Gooodbye Blog!

I am happy to say I have finally finished! This means no more blogging at stupid o'clock yay! Although I have actually quite enjoyed it...well most of it anyway!

Thanks if you have trawled through my seemingly endless ramblings, I hope at least some of it has been interesting :)

Bye Byeee

A funny but a potential, unintentional marketing technique for Crufts!!

I have noticed a video being shared around via Facebook at the moment relating to a little mishap that happened on Crufts TV, take a look!




Not so funny for the dog owner but actually after seeing that this video has already had 259,396 views since it was posted on 9th March this surely will help promote Crufts even if it probably wasn't in the way they intended!

Just thought i'd post this before I finish this blog once and for all!

Last minute More4 advertising

When watching the More4 at around 8pm Tuesday night (6th March), I noticed that an advert for Crufts came up. It was advertising that on 19.30 Thursday 11th March , Friday 12th , Saturday 13th and 19.00 on Sunday 14th March they would be broadcasting selected sections from Crufts. On the Sunday they are showing a two hour special. These broadcasts will include popular highlights including the stories of 'hero dogs' in the Friends for Life competition and the live award of 'Best in Show'. It also will provide a high profile platform to inform the public about issues of health and welfare in pedigree dog breeding.

Hamish Mykura, Head of More 4, said:

“More 4’s coverage will enable dog lovers to see all the Crufts favourites, with fresh and stylish coverage that will give the show a More 4 twist. Crufts has a long-standing place in British broadcasting, and people who watch it want to know that the dogs are, above all, happy and healthy. Our programmes will place a particular emphasis on dog welfare issues, reflecting different points of view.”

When looking at the statistics on the BARB website, it stated that More4 reaches around 2,789 daily. which according to the site, is 4.9% of people out of the others that chose to watch alternative channels. The issue I have with this however, is what if people are flicking through channels? They may not have necessarily been watching the advert but still been recorded. I don't know whether they have a set time someone has to stay on a channel before it is counted....

But saying this, since seeing the advert that evening I have seen it another 2 times, so this suggests that a lot of people are being made aware of the event and perhaps even if they don't actually attend the event, will watch it and perhaps decide they may want to go next year.

However, when looking at a TGI survey using the demographic group: Women aged 45-54 ABC1, I did discover that 36% agreed that when watching programmes that they have pre-recorded for later viewing, they fast forward through the advertisements. This suggests that unless the viewers are watching the TV broadcast live, they will be much less likely to actually be subjected to the Crufts advert. 

I also found on TGI that actually 17.4% of adults (15+) out of a sample size 49077, stated that they find television adverts most useful when making purchase decisions. This was the highest percentage compared to internet (9.8%), magazines (10.6%), newspapers (12.0%), radio (1.8%) and cinema (1.1%). This then suggests that marketing the event via a TV advert would be effective in helping to influence peoples purchase decisions, i.e. to purchase tickets.

BUT... on the same survey it also stated that a high percentage of people (30.3%) found television adverts to be most annoying out of those categories. Magazine and newspaper adverts were viewed to be least annoying (4.1% and 4.8%). This contradicts the previous point but it goes to show that although people may find these adverts annoying, they still play a major part in convincing people to purchase goods whether they like it or not! Maybe because we are constantly exposed to them, they are having a brainwashing effect on us viewers, who knows!? 

Reference:

BARB. (2012). Weekly Total Viewing Summary. Available: http://www.barb.co.uk/report/weekly-viewing?_s=4. Last accessed 08th March 2012
https://www.kmrsoftware.net/netquestuni2/default.aspx

Advertising: Strong/ Weak Theory

“I am a part of that school, which believes, that a good advertisement is the one that sells the products without attracting the attention to oneself. It should attract the attention of the reader to the product. Instead of saying “what a smart advertisement”, the reader should say “I didn’t know this before. I must try this product”.

David Ogilvy 

“Confessions of an advertising man”

The common debate today is how advertising works. Fill (1999) suggested two views regarding the subject
Strong Theory
The strong theory states that advertisement influences people strongly because it is able to persuade the customer to purchase the advertised brand. It is the view that consumers are passive and that advertising can persuade and generate repeat purchase behaviour. This theory holds that advertising can persuade someone to buy a product they have never bought before.


