Promotion in Hypercompetitive Markets

Introduction

Within the current hyper competitive market scenario, the utilisation of differential promotional techniques has gained incremental significance in terms of raising customer awareness regarding the product and service offerings by different corporate organisations. Apart from this fundamental objective, business organisation also have to undertake concerted efforts to promote product and service offerings to differentiate themselves from their market rivals and other competing organisations which could be operating within the same market space so that greater sales revenue could be achieved. In this context, various methods of advertisement and communication have been developed to promote the existing products and services in the concurrent market and to communicate the value of brand identity associated with such offerings. The successful measure of communication of product and service value through promotional techniques requires effective promotional message provisioning to the targeted customer bases, both the existing ones and to the prospective ones. So before embarking on explaining the aims of promotion in business it is necessary to comprehend the actual dimensions of the phrase ‘promotion’. This would involve the actual meaning and definition of the process of promotion in the current business context.

Task 1

Definition of Promotion

Promotion could be understood to be the methodical process which could be utilised introduce, publicise and advertise about any specific form of business, brand or the product which one could be attempting to sell to the general public at large. So technically speaking you have just developed, created or manufactured a product that is only known to you and maybe to your business partners and you are trying to sell this product; this is when you need to promote the product by advertising and also would have to introduce the same to your existing and potential customers.

Aims of promotion in business

Introduction of a new product or brand into the market

This aim involves the establishment of the identity of the product or service under consideration into the existing market scenario with a dual fold objective. The first one is the making of the existing and potential customers aware about the existence of such a product or service so as to familiarise them with the supposed brand value of such a product or service offering. The second is to evaluate the measure of curiosity and expectations which could be demonstrated by the targeted customers regarding the particular products and service introduction so as to assess the estimated growth potential in demand and sales volume regarding such a product or service within the existing and developing markets.

Boosting the image and reintroducing an existing product back into the market

This aim of the process of product or service promotion is oriented towards extending the longevity of the demand and sales potential of any existing product or service within the concurrent market conditions. Primarily, the enhancement of brand value of such a product through reinvigorated marketing methods is the core emphasis under such a method. The objectives regarding promoting the brand value and image of such an existing product within the market space where this product could have been already in circulation, are two folds. The first one is the retention of the favourable sales generation volume which such a product could have had achieved in during high demand period previously. This takes place when the product under consideration could have reached to the final phase of the product life cycle and the sales forecast could be expected to decline in terms of the gross value of sales. On the other hand, the second one is the rekindling of the interest of customers in such a product so that greater brand loyalty could be fostered through emphasising on the previous sense of value which the customers could have derived from the product under consideration when it was in circulation. This objective is crucial in extension of the service life of such a product and to make the product greater durable in terms of the existing market competition.

Improving an old product to a better quality so customers can see the difference

This aim is a logical continuation from the previously mentioned image value enhancement of any product and reintroduction of the same within the market. The difference lies in the fact that in case of promoting the value of an improved product, it involves such a product or service which is already having certain measure of circulation and could be generating sales volumes according to the demand cycle influence. However, the necessity to promote the value of improvement in this respect is reflective of the competitive pressures which the product could be experiencing from similar or substitute products offered by competing organisations. This method of promotion is primarily known as promoting the improved derivatives of the existing products so as to convince the customers that the company offering the improved version of the product could be engaged in providing greater value to the investment by the customers in purchasing the old product. This could further provide the product offering company with the required measure of brand loyalty which could, in turn, effectively ensure a competitive leverage in the concurrent market condition for the product promoting company.

Convincing and influencing old and new customers that your product is better than the rest

This aim of product promotion is particularly oriented towards the process of product differentiation. Such format of promotion is necessitated when the quality of the existing products or services have to be projected in an optimum measure to the targeted customer segments so as to obtain the most favourable competitive leverage against similar products and services offered by market rivals. Chong et al (2017) has suggested that the extensive competition within the existing and developing markets requires companies to achieve competitive success through either reduction of the sales prices of their product offerings or through the product differentiation process. In this context, the product differentiation method becomes the core promotion process when reduction of the sales prices of the product could be non-applicable. Convincing and influencing the existing and potential customers of the value of the differentiated product are premised upon various improved aspects of the product such as the form, features, durability (in terms of tangible products), reliability, design and style improvement and services.

Assuring your customers that they would not regret buying your product

The value promotion aspect is closely intertwined with this aim of the method of product and service promotion. This aim is reflective of the market objective that companies have to consistently manufacture convincing marketing messages and arguments in favour of the product utility and value. The objective in such a case, is to consistently outline the supposition that the purchasing experience of the customers could be the most optimised and value added in terms of return for the invested amount by the customers in purchasing the product or service under consideration. This process of promotion is vital since this could comprehensively ensure that the customers could be convinced about the highlighted values and benefits of the products which they could purchase. The emphasis would have to be on the relevance and consistent value provisioning capability of the products offered to the customers so that better interest, on part of the customers, could be fomented. This favourable psychological inclination of the customers towards the offered products and services would be beneficial for the companies to attain their product sales related objectives.

Success of a Promotional Campaign is measured

Measuring the success of your promotional campaign could be quite daunting and misleading sometimes if you are not very careful as to not just be wasting money on advertisement without getting any real result. You can measure successful promotional campaign by:

• Through planning the marketing and product promotion campaign with special emphasis on the methods of tracking the progress. This step could be considered to be self-explanatory since the primary approach regarding the objective of achievement of success in the marketing and product promotion process is always related to the planning of the campaign from a strategic and tactical perspective.

•Analysing the numbers and monitoring the statistics of how your product is doing in the market; are the numbers of your product sold on the rise, are they stagnant or are they barley moving?

• Through defining the various channels which could be effective in the tracking and measuring endeavour. This could entail the dividing of the customer response messages and online traffic derived from the marketing processes within specific categories and this could require evaluation of the various channels of marketing. The initial of such channels could be the direct marketing channel where the potential customers could take cognisance of the product promotion through self-initiative which is mostly not directed by any external influence. The second one could be comprehended to be referral based measuring under which the extent to which the customers could be referred to by third parties to the web resources of the company, could be measured. One practical tool of application regarding this tracking strategy is the provisioning of the referral bonus which could be paid to the third parties to refer the potential customers to the site of the company under consideration. The third of these channels is the organic channel of marketing and promotion through which search engine based findings by the potential customers could be identified. Under such an arrangement, marketing promotion takes place through the finding and visitation to the online and offline product information by the customers through online search engines while undertaking of the search for products of particular nature. One particular tool which could become assistive in promotion through organic means is the utilisation of Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) through which the tracking parameter could be determined for the online visitors to the product content so that greater numbers of potential customers could find the name of the company and the product specification.

