Week 13

As we are nearing the end of the semester, we are beginning to focus even more on our SMART Projects. This week we edited and finished our posters for the expo and discussed concepts related to marketing communications.

Poster
The poster is split up into two portions: Market and Technology. Under the Market we include the value and benefits of our product, as well as the initial market size in Massachusetts. The Technology side explains the ease of use and aspects like the breathalyzer and finger print scanner.  Our Headline can be seen at the top of the poster, STOP Drinking and Driving, Sober Driving Made Easy. At the bottom we included our sponsor who prints each poster n or class, the names of the members of Team OK2DRIVE, and a labeled diagram of our quad stand.

Marketing Communications

Without effective promotion, few goods and services van survive in the marketplace, no matter how well developed, priced, or distributed the product is. This is why communication by marketers that informs, persuades, ad reminds potential buyers of a product is so important. This exchange connects the consumers wants and needs and creates value. We want people to talk about the product and create "buzz"! The three purposes of Marketing Communications are:

1. Informing

2. Persuading

3. Connecting

Decoding Messages

During class we took a look at a few different advertisements, discussed them, and tried to decode their message.

NIKE

Smoke 'em: Run faster than the competition

APPLE

Think different: This is a unique product that is either for those who think differently or it is a product will make one think differently.

OLD SPICE AD

If you use this body wash, you will smell like a man. Perhaps this would be the type of ad that primary recency would play into.  A person is shopping at the store and goes to the shampoo/body wash aisle. They see the bottle of Old Spice and quickly remember the weird ad with the horse they had just seen on television before they left, and decide to buy the product. This is a memorable device, especially when the ad uses incongruity, things that are not usually shown together.

AIDA Model

The AIDA Model, or AIDA Concept, stands for attention, interest, desire, and action.  This acronym represents stages of consumer involvement with a promotional message.  The ultimate goal of any promotion is to get someone to buy a  good or service, and this model helps to each that goal.  We will describe each portion using the Old Spice advertisement, mentioned above:

Awareness

This would be the recognition that Old Spice is no making body ash for men, and could be found in advertisements online, in articles, etc.

Interest

Interest in this advertisement, as well as the product, may occur because the viewer finds it cool, weird, or memorable.  These ads can be found in newsletters, social media, blogs like this, and email-campaigns.  I was surprised to learn that E-mail Campaigns are extremely productive in advertising.

Desire

In this case, desire would be both men and women wanting men to smell like a man.  That is, not flowery and fruity, like most fragrances for women are. Ads may include white papers, brochures, and microsites.

Action

Finally, this step is actually buying the product.  The pain point and value motivates you to take action. Forms of marketing communications include case studies, data sheets, and testimonials.

After finishing the final draft of our posters, we continued to work on our Brand Strategy Memo, which is due this Tuesday.  This week we will also finalize our marketing pitch for May 4th.