Advertising Theory and Practice Of Ford Motor Company - Samples

Question: Discuss about the Advertising Theory and Practice Ford Motor Company: Tough is not Enough. Answer: Introduction Instrategic management of a business organisation there are fundamentally four Ps in the marketing mix is used as a guideline to develop an operational framework for the company. These four Ps are: price, product, place and promotion. Therefore, it can be said that promotion is one of the key elements in the success of a business enterprise. Business organisations send a lot of investment on the promotional aspect of the product or services in order to increase the profitability and the sales of the business (Khan 2014). Promotional mix is the way of communication for the organisation with the end customers, with the help of the strategies developed in this department an enterprise reaches out to the end customers in order to not only communicate but also develop a valuable relationship. Promotional mix includes: public relation, advertising, sales promotion direct marketing, digital marketing and personal selling (Kumar Patra 2017). These can be further subdivided in several categor ies depending on the type of medium used or the kind of promotion that is being done. In this report the campaign of Ford motors taking over the market is discussed. With the help of Integrated Marketing Communication and strategic communication the organisation gained an edge over the competition in the market (Haughton et al. 2015). About the company and background of the case study Ford is an American multinational organisation that manufactures automobiles. The company was established in the 1903 and has over the years gained good reputation and goodwill from the market as well as the customers (Corporate.ford.com, 2018). The subject that is going to be discussed in the report is regarding the strategy the company had undertaken in 2013 to become the market leader in 5 years in the 4x4 pick-up truck/Ute market. In the Australian market Toyota HiLux was a tough competitor and one of the major threat to Ford as the popularity of the vehicle was immense. Ford was up for challenge as the vehicle that the company was launching was not only facing a tough competition it was also going to face challenges due to the higher price. The company had gained a lot of good reputation in the personal vehicle segment but this was a big step hence themanagement has a strategic communication planned to deal with the competition. Integrated Marketing Communication IMC is the process by which a business organisation effectively incorporates the resources in order to connect all the medium of communication so that the outcome of the process yields maximum profitability to the organisation. All the promotional tools that have been mentioned above are used strategically in order to ensure the desired outcome of the process. Business organisations incorporate IMC in the marketing strategies in order to build brand images emphasis and add depth to the messages they want to send to the consumers as well as ensure that the target market is communicated properly without a gap (Mazzei 2014). A gap in the communication process is one of the significant barriers in the process of marketing. There are four stages of IMC: strategic communication and marketing, understanding the scope of the medium, application of technology andfinancial management of the decisions. In the case, the Toyota Hilux had formed an image of commercial vehicles which was hard to in filtrate, the company focused on the promoting the image of a commercial vehicle being related to toughness, durability etc (Shkurupskaya and Litovchenko 2016). Ford used one of the most important tools in marketing i.e. market research. In order to get insight of the target market, it was found that the behavioural and physiographic stereotyping regarding the target market was wrong not only that it was also discovered that the target market was also not pleased with the image companies had regarding their image (Grigorescu and Lupu 2015). Role of media planning in IMC The promotional mix constitutes of several tools which can be implemented by an organisation to ensure the communication process leaves no gap. This tool that has been mentioned above have the various segments for example: advertising can be divided according to the medium that is being used. Print medium like magazine, newspaper and pamphlets, on the other hand, there broadcast medium like radio and television advertising have its own set of advantages and disadvantages (Haughton et al. 2015). Media planning helps the organisation analyze the effectiveness of the medium with respect to the target market and the budget of the organisation. Here are some of the steps that are followed while deciding the media that has to be incorporated in the promotional mix of the product or service. First the objectives have to be set, then the strategy to proceed in order to achieve these strategies, selection of the group of promotion along with selecting the particular media lastly the significa nce of the medium chosen must be established in order to ensure maximum output. Some of the aspects that should be kept in mind are: target market, compatibility of the message with media and the process of selection (Grigorescu and Lupu 2015). Ford with the help of research grabbed the opportunity to cater to the requirements of the new target of the market that was discovered. The company largely used broadcast media to change the outlook as well as the image of the target market. Analysis of the Ford campaign The objective of the campaign is that was set by the organisation were in twofold: Primary objective: To increase the growth of the Ford Ranger two times, in achieving this objective it would mean gaining an edge over the competition To boost the profitability by increasing the revenue as well as boosting the average retail price Secondary objective: To use advertisement to boost the awareness regarding the vehicle To develop a brand image for the vehicle To gather online traffic in the and searches about Rangers on com.au It is difficult to enter a market that has stiff competition, becoming the market leader is a matter that can be disused later, Ford while entering the Australian commercial vehicle market was aware of the macro business environment. In order to combat the situation the organisation took several strategic marketing steps. The motive behind of the campaign was to break the idea that the being rough and tough is the only attribute required for a truck; it is much more than just being tough (Shkurupskaya and Litovchenko 2016). The company not only focused on the strengths of the company it also concentrated on the gaps that was created by the completion. The first strategy that the company had undertaken was to break the stereotype surrounding the target market. As discussed the use of market research had helped recognize the gap in the target audience and the agitation among them regarding the brainless stereotype. The organisation