavy users, infrequent users, competition’s users, etc.) .

Consumer insights: What motivates the target? What are the “major truths” about the target’s relationship to the product?

The brand imperatives: What are the important features and competitive advantage? What’s the position? Also, what’s the brand essence, brand personality and/or image?

Communication objectives: What do we want customers to do in response to our messages? (perception, knowledge, feelings, symbolic meanings, attitudes and conviction, action).

The proposition or selling idea: What is the single thought that the communication will bring to life in a provocative way?

Support: What is the reason to believe the proposition? Creative direction: How can you best stimulate the desired response? How can we

best say it? Media imperatives: Where and when should we say it?

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) planning is similar to advertising planning but is broader in scope and involves more marketing communication areas.

The objective is to most effectively use all marketing communications tools and functions and to control the impact of other communication elements.

Effective IMC leads to profitable long-term brand relationships.

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Stakeholders

The target market in IMC is not just consumers, it’s anyone who has a stake in the company’s success (employees, shareholders).

Contact points (touch points)

IMC maximizes all contacts stakeholders have with the brand; where a message is delivered.

IMC objectives

IMC uses interrelated objectives with specific strategies for different tools (e.g., PR to announce, sales promotion to drive action).

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Marketing

Communication Area Typical Objectives

Public Relations Announce news; affect attitudes and opinions; maximize credibility and

likeability; create and improve stakeholder relationships

Consumer Sales Stimulate behavior; generate immediate response; intensify needs,

Promotion wants, and motivations; reward behavior; stimulate involvement and

relevance; create pull through the channel

Trade Sales Build industry acceptance; push through the channel; motivate

Promotion cooperation; energize sales force, dealers, distributors

Point-of-Purchase Increase immediate sales; attract attention at decision point; create

interest; stimulate urgency; encourage trial and impulse purchasing

Direct Marketing Stimulate sale; create personal interest and relevance; provide

information; create acceptance, conviction

Sponsorship and Build awareness; create brand experience, participation, interaction,

Events involvement; create excitement

Packaging Increase sales; attract attention at selection point; deliver product

information; create brand reminder

Specialties Reinforce brand identity; continuous brand reminder; reinforce

satisfaction; encourage repeat purchase

Table 7.3 Marketing Communication Objectives

Think of a product you purchased recently. How was it advertised? Which strategies can you discern in the advertising? Did the advertising help to convince you to purchase

the product? Why or why not?

The following is a brief excerpt from Luna Pizza’s situation analysis for the next fiscal year. Luna is a regional producer of frozen pizza. Its only major competitor is Brutus Bros. Estimate next year’s advertising budgets for Luna under each of the following circumstances: Luna follows a historical method by spending 40 cents per unit sold in advertising, with

a 5% increase for inflation.

Luna follows a fixed percentage of projected sales method, using 7%.

Luna follows a share-of-voice method. Brutus is expected to use 6% of sales for its advertising budget in the next year.

Actual Last Year Estimates Next Year Units sold 120,000 185,000 $ Sales 420,000 580,000 Brutus $ Sales 630,000 830,000

You are assigned to the account for a new hybrid automobile.

Use the Communication Brief outline and list the research you need to conduct for each step in the strategic decision-making process.

What do you need to do to put together a useful brief for the creative team?

Three-minute debate: You are in a meeting about the strategy for a new automotive client. One of your team members says positioning is an old strategy and no longer useful for modern products.

Another person argues strongly that you need to understand the position in the consumer’s mind before you can even begin to develop an advertising strategy.

In class, organize into small teams with pairs of teams taking one side or the other. Set up a series of three-minute debates with each side taking half that time to argue its position. Every team of debaters has to present new points not covered in the previous teams’ presentations until there are no arguments left to present. Then the class votes as a group on the winning point of view.

Key learnings? Next weeks assignments.