The Situation Analysis
Where we are
Why we’re there
What should we do now?
The Situation Analysis
• Why do we start here?
– Have to understand:
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Where your brand is
Why you are there
Where your competition is
Why they are there
What your possibilities are
• How to get there
The Situation Analysis
I.
Product Category Analysis
A. Product Category History
(basic product history including recent category innovations, trends, etc.)
B. Category Structure
(list of sub-segments within your category e.g.: car segments, domestically produced goods vs. international
goods, price segments. Divide the category the same way either the consumer or your client does.
C. Historical Category Sales:
3-5 year charts showing sub-segments and category sales development with trends listed.
D. Regionality of Category / Sub-segments Sales:
Sales by region indexed to population. Category Development Index / Brand Development Index Analysis.
E. Seasonality of Category / Sub-segments Sales:
Monthly/quarterly sales over past 3 years showing seasonal variations.
F. Pricing History of the Category / Sub-segments:
segments, sales within segments, trends within segments.
G. Distribution History of the Category / Sub-segments
H. Category Promotional Spending
1) Advertising Spending
2) Sales Promotion Spending
3) Public Relations Activities
4) Personal Selling
The Situation Analysis
II. Competitor Analysis
A. COMPANY / BRAND
B. Product
1) Product Construction: ingredients, quality, etc.
2) Packaging Analysis
C. Sales
1) Sales Volume
2) Share of Market
3) Regionality / Seasonality
D. Pricing Strategy
E. Distribution Strategy
1) All Commodity Volume Distribution, CDI, BDI
The Situation Analysis
F. Research Knowledge Summary (e.g.: brand awareness,
advertising awareness, consumer’s views of the product, etc.)
G) Promotion
1) Advertising
a) Presumed Creative Strategy
1) current advertising
2) evaluation / implications
b) Presumed Media Strategy
1) media spending
2) media plan: key elements, presumed
strategies
3) SOV/SOM Analysis
4) evaluation / implications
The Situation Analysis
2) Sales Promotion
a) Presumed Strategy
b) promotional plans
c) evaluation / implications
3) Public Relations
a) Presumed Strategy
b) PR plans
c) evaluation / implications
4) Personal Selling
a) Presumed Strategy
b) Plans
c) evaluation / implications
The Situation Analysis
H. SWOT Analysis Summary
1) Strengths
2) Weaknesses
3) Opportunities
4) Threats
I) Implications / Next Steps
“If you don’t know where you are
going…
you can never get there.”
BRAND VISION
How to write a vision
There are five basic parts;
1) Where are we today? (Background/current state of events)
2) Where do we want to be X years from now (vision/objective)
3) How are we going to get there? (Strategies)
4) What will be the result of us having reached our goal? (End
benefit)
5) Steps to be taken in the next 6 months to move toward the vision.
(Road map)
Part 1) Where are we today?
This section includes a critical look at the following:
a) Situation Analysis.
b) Our evaluation of the quality of our
work.
c) Brand vitality / new business / new brand
assignments.
d) Quality of people.
e) Revenue / profitability growth / decline
and
reasons.
Part 2) Where do we want to be
in X years?
This singular objective states how we and
our client will measure our success.
Part 3) how are we going to get
there?
This section tells how we will focus our assets and
energies to move from where we are to where
we want to be.
a) Evaluation.
b) Quality of our Work.
c) Personnel Quality, group “culture,” training.
d) Areas of Leadership.
e) Technology.
4) Results of Success
- What will this success mean for our client and for
the agency. This should address the following:
a) Sales
b) Fulfillment of our company vision / mission.
c) New brand assignments, new product
assignments
d) Annualized revenue growth.
e) Ongoing account profitability.
5) Next Steps: 6 months
- You don’t eat an elephant all at once. Once
you’ve defined very clearly where you
want to go, and how you are going to get
there, what specific next steps are you
going to take for your region to begin
along the path?
Let’s try it.
1) Where are we today?
2) Where do we want to be X years from now?
3) How are we going to get there?
4) What will be the result of us having reached our goal?
5) Steps to be taken in the next 6 months to move
toward the vision.
Media: The Contact Points
Choosing the right
medium
for your message.
Media: The Contact Points
• Why is Media Important?
– Your advertising can’t be successful if it’s not seen by
the right people at the right time.
– In a world with fewer and fewer real product
differences, advertising is MORE important.
Media: The Contact Points
• The Key to Success:
– 100% Media Neutrality
– You figure out where are the best times and places to
reach your customer and that’s where you advertise.
Day in the life: Dunkin Donuts
What do you do in the morning?
Staying functionally neutral means
understanding the difference
between Attitudes & Behaviors
– The difference
between what people
think (attitudes) and
what people do
(behaviors)
• “Actions speak louder
than words.”
• Example:
Media Neutrality
• Why is Media Neutrality a radical thought?
– Clients like doing what has been done before
(“proven successful”)
– Clients like for their children to see their ads on
TV
– Agency people like making TV commercials more
than packaging redesigns.
– Cannes doesn’t give awards for matchbook
covers or point of purchase displays.
Media: The Contact Points
• Where is the best place to advertise the following?
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Cottage cheese?
