MKTG8002 Marketing Communications Part Report 1 Sample

MKTG8002 Marketing Communications Part 1

Marketing – Report

Assessment Guide for IMC Campaign Development

Task: Individual written report (2000 words in total: 800 words for Consumer Insight Report and 1200 words for Media and Creative Strategy Report)

Task Description

This is an individual written report that requires students to prepare an IMC plan in response to a brief (brief of your client and its brand/product will be provided in the workshop). This assignment develops students’ problem solving, research and analytical skills. Utilising the knowledge gained during the semester and their own research on IMC, the task is to develop an IMC plan for a prospective client to win their business. You must present convincing arguments on how and why your strategies will help your client achieve their objectives. Students are expected to broaden and apply their theoretical and practical knowledge on IMC by carrying out research.

Support must be provided from academic journal articles (peer-reviewed) and credible industry sources. The report should be evidence- based and apply relevant IMC theories and concepts. Please note that students must not contact companies for information, but look at gathering information that is already available, e.g., secondary sources.

The task will be completed by two steps. First, students are required to conduct market research and submit a consumer insight report on the selected target audience. Secondly, based on the insights of the target audience obtained from the first report, students will submit a proposal of media and creative strategy.
Key Content for Consumer Insight Report on Target Audience Analysis:

Purpose: To develop a targeting strategy. Gain an in-depth understanding of the target audience with relation to your client’s product.

- Clearly define the target audience that your IMC program will be directed at for your client’s product. Provide a justification for the target audience selected.

- Report on any useful or relevant insights obtained about your selected target audience from analysing and interpreting findings from research, e.g., media consumption behaviour, psychographics, geo-demographic, behavioural characteristics, decision-making processes, etc.

- Analyse how these characteristics of your target audience will impact the way you communicate with them. Tie your analysis to your strategies – consider how it will inform your media and creative strategies.

Key Content for Proposal of Media and Creative Strategy

Media strategy

Purpose: To develop a media strategy to effectively reach your target audience. Choices made should be relevant to your target audience and the objectives of your campaign.

Communication tools

- Select communication tools for your IMC campaign. e.g., advertising, public relations, etc.. Justify your choices.

Media class/vehicles

- Select your media class and media vehicles. Clearly show logic for why they were selected.

Media weight

- Discuss the proposed reach and frequency, the duration and media spend. Justify your choices. Include a media plan in the Appendix.
- Media plan should be within budget and feasible for a 3-month campaign. Include a table in the Appendix to show the distribution of the budget.

Creative strategy

Purpose: To establish what needs to be communicated about your product/brand to the target audience and how it will be communicated.

Key message theme/benefit claim (what to say)

- Uncover the underlying attributes, benefits and values associated with your product to decide what your key message will communicate in this campaign (use 
ACV/means-end laddering theory).

- Provide justifications for your choices.

- Provide a clear and concise statement of your key message proposition for this campaign.

Mock-up of creative works (how to say it)

- Visuals only
- To be placed in the Appendix.

Campaign evaluation

Explain how the success of your campaign will be measured. Include evidence and/or research suggestions.

Submission and report requirements:

Students will submit an 800-word Consumer Insight Report on target audience analysis in Week 6 and a 1200-word report on Media
and Creative Strategies in Week 13. The word limit does not include the title page, reference list and appendices.

Each report should be supported by a minimum of 8 credible sources with at least 5 academic journal articles (peer-reviewed).

The reports must be saved in a Word format. Use font size 12 Times New Roman with 1.5 line spacing.

The reports must include in-text citations and a full reference list consistent with either Harvard Referencing Style or APA 7 Style.

The Turnitin submission links will be provided on iLearn.

Late submissions on assessment tasks – please refer to the unit guidelines.

Solution

Targeting strategy for L’Oreal Juice 

Target audience 

Considering segmentation, targeting and positioning, the target audience for L’Oreal juice can be identified and defined. 

Segmentation: demographic, psychographic and geographic segmentation can be considered in the case of L’Oreal Juice. As per the MBA Assignment Expert, As per the geographic segmentation, customers of the Australian market will be regarded as at the primary stage. By the year 2027, 52% of household spending will be on juices in Australia which makes it an attractive market for growth (Statista, 2022). Considering the demographic segmentation, customers from the age group of 17 to 67 years, belonging to different races and ethnicities with moderate to high income as well as both males and females, will be considered. 

