Marketing Chapter 16 Volts Checkerboard Those Top Brands Are Saved

Unlock access to all the studying documents.

View Full Document

16–12 Chapter 16 Promotional Planning for Competitive Advantage

Review and Applications

Review and Application Questions 3.2 and possibly 4.1 are well-suited for group work. For these activities, divide

the class into small groups of 4-5 people. Students from each group should read the question and then use their

textbooks, or any work that was completed previously, to perform the exercise. Then each group should discuss or

present its work to the class.

APPLICATION EXERCISES

Application 1

Purpose: Many students are unclear as to the rationale behind certain advertising messages, so this exercise is designed

to help students understand the artistry inherent in the encoding process.

Setting It Up: This works as an individual assignment, but is an exceptional group project. This is because it blends

This exercise was inspired by the following Great Idea in Teaching Marketing:

Lynn R. Goodwin

University of St. Thomas

TABOO OR NOT TABOO, THAT IS THE QUESTION

When discussing the communication process in my advertising class, many of my students have some difficulty

understanding the artistry inherent in the encoding process. More precisely, many students are unclear as to the rationale

behind certain advertising messages. “Why did Infiniti ads show rocks and trees instead of automobiles?” they ask. Or,

“why did MCI show a waif with a funny accent and hat jumping around on a rock strewn beach?”

I use ethical (prescription) pharmaceuticals as an example and point out that certain health claims are not permitted

in advertisements unless accompanied by the legally mandated detailed prescribing information. This effectively limits

what can be said regarding a drug’s benefits in the broadcast media. Other reasons behind either internally-imposed or

externally-imposed limitations on advertising messages are also covered. Product deficits that might preclude a focus on

certain features or aspects of the product are a frequently discussed internally-mediated limitation, while ethical

Chapter 16 ♦ Promotional Planning for Competitive Advantage 16–13

Product

Taboo Words. Visuals, Concepts

Deodorant

Odor, Underarm, Perspiration, Smell, Sweat

I sometimes utilize a variation of this exercise where students are forced to use certain other words, visuals,

concepts or to take a certain approach. I refer to this as my Must-Do exercise. A few examples are presented below:

Product

Must-Do Words, Visuals, Concepts

Deodorant

A romantic couple, Monster Trucks

Toothpaste

Lips, Tongue, Flowers

Reliever

Soft-Drinks

A Cup of Coffee, Cookies, Birthday Cake, Wine

Amber Waves of Grain

Automobile

Rocks, Trees, Wind (This one may be too easy)

The construction of various Taboo or Must-Do situations is only limited by the imagination of the instructor. In

fact, the students themselves may be asked to come up with challenges for their classmates.

I find that this process can be used as a brief in-class exercise in a “principles” setting or can form the basis for a

major project in an advertising class. As part of a major project, the necessity of excluding certain words, visuals, or

Application 2

Purpose: To introduce students to the concept of semiotics and its role in promotion. An understanding of semiotics

allows students to not only identify objects, etc., (the denotative meaning), but also to grasp the utility of images and

management, but a difficult concept to communicate.

Setting It Up: This application requires an initial set-up before a two-part exercise. In total, the entire application should

take around 75 minutes, but it can be tailored to specific course needs. Although the class does the work together, this

application is an individual project.

This exercise was inspired by the following Great Idea in Teaching Marketing:

Toothpaste

Teeth, Smile, Breath, Clean, Plaque

Reliever

Swimwear, Other Soft-Drinks

Politician

Other Politician(s), Honesty, Crime, Taxes, Patriotism

Automotive Performance, Handling, Luxury

APPLYING SEMIOTICS IN PROMOTION

Communicating concepts that utilize creativity can be quite challenging due to the abstract and intuitive natures of

the task. This is especially true in disciplines such as promotion, where creativity is paramount.

One important creative concept in promotion is that of semiotics, i.e., the study of meaning and the analysis of

meaning producing events. An understanding of semiotics allows students to not only identify objects, etc., (the

denotative meaning), but also to grasp the utility of images and associations (the connotative meaning) in promotion. By

manipulating connotations of objects, etc., in ads, for example, images for products may be created, changed, and

framework.)

Following the discussion of semiotic concepts, the two part experiential exercise may be presented to facilitate

understanding and encourage application of these concepts.

In part one, objects are presented to the class. The objective is to first identify the object, then give personal images

and associations elicited by the object, and finally to speculate what consumer segments would likely have richer, more

quantitatively different and richer?).

The objects used for part one of the exercise may be gathered from around the house, etc., and should ideally

represent a wide variety of objects. For example, ten objects for discussion might include a baseball card, a depression

glass juicer, a computer floppy disk, an animal statue, a boomerang, a piece of modern sculpture, a matchbook, a

seashell, a horseshoe, and a tissue.

