Marketing Communication Marketing

In Practice / Customer Communication 1

September 2019 Semester

Group Members :
Teh Kai Ying 1001956327
Tan Yan Xin 1001956201
Serene Lim Wei 1001955412

Lecturer: Nazliwati Mohamad

Subject Code: BM102/BM104
Course: Marketing Communication 1

1
QUESTION 1 (15 marks) - Identify an advertisement that uses any FIVE (5) of the following
executional frameworks. Evaluate the advertisement in terms of how well it is executed. Also, did
the appeal and message strategy fit well with the execution? Was the ad memorable? What made
it memorable?
 Animation
 Slice-of-life
 Testimonial
 Authoritative
 Demonstration
 Fantasy
 Informative

2
 1. Demonstration Execution
The advertisement that we chose for product
demonstration is Colgate’s Enamel Health
toothpaste. In this advertisement, Colgate’s
company involved the torture test approach
by visualizing how their product can
improve or strengthen one’s enamel strength
and is able to withstand force, such as biting
and pulling the bandage. Colgate came up
with a slogan – “Smile with Strength”,
starring WTA tennis pro Eugenie Bouchard,
intending to portray women empowerment,
toughness and self-confidence. This shows
that the company featured sex appeal by
using a decorative model where the model is
a women and this helps to attract men and
women.

This advertisement enhances the colour of the model and the contrast of the background with the
intention of attracting public’s attention to Eugenie. There are a few features that can be easily
caught on by the audiences such as the main colour used by the marketer which is tiffany blue
where the background colour, Eugenie’s clothing, and also the product colour, where all of them
matches each other. The sports bandage in the advertisement that is used by Eugienie shows the
empowerment strength that women should have and it demonstrates the strength of her enamel
after using Colgate’s Enamel Strength toothpaste.

This advertisement is memorable due to the visual of the advertisement, the shot of the product
and the significance of the product. The background, spokesperson clothing and also the sports
bandage strengthens the brand and package construction equities.

Link for the picture: https://whportfolio.com/colgate-smile-with-strength

3
 2. Informative Execution

The advertisement that we chose for informative advertising is about anti-tobacco as it is a

straight forward advertisement and it also uses eye-catching images. The anti-smoking campaign
kicked off in the early 1980s. The awareness of the serious toll that tobacco can take on one’s
health and the other innocent lives as well, effectively raised by hard-hitting anti-smoking media
campaigns.

This advertisement features fear appeal as it shows how long of a lifetime does a smoker have if
he/she continues to smoke (picture on the left) and the impact of smoking (picture on the right).
The picture on the left uses the length of the cigarette as a measure of a smoker’s lifetime while
using the slogan “How Long Can You Live?” with the emphasis on the word “live”. It means that
if the smoker continues to smoke, the lifetime of the smoker would decrease as smoking causes
cancer and etc.

The picture on the right, it uses hard-hitting/disturbing graphics advertisement to depicts the
negative health consequences of smoking, such as in the picture, premature birth. It motivates
smokers to quit and it is also associated with prevention of smoking among the youth.

However, these advertisements generates a high level of fear which may cause anxiety and it
leads to people avoiding and ignoring these advertisement. Hence, these advertisements may be
4
memorable but it may not be effective as people tend to ignore it.
3. Animation Execution
One of the advertisement that uses the
animation execution is an advertisement
from Michelin. Michelin is a company
that sells car parts but focusing on tires. In
order to attract customers’ attention, they
created an animation with a cute face, and
his figure represents the parts/tires from
the company. Most people know him as
the Michelin Man, however, his original
name is “Monsieur Bibendum”.

This advertisement uses the emotinal

appeal as Michelin have created their
mascot, Michelin Man, with a funny
appearance and it brings happiness. In this
particular advertisement, Michelin used
the slogan “The Right Tire Changes
Everything”, focusing on Michelin Man and also the tires, which I assume that they are trying to
portray the image of “Michelin Man comes to rescue!”, while claiming that they make some of
the fuel efficient and long lasting tires.

This advertisement is memorable in such a way that it brings humor, clanging or slogan,
separating this advertisement from other advertisement as I’ve mentioned, they have an uniquely
iconic characters, as well as some other different criteria that make advertisements unforgettable
in the minds of some customers. The character that they create is also very lifelike which causes
customers to not forget Michelin Man. His appearance brings a lot of benefits to the company as
it helps to make the brand more memorable and become a brand that is at the top of mind of
customers.

Link for the picture: https://www.adsoftheworld.com/media/print/michelin_the_right_tire

5
 4. Fantasy Execution
One of the advertisements that uses the
fantasy execution is from Red Bull.
Red Bull is an energy drink that also
multiple health benefits and their
tagline is “Red Bull gives you wings”.

