BX2082 Integrated Marketing Communications

This assignment is regarding the IMC fitness scenario in which you will have to first choose the slogan and the name of the fitness centre. In the attachment, you will find the marking criteria and all the rubrics. You will have to use the IMC theory and then implementing in the fitness scenario. please go through the things and all the parts given in the attachment and under every part, there is explanation of the parts. you will have write it according to the headings given and please focus all the things according to the guidelines given and please go and write according to the explained parts given in the attachment.

Answer:

Introduction

The 3D Fitness center is scheduled to open within three months and is based on the plan of being positioned as a brand that is providing its customers with three dimensional facilities which are fitness center, café, and a beauty and salon spa. The slogan of the organization is “Determination, Dedication & Desire in Life”. The organization is going to open five centers in Sydney with one being opened at Sydney CBD and the rest four being opened in the suburban area of the city in north, south, east and west direction. The organization is passionate about these centers as both the owners of this organization are athletic people and it is their passion, which they want to share with the people of Sydney. The fitness centers are built with the objective of providing a wide range of facilities to the customers, thus the gym area has been divided into five categories that include cardio area, strength area, stretching area, free weight area, and aerobics area.  The aerobics area is divided into two rooms, one for aerobic and the other one for spinning classes. The café that is the second dimension of this center is created with the key motive of providing the customers with a social space that helps them to build a strong bond with their gym mates along with healthy food and beverages. The café also facilitates the customers with protein shakes and other gym merchandise that are easily available for the customers. The beauty and salon spa is the third dimension and this space has been created so that the customers can pamper themselves with various beauty treatments and also can enjoy a relaxing spa after a tough and sweaty workout. The integrated marketing communication plan will help in fulfilling the objectives of the organization that have been set for the next one year, that is a total of 15 months including the three months before the opening time. The main objectives of the organization are to gain 20,000 customers in the next twelve months with the city based center acquiring 6.000 customers and the suburban centers attaining around 3,500 customers each. The other objective of the organization is to attain a 15% profit margin from the cafes and attain a 30% profit margin from each beauty and salon spa. On the basis of these objectives, the organization will be able to accomplish its bigger objectives of opening new fitness centers in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. The integrated marketing communication plan will help the organization in building a strong image of the organization as it will ensure that all the communication tools are interlinked and will work in harmony. In this assignment, the plan is built in a systematic manner that creates a message strategy, examines the available options of the integrated marketing communication, suggests the appropriate actions that should be implicated in the plan for the next fifteen months with regular monitoring and evaluation being conducted on each campaign initiative. The integrated marketing plan is built on a specified budget of 2.2 million that will be utilized effectively to highlight the uniqueness of the 3D fitness center through various mediums. 

Creative Approach/Message Strategy

The main focus of the message strategy in the integrated marketing communication plan is to make brand awareness, strengthen the attitude of the customers about that product or service, should be encouraging the customer to create an enthusiasm amongst the customers for the product and should build a connection with the customers that further helps in building a strong bond. All this has to be delivered by the organization’s message strategy for building a brand value for an organization (Aesthetika & Febriana, 2018). The message strategy also has used creativity and innovation for better positioning. A creative message brief is first initiated to understand and jot down the different guidelines that our message should be fulfilling. The name 3D Fitness have dual meanings, firstly it can be elaborated as determination, dedication and desire, which are the three key principles of the owners when they were athletes. The second meaning is the three dimensional services that the organization is providing its customers. For the organization 3D Fitness, the message will be created on the basis of two message strategies that is a unique selling proposition and the brand image. Also, the message is targeted to people who belong to the age group of 20-60 years and the message is targeted to people belonging to different demographic backgrounds and are living in Sydney.  

The following key messages have to be highlighted in the integrated communication plan. The messages have been created on the basis of unique value proposition and brand image. The message approach will highlight the following attributes of the organization-

Primary Messages

• 3D Fitness is more than just a gym. It is a center that focuses on health, beauty and entertainment.
• 3D Fitness provides a wide range of exercising facilities that are not just restrained to cardio equipment and weight training.
• 3D Fitness focuses on the customers in an overall aspect by providing them facilities with protein shakes that will help in better body building and shaping. Also, the relaxing spa treatments will help in calming the muscles for a better workout the next day (Caemmerer, 2009).
• 3D Fitness inspires passion by helping the people who are passionate about health and fitness and keeps it as their biggest priority.
• 3D Fitness provides its customers with various membership plans that are divided between weekly, monthly, yearly and casual visits which are starting from the minimum range of $20.
• The city fitness center is located in the Sydney Central Business District which is just a three minutes’ walk from the Museum station. Also, the other centers are all just ten minutes away from major metro stations.
• The suburban centers that will be at Bondi Junction that is the east location, Chatswood that is the north location, Parramatta that is the west location and Hurstville that is the south location. All these centers will also have a crèche with a trained care taker. This service is very helpful for parents and none of the competitors of the organization is providing this service. 

