INTERNET EXERCISES

Chapter 18: Marketing Communications Strategy

Exercise #1 - Marketing Communications is One of the Most Interesting and Exciting Elements of the Marketing Mix
Exercise #2 - Promotion Can Be the Toughest Job for Small Businesses

Exercise #1 – Marketing Communications is One of the Most Interesting and Exciting Elements of the Marketing Mix

Vignette: Infiniti Canada launched the G35, its new high performance luxury sedan, with a multi-media campaign that allowed the brand to achieve outstanding sales in its first year.

The Communications Challenge is What to Stand for and How to Stand Out
Infiniti Canada had an interesting problem. It had a new car to launch, the G35. This car had the makings of a flagship product, but its target market often preferred European brands and competition was heavy. How could they get people to listen and learn about the G35? The solution was to position the brand as an awe-inspiring performance vehicle. This positioning was communicated via multiple executions of aggressive but sophisticated creativity. It was also supported with heavy media weight including advertising in newspapers, magazines, outdoor, and the Internet. The strength of this campaign resulted in the brand exceeding its first year sales target by a remarkable +57%.

Activity

1. Tour the featured Web site for Infiniti Canada. Note how the G35 and the other Infiniti models are positioned in the car market.
   

2. According to the Marketing Communications model provided in Figures 18.2 and 18.3, an Internet Web site is a “transfer mechanism.” Look at the Infiniti Web site and consider how the company has encoded the message they wish to transfer to consumers (i.e., the positioning you defined above). Notice both the verbal and nonverbal aspects of their encoding. Has the message been encoded well? For example, what is your opinion of the wording they have used? The pictures? The font? How would recommend improving the encoding of their message?
   

3. Marketing communications are designed to achieve a marketing communications objective. The text lists several typical objectives: providing information, increasing demand, differentiating the product, accentuating the value of the product, stabilizing sales, building a positive corporate image, and producing sales. Which one of these is the primary communications objective behind the Infiniti Web site? Does the company have an obvious second or third objective that it is trying to achieve with this Web site?
   

4. The text lists a number of common complaints about marketing communications, from the belief that advertising contributes nothing to society to stereotyping salespeople and advertisers as usually being unethical. Does the Infiniti Web site, as an example of marketing communications, support any of the common complaints listed in the text?

Resources

European car manufacturers:

Audi: – Audi’s “world site”; includes financial performance information for both Audi and Lamborghini

Volvo: – Volvo’s main site; includes extensive market share and financial performance information

Industry magazines covering marketing communications news:

Marketing Magazine: – Canada’s premier marketing industry magazine, published weekly; contains extensive data about marketing communication spending in Canada

Advertising Age: – the premier industry magazine in the U.S.

Exercise 2 – Promotion Can Be the Toughest Job for Small Businesses

How to Get People into an Antique Store
Take-A-Boo Emporium is an eclectic antique shop in Toronto, Ontario, owned and operated by Martin and Andrea Swinton, a husband and wife team. While many people think that finding antiques is the hardest part of Andrea and Martin’s business, it isn't.
According to Andrea and Martin, the hardest part of starting Take-A-Boo was finding customers. Like many small businesses, Take-A-Boo Emporium had no advertising budget when it opened a couple of years ago (and still doesn’t). Andrea and Martin both spend many hours promoting the business, and are constantly looking for promotion opportunities. Their extensive and ongoing efforts have paid off and the business is growing steadily.

Activity

1. Tour the featured Web site for Take-A-Boo Emporium (www.takeaboo.com). Look under “About Us” for a listing of and links to promotional support they have received. Additional information on their promotional activity is available at the Small Business Info Canada Web site (www.sbinfocanada.about.com/library/weekly/aa083101a.htm). Review the material in the text on The Marketing Communications Mix and categorize each of their promotional efforts as being (a) either personal selling or nonpersonal communication, and (b) under nonpersonal selling, as being advertising, sales promotion, point-of-purchase communications, public relations, or sponsorship marketing.
   

2. Review the section of Chapter 18 entitled “Factors Affecting Use of Marketing Communications Mix Elements” and determine which of the seven factors listed influenced the Swintons’ marketing mix selections.

   
   

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