PR Campaign Analysis: Sainsbury's Christmas Campaign

This report provides a detailed analysis of Sainsbury's 2015 Christmas campaign, "Mog's Christmas Calamity," examining its integrated campaign management, project management techniques, and risk assessment strategies. It evaluates budgetary and resource management approaches, ethical practices, team management effectiveness, and agency-client relationships. The report explores data appraisal methods for monitoring PR activity efficiency and effectiveness, measuring outputs and outcomes, and incorporates qualitative feedback from a Sainsbury's executive. The analysis covers various aspects, including the campaign's aims, success factors, and potential areas for improvement. The study highlights the campaign's impact on brand image, customer engagement, and financial results while offering recommendations for future PR initiatives. The report also includes a review of the proposal using qualitative feedback from Simon Roberts, the Retail and Operations Director of Sainsbury.

PR Management, Measurement, and
Evaluation

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Critically evaluate integrated campaign management.....................................................................2
Apply project management techniques including assessment and management of risk.................2
Assess approaches to budget and resource management.................................................................3
Apply principles of ethical practice.................................................................................................3
Review approaches to and competencies of team management......................................................4
Examine processes underpinning effective agency and client relationships and management.......4
Understand how to appraise data to monitor the efficiency and effectiveness of PR activities......4
Measure and evaluate outputs and outcomes...................................................................................5
Review the proposal using qualitative feedback.............................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7
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Introduction
The significance of public relation (PR) has been increasingly growing for the contemporary
business organization. The effect of incrementing globalization process has turned the business
world more and more competitive. In this context, business organizations are required to
improve their reach to target customers. Regarding this matter, the organizations need to apply
effective public relation (PR) policies and strategies, which help the organizations in increasing
awareness of the public about the important products and services of the company. The
companies require engaging effective media relation, internal communication along with
efficient public affairs activities to attract the customers. For this purpose, the organizations need
to develop efficient PR planning to deliver successful advertisement campaigns so that the
company can reach to the target customers. Sainsbury, one of the leading retailers and
supermarket in the UK also stresses on developing effective PR Strategies to increase its reach
and penetration in the target consumer market. Regarding this matter, Sainsbury's Christmas
campaign of the year 2015 was significant. In 2015, Sainsbury had brought a Christmas
campaign named "Mog's ‘Christmas Calamity'", which was a huge success for the respective
company. The proposal sheds light on the specific Advertisement campaign by Sainsbury and it
produces a critical analysis of the campaign. Lastly, it tries to produce effective
recommendations for the company regarding this advertisement campaign to improve its
efficiency and effectiveness (Framestore, 2016).
Critically evaluate integrated campaign management
An integrated marketing campaign includes multiple channels to promote organizational
products or services. Sainsbury Is tried to improve its organization activities through social
media. The organization has introduced three-minute advertisement campaign Mog’s Christmas
Calamity. The organization has released the advertisement campaign in UK’s television
channels. The organization has used the advertisement campaign to gather a huge amount of
money for the "Save the Child” initiative. This type of integrated campaign management helps
the organization to enhance the organizational image. The organization has chosen the period of
Christmas to release the advertisement campaign. Due to the festive season, the people are
engaged with the advertisement campaign very effectively. The associate merchandises are
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helped Sainsbury to raise fund for “Save the Child” program. In the YouTube channel, the
numbers of viewers are reached above 30 Million. The management team of the organization is
playing a very significant role in integrated campaign management. The organization has raised
more than £ 1.5 Million for "Save the Child" program. The local communities are appreciated the
advertisement campaign for its outstanding message. This strategy has helped the organization to
be competitive in the market. During the period of Christmas, competitors such as Aldi and Lidl
are provided a significant threat to Sainsbury. However, effective integrated campaign
management of Sainsbury helps to fulfill its social responsibilities and attract the attention of the
people (mbopartners, 2019).
Apply project management techniques including assessment and management of risk
For assessing the management risks in Public Relations there were several techniques. It also
involves risk management. Risk management techniques represent the importance of risk
analysis. The assessment of risk analysis could be done based on qualitative and quantitative risk
management. The qualitative risk analysis here includes risk categorization, expert judgment,
risk urgency, and probability and impact assessment. The qualitative risk analyses techniques are
illustrated below:-
Risk categorization – It is important for Sainsbury to first group out the risks. It is essential for
the company to first determine the cause of risk. So, it helps them to build proper measures.
Expert judgment – Experts in the campaign area could provide better opinions regarding risk.
Risk urgency – It elaborates what kind or what level of risk is possessed by the campaign. It
depends upon the urgency (Sinnaps, 2018).
