The ASA did receive a lot of complaints about an advert shown on Channel 4 which showed scenes of gunfights as part of an advert for Film Four. A picture of a man pointing a gun at the reader of a newspaper adverts placed in The Times and The Sunday Times alongside a man lying in a pool of blood was found offensive by the ASA. It was considered that scenes appearing in newspapers would probably be seen by children. The organisation also prevents the continual appearance of certain brands placed in strategic positions in film scenes, in order to gain exposure to the audience.
The Marketing Mix:
The advertising campaign should be integrated with other events such as sponsorship of a sporting event and an advertisement in a sporting magazine related to the one sponsored. This is done using the four P’s: Place, Price, Product, and Promotion. Due to Mucklow and Hardy supplying sun glasses, many leisure events could be sponsored and an advertisement could be placed in a leisure magazine.
Advertising Budget:
Advertising can be expensive. Not only must the cost of placing the advertisement in the media be covered, but also in the most cases a company will be hired to ‘create’ the advert.
Setting the advertising budget can be a difficult task. This is because it is impossible to predict just how effective a particular advertising campaign is going to be and therefore how much money should be spent. However, there are a number or methods, which firms might use to decide upon their advertising budget.
- As a percentage of anticipated sales revenue. This is a simple and easy method to use. It has the advantage that resources are allocated according to their effect on the sales. However, the firm is assuming that the level of advertising has a direct effect on the level of sales.
- As a percentage of past sales. Unlike the method described above, in this method finance allocated to the advertising budget has already been earned. However, it does not take into account market changes. A fall in sales would result in a fall in the advertising budget.
- By comparing spending with competitors. Whilst this should help to prevent competitors from gaining market share, it can also lead to an upward spiral in the amount spent on advertising. This could be because one firm would spend a slight bit more on their campaign and the competitors would do the same, thus causing the upward spiral.
- As a fixed amount, based upon advertising needs. For example, when introducing a new product on to the market a firm may decide upon the amount needed for the promotion of the product to launch it. Advertising budgets are likely to be higher for new products than mature ones.
From the above there are two options that would favour Mucklow and Hardy. The two options would be point one and point three. From my insight into Mucklow and Hardy they would both work equally well, and provide the funds to support a quality but cheap advertising campaign.
Marketing Strategy:
A marketing strategy is a long-term plan which is designed to meet the company’s marketing objectives. A strategy is very important to the marketing of a product due to it relies primarily on clearly stated marketing objectives, and once the strategy is defined and made clear it must be researched. The implementation of the strategy is carried out using the four P’s of the marketing mix which are:
- Product,
- Price,
- Place,
- Promotion.
There are always constraints on achieving the strategy which the business must take into consideration when setting the marketing objectives:
- Customers,
- Competition,
- Exchange rates,
- Interest rates,
- Marketing budget,
- Distinctive competence of the company.
New Product Strategy:
This strategy is based on the prospects of profits on investment being at least equal to the current rate of return on capital. Sometimes, however, a company might decide on new products development just to stay in business.
Ansoff's Matrix - Planning fo Growth
This well known marketing tool was first published in the Harvard Business Review (1957) in an article called ‘Strategies for Diversification’. It is used by marketers who have objectives for growth.
Ansoff’s matrix offers strategic choices to achieve the objectives. There are four main categories for selection.
Ansoff's Product/Market Matrix
New Markets Strategy:
This strategy aims at increasing sales, but sometimes it is very difficult to enter a new market. If the increased volume of sales will allow the company to gain the benefits of economies of scale, the prospects of increased profitability are greater.
Existing markets penetration:
A company might decide to try for increased volume of sales in a market in which it sells already. If an existing market is expanding, this can be achieved without too greater financial investment persuading new users to buy. In a saturated market, extra sales can come about only though increasing market share. This can happen due to a change in fashion. A style of glasses that is not in fashion one month could become highly fashionable in the next. With the existing market promotion being low could change to become highly promoted.
Adjusting prices:
This method is used when trying to increase gross profits without the loss of sale revenue. Here the product night be repositioned or changed.
Marketing strategy within the marketing function diagram:
Mission Statement
Corporate Objective
Marketing Objective
Marketing Strategy
(E.g. Niche marketing)
Research Marketing plan Implementation
(Using the four P’s)
Control and review
Marketing Objectives:
- Building brand recognition theme or logo.