Secondary Messages

• The fitness center offers the customers with a 24 hours access. Also, the various classes like aerobics, zumba, yoga, tai chi, pilates, body pump, body combat, body attack, body step, body balance, sh’bam, RPM and spinning are available for multiple times throughout the day.
• 3D Fitness center encourages community bonding in a comfortable environment along with healthy eateries, with the main motive of bringing the communities more close in this busy working world.
• The beauty and salon spa provides facilities like body bronzing, therapeutic massages, tinting, waxing, exfoliation, body treatments, manicure & pedicure and many other beauty treatments. The fitness center members will be given a discount of 10% every time. 

Review of Integrated Marketing Communication Options

The integrated marketing communication plan also involves the examination of the various tools that will be appropriate for a certain organization or a product. For the 3D Fitness, the selection of the correct tool is crucial as the tools should convey all the messages clearly to the customers. Every marketing communication tool has their strengths and weakness that should be examined in details before utilizing it for the plan. Also, the examination of tools helps in formulating better strategies for the promotion of the organization. The various available integrated communication options that the organization 3D Fitness have are-

Advertising

Advertising is the most effective tools of integrated marketing communication. The different traits of advertising include persuasiveness, non-personal and dissemination. The advertising is an effective tool for increasing awareness about the brand and changing the perception of the people (Cowley, 2016). The pros and cons of advertising are-

Pros-

• Advertising helps in controlling the message and also help in tracking the impact on the customers. For a startup, it will be beneficial for 3D Fitness.
• It is one of the most cost effective methods to convey the message to a large number of audience.
• It is also the best method to great a powerful image of the brand in the mind of the people.
• It is also a good initiative to build a responsive relationship with the targeted customers.

Cons-

• It has a trait of being non-personal. Due to this attribute, it lacks the capabilities to tailor the messages that are associated with the sale. Hence, it does not contribute to creating sales (Gabrielli & Balboni, 2010).
• It is a very costly method. The various mediums that are utilized demand high price of execution. The 3D Fitness have a tight budget that is allocated between the launch and the after launch.
• The advertisements have very low credibility, so a major amount of people does not take them seriously. 

Public Relations

Public relations is a process of achieving public acceptance by understanding the attitudes of the public and then implementing plans that have the public interest as the priority.

Pros-

• The various activities that are connected under the public relations are a part of one-way communication that help the organization as it informs about the corporate social responsibility activities that the organization conducts from time to time.
• It helps in building a positive image of the organization and is very effective in transforming the potential customers into brand ambassadors of the organization.

Cons-

• The process of public relations is very delicate. A message sent forward with a good initiative can offend many, especially the political feelings that may cause massive harm to the brand image.

Internet Marketing

The internet marketing is a tool that has expanded the range that can be accessed by the marketers for promoting products and services.

Pros-

• The various messages of the fitness center can be altered according to the needs and demands of the customers.
• This is a tool that can be utilized for providing an ample amount of information to the targeted audience.
• Due to the high involvement of people on the internet it is very effective (Eberechukwu & Chukwuma, 2016).

Cons-

• The customers pay very less attention to the internet promotions. Also, there is a high standard of clutter.
• The targeted market for the fitness center is huge and all of them might not have the facility of the internet.

Sales Promotions

The sales promotion is an effective way to enhance the movement of the products. Sales promotion in the case of 3D Fitness will only be directed to the consumers in the form of coupons, premiums, sampling, price packs, low-cost financing deals and in many different ways.

Pros-

• It is a face to face communication tool so it can be altered according to the customers and also there is a clarity between the organization and the customer.
• It is the best way to create good mouth advertising (Finne & Grönroos, 2017).

Cons-

• It has bigger negative impacts on customers, it only requires one customer to destroy an image of an organization. One bad experience delivered to a customer results in too much bad mouthing.

Recommendations for Integrated Marketing Communication for One Year

The integrated marketing communication campaign for the 3D Fitness is for fifteen months and has been divided into two categories, that is, grand launch and after the launch. It is important to differentiate between both the campaigns, as the initial efforts of promotions have the main goal of driving the maximum customers to come at the launch of the fitness centers. Also, the initial investment for the promotions will be more that too at a lesser time when compared with the annual promotional budget.

