Billabong's Marketing Strategy: Media & Creative

This assignment requires a critical analysis of Billabong's proposed marketing strategy, focusing on the effectiveness of its media and creative elements in achieving specific promotional objectives. Students are expected to evaluate the chosen channels and campaigns, drawing upon relevant marketing theories and best practices. The analysis should demonstrate an understanding of how media and creative strategies work together to influence target audiences.

Running head: IMC
IMC Plan
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Executive Summary
This current report highlights the effectiveness of the IMC campaign in the context of Billabong.
However, they want to achieve competitive advantage and strong brand recognition through this
campaign. Therefore, to meet the customer demand is another goal of their IMC campaign. In
order to implement this campaign successfully, they have taken IMC strategy, media strategy,
and creative strategy. Use of promotional mix strategy through the multi-channel approach is
beneficial to establish an effective communication with the customers. Media strategy focuses on
the use of both printed and digital media. Therefore, by making the message creative this
organization will be able to make their advertising campaign unique.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
IMC strategy....................................................................................................................................4
Creative Strategy.............................................................................................................................6
Media Strategy.................................................................................................................................8
Media Scheduling..........................................................................................................................10
Evaluation of the Campaign..........................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Integrated marketing communication or IMC plan is crucial for every organization to link
with all communication strategies. In order to introduce a new product in the market, an
organization needs to communicate with this product (Camilleri 2018). Billabong becomes the
world-class brand by using their unique advertising technique. They use unique methods to
improve their product features. In order to increase the surf-culture Billabong has decided to
introduce a new earplug for the customers. However, the objectives of IMC plan show that
Billabong wants to serve best quality product and to develop best brand recognition across the
world. Their target market includes different ages and gender. However, for their new product,
they are targeting the high-class people and frequent surfers especially the teenagers, old people
and the children who go to the beach and have a high addiction to the earplug. They aim to offer
good opportunities to the customers to meet their demand. They are going to take SMART
marketing strategy to increase the quality of a product based on the customer feedback. On the
other hand, they are going to develop a brand awareness program in Australia, USA, and Asia.
However, based on the feedback of the customers they can modify their products and increase
the sale of earplugs at different geographical regions.
IMC strategy
Adoption of multichannel marketing strategy will be effective for Billabong to introduce
their new products in the consumer domain. Multichannel strategy is an effective way of
advertising as this method allows an organization to use various channels to promote their
products (Blakeman 2018). Billabong focuses on both traditional and modern media to advertise
their products. They use TV, radio, newspaper, billboard, and brochure as the traditional media.

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On the other hand, they use social media marketing and sales promotion to improve their brand
image. Hence, by taking multi-channel strategy they will able to promote their product by using
various devices. E-mail, print ads, mobile app, messaging, website, social media are the vital
channels of the multi-channel strategy.
The target market of Billabong includes different age’s people and different genders. In
the recent years, they have targeted the frequent surfers and the high-class people to sell their
new earplug products (Us.billabong.com 2018). Therefore, development of strong brand
recognition is the main purpose of their advertising campaign. In order to achieve this goal
multichannel strategy will be effective to give shape their IMC technique. Advertising, sales
promotion, direct marketing, events and sponsorship and the personal selling are categorized
under the promotional mix strategy (Kumar and Patra 2017). Hence, by taking promotional
mix strategy this organization will be able to promote their product in large consumer domain.
However, the multichannel approach will be helpful to implement this promotional mix strategy
successfully.
Multichannel approach will allow Billabong to increase the customer engagement.
However, the multi-channel strategy is about casting the widest net to gain maximum customer
engagement (Ailawadi and Farris 2017). Frequent surfers are the main target customers of
Billabong hence, by using multi-channel strategy they can give best holistic experience to their
customers through the online marketing. Multichannel approach enables the customers to gain
excellent product experience through all touch points. Another benefit of the multi-channel
approach is to generate a consistent brand message. Therefore, through the sales promotion
technique, this organization will be able to introduce their product by using media and non-
media communication. On the other hand, direct marketing is another element of promotional

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mix strategy. This allows the organization to sell their product directly to the consumer via
mobile phone, online advertising and messaging. Such direct marketing will be effective for
Billabong to meet the needs of the high-class customers as e-mail and online marketing are
preferred by this class. Apart from these events and sponsorship is useful to create strong brand
recognition in the high class people.
From the entire analysis, it has been addressed that promotional mix strategy supports the
IMC as it includes multichannel approach, which makes a link between the various
communication channels. Therefore, customer engagement is done successfully by this strategy
(Blakeman 2018). The teenagers, old people, and the children belong from the high-class family
have a great attraction to the online marketing. Hence, by using promotional mix strategy and
multi-channel approach this organization will be able to represent their brand worldwide and to
meet the demands of the current market. Therefore, this strategy also helps them to gain
competitive advantages by increasing then customer engagement.
Creative Strategy
Creative strategy is crucial for the promotional campaign. However, in the context of
both print and digital media creativity is crucial to attract the customers (Choi et al. 2018).
Billabong wants to grab the attention of the customers through using their advertising content. In
order to do this need to adopt unique content development strategy. Unique content development
strategy is an effective way to make the business different from other organization. Incorporation
of the unique idea into the contents allows the business to grab the customers easily. Creativity
should be done in the messaging technique to develop a unique content. It is important for the
Billabong to determine what the advertising message will say. However, it is important to make

