Communication Plan

According to Chris Fill a marketing communication plan helps to minimise errors and to be more efficient and effective. The planś content is mostly the goals, resources, which communication tools will be used, the measures of control and how to evaluate.

The marketing communications planning framework according to Chris Fill

·         Who should receive the brand´s messages

·         What is to be achieved

·         What the message should say

·         How the messages are to be delivered

·         What actions the receivers should take

·         What images of the organization/brand receivers are expected to retain

·         How much is to be spent establishing this new image

·         How to control the whole process once it has been implemented

·         what was achieved

The figure represents a sequence of decisions that marketing managers has to consider when preparing, implementing and evaluating communication strategies and plans.

Elements of the plan according to Chris Fill

·         Context analysis:  the purpose of the context analysis is to understand the key market and communication drivers, which should be influenced by the marketing communication.  It one of the most crucial points. You analyze the marketing communication strategy from your competitors, attitudes, motivation and habits of your target group. Furthermore marketing research and data about your target group should also be considered.

• communication objectives: ideally, communication objectives should consists of 3 main elements:

1. Corporate objectives: it refers to the Mission of the Company
2. Marketing objectives: can be considered as market share, sales Revenue, ROI
3. Marketing communication objectives: considered as the current Content where the brand is and of the future Content where the brand should be. It is also about communicating a clear Position in the market

• marketing communication strategy: the strategy should always be customer-oriented. Therefore the strategy depends if the target audience is in the customer Segment, a Distributor or dealer Network.

• coordinated communication mix (tools, media and content): having justified the required Position, the next step is to clearify the main message that is to be conveyed . It should be a mix out of corporate strategy, Marketing strategy and communication strategy to reach the wider Array of stakeholders.

• resources: of course the resources which should Support the communication plan should be determined. This considers also financial issues, time, knowledge of Marketing Expertise. Important is the relative weighting of the costs.

• scheduling and implementation: if awareness is the Goal, it may be best to use Television or Posters first before sales Promotion, direct Marketing, personal selling

• evaluation and control: no communication plan is finisched when it is not evaluated. There are numerous methods of evaluating individual Performance of the Tools and media used.

• feedback : The planning process is just completed when feedback is provided. Even when the success of a campaign can not be measured the tools or needed resources and strategy should get a feedback and advices how to make it better in future.

Different Communication Plans - Examples Red Bull and Pringles

Facts about Red Bull

• Red Bull is available in 166 countries
• Over the 26 years 40 Billion cans have been consumed so far
• in 2013 Red Bull sold more than 5.3 Billion cans
• Red Bull holds about 50% of market share of sector energy drink (source : https://de.scribd.com/doc/2444837/Integrated-Marketing-Communications-Plan-for-Red-Bull-Energy-Drink)
• 9694 employees in 2013
• Red Bull is targeting the core markets of Western Europe and the USA and growth markets in the Far East. In spite of the still uncertain financial and global economic climate, our plans for growth and investment in 2014 remain very ambitious, envisage a continued upward trend, and – as always at Red Bull – will be financed from the operative cash flow.
• Regarding sponsorship and their marketing communication see blog before
• Failure : Red Bull should pay 13 million dollar to some consumer who sue them, that Red Bull does not increase your ability and your soul and stuff. Bad marketing communication

 

Brand strategy

Task 1: Brand strategy

Before building a brand you should create a brand identity and coordinate across organizational Units, media and markets. The Goal of a brand strategy is that someone is in Charge of the brand and an identity gets created. Firms, which are good in building brands have normally a strong brand - building culture with clearly defined values, norms and symbols. The top Management should Support the brand through visibly Actions through the whole organization.
By building brands you should be Aware of:

• Pressure to compete on Price
• profileration of competitors
• fragmenting markets and media
• complex brand strategies and relationships
• bias toward strategies
• bias against Innovation
• pressure to invest elsewhere

Accoring to Aaker making and Managing brands could be really difficult. Aaker mentioned a example with Coca Cola: There is Coke classic, coke Zero, coke light, coke Vanille, coke cherry and so on. Coke is a product brand and at sporting Events a Sponsoring brand. This is a huge complexity. The brand should understand his role in which he is involved.


Task 2: Brand hierarchies, Brand architecture, Brand Portfolio

According to Aaker brands fall into a hierarchy and every brand Level has his own System and strategy.

Corporate Brand: (e.g. General Motor): which identifies and represents the Company behind the brand

Rage brand: (e.g. Chevrolet): brand ranges over several products

Product line brand: (e.g. Chevrolet Lumina) brands associated with the organization´s specific products

Subbrand: (e.g. Chevrolet Lumina Sports Coupe) Basic product brands can be refined through subbranding

Every brand has his own identy. The Task is it to put those identies togehter to form a whole corporate brand.  Every brand has a own role in the System. These roles are:

Driver role: drives the purchase decision, it represents what the customer primarly expect to receive from the brand. Customers buy the value Proposition.

Endorser role: this role provides Support and credibility to the Driver role brand.the endorser brand respresents the values, organization and culture of the brand.


Strategic brand: is important for the future perfomance of the corporation and the brand. It should fit in the future Vision of the Company to gain more market share

Silver bullets: is a subbrand or branded benefit which should Change or Support the brand Image of a parent brand. e.g. Ford tauraus to create a innovated Image

Source: David Aaker - Building strong brands