MKTG1183 –

LEADING CHANGE
IN MEDIA AND
COMMUNICATION
Weekly Topic Review
 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
COVER SHEET for SUBMISSION of ASSIGNMENTS
Course Name: Course Code: Department Date Stamp
Leading Change in Media and
MKTG1183
Communication
Assignment Title: Assignment Due Date:
Weekly Topic Review June 6, 2021
Academic’s Name: Date of this Submission:
Dr. Emsie Arnoldi
June 6, 2021 (For Office use only)
Student(s)
Family Name: Given Names: Student Number: Class/Group:
1) Trinh Chi Trung S3461765 1
2)
3)
4)
Declaration and Statement of Authorship:
1. I/we hold a copy of this work which can be produced if the original is lost/damaged.
2. This work is my/our original work and no part of it has been copied from any other student’s work or from any other
source except where due acknowledgement is made.
3. No part of this work has been written for me/us by any other person except where such collaboration has been
authorised by the lecturer/teacher concerned.
4. I/we have not previously submitted this work for this or any other course/unit.
5. I/we give permission for this work to be reproduced, communicated, compared and archived for the purpose of
detecting plagiarism.
6. I/we give permission for a copy of my/our marked work to be retained by the school for review and comparison,
including review by external examiners.

I/we understand that:

7. Plagiarism is the presentation of the work, idea or creation of another person as though it is my/our own. It is a form
of cheating and is a very serious academic offence that may lead to exclusion from the University. Plagiarised
material can be drawn from, and presented in, written, graphic and visual form, including electronic data and oral
presentations. Plagiarism occurs when the origin of the material used is not appropriately cited.
8. Plagiarism includes the act of assisting or allowing another person to plagiarise or to copy my/our work.
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I/we declare that I/we have read and understood the declaration and statement of authorship.

1) Trinh Chi Trung 3)

2) 4)
Further information relating to the penalties for plagiarism, which range from a notation on your student file to expulsion from the University,
is contained in Regulation 6.1.1 Student Discipline and the Plagiarism Policy which are available on the Policies and Procedures website at
www.rmit.edu.au/policies.
Topic #1: Emotion in Advertising

Emotion is defined as human’s various instinctive responses (Nicks & Carriou 2016) to
everything they encounter in life (Hollis 2010). Emotion can be measured physically
through different means such as the way our body responds physiologically to emotion,
and the way we determine positive and negative things. Emotion could be altered or
initiated based on a person’s level of awareness and interpretation, which is generated
from past experiences and memories, toward a particular event (Nicks & Carriou 2016).
These memories and experiences often mediate between people’s emotional reaction
and their ultimate attitudes and behaviors (Nicks & Carriou 2016). 

Thus, in today’s advertising, emotional approach is well known for being highly effective
in capturing awareness, building brand image as well as shaping consumer attitudes
and behaviors (WARC 2020). In terms of attention grabbing, brands are recommended
to find ways to evoke emotion that can trigger physiological responses like heart rate
increase, respiration, perspiration, and skin crawling (Hartson & Pyla 2012), as they can
positively influence customers’ attention to advertising (WARC 2020). Regarding
attitude manipulation and brand building, existing literature has proven that emotion can
impact customer’s attitude toward brands (Tronvoll, cited in Naami & Hezarkhani 2018),
especially when combined with a high level of brand’s trust (Mudrík n.d). Emotion can
also help drive sales, however, the effect is not direct. It often manipulates customer’s
purchasing behavior through effective branding of emotional advertising (WARC 2020). 

Even though the effect of emotional approach is undeniably strong, it does not mean
that this approach always comes with success. Multiple businesses have failed with
their emotional advertising practices, including big names such as Dove, Pepsi and
McDonald, mainly due to the low level of customer understanding (Robinson 2019).
Thus, to achieve effectiveness of emotional marketing communication, brands need to
generate stories that highly correspond to customer’s perception, motivations and goals
(Nicks & Carriou 2016). In the end, these are the factors that directly affect sales, not
the emotional response to the ads like with attention and attitude (WARC 2020). In
today’s practice, as younger generations are replacing the main purchase force within
markets (Nicks & Carriou 2016), the brands need to frequently adapt to their rapidly
changing perception and emotion to stay relevant and avoid advertising
miscommunication.  
 
