The Organisation of the Advertising and Promotions Marketing

Essay
Published: 23, March 2015
BMW, the famous German car making company, focuses on four values in order to create
brand identity. The brand provides customers with products which are dynamic, aesthetic,
exclusive and innovative. BMW's success is due to the brand's continuous research and
development activities to achieve better performance and nurturing new ideas and
implementing them. However, in 2005 the brand discovered that their promotional approach
is being perceived as inhumane by car buyers. So, they reconstructed ad approaches and
shifted the focus of their advertisements from performance to ideas and innovation. However,
the basic tagline remained unchanged which is "BMW - The Ultimate Driving Machine".
According to the company's US marketing director Jack Pitney, the emergence of the firm as
a "company of ideas" helped the brand to capture larger scale of market as they were able to
convince general public how BMW's aesthetic and innovative ideas convert a car into an
ultimate driving machine.

Requirement 1
1.1 Communication process that applies to advertising and promotion
Communication processes of various forms are applicable in advertising and promotions. The
main function of a communication process is to answer questions and queries of prospects
and to impress them.
A communication process model is formed with nine elements. Such as: sender, receiver,
message, media, encoding, decoding, response, feedback and noise.
In the case study of BMW all the elements of this communication model worked. BMW is
the party sending a message to their prospects so they are the sender. BMW encoded the
message "The ultimate driving machine" to be their tagline. The message of this car
manufacturing company was simple. The message which they conveyed to prospects is that
they are a company of ideas who focus their innovation to maximize performance of driving
experience. The communication channels which BMW used to receive their customers are
magazines, internet, BMW websites, external billboards, tradeshow, telesales campaigns etc.

These are the media elements. Viewers are the decoder of the message. Consumers are the
receiver of the message. The response of consumers to the brand message of BMW being a
"performance driven car" was not favourable to the brand. Feedback clarified the fact that
BMW was perceived to be inhumane brand due to overemphasis on mechanic performance.
Noise occurred due to the unplanned distortions which lead to misinterpretation of brand
message by prospects.
Pushing performance factor made the brand message inhumane to prospects of BMW this is
called noise factor of communication process which caused unwanted errors. BMW
communication process is very dynamic. Featuring tradeshow materials, advertising,
customer promotion packages, interior design of showrooms, online short films, active
website to create buzz, branded entertainment strategy etc. (Johnson et al., 2005).
1.2 The organisation of the advertising and promotions
The organisation of advertising and promotions industry works under a centralized system.
Organisation of such industry consists of Advertising and marketing managers working with
innovative directors, purchase and sales agents and financial staff members.
According to Belch, organizations are of five types in advertising and promotion industry.
Firstly, it is the advertiser or the client such as BMW. Another organization is the advertising
agency that produces and distributes the advertising.
Advertising agencies are hired by the advertiser to innovate and execute part or all of their
advertising efforts. As BMW of North America hired MDC Partners' Kirshenbaum Bond and
Partners. This company will work with creating brand image of BMW in The United States
for national, regional and dealer levels. The deal is for at least 3years and of a whooping
amount of $160 million.
Media organizations offer a way to reach prospects. Commonly media provides with
information or entertainment to the viewers. However, according to the promotional planner
media creates an environment so that the company's communication message may reach
customers.
A media's primary objective is to sell itself as a tool for companies to reach their customers.
Another type of organization is specialized marketing communications services. These

organizations have expertise in certain areas of advertising and promotion and provide
services in their areas of expertise.
Agencies such as interactive agencies like websites, public relations firms like Agenda, ABI,
sales promotion agencies are specialized marketing communications services. The last
participants of these industries are those who provide collateral services. Artists, directors,
printers, photographers, writers, song writers, self-employed free lancers they are known as
support factors of advertisers. All these organizations work together in advertising and
promotions industry for achieving a common goal. And that is to communicate the brand
message effectively with consumers and to create a positive as well as remarkable impression
amongst them (Kotler et al., 2005).
1.3 How promotion is regulated
The regulation of promotional activities depends upon the risk and likely impact of
promotion. If the promotion contains high risk factors the firm approaches to immediately
withdraw it or edit it in future campaigns (Bagwell, 2007). Formal enforcement actions are
also tool for regulating promotions. Thematic work is done to identify if there is a market
issue being ignored. They may focus in misleading message, misinterpretation of message,
effectiveness of web pages and return on promotional investments. In case study of BMW it
is observed that they changed and reinforced their promotional approach in 2005 after a
thematic study on luxury car buyers. The promotional activity changed its regulatory
directions to build new brand image. After discovering that their message is not being
correctly perceived by buyers BMW reinforced and recruited a new ad agency in May, 2006.
Who replaced the company's overemphasis on 'performance driving' over the past 33 years
with the concept "company of ideas" Thus regulatory tools are applied to control the flow and
effect of promotional activities.
1.4 current trends in advertising and effect of ICT in BMW's advertising and promotion
The current trends in advertising are related with implication of technology to communicate
brand message with widespread audience. Advertising is a dynamic profession. Globalization
and use of wireless communication are current trends in advertising. Advertising is becoming
more complex because of new trends (Boone and Kurtz, 2007).

