1 2 Table of Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 3 Introduction: .................................................................................................................................... 4 Review of the Current McDonald’s Marketing Activities:............................................................. 5 Target market of McDonald’s ......................................................................................................... 5 Better Integrated Marketing Communication Plan for McDonald’s: ............................................. 8 Marketing and Communication Objectives: ............................................................................... 8 Advertising:............................................................................................................................. 8 Promotions: ............................................................................................................................. 9 Publicity: ............................................................................................................................... 10 Public Relations: ................................................................................................................... 11 Direct Selling: ....................................................................................................................... 11 Conclusion: ................................................................................................................................... 12 References: .................................................................................................................................... 13 3 Executive Summary Companies can only manage strong relationship with customers once all the mediums used for targeting customer have a same message to float at the other end. The core objective of McDonald’s is the present era is to grab the maximum market share in urban areas of Australia which will help in bringing cost efficiency. The best event which can be made to sponsor on long term basis among which this age group will be participating is preparation for Olympics. They have sponsored the meals at various training centres around the country which are preparing for Olympics. Menus planned by coaches and dietician of these trainees are provided by McDonald’s. Also McDonald’s Australia has launched a campaign aligned with their corporate movement of Happy Meals. It helps in describing how much McDonald’s meals are good for health and make their life happier. Company management has also launched an initiative which encourages young people to take part in physical activities or any sport on daily basis. Champions of Play is the name given to the initiative that motivates children to go out and make their body work by playing instead of staying home get physically dull. In order to communicate this message what mediums can be adopted by the company must be looked upon fairly closely. McDonald’s needs to conduct the advertising activities through magazines, social media, digital platforms and outdoor advertisement like billboards. McDonald’s is recommended to utilize different promotional activities which can enhance the outcomes comprising mediums like search engine, site linking, seasonal offers. Public relations will also help in getting wide recognition comprising and newsletters and also direct selling. 4 Introduction: Integrated Marketing Communication is the customer centric and data driven method of information flow primarily from company or advertiser to its target market. Integrated Marketing Communication is the synchronization of various marketing mediums, function and resources that are used to influence the customers in a coherent manner (Schultz, 1994). This coherence is to make sure customers are conveyed a unified message from every platform through which they are targeted. This unification also helps companies in reducing cost and therefore attracting customers efficiently. So to summarize Integrated Marketing Communication prevents different mediums like sales promotion, advertising, direct marketing, public relations and others to work in isolation. This integration by management is to make sure that the marketing objectives are attained in a cost effective manner and brand image can be created which is long lasting. Strong brand image can only be created once a strong relationship is created between the customers and companies (Chitty, 2012). This bond can only be managed once all the mediums used for targeting customer have a same message to float at the other end. Though seems to be very simple but it can be very complicated to unify the information to a single point. This is due to the different mediums a company has to adopt and various target markets which need to be served in order to be profitable. This paper is the discussion about Integrated Marketing Communication activities of McDonald’s limited who is a giant restaurant in Australia. First the activities conducted by McDonald’s under the head of IMC are analysed and then an plan in this regard has been presented which can be adopted by the management to attain requisite marketing objectives. 