Integrated Marketing Communications Plan DELL CASE STUDY Introduction Integrated Marketing communications report has been executed over the topic Marketing communication which is an important aspect for every business. The term integrated marketing communication can be understood as the marketing efforts placed by an organisation for the purpose of promotion of their products or services in the market. The motive behind using integrated marketing communication is to enhance their performance and enhance the customer base of the business by making the customers aware about the products or services. It is a form of messages or media used by the business for communicating with the customers and the potential customers. This report will be executed by covering the various aspects related to integrated marketing communication and its role in a business. This report will discuss the integrated marketing communication tools which an organisation uses, strategic marketing communication plan prepared or constructed by the business and a marketing communication strategy and the manner in which the elements of the communication process are applied at the global level. Brief description of the company, the product and the target market Integrated Marketing Communication is a crucial aspect for every company as every company is engaged in the business with a motive to serve the customers and earning profit and growth of the business. With the change in the business environment due to the change in the level of competition and change in the technology, the manner of promoting products or services by businesses has also changed. This shift has given rise to the concept of integrated marketing communication. For the purpose of execution of this program a computer technology company has been selected named as Dell. Dell is a multinational privately owned computer technology company of America which is engaged in developing, selling, repairing, providing support to the computers and products and services related to computers. It is offering personal computers, servers, smartphones, peripherals and televisions (Avramescu, et. al., 2015). It was founded in 1984 and offering its services all over the world. It is having a huge employee base of 101,800,who are providing quality services to the customers. Dell is offering Alienware series for the purpose of providing computers and laptops with high performance computer gaming system and media centres. The Alienware series of Dell include Alienware 13 which is designed for the purpose of high performance gaming, Alienware 15 which is designed with carbon fibre materials for attaining a perfect balance between the performance and the mobility and Alienware 17 designed with roaring graphics and massive screen which acts as an ultimate choice of the gamers due to the power and performance and many more. The Alienware series of Dell can be identified with the alien-theme designs. Dell is planning to promote or advertise the Alienware series in the Ghanaian market so as to make the people aware of the products and the services offered by Dell and attracting the customers. The trend of gaming in Ghana is increasing at a fast speed and the market of Ghana has been identified as a leading industry for the gamingas the analysis of the Ghanaian market has helped in analysing that the gaming revolution is taking place in Ghana. From the analysis, it has been evaluated that the people who are of 45years and above are playing games more than the children which provides a platform to the gaming computers. Due to this increasing trend of the gaming industry in Ghana, Dell is planning to use integrated marketing communication for the promotion and advertisement of the products and services of the company among the people of Ghana. Dell is targeting these people who want to enhance the gaming experience and to ensure the high performance in gaming (McKay-Nesbitt & Yoon, 2015). Using the guidelines provided below, develop an Integrated Marketing Communications Plan for Dell, as it seeks to introduce its products in Ghana. Length: 30 PAGE MAXIMUM (appendices should not be used, 1.5 spacing 12-point serif typeface is requested for the body of the work, with table, figures, etc. at the discretion of students). Students must include creative work, examples, schedules, etc, and these must be bound within the 30 page report. You will have to extract the most relevant inforation from your report for your power point presentation. Value: Integrated Communication Brief (30%) + IMC Plan This includes stages 1 & 2 (70%) Total (100%) 40 Marks Submission Date: One Month from the agreed date by the Department of Marketing. Purpose: To assist students prepare a practical integrated marketing communication plan for a brand through the application of material presented in the course. STAGE 1 (Campaign Planning) Stage 1 of the IMC plan details the research, analysis and key strategic decisions undertaken in preparing your Integrated Communication Brief (creative brief). 1. Current Situation Analysis Perform a thorough analysis of the situation confronting the brand, internally and externally. The purpose of this is for you to get clarity around the marketing problem or opportunity to be addressed by the IMC plan. The situational analysis provides an overview of the IMC functions and an assessment of the environment in which IMC professionals must work. Several factors must be considered in the situational analysis. The company for which the IMC plan is being created must be analysed. The environment in which this company operates must be understood and detailed. A market and consumer behaviour analysis must be completed. Further, you must understand the competitive landscape. Please note: you may need to make assumptions where data is unavailable. However, you must make an effort to track down information using more than just Google, corporate websites and Wikipedia. 