Nestle has launched quality street ,lion and after 8 choclates imported from Europe. Qualtty Street is an assortment of chocolates priced at Rs. 7 5 for 218 gm. After Eight is a popular adult chocolate priced at Rs.25 for 20 gm and Lion is a caramel wafer bar priced at Rs. 20 for a 45 gm bar. (Kit Kat )is priced at Rs. 6 for a 17 gm bar and has a chocolaty taste while Lion has a crunchy taste). The brands have different tastes and will appeal to different target segments (though the target segment is one which may have already been exposed to these brands during visits abroad). These brands have been introduced in metros in upmarket stores which sell brands bears the label "lmported by Nestle India Ltd." indicating that they may be better than smuggled ones (which may be stale).
Question :
1 Suggest suitable media /media vehicles for promoting these brands. Give reasons in support of your answer
2 What business communication media you will utilize if you have to launch a soap in rural India?
Answers
1 Suggest suitable media /media vehicles for promoting these brands. Give reasons in support of your
THESE ARE BEING INTRODUCED IN THE METRO UPMARKET STORES.
WHAT WE NEED IS AN INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION FOR AN EFFECTIVE MARKETING AND GOOD RESULTS.
The primary goal of marketing communications is to build awareness of a business, its products, and its position through customer-facing materials such as brochures, press releases, Web sites, and trade OUTLET presentations. Planning an integrated and consistent cross-team approach to these activities — one that reinforces a company's message with target audiences and motivates customers to buy .
A good marketing communications plan requires you to do substantial research. You need to have an in-depth understanding of your target audiences and the processes involved in buying, selling, and communicating. After you've armed yourself with the knowledge that you need, you can determine what you hope to gain from your marketing activities, what you want your customers to know, and how best to communicate that information to them. You'll also need to decide on a budget and schedule, and to evaluate any constraints that these might place on the campaign. Ideally, your marketing plan should outline the communications process step by step.
The following links take you to the tools and information that you need to produce a first-rate marketing communications plan.
The marketing communications strategy process usually begins with creating a "messaging strategy" -- determining the consistent theme or fundamental selling message that will he used in all marketing materials.
Another key part of the messaging process is creating the positioning statement. This two sentence statement tells what you sell, to whom, and why customers should buy it.
As you move through the process of creating a positioning statement, you'll want to capture your brainstorming results, such as in your marketing strategy mind map. Then, refine and test those creative approaches until you settle on your company's positioning statement.
Your positioning statement is critical to making all of the other parts of the marketing communications strategy work well. This is because every awareness-building and product information program needs to paint a clear, concise picture of what you sell and how customers will benefit from using your products.
Selecting effective marketing programs
Once you have settled on a strong positioning statement, you can develop sound strategies for your marcom programs. For most companies this means considering programs such as:
• Public relations
• Advertising
• Web site
• Direct marketing (offline & online)
• Packaging
• Merchandising promotions
A mind map is a good way to capture ideas about which programs look like they will be most effective. Add these programs to the Marketing Communications section of your strategic marketing mind map. Later, evaluate each program to see if it should be in your final strategic marketing plan.
In large companies where each marketing program has its own manager, you can link your main strategic marketing mind map to each program's own planning mind map.
In companies where the whole marcom strategy is implemented by one team, you can add details about marcom programs in the team's main marketing mind map.
Benefits of a sound marcom strategy
The process of creating a marcom strategy has gotten more complex as more marketing activities move to the Internet. This has made it even more important to understand customer segments and how to communicate with those potential customers.
When you develop a marcom strategy based on a sound strategic marketing view of your market your marcom program will be more effective -- and customers will have a better, more consistent brand experience.
