This report aims at portraying the importance of IMC in the marketing of a company. The company in question is a newly launched kids furniture shop called PINK & BLUE.

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Executive Summary

This report aims at portraying the importance of IMC in the marketing of a company. The company in question is a newly launched kid’s furniture shop called PINK & BLUE. The product offering includes cribs, cots, bassinets, changing tables, baby monitors for babies. Beds, dressing tables, study tables, computer tables for kids and nursery interiors is available. Seeing the market for innovative furniture, the competitors identified were Mamas and Papas, Pottery Barn Kids and MotherCare. These are good to high quality brands that offer similar products. These companies can capitalize on their established brand name. This makes it important for PINK & BLUE to market itself efficiently, starting with performing a TCB analysis. The target customers of PINK & BLUE furniture are expectant mothers, families with children in the age group of 0 – 12 and nurseries. The category need it is aiming to fulfil is of comfort and customization. Therefore, differentiated positioning is used for the benefit of customization. Such personalization breeds long term customer relations as well. The objectives for the ad campaign were defined as informing the customers, promoting the furniture and gaining an edge over the competitors. The ads are designed to appeal to the emotions of potential customers, like maternal feelings, reassurance, etc. The media strategy chosen to market the furniture was integrated marketing communication.

A healthy mixture of advertising, sales promotion, internet marketing, sponsorship and public relations will be used. Print media will be the primary vehicle to get the message across, followed by electronic media like TV. These ads will lead customers to their website which will give more detailed information and the ability to purchase online. Discounts, raffles and coupons will attract customers to the store. PR will help to build credibility for the company through publishing articles in magazines. And sponsoring events will help to keep the brand alive.

Since the success of these campaigns cannot be ascertained accurately, their effectiveness will be measured by monitoring sales revenue and brand monitoring. Due to the use of IMC, the brand will have to be monitored from various aspects. Surveys will be distributed, either paper based or online to understand people’s level of awareness and the media vehicle that led to the awareness of the company.

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction

Watching your baby take their first step is an incomparable feeling. And if this step is taken in a bedroom in whose design careful thought has been put in, then the feeling is exemplified. This summarizes the appeal of PINK & BLUE furniture. It aims at providing customized furniture to children in the age group of 0-12, which is comfortable at the same time. Customization can vary from themed beds for girls and boys, to name plates on head boards, to chosen color scheme. Parents can conceptualize entire bedrooms for their unborn babies, or even refurnish as per their little one’s choice. PINK & BLUE aims at selling its products to expectant mothers, families with children in the mentioned age group and nurseries. Founded in 2010, it is a relatively new company creating awareness of its product offering and working on it brand image. This is planned to be achieved with the help of integrated marketing communications.  

2.0 Company Profile

PINK & BLUE all began with the essence of providing comfort, not furniture. To every parent, the journey of bringing their little bundle of joy into the world is an incomparable feeling.  PINK & BLUE wants to join parents in this beautiful and unique journey by providing high quality furniture for babies and other baby products.

 

 

PINK & BLUE aims at making this journey a memorable one by providing a range of nursery furniture such as cribs, cots, dressers and wardrobes, bassinets, changing tables, highchairs, cradles and swings, nursery bedding, baby monitors and also nursery interiors such as wallpapers, pictures and lighting.  PINK & BLUE also offers baby carriers like prams and car seats to help the parents during the times of travel. It also provides bath accessories such as bath towels, baby wraps, bath mats and shower curtains and many other accessories. The furniture offered to children between the age group of 5-12, includes beds (that can be customized), study tables, computer tables, bean bags, storage products among the others. We even offer various wallpapers and flooring according to the taste of the children. PINK & BLUE sells furniture at a wholesale price to nurseries and play schools. The products for sale include wallpapers, flooring, tables, chairs, bulletin boards, pictures and frames, etc. PINK & BLUE targets customers that are in need of baby furniture and positions its products in the category of “comfort and safety for babies”. PINK & BLUE opened its first flagship store Jumeirah, Dubai. The ambience of the store helps the parents to shop peacefully as there is a play pen toy, where parents can hand their babies over to attendants who nurse to them.

3.0 Competitor Analysis

The Middle Eastern market over the past few years has grown immensely, due to the influence of foreigners moving into the oil rich region. This in turn increases demand of basic goods such as furniture and hence the increase of high quality firms and mass produced firms moving in to take some of the market share. PINK & BLUE entered the Middle East knowing that their unique business model would take off and has invested heavily into the region knowing that the demand will be there for their kind of products, especially families with babies and children, who want to purchase stylish, innovative and colourful furniture at an affordable price.

4.0 Target Customer

To sell any product or service in the market place, a company needs to decide on the people the product/service caters to. Target audience is defined as a group of people with similar characteristics that a company is focusing its marketing efforts on. Determining the target audience is very essential for a company. This helps the company to innovate, create and develop products/services according to the needs and wants of their target audience and helps the company market the product in an efficient and effective manner as it helps to conceives ad campaigns and advertisements that are appropriate and suitable for the target market. A target audience is determined by numerous attributes. Depending on the product/service, marketing teams consider characteristics like age, gender, level of income, lifestyle, career, location, tastes and preferences of those who will be most likely to purchase their product. After careful analysis, it was concluded that PINK & BLUE mainly targets expecting mothers, families with children in the age group of 0 – 12 and nurseries. Expecting mothers are considered as potential customers, since they prefer to plan for their baby’s comfort well in advance. Families with children in the age group of 0-12 are considered as the pivotal consumer, since they are in constant need for baby furniture to math their needs. These parents are more in need of baby furniture and are considered as a permanent market. Nurseries and play schools are in need for tables, chairs, play pens, bulletin boards, etc, which are a part of the product offering at PINK & BLUE.  

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5.0 Category Need

After identifying the target customers, it was vital to identify and describe their category need. PINK & BLUE aims to position its products in the category of “comfort and safety for babies” highlighting the high level of importance parents attach to both these aspects for their newborns. Under this category need are sub-category needs like, “creative furniture ideas at reasonable prices” and “customized offerings to provide personalization”. In today’s age, children desire to associate their belongings with their personality. Therefore, providing customization adds to the value proposition for the company. This is the present category ...

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