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Message Strategy
Chapter 8 explored the ins and outs of message strategy. Good Big Ideas are
valued because they may be enduring and they lend themselves to extendibility,
which means they ‘have legs.’ By that we mean the idea is strong enough to serve
as an umbrella concept for a variety of executions or mini-campaigns. The A
Matter of Practice” feature in this chapter explains how Frontier’s animals can be
endlessly extended.
Message strategy decisions support the overall campaign objectives and direction.
For example, the campaign strategy might involve the long term use of a celebrity
spokesperson that becomes the face of the brand. This creates positive
associations for the brand and to the extent the celebration is a superstar, the
reputation of a winner is associated with the brand image.
Strategic consistency comes from the creative theme and the consistent
presentation of the brand position and personality, even when the different
stakeholder groups receive different types of messages and interact with the brand
in different ways. Consistency is a standard built into a carefully designed
multiplatform and multimedia plan.
In most cases, the drive for brand consistency is a strategic need but at other times
it reflects cost efficiency. IMC programs can be more effective because of their
repetition, and this reinforcement creates more cost efficient campaigns as well as
more effective message strategies.
IMC and Contact Points
Media planning in an IMC context does more than just deliver target messages:
media also involve, engage, and connect consumers to the brand and to one
another. Figure 18.1 in the textbook summarizes the various roles that media play
in a comprehensive IMC media plan.
Multichannel and Multiplatform
Media planning involves using media as planners have done for years –by
employing all different types of traditional media, a practice identified as
multichannel or multimedia.
When IMC planners think about media, they think about message delivery
systems, and that includes all of the media used in all the various marketing
communication functions. We reviewed many of these in Chapter 13 under the
title multiplatform.
Contact Point Management
Another distinctive feature of IMC media plans is its emphasis on every important
contact point. These can include a variety of experiential media as well as
conventional media.
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In the textbook there is a case study of how one agency’s ‘Contact Point
Management” works. The Tokyo-based Dentsu agency has a strong IMC
orientation, which shows up in the way Dentsu planners create IMC media plans.
Dentsu Contact Point Management is a section of its IMC 2.0 model that
identifies a wide diversity of contact points. Let’s take a closer look at it:
The objective of Dentsu’s Contact Point Management planning is to select
the most effective contact points required to achieve the desired
communication goals and implement optimum integrated communication
programs that eliminate waste. The focus is upon two critical strategies: 1)
identify the value contact points and 2) move from a B2C model to a more
interactive B2C2C model.
Media selection recognizes that 1) contact points that work well must
differ depending on the communication goal and 2) contact point
effectiveness will differ from product category to product category and
from target to target.
The various contact points considered are evaluated and ranked using a
proprietary contact point planning system called VALCON, and the final
decisions about media usage are based on the roles and effects of the
various media.
The details of such a plan are illustrated in the text using an automotive
campaign as an example, in which two target audiences have been
identified, a father and a daughter.
Cross Media Integration
Media selection also considers message needs. This is where media planning and
message planning intersect. The challenge is to create cross-media integration,
which means the various media work together to create coherent brand
communication. In traditional media, this synergistic effect is sometimes called
image transfer and refers to the way radio, in particular reinforces and recreates
the message in a listener’s mind that was originally delivered by other media,
particularly television.
An example of cross-media integration comes from the revitalization campaign
for the Atlantic Monthly magazine. In this case, the media became the message,
according to media scholar Marshall McLuhan. It was very successful, since the
magazine saw a double digit increase in readership and the number of visitors to
its website increased by 27% over the previous year.
Management Campaign Controls
In order to manage IMC, whether of a campaign or a program, a manger must
keep up with an incredibly complex set of tasks. Sometimes this task is performed
by a brand manager, and on other cases, by a consulting firm. The Inside Story
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feature in this chapter describes how one consultant with a marketing
communications background views his job.
In addition to keeping track of everything, all campaigns are designed to operate
within a certain set of parameters, such as budgets, schedules, and evaluation.
These controls keep the activities on track, on budget, and on strategy.
Budgeting and Scheduling
How much should an organization spend on a campaign? It depends on the organization, the area
it serves, the time frame, the stakeholders to be reached, as well as its need for big, expensive
media.
Determining the total appropriation allocated to a campaign is not an easy task. Typically, a dollar
amount is budgeted for marketing communication during the annual budget planning process. The
big budgeting question at the marketing mix, as well as marcom mix, level is: How much do we
need to spend? Let’s examine five common budgeting methods that are used to answer that
question.
Historical method. Historical information is the source for this common
budgeting method. A budget may simply be based on last year’s budget, with
a percentage increase for inflation or some other marketplace factor. This
method, although easy to calculate, has little to do with reaching brand
objectives.