Delivery pizza in a college town
iPod
FUBU
New Arctic Monkeys CD
Socks
BMW X-3
Honeymoon vacations
Athlete’s foot products
Life Insurance
New IKEA location
Media: Definitions that sound ickier
than they really are
•
Stuff you actually need to know to sound smart:
– Medium: singular
– Media: plural
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Define:
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Media Objectives, Strategies, Tactics.
Reach
Frequency
GRP
TRP
CPM
CPP
SMRB & MRI
Day parts: early morning, daytime, early fringe, news, late fringe,
prime, late night
– strengths and weaknesses of different media
– “Alternative Media” and “New Media” just mean we didn’t think of it before.
Media: The Contact Points
• The eternal debate:
– Which is more
important: efficiency or
effectiveness?
Media: The Contact Points
• Efficiency
– A GRP is a GRP is a GRP
• Get as many as you can afford; it doesn’t matter
where they are.
• Media is a total commodity and should be bought
like one.
• Just focus on impressions; more than year ago for
less money.
Media: The Contact Points
• Effectiveness
– The Fishing Channel vs. Desperate
Housewives
• Same impact?
– Target your message to media your target
cares about.
– Which media do they use (National Enquirer)
vs. which do they trust (NY Times)?
Media: The Contact Points
• The answer?
– Obviously both are
important.
– Start with your target
and you’ll get the right
answer.
Media: The Contact Points
• What we really need is credible
understanding of what a GRP is worth by
medium.
– DDB’s Consumer Aperture: what is the ideal
time, place, circumstance where your target
should see your ad?
– Every agency has their own version.
Medium Strengths & Weaknesses:
Television
• Strengths
– High quality sight and
sound
– Visual demonstration
– Creating an image
– Generate excitement
– Image transfer from
show (e.g. Academy
Awards, Super Bowl)
– Small to large audiences
• Weaknesses
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Fleeting message
Channel clutter
Commercial clutter
TIVO & remotes
:15 commercials
increasing clutter
– Expensive production
(up to $5MM)
Medium Strengths & Weaknesses:
Magazines
• Strengths
– Specialized audiences
– Certain magazines are
purchased because of
the ads
– Life style and consumer
passions
– Editorial prestige
– Superior color
reproduction
– Ability to explain in detail
– Shelf-life and pass along
readership
• Weaknesses
– Passive medium
– Have to buy a lot of them
to get a very broad
impact.
– Clutter (e.g. Vogue, In
Style fall fashion issues)
Medium Strengths & Weaknesses:
Radio
• Strengths
– Very specialized
audiences (Howard
Stern vs. Rush
Limbaugh vs. Radio
Disney)
– Sense of immediacy
– Really good radio
advertising is very
memorable
• Weaknesses
– Local, not national
– Splintered audience
– Easy to change
channels
– Lack of real audience
data
– Hardly anyone can
write really good radio
advertising.
– Background medium
Medium Strengths & Weaknesses:
Newspaper
• Strengths
– Credible
– Local
– Most widely used
advertising medium in
the US
– Excellent to announce
news: e.g. sales
– Short closing dates
• Weaknesses
– Declining literacy rates
in the US
– TV and Internet have
sapped their hold on
immediacy of news
– Lack of
standardization still an
issue for national
advertisers.
Medium Strengths & Weaknesses:
Outdoor and Transit
• Strengths
– Excellent reminder
vehicles.
– Size of the message
– Transit: captive
audience
• Weaknesses
– <3 seconds.
– Communications
limitations
– Increasing clutter and
bad postings
Medium Strengths & Weaknesses:
Direct Mail
• Strengths
– Targeted
– Room to say
everything you want
and need to.
– 100% focus on your
advertising vehicle
– Testable
• Weaknesses
– What do you do with
“junk mail?”
Medium Strengths & Weaknesses:
Internet
• Strengths
– Can do “anything”
– Basically not regulated
– Deliver tremendous
detail and get a
purchase
– Growing impact
– Traceable &
relationship building
• Weaknesses
– Clutter, clutter, clutter
– Majority of computers
still too slow
– Forget about most
people 50+
– Have to go seeking
information for the
most part
Medium Strengths & Weaknesses:
Advertising Specialties
• Strengths
– Very targeted
– Tremendous creative
possibilities
– Excellent for local
companies
– There when you need
them
• Weaknesses
– Unlikely to get
significant national
impact.
Media: The Contact Points
• Professor Russell’s #1 Media Gripe:
– Media strategy and planning are powerful
competitive tools rarely used these days.
• Clients overly concerned about efficiency.
• Media not at the table when decisions are made.
– No longer part of the advertising agency.
• Creative elements dictated by Creative Department,
Account Planning, Account Management, Clients &
the janitor.
• Almost never does the media group even have input.
HUGE mistake.
Media: The Contact Points
• Who is at fault?
– Media Companies separating from their agencies.
– Clients focusing on efficiency, efficiency, efficiency.
– Creatives & Clients more interested in producing TV
commercials for their egos than for the brand.
• How do you solve this?
– Get media back at the table!
» E.g. LB Warsaw IKEA example.
– Re-train clients to view media as creative.
– Re-train creatives to share ownership of ideas.
– Reward Creatives for media successes.