5 Review of the Current McDonald’s Marketing Activities: The core objective of McDonald’s is the present era is to grab the maximum market share in urban areas of Australia which will help in bringing cost efficiency (Olsen, 2014). Among its goals McDonald’s has strategic plan to spread its restaurant outlets all over Australia especially in those places where competition is not tough and expected to grow in population in coming years. Therefore company targets growth rate which are quite inflated as compared to past record. The company has announced last year that they are the official sponsor of Olympic Team preparations from 2013-16. There are different initiatives taken by the restaurant in order to to facilitate this program. This particular even of sports was selected because of one major reason which is the perception about fast foods as they are deemed unhealthy. Therefore McDonald’s decided to sponsor an activity which is good for health and requires long term campaigning. This will help in attracting customers on long term basis and set an image like a paradigm in customer mind that will help divert their conception about fast food. Target market of McDonald’s The core target market of McDonald’s is children and young adults who fall in the age category of 8 to 22. The best event which can be made to sponsor on long term basis among which this age group will be participating is preparation for Olympics (McDonald's, 2014). Australia has a history of performing at optimum level in Olympics if ratio between medals won by each country and population of that state is calculated Australia is right on the top. This is due to the fact that this nation participates in Olympics more enthusiastically then anybody. Different session round the year is conducted for training next year Olympians and in the last months 6 competitions are held so that best candidates could be selected. All such activities are witnessed by large audience who come to motivate their friends and family members (Tuckwell, 2011). Table 1: Target Market Profile of McDonald's Demographic: Age: 8 - 22 Geographic: Urban cities of Australia Psychographic: Fast food is trendy and delicious in taste Behavioural: Fast food should be eaten once in two or three days Products strategy of McDonald’s is very appreciating for this marketing campaign (Lu, 2014). They have sponsored the meals at various training centres around the country which are preparing for Olympics. Menus planned by coaches and dietician of these trainees are provided by McDonald’s. This will vastly help in changing the mindset of the customers as they will get to know that McDonald’s not only provides fast food which is always condemned as unhealthy. It also knows and serves food which is used by Olympians of tomorrow. Also McDonald’s Australia has launched a campaign aligned with their corporate movement of Happy Meals. It helps in describing how much McDonald’s meals are good for health and make 7 their life happier. Various cartoon characters have been animated in order to attract young generation and they have been shown doing gymnastics, running and various physical activities which are part of Olympics (McDonald's, 2014). This will surely help in making a mindset of the young generation who will be told through such IMC campaigns that fast food can be healthy. Also for this reason new meals have been added in the menu which will also help in gaining vote of parents who generally forbade their kids to eat fast food. Company management has also launched an initiative which encourages young people to take part in physical activities or any sport on daily basis. Fast food is poison if no physical activity is conducted and the eaten is made to rest in body as fats (Herbison and Swain, 2014). ‘Champions of Play is the name given to the initiative that motivates children to go out and make their body work by playing instead of staying home get physically dull. The meals which have been added in the menu also help in promoting the message of healthy food and sports go along every day. So the message that McDonald’s wants to convey to its target market is pretty much clear which is fast food is healthy for life. So in order to communicate this message what mediums can be adopted by the company must be looked upon fairly closely (Tribune, 2014). This is due to the fact it’s a long campaign which has been initiated by the company in order to reap long term benefits. So, if media to target customers are selected on wrong assumptions it will not help in meeting the targets. 8 Better Integrated Marketing Communication Plan for McDonald’s: Marketing and Communication Objectives: To revamp its value proposition and brand image that McDonald’s is healthier with it new menus. To guarantee customers that McDonald’s has the intention of causing no harm to customer health rather they tend to make it live longer Encourage and motivate every age group especially children, teens and young adults to buy McDonald’s. Integrated Marketing Communication plan given below will help in achieving the marketing objectives which will leave a long lasting impact over the people of Australia Advertising: McDonald’s needs to conduct the advertising activities through following channels: o Magazines: Different magazine related to sports and food must be targeted by McDonald’s which will help in conveying the message to the parents of those teens and young adults whom company targets most frequently. Initially those magazine must be selected which have circulation all over Australia (Percy, 2014). This can include Inside Sport and Delicious which have vast recognition in the Australian market. o Social Media Marketing: This is the medium which has dominated all other media channels in the recent past with highly impressive growth rate of 9 subscribers. This is the reason various multinationals have targeted this medium in order to promote its products among customers. McDonald’s must also use the social media marketing through developing its official pages related as to Olympic Games on various social networks such as Facebook, twitter, my space and YouTube. Profile of upcoming Olympians must be made on such social pages. o TV/Radio: These are the mediums widely followed among young age group people especially music