Marketing Communications Management: Analysis of Woolworths Australia

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Woolworths Australia's marketing communications management. It begins with a brief history of the brand, highlighting key milestones and its evolution. The report identifies core brand elements such as the logo, slogan, mission, attitudes, and values, emphasizing Woolworths' commitment to quality, customer service, and sustainability. An evaluation of brand equity follows, including financial values, market value trends, and a comparison with competitors like Coles, Aldi, and IGA, showcasing Woolworths' market leadership in both grocery and fresh food segments. The report details Woolworths' unique selling proposition (USP) and competitive advantages, such as its long history, financial strength, strong public relations, and focus on sustainability. It also describes the target market and brand loyalty activities, including loyalty programs and social media engagement. Finally, the report addresses potential threats to the brand, including competition, economic factors, technological risks, and changing market needs. The media plan section outlines communication objectives, target audience, media selection rationale, a detailed media schedule, measurement methods, and contingency plans, providing a holistic view of Woolworths' marketing strategies. Desklib offers more solved assignments and study resources for students.

Running head: MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT
Marketing Communications Management
-Woolworths Australia
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT

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Contents
Part A: Report............................................................................................................................5
Brief Snapshot History of the Brand......................................................................................5
Brand Elements:.....................................................................................................................5
Logo:..................................................................................................................................5
Slogan:................................................................................................................................5
Mission:..............................................................................................................................6
Attitudes:............................................................................................................................6
Values:................................................................................................................................6
Brand Equity..........................................................................................................................6
Financial Values:................................................................................................................7
Trends in market value.......................................................................................................7
Value compared to main competitors:...............................................................................8
Market Positioning.................................................................................................................9
USP:...................................................................................................................................9
Competitive Advantage:.....................................................................................................9
Target Market:..................................................................................................................10
Brand Loyalty Activities......................................................................................................10
Brand Loyalty Programs:.................................................................................................10
Social Media Communities:.............................................................................................11
Potential Threats to the brand..............................................................................................11
Competition:.....................................................................................................................11

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Economic Threats:...........................................................................................................12
Technological Threats:.....................................................................................................13
Changing Market Needs:..................................................................................................13
Summary of the future outlook of the brand........................................................................13
Part B Media Plan....................................................................................................................15
Media Communication Objectives.......................................................................................15
Target Audience...............................................................................................................15
Frequency.........................................................................................................................15
Reach................................................................................................................................15
Coverage..........................................................................................................................15
Key Message Objectives:.................................................................................................15
Justification/Rationale for media selection..........................................................................15
Academic Articles:...........................................................................................................16
Customer Journey:...........................................................................................................16
Advertising Theory:.........................................................................................................16
Media Schedule....................................................................................................................16
Media Scheduling:...........................................................................................................16
Justification for schedule proposed..................................................................................17
Schedule for first year of launch......................................................................................17
Media measurement.............................................................................................................17
Evaluation Measures to determine Media Success..........................................................17

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Contingency Plan:............................................................................................................17
Indication of likely media costs...........................................................................................18
References:...........................................................................................................................22

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Part A: Report
Brief Snapshot History of the Brand
Woolworths Supermarket or Woolies is an Australian Supermarket giant that was
established on 1924 and is one of the oldest Supermarket stores in Australia along with Cole
and started as Woolworths Limited. In two years the company started increasing the number
of branches to about 20 and by 1940, they started expanding the range of groceries to include
a large range of food, fresh fruits and meat. By 1982, the company acquired two crockery
brands of Tasmania: Purity and Roelf Vos whoch by 2000 was converted to Woolworths
stores. By 2017 Woolworths designed a new logo to show its focus on environmental
sustenability (Woolworths.com.au. 2019).
Brand Elements:
Logo:
Figure 1: Woolworths Logo source: Woolworths.com.au. 2019
Slogan:
“Australia’s Fresh Food People”
The slogan aims to relay to the customers the company’s goal to provide fresh food
and thereby preserve its original quality. The slogan was changes from “Fresh Food People”

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to “Australia’s Fresh Food People” to reflect upon the nationality of the company and
promote its local influence in the region.
Mission:
“We are on a mission to deliver the best in convenience, value and quality for our
customers.”
Attitudes:
Since 2016, the company have developed an attitude of improving the brand
reputation by “doing the right thing”. The company have developed a positive attitude that
supports better workplace behavior, customer service, responsible purchasing. Overall, the
company have developed an attitude of improving brand value and reputation through
operational excellence.
Values:
The organization is founded on 7 core values that guides its operations and processes.
These values include:
 Quality and style (delivering the best quality products)
 Offering best value for money (a simple and fair deal)
 Customer Service (keeping the customers’ needs and expectations first)
 Innovation
 Integrity (delivering to the promises)
 Energy (being passionate to deliver)
 Sustainability (creating a better future)
(woolworthsgroup.com.au 2018).

