Principles of Marketing Communications - Essay and Critical Reflection

This report examines the communication issues through the various communication approaches in context of the film producing organisation named as ‘Hunger Games’. It highlights the framework and marketing communicational theory along with that communication mix will be analysed. The report also includes critical evaluation of the campaign and reflection on the trends in marketing communications.

PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS - ESSAY AND
CRITICAL REFLECTION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Analyse the communications issue/campaign drawing on the approaches studied in the
module.........................................................................................................................................3
Presenting communication framework and theoretical approach................................................4
Describing the meaning of Campaign........................................................................................7
Critical evaluation of the campaign.............................................................................................8
Reflection.....................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Marketing communication refers to the process of attracting the consumer toward the
productivity of the organisation with the motive of accomplishing organisation goal such as
profitability and satisfaction to the potential consumers Blakeman,(2018). It consists of
advertising, promotion, sales, branding, campaigning as well as online promotion through digital
tools.
The present report will examine the communication issues through the various communication
approaches in context of the film producing organisation named as ‘Hunger Games’. The
Hunger game is leading the market since the years and the franchise are highly reinforced by the
multi-channel and transmedia campaigns. The organisation delivers films to the consumer with
the aim of entertaining them and deliver the best content in the marketplace. The report
highlights the framework and marketing communicational theory along with that communication
mix will be analysed. Furthermore, the study will reflect critical evaluation of the campaign in
the form of reflection which involve the trends in marketing communications.
MAIN BODY
Analyse the communications issue/campaign drawing on the approaches studied in the module.
A procedure through which two or more than two people share their ideas, pass on
information and messages with the help of different channels is known as communication
channel. Let’s go through the various approaches of communication used for the Hunger Games
series:
Verbal Communication
The most common type of communication is verbal communication. Verbal
communication refers to passing on information and messages with the help of spoken words.
The Hunger Games Series used different ways of using this approach for the purpose of
promoting all three films (Blakeman,2018). The team of the Hunger Games kept the information
in their interviews and press conferences very concise so that the audience remains engaged and
does not lose interest before the release of the movie.
Visual Communication

Visual communication refers to expressing the information and ideas with the help of
visual graphics, signs, drawings or any form of visual representation. The filmmakers of The
Hunger Games (2012), Catching Fire (2013), Mockingjay part -1 (2014) and part-2 (2015)
created trailers as well as teasers for each of them. These trailers and teasers were released on
different media platforms such as television, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
Tumblrand Pinterest for the purpose of promoting the films (Ferri, 2018). The marketing team
also used banners, posters and billboards with specialized and creative images of the films. The
marketing team of The Hunger Games Series created specific pages and channels in relation to
the movie and tried to post content which could draw the audience attention. This helped the
whole team of The Hunger Games Series to gain popularity among the target audience and
creating an excitement for the film in the eyes of the teenagers.
Communication by way of Publicity
The approach of communication by way of Publicity states communication as a
procedure of manipulating the minds of the audience (Raudeliūnienė and et.al., 2018). This
approach is majorly used by the film industry. The Public Relations Team of The Hunger Games
Series followed this approach of communication in order increase the popularity of the film
among the audience. The team of The Hunger Games Series identified and selected 12 fans of
the book The Hunger Games who had a high understanding of the book as well as mass
following on social media. This helped the movie to create a buzz among the target audience.
The tactics which the team used included launching golf tees with movie characters. Similarly,
there were a number of items which involved the portraits of movie characters like school bags,
tote bags, pillow covers, little toys etc (Herbert, Lotz, and Punathambekar, 2020). The Public
Relations and Marketing team launched various giveaways which included these special
character tees, bags, etc as the gifts. The team also worked on sharing the Capitol Couture
Portraits on social media networks which attracted female audience towards The Hunger Games
Series.
Presenting communication framework and theoretical approach
A way through which companies portrays and expresses their ideas, information and views
about their product and services in front of their customers is known as marketing
communication. The main purpose of marketing communication is to influence and convince the