 
References:

Hartson, R & Pyla, P 2012, ‘UX Evaluation Introduction’, in R Hartson & P Pyla (eds.),
The UX Book, 1st edn, Morgan Kaufmann, Massachusetts, pp. 427-465.

Nicks, G & Carriou, Y 2016, ‘Emotion, attention and memory in advertising’, WARC,
viewed 13 May 2021, WARC database.

Hollis, N 2010, Emotion in Advertising: Pervasive, Yet Misunderstood, Millward Brown,

London. 

WARC 2020, ‘What we know about using emotion’, WARC, viewed 13 May 2021,
WARC database.

Naami, A & Hezarkhani, S 2018, ‘The Impact of Emotion on Customers’ Behavioral

Responses’, Revista Publicando, vol. 5, no.15, pp. 679-710.

Mudrík, M n.d, ‘The importance of brand building and branding’, eXclusive e-JOURNAL,
pp. 1-6.

Robinson, K 2019, ‘Emotional Marketing Fails: Pepsi & McDonalds’, Temple University
Digital Marketing, viewed 13 May 2021,
<https://digitalmarketing.temple.edu/kricketrobinson/2019/04/14/emotional-marketing-
fails-pepsi-mcdonalds/>. 
Topic #2: Digital & Social media

Social Media Marketing is defined as an approach that uses social networking platforms
to communicate brand’s products and services (Bansal, Masood & Dadhich 2012).
During the past two decades, as social media has grown to become a significant part of
almost every individual, it is now the promising land for marketers and advertisers to
grow brand exposure and reach potential customers (Bansal, Masood & Dadhich
2012). 

Even though marketing via social platforms provides undeniable benefits for brands, it is
also a double edged sword. As advertising on social media is cost-effective, highly
targeted and easy to access, not only big brands but also small businesses choose to
advertise on these platforms (Wyman 2021). This has bombarded social media users
with ads, making them feel overwhelmed, disrupting their user experience (Stewart
2020). The reliability of ads is also an issue, with the huge amount of misleading ads on
the platforms decreasing users’ trust in ads in general (WARC 2021).    

In terms of leading trends in social media marketing, artificial intelligence, machine

learning as well as augmented and virtual reality are the keywords (GroupM 2017). The
rise of these new technologies will undoubtedly bring many changes to the existing
social media marketing atmosphere, bringing about productivity and creativity to the
marketing sector. This also creates pressure of adaptation on brands, governments,
societies and individuals (GroupM 2017).

In terms of platform preferences, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Youtube are still
dominating, with Tiktok being an emerging trend in recent years (WARC 2019).
However, recent statistics has shown that among these dominating platforms, Facebook
is  experiencing a slow down in ad spend, as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic (WARC
2020). According to Warc (2020), social media has resumed its original purpose of
connecting people during the pandemic. While Facebook budget for advertising got cut
down, Instagram and Youtube’s ad spend will still possibly increase (WARC 2019), This
might be due to the differences between the original purposes of these platforms
compared to Facebook, as they are intended for content sharing and housing
information. Meanwhile, with the outstanding growth rate, achieving one billion app
downloads at the start of 2019, Tiktok received a lot of attention from marketers even
during the period of pandemic.

References: 

Bansal, R, Masood, R & Dadhich, V 2012, ‘Social Media Marketing-A Tool of Innovative
Marketing’, Journal of Organizational Management, vol.3, iss.1, pp. 1-7.

WARC 2020, ‘What’s working in social’, WARC, viewed 22 May 2021, WARC database.

WARC 2020, ‘Most adults don't trust social advertising’, WARC, viewed 22 May 2021,
WARC database.

WARC 2019, ‘One in five marketers to reduce Facebook spend in 2020’, WARC,
viewed 22 May 2021, WARC database.