Probability and impact assessment – this is the internal technique of risk management. It will
help in analyzing the risk based on schedule, cost, and performance.
Assess approaches to budget and resource management
The budgetary approach in the public relations campaign is the way through which the company
could determine whether they are not over budget or deficit in the budget. The percentage
method can be identified as one of the common approaches that Sainsbury employs. The
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percentage method mainly involves budget setting through the proportion of sales; gross markup
or sales goals. The utilized proportion could be derived from Sainsbury's past performance or
industry standards. The percentage approach is considered as the most suitable approach for
Sainsbury since the objective is tied mainly towards the enhancement of revenue. On the other
hand, there is another approach of the budget is identified as Goal-and-Task method. This
approach has been developed by defining a specific objective. This approach determines the need
to fulfill a task towards specific goals. After this, the cost is estimated towards carrying out these
tasks.
The resource management could be successfully conducted when the organization is able to
identify the resources which were required in the public relations campaigns. After that, the
company analyzes the required cost and time for each resource towards the completion of a
particular task. Once Sainsbury determines the required resources then it implements a
systematic approach. This approach includes establishing a baseline, setting the standard,
building action strategy, setting up aims and responsibility.
Apply the principles of ethical practice
Public Relations ethics are said to be the essential qualities and characteristics for public
relations professional. It includes honesty, loyalty, fairness, advocacy, independence, and
expertise. By applying valid standards the company Sainsbury is required to abide by the rules so
that they could professionally frame the company. It was in the year 2015; Sainsbury has
invested something for big for their Christmas campaign. The tagline of the campaign is
‘Christmas is for sharing'. The story is about a cat and a family that had aimed in celebrating
Christmas. The main focus of Sainsbury campaign is to sell this book to the customers. On
completion of selling of this book, they are aiming to donate their entire profits from this sell for
developing and further improving the child literacy. Near about £2 amount will go to the children
saving. This campaign has focused on sharing and responsibility towards society. They had
shared what is right and what is wrong for society. For this reason, Sainsbury needs to follow the
principle of obeying the standards and rules of the government. Apart from that, they should
practice ethical professional PR practice. Ethical practice will lead Sainsbury to improve their
profit in the upcoming future (Drabble, 2018).
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Review approaches to and competencies of team management
The main approaches of the organization are to fulfill its social responsibilities through raising
funds. The organization has introduced Mog's Christmas Calamity as an advertisement
campaign. The organization is planned to raise its funds for the "Save the Child" program. The
management team of the organization has chosen the period of Christmas for higher numbers of
viewers. Due to this reason, the management team of the organization has introduced the
advertisement campaign on social media and Television channel. The campaign has proved one
of the best strategies of the organization. The management team of the organization has selected
the release date before 7 days of Christmas. The main reason for fixed the releasing date is to
attract the views of the people in the UK. The team management has executed their plan to
promote the image of the organization very sincerely. The sales volume of the organization is
raised very significantly in the year compared to the previous year. Without effective
approaches to team management, the organization is not been able to increase sales volume.
Apart from it, the effectiveness of the organizational team management helps the organization to
take competitive advantages over the other competitors such as Aldi and Lidl.
Examine processes underpinning effective agency and client relationships and management
The organization has taken Cross-Team collaboration strategy for effective Public relations. The
external and internal team members help the organization to fulfill its projects. The organization
is released an advertisement campaign called Mog’s Christmas Calamity. Without having the
support of external agencies, the organization is not been able to get success in its project. For
effective client relationships, the organization has taken a useful communication strategy to
reach the people in the UK. Through the advertisement campaign, the organization has tried to
strengthen its relationship with the people. The organization is developed the advertisement
campaign to gather funds for the "Save the Child" program. The social image of the organization
is significantly enhanced by the project. Due to this reason, the organization can be able to attract
potential customers (Salesbenchmarkindex, 2018).
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Understand how to appraise data to monitor the efficiency and effectiveness of PR
activities
The efficiency and effectiveness of the public relation activities could be monitored successfully
through the incorporation of various appraisal tools. The degree of traffic in the websites can
help in providing a clear picture regarding the performance of the public relation campaign.
Website trafficking measurement can help the organization to determine the success of PR
activities. In this case, the organization can use website traffic to forecast the success of the
project. Sainsbury has used the website traffic tools to promote the project (O'Sullivan, 2018).