Weak Theory 

The weak theory of advertising views consumers as active problem solvers, driven by habit to make a purchase. Advertising will therefore, act as a reminder of being brand loyal to a certain product and only reinforce consumer decisions about products or brands from 4 different sources: 

• Primary-- Product experience 
• Secondary -- Marketing Communications
• Tertiary-- Shops, dealers, exhibitions

The weak theory holds the view that advertising is not as effective as public relations when delivering a message as advertising is seen as only a way of earning money and selling products and is not interested in the customers' satisfaction or experience.  It is mainly the number of customers that distinguishes a brand rather than customer loyalty.
Ehrenberg suggested a framework which is the awareness-trial-reinforcement (ATR) framework. Awareness is necessary before any buying made and the period between the awareness and the action will be very short or very long term (Fill 2003) After this a very few people convinced to try the product and this can be effected by retail availability, advertising, word of mouth or personal selling. And the following stage of this framework is reinforcement which follows to provide awareness and reassurance to help the audience to repeat the thinking and behavior and placed the product for the occasional buying. In this framework advertising’s role is to cause brand familiarity and provide identification (Ehrenberg, 1997)

I would probably say that for the Nero Tour, the strong theory is used as they are trying to influence people to buy the tickets for their tour that people may not have been necessarily aware of beforehand. With the use of music videos, articles, music download links etc. they are aiming to persuade their audience to come to one or more of the dates on their tour.
It could be said however, the weak theory also ties into this as those already existing fans maybe have been to a show before and are dedicated Nero fans therefore the advertising/marketing may act as a reminder for them to buy the tickets rather than persuading them to buy them therefore it could be said to be reinforcing decisions by all the promotion that has been going on during/before the tour.

For Crufts i'd say that again, it is hard to pinpoint it definitely down to one theory although...
It does seem to be targeting those who have never actually been before more so due to the fact that their slogan is 'tail wagging fun for all the family!' shows that they are really trying to bring in not just the dog owners but their families too, suggesting that there is something for everyone. Throughout the website they are using emotive lexis such as 'thrills', 'wonderful', 'exciting' etc. which acts as a persuasive element. I would put this into the strong theory category as what with the extensive marketing they seem to have done, it seems to be about persuading perhaps new, potential attendees to come as they most likely have a loyal following already who will go regardless.

Reference:
issuesinimc.Strong and Weak Theory of Advertising. Available: http://issuesinimc.wikispaces.com/Strong+and+Weak+Theory+of+Advertising. Last accessed 06 March 2012.

Merchandise

This morning, I had a quick check on the facebook and Crufts have posted a link to their official merchandise page where the merchandise for Crufts 2012 has been released.

www.cruftsstore.com/

When looking I noticed they sell; clothing (unisex), soft toys, bags, badges, fridge magnets, mugs, keyrings,pens and rosettes! So they have quite a lot of merchandise...

Events use a number of different ways to create income other than the cost of the tickets themselves. One major way of increasing the income from various events is through producing merchandise.

I searched for a good definition of merchandise and found this:

 ‘The purpose of merchandising is to generate an interest for the product in the consumer, to sustain that interest and to eventually sell the product based on that interest’ (Caldon, 2008).


I also looked up the defintion of souvenir as well and this one I thought was quite good:

'An item of sentimental value, to remember an event or location; sometimes a cheaply-made item sold for a high price.'

They are most often very over priced!  This is probably because they are selling to a very particular market and if they are the official merchandise providers then they know that people have no where else to get the genuine merchandise and so this makes people more likely to fork out more cash. Pretty bad considering you are most likely paying a fair amount for your ticket anyway but there you go!



Anyway...all of these items are branded with the Crufts logo.

I would have thought those that attend the event may want to purchase a souvenir as those that do attend are most likely very much into the brand/ what it stands for as it is targeted at dog lovers. Assuming this is the case, Crufts probably generate a fair amount of revenue from merchandise purchases. Those wearing/sporting the merchandise are obviously promoting the event as well so it's great for them! 

As for the Nero Tour there are no official licensed merchandise sites for this tour at the moment. From experience I would have thought the merchandise, if any, will be on sale at the actual venue on the night of the show. This can sometimes be effective as after a gig/show I find you are normally (hopefully!) left with a buzz and it normally increases your liking for the particular band/dj/performer. This may be a likely time when people want to buy the merchandise as a memento and obviously those newly converted fans may want to demonstrate their support after by purchasing merchandise. Fans may wish to purchase a t-shirt,hoodie etc. to show they have been to actual show.

