MEDIA PLANING ESSENTIALS FINAL PROJECT COMMUNICATIONS PLAN RECOMMENDATION CLIENT: 4REAL Functional Beverage As you have been learning communications planning is a blend of art and science. An effective communications plan is based on a keen understanding of your client's problem, the consumer and the consumer's stage in their decision journey. Building the right strategic pillars allows you to understand the right channels in which to effectively communicate your message. But that is only half the battle. The consumer will only engage with your message if it is relevant, interesting and meets a current need. That is where the art comes in. With the right mix of channels, it is also important to use the insights you learned to create an integrated and engaging experience. This project allows you to apply all of the skills and concepts you have learned to a real-world client situation. You have been challenged by the folks at 4Real to bring their product to a national plan launch. They have been in test market in the Southeast for the past year to great success and they are ready to take the brand national! They have provided you with the following information: PRODUCT: 4Real is a functional beverage that provides you with a combination of hydration energy, health & wellness attributes and weight management characteristics. PRICE: 4Real will be priced competitively with Gatorade and Powerade. PLACE: 4Real will be sold in the same outlets as other functional beverages such as convenience stores, grocery stores and big box outlets (Costco, BI's, etc) PROMOTION: The tagline for the campaign is "Let's Be Real. This allows us to communicate the detailed information necessary for the consumer to understand out benefits while still having fun with how people be real." We will want to target people when they are engaging in activities that might wear them out and require some replenishment while also driving awareness and making sure that our new brand advocates talk about 4Real. TARGET AUDIENCE: Your target is defined as a Millennial (ages 18-34) who leads an active lifestyle and is conscious about their diet and what they eat OR currently drinks energy drinks. (refer to the assignment deck for more information on your target) BUSINESS OBJECTIVE: Sell one million units in the first year. MARKETING OBJECTIVE: Gain trial amongst 25% of the target audience in a crowded beverage category. COMMUNICATIONS OBJECTIVE: Drive 50% aided awareness within the target BUSINESS CHALLENGE: You are an unknown brand in a crowded field where a lot of your competitors are making unsubstantiated health claims. You need to break through the clutter and gain the trust of the consumer. Project Outline: 1. Review the project brief to ensure that you are grounded in what your plan needs to accomplish. 2. Based on the information provided in the demographic and media consumption habits, brainstorm your target insights, category insights and media insights. You will also want to do some primary and secondary research. Using any research tools your university provides or even Googling the popular press to see what is being said about energy/functional drinks. You can also leverage Google Trends to try to find insights. 3. Map the consumer pathway and determine what points along the journey you need to impact to meet your challenge of convincing your target that 4REAL is the best functional beverage on the market. 4. Based on your decision regarding the consumer journey, determine the barriers and/or drivers that communications can address, 5. Armed with this information, complete the brief provided in the assignment deck. 6. Review the task summary included at the end of this document to understand the drivers that have been selected for the channel selection. 7. Your total budget is $25MM for your national launch. Based on the information provided in the task summary and given this budget level, Commspoint has made a channel recommendation (included in the assignment deck) 8. With these channels selected, you will need to create an integrated paid. owned and earned strategy that will truly engage your target audience. Specifically outline at least three activation ideas. 9. BE CREATIVE! How will you leverage each channel? How will each touchpoint work together to provide an integrated experience for the consumer? Make sure that the experience meets the strategic requirements you laid out above.. MEDIA PLANING ESSENTIALS FINAL PROJECT COMMUNICATIONS PLAN RECOMMENDATION CLIENT: 4REAL Functional Beverage As you have been learning communications planning is a blend of art and science. An effective communications plan is based on a keen understanding of your client's problem, the consumer and the consumer's stage in their decision journey. Building the right strategic pillars allows you to understand the right channels in which to effectively communicate your message. But that is only half the battle. The consumer will only engage with your message if it is relevant, interesting and meets a current need. That is where the art comes in. With the right mix of channels, it is also important to use the insights you learned to create an integrated and engaging experience. This project allows you to apply all of the skills and concepts you have learned to a real-world client situation. You have been challenged by the folks at 4Real to bring their product to a national plan launch. They have been in test market in the Southeast for the past year to great success and they are ready to take the brand national! They have provided you with the following information: PRODUCT: 4Real is a functional beverage that provides you with a combination of hydration energy, health & wellness attributes and weight management characteristics. PRICE: 4Real will be priced competitively with Gatorade and Powerade. PLACE: 4Real will be sold in the same outlets as other functional beverages such as convenience stores, grocery stores and big box outlets (Costco, BI's, etc) PROMOTION: The tagline for the campaign is "Let's Be Real. This allows us to communicate the detailed information necessary for the consumer to understand out benefits while still having fun with how people be real." We will want to target people when they are engaging in activities that might wear them out and require some replenishment while also driving awareness and making sure that our new brand advocates talk about 4Real. TARGET AUDIENCE: Your target is defined as a Millennial (ages 18-34) who leads an active lifestyle and is conscious about their diet and what they eat OR currently drinks energy drinks. (refer to the assignment deck for more information on your target) BUSINESS OBJECTIVE: Sell one million units in the first year. MARKETING OBJECTIVE: Gain trial amongst 25% of the target audience in a crowded beverage category. COMMUNICATIONS OBJECTIVE: Drive 50% aided awareness within the target BUSINESS CHALLENGE: You are an unknown brand in a crowded field where a lot of your competitors are making unsubstantiated health claims. You need to break through the clutter and gain the trust of the consumer. Project Outline: 1. Review the project brief to ensure that you are grounded in what your plan needs to accomplish. 2. Based on the information provided in the demographic and media consumption habits, brainstorm your target insights, category insights and media insights. You will also want to do some primary and secondary research. Using any research tools your university provides or even Googling the popular press to see what is being said about energy/functional drinks. You can also leverage Google Trends to try to find insights. 3. Map the consumer pathway and determine what points along the journey you need to impact to meet your challenge of convincing your target that 4REAL is the best functional beverage on the market. 4. Based on your decision regarding the consumer journey, determine the barriers and/or drivers that communications can address, 5. Armed with this information, complete the brief provided in the assignment deck. 6. Review the task summary included at the end of this document to understand the drivers that have been selected for the channel selection. 7. Your total budget is $25MM for your national launch. Based on the information provided in the task summary and given this budget level, Commspoint has made a channel recommendation (included in the assignment deck) 8. With these channels selected, you will need to create an integrated paid. owned and earned strategy that will truly engage your target audience. Specifically outline at least three activation ideas. 9. BE CREATIVE! How will you leverage each channel? How will each touchpoint work together to provide an integrated experience for the consumer? Make sure that the experience meets the strategic requirements you laid out above