- Repeat purchase, customer buys product on a regular basis.
- Gaining market leadership.
- Increasing market share.
- Market domination.
All objectives within a business will stem from a mission statement. Once the mission statement has been agreed, the objectives can be set with a view to achieving the mission statement.
A mission statement is what a firm’s main aims and gains would be, and like to obtain from its advertising campaign.
The examples above fulfil the requirements that an objective must be easy to access for example the business must be able to state categorically whether or not the objectives have been achieved. However, in order to provide even more guidance on the nature of the objective and whether the business is on course to achieve the objective, it is possible to develop the objective in greater detail, using time scales and levels of performance for example:
- to increase market share by an annual average of 2% over the next five years, or
- to gain a foothold in the market be establishing a market share of 3% in the first year, or
- to sell 300,000 units, at a margin of 5%.
Sometimes the business may also link the marketing objectives to objectives that are set in other parts of the business for example: to achieve functional payback of the marketing budget within two years.
The objectives that are shown at the top of the page relate to Mucklow and Hardy, but there is a stronger relationship in some areas than others. Mucklow and Hardy want to increase brand recognition and increase market share as there main objectives. Due to being a small business Market domination is not a factor, and because it is an Optician, regular basis purchasing also does not apply due to being in a specialist area of business.
SWOT analysis:
Before deciding on a marketing strategy, it is essential for the company to assess as accurately as possible its current position in the market, and to examine all future possibilities. This is often done on the basis of the SWOT analysis.
The SWOT grid can be used for the strategy of the whole company, but also to formulate strategies for individual goods or services.
The management must take a long careful look at the organisation, helped by the SWOT analysis principle. Depending on the types of goods or services offered, the strategy might be planned for two, three, five or even ten years ahead. A manufacture of aircraft components or defence systems, for example, will look for a strategy that will take the organisation though the last decade. This timespan is much shorter for producers of consumer goods or providers of services. Mucklow and Hardy would be looking for a time span in the region of one, two, or even three years.
P.E.S.T Analysis:
The concept of the PEST analysis is to look at external factors which influence the business, just as in the SWOT analysis.
Political Factors:
- Taxation,
- Market regulation,
- Market de-regulation,
- Foreign trade regulations,
- Political stability.
Economic Factors:
- Wealth,
- Purchase power,
- Growth,
- Savings,
- Investments,
- Interest rates,
- Inflation rates.
Social Factors:
- Life styles changes,
- Consumer activism,
- Career expectation,
- Population growth rate,
- Age distribution,
- Regional shifts.
Technological Changes:
- Government spending on R&D,
- High cost of R&D so use of joint ventures,
- Focus of technological effort,
- Patent protection,
- Internet and commercial commerce.
Steps to decide on a strategy:
- decide the objectives,
- research the market
- decide on the product mix, or individual product,
- allocate budgets,
- decide the market segment/s to be targeted,
- decide on place and promotion,
- investigate any possible external constraints.
By definition, the company’s strategic plan is comprehensive and lays down the vision for the future of the organisation as a whole. In line with the overall strategy, separate strategic plans are made by different parts of the company. Thus the marketing department will formulate a strategic plan of the activities to be undertaken within the overall plan.
Distribution:
The physical distribution of products is much more important that the consumer realises. A firm can have the best products, at the right prices, with excellent promotion, but if the products are not at the selling points when the consumers want them, the firm will soon discover how fickle the buying public can be. This is mainly aimed at larger businesses but some factors do apply to he small business like Mucklow and Hardy.
Physical distribution covers the physical movement of products from producers to the eventual selling points. The costs of this are significant and, on average, can accounts of approximately 20% of the unit costs of a product. This is accounted for by:
- the costs of distribution facilities, such as storehouses,
- stock holding costs,
- transport costs, communication costs,
- costs of unitisation.
Distribution channels are the routes through which products for from the producer to the final customer. These routes maybe simple or complicated. The routes are normally expressed as two types, Short-channel and Long-channel.
Short-channel routes:
These are routes where the supplier reaches the consumer either directly or through a retailer. Short-channel routes are shown below:
Direct supply takes place through mail-order or telephone selling, but the rapidly growing revolution in selling is through the internet. Ecommerce is going to become the norm in the marketing of some goods and increasingly common in others.