Checking to see if your campaign on product is reaching the right market, the right customers; because not everyone is the customer. You have to identify your target market by using the right approach to gain the right customer.

Collating and assessing the numbers of feedbacks you get from customers that have bought interest in your product or are willing to buy your product, this is very important as you do want your positive feedback to be more than negative or neutral ones.

Interacting and collecting information from your media partners, whether social media, television, radio advertising on your behalf to try help gather figures of interactive and responding targets towards your product and by targets we mean people.

Observing and recording customers who have acknowledged their awareness about your campaign.

Working with right team members to ensure that you are not just about planning alone but also focussing on achieving results.

Regulation of Promotional Activities

Product promotion is primarily regulated through three different methods, namely, the self-regulation, the state regulation and the administrative regulation. In the UK, regulation on promotional activities is taken very seriously as many big companies have preyed on the members of public by misleading them in buying their product which are in fact not what they say they are or do what they portray them to do. And so, any form of unwarranted advertising or promotion activity of a certain product is quickly removed from any media. As per the observations of Bowie et al (2016) self-regulation could be envisaged to play one of the most significant and complementary part in the mechanism of regulation of advertising and marketing communications. Any specific form of sales promotion based regulation is necessitated to involve extensive measures of self-regulatory systems.

According to the government website (gov.uk) on marketing and advertising, there are two advertisement codes of practice namely; Non-broadcast media which covers print and online, sales promotion and direct marketing such as email and telesales and the other is Broadcast media is deals with TV, radio. More so the UK has three main bodies protecting the public from fraudulent promotional activities and regulating advertisement.

Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP)

Advertising Standard Authority (ASA)

Bar Standard Board (BSB)

All three regulatory bodies are committed in ensuring organisation are complying and obeying the rules guiding advertisement and promotional activities in the UK. The rules and regulations are formulated based on the British Code of Advertising and Sales Promotion Practice and the reviews as well as the amendments of the 11th edition of the same are performed by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP). Furthermore, the CAP is also responsible for the provisioning of the advices as well as the undertaking of the legal investigations of the complaints which could be levelled against the marketing communications. Apart from these, the Advertising Standard Authority (ASA) council is responsible for the adjudication of all of such complaints and these adjudications are subjected to weekly publications in the media and have a wide viewership and readership as well.

In terms of the legal regulations to oppose any form of unfair means utilisation in the competitive market scenario, the process of sales regulation is subjectedto an extensive variety of legal provisions. In any case, greater emphasis is generally concentrated on the protection of the interest of the consumers. Various statutory provisions of consumer protection have their impact on sales premonition within the United Kingdom. Special relevance is attached to the various pricing claims which are levelled as legal complaints over the years. The perusal of the Consumer Protection act 1987, Section 20(1) could bring forth the fact that any person could be considered to be guilty in the courts of law of an economic offence when, during the course of any particular business conducted by that individual, the person could have provided misleading or untrue information to any consumer by the utilisation of various means, involving the price of available service, products or facilities, in general on in particular cases as well. Furthermore, desisting from the correction of such a misleading indication provisioning is considered to be another economic offence as well.

To this context, according to Howells and Weatherill (2017) Section 21(1) of the Consumer Protection act 1987 has outlined that a misleading price indication could be outlined when the price depicted or attached with the product in the promotional content could be less than that of the actual price, when the stated price could fail to demonstrate the applicability influencing factors and conditions which could be better understood as the imposition of unfair conditions prior to the purchase of the product by the customer with a certain expansion in the price levels, when the miscellaneous and hidden charges could not be demonstrated with proper clarity and when improper or disinformation could be furnished by the product seller in terms of increment or reduction. This could be better understood as stating explicitly that the prices could be kept at a lower range regarding the products till a particular date after which the prices could be indicated to be increased and not increasing the prices after the stated date.

Different promotional methods utilised by businesses

A specific and effective promotion strategy could be considered to be vital to ensure proper growth of businesses since such a strategy could raise the awareness level of customers and consumers of the products and services which are offered by such business organisations. While some of the companies currently operating within particular market scenarios such as those of the United Kingdom have been utilising multiple methods of promotion, others utilise particular methods for particular purposes. The possible strategic methods of promoting products and services could be considered as the following:

Contest based promotional strategy

Contests could be utilised as promotional methods. Contests generally do not require any purchase on part of the participants. The core objective is to promote the brand image and logo of the endorsed products to the general. This strategy is not meant to be a campaign of concentrated sales generation. Sponsoring different contests could foster greater attention and awareness regarding the products and services of the sponsoring company within the potential customers.

Promotion through Social Media Platforms

Multiple popular social media web resource communication platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ could be offer effective promotional media for different products and services of any business organisation. Social Media provides adequate measures of direct marketing through establishment of connections to customers who could come to know about the promoted products with multiplicity of perspectives.

Marketing through mail based orders

Existing customers are required to be consistently taken into consideration while undertaking effective promotional ventures and should not be left unattended after their purchase of the products. Information gathering from the existing customers is key regarding formulation of effective strategy of promotion and offering of singular products free of cost in exchange of such information could be an effective tool since such existing customers have familiarity with the promoted products or services and could demonstrate the purchasing behaviour of the targeted customer segment more accurately.

Point-of-Sale Promotion and End-Cap Marketing

These two methods of promotion involve store based sales and promotion of products and services. The factors of customer convenience maintenance and stimulation of impulsive purchase behaviours are the core constituents regarding such a strategy of promotion. The products and services which any store could be promoting could be displayed at the End-Cap situated at the end of the aisles in the general purpose stores. The approach involves greater accessibility management of the customers regarding such products. In case of the Point-of-sale method the products or items which could be under promotion are placed at the checkout point within the store so that the customers could be confronted with such demonstration of product and could often purchase the same out of purchasing impulse while they could be in line and waiting for their check out.

Customer Referral Incentive Program

This is oriented towards providing adequate encouragement to the existing customers to refer the promoted products and services to potential customers. The emphasis is generally concentrated on the provisioning of effective incentives to the existing customers in the form of discounts, product handouts and rewards such as cash value. The objective is to utilise the customer bases as instrument of sales in the overall promotional strategy.

