Guys, this is published only as a guideline as to how to tackle assignments in this area. Hope you'll stop by taking an idea and won't plagiarize. After-all it's your studies that'll be affected by how much effort you put in.
1) INTRODUCTION
The UK men’s skincare industry was a £57 million a year industry in 2008 and is highly competitive. It is still a miniature market when compared to the women’s skincare revenue which was 10 times higher in the same time. (http://www.mintel.com/press-centre/press-releases/237/mens-skincare-market-just-doesnt-scrub-up).
It is under these circumstances that Bulldog was established by Simon Duffy and Rhodri Ferrier. Bulldog is a natural-skincare brand specially formulated for men. They have aimed at differentiating their product by the organic nature of the products where most of the competitor’s products included synthetic ingredients and by refraining from animal testing for which they were accredited by the BUAV (British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection). They are the only brand in the market currently with the accreditation. (http://www.buav.org/a/2009/12/23/257)
The aim of Simon Duffy is to get a Bulldog product into every bathroom in Britain and they aim to achieve this by positioning themselves as an ordinary brand for ordinary men. With the phenomenal growth experienced since the launch, it is now decided to further promote the Bulldog brand by investing in above the line promotions. The following is a marketing proposal which recommends the courses of action which needs to be undertaken in the promotion of the brand.
2) ROLE OF MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS FOR BULLDOG
The key role of communications is to spark a conversation between the organisation and its stakeholders especially the target audiences. This key purpose can be summarized through the acronym DRIP (Fill C., 2006) which states;
Differentiate: Here the company aims at differentiating their product offers in order to establish a unique position in the consumers’ mind which therefore acts as a competitive-advantage. Bulldog needs to differentiate itself from the largely synthetic male cosmetics by highlighting its organic nature. It also needs to differentiate their offer from organic male cosmetic brands such as Green People by the fact that Bulldog is the only grooming company to be recognised and approved by BUAV for not using animal testing and also due to the fact it is a company which adopts a fair trade strategy.
Remind/Reassure: Marketing communications needs to remind people of a need they might have and also needs to remind them of benefits of usage of a product. Here Bulldog must ensure that they are in the forefront of their consumers mind at the time of purchase. They must use constant communications to remind the consumers of the benefits of using organic products while reassuring them of promised benefits which are received through usage of products.
Inform: This role of communications aims at conveying facts and information to current and potential customers through suitable channels. It helps in developing the knowledge of the product in the existing consumers mind while also building awareness of the product in the potential customers.
Persuade: This aims at convincing and persuading potential customers to enter into a mutually beneficial relationship with Bulldog. It can also be used on existing customers by continuous post-purchase communication and through loyalty schemes which are aimed at promoting repeat purchases.
The market for organic male grooming products is still in an early growth stage; therefore the marketing proposal aims at building awareness among the potential customers which plays a key role in customer acquisitions and also on differentiating the product offer of Bulldog while reminding the customers of the benefits of using organic products.
3) MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PROPOSAL
The marketing communication proposal provides a plan of action on how the communications objectives are to be achieved. For Bulldog the main element in the marketing communication is above the line advertising and all other elements need to be integrated in order to support the advertisements in promoting the brand. The SOSTAC planning system (Smith P.R.,2004) is used here to plan Bulldog’s marketing effort.
a) SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
PEST
Political:
- Political arena in UK gradually stabilizing after the elections.
- A change to legislations especially on policies relating to usage of Digital media is possible.
Economic
- Increasing of taxes on services rendered by AD-agencies results in high advertising expenditure.
- Online advertising becoming the cheapest method for advertising.
Social:
- People increasingly replace time spent on TVs with time on the internet. E-books and online news sites have replaced newspapers and magazines.
- Social media has become a part of everyday life. People depend on social networking to build relationships and to maintain an online presence.
- Online advertising methods such as pop-ups and banner ads seen by many users as an intrusion of privacy and a nuisance.
Technological:
- Digital TV is the new trend where people can record their favourite programmes and watch it at convenient times. This means they are able to fast forward advertising breaks.
- Dispersion of internet facilities has increased with more people getting cheap access to faster broadband. Fast access to internet on the go through mobile internet.