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Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy
• The Communications Mix
• Advertising
– any paid form of nonpersonal presentation by a sponsor
• Personal Selling
– personal presentations by a firm’s sales force
• Sales Promotion
– short term incentives to encourage sales
• Public Relations
– building good relations with various publics
• Direct Marketing
– short term incentives to encourage sales
• Developing Effective Communication
• Identifying Target Audience
– Determining Communications Objectives
– Buyer Readiness Stages
• Designing Message
– Message Content
– Message Structure
– Message Format
• Media Selection
– personal and nonpersonal communications channels
• Message Source
– Feedback Collection
• Promotion Budget
• Affordable
– Percentage of Sales
– Competitive Parity
– Objective and Task
• Promotion Mix
• Advertising
– reaches many buyers, expressive
– impersonal
• Personal Selling
– personal interaction, relationship building
– costly
• Sales Promotion
– generates immediate response
– short-lived
• Public Relations
– more believable, economical, underused by firms
• Direct Marketing
– customized, interactive
• Promotion Mix
• Push Strategy
– directing communications to channel members
• Pull Strategy
– directing communications to end users
• Factors
– type of product/market
– buyer readiness stage
– product life-cycle stage
• Emerging Communications Environment
• Shift from mass marketing to segmented marketing
– Shift from mass media to focused media
• Integrated Marketing Communications
• Coordinate and integrate communications channels
– advertising
– personal selling
– sales promotion
– direct marketing
– public relations
– packaging
2 What business communication media you will utilize if you have to launch a soap in rural India?
Advertising goes hand in hand with economic growth. With economic liberalization and increasing rural prosperity, marketers are keen to inform villagers about the benefits of buying and consuming their products and services. Prior to the introduction of economic liberalization in 1990s, there was little incentive for marketers to advertise their products and services, as rural markets were predominantly a seller's market.
The influence of the electronic media, in particular television, video and the Hindi film industry, is contributing to the growth of rural aspirations, which are being manifested in rural India in the form of increasing consumerism.
The rural environment is different from the urban and therefore communication to potential customers in a proper and effective manner is a major challenge for corporate marketers. The majority of advertisements designed by corporate marketers, are largely urban oriented and extend themselves to rural areas without any consideration to the values and sensitivities of the rural audience, which are often in striking contrast to those of their urban counterparts. This has led to a negative perception in the minds of villagers, about urban media planners and advertisers.
Rural communication is not a 'peripheral activity'. It does not, for instance, involve taking an audio-visual van to a village and assuming that this step is enough to reach out to customers. It requires an entirely different mindset, which demands getting rid of many mental barriers. Companies have to realize that rural is a long-haul market, as gains in the short term are neither immediate nor large.
CHALLENGES IN RURAL COMMUNICATION
There are many challenges to communication in rural. Low literacy level; poor media reach and exposure and vast, heterogeneous and diversely spread rural audiences characterized by variations in language, culture and lifestyle-all these factors pose multiple challenges to marketers looking to take their messages to the largely media-dark or media-grey areas, of rural markets.
Heterogeneity and spread
The communication pattern in any society is a part of its culture. No communication medium can exist in a cultural vacuum. Communicating the message to rural consumers ha posed enormous challenges to the rural marketer, because of the large numbers of consumers scatters across the country. The problem is further compounded by the heterogeneous nature of consumers there are 16 scheduled languages and 114 local vernaculars. For example, the dialect used in the Vidharbha region ,in konkan region, in costal Maharastra.
Limited Media Reach
The limited reach of the mass media imposes limitations on universal communication to rural consumers. These factors lead to poor message comprehension and negligible impact, which fail to translate into consumer awareness and hence fail in generating consumer pull.
Understanding the Rural Audience
It is not sufficient to understand rural communication challenges as stated above: rather, what is equally crucial is the need to understand the behavioral and psychographic characteristics of the rural audience, in order to develop an effective rural communication strategy.
CREATING ADVERTISEMENTS FOR RURAL AUDIENCES
Communication experts need to keep the following factors in mind when creating advertisements for rural audiences.
* Understanding the mindset of potential customers, including their hopes, fears, aspirations and apprehension conducting a qualitative study among the target audience would help in better understanding of the consumer mindset.
* Pick up 'gems' in the form of idioms, expressions, words, etc. in relation to the product category for later use in the creative.
* Tricky, clever, gimmicky, or even suggestive advertising does not work with rural audiences. 'Flicks' using very expensive computer graphics without any human presence go over the heads of rural audiences.
* Combining education with 'entertainment is a good route to take when targeting rural audiences. Using locally popular film stars or even featuring religious events (melas) popular in the region, helps strike a chord with rural audiences. According to a study, it is Govinda and Sharukh Khan who is most popular among rural folk in north India.
* 'Quickies' (short television commercials) do not register well with rural audiences. Advertising agencies need to provide for ample time and space to communicate a message properly and effectively to the intended audience. This is seen for instance, in the popularity of the two-minute theatre commercials screened in rural cinemas.