Above The Line (ATL) and Below The Line (BTL) advertising and marketing

As per the opinion of Kelley, Sheehan and Jugenheimer (2015) are two significant advertising approaches which had evolved during 1954 when the company Proctor and Gamble had paid the hired advertising agencies at a rate which signified the organisational intent to formulate specifically divergent marketing and advertisement efforts being directed towards their customer bases. In this context, ATL advertising is the method through which brand promotion is performed through the utilisation of the mass media. This is oriented towards the communication of the brand identity to the targeted consumers. It is a comprehensive media management based marketing policy where conventional and electronic media such as newspapers, journals, radio, television and the Internet are utilised simultaneously. ATL advertising and marketing method is not compatible to the necessity to target specific consumers. Instead, ATL targets the widest array of customers. On the contrary, the BTL advertising method is more compatible to the necessities of targeting particular customers. This method of advertising involves the utilisation of different printed instruments of product and brand promotion such as stickers, brochures, pamphlets, handbills while the customer could be engaged at the point of sale. Various placards, banners and other handouts are utilised for this purpose as well. Other instruments of Below The Line advertising are product demonstration and samples handouts. The emphasis is placed on the formulation of direct outreach programmes to customers.

Current Trends in Promotional Methods

The communication of your business to your customers or members of the public is highly and very important and you must do this by showing the benefits of your product or brand in a captivating, convincing and irresistible way in order for them to buy. I have learned during my studies that communicating the message is critical, in fact it is more important than the product itself.

Using the right tool in communicating the message to customers is really the business or organisation prerogative as they would know which method is the best or most suitable to use to convey these messages and also it will depend on other factors like how big the organisation is, what is their budget, how much does the product cost, which method will be more effective, etc. So promotional methods used by business includes:

Advertising

Direct and e-marketing

Viral marketing (social media: Facebook, Twitter)

Public Relation (PR)

Sponsorship

Sales promotions

Exhibitions, Conference and Sales events

Personal selling

As the world is evolving so fast in this 21st century especially technological wise, it is changing the way we interact and socialise with one another and so, many businesses and big organisations tend to tap into the ever-growing technological ways to advertise their products and brands across the globe to different works of life. There are new and contemporary trends in promotional methods that are surfacing every day, they include:

Mobile Marketing: Is a multi-channel, digital marketing strategy aimed at reaching a target audience on their smartphones, tablets, and/or other mobile devices, via websites, email, SMS and MMS, social media, and apps (uk.marketo.com). According to their research it was considered that about 80% of internet users own a smartphone, mobile platforms such as smartphones and tablets host up to 60% of digital media time for users in the US and Google anticipated that by the end of 2015 search queries on mobile phones will surpass desktop searches.

Co-Branding: As per smallbusiness.chron.com definition; Co-branding of companies is a joint venture that combines the advertising efforts of two or more brands to create a new consumer product, co-branding can be an effective way to build business, boost awareness, and break into new markets. There have been quite a few companies that have partnered together in co-branding over the years; examples are Nike and Apple, BMW and fashion giant Louis Vuitton, Uber with Spotify to mention a few.

Content Marketing: There are different definitions to content marketing but according to the Content Marketing Institute it is define as “Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action”. Content marketing consists of different online advertising techniques like blogs, vlogs, podcasts, webpages etc.

Online Advertising: Also known as Internet advertising isa marketing strategy that involves the use of the Internet as a medium to obtain website traffic and target and deliver marketing messages to the right customers. Online advertising is geared toward defining markets through unique and useful applications (techopedia). This includes internet tools like search engine optimization (SEO), Google AdWords and so on.

Importance of Branding in Promotion

“A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers” (American Marketing Association).So, what is branding? A very good definition of branding was given by the branding dictionary website, it defines it as: “The process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumers' mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers.” Having a unique and distinguished branding has helped a lot of companies today and over the years to achieve constant and continuous success in the promotion of their product. In addition to this, we need to emphasize the importance and benefits of branding in promotion.

Creating customer awareness: Branding creates customers awareness, it makes customers to recognize that particular brand or product. The importance of this is palpable from the perspective that extensive measure of awareness amongst existing and potential customers could generate the interest for availing the products or services associated with the brand and this could effectively engage and sustain the attention of the targeted customer base. This interest could then be translated into actual purchasing behaviour through which sales promotion and competitive advantages could be achieved.

Gains the attention of the buyer: Branding gets the attention of the buyer by helping cut through the clutter and noise of marketing communications with which purchasers are bombarded. It helps consumers reduce information in their minds and focus on a recognisable entity; the trusted brand that has been etched in their minds through advertising and other promotional activities. The significance of directing the attention of the buyer towards the preferred brand is comprehensible from the product differentiation and brand value improvement perspectives. This also enhances the prospect of brand loyalty amongst the existing customers.

Strengthens the product characteristics and aids decision making: Branding strengthens the key characteristics of the product - the vendor's unique selling proposition to the customer e.g. quality, origin, personality, fashion, aspiration, customer service etc. Buyers who buy the same brand know they can rely on its trusted characteristics every time. A trusted brand is one that consumers will not hesitate to purchase. The brand aids decision making. Think how many times you have chosen an established or quality brand (e.g. Apple), without even checking the product specifications, simply because you trust the brand. This is of utmost significance universally since this aspect of the branding strategy in promotional activity could furnish proper and real time feedback of the customers to the business organisations and such information could be better utilised to improve the key aspects associated with the products or services offered so as to extend their competitive capabilities and curtail the danger from substitutes and products and services of similar quality.

Desirable attributes influence purchasing: A strong brand is often associated not just with direct benefits but other desirable attributes as well, such as with the coffee experience and Starbucks. This aspect is indicative of the efforts undertaken by the different organisations to foster brand loyalty within the customers through providing them with the most desired and preferred attributes so that the perception of appropriateness of the value of return on the incurred expenses in form of the product or service prices could be reinforced within the psyche of the customers.

Associates with multiple products: A brand with a well-established name enables the linking with other numerous products especially if such products are new in the market but by this linking, customer that know your brand already will purchase any products that has your brand name on it.

