LIGHTSPEED ZULU MEDIA PLAN Justin flatt 11 november 2011
Company History Lightspeed Technologies was created by a goup of people that previously worked for Tektronix, a large electronic instrumentation company. Lightspeed Technologies manufactures precision audio equipment and instrumentation for aviation. In 1996, they took the market with their Active Noise-Cancelling headsets, gaining Lightspeed Technologies attention in the aviation community. The product, which was priced very competively, easily and quickly grabbed 10% of the market for ANR headsets. This success led to the creation of Lightspeed Aviation, Inc. Lightspeed began marketing their products to be “…the quietest, most comfortable aviation headsets while offering a compelling value to general aviation and proffesional pilots.” Lightspeed quickly became known as the innovators for such technology in the aviation community and grew to become the ‘standard’ for ANR headsets. Their products, as well as their customer support, have increased their popularity and resulted in domination of the ANR market. In 2007, they launched a new product, Zulu, which became the new technological buzz that soon became the premium standard for competitive companies to follow. From clairty, comfort, and andvances in technology, aggressive price differences of their competitors, Lightspeed was a company widely know in the aviation world.
Media Objectives & Strategies Media Objectives
Increase sales for Zulu by at least 10% in 1 year while effectively staying under $600,000 budget
Inhibit competitors from arresting Zulu’s climb to the top of the market
Use imaginative and creative new media to grow brand
Target males, age 25-64 with household income of $80,000 or more, married, with 2-3 children
Use media to communicate the advantages of Zulu over competitors
Maintain and grow awareness of Zulu by continually reaching effective percent of aviation population
Media Strategies
Focus on seasonal marketing- May-December
Use air shows and events as marketing opportunities for Zulu throughout the seasonal year
Increase presence in Social Media to grow WOM advertising by taking advantage of “hangar talk”
Focus on features offered with Zulu that compare or succeed to competitors at cheaper price range
Concentrate 50% of budget on new media (Sales promotion, event marketing) to shift away from traditional media
Determine which online aviation organizations accept advertisement and implement advertising online using these venues
Note on Traditional Media
Traditional media is still recommended for sake of presence and for bottom percent of consumer audience, however focus will be shifted towards newer, more advanced media
Competitive Analysis Bose was founded in 1964 with the quest for better sounds as its main goal. In 1968, Bose became widely appreciated and proclaimed as they created a new speaker system that reproduced sound in live concert quality. Their systems approach has paved the way for numerous Bose solutions, resulting in the creation of new, advancing technology that is prevalent and can be found in the Olympics, the Sistine Chapel, NASA space shuttles, and all the way to the Japan National Theatre. Bose still maintains over 90% awareness in the aviation community. In 1989, along the same time Lightspeed produced the technology, Bose created their fist Acoustic Noise Cancelling headset. This headset actively reduces airplane noise, enabling more effective noise reduction in a comfortable headset. Bose hit the market running with the innovation of the new headsets utilizing the most current and advanced technology. In 1998, Bose was awarded the Aviation Consumer Product “Product of the Year� for their newly launched ANR headset that featured proprietary. Bose, which currently holds about 40% of the market, has become a major competitor to Lightspeed, providing ANR technology with similar benefits and features of Zulu. However, Bose maintains a broader, more recognized brand advantage which accounts for such a high market awareness in the aviation community. Lightspeed must create and continue to use a strategy to market and establish a brand advantage in the pilot community, advancing their corporate values and products to become recognized more in the aviation community.
Target Audience Snapshot of Persona
Gender: Male
Age: 25-64 (Average 45)
Income: $80,000+
Marital Status: Married with 2-3 children
Education: College degree or college credits
Geographic Distribution: North America (US & Canada)
Lifestyle Characteristics: o Politically conservative o 70% are church-goers o Technologically interested o Risk taker o Likes anything sporty (motorcycles, planes, cars) o Active in outdoors o Enjoys social events and gatherings o Subscribes to both aviation magazines and aviation websites o Attends air shows and events regularly
SWOT Analysis
Weaknesses
Strengths
Recognized in market Priced lower than market standard Innovators of ANR headsets Reputable customer service Quality products Broad geography presence Recognizable values in business world 20% of market share
Implementation of new media Substantial budget Niche company competing against ‘do-itall company’/focused Target persona reachable with budget Innovating market standard Technological product development Feature rich products Promotion easy at air shows and events
Opportunities
General aviation <1% of US population Brand awareness lagging behind competitors Not implementing new/current media Seasonal market/not year around Broadening promotion of brand in such a wide geography
Instable economy could impact sales Competitors copying trends Market consistency during stagnant months of year Brand awareness is shadowed by competitors Product lifecycle/ keeping up with the trends
Threats
Geography Lightspeed is interested in marketing to North America which included the continental US and Canada. This will include both national and regional spot markets to cover the broadest range of aviation consumers. The budget will be divided up, $400,000 to national markets, with the remainder going towards spot marketing. Markets will consist of the following regions: o Arizona o California o Florida o Georgia o Illinois o New York o Ohio o Pennsylvania o Texas o Washington These markets consist of the bulk of our target audience, consisting of the majority of airports, general aviation pilots, and aviation interests.
Timing Since 80% of aviation sales take place between May-December, there is no reason to exhaust the budget during this time; rather, Lightspeed can utilize the stagnant time as a chance to use traditional media to grasp attention of the population that still is engaged in the aviation economy during the off months. Traditional media has proven its success over many decades and can be utilized here and can be a more cost effective way to remain consistent in the market than extending the bulk media throughout the entire calendar year. Magazines and radio will be used to promote Lightspeedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s products as well as their participation in events and shows that will take place in the coming months. Our purchases will be minimal during the off months, keeping the bulk of our budget to be spent on months from May through December. Attached is a flowchart plan for media selection breaking down month by month for the year. This includes all ratings, budget, and timing of media used.