4P’s
Product:
Bulldog range of products is 100% natural grooming products specially formulated for men. Their product quality is recognised and approved by BUAV and Bulldog is the only men’s organic product company currently in the market to be accredited with this. The uniqueness of the products when compared to ordinary grooming products is that they are made from 100% natural ingredients. Bulldog promotes fair-trade through purchasing ingredients at market prices from farmers in Sri Lanka, Ghana & Paraguay. The unique selling proposition for Bulldog is the organic nature of the products. But the fair trade system creates a greater effect both by enhancing the USP and also through creating an emotional selling proposition which drives an emotional response in the customers to trigger a purchase. When analysing the PLC, it can be seen that organic skincare market is still in an early growth stage.
Price:
Bulldog’s pricing is focussed on market penetration. For example, Bulldog eco-system shave gel is priced at £3.69 whereas the competing products of Dr Bronner & Green People are priced at £6.99 & £9.30 respectively (http://www.male-organics.com/html/categories/shaving---hair-removal.htm). Their aim of positioning Bulldog as a brand for ordinary men can be achieved through this as the pricing is lesser than other organic brands and more closer to synthetic cosmetics.
Place:
Bulldog products are distributed through major retailers in the UK such as Sainsbury’s and specialist cosmetic stores such as Boots. In addition, their products are available online through their website www.meetthebulldog.com and through online cosmetic stores Niven and Joshua & Male-organics. They’re aiming towards more extensive distribution in the UK in order to increase their reach to ordinary men.
Promotion:
Bulldog’s promotional strategy currently involves the usage of online PR which uses news articles published on shopping advisory sites such as Hippyshopper (http://www.hippyshopper.com/2010/02/bulldog_becomes_1.html). The credibility associated with PR helps Bulldog’s claims to be more acceptable to the public. In addition to that they have been featured in press articles in a range of newspapers including Telegraph, Daily Mirror and fashion magazines such as FHM & Cosmopolitan (http://se.meetthebulldog.com/publication/all).
It has also made associations with brands which have more close associations with men in order to make the Bulldog brand more appealing to male consumers. These associations include Samsung & Saracens Rugby Club and more recently Dave TV, with which they have organised an on-pack promotion which entitles customers for a prize draw with prizes including entertainment systems. (http://www.apetogentleman.com/?p=1267). The target market for Dave TV which includes 16 to 34 year old males works perfectly to Bulldog as it allows them access to a customer group, especially the younger customers, with whom they can make associations at an early age in order to reap benefits in terms of customer lifetime value.
They have also made efforts to create emotional responses in terms of humour through their sponsorship of “David Mitchell’s Soapbox” which is featured in their website and includes comedic videos of David Mitchell about aspects of life.
TARGET MARKET & POSITIONING
The current target market for Bulldog cosmetic products can be defined as follows;
- Metrosexual males who are concerned about their appearance.
- Aged between late teens to mid-thirties (16 and below 34).
- Prefer organic products than synthetics and willing to pay a reasonable amount to acquire true organic products.
In order to appeal to the above target market, Bulldog has positioned their products when compared to Green People as follows.
The positioning of Bulldog is more appealing to customers as they are socially responsible due to their fair-trade agreements and not relying on animal testing, more manly due to the brand image of the bulldog which signifies both tenacity and loyalty, reasonably priced above synthetic brands and below other organic brands and is 100% organic.
SWOT
Strengths:
- Brand image is very closely associated with the target market.
- Good reputation in the market due to BUAV accreditation and the non-synthetic product range.
- Pricing of the products perceived as reasonable compared to competitors.
Weaknesses:
- Relatively new company with less awareness in the market.
- Limited availability across UK.
Opportunities:
- Demand for organic products in the UK market increasing.
- Fair-trade products being more appealing to the new generation of customers.
- Low number of competitors with an all-natural product range.
Threats:
- New competition eyeing an opportunity to enter in to the UK market.
b) MARCOM OBJECTIVES
The marketing communications objectives revolve around three aspects;
- Cognitive aspects which aim at increasing awareness of the brand in the target market and develop knowledge of the product range
- Affective aspects aiming at positioning the brand image on consumers mind and communicate the value proposition and brand essence to the target market.
- Conative aspects which persuade customers towards action which may include trial or repeat purchase.
For Bulldog, it can be recommended to setup S.M.A.R.T. objectives which are aimed to be achieved through the external communications.
