Research Articles Base: Promotional Culture

Why is the phenomenon of pan-promotionalism sometimes thought to be problematic?

THE IMPORTANCE OF BOUNDARY BLURRING IN THE PROMOTIONAL CULTURE           INTRODUCTION                 Promotional culture is everywhere today.  Look around and everything looks back at you like a marketing presentation designed to arouse public interest.  Many authors say that most things in the modern world are advertisements and marketing schemes.  Promotional culture as described by (2006) is the presence of a consumer culture where brands thrive and pervade much space of people’s lives.  Cultures today are no longer created by people but by distant corporations with something to sell as well as something to tell.                       As the modern world progresses, people and nations are becoming more and more commercial.  Brands, fashion, products, entertainment, celebrities, and technology penetrate every lifestyle until it becomes embedded in one’s culture.  Corporations in turn are encouraged by the warm and consistent accommodation that they attempt to force entry of the economic world into the cultural sphere through bombarding advertisement and commerciality (2006).  The ultimate measures of successful existence are money and an excellent image.  And there is a continuous effort to combine entertainment and marketing in one presentation in order to ensure consumer appreciation by hitting two birds with one stone.  The end result is a mixed culture of branding and consumerism. WHAT IS BOUNDARY BLURRING?                 Boundary blurring is a concept of a new theory which proposes that boundaries can be represented by activities and offers new explanations of the conditions and mechanisms through which mutually beneficial activities blur inter-organizational boundaries. Boundary blurring theory refers to the individuals who perform such boundary-blurring activities like buyers, salespeople, strategic planners, accountants, service providers, and external consultants, as boundary-blurring people. The theory proposes mechanisms and conditions that help forge inter-organizational relationships so that, at the extreme, the organizations tend to work together as one coordinated unit on activities that are jointly important. Thus, BBT helps account for many of the widespread changes in business relationships in such arenas as supply-chain management, cooperative promotion, and joint buyer-seller category management programs (2006).                         Boundary blurring in advertising and marketing is more of a persuasion strategy that combines advertising efforts, information dissemination, news delivery and entertainment into one coherent material for the purpose of a more characteristic promotional material.  Today’s marketing process is complex with the diverse consumers and globalization of media.  Business-to-consumer advertisers learned that one of the best ways to reach their customers is by marketing in the places where their needs for leisure or entertainment as well as information and news are collectively met ( 2004).  This phenomenon gave rise to new media terms like advertorial (advertisement and editorial in the print media) and infomercial (information and commercial on television) (2005).     THE IMPORTANCE OF BOUNDARY BLURRING TO PROMOTIONAL CULTURE                 The 1990s and year 2000s are marked by the emergence of technologies, globalization, and fluctuating economies.  The proliferation of cable television, satellite receivers, video-cassette recorders, and electronic mass media has transformed communications and uplifted advertising into a global concern (1998).  Advertising is a component of corporate communications and marketing campaign strategies that aspires to disseminate product, service and value information to the market to encourage them to buy the product, avail of the service and establish loyalty with the company.  The diverse consumers and modern lifestyles made advertisers realize that traditional approaches to advertising would not make the message get across the market.  Today, innovations such as staged encounters in public places, giveaways of products such as cars that are covered with brand messages and interactive advertising where the viewer can respond to become part of the advertising message are widespread. The concept of preparing and presenting a total communications package evolved from the idea that a cohesive media package would be more effective than a series of independent shots, which might send out conflicting messages.  Television networks, cable operators, movie producers, magazine and newspaper editors and other media people are experimenting with ways to reach people with specialized media and creative messages.  Advertisers have found that they key to effective televised commercials lies in making the pitch both entertaining and credible (1998).   Leisure time is invaded by commercials and advertisements.  Everything is branded to establish distinction and even news programs are sometimes presented side by side with advertising gimmicks.  (1998) cited that most experts predict that as commercials become larger and more entertaining, there will come a time when it would be difficult to tell the difference between an advertisement and a program.             A survey in Britain as reported by  (2001) suggested that there are four kinds of response to advertising from the British population.  The first group, the Enthusiasts are advertising-friendly.  This obliging group of citizens, about 35% of those surveyed can not live without advertising.  They often prefer advertisements and commercials to the editorial and programming that surrounds them, love to be intrigued by advertising approaches and generally want to get involved.  