Integrated Marketing Communications Plan IMC Assignment

Submitted By:

Amit Kumar

2009B53

SCMHRD

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION TO THE BRAND- COMPANY PROFILE ...................................................... 3

Target Market ................................................................................................................. 3

Product Range ................................................................................................................ 4

Consumer Behavior and determining communication objectives .............................................. 4

Longterm Communication Objetive ...................................................................................... 5

Brand Personality .............................................................................................................. 5

Brand Identity Prism ...................................................................................................... 7

Designing The communications ...................................................................................... 7

Marketing Communication Mix ....................................................................................... 8

Advertising .................................................................................................................. 9

Direct Marketing ........................................................................................................ 10

Sales Promotions ....................................................................................................... 11

Personal Selling ......................................................................................................... 12

Events and Sponsorships .......................................................................................... 12

Word Of Mouth .......................................................................................................... 14

TOUCH POINTS ............................................................................................................ 14

SYNERGY AMONG TOUCH POINTS ........................................................................... 14

Ensuring MC’s effectiveness.......................................................................................... 14

Partners in communication ........................................................................................... 15

Implementation Plan ..................................................................................................... 16

Evaluation of imc program ............................................................................................ 17

References .................................................................................................................... 18

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A new Ethnic Apparel Brand

INTRODUCTION TO THE BRAND- COMPANY PROFILE

The Bodhi Shop is a chain of few apparel retail outlets in Gujarat which stocks various fabrics,

garments and accessories. Apart from the retail outlet, Bodhi has a wide range of products that are

made to order for export and for the domestic Indian market.

Filled with the aesthetics and values Bodhi, is a fresh and dynamic ethnic wear lifestyle brand that

thrives to make both traditional as well as contemporary clothing and printed fabrics with a distinct

flavor that comes from a sophisticated sense of aesthetics, attention to detail, quality and excellent

craftsmanship. Bodhi's creations carry great designs which are hand printed on natural fabrics by a

process that has minimal impact on the environment.

Bodhi as a brand is since 1994 and has grown since but doesn‟t have a pan India presence

through stores. Instead it takes up exhibitions for a period in different cities.

Based on the IMC plan Pyramid we will take each tool to build a brand for Bodhi. The apparel

brand was born from the idea to make a brand, which will take the Indian weavers and the

centuries old Indian Embroidery to the organized market. The concept of the store is a place which

brings these exquisite art forms, on Indian hand woven cloth.

TARGET MARKET

The target market for the salon is predominantly female. The female individual appreciates beauty,

fashion and style and likes to show that. This female tends to take very good care of herself

through exercise as well as numerous upscale beauty products. She appreciates quality and is

willing to pay for it.

Base on this the target customer can be profiled as a Woman

o Upper middle/ Lower Upper/Upper Upper class

o Age group starting from 18 - 40

o Student

o Working professionals/Socially Active Women

o Having cultural and integral values

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PRODUCT RANGE

Garments Home Linen Accessories

Sarees Duvet covers Stoles

Kurtas Bed covers Scarves

Indian Pants Table Cloths Dupattas

Skirts Napkins String Bags

Blouses Tea-cozy

Kaftans Aprons

Products

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND DETERMINING COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES

The communication objectives are based on the response hierarchy models and can be set at any

level. The model here we want to use is the HOE i.e. Hierarchy of Effects model.

Awareness: If most of the target audience is unaware of the object, the communicator‟s task is to

build awareness, perhaps just name recognition, with simple messages repeating the product

name. Consumers must become aware of the brand. As most of the target segment is

comparatively new to this brand so we need to aware the mass to build awareness.

Knowledge: After making the target audience aware of brand, but still they do not know much,

hence this stage involves creating brand knowledge. This is where comprehension of the brand

name and what it stands for become important.

Liking: After knowledge about the brand the feelings of consumers assosciated with brand should

be analysed, and if the feelings are unfavorable then stress should be laid on this stage.

Preference : even after the liking it may happen that many people may prefer another brand in the

same category more favorable may be due to availability, prices, attitude etc.In this case, the

communicator must try to build consumer preference by promoting quality, value, performance and

other features.

Conviction: A target audience might prefer a particular product but not develop a conviction about

buying it. The communicator‟s job is to build conviction among the target audience.

Purchase: Finally, some members of the target audience might have conviction but not quite get

around to making the purchase. They may wait for more information or plan to act later. The

communicator must need these consumers to take the final step, perhaps by offering the product

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at a low price, offering a premium, or letting consumers tried out. This is where consumers make a

move to actually search out information or purchase.