- Increase awareness among their primary target market of 16 to 34 year male groups by 30% compared to 2010 by the end of 2011.
- Using advertisements to enthuse & entice customers in order to increase the trial purchases in 2011 by 50% compared to 2010.
c) MARCOM STRATEGY
The marketing communication strategies can be divided into 3 categories;
Push: The strategy aims at promoting the product to the next member in the marketing channel, with that member expected to promote it to the next level until the end consumer is reached. Therefore it’s called ‘Push’ as the product is pushed towards the customer through channel partners. This method mainly uses personal selling & trade promotions.
Pull: Here the target of communications is the end consumer. The aim is to generate increased awareness, build attitudes and tempt the consumers to demand the product or service and therefore ‘Pull’ the product towards them. The types of promotional tools used in this include advertising, direct mail and sales promotions.
Profile: This strategy is aimed at creating favourable perceptions and attitudes in the brand’s stakeholders in order to satisfy organisations corporate communication goals. It also involves an element of creating trust and rapport with the organisation’s publics and therefore uses more credible methods of public relations including press releases and annual reports.
Bulldog’s new communication strategy is primarily a pull strategy which uses above the line advertising. It is also recommended to use a secondary push marketing strategy which is aimed at negotiating with retailers in order to boost sales through display and merchandising at stores. It is most important to ensure that all the efforts are integrated so as to avoid confusion of the target audience and discrepancies being perceived by them.
d) MARCOM TACTICS
Message:
In order to effectively communicate the benefits and characteristics of Bulldog products such as organic ingredients, the BUAV accreditation and the low price compared to the competitors, their advertising needs to include rational elements. Although purchase of skin care products involve relatively low involvement decisions when compared to purchasing a car, today’s customers are more concerned about the ingredients and their effect on their body & health.
Emotional aspects are very important in advertising and therefore the messages need to be creative and include aspects of feelings such as humour. Being a fair trader, Bulldog makes the customers a part of an important initiative which can appeal to the ‘heart’ of the consumers and make the brand more memorable to the consumer.
But as new research suggests, including rational elements in messages avoids advertising from being ignored and play a greater part in generating sales and leads through placing a brand on the evoked set of brands when it comes to purchase decisions. Therefore advertising for Bulldog need to include both rational and emotional elements to differentiate and inform consumers about the benefits while attempting to make an emotional connection with them.
Tools & Media:
· Advertising
The tools that Bulldog primarily need to use to achieve their marketing communication objectives are advertising on TV and men’s magazines. It is important to highlight the emotional aspects more on the advertisements to create interest and attain consumer involvement with the brand. In order to increase the exposure of TV advertisements which will help in increasing the awareness and recall of Bulldog, it can be recommended to keep the length of advertisement short and increase the number of repetitions which will be more effective than and cost the same as employing a lengthy advertisement which is repeated less. The TV advertisements will be high in terms of cost in return for higher reach and less clout in terms of personalisation of the message. The rational elements of the advertisements will help in reducing scepticism and increase credibility of the claims.
Advertising on men’s magazines can benefit from the synergies of specialist readership with Bulldog’s target audience. The advertisements can be more rational as the readers get the time to read through unlike in TV advertisements. Portrayal of manliness of using Bulldog products can be better highlighted in the advertisements with male models and usage of colours. Magazines are costly than TV when cost for a single display is concerned but it allows greater control with the audience to be targeted and allows more clout in personalising the message to suit the target readership. For example an advertisement on Maxim needs to be more trendy and colourful while an advertisement on men’s health needs to be more rational as the readers expect more information to make the purchasing decision.
· DMC
The advertising campaign will be further supported by a social networking strategy aimed at increasing awareness and consumer involvement. Facebook will be used to setup the social media campaign where a dedicated page will be developed to present details on Bulldog brand and the products, view videos of “David Mitchell’s Soapbox”, conduct polls and collect opinions of page visitors on various aspects relating to Bulldog’s future actions that will promote a two way dialogue. It can also be the base for the launch of the new Bulldog online game which can attract the attention of Facebook users and promote more involvement with the brand. The benefits of the social networking strategy are the less cost, high control in terms of targeting the offers, high reach which is estimated at 350 million (Clicky Media, 6 April 2010) and high clout in terms of personalization of message using the profile information.