This advertisement uses the fantasy

execution because of the wings drawn
next to the Red Bull can which implies
that whoever drinks Red Bull, he/she
will have wings to fly. The company is
actually trying to say that once you
drink Red Bull, you’ll be awake and
ready to go as it is an energy drink.
This advertisement is mainly aimed
towards teenagers or young adults as
they tend to stay up which leads to
sleepiness during the day, or that they
are required to have more energy during the day.

This advertisement features the emotional appeal as it creates trust and reliability to the brand.
People who consumes the energy drink trusts that it will “give them wings” or in another words,
give them more energy and people tend to rely more on the drink to push through the day/night.

This advertisement is memorable as it is unique, where no other company have the same/similar
tagline. The reliability and the trust that they built helped in ensuring that their advertisement is
memorable as well.

6
 5. Testimonial Execution

This is an advertisement produced by Bread For The World using the testimonial execution, to
encourage participation towards ending world hunger. It uses the emotional appeal as the
testimony from the boy in the image, “It nourishes you, but it’s killing me”, leaves an emotional
impact to everyone that sees this advertisement, which in hope, encourages everyone to
participate in ending the world hunger.

From this advertisement, we can see clearly that words that gives out negative impact, such as
killing, dies, deaths, and murder is highlighted in order to give out a stronger message and people
would notice this advertisement. Besides that, in this advertisement, they stated facts such as a
child dies from hunger-related illness in every 10 seconds which gives people a wake-up call
from their ignorance to what is really happening in the world.

This advertisement is memorable is such a way that it was created to be an impactful

advertisement to people by addressing real life issues and also getting a testimony from someone
that is actually experiencing it. By using the emotional appeal, people tend to remember the
advertisement more, as they try to put themselves in the victim’s shoes, and be encouraged to join
the movement of ending world hunger.

7
Link for the picture: https://www.behance.net/gallery/64975261/Bread-for-the-World-A-Quest-
to-End-World-Hunger
Question 2 (20 marks) – Chapter 1: Case 1 Mike’s Old-Time Ice Cream and Chocolate
Shop

1. Mike’s store will be a local business that competes with large national companies.
What communication challenges does that present? What opportunities does it offer?

Since Mike’s store will be a local business that competes with large national companies,
there will definitely be challenges that he’s going to face and also opportunities that he
can get from the challenges. One of them is that finding a plausible niche for Mike’s
business. Large national companies such as Baskin Robbins, Dairy Queen, Nestle and
Hershey’s wouldn’t face the problem of not having income or in another words, having
customers as they have already gained customer loyalty. Niche marketing strategy is
recommended to Mike’s business as it focuses the marketing plan far away from the
“target everyone” strategy. It targets only the customers who can connect well to the
products or the services. Mike’s business can try to build long term relationships with the
small set of customers.

In Mike’s situation, he can find a substantial strategy which focuses the complete
business on one specific niche. Let’s say Mike’s business and a national ice cream
company such as Baskin Robbins move into the sales region. He might be better off
focusing his attention to the locals. This is because, personal interconnection may be
more significant than consumer shopping.

Besides that, the increase in brand parity is another challenge that Mike may face. Mike
might feel that it’s impossible or be pessimistic thinking that he can’t compete against
national business on price because national businesses are always selling at prices far less
than they can even purchase the merchandise for. However, truth be told, local retailers
such as Mike’s Old Time Ice Cream Shop can turn the tables around nationally based on
his competitors. For example, for years a very powerful local chain of general
merchandise discount stores in Kuala Lumpur called NSK Trade City successfully
competed with the big companies in the market. Unlike so many other regional
8
 discounters, they didn’t bankrupt when companies such as Aeon and Tesco first moved
into the town. This is because they aim to continuously provide its customers with fresh
groceries and products at affordable prices which might turn out be as little as one quarter
of the price offered by national competitors.

Mike can adopt NSK’s strategy for just parts of his business by allocating a portion of the
retail space to off-price products. Many local retailers have used that strategy and turns
out with great success. However, competing on price is not a long term strategy is
generally not recommended as it takes a lot of ongoing management efforts and careful
purchasing decision.

Other than that, services and first impressions may be a challenge and opportunity for
Mike. This is because, first impressions are very important as customers tend to judge the
appearance and services in approximately the first 4 to 5 seconds they step into the shop
and this is usually the deciding point on whether the customer will come back for the next
time or not. Hence it is a challenge for Mike because his business is new, and if
customers have poor judgement towards his shop, other than the fact that they wouldn’t
come back, it would increase negative word-of-mouth from them and may cause Mike to
lose potential customers. However, if Mike were to take this opportunity to provide the
best services and also best first impression, it would increase positive word-of-mouth
endorsement and will lead to having more customers.

2. Which of the emerging trends in marketing communications can Mike use to promote
his new business? Explain how it can be used.

