Marketing Strategies Used By Psy And Service Operations Of Radisson Blu In Essay.

South Korea rapper and musician Psy (real name Park Jae-Sang) burst onto the world stage in 2012 with his smash hit music video ‘Gangnam style”. It was such a global phenomenon that in four short months since its launch in July 2012, it became the most watched YouTube video of all time. It currently retains this title with over 1.6 billion views and counting.

An analysis of “Gangnam style” and Psy’s rise to fame shows that it is no accident. While the most visible aspect of Psy’s marketing communications of his music and brand is on Youtube, it is through the planning and implementation of an integrated communications strategy that such explosive exposure was achieved.

Long before launching the “Gangnam style” video, Psy’s record label YG Entertainment had been building up the foundation for maximum reach across a number of channels. Their line-up of artists had accounts across multiple social media platforms with millions of subscribers (YouTube), followers (Twitter) and fans (Facebook). YG Entertainment also spend time setting up partnerships with other influential players in the music industry such as Will.i.am and websites such as AllKpop.com. These preparations beforehand ensured that any outgoing communications would gain high-volume views and reach from day one.

One the video was launched, the initial high volume was leveraged to gain the attention of more traditional and generalist media sources. First, the song’s popularity was covered by online technology publications Gizmo and Gawker, which then lead to coverage by traditional media powerhouses such as Billboard, CNN and Skynews. One mainstream attention was achieved, all other major media

sources began taking note and spotlighting “Gangnam style”, thus ensuring its record-breaking success.

1. Analyse the “Gangnam style” case using the 5 Ws (Who, What, How, Where, When) model in the integrated marketing communications planning process.
   
   
2. Watch the “Gangnam style” video. Explain how the communications content adds value to consumers of Psy’s music. What impact does content have on the video’s success?

Psy's Rise to Fame

Introduction 

The case analysis focuses on the integrated marketing strategies of a South Korean rapper and musician Psy (Park Jae-Sang). His music video ‘Gangam style’ was a global hit in the time frame of four months of release. The case analysis will focus on analysing the basic framework and strategies adopted by this musician for this smashing hit.

Park Jae- Sang, the South Korean Rapper and musician smashed the global world stage by his musical hit “Gangnam style” in the year 2012. The analysis of the strategies revealed that the success of the video was not an accident but a planned and worked on strategy towards success (Ahmad, Zahid, Shoaib and AlAmri, 2017). The preparation of the launch and promotion was being done from much before the launch of the video. Application of 5Ws model will evaluate basic elements of integrated marketing communication used by the personality.

• Who: The most basic element of a successful integrated marketing communication is ‘who’. It focuses on analysing the audience for the communication which in turn helps in developing a focused content. The case analysis reflects that Psy released the video for the mass audience at large. The video was targeted for the mass internet using audience (Akdo?an and Altunta?, 2015). This evaluation helped Psy in understanding the needs of the audience and thus developing the content as per the audience perception and demands.
• What: This element focuses on evaluating what content audience needs to hear/ read. After analysing the audience, the next stage is to understand the content which will grasp the attention of the audience in order to ensure the success. The core purpose of this element is to develop content to ensure maximum hits. Regarding “Gangnam style”, the video was developed in 2012 when the world was facing high level of stress due to recession (Jung and Shim, 2014). Psy developed a video with bright colours, basic moves and captivating music. This helped in grabbing attention and delivering a doze of entertainment to people in the stressful environment.
• How: This element focuses on planning the strategies to reach out audience in order to ensure maximum reach. YG entertainment. The label name for the video did the intense ground work to ensure high volume of viewers. Psy build the foundation for reaching out the audience across different channels. The artists lined up developed their own subscribers on social media platform to create a wide network for reaching audience (Sánchez-Olmos and Viñuela, 2017). Moreover the strategy of developing partnership with influential players in the industry such as Will.I.Am and Allkoop.com was a strategic move towards the success.
• Where: The integrated marketing strategy undertakes effective planning to evaluate the platforms of communication to ensure high success. Today internet has large platform for communication however, choosing the right platform for communicating the content as per the audience behaviour leads towards success (Huh, Lee and Kim, 2018). Psy’s YG entertainment aced this element by developing a strong network on internet to release and poromote the video. The organization released the video on youtube without copy right to reach maximum viewers. Along with it promotion over facebook, Twitter and media partners like CNN and Sky news helped the video to smash the global world stage within 4 months tenure.
• When: This element focuses on planning the right time for the content. “Gangnam style” video was a light, entertaining and musical which infused fun and fantasy with its theme and lyrics. The time chosen for the music release was appropriate for the content (Shiflet, 2019). The video was enjoyed and viewed widely for fun and entertainment in 2012 which was a global recession phase. The stated strategy was highly helpful in contributing towards the success and growth of the video.

