Integrated Marketing Communications

of St. Peter Life Plans, Inc.

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

Of the requirements in English III

Dazo, Ludgerio III

De Guzman, Gio-Gahar C.
 Abstract

The evolution of marketing communication throughout the span of decades, the

innovation in marketing and advertising has taken its path and carved its own road. The pinnacle

has been reached but throughout the years, there are other trends that have been emerging day

and night, new ideas that can develop new marketing trendings. Emerging from the marketing

communication, an integration of new set of tools and techniques due to the availability of

internet has erupted.

 Chapter 1

Introduction

This research purposely focuses on Marketing Communications, what kind of platforms

did the company that the researchers choose to represent on this research article and how did

they manage to apply Marketing Communication as such in a seemingly impossible way. The

researchers of the study choses ​St. Peter Life Plans, Inc. ​as to how did the company integrates

marketing communications as part of their strategy and how did ​St. Peter Life Plans, Inc.

specifically used the parts of Integrated Marketing Communication to promote their brand.

Through different mediums and passage of marketing communications, how did they create

brand awareness for the public to notice?

Background of the Study

This chapter includes the information of Integrated Marketing Communication used by

St. Peter Life Plans ​to be successful in terms of brand awareness​. Also, this study will include the

mortality rate in the Philippines, what are the causes of deaths in the country, and Mortality by

age group.

According to Department of Health, Philippine health statistic 2013, there are Five people

who die out of a thousand in population, It’s an equal to 531, 280 registered deaths from all

causes and all ages. There’s a 57% or 304, 516 that are Males and 43% or 226, 764 were the

women. For every 100 female deaths, there correspond 134 male deaths, and which constituted

to a death sex ratio of 1.34. It is consistent that numbers of male deaths are greater than female

deaths. Consequently, men always have higher death rate than women. Reports also showed that

the highest occurrences of deaths were among the elderly persons, 70 years and over. It
comprised more than 38 percent of total deaths with 202,564 cases. However, death occurrence

was least among age group 10-14 years with 0.9 percent. Deaths among under 1-year-old is more

than twice (21,992 or 4.1%) the number of deaths in ages 1-4 years (9,526 or 1.8%) The number

of deaths increase as the people get older. Statistics show that the risk of dying is directly

proportional to age, starting with age 10 and up. (Department of Health, 2013)

The very question for this study for, us researchers and as well to you, readers. How do

the ​St. Peter Life Plan, Inc. ​convince the public that they should ensure their death, and they

will handle everything, they will arrange it for you, from the caskets that you will be using upon

your demise, the theme for your wake and the settings on your funeral? What are the tools and

techniques that they’ve used to persuade their customers or clients that they should ensure their

death?

How do you sell “​death​”?

St. Peter Life Plan, Inc., one of the leading death care companies in the Philippines,

which offers a variety of caskets within your means and cremation, which lately the company

diversified into modern cremation through. The company maintained their lead in the

competition and excelled in its position as Experts in Death Care Industry. The company’s

continuous development in their services gave them a competitive edge over their competitors in

the same industry. St. Peter Life Plan, Inc. has been offering their services, since the 70s and

throughout the years, they’re gradually adding and adjusting their life plans for the community.

Aside from traditional and modern cremation, the company also offers innovative way for the
OFW (​Overseas Filipino Workers)​ and their families who can’t be with the deceased through

online. The company provides services called “​E-Service​” which includes ​eBurol, ​and​ eLibing.

The researcher of the study will focus on how ​SPLP managed Integrated Marketing

Management to capitalize the multi-channel that IMC offers as a competitive advantage over

other companies that offer the same service through social media platforms, newspaper,

electronic mail, television, text, mobile web and customer-business relationship.

As we all know, people these days are very open-minded and practical about things that

they have to be insured on, they always see to it that everything is in order, even in death.The

majority of the Filipinos has a family member that works on a different side of the world and

some of them live within the Philippines but can't afford to go due to financial issues or stability,

that's where ​eBurol and ​eLibing comes in. With this, St. Peter brings family closer during the

hard time and they get to see their loved one even if their away from home.

Statement of the Problem

This study centers on how did ​St. Peter Life Plan, Inc. ​use the Integrated Marketing

Communications on brand awareness through services.

Specifically, it attempts to answer the following questions:

1. How does St. Peter Life Plan, Inc. utilize integrated marketing in terms of:

a. Social media;

b. Billboard ads; and Outdoor Advertising

c. Internet ads.

2. How did the company create their brand awareness through marketing communications?
Scope and Limitations

The purpose of this study is conducted primarily for the purpose of identifying

brand-awareness and other advertising tools that has been used by St. Peter Life Plan, Inc. in the

community outside of Mapayapa Village Phase 3. This study is only limited on actual data and

an interview is recorded to a company employee that is under the death care industry, here in the

Philippines.

Significance of the Study

The results of the study will contribute to the field of Marketing by providing information

about the challenges in introducing and selling memorial plans to prospective Filipino clients.