Perhaps after the tour has finished an official site may be there to sell tour  merchandise to those who wish to purchase any.


References:
AllWords. Definition of Souvenir. Available: http://www.allwords.com/word-souvenir.html. Last accessed 06 March 
Caldon, R. (2010). Merchandising-Its advantages. Available: http://ezinearticles.com/?Merchandising---Its-Advantages&id=5624926. Last accessed 06 March 2012.

Both Websites...

When typing 'Nero' into 'Google', the official Nero music page isn't the first result that comes up, infact the official www.thisisnero.com is the 4th result. Before that is in fact the CD/DVD burning computer software websites. However, when I typed in 'Nero Second Reality UK Tour' into Google the website does not even feature on the 1st results page and instead the official website comes up on the 2nd results page 3rd down. Ahead of this are all the articles releasing information about the tour, dates, venues etc. from various music sites.

This does suggest that the tour is getting a lot of coverage from many different sites which mainly seem to be press releases from music sites which is obviously raising awareness and this seems to be a major marketing strategy for them which presumably they aren't having to pay for! This is great news for them!

When I type Crufts into 'Google' the first result is the official Crufts page, even the sponsored ad is the Crufts page. Following this is the Wikipedia defintition of 'Crufts', last years results, Kennel Club webpage(organisers),Crufts section on channel 4, NEC page for Crufts and the Crufts YouTube page. This suggests great SEO (search engine optimisation) due to the fact that all the page results on the first page are strongly linked with the event and feature the keyword 'Crufts'. It may be easier for Crufts to do this as it is an original name that is not taken by any other well known brand,product etc. It is also a popular, well known event and being a single word, it can help make the search more specific as multiple words may bring up irrelevant results as seen with the 'Nero' search. As shown, Nero have the problem that they share their name with a popular piece of computer software.

SEO can be defined as:
'The process of choosing targeted keyword phrases related to a site, and ensuring that the site places well when those keyword phrases are part of a Web search.' (Marketingterms.com) 




Reference: 
Marketing Terms . Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Available: http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/search_engine_optimization/. Last accessed 03 March 2012.

Crufts TV Ad

When watching Dancing On Ice on ITV (not out of choice I might add!), I noticed that in the advert break, an ad for Crufts came up. The TV adverts I think are fairly recent, this may be due to the fact that the event is drawing closer and they perhaps want as much exposure as possible. I saw this advert on the 26th so it is 10 days before the actual event starts.  They are targeting prime time TV (programme started at 18.45pm) which has a high viewing rate (6.76 million according to BARB) is obviously a very good idea! Obviously this is a costly thing to do and for the Nero Tour this would be unfeasible and their main audience wouldn't perhaps be watching Dancing On Ice!

On the ITV website it states that: 

80% of the 16-34 adults who tune into ITV1 watch for at least 20minutes making it highly likely they've watched a commercial break. Therefore, this means it is likely they will be exposed to this Crufts advert. 

It also says that the ITV family reaches 74% of 16-34s in an average week which is over 10 million alternatively it reaches 81% of ABC1 adults in an average week (over 20 million). So potentially over 20 million people have been exposed to this advert which would hopefully suggest that at least a few, after seeing this advert, have then purchased tickets. This would be the main objective of this advert i.e raising awareness and increasing ticket sales. 

This link below shows the average example cost of a 30 second advert placed on ITV1 in the differing regions. So far I am unable to find out exactly what regions it is broadcast in but I will guess that it would be; Anglia, London,Meridian and maybe Central. If this were to be correct then per advert it would cost roughly £15,254 per ad showing.

http://www.itvmedia.co.uk/assets/itvmedia/content/downloadables/spot%20costs%20-%20itv%20media%20-%20itv1%20and%20multichannel%20-sept%2011.pdf

References:

BARB. (2012). Viewing Figures . Available: http://www.barb.co.uk/report/weekly-top-programmes-overview. Last accessed 02 March 2012.

ITV Media. (2012). Key Demographics . Available: http://www.itvmedia.co.uk/itv-platforms/itv1/key-demographics. Last accessed 02 March 2012.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship can be defined as:

 'Supporting an event, activity or organisation by providing money or other resources that is of value to the sponsored event. This is usually in return for advertising space at the event or as part of the publicity for the event.' (Tutor2u.net)

This Year, Crufts have 9 Sponsors:

Eukanuba is the principal sponsor, Major sponsors are Agria and Samsung and the remaining are official sponsors.