Integrated marketing strategy focuses on understating the need and perception of the audience and then developing content and strategies. This helps in attaining audience attention and involvement. Psy’s “Gangnam Style” video is a well-defined example of a successful integrated marketing communication planning. The value of content plays a significant role in the success of the strategy. The major strategies adopted by the musician to add content value are:

• No copyright: lack of international copyright on the video helped it in proving individual ownership and access. This helped in high views, hits and downloads. People globally accessed the video and made their own creative version out of it. This developed a wave of popularity and promotion for the original “Gangnam style” video making its reach to over 200 million views (Gersbach, Schetter and Schneider, 2015).
• Crowdsourcing: Psy developed a viral music video with all significant elements to make it captivating and successful within the market. Crowdsourcing strategy was adopted by the musician to understand develop the video. Psy had a strong internal team to work on the dance and music of the video however he reached the Korean dance community to understand and develop popular moves for his video. This strategy helped him in choreographing unique ‘invisible horse dance’ moves which went viral on global platform (KIM, and Jung, 2016).
• Simple and grasping content: “Gangnam style” popularity is owed to its simplicity and average appearances and attitudes. The video was released in the high recession time which was highly stressful. Amid such phase the average look artists helped in infusing fun and captivation for the video. This strategy was also effective in creating a fantasy of common man in the song (Horie, Kiritoshi and Ma,  2016).
• Unique positioning:  Positioning plays a significant role in the success and growth of the product. It is the strategy which help in developing a product/service image in the minds of the consumers. Integrated marketing communication use this strategy to outreach the audience (Kim, Kang and Hong, 2016). Psy used low polished look and freak moves to create a unique impact on people’s mind. This helped in connecting with people efficiently while creating high popularity in the market.

Conclusion

The overall analysis of “Gangnam style” video and Psy’s intergrated marketing communication strategy reveals tha effective well planned strategies were adopted to make the video such a success in the economy. The success of the video is owed to effective planning and its efficient execution.

The present report evaluated the service operations of Radisson Blu hotel Sydney. The Luxury hotel chain is established globally and is successfully operating around the world. Radisson blu hotel, Sydney is a renowned hospitality service unit of Sydney. Effective front and backstage operations of the business has helped it in managing service excellence. The integrated operational efficiency has helped business in managing service quality and consumer loyalty. The service encounters help business in delivering quality, consumer satisfactions and facility management. Managerial implications has helped in creating success and growth for the business.

Service sector units are developing widely within the economy. The success and growth of a service sector unit depends on the effivcncy of its services and high level of consumer satisfaction (Dabholkar, 2015). Unlike product based unit, service sector unit cannot only focus on one aspect of product quality. Managing the quality of overall service delivery is significant in the success of the business unit.

Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy of Psy

Hotel industry is flourishing widely in Australian market. The tourist oriented country has large number of hotels and hospitality organizations. The service excellence of the hotel results in ensuring repetitive demand and growth of the business. This creates a base for relationship and service marketing within the economy. The present report will evaluate the service operations of Radisson Blu hotel Sydney. The Luxury hotel chain is established globally and is successfully operation around the world. Radisson blu hotel, Sydney is a renowned hospitality service unit of Sydney. The Hotel has a well-defined consumer base of premium local and international consumers (Grönroos & Ravald, 2011). The main focus of the business is to deliver high quality services to deliver consumer satisfaction. The analysis of service operations of this hotel will help in understanding the service and relationship marketing fundamentals. The report will evaluate the front and backstage operations of the hotel. It will also focus the significance of service encounters and implications of managerial staff.