customers to buy the goods and services of a company. Marketing communication has been used
by the marketing team of The Hunger Games in the following ways:
Advertising
Advertising is the most used paid method of communication used by the film production
companies for the purpose of launching their films. The marketing team of The Hunger
Games Series used this way in order to promote the movie and attract target audience. They
advertised their movie on different social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram,
YouTube, Tumblr and Pinterest. They released their trailers and teasers on television too.
Organizing Social Events
The Public Relations and Marketing team of The Hunger Games Series used social events in
order build an image of the movie in the eyes of the audience (Klepek, and Starzyczná,
2018). They organized several events, the star cast made appearance in different TV shows,
did interviews and attended different kinds of social events for the promotion of the movies.
Influencer Marketing
The organization will hire Cara Delevingne Influencer who have a massive reach on
social media platforms were hired by the Public Relations Team of the movies in order to
market the movies. This helped the movie gain huge popularity among the teenage audience.
Creation of film accounts and channels
As soon as the news of release came in media, the PR and marketing team started working
on creating Facebook pages named after the movie, Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr
account, creating YouTube channels which specifically shared news, blogs, funny memes
related to the movies (The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins., 2018).
Transmedia/ viral marketing
The marketing team of The Hunger Games Series used viral marketing tactic for the
promotion of the movie by selecting 12 fans who had a high understanding of the same
novel. They hired them to engage the audience with the help of relative storytelling
(Krizanova, and et.al , 2019). This helped the whole team of The Hunger Games Series in
gaining massive popularity all over the world. The organization has made use of Gives
away valuable products or services principle in which it will give free books to selected
participant. This way of marketing will help in increasing the reach and brand name of
book.

Campaign has been define as planned set of activities that organization carry in order to
promote their goods and service over a period of time. It is one of the most common approach
that has been used by the company in order to attract large customer and to increase their
awareness in the market (Keller and Klinger, 2019). The media campaign use various digital
channels in order to increase their promotion. Such as Instagram, Facebook, snapchat.
However, there are certain challenges that has been faced while conducting the media campaign.
The major threat is deciding clear goal and strategy in order to take full advantage of the
media.
Along with this, goal need to be measure properly in order evaluate its performance and to
understand the audience demands and need. The aim of campaign is to increase brand name and
attract customer. Thus, in order to accomplish it digital marketing strategy will be adopted by
firm. If goal is not clear then it will be hard to guide the staff about their duty and I will create
loss for the organization. Another , issue that is faced in communication is culture difference as
it can affect the image of the company in negative way (Raudeliūnienė and et.al., 2018). In
addition to this, organization should not promote sensitive message that can harm or damage
any person value as it can lead in legal issue. In order to deal with the challenges organization
can make use of communication strategy framework.
COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FRAMEWORK.
This framework clarifies the way business should communicate with their employees, investor,
customer and suppliers. The key elements of effective communication strategy is purpose,
background, target audience, objectives, approach and messaging. However, investment in this
strategy is basically an investment in the success of the firm (Kreiss and McGregor, 2018). As it
mainly depends on how well organization communicate with external and internal stakeholders.
Moreover, it is basically a written plan that include company vision and helps in accomplishing
the goal in limited frame of time.
Key components of communication strategy has been mentioned in detail below:
 Purpose: It basically include brief statement regarding communication strategy and
the way it need to be implemented.

 Background: It involves detail description about the initiative and the outcome that
need to be achieved by the firm.
 Objective: The aim of the organization need to be align with goals of communication
plan so that full advantage can be taken and goals can be accomplish in limited frame
of time.
 Target audience: Business need to target their customer so that it can increase their
sales and attract customer.
 Messaging: Before making the content company need to do market research so that it
can understand customer choice and then craft story that is related to the current trend.
Along with this, it is important to understand what targeted audience wants to hear. It
should rely on storytelling, imagery and human interest (Spivakovskyy and et,al.,2022).
 Approach: At this stage organization has to select appropriate form of distributing the
message to public. Along with this, it can make use of various digital channel such as
newspaper advertisements and television in order to increase investor.
Describing the meaning of Campaign
Campaign is basically a particular designed strategy that has been used by the organization
I order to promote their message to general public through different channels in order to
accomplish the desired objectives. It is mainly known as marketing techniques that is used by
the business so that it can increase brand awareness in the market and increase the sales of
the organization. Along with this, many organization thinks that campaign is just for creating
the brand name rather it is used for sharing the content to the customer and to interact with
them in order to understand their issues and tastes. However, before conducting campaign
organization should develop the message according to the taste of audience as it contribute
in building healthy relation with them. Such as if customer trends has been followed then it
will connect more to the company and that will result in increasing the sales of the firm
(Mensah, 2020). Along with this, campaigns can be conducted in tow forms such as traditional
method or making use of digital technology. In traditional method organization share their
content through conducting workshop at any prominent palace and it interact with their
customer personally. It also advertise about their content on newspaper or through publishing
pamphlets in order to attract large customer.

