This project provides you an opportunity to apply the marketing communications concepts you will learn throughout the course. You should find a local client or

Individual Project (150 points)

General Guidelines for Integrated Marketing Communications Project Your project for this class should follow the proposed generic framework, with some modifications accepted, based on the specifics of your client. Part I. Strategic Plan

A. Background: describe the business you have selected as your integrated marketing communications client (it can be an existing local company with a need to redesign or crate from scratch an integrated marketing communications campaign, or a completely new start-up idea that you want to promote):

1. What industry it represents, what is its current status in terms of market share, income, growth trends, etc. If available, please provide concrete numbers (sales, revenues, profit, customer numbers, etc.).

2. Name its main competitors and analyze each competitor’s (including your client’s) competitive advantages and disadvantages. Include an illustrative table to drive your point.

3. Who are the current customers of the business: what are their demographics, geographic location, beliefs and opinions, lifestyles and interests? Can you identify separate segments within the target market that would react differently to different marketing activities (direct mail, broadcast advertising, social media engagement, etc.)?

4. SWOT analysis: summarize the internal strengths and weaknesses of the business, as well as the opportunities and threats it faces from the external environment (technological developments, economic and political trends, legal and socio-cultural changes, etc.)

Part II. Marketing Communications Strategy A MarCom manager must make four fundamental decisions: targeting, positioning, objective setting, and budgeting. These decisions provide the strategic foundation for the brand and guide subsequent decisions in implementing the MarCom program.

A. Targeting – The initial fundamental decision is the choice of primary, and perhaps secondary, groups of customers to whom the brand is to appeal. The targeting decision provides a clear-cut picture of the type of customers to whom the brand is most likely to appeal and who are most likely to purchase it. Targeting can be based on any combination of biographic, demographic, geographic, and psychographic characteristics. Research generally is needed to identify appropriate bases for targeting a brand’s MarCom efforts. Based on this analysis, the planner ultimately should estimate the number of consumers who comprise your target market and the proportion of those online. It is important to realize that a well-defined target market (including psychographic as well as demographic features) is critical for the selection of marketing channels and tools as well as for message-development purposes. You should also provide information on your target market internet habits in terms of shopping, price and product review research, socializing, information search behaviors, etc.

B. Positioning – Having identified the target market, a MarCom planner now can specify how a

brand is to be positioned. In other words, in this section of the plan, the challenge is to create a specific meaning for the brand vis-à-vis the positioning strategies used by competitive brands. A positioning strategy should be based on a brand’s competitive advantage with respect to specific product attributes or benefits. Because brands sometimes have no functional or utilitarian superiority over competitive offerings, oftentimes it is necessary to position brands in terms of psychological imagery.

C. Objective Setting –The campaign for a brand is undertaken to achieve a particular objective or set

of interrelated objectives. Hence, a MarCom manager must initiate a campaign by identifying what objective(s) the IM program is intended to accomplish during the campaign period. These objectives can be conceptualized in terms of achieving different levels in a hierarchy of effects. The specific objective(s) to be established for the campaign depend on a research-based determination of where

a brand is presently situated on the hierarchy and where it realistically can be expected to “climb” during the campaign period and in light of the amount of investment or budget that is to be spent on the brand. The objectives should be formulated along with the metrics proposed to evaluate their success. A MarCom campaign is created for a specified time period, which may be as short as a 13- week business quarter or for an entire year. As such, it can be conceptualized as an integrated set of marketing communications activities with planned starting and ending dates.

D. Budgeting – The budgeting and objective-setting decisions are inextricably related. The budget

amount imposes a constraint on how lofty the MarCom accomplishments for a brand might be during the campaign. At the same time, more ambitious objectives require larger budgets. It thus follows that budgeting and objective-setting are entirely interactive decisions. Because companies often set budgets using relatively straightforward procedures (e.g., investing a set percentage of anticipated revenue), the budgeting decision can be a rather simple determination, or, when more analytical budgeting processes are employed (e.g., the objective-and-task method), may require considerable research and deliberation. The budgeting decision should be based on considerations such as product category revenue prospects, competitive spending levels, financial practicalities, and so forth. Budget formulation should consider the interplay between marketing imperatives and financial obligations. In setting a budget, the planner can be very aggressive, very conservative, or somewhere in-between. Whatever strategy chosen, one must fully rationalize the chosen budget level and realize that the overall MarCom budget is a critical determination inasmuch as all other decisions will be influenced by the amount of available budget resources.

