Marketing

 How companies and brands can benefit from advertisement campaigns?

 Introduction

              An advertising campaign is a strategy used by organizations to disseminate information about a product through paid media. What makes advertising campaign unique is that each company has a different theme and the theme differs because the company has unique knowledge about the industry, market, audience, goals, and objectives. This means that every company has a reflection of a special identity. Even though the advertising campaigns are similar, it is important to note that companies are experiencing an environmental change and this means that they must reevaluate their products, price, place, and promotion effectively to gain a competitive edge.   In other words, a company must come up with a unique theme and slogan describing a particular product and targeting a specific audience.  For example, the paper analyses two advertising campaigns; Always "#LikeAGirl" campaign and "Our Food, Your Questions" campaign.  Procter & gamble benefited from the campaign Always "#LikeAGirl" in that it achieved its goal of eliminating gender stereotypes and improving the girl's self-perceptions and behaviors. McDonald also benefited from the campaign since it gained brand transparency and improved customers' food perception. These two advertising campaigns show that companies develop different objectives of advertising and they must apply strategies to achieve the objectives. In other words, companies must come up with advertising strategies such as the message idea, and the choice of a media.  In general, advertisings campaign has created a world of difference in the McDonald and Procter & gamble companies as it has made a difference in people's lives, and has made their brands popular in the eyes of the consumer.

 

The objective of the campaign

  PARENTE & STRAUSBAUGH-HUTCHINSON (2014, p. 13) affirm that during an advertising campaign, companies should have the right attitude.  In other words, a company cannot develop the right product, price, place, and promotion if it lacks the right mind-set. The authors say that there are many things that a company can do to show the right mindset and among the things, a strategic orientation is very important. Note that many companies launch advertising campaigns but the advertising does not achieve the intended objective due to poor planning.  Therefore, companies must have a strategic orientation (PARENTE & STRAUSBAUGH-HUTCHINSON, 2014, p. 13).  For an advertising campaign to achieve the designed competitive edge, a company must have a strategy. The latter will provide guidelines concerning how the team will work and also concerning how the campaign should be implemented. Among the strategies that a company can think about, it should focus on objectives.  In other words, an advertising plan must have an objective which states what the campaign should accomplish (PARENTE & STRAUSBAUGH-HUTCHINSON, 2014, p. 13).   In most cases, long-term objectives are a corporation's strategic plan and it is communicated to members of the entire organization so that all can be aware of what the company wants to accomplish. However, advertising g objective is not long term but is set for shorter periods.  This is due to the market change and therefore advertising campiness should have a specific objective such as to introduce a product, a brand, to create awareness,   to create value, to increase sales, among other objectives that make a call to action.  It is important to note that   in setting advertising objective, a company must consider factors such as;

  Market segmentation

            Note that during an advertising campaign, a company must understand the market segmentation to examine the types of consumers, buyer behavior, and consider other social, economic, and environmental factors (PARENTE & STRAUSBAUGH-HUTCHINSON, 2014, p. 14).  The importance of understanding the market segment is to set advertising strategies and make creative advertising campaigns.

Buyer behavior

 Mohan also states that in an advertising campaign, a company must understand the buying behavior of a particular group. This will help the company set up strategies and messages and decide whether that particular group need consumable products, durable goods, or industrial products.

 Product personality and perceptions

Mohan introduces an important statement that the special features of a product do not make a brand to become known or to become successful in the adverting filed. Rather, what makes a brand appealing to people is the perception of the product (PARENTE & STRAUSBAUGH-HUTCHINSON, 2014, p. 13). Note that company A and company B can have a brand with the same properties or characteristics and therefore it will be hard to convince the customers. Thus, a company must allow the customers to develop a meaningful picture of a product.

 Situational factors

 In making advertising objectives, Mohan says that a company must understand the market situation or factors that might affect the buyers' behavior (PARENTE & STRAUSBAUGH-HUTCHINSON, 2014, p. 13).  For example, factors such as social factors like gender-influenced factors that may affect potential customers.

Always "#LikeAGirl" and the objectives of the campaign

            The Procter & Gamble Company had realized that girls' self-confidence falls when they reach puberty. Therefore, the main objective of the advertising campaign was to redefine confidence, empower girls, and ensure that the brand has a powerful role in the life of women (Barley (n.d), p.1).  Focusing on the research made above about the advertising campaign, it is important to note that before the company initiated the campaign, it had conducted social research and understood that girls go through social issues that need to be addressed.  The company found that during puberty, a time when girls begin to receive periods, girls lose self-confidence.  Note that the company's target audiences were young girls and its duty or mission was to empower the girls and improve feminine hygiene. Note that even though many women used the product after the advertising campaign, the main objective of the company was to engage young women and change the negative perception toward girls (Barley (n.d), p.1). The Procter & Gamble had found that the society associated girls with weakness and vanity and for this reason,   the company created a video and spread a powerful message that a girl or "Like A Girl" means that girls also have a special position in the society. Before creating the objective, The Procter & Gamble used Research Now study to find research data and prepare for connecting and messaging.  It also used hashtag #- the hashtag means that girls are stereotypes in society and this is an issue that needs immediate action.  The company also used video launch and collaborated with key influencers and bloggers to share the video in the media coverage and spread the message. The company also engaged celebrities who would help in reaching the target audience by posting tweets to share the message women (Barley (n.d), p.1).  Initially, the campaign spread in North America but with time, it spread in 20 markets. Note that initially the campaign was seen as a small social experiment but within a short period the video became viral and the company achieved its goal of emotional connecting women with ‘Like a girl'  theme.   Note that The Procter & Gamble was interested in the psychological effects of women especially when they are negatively portrayed by society women (Barley (n.d), p.1).  Society, as well as the mass media, does not value femininity and it emphasizes standards of beauty, among other social-cultural things that diminished pubertal girls and women. Since the company has realized the struggles that girls go through, it focused on improving the girl's self-esteem by countering the negative effects.  Even though the advertising campaign Always "#LikeAGirl” gave the brand great popularity, the company achieved its objective of empowering women through engagement and participation in conversations concerning the gender roles, and changing the negative perception toward women.

