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MARKETING COMMUNICATION PROJECT Student name: Student ID: Professor name:

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Table of Contents 1. Executive summary.....................................................................................................................4 2. Introduction:................................................................................................................................4 3. Context analysis:..........................................................................................................................5 3.1 Current market trend in alcoholic spirits in United Kingdom:..................................................5 3.2 Respective market share of competitors of Glen’s Vodka in UK market:.................................6 3.3 Marketing communication strategies adopted by Glen’s Vodka in last three years:.................8 3.4 Competitions faced Glen’s Vodka in UK market:....................................................................10 3.5 Issues and challenges faced by Glen’s Vodka in its marketing communication strategies:.....11 4. Communication objectives:.......................................................................................................12 4.1 Specific:...................................................................................................................................12 4.2 Measurable:..............................................................................................................................12 4.3 Attainable:................................................................................................................................12 4.4 Realistic:..................................................................................................................................12 4.5 Time Bound:............................................................................................................................12 5. Communication strategy:...........................................................................................................13 5.1 Segmentation:..........................................................................................................................13 5.2 Marketing mix.........................................................................................................................13 6. Creative strategy:.......................................................................................................................14 6.1 Innovative communication strategy:........................................................................................14 6.2 Others innovative communicate strategy:...............................................................................14 7. Media strategy and plan.............................................................................................................14 7.1 Promotional mix:.....................................................................................................................14 7.2 Outdoor communication..........................................................................................................15 8. Budgets evaluation:...................................................................................................................16 2

9. Conclusion:................................................................................................................................16 Reference list.................................................................................................................................17

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1. Executive summary The current study mainly focuses on the marketing communication of Glen’s Brand in United Kingdom. It has been figured out that brand awareness and products of the brand is supposed to be very poor due to many reason. The counterfeit of selling vodka by the others organisation has major impact on the brand image and brand value in the UK market. On the other hand, it has been also figured out that market trend in spirit industry is also changing due to passage of time.

Most of the young people generally like to toast with their friends with cocktails rather than vodka. However, value of vodka among the alcoholic lover people are still there in the market. It has been figured out that Glen’s Brand is facing a good deal of threats from its rivals named Smirnoff and Absolut in the UK market. The brand needs to make consumer aware about the products and offering and quality of services. Communication process of the brand must be improved in order to gain the market opportunity. The brand should have to implement communication mix strategy in order to promote the products and services and make the customers aware about the brand in UK market effectively.

2. Introduction: The study deals the marketing communication plan of Glen’s Vodka brand in UK market. It has been pointed out that marketing communication plan is required in order to make consumes aware about the offerings. On the other hand, effective marketing plan is also helpful for creating brand value of brand awareness in the unique target market. Apart from that, this particular study also focuses on the key competitions faced by Glen’s Vodka in UK market. The marketing communication strategies adopted Glen’s Vodka and faced issues and challenges are also critically discussed. At the end of the study, various types of recommendation have been made for the effective marketing communication based on the issues and challenges faced by the brand in UK market.

Glen’s Vodka is supposed to be one of the leading brands of Vodka, which is owned and produced by Loch Lomond Group. Loch Lomond Group is one of the well-established British companies in United Kingdom. From the current data and evidences, it has been observed that Glen’s Vodka brand was considered to be the second bestselling spirit in United Kingdom in 4

the year of 2014. The brand has also occupied specific place to the minds of consumers across the world including UK (Glen's Vodka, 2015).

Figure 1: Logo of Glen’s Vodka brand (Source: Glen's Vodka, 2015)

3. Context analysis:

3.1 Current market trend in alcoholic spirits in United Kingdom: After the extensive secondary researcher, it has been noticed that market trend in spirit industry is rapidly changing due to advancement of social life and awareness. It has been noticed that previously most of the people like to have beer in most of the party and occasions. Now things get changed, there is supposed to be increasing demand of cocktails by the consumers in UK market. On the other hand, it has been also noticed that consumption of cocktails in last two year get increased by more than 11%. On the other hand, people are also thinking about the price of the alcoholic products and affordability. Cameron and Haley (2009) stated that social and cultural life of the UK people is supposed to be different to great extent from that of other countries. It has been also observed that women are more likely to than men to consider premixed cocktails and it is also supposed to be considered to the health and personal appearance.