Advertising, Public Relations & Internet Marketing

The 3D Fitness will use various mediums of advertising for gaining customers for the launch of the centers and then the target of 20,000 customers for the next 12 months.

• Direct Mail campaign will be initiated as a teaser campaign that will aim at generating the interest of the customers in the fitness center by informing about the key facilities that the center is providing and mainly those attributes will be highlighted that are not being offered by the competitors. The direct mail will be directed to 100,000 people with an average of 8,350 mails will be sent per week before the opening of the center. After the launch this direct mail will be reduced to 4,000 mails per week. These mails will also serve as an invitation to the opening event. The mails will not be formal mails, but will be more like an exquisite invitation which will be very attractive as a wedding invitation.
• The next advertising method will be conducted through a radio campaign on 2GB, KIIS 106.5, Smooth 95.3 and on 2CH. A 60 second advertisement will be composed with the help of experts with the main aim of increasing the footfall for the opening event. The radio advertisement will be utilized only for the launch of the fitness center. The radio stations will air the advertisement five times a day.
• The social media advertising campaign will be conducted by creating a page under the name 3D Fitness center. This will be created on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This will also serve as an information platform about the interiors of the gym, café and the spa. With attractive posts, that will force the customers to like the page and ultimately getting more customers to the center. The social media platform will aggressively work throughout the fifteen months, telling about all the important events and new developments in the center. The posts that are shared on the social media should also cover attractive pictures of healthy food from the café and the different merchandise that the center is offering (Basil & E. Bassey, 2015). 

• Newspaper advertisements will be utilized only for one month that is before the opening of the centers. It is a very costly medium, so the size of the advertisement in the newspaper will be medium. The newspapers that will be utilized for this promotion tactic is The Sydney Morning Herald and The Daily Telegraph. The advertisement will focus on all the three aspects of the center gym, café, and the spa.
• Flyers and pamphlets will be distributed in the radius of five miles, near each location of the center. For the initial three months that is before the launch, there will be 100,000 flyers and pamphlets that will be utilized for promotion. For the next twelve months, 50,000 will be used (Elías Zambrano, 2018).
• There will be billboards that will be placed at the top twenty locations of Sydney, in which five will be placed at the location of the center. The billboards will be placed in the radius of 10 miles from the fitness center location. The billboards will inform about the discounts and will highlight the three dimensional services that the organization is offering. The billboards will be up, only for one month before the launch.
• For practicing the public relations activities, it will be important to publish some press releases that will inform about the key attributes of the organization and the special benefits that can be received before the launch of the fitness center. 

• An official website of the organization will be launched along with a mobile application. The mobile application will also help the customers to gain discounts, as the more people will download the application through their forwarded links the more discount will be received by the customer who initiated it. The mobile application will also help the customers to keep a record of their workouts. Basic diet plans will be provided to the customers and for the premium ones, there will be additional charges.
• The budget for the promotional activities is 2.045 million.

Advertising Activity	Opening (3 months)	After Opening (12 months)
Direct Mail	$50,000	$100,000
Radio	$400,000	-
Social Media	$100,000	$500,000
Newspapers	$250,000	-
Flyers	$30,000	$20,000
Billboards	$295,000	-
Website & Mobile Application	$100,000	$200,000

Sales Promotions

Sales promotions will be conducted by the organization to lure the customers in attractive deals that will help in getting more customers for the opening day and for the rest of the year.

• The customers will get a massive discount of 20%-25% on booking that will be done prior to the launch of the centers.
• On the opening day, the customers will get a discount of 15%, on purchasing the annual membership pack. This will entice customers to purchase the annual pack which will be beneficial for the center.
• On special occasions like Christmas and Thanksgiving, the customers will be given a discount of 10% on the annual and the half-yearly packages. This will force the customers to make a quick decision and will get more customers in the center.
• For the entire one year, there will be a special discount of 5% on all packages once a month.
• The customers can also get a discount of 10%, if they purchase a gift pack of 10 visit passes of the fitness center.

Monitoring & Evaluation of Campaign Initiatives

The effectiveness of the integrated marketing communication campaign has to be regularly monitored and tracked to know about the impact each activity is having on the customers and finally will be evaluated. The evaluation will be compared with the objectives of the organization that were set for the entire one year.