1.1 Background Research and Analysis Internal Research & Analysis The internal analysis incorporates research and assesses relevant areas involving the brand / service offering and the company itself. The capabilities of the company and its ability to develop and implement a successful IMC programme, the organisation of the IMC department, and the successes and failures of past programmes should be considered. Another aspect of the internal analysis revolves around undertaking research from which an assessment of the company or brand from an image perspective. Often, the image the company or brand brings to the market will have a significant impact on its IMC programme. Other issues to consider include: sales and profitability, mission and vision, organisations orientation (e.g., risk-taking vs. conservative), finances, technology, human resources, market share, and sales trends. (Ferrell & Hartline 2011). Also consider asking questions such as: What is the companys culture like? How ambitious is the company? How much risk is it willing to incur? What is the state of the companys financial, technological and managerial resources? What are the recent sales trends, profit trends and market share trends? (Parente 2015). From this research and exploration, you should be able to derive the key strengths and weaknesses for inclusion in section 1.2 SWOT Analysis. External Research & Analysis The environment in which a company operates must be understood and detailed. Existing market and consumer behaviour analysis must be completed. Further, you must understand the competitive landscape. Finally, a product or service history and evaluation should be included. Macro Environmental Factors: Undertake an external environmental analysis by examining the many different external factors affecting an organisation. Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological, Legal Environmental, Demographic. Only consider those that are directly relevant. Competitive Analysis: You need to know who your competition is. Further, you need to know how, why and when the competition will respond to changes in IMC tactics and executions. This analysis should examine both direct and indirect competition, with an emphasis on direct competition. Consumer Behaviour Analysis: You will need to complete a consumer behaviour analysis on current users. It is necessary to understand who, what, how, when, and why consumers buy / use your companys brand item. In comparing the profile with the market that exists in aggregate, you may also find some market opportunities for growth. In this section, you should provide detailed analysis of the potential consumer(s) using demographics, psychographics, geodemographics and behaviouristics [brand loyalty]. Current Brand Item Evaluation: Examine the existing marketing mix (product, price, distribution and promotion) of your brand item. You need to consider: o Brand item quality; o The benefits offered by the brand item and the needs and wants it satisfies; o Has the company developed new markets, or found new applications or uses for its brand item? o How do channel intermediaries feel about the brand item? o Is distribution effective? o Is the brand name well known? o What problems do consumers see with the brand item? o What are the brand items unique benefits or features? o How does the company differentiate its brand item from its competitors? o How do consumers perceive the brand item? (Baskin 2010) From this research and investigation, you should be able to derive the key opportunities and threats for inclusion in section 1.2 SWOT Analysis. 1.2 SWOT Analysis Key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats are derived from your research and analysis. This SHOULD NOT contain any issue / insight that cannot be traced back to the internal and external research & analyses. 1.3 Key Marketing Problem or Opportunity Overview of the key problem your campaign aims to solve and/or key opportunity it will address. Importantly, in many cases, an IMC campaign cannot solve a problem or take advantage of an opportunity. There are things that a well-run IMC campaign can do and things that it cannot do. In the event that your selected marketing problem requires more than a new IMC campaign, you will also need to make changes to some or all of the other elements of the marketing mix before addressing Key Strategic Decisions. Any changes to the existing marketing mix need to be detailed in this section: i.e. new packaging, new distribution, new flavour/ingredients, premium pricing, line extension etc. It is strongly recommended however that this being an IMC plan you focus clearly on the main objectives inherent in this. 2. Key Strategic Decisions 2.1 Marketing Objectives Sales, market share, profit etc. (need to be SMART - measurable, achievable, realistic and over a specific timeframe). 2.2 Communication Objectives Campaign communication objectives include: category need, brand awareness, brand image / attitude / preference, brand purchase / action intention. Please note: brand awareness and brand image / attitude / preference are almost always communication objectives. o Category Need - Establishing a product category to remove or satisfy a perceived discrepancy between a current motivational state and a desired motivational state. o Brand Awareness - Fostering the consumers ability to recognise or recall the brand within the category, in sufficient detail to make a purchase. Recognition is easier to achieve than recall. Brand recall is important outside the store; brand recognition is important inside the store. o Brand Attitude (brand image) - Helping consumers evaluate the brands perceived ability to meet a currently relevant need. Relevant brand needs may be negatively or positively oriented). o Brand Purchase Intention - Moving consumers to decide to purchase the brand or take purchase-related action. 