IMC Plan: We Are Moving Campaign

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Executive summary

The City of Bridgeview has been experiencing chronic water shortages so much that the city council is no longer able to guarantee the residents clean and reliable supply of drinking water. The problem has been caused by irresponsible utilization of the resources in addition to perennial droughts that are witnessed in the region. As expected, the situation has already impacted on the city residents who are now forced to part with up to four times more when purchasing water from private suppliers. The government is concerned that this could prove disastrous unless efforts are initiated to tackle the problem.

The City Council of Bridgeview has therefore considered recycling water to be used for drinking purposes within the city. The only challenge it has to overcome is the consumers that are skeptical about drinking recycled water as they do not think it is that safe. Therefore, the city council has sought the services of Galaxy Promotions to develop an effective IMC Plan that can increase the level of awareness among these consumers concerning the truth about recycled drinking water. The company has formulated a plan dubbed “We Are Moving Campaign” which signifies the shift to recycled water.

The plan has a number of objectives and creative strategies that are discussed in the paper and are all aimed at increasing the level of attention, awareness, interest, and demand in the market. A number of media tools that will be used during the process of implementing the plan have also been discussed in details.

Back ground

The City of Bridgeview lies to the west of Mount Olive and is located roughly in the middle of the country. It began as a small industrial town in 1908 when iron and coal deposits were discovered in the area leading to formation of the first iron smelting factory in the country. Another coal mining factory was soon commissioned that provided the much needed energy at the iron factory and exported the surplus to Europe and America. What began as a small town soon grew into a city with the upgrading of infrastructure such as roads, railways, airports and communication channels to serve the ever expanding centre. With time, other companies relocated to the city as it had better facilities that support business operations as well as the high number of organizations that could complement their investments.

As it is the case with many growing urban areas, the city was soon to witness a high rate of immigration from rural as well as other urban areas of individuals seeking employment opportunities. The infrastructure that was designed to accommodate 500,000 individuals could no longer cater for the needs of the 5,000,000 residents that currently inhabit the city. Transport, communication, and public facilities were all affected but it is the water services supplied by the city council that were stretched beyond their limit. The dense water supply network has been marred with illegal connections from unscrupulous individuals who make it difficult to ascertain the exact quantity needed to meet the city’s needs. In most cases this also leads to contamination of the water when the connections break allowing foreign components into the system. Furthermore, the region has also been experiencing perennial droughts that impact negatively on the water levels at the city reservoirs (Worthington, 2010, pg 250). Due to the operations of such factors, the city has been experiencing chronic shortages of drinkable water in addition to possible contaminations whenever the resources are available. The city council has therefore considered the possibility of supplying city residents with recycled water in efforts to solve this mess.

This would solve the problem once and for all as the government is concerned about the exorbitant prices charged by private suppliers sometimes even four times more than the normal price charged by the council. Even though the government is firmly behind the proposed initiative, stiff opposition has been witnessed from a majority of the residents that have reservations concerning recycled water. They are not familiar with the process and do not believe that recycled water could be safe enough for human consumptions. Others even cite the possibility of waterborne diseases outbreak as the major reason for not favoring the move. It is only a small number of the residents especially those from up market areas that are pro-recycling as they are widely traveled and have seen it work in many cities around the world that are more densely populated than Bridgeview (Radcliffe, 2010, pg 795).

Target audience

The city council has already identified the major market segments that will be targeted in the initiative. Despite the city’s high population and therefore many forms of diversity, it is of the opinion of the council that it is the level of awareness that will mainly largely form the basis of targeting consumers. However, other factors have still been considered and to a great extent the level of income will also play an important role in the market segmentation process.

Basing on the two factors that have been identified above, the council has identified roughly four categories of the possible consumers and are as follows; the low and middle income residential areas, high income residential areas, private business organizations, and public institutions.

Low and middle income

The low and middle income residential areas form the largest single market segment at 40% consumption level of the public water services. The consumers reside mostly in high rise apartments in densely populated areas close to the central business district as they also constitute a large portion of the employees. Illegal water connections are witnessed here more than in any other are within the city since some of the low incomes consumers prefer the easy way out in not paying for the services. Despite forming the greatest opposition against the initiative due to low levels of awareness, the high charges by private suppliers could force them to change their minds (Miller and Laurie, 2008, pg 220). Furthermore, they are easily influenced by public figures as well as high income consumers which could be great tools in convincing them.