Acquiescents (21%) are the cautious bunch.  They are confused by anything that is overly creative and feel threatened by the avalanche of direct mail, but broadly speaking, also like advertising.  The threats to advertisers are the Cynics (22%) who resent advertising’s intrusive nature and trust only the mildest specialist advertisements. The last group is the Ambivalents who have no interest in advertising, ignore it, and take the fatalistic view that one way or another the clever advertising thing will get to them anyway ().  The result of the survey is helpful for advertisers as it provides a glimpse of market preference.  Advertising needs to be dynamic and should be impeccably designed to create a unique mark to the consumers.  Boundary blurring is crucial if advertising is to become a hit.  It should carry with it both entertainment and information in order to address the varied needs of consumers.  The modern advertising approach as reported by Giroux (1994) does not overlook the all-pervasive power of representations, texts, commercials and images in producing identities and shaping the relationship between the self and society in an increasingly commodified world making boundaries between images and reality become indistinguishable.             Advertising communication is not always conducted through the mass media nor is it always focused on the “education” and mobilization of the general public alone.  This is increasingly accomplished through the so-called new media, those that utilize the Internet and the World Wide Web to reach the intended audiences.  The Internet and the Web provide opportunities for both the broadcasting and the narrowcasting, or targeting of messages, and the transmission of data and multimedia materials, all with a measure of interactivity that is absent in more traditional media (2001). Advertising according to  (2001) is the most widely disseminated form of public address.  A study of advertising media in the new public spaces of Asian cities, the subways of Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei, suggests that public appeals to local, national and most importantly, transnational identities, may even be possible in areas such as subway stations. Advertisers believe that subway stations are prominent commercial media venues that present many opportunities to make daily appeals to millions of people.  Subway trains are major transportation systems in the four cities and the number of people going about the stations on a daily basis is a great attraction for corporations and the government alike for their campaign and advertising purposes.  Corporations and local governments are clearly using advertisements to ask young, educated and primarily female urbanites in Asia’s global cities to share an imagined community of consumption (2003).             More specifically, the rearticulation and new intersection of advertising and commerce, and the politics and representational pedagogy can be seen in the emergence of Benetton as one of the leading manufacturers and retailers of contemporary clothing. Benetton is important not only because of its marketing success, but also because it has taken a bold stance in attempting to use advertising as a forum to address highly charged social and political issues. In the first instance, Benetton has appropriated for its advertising campaign actual news photos of social events that portray various calamities of our time. These include pictures of a duck covered with thick oil, a bloodied mafia murder victim, depictions of child labor, and a terrorist car bombing. As part of a representation of politics, Benetton struggles to reposition itself less as a producer of commodities and market retailer than as a corporate voice for a particular definition of public morality, consensus, coherence, and community. This has been more recently revealed in an advertising campaign which depicts Senator Luciano Benetton posing nude with an accompanying text urging people of wealth to give away their “old” clothes to charity. Benetton justifies the advertisement by arguing that “business” has to go on for everybody. Rich people should buy new stuff and be pleased that others can profit from (their old clothes).” Justice in this case is appropriated in order both to regulate the production of consumerism and to legitimate it (1994).             On the other hand, voluntary associations have continuously been active in the public sphere and continue to have success in placing certain issues firmly on the public agenda.  The utilization of celebrities was seen to be significant in positioning both the organization and the campaigns.  The right personality was regarded as a way to increase the credibility of organizational practices and values.  Celebrities are opening up new approaches to communication and how to reach an audience which organizations could not do.  Bono, a world-famous rock musician was recruited by a coalition of NGOs to campaign for debt relief for developing countries. British rock icon Bob Geldof performed in 1985 to raise funds for the starving people in Africa. This resulted to the recognition of the voluntary associations as important movers in the diversification of the manner of speaking about personal, social and political life (2004). The rationale behind the scheme of the voluntary associations in using the advertising charm of celebrities was to present their cause to the world consumers and advance the notion that “people respond and are influenced by people”.  Advertising has indeed become not only the most universally recognized art form but also today’s dominant culture ( 2001).              Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Why is the phenomenon of pan-promotionalism sometimes thought to be problematic?

