Sunday 27 November 2011

Questions on TNS Global

Task 2

 
                             



1.      
How effective is the communication?
-          I believe the system TNS global uses to answer any questions is very effective. They provide links to show background information and what their purpose is.

2.       What types of communication does it include?
-          TNS global use things like videos, blogs, company contacts, case studies and brochures to communicate. I believe this is very helpful as it points the reader in the right direction in what they are looking for. In addition to all of this, in some cases the user can download a variety of different things like the company brochure. The contacts that the company have provided are trust worthy and willing to help. To get hold of one of them the website simply lets you send them a message and the contact receiving it may respond shortly.

3.       What are the positives of using this type of communication?
-          All the information online provides the user with a big look into the company within. So I believe this is a positive because it makes the user feel a part of something before anything has been confirmed. By using videos as a way to get to the target audience, I believe TNS must have benefited from people watching them because it explains information about the company in detail. Blogs are also used on the website to let the public interact with each other and staff working for the company. This may lead to back to back feedback.   

4.       What are the drawbacks of using this type of communication?
-          Through personal experience, I had not heard of TNS global before visiting their website. I believe the main drawback is that the company has not made themselves noticeable through the use of television and radio advertising .

5.       How can TNS global improve their communication in the future?
-          As I said above, I believe TNS global may benefit through the use of more advertisement options. If done correctly, they may increase the numbers of the public who know about them and the brands they provide.

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Summary

Summary
To advertise my blog I have used three techniques. They are through Print, Email and Video. The whole purpose of this summary is to give new employees glimpse into what it would be like working for Storm Trooper research. Below I will write information on the three techniques and why I chose them.   
Advertisement through a Printed flyer
A flyer is a great way to interact with people. It gives the person handing them out to get up close with the people who may eventually take an interest in what the flyer has to say. I chose a printed flyer because it is the most common and effective way to get someone’s attention. If the flyer is laid out appropriately and everything is well, the reader may have an interest
Here is the flyer I created using Microsoft Publisher;
As you can see, I chose to lay out the flyer so that I got the most important information out first.
Advertisement through the use of email
Advertising through email, is one of the easiest ways to advertise. A huge majority of people use email every day and if sent out to the right people, it means it may spread further than just your own contacts.
Here is the email flyer I created using Microsoft Publisher;
I used a similar design for my email flyer. I changed a few colours and moved the images around, but I believe it has resulted in a positive outcome. It is eye catching and I think worth a read. I included a screenshot of an article off of the blog itself so they have to visit the blog for more information.
Advertisement through the use of Video
My final advertisement strategy was through the use of video. In my video I included pretty much the same information as I did in the previous two. I also added music and a few visual effects to make it more interesting.
Here is my video is created using Windows Movie Maker;
I made sure I introduced myself and my role in the company and later on in the video gave the audience a link to the blog itself.

Thursday 17 November 2011

Marketing plan for Brain Food by George Askew


Marketing Plan for “Brain Food”

I. Introduction
In this marketing plan we will outline our product, our competitors, our pricing and projections.
II. The Challenge (Task 1)
As a pair we have been given the task of inventing a new product for Kellogg’s. The product we have chosen to create is a breakfast bar made with Kellogg’s Cornflakes with a thin layer of milk chocolate and a range of different flavoured fruit depending on which multi pack has been purchased. The product has been given the name “Brain Food”.
As a company, our main goal would be to infiltrate the market and have a ten per cent market share.
Our secondary goal would be to break even over a course of the first year.
III. Situation analysis
Company analysis –
Kellogg’s was founded in 1906 by Will Keith Kellogg and younger brother John Harvey Kellogg under the name Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company. Their product was a huge success and in 1922 they changed the name of the company to Kellogg’s. Between 1969 and 1977, Kellogg's took over various small businesses including Salad Foods, Fearn International, Mrs. Smith's Pies, Eggo, and Pure Packed Foods. In 1983 Kellogg’s market share hit an all-time low so to counter this dip in market share Kellogg’s changed their primary target market from children to adults. By 1988 Kellogg’s had expanded the cereal market from $3.7 B to $5.4 B. They also introduced new products such as Crispies, Raisin Squares, and Nutri-Grain Biscuits.