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the information easy by using simple language, which allows the customers to understand
quickly. Billabong needs to create detailed information of the product in by using specific word.
This will save the time of the reader and they get the appropriate product information. The
message should be cognitive, affective and conative. Billabong is going to sell their new earplug
to ensure the safety of people. This earplug protects the individuals from water, cold air, and
noise. Hence, in the content of the advertising, they need to clear the importance of this product.
As a result, the customers will be to understand this necessity of this product in their daily life.
Billabong needs to create a sense of urgency through their messages. To maximize the
sale and to increase the customer engagement it is important to create an urgency of the product
purchasing through the advertising (Flores 2017). This will create an importance of the product
in customer mind and they will be influenced to purchase it. The message should be generic that
means Billabong needs to promote the product category rather than the brand. This will make the
message creative and more transparent to the target audience. In the context of earplug,
Billabong needs to reveal the product category to the customer domain, which will increase the
customers. This strategy needs to follow in case of both print and digital media.
In order to develop a creative content, it is vital to make the message preemptive (López-
Paredes 2018). Billabong needs to make a claim that no other competitors have such type of
product feature. This claim should be incorporated into the content of the advertisement.
Therefore, the message should be comparative that means Billabong needs to compare their
product directly or indirectly with the competitors. Billabong has both national and international
competitors but the major competition occurs from Australia. RIP CURL, Hollister, Quicksilver
are the major competitors of Billabong. In the context of earplug market EQ Seal, Surf ears,
Macks and Creature Alpine are the major are rivals. However, except Surf ears, the other

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competitors offer silicon made product and maximum people do not prefer this. Hence, based on
this analysis Billabong has decided to introduce healthy earplug to the people. Hence, the
comparison of their product quality with the other competitors needs to mention in their
message. This action will make the message comparative.
After creating the message it is important to execute the message. In order to execute the
messages development of an emotional appeal is necessary. Marketers use the emotional appeal
based on the emotions of the target market (Demir et al. 2017). In the context of Billabong, the
target customers or the surfers need a healthy product. Hence, they need to offer their healthy
earplug in a way, which supports the emotion of the customers. Use of the spokesman in the
advertising process such as hiring the celebrities will be an effective approach to execute the
message. This allows the consumer to trust the brand. Creating a fantasy around the product will
be a good way to execute the message. Billabong needs to reveal what can do the product for the
consumers. This often aligns with the social appeal and meets the campaign objectives.
Media Strategy
Media strategy includes types of media that are used for the integrated communication.
Billabong has decided to use both printed and digital media. In order to cover a large population
both printed and digital media are required in the advertising process (Alfifi et al. 2018).
Billabong will use newspaper, magazine, and brochure as the printed media. Therefore, social
media and TV will be used as the digital media. Newspaper is a part of the daily life. Therefore,
old population has a tendency to read newspaper. On the other hand, the old population is
included in the target market of Billabong. Hence, by using the newspaper advertising, this
organization will be able to connect with this target market and to meet their needs. Therefore,

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advertisement through brochure will enable all age groups to gain the new product information
of Billabong. Use of digital media such as social media, websites, and TV are effective to cover a
large population. Advertisement through television needs celebrity involvement. In the recent
years, social media gives the best platform to the marketers to connect with a large audience in a
cost-effective manner. In the modern era, teenagers are highly addicted to social media. They
spend a lot of time on the internet and searches new products or service via social media.
However, teenagers are the core target area of Billabong as they have a tendency to go to the
beach. Hence, they have a need of earplug. Hence, by introducing their new healthy earplug
product on social media Billabong will be able to reach in a large consumer domain.
Radio and Television advertising is used for the old population and the children.
However, old population has an intention to use radio and the children have a high attraction to
the television (Bowen and Bowen 2018). Hence, by using such media Billabong will be able to
cover this target market. Therefore, advertising through the company website is an effective way
to cover the potential customers. This media advertising will allow Billabong to introduce their
new products to those customers who check their websites regularly.
Time scheduling and publications or sites are the major components of the media
scheduling (Perreault and Mosconi 2018). However, for the Billabong they need to set the
websites, time and the publications to execute their advertising. The will use Newspaper-Perth to
advertise their new product throughout the year. Therefore, they will use Magazine-1 to advertise
their product from January to June. Magazine Cosmo will be used from July to December to
advertise the product. Apart from these Facebook and YouTube will be used as the social media
sites to promote the products. Such media are categorized under creative production and these
will be used for 12 months.

