Introduction to marketing communication

T O P I C 1

1. THE EVOLUTION OF MARKETING

1.1 Marketing communications history 1.3 Evolution of Marketing
• Earliest Communications
– 3000 BC - Babylonian tablet bearing
inscription of an ointment maker, a
scribe and a shoemaker
– 400 BC - Criers in ancient Greece
– 79 AD - Poster advertisements reserved
following Vesuvius eruption
• Ancient Greece and Rome offer good
examples of early Marcoms …
1.2 Advertising: A Different proposition
in the 19th Century
• P. T. Barnum was a pioneer in advertising
and promotion. Today
• His flamboyant circus posters were more
than just hype. What other roles did they
perform?

2. DIGITAL CONSUMER IN DIGITAL WORLD

2.1 Consumers in the XXI Century
2.2 Consumers Online and Offsite
Many consumer behavior principles that describe offline
buyer behavior also apply to online behavior.
– Scarcity
– Social proof / Popularity
– Liking
– Authority
– Consistency
– Reciprocity

2.3 Marketing Effort and its Outcome
2.4 Why to study marketing communication
• Making correct predictions on how
consumers respond to marketing
communication can generate €€€!
– Marketers need to know how
consumers make decisions and hoe
they perceive different aspects of MC
• Economic model of human decision
making
• People are often NOT “rational”
decision makers
– Limited cognitive capacities: heuristics,
rules of thumb
– Emotions and feelings
– Social influences

2.5 Do marketers create artificial needs?

Objective of marketing: create awareness that needs exist, not to create needs
• Need: a basic biological motive
• Want: one way that society has taught us that the need can be satisfied

2.6 Consumer Satisfaction

• Expectancy Disconfirmation Model Post-purchase satisfaction
– Consumers form beliefs about product
performance based on prior experience
with the product and/or communications
about the product that imply a certain level
of quality.
– If performance exceeds expectations,
consumers are satisfied and pleased.
– If performance falls below expectations, consumers are dissatisfied.
• This illustrates the importance of Managing Expectations - customer dissatisfaction is usually due
to expectations exceeding the company’s ability to deliver.
ACTING ON DISSATISFACTION:
• Marketers should encourage customers to complain in order to
avoid negative Word-of-Mouth (WOM)
• If customers are not happy with a product / service, they can:
- Voice response – appeal directly to the retailer
- Private response – boycotting or negative WOM to
friends
- Third-party response – legal actions, public WOM.

3. IRRATIONAL CONSUMERS
3.1 Rational or irrational?

Perceptions created by brand communications change people’s taste experience

4. NEW MARKETING TRENDS

4.1 Emerging Societal Trends
“Just-in-time” life: People like making decisions based on real-time information without much planning
Quality of life: In search of "enoughness" - Consumers are increasingly adopting simpler life-styles marked
by fewer material possessions and an increasing concern about quality of life.
Sharing: people like sharing and get benefits from it
Dialog and Co-creation: Co-creation - Due to increases in e-commerce and online communities, it is easier
for customers to communicate with each other, cooperate, and share information
Transparent consumers: there is more information about consumers available to product managers now
than ever before.

4.2 CSR Examples

• BM UK - Reinventing Education Partnership program Interactions and sharing of knowledge through
a web-based technology - the “Learning Village” software. Culture of openness and sharing of good
practice
• AVON - a partnership with Breakthrough Breast Cancer, and its Breast Cancer Crusade has raised
over 10 million pounds since its launch 12 years ago
• Google – Its Google Green is a corporate effort to use resources efficiently and support renewable
power.
• Dutch Railway – Since 2017 ALL trains run on sustainable energy, generated by newly constructed
wind farms. This is the first climate-neutral long distance travel system in the world.
• Häagen-Dazs - The company is donating to honeybee preservation research.
• Iceland Food (UK) 'No Palm Oil' story
4.3 Rethinking Marketing Strategy
From “Selling the Brand” to “Managing the customer”

4.4 Co-Creation
• In 2010 Unilever broke its long term relationship with agency Lowe and Partners.
• Instead Unilever opted to run a crowdsourcing competition in search for a new campaign.
• The competition attracted over 1200 entries and netted its winners a $10,000 cash prize.
• The result was a successful and innovative campaign that reduced Unilever's costs by nearly 60%
of its regular marketing budget.