High income

The high income residential areas form the next segment that is also the smallest in terms of consumption at only 10% and is firmly behind the project. The consumers live in privately owned homes with some living in condos and have high disposable incomes. A majority of the consumers in this segment have been to foreign cities and are well informed about the process of recycling water. Others that have not been out of the country are highly educated thus also aware. Due to their high level of awareness, they are firm believers of environmental conservation efforts and often want to be the first to try out new initiatives. Chances are high that they will be among the first consumers to embrace the consumption of recycled water.

Private business organizations

Private business organizations segment follows next and form 20% of the demand for public water. These are investments with the sole motive of making profits. They rely on public water to run operations and are largely affected when there are shortages. In such circumstances, they are unable to operate at their maximum level and if they do they have to incur greater costs by purchasing water from private suppliers. Business owners are concerned with cutting operational costs and will virtually jump on any idea that can guarantee this to them. Therefore, they are likely to be among the first consumers. But for service oriented organizations, they rely on consumers’ preferences in undertaking business and in this case where many consumers are not for the idea they will be slow to buy the idea until after a majority in the market (Rennhoff, 2008, pg 50).

Public institutions

Finally there are public institutions which constitute 30% of the market for public water. These are government organizations that provide goods or services to the consumers and include institutions such as public schools, hospitals, government offices, and public recreational areas. With the government supporting the idea, they have no other choice as their strategies must be consistent with the government’s ideologies (Hambly, Henderson, Baker, Stuetz, and Khan, 2010, pg 2060). Prior to the application of any communication strategies they already form part of the demand for the recycled water.

Communication objectives and Creative strategies

Objectives

To create 30% level of attention in the market concerning recycled water
To create 20% increased level of the awareness of recycled water
To increase interest level by 20% in the market
To increase the level of consumer desiring to try the product by 15%
To increase the level of first consumers of recycled water by 15%

This campaign, like many others of its kind, is undertaken with three main goals in mind. First, it is centered on attracting attention of the consumers to the project as recycled water is still new to the consumers that are also skeptical about the entire concept. Next it will be determined to increase the level of understanding in the market concerning issues related to recycled water before attempting to trigger interests in the consumers to try it out.

In efforts to counter the various reservations that consumers have on recycled water, a number of promotional tools will be utilized. They include direct &interactive marketing, advertising, personal selling, publicity, public relations, and sales promotions. The campaign seeks to create awareness that recycled water is safe for human consumption and the following are the specific goals that will be sought.

Objective 1: to create 30% level of attention in the market concerning recycled water

Creative Strategy 1

There will be the need to build up hype around recycled water. Since a majority of the consumers are resentful to the idea, celebrities will de used to publicize the campaign. At first it will not be wise to give all the details but just to make the consumers pay a little more attention. Therefore, the celebrities will be in television adverts drinking water and asking the viewers if they would like to join them as they are moving (Belch, Belch, Kerr, & Powell, 2009). The celebrities that have been targeted include Mariah Carrey, Madonna, and Whitney Houston who have huge followings in Bridgeview. The mayor of the Bridgeview city, Dr William Green, will also be in one of the adverts owing to the leadership figure that could attract attention. Furthermore, there will be full page advertisements over the daily newspapers with the same messages of moving but not stating where to. Online marketing should also not be ignored and it would be appropriate that a website fully dedicated to the campaign be opened. Adverts can then be placed on the website as well as other third party websites. These moves will hopefully create attention and suspense in the market with everyone talking about a movement that they have no idea of where it is headed. There will be no specialized strategies for any market segment at this stage.

Objective 2: to create 20% increased level of the awareness of recycled water

Creative Strategy 2

Having successfully created attention in the market in the form of suspense, the next strategy will be to launch the campaign. A concert, preferably on a weekend in the middle of the city, should be able to attract huge crowds. There will be adverts in the traditional media such as radio, television, and print announcing the concert (Waller, 2004). During the concert, the details of the campaign should be launched preferable by the city mayor alongside other key local figures. This should be aimed at the low and middle income consumers who most likely might favor such events after having long weeks at their various workplaces. Public relations must also be used whereby tents are put up at the concert for consumers to get to know more about the campaign. Private businesses would be asked to partner with the campaign and market their products during the concert where they also get to know more about the campaign.