Media Mix Magazines: Magazines have been selected that have a high subscription rate with the aviation community and a high ROI for the avionics for pilots. The magazines selected will include:
Avionics
Rotor & Wing
Both magazines should provide 30 GRPs, respectively. Due to the majority of the budget going towards non-traditional media, these two magazines will be the only ones with advertisements purchased to save the budget for other mediums. The magazines will consist of Full-Page, 4 Color ads. The cost for both magazines is:
Avionics- $8,654
Rotor & Wing- $7,645
Web: Online advertising is a must with a technological audience like this. The target person is always looking to the internet to research the aviation community. All websites will consist of “leader board” type ads on the page. The websites and cost are:
www.avionicstoday.com - $175 CPM (impressions)
www.landings.com - $124 CPM (impressions)
www.aopa.org - $265 CPM (impressions)
Ads will maintain on media websites throughout year to draw attention provide information on upcoming events.
Newsletters: Avionics Today also offers newsletters offered to their audience of over 18,000 subscribers. News letters are mailed out every week to the subscribers and give a chance for thousands of general aviation pilots, professionals, and military to see Lightspeed’s products. Lightspeed will place an ad in the news letter one week a month during the months of May through December. The cost will be:
“Content Box”- $950/week o 1/week x 8 months (May-December)- $7,600
Blog Sponsor: Leading up to air shows in North America, there will be buzz and talk online about the shows and what to expect. This is a crucial time to capitalize on consumer awareness to provide them with the correct information of what to expect from Lightspeed. Lightspeed can sponsor the whole blog for the duration of the blog leading up to the event, allowing for “buttons” to be placed on the blog site as well as a newscast video starting by noting the sponsor of the blog. The rates for the duration of the blog are:
Exclusivity- $4,500/week (or duration of blog if longer than week leading to event)
Promotional-Events and Shows To promote Lightspeed Zulu, it is crucial to promote face-to-face with the target consumer. To do this, Lightspeed will take advantage of next year’s air shows and events to promote their products and brand, as well as offer special incentives for new consumers and old. The events range from $8,000-$30,000 depending on location and time of year, as well as business and promotion. To provide best chance to display to entire target audience, Lightspeed will attend only shows that are in the peak season for aviation. Shows that Lightspeed will attend 2012:
May 4-6 Central Texas Airshow- Temple, TX.
May5-6 Canadian Aviation Expo- Ontario, Canada
May 19-20 March Field Airfest- March AFB, CA.
June 29 Freedom’s Call Tattoo- Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio
July 11-15 Arlington Fly-In- Arlington, WA
August 25 Thunder Over the Coconino Fly-In- Williams, AZ
Cost for all shows will range between $48,000- $180,000 total for travel, set-up, booth rental, and other fees.
Social Media: Social media is attracting a storm of attention to the advertising community right now, and anybody that has anything to do with tech will be a part of the media outbreak. Lightspeed has to take advantage of media such as Facebook and YouTube. YouTube is an effective way to advertise either using spot categories or advertising on website as whole. The price for YouTube advertising:
Targeting entire site- $1 CPM (impressions)
YouTube content categories- $2 CPM (impressions)
Google Adwords is a product of advertising for YouTube and must be used to target entire YouTube website. This proves beneficial though because it advertises for Lightspeed via YouTube, but also increases Lightspeed’s presence on Google’s search engine, helping achieve a better SEO.
Facebook uses a CPC method to advertise with on their website. The more times that someone is directed to Lightspeed’s website due to clicking on the ad, the more Lightspeed pays for the advertisement. This is the cost per click method. The ads display similar to YouTube, making it easier to categorize ads towards target persona with interest in Lightspeed products. Ads are indefinite as long as account is open and Facebook and Lightspeed come to a negotiable agreement of CPC. Average CPC for ads on Facebook:
$0.40- $1.20 CPC Depending on ad, pictures, and target persona.
Facebook also uses a built in program to provide insights on advertising that comes at no additional cost.
This also allows Lightspeed to determine where they want the advertisements to target, geographically.
Media Plan The media that Lightspeed will select to utilize this year focuses primarily on events and shows as well as internet. There will also be traditional media employed to help achieve greater functioning of new media being implemented. With regards to budget, Lightspeed will focus the majority on new media integrations. The changing market, as well as the increasingly growing popularity in technological tools and devices, will help Lightspeed successfully execute their media strategies, gaining results highlighted in the media objectives. Lightspeed will increase the rate at which they actively engage in the market audience by attending and promoting at more aviation events. This will engage Lightspeed in expanding consumer awareness and increase brand recognition for Lightspeed Zulu. The need for brand recognition in the market field for ANR headsets is a must, assuming competitors such as Bose continue to progress in the market as well. The use of magazines will not be discarded due to the readership of this niche market segment. When compared to other market segments, aviation magazines appear to have a low subscription base. But aviation is such a unique and exclusive audience that the reader base is loyal to the aviation magazines and will most likely take notice in what magazines feature. With the technological and electronic world advancing faster than society can keep up with, the involvement in social media seems a must in any successful business venture today. Lightspeed can make use of social media to grab attention of those more involved on internet sites, such as
Facebook and YouTube, and draw them into Lightspeedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bullâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s-eye, increasing brand awareness and ultimately driving sales upward. Lightspeed will integrate this plan into their marketing decision, utilizing all of its components to the fullest extent of the budget to achieve the goals set forth by the company. The increased brand recognition of Lightspeed will also increase the recognition of the Zulu headset, concurrently. Implementation of this plan will be started at the beginning of next year.