All of these sponsors will be present at the show itself, engaging with potential customers. They have the opportunity to expose their products/ services to over 137,000 potential customers over the 4 days. This may be done by giving out samples, leaflets etc. They also get pre and post- show exposure through press and media coverage. On the Crufts website all of these logos are featured on their sponsorship page along with a brief overview about them and links to their webpages. 

For the Nero Tour there are no sponsors this could be due to the fact that they do not need support from another company as this tour is based around promoting their name and their music around the UK rather than any other companies/brands. Nero may not be able to gain sponsors at present as the potential sponsors may feel that due to the fact that Nero may have a more limited audience than much bigger stars e.g in 2007, Beyonce had L'Oreal Paris and Samsung sponsoring her tour. This was probably due to the fact that these companies knew that they would get a very large coverage. Nero have only really recently (in the last year or so) become much more well known so maybe, in the future they may have sponsors for their tours. The fact that Nero are an electronic music act will most likely be a big factor in them having such a specific audience. 

However, their music is becoming more appealing to a larger audience. On 6th December 2010, Nero were nominated for the BBC's 'Sound of 2011' poll. Their first official single 'Innocence' which was released in April 2010 peaked at 167 in the UK Singles chart and peaked at no. 16 and 11 on the Dance and Independent charts. Their second official single  'Me & You' was added to BBC Radio 1's A list playlist on 8th December 2010 which obviously gave them more publicity and it seems they are growing increasingly popular. 

Advertising

'Advertising is attempting to influence the buying behavior of your customers or clients by providing a persuasive selling message about your products and/or services.'

     (Sbinfocanada.about.com)

      'Mass Media communication where space is bought. Can be     corporate, brand or product based'  

(Source: Innovative Marketing Communications by Masterman & Wood, 2006, pg 76)

According to Clow and Baack (2004), as individuals we are, on average, subjected to at least 600 advertisements per day. This is a figure that has increased quickly as a result of an ever-expanding variety of media.
Pickton and Broderick (2001) propose that the key benefits of advertising are that it can reach mass audiences, increasingly now on a selective targeted basis, and that it does so at relatively low costs. They maintain that it is therefore both efficient and effective in reaching the right targets. They also maintain that it is effective for brand maintenance and arguably brand development in that it can reach high numbers for awareness and demonstrate brand differentiation.

An example of this can be seen for both Crufts and the Nero tour as both are targeting selected audiences.
 For instance, Crufts are placing their advertisements within dog magazines which are then targeting those who have a high interest in dogs and/or showing them and these may have a loyal following who buy these magazines weekly/monthly. They also have Facebook,Twitter and YouTube channels that target those who actively seek out information and this includes those who are perhaps more technologically adept. Those that access this information online may not purchase the magazines/newspapers or vice versa. Therefore they are reaching out and reaching higher numbers of potential stakeholders.

For the Nero 'Second Reality' UK Tour, I have noticed advertisements in Music magazines such as NME which as I have discovered, targets mainly males aged between 17-30. Therefore, this is targeting a very specific market. They have expanded this by also advertising via social media by advertising their tour on their fanpage both on Twitter, Facebook and Myspace as well as other music sites.


I found this interesting piece of research which shows that each social network actually seems to target slightly different audiences. I found this on iCrossing.com. 
This chart below shoes Myspace has a younger demographic (on average) compared to Facebook, with Myspace being most popular with 18-24 year olds and Facebook popular with 25-34 year olds. Therefore when placing advertisements on different sites, different audiences are targeted. 
Nero has advertisements places on both myspace and Facebook whereas Crufts has placed adverts on Facebook and Flickr. 

When looking into this further, there seems to be some subtle differences between the male : female user ratio for each sites. Facebook has the highest female following and actually looking at it, females use these sites in general ever so slightly more than males. With the exception of flickr which is interestingly more popular with men. 

 

However, this research was published in 2009 so this could have all changed now but thought it would be interesting just as it shows there are some differences between each site.

References:
Lyons, G. (2009). Social Media Demographics: Facebook’s for girls!.Available: http://connect.icrossing.co.uk/social-media-demographics-facebooks-girls_1562. Last accessed 24th Feb 2012.