2.3 Positioning No company can be successful if its products resemble every other product. Strategically, each brand item must represent the right kinds of things in the minds of the target market. Positioning requires that marketers define and communicate similarities and differences between their brand and their competitors. Positioning requires: (1) determining a frame of reference by identifying the target market and relevant competition, (2) identifying the optimal points of parity and points of difference brand associations given that frame of reference (consider a perceptual/positioning map), and (3) creating a positioning statement to summarise the positioning and essence of the brand. 2.4 Campaign Target Audience Identifying the target audience for a campaign starts with looking at potential buyers of the brand item, current users, deciders, or influencers, and individuals, groups, particular publics, or the general public. The target audience is a critical influence on the communicators decisions about what to say, how, when, where, and to whom. You need to first look at the target audience in terms of usage/brand loyalty (Behavioural Segmentation): Is the target new to the category or current user? Is the target loyal to the brand, loyal to a competitor, or someone who switches between brands? If a brand user, is he or she a heavy or light user? In behavioural segmentation, buyers are divided into groups on the basis of their knowledge of, attitude toward, use of, or response to a brand item. Your strategy sections in stage two of the IMC Plan will differ depending on the answers to these questions. Your target audience can be further delineated using the major segmentation variables of: geographic, demographic and psychographic segmentation. 2.5 Campaign Budget You need to develop your Campaign Budget using at least one of the four budgeting methods discussed in the lecture series. These include: the objective-and-task method, the percentage-of-sales method, the competitive-parity method and the affordability method. 2.6 Brand Personality/Character This is a description of the personality and character your brand should consistently portray. People have relationships with brands just as they do with people. Thats why marketers define the brand personality carefully. Some brands have subtle, and often unconscious, relationships with customers. A brands personality has those human personality traits. What kind of person would the brand be if it were human? 2.7 Integrated Communication Brief (creative brief) You need to use the insight and key strategic decisions from stage 1 of the IMC plan to prepare your Integrated Communication Brief. The creative brief is due to be completed and submitted approximately midway through the semester (the exact date will be advised by your local lecturer). The brief is worth 10% of the marks in this course. Remember you have been provided a brief template to use for this. Top Tips for Top Briefs Your briefing template is a useful tool; learn how to use it Define the problem clearly. Inform and inspire. Aim to surprise and challenge preconceptions. Be clear and single-minded. Make sure it hangs together as a coherent whole. Clearly define the role for each media channel or activity. (Baskin 2010)

STAGE 2 (Campaign Strategy and Implementation) Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy For the IMC plan, it is essential that the work you submit demonstrates adherence to the Integrated Communication (creative) brief already submitted. You will be assessed on how this strategy is executed across media choices and planning, how the plan is to be monitored and evaluated and how well the central concept to your IMC strategy adheres to the key positioning of your brand, including target audience(s) selected and justified. While these specific elements will be considered, it is important to note that your work, being a practical plan (and brief) will need to be fully integrated and demonstrate synergy, fluency and structure. Provide mock-ups of/storyboards for advertisements, radio scripts, QR Codes, schedules, press releases, mock-ups of product placement, mock-ups of social media, media schedules, etc. used in your IMC plan. Your plan must be realistic, well thought out and demonstrate suitable creativity to achieve the objectives specified. A copy of the Integrated Communication (creative) brief is to be attached as an appendix to your completed IMC plan. 3.0 Creative Strategy Communications effectiveness depends on how a message is being expressed, as well as on its content. If a communication is ineffective, it may mean the wrong message was used, or the right one was poorly expressed. Creative strategies are the way marketers translate their messages into a specific communication. The plan needs to contain: 3.1 Development of Creative idea A Key Creative Idea [needs to thoroughly be described and developed around the key benefit claim/brand proposition] usually uses one of the creative strategies noted in the textbook and lecture series. Brainstorm the creative idea from the key creative brief insight and direction. Make sure you take into consideration the components of Brand Awareness & Brand Image/ Attitude. You also need to demonstrate an understanding of persuasion and the Elaboration Likelihood Model from your text. This knowledge/understanding needs to be incorporated into the execution of outdoor mock ups, TV storyboards, radio scripts, social media, blogs, video etc. for traditional media and new media. 