Setting Objectives & The Communication Brief
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Break 12:15
Last Class
What are some common types of positioning?
What is the consumer decision process?
Why do we need to understand this?
How can we determine where a consumer is in terms of decision-making stage?
How can the decision-making process/stages approach help determine:
The tool to use?
What we need to communicate?
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Campaign Message (Positioning)
Must be fully consistent with overall brand positioning
Addresses how we are, specifically, approaching the communication of the brand positioning
Identifies the information to be communicated to the target
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Learning Agenda
Using the consumer decision-making approach to understand what tools to use and what to communicate
Customer-based Communications Objectives
The Communication Brief
The Consumer Decision Journey
On Which Decision Stage does this Focus?
Post-Purchase Stages
Repurchase/Loyalty
Engage
Advocate
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Awareness
Knowledge
Liking
Purchase
Re-purchase
Case 1
30%
28%
25%
23%
20%
Case 2
80%
35%
25%
23%
20%
Case 3
80%
70%
45%
23%
20%
Case 5
80%
70%
45%
38%
30%
Case 4
80%
65%
45%
35%
8%
Decision-Making Stages Approach
Percentages of target
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Awareness
Knowledge
Liking
Purchase
Re-purchase
Case 1
30%
28%
25%
23%
20%
Case 2
80%
35%
25%
23%
20%
Case 3
80%
70%
45%
23%
20%
Case 5
80%
70%
45%
38%
30%
Case 4
80%
65%
45%
35%
8%
ADVERTISING
MEDIA
ADVERTISING
MESSAGE
DISTRIBUTION/
PRICE
NICHE/TARGET
PRODUCT/
TARGET/
PROMOTION
Decision-Making Stages Approach
Each level is based on the total of the target you are interested in. E.G., for Case 1, out of 100 people, 30 are aware, 28 know what the product is about, 25 like it.
Change the strategies – what are the possible strategies?
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WOW’s Primary Approach (time of the case)
Watch advertisement
Who do you think is the target of this?
What does this communicate?
What stage of the decision process is this communication focusing on?
William Shatner. I am a shaman.
You can be anyone you want.
Role playing – give sense of what this is like. Free trial.
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WOW’s Primary Approach (time of the case)
Watch advertisement
Who do you think is the target of this?
What does this communicate?
What stage of the decision process is this communication focusing on?
Pattern Advertising
An approach to international advertising in which use the same basic position and communication objective across countries or regions but modify the specifics of each communication to better speak to the local audiences.
WOW’s Secondary Approach (time of the case)
Look at FB page
What does this communicate?
Who do you think is the target of this?
What stage of the decision process is this communication focusing on?
What does this show? Different target
Changes to the product and “direct” communication with users (as opposed to the wider, non-user target trying to reach with the TV ads).
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What did you learn (generalizable)?
Focus reflections on generalizable learnings from working through this case.
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Communication Targets
Need to specify who we want to speak to with any given campaign or communication
Our goal is to identify a segment of consumers who will respond positively to the same messaging and more positively than to other messaging.
We need to figure out what to say to these people to get them to respond more favorably.
Saw this is the video on S, T, P.
How will you do this? One way you talked about targeting in general in the core is based on usage with the larger idea being to target based on profitability.
For your marketing communications, you need to figure out who to communicate with what message.
Our topic for the rest of today’s session is, based on what we have covered so far, how to use our analyses to set objectives for our actual communications. We will discuss objectives, different types, reasons for them and criteria for strong communications objectives.
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Communication Targets
Need to specify who we want to speak to with any given campaign or communication
Our goal is to identify a segment of consumers who will respond positively to the same messaging.
We need to figure out what to say to these people to get them to respond more favorably.
Need to develop a communication objective based on the what to say to the specific target.
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Communication Objectives
Goals for marketing communications
campaigns or programs that are
based on communication tasks (rather than just on sales).
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Developing Communication Objectives
Consumer behavior and choice is influenced by consumer goals
Need to understand consumer decision making to be able to influence your target
Look for a consumer insight that can provide some differentiation and move the market
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The objective for a campaign is based on your target’s decision-making stage, what they think about you and what they need to think about you.
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Setting Objectives
Types of Objectives
Sales goals (Marketing Plan)
Communication objectives (IMC Plan)
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Goals Big Picture
Objectives Plan of Attack
What is the purpose of communication objectives?
Provide direction. What do we need to change inside consumers’ heads to achieve our sales goals?
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Need for Communication Objectives
Consumers usually do not
buy immediately.
