More than half of my fall semester in my Campaign Planning and Development class is already over. I look back and I think to myself: Wow, I have really learned so much. An important point I have learned is the whole point of a marketing communications plan is to get the brand's message out to the right people at the right time. The most popular way to do so is through stories. The message story seems like an easy concept to understand; however, it consists of three separate questions.
The first question: What are you going to say? The answer to this question stems from the extensive research found while developing and collecting the backstory of the client's product. For example, for my team consulting project, my client is the MK 421 class whose client is Litron. In order to answer that question, I must directly ask the MK 421 class what they want to accomplish for Litron. What are their objectives? Once I know what the objectives are, I can see what is going to be said for Litron. Professor Spotts constantly stressed how important the first part of the creative brief really is. It is when I can fully understand my client's inner layer and how I can align that layer with the prospect's inner layer. If I can discover Litron's inner layer and match that with the objectives, I will have a clear understanding on what I'm going to say through the message story.
The second question: Why are you going to say it? The answer to this question falls under the justification and reasoning for what is said in the message. As my previous post discussed, so much goes into a 30-second commercial. The peripheral cues all have meaning. Every little thing has meaning. So determining why I am going to say certain things in a message for Litron falls under the conceptual summary. The conceptual summary provides reasoning behind each and every little thing involved in the communications plan. For example, in regards to Oreo, nostalgia helps explain many communications plans for their commercials in the past and today.
The third question: How are you going to say it? The answer to this question relates to the book Brand Media Strategy. There are numerous media channels (television, newspaper, magazine, etc.) that serve a different purpose in the consumer pathway. The consumer pathway is a helpful took that aids in determining what the client wants to achieve. It could be awareness, consumption, relationship building, etc. Each medium succeeds in different areas of the consumer pathway. For example, in class I determined that Oreos should focus on promoting consumption, which is enhancing the consumer experience. Then, I could see that events/guerilla marketing and shopper marketing work best in promoting consumption. This is how marketers can effectively determine how they will deliver the message story.
From the beginning of class, my classmates and I were taught the importance of telling a brand's message like a story. These three questions help implement the client's story in an effective way for consumer to connect with the brand's message.
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