Measure and evaluate outputs and outcomes
Sainsbury to increase its brand image has made a quite big contribution to PR. They have
focused on the idea of the seasonal tagline. During the time of Christmas time, it is seen that the
company is gaining the attention of the customers. The measurement of the outcomes is made on
the base of the increased brand image and the PR process implemented by the company. Due to
this reason, the company can be easily able to attract new customers. The PR process undertaken
by the company will be helping inappropriately attaining the objectives. Thus, the company
needs to increase the campaign during festive times. During this period, the company can be
easily able to strengthen the retailer base as well as the customer base (Gilliland, 2018).
Review the proposal using qualitative feedback
To obtain qualitative feedbacks about the specific advertisement campaign named “Mog’s
‘Christmas Calamity’, one of the top management staffs had been selected. Simon Roberts, the
Retail and Operations Director of Sainsbury had been approached regarding this matter. An
appointment was settled with Simon Roberts to conduct a formal interview with him regarding
this Advertisement campaign. Simon allotted his precious time to answer the interview
questions, which provided essential knowledge and information about this matter. The interview
questions are as follows:
Q1: What was your aim regarding the advertisement campaign named “Mog’s ‘Christmas
Calamity’?
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Answer: This advertisement campaign aimed to promote Sainsbury's family-friendly image
among the target customers so that while the people went for Christmas shopping with their
family and friend, the people will automatically be directed to the Sainsbury stores.
Q2: Do you think that this specific campaign is successful?
Answer: The campaign was a huge success for the company as it supported in circulating the
message of Christmas that "The Christmas is for sharing". The campaign was one of the best
advertisement campaigns in the festive session. It helps in hiking 2.6% sales of the company just
before a week of Christmas. Moreover, it also helps Sainsbury to collect exceeded to £1.6
million to support childhood literacy.
Q3: How it could be more effective?
Answer: It could be more effective if it adds the misery of children who lack foods and dresses at
Christmas. If Sainsbury does something for the poor children, it will be more effective in bearing
the real Christmas message of sharing, which will support the company in increasing its reach to
the target populations.
Conclusion
Sainsbury has implemented significant Public Relation strategy for better brand image. The
organization has released an advertisement campaign which is known as "Mog's ‘Christmas
Calamity'. The main reason for releasing the advertisement campaign is to generate a significant
amount of money for the "Save the Child" program. The organization is very much focused on
its PR activities. Through the advertisement campaign, the organization is fulfilled its social
responsibilities. Apart from it, the organization is also presented as a recognized brand in front of
the people. The management team of the organization has played a very crucial role in the
success of the project. The organization has earned £ 1.5 Million through the project (Spanier,
2016).
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References
Framestore (2016). Mog's Christmas Calamity. [online] Framestore. Available at:
https://www.framestore.com/work/mogs-christmas-calamity [Accessed 28 Sep. 2019].
mbopartners (2019). 6 Tips for Building and Maintaining Client Relationships. [online] MBO
Partners. Available at: https://www.mbopartners.com/blog/how-manage-small-business/6-tips-
for-building-and-maintaining-client-relationships/ [Accessed 28 Sep. 2019].
O'Sullivan, K. (2018). 6 Tools to Measure the Effectiveness of PR Activity. [online] glean.info.
Available at: https://glean.info/6-tools-measure-effectiveness-pr-activity/ [Accessed 28 Sep.
2019].
Salesbenchmarkindex (2018). 5 Ways to Manage Your Advertising Agency Effectively. [online]
Salesbenchmarkindex.com. Available at: https://salesbenchmarkindex.com/insights/5-ways-to-
manage-your-advertising-agency-effectively/ [Accessed 28 Sep. 2019].
Spanier, G. (2016). Sainsbury's praises 'huge success' of Christmas campaign featuring Mog the
cat. [online] Campaignlive.co.uk. Available at:
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/sainsburys-praises-huge-success-christmas-campaign-
featuring-mog-cat/1379144 [Accessed 28 Sep. 2019].
Drabble, E. (2018). Judith Kerr's Mog's Christmas Calamity – in pictures. [online] the Guardian.
Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/gallery/2015/dec/01/judith-
kerrs-mogs-christmas-calamity-sainsburys [Accessed 28 Sep. 2019].
Gilliland, N. (2018). 10 of the best ad campaigns from the UK’s top supermarkets –
Econsultancy. [online] Econsultancy. Available at: https://econsultancy.com/10-of-the-best-ad-
campaigns-from-the-uk-s-top-supermarkets/ [Accessed 28 Sep. 2019].
Sinnaps (2018). Risk Management Techniques in Project Management | Sinnaps. [online] Online
Project Management. Available at: https://www.sinnaps.com/en/project-management-blog/risk-
management-techniques [Accessed 28 Sep. 2019].
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