and sports channels. Using the TV and radio channels to advertise the McDonald’s products will enable the company to keep in customers’ mind at all times. Through this the company will be able to deliver the similar message to mass audience (Warner, 2011). Among sports channels Channel and 9 and VMusic of songs can be the most effective mediums. Prime time would be most appropriate from 7 pm to 10 pm on such TV channels. Whereas radio channels will help if 8 am to 10 am timing would be useful. o Billboards: This can be very effective medium to target school and college students and those training at any club. Billboards outside these places can be targeted by McDonald’s especially those close to their restaurant. Promotions: Promotional mediums play a very important role in success of IMC. McDonald’s is therefore recommended to utilize different promotional activities which can enhance the outcomes. Major activities to be conducted are defined below; 10 o Search Engine Optimization: SEO has become of the widely used tool and technique among the business entrepreneurs across the world. Therefore the Kleenex is also suggested to use SEO to improve its online rankings. o Linking the Site and Articles: A part from this, it is also noted that almost every article and blog site is linked with the official website of the companies too (Shah and D'Souza, 2009). Therefore linking the official website with such website will also allow the company to improve its brand identity and potentially increase its market shares. The company can also make sure that it has publicizing the activities that it will be conducting during the Olympic Games. o Seasonal Offers: Moreover, the company is also suggested to offer the promotions in seasons too (Warner, 2011). For example, in the world’s largest sporting event, the company can offer Buy 1 Get 1 free or 50% off etc. this promotional activity can be very useful in gaining customer loyalty and easy to conduct when the company is planning to entertain huge amount of customers. Publicity: Since the competition is increasing at significant rate, the costs are increasing too as companies like McDonald’s needs to incur huge costs in advertisements. Publicity is therefore the most effective tool for the firms that require minimum cost but generates positive outcomes; o Exhibitions: Like art exhibitions etc may be the useful tool for the company to publicize its brand name (Chitty, 2012). The open exhibitions will attract many potential customers and within the limited time, many customers will get the company’s name and its products into their minds. 11 o Poll or Survey: Conducting a poll or survey on frequent basis will also be very efficient tool for the company (Schultz, 1994). As it will allow the company to understand and analyse the customers’ behaviours and at the other end, the customers will also think that McDonald’s is very responsible company, therefore it collects the consumers’ review to improve the quality of product etc. Therefore it will be very effective and result oriented tool for the company too. o Reports: Moreover, issuing the reports on any topic which is related to the company and its products will also be very useful for the company. The readers will surely be attracted towards the company and positive picture of the report will make the customers to consume McDonald’s’ products. Public Relations: Within the context of IMC, the public relations also play very important part. The company is therefore strongly suggested to perform below defined activities; o Writings: Article writing on various known websites, writing for books and journals and magazines will be useful and most effective technique for the company. It will attract the readers and make up their mind that the company is taking all the responsible steps to develop their minds (Tuckwell, 2011). The company can also publish its ingredients that are used in to cook different menus. Through this the company can create a well established image. o Newsletters: Using e-newsletter or traditional printed newsletter will also be useful approach for the company to attract the potential customers. Direct Selling: A part from the above mentioned techniques and approaches, the company is also suggested to use, adopt and implement the direct selling method. Although this will require 12 the company to make huge expenditure, but occasionally direct selling approach can generate the positive outcomes for the company (Tuckwell, 2011). McDonald’s can also use mobile marketing to promote the products during the Olympic Games. It can sent text messages regarding the price of menu that is available in the restaurants near the Olympic stadium. Conclusion: The above report presents the discussion over the integrated marketing communication plan for McDonald’s. In order to serve the purpose, first the current marketing activities conducted by the McDonald’s are being discussed. Then the new IMC plan is being established for the company to be conducted for the 6 months. The activities that are to be conducted are based on weekly basis and with the marketing budget. 13 References: Chitty, W. (2012). Integrated marketing communications. South Melbourne, Vic.: Cengage Learning. Herbison, M. and Swain, M. (2014). Mcdonalds | Marketing magazine. [online] Marketing magazine. Available at: http://www.marketingmag.com.au/tags/mcdonalds/ [Accessed 23 Oct. 2014]. Lu, A. (2014). Hungry Jack’s Joins McDonald’s Australia Monopoly Campaign With McOpoly Promo. [online] International Business Times. Available at: http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/567144/20140922/hungry-jack-s-macca-monopoly-flamemcopoly.htm [Accessed 23 Oct. 2014]. 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