THE IMPORTANCE OF BOUNDARY BLURRING IN THE PROMOTIONAL CULTURE INTRODUCTION Promotional culture is eve...

Filipino Speaking Campaign in Enhancing the Competencies in Filipino Language of the Students in Harvest Christian School International

CAMPAIGN IN ENHANCING THE COMPETENCIES OF FILIPINO LANGUAGE         Harvest Christian School International is a non-profit, non government organization. A Christian School in Cebu City Philippines, they have been promoting Christian Virtue enrichment program together with their academic courses in English in the area of Basic Education, Distance Learning, English as a Second Language and other field. Recently they have been engaging various activities and they have garnered the 7th place in 2010 for the National Achievement Test. They have been very successful in online learning together with their online partner in the United States the Seven Star Academy.        Their online learning courses are open around the world as long as you have your computer with the internet, everyone can learn using their system simply visits their website: http://www.hcsinternational.org. Harvest Christian School International has been engage in English Language curriculum since 1997 to help people to speak such language and later on grow using this language but they have also thought about the historical diversity of the Filipino language and there are needs especially among provinces to learn the basic native language.       The diversity of Filipino dialects in their native tongue reaches to as much as 170 distinction that is spoken in their own cultural linguistic approach. Pampanga speaks kapampangan, Pangasinan speaks Panggalatok, Cebuano speaks Bisaya, Ilo-ilo speaks Ilonggo and many other countless native dialects are available here in the Philippines.  Filipino and English is the official language in the Philippines but the Filipino in their province like the Ilonggo, Bacolod, and other Visayan provinces has not been very fluent in speaking the Filipino language sometimes they speak better English than Filipino. Schools like Harvest Christian School International have also learned to promote the Filipino language for their students to take pride of our national language. They may use the following approach to take a leap in their campaign in promoting the Filipino Language in writing and speaking;       It is very easy to teach Filipino language today because of the internet using various social media. The www.mylanguagexchange.com/learn/tagalog.asp   website gives the following tips that you can apply at home even in your school; 1. On the internet you can find various Filipino –English speaking chat mate and Facebook friends that is free and you can also use various social networking site and media exchange including video and audio. You can also use email and other multi-media approach to learning. 2. Practice written conversation through chat. 3. Record your voice and send it to your partner. 4. Practice during free time with or without the use of the internet. 5. There are also available books from other countries and provinces around the world although this are limited you may take a chance finding them in your bookstore. Students and children can learn regardless of age. 6. Learn also their culture and their expressions, to make it more original exercise you tongue.       Most Filipino from their provinces is also promoting Filipino or Tagalog language in their provinces. Like most foreigners they may also experiences difficulty in interpreting or saying such languages but through constant use and lots of practice one can easily get familiar with the language. Filipino in the province has a stronger advantage from foreign nationalities who wants to speak their language Tagalog is a challenge that’s why there are many foreigners are also studying such language. There are times that Filipino students may be confused between the differences between the word Tagalog and Filipino but it doesn’t really matter.       Schools and teachers may also include lots of pictures and images so that students can easily internalize the word or they may use various tools as a real representation of the object, for example during the class they may use or bring plants, flowers, species in school and be able to specify about the object in the class. Spelling is also a fun activity especially for small children. Guess the word and other games can be associated in teaching such languages, my favorite and highly appreciated among students is the short story telling and miming that includes gestures and facial expressions that they surely love.       “Linggo ng wika” include such activities like Balagtasan, Talumpati, Bugtungan, Harana, Pabula and other works makes it even more fun and challenging in their perception that incorporates more than languages but culture inclusion. All these activities are usually old forms of language appreciation but highly influential in teaching methodology of Filipino and Tagalog language for Filipino and foreign students who would have the need to learn such language. Teachers and schools must also learn to appreciate the language before they can teach. Harvest Christian School International and other schools can use all these tips for their advantage in enhancing their campaign in the Filipino language inclusion in their curriculum.                        Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Filipino Speaking Campaign in Enhancing the Competencies in Filipino Language of the Students in Harvest Christian School International

CAMPAIGN IN ENHANCING THE COMPETENCIES OF FILIPINO LANGUAGE Harvest Christian School International is a non-profit, non governmen...

