Question one
The communication objectives of the Burger King is to convince its target audience that the company offers the best food products in the market and should go for them instead of those offered by its competitors (Shin, 2013). This will help the company to increase its sales that have been falling in the last one year. A good marketing communication mix should be aimed at communicating the value of the product to the customers and to establish a relationship with them (Kotler, Gary, Tolba & Habi, 2011).
Question two
The company’s marketing campaign focused on the young male “super fans” that formed more than 50% of the total visitors in its marketing websites. Although young people still form the largest market of the fast-food, BK may be alienating other potential customers by focusing most of its advertising efforts on this group. For example, Crispin agency used viral web marketing strategies and phone ringtones, movies and bands that easily attracted young people. The consequence of this single-audience strategy is that the company may lose other market segment to the rival companies such as MacDonald and Wendy corporations (Kumar et al., 2014). This is because burger is not a product of young male customers alone as this company may purport. It is a product that attracts customers from all demographic profiles though not at equal magnitude.
Question three
Buzz or viral marketing is effective market strategy due to a number of factors. After analyzing the content, message and design of the subservient chicken’s website, it is evident that viral marketing is an effective marketing strategy especially if the information is tailored to convince a specific target group or groups (De Swaan Arons, Van den Driest & Weed, 2014). Most of the contents and messages in the website are very appealing to the young generation, designed and displayed in a way to catch their attention (Dinner, Van Heerde & Neslin, 2014).
Question four
The TV and viral elements of BK are working since the company has started to feel their effects. The TV elements are unique and help the company to reach those customers that may not have time to visit its website or even to download other forms of adverts such as ringtones (Tălpău, 2014). On the other hand, viral elements are working well to reach “super fans” customers who spend a lot of time in the internet and are attracted by what they see and displayed in an appealing fashion (Shafiulla & Babu, 2014).. However, there is still a room for Crispin to add other elements of the marketing mix in order to reach more people. Such marketing elements may include outdoor marketing, broadcast and print marketing among others. It may also include personal selling strategies such as trade shows, incentive programs, and sales presentations (Londhe, 2014).
Question five
Crispin agency may increase its market target by coming with other marketing strategies that will help BK to reach more customers. For example, the use of print adverts and magazines may help to reach young female customers as well as middle-aged customers who are yet to be reached fully (Constantinides, 2006). Crispin agency ought to invest more in research in order to develop new marketing strategies that are more effective and based on the customers needs. For example, it needs to conduct more research on generational marketing in order to understand the appropriate strategies to reach other groups such as teens, children and generation X who are not yet reached effectively (Goyal & Tripathi, 2015). BK may also partner with other advertising agents in the market to build customer relationships. For example, there are online companies that offer marketing consultation services, market survey, online marketing among other services that may be very relevant to BK Company.
References
Constantinides, E.(2006). The Marketing Mix Revisited: Towards the 21st Century Marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 22(3/4), 407-438.
De Swaan Arons, M., Van den Driest, F. & Weed, K.(2014). The Ultimate Marketing Machine. Harvard Business Review, 92(7/8), 54-63.
Dinner, I., Van Heerde, H. & Neslin, A.(2014). Driving Online and Offline Sales: The Cross-Channel Effects of Traditional, Online Display, and Paid Search Advertising. Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), 51(5), 527-545.
Goyal W. & Tripathi, G.(2015). Revisiting social marketing mix: a socio-cultural perspective. Journal of Services Research. 14(2), 127-144.
Kotler,P., Gary, A., Tolba,A. & Habi, A. (2011). Principles of marketing. New York: Pearson.
Kumar, A., Besharat, A., Lindsey, C. & Krishnan, S. (2014). Contextual and Competitive Interference: Inhibition or Facilitation? Journal of Advertising, 43(3), 228-243.
Londhe, B.R.(2014). Marketing Mix for Next Generation Marketing. In Shaping the Future of Business and Society, Procedia Economics and Finance,11, 335-340
Shafiulla, B.& Babu, P. (2014). Innovative Integrated Marketing Communication Strategies Used to Market Ra.One: A Critical Analysis. IUP. Journal of Marketing Management, 13(2), 19-39.
Shin, K. (2013). The Executor of Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy : Marcom Manager's Working Model. In: SpringerBriefs in Business. Berlin : Springer..
Tălpău, A. (2014). The marketing mix in the online environment. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Series V: Economic Sciences, 7(2), 53-58.