Consumers must gain relevant
information and develop positive
associations with a brand
before a purchase
will be made.
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Need for Communication Objectives
“At some point,
sales-oriented objectives
must be translated into what
a company hopes to
communicate and
to whom it hopes
to communicate it.”
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Communication Objective
Starts with understanding of the target consumer and specifies the communication task that needs to be achieved to move the consumer as desired
At this time, what does the consumer need to understand, know, feel, or believe?
Effective Communication Objectives…
Specify the target
Set a communication task
Identify a benchmark (current levels)
Indicate the desired outcome
Set time period for achievement
(Indicate appropriate measurement)
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What Do We Mean by a “Communication Task?”
Create awareness; build knowledge of a brand benefit; develop understanding of the brand image/personality; clarify where to find the product (where distribution is); let me know that the product exists; communicate that there is a three-day sale; get people to click through to our website.
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Communication task: increase knowledge of the role-playing aspect of WOW
Effective Communication Objectives…
Specify the target
Set a communication task
Identify a benchmark (current levels)
Indicate the desired outcome
Set time period for achievement
(Indicate appropriate measurement)
Specify the communications task.
Specify the success criteria
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Is this an Effective Communication Objective?
Increase percentage of consumers who believe that our product is easy and convenient.
What is missing?
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Communication Objective
Increase percentage of target consumers who believe that our product is easy and convenient from current 15% to 30% in next 6 months.
Effective Communication Objective?
Increase HH penetration by 10% during the next year.
What is wrong with this? What is the communication task?
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This is a Sales Objective
Increase HH penetration by 10% during the next year.
No communication task
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Effective Communication Objective?
Expose 90% of our target to 3 or more communications during the next three months.
Media objective
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This is a Media Objective
Expose 90% of our target to 3 or more communications during the next three months.
Media objective, no communication task
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Characteristics of Effective Objectives
Specific
Include communication task and target
Measurable
Identifies a starting point
Identifies the desired outcome
Method for assessment
Agreed upon
Realistic
Time-focused
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Increase knowledge of the role-playing aspect of WOW (from basically 0) to 50% of non-gamers by January 2008
Reach 25% agreement by the non-gamer target with “The immersive role-playing offered by WOW looks fun” by January 2008
The Communication Objective is the Foundation
Once you have developed a SMART communication objective, develop a Communication Brief
Communication Brief
Problem to Solve
Target Audience
Positioning/Message
Specific Communication Objective(s)
Key Benefit (for target)
Reasons Why (target should believe)
Intended Reaction/Single Thought
“Mandatories”
Signatures
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Lactaid
Write down what comes to mind
Wanted to increase sales and believed that there were many people who would benefit from consuming less lactose.
Why aren’t they purchasing and/or consuming?
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Lactaid
Many associate primarily with dietary supplement – “medicine”
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Lactaid
While Lactaid has lactose-free dairy products (to replace products with lactose), many consumers associate them with their dietary supplement products (to combat uncomfortable consequences of consuming lactose)
Products include Lactaid milk, ice cream, and more
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Lactaid
Problem to solve: Many people do not purchase and or consume Lactaid dairy products because they think of Lactaid as “fake” or chemical-based. They associate Lactaid more with the dietary supplement than with dairy. Perceive of Lactaid dairy products as not really dairy.
Lactaid
Write a SMART communication objective to address the problem that they identified in their research
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Lactaid Commercial: Communication Objective?
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Communication Brief for Lactaid
Problem to Solve
Many people do not purchase and or consume Lactaid dairy products because they think of Lactaid as “fake” or chemical-based. They associate Lactaid more with the dietary supplement than with dairy. Think of Lactaid dairy products as not real dairy.
Target
Consumers who think Lactaid is fake, not real milk
Positioning
Position by product attributes: real dairy, wholesome, tasty
Communication Brief
Specific Communication Objective
Increase awareness of Lactaid as lactose-free milk
Develop target perceptions of Lactaid as real dairy/milk
Build target perception of Lactaid as real dairy that is delicious
Communication Brief, continued
What is wrong with these communication objectives??
They are not really concrete and specific — want these to be quantified so we really know what we are trying to achieve with this communication effort.
Could have another specific objective — for example, may have a communication objective of convincing some customers to test drive — promo.