Radisson blu hotel of Sydney offers full service operations to its consumers. The stylish look, high quality service and managing consumer relationship is the core purpose of the hotel. The hotel has managed effective chain of operations to ensure the growth and excellence. The flowchart of operations defines front stage and backstage operations for the hotel. The former focuses on managing the direct contact with the guests (consumers) and developing an effective relationship with them (Hollensen, 2015). This operational stage focuses on delivering direct services to the consumers. Backstage operations on the other hand provides the support to the front stage operations to deliver service excellence in the market. the integration of front and backstage operations ensures quality services for the guests. 

These operations are those which are visible to the consumers thus service providers create a direct contact with them. They are essential to develop a successful relations in service market. This operational stage develops direct contact thus highly effects consumer perception. The front stage operations of Raddison blu are henceforth.

• Consumer interaction: This stage is one of the most significant stage of service operations. Radisson Blu has managed a team of qualified, skilled and trained front office staff who greets staff with warmth, help them in allocating rooms and informing them about required information.
• Reservation: This is one of the core activity of the hotel. Raddison Blu manages trained team of managers and staff for on the spot as well as online reservations and allocation of rooms to the guests. Minimum confusion and chaos is the service expectation at this stage (Jani & Han, 2011).
• Check in: Once the room is allocated, the bell staff ensure to take the guests and their luggage to their respective rooms. This service is prompt and quick to manage consumer satisfaction.
• Operating room: A team of trained waiters and housekeepers are managed in Radisson blu Hotel to deliver services as per industry norms and guest experience.
• Food delivery: Preparing and delivering high quality food is the major responsibility of this operational unit (Lin & Mattila, 2010).
• Waiting area: guest Staff of waiting are trained to respond to consumer queries, serve guests with refreshments, drinks or needful while waiting. Ensuring cleanliness and guest support is the key role of this team.
• Check out: The service excellence is managed until the guests leave the hotel. Helping guests with the luggage, completing check out formality, payments and billing and leaving luggage till the cars is carried out at this stage of operation.

Backstage operations are the supportive operations which helps in ensuring service quality. This operational stage does not keep the contact with the guests directly however they play a significant role in managing and maintaining the operational excellence.

• Phone calls: making phone calls for reminding guests who are staying in the hotel or are about to come, is managed by this staff. Moreover informing guests about products services and operations is also carried out by this staff (Kimpakorn & Tocquer 2010).
• File information: In order to ensure growth and success of the operation managing guest’s information and managing security aspects is critically significant. This stage is important in developing consumer database for hotel.
• Housekeeping: Delivering clean and prepared rooms with all amenities and equipment is another significant operation. The housekeeping staff ensures cleanliness and room service delivery for the guests (Palmer, 2010).
• Kitchen staff: Preparing high quality food, managing taste and delivering it to the rooms and restaurants is the operational responsibility of kitchen staff. Radisson blu has hired qualified chefs and kitchen staff for preparing, serving and managing kitchen duties.
• Post operation: The most important operation is to maintain relationship management services with guests for repetitive service demands and sales. This operational stage helps in attaining guest feedback and informing them about new services or offers. The major aim here is to develop a consumer loyalty through service operations.  

The flowchart of front and backstage services has a significant impact on the approach and operational planning and implementation strategy of the organization. The consideration of the approach is having a positive impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of the hotel organization. Following are the major significance of the flowchart of front and backstage services of Radisson Blu, Australia:

Success of Gangnam Style

Facility management:

The service industry organization is offering a wide range of services such as transportation, accommodation, food and beverages, pool and spa for the customers. The proper integration of front and backstage services and coordination of the teams is helpful for the organization for maintaining the high quality of the products (Theron & Terblanche, 2010). For example, the front stage staff of Radisson Blu is collecting the data related to services requested by the visitors and sharing the information to the backstage team to arrange the resources to develop and deliver customized services (Szende, and Reddy, 2017). This type of approach for maintaining and delivering the services is helping the organization to meet the satisfaction level of the customers (Wang, 2011). This kind of service integration is also allowing the organization to manage the multiple tasks with effectiveness and focusing on the expectations of the customers.  

