CMU304: Integrated Marketing Communication Plan for Apple in Australia

This report analyzes Apple's integrated marketing communication (IMC) plan within the Australian market. It begins with a company overview, highlighting Apple's products, brand positioning, and marketing objectives, alongside an examination of key competitors. The report then reviews Apple's current marketing activities, including advertising and communication strategies. It delves into Apple's market segmentation, focusing on demographic, psychographic, and media consumption behaviors of their target audience. The core of the report develops three communication objectives, such as brand awareness and influencing consumer behaviors, and outlines a core creative concept with a headline and image. Finally, a 12-month media plan is proposed, detailing the media vehicles chosen to execute the communication strategy and achieve the set objectives. This comprehensive analysis provides insights into Apple's successful marketing approaches and their adaptation to the Australian market, fulfilling the requirements of the CMU304 assignment.

Running head: INTEGRATED MARKETING PLAN
Integrated Marketing Communication
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

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Introduction
Integrated Marketing plan help all organization to approach the targeted audience and
strategize accordingly to enter the market and sell the desired product. It creates an identification
for the brand in the industry which is recognizable and retable to the target audience. This helps
in positioning with specific differentiation with the help of effective communication. The
benefits which are related to Integrated Marketing Communication plan is a well-developed and
comprehensive process to operate at the business level. It helps in differentiating the operations
which are to be carried out by the company in a specified or proposed tenure to approach the
market and campaign for the same. These campaigns help in generating better outcomes when
there is high level of competition in the market and involves a lot of investment too. IMC is
effective in creating clear and consistent brand awareness among the customers and manage
loyalty of them. It helps to offer better experiences of the customers as well as bring positive
change to the company and its operations. Customers are able to have better attitude towards the
company for the efficient means to communicate about the products which they intend to sell to
them. At the same time, there are lesser chances of defects in the products because of the
approachable means which are adopted by the companies to reach out to the customers in the
market. Sales growth are enhanced manifold and adds to the benefit which are made by the
companies. The investments which are made by the companies on advertisements, promotions
and communications usually result in positive outcomes for the company. Companies which
invest effort and finance to develop plan to promote their products on various medias are often
preferred by the consumers as they are recognized and relied upon more as compared to the
companies which do not resort to IMC strategies. Apple is a brand which has mastered the art of
business and flourished in the market without any such setbacks as they have identified and
successfully developed the unique ways to market their products to the target audience. The

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paper will focus on Integrated Marketing Communication of Apple in Australia and the benefits
linked to it.
Discussion
Company Overview
Apple Inc. is an American company which deals with technology. It sells computer
software, consumer electronics and other online services. It is one of the four leading technology
companies. The hardware products which are sold by the company includes iPad, iPods, iPhones,
Mac Computers and so on. The software products which are sold by the company include iWork,
iTunes, iOs, macOS and others which are loaded with productivity and creativity (Apple.com
2019). The company was founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. It
initially sold Apple I computers and was soon known as Apple Computer Inc. Apple is well
known for its revenue collection and is considered to be one of the most valuable companies.
Apple has always been on the top for the marketing strategies which they have employed to
promote and sell their products in the market. The most famous of their campaigns include the
‘Super Bowl’ commercial and the ‘Think Different’ tag which was used to advertise for iPod.
Apple has always been consistent when it comes to innovation and creativity which is one of
their primary objectives.
Current Market Segmentation of Apple
The current market segmentation of the company focuses on software and hardware
which are user friendly, are of high quality and come of use in utility, productivity and
educational purposes as well. The advertisements are done in accordance with the products
which are to be sold and implementing product differentiation strategy (Finne and Grönroos

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2017). The market segmentation of Apple include the geographical bases of the company,
psychographic bases, demographical bases and behavior bases too. Apple is successful in
developing products which have been modelled while keeping factors like age, occupation,
preferences in mind. When the geographical bases are looked at, Apple has successfully made
vertical growth in Australia by selling their products online and retail stores. Knowledge about
these products are imparted to the people through advertisements made on TV, search engines,
social media and so on. These strategies which have been employed by Apple has yielded great
results for the company. In the last decade, Apple has expanded their business in areas with large
demography and also gained competitive advantages in those places. They have successfully also
managed to be the largest information technology company with the great revenue generation
and assets.
(Image 1: Apple Advertisement)
Advertising and Communication Objectives
The primary objective of efficient communication and advertisement is to promote the
brand and the product to the target audience through various platforms. Marketers have
successfully understood that these companies thrive on the communications which are built.

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Thus they intend to enhance the brand equity and send out compelling messages to the customers
so that they purchase the products by being able to associate with the brand. Apple invests in
advertising campaigns which are held outside, in famous cities of the target market, special
events which promote the product and by conducting Pre-booking processes to purchase the
product. Apple has also enhanced the experience of the customers by opening retail stores which
add clarity and hand-on experience to the customers while buying Apple products. The
employees who work in these retail stores are highly efficient, helpful and are stimulating
without creating pressure on the buyers to compulsively buy the products. The campaigns which
are carried out by Apple are simple yet convincing (Lusch and Vargo 2014). They put across the
impression to the customers which are compelling and strong. Apple has taglines which
emphasize on innovation and quality. It has always targeted the modern generation of the
contemporary society and contributed to the growth and innovation of the society itself. It has
always strived to bring modern impression and enrich the customers with better and advanced
technology which change the course of experiences for the buyers.
Outdoor Advertisement
Apple has invested in outdoor advertisements and non0-media communication techniques
as well. They have made it a point to promote their products with the help of banners and
hoardings in top cities and business capitals of countries where it operate. They are increasingly
being creative in their ways to promote and market their products in the market. The non media
communication might be outdated but nonetheless catchy. These hoardings draw attention of the
customers for the creativity which is invested in them which integrate the messages which they
want to put across to achieve the best results from the market.
Special Events and Conferences