Based on the above we have to set our long term objectives and subsequent IMC strategies.

The IMC Plan would focus on three main things:

1. Creating general Brand Awareness

2. Taking products to preference level

3. Increase sales through above said objectives.

LONGTERM COMMUNICATION OBJETIVE

Based on the above done customer behavior study the long term objective would be a multiple one

with following objectives:

Brand Awareness

To promote the awareness about Bodhi and to make it be the first brand that comes

to mind for ethnic,elegant and colorful clothes.

Brand Attitude

To make the brand more preferable by 50% for the target customer in view of

customers

Brand Purchase Intention

To get each target customer to visit a “Bodhi” store at least once every season, and

to get new referred customers equal to 100 % of existing customer base every year.

The key to any apparel brand‟s success is to become a style mirror for the person who wears it.

Thus with the range and the regularly updated designs , our communication should ensure that the

customer gets to go through the collection at least once. The communication should excite and

encourage the customer old and new, that Bodhi is the place where they will definitely be items

which they would like to own or gift.

The clothes should make the person feel comfortable and good, get attraction and attention from

others and then reply back as the question of “where did you buy it from?”. Thus referrals, positive

ones are the brand builders.

BRAND PERSONALITY

The brand personality is basically what a brand would look if it was a person. Based on the target

market analysis and brand image and positioning

Based on the Aaker’s model of brand personality the “personality” of a brand can be described and measured in five core dimensions, each divided into a set of facets and each facet is in turn

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measured by set of traits. The trait measurements are done using a five point scale (1= not at all descriptive, 5 extremely descriptive)

1. Sincerity(Down to Earth, Honest ,Wholesome, Cheerful) 2. Excitement( Daring, Spirited, Imaginative, Up-to-date) 3. Competence(Reliable, Intelligent, Successful) 4. Sophistication( Upper Class, Charming) 5. Ruggedness( Outdoorsy, Tough)

Dimension 1 2 3 4 5

Sincerity

Excitement

Competence

Sophistication

Ruggedness

Based on the above analysis Bodhi scores high on sincerity as it projects itself as Gentle, honest, sensitive and complete as personified by a Family Oriented Woman which also describes it as reliable and successful and thus high scores on Excitement and competence dimensions. It can‟t be described as rugged as it is projected as contemporary, bright and lively, caring, confident and in control. So in all the brand personality that emerges is:

Bodhi can be seen as a brand which will have the characteristics of being a global Indian , a

person who is cheerful and makes you feel good , works hard to do everything with perfection ,

caring and sensitive to people around, and Modern yet an Indian at Heart.

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BRAND IDENTITY PRISM

DESIGNING THE COMMUNICATIONS

The designing of the communications would be based on the idea of one voice-one message

strategy. The strategy would be to address the three problems:

WHAT TO SAY (MESSAGE STRATEGY)

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The brand is basically for the woman and home décor, thus the theme of message should be

targeted on the housewife. Based on the brand positioning the theme would be :

“The primary theme will be that Bodhi is for the sophisticated, successful woman of today,

who plays all responsibilities of life – family and carrier excellently. Celebrate your Lifestyle

with Indian Colors”

This theme would be directly appealing to the social(social conformity) and the ego satisfaction of

women.

HOW TO SAY IT (CREATIVE STRATEGY)

The creative strategy would be based on the Transformational appeals i.e. which elaborates on a

non-product-related benefit or image. As discussed above the appeal would be to depict a

confident elegantly dressed Global Indian woman successful on both professional and

personal front.

WHO SHOULD SAY IT (MESSAGE SOURCE)

The spokesperson selected should portray the appeal we want to create. So qualities of being

successful, elegant and truly Indian with global appeal should be there in the spokesperson. Based

on the three dimensions of expertise, trustworthiness and likability the spokesperson for this brand

would be Mrs. Aishwarya Rai Bacchan.

As she has carved a niche in global arena as she was ex Miss world, and has been a quite

successful actress. Not only that after marriage she has balanced perfectly between her home

and professional responsibilities. So, she provides the perfect personality for the brand.

SELECTING THE COMMUNICATION CHANNEL

The communication channels for such a brand would include both the types of channels viz.

Personal as well as Nonpersonal.

Personal: It refers to the channel when two or more persons communicate face to face, over

phone, email etc. Rather than stressing on Advocate channels the more focus would be on the

expert and social channels as this would be easier and more cost effective. This will include social

media marketing and word of mouth marketing

Nonpersonal: It refers to when communication is directed towards more than one person. This

channel in our case will include the media, sales promotion, events and experiences, PR etc.

