SUMMARY:
TASK: WEEK 3 ACTIVITY
Weekly Activity
Complete the following activity in your online journal.
Integrated Marketing Communications
1. Think of an event you have attended/been a part of recently.
Analyse the strategic nature of this event in terms of;
a. Target audience
b. Event creative concept
Positioning and Key Message(s) for the event
Objectives of the messaging terms of decision-making stage and
information processing level
Message appeal (rational, emotional)
The impact, credibility and longevity of the medium used
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SUSANNE LORRAINE HARFORD
PRN2124 OFF-CAMPUS, S2, 2015
MY SET TASK JOURNAL ENTRY NUMBER 4
WEEK THREE ACTIVITY
Weekly Activity: Complete the following activity in your online journal.
This task, and subject event are considered from the “Integrated Marketing Communications” (IMC) perspective.
Think of an event you have attended/been a part of recently.
- THE EVENT:
An event attended recently and was part of, for the first time, was a small, communal BBQ in Australia.
This small annual event has run for about 10 years. It is open to all. Compact, well-designed and colourful invitation notices are posted in local shops, cafes, and bars. High-quality BBQ food, (meat and non-meat) and drink, all typical of the area, are amply provided by one local family. About 70, smart-casually-dressed local people attended this year. They brought with them their children, and a few guests. Some families return for the event and I was the guest of one of those families. Community members personally contribute more food and drink and bring many and diverse, interesting, often home-cooked dishes. The event was held in the elevated front area of a local church, with wonderful stone seating and an excellent view out all over the local area. The event is entirely independent of the church. The event begins at sundown (around 7pm) on a Friday, late-summer. It ends at 10pm sharp, where a small voluntary collection is made – for the church and to cover the cost of cleaning the site, provision of chairs, benches and tables, BBQs, etc.
2, Analyse the strategic nature of this event in terms of:
- Target audience:
Primary target audience:
The key target audience – any and every member of the small, local yet ethnically-diverse community.
Secondary audiences: Attending local residents’ guests, and their children, are secondary, potentially developing audiences – at each annual stage.
Strategically this annual event:
- Demonstrates the community’s cohesiveness.
- Strengthens a diverse community.
- Widens familiarity and common understanding within the community.
- Thanks the community members for the community cohesiveness.
- Event creative concept:
“Strength in our endurance and diversity”
Positioning: This annual event:
- is open to all community members
- has no economic agenda its position in society continues to be unique
- is not linked to profit and power so its position is unchallenged
Key Messages are:
- annual “Thank YOU” event – to ALL community members for their support of their common community
- annual demonstration of communal cohesiveness, understanding and appreciation
Key Objective: to strengthen and consolidate the local community, to make new community members welcome and part of that community.
Messaging Terms: The terms of communication were transparent, simple, with no hidden agenda/s.
This event exemplifies the power of common endevour:
- a pleasantly-anticipated, rhythmic, local annual event reinforces bonds within an ethnically-diverse local community
- a further expansion and development of many existing strong and useful bonds within a diverse local community
Decision-Making:
Decision-making is organic, as:
after 10 years of successful non-profit-linked operation this event is
- voluntary
- effective
- established
- on-going
- changes are gradual
- about 99% of labour required is unpaid
Information-processing: The information in the event message can be easily processed – as it is simple, successful and transparent. No hidden agendas.
Message Appeal:
- Rational: The primarily family-member comprised target audience finds this event-message rational as it already works effectively to strengthen their community.
- The community members relate to the event message at it works to create and develop strength, familiarity and understanding within their community.
Message impact
- As an impartial visitor/observer, the event was extremely enjoyable. I met many interesting people I probably would never have otherwise. So the event had a positive, immediate impact on me.
- In addition, the event was powerful: I have since met and spent time with several individuals I met at that event. So it has (already) had longer-term positive effects on me.
- Long-term impacts were easy to observe in others, for example when listenting to much verbal positive reinforcement before, during and post-event.
- That some community members structure, or break their holidays to attend also demonstrates the event’s attraction and power.
Message credibility and longevity:
- The event’s credibility is evident in:
- Its durability
Message awareness/call-to-action:
- The number of participants
- The immediate and longer-term results I experienced and observed
- The willingness of volunteer participants
- The good-will evident amongst the diverse community members
- New types of community members participating
Message medium used:
- The event itself
- Face-to-face
- the lead-up, actual event, and the post-event WOM
- new connections
- reinforce old connections
- The use of product placement
- Personal experiences of
- local produce
- local cuisines
END
SUMMARY:
This type of “non-economic/marketing”-based event or communication is indeed a modest style of IMC. It uses various communication items – like word-of-mouth, printed advertisement, buying power, the actual event, and the pre, in-event and post-event discussion, analysis and oral records, where goodwill is conveyed and reinforced. However, this event has little need to exhaustively gather information, nor to analyse it, as there are no “targets” in the audience (Masterman & Woods, 2006, p. 34).
The size of the target audience is easy to obtain from the local rate-payer register and as such is finite, given a 10/15% contingency, which should always be taken into account in any case.
Because of the target audience, the nature of the event and what it communicates (the types of local produce available) the gathering of large amounts of internal and external data is really counter-productive, as there is no one available to analyse it or reflect upon it. This is because here there is no “challenge in research and analysis” as audience demographic sub-groups are not particularly relevant. Word-of-mouth generated-information is generally sufficient to run such an event in a small community like this one, as it is simple to “get the information” needed when needed (Masterman / Woods, 2006, p. 34).
Although the target-audience
SMART:
SWOT:
Many strengths:
Annual date set well in advance so the venue is available.
The date is known by the community.
Event creates communal goodwill.
Event uses voluntary communal effort involving many parties.
There is positive and strong anticipation of the event.
There are positive, first-hand recollections and good memories of this event over the years. This community’s diverse children grow up experiencing this event.
There were few weaknesses: possibly some type of physical accident – as the area is high and the path steep and not very well lit.
Opportunities were many: the guests were from all walks of life. They mingled freely and introduced each other. The community members brought guests they also introduced to others. Their children mixed. Traditional foods and drinks produced locally were discussed and appreciated.
Threats were also few: the potential for inclement weather as the event is held in the open, possibly some unpleasant party might attend.
susanneah 