found that the target market are men and women who are successful accomplishers in life who have understanding and knowledge this was most of the times misinterpreted by the ruggedness of the image by automobile companies while setting the target market. Ford in the next strategy grabbed the opportunity of catering to the new found target market. Critics awarded the vehicle which helped the vehicle gain goodwill among the new identified market. The company placed the vehicle with a new outlook towards a truck it was not supposed to be any other old truck, the performance and the features in the vehicles were all top notch and it was not anything like a traditional truck it was positioned as a new commercial vehicle catering to the requirement of the people who are beyond brawn. Placing the vehicle as a smarter alternative was the next strategic move of the marketing team. Smart engineering, intelligent features and cutting edge technology for consumers who are smart and ahead of being brawn were implemented in this campaign. The image of the Ranger was like an advanced mechanism in the ute buyer market (Haughton et al. 2015). Traditional media used in the campaign by ford Some of the traditional medium of advertising is the radio, newspaper, magazine, television etc. According to the target market and also the budget of the organisation the medium is selected. In 2014, Ford opted to advertise the new smarter version of the truck they had created in television. Examples of real life ranger drivers were taken and used to advertise the diverse features of the vehicle. The advertisement had followed the model of AIDA (Attention, interest, desire and action) to create awareness among the target market regarding the role of a truck and how it is helping a the driver get to his workplace (Grigorescu and Lupu 2015). The driver of the vehicle on the other hand are people who are not from the blue collar segment rather one of them is an aquatic ecologist and the other individual in this series was a trail designer (Woo et al. 2015). The Advertisement made sure that the profession of the drivers along with the utility of the truck is the focal point of the message. The visuals used in these advertisements are empowering and encouraging, the narration in the 30 sec ad film added to the communication process and gave extra information regarding the person as well as the vehicle. These commercials were aired in national television which is one of the most common platforms for any automobile advertisement (Shkurupskaya and Litovchenko 2016). Some of the advantages of using traditional media like television for advertising the product or services are: As television is an audiovisual medium it has a stronger impact than any other traditional medium, in order to change a set of perception it is important for the stories of the two individuals to reach out to the audience so that they can comprehend with the situation in a improved way and also adds to the credibility of the vehicle in terms with the claims that the comp any is making. The Ad film that has been created has performance and human approach towards the product and the image of the driver. Another advantage of advertising in this medium is using the popularity of the medium to reach out to the target market and also it is a medium that has a large coverage (Roberts 2013). Online media used in the campaign by Ford Digital media or online media is the contemporary addition to the promotional mix. With the advancement of technology and the increased usage of internet among the common people digital media has quickly gained importance in the promotional mix of a product or service (Baltes 2015). The reach and coverage of online media is beyond the geographical boundaries another significant strength of the digital platform is that the company can easily get feedbacks from the customers which helps the company build the fundaments of a valuable relationship with the customers. In the next campaign Ford has used this platform to deliver the message to the target market (Jackson and Ahuja 2016). The point of initiation of this campaign is also based on a research which revealed that the customers had lot of queries regarding the products which remain unanswered. The new information that was gathered was transformed in to content for the series called the science of truck (Ford.com.au 2018). In the series set of questions were answered by the ford engineers which in turn focused on the smart science and technology that was involved in making of the Ranger truck, this ensured that the message of reassuring the that this vehicle is much more than just an old truck that is strong, it is rather an ergonomic instrument that fits in the utility of the consumer. The content was generated for an audience that was looking for answers hence the process gained popularity instantly (Seyyed Amiri et al. 2017). The company used social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube along with other digital medium like popular automobile websites to launch the trailer. The science of truck page i n the official website of Ford Australia. This campaign links with the objective of increasing the traffic of the official website of the company in the Ranger page as well. This camping not only fulfils one objective it also ensures that the gap in communication that was created by other competitors regarding the reputation of the driver and a truck being a bulky vehicle was changed (Dahl et al. 2015). Strategic and information driven content was developed as trailer for the show which was circulated in the digital platform that has been discussed above, by targeting specific audience with the help of searches and content usually viewed by the people. Ford developed content in this series keeping up with the queries by the target audience which made it easier for the company to grab the attention; this also increased the reliability of the product. Digital media has offered business organization with a plethora of opportunity to not only communicate but also interact with the end customers. Instant feedback and immediate reaction to an idea can help the business in a significant way (Dahl et al. 2015). Conclusion It can be concluded from the above discussion that even with tough competition and traditional target market companies can enter a market and gain edge over the competition with the help of an advanced product which recognizes the requirement of the customers and a good promotional mix support. It can be said that in the two Ford campaigns that has been discussed, market research plays a key role. The identification of the gap in target market as well as the lack in knowledge was discovered with the help of research. Important contrast in traditional and online media has been gathered that the process of gathering feedback ensures a complete cycle of communication; this process is rapid and quick in online advertising than in traditional medium. This gives digital media a great advantage over traditional media. 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