Strong brands command a premium price: The benefit of a strong brand is that it can command a premium price. Customers are prepared to pay more for the reassurance of a quality brand (e.g. Bosch for white goods, Apple for mobile phone, tablets, and music devices). Aspirational and luxury brands (e.g. Rolex watches, Louis Vuitton, Ferrari, Gucci) also command a high price.

Set competitive position: Although certain brands command a premium price, not all brands are designed to compete at the top end of the market. Branding can establish competitive position; for example, Aldi deliberately brands itself so that the customer associates Aldi with value for money.

For a brand to be effective it must be relevant to the customer; understanding customer needs, wants, tastes and preferences.

Assignment 2

Task 1

Premier Weekends launched by Premier Inn

Premier Inn is the UK’s largest and leading hotel brand, with more than 750 hotels and 65,000 rooms across the country, it was established around 1987 and owned by its parent company Whitbread (Wikipedia). Premier Weekend was introduced and launched by Premier Inn on the 21st of May 2010 featuring famous comedian Lenny Henry, it was an initiation andpart of the UK’s biggest budget hotel chain’s drive to encourage people to make the most of their weekends.

All communication will highlight Premier Offers, which is Premier Inn’s value room offer where guests can book rooms sleeping up to a family of four for just £29 per room per night. Steve Conway, Head of Marketing at Premier Inn says: “Our ‘Premier Weekends’ campaign cements Premier Inn’s position as the leading hotel brand in the UK. This new creative illustrates that we are located in some of the most beautiful parts of the UK as well as city centres, and that we are keen to offer our guests a great weekend break.” (Premier Inn News)

Lenny Henry, the face of Premier Inn says: “Filming the latest adverts has been a lot of fun; working with Paul Weiland and the creative team was inspiring and I think they have created something very special. In these adverts you see me making the most of the weekend in and around a Premier Inn Hotel - going crazy on the dance floor at a wedding; hiking; fly fishing; and playing golf - a lifelong love of mine. What more could a guy ask for?”The campaign was created by Premier Inn’s advertising agency, Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe / Y&R, who also created the last two advertising campaigns that have featured Lenny Henry, and was directed by Paul Weiland. ‘Premier Weekends’ will be supported by a fully integrated print media, public relations and digital campaign. (Premier Inn News 21/05/2010)

The Objectives of the Premier Weekend Campaign are to:

Make guests visiting the hotel to feel brilliant through a great night’s sleep.

The rationale of this objective is to enhance the customer interest in availing the services of the hotel so that sales promotion could be realized. The reason for selection of this objective is to stabilize the sales generation prospects and maintain the same through customer perception management. Re-engagement with the old customers and encouragement of the potential customers for availing the services of the hotel could be the two strengths of this format of an objective. This also serves the tourism season based service sales management through providing the most satisfactory experience to the hotel guests.

Guarantee everything is premier except the price

Sustaining of customer happiness and satisfaction is the core component for any hospitality sector based organization such as the Premier Inn. This involves consistent engagement of the attention of the customers to the quality and standard of the various services which have been offered to them. The rationale of this objective is thus to foment one of the best customer experiences and positive perception of the hotel guests about the first class services which could be only available at the Premier Inn. The management of the price factor is reflective of the projection of the perception on the customers that affordability could be an inherent quality of the services offered at the Premier Inn in this context.

Provide various deals and offers especially for customers booking online

The advantage of such an objective is the generation of the optimum interests within the existing and potential customers and to extend particularly engaging marketing communication with the online subscribers. This is directly related to the early bird promotion methods in which the organisations have to ensure that potential customers could not become oblivious or forgetful about the marketing messages provided to them after the initial online research phase could be over. Incentives ensure the grabbing of interests of such online visitors and provide and effective impetus to them for early booking.

Online booking has become the predominant mode of availing every form of services throughout the world and the impact of the social media and such mode of booking has been also profound since the majority of the information regarding the availability of such hospitality services are communicated by the organizations and individuals alike through the social media platforms. Such deals and offers are meant to act as tools to entice the online casual searchers who could be evaluating the different hospitality organizations according to their service qualities and through feedbacks provided by online comments by previous visitors to such sites. This is considered as a method of competitive leverage obtainment against the other hospitality service operators.

Designed to help people make the most of their weekends by engaging in various activities

Memorable experiences for customers derived from energetic services are the most potent tools of customer retention and brand value and reputation management within the hospitality industry. The existence of the most appreciated recreational facilities has been one of the key strengths of the leading hotels internationally. This has acquired greater significance regarding the weekend based surge in the number of guests in such hotels and keeping them engaged through differential experiences of activities could serve the purpose of referral based promotion of the brand value of the hotel.

Analysis of the Promotional Mix used for ‘Premier Weekend’

When we discuss about promotional mix we cannot but also talk about the Marketing mix which encapsulate the 4Ps and 7Ps of marketing. Promotional mix is one of the 4Ps and it is used to create a product, brand or service awareness and recognition to new, existing and potential customers, it highlights the benefits and the advantages of such brand, product or services making it irresistible for customers wanting to buy or use.

It is highly crucial to understand your customers and buyers in order to develop the right promotional mix. Different people with different tastes, preferences, choices etc. has to be paramount for a business trying to penetrate a certain market.

Promotional mix consists of 5 basic elements, namely:

Advertising

This format is considered to be one of the integral aspects of the overall strategic architecture of a marketing mix based approach of product and services promotion by any business organization such as the one under consideration in this study. This is a form of demonstrative yet indirect marketing to reach the customers and utilizes various paid media which a company uses to present and promote the endorsed business products, brand identities and services to the general populace within the targeted market segments. The dual mode of advertising involves conventional advertising (offline) and non-conventional (internet based online modes) marketing. Conventional promotional modes involve Television presented, Radio announced and Print based advertisements. Multiplicity of advantages could be derived from Television presented advertisements regarding promotion of products and services in comparison to the other conventional and unconventional methods of marketing. These could be comprehended as ability to grab viewer attention in an effective manner, the capability to combine audiovisual media with effective product advertisement methods, the capacity of fostering differential emotions and empathy simultaneously and the potentiality of reaching the widest measure of audience in an instantaneous manner. However, the disadvantages associated with Television based advertising could be also multifarious. These could be understood as requirement of enormity of efforts and resources for formulation of even the shortest of advertisement clips could require multiple resources and efforts, prohibitive costs could be incurred since buying of air time is extremely expensive and the hiring of professional actors and scriptwriters and directors add to the existing costs and frequency management is problematic since each advertisement requires consistent repetition for the viewers to take notice of the promoted content.

