Comprehensive Review of the M&S Food Product Communication Campaign

This report provides a thorough review of the Marks and Spencer (M&S) communication campaign, focusing on its marketing strategies and effectiveness. It begins by introducing the campaign and its objectives, followed by an analysis using the DRIP marketing theory, examining how M&S differentiated its products, reinforced its brand message, informed consumers, and attempted to persuade them. The report identifies the key target audience as gourmet-focused consumers and explores the promotional mix elements, particularly the use of advertisements across various channels like YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. It analyzes the key message conveyed in the campaign video, which emphasizes the quality and authenticity of M&S's food products, particularly beef. The report also examines the marketing communication mix, including advertising, direct marketing, and public relations. Finally, it suggests methods for M&S to measure the effectiveness of its campaign, such as providing more specific information about the sources of their meat and increasing the frequency of ads. The conclusion summarizes the campaign's strengths and areas for improvement.

Running Head: COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN REVIEW
COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN REVIEW

2COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN REVIEW
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
DRIP marketing theory..............................................................................................................3
Key target audience....................................................................................................................3
Promotional mix elements..........................................................................................................3
Key message in the video...........................................................................................................4
Marketing communication mix..................................................................................................4
One method M&S should use to measure the effectiveness......................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

3COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN REVIEW
Introduction
Communications campaign review is the analysis of a marketing campaigns by various
companies. This includes understanding the elements of the campaign that worked well and
those that didn't. To learn the responses of the target audience and review its effectiveness
with regards to the objectives.
DRIP marketing theory
The DRIP model consists of 4 processes, they are:
● Differentiate - Differentiating a service or product from others. In the marketing
campaign, Marks and Spencer used this process by stressing that their beef (steaks
and other food items) come from genuine sources unlike other companies (Rafeeque
and Sekharan, 2018).
● Reinforce - Reinforcing the brand's message. The company reinforced its brand
message by stressing on the genuinely of the source of their meat.
● Inform - Informing or making people aware of the brand was done by Marks and
Spencer through their various campaign channels (Ejlerskov et al. 2018).
● Persuade - The marketing campaign tried to persuade the audiences through the
quality of their meat.
Key target audience
The key target audience in this market campaign is gourmet focused consumers. The
behaviour of these consumers is regulated by the food they buy. Consuming the right food is
always important for such consumers and while one has to have food, they prefer to make it
enjoyable. Gourmet consumers try to maximize their food enjoyment and are less cautious
about nutrition (Jackson et al. 2018). These consumers are also concerned about the
authenticity of the quality of the foods they consume. As a result, for these consumers, food
should be of high quality and good in taste. Their consuming patterns are affected by all of
their characteristics.

4COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN REVIEW
Promotional mix elements
Various promotional mixes can be used in a marketing campaign may contain. The one used
by Marks and Spencer is an advertisement. Jones and Comfort (2018) stated advertisement
has various advantages, as it reaches various target groups at the same time at different
demographics. However, a single target group can also be advertised to, through mails.
Advertisements make the consumers more aware of their choices and it is through
advertisements we get to know about certain products in the first place. One of the biggest
disadvantages of advertising is that it adds more to the costs. They also, often leave the
consumers confused as advertisements many times to focus on a distorted version of reality
which has hardly any truth.
Key message in the video
The key message the marketing campaign of Marks and Spencer wants to deliver to its target
audience through the specific advertisement is about the quality of meat they sell. Beef is one
of the most widely consumed meats which has a lot of health benefits. It can be incorporated
in my dishes as well as being consumed as just a tasty and filling tenderloin steak (Virah-
Sawmy et al. 2019). The company promotes the genuinely of the sources of their beef,
advertising the message that their products are of high quality and good taste.
Promotional channel used
Promotional channels used by Marks and Spencer in their marketing campaign includes
YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. They have launched the advertisement in all
these platforms where they pop up as sponsored videos attracting the target audience from
various social, economic and most importantly, demographic backgrounds (Healy, 2018).
Considering the increased amount of time an individual spends on these media platforms, the
advertisement can reach out to vast target groups increasing the brand's awareness and
popularity.
Marketing communication mix
According to Ejlerskov et al. (2018), marketing is a broad function including research and
growth of products, their mechanisation and distribution along with pricing and promotions.
The communication mix is the collection of various methods that promote the company the
services and products provided by it. The communication mix consists of advertising, direct
marketing or personal selling, promotions and discounts, managing public relations, directly

5COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN REVIEW
marketing to the target customers and at times, sponsoring events is also seen as an important
communications element that increases the awareness about the brand.
One method M&S should use to measure the effectiveness
M&S could have been more specific about the sources of their meat to increase the consumer
satisfaction of the advertisement. Additionally, they should think about increasing the
frequency of ads showing in other platforms as it will leave an impact on the minds of the
consumers, making them want to consume the products (Healy, 2018). Through the effective
marketing strategy, the key messages and source attributes should be made more prominent
to increase its food popularity.
Conclusion
The analysis or review of marketing campaign carried out by Marks and Spencer with a
target to increase the consumption of their food products have been made after exploring all
the aspects of the campaign. The targeted audience of the advertisement is gourmet
consumers who are more likely to buy the product advertised. The advertisement has been
made in such a way that it reaches to a wide section of consumers and is effective in attaining
its objectives. However, like every other thing, there is still scope for improvement in this
campaign.

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References
Ejlerskov, K.T., Stead, M., Adamson, A., White, M. and Adams, J., 2018. The nature of UK
supermarkets’ policies on checkout food and associations with healthfulness and type of food
displayed: cross-sectional study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical
Activity, 15(1), p.52.
Healy, S.Y., 2018. Consumers, corporate policy and animal welfare. In The Business of Farm
Animal Welfare (Vol. 64, No. 72, pp. 64-72). ROUTLEDGE in association with GSE
Research.
Jackson, P., Brembeck, H., Everts, J., Fuentes, M., Halkier, B., Hertz, F.D., Meah, A.,
Viehoff, V. and Wenzl, C., 2018. Reframing convenience food. Springer.
Jackson, P., Brembeck, H., Everts, J., Fuentes, M., Halkier, B., Hertz, F.D., Meah, A.,
Viehoff, V. and Wenzl, C., 2018. A Short History of Convenience Food. In Reframing
Convenience Food (pp. 15-38). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Jones, P. and Comfort, D., 2018. Storytelling and corporate social responsibility reporting: A
case study commentary on UK. food retailers. Journal of Public Affairs, p.e1834.
Oktyajati, N., Hisjam, M. and Sutopo, W., 2018, February. The dynamic simulation model of
soybean in Central Java to support food self sufficiency: A supply chain perspective. In AIP
Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1931, No. 1, p. 030015). AIP Publishing.
Rafeeque, K.T. and Sekharan, N., 2018. Multiple food safety management systems in food
industry: A case study. International Journal of Food Science and Nutrition, 3(1), pp.37-44.
Virah-Sawmy, M., Durán, A.P., Green, J.M., Guerrero, A.M., Biggs, D. and West, C.D.,
2019. Sustainability gridlock in a global agricultural commodity chain: Reframing the soy–
meat food system. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 18, pp.210-223.