Short-channel supply through retailers is very common and there is often an interesting balance of power between the producer and the retailer. In some cases, the producer is keen to have products sold through the retailer’s outlets. An example of this would be a producer of foodstuffs who would be keen to supply to Marks and Spencer. In other cases, retailers, such as garages, are keen to supply certain products, such as BMW motorcars. The relative power will change with circumstances of the market. In many cases, producers and retailers work together on such matters as funding, design, promotion and staff training. Obviously, it is in the interests of both parties for products to go well.
Long-channel routes:
These routes where there is an intermediary between the producer and the eventual consumers. Possible long, channel-routes are shown on the following page:
Wholesalers have two main functions, those of ‘breaking bulk’ and stock holding. Many retailers are too small to buy products in bulk from suppliers and so wholesalers do it, break the large quantities down into smaller amounts and then add a profit margin, selling smaller quantities down into smaller quantities to the retailers. A small corner shop is able to buy 24 packs of washing powder form the wholesaler as opposed to the minimum order of 2,400 packs from a supplier. Wholesalers are risk takers, in that the stock could be damaged or, worse still, become obsolete or out of fashion, while they hold it.
Agents are people that have authority to enter into a contract on behalf of the producer they represent. Agents manage the relationship between the producer and the consumer. They do not take legal ownership of the products involved and simply work for a fee or a percentage of the sales value. Agents are especially employed in the foreign markets, where a producer may not have contacts or outlets. Agents are common in new car sales and customary in the sale of houses.
The main disadvantage if using long channels of distribution is that all of the intermediaries will add their profit margins and so the price to the final consumer is pushed up all the time. Also, the producer becomes isolated form the market and feedback and communication will be strained.
Mucklow and Hardy’s situation:
Mucklow and Hardy’s situation is that of a small business, but in the last three years two of there practices have been closed. The business has been gradually declining and is in need of a boost in the market. Due to not having any solid advertising campaign the business is not getting the publicity to keep it up with other competitors. Mucklow and Hardy’s main advertising campaign is in the Yellow Pages, but it is only a one line advertisement. One of his major ways of gaining more custom is by the simplest and cheapest way possible, the word of mouth. This is an effective way of promotion especially if the quality of service is very good. Below you can see samples of Mucklow and Hardy’s existing promotional media.
Mucklow and Hardy are in need of an advertising campaign that is subtle yet outgoing. If a base for an advertising campaign was created for Mucklow and Hardy, and the basic business Promotion materials were created the public would be more aware of the company. This would start the promotion of the company. With this campaign the sales should rise and more customers should appear. Also if Mucklow and Hardy offered to sponsor an event for some sort sporting or recreational event this would also be beneficial. . I have also decided to create at web site, due to the World Wide Web becoming one of the more accessible forms of advertising and the increasing popularity of it I will create one.
Why do Mucklow and Hardy use there selected promotional media:
The use of the yellow pages is a normal but not particularly effective way for an optician to advertise. A small opticians standard advertising campaign would contain appointment card, business card, headed note paper, Yellow Pages add, and a leaflet. Mucklow and Hardy only have three of the five, this cuts down the promotional media possibly used by competitors by two fifths. After researching Mucklow and Hardy I decided to research on of there main competitors, in this case Specsavers. One of the main types of advertising media that they use and Mucklow and Hardy done is the Internet. The picture below is one of Specsavers opening page on there website:
Starting the advertising campaign:
I am going to start by creating basic promotional stationary for Mucklow and Hardy Opticians, this will include a business card appointment card and headed letter paper. I have looked at many different themes and visited the Mucklow and Hardy Shop. In the shop there is a theme of cream and green so I have carried this through into my advertising.
The picture to the left is Mucklow and Hardy’s existing appointment card. As you can see it is not really eye catching and with a few additions here and there it would not be too difficult to become appealing to the customer. This card is simple, straight to the point and cheap. I think that with a little more money behind a more appealing card could be obtained and would help the business.
This is my version of Mucklow and Hardy’s Appointment Card. I decided to go for a more vibrant approach that would be appealing to the customer. I used a background image to add depth to the card. I also used a colour in the header even though more expensive it is more attractive and more likely to interest the customer. It still carries the simple and straight to the point features.
This is his existing business card and again it is not the most appealing. Is keeping the same theme as the one above. This is the theme that the company keeps all the way through there campaign.
