978-0132664257 Chapter 6 Solution Manual

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Chapter 6

Integrating Marketing Communications to Build Brand Equity

Chapter Objectives

1. Describe some of the changes in the new media environment.

2. Outline the major marketing communication options.

3. Describe some of the key tactical issues in evaluating dierent

communication options.

4. Identify the choice criteria in developing an integrated marketing

communication program.

5. Explain the rationale for mixing and matching communication

options.

Overview

This chapter describes the new media environment and role of

marketing communications in building brand equity. Advertising,

promotions, direct marketing, event sponsorship, personal selling,

publicity, public relations, and other forms of marketing

communications are the means by which )rms stay in touch with

consumers and form relationships with them. They can help build

customer-based brand equity by aecting brand awareness; by

creating, reinforcing or strengthening favorable and unique band

associations; by eliciting positive brand judgements or feelings; and

facilitating brand resonance. A communication campaign should

contain a mix of options, each selected based on its ability to achieve

speci)c objectives and to integrate with other options to maximize

brand equity.

The options included in a mix should, through their complementarity,

produce results that are greater than the sum of their individual

eects. Whenever possible, options should be linked to one another

through the use of common visual or verbal information. Such links, or

cues, enhance consumer motivation, ability, and opportunity to

process and retrieve brand-related information. Hence, they facilitate

the formation of strong, favorable, and unique associations.

Components of a communication strategy can be judged for their

ability to achieve the desired brand knowledge structures and elicit the

dierential response from consumers that creates brand equity. Six

success factors for advertising are identi)ed: consumer targeting, ad

creative, consumer understanding, brand positioning, consumer

motivation, and ad memorability. A 2exible marketing program is one

that contributes to brand equity in a number of dierent ways.

Each type of marketing communication tool is evaluated in the chapter.

These include all advertising, in the form of television, radio, print,

direct response, online, place (billboard, poster, movie, airport, product

placement). Also included are promotions – sales promotions,

consumer promotions, and trade promotions; event marketing and

sponsorship; public relations and publicity; and personal selling.

The chapter discusses the importance of integrated marketing

communication for maximizing the contribution to brand equity of a

brand’s marketing program. An integrated marketing communication

program must be judged on six criteria: coverage, contribution,

commonality, complementarity, versatility, and cost.

Brand Focus 6.0 discusses how to coordinate media buys in order to

maximize brand equity. Strategies for coordination include the

implementation of brand signatures and ad retrieval cues, designing

complementary media schedules across media, and developing

television campaigns over time.

Science of Branding

THE SCIENCE OF BRANDING 6-1

THE IMPORTANCE OF DATABASE MARKETING

Regardless of the particular means of direct marketing, database

marketing can help create targeted communication and marketing

programs tailored to the needs and wants of speci)c consumers.

Database marketing is generally more eective at helping )rms retain

existing customers than in attracting new ones. Many marketers

believe it makes more sense the higher the price of the product and

the more often consumers buy it.

Database marketing pioneers include a number of )nancial services

)rms and airlines. Even packaged-goods companies are exploring the

possible bene)ts of database marketing. Database management tools

will become a priority to marketers as they attempt to track the

lifetime value (LTV) of customers.

THE SCIENCE OF BRANDING 6-2

COORDINATING MEDIA TO BUILD BRAND EQUITY

For brand equity to be built, it is critical that communication eects

created by advertising be linked to the brand. There are a number of

reasons why TV ads in particular do not “brand” well:

Competing ads in the product category can create interference

and consumer confusion.

“Borrowed interest” creative strategies and techniques may grab

consumers’ attention, but result in the brand being overlooked in

the process.

Delaying brand identi)cation or providing few brand mentions

directs attention away from the brand.

Limited brand exposure time in the ad allows little opportunity

for elaboration of existing brand knowledge.

Consumers may not have any inherent interest in the product or

service category, or may lack knowledge of the speci)c brand.

A change in advertising strategy may make it diAcult for

consumers to easily relate new information to existing brand

knowledge.

Strategies to Strengthen Communication Eects

One common tactic marketers employ is to make the brand name and

package information prominent in the advertisement. Although

consumers are better able to recall the advertised brand, there is less

other information about the brand to actually recall. Three potentially

more eective strategies are brand signatures, ad retrieval cues, and

media interactions.

Brand Signatures

The brand signature is the manner by which the brand is identi)ed in a

TV or radio ad or displayed within a print ad. An eective brand

signature often dynamically and stylistically provides a seamless

connection to the ad as a whole.

Ad Retrieval Cues

These cues are visual or verbal information uniquely identi)ed with an

ad that is evident when consumers are making a product or service

decision. The purpose is to maximize the probability that consumers

who have seen or heard the cued ad will retrieve the communication

eects stored in long-term memory. Ad retrieval cues may consist of a

key visual, a catchy slogan, or any unique advertising element that

serves as an eective reminder to consumers.