Sales Promotion

These are very attractive strategies to lure customers to buy your product, it gives incentives on your products for a short and limited time over certain periods of the year especially festive and holiday period e.g. you have stores offering amazing discounts at Christmas and New Years times, Easter holidays period and sometimes other business offer mid-year discounts. There are also offers like buy one get one free (BOGOF), buy one get the other half price, 3 for the price of 2, coupons, vouchers etc; these schemes are used to increase sales and improve availability of product demand.

Personal Selling

This type of promotion mix is more of a word-of-mouth, face to face type of selling, it involves a two-way personal communication and presentation of the product between the seller and the buyer/customer. It is regarded as the most effective and costly form of promotion.

Direct Marketing

This form of promotion involves direct contact with intended group of people who have been selected for a particular promotional offering, it entails the use of email, text messages, flyers, handbills, printed mails etc.

Public Relations

This is when organizations/businesses establish and portray a good and complimentary image of their products or brands to the public, their customers, audiences by way of organizing promotional events and activities in order to increase sales and demands; examples are generating favorable media coverage, TVs and radio presentations, hosting special events, sponsoring charitable campaigns, grand openings, press releases, seminars etc.

The above mentioned promotional campaign discussed hitherto could be considered to be able to complement the marketing mix related criteria regarding making the promotional strategy a success. This could be better comprehended from the following perspectives:

1: The building of awareness

The promotional mix would be able to formulate better awareness amongst the customers regarding the product, promotion and the prices under consideration since the advertisement and sales promotional undertakings could effectively address the necessity to manage awareness formulation regarding the customers with specific information provisioning systems involving the specifications of the offered products or services and providing references to accessibility for the potential purchasers. This could effectively entail the rebranding of any declining product or service as well so then extension of the product life could be a definite possibility. The advertising and sales promotions also serve the communication element of the extended marketing mix.

2: Creation of Value

The hitherto mentioned promotional mix would be able to ensure proper value creation in tandem with the marketing mix since the components of the promotional campaign such as direct selling, direct marketing and public relations management could effectively assist in the value creation regarding the cost and convenience management as well as efficacious utilization of the process (through direct marketing), people (through public relationship management) and physical evidence (through direct selling methods) factors.

3:Product differentiation

The developed promotional mix could effectively complement the marketing mix principles on the aspect of product differentiation to gain effective competitive leverage within the market conditions. The elements of product, place, promotion and price could be effectively managed by the advertisement, sales promotion, personal sales and direct marketing components of the promotional mix. Apart from this, the element of convenience and customer management could be addressed effectively through public relations operations.

Target Market for the Campaign

A target market is basically a comprehensive and extensive marketing plan that helps a business to identify and focus on its targeted audience and create a segmentation of people that needs or would benefits from purchasing your products or using your services. Organization needs to understands and try to perceive not only customers behavior and attitudes but also their responses, actions and reactions towards the products or services they are offering. Market Segmentation is very important when organisations are targeting market,market segmentation is a necessary first step before the marketing mix is developed to target customers. Not only are the buyer characteristics distinct in different market segments, but reactions to marketing efforts can also be expected to be different. The goal of marketers is to satisfy customer needs by creating value. However, customer needs are not always the same, not all products will appeal to everybody in the chosen market. Segmenting the market is, therefore, necessary; the process of market segmentation enables organizations to select and deselect markets and customers. This is a cost-effective approach, by focusing on a sub-set of the market with common characteristics, an organization can closely follow developments in the chosen market segments. In this way, it can identify opportunities and threats quickly and respond accordingly, it can also tailor its marketing mix for the selected segment. To fully understand the market segmentation in target market, there are distinctive characteristics of market we need to look at.

Demographic Profiling: This relates to population characteristics, such as age, gender and ethnicity. Socioeconomic factors are sometimes included under demographics and include social class, income, education and occupation. (online business school)

Geographical Profiling: These are also an important input to market segmentation. Where people live tells you about their affluence, what sort of properties they are likely to live in (expensive or cheap), and what sort of access they have to shopping options (near shopping centres or remote with infrequent/difficult access to shops). This sort of information is useful for not only pitching relevant products but also making decisions on what best promotions to offer them and how best to communicate with them. Some remote areas are better reached by local newspapers than by mass advertising through television. (online business school)

Psychological Profiling: This type of segmentation is based on understanding the psychological influences on people, this is especially important in consumer markets. Individuals don't always buy according to rational criteria, such as the quality of the product or price. It is necessary to understand what psychological factors affect their buying decisions. For psychological profiling it is necessary to identifying groups with similar lifestyles, interests, attitudes, values and opinions (e.g.middle-class mums, young professionals, fitness enthusiasts, the environmentally conscious). Psychological profiling is particularly important when selling new, radically different or innovative products. (online business school)

Behaviour Profiling: This type of segmentation is the sub-division of markets, based on buyer behaviour. Understanding how, where and when consumers purchase is at the heart of behavioural profiling. It involves knowing the reasons for purchase, how the product is used, frequency of purchase, and where the consumer is in the decision-making process of the purchase (especially important for high value purchases, such as homes or cars). Behavioural profiling focuses on the most effective communication media that can be used to reach this grouping; some groups are best targeted by electronic communications, whilst newspapers and magazines are more effective for others. (online business school)

Choice of Media in relation to the Target Market

The Premiere Weekend Campaigns comprises of different choices of media relating to the target market and it is very essential to determine the most appropriate and suitable ones which can highly promote the campaign to be successful in reaching out to targeted audiences. Examining the profiling of targeted market, I believe the visual communication type of media (Television) will be the most appealing method of gaining the trust and confidence of your audiences and customers in purchasing your products/brands amongst other types of media.

However, we will look at and evaluate the types of choices in media used in the target market, they are as follows.

Television: TV advertisement is a one-way media communication in promotional campaign, it is one of the most expensive but effective ways of creating product awareness, product recognition, brand attraction and desirability. TV advertisements tend to draw viewers’ attention and captivate their consciousness towards the image of the product or brand. It portrays a well detailed visual representation of the organisational goals of what they are trying to sell and convey to the mass public. The choice of the media could be justified from the perspective that this media platform could serve to extend the marketing and promotional messages to even those sections of the populace who are not adept in online searching and do not indulge in social media based evaluation of services. Television could be utilised to effectively grab the attention of an extensive array of the populace within the UK and could thus serve the purpose of sustained promotion of the hospitality services endorsed by the Premier Inn.