On the other hand, it has been also seen that consumption of Vodka by the UK people are also appreciated to great extent. Most of the people belonging to high class and society love to 5

consume vodka in some special occasions. Laborie (2010) argued that immense popularity of cocktails drinking has made positive impact on the trade and off-trade sale and profitability of spirit in United Kingdom. From the market research, it has been pointed out that cocktails have been most popular choice of the UK people. Most of the bars in UK are considered to be specialized in the cocktails. Gin and Tequila are the most popular and famous spirit that is mainly used in cocktails and vodka as well. Apart from that, one of the key trends that emerged in UK spirit industry is that most of the young adult including male and female are increasing the turning towards the off trade consumption due to the current economic climate.

According to Cigliano et al. (2011), young adult generally like to drink at home rather than going out and this trend is known as pre-loading. From the current ratio, it has been marked that preloaders drink on average of 76% more on night out than non- pre-loaders. On the other hand, half of the young adults in UK now celebrate the special occasion at home rather than going out due to major change taken place in the current economic climate. People of age group 18-14 are more likely to be fascinated towards the addiction of alcoholic spirit and they now like to toast the moments with their friends and family at home (Clancy, 2012).

3.2 Respective market share of competitors of Glen’s Vodka in UK market: From the secondary research, it has been seen that there are so many well established vodka brands in UK market that occupied different market share in the market. Smirnoff has occupied high market share in UK market. On the other hand, Absolut is also performing well in the UK market and occupied market share next to the Smirnoff.

Name of the brands in UK Smirnoff Absolut Grey Gosse Glen’s Vodka Ketel One Others

Market share 26% 18% 16% 11% 4% 25%

Table 1: Market share of competitors of Glen’s Vodka in UK market (Source: Store.mintel.com, 2015) 6

30% 26%

25%

25% 20%

18% 16%

15% 11% 10% 4%

5% 0% Smirnof

Absolut

Grey Gosse

Glen's Vodka

Ketel One

Others

Figure 2: Market share of competitors of Glen’s Vodka in UK market (Source: Store.mintel.com, 2015) From the above table and figure, it has been pointed out that Glen’s Vodka has only occupied 11% of market share in UK market. On the other hand, Smirnoff has occupied high market share of 26% in UK market (Datanyze.com, 2015).Adding to this, it has been also measured about the brand effectives and awareness in unique target market. The above figure provides a comprehensive picture about level of competition faced by Glen’s Vodka in current business spirit industry of UK. From the extensive market research, it has been noticed that there are so many reasons for poor brand equity of Glen’s Vodka brand in UK market.

The episode of counterfeit Glen’s Vodka sold in London has great negative impact on the brand equity and values of the Glen’s Vodka. This not only impact on the value of the brand but also on the sale of products and profitability of the brand in the UK market. On the other hand, implementation of the proper marketing communication plan is also supposed to be major issues for the brand that diminish the value and loyalty of the brand in customer target market of United Kingdom(Datanyze.com, 2015).

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3.3 Marketing communication strategies adopted by Glen’s Vodka in last three years: Corsten and Kumar (2010) opined that communication is supposed to be one of the major parts of the business activities. Effective communication with the external business market is required is order to understand the current market trend and perception of the consumers. It has been noticed that attitudes and behaviors of the consumers are continuously changing in the spirit industry. The business organisation should have to adopt effective marketing communication tools in order to make products aware to the customer and to create brand value in the market.

Glen’s Vodka over the last three years has primary focused on different marketing communication tools in order to create brand value and equity in the market (Cova and Dalli, 2009). The marketing communication strategies adopted by the brand is nearly based on the promotional mix.

