DIGITAL

marketing CAMPAIGN

MAY 1, 2018
University College Birmingham
Sophia Carvajal Ruiz – Student ID : CAR17100084
Contents Page

Introduction
2

Situation Analysis

SWOT Analysis
3
Market Trrends
4
Digital Inventory and Content Audit
4
Customer Insight
5

SMART Objectives
5
Target Audience
5 -6
Key Message and Creative
6-8
Key Media Channels
8 - 10

Evaluation
10

Conclusion
11

Reference List
12 - 14

1
Introduction
The Taj Express musical is the story of a man’s passion and other man’s genius. Young
composer Shankar struggles with his music, and it is only when he begins to follow in the
footsteps of his idol, A.R. Rahman who discovers his path to success. This production reveals
the secrets of the world’s most prolific film industry. This musical blends explosive dance
with the hits of India’s most iconic composers and Bollywood stars. It will take place at the
Birmingham Hippodrome which is the most popular auditorium theatre welcoming, over
500,000 visitors every year (Birmingham Hippodrome, 2018).

The main objective of this marketing plan for the Birmingham Hippodrome is to create
promotional material for the ‘Taj Express’ musical in the selected social media channels and
conventional marketing platforms within a three-months period campaign. Starting with an
analysis of the internal environment of the company (SWOT table), what trends are in the
current market from a local and nationally point of view. Using SMART objectives will help
to evaluate and measure the integrated marketing strategies, such as social media platforms
and posters in local stores. A marketing plan will be driven for a specific target audience (16-
24 year-olds ethnically diverse), which it will determine the key messages and creative
material (pictures, hashtags) that will be published using the marketing mix - considering
price and promotion, mostly. Finally, an evaluation will take place by looking at the
hashtags’ data collected during the campaign.

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Situation Analysis
SWOT Analysis
Strengths Weaknesses

Birmingham Hippodrome is the most Limited financial resources

popular and busiest theatre in the UK
over 500,000 visitors (VisitBirmingham,
2018).
Poor online presence

Variety of programmes offered to the

public. Limited employees

Brand name Lack of diversity at board level, which

much of the choices may be taken by the
senior executives (Art Council, 2018)

Members are well-educated in areas of

expertise.
Opportunities Threats

Collaboration with the local council and Mature markets

organisation for social activities.

Competition of other form of

New Markets entertainment

Development of infrastructure Changing trends

Good reviews of current productions Some bad reviews of current production.

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 Market Trends
The following is a short list of the market trends in terms of Asian musicals or dances, public
social events in the community and organisations that are in the local area of Birmingham:
Chinese New Year - it has been one of the biggest festivals in Birmingham which attracts
up to 30,000 people every year. This event usually takes place in the Chinese Quarter on the
nearest weekend to the date of the new year (Bentley, 2018).
Sampad - Music, dance and theatre productions, continue to promote and encourage British
Asian arts after 27 years to the community in Birmingham (Sampad, 2018).
SHEN YUN – World’s premier classical Chinese dance company, which will perform in
Birmingham in May (Anon. 2018).
Vaisakhi – Free family event that takes place in Handsworth Park where it is celebrated the
Sikh nation’s collective birthday (Anon. 2018).
Birmingham Indian Film Festival – Indian and South Asian independent cinema, reflects
the linguistic diversity of Birmingham’s Indian and South Asian communities
(Sawhney, 2018).

Digital inventory and content audit

It can be shown that The Birmingham Hippodrome has online presence in different platforms,
as listed below. However, after auditing all of them it can be concluded that the organisation
does not have a very good content in most of their online channels (Twitter, Facebook,
Instagram, YouTube), besides the Website and the Blogs & News it is the main and strongest
online platform the Hippodrome has compared to the rest. According to Gardner (2018), a
survey was carried out by the Society of London Theatre into the effect of internet and social
media on theatregoing, which it showed that 65% of the people that took the survey said that
social media helped them to decide whether to go to the theatre and which show to choose,
even more likely to book it online. From this article, it can be said that the Birmingham
Hippodrome’s digital content could be improved in each platform, even
more considering targeting to future audiences, such as younger and ethnically diverse
audience, by using more eye-catching images, videos and banners, hashtags, filters, online
adverts, etc according to what the show that want to promote and what sort of audience to
reach in order to sell out a show in particular.