Consumer Satisfaction:

The services management and proper follow-up of the flow chart is having a significant impact on the satisfaction level of the customers of the hospitality organization. According to the analysis, the collaborative efforts of Radisson Blu, Sydney is helping to develop a refreshing and positive environment for guests. The greetings and reception that offer by the management of hotel improve their psychological satisfaction which is essential for engaging them and meeting the level of comfort. For example, the front staff treating the customers with flowers and warm smile as well as offering the detail information of services (Gummesson, 2017). Apart from that, the backstage team of Radisson Blue is taking care of hygiene, housekeeping services, transportation and other needs of visitors. The combined efforts are influencing services quality and having a positive impact on the satisfaction level of the customers of hotel organization.

Relationship marketing:

The services encounters are one of the effective sources of sharing the information with staff and visitors of the organization. The effective sharing of information like time, venue, products and events at the hotel is having a positive impact on building a relationship with the customers. The constructive relationship with customers and visitors are helping to encourage the brand value and develop positive word of mouth for Radisson Blu.  Moreover, the consideration of feedback and analysis of the suggestions by the backstage team is also supporting the hotel to develop the plan and policies that help to improve the services (Lovelock, and Patterson, 2015). The backstage team of the hotel is making emphasis on the rating related to the cleaning, timely delivery of services, behaviour and quality of the products and services desired by the visitors. This kind of flow and management of the services is beneficial for the organization to minimize the issues and gain a competitive advantage.          

Service Operations of Radisson Blu

Managing service quality:

Service encounters helps in developing a significant link between guests and hotel staff. They help in delivering valuable services to the guests. The service encounters of Radisson blu helps in understanding consumer needs and demands. This created an effective base in developing and delivering services as per consumer expectations. Moreover the trained and skilled team of staff ensures to deliver high quality services in time and as expected. Maintaining positive communication is yet another operation carried out by the staff (Williams, & Chinn, 2010). The overall impact of service encounter helps minimising the gap between consumer expectations and service delivery thus managing service quality for the hotel.

Service marketing and growth within the market is a critical concept of business growth and development. Companies adopt different strategies and measures to create significant success and growth in the economy. Radisson blu has adopted effective measures to manage service quality and deliver high and effective consumer response. There are significant managerial implications of the stated aspect. Management of the business focuses on attaining information of business performance based on which it can develop strategies and plan future growth. A well-integrated service unit helps in effective operations thus delivering brand image and loyalty within the market (zende and Reddy, 2017).

Radisson Blu has developed a well-defined chain of command in the organization which helps the business in efficiently carrying out the operations and minimizing the possibilities of errors. The analysis of this chain of command helps management in successfully managing the business operations without must interference. Moreover managerial implications in service encounters help in communicating goals and objectives through KPIs to the staff. This helps them in understating their roles and managerial expectations out of it. Moreover this also helps in effectively evaluating their performance within the organization.

Business operates in an open environment and the impact of changing business environment directly effective the business performance. Management keeps a keen watch on business environment and develop strategies to deal with competition and challenges as well. Moreover in order to ensure high performing team in the business, effective policies for staff management is developed and implied in the business. Radisson Blu is one of the supportive employer which has developed effective policies for staff growth and development. This help employees in developing effective service quality to create a positive growth impact on the business (Theron & Terblanche, 2010). The needs and demands of the consumers are also efficiently understood by the managers and strategies to deliver the same are developed. This creates consumer loyalty and brand image within the economy. Radisson blu has developed a service excellence in the market which has helped the company in attaining high consumer satisfaction and brand loyalty.

Front and Backstage Operations

Conclusion

Hotel industry is flourishing widely in Australian market. Service excellence of the hotel results in ensuring repetitive demand and growth of the business. This creates a base for relationship and service marketing within the economy. The present report evaluated the service operations of Radisson Blu hotel Sydney. The Luxury hotel chain is established globally and is successfully operating around the world. Radisson blu hotel, Sydney is a renowned hospitality service unit of Sydney. Effective front and backstage operations of the business has helped it in managing service excellence. The integrated operational efficiency has helped business in managing service quality and consumer loyalty. The service encounters help business in delivering quality, consumer satisfactions and facility management. Managerial implications has helped in creating success and growth for the business.

