Integrated Marketing Communication Report for Unilever PLC

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of integrated marketing communication (IMC) strategies, focusing on Unilever PLC. It begins with an introduction to the marketing communications sector and the role of a communication officer within a global consumer brand. The report then explores various marketing channels, including advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, direct marketing, and public relations, detailing how each can serve Unilever's communication objectives. It examines the advantages and disadvantages of each channel. The report then delves into communication objectives, utilizing the AIDA model to illustrate how Unilever targets its market. It highlights influence purchase intent as a key objective, outlining strategies such as persuasive advertising and leveraging the product life cycle. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and recommendations for effective IMC implementation within Unilever PLC, aiming to enhance brand awareness, customer engagement, and sales performance.

Integrated Marketing Communication
Submission Front Sheet
Programme BTEC Higher National Diploma (HND) in Business (RQF).
Unit Title and Number: Integrated Marketing Communications (Unit 23)
Unit QCF level/Code 05/ L/508/0535 Module Tutor
Name /Email
Credit Value 15
Assignment Code
RQFBM-IMC230307
Cohort Name January 19 B Assignment Date
Set
24th April 2020
Student’s Name
Plamena Slavova
Student’s
Registration
Number
Submission Date Distribution Date
Is this a First Submission ReferSubmission
Word Count
1
Learner’s statement of authenticity
I certify that the work submitted for this assignment is my own. Where the work of others has
been used to support my work then credit has been acknowledged. I have identified and
acknowledged all sources used in this assignment and have referenced according to the
Harvard referencing system. I have read and understood the Plagiarism and Collusion section
provided with the assignment brief and understood the consequences of plagiarising.
Signature: ___________________ Date: __24_/04/2020___
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Integrated Marketing Communication
Table of Contents
Integrated marketing communications........................................................................................3
Introduction....................................................................................................................................3
Various types of marketing channels and ways in which they can serve the communication
objective of Unilever PLC.............................................................................................................4
Communication objectives........................................................................................................6
Marketing communication plan to effectively attain business and marketing objectives. .9
Marketing communication plan in relation to channel choice, strategy, and creative
content.......................................................................................................................................11
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................12
References.................................................................................................................................13
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Integrated Marketing Communication
Integrated marketing communications
Introduction
The marketing communications sector is one of the developing segments globally. Such can be
associated with the increased efforts of companies looking for better strategies in promoting their
businesses either globally or locally. This report is developed for the communication manager of
Unilever PLC following my appointment as a communication officer in the company. Being a
communication officer at an organization like Unilever PLC, global consumer brand services in
the UK is the most significant role along with the duty to provide an opportunity to evaluate the
various type of marketing channels and the way in which they meet communication objectives
within the organization. It will also provide an opportunity to examine different strategies in
which the company can engage in marketing communication with an aim of promoting their
products and ensure that they cover a large number of consumers within a short period of time.
Marketing communication entails a process adopted by the companies to make the public aware
of the brand and products they sell, notifying them about the brand with the intention of
persuading them to purchase goods and services for an organization (Rehman et al, 2011). The
process is meant to assist the prospective customers in understanding the values and advantages
offered by goods and services of an organization and in addition, helps in developing fidelity and
confidence of the consumers regarding the brand, therefore, reinforcing the link between the
brands and customers.
Various types of marketing channels and ways in which they can serve the communication
objective of Unilever PLC.
The main aim of communication channels is to draw the attention of prospective customers
towards the brand, goods, and services of the organization, create a sense of interest among the
customers to try the brands' services or product persuading or convincing them that they require
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Integrated Marketing Communication
the products of the organization. It also encourages them that they can build urge among
themselves to purchase the services or products and eventually enforcing actions to change the
prospective customers to end customers. Some of the marketing channels include advertising,
personal selling, sales promotion, direct marketing, and public relations.
Advertising
It is a paid model of the marketing communication channel used by companies to promote or sell
their products, services, and ideas impersonal messages and is impartially sponsored. The
advertising sponsors are the established businesses willing desire to the goods and services of
other businesses (Clow, 2016). This channel entails traditional media like magazines,
newspapers, television, outdoor posters, radio, billboards, and digital media like digital display,
internet, and social media. Advertisements ensures that the right message is conveyed to the
right audience by making sure that the right content of the product is included in the message, it
helps save resources because it reaches a large number of audiences within a very short period.
The company can determine suitable content for advertising goods and services of the
organization targeting a huge number of prospective consumers within a short period of time.
Advertises on television, newspapers, radio, magazines, and the internet can assist in drawing all
the consumers towards the brand of the company. However, this channel has many advantages it
has shortcomings too as discussed below:
Advantages
It helps in reaching a huge target customer coverage target within a short period of time.
Including celebrities in advertisements of products will help in adding value to the image of
Unilever PLC.
Disadvantages
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Integrated Marketing Communication
Lack of response from the customers due to lack of feedback system. It is also not persuasive as
compared to personal selling as there is no physical meeting to promote negotiation between the
sales person and customer (Baker, 2014).