Part III. Marketing Communications Channels and Creative Decisions

A. Determining the Mixture of MarCom Tools – public relations, publicity, direct marketing, search engine marketing and optimization, advertising, email marketing, social media marketing, video and mobile marketing are some of the major tools that can be mixed to achieve campaign objectives. Determining an appropriate mixture is a complex decision that requires a combination of art and science. The mixture decision is influenced by budgetary resources, competitive activity, the type of objectives that must be achieved during the campaign, and, frankly, managerial faith in what works best. Whatever the determining factors, the mixture of MarCom tools should be continually evaluated to best accommodate current marketplace dynamics.

B. Creating Messages – The positioning strategy previously created for the brand must be

implemented in the form of a specific message execution for each marketing channel. For example, a brand of bottled water may be positioned in terms of a brand imagery that suggests that users of this brand are sexy. To implement this positioning, a humorous video might be designed to convey this notion. Alternatively, a subtle emotional message could be devised on a social media site showing users of your brand consuming the product and while doing so meeting a romantic interest. Brand managers have a variety of message execution formats at their disposal. It is critical that all MarCom tools “speak with a single voice” by employing the same consistent message in a seamless fashion.

C. Selecting Vehicles – For each MarCom channel, brand managers must select specific vehicles for

reaching the target market. For example, with online video, managers have available vehicle options including various platforms that allow video sharing (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.). In the area of search engine marketing, vehicles can be thought of as various search engine companies (Bing, Google, Yahoo, etc.). Daily deals (Groupon Living Social, etc.) and online games are also some of the available vehicle options. As always, vehicles must be selected that are best capable of reaching the target market and delivering the brand positioning message in view of available budgetary resources.

Part IV. MarCom Implementation Illustration. This part of your project consists of developing an editorial and/or marketing calendar detailing the proposed campaign steps. It should also contain examples of promotional materials developed by you to illustrate your strategic and tactical MarCom choices. Sample individual projects are provided in the Individual Project folder on the class webpage.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION: BUBBLE TEA Bubble Tea, as the name suggests, is a bubble tea store with its roots in Toledo, OH. It is located near the University of Toledo on Secor Road. Established in 2010, is it a part of Balance Grille which offers snacks, tacos, bowls, etc. They are a pan-asian inspired chain of restaurants that focus on fresh ingredients along with keeping nutrition in mind. Bubble tea is a Taiwanese based tea drink that has taken the United States by storm. The Bubble Tea store is a name that all students are familiar with and is a pretty popular drink seen in the hands of many. Bubble Tea offers many options and combinations of drinks that you can customize as per your liking. You can choose between milk or fruit tea. Followed by that, you have tea bases like green tea, oolong tea, assam tea, and darjeeling tea. There is also an option to choose between tapioca boba or even fruit bubbles. This forms the outline of the Bubble Tea store. They are solely dedicated to making fresh bubble tea for its customers. The price range starts with $3.50 for an entire drink with bubbles, but you can add more toppings as per your liking. The ambience of the store is also fun yet relaxing. There is ample space to study and hang out with your friends as well. They want to show their customers how dedicated they are to Toledo. They have a quote in the store saying, “made with love in the glass city.” Using the above quote, when it comes to social media, its username on Instagram and Facebook is also @madewithlove419.

