Integrated Marketing Communications Report for Samsung Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Samsung's integrated marketing communications (IMC). It begins with a background on Samsung and its competitive landscape, particularly against Apple and newer market entrants. The report defines Samsung's strategy statement, focusing on maintaining its top position through resource utilization and goodwill. It then examines Samsung's brand positioning, comparing it to competitors and analyzing its placement in the market. The objectives of Samsung's marketing messages are discussed, emphasizing the need to communicate product quality and originality, especially in light of recent legal issues. The report identifies Samsung's target audience (15-45 year olds) and their feelings about Samsung products, considering both technical enthusiasts and general users. It explores desired feelings and actions from the target audience, advocating for increased trust and brand loyalty through quality products and effective IMC campaigns across various channels. Finally, the report recommends an integrated approach using both advertising and public relations to effectively communicate with the target audience and boost sales and growth. The report concludes with a list of relevant references.

Running head: INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
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Background
Samsung is one of the largest and most popular electronic goods company in the
world today and is a director competitor to another teach giant, the Apple Inc. Samsung has
been producing smartphones in various ranges and designs in addition to a host of other
technologically advanced goods like cameras, laptops, smart TVs’ and computers. Samsung
however is in recent days facing stiff competition from new players in the market like
Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and other companies who sell high quality goods in lesser price.
Strategy Statement
The strategy statement of a company is the message the company wants to
communicate to the people working within the company and sharing the same goal of
keeping the company ahead in competitive advantage in comparison to its other competitors
(Luxton, Reid and Mavondo 2015). There are three components of a strategy statement
“objective, scope and competitive advantage”. Therefore the strategy statement must reflect
the objective of the company, what is the scope of the company in terms of business and
growth and what is the company’s competitive advantage. The objective if Samsung is to
keep ahead of its competitors, scope of this is high as the company has more capital and
talent than most of its competitors and the competitive advantage is the goodwill of Samsung.
Therefore the strategy statement of the company can be “Maintaining the top position by
utilising the resources and goodwill”.
Brand Positioning

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Image 1: Samsung Brand Positioning
Source: (Wang 2015)
Brand position is the placement of the brand in market compared to other brands (Dou
et al. 2010) Samsung is positioned as a brand has established itself as a medium priced high
features phone. It is not a high profile expensive phone brand like Apple iPhones, though
Samsung has models that are high priced and having finely designed externals. More than
design Samsung takes care of the features to be provided to the users at a comfortable price.
Apple can be seen to be placed at the higher price end with a focus on design and style. The
new phone brands in the market like Xiaomi, Honor, One Plus, Vivo, Oppo occupies various
positions in the perceptual map all giving tough competition to Samsung in the present
market scenario.
Objectives of the Message

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The objective of the new integrated marketing message given by Samsung will be to
convince people about the better quality of Samsung products in comparison to its
competitors. Even if Samsung products are of little higher price still it is better to invest in
Samsung products rather than investing in products which have no goodwill and credibility in
the market. The tagline of Samsung are “Inspire the World, Create the future”, “Designed for
Human”, “The Next Big Thing”. There have been recent cases where Apple Inc. has forced
Samsung to court in the accusation that Samsung has copied their designs in several
occasions. In the new scenario Samsung can endeavour in repairing their goodwill by
communicating the message of originality in their products.
Target Audience
Samsung's “target audience” are the population from age 15 to 45 who take after the
latest advancement designs. Their lifestyles are driven by overpowering usage of TV and
propelled media, and they are especially possessed with adjacent TV plan, and furthermore
enormous names and their idealistic lifestyles. This faithful assembling even takes to web
based systems administration and hash tags to help climb the social assessments of their most
cherished shows. According to Nielsen ask about, this social occasion slants toward online
channels for partner with allies and much of the time utilizes diverse screens when watching
their undertakings.
Feeling of the Target Audience about the Chosen Product
The target audience constituting of the people who range from technical enthusiasts to
common people who use phone for their utility has varied feelings for the product. The
product here implies the Samsung phone range. It depends on the user about how he or she
perceives the phone depending on their technical skills and knowledge. It is however a fact
that Samsung enjoys high good will in the market and people in general trust the brand.

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However after recent rise of brands that offer products in lesser price the market of the
company is falling. Also the legal cases are harming its reputation.
Desired Feeling of the Target Audience about the Chosen Product
It is imperative that the target audience must feel confident about the brand and they
understand that though the other newer brands are offering similar products for same price
they are not of good quality and hence for the customers it may not be a good idea to invest in
those brands (Koekemoer 2014). The desired feeling that is needed to be grown in the minds
of the customers about the brand is greater trust and faith. This can be done by providing
better quality products and services in pocket friendly price, and designing integrated
marketing communication to spread this message.
What do we want the target audience to do?
The target audience is required to upgrade to better Samsung phones, or the segment
of the target audience who is still not a Samsung user to start using the Samsung products.
This can be done by an integrated campaign which will include the social media, the search
engines, TV, Newspapers and hoardings. Samsung is a company with a lot of capital for
advertisement and marketing. Therefore taking up an integrated marketing campaign would
not be difficult for the company. However the campaigns needs to be regionalised and
divided in areas so that it is measurable and the results are visible.
How should Samsung speak to the Target Audience?
The strategy of taking up both advertisement and PR (Public Relation) tools is the key
to successfully speak to the target audience. Advertisement is the direct commercial
communication to the audience that includes commercial advertising videos in the television
channels and the internet and graphical advertisements in the newspapers and billboards
(Belch et al. 2014). Public Relations is the indirect communication with the audience that

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includes press release and official statements (Andrews and Shimp 2017). Samsung should
utilise these tools to project a positive image about the company in the market and boost sales
and growth.

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Reference:
Andrews, J.C. and Shimp, T.A., 2017. Advertising, promotion, and other aspects of
integrated marketing communications. Nelson Education.
Belch, G.E., Belch, M.A., Kerr, G.F. and Powell, I., 2014. Advertising: An integrated
marketing communication perspective. McGraw-Hill Education.
Dou, W., Lim, K.H., Su, C., Zhou, N. and Cui, N., 2010. Brand positioning strategy using
search engine marketing. Mis Quarterly, pp.261-279.
Koekemoer, L., 2014. Marketing communication: An integrated approach. Juta.
Luxton, S., Reid, M. and Mavondo, F., 2015. Integrated marketing communication capability
and brand performance. Journal of Advertising, 44(1), pp.37-46.
Wang, H.J., 2015. A new approach to network analysis for brand positioning. International
Journal of Market Research, 57(5), pp.727-742.