Sales promotion
It comprises several short-term motives with an attempt to persuade the costumers or adding
quality to inaugurate the immediate purchase of goods and services. This process calls for the
immediate sale of the products and goods by convincing and encouraging them to purchase the
products of the company, thus increasing the rate of sales of the products and services of the
company (Belch & Belch, 2003). Sales promotion strategies include discounts on price, rebates,
offering free gifts, free samples, coupons and vouchers to the customers. Sale promotion can be
used in wide variety of situations to encourage product demand among other channel members.
Many websites are available which offers vouchers with discounts on particular services and
goods and this can help motivates the customers decision making process to purchase from an
organisation.
Advantages
Attracting new customers with additional benefits due to use of multiple marketing channels. It
also helps in convincing and persuading prospective customers to make the purchase of company
products immediately. Furthermore, the outcomes can be easily measured.
Disadvantages
The process is very expensive especially with the techniques used to lure more customers to
purchase the company products and services. It is also a short-term tactic in attracting a huge
number of customers therefore not appropriate for long term gains (Belch & Belch, 2003).
Personal selling
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Integrated Marketing Communication
This is the traditional model of market communication which involves sale person or probably
the representative of the company interacting with the customers face to face in the provision of
information to the customers. They inform customers pertaining to the features, benefits,
advantages, price, and qualities of the company’s products and services. This process serves the
communication objective in an effective manner as the queries of the customers are instantly
responded to therefore gaining the trust and loyalty of the customers regarding the products and
services of the company (Clow, 2016). It can be done through orally through face to face,
writings via texts messages or emails. Personal selling is the most economical channel of
marketing because no more resources are needed to convey the messages to the consumers, it
easily serves the organisation objectives in that the right message is passed to the consumer face
on face with the customers being able to ask for clarification.
Advantages
Most reliable mode of communication because it is done directly and face to face. Additionally,
information passed to the customers regarding the products can be easily customized according
to the needs and attitudes of prospective consumers.
Disadvantages
It is expensive compared to other channels as the salesperson or the marketer will be paid. This
increases the operation cost within an organisation. It also requires investment in both
technological and infrastructural resources that should be used by the sales person (Clow, 2016).
Communication objectives
AIDA Model
Stages
Typical Company Objectives
Awareness: Develop brand awareness and recognition
Increase traffic to physical or virtual stores, Web sites, or other
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Integrated Marketing Communication
channels
Remind customers about a brand, product, service or category
Interest:
Generate interest by
informing about
benefits; shaping
perceptions
Differentiate a product, stressing benefits and features not available
from competitors
Provide more information about the product or the service because
information may be correlated with greater likelihood of purchase
Increase demand for a specific product or a product category;
generate enough interest to research further
Desire:
Create desire; move
from “liking” to
“wanting”
Build brand equity by increasing customer perceptions of quality,
desirability, and other brand attributes
Stimulate trial, an important step in building new brands and
rejuvenating stagnant brands
Change or influence customer beliefs and attitudes about a brand,
product, or category, ideally creating an emotional connection
Action:
Take action toward
purchasing
Reduce purchase risk to make prospective customers feel more
comfortable buying a new or unfamiliar product or brand
Encourage repeat purchases in the effort to increase usage and brand
loyalty
Increase sales and/or market share, with the goal of broadening
reach within a time period, product category, or segment
Unilever is an example of company using AIDA model make the target market narrow
and get better results. Marketers in Unilever are aware that their advertisements and other
channels of communication must attract their costumer’s attention, so they use, themes,
background, and colours that would please them. In addition, Unilever stimulate interests by
showing the advantages of purchasing their products. The Unilever marketers speak about what
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their customers desires because when they evaluate what they customers desire they will able to
build effective market campaigns.
Influence purchase intent
Due to the competitive nature of companies of energy drinks in the UK, I will develop influence
purchase intent as the main communication objective in Unilever PLC in order to motivate the
customers to buy the products and services of the company. This will be done through persuasive
advertisements which will emphasize superior benefits to the customers, which will be related to
the competitors. The advertisement will include benefits associated with the nutrients and taste of
the drinks. For example, Red bull which is the largest selling brand globally of the energy drinks
will show athletes competition, an association of the brand with music festivals and extreme
sports events, and use of slogan such "wings to fly.” It will also entail inclusion of two energetic
bulls as the logo of the brand will serve as the brand message to target a large number of
customers. This will be a strategy to drive purchase intent.
Many changes in the product life cycle mechanisms are used in directing the focus of marketing
activities. The introduction of a new branded product to the markets follows a sequence of steps
in the market. The steps follow each other chronologically and they include introduction, growth,
maturity, and decline. The objective is to increase the profitability and value of the products at
each stage. (Caywood & Duncan, 1995).
The introduction of the theory of PLC as a marketing theory was introduced in the 1950s with
the aim of explaining the expected life cycle of a typical product from design to obsolescence.
The ultimate goal of the introduction stage which is the first stage is to win the trust of customers
on the new branded product and can be achieved through; an article, a speech, or face to face
discussion.