 Website (Birmingham Hippodrome 2018)

 Facebook page (Birmingham Hippodrome 2018)
 Twitter account (Birmingham Hippodrome 2018)
 YouTube Channel (Birmingham Hippodrome 2018)

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  Instagram account (Birmingham Hippodrome 2018)
 LinkedIn profile (Birmingham Hippodrome, 2018)
 Blogs & News (Birmingham Hippodrome 2018)

Customer Insight
According to Snow (2018), it is suggested that data collected from the Audience Agency’s
research, shows that the theatre audiences ages was between 65 and 74 and identified as the
largest age group. Also, it is estimated that 40% of English households attend the theatres. On
the other hand, on the report published by the Arts Council England (2016) Purple Seven
Analysis revealed that 3-4% of bookers were Asian/Asian British and 1% Black/Black British
outside London. Snow (2016) pointed out that young audience tend to look at other art
forms more engaging, more contemporary too, which it can reflect why a younger audience
would not go to the theatre regularly. While Arts Council England (2016) demonstrates that
there was a slight ‘catching-up’ of younger age groups; between 2011/12 and 14/15 three age
groups increased the number of bookings:
 18-25 grew 16%
 26-30 years old grew by 19%
 31-40 years old increased by 17%.

SMART Objectives
 To organise a marketing plan in order to promote the Bollywood Musical ‘Taj
Express’ at the Birmingham Hippodrome to a younger audience, ethnically
diverse and first-time attenders that live within a 20-mile radius of Birmingham.
 To analyse the current situation of the Hippodrome internally and externally, e.g.
customer insight, SWOT analysis, content audit, digital inventory, etc.
 To create graphics and community engaging activities in order to promote the event in
Birmingham.
 Set a timetable for each promotional material with a time line of 3 months before the
show is launched in September.
 To monitor each promotional online campaign weekly by looking at hashtags, likes,
comments and mentions.
 To keep record of online tickets sales.
 Send online surveys to analyse the method of awareness of the show (online post,
banner, flyer, word of mouth, etc.) and its effectiveness from customers who attended the
show.

Target Audience
The target audience for this particular show presented at the Birmingham Hippodrome is 16-
24 years of age, ethnically diverse and first attenders audience, according to Macpherson,
Marketing and Development Director at the Birmingham Hippodrome (2018). Moreover, as
it is expected to reach this audience, it would be a challenge for the company, since the

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age and the ethnicity group it is very different from the usual theatregoers the Hippodrome
has had over the years. Nonetheless, using the strategies from this marketing plan it would be
able to reach the groups mentioned earlier and guarantee the Hippodrome expand its brand to
a bigger and more diverse audience.

Key Messages and Creative

For this marketing plan, it has to be considered predominantly the age and the ethnicity of the
audience that will be reached, which are ethnically diverse age from 15-24 years of
age, according to Macpherson (2018) Marketing and Development Director at the
Birmingham Hippodrome. This is of much importance, because it will determine that the
online channels as the main marketing strategy to be used in order to promote the show. This
will take for a three-month timeline prior the show in September 2018.

Firstly, the key messages that are planned to be sent across to the target audience are going to
be taken mainly from online reviews: Taj Express' Facebook page, online articles
of newspapers and Bollywood stars comments. Showing these reviews from
relevant sources in the digital platforms will make a bigger impact to the
target audience. According to Kruh (2017), in the 2017 Global Online Consumer Report,
he stated that after online advertising, the most common sources of product awareness were
online reviews. Also, it the report was demonstrated that a 56% of Millennials did research
for reviews and recommendation more likely than the 48% of Millennials that the visited
the company website. Smith and Mangold, 2018 cited that "Millennials are influenced by
online reviews which and which online venues they are most often using to voice their
opinions". Some reviews that will be published:

