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.