As a bridge between parts one and two, an advertisement may be displayed in which objects in the ad help to create

ETHICS EXERCISE

Chapter 16 ♦ Promotional Planning for Competitive Advantage 16–15

1. What should Jane do? Why?

First, Jane should alert the publishing company that the quote is fabricated and recommend that the promotional

2. What does the AMA Statement of Ethics say about accuracy in promotional materials? Go to

www.marketingpower.com and review the code. Then, write a brief paragraph describing how the AMA

Code of Ethics relates to this issue.

The AMA Statement of Ethics is very clear on this issue. One of the responsibilities of the marketer as relates to

MARKETING PLAN EXERCISE

The next stage of the strategic planning process continues defining the elements of the marketing mix. Part 5 focuses on

promotion and communication decisions for the promotion mix, including advertising, public relations, sales promotion,

and personal selling. Use the exercises in this section to guide you through the promotions part of your strategic

marketing plan.

CASE STUDY

HBO’s Blood Virus

1. What is the communication process for viral marketing? Is it different from conventional marketing? How

so?

Viral marketing uses social networks and unconventional media to promote brand or product awareness. The

2. What was the initial promotional mix of the True Blood campaign, and how might it suggest an observance

of IMC?

Students’ answers will vary. The initial promotional mix of the True Blood campaign involved very limited

promotion. At a certain point, members of the general public began promoting the show through social

16–16 Chapter 16 Promotional Planning for Competitive Advantage

3. Did Cloverfield use a push or pull promotional strategy? What about The Dark Knight? Explain.

Students may argue that both use a push or pull strategy, or that one uses a push strategy while the other uses a

4. Why did True Blood shift its promotional mix as its premier neared? Was this a good or bad strategy?

Explain.

Students may argue whether or not the shift was a good or bad strategy. However, they should recognize that the

LESSON PLAN FOR VIDEO

Company Clips: Vans – Off the Wall and On Target

You have undoubtedly heard of Vans. The company has sold footwear, apparel, and extreme sports equipment for over

40 years using the distinct tagline, “Off the Wall.” The company’s founder wanted to control his own retail channel, so

he transformed his manufacturing company into a marketing company. Always carefully protecting its unique brand

image, Vans has crafted successful marketing messages and promotions that resonate with the youth culture that

represents the company’s target market. This video examines the carefully planned strategy that Vans developed to

reach its loyal niche market.

1. Does Vans use a push or pull strategy to market its apparel? How does Steve feel about the two strategies?

Van’s uses a combination of the push and pull strategies. Marketing uses the push strategy, through personal selling

2. What does Steve mean when he refers to tours and events as “planting seeds”?

3. Describe Vans’ pyramid strategy. How does it protect the brand?

4. How does Steve’s hands-on approach to events and promotion benefit the company?

Supplemental Exercise: Video

Company Clips

Chapter 16 ♦ Promotional Planning for Competitive Advantage 16–17

Pre-Class Prep for You:

• Preview the Company Clips video segment for Chapter 16. This exercise reviews concepts for LO1-LO7.

• Review your lesson plan.

• Make sure you have all of the equipment needed to show the video to the class, including the DVD and a way to

project the video.

Pre-Class Prep for Students:

Video Review Exercise Activity

• Warm-up

o Briefly discuss students’ findings from the Pre-Class activity on shoe brands. Ask students about their shoe

purchasing habits. Discuss the names of various shoe brands and perceptions, whether students have ever

heard of or worn Vans, and if so, their perception of or actual experiences with the brand.

• In-Class Preview

o Remind students about the elements of promotion while you recreate the graphic Review Learning

• Follow-up

o In class, divide students into groups of 3 to 5 students and have them prepare a short report on how Vans

integrates their marketing communications. [see LO6]

16–18 Chapter 16 Promotional Planning for Competitive Advantage

Supplemental Exercise: Class Activity

Promotional Mix

The purpose of this exercise is to emphasize the effect of various factors on the strategy of choosing a promotional mix.

The main factors that affect the promotional mix can be classified into three major categories: (1) product-related, (2)

Divide the class into teams and give each team one of the following situation descriptions:

Situation #1

Consumer durable product that is slightly complex

Situation #2

Situation #3

Industrial product that is large, complex, and expensive

Situation #4

Consumer food item

Mature stage of product life cycle

Intensive distribution

Large company

Nonconcentrated market

Chapter 16 ♦ Promotional Planning for Competitive Advantage 16–19

GREAT IDEAS FOR TEACHING CHAPTER 16

James S. Cleveland, Sage College of Albany

DISCUSSION BOARD TOPICS TO ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION

Discussion board questions provided to students to encourage them to engage in thinking and writing about the content

of the Principles of Marketing course usually take the form of a provocative statement to which students are asked to

respond. An example of this would be: All PR is good PR.