Figure 3: Marketing communication tools adopted by Glen's Vodka (Source: Coviello et al. 2013, p.56) Sale promotions: Brownlie and Saren (2014) opined that sale promotion is mainly considered to be the all activities related to increase the sale volume of the products and services. It has been figured out that Glen’s Vodka has made a good attempt to create brand value and brand equity in 8

the UK market. On the other hand, primary purpose and aim of management of the brand is to make the target audience aware about the new products and services introduced on the products.

The management of the brand used various types of coupons, product sample and point-ofpurchase display in order to promote the products and services in the market effectively.

Event and experiences: The brand has also organized different type of events and television show in order to give good experience and information about the products. Ballantyne and Varey (2009) opined that awareness of the products and serviced mainly depends upon the promotion of the products and services. Glen’s Vodka has conducted different types of events in order to get the attitudes and perception of the consumers in the target market.

Public relationship and publicity: According to Wood (2011), relationship of the consumers with the brand plays an important role in increasing the sale of products and services. It has been noted that Glen’s Vodka has organized so many public meeting, conferences and business meeting and press conferences in order to develop good relationship with the target market. On the other hand, Glen’s Vodka in UK market also adopted innovative communication system in order to communicate with them.

Advertisement: Percy (2010) opined that advertisement is supposed to be the most of distinctive ways to promote the products and services in the target market. It has been figured out that consumer in the market generally come to know about the products and services and their specification through the different means of advertisement. Glen’s Vodka has adopted social media marketing tools in order to promote and advertise the new products and services to the customers. The management of the brand understood that in the modern era, majority of the people use social media sites in order to get more and more information. Laborie (2010) also suggested that social media sites also have major impact on the people of different and all age group. Glen’s Vodka has advertised its products and services through different social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+. On the other hand, Glen’s Vodka also advertises its products through the television, newspaper, celebrity endorsement and radio.

Websites: Cameron and Haley (2009) opined that providing online platform to the customers is supposed to be one of the best ways to influence the purchase intension of the consumers and brand value. It has noted that most of the people generally like to place order online for their 9

products at home. The online facilities offered by the company helps consumer to make the loyal to the brand to great extant. Glen’s Vodka also offers its online services to UK consumers. The brand provides online platform based on the latest technology, which are convenient in using and giving good experiences of information technology. Adding to this, the brand has also focused on the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in order to make the online communication with the customers better.

Direct marketing: Clancy (2012) stated that direct marketing is also considered to be one of the most appreciated ways of advertisement, which is generally concerned and directed to the target audiences. It has been seen that Glen’s Vodka has adopted direct marketing tool in order to target premium consumers only. The management of the brand mainly send message regarding the promotion and introduction of the products and services to the premium targeted consumers their personal e-mail. One of the primary goal and objectives of adopting direct marketing by the Glen’s Vodka is to influence the target audience to purchase the products and increase the sale volume.

3.4 Competitions faced Glen’s Vodka in UK market: Parente (2009) opined that market competition is natural in the business world. In the UK market, competition is generally seen in all industry. Spirit industry is also marked by its high market competition with their major competitors. Glen’s Vodka is considered to be the leading brand in United Kingdom. The company has won the health of drinking people by providing quality of alcoholic spirits and value of services. It has been figured that the brand has also faced good deals of threats from its competitors in UK market. From the secondary research, it has been pointed out that Smirnoff, Absolut and Grey Gosse are supposed to be the main competitors in the UK market. Glen’s Vodka brand is mainly facing the threats from its rivals in UK market in term of quality of products and price of the product. Percy (2010) pointed out that the strengths of the Smirnoff in UK market are becoming the main weakness of Glen’s Vodka in the same market. There is high level of competition between Glen’s Vodka and Smirnoff in the unique target market.

Excellent brand equity and eye-catching advertisement of Smirnoff in UK market is supposed to be the main reason for high competition with Glen’s Vodka brand. On the other hand, Glen’s 10

Vodka is also facing good deal of threats with its main rival named Smirnoff in term of distribution network also. Apart from that, Wood (2011) stated that UK alcoholic spirit market is generally led by the various types of multinational breweries. It has been noticed that Heineken UK Ltd has ranked in the position of first in both beer and alcoholic drinks. In comparison to the vodka, beer is considered to be more concentrated categories in UK market. Most of the people in UK prefer to toast the party and special moments with beer rather than vodka. Apart from that, competition has also been seen among the different brands in the promotion and advertisement of the products and services.