Specific Communication Objective
Increase awareness of Lactaid as lactose-free milk from current 20% to 40% in next 6 months
Develop target perceptions of Lactaid as real dairy/milk to 40% of target in next 6 months
Build target perception of Lactaid as real dairy that is delicious to 30% in next 6 months
Communication Brief, continued
Key Benefit
I can enjoy the delicious taste of milk without upsetting my stomach
Reasons Why (support for the key benefit)
Lactaid is real milk with the lactose removed
Communication Brief
Intended Reaction/Single Thought
Wow! I didn’t know that I could get delicious, healthy real milk without lactose
Mandatories
Lactaid brand logo
A carton of Lactaid milk
Signatures
Communication Brief
Lactaid Commercial: Communication Objective?
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Who Should Develop the Brief?
The BRAND! (“Client”)
But in collaboration
Pilot/Co-Pilot Collaboration
The brand owner needs to be the pilot.
Collaborative
It is critical that communications are consistent with the firm’s strategy. That is, need to be sure that all of the promotions that are developed communicate some aspect of the brand’s positioning.
On strategy.
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The Communication Brief
“The brief is, by far, the most important part of your creative development journey as a client. The brief is not glamorous, it’s not sexy, and there will be no one standing on a table singing a song when you are pulling this together (that comes later). But you, the client, stand very little chance of getting something good at the other end if you don’t spend the time to develop a tight brief.”
Lesya Lysyj
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In analyzing thousands of ad campaigns and
execution test processes, the single biggest factor is
simple to diagnose, but hard to fix – great ads come from a
really strong, tight creative brief. Brilliant ideas, duds, or
boringly average campaigns – there is a high correlation between
these outcomes and how strong the brief was.
Poor creative is too often the function of a vague
or broad brief that leaves the agency up to its
own imagination about what the customer is
thinking and where the brand fits into
consumers’ lives.
Need for a Brief
Ralph Blessing
From “Three Keys to Unlock a Powerful Creative Brief: Great Ads Come from a Strong, Tight Creative Brief.
Advertising Age
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Major Selling Idea/Unique Selling Proposition
“The major selling idea should emerge as the strongest singular thing you can say about your product or service. This should be the claim with the broadest and most meaningful appeal to your target…be certain you can live with it; be sure it stands strong enough to remain the central issue in every ad and commercial in the campaign”
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Consumer Decision Journey
All the ways in which a consumer interacts with the organization from initially learning about the organization to deciding whether to purchase, and re-purchase.
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What is “ZMOT”?
The very short reading covers this idea – really just adding the notion that there is a lot of stuff consumers consider prior to really engaging with the decision.
Pre-consideration web-based information gathering.
Really do this “before purchasing anything”?
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Consumer Journey
The goal of conceptualizing the consumer decision journey is to consider all the points of interaction and to understand which are most important in influencing the consumer.
Be sure that all important touchpoints create a consistent brand concept
Target stages in the decision journey
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Example
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The CDJ and Branding in the Digital Age
Understand your consumers’ decision journey
Determine which touchpoints are priorities
Figure out how to leverage those
Target priority touchpoints in priority stages
Allocate resources accordingly
“Orchestrate”
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Overall Considerations for CDJ
For each touchpoint, consider consistency with the brand promise.
Consider how to provide strategic differentiation with your touchpoints.
Identifying & Understanding Segments: Ask Consumers
Milk Bone Chews: Size of Dog as basis for Segmentation?
Ad Theme: Love of Master v. Best Buddy
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Breakout Activity
Developed two approaches
Communicate: You and your dog love each other; Milk-Bones show your dog how much
Communicate: Your dog is your always fun buddy; Milk-bones bring fun to your dog
Dog owners watched and rated the ads (1 – 10)
Average = 7.25
What do you need to do to understand if size of dog provides useful segmentation?
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Breakout Activity
Owners of Love between Owner & Dog Your Fun Buddy Row Average
Small Dogs 8 5
Large Dogs 7 9
Column Average
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Activity
Owners of Love between Owner & Dog Your Fun Buddy Row Average
Small Dogs 8 5 6.5
Large Dogs 6 9 7.5
Column Average 7 7
What is your conclusion? Should we use the same or different communications?
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Communication Response by Size of Dog
Small Dog Owner Love between Owner & Dog My Fun Buddy 8 5 Large Dog Owner Love between Owner & Dog My Fun Buddy 7 9
Next Week:
Week 5 Reflection due Saturday Feb. 5 by 8:00 pm
Prepare Case: Pillsbury
Read:
Empathy Mapping
Planning for Integrated Marketing Communications
Integrating Marketing Communications…
NEXT week Pillsbury Individual Assignment
Be sure to work on your Final Project with your group
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Thank you & Have a Good Week
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