Stewart, R 2020, ‘Advertising and social media face fresh trust issues amid global
crisis’, The Drum, viewed 22 May 2021,
<https://www.thedrum.com/news/2020/05/15/advertising-and-social-media-face-fresh-
trust-issues-amid-global-crisis>.

Wyman, M 2021, ‘The Easy Guide to Social Media for Small Business’, Word Stream,
blog post, 17 February, viewed 22 May 2021,
<https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2019/03/19/social-media-for-small-business>.

Group M 2017, Interaction, Group M, New York.

Topic #3: Globalisation; Culture and context in communication

As the world becomes more and more globalized, it is an opportunity for international
brands to expand their business to other countries. While trying to penetrate new
markets, stumbling upon hardship and challenges due to the differences between the
country of origin and the destination market is unavoidable for brands (Emerald Insight
2011). 

With that said, it is important for businesses to identify the cultural context of the target
market. Brands are recommended to dig deep into the lives of the new market’s target
consumers to understand their perception and behavior, while trying to find out how
their products, services and brand’s culture can fit into the market (Emerald Insight
2011). It is also important for brands to find ways for themself to stand out from the
market's existing competitors (Kendall 2016). By gaining insight into these matters,
brands can arrive with suitable strategies to approach the target market, both in
communication and distribution.  

In advertising, global brands often seek to create advertisements that can perform well
on an international level for maximizing cost-effectiveness (Millward Brown 2006).
However, due to a number of factors such as brand status, category experience,
consumer identification as well as socio-economic and cultural differences (Millward
Brown 2006), it is challenging for brands to implement existing successful strategies to
another market without being localized (Declercq 2011). Marketing localization is often
understood as the process of adaptation, which involves changing the language being
used, the way the ads communicate brands’ messages, the channel being used and so
on to fit the local culture context (Chopp 2020). Sometimes brands are also required to
also modify their product during this process (Lionbridge 2021).

Brands also devised other strategies to avoid the need of adaptation. Study from
Millward Brown (2006) identifies several approaches, which includes the use of ‘brand
status cluster’, ‘shared global culture’, ‘fundamental human truth’ and ‘unique product
benefit’. 

References: 

Emerald Insight 2011, ‘Making marketing matter: Taking context into account’, Strategic
Direction, vol. 27, iss. 5, pp. 5-8.

Kendall, N 2016, ‘How to develop an effective global brand strategy’, WARC, viewed 23
May 2021, WARC database.

Declercq, C  2011. ‘Advertising and localization’, in K Malmkjaer & K  Windle, (eds),

The  Oxford  Handbook  of  Translation  Studies , Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 
262-272.

Chopp, T 2020, ‘Targeting your global ad campaign: translation, localization, and the
global accent’, Voices, blog post, 26 May, viewed 23 May 2021,
<https://www.voices.com/blog/global-ad-campaign-translation-versus-localization/>.

Lionbridge 2021, ‘Localization, Globalization, Internationalization: What's the

Difference?’, Lionbridge, blog post, 1 May, viewed 23 May 2021,
<https://www.lionbridge.com/blog/translation-localization/localization-globalization-
internationalization-whats-the-difference/>.

Millward Brown 2006, Great global ads: the secret of success, Millward Brown, London. 

Millward Brown 2006, Why is it so difficult to produce worldclass international

advertising?, Millward Brown, London. 
Topic #4: Stakeholder & Internal Communication 

Customers are now becoming more aware, demanding brands to cultivate their
authenticity, trustworthiness and credibility (Sng 2011). As brand transparency and
authenticity become a significant part of branding and marketing during the digital era,
brands are required to create a close relationship between their action and image (Sng
2011). This is even more significant in the current state of social media marketing,
where users’ trust in ads and brands in general are decreasing due to the huge amount
of misleading ads on the platforms (WARC 2021). 