Customer analysis –
Our target market is 14-21 year old single males who are still living at home with their parents. In this case the customer and consumer is not the same person. In this case the customer is generally the parents who are buying supplies for the entire house. As the customer is the parent it is important for Brain Food to have nutritional value as parents will be concerned what they are feeding their children. If Brain Food successfully convinces customers that it has nutritional value then the product should be a success and the customer will; buy the products for the consumer.
Climate –
With the current economic climate (the recession), people want to spend as little as possible but gaining the same amount of quality at the same time for the things they buy. Prices are rising due to inflation on almost everything including cereal. The government is not as stable as usual due to the fact there is a coalition in power at the moment. This means that the decision making process is delayed due to the two different parties in control. When eating breakfast, most people/families do not eat together at the table as they would at dinner. They would most likely eat on the go, hence the idea for a breakfast bar. With new technology being introduced annually, advertising is made easier for promoting businesses/products. This makes advertising more efficient as more people should see the advertisement. Advertisement is most known to be through the likes of T.V, Radio and online. Only recently has it been introduced through the likes of telephones and applications on smart phones.  
S.W.O.T analysis –
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
Strengths – Has a long shelf life and doesn’t need to be kept in a fridge, this will increase profits as costs have been cut because fridges aren’t being used.
Weaknesses – Breakfast bars have been made before so Brain food bars will have to stand out in order to attract consumers.
Opportunities – Brain food can be sold in more venues as it doesn’t need to be stored in fridges. Distribution costs are cut also due to this.
Threats – A raise in tax and costs may occur at any given time. This may affect Brain Food as it will have less disposable income to spend on its business.
IV. Market Segmentation
Segment 1.
The Primary group Brain Food will be aimed at will be 17-21 year old male students. They will be single, will still live at home with their parents and drive a 1.1 Saxo. They will be heavy gamers and will have an income of roughly £6-8000 a year. They will most likely drink WKD, play and watch football and should have a high disposable income. They will have very few commitments and will spend a lot of their time doing social activities at places like the cinema, pubs and nightclubs. Their favourite TV show will be match of the day, the inbetweeners and misfits. The majority of their income will be spent on things like car insurance, mobile phones and clothes.
Segment 2.
The Secondary group Brain Food will be aimed at will be 14-16 year old single male students who will also live at home with their parents. They will have a low income of £2000 a year and will be heavy games console users. They will have a low disposable income and will most likely drink Coke. They will be highly brand drives and will have a high awareness of being ‘cool’. They will have no commitments and will spend most of their time watching TV shows like skins and holly oaks and spend time socially at the cinema and hanging out with friends. Parents will control all purchasing as they are still school students.
V. Alternative Marketing Strategies
A good way to boost brand awareness is to sponsor football teams. This Is a good way for advertising, as each football team have a large amount of followers and fans. These fans will see the advertisement on television or even hear it on the radio and may even endorse the product themselves. The negative side to this that sponsoring football teams can be extremely expensive.
Another way to get Brain Food out and known by the public is to advertise through television. A good way to do this is to either sponsor a program or advertise during Program breaks. The downside to this is that this also costs quite a sum of money to make it effective.
One final way to get a product out for the public to inspect is to use advertisement through the internet. Websites, pop ups and banners can all be used throughout the web.  To create a website a small fee will be needed to be able to upload your website. The fee will cover things like the domain name and even an email address especially for your business.

