Analysis of Sainsbury's Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) Plan

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INTEGRATED MARKETING
COMMUNICATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 2
P1............................................................................................................................................... 3
P2............................................................................................................................................... 7
P3............................................................................................................................................. 11
P4............................................................................................................................................. 14
P5............................................................................................................................................. 25
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 27
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................28

INTRODUCTION
The assignment consists of the understanding of the marketing communications and the
approaches that have been utilized by the organizations. Along with this, the theories that are
related to the frameworks of integrated marketing has been explained in the assignment.
Different channels of the communication that are required by the organizations to serve the
objectives of the organization have been demonstrated in the assignment. Integrated
marketing communication is the concept that has been adopted by the organizations for
advertising their brands among the large group of consumers. So for this, it is required for
attracting the large base of the organization organizations must take the essential measures for
attaining a higher amount of the profits.

P1
Marketing communication in the organization is defined as the means of the adopting the tools
and approaches by the firms so that they can communicate their messages for raising the brand
image in the market (Andrews and Shimp, 2017). Through this, the awareness of the products
and services among the target consumers can be increased in both the direct and indirect
manner. This will help the organization in raising the sales of the business. For instance, the
food dancing campaign was launched by the Sainsbury for increasing the awareness of the
product awareness of the product and building the consumer engagement with the support of
the marketing communication tools like the social media and sponsorship management
programs for motivating the consumers to engage with the organization.
Importance of marketing communication
The marketing communications are the process through which the organization utilizes the
promotional messages that are based on the products and services that have been offered by
the organization. The key role of marketing communication is the creation of the brand image
and reputation of the organization in the market (Luxton et al., 2015). It develops consumer
loyalty and builds awareness among the people about the products and services that have been
offered to them. Marketing communication plays a major role in changing the perception and
attitude of the people related to the products and facilities provided by the organization.
Marketing communication is beneficial for the organization as it helps in acquiring these
elements of organizational success such as the information, reinforcement, persuasion and
credibility. The key aim of marketing communication is facilitating the consumers with new
facts and information that are associated with the products and services of the organization
while motivating the consumers. This also includes the persuading the consumers so that they
can purchase the goods and services so that the volume of the sales and revenues of the

organization can be increased. The main objective of the marketing communication is to
transfer the positive message so that the potential consumer is informed with the target
audience so that the market reinforcement can occur with the reinforcement of the credibility
(Blakeman, 2018). Marketing communication greatly helps in improving communication with
consumers. The organization with this can gain a higher competitive advantage over the other
organization in the market. The financial state of the organization that has been implying
marketing communication in their strategies supports in boosting the profits and revenue for
the organization. The improvement of the sales can be achieved with conveying the
appropriate information to the target consumers resulting in the improvement of the financial
condition. Through this, the promotion of the products and services can spread awareness
among the target consumers of the company with the development of the brand image and
reputation in the market.
Types of marketing channels
There are fundamentally 4 kinds of marketing channels such as the direct selling, indirect
selling, dual distribution and reverse channels (Valos et al., 2016). They are explained as below:
Direct Selling
It is the kind of marketing in which the products and services are sold directly to the consumers
from the fixed retail location. The oldest form of direct selling is peddling. Modern direct selling
involves the sales that are established through the party plan, one on one demonstrations and
personal contact arrangement along with internet sales. Direct selling comprises of the
individual sales agents reaching and dealing with the consumers.
Indirect selling

The indirect channel of the marketing can be defined as the process in which the intermediaries
like the wholesalers and retailers are involved for making the products and services available to
the consumers.
Dual distribution
This explains the wide range of the marketing arrangements through which the manufacturer
utilizes more than one or more channels so that the organization can reach the end user (Porcu
et al., 2019). They might sell the products and services directly to the end users and other
organization for resale. But the utilization of the two or more channels for attracting the target
market might lead to the channel conflicts.
Reverse channels
One thing that is common among the three channels of marketing communication is the flow.
The flow is similar in all kind of the channels that is from the producer to intermediary to the
customer. Although the evolution of technology has developed another flow possible that goes
in the reverse direction. This includes going from the consumer to intermediary to the
beneficiary.
Methods to serve the communication objectives
There are different tools that are utilized in marketing communication for attracting the target
audience (Vernuccio and Ceccotti, 2015). However, the selection of the tools for using in the
organization is dependent on several factors like the geographical location of the potential
audience, the popularity of the products and services. The tools that are important for gaining
the popularity of marketing communication are given below:

 Pamphlets
 Press release
 Personal Selling
 Emails
 Sales promotions and Campaign
 Exhibitions
 Advertisements
 Websites

P2
COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES
The procedure of establishing the targets for the communication comprises of the
communication objectives. With the support of the communication objectives, the businesses
are capable of describing the planned actions. The communication objectives of the
organization are formed in advance so that the evaluation of the desired outcomes can be
attained (Manser Payne et al., 2017). The problems that are confronted to advertise the goods
and services to the potential consumer group can be determined with the support of the
objectives of the marketing communication along with looking at the opportunities that are
available in the market for overcoming these problems.
Businesses might fail to deliver advantages to the potential consumer without the use of an
efficient market communication strategy. The organization should imply the marketing
communication strategy for communicating appropriately to the consumer with the message of
the marketing to the target consumers (Munoz-Leiva et al., 2015). There are several kinds of
techniques and approaches that are utilized by the organization in the marketing
communication strategy that has the following three major objectives:
 Providing the information to the large group of the target audience related to the brand
like the creation of brand awareness among the consumers.
 Persuading a large target group to utilize the products and services of the organization
defining their complete features so as to fulfil the requirements of the target audience.
 The utilization of the several marketing channels can be done so that the target
consumer can be reminded about the quality of the products and services of the
organization that motivates the target audience to buy the specific products.