However, it is very expensive form of promoting the product and services.
Furthermore, innovation such as digital marketing has created a drastic change in field of
marketing sector. Such as with the help of online channels organization can easily conduct a
campaign and it will help in sharing their message on global level. Along with this, there are
various tool that can be used by the organization is social media sites, Affiliated marketing
and creating online website. It is one of the most effective way of promotion as compared to
traditional method (Fajar, Sobari and Usman, 2018). In addition to this, using right media
channel is also very important as it helps Hunger game in influencing customer. Media
contributes in influencing people as it helps in increasing the awareness in the market.
Moreover, communication mix compromise of various method of communicating with the
customer. Generally it is related with promotion factor of marketing mix. Alike marketing
mix it is also consist of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relation and
internet marketing. Thus, this way of communication will contribute in increasing the reach of
hunger game that contributes in attracting customer.
 Advertising: The main motive behind this is to increase the brand awareness in the
market and to connect with the customer in order to increase their sales. For example
Hunger game can use this method for enhancing the camping by making use of various
form such as radio, television and digital marketing.
 Direct selling: In this organization hire sales executive that connect personally with the
customer in order to promote about the company. However, it is one of the most
expensive method as firm has to pay one person salary.
 Sales promotion: It is basically a set of activities that are designed by the organization
in order to encourage immediate purchase (Raudeliūnienė and et.al., 2018). Along with
this, in this hunger game will conduct sales and discount offer and campaign in order
to attract large customers as well as to increase their sales in the competitive market.
 Internet Selling: In this method hunger game will sell their products and services
through digital marketing. Moreover, content is shared on online website and social
media sites in order to increase the reach of the campaign.
Critical evaluation of the campaign
In simple definition campaign can be define as marketing technique that has been used by
the organization in order to connect with the customer. On the other hand, communication is

define as process of sharing information or ideas. It is very important in business to properly
communicate with the customer so that it understand about the product and services sold by the
firm. However, hunger game will conducted communication campaign as part of promotional
strategy that helps the business to connect with their customer. That contributes in
indentifying their taste and demands as well as any issue faced by them. It not only help in
gathering customer information rather it helps in identifying the market trend that is going on
as it helps in developing the product accordingly (Mensah, 2020). Along with this,
communication is an important part of campaigns as it helps in developing the right message
for the targeted audience that result in increasing the brand image and to build healthy relation
with them. Moreover, campaigns are part of communication mix as it main motive is to
advertise about the organization in the competitive market. It is mainly part of sale promotion
as it helps in sharing the information about the company detail so that customer are attracted.
Reflection
I think in my opinion, the marketing campaign launched by the Public Relations and
Marketing Team of The Hunger Games Series was a big success because of the marketing and
communication tactics used. With the help of the above evaluation, I came to understand the
value and role of marketing and communication in the film industry. The multimedia marketing
campaign contributed a large share in the success of these 3 films. This campaign helped the
whole team of The Hunger Games Series in gaining popularity among the target audience and
led to the success of the films (Prikhodko, and et.al, 2019). This study helped me in analysing
and understanding the significance of little things that are of great use to make a campaign as
well as the film, a success. I learned how little things such as launching of t-shirts, purses,
schoolbags, handbags, pillow covers embedded with special characters from the films play an
important part in influencing the minds of the people. The marketing team strategically planned
the marketing communication of all the parts of the film.I liked the way the PR and marketing
team made use of Tumblr (Ngamsutti, Jhundra-indra, and Raksong, 2018). Tumblr is a social
media platform that promotes aesthetic feed but never have I thought that it can be of use for a
film promotion. The PR and marketing team converted the film’s Tumblr feed into a fashion
magazine for the effective promotion of The Hunger Games Series.Moreover, this evaluation of
marketing communication from an actual case study helped me in gaining knowledge about the
various approaches of communication and marketing. The communication approaches used for