VI. Selected Marketing Strategy
We have chosen to advertise through the internet as it is a rapidly expanding platform through which we can advertise to the rest of the world at relatively cheap prices. Other methods we were considering were sponsoring football teams and advertising via television. We decided on advertising via the internet as it is the cheapest method of the 3. 
4 P’s:
Product: Brain food cereal bars.
Place: Supermarkets, off licenses, petrol stations and corner shops will all stock brain food.
Price: 40p per single bar. £1.29 per pack of 5. £2.59 per promotional pack of 12.
Promotion: We can offer customers a deal of 12 bars for the price of 10. We will sell Brain Food in single packs, packs of 5 and promotional pack of 12 for the price of 10.
VII. Short and Long term Projections
Year 1: Turnover of £150,000. Profit of £50,000
Year 3: Turnover of £400,000. Profit of £133,333.33
Year 5: Turnover of £700,000. Profit of £233,333.33
Year 10: Turnover of £2,000,000. Profit of £666,666.66
VIII. Conclusion
In conclusion to our business plan, Brain Food is aimed at teenagers who mostly skip breakfast. We at Brain Food want to change this and bring them into a routine of eating our cereal bars on the go. We want to start by  having a turnover of £150,000 in the first year through sales at various shops and stores.

Thursday 13 October 2011

Introducing the basics of marketing for Stormtrooper research

1`






During this blog entry i am going to guide you through different marketing methods used by Diesel and Kelloggs to gain more customers.

Below is an example of the Ansoff matrix:


Market penetration - Selling a current product customers trust in home territory.

Product development - Selling a new product in home territory.

Market development - Selling a current product in new territory.

Diversification - Selling a new product in a new territory.


By using the Ansoff matrix, i am going to explain how each section has an influence in both Diesel and Kellogg's marketing strategies.

 Kellogg's
Kellogg's are a multinational breakfast cereal producing company and was founded by Will Keith Kellogg.
Will Keith Kellogg created and founded the company in 1906. Kellogg's is most famous for their own brand cornflakes. kellogg's cornflakes remain among the most popular of their kind to this very day.
William Keith Kellogg (Early 1900's)

























Diesel
Diesel are another multinational company who specialise in clothing and items that reflect on a persons        lifestyle. Diesel was founded by a man called Renzo Rosso in the year 1978 in Italy. From the Beginning, Rosso set out to change the way people wore clothing, he took the risk of creating a different style of jeans and wore them to promote them. it worked.

Diesel Founder Renzo Rosso Wants to Give Obama Some Jeans
Renzo Rosso

















How market penetration applies to Kellogg's:
Market penetration applies to Kellogg's because they are a well known brand and are famous for making and selling a variety of cereals including cornflakes and coco pops in the United Kingdom. For example; if Kellogg's were producing a product to be sold in the UK, their target customers would be UK residents. If Kellogg's wished to grow their business even further, they could do this by increasing the targeted number of customers who would then continue business. I believe the best way to enter a new market would be to gain competitors customers.

How market penetration applies to Diesel:
Market penetration applies to Diesel as they are well known for high demands for their products all over the world. Products including jeans, accessories and fragrances. Diesel can improve their market share by offering better customer services or promotional information within the markets they are already a part of. Penetration marketing is mostly aimed at selling the same products to the same audience. I believe Diesel started off this way and moved onto selling world wide. Diesel eventually achieved this.

How product development is applied to Kellogg's:
Kellogg's are famous for their huge range of cereals and new creations. In the past Kellogg's have created a different range of cereals which relate to men, women and children. They were responsible for giving men Kellogg's cornflakes, women special K and children Coco Pops. a lot of thought and preparation had gone into these ideas and not only does the cereal have to be designed, but the packaging and advertisement also. Kellogg's are also responsible for making their own cereals bars out of some of their favoured cereals like Frosties, Crunchy nut and Coco pops. New creations which do not involve an original cereal are also available through the likes of a Nutri grain bar or a Squares bar. all the above can be classed as product development because they all started off as a "new idea". Product development is the second stage to market penetration, as you develop over time and improve your business through new ideas but at the same time using the same target audience you started off with.
