MARKETING COMMUNICATION MIX

Below are presented the implementation of the selected components of marketing mix.

Throughout the focus is on building the desired image of the brand , and to get the customer to be

interested in the brand by means of thematic communication. Once the customer has visited a

store and experienced the brand , entice him with all possible touch points and after purchase ,

maintain a constant relationship with him , so that he is periodically remembered and informed

about the brand , Thus engaging him. To build a trustworthy relationship , which the customer will

trust enough to refer to friends.

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ADVERTISING

Advertising provides a platform to reach geographically dispersed buyers. It can build up a long

term image of a brand. It will include the advertisements on FM,TV, newspapers and magazines.

The strategies would include:

1. Adverticles

The informative articles generally on new fashion trends, or Indian traditional themes such as

marriage wears, occasional party wears etc. will be published in national newspapers with “Bodhi -

Indian Woman”as the author.

The adverticles will be placed in the additional pages on Fasion/beauty page that actually appeals

to woman. It will contain a weekly column related to topics like art forms , different seasons ,

flowers , Indian festivals , mythological characters and other Indian themes. Articles will we very

enticing and create an image of beauty an aura for the subject. The language of these articles will

be very urban and contain pictures of the art form.

The “BODHI” Logo will appear with the article, with one line that will relate the News paper article

with the current collection at the store.

2. Newspaper and Magazine Advertisements:

The advertisements will be limited to media of English Newspapers and other local magazines as

well as national magazines. The advertisements will have a theme running through the season,

which will link to the collection at the store and display pieces from the collection.

Each ad would be of the same size and have the logo at the same place.

Indian Themes relating to the collection at the store

The ads will appear on weekends, not on the main newspaper but on the additional.

The ad should contain the website name

3. TV advertisements

The advertisements of the brand would be shown only on cultural/fashion channels generally

around 3pm and 8pm.the channels for this cause would be NDTV GOOD TIMES, Discovery Life &

Travel. The advertisement would include a glimpse of Aishwarya Rai promoting the brand .

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4. Radio

The radio advertisements would be generally on FM and would be done only near the launch of a

store in the surrounding vicinity. Thus the AD can be aired at preferred location with less

investment. As the target group we are considering , would generally travel by Car so FM is better

way to target them.

DIRECT MARKETING

E-mails:

Short and Concise newsletters that can entice customers can be sent to existing customer base, to

prospects whose email ids are obtained by partnering with clubs and other social communities.

For ex. : Tying up with the Spic Macay and other theatre groups and promote their plays by

selling tickets and gathering the database of our target consumers.

The emails should have interesting content like perfectly embroiders sarees, handlooms

etc. with more visuals that are appealing to eyes and almost like forward mails , which

people will go through and pass on.

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As the brand boasts about environmental security this can be weaved into the newsletters

and direct mail cards can be sent to such people to join the Bodhi Community.

Other type of newsletters could be about various city happenings related to cultural

festivals , events , etc.

INTERACTIVE MARKETING

1. WEBSITE

“Bodhi “website will be a very important communication, interaction and customer engagement

tool.

The colorful website with a green background will be an integration tool for the various

communication efforts.

Will have information about the “Bodhi” beliefs and dreams.

Collection of all the print advertisements

Customization of embroidery, printing of customer selected pics/prints facility

Info about upcoming events.

Information about the artworks.

CSR information as to how we are working towards the betterment of the weavers and the

artisans.

Environment protection efforts taken by us

Customers Articles and designs submitted at website

Customer Feedback and complaint forum.

2. Social Media Campaigns

After a planned roll out of all the other promotional tools the brand would like to make a community

of its own. The customers would be sent a invitation to join on different social media sites. This will

help in creating a intense brand awareness among the unreachable target segment otherwise and

also will help the brand to get a international platform.

The applications would be provided on these sites which will make active engagement and would

in turn provide loyalty to the brand from its customers.

SALES PROMOTIONS

Initially for increased footprints and traffic a discount of 10% on MRP for irst 30 days would

be run.

Customer Relationship Management: With your first purchase of above 3000 a loyalty card

would be given along with some points. These points could be redeemed at any store to

get the free ticket to the events we are going to sponsor.

Also a unique no. would be given to you by which you could access different applications

on website and utilize additional and exclusive features on the site.( mentioned in the

Website section.)

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The customers would be provided an in house magazine describing the facts and

information about family,fashion etc.alongwith customer‟s experiences and articles.

Weekend Guests: an artisan will come and demonstrate live, his artwork. Customers

get a hands-on experience.

