Marketing Management Assignment help on: Are advertising strategies effective?

Agenda

Is advertising effective for rebranding or branding the product for the company?

Introduction

The following case aims at analysing if branding is effective enough for a company to market its products through the various channels available. The company under study is Toyota which operates all over the globe and had been using the channels of advertising to promote its cars. Also at the time of branding or rebranding its identity the company has laid importance to using advertising as the means.

Literature Review

Toyota is one of the largest players in the automobile industry today. The brand is present in almost every continent across the globe and has a fleet of very sturdy as well as great looking cars. It’s been about 4 decades since the company has been operating backed by redefined leadership within the industry. The 3 principles that the company has always been focussed on has been the benchmark of quality, contributions towards corporate responsibility and best practices. Toyota has always been known for coming up with ideas which have been attempted to give value to its customers. Keeping both its external as well as internal environments active the company has been able to counter competition quite well. It has been an endeavour of both the management as well as the advertising team within the company to continuously rebrand the company from time to time. With use of different slogans and upgrading them to make the consumers feel valued the company has been focussing on providing safer as well as quality products. The advertising campaigns by the company have been through all the possible forms which include the print media, television, social media, internet, etc. Currently the youth oriented advertisements by the company have been drivers of attracting the younger generation to buy the new fleet of vehicles targeted at them. However to maintain a balance among both the older as well as the newer generations the cars as well as the advertisements have been in line with the respective needs (Georgia Southern 2006).

Methodology

The methodology used to justify the above point that advertising indeed is the essential element for a brand in its progress and market its products has been studying the efforts taken by the company via different modes of advertisements. Further it aims at evaluating the results of such efforts made by the company. The sources used are online journals, articles, etc. which provides the details about the ways the company has been promoting and advertising its products.

Findings and Discussion Findings

The following things have been always been the essence of the advertisements the company has been developing:

• The advertisements are based on a major theme or on a substitute where they aim at providing safety and honouring customer loyalty.
• Toyota has always maintained the policy of avoiding price changes or providing contests or prizes to give the impression to its consumers that it was trying to get rid of its cars.
• The personnel at the company have always been trained to follow up to their customers and remind them the importance of quality and safety the company lays stress upon. This constant follow up and communication would help the company to convert few of its existing customers to buy a newer car for themselves.

Advertising Target Market

The advertising campaign at Toyota has been always aimed to target certain consumers by dividing them into smaller market segments. All these segments are grouped as per needs and benefits which depend upon the type of customers the company is seeking. Be it the billboard advertisements, print media, television, internet or social media the consistency of targeted customers have been evident in the case of Toyota. Currently the company divides its customers on the following basis (China Daily 2004):

• Current customers: Current customers are further divided into two parts which includes the one time buyers and repeat customers.
• Competition Customers: It includes the undecided consumers who are confused to go for the brand or some other competitor.
• Potential New Customers: This is the segment of customers where people are virtually buying their new vehicles or are looking for better options as against the one they have.

The advertisements have always been customer centric where the branding team tries relating to the benefits the cars the company has on offer. There are several sources where the advertisements are aired as well as published. Some of the popular ones with their effects have been discussed below.

Advertising Campaigns

The Advertising campaign by the company has been sub-divided into different segments depending on the media they are promoted through. The means have been discussed below (Life in Motionn.d.):

• The Television media: The campaigns aired on television are a part of planned schedule which the advertising experts have devised based on their targeted audience. The advertising spots are booked as per the research conducted by the management to seek the best possible results out of their efforts. The advertisements usually stretch to around a minute where the focus has always been to relate to the existing needs or expectations of the customers. For example the recent strategy of the company to air its new Cambry had been planned to be aired at the dinner time when the entire family sits together and watches television. The advertisements were aired on NBC, ABC, CBS, and other popular channels. With the car being a upper end family car it was an ideal slot to air these advertisements while depicting the needs of every member in the family.
• The Magazine and Print Media: The advertisements by the company in the print media have been featured on several magazines which spanned a large consumer base. Usually these advertisements were published on magazines such as Automotive, Auto Week, Car and Driver, etc. Besides the advertisements appearing on auto related magazines the company had also published them on Business magazines such as the Forbes, Fortune or the general interest magazines such as Reader’s Digest, etc. (Feaa 2010).
• Billboard Advertising: Not only in America but globally the company follows a policy of billboard advertising in the major cities and in the prime hubs. As a part of rebranding efforts the billboards are placed in an area where people usually drive across peacefully. Also being big billboards they tend to attract the eyes of the passer-by’s. These billboard advertisements contain important throwback to the information sources like the Toyota Blog or Facebook contests which very well blends the two forms of advertisements the company uses.
• The Official Blog: Online websites today are among the most essential elements for any company. This has also been acting as a virtual showroom to the company where it features news updates, pictures, as well as every other information the company would like its consumers to know. Usually the die heart fans of Toyota products who wish to know more about the products, company developments and latest from Toyota follow the blog and website which has been always well maintained by the company.
• Social Media Campaigns: Internet and social media is the trend of advertising and featuring products for any company today. The advertising experts and management has been innovative and proactive enough to use this as a source for marketing its cars. With new videos coming at intervals providing both reviews as well as previous the company has used this quite well to get closer to its customers. Be it Twitter, Facebook, or other social media websites the company has been quite active with respect of publishing its latest news, addressing the community, answering questions raised by visitors, etc. (Citeman 2007).

Conclusion and Recommendation

Toyota has been a global player for over 4 decades now and it has been continuously rebranding its image from time to time to provide that extra to its customers. The overall policy of continuous research and innovation has been pretty evident from the advertisements which are aired, published or shared online. Although these advertisements have turned out to be major contributors to the sale for the company it needs to be said that the company needs to provide offers and extra benefits to its consumers so that it could beat its competitors. Another key element which the company may induce within the advertisements developed would be projecting the quality and practicality that boasts within the cars manufactured by the company. The company has done quite well to relate to consumer sentiments by relating their ads for specific occasions and purposes but adding the element of user benefits could be quite effective. Further the success story of Toyota is a perfect example of the importance of advertising and its effect which can bring about a drastic change for a company. Advertising has played a vital role for the company to brand itself and reach out to its customers. This tends to establish the fact that advertising is a vital element for a company.

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