PROMOTIONAL CULTURE

PROMOTIONAL CULTURE               This paper delves on the whole question of age and gender, not just of the producer and audience or consumer, but of their representation in promotional material. This paper will discuss ways in which age and gender or sexuality is a factor in promotional culture. For further understanding, the case of McDonalds and Wendy’s will be used as examples in this paper.   Promotional Strategy of McDonald’s and their Target Market McDonald’s Corporation is one of the most popular and valuable brands in the fast food industry. McDonald’s is undoubtedly a corporation of tremendous magnitude, with outlets in over 30,000 sites in 121 countries, serving over 35 million customers a day and earning profits of over billion annually. McDonald’s has successfully used a differentiated market segmentation strategy by targeting the family unit and particularly children with their “Happy Meals” and prices. McDonald’s has traditionally offered lower prices than other hamburger chains, thus gaining the patronage of larger-size families. The location of its outlets has been instrumental in making McDonald’s so successful. It was the first hamburger chain to expand into the suburbs and into the crowded downtown areas of large urban cities ( & , 1995). The issue of targeting children, particularly by commercial advertising like the one used in McDonalds, for example, sometimes raises many questions and, probably more than most topics, involves strongly held views and opinions. Given the vulnerability of children, questions about ethics, about the regulation of advertising and about effects of advertising, are in the forefront of heated debates. Many ads have one specific target audience and the target character is designed accordingly. It is possible, however, for one commercial to address multiple target audiences and still achieve identification. Although McDonald’s mostly targets on children as audience, their commercials most of the time target multiple audiences specifically families. An example is the McDonald’s ad that shows a working mom in a business suit showing her husband and lads everything in the refrigerator and freezer. She’s going on a business trip and has color-coded the plastic wrap around all the foods–blue is for broccoli, red is for. . .–dad and the kids are just looking at her, not paying attention. Then you cut to dad pulling stuff out of the refrigerator for dinner, asking the kids, ‘What do you want for dinner, blue or red?’ They say, ‘Let’s go to McDonald’s.’ Lots of McDonald’s spots work against multiple targets ( & , 2000). McDonald’s also has focused on a global fundraiser benefiting Ronald McDonald House Charities and children around the world. Helping children and families in need is one of the most important things that the global corporation does for the local communities. A large percentage of McDonald’s fast food chains worldwide are owned and operated by independent, local businessmen and businesswomen and together they support Ronald McDonald House Charities.   Promotional Strategy of Wendy’s and their Target Market On the other hand, Wendy’s, which had no real intention to be a national chain, began to operate in 1969 as a single unit in downtown Columbus, Ohio. A second unit quickly followed on the opposite side of the city. The next step in the development of the company was the opening of the first franchise in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1972, which was followed by many more Wendy’s restaurants within and outside the United States. Wendy’s has positioned itself as an adult-oriented fast-food hamburger chain and has attracted the largest proportion of female customers. Geographic segmentation is precarious in many large markets. In the late 1980s, Wendy’s tried to broaden its base of targeted consumers by focusing on weekend and dinner markets and opened restaurants in Sears and even in supermarkets ( & , 1995).             The promotional strategy of Wendy’s which is designed for women, does not feature the usual debate about presenting sexuality and discriminating men. The gender of the person here does not appear to promote some form of discrimination that leaves men and children out. However the kind of advertisement that Wendy’s makes are more appealing to adult women than to men and children.             Gender roles have created much issue in the past. Masculine rivalry has long been identified as a popular advertising theme, and competition for financial success was especially prevalent in the money-oriented 1980s. However, women’s progress in the male workplace caused profound changes in the financial services market. Once women embarked on lifelong careers and gained sufficient education to compete for lucrative positions, they began earning salaries that made them a tempting target for financial vendors (, 1997). This has paved way for many promotional campaigns that at present now target women. The issue of cultural conditioning leads to the need for more careful examination of whether (or how) advertising perpetuates/changes sex-role stereotypes. Despite objectively similar roles that can be taken by men or women nowadays, stereotypes about sex-linked appropriate behaviors – including language – persist and are embodied in advertisements. Even though women have entered the work force and educational institutions in record numbers in the past decades, old habits built into the traditional cultural heritage die hard. The construct of appropriate role behaviors may be changing more slowly than the actual socio-cultural changes in role performance.   Comparison of the Two Promotional Strategies Wendy’s market intensity in the US is estimated at 61,055 people per unit. Comparatively, McDonald’s has one restaurant for every 22,000 persons. Innovation took place when McDonald’s developed the concept of the assembly-line hamburger with French fries and when Wendy’s became the first hamburger chain to offer a salad bar and baked potatoes nationwide. McDonald’s, in an effort to compete in small-town markets, emphasizes a smaller cafe-style restaurant in total square feet than units located in metropolitan and suburban areas ( & , 1995). An interesting comparison between the two companies is that McDonald’s has the third most recognized brand name in the world, whereas Wendy’s is barely known outside the US. Another intriguing aspect of the hamburger war between these two companies is advertising. Wendy’s has the second highest advertising awareness among the US fast food service restaurants in spite of the fact that McDonald’s, which is in the number one position, outspends Wendy’s by a proportion of five to one. However, outside the US, unlike McDonald’s the promotional marketing abroad for Wendy’s has been rather limited due to lack of economies of scale in advertising. The minimum scale required to launch a national advertising program is 25 stores per country. So far, in the global market only a few countries are meeting the Wendy’s standard required to launch national advertising campaigns. While McDonald’s expanded one store at a time, Wendy’s preferred to unfold in blocks (, 2003). Between the two, it can be safely deduced that McDonald’s seem to be on the top of the race. This could be attributed to the different strategies that the fast-food chain pattern in response to their customers in different geographic locations. McDonald’s success in world markets has been attributed to its tradition of adapting to the conditions of local demand like serving a non-beef hamburger in India and Saudi Arabia, while offering a teriyaki burger in Japan, and falafel in Egypt. Another important aspect of McDonald’s strategy in world markets is its program to develop local suppliers like in Brazil where they invested a significant amount of resources into helping farmers master the cultivation of potatoes (, 2003). McDonald’s success is largely a result of articulation of its product and services with changing social and cultural conditions in the United States and then a global economy that enabled the fast-food industry to thrive and made McDonald’s triumph possible.   Conclusion             Promotional culture has the ability to disseminate information to a variety of people comprising of different backgrounds. When companies have to promote their products they have to utilize a strategy that will catch the attention and interest of their target audience. This also goes to say that before an advertisement or promotional strategy is concocted, the company already has an image which will reflect the target audience that their brand caters to. In the context of this paper, two fast food chains, McDonald’s and Wendy’s were analyzed on the basis of their promotional strategies, their target audience, and their appeal to the market. On the large picture, McDonald’s is on the top of the race and seems to be doing well on its promotions designed for children and in a way also captures the family audience, attracting more customers than their targeted audience. On the other hand, Wendy’s has a different target audience, which focuses more on women, and so although both offer food choices, they do not target the same audience and so the success cannot be measured in terms of which one is more popular. It is however safe to conclude that both fast food chains are utilizing the right promotional strategies and targeting the right audience for their brands, resulting to their continued success in their respective fields. REFERENCES   Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

