Thursday, 29 November 2012

A0B4: Presentation Script


The Market

I think that the product would appeal mainly to males or females aged 13-30. However, as the product has a simple touchscreen interface, other people will still be able to use it and I have not purposely excluded them when creating the marketing campaign. In terms of the current market, Smartphones have become increasingly popular in the last few years therefore we should have a lot of potential customers. I understand that there is now lots of competition for the iPhone from Microsoft and other companies however I think that the iPhone is still a higher quality than these other smartphones and people will be willing to pay more money for our product rather than an alternative. Also Apple have a lot of loyal customers who are likely to buy the iPhone because they know and trust them to make good products.

Aims of the Campaign

Obviously one of the main aims is to sell lots of the product. However I also want it to keep the iPhone as the best Smartphone on the market and make people want to buy the iPhone rather than another Smartphone. I hope that we will be able to keep previous customers interested as well as attracting new customers.

Dates of the Campaign

I have chosen the release date (July 12th 2013) to coincide with the release of Microsoft’s new smartphone. I hope that this will keep people from buying the Microsoft product and make them want to buy the iPhone instead. Also, we do not want to be seen as being behind other companies. The other dates (TV adverts, email marketing etc.) will be released in the two months leading up to the release date to get a good amount of publicity for the iPhone.

Legal and Ethical Considerations

In the adverts for the product, I have been careful not to mislead the audience as Apple have had adverts banned by the Advertising Standards Authority before, for example when one of their adverts said that the iPhone could access 'all of the internet' even though it did not support an Adobe Flash plug-in. The former FTC (Federal Trade Commission) commissioner Roscoe B. Starek has said that children may not understand exaggerated statements or images, the example he gave being that they might believe a toy to come fully assembled when they actually need to assemble it themselves. For ethical reasons, I decided to aim my campaign at teenagers and adults. I considered other possible ethical issues but I could not find any within the marketing campaign. I don't think that the product can be considered controversial and there is no stereotyping, profanities or rude language in any of the adverts.

Adverts

I think that the adverts I have made will appeal to the target audience because of their simplicity. The billboard advert does not go into much detail about the product simply because people usually only glance at billboards. In the TV adverts, we will show the new features of the phone and give people more information about it because people will be watching these adverts much more closely than the billboards. There is a chance that people might find the lack of bright colours in the adverts offputting however these conventions have been consistent throughout the adverts for previous iPhone models, as well as other Apple products and this hasn't been a problem. My billboard advert is original as I did not directly use any other adverts for inspiration other than the simplicity of previous Apple adverts.









Tuesday, 27 November 2012

A0B3: Email Marketing

This is an email that will be sent out on June 28th 2012 to potential customers. I have provided a link so they can pre-order straight away.

A0B3: Search Engine Optimisation


A0B3: Promotional Items



A0B3: Billboard Adverts




A0B3: Production Diary

September 5th

I have met with the client, Mr Haycocks, and I told him about the promotions and advertisements that we were going to use to sell the iPhone 6. I decided that I would advertise the product using billboards and posters, magazine articles and adverts, television adverts and through other means such as QR codes, email marketing and promotional items including t-shirts and jumper which would be worn by Apple staff.

September 7th

I have begun to design the billboard adverts for my campaign. I am keeping them fairly simple because I knew that most people only glance at billboards and would not want to be given lots of information. I will put more details and information on the magazine advert and I have made sure that the TV adverts will be used to show off the new features of the phone.

September 10th

I have finished the designs for the billboard adverts and I am happy that they will be very effective in helping to sell the iPhone 6. I have also shown them to Mr Haycocks who agrees and is pleased with the work that I have done. I have got a good idea of how I want the magazine advert to look and will start to design it in the next week.

September 21st

I have started designing the magazine advert and I feel that I have given myself more than enough time to complete it. I have come up with most of the ideas for the advert and I have discussed them with Mr Haycocks. He is happy with most of the ideas and is keen to see more of my designs for the products.

September 27th 


I have made some small edits to the billboard advert designs because I felt that they could be improved. Mr Haycocks is happy with the changes that have been made. I have designed the jumpers and t-shirts which are to be worn by Apple staff members, the design is very simple because their purpose is simply to remind people about the new product.

October 5th 

I have made some minor alterations to the t-shirt and jumper designs. I have also continued with the magazine advert. This should be finished soon.

October 11th

I have created a template for an email which will be sent out to existing Apple customers. I have also set up search engine optimisation which means that Google and other search engines will recommend iPhone 6 as one of the first search options.

October 19th

I spent the day working with a film crew to make some of the TV adverts. These are looking promising so far but we do have more to make. These adverts will be released on TV as well as the official Apple YouTube channel on May 24th 2013.