Part I. Situation and SWOT Analyses 1. Situation Analysis – A situation analysis involves detailed examinations of (1) competitive brands, (2) the customers that purchase brands within the product category, and (3) environmental factors (the economy, social-cultural developments, pressing regulatory issues, and so forth) relevant to the category and to the brand’s growth prospects within the category. a) Competitor Analysis:

1. R&B Bubble Tea KTV: The closest competition to Bubble Tea is R&B Bubble Tea KTV. R&B has a presence on Instagram. They have an official profile on Instagram. It has 283 followers. R&B uses this page to deliver messages to their customers about new flavors as well as the days that they will remain closed. They are extremely active on Instagram. They use their instagram page to market their bubble tea and also showcase their various offers on it. Their recent offering of making any bubble tea of any flavor available as a hot tea was also showcased on Instagram. Therefore, R&B uses their Instagram page quite extensively for marketing their product. For example, on Black Friday, R&B put up their Buy 1 Get 1 Free offer as a post on their Instagram page to attract more customers.

While posting their offers and new flavors on their Instagram page, R&B uses “#bubbletea” in all of their captions. This idea is used so that whenever anyone searches for Bubble Tea on Instagram, R&B’s post comes up and they gain more customers. They also use”#toledo” to attract more customers in the Toledo area. Apart from the Bubble Tea, R&B is also a Karaoke Bar. It has a huge seating area that allows customers to sit back and relax while playing games with their friends. R&B does a great job at marketing this unique proposition of theirs on their Instagram page. Their Karaoke section keeps them busy on weekend nights and it also increases their chances of getting more customers for their Bubble Tea. R&B also has a huge blackboard in their seating area that is open to anyone to draw on. This blackboard is in the past, used by various student organizations to advertise their upcoming events. This allows R&B to be a location that is attractive to more and more students who need to advertise to a large audience. Some great works of art have also been showcased on the blackboard by some students. Following are some of the posts that R&B has put up on their Instagram page:

R&B’s has an official page on Facebook as well. It has 182 likes and 190 followers. When compared to Instagram, R&B’s presence and activity on Facebook is extremely low. In fact, their last post on Facebook dates back to May 25, 2016. That is a dangerous position to be in, when Facebook is used by a lot of local businesses to increase their customer base. R&B’s posts on Facebook have been nothing out of the ordinary. They have not been as creative on Facebook as they are on Instagram. Apart from a few pictures of the rather confusing Menu, they have not been very active on Facebook. Back in 2015, when they were opening up, their posts were fairly active, but they have not been active ever since. R&B has not exploited Facebook if its entire potential as a marketing platform. The reason for it is probably that R&B has a stable flow of customers at this point, and they do not see any point in investing in marketing for more. Apart from the following picture, R&B has not used Facebook for advertising their offers:

Apart from R&B’s presence on Instagram and Facebook, it does not have an official webpage. In this day and age, it is really important for any business to have their official webpage, as customers will then depend on other websites like Yelp or Zomato to gather information about the place. This can lead to some prejudice that can harm the influx of more customers. 2. Barnes and Noble Starbucks: The other competitor to Bubble Tea is the Starbucks Cafe that is located in Gateway Plaza, just a few stores down from Bubble Tea. This Starbucks is a part of the Barnes and Noble Bookstore. The Starbucks provides all the flavors that a regular Starbucks would. The Barnes and Noble Starbucks cafe does not have its own official page on Facebook or Instagram. When searched on the official Barnes and Noble Web page, the Gateway Plaza location does not even show in the search results. This shows that the location does not have a lot of marketing efforts. Apart from their absence in the form of an official webpage and their absence from being one of the locations on the official Barnes and Noble website, the Starbucks at Barnes and Noble, Gateway Plaza does not have an official page on Facebook or Instagram. But, Strabucks as