One of the emerging trends in marketing communication that can be used by Mike is the
integration of digital media. This is because integration of digital media is designed to
create brand experience, not just a purchase with little or no emotional attachment.

Nowadays, people tend to bring businesses online, especially the food industry such as
FoodPanda, GrabFood, DahMakan and many more. This is the best way Mike can
promote his shop by collaborating with companies that offer delivery services, which
meets customers’ need of convenience as some customers prefers delivery after a long at
work, and this helps to get his shop noticed.
9
 Besides that, Mike can also have an online website/app of his shop, so that customers can
browse through the website/app and check out on the detail of his shop (address, open
hours, service and etc), the food he serve on usual days, chocolate gifts that will be sold
on special occasion as well as offers and promotions for his shop. He can also mention his
partnership with a local chocolatier from a far side of the town which eases other people
from having to travel across the town just to get that particular chocolate brand, but
instead, customers can just purchase it from his shop.

Mike can also promote his shop by putting advertisements online where it’s the easiest
platform to reach all his potential customers, as not many people still uses the traditional
media such as newspaper, magazine and etc. He can advertise saying that he’s reopening
a company called “Stevenson’s Ice Cream” and that customers can anticipate the same
high quality ice cream that they had from Stevenson.

Efforts such as these would be effective on attracting the younger generations as they are
more inclined to the use of digital media. It would be increase word-of-mouth to their
peers as well as their family members because his shop is more appealing to the old-
fashioned, old-time relaxation which not many other shops or companies offer. Being
involved in social media increases accessibility to his shop and it provides services that
meets the need of customers and he is able to increase customer engagement at every
contact point.

Other than that, Mike will also be able to connect with his customers more than just in the
shop as he can receive their feedbacks and comments on how to improve his food,
services and what he should maintain. This is because customers are able to give opinion,
favourable comments and infavourable comment online.

3. What should be the first message that Mike should try to communicate to all potential
customers? Should he emphasize on price, value, or some other elements of his
business?

The first message that Mike should try to communicate to all of his potential customers is
the location of his business – the selling point. What makes his shop location different
10
 than the other national companies is that Mike’s Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop is located
at the outskirts of town, which provides plenty of parking spaces and it gives out a more
natural environment other than the usual shopping mall, city environment. This trait may
attract customers’ attention.

Besides that, he’s using a passenger car and a caboose as one of his set-up as a place to
enjoy his ice cream in a unique arrangement and I believe this would help his shop to
stand out from the other companies. Customers would be able to take nice pictures of the
arrangement of the shop and themselves to post online. Hence, increases word-of-mouth.

Other than that, the fact that Mike provides a swing set and other items for children
outside the rail cars shows that his shop is children-friendly and it’d attract parents as well
as children. This is because parents don’t have to worry that their child would be bored as
Mike’s Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop offers entertainment to all the child and children
would be more excited to go as there are two most favourite things in the world present at
the same place.

Mike’s shop offers the old-fashioned, old-time relaxation where no other national
companies offer and this is one important selling point of his shop. Although his first
message could be of price and value, but it may not stand out as much as the location of
his shop because other companies might offer a lower price or better promotions. Thus,
Mike should emphasize more on his unique shop location and facilities.

4. Will Mike be able to use social media in his marketing communications efforts? If so,
how? If not, why not?

Yes, Mike is able to use social media in his marketing communication efforts because he
can use social medias such as Instagram and Facebook, to promote his shop. Besides
putting advertisement on these social media platforms, he can create a page or a profile
for his shop to connect with his current and potential customers more. Mike can post
aesthetic pictures of the food, facilities, and testimonies of customers to attract especially
the younger generation’s attention, as they are often attracted by the aesthetic of the shop
and food, more than the price itself.

11
By using social media, Mike can create traffic to maintain long term relationship with his
customers and they are able to know the latest update such as new ice cream flavours
from the social media page for the ice cream. For new/interested customers, they are able
to do enquiries about his shop from the social media page.

The difference between using a website and a social media page is that website is slightly
more formal compared to social media, and social media is more accessible as all
potential customers usually browse through the social media, looking for new things to
see and try.

Social media is also another platform for Mike to receive feedbacks from customers, as
customers these days are very vocal about how and what they feel. Mike can also try to
improve and satisfy their needs from the received feedbacks.

By having a social media page as well, it is easier for customers to do social spider-
webbing where they share about Mike’s shop to their friends. This increases positive
word-of-mouth endorsement. It can also help Mike’s shop to be more relevant amongst
the younger generations as having a social media page make his shop seems to be more
trendy.

As younger generations these days focuses a lot on social medias, using social media as
one of the marketing communication efforts would help Mike reach out to a wider
audience and get word out about his “Old-Time Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop”. It helps
to promote customer engagement and build customer relationship because there is a direct
message section in these social media where Mike and his normal/potential customers can
converse together.

12
13