· Trade Promotions (Push)
It is recommended for Bulldog to use negotiations with the current and potential retailers to allocate more shelf space and agree on point-of-sales displays such as aisle interrupters and yes units which can attract the attention of the consumers while shopping and boost sales. In return the retailers will be guaranteed more dealer loaders and higher margins on sale of products. Higher visibility will benefit Bulldog to increase trials and to increase awareness of the product at the point of sale. Trade promotions will be less costly when compared with the volume boost to sales offered and can achieve more credibility.
The above integrated marketing communications need to be consistent with the company’s positioning and be synchronised by a planned schedule to be beneficial to Bulldog.
e) ACTION
The Action stage of marketing communications proposal concerns 3M’s which are Manpower, Money and Minutes which are related to the implementation aspects of the proposal.
Manpower:
The task of marketing communication activities for Bulldog is recommended to be outsourced to an A-la-carte advertising agency which will take our specifications in to consideration and implement it. This will allow Bulldog to be less concerned with aspects such as creative developments, media management, traffic & production tasks and only focus on handing over what has been discussed above to the agency and what results are expected. It will put less burden on the small workforce of the company (5 people as revealed in the official site of Bulldog: http://se.meetthebulldog.com/press_item/view/154/Simon-Duffy-Export-Diary-week-1) which carries out most of the tasks through outsourcing.
Money:
The budgeting method to be adopted can be based on objective and task method as it is more sensible. Here Bulldog needs to ascertain the tasks involved in achieving the above two objectives and allocate a spending budget for each of these. For example Bulldog first needs to identify what they are willing to spend for increasing the awareness by 30% and to increase trial by 50% and specify how much they are willing to spend to achieve on promotions to achieve each of these objectives.
Minutes:
The schedule of activities for the implementation of the communications effort can be broken down in to the following;
- The Social marketing strategy will be launched by November 2010.
- The Advertising campaign is set to launch in early 2011 with the last 6 months of 2010 allocated for gathering necessary funding and also for the production and refining of advertisements.
- The Trade promotions will be launched in early 2011 along with the primary stages of the advertising campaign.
f) CONTROL
In order to measure the effectiveness of the communications strategy, Bulldog needs to set interim targets which will signal them of the progress made. The following are the targets Bulldog must aim to achieve through their promotions in 2011.
| Element | 1st Quarter 2011 (%) | 2nd Quarter 2011 (%) | 3rd Quarter 2011 (%) | 4th Quarter 2011(%) |
| Awareness (Accumulated increase compared to 2010) | 7.5 | 15 | 22.5 | 30 |
| Trial (Accumulated increase compared to 2010) | 15 | 25 | 35 | 50 |
Table 1: Targets for Bulldog 2011
Setting targets and follow up on the achievements will help the company to make sure they’re on the right path to achieving their objectives.
4) FUTURE OF ADVERTISING
The Wharton article (http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2344) is about the future of advertising which evaluates the claim that internet based advertising is rapidly replacing the offline advertising in the TV and magazines. The companies of today are more gravitated to place advertisements on the internet in search engines such as Google, social networking sites such as Twitter & Facebook and video sites such as Youtube. The main reason for this is the cost coupled with the ubiquity of internet and most probably due to the ability of online advertising to be interactive and to develop a two-way dialogue between the company and the customer. But the increase in online advertising has been generating negative effects in terms of intrusion into the privacy and browsing experience of the user, especially with pop-ups and banner advertising.
The future of advertising project is therefore established with the aim of developing a model which allows companies to craft effective strategies using a mix of traditional and new media which is more effective. The relevance of this to Bulldog is that they need to understand that both types of media are important as each media has its unique characteristics which can be useful in order to appeal to a more larger and mass audience. With that in mind, Bulldog’s communications strategy will be designed to be both online and offline to achieve synergies with the wider target audience.
5) CONCLUSION
The market for men’s skin care products is increasingly becoming competitive and Bulldog is currently holding a prominent place by becoming a fair-trade brand and a socially responsible brand with BUAV accreditation. By undertaking an integrated marketing communications strategy which is balanced between online and offline promotions they can expect to achieve the objectives set through the marcom proposal. But in order to maintain momentum in the competitive scope it can be recommended to switch between the DRIP elements as the market demands change and the product offer changes.
6) BIBLIOGRAPHY
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