Integrated communication

marketing

Code:505

Syeda Tamila sirajee

Id:18205104

A)

Advertising functions:

Advertising permeates the Internet, network television, daily newspapers and roadside billboards.
Products, services and ideas are sold through advertising, enabling businesses to attract customers for
their wares. Internet advertising is rapidly displacing print advertising, due its convenience of use, cost
effectiveness, and ease of distribution.

Identifying Brands and Products

Products, services and ideas are sold through businesses that are differentiated by their brand identities.
Brand identity is communicated to the public via advertising. Consumers build emotional relationships
with certain brands with which they become increasingly familiar through the years, thanks to
advertising.

Providing Information to Consumers

Advertising supplies the necessary information to consumers so that they know what is available and
where to buy it. It broadcasts information on products, services and ideas sold on the open market
through a variety of media portals. It reveals the special features being sold, what color and size the
product is and which stores carry it.

Persuading Consumers to Purchase

Powerful, visual advertising presentations compel consumers to purchase goods, services and ideas as a
way to achieve emotional fulfillment. Persuasion is the core mission of advertising. Advertising tells you
how the product, service or idea you are considering will improve your life. According to Jeremiah
O'Sullivan R, author of "The Social and Cultural Effects of Advertising," advertising feeds on the concepts
of ideology, myth, art, sexual attraction and religion.

Advertising infuses images and ideas into products and services, just as the meanings of products and
services are infused into images and ideas, notes O'Sullivan.

Previewing New Trends

Previews about the virtues of new products, services and ideas motivate consumers to obtain them
because they don't want to be left out. Advertising lets consumers in on up-and-coming trends and new
markets. They offer coupons, rebates and trial offers on new products, services or ideas to recruit new
customers and induce existing customers to try things. Advertisers preview new or improved products,
services and ideas to consumers in order to appeal to their sense of wanting to be in the know about
leading edge trends.

Previewing new trends is a technique employed by advertisers that capitalizes on consumers' desires to
"keep up with the Jones" by owning the latest and greatest product, service or idea.

Generating Product Demand

The demand generated by advertising, public relations, and sales promotion "pulls" the goods or
services through channels of distribution, notes "Reference for Business." One of the powerful functions
of advertising is to generate consumer demand for specific products, services and ideas through ad
campaigns that target the audiences that are most likely to buy them." Products, services and concepts
are sold in volume, according to the consumer demand for them.
Building a Customer Base

Consistent quality advertising increases consumer loyalty for a product, service or idea. Advertising
seeks to maintain the current customer base by reinforcing purchasing behavior with additional
information about the benefits of brands. The goal of advertising is to build and reinforce relationships
with customers, prospects, retailers and important stakeholders.

Displaying Competitive Pricing

Advertising displays consumer goods with competitive prices relative to the current market, thus
educating consumers about what things should cost. Advertising lets you know what the competition is
doing, when the next sale is, and how you can receive the latest coupon or rebate and seeks to assure
you that you are receiving the best value for your money.

The “Impossible is Nothing” campaign of 2007 is something that many people remember, and you’ll find
that people are still talking about it, even though it was a decade ago.

And, it wasn’t that good because it included a lot of technology, or because of the models or shoes. It
was successful because the stories it told were real, authentic, and they actually made an impression on
the people who saw it.

The Lionel Messi Adidas advertisement was the basis of the Adidas ads campaign, and it spoke of the
battle that he faced with growth hormones, serving as a reminder that even bad things may sometimes
lead to positive outcomes.
The phrase “Impossible is nothing” tells the story of glory from defeat, and people are actually
associating Adidas with that triumphant spirit ever since.

B) The key components of the assignments:

1.Strategy:

Strategy is an action that managers take to attain one or more of the organization’s goals. Strategy can
also be defined as “A general direction set for the company and its various components to achieve a
desired state in the future. Strategy results from the detailed strategic planning process”.

A strategy is all about integrating organizational activities and utilizing and allocating the scarce
resources within the organizational environment so as to meet the present objectives. While planning a
strategy it is essential to consider that decisions are not taken in a vaccum and that any act taken by a
firm is likely to be met by a reaction from those affected, competitors, customers, employees or
suppliers.

2.Message

The concept behind a message and how it is expressed based on consumer insights.

3.Media
Targets prospective buyers by matching their profiles to media audiences.

Adidas might be one of the biggest advertisers in the world and one of the best-known brands globally,
but until four years ago the sports giant didn't even do any brand tracking, its global media director said
during a presentation at EffWeek on Tuesday. Speaking about how the brand has driven marketing
effectiveness and grown its share within the sporting goods market, Simon Peel said: "Adidas is by no
means streets ahead when it comes to marketing effectiveness. That's not a humble brag, because
we're not – but over the past few years we have started to introduce an element of marketing
effectiveness."As an example, about four years ago we didn't have any kind of econometric modelling –
our attribution modelling was based on last click; we didn't do brand tracking. So all of the basics that
exist to show you how much you should be spending on marketing didn't exist."