Media Interactions

Cueing a TV ad with an explicitly linked radio or print ad can create

similar or even enhanced processing outcomes that can substitute for

additional TV ad exposures. Moreover, a potentially useful, although

rarely employed, media strategy is to run explicitly linked print or radio

ads prior to the accompanying TV ad. The print and radio ads in this

case function as teasers and increase consumer motivation to process

the more complete TV ad consisting of both audio and video

components.

Branding Briefs

BRANDING BRIEF 6-1

BRAND BUILDING VIA THE X GAMES

Although the action sports industry contains a variety of high-energy

and sometimes potentially high-risk sports, it is largely de)ned by

various forms of skateboarding, snowboarding, sur)ng, and BMX

biking. ESPN’s X Games, begun as a biannual event in 1995, remain at

the forefront of the industry. They are ESPN’s largest owned and

operated property and are regarded as the gold standard in the action

sports world.

X Games quickly grew into a franchise that has staged more than 65

events attended by more than 2.5 million fans. It has successfully

launched a variety of brand extensions in consumer products and

home entertainment and touches all seven continents. ESPN believes

the evolution and growth of all elements of the X Games have

positioned it well for continued successes—in brand perception and

relevance, live event attendance, record-setting broadcast viewership

and ratings, increased sponsor investment, and overall popularity and

incorporation into the mainstream.

Partners for X Games 17 in the summer of 2011 were chosen based on

their ability to meet the various needs of the sponsors, the X Games

franchise, and ESPN as a whole.

Brand Focus

BRAND FOCUS 6.0

EMPIRICAL GENERALIZATIONS IN ADVERTISING

Empirical generalizations emerge from careful, thoughtful research.

Empirical generalizations are not formal laws themselves and there

may be important exceptions and boundary conditions as to when they

operate. Nevertheless, they suggest three possible bene)ts to having

some empirical generalizations: 1) as a starting point in the

development of an advertising strategy; 2) as an initial set of tentative

rules that management can follow; and 3) as a benchmark, giving

management some sense of how much change to expect when

advertising is launched or something changes in the advertising

environment. The empirical generalizations can be grouped into four

broad topics: ROI; 360-degree media planning; value of TV; and

creative quality.

Discussion questions

1. Pick a brand and gather all its marketing communication materials.

How eectively have they “mixed and matched” marketing

communications? Have they capitalized on the strengths of

dierent media and compensated for their weaknesses at the same

time? How explicitly have they integrated their communication

program?

2. What do you see as the role of the Internet for building brands?

How would you evaluate a Web site for a major brand, e.g., Nike,

Disney, or Levi’s? How about one of your favorite brands?

3. Pick up a current issue of a popular magazine. Which print ad you

feel is the best, and which ad you feel is the worst based on the

criteria described in the chapter?

4. Look at the coupon supplements in a Sunday newspaper. How are

they building brand equity, if at all? Try to ,nd a good example and

a poor example of brand-building promotions.

5. Choose a popular event. Who sponsors it? How are they building

brand equity with their sponsorship? Are they integrating the

sponsorship with other marketing communications?

AACSB: Analytic Skills

Exercises and assignments

1. Have students divide into groups and ask each group to develop a

marketing communications strategy for the same brand. Once they

have )nished, discuss the various plans and the groups’ rationales

for them. Compare and contrast the plans on their reliance on pull

vs. push, mass vs. direct media, advertising vs. consumer

promotions, traditional vs. non-traditional options, and broadcast vs.

print.

2. Assign students the task of identifying brands that have appeared in

movies or television shows. Discuss why the particular movies or

shows were chosen and what the likely eect of the placement was

on consumers.

3. Compare the communications strategies for two competing brands

on the factors delineated in #1 above. What are the reasons for the

dierences? And for the similarities? Which brand’s strategy do you

think is more eective? Why?

4. Identify brands that have received publicity, favorable or

unfavorable, as the result of action taken by the brand’s

management. Analyze the press coverage, its positive and negative

eects, and the company’s eorts to capitalize on or downplay the

attention. Recent examples include Philip Morris changing its name

to Altria, the television advertisement for Nuveen that featured

digitally-enhanced images of Christopher Reeves rising from his

wheelchair and walking, and ads for Cingular and Alcatel featuring

famous speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Key take-away points

1. It is through marketing communications that brands build

relationships with consumers.

2. According to the customer-based brand equity model, marketing

communications can contribute to brand equity by creating

awareness of the brand; linking points-of-parity and

points-of-dierence associations to the brand in consumers’

memory; eliciting positive brand judgments or feelings; and

facilitating a stronger consumer–brand connection and brand

resonance.

3. Four vital ingredients to the best brand-building communication

programs: 1) advertising and promotion, 2) interactive marketing, 3)

events and experiences, and 4) mobile marketing.

4. Development of an integrated marketing communications campaign

entails “mixing and matching” options based on their ability to

produce a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

5. Creating a dialogue with consumers requires thinking beyond

traditional advertising and promotion strategies.

6. Consistency is the key to creating brand awareness and strong

brand associations.