5. MC AND PANDEMICS: THE END/START?

5.1 Consumers moved online
• Consumers switched to online (e.g.,
social media, retailers, food)
• Consumers overcame their fears (e.g.,
online payments)
• Consumers became more engaged with
social media
• Consumers search for more online
entertainment
• Cashless culture
Þ Companies should invest in online
presence and communication
5.2 Covid and Communication
• Make communication and the dialogue with
clients easier
• Understand fears of your clients and offer a
solution (e.g., Amazon).
• Stay in touch with clients. Show that you care.
• Be positive! Promotion focus! (“You can do!
And we will help you!”)
• Show what is available now (instead of what is
not)
• Make personalized communication (e.g., a
note on delivery “Thank you for being with
us!”)
• Forget about abstract communication! Be
specific!
• Don’t just talk but show what you do and how
• Be creative

6. WHAT MC IS
6.1 Marketing communications or ‘marcoms’
‘The means by which a supplier of goods, services, values and/or ideas represents itself to its target
audience with the goal of stimulating dialogue leading to better commercial or other relationships’.

6.2 Integrated Marketing communications

• Is the coordination and integration of all marketing communication
tools, avenues, and sources within a company into a seamless program
which maximizes the impact on consumers and other end-users at a
minimal cost.
• The IMC includes all business-to-business (B2B), channel, customer,
external communications, and internal communications.
The Components of Promotion
Marcoms tools
6.3 Marcoms tools
Advertising
A non-personal form of mass communication with a high degree of control over design and placement
but potentially a low degree of persuasion and credibility. It is never either neutral or unbiased.

Sales Promotion
The use of incentives to generate a specific (usually
short-term) response. Capable of targeting and with a
high degree of control over design and placement.
Generally regarded as having low credibility although
cause-related promotions may have a very positive
effect. They are seen to add value for consumers but
may bring forward future sales.

Personal Selling
An inter-personal tool where individuals, often
representing an organisation, interact ‘in order to
inform, persuade, or remind an individual or group to
take appropriate action, as required by the sponsors’
(Fill 2013)

Public Relations
‘The art and social science of analysing trends, predicting their consequences, counselling organisations’
leadership and implementing planned programmes of action which will serve both the organisation’s and
the public’s interest’ (The Bee 1952)

6.4 Advertising’s Basic Functions

Identification Identifies a product and/or the store where it’s sold.
Information New printing technology made commercial messages available to the masses
Persuasion With widespread marketing, recognizable brand names became more important.

KEY COMPONENTS OF ADVERTISING?

1. Strategy The logic behind an advertisement stated in objectives that focus on areas such as sales,
emotional appeal, or brand reputation.
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.
4. Evaluation Based on strategic objectives and professional standards.
Effectiveness means meeting the stated objectives, which can be determined only if evaluation is built
into the strategy.

TYPES OF ADVERTISING?
• Brand advertising Focused on long-term brand identity and image.
• Retail or local advertising Focused on selling merchandise in a geographical area.
• Direct-response advertising Tries to stimulate an immediate customer response.
• Business-to-business (B2B) advertising Sent from one business to another.
• Institutional advertising Establishes a corporate identity; attempts to win the public over to the
organization’s point of view.
• Nonprofit advertising Used by not-for-profit organizations to reach customers, members, volunteers,
and donors.
• Public service advertising Usually produced and run for free on behalf of a good cause.
• Specialized advertising Used to address specific areas such as health care, green marketing,
international campaigns.

ROLES OF ADVERTISING
Marketing communication role It transforms a product into a distinctive brand by creating a brand image.
Economic and societal roles
• Advertising works to create demand for brands and lower prices for consumers.
• Advertising shapes our self-image and sense of style through things we wear and use.

SO WHAT IS ADVERTISING GOOD FOR?

1. Advertising helps defend against private labels
2. Advertising increases brand awareness
3. Advertising is crucial for new-product and product line launches
(Lodisch and Mela 2007)
4. Advertising reduces cyclical sensitivity in performance
(Deleersnijder et al. 2009)
5. Advertising helps increase baseline sales (volume premium)
(Lodish and Mela 2007)
6. Advertising reduces price sensitivity
(Boulding et al. 1994)
7. Advertising helps defend against product-harm crises
(Van Heerde et al. 2007)
8. Signal value to other stakeholders

6.5 Communications noise

• Talking on the phone during a commercial on television (1/3 of consumers)
• Driving while listening to the radio
• Looking at a sexy model in a magazine ad and ignoring the message and brand
• Scanning a newspaper for articles to read
• Talking to a passenger as the car passes billboards
• Scrolling past Internet ads without looking at them
• Being annoyed by ads on a social media site
• Ignoring tweets on Twitter because they are irrelevant
• Being offended by the message on a flyer for a local business.