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IMC+ Marketing+Communications+Session+4+Transcript
IMC+ Marketing+Communications+Session+4+Transcript
Which was the first marketing communication tool that Uber used when it launched itself in
India? Apple is a well- established brand across the world. At this stage, do they also need to
interact with their consumers using various marketing communications tools? Can Apple and
Uber India follow the same approaches at this stage of their brands? You were introduced to
this Product life cycle in Module 1, which states that the product is either in introduction,
growth, maturity or decline stage.
Now that you have seen the different channels used in marketing mix, what communication
channel is ideal for each stage of the product life cycle. Let’s find out.
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At the introduction stage, a brand aims at presenting a new product or service to the consumer
and wants the latter to know about its benefits. The key objective at this stage is to gain the
trust of the consumer. This is a very slow process and a product usually doesn't register very
high sales during this phase. The brand needs to invest its resources at this stage because
gaining the consumer’s trust has several long-term benefits.
If a consumer buys a product but doesn't develop a trust for the brand, then the benefits are
going to be just short- term. At this stage, one of the key communications channel to be used is
Public Relations since this will increase the goodwill of your brand among the consumers.
For example, when Uber started its operations in India, the first campaign they launched was
on the theme ‘ Apnapan’. This PR campaign aimed at projecting Uber as a warm and lovable
brand. The campaign was centred around the heart- warming situations and conversations
between the riders and the drivers of the company. Uber showed that it is these stories that
encourage their riders to use the service time and again.
While PR, is the key tool that will be used in this stage, brands should also use channels such as
advertising to raise more awareness so that people know about the brand first to like and trust
it.
Direct marketing using Social Media, Emails, Events etc. are also used to raise awareness while
sales promotions such as referrals, coupons, free rides etc. are used to ensure more and more
new customers are introduced to the produc. After having established trust in the minds of the
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consumer, the growth stage will see consumers being more aware of the brand and hence
more demanding with regard to expectations.
In this phase, the brand also faces more threat from competitors in the same category. Hence it
is important for the brand to conduct a research on the USP’s (Unique Selling Propositions) of
the competitors and this information is vital while designing the next communication plan. At
this stage, the communication is generally divided into two types. One is to build awareness
and educate consumers so that market development occurs and the next is focused on brand
building.
Using the results of the research, the brand can create a distinct functional or emotional
benefit, that is not provided by the competitors. The goal here is to create a feeling in the mind
of the consumer such that he or she feels the need to own a product, created by your brand.
Advertising is the key communication channel used at this stage to achieve these targets. Let
us take the case of Uber again. After having launched itself in 2013, three years after Ola, Uber
rolled out its first ad campaign in 2017 after the ‘Apnapan’ PR campaign. While its competitor
Ola focussed on ‘Mobility’ and passed on the message that Ola is about hassle-free and quick
transportation, Uber took the route of promoting the ‘uber experience’, distinct from its
competitor. Uber used the ad to show how the drivers care for the passengers and are
committed to ensuring a great ride, rather than just transporting a passenger to their
destination.
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Uber also used ‘Isse Apni Gaadi Samjho’ campaign to shred it's outsider tag as opposed to its
local competitors in Ola, Meru and Mega cabs. Along with using advertisements, it is important
to maintain a balance of sales promotions and direct marketing to ensure that market
development is happening alongside brand building.
While the growth stage gives a peak in sales for the brand, the maturity stage will see the
brand struggling to maintain it as the market would be saturated and hence fewer new
consumers. The brand could also see a dip in market share as the number of competitors
increase and this also results in a decrease in profits. So here, the objective of the brand would
be, one to retain the current consumers and two, to acquire the untapped market.
To retain the current consumers, the brand should emphasis on its brand equity that has been
built and for new customers, they need to be told about the reasons that distinguish your
brand from the others establishing your USP. The common thing about the two aspects
mentioned earlier is that both of them require the brand to create a desire in the minds of
consumers to purchase the product. For this stage, the key channel would be Sales promotions.
Since you have established a good market share and operational costs would have come down
due to optimisation of the process over the years, the money could be used to offer discounts,
incentives etc for the consumers to pick your brand over the others. At the Decline stage,
Who hasn’t heard of Maggi? From being a household favourite to being the saviour of college
hosteliers to being a nationwide ban, Maggi as a brand has seen a lot of activity. However, they
have managed to communicate effectively with consumers during their good as well as difficult
times. One of the major reasons they survived a huge blow such as the ban was their
interaction with the users through various Marketing communications channels.
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They managed to stay afloat in the hearts of the Indian consumer, so much so that even after
dropping to a market share of 0, they managed to capture back their monopoly in a short time
period after their launch. You have already learnt how brands use the various channels. But
what are the essential steps to be followed to design an integrated marketing communications
strategy. Let’s find out.
An Integrated marketing communications strategy must consist of the following steps:
1. Identifying the target audience
2. Setting objectives
3. Designing the communication you want to promote
4. Preparing a budget
Deciding the marketing communications mix. Let us understand how an Integrated marketing
communications strategy is created using the example of Maggi.
The first step is to identify the target audience. If you are able to narrow down your target
audience, the designing an efficient communications strategy would be easier. You can use the
following parameters to identify your target audience:
· Geographic locations- Where is the consumer located?
· Demography, that is age, gender, education qualification, job, salary etc.
· Family composition that is marital status, age of spouse, children.
· Psychographic details such as lifestyle, personality, areas of interest, opinions etc.
· The kind of benefits that the consumers expect from a product and usage that
includes if it is a former or a current user, or irregular or a regular user etc.
When Nestle launched Maggi into the market, their target audience were young mothers and
children between the ages 4 to 14, from upper middle class families and above.
In this section, you learnt how a brand can use various elements of the marketing
communications mix based on which stage of the product lifecycle, they are at. You learnt that
at the introduction stage, a brand aims at presenting a new product or service to the consumer
and wants the latter to know about its benefit. At this stage the most commonly used channel
is Public relations. Other channels used at this stage are advertising and direct marketing.
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The growth stage will see consumers being more aware of the brand and hence more
demanding with regard to expectations. In this phase, the brand also faces more threat from
competitors in the same category. Advertising is the key communication channel used at this
stage while sales promotions and direct marketing are also useful to ensure market
development.
The maturity stage will see the brand struggling to maintain it as the market would be saturated
and hence fewer new consumers. The key channel used in this stage is Sales promotions.
At the Decline Stage, a brand is usually affected by new and effective products that better
satisfy the consumers needs resulting in decline in sales. Hence, the key channels used here are
Direct Marketing and Sales Promotion.
In the final segment, you learnt that an Integrated Marketing Communication strategy must
consist of the following steps:
· The first step is identifying the target audience. Here, you need to know the
Demographics, Geographical locations, family composition, Psychographic details,
Consumer Expectations and usage.
· The next step is setting objectives. This is dependent on the particular stages of
product life cycle the brand is at.
· The next stage is designing the communication process three sections- Message
Strategy, Creative Strategy and Message source.
· The Fourth Stage is preparing a budget.
· The last stage is deciding the marketing Communications Mix.
This brings us to the end of this module on Marketing Communication.
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