October 25th

I have done more work on the TV adverts, mainly the editing of existing adverts but I have also put forward suggestions for new adverts.






November 25th







Thursday, 8 November 2012

AOB2: Marketing Schedule



Item
Start Date
Date of Completion
Announcement of the iPhone 6
December 20th 2012.
December 20th 2012.  We will announce that we are working on the new model of iPhone and that it will be called the iPhone 6. We may also mention some features that people can expect to see on the phone.
TV Promotion (adverts)
May 24th 2013, 7 weeks before release.
Will be televised frequently until July 26th, 2 weeks after release, after which the adverts will become less frequent. However if for any reason sales do decline, they will become more frequently shown again. The adverts will be shown at many points across the day in order to attract a wide range of people. However we will make sure to get the adverts shown during football matches and the most viewed programmes, such as The X Factor. These TV adverts will also be uploaded to YouTube and links to them will be posted on Twitter and Facebook.
Social Media
May 31st 2013, 6 weeks before the release date.
The Twitter and Facebook account will be posting links, questionnaires and information about the product up until July 10th, 2 days before release.
Billboard/Bus stop adverts
June 2nd 2013, 5 ½ weeks before release.
These will stay up until July 26th, 3 weeks after the release of the product.
Computer/technology magazines
June 14th 2013, 4 weeks before the product is released.
These will stop on July 19th, a week after release, so there is a considerable amount of time for adverts, reviews and interviews to be placed in the magazines.        
QR Codes
June 14th 2013, 4 weeks before the release of the product.
These will be placed on some of the iPhone adverts in magazines. They will also be on some bus stop adverts. We intend for these to get people excited about the product. As they are on the adverts, they will stay up until July 10th.
E-mail Marketing
June 28th 2013. We will inform people that they can pre-order their iPhone 6 from July 5th 2013.
June 28th 2013. These will be sent out on this one day because we do not want people to think that we are spamming them.        
Pre-orders on websites (Apple, Orange, O2 etc.)
July 5th 2013, 1 week before release.
The pre-order period will end at midnight on July 11th 2013, as the iPhone is going to be released on July 12th
Release Date
July 12th 2013.
July 12th 2013. We have chosen this date because Microsoft are releasing their new smartphone on August 2nd.

Tuesday, 6 November 2012

A0B2: Official Bodies

BARB (Broadcasters' Audience Research Board) is owned by BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, BSkyB and the IPA (Institute of Practioners in Advertising). It averages the audiences for all minutes that a programme is being transmitted for, excluding embedded commercial breaks and promotions, and provides the weekly audience figures for the UK.

RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) measures and profiles the audiences of radio stations of the UK. The results of these audience figures are revealed every quarter. People are asked to complete a diary of all of the stations they listened to for at least 5 minutes in a week.

ABC (Audit Bereau of Circulation) are the industry body for media measurement. They manage and uphold the standards of the best way for media industry data is prepared and reported. They offer a world class audit and compliance service in order to check that data and processes meet these industry agreed standards. They were founded in 1931 because there was audience requests for an independent source of circulation data.

ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) are in charge of making sure that TV viewers will enjoy the adverts and will be able to trust them. They send out weekly signals regarding what is and isn't acceptable in advertising across a wide range of sectors. The industry's commitment to advertising responsibility has made sure that the adverts shown are legal, decent and truthful.

CAVIAR was established in 1985 in order to provide reliable cinema audience figures for media planners. These are derived from periodic sample surveys of about 2500 British cinema-goers between the ages of 7 and 44. It has yet to be seen what long-term effect this new initiative will have on the fortunes of cinema advertising

CAP (Committee of Advertising Practice) are independently administered by the ASA. The CAP and the BCAP, both of which are administered by the ASA, are responsible for The Codes. There are over 30+ members of CAP that help to make sure that the industries advertising is legal.

Friday, 26 October 2012

A0B2: Marketing Plan

Description of Product

The product that I am marketing is the Apple iPhone 6. It is the latest in the line of iPhone models created by Apple. The recommended retail price for the product will be £599 for the 16GB model, £649 for the 32GB and £730 for the 64 GB model. There will also be many Pay Monthly tariffs available. The main focus of the campaign will be the speed of the phone compared to previous iPhone models and other phones. There will also be a lot of focus on some of the new features, such as the new camera which will have 10 megapixels.


Marketing Mix

TV Promotion -  There will be multiple adverts each focusing on a new or improved feature of the phone.

Social Networks - A twitter account and Facebook page will be created for the iPhone 6. They will have regular updates about the product and links to other promotions for the phone, such as YouTube videos of TV adverts.