Understanding ​“eBurol”​ and ​“eLibing”​ services provide a new perspective in integrating

technology in the usual memorial practices of Filipinos. Culture and tradition limit the​ consumer

to have an interest in life insurance because of their financial status and beliefs from their

religion.

As technology advances, Insurance of life and death has been innovated throughout the

years, one company as an exact brain child of it is the company of the researchers that focuses

and that is the ​St. Peter Life Plans, Inc.​, the company focuses on ensuring the death plan of the

deceased person so that the family of the demised won’t have any hard time to fill-up forms, to

waste effort and funds just to have their deceased to have a peaceful afterlife.

The contribution that St. Peter Life Plans, Inc. gave the community is that the “​eBurol”

and “​eLibing”​ . This contribution has been made because of our Overseas Filipino Workers who

can’t go home to their families due to contract of their work, by this such innovation, it let our
beloved OFW to have a glimpse of the wake and funeral of their loved ones to be viewed

through the cyberspace. They may not be physically present on the said event but they can feel

that they are part of it and the family will feel complete even though one of their love ones is

away, thousands of miles away from them. Not only the OFWs will benefit from this innovation

but also the local community and families of the country who works hundreds of kilometers

away from their hometown can also use this innovation.

We are all aware that facing this type of situation was never easy and this is what St.

Peter Life Plan Inc can offer, is to provide a helping hand to the grieving family to make things

less painful during this difficult times and to be able to unite as one family. With St. Peter’s

"E-burol" even though you were on a particular place, you can still be with your family or

friends to share your grief with and ​being​ surrounded ​by​ a supportive group of fellow mourners

eases the sorrow and provides comfort that the deceased will live on to through their survivors.

Life is something that has been given to us that we need to appreciate. As a human being there is

a lot of risks and uncertainties since, we are a social human beings, we have our own

responsibilities to minimize these risks. In this global technology, we could see a lot of

innovations and now with improved literacy, modest rise in incomes. There is a greater

awareness and increasing demand for better services insurance. And that's where St. peter comes

in. Even though 78% of the population in The Philippines are in class D.
 Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature and Studies

This chapter presents an overview of Marketing Communications, based primarily on findings

from the literature review. It includes a brief description of Integrated Marketing Communications,

highlighting how ​St. Peter Life Plans, Inc. ​uses Marketing Communications, present different type of

platforms used by the company, and approaches used for brand awareness.

What is Marketing Communications?

Marketing Communications are set of tools and techniques used by the company or

business individuals ​uses to convey promotional messages about their products and services.

Marketing communication experts designed different types of persuasive communication tools to

set the target audience to be convinced. ​Integrated Marketing Communications​ on the other

hand are the basic fundamental tools that used by the marketing specialists to be used in

harmony, the marketing specialists are carefully linking marketing communication tools so

disruptions between platforms of different marketing tools won’t be hazardous to the public and

as well as for the company who uses integrated marketing communications. ​Integrated

Marketing communications is a marketing concept from 90’s that uses different marketing mix,

infused with public relation to bring a different dimension to the public and as well as to the

company. Marketing specialists who are in Public Relations are seizing the opportunity of ​IMC

offers and to make a difference in approaching the consumers or the community.​ Integrated

Marketing Communications are enhanced with integrating different types of marketing

communications, it can range from conventional marketing communications to digital or modern

marketing communications. The connections that used by the marketing specialists can range
from physical entity to internet, to contribute sense of engagement or loyalty among the

individuals.

The following examples of ​Integrated Marketing Communications​ that the marketing

specialists uses are listed below with definition and example on how it can be used:

Advertising

Advertising as a part of your marketing communication can greatly increase brand

awareness to your product and services. The product that the company has, can be viewed

through conventional advertising (e.g: Television Ads, Billboard Ads, Newspaper Ads, Flyers,

etc.) to modern advertising (e.g: Social Media Platforms, Internet Ads, Search Engine

Optimization) which helps the company to be viewed more often by public interests. Advertising

has been used throughout the years before Internet Era took over and change the way of how

advertising be implemented and executed. Advertising has been a part of the company to be an

intermediary to be a way of delivering product awareness to the public, not only product

awareness but also brand awareness to its target community in by doing so, product exposure to

the community can greatly help the company to form awareness that this product or this

company does exist within the community of the said target. Advertising can be seen through

any form of communication, it can be by word of mouth, can be a television ad, can be seen in

the corners of newspapers, or if you’re just browsing the internet, you can see them while

scrolling up and down on your favorite sites. Conventional Advertising or Modern/Digital

Advertising isn’t restrained into one thing but it can greatly help the company to access far and

wide through the depths of the world.

 Using images and pictures to promote can help differentiate products and services that

are generally comparable. Publicizing likewise makes and keeps up brand value. Brand value is

an elusive resource that outcomes from favorable images, impressions of differentiation, or

consumer connection to the organization, brand, or trademark. This value converts into more

prominent deals volume, as well as higher market edges, in this manner, the more prominent the

advertised product is, the greater the upper hand. Brand value is built up and kept up through

publicizing that centers around the picture, item properties, administration, or different highlights

of the organization and its items or services.