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Integrated Marketing Communication
The second stage is aimed at strengthening the brand position in the market, the company will
find information about the competitors in order to understand the areas they will emphasize on.
The company should use as many communication channels as possible by setting a greater
amount of promotional budget in presentation and presentation of sales promotions techniques
and advertisement of the brand.
In the third stage, the customers are aware of the products or services for a certain brand and
purchase decision has become a choice and the main purpose of the company will be to maintain
the current customers and draw new customers by showing the differences of the company and
its brand from the competitors. This can be achieved through sales promotion and also well-
planned special events (Clow, 2016).
The main objective of the fourth stage is building a strong customer relationship with the brand
management since the competitors are using new technologies. Since this stage relates to the
decline of the PLC because of the introduction of new services or products related to the brand
which is more efficient than the current ones, therefore, the company should be adaptive and
flexible to the change in the market and monitor all brands affecting the current brand either
indirectly or directly, the company will spend its promotional budget on personal sales, sales
promotion and relationship market in order to build strong unbreakable relationships with
customers.
Budgeting in IMC assists in the planning of activities by pushing the managers to prioritize
operations in mind how conditions may change. It will also aid in planning the operations of the
organization compelling managers to assess the relationship between their own activities and
those of other organizations. The managers of IMC must clearly understand the sectors in order
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Integrated Marketing Communication
to allocate enough funds to each sector. This is a foundation which entails buyer attitudes and
behaviour, changes in technology, and moves by competitors, corporate culture (Blythe, 2008).
Since the increasing factors cannot be secluded from the capabilities, vision and corporation
culture, the brand focus which includes the main focus of the brand, logo, and tagline, consumer
experience regarding the products experience its packaging and design. Additional elements
include communication tools which entail means of advertising, online communication, and
direct marketing, promotional tools such as, customer promotions and trade promotions, and
integration tools such as web analytics and marketing automation (Blythe, 2008). The main
purpose of budgeting includes; providing visibility to the company performance, controlling
resources, motivating the managers to achieve budget goals, and assessing managers'
performance.
A combination of sales promotion, direct selling, public relations, and general
advertisements will provide consistency, clarity, and desired communication impact. These
channels not only pass messages about the company to the customers but also build a strong
bond with the current and prospective customers. The rapid growth of the internet, as well as
social network, will offer a great chance to the Unilever PLC of getting closer to their customers
in an interactive manner
Marketing communication plan to effectively attain business and marketing objectives
From the research which has been conducted by the qualitative method on the basis of the
deductive approach which involved informative emails and interviews with four members of the
marketing department, there is low awareness of Unilever PLC in the UK and stiff competition
from the related companies. Therefore, there is a need to create a strong communication plan
with the incorporation of various communication channels, tactics, and objectives in order to
achieve the business and marketing objectives in Unilever PLC.
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Integrated Marketing Communication
The main objective of the company will be to look at the best methods to reach the targeted
customers, the effective tools to be used, and the role of impacts and image and selection
processes of the company brand when purchased by the customers. (Wood, 2007). The
information that was received from data interpretation made it easy for proper recommendations
and suggestions.
The available channels were sales promotions, advertising, public relations, personnel selling, e-
commerce, point- of- purchase communication, directing marketing, and exhibitions. The most
effective channels were personal selling and direct selling where else e-commerce was the third
effective channel. Colour and symbols have a significant role in assisting the company to attract
more customers. The criteria used in brand selection depended on the company. The factors that
converged were the priority of the brand on local customers, good quality products, type of
products, and good customer services of the company. Based on these results, a good
communication will be formulated which will serve as the guideline for the company.
Company Strategy Well suited IMC tools and tactics
Interact
Events, social media, guerrilla marketing
efforts
Engage Social media, recommendations, viral sharing
and word-of-mouth
Embrace social media, events, promotion, brand
community, viral sharing sales promotion.
Influence Personal selling, public relations, thought
leadership activities
Convince Samples, free trials, comparisons, case
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studies, testimonials,
Educate Public relations, advertising, thought
leadership activities, website and other
contents
Inspire case studies guerrilla marketing, advertising,
testimonials, events,
Nature Personal selling, content marketing, email
marketing,
,
The communication plans will use the two effective channels namely, sale promotion and
advertising. This because of the company nature which is big, new in the market and these
channels will assist the company to reach huge number of their targeted consumers, provision of
control over the company's messages, and thus a path to measure effectiveness. (Shen et al,
2016).
Sales promotion
Push versus Pull Promotion Mix Strategies
Push and pull strategies are promotional techniques which will be use to avail the
products to the target market. A product is placed Infront of the customers by use push strategy
to create awareness of the existing product to the consumers. (Holm, 2006) Push strategy create
motives for the retailers to stock product and avail them to the customers.
Push strategies will function well if there is well loyal established customers relationship
with the company. For example, Unilever can proactively send their advertisement via text
messages to their mobile customers concerning products upgrades and promotion. Examples of
push techniques:
Sales displays that make the products visible to the customers
Making supply chain than avail the products to the retailers in bulk.
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