all the three parts were verbal communication, visual communication and communication by
way of publicity. Because of this study, now I’ve a deeper understanding of marketing
communication. Marketing communication used by the film production and marketing team
were advertisements, promotion, branding and campaigning by way of newspaper, television,
radios, billboards, posters and social media networks.This study helped me in identifying the role
of marketing and how it can be used for different sectors. As per my understanding so far –
 The PR and marketing team of The Hunger Games Series made relations with public by
selecting individuals who were fans of the same novel for sharing stories and engaging
audience.
 Used innovative tactics such as changing the Tumblr feed to a fashion magazine.
 Posted relatable and funny blogs and posts in order to attract the teenagers.
 Hired influencers from different nationalities in order increase the reach and develop a
sense of belonging among the target audience.
The major challenges that I faced during this analysis were finding the relevant data and
information related to the marketing and promotion of The Hunger Games Series. I also faced
difficulty in understanding and evaluating the strategies used by the team.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded communication is the method of sharing
thoughts and ideas to another individual. Along with this, study has summarized about
campaigns that basically means activities that are being conducted by the business in order
to increase the promotion. Moreover, it has also depicted about the importance of
communication mix while conducting campaigns as it helps in providing with various channels
of media. It has also analysed about the challenges faced while conducting campaigns such
culture difference. Lastly, it has throw light on the reflection of the whole study and the
communication framework and theories that can be used by the firm.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Blakeman, R., 2018. Integrated marketing communication: creative strategy from idea to
implementation. Rowman & Littlefield.
Fajar, A., Sobari, N. and Usman, H., 2018. Impact of marketing communication mix towards
image, brand awareness, and costumers decision to choose Islamic insurance. Journal of Islamic
Economics Lariba. 4(2). pp.109-122.
Ferri, G., 2018. Intercultural communication: Critical approaches and future challenges.
Springer.
Herbert, D., Lotz, A.D. and Punathambekar, A., 2020. Media Industry Studies. John Wiley &
Sons.
Keller, T. R. and Klinger, U., 2019. Social bots in election campaigns: Theoretical, empirical,
and methodological implications. Political Communication. 36(1).pp.171-189.
Klepek, M. and Starzyczná, H., 2018. Marketing communication model for social
networks. Journal of Business Economics and Management. 19(3). pp.500-520.
Kreiss, D. and McGregor, S. C., 2018. Technology firms shape political communication: The
work of Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, and Google with campaigns during the 2016 US
presidential cycle. Political Communication. 35(2). pp.155-177.
Krizanova, A.,and et.al , 2019. The effectiveness of marketing communication and importance of
its evaluation in an online environment. Sustainability.11(24). p.7016.
Mensah, N. O., 2020. Examining the Factors and Constraints Influencing the Choice of
Marketing Communication Mix Elements in Rural and Community Banks (RCB’s) in Ghana.
Ngamsutti, S., Jhundra-indra, P. and Raksong, S., 2018. Factors Influencing Integrated
Marketing Communication Strategy. HUMAN BEHAVIOR, DEVELOPMENT and
SOCIETY.19.pp.64-74.
Prikhodko, K., and et.al, 2019. Innovative opportunities and reserves of contemporary marketing
communication.
Raudeliūnienė, J. and et.al., 2018. Evaluation of advertising campaigns on social media
networks. Sustainability. 10(4). p.973.
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Spivakovskyy, S., and et,al.,2022. Designing online communication mix for machinery
manufacturers. International Journal of Business Performance Management. 23(1-2). pp.166-
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Online
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins., 2018. [Online]. Available through <
https://sites.psu.edu/avadblog/2019/03/26/the-hunger-games-by-suzanne-collins/ >
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