References

Ahmad, U., Zahid, A., Shoaib, M. and AlAmri, A., 2017. HarVis: An integrated social media content analysis framework for YouTube platform. Information Systems, 69, pp.25-39.

Akdo?an, M.?. and Altunta?, B., 2015. Covert marketing strategy and techniques. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 207, pp.135-148.

Gersbach, H., Schetter, U. and Schneider, M.T., 2015. How Much Science? The 5 Ws (and 1 H) of Investing in Basic Research.

Horie, S., Kiritoshi, K. and Ma, Q., 2016, September. Concrete Relationship Analysis of News Events Based on a 5W Representation Model. In International Conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications (pp. 102-117). Springer, Cham.

Huh, S.M., Lee, O.K. and Kim, W.J., 2018. A study on the audience perception types about the success factors of< Gangnam Style> and< Gentleman> music videos. Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, 9(9), pp.1151-1157.

Jung, S. and Shim, D., 2014. Social distribution: K-pop fan practices in Indonesia and the ‘Gangnam Style’phenomenon. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 17(5), pp.485-501.

Kim, S., Kang, J.S. and Hong, S.D., 2016. Rethinking transmedia storytelling in participatory digital media: What makes PSY’s “Gangnam Style” so successful. The Social Sciences, 11, pp.5674-5685.

KIM, Y.H.A. and Jung, H., 2016. Investor PSY-chology surrounding “Gangnam Style”. Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, 37, pp.23-34.

Sánchez-Olmos, C. and Viñuela, E., 2017. The musicless music video as a spreadable meme video: Format, user interaction, and meaning on YouTube. International Journal of Communication, 11, p.21.

Shiflet, M., 2019. Viral Marketing: Concept Explication and Case Studies in the Video Game and Esports Industries (Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University).

Dabholkar, P. A. (2015). How to improve perceived service quality by increasing customer participation. In Proceedings of the 1990 academy of marketing science (AMS) annual conference (pp. 483-487). Springer, Cham.

Grönroos, C., & Ravald, A. (2011). Service as business logic: implications for value creation and marketing. Journal of Service Management, 22(1), 5-22.

Gummesson, E., 2017. From relationship marketing to total relationship marketing and beyond. Journal of Services Marketing, 31(1), pp.16-19.

Hollensen, S. (2015). Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.

Jani, D., & Han, H. (2011). Investigating the key factors affecting behavioral intentions: Evidence from a full-service restaurant setting. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 23(7), 1000-1018.

Kim, N., & Lee, M. (2012). Other customers in a service encounter: examining the effect in a restaurant setting. Journal of Services Marketing, 26(1), 27-40.

Kimpakorn, N., & Tocquer, G. (2010). Service brand equity and employee brand commitment. Journal of Services Marketing, 24(5), 378-388.

Lin, I. Y., & Mattila, A. S. (2010). Restaurant servicescape, service encounter, and perceived congruency on customers' emotions and satisfaction. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 19(8), 819-841.

Lovelock, C. and Patterson, P., 2015. Services marketing. Pearson Australia.

Palmer, A. (2010). Customer experience management: a critical review of an emerging idea. Journal of Services marketing, 24(3), 196-208.

Theron, E., & Terblanche, N. S. (2010). Dimensions of relationship marketing in business-to-business financial services. International Journal of Market Research, 52(3), 383-402.

Wang, X. (2011). The effect of inconsistent word-of-mouth during the service encounter. Journal of Services Marketing, 25(4), 252-259.

Williams, J., & Chinn, S. J. (2010). Meeting relationship-marketing goals through social media: A conceptual model for sport marketers. International Journal of Sport Communication, 3(4), 422-437.

zende, P. and Reddy, P., 2017. A Fragment of the Past: The System of Hotel Front Office Racks. Boston Hospitality Review, 5(2), pp.1-13.