How product development is applied to Diesel:
As said about Kellogg's, product development happens over time and can be reffered to as the second stage after market penetration. Diesel have improved their sales by coming up with (as i like to call) weird and wonderful products. With Diesel constantly bringing out new products, they must conduct market research with the public. From this they can then develop the new products and release what they believe the public wants. Diesel are responsible for creating normal common products like a T-shirt or leather jacket, but then they are capable and not afraid for making slightly more bizzar items like a bicycle helmet. Product development is a must in making a successful bussiness, it is vital that the business introduces new products to keep customers interested and coming back for more. For example; diesel could try something even more out of the ordinary and create a new type of hand soap with the brand logo stamped on the top. This idea may interest people into trying the product as it is unusual.









A Diesel bicycle helmet











How market development is applied to Kellogg's
I think its safe to say that Kellogg's have have successfully sold their products in the UK. And may now move on to other markets (countries) using the same product to see if it has the same affect and whether it is a money making opportunity. For example; Kellogg's may want to try their hand at making sales in Malaysia. Malaysian people may take liking to the Kellogg's brand over leading cereals in their country. Kellogg's could do this but it would be at their own risk. If the plan is executed correctly, they can then continue to spread the Kellogg's brand across other parts of the world.





How market development is applied to Diesel:
Diesel already have an absolutely huge name for them self and are currently spread across the planet. but why stop if you can go further?. If Diesel wish to expand even further on earth they could open up stores in countries in Africa for instance. The only risk would be GDP (Gross domestic product). If stores were to open up in different countries within Africa, they would have to be placed suitably depending on who can afford the products.

Diversification - Kellogg's
attempting to open up a new set of branches in a new environment with new products is an extremely high risk for any business to take. New customers would have to take a leap of faith on to try a brand new product to them. I believe Diversification would not be as much as a problem for Kellogg's as it would be for Diesel. This is because Kellogg's is just a cereal producing company in which all the customers would have to do is try their product by spending a small amount of money.

Diversification - Diesel
As said above I think it would be hard for Diesel to adapt to Diversification because of the price range Diesel will introduce to new customers. Some people may find the prices affordable depending on the item, but others may not. this is where the high risk is, but some market research in the target area before opening a store would be very useful to learn more about your surroundings and whether customers would generally be interested in buying your products.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                











Legislation:

What is the role of the ASA?
- The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is in charge of all advertising through the use of media in the UK. They work to make sure all advertising is legal, honest and truthful.

What advertising do they regulate?
- The ASA regulate with most forms of advertising, but not all. They tend to regulate sales promotions, special offers and competitions through the use of advertising in cinemas, magazines, leaflets, brochures, television shopping, DVD, Email, SMS and most commonly through normal TV and radio.

What advertising don't they regulate?
- The ASA avoid advertising through the likes of credit cards, telemarketing, fax marketing, political advertisment, fly posting and in some cases don not regulate medical advertising.

What is a voluntary code?
- A voluntary code is a code of practice that you must have in order to advertise through your chosen strategy. Without the code your advertisement would not be accepted for publishing of transmission. The code says that not offensive or aggressive language should be used in the chosen advertisment. These include not causing offence through the likes of; Religion, Sex, Age, Race, Disability and Sexual orientation.

What is the Drinkaware campaign about?
- Drinaware is a campaign that highlights facts about drinking responsibly through the use of advertisment and their own website. Drinkaware are always on the route to changing the way people consume alcohol.

Who funds the campaign?
- Drinkaware has raised roughly about 5.2 million pounds in funding from many different bars, pubs, clubs and alcohol industries.

Why would they do this?
- More deaths and injuries are caused each year through the used of alcohol not being consumed responsibly. Accidents have been made through drink driving, violence whilst being under the influence and generally through people not taking alcohol seriously.

BBC News article on junk food
- Kellogg's cereal can be known for containing sugar in their more sweeter products like coco pops and frosties. From this the article has said and disscussed about issuing a ban on advertising unhealthy food to children during program intervals. it also talks of banning promotion within schools with the use of celebrities and cartoon characters. All of this relates to Kellogg's, because they are known to advertise their cereal between childrens shows and use phrases like "A great snack for after school" for coco pops.