Radio: This time of media used to be the second largest media communication over the past years but starting to loosen its grip in the world of advertisement especially among young people and this is due to the fact that there are new, upcoming and interactive ways of communication. It could be a one or two-way media communication; on some occasions where audiences can call in and have discussion with the radio host. Radio are easily accessible anywhere while doing most things; people can listen to the radio in their cars while driving, riding their bicycles, jogging or running, having a bath, working-out at the gym, shopping etc. The efficacy of choice of Radio as a promotional media is also similar to that of the TV based promotion in terms of reaching an wide section of the populace and the underlying justification of selection is palpable in terms of force multiplication effect under which a multipronged strategy of promotional communication could be formulated by the marketing agencies of the company under consideration so that potential customers could be consistently reminded through all of the available interactive and singular mode information transference media about the brand value of the offered products and services of the concerned organisation.

Social Media: This is the fastest growing and interactive type of media communication of the 21st century, with the aid of the invention of android and smart phones and this could be considered to be the primary rationale for selection of this media so as to disseminate the promotional messages to the optimum measure of the targeted populace and providing the potential customers the opportunity to search and evaluate the offered information at their own accord. The Social Media has evidently become a global phenomenon spreading like wildfire. Social media communication is commonly used by teenagers and young adults; involving and engaging them in infotainment, branding cognizance, product penetration etc. One of the major benefits of this type of advertising is that advertisers can take advantage of the users' demographic information and target their ads appropriately.

Social media targeting combines current targeting options (such as geotargeting, behavioural targeting, socio-psychographic targeting, etc.), to make detailed target group identification possible. Businesses and organisations now use different platforms of social media to advertise their products/brands reaching their target markets more effectively and efficiently, these platforms are Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter etc. as many people finding themselves more engaging and interactive through social media. With social media targeting, advertisements are distributed to users based on information gathered from target group profiles. (Wikipedia)

Internet: The internet has taken over the way we do things like shopping, communicating, learning, derive information and so forth. Customers and buyers can surf or browse the internet about absolutely anything they are interested in and looking for; anywhere they are located and at any point in time. Nowadays people can easily book their holidays, vacations, business trips online without too much stress just by the click of button, they can do this while on the go on their phones, tablets, iPads or while at home, in the office on their notepads, laptops or computers.

A large percentage of Premier Inn bookings are done online either on their website or mobile app, others are done using price comparison websites like Booking.com, Trivago, Hotels.com etc. Google, Bing and Yahoo are also search engines that provide information about Premier Inn for people looking for hotels and accommodations.

Newspaper: This is one of the oldest forms of advertisement from generation past and still very much relevant in today’s world. Businesses ads are placed in sections of the newspaper for readers to see these could be in the newsletters section, articles written about hotels, publication of columns for the hotels etc. According to Hollebeek, Conduit and Brodie (2016), the newspaper readers could be considered to be the first ones who could avail a new product or service within their respective communities as well as their social circles. Thus, the rationale of selection of newspaper based print media for promotion is palpable from the perspective of appealing to these first subscribers of hospitality services so as to build the necessary momentum for the brand identity of them concerned hotel. Furthermore, newspaper readers could be also expected to be more vocal in their social circles concerning the discussion of the advertised hospitality services and are also inclined to search online for greater extent of information regarding the advertisements.

The Marketing Mix

To develop the right marketing mix for the purpose of formulation of the most effective, far reaching and suitable product promotional methods, it is essential to understand customers at the onset of such planning. The purpose of segmenting the market is – to achieve multiple aspects associated with the development of product promotion. The most important ones could be understood to be the identification of the distinct behavioural and product preference based characteristics of customers and then develops specific categories associated with their buying behaviour. These categories then come to identify the different segments of the targeted market. In this way, the company can gain insights into what customers buy, where they buy, what price they could be willing to pay and how best can they be reached and communicated with. This is the marketing mix of product, price, place and promotion; the set controllable factors that establish market positioning and influence customer demand.

Today, organizations, particularly in the services sector, taking a customer-centric view of the marketing mix have extended the 4P's to the 7P's - to include the additional variables of people, process and physical evidence. (online business school)

Product: This is what the company has to offer to its clients and customers, this can also be called the market offering. According to Premier Inn they provide rooms with the following facilities: a luxury kingsize Hypnos bed, lightweight yet toasty duvet, choice of firm and soft pillows, power shower (and bath in most rooms), freeview TV with 80 channels, free Wi-Fi 24/7, tea and coffee making facilities, cocooning blackout curtains and hairdryer.

Customer service is highly paramount to Premier Inn so every customer is dealt with utmost care and assistance when its needed and above all they promise you a great night sleep.

Price: One of the best thing about Premier Inn is their premium pricing, they offer affordable low-cost prices for their rooms as compare to their competitors. Although room prices are graded by location and time of booking nevertheless they are still quite cheap to other hotels with such good quality. Premier Offers is a strategic way Premier Inn has used to conquer the hotel market, these particular rooms are called the value room where guest can book rooms sleeping up to a family of four for just £29 per room per night. (Premier Inn news)

Promotion: This refers to the methods by which the market offering is communicated to potential customers in the market segment. Premier Inn has developed several ways and has used different avenues over the years to promote the benefits and offers they have in order to persuade customers to use their hotels. Lenny Henry a famous British comedian was used as the face of Premier Inn (Premier Weekend) offering a good night sleep with good quality room for really cheap price, they also offer two kids get a free breakfast for every adult who orders a Premier Inn Breakfast etc; these are all part of the promotion used.

Place: This refers to decisions on who will sell the product and where, it is concerned with making decisions on distribution channels on the basis of target market coverage, demographics and geographical coverage. Under this category of marketing mix the issues of inventory, transportation, supply chain and logistics are included. (online business school)

Advertising

The promotional method through advertisement could be integrated with the price and place factors of the marketing mix structure. The hotel under consideration could provide effective sales messages and information to the targeted customers through television and radio broadcasting regarding the convenience of the location of the hotel at Salford and the affordable price structure. This could be alternatively interpreted as integration of the pricing and place based strategy with that of the promotional platforms for the purpose of marketing objective achievement.