Objective-task method. The objective-task method looks at the objectives for
each activity and determines the cost of accomplishing each objective. This
method’s advantage is that it develops the budget from the ground up so that
objectives are the starting point.
Percentage-of-sales method.The percentage-of-sales method compares the total sales with
the total advertising (or marketing communication) budget during the previous year or the
average of several years to compute a percentage. This technique can also be used across an
industry to compare the expenditures of different product categories on advertising.
Competitive budgets.This method uses competitors’ budgets as benchmarks
and relates the amount invested in advertising to the product’s share of
market. This suggests that the advertiser’s share-of-advertising voice—that is,
the advertiser’s media presence—affects the share of attention the brand will
receive, and that, in turn, affects the market share the brand can obtain.
All you can afford. When a company allocates whatever is left over to
advertising, it is using the “all you can afford” budgeting method. It’s really
not a method, but rather a philosophy about advertising. Companies using this
approach, such as new high-tech startups that are driven by product
innovation, don’t value advertising as a strategic imperative.
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Evaluation
Advertising and other marketing communication agencies are creating tools and
techniques to help marketers evaluation the efficiency and effectiveness of
marketing communication expenditures. The issue of accountability is made
more complicated by the growing practice of global marketing.
International IMC Campaigns
Agencies involved with international campaigns need an international
organizational structure as well. Organization depends on whether the client
company, as well as its agencies, is following a standardization or a localization
strategy.
All of these approaches fall into three groups: 1) tight central international
control, 2) centralized resources with moderate control, or 3) a match of the
client’s organization – if the client is highly centralized, then the agency account
structure will be highly centralized.
Strategic Decisions
The problem of managing brand consistency limits most objectives to awareness
and recall, although more specificobjectives may be needed in individual markets.
Positioning is one of the key strategic elements that brands usually try to keep
consistent from country to country. Particularly important is a good
understanding of consumer buying motives in each market, which is almost
impossible to develop without locally based consumer research. If analysis
reveals that consumers’ buying behavior and the competitive environment are the
same across international markets, it may be possible to use standardized
positioning throughout.
Setting the Budget
All the budgeting techniques previously mentioned apply to foreign markets.
When preparing a single plan for multiple markets, many companies us an
objective-task budgeting approach that entails a separate budget for each foreign
market. This technique adds some flexibility to localize campaigns as needed.
However, local practices also may affect the budget decision. Most notably, the
exchange rate from country to country may affect not only the amount of money
spent in a particular market but also the timing of the expenditures.
Central Control versus Local Adaptation
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How are global campaigns created? International advertising campaigns have two basic
starting points: (1) success in one country and (2) a centrally conceived strategy. Planning
approaches also include variations on the central campaign and bottom-up creativity.
Local initiative. A successful campaign conceived for national application is
modified for use in other countries. Many companies have taken successful
campaigns from one country and transplanted them around the world, a practice
called search and reapply. This strategy provides additional motivation for local
agencies, since it is a major ego boost when a local campaign is taken beyond its
original country’s borders.
Centrally conceived campaigns. The second approach, a centrally conceived
campaign, was pioneered by Coca-Cola and is now used increasingly in global
strategies. Although the centralization concept is simple, the application can be
difficult. Cost is also a huge factor. A work team, task force, or action group
assembles from around the world to present, debate, modify, if necessary, and
agree upon a basic strategy as the foundation for the campaign.
Variations on central campaigns. Variations on the centrally conceived campaign
also exist. The office that develops the approved campaign would be designated
the lead agency. It would develop all of the necessary elements of the campaign
and prepare a standards manual for use in other countries. Because photography,
artwork, television production, and color printing are costly, developing these
items in one location and then overlaying new copy or re-recording the voice
track in the local language saves money.
Bottom-up creativity. Sometimes competition may be used to find the best idea.
For example, to extend one of its campaigns, McDonald’s held a contest among
its various agencies around the world.
Planning International Strategies
Assuming that the campaign has been approved centrally with a local application
approach, its execution must be adapted to suit the local market and that may involve
modifying basic strategy decisions, such as objectives, targeting, and perhaps even
positioning.
International Objectives
The problem of managing brand consistency is largely responsible for limiting
most global marketing objectives to awareness and recall, two effective yet easily
attainable marketing communication measures, although more specific objectives
may be needed in individual markets.
Executing the International Campaign
The execution of a global campaign is usually more complex than a national plan.
The creative may need to be reshot with local models and settings, as well as
language. Language is always a problem for a campaign that is dependent on
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words rather than visuals as the primary meaning carrier. A team of language
experts may be needed to adjust the terms and carry over the meanings in the
different languages. Product names can even be a problem.