Peel revealed how the company, which he said outpaced the growth of the wider sportswear sector, is
undertaking a fresh look at how to measure its marketing success and is focusing more on brand rather
than product-led marketing, after econometric modelling suggested it was underinvesting in brand.

4.Evaluation

Based on strategic objectives and professional standards.

The increased pace of globalization in the recent decades has led to multinational companies expanding
their presence across the globe. Customers now can avail many different varieties of products and
services. This has prompted organizations to come up with innovative products which not only satisfy
customer tastes and requirements but also ensure they get value for money (Hoyer & MacInnis 2009).
Ferrell & Hartline (2013) mention that an effective marketing plan not only enables organizations to
know what are customer tastes and requirements but also ensures creation of a positive brand image in
their mindset. However, looking at changing customer tastes and requirements as well as changing
dynamics of how businesses operate, the evaluation of marketing strategies time and again becomes
important (Pride & Ferrell 2015).

Evaluating marketing strategies through marketing metrics…

In order to assess and guide future marketing actions as well as strategies, marketers need to have an
insight into how their brand is performing in the market. This can be obtained through the marketing
metrics which serve as a diagnostic tool to tell how the performance can be enhanced (Iacobucci 2014).
The marketing metrics serve as a precedent that can be employed to make checks on the marketing
strategies and performance, and comprise financial, behavioral, memory, physical availability, marketing
activity and customer profile metrics.

Evaluating the marketing plan of Adidas, a pioneer sport shoes and apparel manufacturer…

From being a single company until the 1970’s, the Adidas group as of today operates under four
different brand names. Adidas, which is into shoes and clothing accessories, Reebok which is again into
the same, Rockport which is predominantly into formal footwear, clothing apparels as well as
accessories & Taylor which primarily focuses on golfing equipment (Adidas Group 2016).
 Source: Adidas Group

It can be said that the company has adopted a diversification strategy and continues to follow the same
till date. Over the years, it has grown to be the second largest company in this segment after Nike & as
per latest reports the company is outperforming Nike on an overall level (Kell 2016).

Business strategy has a very important role in the making of any market leading brand. The 21st century
marketplace is highly competitive and to stay ahead of others you need a strong business strategy.
Changes happen fast in the business world. However, strategy is at the foundation of everything you
need to excel in a highly competitive and fast changing business environment. In this article, you will
read about the business strategy adopted by Adidas for market growth. During the recent years, Adidas
has made several changes to its business strategy for achieving faster growth worldwide.

Nike is currently dominating the market, but the sales of Adidas have grown fast. The brand is gearing
up for a high jump in the near future. Its new business strategy encompasses several things from
changing the company’s strategic focus, to creating more sustainable products and technological
innovation. Adidas is aiming to become the first true fast sports company of the world. Speed is a very
important element and at the core of its new business strategy. It also aims to leverage its scalable
operating model to grow its income faster and derive better financial and operational results. The
financial results of 2017 prove that these changes have started bearing results better than expectations
and if Adidas can sustain the momentum, it could reduce the gap between itself and Nike faster.

 – Corporate Strategy – Creating the new.

 – Focus on Sustainability
 – Investment in Digital
 – Marketing for higher impact
 – Effectively managing the supply chain
 – Focus on key urban market

Adidas is using creativity and collaboration to create awareness on sustainability and “find a way out of
this mess”, says Matthias Amm, product category director for global running at the brand.

Speaking at the Drapers Sustainable Fashion conference in London last week, the exec outlined the
many ways in which the brand is educating both consumers and its own ambassadors on its mission
towards a more sustainable supply chain, largely influenced by its partnership with Parley for the
Oceans.

Since it began working with the NY-based non-profit, adidas has adopted its AIR concept – to avoid,
intercept and redesign. It is avoiding the use of plastics not only throughout their supply chain, but even
by banning plastic bottles in its offices and factories; it is intercepting plastic waste going into the ocean
by using it as the raw material for its shoes and clothing; lastly, its biggest focus is on how to redesign
future products where the use of plastic doesn’t even come into consideration in the design process.

Educating consumers on its long-term mission is key to its success, he says. Since announcing its first
product with Parley in 2015, a shoe made out of recycled plastics recovered from the oceans, it has
embarked on a series of initiatives that aim to bring further awareness to plastic waste.

With adidas’s support and funding, Parley is running an educational series under the Parley Ocean
School program that aims to get young people more informed on the marine environment and how to
deal with plastics accordingly. For example children growing up in the Maldives, he says, see plastic
polluting the ocean as a normal occurrence, so the end goal is to help shape these young consumers into
the eco ambassadors of tomorrow.