| | |
|As a major part of your marketing plan, you will be expected to present a media plan for your product or service. While this may|
|sound scary, it’s actually a natural extension of what you’ve already learned in this class. Let’s follow along as a local used |
|car dealer, Big Al, prepares his media plan for the upcoming year. Al has 3 locations around the city, so the geography of his |
|target market is defined by the city. In addition, he has defined a target market of 25 – 35, male, blue collar worker, who |
|rents and is single. Note that target markets can be defined by any segment variable, and each variable can expand or contract |
|as the need demands. In other words, Al could have picked males 20 - 40. But this would have caused problems in selecting media |
|since few are focused on such a large age group. Let’s look at each piece of his marketing mix and evaluate the alternatives as |
|Al decides how to invest his $150,000 marketing budget for next year. |

|Advertising | |

Since Al knows specifically who he’s targeting, he’s in the right place to begin advertising. His options include billboards, television, radio, magazines, the Internet, direct mail, and newspapers. Al can’t afford to do all of them, so he has to be careful to use media with which there is no waste. Newspapers are not highly targeted. They go out to everyone. In such a case he would waste money since newspapers charge by their circulation. And since only a small fraction of their circulation would consist of his target market, his cost per exposure to his target market would be huge!
Al has also looked at billboards. This might be a good alternative since he can target areas of the city where his target market lives. In addition, he'll have multiple exposures to the same audience (frequency is very important in advertising), so his overall cost per exposure is reasonable. Another possibility is using late night TV. It's fairly inexpensive, and his research shows him that the Conan O'Brien late night talk show has a high percentage of people matching his target market. He has decided to avoid any Internet advertising for the moment. Startup costs are high since he would have to develop - and maintain - a website that shows well against his competition. In addition, his research shows him that his target market does not spend more than a half hour on the web per day, and most of that time is spent with email. His target market has among the lowest rate of online buying.
|Analysis of a Print Advertisement |
|The 1955 Nash Rambler was intended to be positioned as an American alternative to small European sports cars from France, Italy, |
|and Great Britain. Historically, this campaign failed to achieve the desired positioning or success of the Euro counterparts. Take|
|a look at this product brochure. |
| |
|Print Advertisement: Nash Rambler Brochure |
|Based on what you have learned about Positioning Strategy, why do you think this campaign missed the mark? |

Radio is another possibility. But of course not all radio stations fit his profile. NPR would naturally be a bad choice. After talking to sales reps from every major radio station in town and pouring over their literature, he considers using afternoon drive time, 4 to 7, on one of the highest rated pop stations. While his total cost will be higher, this station has a high percentage of listeners from his target market. Any spillover to prospects outside his target market would be a plus. But since his message will emphasize the wants and needs of his target market, he's not planning on that happening. Plus, he's negotiated a deal that includes 3 remote broadcasts, one from each of his locations.
|Analysis of a Radio Advertisement: the intellectual process of message design. |
|At the time of the creation of this ad, Bell telephone was the only provider of long distance service in the United States and was|
|often accused of price gouging. Charges per minute were noncompetitive (*adjusted for inflation, over 50 cents per minute), and |
|therefore consumers would only make long distance calls for an event, such as a birthday, anniversary, or a loved one's passing. |
|In order to increase profits, a Bell ad campaign would have to increase the use of its product: long distance. How does a monopoly|
|generate additional business? Bell's advertising managers were tasked with making a long distance call an every day necessity for |
|the consumer. Do they succeed in this message? How? What does "reach out and touch someone" convey to you? Why is the audio |
|successful without images? |
|*Consumer Reports, July 2002, www.consumersunion.org/pdf/cudereg.pdf |
|[pic][pic] | script |

|Sales Promotions | |

Al still needs to consider his sales promotions options. For this he plans to offer custom-painted trucks for free - or at least what will seem to be free to the average consumer. He has received permission to use the logo of the local sports team, and he will work with his PR firm to promote this program through the media. He is also considering using ValPak (www.valpak.com) to send $500 coupons to all households that fit his demographic profile within 5 miles of each of his stores. He plans on training his sales staff to upsell once the consumer shows up on the lot. He'll also carefully evaluate what percentage of people responding to this mailing actually buys a car that ends in a profitable sale for the company, after the $500 coupon. The results will determine whether or not Al tries this strategy again next year.
|Public Relations | |

Public relations is a great way to support the rest of Al's marketing efforts. Al may wish to hire a PR agency to send out press releases announcing his sponsorships of a men’s softball league in the city park. The PR agency may also try to work with the local newspapers to promote such human interest stories as his plans to offer trucks custom painted in the colors of the local sports club.
|Putting It All Together | |

After all is said and done, here's how Al spends his $150,000:
|Billboards ($4,000 per month) |$48,000 |
|Conan O'Brien, local broadcast channel, 2 spots per night, 16 week campaign |$32,000 |
|Afternoon drive time, WKRN, 2 spots per day, 16 week campaign; includes 3 |$45,000 |
|remotes | |
|Valpak, 3000 mailings each week throughout the year |$10,000 |
|PR firm, yearly retainer, paid monthly |$15,000 |
|Total |$150,000 |

Now, Al can sit back and just watch the money start rolling in. Right? Actually, the work has just begun! Once Al picks the specific combination of media, he's still a long way from home. He has to place the media, be sure each medium performs, and track which media produce the biggest results. That's not an easy task! Most importantly, he has to show each new customer what great value he offers. He wants each one to drive off the lot feeling that they've negotiated a great cost/value benefit. And of course, after the sale Al has to keep his customers happy with top-notch customer service and support. This is an expensive process, but Al thinks that in the long run it will pay off. In the end, we can say that Al's results will closely match the effort he's put into his marketing plan. Don't you agree?
Media Plan Homework
Read the Week 7 Lecture on media planning. Then write a 300 to 500 word paper in which you develop a media plan for one of the following products - or a local company or product of your choosing. In each case, assume that the company is in your city only. As part of your paper, you should perform research in your own community and on the web to determine the target and the costs of various media options. Use as many media as practical for each case from the following list - television, sales promotions, radio, newspapers, direct marketing, public relations, sales, billboards, magazines. (45 points) 1. Bi-Rite drug stores 2. R/V Camping World 3. Minolta Office Copiers 4. Liz Claiborne stores 5. Legends Golf Club
Your assignment is due by Sunday, end of week, 11:59 P.M. (MT). Submit your assignment to the Dropbox located on the silver tab at the top of this page. For instructions on how to use the Dropbox, read these Step-by-Step Instructions or watch this [pic]Dropbox Tutorial