corporation has an official Facebook and Instagram page that has a following of about 37 Million. Any new flavor or offer that Starbucks as a corporation offers, is offered at the Starbucks at Gateway as well. Thus, this might be the reason why making an official page on Facebook for one location may not be desirable for Starbucks. On Instagram, Starbucks has a following of 16 Million. Needless to say, the official page on Instagram is extremely active. There are pictures posted on the page almost everyday. They use their Instagram page to post videos of their new flavors and their new offerings. These videos are creative and get many views which increases their probability of getting customers to try their new flavors. Starbucks has an extensive following on Twitter as well with 11.9 Million followers. Starbucks, being the mammoth of a corporation that it is, uses their creative minds to post creative videos and tweets to keep their feed updated and attract new customers. Starbucks is also present on Snapchat since November, 2014. Starbucks is also present on Pinterest with about 332k following. Starbucks uses all of the resources available to them to market their product on all of the social media platforms to make the most out of their resources. Along with their drinks, Starbucks also provides light sandwiches, danishes, etc., that are appreciated by customers as breakfast items. This makes going to Starbucks a wholesome experience to the customers. TABLE 1: COMPETITIVE SCENARIO

BUBBLE TEA R&B BUBBLE TEA STARBUCKS

Product Portfolio Moderate High High

Price Lowest Moderate High

Official Website No No Yes

Presence on Social Media

Only on Facebook and Instagram

Only on Facebook and Instagram

Present on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Pinterest

Activity on Social Media

Low Moderate High

Option of Food served

No Food items served Only Cookies available

A whole menu of food items served

Choice of Boba Not an extensive variety of Boba available

Variety of Boba along with a choice of Jelly

No Boba available

Choice of Hot Not available Hot teas available Separate menu of Hot

beverages beverages

Ambience Large seating area, quite environment

Large seating area, lively environment

Small seating area, lively environment

Perks Available Proximity to Rice Blvd, Social Gastropub, Jimmy Johns, Dominos

Variety of games available, Karaoke section

Books and UT gear

b) Customer Analysis For Bubble Tea, their customer base mainly focuses on the students studying at The University of Toledo since it is very close to campus, as well as families with young children. The same customer base is present for its competitors who are in its geographical proximity, being R&B Bubble Tea and Starbucks. Size of customer base: The University of Toledo currently has over 23,000 students, with 81% being full time and the remaining 19% part-time. The current undergraduate enrollment is 16,247. The gender distribution is 51% males to 49% females. Majority of the students live off- campus. Reasons for buying in the product category: they are interested to try out all the flavors and fruit bubbles, they are happy with the portion sizes that Bubble Tea has to offer for that price, and they are influenced by their friends or family members to try it out. Reasons for not buying in the product category: people still might not be used to the taste of the traditional tapioca boba, might find it pricey, might not be the ideal drink during the cold months since customers want something warm and filling. Demographics: include males and females both, but it is dominated by females. The age group will be between 18-25, as they are college going students. Since the target market is mainly college students, their level of income is still fairly low as they have to study and work part time. They are mostly unmarried and would come to places like Bubble Tea, Starbucks, R&B Bubble Tea, etc. to hang out with their friends. Psychographics: Students always need something on the go, maybe on their way to work or college. Getting a beverage can help them get through the day and make it refreshing for them as well. Chains like Bubble Tea, R&B Bubble Tea, Starbucks, etc. make their stores student oriented with lots of seating so that they can come and study or just hang out. Spending habits of