I am going to keep the same theme throughout the whole campaign. This is due to the fact that the same theme people can relate to and recognise it. The costs of this would be slightly high but due to the appealing nature of the design and layout I think that this increase in the price of advertising would be made up by higher volume of custom compared to the existing campaign.
With the addition on more money into the advertising budget I think that the advertising campaign could be a major part in the attraction of more customers to the Mucklow and Hardy practise. The money would improve the design of the campaign and if spent wisely would benefit the company’s annual income.
Comparing Promotional Objectives to Mucklow and Hardy’s existing Promotional Campaign:
Promotional Objectives:
- To make consumers more aware of a product,
- To reach a targeted audience which might be geologically dispersed,
- To remind existing customers of a product so they might re-purchase the product,
- To show there product is better than that of a competitor,
- To develop or improve the image of the business,
The aim of Mucklow and Hardy is to gain higher numbers of customers that are loyal to the company. As world of mouth is one of the main types of advertising used by Mucklow and Hardy the services they provide must be excellent. The down fall on this is that the word of mouth does not get all around the surrounding area and tell everyone how good the service and products supplied are. This advertising campaign I am putting forward will hopefully change that and reach out further into the community to attract custom.
As you can see from Mucklow and Hardy’s existing promotional campaign on the last page you can see that it is not practically eye catching, but it is simple and straight to the point. That is a characteristic that any advertising campaign should contain. Due to being just black and white it is easy to be looked over. If colour was added it would be more difficult to be looked over and in some cases eye catching. As you can see from my advertising campaign I have used subtle colours and a background image to drag the viewer into the media.
One of the main types of advertising that Mucklow and Hardy use is the word of mouth, this can only be successful if a high quality of service is reached within the practise and a competitive price range occurs. This type of advertising does not travel too far. Due to this people in geologically dispersed areas will not hear about the quality of service and goods that Mucklow and Hardy provide, thus custom of these people will not occur.
Too remind customers of there next upcoming appointment Mucklow and Hardy send appointment cards through the post. This is a good way to increase customer awareness of a new product because information leaflets of the new product can be sent along with the appointment card to the customer.
Mucklow and Hardy do not design any of there own style glasses. So to say that there product is better than that of a competitor would be saying that the suppliers of the glasses who may supply to competitors would better than theirs but are actually exactly the same. The only way Mucklow and Hardy could do this is with the quality of service that they provide.
Due to closing two of the three practises in Lincoln more money can be spent upon improving the status of the business due to it being in the one place. The image of the business can be improve due to a more concentrated effort on just the one practise instead of three.
My Extended Advertising:
Mucklow and hardy to not use headed letter paper so I decided to make my own following on in the same theme as that of the business card and appointment card. If they were all different people might get confused or not recognise the company’s advertising.
I decided that a reminding post card would be useful. This would remind people what time and what date the appointment was. I followed the same theme through into the postcard as before.
Website design:
From this image you can see that I have used a green background and cream lettering. This is due to the high level of contrast between to two colours and the main header stands out. I have placed push buttons of different brands of glasses to it links straight to the Mucklow and Hardy’s styles of their product and prices.
Justifying my alternative promotional activities:
I decided to make a website due to not business have a one and computing is the way of the future. These days hosting a site is not too expensive and well within the price range of Mucklow and Hardy’s advertising budget. Website can host many different things and in this case it can host a catalogue of the products Mucklow and Hardy can supply to the customer. This will save them money due to not having to produce as many of the standard paper catalogues. Also Mucklow and Hardy has a contact e-mail address on the site so appointments to see Keith can be arranged on the net. You can also price up your glasses, fames and lenses before you go and purchase.
There are many advantages that are contained and hosted by a company website, many of them are to the benefit of the customer. Its saves the customer having to go backwards and forwards to the practise if it can be sorted by e-mail, especially if the customer lives in a geologically dispersed area.
For those people who prefer everything to be organised by pen and paper, and those who are not connected to the internet due to funds, not wishing to be on the internet and those people who are placed in a geologically dispersed area and cannot get connected. I have created some Mucklow and Hardy headed note paper. Again this follows on from my existing theme of black, green and white with the watermarked eye in the background. The paper is displayed on the following page.
The new campaign I have created was necessary due to the old one not really conforming to today’s promotional activities Mucklow and Hardy’s Competitors. There is always business to generate and I think that with this new advertising campaign that area will be more fulfilled, and Mucklow and Hardy have a chance of generating a bigger percentage of the market share available to a small company.