Masterman,G and Wood, E.H. (2006). Advertising. In: Innovative Marketing Communications. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann. 


Ward, S. (). Advertising. Available: http://sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/marketing/g/advertising.htm. Last accessed 23 Feb 2012.

Social Networking

While browsing the internet finding more information on social media marketing I came across this on a site called Mashable.com.

This suggests that those who are fans or followers of a brand on Facebook or Twitter, respectively, are slightly more likely to buy products and services or recommend the brand to a friend. However, many people many people actively seek out the brands they’re already fans of and follow or fan them on Twitter and Facebook. Although, those that are already existing enthusiasts will be kept active through engagement with the site itself.  It also states that users had negative preconceptions of brands that didn't use social media.  This does suggest that social media is becoming a competitive advantage for those that are participating, and an increasingly major weakness for those that are not. 


Obviously this study is 2 years out of date but it is still an interesting piece of information and this could have even increased by now! 


Both Nero and Crufts are at an advantage then using social media heavily for their promotion! Both seem to show that using these are fundamental to their marketing strategies. 




After looking at Mintel, it states that out of 7912 male/females aged 15-24, 465 (5.88%) stated that they use the internet to purchase event tickets online regularly compared to:
 Computer Software/Games 
Computer Hardware & Accessories 
Music 
DVDs 
Electrical Goods 
Furniture 
Groceries 
Toiletries and Cosmetics 
Clothing & Footwear 
Books 
Holidays and Travel 
Insurance and other Financial Products 
Flowers/plants 
Jewellery 
DIY/Gardening Equipment 
Mobile Phones or Accessories 
Sports Equipment 
Toys and Games 
Beer, Wine & Spirits 
Other 

I did this with Nero's target audience in mind as for Crufts, I am still unable to find the average age of the target audience. 


Reference: 
Mintel . (2009). Internet- Making A Purchase Online Regularly .Available: https://www.kmrsoftware.net/netquestuni2/default.aspx. Last accessed 23rd Feb 2012.


Ostrow, A. (2010). Facebook and Twitter Making a Major Impact on Purchase Decisions [STATS]. Available: http://mashable.com/2010/03/16/facebook-twitter-purchase-decisions/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+Mashable+(Mashable). Last accessed 23 Feb 2012.

Communication Objectives

Communications objectives should focus on awareness, understanding, belief, intention to buy or response generation.Communications objectives are about changing attitudes.

The definition for Communication objectives as stated by the Business Dictionary is:

'Intended goals of an advertising or promotional program. Possible communications objectives include (1) creating awareness, (2) imparting knowledge, (3) projecting an image, (4) shaping attitudes, (5) stimulating a want or desire, and/or (6) effecting a sale.'

For both Crufts and the Nero Tour, a communication objective would be to encourage their audiences to purchase tickets for the events i.e. influence their purchase behaviour, this could also involve with the Nero tour, additionally purchasing downloads,merchandise etc. With Crufts, it is more likely to just involve the purchase of tickets and possibly the Crufts magazine. So ultimately, an objective is to affect their sales.

An example to show that one of the objectives for Crufts is to encourage purchase of tickets is that on its official site it states 'Buy now and save'. When clicking on this I noticed that if you purchase the tickets online/by phone in advance, they are considerably cheaper and so this is an added incentive for it's audience to purchase tickets in advance. An adult day ticket in advance is £14.00 (£1.25) booking fee, otherwise on the day it would cost £17. Obviously if a whole family were to go, this would be considerably more expensive if left until the day. The price remains the same for the Nero Tour as the tickets can only be purchased in advance due to the fact that the majority of the dates have already sold out before the actual event itself.


A communication objective for both events would also be to raise awareness of the dates on which the event is taking place, for Crufts this is over a period of 3 days (8th-11th March) and for Nero's Tour in the UK, 16 days (8th-24th March) for Nero's tour each location is different whereas for Crufts, the location remains the same. By raising awareness of the events, both raise their profile in general (imparting knowledge). For Nero this may result in them gaining more fans and then consequently this may lead to purchasing/downloading their music,joining fan pages, buying their merchandise as well as possibly attending any future concerts/festivals that they may be involved in.


Objectives also are stated on the Crufts and Kennel Club webpage,

'The aim of the Kennel Club is to promote in every way the general improvement of dogs, and the Kennel Club team works hard behind the scenes to achieve this aim and also towards 'making a difference for dogs'.

