Integrated marketing communications
INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
Introduction
Nestle is well known in the food industries of India due to its brand known as Maggi noodles. Maggi is a well-known brand for noodles, soup, sensing and was established around 1947 in Switzerland (Sahoo, Mishra and Sahoo, 2016). In 2015, the Maggi noodles faced a crisis when the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India recalled 9 modifications of the brand in the market around the country (Desai, 2016). The claim was that the product contained some traces of lead and glutamate that are considered unsafe for human consumption (Soni and Harnawale, 2015). Due to such allegations, the company was forced to stop its production process, distribution, importing and other activities until the case was solved. The noodles had 80% of the overall market share in India before the crisis sprung up thus, hindering their sales and production (Sakunia and Jha, 2016). The paper aims at critically describing Nestlé’s response to the Maggi brand crisis and a critique on what they did (right or wrong). It also describes the integrated marketing communication models that are best suited to aid in the revitalization of the brand and a justification for the choice of the models.
Nestle reacted the allegations by rejecting the claim that the product was unsafe by posting on its website that no order was issued to stop the production cycle for the company (Errington, Fujikura and Gewertz, 2012). They interacted with their customers in the social media platforms such as twitter as well as Facebook to answer the questions regarding the presence of harmful substances in their noodles. Nestle kept informing their clients that they were working closely with the authorities to solve the issue and shared information regarding the ingredients and the importance of tests during the crisis. However, the company deiced to destroy noodles worth $50 million in India after they were termed unsafe (Ravi & Amit, 2015). Several tests were carried out both in Indian and other parts of the globe to ensure that they were safe for human consumption. The test results from the United Kingdom indicated that the product’s lead amount was within the acceptable range by the European unions. Additionally, Canada also published reports indicating that the noodles were safe for consumption thereby allowing the company to reopen the production cycle.
Critique
Nestle failed in their war to win over the trust of the people during the crisis since they initially failed to accept the allegations. They should have accepted the allegations by involving their Maggi personnel in the testing phase, involve third party witnesses, the media personnel and split the samples across multiple labs (Singh and Chahal, 2015). It would have ensured that transparency and stakeholders’ involvement had been established to win the trust of the people fully. Additionally, the organization should have shown that they believe in the noodles or products to attract the attention of the world. Nestle should also have educated the customers on the correct proportions of Maggi in their diet to ensure that they were aware of the balanced diet tips thereby improving the overall health of the people (Singh and Chahal, 2015). Nestle also failed by treating the crisis as a local problem thus, forgetting that the Indians live in all parts of the world and might have been disappointed to see it banned in India and other parts of the globe. The message would act as a precaution as well as an informatory platform to ensure that all individuals were aware of the current developments (Mehta, 2012).
Before the crisis, Nestle had a large market share in India, estimated as 90% and 39% in Malaysia but it declined after the banning of its products (Gupta, 2015). Currently, statistics indicate that the brand has a market share of 53% in India, which is lower than the initial share before the crisis (Kapooria, 2016). For instance, Patanjali Ayurved Limited established a brand named Atta noodles that was aimed at spreading negative publicity about Nestle (Degano, 2009).
Like PAL, Nestle needed to come up with a product tagline (Gupta, 2015). The tagline should have sent the message to the people that the Nestle products were the best for their health and they were easy to prepare (Singh and Gopal, 2016). However, it needed to make use of the integrated communication models to reestablish its brand name in both the local and the global markets (Begum, 2016). The social media platforms are the best strategy for the company to use since they can increase interactivity across all corners of the globe (Stelzner, 2012).
Integrated marketing communications
The Concept of IMC
IMC is described as a concept of marketing communication that identifies the advantages of planning on good communication strategies such as sales promotion, direct marketing among others. The concept combines various aspects such as public relations, direct response, and advertising to ensure that consistency, clarity and maximized communication is obtained (Errington, Fujikura and Gewertz, 2012).
Stages of IMC
Four primary stages in the IMC models that start from the bottom progressing upwards exist. The first stage from the bottom is the tactical coordination of marketing communication (Oancea, 2015). The stage is based on the need to use company slogan, corporate colors, standard logo and the general message inside the organization. Nestle will need to use the yellow color and the corporate color to distinguish its noodles from the competitor noodles. As such the use of the slogans, logo and color will ensure that it is easily identified and unique in the market to avoid counterfeits and replacement by substitute products. The second stage involves redefining the scope of marketing communications that involves the identification of places and ways of engaging the target consumers with the brand. According to Digital marketing case studies, (2016), Nestle needs to visit schools since the primary target customers are the students and youths. Additionally, they can sponsor public open day events where they can exhibit their products to sensitize the people.