PROMOTIONAL CULTURE

PROMOTIONAL CULTURE This paper delves on the whole question of age and gender, not just of the producer and audience or co...

Madcap Craftbrew Promotional Plan

Madcap Craftbrew Promotional Plan   1. Target Market             In the Cincinnati area, the target market would be university or college students, young professionals and professionals not more than 45 years of age. Craft beer industry trends shows that more young people prefer craft beers and Cincinnati hosts the University of Cincinnati together with other colleges and universities to constitute a target market for Zebra beers. The expansion of the market to include professionals not more than 45 years old is a response to the geographic location of the market. Cincinnati forms part of the Southwestern region of the US, which has the smallest existing market for craft beers. This means that Madcap has to expand its market in order to gain a greater market share necessary to allow the company to achieve long-term viability amidst the impending shake out of craft brewers.   2. Distributors             In the Cincinnati area, tapping a wide range of distributors is necessary to reach the wider target market of the company through a two-tiered channel of distribution. Two-tiered distribution means that the company has to contact directly retailers for exclusive or non-exclusive distribution of their products. Targeted distributors are those that cater to the market of craft beer such as high-end bars and clubs, four and five star restaurants and hotels, membership clubs, and similar distributors as primary channels of distribution and mass marketing channels as secondary distributors. In order to gain positive responses from these distributors, the company needs to develop high value for its Zebra brand. By bringing Zebra beers to the areas where the target market commonly goes, the probability of the market taking interest and trying the beer increases. The association of the brand with these venues would also support the maintenance of the product price under super premium price at .99 for a six-pack. 3. Task & Objective             Overall, the promotional plan involves two tasks for simultaneous accomplishment. One is the identification and selection of high-end distributors. Apart from the target market of these distributors matching the target market of the company, the number of target consumers that the establishments can draw need consideration. Selecting distribution establishments able to draw the target market in large numbers and providing an environment conducive to the consumption of craft beer will gain preference. Another criterion for selection is the possibility of these distribution channels in engaging in exclusive distribution or at the least preferred sales of Zebra beers. Gaining a distribution channel with all these three criteria would greatly contribute to the achievement of the sales target of the company for its craft beer brand. The other activity is building on brand equity. This is necessary in order for the company to have value that it can use to negotiate with distributors for the general distribution of its products, preferred sale of its beer products or exclusive distribution of Zebra beers. Achieving this necessitates television advertising in local or regional stations, local celebrity endorsements, hosting of special local events, as well as the continuation of its radio commercial stints. The objective of intensifying its promotional plan is to gain the interest of its target market, get them to try the product, develop a good impression of the product and brand, recommend the brand to their peers, regularly visit distribution establishments selling the product, and remember the brand when they grow old. Ultimately, the goal of simultaneously doing these activities is to develop a higher degree of brand and product loyalty with the target consumers while they are young in order to keep them as regular consumers in the future. This allows the company to establish a market base in the long run.   4. Percent of Sales             In Ohio, there is small margin of market share shared by small craft brewers. The medium and large breweries have taken control of 95.7 percent of the market with only 4.3 percent shared by small breweries. During the shake out, Madcap aims to remain in the industry as well as capture majority of the 4.3 percent market share. With regard to brand, 33 percent of the market is shared by other brands apart from the brands of the medium and large breweries. Madcap expects to gain majority of this 33 percent market share in the future. With its promotional plan, the company targets to gain an average increase in sales of 5 percent every year. 5. Budget Method             Madcap needs to increase its advertising budget to 3 to 5 percent of the projected sales for television advertising, local celebrity endorsements, special local events hosting, and radio advertising. It also has to optimize its limited budget through networking with the business community since the market is relatively small to gain their support in terms of endorsements and distribution. Using percentage as budget method instead of a definite amount ensures that the budget allocation would always depend upon the revenue generated by the firm. Since the company has a limited budget it is not rational to set a definite amount especially if the amount is more than what the company can afford to allocate for advertising, more so since it has failed to achieve its target sales in the Cincinnati market. 6. Advertising             The advertising budget will cover four types of advertising. First is television advertising in local networks to be aired in shows catering to the target market. Although, this involves greater cost, this would also result to greater brand and product exposure to draw higher brand recognition when they visit the distribution establishments. The advertising content should be classy and fun to draw the attention of the target market. Second is local celebrity endorsement that could also constitute the television advertisement. Normally, this involves great cost but local celebrities involve lower cost for the company and there are means of obtaining endorsements through familial or community ties especially if the owners are well known in the community. Third is the hosting of special events in the locality. This draws a wide range of market segments but selecting the type of event to host could still support the development of linkage of the brand with its target market. Fourth is continuation of radio advertising. Since this worked for the company for some time but it may need to change its approach by focusing more on the brand instead of the company owners to support brand loyalty since the company name is different from the brand. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Madcap Craftbrew Promotional Plan