PERSONAL SELLING

At Bodhi every artist or salesman will acts as its own salesperson. Every employee that is involved

with the customer has to make sure that she / he comes back. At the end of the service treatment

the person that handles the customer has to make sure to set a future appointment, and that the

customer feels obliged not to miss it.

Secondly he should try to engage the customer in the community projects for example: CSR

activities and environment protection activities so as to make resonance with the customers

Sales people should provide needed information only and just find things according to their need.

All the sales person should have same yet ethnic uniform

The Sales team should be very responsive, friendly, well informed and well dressed.

Trained to understand the taste and needs of the customer when she walks in.

EVENTS AND SPONSORSHIPS

The events that need to be sponsored need to be in sync with the message that is conveyed

through the brand and its products. BODHI has an Indianised image, depicting and celebrating the

success of today‟s age women with traditional values, sophisticated with a status symbol and the

„Be a Proud Indian‟ attitude. The followers or enthusiasts of the event could possibly be the

influencers or share the values with which the brand empathises with. Based on the above

attitudes this can be done by associating with:

1) Local Theatre Groups In Metros

As many upper middle and upper class ladies are much into such events so they can

provide a good medium to reach the target.Moreover such theatre groups generally

correspond to our message of ethnic appeal and thus are a must to go for.

2) Classical Dance /Musical Concerts

As these are core essence of Indian culture they can correlate better to our target group.

Thus sponsoring such events will greatly enhance the brand equity.

Spic Macay and Pancham Nishad organize many such events and sharing name with them

will definitely make our brand popular as well as strong.

3) Folk events / Handicraft Exhibitions

The folk events that are generally held in metros for example :Dilli Haat in Delhi where the

target segment capturing probability is highest exhibition and events for example TEEJ fest

etc. can be sponsored so as to increase the awareness

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PUBLIC RELATIONS

1) NGOs

For the CSR activities to engage the community and to make a resonance with the

customers some events assosciated with the NGOs could be done.

o There will be donation campaigns at the store and on the website.

o The customers will be informed about the NGO, and the relationship „Bodhi‟ shares

with it.

o Customers will be told about how they can help other than by money

2) Trade shows

The exhibitions along with the new collections that entice the women can be made in big

trade shows like Trade fair at Pragati Maidan in Delhi and similarly in other metros can be

done initially to make the business community aware of such brand.

3) Exhibition by customers for customers

Invited to come and exhibit their artwork, etc

4) Contests for Customers

o Contests will be held where customer can show their creative talents

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o Contests for best ideas, design and themes for future collections

5) Sponsoring of a handicraft festival in NIFT/NID every year

WORD OF MOUTH

Socialites: Being the focal points for the line of business, its very important to be in contact

with the socialites of Delhi, Mumbai, etc so that the product can get free publicity via word

of mouth and these socialites can also serve as the Brand evangelists

Also,For word of mouth publicity the main source would be to satisfy and amaze the

existing customers , which will be greatly dependent on the brand image built by the quality

, uniqueness and customer engagement with the brand.

TOUCH POINTS

Adverticles

Trade shows

Products

NGOs and Other

Communities

Catalogs/Brochures

Emails

Store Billboard

Sponsored Events

Pamphlets

Carry Bags

Bills

Brand Tag

Sales Person

Mail Cards

Promotional

Coupons

Events billboards

Contest forms

Social Media Page

Applications

All the touch points reinforce what brand stands for, they draw synergy from each other as each

focuses on making the brand more and more attractive to the customers, reinforce the correctness

of the purchase decision , and increase the value of the bought products.

SYNERGY AMONG TOUCH POINTS

The touch points should synergise and in turn should potentiate each other. It should be in the

concordance with the one voice one message strategy.

For example:The models portrayed while doing the photoshoots for the brand should be in Indian

ethnic wear and should be Indian. A foreign model won‟t be able to make the product Indianised

and thus would defeat the purpose of the brand. Also the other touch points that are there should

provide a feel of sophistication. The touchpoints shouldn‟t show vulgarity but should have a family

appeal.

ENSURING MC’S EFFECTIVENESS

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All the marketing communication mix elements used for BODHI and the various touch

points available, will be controlled by the one agency only so that message is coherent in

each medium

Moreover if possible the in-house agency would be given the task of whole IMC plan

To ensure effectiveness, the communicated message should actually be fulfilled by the

brand.

Thus effectiveness in case of the apparel brand like BODHI will be a joint effort of the

operations and merchandize planning, and collection designers.

PARTNERS IN COMMUNICATION

With a strong reliance on building the brand through rich experience of interaction with the brand

touch points, direct marketing and customer relationship management, the partners in

communication would be mostly from the creative fields.