 

 "Our Food. Your Questions." and the objectives of the campaign

 First, it is important to note that "Our Food. Your Questions" campaign was a "transparency campaign".  This means that the video was intended to communicate the quality of the food and eliminate the myths and misconceptions that were all over the social media (Jarboe Greg, 2015, p.1).  Therefore, transparency was the main objective of the campaign and the company wanted to protect the consumers from the myths and negative rumors. In the advertising campaign, McDonald targeted the users and allowed them to ask food questions and the company promised to answer the questions on social media. The company gave answers concerning food preparation, ingredients, among others. 

Advertising message

            KOTLER et al, (2015, p.476) strong say that advertising campaign must have successful communication.  In other words, the company should deliver an effective message or rather the message should be creative to achieve the entire objective of the campaign. Note that effective advertisement does not mean that the advert should focus on a great product.  There are other important elements other than the brand image that the company should consider.  In general, an advertising campaign should have a coherent message (KOTLER et al, 2015, p.476).  For example, detriments need verbal and visual aspects for them to engage the target audience.  Besides,   an advertising message should be clear in a way that it should directly communicate the problem and propose the solution or the actions to take.

 

 How message-design helped achieve the objectives

Always "#LikeAGirl" advertising campaign

 In Always "#LikeAGirl" advertising campaign, the company used an emotional message.  Note that the purpose of an emotional message is to create an emotional connection to young women.  The strong emotional appeal helped the company achieve the objective of empowering women in that the target audience realized how wonderful it is for them to be females. They became confident and strong and gained the confidence to talk about teenage girls.  The message was also emotional in that even the viewers could feel the pain after realizing how girls are stereotyped in society and how the stereotype has affected their self-esteem (Barley (n.d), p.1).  All in all, the girls gain knowledge about their issues including their emotional and physical well-being.  At the end of the video, it appears that girls do not feel insecure anymore but they can fight against gender discrimination as they have realized their roles in society. Through the emotional message, the video transformed the societal norms and eliminated the biased behaviors toward women.

 

"Our Food. Your Questions."

In "Our Food. Your Questions" advertising campaign, McDonald used an engaging message.  Note that the company knew that there are myths and conceptions about the food and for this reason, it gave its customers or the target market the answers, the solutions, or what they wanted.  McDonald acted the "Problem Solver' not only to solve the issue at hand but also to engage customers transparently (Jarboe Greg, 2015, p.1). The company clarifies the information by showing the customers the food preparation, ingredients, and all necessary steps used in making food. The engaging message created a brand appeal in that at the end of the advertising campaign, the target audience or rather the customer had realized the value and quality of McDonald's food (Jarboe Greg, 2015, p.1). The company also engaged the customers by giving its customers' insider information or communicating how the company has strived to offer the best. This insider information made the customer feel special and feel emotionally connected to the company.

 

 

 

 Conclusions

 

 In modern-day management, companies realized the importance of advertising campaigns and moving the business to the next level.  It is important to note that a company can use a significant amount of resources to cater to advertising campaign expenditures. For this reason, companies need to evaluate or analyze important concepts such as brand image, message design, plans, and programs, as well as objectives.  The paper has shown that advertising campaign benefits the organizations in raising brand visibility, launching new products, raising brand awareness, provide customers with background knowledge about the product, educate the customers, create a positive perception about the brand, among other benefits.  However,   two advertising campaigns namely always "#LikeAGirl", and Our Food. Your Questions" have introduced two important concepts that in the advertising campaign, it is important to create a strategic objective, and second, it is important to create a message strategy. The objective means that the advisement must have a purpose and must strive to achieve that particular purpose.  Besides, an advertising campaign should have a message selection to engage the customers. Generally, the two companies achieved their objectives by using advertising campaign strategies of creative objective and message-design.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

 

 Barley Lauren (n.d). The Affect of the Always’ “Like a Girl” Campaign Tactics on the Target

Consumers’ Self Esteem and its Acceptance in the Advertising Industry.  Retrieved from: https://laurenbarley.weebly.com/uploads/4/5/6/5/45659557/capstone.pdf

 

 Jarboe Greg. (2015). McDonald’s “Our Food, You Questions” Video Campaign is Changing

Hearts, Minds, and Actions.  Retrieved from:  https://tubularinsights.com/mcdonalds-our-food-your-questions-video-campaign/

 

KOTLER, P., BURTON, S., DEANS, K., BROWN, L., & ARMSTRONG, G. (2012). Marketing

eBook. Melbourne, P. Ed Australia. http://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=5220666.

 

 

PARENTE, D., & STRAUSBAUGH-HUTCHINSON, K. L. (2014). Advertising campaign

strategy: a guide to marketing communication plans. Boston (Mass.), Cengage Learning.