• The advertising practices have been targeted towards 100,000 customers and the expectation for the opening day, according to the promotional activities is 10,000 customers visiting the gym. With 6.000 customers registering for the center. The direct mail response has to be around 20,000 customers for the launch, so as to expect 10,000 people for the opening. The direct mail has to achieve this mark and if the organization is lagging in it, thus it is important to increase the response rate by persuading the customers with more mails.
• The website and mobile application analytics will be utilized to know the response of the people on both the platforms. The website analytics will inform about the daily and the monthly visits of people to the website. The effectiveness of the application will be measured by the number of downloads that will take place daily and on a weekly basis. Also, the analytics will provide with the information about the number of people those have uninstalled the application. The comments from the users of the application will also provide with various feedbacks that should be implemented throughout the year.
• The effectiveness of the social media platform will be monitored regularly by evaluating the percentage of likes on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Also, the dislikes have to be examined and the reason behind it will be searched. The reaction of the people on the different posts has to be keenly monitored for the entire year. Also, there should be a rise of 10,000 people every month on each platform of social media (Einwiller & Boenigk, 2012).
• The newspaper advertisement will provide the customers with a contact number. There should be atleast 200 calls for queries every day, which the organization should receive. The calls should be handled positively so as to turn 50 potential clients into confirmed customers.
• The reaction of the customers on the sales promotion tactics has to be regularly monitored. The organization has to know this response as it will inform about the sales that are being attained by the center. The organization if receiving an average response on the discounts offered then it should try to increase the discount by 5%, but this should be applied only for the initial six months.
• The organization has to regularly evaluate on a monthly basis, the increase in the customers, the sales of the café and the profits of the beauty and salon spa.  The cafes have to bring a profit margin of 15%, the expenditures on the café should be regularly recorded and the feedback of the customers has to be gained regularly to implement the suggestion that are made by the customers. The spa facilities have to be monitored too, by examining the ratio between the members who are visiting the spa with the people who are not the members of the center. The spa has to attract both the members and the non-members. This information will help in building strategies that are according to both the groups.
• The return on investment has to be calculated over twelve months. The return on investment has to be above 2.2 million, according to the integrated marketing communication approaches. The return on investment also requires a monthly record of expenses and profits, to know the monthly incomes of each month and the variations between them. This will also provide an evaluation of the different promotional activities and the reaction to them during different months.
• The final evaluation that is most important for the organization and the integrated marketing communication plan is to evaluate the brand awareness in the entire Sydney. This will be evaluated with a survey. If the response of the survey is positive by 70%, then the objectives of the organization are achieved in the context of creating a good brand image in the opinion of people. Also, if 50% of the people provide the center and its services with five stars then the 3D Fitness will be reputed as one of the best centers in Sydney (Barker, 2013).  

Conclusion

The integrated marketing communication plan that has been suggested has a lot of potentials that will help in fulfilling the organization objective of gaining 20,000 customers in the initial 12 months. Also, the organization will excel this mark and will form a strong foundation in Sydney that will help in the organization in opening more centers in Sydney and expanding their fitness chain to Melbourne and Brisbane. This is due to the reason that our messages that will be conveyed are highlighting the unique selling points of the organization. Also, the utilization of all the communication tools in an aggressive manner will help in making an impact on the people. Moreover, the different tactics that are being applied are integrated and all are interconnected, due to the strong message strategy. The customers will be enticed to try atleast one of the service that the center is providing. The 3D Fitness have to fulfill the requirements of every customer to initiate a good mouth marketing that is the most effective tactic of promoting a brand.  

References

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Barker, R. (2013). Strategic integrated communication: An alternative perspective of integrated marketing communication?. Communicatio, 39(1), 102-121.

Basil, G., & E. Bassey, A. (2015). Repositioning Nigeria: Application of Marketing Communication Tools by Political Parties in Campaign Programs. International Journal of Management Science And Business Administration, 2(9), 20-28.

Caemmerer, B. (2009). The planning and implementation of integrated marketing communications. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 27(4), 524-538.

Cowley, M. (2016). Irish Home Care: An Integrated Digital Marketing Plan & Communications Evaluation for Care Worker Recruitment. SSRN Electronic Journal, 1(1), 10-15.

Eberechukwu, A., & Chukwuma, A. (2016). Integrated Marketing Communication In Building Customer-Based Brand Equity: A Review Paper. International Journal Of Management And Economics Invention, 1(1), 35-79.

Einwiller, S., & Boenigk, M. (2012). Examining the link between integrated communication management and communication effectiveness in medium-sized enterprises. Journal Of Marketing Communications, 18(5), 335-361.

Elías Zambrano, R. (2018). Digital advertising storytelling: consumer educommunication. IROCAMM-International Review Of Communication And Marketing Mix, 1(1), 32-42.

Finne, Å., & Grönroos, C. (2017). Communication-in-use: customer-integrated marketing communication. European Journal Of Marketing, 51(3), 445-463.

Gabrielli, V., & Balboni, B. (2010). SME practice towards integrated marketing communications. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 28(3), 275-290.

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