Therefore, at the stage, there is the need to carry out customer surveys aimed at obtaining the consumer needs (Errington, Fujikura and Gewertz, 2012). It can use Facebook, twitter, Instagram, website and administering questionnaires to their customers to obtain concrete feedback. The third stage is the application of information technology to ensure ease of information sharing and integration. Fourthly, the financial and strategic integration involve an organization being inclined to the financial and marketing metrics. As such, Nestle will need to experiment by increasing the brand awareness to measure the overall outcome. They can use profits, sales, and other metrics to measure the outcome obtained after increasing their brand awareness within a particular period. It will help the firm to come up with the best strategies that have high positive incomes for the firm.
The Model of the integrated marketing communication for Nestle
The model that should be applied by Nestle is the integrated marketing communication mix model that is influenced by various factors or considerations that affect the consumers’ buying behavior (Tsikirayi, Muchenje and Katsidzira, 2013). The factors include sociological variables such as social class, reference groups, family and culture of the consumers. External stimuli factors include emotional values, brand, prices, offers, quality and attributes of the products among others. The last consideration is the IMC that consists of communicational messages and tools that may include sales promotion, public relations, online marketing, direct marketing and sales representatives among others (Tsikirayi, Muchenje and Katsidzira, 2013).
A Critique of Nestle communication model
The marketing communication mix model is significant for Nestle because it will help in the attainment of marketing and advertising objectives. It provides a wide range of options for the company such as the use of print media such as flyers, outdoor advertising, and brochures. It can use broadcast adverting such as television, public services advertising and celebrity advertising (Tsikirayi, Muchenje and Katsidzira, 2013). The advertisements should be in line with the logo and company color to persuade and remind the consumers of the Maggi product in the market.
IMC synergy for Nestle
Synergy can be created through integrating the traditional means of advertising such as print and television with the social media networks. It will ensure consistency and clarity of the advertising messages from Nestle Corporation (Errington, Fujikura and Gewertz, 2012). The integration of various social media platforms, other traditional and online channels will help in reaching out to a wider audience thereby creating a stronger impact. The synergy will be obtained through use of print media to produce trade journals for Nestle, brochures, billboards and trade shows (Baldauf, Cravens and Binder, 2003). Broadcast media such as the use of radio, television, and Internet can be used to reach out to large audiences. It can also use convert advertising, which involves the use of advertisements in movies and videos to capture more attention. The use of celebrity advertising campaigns that may be through television or print can be used as well thereby attracting the global attention. The marketing mix will increase awareness for the brand and increase the desires for customers to try out the product (Tsikirayi, Muchenje and Katsidzira, 2013). Additionally, it will ensure that brand equity is attained through establishing a brand image as well as sticking Maggi’s brand in the customers’ memory (Baldauf, Cravens and Binder, 2003).
Justification
Social media use is the best solution for Nestlé’s revitalization process to ensure that the brand is back to its initial position in the market as well as encourage the consumers to buy more after the crisis (Garg, 2014). Statistics indicate that Facebook has the largest population of active users across the globe while Instagram has 500 million users. Twitter has 313 million while the pin interest is estimated to have around 110 million active users per month (Handford, Elliott and Campbell, 2015). The integration synergy ensures consistency and clarity of the advertising messages from Nestle Corporation (Errington, Fujikura and Gewertz, 2012). It will need to use the print media and televisions to reach out to the members of the society who are active in online platforms such as social media. As such, it can create pamphlets and ads on television to attain retargeting and targeting in efforts to improve their brand awareness. It should also engage in public relations and promotional activities through sensitizing the public of the available offers and the health benefits of using their noodles. An open day sales promotion, exhibition, sponsoring of activities may create the best platforms for the company to increase its brand awareness (Umali‐Deininger and Sur, 2007). Increased interaction and connectivity with the customers will help Nestle to improve the conversion rates on their current traffic thereby improving trade (Ravichandran, 2010).
The use of traditional as well as social media are cost-effective ways of active advertisement of the Maggi brand by Nestle after the crisis (Piela, 2008). Nestle will obtain increased investment returns and retain a huge budget for other business expenses in addition to marketing (Clow, 2007).
Conclusion
The effects of the crisis included losses, poor brand reputation, the increased budget for testing, and other processes (Sakunia and Jha, 2016). The company failed to react effectively since it did not admit that the brand had a problem initially (Sarshar, 2015). There was the need to come up with integrated communication strategies that could help in the revitalization of the brand (Fill, 2005). It also helps in the retargeting, reaching out to a wide population as well as obtaining useful feedback that can be used to make decisions for further developments in the organization (Kapil, 2011).
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