"High-energy, tongue-in-cheek dance " Hutera from The Times (2018)

"Who would think that a Van Halen-style rock guitarist could work so perfectly
with tabla accompaniment? In Bollywood, of course, everything is possible!" Siegel
from The Moring Call (2018)

"If you want a flavour of Bollywood, this is the answer!" User on Facebook page (2018)

"Sing-a-long tracks like ‘Chammak Challo’ and ‘Bang Bang’ to Slumdog Millionaire’s
‘Jai Ho’. " Begum-Hossain from Asian Culture Vulture (2018)

"It's a love story that will touch a chord with everybody who sees it" Rani Mukherjee

"An International Show – a must see." Salman Khan

"Amazing, magnificent, most entretaining show." Ranweer Singh

One of the creative material designed for this campaign in order to send across to the target
audience are pictures. Showing the main character of the show, who are Shankar Kareena

6
Kaboom, Dhruv Bhandari and Shruti Merchant would make it more interesting because are
most known by young Asian population. Also, it can be shown a world map pinned with the
places where the show has taken place, for instance Dubai, France, United Kingdom, Turkey,
Hong Kong, Thailand, Tunisia, Russia and the United States. This will
help the target audience understand that it is an International musical and it has performance
in important and relevant theatres as mentioned before (Tajexpressthemusical.com, 2018). A
Simple banner of the show with an intriguing costume showing the date and place of the
show it will take place in Birmingham.

Kareena Kaboom Dhruv Bhandari Shruti

Merchant

The use of hashtags is also an effective way to promote and engage with the target
audience. Laestadius and Wahl (2017) suggest that corporate marketers also create their own

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hashtags and use them in print and online advertising, and it is easier to monitor social media
posts that word-o-mouth. The hashtags that could be used in social media for the Taj Express
campaign will have different purposes, which will be explained in the Promotion
section within the Marketing Mix. The hashtags are as followed:
#FindTheTajTicketsChallenge
#TheTajExperience
#BollywoodInBrmingham

Key Media Channels

Product
The main product to advertise in this marketing plan is the musical dance 'Taj Express' at the
Birmingham Hippodrome. According to Rhine (2018) in order to create a produce there must
be a market research in order to determine where something is missing in the marketplace.
Also, the author mentions that new products and new services are introduced when a need is
identified, which is the case of the Birmingham Hippodrome where the organisation wants to
reach to an ethnically diverse younger audience by promoting this show, so them could start
going to the theatre more regularly.
Place
Rhine (ibid) continued mention that the theatre itself is the actual place where the product, in
this case the Taj Express show, is consumed, which is the Birmingham Hippodrome.
However, the author kept mentioned that tickets outlets and tickets brokers are another form
of distribution channel, as online purchase options. Hippodrome's website, social media are
also minor places where the product is going to be consumed. Since the Birmingham
Hippodrome does not have an online application, the tickets can be sold online by the
website, nonetheless, the company could be an app where customers can buy the tickets for
this show (and future ones) also showing where they were allocated in the theatre.

Price
It could be said that price is the most common factor on decision-making process when
buying a product or service. In a report done by KPMG International (2018), their Global
Chair Willy Kruh, pointed out that price is the most common consideration when consumers
are deciding to buy. In the report continued to show that Millennials were more likely
to choose a vendor based on a price than website preference. This reason could be because
this generation group have low incomes, however, Millennials were mostly dragged to buy a
product if one of its attribute is best price against other competitors in consideration. Also, in
the same report it was showed that the Asian population were driven to purchase a product is
price/promotion after the brand awareness.
For the Taj Express' marketing plan, the Birmingham Hippodrome must consider that the
target audience (Millennials – ethnically diverse, specifically Asian) are going to bear in
mind how much they would expend on tickets to see the show, due to most of them would be
College/University students which under their financial priorities are other type of
entertainment where they expend their money, another scenario could be families with low
incomes where they cannot afford theatres tickets for the entire family. The price ticket that

8
the Hippodrome estimated for the show is between the range of £12-28, this is a good price
rage for the target market. Nevertheless, it can be offered promotions, such as: 5-10%
discount to students with valid student ID cards, 10% for families (+4 members), a
promotional offer of £40 for two people including 5% discount on drinks.