* RURAL MEDIA
* Rural media can be classified broadly into conventional mass, non-conventional media and personalized media. The various media vehicles are as follows:
CONVENTIONAL MASS MEDIA NON-CONVENTIONAL MEDIA PERSONALIZED MEDIA
Television Haat and mela Direct mailer
Radio Folk media (puppet show, magic show) Point of sale(demonstration, leaflet)
Press Video van Word of mouth
Cinema Mandi Interpersonal communication
Outdoor: wall painting, hoarding Animator
INOVATIVE MEDIA
OUTDOOR MEDIA: WALL PAINTING
* This medium is the most widespread form of advertising and is the favorite of the Indian rural masses, as they can view it at their leisure. Wall paintings are important because they constantly remind rural people about name and logos in addition to highlighting the key brand promise. They also reflect the vibrant economic and social life of the area.
Characteristics of wall paintings
* They are economical as compared to other traditional media forms, as the manpower and infrastructure requirements are low.
* They can easily be customized in accordance with regional language variations without this impacting their artistic content.
* Audience recall rates are high.
Limitations
* The lack of availability of wall space at prominent locations is an issue.
* The quality of the wall space available is not always satisfactory. The base of rural wall structures is generally not smooth and this impacts the final output.
* No exclusive wall rights are given to the company. It may happen that a company gets a wall painted and after sometimes when the company executive passes through, he finds that the painting has been replaced by the advertisement of some other company.
* The quality of the painters available is also low. Companies prefer hiring painters locally as they are familiar with the area and the cost of hiring them is lower when compared to the cost of hiring painters from outside.
FOLK MEDIA
* Folk media consist of folk songs, folk dances and other theatrical forms, including puppetry, street theatre and magic shows, which are an intrinsic part of the culture and heritage of the land.
* They are capable of communicating message about contemporary issues, topics and concerns as per the needs and demands of a changing society.
* They are a face-to-face and personal form of communication.
* The essential characteristics of folk media are that are interactive, repetitive and narrative
Kinds of Folk Media
* Folk theatre
* Magic show
* Puppet shows
* Interactive games
* Folk Theatre
Folk theatre, interspersed with folk song and dance, is a simple and entertaining form of communication. It can also be informative and educational. In the past, folk theatre has been used to arose public opinion against the British Raj, to draw attention to atrocities against the girl child and raise public consciousness about other socially relevant issues.
* Folk songs
Folk songs are basically simple and direct compositions that are usually transmitted orally from one generation to the next and not through the written word. The structure of the folk song is characterized by simplicity and uniformity in rhythm. The songs consist of many stanzas sung in more or less the same tune. Each region and state has its own particular traditions of folk songs and ballads.
* Folk Dances
Folk dances are basically simple and rhythmic and mostly religious in nature. Communication takes place through dramatic gestures and the accompanying music. Folk dances are visually very arresting, attracting audiences with their elaborate costumes and stage settings.
* Magic shows
Magic shows are another very entertaining form of folk entertainment and draw large crowds, particularly because of the curiosity factor and the use of hypnotic effects.
* Puppet Shows
The kathputli puppet performance is the most common form of this folk tradition.The origin of puppet theatre is closely linked to the performance of religious ceremonies. The connection between rituals and the use of puppets is found in almost all the states in India.
Traditional puppeteers were mostly itinerant performers who depended on royal patronage for their survival. Even today tales of chivalrous kings like Prithiviraj C hauhan and Amar Singh Rathor are narrated through puppet performances in the villages and towns of Rajasthan.
The different forms of traditional puppetry are glove, rod, string-rod and shadow puppets. The differences exist not only in name but also in form, structure, manipulation techniques and geographical origin spread.
CONCLUSION
To sum up, it is clear that in any form of rural communication, while we may have a national strategy, we have to think and act locally. The need for focused communication aimed at the rural market, should not be underestimated. This calls for innovation and substantive changes in marketing strategies and approaches. The innovation should be carried out within the framework of what can best be characterized as the 4-R principle:
Reincarnate innovation
If the Indian advertising industry is to reach out to rural India in an effective and efficient manner, it has to be grounded firmly in rural perceptions, value and traditions. It has to immerse itself in local colours, customs and modes of communication in order to make itself relevant to the needs and desires of rural society. It has to gain the trust of the masses by undercutting its own excessive dependency on western styles of advertising, on the one hand and on its use of