Each question has three parts:

1. First, there is a sentence or two from the students’ textbook introducing the topic. By using the text author’s

own words, students are enabled to locate relevant material in the text more easily, the text content is

reinforced, and confusion resulting from use of variant terms or expressions is minimized.

Here are additional such discussion board questions developed for Chapter 16 of Marketing 10e. Each is written to

fit the same text cited above but could easily be rewritten and revised to fit another text.

1. Integrated marketing communications is the careful coordination of all promotional messages – traditional

advertising, direct marketing, interactive, public relations, sales promotion, personal selling, event marketing,

Gary M. Donnelly, Casper College

MARKETING COMMUNICATION PROCESS

The following is an activity I use in my promotions class:

Select one advertisement from a magazine and one advertisement from a newspaper and evaluate

their effectiveness using the marketing communication process.

1. Identify the source.

16–20 Chapter 16 Promotional Planning for Competitive Advantage

5. How would the audience translate the message sent by the source and would all readers get the same meaning?

6. Who is the audience (target market)? Could there be other audiences other than the intended target market?

Nancy M. Can, Community College of Philadelphia

MARKETING IN THE NEWS:

TRUTHFUL OR BIASED REPORTING?

Newspapers carry many articles concerning marketing, ranging from new product introductions to products liability

cases. Sometimes the reporting is factual and neutral; other times it is slanted toward the company, consumers, plaintiff,

and government agencies, etc.

Early in the term, assign students the task of collecting twelve marketing related articles from three different local,

regional or national newspapers. Make and distribute forms to be attached to each article where the student 1)

Mandeep Singh, Western Illinois University

John T. Drea, Western Illinois University

ANALYZING MARKETING MESSAGES

It is estimated that each individual is exposed to hundreds of commercial messages on any given day. This

enormous clutter of marketing messages requires marketers to create messages that are clever, focused, and specific

How It Works

This assignment is typically handed out post coverage of the Advertising and Promotion sections of the principles

course. Students are asked to pick a marketing message of their choice for critical evaluation. This message may be

drawn from TV, radio, the WWW, or any other media source. The following assignment outline is furnished:

Chapter 16 ♦ Promotional Planning for Competitive Advantage 16–21

evaluate the target market in terms of its homogeneity within, heterogeneity between, substantiality, and

operationalizability (5 points).

3. Product strategy. Every product should have something which makes it unique. Recognize that customers

buy benefits and not features. With this in mind identify the benefits the marketer is providing for its target

Some Points to Consider

While examining the encoding and message section, once again evaluate the signs, symbols, verbal cues, and non-verbal

cuss used to communicate the message. Are these cues optimal in terms of targeting the identified market segment?

What mechanisms has the marketer adopted to break through the clutter? Has any attempt been made to deal with

an individual’s selective processes (attention, perception, and retention)?

1. Message strategy. On this section you are required to identify the marketers’ objective for the identified ad.

Scott R. Swanson

University of Wisconsin – Whitewater

UNDERSTANDING “THE MESSAGE” IN ADS

When discussing the area of advertising in my marketing class I frequently receive very simplistic “like” or “dislike”

comments from students about advertising campaigns. Often times they indicate that a particular advertisement

must not be very effective if they themselves do not like it. This project helps students better understand that

advertising message creation is driven by the characteristics of the target market, and specific corporate objectives.

Assignment

Find a series of three ads from a current advertising campaign. The ads can be taped from the television or clipped

Comments

The class period following the collection of the papers I utilize some of the turned-in advertising campaigns for class

discussion. If print ads are used, I will put them on overheads or scan them into PowerPoint for easier visibility.

16–22 Chapter 16 Promotional Planning for Competitive Advantage

sions and help to clarify how advertising messages are created based on specific objectives, and characteristics of

the target market.

Nancy J. Boykin

Tarleton State University

SALES PROMOTION SCENARIOS

I’ve found that in my promotional strategy course I often spend too much time on the subject of advertising at the

expense of discussing the virtues of using sales promotion. To correct this oversight, I have developed a series of sales

promotional tasks for my students that are assigned throughout the course of the semester. Two of the exercises that I

have used in the past, that the students seemed to enjoy, include the following:

Task 1: Select a local retailer in the Stephenville area and develop a continuity program that will encourage repeat

patronage and instill customer loyalty.

Decisions to address:

Task 2: As you know, Burger King has had their share of unsuccessful ad campaigns. McDonald’s has better

advertising, greater distribution, and stronger positioning. Mickey D’s has been very successful with their Monopoly

game sweepstakes. Burger King, in retaliation, has decided to launch either a sweepstakes or a contest that will

bring more consumers into their stores. It is your mission to develop this sales promotion.

Decisions to address:

• What does the consumer have to do to be eligible to win? In other words, give me a detailed description of