Advertising Campaign Summary:
Evaluating my Advertising campaign:
I started my advertising campaign to improve and expand Mucklow and Hardy’s existing advertising campaign. I used the same theme throughout the campaign so potential customers will recognise the media without having to read it. If all the advertising media had a different colour scheme it would not be recognisable. This theme would act like a corporate image for Mucklow and Hardy so that existing customers and potential customers would recognise the colours and format of the media and be able to relate to it and no what company the colours are related to.
I went to see the owner and Optician of Mucklow and Hardy, Keith Tomlinson at the practise on Eastgate in Lincoln. I showed him all the advertising campaign that I have designed. He seemed to be impressed and started to comment on what he liked and what he thought could be improved. One of the major things that needed to be improved was his qualifications after this name on all of the media. I did not include these in the first place due to no knowing them. Keith also gave me some additional information after reading though my theory work on the past pages. He looked closely through the advertising budget and told me which points he uses and which he would look into using in the future.
Keith made reference to the style format and colour of the media, he asked “Why have you used the green and black colour scheme?” I used this colour scheme after being in the practice once before and being struck by the colour of the display units. The units were a mahogany colour with a deep green bar running around the top. I combined this green with the accent colour of black. This with the merge of the black and the green gives an appealing look which is recognisable. The writing on the title bar of the media is white this is a total contrast of the black so stands out very will and is easy to read.
I went to see Keith after I had finished the advertising campaign totally and showed it to him in its complete state. He was very impressed by the whole campaign and took a sample of each media for future reference in his promotional activities. The one thing that is did not show Keith was the website. This was due to the practise not having access to the internet or the program that I created it on. So I launched the website for one week so Keith had an opportunity to see the website and use it. He contacted me and said that in the near future he would be creating a website and using a similar format that I used.
I thought that altogether my advertising campaign would have been beneficial to Mucklow and Hardy and Keith agreed with me. I would have like to study deeper into the workings of Mucklow and Hardy but this would have resulted in leaving the advertising subject, thus the work would not have been able to be included in this study. I enjoyed doing this study as it gave me a deeper insight into the workings of a small business and how they advertise.
E4:
Ethics – Mucklow and Hardy’s target market is the middle to high class of citizen situated throughout the surrounding areas of Lincoln. This is due to the sale of high quality designer spectacles which the middle to higher class of citizen would be able to afford, and would wear to emphasise wealth.
Competitors – Due to Mucklow and Hardy being a small company the ratio of income to there advertising budget is larger than that of the large companies such as Specsavers and Vision Express. This is all down to Mucklow and Hardy having to keep up with the advertising media and promotion the larger companies take part in. This I in the area of just attracting customers.
C1/C3/A2:
Promotional objectives have to be measurable and that is why one of Mucklow and Hardy’s main promotional objectives is to attract and increase the number of older citizens and OAP’s purchasing from the practise. One main reason for this is that OAP’s get government support for health care and such. Also older customers are usually loyal to a company if they supply a good service.
Reaching the geographically dispersed customers: Due to creating a web site for Mucklow and Hardy it is easier for those people in geographically dispersed areas, to contact and interact with Mucklow and Hardy. This saves the customers/potential customers from travel to the shop to just to see what they offer.
Improving the image of the business: The businesses image has become dated over the last few years with the increase in technology and advertising media. I considered this when starting to improve the existing advertising media, I took into account that a so called ‘corporate image’ would possible increase the recognition of the business and an attractive yet upmarket image was required. I added an eye watermark to the media and added an attractive yet bold colour scheme, adjusted the format of the media. The colour scheme is the same in the hop so I decided to carry it throughout the campaign.
Reminding existing customers of a product so they might re-purchase the product: when the customers next appointment is due an appointment card could be sent though the post along with some leaflets of the product they purchased in the past demonstrating the improvement made what makes them better. This might say to the customer that there glasses or out of fashion, season or would just like the newer version. This could encourage the customer to repurchase, thus creating more sales for the business.
The additional media I produced would increase the campaign and would reach a wider audience and increasing awareness allowing more opportunity to attract new customers and in turn increase there market share. The main addition to the campaign was the introduction of a web site. Due to most people have access to the internet in this day and age it is accessible to the majority of people looking for a quality service.