After the concert, there should be consistent adverts in the traditional media carrying the details of the campaign with reasons as to why it is necessary. This should be able to create awareness in the market. The campaign website will also have a discussion forum where various parties can discuss and interact. Adverts will be put on the site and third party websites frequented by the high income consumers to reach out to them. But social websites that have recently become popular especially among the youth will be the best in providing all the details (Benbunan-Fich and Marios, 2010, pg 50). A fan page on Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace should be created that will support interactive marketing where various questions concerning the campaign are answered. For the public institutions, talks will be held at their respective organization to inform them on various issues about the campaign.

Objective 3: to increase interest level by 20% in the market

Creative Strategy 3

With the consumer level of awareness increased, it would be important that the campaign proceeds to the next step which is to increase the interest in consumers. Public relations desks should be set up strategically on locations where low and middle income consumers frequent such as public recreation centers and their residential areas to try informing and convincing them. At this level, various examples of cities that recycle water should be given in support of the campaign to reassure consumers of the safety of recycled water.

For the business organization segment, personal selling should be effective where the officials of the campaign visit the organization and inform them of the savings they can make alongside other numerous benefits. The public institutions should also be reached by this method they are operational most days of the week.

But since the high income individuals are not easily reached as a majority of them have their own thriving businesses or are senior employees, it is important to utilize social media and other websites that deal in products consumed by these consumers (Mikami et al., 2010, pg 50). On the other hand, there could also be information desks set up at various high class hotels they frequent in trying to reach out to them.

In all these strategies that have been discussed it is important to demonstrate how the process is done so as to remove any doubts about the water. Furthermore, samples of the water should be taken along for the campaign personnel to drink before the consumers which can be proof of its safety.

Objective 4: to increase the level of consumer desiring to try the product by 15%

Creative Strategy 4

Of all the objectives of the campaigns, getting the consumers to try the recycled water will be the most difficult as they will still have doubts even after receiving the relevant information. Therefore, the strategy must target the entire market as it would be much more difficult to try to convince individual consumers or segments. A television program dubbed ‘the mayor is moving” should be initiated which should be in the form of a series and broadcasted in the evening when a majority of the consumers are back home from work. In the program, there will be a systematic demonstration of how water is recycled in a plant (Hampton, 2010, pg 70). Consumers are informed of what takes place at every stage before the end where the mayor actually gets to drink the water! Being an influential figure that the position is, the mayor should be able to dispel any doubts concerning the water. The program should run for a week to avoid consumers losing enthusiasm and stop following the series.

Immediately after finalizing the program, an aggressive publicity program should be undertaken to build hype on a televised product trial by the consumers. The trial should be advertised on both traditional and online media announcing various prizes including the grand prize of a car to one lucky consumer among the many that will offer to try the recycled water. To make things interesting, the prizes should be awarded in the form of tickets with numbers representing various prizes. Being the curious individuals that they are, they would likely show up at the event in trying to get lucky on the grand prize. This should be able to convince consumers without a doubt that the water is safe and there is no need to worry as the city council cannot intentionally provide the residents with contaminated water.

Objective 5: to increase the level of first consumers of recycled water by 15%

Creative Strategy 5

Having been able to convince the consumers to try the water, the selling part should not be difficult. First of all the city council should get the number of high income consumers that are wiling to be the first consumers who it should proceed to provide the recycled water without failure or any interruption. On confirming that the water is safe and reliable, the other low and middle income consumers will quickly join the bandwagon in subscribing to the service as they try to match the actions of the high income individuals. At this stage, there should be advertisements on every traditional and online media about where to subscribe from and which should also be located in high income as well as the low and middle income segments (Copeland, 2010, pg 58). Sales promotions especially one involving discounts to the first consumers is needed for these expansive markets to further attract them to subscribe.

In relation to the public institutions and private businesses, the city council has to lead by example. The City Council of Bridgeview should be the first organization consumer of the recycled water. Since the service has been described as reliable and cost effective, the council should be able to convince the entire public and private business fraternity of the numerous benefits they stand to enjoy. The personal selling should then be utilized through visiting all public institutions and private businesses in trying to get them to subscribe to the service (VALENTINE and RORY, 2006, pg 55).