Relating to the fact that now advertisers not only have to think about creative aspects of a
commercial but also they have to evaluate profitable ways to reach and communicate with
customers. Interactivity with prospects has open new doors for advertisement opportunity.
Internet connection and mobile communication via call centre makes it easy to communicate
brand message with customers. However readers agreed that revenue from the new forms of
advertisement is increasing and revenue from traditional media is decreasing (Terence, 2010).
Integrated marketing communication (IMC) is another new trend in advertising approach. It
unifies all marketing communication messages which eventually send a single message
which promotes the brand's goals.
Globalization poses a dilemma on
Whether to focus on global advertising or local advertising?
How useful will be standardization of ads?
How much consistency is needed to reach customers?
The most important factor to consider is that advertisement is a purposeful act. So it must be
created in such a way that it will have some effect or impact on those people who sees it or
gets in touch with it (Frank Atkinson, 2013).
The effect of information and communication technology (ICT) in BMW's advertising and
promotion is very crucial to the brand's success. BMW has an active web page which
launched five short films to promote the brand. It also used entertainment media such as
movies to create a buzz among consumers. Featuring in James bond films proves to be an
effective move. BMW further produced another three short films and launched them in their
official web page. The use of interactive media and using other Medias to create buzz about
their interactive media proves to be a successful move.

Requirement 2
2.1 The role of advertising in an integrated promotional strategy for a business or
product decisions
According to Moriarty, advertising is just another element of the marketing communication
arsenal (Moriarty, 2009). It is an integral part of an integrated promotional strategy.
Advertising is a tool for mass media promotion and so different types of advertisements serve
various purposes of communicating with prospects. Advertising is different from other

marketing tools such as sales promotion, public relations, personal selling, direct marketing,
and digital marketing and so on.
Characteristics of advertising media (print, audio, moving image, ambient, new media)
Advertising serves as a tool for reaching consumers via radio, newsletters, business
directories, newsagents, TV, movies, websites etc. Deciding which media to use is vital factor
for effective positioning of brand message. Advertising makes it possible to reach consumers
on a large scale. Other than that advertising may also be used to build personal relationships
with prospects such as use of emails (Scott & Larsen, 2007).
2.2 branding and how it is used to strengthen a business or product
Branding refers to the attribute of a product which attaches the company with consumers. It
can be done by using an image, a symbol, a logo or a slogan.
The basic purpose of branding is to serve the company by creating differentiation of product.
According to Martin Lindstrom, branding is a tool to create and change market reputation of
a company (Taylor, 2000).
Branding helps the product development hugely. As branding creates a common expectation
from a company's product the company works hard to fulfil the expectation of consumers and
so continuous research and development is done by the company. This results in favourable
features for consumers as well as the company.
The company gets competitive advantage by producing differentiated product and the
consumers are served with new or updated version of products. Branding strengthens a
product by creating consumer loyalty and long term consumer relationships (Greg Stine,
2010). BMW, Ferrari, Nescafe, Nokia are multinational giants. Branding celebrates the
bigness of such multinational giants by creating customer relationships.
2.3 Creative aspects of advertising strategy. Evaluation of the strategies to address the
successful advertising campaign
Advertising is a dynamic medium so creativity is a must thing to get attention via this
medium. Without creativity it will be impossible to cut through the clutter of advertisements

in competitive market. Creative aspects of advertising strategy focus on creating an

intelligent and sharp advertisement which will motivate consumers to buy the product (Belch,
2009). Four aspects of advertising strategy are as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Make the product relevant with consumer needs

Promising values to the customer
Co-operate with brand message
Putting product in the centre of advertisement