students are not high since they are on a budget. So getting a beverage sometimes would not harm them. It is also seen as a statement to be having Bubble Tea or Starbucks because they are well known all around campus. This young generation is always online, so posting photos of it is common as well. Behavioristic segmentation: the behavior of the young adult segment is rather unique. They have the technology, all the information available at their fingertips, etc. They tend to not be loyal to one particular brand because they are interested in trying out new things all the time. Switching behavior is very common for them. If they do not like a product, they know they have other options. Voicing their opinion is important for them as well. This relates to their online presence. They look at reviews and opinions from people and base decisions of that. Online media presence and media habits: The internet is the best tool that this generation has. They have the highest presence on the internet and they know how to use it well. Different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. are present to share their life. They like to live in a world in which they make their online life seem very happening and post a lot of photos and videos. This also translates to them posting photos of what they are eating and drinking. Bubble Tea, Starbucks, etc. are popularly shared photos on the internet. Reviews about a product are also important to them. If the customers like or dislike a product, they can rate and review it as Bubble Tea, Starbucks, and R&B Bubble Tea do have social media pages and try to be present where their customers are. Anticipated developments: Through our Internet Marketing Plan, we want to help Bubble Tea stay ahead of its competitors and be the preferred option of beverage for the people. Customer behavior changes overtime, and is changing at a faster rate compared to before. We have to try and match that change so they can be loyal to Bubble tea. Personalization is extremely important for them. The more control you give them, the more they can relate to your product. People want a better customer service and experience as well. The overall effect that the employees have and how they help you out really matters. Before the power was in the hands of the marketers, now customers are in charge and they want just that. Being present online is also an important factor. Day by day, people are resorting to the internet to find out reviews, shop for products, give their opinion, etc. This trend will only continue to grow. If the company doesn’t have an online presence and doesn’t interact with their audience, it is perceived as bad. Coupons and offer are a growing trend everywhere. People might be expecting it in the beverage section as well. Why internet marketing may succeed in reaching the target market From the above information that we know about our target customers, we want to formulate our internet marketing plan to make them reach their target audience better. The biggest advantage that they have is the location. Even though its competitors are placed close as well, it is the closest from the Lofts At Gateway Bus stop. It gives students easy access to visit Bubble Tea

whenever possible. From our research we found that Bubble Tea and R&B Bubble Tea do have social media pages but nobody is active. The more inactive you are, the lesser you will be present even when the customers are not in the store or thinking about getting a beverage. The faster we can capitalize on that, the better. The Starbucks branch on Secor Road does not even have a Facebook page to interact with its customers for it’s store exclusively. Through our internet marketing plan, we can help customers engage in our product more. Answering questions that people might have on these social media pages instantly. Posting fun photos about the store and its customers enjoying bubble tea, branding it as a quiet and bright place to study or to just hang out with friends. Combining offers and the internet can be a great way to bring customers to the store. This will encourage people to follow their social media pages and perceive it as a brand that is not just giving them a product, but focusing on their customer experience as well. c) Environmental Analysis There are a few economic factors that are affecting the brand’s success. Technology within Bubble Tea is new and very interesting, setting them apart from competition whom use basic equipment to make coffee drinks and hot teas. The type of technology that sets them apart is the sealing machine that is used for sealing the top of the drink off so there are no spills and the customer is able to poke a hole in the seal with cool thicker than normal straws to be able to drink the actual bubbles in the tea. Another technology is the shaker machine which shakes each individual tea to mix to create the most delicious flavors. Competitors such as R&B Bubble Tea do not have these machines, therefore setting Bubble Tea apart. These machines overall make the process of serving customers quickly and efficiently much easier in the long run. Currently, the rise of quick serve bubble tea type restaurants is increasing. Bubble Tea is very well known in the Toledo area. Partnering with Balance Grille to help bring in more business, Bubble Tea has been creating an upward trend for the beginning of the new year economically. A huge factor in this success is mobile applications. Being able to order your favorite Bubble Tea from the touch of a finger is huge in today’s world. The biggest social cultural trend would be technology and making things like ordering teas easy to access. Another trend that makes Bubble Tea more attractive is natural health trends. People are starting to understand that eating healthy is a better lifestyle, Balance and Bubble Tea both offer organic, healthy and natural options on their menus. With these trends working in Bubble Tea’s favor, we believe that there is a lot of potential for this business to grow with the help of a solid marketing plan. Expanding to other territories, promoting on social media, and treating every customer transaction with energy and positivity are some of the most important steps to Bubble Tea becoming even more successful.

2. SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths: One of the greatest strengths of Bubble Tea as a brand is that their menu consists of teas that are of high quality. The high quality coupled with their low prices (Bubble Tea has the cheapest choices when compared with the competitors), makes Bubble Tea a great contender in the market. Apart from the price and the high quality, the employees at Bubble Tea also provide speedy service. This is a great strength as customers nowadays are always in a rush, especially college students. And providing speedy service to such customers make a statement to the customers about the service. Most of the ingredients used by Bubble Tea are natural and these are very beneficial for Bubble Tea as it positions Bubble Tea as a health conscious brand in the minds of the customers. Bubble Tea also lets customers choose the ingredients of their tea by the use of an interactive computer screen. This allows for the customers to choose according to their preference rather than getting stuck with a generic drink. The ambience of Bubble Tea is very cool and hip, and the wall murals make a statement about Bubble Tea and gives it a Chic appearance. Bubble Tea is located at one of the best spaces in Gateway plaza, where it is close to eating joints as well as the University Shuttle’s bus stop. This makes it easy for UT students to grab a drink from Bubble Tea and head to their classes. Bubble Tea is a homegrown brand and that strikes a cord with every customer. It makes Bubble Tea more relatable to Toledo residents. Weaknesses: When compared with the competitors, Bubble Tea’s menu can be considered very narrow as they do not offer as many drink as R&B or Starbucks. Bubble Tea does not promote their brand and thus has a very narrow base of customers. R&B Bubble Tea sees a lot of Asian families as well as college students, while Bubble mostly sees UT students. Bubble Tea was established in 2010 and it still a relatively new brand when compared to Starbucks. Although Bubble Tea has been around for almost 8 years, Bubble Tea is still a foreign concept to many Toledo residents, and this leads to people preferring Starbucks over trying a new concept. Bubble Tea is famous among UT college students, but it hasn’t struck a cord with other customers bases. This reduces Bubble Tea’s scope to grow. Opportunities: The widespread craze of Bubble Tea that has happened in the recent years provides a great opportunity for Bubble Tea to grow. Bubble Tea can cash in on the popularity of the concept among youngsters. Since Bubble Tea has not used any medium till now to market the product to their customers, they can concentrate their efforts on social media advertising and try to gather more customers. This would increase their customers and also increase their presence on social media, which is very important for any brand in today’s business world. With the society and especially millennials becoming more and more health conscious, Bubble Tea has the opportunity to market itself as a healthy brand and also concentrate on the advantages of Bubble Tea when compared to Coffee that is the main product of Starbucks. A particularly good opportunity for Bubble Tea to grow in the market would be to come up with new deals, coupons and even sales promotion activities. This would encourage customers to purchase Bubble Tea even more. Alos, Bubble Tea can partner with various student

organizations that are present at UT. It return for sponsoring events of these organizations, Bubble Tea could market their product at these events. Threats: The fact that Bubble Tea’s competitors are present very close to it is a great threat. The reason being that it gives customers a choice to choose from and it makes Bubble Tea’s chances of attracting a customers that much slimmer. Also, the fact the Bubble Tea is not the most well established concept doesn’t help. It is quite possible that the craze for Bubble Tea might die down and give way for Starbucks to gain even more market share than it already does. Americans in Toledo may assume that Bubble Tea only caters to the Asian tastes. This might discourage them from purchasing or even trying Bubble Tea. Also, the traces of DEHP being found in Bubble Tea might discourage customers from purchasing Bubble Tea despite it’s health benefits over Coffee. TABLE 2: SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

1. High quality 2. Speedy service 3. Cheapest price 4. Natural Ingredients 5. Customizable drinks 6. Ambience 7. Proximity to bus stop 8. Homegrown brand 9. Proximity to eating joints

1. Narrow selection 2. Narrow customer base 3. Relatively new business 4. Unfamiliar concept in the Toledo area 5. Famous among only college going

students

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

1. Widespread bubble tea craze 2. Potential for increasing customer base 3. Health conscious customers 4. Scientific research may be used as a

marketing tool 5. Scope for Social Media marketing 6. New offers and deals to compete with

competitors 7. Partnering with UT

1. R&B and Starbucks in close proximity 2. Prejudice against a new concept 3. A new concept like this may die down

in the future 4. DEHP Toxins

Part II. IM Strategy: The Fundamental Decisions An IM manager must make four fundamental decisions: targeting, positioning, objective setting, and budgeting. These decisions prov

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