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Brand Equity
Financial Values:
As of 2018, the company generated a net revenue of AUD 56,726 Million, with an
EBIT of AUD 2,548 Million, Free Cash Flow before dividends AUD 1,420 Million, 22.6%
increase in Dividend per Share since 2017, return of funds of 24.1%. The company have also
served approximately 29 million customers every week across Australia, across more than
2900 pickup locations with 1.5 billion transactions in the year. The company made gross
profit of 29.5% of sales and 25% cost of doing business was 25% of sales. Moreover the
revenues have also increased by 3.4% since 2017 (woolworthsgroup.com.au 2018).
Trends in market value
In 2018 Woolworths had a net market capitalization of AUD 31 billion which
improved since 2017 (AUD26 billion). The price of the company’s shares have fluctuated
between AUD 25 to 31 since March 2018 with the highest achieved during July 2018 at 31
and lowest during April with 25. Since 2015, there has been a steady decline in the market
value of Woolworth shares reaching an all-time low of AUD 22.5 mid 2016. Since then the
market value have slowly developed to reach AUD 30 by 2019. This highlights an improving
trend in the market for Woolworths and offers a chance towards the development of the
business.

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Figure 2: Change in share prices in the last year (2018-2019) source: Woolworths.com.au.
2019
Figure 3: Change in share process in the last 5 years (2015-2019) source:
Woolworths.com.au. 2019
Value compared to main competitors:
In grocery market segment, Woolworths holds approximately 32.2% percent of the
market and is the largest market holder, followed by Coles Group which holds 28.8% of the
market. Companies like ALDI and IGA holds 12.1% and 7.4% of the market respectively. In
Fresh Food segment, Woolworths holds 26.7% of the market, closely followed by Coles

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Group at 24.5%, while Aldi and IDA holding 9% and 6% of the market respectively. This
makes Woolworths a market leader in both grocery and fresh food segments.
Figure 4: Market Share of Woolworths, Coles Group, Aldi and IGA source:
Woolworths.com.au. 2019
Market Positioning
USP:
The Unique selling proposition of Woolworths is to deliver high quality products for
working class people with a freshness guarantee.
Competitive Advantage:
Long history of the company: Woolworths is one of the oldest businesses in the supermarket
and retail industry along with Coles. Established in 1924, Woolworths has been able to gain
customer trust and loyalty over the years and secure a stable position as market leaders.
Financial Strength: With revenues of more than AUD 50 billion in the last year and with an
annual growth rate of revenues at 3.4%, Woolworths is one of the most financially stable
company.

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Strong public relations: The Company also has strong public relations that was able to
improve the image of the brand in the last five years and helped improvement in its stock
process.
Strong Transformational Leadership: This helped Woolworths to improve and develop its
operational practices and improve its performance as well as brand image.
Improved focus on sustainability: Woolworths also increased focus on sustainability which
helped to gain confidence of environmentally conscious customers.
Branding as ‘Fresh Food People”: This helped to establish the commitment of Woolworths
towards delivering quality and fresh food all the time.
Experience: The Company has almost 95 years of operational excellence which can
significantly help it to sustain in the future and gain advantage over competitors.
Target Market:
Currently Woolworths is targeting mainly upper and middle class customers who are
employed and are environmentally conscious. The company also focuses its marketing on
vegetarian and vegans as well as sports people, athletes, and health conscious individuals in
Australia. The age group of the target market is from 12 to 65 years. Moreover, young and
trendy customers are also considered as potential markets for the company. This market
exhibits a diverse demography of people from various cultures and ethnicities but with a
common focus on food quality and freshness.
Brand Loyalty Activities
IN order to increase and retain more customers, Woolworths have introduced several loyalty
programs over the years. These programs include:

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Brand Loyalty Programs:
In order to attract new customers, retain existing customers and improve loyalty of the
customers to the brand, the company have launched new brand loyalty programs such as:
Offering point based rewards for every dollar spent (Woolworth Rewards): Woolworths
offers its customer’s one point for every dollar spent which they can accumulate and use for
fuel discounts, member only deals from various stores, converting the points to Quanta’s
Points and thus get flight discounts, bank it for a Christmas Gift. This program provides the
customer a variety of choices from where they can use the reward point and therefore offer
value for money for customers with a wide variety of needs, preferences and lifestyles.
Discounts: Woolworths also provides discounts on some products to attract customer loyalty.
Community Development program (Corporate Social Responsibilities): Woolworths actively
engages in several community development programs across Australia, spending
approximately AUD 100 million every year on the programs.
Competitions: Woolworths Also holds various competitions such as Jamie’s Magazine
Competition, Double Your Data Competition, Big Night in Competition, Fresh Magazine
Letter of the Month competition, Fresh Magazine Cook & Win competition, Lonely Planet
Giveaway competition, Cook the Cover competition and 150th Fresh Magazine Celebration
competition. These competitions offers cash prizes and discount vouchers.
Social Media Communities:
Woolworths have a very strong presence on the social media, and has about 20
channels (communities) in social media that is operated from 12 nations and has a total of
about 12 million fans and followers leading to 35,000 interactions and posts every month.
The Facebook page of Woolworths has more than a million followers from Australia.