Print Ads - There will be adverts for the iPhone 6 in many places, for example computer magazines and on billboards




iPhone+advert+1.jpg
Computer Magazines - Interviews with people involved in the creation of the product and celebrities who have tested the product.

Website Promotion - The Apple website will have an image of the iPhone 6 on the home page with some links to videos about the product.

Aims of the Campaign

Obviously the main aim of the marketing campaign is to sell lots of iPhones and make lots of money. However, some other things that I hope to achieve with the campaign include raising the profile of the iPhone brand and making more people aware of the capabilities that an iPhone has. I also want to keep previous buyers of iPhones interested in iPhones while also finding even more people who will want to purchase an iPhone. I hope that my campaign will put the iPhone back as the top smartphone and make people want to purchase an iPhone rather than any other smartphone.

SWOT: Review of the Current Market

Strengths: Apple already have a very good reputation and are one of the biggest and most well-known companies in the world giving it very good brand recognition. Furthermore the iPhone itself has been very successful with millions of sales for each model. Apple had a very good financial base so they could create a strong marketing campaign. Apple also have staff with relevant skills, researchers who would be able to develop a product that people will want to buy and marketing staff who could promote the product well.

Weaknesses: People may not be happy with the idea of a 'walled garden' where they are being dictated by a certain company for example only being able to download apps from the Apple app store. Other smartphones offer a wide range of apps so people may be tempted to buy these phones instead. Another concern is that the new iPhone may not have enough new features to make people want to buy it. The iPhone 4S. for example, was not a massive change from the iPhone 4. As there is a new iPhone model every few years, people may not want to buy the new one because they know that within a few years they will not have the latest model.

Opportunities: Smartphones have become increasingly popular recently with most people now owning one. This means that Apple will not find it hard to sell the concept of a smartphone because everybody already knows about them and like them. Nowadays it is seen as cool to own a iPhone so people may feel like they need to have one. Apple can easily use this to their advantage to sell the product. Many people are loyal to Apple and will buy their products simply because it is an Apple product.

Threats: Because of the recession, many people are becoming much more conscious about money. Due to this, Apple may face a problem when trying to sell their products because most of their products are high-priced. Another threat to the iPhone is the large amount of competition it now faces. There are lots of other smartphones which are cheaper and have similar features. Android phones have an advantage over iPhones because they have a much wider range of apps available.

Potential Market

The iPhone 6 would be aimed at 13-30 year old males and females. However it is not going to exclude other people from buying it. It will be fairly simple to use with most things being done with a tap on the screen meaning that people will not have to be 'tech-savvy' to use it. It will be very useful for people who enjoy listening to music because of the large memory of the phone (16GB minimum). Due to the high quality camera, photography students or people who simply enjoy taking photos will find the iPhone 6 very useful. Businessmen and woman will also find the phone very useful because of its ability to store information and because of the business-centered apps that are available on the app store.



Young people would enjoy the large variety of games and entertaining apps that are available. Buying the iPhone 6 on a Pay as You Go tariff will require a high amount of disposable income, however there will also be Pay Monthly tariffs which will cost a lower initial price.

Direct Marketing

One form of direct marketing we will use is email marketing. Emails will be sent to everyone currently on the Apple customer database as well as some people through a cold list. This should gain us lots of buyers for the iPhone 6. We are also going to make use of search engine optimisation to target people who are searching for relevant terms. We will also place adverts on the web on a variety of websites including Google. A Twitter account and Facebook page will be created for the iPhone 6. There will be regular updates on these, with information about the product and links to TV adverts on YouTube. We will place banner ads on apps and QR codes in magazines or on bus stops in bigger cities such as London. We will also send push notifications to people with smartphones in cities with an Apple store, such as London or Birmingham.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/76/PC_Pro_Magazine_December_2010_Fair_Use.jpgIndirect Marketing

Advert for the product will be placed on billboards which will be seen by lots of people of all ages. In places like London, there will be adverts on some bus stops.
This should help to draw in a lot of potential buyers of the iPhone 6. Adverts will also be placed in computer and technology magazines. In some magazines, there will be interviews of some of the people involved in the creation of the product and people that have tested prototypes.

Gaining Feedback

Due to the massive popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, I have decided to use these to gain feedback regarding my product. A questionnaire will be placed on the iPhone 6 Facebook page and a link will be tweeted on the iPhone 6 Twitter account. This should be able to reach people in my target audience but also people who are not. This will be useful because we will find out why people like the product but also why people don't which might allow us to make the next generation of iPhone appealing to even more people. I will present the product to a focus group to find out what they think is good with the product and what they think should be changed.