Government approval of television commercials can be difficult to secure in some
countries. As advertisers move into international and global advertising, they also
face many of the same ethical issues that advertisers deal with in the United
States. They may also have to deal with questions about the Americanization or
Westernization of local cultures.
Social responsibility is taken seriously in some countries and with the Internet and
e-mail, consumer concerns can create a huge issue.
The IMC Factor in International Campaign Planning
To create a coherent brand impression on the global level requires horizontal and
vertical coordination. The vertical effort represents the coordination of the key
planning decisions, such as targeting, positioning, objectives, strategies, and
tactics across all the various tools used. The horizontal level requires
coordination across all countries and regions involved in the plan.
Because of this complexity, it takes a dedicated manager to ensure that all of the
various marketing communication activities remain consistent to the brand and
campaign strategy. Because of the complexity, IMC planners use planning grids to
plot strategic coordination of messages across countries and across marcom
programs. A table in this chapter illustrates how such a grid might be constructed.
The messages are plotted indicating how they may vary locally for different
cultures, as well as what brand elements are used to maintain consistency. For
each country, the planner describes the following brand message variations:
country specific changes, audience specific changes, and brand consistency
elements (the unchangeables).
Managing 360-Degree Communication Programs
IMC is a way of managing a brand with a singular vision of what the brand stands
for. Unlike the short-term IMC campaign approach, this is a philosophy that
delivers total communication over the life of a brand. It is called 360-degree
communication because a unifying brand vision surrounds all of the brand’s
interactions with all of its stakeholders, and this vision must be shared by
everyone involved with the brand.
Cause and Mission Marketing
Concern for social issues is increasingly important for for-profit companies
because they want to be seen as socially responsible. Adopting a good cause and
helping in its fundraising and other community-oriented efforts is called cause
marketing. The founder of the Cone Agency, which specializes in cause
marketing, calls such efforts passion branding because they link brands to causes
for which people feel passion.
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“In addition to operating with a sense of social responsibility, marketers engage in
philanthropy through cause marketing. The primary goals are to help communities
and nonprofit organizations while generating goodwill, positive word-of-mouth,
and the hope that people will look more favorably on these brands when making
their next purchase decision,” according to Professor Scott Hamula.
If a commitment reflects a company’s core business strategy, it is called mission
marketing. Mission marketing links a company’s mission and core values to a
cause that connects with the company’s and its consumers’ interests.
Mission marketing also contributes to synergy through what we identified earlier
as brand integrity. The integration triangle identifies three key aspects of brand
communication that must work together to create integration as well as integrity:
1) what brand company or brand says about itself (say), 2) how the company or
brand performs (do), and 3) and what other people say about it (confirm). Figure
18.1in the textbook shows these relationships.
Internal Integration
The problem of departmental silos with each marcom function going its own way
is a barrier to integrated planning both at the marketer level and within agencies.
The solution is cross-functional management with a team of functional area
personnel who coordinate all of their activities.
Another concern is coordinating all the agencies involved in creating the various
brand messages. The CEO of the Publicis Groupe criticized this occurrence in
his organization by asking, “ How do we stop confusing clients with contradictory
points of view coming from teams each defending their little piece of turf – to the
detriment of the client’s interests?”
To implement an approach to management that overcomes this problem, a
cross-functional brand focused team must be created involving members from all
of the relevant parts of a company that interact with customers, other stakeholders
and outside agencies. Its members represent all of the areas and tools that control
contact points and brand interactions.
The cross functional team operates with a singular brand vision as it plans
marketing communication, monitors its impact, and tracks consumer response. Ed
Chambliss, Vice President and Team Leader at the Phelps Agency, discusses in
this chapter’s A Matter of Principle feature how his partnership works as well as
the qualifications needed to be an IMC manager, whether on the client or the
agency side.
An Organizational Case Study
An example of the organizational structure behind an IMC program comes from
the Tokyo based Dentsu agency, which has provided total communication service
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to its clients for decades. To truly operate with an IMC orientation, Dentsu
underwent a total reorganization and designed a comprehensive new IMC tool kit,
which it calls IMC 2.0.
To engineer this turnaround, it first held an IMC audit to determine the agency’s
IMC strengths and weaknesses internally, as well as in the eyes of key clients.
From there, it created an IMC Development Division which has 90 to 100 staff
members dedicated to basic research in the IMC process.
An IMC Planning Center with 350 people from a variety of media and marcom
areas was established. The staff members assigned to this department were given
intensive IMC training so that they have the skills to work in cross-functional
IMC teams on client projects brought to them by various account groups. These
planners help educate clients on the goals of IMC and establish a common
language for planning.
END-OF-CHAPTER SUPPORT
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