Thus the marketing communication objectives can be utilized by the company so as to the
information the end users, persuading them and reminding them about the goods and services
of the organization so that the sales of the company can be boosted with the reputation of the
organization (Hennig-Thurau and Houston, 2019). The objectives of communication can be
formulated with the utilization of the SMART method. This is essential for the organization to
conduct the research in order to identify the right communication objectives for the company.
For instance, it has been found that the marketing communication of the objective of the
organization western financial credit union is to generate the awareness and build the brand
with the preferences for the successful penetration in the Watsonville banking market.
COMPANY OVERVIEW
Sainsbury is the leading organization that has been supplying the products and services of the
range starting from the food, clothing retailing, general merchandising and other types of
financial practices. The main emphasis of the organization is on the main four segments like the
retail general merchandise and clothing, retail-food, property investment and other financial
facilities. The financial services consist of the different operation of the Sainsbury Bank PLC. The
key operation of the retail segment of the organization is the varying formats of the stores that
comprise of the supermarket chains and other types of the convenience stores of the
organization.
The organization also provides the online general merchandise and other groceries facilities to
their consumers or the end users like toy, clothing, home décor, electrical and other kinds of
technological goods. They also facilitate loyalty sessions and energy solutions. The organization
recently operates in 815 convenience stores and 609 supermarkets with their 17 habitat stores,
192 agro stores and additional 192 collection points (Fill and Turnbull, 2016). It has been

estimated that the annual turnover of the organization till the year March 2018 was £29,685
million and developed a net profit of the £ 345 million.
THE VISION OF COMPANY
Sainsbury vision is to become the most trusted retailer in which the individual will love to work
as well like to shop. For the organization, the consumers of the business are the heart along
with the combined efforts of the colleagues and channels to deliver the enhanced experience to
their consumers (Ots et al., 2015). Sainsbury major goal is to advertise their goods and services
to the larger group of the consumers or the end users.
 To advertise the goods and services of the organization with the use of integrated
marketing communication like the advertisement letters, social media and online
portals.
 To attain the topmost position in the market in the United Kingdom.
 To imply the advertising tool so that the establishment of the good brand image in the
market can take place with a good reputation in the organization.
 To establish brand awareness in the market while targeting the online and offline
audiences
 To stimulate the requirements and wants of the consumers by making them aware of
the goods and services that have been made available by the Sainsbury.
 To raise the number of the sales by the 5% with the utilization of the several kinds of the
advertising tools that are present in the market for the consumers of the Sainsbury
(Batra and Keller, 2016).
 To spread the knowledge and information related to the goods and services that are
present to the consumers and end users of Sainsbury.
MARKETING COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES OF SAINSBURY

The promotion of the goods and services are initiated in the Sainsbury with the communication
objective in the year 2017 so that the brand image and product awareness in between the
potential consumers at all ages by the 8 per cent in the time span of the 1 year with
engagement in the various promotional tools:
 To provide suitable information regarding the potential audience that involves the end
users of the Sainsbury(Place et al., 2016).
 To provide the information related with the target consumers that are from the
different age groups that are the end users related with the goods and services that are
provided by the supermarket and convenience stores of the supermarket in the UK.
 Persuading the end users and target consumers for all the age groups to buy the goods
and services that are provided by the Sainsbury.
 To consistently inform the end users and target customers with the use of the several
communication channels so that the brand reputation can be created and also
motivating them to make the suitable purchase.
Sainsbury in the year launched a food focus campaign that was known as the Step change. The
key features of this campaign were the energetic campaign is of the diverse groups of the real
that enjoyed the dancing while cooking in their kitchen.

P3
The selection and implementation of the communication channels in the organizations play a
major role in the success of the Sainsbury. They are utilized by the company for the promotion
of the products and services that are present in the market. This also presents and justifies the
importance of the selection and integration of the communication channels in the organization.
Sainsbury communication objectives
The communication aim of the leading supermarket chain of the organization is to advertise the
goods and facilities of the supermarket. This raises the awareness of the product by the 7%
among the potential group of the target audience that belongs to the several age groups
(Rowley, 2016). This can be done with the help of the several age groups by utilizing the several
communication tools like the sales promotion within the time span of the 1 year.
The situational analysis of the Sainsbury in the recent market scenario is given below:
Strengths
The innovative promotional strategies are the key strengths of the Sainsbury such as the
creative campaigns that have been developed by the organization are proof of it. Other than
this it is the second largest supermarket chain in the UK catering the various consumer
segments.
Weaknesses