Media plan

In implementing the campaign, unique compositions of media tools have been utilized extensively in trying to increase awareness and getting the consumers to try and consume the recycled water. These were reached upon after careful deliberations and include partnering with the following;

Event sponsorships

Being a relatively new concept that has yet to sink into the consumers, event sponsorships will be widely used to increase the level of awareness and answer any questions that consumers might have before or after trying the recycled water. One such event that is slated to be conducted is the “identify the recycled” where consumers will get to identify the recycled water from the various others from samples. The event will be conducted in the low and middle income residential areas and will involve blindfolded consumers trying to guess which the recycled sample is after trying a number of them. The consumers will be able to learn that it is difficult implying that the water is safe just as the others if handled accordingly. Another event will involve corporations coming together to share their experiences concerning the use of recycled water and the challenges they will have seen so far. In order to attract many corporations, there will be adverts on business magazines as these are read mainly by professionals in the corporate world thus higher chances of attracting a large number of them (Bulearca and Suzana, 2009, pg 110).

Newspapers

Plans are also underway to extensively utilize newspapers to hype up upcoming events. In relation to this, some newspapers have already been identified and they include The Bridgeview Times, The People Daily, and The Bridgeview Star. These papers will carry adverts announcing the events that are sponsored by the campaign to see more people attend. Since the events are to be conducted in a whole lot of areas, it is important that the consumers be made aware about the dates, exact locations, motives, and other relevant details that might be of interests to them (Wienclaw, 2009, pg 5).

Full paper classifieds of the television programs will also be relied on in informing the consumers about the television programs that the campaign will be running soon afterwards to further increase awareness of the recycled water. Newspapers will play significant roles in reaching out to the private businesses, high income consumers, and public institutions as these three market segments constitute their largest daily consumers. In most cases, the newspapers will be used to advertise other events and will have minimal information due to costs and their fast rate of getting outdated.

Publicity and public relations

Publicity and public relations will be used in efforts to seek the support of various media in promoting the campaign. Media possess massive powers to control what the public gets to hear and it will go a long way to assist in creating awareness of other events that will be held in future. Furthermore, the consumers will be more endeared to the project when they see the campaign getting support even in the form of endorsements from media in the market (Bailey, 2005, pg 290).

The campaign on the other hand will also be managed with effective and timely information of the media. Press statements and releases will be critical in keeping the consumers abreast the key developments during the process of implementing the campaign. The media that will be targeted here are mainly radio and television which so far have been identified as The Beat Radio, Hope FM, Bridgeview Radio, Sky TV, Vision TV, and BTV.

Social media

The high traffic that these websites are currently recording should be capitalized upon by the campaign. Studies have shown that up to 70% of the youth in Bridgeview spend two hours or more o these sites on a daily basis which creates fertile grounds to engage them in discussions. The fan page must be very attractive and it is why there are plans to have celebrity endorsements to attract the youth to the fan page. Furthermore, entertainment in terms of music, videos, and clips should also be provided on the page to attract a large number of the youth.

Television programs

Having effectively increased the interest in consumers to try out the recycled water, the television programs will continue being utilized. The program where the mayor confirms the safeness of the water had massive impacts and the future situation could see more of such programs being conducted.

The first program to hit the television after the launch of the product will be a documentary that will involve analyzing the situation in various cities around the world that also recycle water. Already 5 cities have been identified and they include London, New York, Geneva, Paris, and Chicago. The documentary will involve interviews from the resident in these cities as well as expert views on how their programs have been successful and how they were able to gain consumer confidence in the recycled water. Adverts will be run on the newspapers and social media to ensure that the program is viewed by many viewers thus increasing their effectiveness and impacts on the market.

Conclusion

The “We Are Moving” campaign aims at increasing the consumers’ level of awareness about recycled water. A majority of the Bridgeview residents are still new to this concept and have therefore been casting doubts on the whole idea of rehabilitating water which they find not so healthy. But the practice is common in large cities allover the world and is in line with the efforts that have been made to conserve resources around the globe which provide reasons for undertaking the initiative. With its success, drinkable water shortages will become history in the city never to be witnessed again. To effectively attain this, the project has been formulated on strategic objectives and it is projected that their attainment will contribute a lot to its success.

The first strategy is to increase the attention to the whole campaign. Residents are not yet familiar with recycled water and would be disinterested in should it be introduced to them abruptly. Therefore, there are measures to build up attention to the campaign before revealing its details. The next objective is to increase the level of awareness among the consumers. After revealing the details, it would be best that they are provided with information to boost their understanding of the whole campaign. This is followed closely by the need to trigger curiosity to the consumers which is the next objective. Consumers have to be able to manifest desires to consume the product after being provided with all the relevant information. The next objective is to get the consumers to try the product. It has been said that a majority of them are skeptical about the recycled water and here the mission is to prove the safeness of the water. Finally there is the actual consumption which aims at converting demand into sales for the city council of Bridgeview.

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