Targeting: Interest-based audience targeting can be considered here. Such targeted individuals having the same interest are considered a major market (Neumann et al., 2019). In the current case, individuals preferring fresh juices and convenient access can be considered. Customers who are active on social media and prefer reviewing and beverage items, as well as prefer transparency regarding product quality and specification are, needed to be majorly targeted. By targeting such an audience, it will be easier to establish customer communication, and better recognition of the brand is possible within a limited time. 

Positioning: L’Oreal Juice can consider comparative positioning while introducing the products. Comparative positioning allows the customers to compare the products with other brands and understand the product most suitable per their needs and the benefits of the products (Adıgüzel, 2020). Thus it can be beneficial to consider comparative positioning for the brand. Comparative positioning online media platforms while advertising can help to provide scope for customers to compare the juices with others which poses an opportunity for faster expansion and recognition in the market. 

Insight based on the target audience

Media consumption behaviour: In Australia, customers majorly use Facebook and Instagram as well as snap chat. In 2022, social media usage was 82.7% (Statista, 2023). 

Psychographics: Australian population highly orders review products based on online feedback as well as prefer providing reviews also. In Australia, 62% of females provide reviews, and 38% of men provide reviews (Hammonnd, 2020). Restaurants and food and beverages are the major sector accessing reviews from customers. 

Geo-Demographic: Australian population has both high demands for fruit juices and high trust in digital marketing practices. Programmatic advertising is highly preferred among Australian audiences, which leads to an expectation of 88% digital advertising revenue to be generated from this segment (Statista, 2023). 
Behavioural characteristics:  Australian dietary regulations prioritise daily intake of 125 Ml juices; however, cost, related convenience and lack of accessibility have led to issues fulfilling the need (Australian beverages, 2022). Thus there is a tendency to purchase juices via an online platform and access information regarding fresh fruit juices from the online platform. 

Decision-making process:  Based on the overall characteristics of the target market, it becomes evident that customers highly prefer online reviews and research on online media, specifically through social media, to understand the product's effectiveness or procure characteristics to meet their demand. As mentioned by Sahu et al. (2020), customer decision-making in Australia while purchasing products depends on the areas of value against money, price as well as the quality of the products. These factors make the decision-making process step by step; thus, ensuring transparency in overall product promotion and advertisement is necessary. 

Impact of target audience characteristics in media and creative strategy 

Based on audience characteristics and insight, it becomes evident that while targeting the audience, it becomes necessary to ensure a positive presence on social media. Further other online and digital marketing platforms are needed to consider for better media reputation and engagement of customers through platforms. The practice can be advertised in terms of nutritional benefits and convenience. Niche customers must be selected based on their specifications and type in social and other digital platforms and preferences over health beverages such as fruit juices. Along with that, there is a need to be enough data to encourage customers to compare the juices by L’Oreal with the juices of counter companies for better recognition. There is a need to focus on engaging with celebrity endorsement through celebrity chefs, and real customer reviews are needed to be shared through video advertisement later for better brand recognition. As Facebook is the most preferred social media, thus vehicle developing a media plan and creative advent strategy Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat will be the major platforms. Social media will need to be priorities and a majority of pollution in Australia is active on social media. The target audience has been considered 17 to 67 years for better customer engagement, and this age group is active in social media; thus, social media will be the major platform. 

References 

Adıgüzel, S. (2020). Market and brand positioning and sustainability strategies in international marketing. International Journal of Scientific Research and Management, 8(9), 9-24. DOI: 10.18535/ijsrm/v8i09.lis01

Australian beverages (2022) Juice Australia, https://www.australianbeverages.org/juice-australia-microsite/

Hammond, A (2020) How Important Are Online Reviews To Australian Customers?, Capterra [online], https://www.capterra.com.au/blog/1266/how-important-online-reviews-australian-customers

Neumann, N., Tucker, C. E., & Whitfield, T. (2019). Frontiers: How effective is third-party consumer profiling? Evidence from field studies. Marketing Science, 38(6), 918-926. https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/pdf/10.1287/mksc.2019.1188?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Sahu, A. K., Padhy, R. K., & Dhir, A. (2020). Envisioning the future of behavioral decision-making: A systematic literature review of behavioral reasoning theory. Australasian Marketing Journal, 28(4), 145-159. Doi:10.1016/j.ausmj.2020.05.001

Statista (2022) Juices – Australia, https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/non-alcoholic-drinks/juices/australia

Statista (2023) Active social media users as percentage of the total population in Australia from 2015 to 2022, https://www.statista.com/statistics/680201/australia-social-media-penetration/

Statista (2023) Digital Advertising - Australia, https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/digital-advertising/australia