3.2 Detailed Explanation and Mock-ups (Tangible Executions) across all Media You need to include detailed explanation and mock ups (TV storyboards, radio scripts, social media, blogs, video etc.) for all traditional media and new media selected for the IMC Campaign in this section. Traditional Advertising Media includes television, radio, newspapers, magazines, outdoor, and cinema etc. New Media includes social media, Internet display (banner / remarketing), Internet search (SEO & SEM), websites/campaign microsites, video, forums, crowd sourcing, mobile (geo-targeting and apps) etc. DO NOT incorporate activities/tools outside those referred to above. Instead they need to be thoroughly developed under section 5.0 Other IMC Activities/Elements. 4.0 Media Strategy Here we have broken down media into two sub-groups: traditional advertising media and new media. All other communication (IMC) tools are addressed separately in section 5.0. Traditional Advertising Media Your selection of primary medium and secondary traditional media need to be strategically aligned to identified consumer behaviour and communication objectives. They should not be selected in isolation! Traditional Advertising Media includes television, radio, newspapers, magazines, outdoor, and cinema etc. New Media New Media includes social media, Internet display (banner / remarketing), Internet search (SEO & SEM), websites / campaign microsites, video, forums, crowd sourcing, mobile (geo-targeting and apps) etc. You need to include: 4.1 Justification of Media and Media Vehicles Selected You need to demonstrate the strategic benefits and justify the use of all campaign media and media vehicles. This needs to be linked back to the clients brief. 4.2 Media Objectives You are required to demonstrate an understanding of the media objectives of reach, frequency, continuity, weight, recency (if relevant) and cost. 4.3 Media Plan/Schedule/Social Media Content Calendar Appropriate and suitable plans, schedules and calendars that clearly highlight the roll-out and usage of media types 5.0 Other IMC Activities/Elements/Tools It is important to understand that there are a range of techniques aside from traditional advertising and new media that allow a brand to communicate with its target audience(s), and can be integrated into an IMC campaign for greater overall success. 5.1 Selection, Integration & Detailed Explanation/Mock-ups of Other IMC Activities You need to thoroughly develop and integrate your selected IMC activities. Elements to consider (certainly not exhaustive) include: Point of Purchase - Remember POP is the last opportunity for a campaign to affect behaviour of the target audience. Direct marketing - Direct marketing includes any marketing communications tool that interact directly with customers. Sales promotion - consists of a collection of incentive tools, mostly short term, designed to stimulate quicker or greater purchase of particular products or services by consumers or the trade: sampling, bonus packs, sweepstakes, contests, trade promotions etc. Proactive Marketing Public Relations Publicity is the major tool. However, proactive MPR plays an important role in: launching new products; repositioning products, building interest in a product category, influencing specific target groups and building the corporate image in a way that reflects favourably on its products. Sponsorship marketing Includes: event sponsorship, sponsorship of locations and or teams and or individuals (sports people). Cause Related Marketing (CRM) - involves giving support, often in the form of funds, to charities or causes. CRM is an amalgam of PR, sales promotion and corporate philanthropy. Personal selling - is by far the largest form of marketing communication. While traditionally the domain of the sales manager and not the marketing or brand manager, personal selling activities must be regarded as marketing communications and ideally integrated and coordinated in IMC campaigns. Infomercials Long form television commercials that provide in-depth persuasive information. Events Provide immersive brand experiences, deliver quality impressions and increase time spent with the brand. Guerrilla Marketing Derives its power from surprising people. It uses smart placement to break through the clutter and show customers the message in an unexpected way. Product Placement Providing products as props for sets and background scenes in movies and TV. Branded Entertainment Association between the property and product, where the product is moved from the background to foreground. And many more. Do your own reading and research. 6.0 Evaluation and Control To make certain that IMC campaigns are working, campaigns must be tracked and monitored by research. 6.1 Outline Evaluation/Tracking Techniques Briefly outline the evaluation/tracking techniques that will be used - i.e. customer tracking surveys etc. What do you plan to track? How often and when during the campaign? I.e. you track reach and frequency of exposure; track communication objective performance (category need, brand awareness, brand image/attitude/preference, brand purchase/action intention); track sales and profit 6.2 Demonstrate Possible Corrective Action Scenario Also comments on possible corrective action (how will campaign problems be addressed/resolved) that may be needed during the campaign.

An introduction has been given about Dell which is the case study and we are to develop an IMC plan for dell as it seems to introduce it's products in ghana. Guidelines has been provided below as to how the question is to be answered based on the guidelines that's STAGE 1 and STAGE 2

STAGE 1 of the IMC plan details the research, analysis and key strategic decisions undertaken in preparing your Integrated Communication Brief (creative brief).

STAGE 2 (Campaign Strategy and Implementation)

I think if the whole thing is read you will understand