Sales Promotion

Sales promotional methods generally are oriented towards the development of greater attractiveness of the products and services endorsed by any company to convince the customers to buy or avail the same. This method of promotion closely compliments and integrates the product and promotion based elements of the Marketing Mix and could be considered to be reflective of the coordinated pricing and product value projection strategies. Two examples could be discounts and special meal coupons which could assist Premier Inn in generation of publicity for the Salford hotel branch.

Premier Inn has got 750 hotels located across the country and a few around the world, their hotels are situated in major city centres, airport environment and along motorways. Premier Inn also uses its mobile app and website to attract customers to its business and this has worked really well for them. According to bighosptality.co.uk, in the first few months of launching the Premier Inn mobile app it was downloaded 250,000 times and has generated over £1 million in additional revenue.

Furthermore, the new website went live in November 2008 and has increased visits by 80, and now the site helps to attract over three million visits per month (Annual Report, 2009).

Task 2

Whitbread has decided to open a new Premier Inn in Salford which is my community, a well detailed and structured planning will be vital and crucial.

Aims and Objectives for the Proposed Campaign

Creating awareness about the new proposed campaign.

The awareness creation of proposed campaign could serve the organisation under consideration to effectively obtain the product and service promotional objectives. This could be considered to be the initial step through which the improvement the value and sales proposition of the products and services of the organisation could be initiated. The practical method would be to concentrate upon projection of the value of services entailed by the hotel through effective online and offline based advertising campaigns.

Promote the hallmark of your services and hospitality alike

This is of critical importance since this could positively contribute to the product differentiation objectives and could boost the sales generation perspectives. For any hospitality industry, the core strength regarding competitive advantage attainment is the propagation of the superior value of the offered hospitality services since this could effectively foment interest in the customers to avail such services.

3:Initiate consciousness in the locality about the qualities and benefits of the hotel

This objective is directly associated with the aspect of providing physical evidence to the existing and potential customers, as has been enumerated within the marketing mix principles. This is also oriented towards providing the hospitality services of the hotel under consideration with real presence within the immediate and extended localities. This could entail a particular form of response from the targeted populace and the assessment of such information could enable the hotel under consideration to modify and upgrade the marketing strategies.

4. Develop a good and reputable customer relationship amongst local residence

This could be considered as an effective tool in terms of utilisation of the marketing process of world of mouth based product and services promotion. Furthermore, this could as well enable the hospitality organisation under consideration to formulate effective brand image on a persistent basis.

5:Organise seminars and forums about what Premier Inn would contribute to the community, e.g. employment

This objective of the concerned hospitality organisation is reflective of the aims of providing of information and reinforcement of the brand identities associated with the services of this organisation. This objective is necessary in terms of serving the purpose of the Premier Inn to maintain the adherence to the corporate social responsibility and to further the enhancement of brand identity associated with the company. Community support garnering through emphasis on the dynamic services of the organisation could be another purpose in this regard.

6: Emphasize on the businesses progression and profit making

This constitutes a logical continuation of the previous aim where the interested customers of this hospitality organisation could have been made aware of the services and their benefits by the Premier Inn through various activities, however, this could bring forth the necessity of a continuation of the institution of the purchasing behaviour on part of the customers. The fundamental aim is to convince the potential hospitality service customers about the brand value and superior services of the organisation. This is also indicative of behaviour modification amongst the potential customers where the interested segment of the populace could perceive the benefit of availing the services provided by such a leading hospitality service organisation.

7:Provide customer care and support to gain their trust and maintain market positioning

This aim is fundamental in terms of ensuring long term survival and growth of the hospitality organisation under consideration as customers are the sources of the revenue return on service investments by hotels such as Premier Inn. Gaining the trust and preference of the customers could assist the organisation to sustain the most appropriate standardised hospitality service performance so as to reinforce the brand value of the organisation as well as foster customer loyalty towards the brand of identity of the hotel.

Choice of Target Market for the Campaign

As a new business just starting out, it is highly important and pivotal to choose the right target market as this would determine the success or failure of the business in the nearest future.

At the initial stage, the target market is required to be analysed to determine whether it could be a leisure or business market. This could be performed through the analysis of the nature of services and data of the customer profiles which could be availed through effective market research. Concerning the analytical study which has been performed so far, the market under consideration could be identified as a leisure market. According to Graham (2016), there are four different market activities which could be considered to be the constituents of a leisure business. These are spectator viewership based spots such as football or tennis, films, broadcasting activities and travel & tourism. Since the services of the Premier Inn are specifically characteristic of the hospitality sector based hosting of guests and travellers, thus, this market consists of the leisure business.

Evaluate and examine thoroughly the market offering – this is the services and hospitality that will be provided to customers, making sure the surroundings and rooms are kept clean and tidy with basic amenities needed for customer’s comfort and satisfaction. Using the process of market segmentation – I will identify the different categories of potential customers who are likely to patronise our services looking at factors like age, family size, occupation, gender etc and also assessing their needs and wants according to their lifestyles, hobbies, interests, values etc.

Furthermore, I would need to take into account the presence of other hotel rivals and competitors that are currently operating in the locality as I would be perceived as a threat to their business operations, so I need to be more strategic in aiming to sell my services in a more persuasive way to my target market in an attempt lure them with irresistible offers and promotions.

Study and get more insight about the locality so as to capitalise on areas/approaches that has not yet been discovered in the market and utilise them to my advantage in gaining more customers. It will also be prudent to choose my target market from all works of life, as everyone deserves to enjoy themselves, have a bit of fun and be able to spend quality time with their loved ones.

Suitable Promotional Activities

There are quite a few promotional activities that I can use to promote the business but as this Premier Inn is more of a local one I would go with the following order:

Itinerary package formulation

Travellers and hotel guests generally prefer to have their itinerary packages and the entire trip of theirs planned for them. The hotel could effectively undertake promotion through formulation of ready-made itinerary packages so that specific guest profiles could be served with immersive recreational experiences, especially regarding the population of Salford. Family package itinerary could be a prime example of this with special tickets to the local attractions for the local guests and sumptuous meal voucher for the international guests at the restaurant of the hotel. Another service example for such promotion could be tickets to the play centres for children where parents could also avail differential recreational activities such as spa treatments. These activities could be concertedly advertised to project the special offers and services available with the hotel.