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Media Scheduling
(Refer to Excel Sheet)
Evaluation of the Campaign
Evaluation of the integrated marketing communication or IMC plan highlights the
measurement of the effectiveness of the multichannel marketing campaign (Eagle and Dahl
2018). Billabong is going to introduce their new earplug in Australian market. In order to
promote their product, they have decided to conduct a multi-channel campaign. Besides
promoting a product is crucial to understand the effectiveness of the promotional campaign. For
Billabong they need to identify how well the different channels are working together. Synergy
between the various channels boosts the outcome of the product. The IMC strategy of Billabong
includes promotional mix, which highlights different aspects of product promotion by using the
multi-channels. Therefore, to create a strong brand image is one of the major objectives of
Billabong. Hence, by using the multichannel approach this organization will be able to deliver
their product information in different consumer domains, which strengthens the brand image.
Therefore, to meet the need of the consumer is another objective of their IMC campaign. Hence,
by using social media advertising and company websites they will be able to collect the feedback
of the consumers regarding their product. This will allow them to modify the product feature
based on their consumer demand.
Billabong aims to achieve competitive advantages through their IMC campaign.
Maximum marketers want to achieve competitive advantages while promoting a product
(Raudeliūnienė et al. 2018). Hence, by using creative messaging this organization will be able to
make a unique advertising. By delivering the creative content such organization can provide a

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clear message to the customers, which executes an emotional appeal to the customers and they
are influenced to purchase the product. Creative content in the advertising will help this
organization to make their product different from the competitors. From the entire analysis, it can
be said that the proposed IMC plan is effective to meet the campaign objectives in the context of
Billabong. Selection of media and creative strategy are beneficial to fulfill the objectives and
leads the organization towards the success.
Conclusion
The above piece of work reveals the IMC campaign in the context of Billabong.
However, they are going to introduce earplug through IMC campaign. Their main target markets
are children, teenagers, and the old population. They have decided to use both printed and digital
media to give shape their IMC plan. It has been found that social media advertising is the most
effective way to connect the people from different geographical regions. This also enables an
organization to enhance their customer engagement. Therefore, it can be concluded that the
proposed media strategy and the creative strategy will be effective for Billabong to meet their
promotional objectives.

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References
Ailawadi, K.L. and Farris, P.W., 2017. Managing multi-and omni-channel distribution: metrics
and research directions. Journal of retailing, 93(1), pp.120-135.
Alfifi, M., Kaghazgaran, P., Caverlee, J. and Morstatter, F., 2018. Measuring the Impact of ISIS
Social Media Strategy.
Blakeman, R., 2018. Integrated marketing communication: creative strategy from idea to
implementation. Rowman & Littlefield.
Bowen, G. and Bowen, D., 2018. Luxury Product Decision-Making Strategy: Leveraging Social
Media to Create the Emotional Component of the Strategy. In Digital Marketing Strategies for
Fashion and Luxury Brands (pp. 289-308). IGI Global.
Camilleri, M.A., 2018. Integrated Marketing Communications. In Travel Marketing, Tourism
Economics and the Airline Product (pp. 85-103). Springer, Cham.
Choi, H., Kelley, L., Reid, L.N., Uhrick, J. and Kuo, K., 2018. Judgments of Highly Creative
Advertising: Presence of Functional Matching and the FCB Planning Model in Clio-Winning
Advertisements. Creativity Research Journal, 30(2), pp.152-163.
Demir, P., El-Murad, J. and Mai, L., 2017. Consumers’ Perceptions of and Responses to
Advertising Creativity: An Abstract. In Marketing at the Confluence between Entertainment and
Analytics (pp. 317-318). Springer, Cham.
Eagle, L. and Dahl, S., 2018. Product placement in old and new media: examining the evidence
for concern. Journal of Business Ethics, 147(3), pp.605-618.

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Flores, R.M., 2017. The Role of Advertising Creativity in Trust Enhancement and Customers’
Response: An (Extended) Abstract. In Creating Marketing Magic and Innovative Future
Marketing Trends (pp. 423-426). Springer, Cham.
Kumar, S. and Patra, S., 2017. Does Promotion Mix Really Help To Enhance Brand Equity: A
Literature Review. Indian Journal of Commerce and Management Studies, 8(2), p.80.
López-Paredes, M., 2018, January. The Visual Speech and Creativity in Advertising Impressed
in Ecuador in Daily “El Comercio” Between 1908 and 1950. In International Conference on
Information Theoretic Security (pp. 983-991). Springer, Cham.
Perreault, M.C. and Mosconi, E., 2018, January. Social media engagement: Content strategy and
metrics research opportunities. In Proceedings of the 51st Hawaii International Conference on
System Sciences.
Raudeliūnienė, J., Davidavičienė, V., Tvaronavičienė, M. and Jonuška, L., 2018. Evaluation of
advertising campaigns on social media networks. Sustainability, 10(4), p.973.
Us.billabong.com. (2018). Billabong. [online] Available at:
https://us.billabong.com/global_home.htm [Accessed 30 May 2018].

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