'Our objective: The Kennel Club has the broadest remit to protect and promote the general wellbeing of dogs. At its heart are programmes and investments in education and health initiatives to help dog owners across the UK to have healthy, happy dogs living long lives with responsible owners'

Reference:

Kennel Club. (2008). About the Kennel Club. Available: http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/aboutthekc. Last accessed 05 March 

Crufts Phone Application

I noticed through the Facebook site that Crufts actually have launched an app for the first time which works on  iPhone, iPad, iTouch, Android and BlackBerry phones. Seeing as I managed to lose my phone I am currently stuck with a very primitive replacement so I am unable to download the application myself! 

However, according to the Crufts Website the application gives users,


 '...all the latest dog news and updates throughout the show this March. Including weather forecasts, all things social, a map of how to get to the NEC and even Crufts live streaming, the app promises to be an essential companion throughout the world’s favourite dog event.'


It features a calender of daily events that sync to your phone and gives alerts when competitions/displays are due to start. Even those who can't actually attend the event can stream the event live through the Crufts YouTube channel using this app and receive real time updates from the Kennel Club Twitter feed. 


It seems their main objective for doing this would be to provide constant information regarding the event itself therefore raising awareness and keeping people informed with up to date news, changes, times etc. This makes it easier for attendees to plan what shows they want to see. 


The ap makes Crufts seem much more up to date and 'with the times', people like to download apps for pretty much everything and this would be a good addition for dog lovers. 


As with many of their marketing strategies, this app also gives users a chance to purchase tickets through it, some people may be more likely to do this as it may be easier for those on the go. 

Social Network Promo- Crufts

After 'liking' Crufts' official Facebook page it soon became clear that it had a fairly large following...

Since taking this print screen (12/01/12) it has increased already by 10,000 'likes' this may be due to the fact that it is now becoming more heavily advertised during the build up to the event.

Like the Nero Facebook page, Crufts also feature regular updates on any related news items and exclusive competitions to their online fans.
On the left hand side of the page there are many different tabs containing things such as ; links to buy tickets, previews the Crufts magazine, links to the Crufts Twitter page and like the Nero Facebook page, chances to enter competitions to win tickets or other prizes. It also has a tab which links users to YouTube videos of highlights and classes from previous Crufts events ( click this to go to YouTube link on crufts page  ) . This is similar to Nero's Facebook as this has a tab for fans to view music videos to their recent tracks.

On the Crufts Facebook page, owners quite often seem to post pictures of their dogs which gain comments from other users which then, seems to create a sense of community where they share pictures with each other and talk about different dog breeds.


Crufts have already advertised on their Facebook page that for those that can't make it to the actual event, that it will be broadcast live on their YouTube channel. Another good thing about this page is that those that post questions onto the page do receive a reply and they frequently interact with the users on the page.


Click for Crufts Official Facebook page

As for Twitter, Crufts themselves do not have a specific page but instead use The Kennel Club who are the organisers of the event as a way of marketing the event. Down the left hand side of the page it gives links to YouTube, Facebook and Flickr pages associated with Crufts. The Kennel Club seem to 'Retweet' links that give followers opportunities to win tickets to the event. It also gives those following, a chance to communicate with them directly using Tweets, this can be to gain information or just general chat to do with the event itself. There seems to be a community of fans who use this to communicate with one another regarding the event.


Click for Kennel Club Official Twitter page

Using social media sites as a form of promotion/advertising for these events can be put down as PR (Public Relations) activities. I found a definition of PR that I think is really quite good...

'Public relations communicates the news, influences the news, receives the news, and responds to the news for a brand via the media. It’s the art and science of talking to the right audience in the right voice. PR is the communication hub of an organization. It influences and shapes a company’s image, reputation, brand perception and culture. PR connects a brand and its public via direct messages or editorial media including print, broadcast, radio, digital, video or social media. Before social media, a company had one voice; now social media encompasses an orchestra of voices that contribute to a company’s image, reputation, brand perception and its public community.'  Lisa Buyer – The Buyer Group

This also sounded quite good I thought: 


Search engines, social networking sites, and video sharing communities have redefined PR and put the “public” in public relations. I define PR as “the practice of managing communication between an organization and its publics.”  Greg Jarboe- SEO- PR

Both Crufts and the Nero tour use search engines, social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Myspace) and video sharing communities (YouTube) to get their message across. On the Crufts Facebook page, members can post on the wall and receive personalised responses which obviously helps to build a relationship with its market. With Nero this is not the case, this may be because there simply isn't enough time/manpower to do so. Instead they post regular updates to do with their recent shows, lineups, videos, music releases to their fans instead. On status' they also regularly post questions to gain interaction and response from their fans. This in turn also helps to build some sort of relationship with their market.