Madcap Craftbrew Promotional Plan 1. Target Market In the Cincinnati area, the target market would be university or college ...

ANTI SMOKING CAMPAIGN

ANTI SMOKING CAMPAIGN   Introduction             Smoking continues to be a problem among many individuals worldwide. An attempt to decrease availability to those under 18 years of age resulted in a law that requires proof of age to purchase cigarettes. However, enforcement is far from being met. In many public places, smoking is allowed and even minor aged individuals can smoke. This paper will present and discuss an outline for a low budget oppositional/ protest or advocacy promotional campaign against smoking on a Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong. Its aims, concept, design, target audience, ethics/values, media, mode of address, placement, or cultural context of the said anti-smoking campaign will also be discussed.   Background             Success in response to public health education is more likely in professional and managerial persons and in those best able to intelligently appreciate the risks associated with smoking. Unfortunately, most smokers do not usually stop smoking until the onset of ill health. Withdrawal effects, possibly related to nicotine deprivation, include depression, anxiety, irritability, insomnia, and weight gain. Hypnosis, aversion therapy, group therapy, and special smoking withdrawal clinics have helped individuals break their smoking habit, but the overall value of these aids is uncertain. Persons unable to stop cigarette smoking should be encouraged to change to a less dangerous method of smoking such as using pipes or cigars, or filter-tipped cigarettes with a low tar and nicotine content. The risk may be also reduced by smoking fewer cigarettes, inhaling less, leaving a longer stub, and taking fewer puffs/cigarettes ( 2005).             Various organizations have put up campaigns against smoking. Yet not all of them do work. Governments alone cannot set up a successful campaign against smoking. Thus we see many private organizations that also help in campaigns against smoking.   Outline of the Anti-Smoking Campaign The aim of this project is to promote campaign against smoking on a Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong. Aside from the fact that cigarette smoking can damage the health of the one smoking, it can also pose serious health risks to other people in the vicinity. As this is a restaurant open to all people, a smoker who smokes inside the restaurant could present second hand smoke to the other patrons of the restaurant. As could be exemplified in  (1997) paper on urban imaging strategies, an image as a restaurant that allows smoking could be a drawback for the restaurant. Like tourists going to a country, customers would rather opt to go to a restaurant where all the customers do not smoke while inside. A campaign against smoking could not only help the smoker but also help other people and the restaurant as well. If smokers continue to frequent the restaurant and the restaurant does nothing about it, chances are that some of the patrons would rather visit another restaurant where they would not be exposed to second hand smoking. These smokers should also be educated on how much of an impact their smoking can have to those people around them. Some of these smokers may know that smoking is bad for them, but not many are aware that they also pose risks to people around them. People who smoke should therefore be concerned to people who don’t. These and many other promotional slogans will be included in pamphlets that will be distributed by the group.             The target audience for this anti-smoking campaign will be people who come to dine in the Chinese restaurant. Regardless of whether the customer smokes or not, he or she will be afforded the same attention as everyone by the project team. Everyone will be given promotional campaign leaflets against smoking. Perhaps to be exempted from the target audience will be children below ten years of age and do not yet understand clearly what the promotional campaign is all about. These promotions will avoid audience/consumer cynicism, skepticism and irony, but still have to contend with clutter, apathy, rejection. The main media channels for this project will be accorded to the low budget that the group has. Aside from hanging “No Smoking” signs inside the Chinese restaurant, members of the project team will be handing out postcards and other handouts such as car stickers and pamphlets promoting anti-smoking to patrons of the restaurant outside. Outside the restaurant, there will also be anti-smoking campaign posters. People need media to provide them with predigested views because they cannot experience all of life first-hand (2001). The project team will have an “official” pamphlet and poster which would explain the anti-smoking campaign undertaken by the group. It would provide the primary aims of such a campaign and also provide important facts about cigarette smoking. The project team could borrow from The Tobacco Institute’s anti-smoking campaign slogans decades ago. The project team could write in their pamphlets words like: “Smoking has its time and place. But not in someone else’s face (1975).” These project team members will of course not disturb the customers while they are eating or are engaged in some other important. They will be distributing their campaign materials to the customers after they have dined and are going home.             There will, however no personal surveys of the customers regarding their smoking habits and preferences or the nonexistent of such. The members of the project team will not discriminate anyone and therefore think that it will be best to avoid personal questions regarding the smoking habits and preferences of a restaurant customer. There is a tendency for those who smoke to feel discriminated if the members of the project team will start asking questions. It is understandable of course that people would want more privacy. This is not a research activity and there are no informed consent for the participants as is characterized in researches.             As is the same for the United Benetton Campaigns (1993), the posters for this promotional campaign against smoking will feature graphics that will be within the accepted limits for the culture that it is intended so as not to attract negative publicity. There will be no racist overtones in the posters and pamphlets and will have the intention of transcending human divisions. The promotional campaign materials will therefore be designed to attract people’s attention regardless of race, color, age, and sex, among many other factors.             The campaign materials for the anti-smoking promotion campaign will try not to dwell on too much propaganda, if possible there will be no hint of propaganda at all. As is discussed by (2001), the tendency of media to mitigate against open-mindedness is one of the dominant themes in media criticism. The group will have to do all that they can so that their promotional campaign materials or media will avoid media criticisms.             There is no clear discussion as to how the results of the anti-smoking promotional campaign will be measured. The only aim of the project is to disseminate as much promotional campaign against smoking as possible within a very limited area.     Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