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Potential Threats to the brand
Competition:
The main competitors of Woolworths includes:
Coles: This is the oldest supermarket company in Australia and the biggest competitor to
Woolworths, established in 1914 by George Coles. In 2018 it made revenues of AUD 39.88
billion and total assets of AUD 21.644 billion.
IGA: Independent Grocers Alliance is an American grocery brand that has franchises in
various countries such as USA, Canada, Australia and Philippines. In Australia IGA is stands
for Independent Grocers of Australia and is the third biggest competitor in the market after
Woolworths and Coles.
Aldi: This is a German Supermarket company that operates almost 10,000 stores across 20
nations and has an approximate turnover of Euro 50 billion. Established in 1946, Aldi also
possesses significant knowledge and experience in the industry making them formidable
competitors.
Economic Threats:
Some of the factor that can cause an economic threat to Woolworths include:
Financial Crisis: According to Anderson (2018), even though Australia currently has a stable
economy, there is a potential for a future economic crisis due to the dynamic nature of
geopolitics, geo-economics as well as global climate change and immigrant crisis situation.
Such factor can greatly strain Australian Economy.
Increase in price of raw materials: Increase in the proce of raw materials can significantly
affect the pricing and profitability of the products and therefore pose a financial threat.

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Rise in Taxes: Increase in taxes can increase the expenses of the company and therefore add
to the financial threat.
Technological Threats:
Data Theft: Theft of confidential data (financial or customer related) can cause significant
damage to the brands reputation as well as productivity abd is one of the most serious
technological threat.
Computer Outage: Possibilities of outages of computers and servers can lead to malfunctions
of data systems and can cause losses to the company and therefore is a significant
technological threat.
Cyber Attacks: Cyber-attacks can cause failures of the online systems, theft of data, denial of
services and theft of identities all of which can adversely affect Woolworths as well as all
stakeholders.
Changing Market Needs:
Over the last decade there has been a change in the needs of the market that caused a
shift of preference of the customers towards companies that shows environmental sensitivity
and has a strong focus on the quality of the product. In the groceries sector, customers have
become more conscious about the freshness of the product as well as its safety. Also, the
consumer market has also become health conscious over the years and are opting for healthier
diet options. The rapid economic development and the busy lifestyle of the people as well as
improved connectivity and online transactions due to internet have also fostered the growth
of online customers and an increasing demand for grocery stores which has their products
available online.
Summary of the future outlook of the brand

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The Brand aims to maintain its position as the brand leader and continue to provide
quality and fresh products to the customers. It also aims to improve its brand image further
and increase its market share and dividend per share. The company plans to further diversify
its business, and acquire new markets in the retail and garments sector. Technological
avances such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning would also be utilized by
the company to develop better understanding of the customers, their preferences and
purchasing habits and develop marketing strategies accordingly.

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Part B Media Plan
Media Communication Objectives
Target Audience
The target audience would include young customers between age 15 to 35 years, male
and female who are from middle and upper class economies and are health and
environmentally conscious.
Frequency
The advertisements would be aired regularly in the morning between 8am to 10 am,
afternoon between 2pm to 4pm and evening between 8pm to 10pm
Reach
The advertisements would aim to reach out to culturally diverse people from a stable
economic background and include people in metropolitan and rural areas.
Coverage
The advertisement coverage would be across Australia in all the states and provinces.
Key Message Objectives:
The main objectives of the advertisements would be to:
 Increase brand awareness
 Inform them of the loyalty bonus program
 Inform them about competitions
 Create brand loyalty
Justification/Rationale for media selection

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Academic Articles:
According to Shkedi (2018), television is one of most highly utilized sources of getting
information and entertainment. Advertisements on television had been the preferred media
stream used by several companies due to the reach of television networks and its popularity.
This provides an ample justification for selecting Television for the marketing message.
Customer Journey:
The advertisements would help in the customer journey in the selection of the right
brand for a given product by helping them to make their decision through comparison of the
products from other brands (Kuehnl et al. 2019).
Advertising Theory:
The advertisement would follow the Persuasion Theory of Advertising to persuade the
customers of the product quality and freshness and the conviction of the company to
customer satisfaction (Cartwright et al. 2018).
Media Schedule
Media Scheduling:
The advertising would follow a pulsating scheduling strategy of broadcasting three
times a day for two hours (morning 8am to 10 am, afternoon 2pm to 4pm and evening 8pm to
10pm). This will allow the company to deliver brief advertisements throughout the day and
the complete advertisements in the prime time. The frequency of the complete advertisements
would also increase in the prime time.
Justification for schedule proposed
Limiting the advertisements to 6 hours a day would help to conduct the
advertisements as a test, on a lower budget. The timing has been strategic to allow maximum