A successful advertising campaign uses these strategies to create an urge and awareness
amongst consumers about the product. These strategies are evaluated to be successful only if
it creates a positive impact on the customers. A successful advertising campaign may be used
for branding as well as rebranding a product.
An example would be VODAFONE'S Creation "The Zoozoo", this campaign successfully
rebranded "Hutch to Vodafone" in Indian subcontinent (Taylor, 2000).
2.4 ways of working with advertising agencies
The different ways of working with advertising agencies are
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Agency-client partnership
In-house agency
Hiring for part of advertising
Hiring for all of advertising effort
Creative boutiques
Media

Selection of an advertising agency depends upon the evaluation of the fact that which agency
best serves the organization. When the advertiser does not have in house agency it has to
select from full time or part time agencies. The selection will depend upon the needs of the
advertiser.

Requirement 3
3.1 Primary techniques of below-the-line promotion. How they are used in an integrated
promotional strategy for a business or product
Primary techniques of below the line promotion (BTP) are used to boost sales for the short
run. They are used in various ways in an integrated promotional strategy depending on the

needs of the market and competitor's strategy. Some techniques of BTP and their uses in
promotional strategy are discussed below:
Price promotion. Discounts are form of such techniques. Giving more product on existing
price or cutting price are effective strategies.
Price promotion may harm the reputation or brand image. Or it may increase sales only for a
short period of time. So this tool needs to be used very carefully by the brand
According to Promotion and society survey (2010), at the time of increasing costs and
inflation in an economy BTP works as a very effective tool.
3.2 Evaluate other techniques used in below-the-line Promotion
Some other techniques used in below the line promotion are:
1. Giving Coupons to consumers
2. Offering money refunds to consumers if not satisfied with the product
3. Organizing competitions and giving prices for purchasing
4. Frequent user incentives in form of lucrative offers
5. Point of sales display

Requirement 4
4.1. An appropriate process for the formulation of a budget for an integrated
promotional strategy
According to Greg Stine, in order to continue to thrive, companies must attract and keep
customers and this purpose needs to be fulfilled within a certain budget (Greg Stine, 2004)
An appropriate process for the formulation of a budget goes through the following steps:

Observing market climate

Evaluating brand's weakness and strengths
Creating competitive marketing strategy
Coming up with up to date plans
Implementing plans to attain goals
Getting feedback of implementation

4.2 Development of a promotional plan for a business or product

A promotional plan for a business or product is designed depending on the fact whether the
plan is for an established brand or a new company. Promotional plans set targets, sets time
limit for achieving those targets, enriches brand with accountability and provide a budget.
1. The process starts with picturing the image the business want to establish in consumer
minds. As in case of BMW they pictured the image of a high performance automobile
which provides consumers with sheer driving pleasure.
2. The next step is to identify the target market.
3. Then company needs to outline all the features of the product and combine them in
accordance with the core message of promotional activities
4. The next step is to make decisions about budget and allocation of funds.
5. Finally selecting techniques and Medias which best suit the purpose of creating brand
image

4.3 Plan the integration of promotional techniques into the promotional strategy for a
business or product. Using critical reflection, evaluate the recommended promotional
techniques
The integration of promotional techniques such as price incentives for a business or product
must focus on the needs of the market, the condition and elasticity of demand, need for price
incentives, and consumer responses towards price incentives (Dimitropoulos, 2012).
A luxurious product such as BMW may use promotional technique of focusing on research
and development for innovating new product features. Setting high prices also positions the
product and represents it as a status symbol in consumer's mind. Thus the integration of
promotional techniques such as setting high price, branded entertainment, high performance,
exclusivity eventually formulates an overall promotional strategy. However if not
communicated properly or if the techniques are conflicting the brand message will be
misinterpreted by consumers. Overemphasizing or underemphasizing features or overlooking
the actual consumer needs should be avoided (Terence, 2010)
4.4) Appropriate techniques for measuring campaign effectiveness
Moriarty et al. suggests advertising agencies for measuring effectiveness under the five
headings of Communication, Profits, Sales, Persuasion, and Attention (Moriarty et al. 2009).
According to his suggestions a cube diagram is used to evaluate the usage of advertisement
which has repetitive effect.
Kotler et al. (2005) suggest that two areas need to be evaluated in an advertising program.
Effectiveness of online campaigns are sometimes measured based on the number of views the
page gets.

Conclusion
Promotional techniques and advertising are creative and dynamic force to communicate with
customers. So the activities must be set in harmony with market requirements and company's
resources. All the activities must focus towards achieving a common goal of building
profitable consumer relationships via effective communication.