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Apple also advertises with the help of special events which aim at promotion their
products and increase awareness about them. These events are often conducted by using
powerful figures and celebrity to draw the attention of the people. This helps in pioneering the
communication process of Apple. These conferences include events like ‘Mac World Expo’ and
“Apple expo’ where representatives from various medias gather and be a part of the conference.
The spectators that turn up to view and know are interested people who are eager to know about
Apple’s latest offerings and future plans of launching new products. These events have been
significant in Apple’s history to strengthen its ties with different media which promote the brand
and its products as well as to enhance the communication with the interested and targeted
audience. The company has established itself as a green company which is concerned about the
environment and its sustainability. Therefore this is maintained in all its campaigns and
conferences.
Pre- Booking and Online Purchase
Apple has maximized their profit by producing and launching groundbreaking products
in the market. The premium products are worth the pennies spent to purchase them. The target
audience comprises of the upper class and upper middle class of the society who strives for
quality experience and independence through creativity, power and passion which Apple aims to
deliver to its customers. Apple these days have retail stores where customers can have hands on
experience with the products while purchasing as well as Online Pre booking options. Orders can
be placed for the desired products or the products which are being launched before hand. This
generated great enthusiasm in the buyers as they try to ensure greater chances to successfully
purchase the products which are advertised about and preferred by the customers. Apple has

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been the genius at marketing their products in the market by targeting the specific social strata
and age groups which can be targeted.
Creative Concepts
The primary goal of any company to sell their product is to identify the target audience.
This is what Apple has done wisely and effectively and therefore build plans and marketing
strategies accordingly. The lifestyle and demographic information are c=taken into consideration
to enhance the marketing communication. The uniqueness of selling the proposition add
competitive advantage to the brand. Therefore, the products are well differentiated for their price,
features and experience which they offer among all other competitors.
The content of Apple has never been linear. It has been enriched by adding value to the
marketing procedure which leave consequential effect on the buyers. Marketers set their
objectives with various models and techniques like the AIDA model which pays attention to the
attention, interest, desire and action of the interested people which are kept in mind while
developing communication and advertisement plans (Luxton, Reid and Mavondo 2015). The
IMC typically revolves around traditional and more contemporary ways of marketing the
products. The brand intends to coordinate with various platforms and communication channels to
put marketing efforts for the promotion of the products. This has been effective in managing
costs as well as reaching out to mass audience which is targeted by the company. The
communication and advertisements are done through Digital and social media, television, radio,
magazines, billboards, webinars, search engine optimization and so on.
There has been a shift from the conventional and traditional way of advertising to the
mass. It has been disintegrated into multiple forms which are employed to communicate.

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Marketing has grown to be more data based rather than focused advertising. Internet has been
very affective in the process of conjoining the marketing tactics as well as making the products
available to the target customers in the market.
Communication should be based on the demography and preferences. Hence physical and
outdoor advertisements should be done in top cities and business centers of the places where the
companies intend to sell the products. Marketing communication activities are carried out by
companies these days to engage and associate buyers in their marketing programs in the form of
discounts, loyalty programs and cards, gifts, seasonal promotions and other activities which
engage customers and generate interest in them to invest in these brands because they like the
association.
Media Plan
An effective marketing plan helps in the process of charting out the initiatives and actions
which are to be followed out to enhance the marketing of the brand and product. This can be
divided into parts according to convenience which will be effective in reaching better outcomes.
This helps in adding value to the company as well as to the customers who show interest in the
brand. A plan which Apple can follow can be divided in three parts which would entirely take
one year to execute ad carry out campaigns to effectively sell their products such as the newest
model of iPhone in the upcoming year.
Time Action
January-February Aggressive marketing on billboards in cities
like Sydney and Melbourne about conferences
and future actions.

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March-April Conferences and campaigns to create
awareness of the brand with significant hints
about the products and services.
May-June Advertisements on broadcast media and
digital media with opportunity to engage loyal
consumer base to guess product and features.
July-August Conduct campaigns which are highly enticing
and engaging to draw attention of the target
audience with surprises and exciting offers.
September-October Aggressive advertisements on Social media
with the help of paid ads, as well as by
optimizing search engines.
November-December Discounts on their classic pre booking offers,
assured gifts on successful attempts at various
activities to win the product.
Effectiveness of the Plan
Marketing Communication creates effective understanding of the brand and the products.
It is powerful in creating distinguishable recognition of the company among all other
competition within the market. Consistent communication and program build trust and loyalty
between customers and the brand itself (Persuit 2013). This benefits the company as people
become more interested to buy the products because they are able to relate and anticipate with
them. Sales are increased manifold and growth of the company is ensured because of integrated

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marketing communication. IMC helps in utilizing company’s resources and enhance future
prospects of the same.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be said that Apple will be highly benefitted if they employ Integrated
Marketing Communication while launching their newer products in the Australian context while
keeping the demographic preferences in mind. This would help in building better relationship
with the customer and communicate the best ideas and purposes of the company to the target
audience. Company sales and services will be enhanced which will add competitive advantage to
the company in the market.

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