ANTI SMOKING CAMPAIGN

ANTI SMOKING CAMPAIGN Introduction Smoking continues to be a problem among many individuals worldwide. An attempt to decr...

PROMOTIONAL CULTURE

PROMOTIONAL CULTURE               This paper delves on the whole question of age and gender, not just of the producer and audience or consumer, but of their representation in promotional material. This paper will discuss ways in which age and gender or sexuality is a factor in promotional culture. For further understanding, the case of McDonalds and Wendy’s will be used as examples in this paper.   Promotional Strategy of McDonald’s and their Target Market McDonald’s Corporation is one of the most popular and valuable brands in the fast food industry. McDonald’s is undoubtedly a corporation of tremendous magnitude, with outlets in over 30,000 sites in 121 countries, serving over 35 million customers a day and earning profits of over billion annually. McDonald’s has successfully used a differentiated market segmentation strategy by targeting the family unit and particularly children with their “Happy Meals” and prices. McDonald’s has traditionally offered lower prices than other hamburger chains, thus gaining the patronage of larger-size families. The location of its outlets has been instrumental in making McDonald’s so successful. It was the first hamburger chain to expand into the suburbs and into the crowded downtown areas of large urban cities (1995). The issue of targeting children, particularly by commercial advertising like the one used in McDonalds, for example, sometimes raises many questions and, probably more than most topics, involves strongly held views and opinions. Given the vulnerability of children, questions about ethics, about the regulation of advertising and about effects of advertising, are in the forefront of heated debates. Many ads have one specific target audience and the target character is designed accordingly. It is possible, however, for one commercial to address multiple target audiences and still achieve identification. Although McDonald’s mostly targets on children as audience, their commercials most of the time target multiple audiences specifically families. An example is the McDonald’s ad that shows a working mom in a business suit showing her husband and lads everything in the refrigerator and freezer. She’s going on a business trip and has color-coded the plastic wrap around all the foods–blue is for broccoli, red is for. . .–dad and the kids are just looking at her, not paying attention. Then you cut to dad pulling stuff out of the refrigerator for dinner, asking the kids, ‘What do you want for dinner, blue or red?’ They say, ‘Let’s go to McDonald’s.’ Lots of McDonald’s spots work against multiple targets (2000). McDonald’s also has focused on a global fundraiser benefiting Ronald McDonald House Charities and children around the world. Helping children and families in need is one of the most important things that the global corporation does for the local communities. A large percentage of McDonald’s fast food chains worldwide are owned and operated by independent, local businessmen and businesswomen and together they support Ronald McDonald House Charities.   Promotional Strategy of Wendy’s and their Target Market On the other hand, Wendy’s, which had no real intention to be a national chain, began to operate in 1969 as a single unit in downtown Columbus, Ohio. A second unit quickly followed on the opposite side of the city. The next step in the development of the company was the opening of the first franchise in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1972, which was followed by many more Wendy’s restaurants within and outside the United States. Wendy’s has positioned itself as an adult-oriented fast-food hamburger chain and has attracted the largest proportion of female customers. Geographic segmentation is precarious in many large markets. In the late 1980s, Wendy’s tried to broaden its base of targeted consumers by focusing on weekend and dinner markets and opened restaurants in Sears and even in supermarkets (1995).             The promotional strategy of Wendy’s which is designed for women, does not feature the usual debate about presenting sexuality and discriminating men. The gender of the person here does not appear to promote some form of discrimination that leaves men and children out. However the kind of advertisement that Wendy’s makes are more appealing to adult women than to men and children.             