This can put under 'relationship marketing' which I recently have found out about, this definition helps to sum it up...

'relationship marketing is a marketing orientation that seeks to initiate and develop, close interactions with selected stakeholders for mutual value creation through cooperative and collaborative efforts' (adapted from Sheth and Paarvatiyar, 1995;Bruhn,2003) 

This type of marketing 'increases the levels of involvement of both parties through shared interests and, if developed further, can lead to long-term loyalty and support.'
By using relationship marketing, these events can help develop customer involvement,trust and loyalty. This is more easily facilitated now through the use of social media. This helps both the customer and organisation/event/company understand each other better and develop better relationships. It canf be used to build awareness of the event itself, in this case, Crufts and Nero's UK tour which would be the communication objective which would then lead to sales promotions i.e. promoting the sales of the tickets which would be the communication emphasis.

It is also stated that post-purchase communications can be most influential, i.e. personalised direct mail/email based on the past purchase behaviour of the customer which helps to build trust. This can be most influential as it can bring about the transition from one-off customer to repeat customer (Curtis,2001).  If the event organiser initiates this post-event dialogue through the provision of useful information , the client will view the relationship as being mutually beneficial and worth pursuing. I do not know whether this happens for either Crufts or the tour as they are both yet to finish.

As well as using social media sites, both events have also had adverts placed in magazines i.e I found an advert placed in NME for the Nero tour and Crufts had adverts placed in Dog world and Dogs monthly both further targeting a larger audience.

When checking up on the Crufts Facebook page I noticed that they have introduced Facebook badges. The aim of this is to enable those attending to find their fellow Facebook friends, this may create a sense of a community as it may feel to some like an exclusive club. It states that the badges are available on the Charitable Trust/ Breed Rescue stand in Hall 3 for a small donation to the Charitable Trust. This also helps them promote the Charitable Trust in the process. 

Reference

:Masterman,G and Wood, E.H. (2006). Direct and Relationship Marketing. In: Masterman,G and Wood, E.H Innovative Marketing Communications. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann. 194-196.

Nero 'Second Reality' Tour advert in NME/ Readership Figures

I found when flicking through a few magazines that in the back of the February edition of NME there was an advert for Nero's UK Tour.
This advert shows how many dates have actually sold out now showing it to be hugely popular.
Like Crufts, this Tour is being advertised in specific magazines to target specific markets.

According to Pressgazzette.co.uk, NME serves its audience

 “via social media, on TV, radio, mobile, through live events and in print and reaches over one million consumers each week”.

AND

According to NME:

'The NME is the longest published and most respected music weeklyin the world'

The magazine has a much larger male audience at 73% and the average reader's age is 25. 73% of readers are in the ABC1 category. They state that their target market are men aged between 17-30. 




77% of NME readers have been to at least one concert in 2007 so this suggests that this advert is targeting a very specific audience that being young males aged between 17-30 which is suggests that this is possibly the main target audience for this tour. 


When looking at Tgi data using this demographic, I found that 53% out of 2257 viewed that music was an important part in their lives.


References:


Press Gazette. (2011). Mag ABCs, music and film: NME down 14.3 per cent. Available: http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=47732&c=1. Last accessed 6th Feb 2012.


MacDougall, T. (2011). NME Classified Media Information. Available: www.nme.com/mediapack/pdf/nme_media_information_full.pdf. Last accessed 6th Feb 2012. 

https://www.kmrsoftware.net/netquestuni2/default.aspx

Coverage of Crufts in the Dog World paper/ Target Audience

After going into WHSmith's I noticed there was a specialist newspaper targeted at the very niche market i.e. those interested in finding out the latest news on pure bred dogs.
This newspaper, according to the trade media pack which I found after scouring their website, contains 'specialist breed features and free supplements' and 'has up to 112 pages of news, reports and analysis every week'.
It also states 'Our Crufts coverage is unrivaled and is just one of our carefully tailored
platforms to allow trade advertisers to reach a targeted audience which is predominantly ABC1 with a high level of disposable income'.
This suggests that those who attend Crufts may also have a high level of disposable income.