Hosting special holidays

Occasions which are popular holidays including the Christmas could be observed to bring in greater rates of occupancy in the hotels both at the local and regional levels. However, effective promotional activities could be undertaken during the slow occupancy rate periods through hosting of minor holidays. Such events could include programmes which could serve the local communities through customary menu provisioning, specifically tailored for Salford residents and wit activities which could boost inter-community interactions such as particular cultural events through particular decorations and costume management. This could effectively encourage the local guests to participate and attend the programs. Various such dates could be comprehended such as the St Andrew’s day, St Patrick’s Day and even the Birthday of the Queen or the anniversaries of great events as well. This promotional method could culminate in the effective dissemination of the value and quality of the brand identity associated with the hotel through word of mouth and through direct experiences gathered at such events.

Loyalty programmes

Loyalty programmes could be considered to perceptual promotional efforts which have been in existence since the development of the hospitality industry worldwide. The fundamental emphasis is on the making the hotel guests to repeat their visits. Rewards and incentives are vital in this perspective and this could be utilised by the Premier Inn since, according to Kang, Alejandro and Groza (2015), the guests generally prefer to claim their incentives or rewards and this could enhance the probability to repeatedly avail the services of the hotel. The emphasis has to be on the making of the rewards specifically valuable for the guests and yet, helpful for the hotel to earn a profit.

Implementation of Plan

The actualisation of every proposed project or business plan is the ultimate aim in fulfilling the success of such plan, people can plan all day long but making that plan or project to come alive is the main goal. So, in order to fully execute and accomplish our goal we need a well detailed and comprehensive business plan.

In addition, this will allow us to envisage and address any problems we might encounter during the implementation of the plan with the correct solution.

Scan the Environment: By scanning the environment, we mean systematically assessing the organization's business environment in order to identify opportunities and threats that might impact the organization's strategy. Scanning is a continual activity (especially important in a fast-changing business environment) and helps the organization address the strategic conflicts. (online business school)

Define the Vision and Mission: What do we understand by vision and mission; vision is the idea or desired future state of an organisation and mission is the organisation’s purpose, identifying the scope of its operations. This is when organisation have their vision and mission statement. Premier Inn Vision and Mission: “We want to make our hospitality brands the best they can be by focusing on our customers and giving them just what they want”.

Set Goals and Objectives: Goals are the primary aim why a business is going into operation, it defines and highlights what exactly the organisation is planning to achieve in the longer run. The organisational goals could vary from number of things like expansion and having many branches, obtaining the largest market share, creating investments and wealth acquisitions etc. Similarly, objectives set out and outline how the goals of organisation will be achieved, it provides the framework of the processes needed to attain the goals; so, the organisational objective will adopt with the SMART Analysis in order to achieve the best result; which is:

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Achievable

R – Realistic

T – Time-bound

Develop Strategy and Create Business Plan: Strategy is about using the factors in the external and internal environment judiciously, so as to craft a path to achieve organizational goals and objectives. But there are probably several directions that the organization can pursue to achieve its objectives and gain competitive advantage. For example, increasing market share can be attained by a number of strategies - developing new products, adopting a value-based pricing strategy, partnering with another company that strengthens market position, developing new competencies to make a more attractive value proposition to the customer and so on. However, to make the right decision in choosing the best strategic option, we will need to consider three evaluation criteria which are suitability, feasibility and acceptability; these are used in determining the best strategic choices. (online business school)

Implement Plan, Monitor and Evaluate: There are challenges and problems faced by organisations which are caused by the changes in the environment but breaking through these challenges and succeeding to meet its organisational goals and strategies lies on the skills of its management to implement the plan.

Meeting the Objectives of the Campaign

Promote team culture and performance: Organisation where people from different disciplines and backgrounds work synergistically to achieve organisational goals leads to increased motivation, job satisfaction thereby producing a higher performance by each individual.

Enhance proficiency of workers and their productivity: By training staffs and workers to acquire better skills and knowledge and also employing experienced ones will certainly increase productivity, strengthen business growth, boost sales and services.

Procure management backing: Securing the support of the organisation management is very important as they have control and authority and can influence the direction of the business, so carrying them along or getting them onboard is very vital.

Increase stakeholder awareness and recognition: These are the backbone of the organisation, they comprise of staffs, receptionists, managers, supervisors, cleaners, chefs/cooks, gardeners etc. These set of individuals run the day to day activities of the hotel 24/7, 365days of the year so its good to appreciate them.

Address weaknesses and anticipate threats: Any sign of weakness in any area of the hotel should immediately be addressed and improve upon has this could detriment the image of the hotel and any form of things posing as a threat from competitors and rivals should be quickly anticipated and dealt with.

Utilise and exploit available opportunities: Use every available opportunity to the hotel advantages by gaining an edge and acquiring a sustainable and respectable role in the market positioning.

Conclusion

Promotion and Promotional Campaigns are techniques that are used by organisations and businesses to advertise, introduce, publicise, launch, inform consumers, customers and potential buyers about products, brands, services or even solutions that are new in the market, it can also be used to reintroduce an existing product or brand back into the market. It is intended along with captivating advertisements on the TV, internet, social media to persuade or coax members of the public to purchase these products. More importantly, though advertisement is good but it can be costly and if not properly managed it can be very wasteful without achieving its purpose, so choosing the right media for your promotional technique is crucial.

Bibliography

Premier Inn Annual Report, 2009

Bowie, D., Buttle, F., Brookes, M. and Mariussen, A., 2016. Hospitality marketing.Routledge.

Chong, A.Y.L., Ch’ng, E., Liu, M.J. and Li, B., 2017. Predicting consumer product demands via Big Data: the roles of online promotional marketing and online reviews. International Journal of Production Research, 55(17), pp.5142-5156.

Hollebeek, L.D., Conduit, J. and Brodie, R.J., 2016. Strategic drivers, anticipated and unanticipated outcomes of customer engagement.

Graham, A., 2016. Trends and characteristics of leisure travel demand. In Aviation and Tourism (pp. 51-64). Routledge.

Kang, J., Alejandro, T.B. and Groza, M.D., 2015.Customer–company identification and the effectiveness of loyalty programs. Journal of Business Research, 68(2), pp.464-471.

Howells, G. and Weatherill, S., 2017. Consumer protection law.Routledge.

Kelley, L., Sheehan, K. and Jugenheimer, D.W., 2015. Advertising media planning: a brand management approach. Routledge.