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viewing by the target audiences at close to stages of their daily activities such as breakfast,
lunch and dinner
Schedule for first year of launch
8am to 10 am
2pm to 4pm
8pm to 10pm
Media measurement
Evaluation Measures to determine Media Success
Success of the advertising campaign can be evaluated through the following factors or
outcomes:
 Increased market share
 Increase in online shopping numbers
 Increase in store sales
 Conversion Rate:
 Retention Rate:
 Increase in social media members
Contingency Plan:
Alternate route for advertisements can be Radios which the customer can listen to in
their cars while driving and can be a good opportunity for the customers to drive to the
nearest store to avail offers.
Indication of likely media costs
Page 1:

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Media Audience (quantity)
TV Stations Viewers
Australian Broadcastng Service 256000
Social Boradcasting Service 459000
Metropolitan Commercial Boradcasters 156000
Radio Stations: Listners
Radio Australia 789000
Commercial Radio Australia 950000
Australian Broadcastng Service 456000
Newspapers: Readers
The Sydney Morning Herald 756000
The Australian 865000
The Daily Telegraph 1568000
Social Media: Views
Facebook 600000
Instagram 200000
Outdoor: Traffic
Billboards 500000
Banner 500000
Page 2:
Market (State/City) Legth Size
Northern Territory 30s Quick content
South Australia 60s Half content
Queensland 2m Full content
Tasmania 60s Half content
Melburne 60s Half content
Wastern Australia 2m Full content
South Australia 1page Full content
Tasmania 1page Full content
Wastern Australia half page Half content
Melburne 1 page Full content
Northern Territory 1picture reference
Wastern Australia 20foot Quick content
Queensland 6foot Quick content

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Page 3:
Position/time Cost per ad (AUD) 4 11 18 25 6 13 20 27
8 am-10am $5,000 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
2pm-10pm $4,500 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
8pm-10pm $6,000 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
8am-10am $840 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
2pm-10pm $654 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
8pm-10pm $456 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Every day $800 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
Every day $500 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Every day $450 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
Every day $25 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Every day $50 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Every month $1,500 50 0 0 50 0 0
Evety month $2,500 500 100 100 100 500 100 100 100
January February
Page 4:
4 11 18 25 4 11 18 25 6 13 20 27
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
50 0 0 50 0 0 0 50 0 0
500 100 100 100 500 100 100 100 500 100 100 100
April MayMarch
Page 5:

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4 11 18 25 4 11 18 25 6 13 20 27
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
50 0 0 50 0 0 50 0 0 0
500 100 100 100 500 100 100 100 500 100 100 100
June July August
Page 6:
4 11 18 25 4 11 18 25 6 13 20 27
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
50 0 0 50 0 0 50 0 0
500 100 100 100 500 100 100 100 500 100 100 100
October NovemberSeptember
Page 7:

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4 11 18 25
10 10 10 10 480 $2,400,000
6 6 6 6 288 $1,296,000
3 3 3 3 144 $864,000
10 10 10 10 480 $403,200
6 6 6 6 288 $188,352
3 3 3 3 144 $65,664
6 6 6 6 288 $230,400
4 4 4 4 192 $96,000
6 6 6 6 288 $129,600
4 4 4 4 192 $4,800
4 4 4 4 192 $9,600
50 0 0 0 600 $900,000
500 100 100 100 9600 $24,000,000
Total Spend $30,587,616
December
Total Ads Total Cost

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References:
Anderson, K., 2018. Mining’s impact on the competitiveness of other sectors in a resource-
rich economy: Australia since the 1840s. Mineral Economics, 31(1-2), pp.141-151.
Cartwright, R.F., Opree, S.J. and van Reijmersdal, E.A., 2018. “Fool’s Gold”: Linking
Materialism to Persuasion Knowledge Activation and Susceptibility to Embedded
Advertising. In Advances in Advertising Research IX (pp. 17-28). Springer Gabler,
Wiesbaden.
Kuehnl, C., Jozic, D. and Homburg, C., 2019. Effective customer journey design: consumers’
conception, measurement, and consequences. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,
pp.1-18.
Shkedi, R., INTENT IQ LLC, 2018. Targeted television advertisements associated with
online users' preferred television programs or channels. U.S. Patent Application 15/789,354.
Woolworths.com.au. 2019. Woolworths. Retrieved from https://www.woolworths.com.au/