In order to create the link between a brand's actions and image, consistency of
communication across touchpoints is needed. With that said, the process of brand
building needs to be catered from within the organization to ensure communication
synergy among stakeholders (Bernesson & Maric 2016), making internal branding
extremely important for brands. This process aimed at creating a ‘symbolic ties’
between staff and brand as well as maintaining the synergy of communication within the
organization. Research from Iyer, Davari & Paswan (2018) identifies three major factors
that revolve around the internal branding matter, suggesting that internal branding
serves as the mediator between brand orientation, strategic management and brand
performance. In other words, internal branding is the stepping stone to achieve great
performance (Iyer, Davari & Paswan 2018) and building brand culture (Brandbuddha
n.d).   

As an outcome of successful internal branding, brand culture reflects brand values

(Brandbuddha n.d), stories and beliefs (Sng 2011). According to Schroeder (2006), it is
defined as ’the cultural codes of brands – history, images, myths, art ,theatre – that
influence brand meaning and value in the marketplace’. Sng (2011) suggested that a
powerful brand culture could help brands generate the authenticity and credibility of
communication messages, while allowing them to be flexible and transparent in any
situation. This could ultimately lead to brand empathy, loyalty and recommendation
(Sng 2011) in the long run. 

References:

Sng, M 2011, ‘Brand culture’, WARC, viewed 23 May 2021, WARC database.

WARC 2020, ‘Most adults don't trust social advertising’, WARC, viewed 23 May 2021,
WARC database.

Iyer, P, Davari, A & Paswan, A 2018, ‘Determinants of brand performance: the role of
internal branding’, Journal of Brand Management, vol. 25, iss. 3, pp. 202-216.

Bernesson, E & Maric, M 2016, ‘Internal Communication in a Global Change Project’,

Bachelor thesis, University of Borås, <https://hb.diva-
portal.org/smash/get/diva2:968441/FULLTEXT01.pdf>. 

BrandBuddha n.d, ‘Why Internal Branding is Vital to your Branding Success’,

BrandBuddha, viewed 23 May 2021, <https://brandbuddha.com/internal-branding/>.

Schroeder, J 2006, ‘The cultural codes of branding’, Marketing Theory, vol. 9, iss. 1, pp.
123–126.

 
Topic #5: Accountability in communications; effectiveness, measurement &
evaluation

Within today’s marketing and communication atmosphere, the arrival of social and
digital channels has created irreversible changes in people's media consumption, which
ultimately alters the way marketing and advertising function (Kaushik 2012). These
media developments bring about new opportunities for brands, providing both short and
long-term benefits (WARC 2020). 

In recent years, best-performing brands are focusing more on applying creativity and
emotion to their campaign to achieve long-term effects (WARC 2020). However,
research from WARC (2020) suggests that most successful businesses today find it
necessary to balance between short and long-term effects. It is recommended that
short-term strategies should reinforce the long-term brand’s vision (Otaru 2019).
Furthermore, many also advise brands to ‘catch two birds with one stone’ during their
marketing and communication practices, rather than using the traditional customer
purchase funnel sequencing (WARC 2020). This can be achieved by incorporating
emotional and rational drivers together.

To achieve this balance, solid metrics for measurement are required (Loh et al. 2018).
Both long and short term strategies are beneficial for brands, however, their objectives
and measurement are different. While short-term strategies aimed at the immediate
objectives such as generating leads and boosting sales (Mills 2021), long-term
strategies often focus on the brand benefits in the long run such as building brand
loyalty and image (Sng 2011). Despite these contradictions, short and long-term
marketing strategies, as well as short and long-term effectiveness measurement, are
often intertwined in today’s industry, especially with the development of digital and
social platforms that can provide both long and short-term benefits for brands. New
evaluation metrics that can measure and reflect both long and short-term performance
such as share of search (WARC 2020) are emerging as a response to the close
connection of these factors.

References: 

WARC 2020, ‘What we know about long-term and short-term effectiveness’, WARC,
viewed 23 May 2021, WARC database.
 
Sng, M 2011, ‘Brand culture’, WARC, viewed 23 May 2021, WARC database.

Kaushik, R 2012, ‘Impact of Social Media on Marketing’, International Journal of

Computational Engineering & Management, Vol. 15, Iss. 2, pp. 91-95. 