Media House

The media houses would be according to the medium chosen. For example the media partners for

the print media and TV would be the TV Today group as it will allow Bodhi to have a presence on

NDTV Good times as well as magazines like outlook, India today etc.

The newspaper media would be Times Of India which has the highest reach and has good

supplements in which we want to place our ads.

In-house agencies

Bodhi Store will strongly rely on In-house agencies/ departments for communications associated

with

Direct Marketing – Designing , collating , Editing and finalizing the direct marketing mails.

In-store event planning

In-store décor planning

o Poster designing

o Interior decoration

o Theme decisions and execution

Package and Carry bag designing

Brochure Designing

Preparing articles for news papers

Internet and Web Designing Partners: These will be responsible for creating and maintaining

the website. They will be adding new features from time to time. They will also provide Web

Analytics data

Design Studios: Will be consulted by the in- House agencies, and provide them with required

resources like photographs, graphic art, etc.Used for print media communication execution

Frequent Buyer cards/ Loyalty programs agencies

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Responsible for providing the system to run the program , and also maintain database of

customers and their accounts . During evaluation of communication will help in analyzing the data.

Celebrity Endorsers:

The celebrity and the brand ambassador for Bodhi would put forth the idea of a perfect Indian

woman. Suggested celebrity endorser would be Mrs. Aishwarya Rai Bacchan. The idea behind

having her as endorsers is to convey the secondary association, with the achievement, success

and family orientation of young generation Indian women.

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

Phase Description Key role Time Activities

1 Pre-Opening of

stores

To create brand

awareness

Before 2 months of

opening

TV ads

Bill boards

Adverticles

Magazine Ads

2 Opening of stores To increase brand

awareness

To create a

Preference for the

brand

Next 2 months of

opening

Direct mailers

CSR activities

PR

Events

sponsorships

3. Post- Opening

phase

To create

preference/Liking

for the brand

After 2 months of

opening till next 8

months

Emails

Social media

engagement

PR

Events

Sponsorships

4 Proliferation

Phase

To create

conviction for the

brand

To Increase

purchase and

customer base

After 3-4 months of

opening

Sales

Promotions

TV ads

Direct

Marketing

Personal

Sales

Word Of

mouth

NGOs

sponsorships

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EVALUATION OF IMC PROGRAM

The evaluation of the advertising and marketing efforts will take place on an ongoing basis over various levels.

The store will receive the month‟s media schedules before the first of the month. It is the receptionist‟s/floor coordinators duty to ask how the customer (when they enter and enquire) heard about Bodhi.

They have to find out if it was through a referral, a direct mail piece, or if they have seen an ad somewhere. After writing down where the prospect has heard about the store (in what publication, station or direct mail), he or she will be noted down in a set up computer program/software. The same is true for walk-in customers.

After the purchase is finished the receptionist/floor manager has to also mark the amount paid for the product. This way the store can take exact control in measuring media effectiveness.

Sources of data:

- Data from loyalty cards

- Customer surveys in store and online

- Website ( Web analytics) trafific analysis

- Sales Data

Sales data analysis

Merchandize wise (Artwork , Fabric , Size)

Season wise

Month wise

Weekend/weekday wise

Demographics of the customers wise ( from the Loyalty cards)

Promotional coupons sold

Surveys

Once a quarter the store will send out a direct mail piece as well as hand out a survey in the

store/malls/cultural events to see what is the top of mind recall for the ethnic wear category? Which

medium has the strongest recognition with the customers. Future advertising development will be

tweaked accordingly .Conducted online and in-store to get to know

How customers are actually coming to the store ?

What is the perception about the brand ?

What was most exciting part of shopping at Bodhi

Success of in-store events

This will help us modify and redesign our communication mix to make it more effective and

efficient.

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Some of the observations that can be made from the data would be

• How the How much the store made compared to how much they spend that month (Return on Investment (ROI)) separated by the medium or in total.

• How many customers the ads pulled in, the referrals pulled in and othersin total or separated by hour, day, month, year.

• What medium is effective, what medium is working.

• What ad is working to drive in traffic, what ad is working to drive sales.

• If the ad is driving in the right customer

It will take some time for the store to establish an effective database with the computer program, but it is only a matter of time. One of the most essential steps is to set up the system correctly from the beginning on to make the

advertising work.

The store will evaluate its communication effectiveness at the end of every quarter so that it can

better it for the next season.

REFERENCES

1) Marketing Management - Philip Kotler

2) Principles of Advertising and IMC – Tom Duncan

3) www.bodhi.in

4) Photos – Google Image

5) Belch and Belch