According to the Crufts website, their  audience in 2011 reached '138,000 dog loving visitors, and three quarters of them are the lucrative ABC1 female demographic with an average household income of £39,253.'


Also I looked at Mintel to see what the typical profile of dog owners was, assuming these are the types to go to Crufts: 


Aged 16 –24, 45 -54

Married

Third age/retired

Not working

Household income £15,500-£24,999

Mintel also stated that:

Displaying their nurturing side, women are more likely to own a cat or dog and that 14% of adults (aged 15+) out of 2,014 owned one dog and 6% owned two or more. 


Families with older children are most likely to own dogs nearly a fifth own a dog.This could apply to Crufts' offer of under 8s going free as there may not be many families with children of that age that own a dog. However, those that don't actually own dogs may also want to go although I would see this as less likely. 



Third agers are also a key market for dog and cat ownership; many will have seen their children leave the family home and are looking for something to fill the gap.


With less family commitments, third agers will have more free time to devote to caring for their pet; particularly in the case of exercising a dog.


Many third agers enjoy a high level of disposable income. 



Some of these results are slightly different to the profile from the Crufts website, however Crufts state that three quarters of them tend to fit their profile so perhaps the rest fit more into Mintel's profile. 

The Dog World newspaper featured a large advert for Crufts alongside a large article. This advert was placed roughly 2 months before the event. 


References:


http://www.dw-media.co.uk/media-packs/trade_media_pack_2011_A4_low_res.pdf
Crufts. (2011). Sponsors. Available: http://www.crufts.org.uk/sponsors. Last accessed 1st Feb 2012.
Mintel . (2009). Consumer- Pet Ownership. Available: http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=479879/display/id=512863#hit1. 

Magazine competition to win Crufts Tickets

This Dogs Monthly magazine advertises the chance to win VIP Crufts tickets on its front page which is obviously appealing to those reading this particular magazine. It is targeting their specific target market, by offering this competition it not only encourages those interested in buying the magazine but it helps to promote Crufts as on the inside more details are given about the actual event itself. 

 To enter, readers have to cut out the entry form and post it off. This does seem a little outdated as most people tend to enter these types on competitions online, less people may enter as it requires more time and effort to do it this way.

Win Nero Tickets Facebook Competition

While on Facebook I noticed that on the right side of the page one of the sponsored links was an opportunity to win one of 10 pairs of tickets to the Nero Tour courtesy of the Darkest Hour which is a new film that has just been released. In order to do so, you have to 'like' the page for the Darkest Hour movie itself so it is promoting both the movie and tour. These links can work well as you have the option to select your preferences i.e. what you are interested in and the option to 'hide' those you are not so the adverts that do come up should be more tailored to each individuals interests therefore this helps to target the right market.

The picture isn't too clear but you can see the advert on the right hand side.
Once you click it and 'like' the site, this is displayed.

In order to enter the competition, you just have to enter your name, sex, email address and location, which then subscribes you to the mailing list for future promotions and obviously gives them information on their general audience as well for maybe further promotion, research etc. So far Crufts haven't done anything like this but it may be too early as yet. 

Tour announcement on official webpage & webpage info

Obviously there is a lot of internet coverage to do with this tour and its dates but just thought I would add in the one from their official webpage (www.thisisnero.com) which keeps all the hardcore fans updated.

The page also features a lot of the videos for their latest single releases so thought i'd add two in here to just to have a look at...

When looking at this website, it is fairly simple and straightforward to use, each of the 6 tabs at the top is clearly labelled and the site isn't too busy. The game tab makes it very different to Crufts in the way that it uses a game to promote their music/downloads. When clicking on the game tab it automatically takes you to the Facebook page. In order to play the 'Nero album preview arcade' game you must 'like' their fan page and permit the game to access your facebook information. Once this has been done, you are asked to select a character from the group and chose one of their songs as the background music. The game is based on 'Streetfighter' being a very retro, popular SEGA game it makes it appealing and people will want to play it. There are tabs to enable players to download the songs they are listening to via iTunes. There is also the opportunity to share both the songs and game which can be either on your own Facebook page or someone else's. This is a more original and fun way of promoting the album and making more people aware of them which would then hopefully lead on to more tour ticket sales!