Otaru, Y 2019, ‘B2B Marketing Strategies: Long-term vs Short-term’, Doqaru, viewed 23

May 2021, <https://doqaru.com/b2b-marketing-strategies-long-term-vs-short-term/>.

Mills, J 2021, ‘How to Maximize Short and Long-term Marketing Goals’, Elementthre,
blog post, 10 May, viewed 23 May 2021, <https://elementthree.com/blog/how-to-set-
short-and-long-term-marketing-goals/>.

Loh, E, Peyton, J, Gomez, P & Pokar, S 2018, ‘Measurement: balancing short term and
long term objectives is a fine art’, IAB Southeast Asia & India, viewed 23 May 2021,
<https://iabseaindia.com/analytics_balancing-short-long-term-objectives/>.
Topic #6: Design/co-design thinking

Among all the changes happening within the marketing landscape during the past
decade, changes within design thinking are among the most prominent. The changing
media landscape has given birth to new ideas and approaches, which broadens the
definition of design in the process (Ewer 2017). Today, design appears in almost every
corner of the marketing industry. It is no longer understood as a stand alone concept but
rather intertwined with other marketing disciplines, creating new marketing notions
(Ewer 2017). Chong (cited in Decker 2021) highlighted the importance of design,
suggesting that it ‘is about creating feasible, functional solutions to a variety of
problems, and always happens with a particular goal in mind’.

In today’s fragmented and complex media landscape, as people frequently engage with
social media, marketers have many chances to reach and communicate with their target
customers (Battman n.d). However, due to the bombardment of advertisement on these
platforms, the level of customer trust in advertising (Stewart 2020) and their attention
span is much lowered (Wertz 2019). This raises the first challenge for today’s
marketers, which is to find a way to capture user attention in a blink of an eye. Image
design, with its immediate, independent and instinctive nature, is proven to be among
the best answers (Ewer 2017). Other applications of design are also proved to be of
highly useful in terms of achieving both short and long-term
communication benefits for brands in this fragmented media landscape, namely
packaging design and campaign design (Ewer 2017). 

Even though the concept of design often involves aesthetics, it must not be considered
aesthetics. Its main purpose is to create, and in marketing, it is to create the immediate
communication between brands and consumers (Hollerup 2017). To achieve that link
within the existing fragmented and complex media landscape where consumers have
limited attention span, brands are recommended to follow a specific design guideline.
Ewer (2017) suggested several key points for brands to follow during the designing
process. Firstly, brands need to fully understand their target customers to arrive with a
suitable design. Secondly, brands need to be clear with what they are trying to
communicate. Last but not least, design should prioritize simplicity to effectively capture
the user's attention.  

References:

Decker, A 2021, ‘Everything You Need to Know About the Principles and Types of
Design’, Hubspot, blog post, 9 March, viewed 24 May 2021,
<https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/design>.

Ewer, K 2017, ‘How to use design in today's fragmented media mix’, WARC, viewed 24
May 2021, WARC database.

Battman, R n.d, ‘6 reasons social media can be effective for your business’, RBL,
viewed 24 May 2021, <https://rbl-brandagency.com/6-reasons-social-media-business/>.

Stewart, R 2020, ‘Advertising and social media face fresh trust issues amid global
crisis’, The Drum, viewed 22 May 2021,
<https://www.thedrum.com/news/2020/05/15/advertising-and-social-media-face-fresh-
trust-issues-amid-global-crisis>.

Wertz, J 2019, ‘The Number One Thing Marketers Need To Know To Increase Online
Sales’, Forbes, viewed 24 May 2021,
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/jiawertz/2019/08/31/the-number-one-thing-marketers-
need-to-know-to-increase-online-sales/?sh=4dddb0377fed>.

Hollerup, J 2017, ‘The Importance of Design in Your Marketing Efforts’, Power, blog
post, 29 November, viewed 24 May 2021, <https://powerdigitalmarketing.com/blog/the-
importance-of-design-in-your-marketing-efforts/#gref>.