Promotion
Tran (2018) pointed out that the top social platforms used by the age group mentioned
previously are YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. Therefore, it can be
said that the most effective way to send the key messages and key words are images, videos
and hashtags. The idea behind the hashtag #FindTheTajTicketsChallenge, specifically, is to
interact with the young population by posting on IG Stories and Snapchat pictures of
ambassadors (2 people per point, 20 tickets given) allocated around Birmingham, who are
going to dress in similar customs as the Show and hold two tickets for the
show. The followers have of 30 minutes to find them. When they see the ambassadors, they
will record themselves dancing or singing with the ambassadors 'Jai Ho' holding the tickets
and uploading it their social media using the hashtag.
These promotional tactics will be posted in the online platforms of the Hippodrome.
However, it has to be considered traditional marketing channels as well. They will be relevant
for promoting this musical. In addition, some traditional channels have been chosen to
promote the show, these are: radio commercials, billboards posted in specific post
codes where these target audiences live and billboards on specific bus routes (Aston,
Small Heath, Handsworth, Sparkhill and flyers in local shops.
The timeline for promoting Taj Express is a period of three months prior the premier in
September 2018. Social media channels are a good way to begin the campaign with. The
following will show when, where and how the promotional material is going to take
place (coloured messages to highlight the task to do. Yellow = date, green = creative
material, purple = place of promotion, blue = hashtags):

May
 every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of the last two weeks of the
month posting images on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages (link of the
Hippodrome website in each profile),
using hasghtags #TheTajExperience and #BollyInBirmingham.

June
 Same days as May during the whole month post images and short
videos on Facebook, Twitter
and Instagram using hasghtags #TheTajExperience and #BollyInBirmingham.
 Sunday 10th post billboards on buses that go to 11c, 16, 6 and 59S routes.
 Sunday 10th print and paste A1 posters outside convenience stores (with
permission) around Aston, Small Heath, Handsworth, Sparkhill.
July

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  Keep posting material on social
media (hasghtags #TheTajExperience and #BollyInBirmingham).
 Post in IG Stories and Snapchat paid adverts.

August
 Everyday images, videos and adverts on social media
(hasghtags #TheTajExperience and #BollyInBirmingham)
 28th promote the #FindTheTajTicketsChallenge.
 Post in IG Stories and Snapchat paid adverts
September
 1st- 10th beginning of the #FindTheTajTicketsChalenge.
 images and videos in social media channels. Post in IG Stories and Snapchat paid
adverts.
 11th - 15th post last minute tickets post on social media.

Evaluation
The usage of hashtags is currently the most effective way to measure a
digital marketing campaign, such as Taj Express. There are three hashtags for this campaign
that will be used for different purposes, times and online platforms. For Twitter, Facebook
and Instagram there are metrics that determine if the hashtag was successful or not (Simply
Measured, 2018). For Instagram it has to be considered the number of mentions (posts and
Stories), potential impressions and posting times and dates. Twitter is similar with the
number of mentions, potential impressions adding relative volume by
term. Facebook recommendations for analysing data are number of
posts/comments including the hashtag, keyword companions and relative by channel.

Conclusion

To sum up, this report aimed to promote the Taj Express musical to a new younger audience
From diverse ethnicities. It can be said that the Birmingham Hippodrome wants to expand
their
target market by bringing new and diverse shows, such as this musical. Since this is a digital
era, most of the campaign was designed to be on the digital platforms that the venue has in
order to reach better, quicker and easier to the audience. One of the strategies proposed on
this marketing plan was the idea of a challenge using a hashtag, this strategy will catch the
younger audience’s attention, because it would be conducted in the Hippodrome’s social

10
media channels. Finally, there were found some disadvantages during the content audit and it
was the lack of digital presence that the Hippodrome has. By the time this marketing plan
takes
place, there should be an increase of followers due to a constant interaction with the followers
in this campaign.

Reference List
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