Public Relations (PR)

Public Relations, also a part of integrated marketing communication, as a part of

conventional marketing communication, this type of strategy is also present among the trends of

marketing communications. Having someone representing your company through “Public

Relations” can maximize your company’s brand awareness through word-of-mouth and as an

introduction for the public to have awareness on the product or services that the company

renders. Public Relations uses two-way communication to monitor feedback and to and adjust

both its message and the organization’s actions for maximum benefit. Public Relations can be

applied or be applied by Marketing Specialists who are adept to speaking for the masses or by

actors or actresses that can be an intermediary of the company to speak with the masses. Usually,

this is called “​Endorsement​” and having this such treatment can boost influence by both

company and Public Relations Representative. According to Philip Kotler, Having Public

Relations’ role to the promotion mix is becoming more important because of the “Over

Communicated Community”.
 Sales Promotion & Personal Selling

Sales Promotion and Personal Selling is a different method of marketers but has a

distinctive role in IMC. Sales promotion is one way to spread products or services around the

community through discounts, promo, coupons, freebies and rebates. These incentives are

created because of the idea of letting the consumers what they want, gives the company a boost

in having the company to be recognized by the community. Usually, sales promotion gimmicks

will work when there is an over-supply of products or new product launch. Sales Promotion is

solely created for short-term, effective, sales boosting tactic to let the community have a jolt of

awareness about the company’s product or services. Personal Selling on the other hand, is quite

the same with Sales promotion but you are the salesman in this case, in personal selling, the

salesperson showcase or display the product or the service to the consumers and sales promotion

are there to stimulate sales. While sales promotion & personal selling can be as conventional as

much as you want, it can also be integrated with other marketing communications, through the

internet. Using internet as a medium of reaching consumers as a form of communication, it’ll

greatly boost the approach of telling your customers or potential buyers and also to make it easy

establishing connection through the internet.

Direct Marketing

One of the oldest forms of marketing, it’s a process of communicating directly to the

target consumers by encouraging them through telephone, electronic mail, or personally meeting

them to market the product or services of your company. Direct Marketing enables the company

to focus on it’s desired target market, tailored for specific targeting and with precision. This

method has been innovated and added other means of advertising to it’s arsenal. Direct
Marketing as one of the oldest forms of Marketing Communications enabled other tools of

integrated marketing communications to flourish and to maximize its output through direct

marketing.

Emerging Tools from Integrated Marketing Communications

Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing is one of the newest trends that have emerged through integrated

marketing communications by using the Internet as a means of communicating through

cyberspace, not only by communicating through the internet but also you can open an online

shop from other social media platforms from the likes of Facebook Market or using Instagram

itself as a business account, there are also E-Commerce trends that are online shops like Lazada,

Shoppee, Alibaba, Amazon, Ebay and other online shops you can think of. With E-Commerce

combined with social media marketing, not only it’ll boost your customer traffic on your shop

but also will attract other potential customers through other means of transmission of the

marketing ways.

Internet Marketing

Internet marketing or the masses call it as online marketing, is a type of marketing that

deals the effort with using electronic mail or the world wide web/cyber space, in addition to sales

leads from websites and emails. The internet has brought media to global audiences, the

interactive nature of products or services over the internet. Internet Marketing in terms of

providing instant responses and eliciting are the unique characteristics of the medium,

sometimes, internet marketing is considered as broad in scope and it not only refers to the

marketing on the internet but also the marketing through electronic mails and wireless media.
 mobile marketing (apps)

Mobile marketing may refer to SMS marketing or MMS marketing. SMS Marketing or

Short Service Marketing and MMS or Multi-Media Service has its fair share on mobile

marketing since SMS marketing includes mobile alert services, content services, coupons, voting

and sweepstakes, these services offer range from free of service to paid services while

Multi-Media Service includes image advertising or some of the components used in email

marketing. Mobile marketing can be used in both marketing and advertising itself for product

and brand awareness in one text away.

Sponsorships (Event Marketing)

Sponsorships or Event marketing is a combined tool of advertising and sales promotion

through public relations. Sponsorships increases the awareness of consumers of a company or

product of the company, it also builds brand-awareness, loyalty with a specific target audience, it

also helps the company to differentiate their products from their competitors, providing

merchandising opportunities, and demonstrates a commitment towards the community or an

ethnic group. Like advertising, sponsorship usually initiated to build a long-term awareness on

the community, an everlasting impression that this or that company has this kind of products or

services that isn’t any other like it’s competitors.

 Chapter 3

Methodology

Introduction

In this chapter, the researcher of the study will give the readers a run-through of the research

design and research method used to attain data of each individual respondent and their feedback about

ensuring their lives with death care plans. Also,

Research Design

The researchers of the study will conduct an interview

Participants and Settings

Instrumentation

The instrument that will be used is interview.

Data Gathering Procedure

The data came from an interview and the researchers of the study will filter, transcribed and

proofread our interviewee’s information about their marketing strategies, how did they use the integrated

marketing communication’s tools and techniques and brand-awareness to penetrate the target market here

in the Philippines.

Statistical Tool
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
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