Gender roles have created much issue in the past. Masculine rivalry has long been identified as a popular advertising theme, and competition for financial success was especially prevalent in the money-oriented 1980s. However, women’s progress in the male workplace caused profound changes in the financial services market. Once women embarked on lifelong careers and gained sufficient education to compete for lucrative positions, they began earning salaries that made them a tempting target for financial vendors (1997). This has paved way for many promotional campaigns that at present now target women. The issue of cultural conditioning leads to the need for more careful examination of whether (or how) advertising perpetuates/changes sex-role stereotypes. Despite objectively similar roles that can be taken by men or women nowadays, stereotypes about sex-linked appropriate behaviors – including language – persist and are embodied in advertisements. Even though women have entered the work force and educational institutions in record numbers in the past decades, old habits built into the traditional cultural heritage die hard. The construct of appropriate role behaviors may be changing more slowly than the actual socio-cultural changes in role performance.   Comparison of the Two Promotional Strategies Wendy’s market intensity in the US is estimated at 61,055 people per unit. Comparatively, McDonald’s has one restaurant for every 22,000 persons. Innovation took place when McDonald’s developed the concept of the assembly-line hamburger with French fries and when Wendy’s became the first hamburger chain to offer a salad bar and baked potatoes nationwide. McDonald’s, in an effort to compete in small-town markets, emphasizes a smaller cafe-style restaurant in total square feet than units located in metropolitan and suburban areas ( 1995). An interesting comparison between the two companies is that McDonald’s has the third most recognized brand name in the world, whereas Wendy’s is barely known outside the US. Another intriguing aspect of the hamburger war between these two companies is advertising. Wendy’s has the second highest advertising awareness among the US fast food service restaurants in spite of the fact that McDonald’s, which is in the number one position, outspends Wendy’s by a proportion of five to one. However, outside the US, unlike McDonald’s the promotional marketing abroad for Wendy’s has been rather limited due to lack of economies of scale in advertising. The minimum scale required to launch a national advertising program is 25 stores per country. So far, in the global market only a few countries are meeting the Wendy’s standard required to launch national advertising campaigns. While McDonald’s expanded one store at a time, Wendy’s preferred to unfold in blocks ( 2003). Between the two, it can be safely deduced that McDonald’s seem to be on the top of the race. This could be attributed to the different strategies that the fast-food chain pattern in response to their customers in different geographic locations. McDonald’s success in world markets has been attributed to its tradition of adapting to the conditions of local demand like serving a non-beef hamburger in India and Saudi Arabia, while offering a teriyaki burger in Japan, and falafel in Egypt. Another important aspect of McDonald’s strategy in world markets is its program to develop local suppliers like in Brazil where they invested a significant amount of resources into helping farmers master the cultivation of potatoes (2003). McDonald’s success is largely a result of articulation of its product and services with changing social and cultural conditions in the United States and then a global economy that enabled the fast-food industry to thrive and made McDonald’s triumph possible.   Conclusion             Promotional culture has the ability to disseminate information to a variety of people comprising of different backgrounds. When companies have to promote their products they have to utilize a strategy that will catch the attention and interest of their target audience. This also goes to say that before an advertisement or promotional strategy is concocted, the company already has an image which will reflect the target audience that their brand caters to. In the context of this paper, two fast food chains, McDonald’s and Wendy’s were analyzed on the basis of their promotional strategies, their target audience, and their appeal to the market. On the large picture, McDonald’s is on the top of the race and seems to be doing well on its promotions designed for children and in a way also captures the family audience, attracting more customers than their targeted audience. On the other hand, Wendy’s has a different target audience, which focuses more on women, and so although both offer food choices, they do not target the same audience and so the success cannot be measured in terms of which one is more popular. It is however safe to conclude that both fast food chains are utilizing the right promotional strategies and targeting the right audience for their brands, resulting to their continued success in their respective fields. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

PROMOTIONAL CULTURE

PROMOTIONAL CULTURE This paper delves on the whole question of age and gender, not just of the producer and audience or ...

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