It has been noticed that Smirnoff has quickly adopted innovative strategy in digital marketing in order to promote the products. Ballantyne and Varey (2009) suggested that Glen’s Vodka‘s promotional strategies, however based on digital marketing but it sometime fails to aware consumers in the market to great extent. Due to the bargaining power of the consumer in the market, level of competition is also very high among the brands in spirit industry.

3.5 Issues and challenges faced by Glen’s Vodka in its marketing communication strategies: Corsten and Kumar (2010) opined that there are so many issues and challenges faced by the Glen’s Vodka brand in UK market. Counterfeit vodka labeled offered by the others brands is supposed to be the major issues for the brand. As per the current report delivered by the spokesman of Glen’s Vodka, it has been noticed that “Quality of the Glen’s Vodka is our first priority and issues of counterfeit affects the whole spirits industry to great extent”. On the other hand, changing market trend in spirit industry is also considered to be the major issues for the brand. Clancy (2012) opined that figured out that awareness of the consumers about the products and its quality is also defined as the one of the crucial issues for the brand. Most of the consumer in UK market is not aware about the Glen’s Vodka due to poor promotions and advertisement of brands and its products and services. Adding to this, Cameron and Haley (2009) pointed out that there is a communication gap between consumers and management in order to satisfy the market demands and requirements.

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4. Communication objectives: 

To communicate with the external business market in order to increase the brand and

 

product awareness To establish the brand value and brand image in the unique target market.

To promote and advertise the products and services in the market effective

4.1 Specific: The above formed objectives are supposed to be specific as Glen’s Vodka needs to communicate with the external market in order to increase the market share. The objectives are said to be specific because achievement of it will increase the market share of brand in target market.

4.2 Measurable: The objectives are also supposed to be measurable as these can be achieved through the proper management and communication strategies. One can easily measure the effectiveness of the created objectives as it is real and so make a sense.

4.3 Attainable: The objectives can be achieved if the management of Glen’s Vodka implements proper and effective communication strategies. The proper implementation of communication mix strategy will sure increase the brand aware and this impact on the market share of Glen’s Vodka.

4.4 Realistic: The above created objectives are considered to be realistic as these can be achieved. The objectives are generally formed as per understanding the market analysis. Hence, it can be easily achieved if the communication planning is done properly.

4.5 Time Bound: These all objectives can be achieved within a year if the Glen’s Vodka brand adopts effective communication strategies into its business process and activities.

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5. Communication strategy:

5.1 Segmentation: The primary market segmentation of the Glen’s Vodka brand will be teen agers and high income group. The brand will target people belonging to age group 18-30. On the other hand, the brand will also target on both rural and urban regions in order to increase the brand awareness and increase the sale of products and services. Apart from that, people of high society in UK will also be targeted in order to gain high competitive advantage in market.

5.2 Marketing mix The Glen’s Vodka should have to think about the 4Ps of the marketing mix for the complete brand awareness. The brand can communicate with the unique target market by implementing effective marketing mix strategy into the business operation.

Pr om oti o n

P la ce

4 Ps o fma rk eti n g mi x

P ric e

Pr od uc t

Figure 4: 4Ps of marketing mix (Source: Ballantyne and Varey, 2009, p.78)

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6. Creative strategy:

6.1 Innovative communication strategy: Glen’s Vodka should have to adopt latest innovation in the area of information technology for the brand awareness. The management of the brand needs to develop Mobile Apps for the better assessment of products and services by the consumers. The implementation of IT infrastructure into the business process of the Glen’s Vodka will help to promote the brand to great extent

6.2 Others innovative communicate strategy: Development of Glen’s Vodka Mobile Apps provides a new dimension to the consumers to purchase the products and get various types of information concerned with the products. Apart from that, Glen’s Vodka also should have to adopt digital marketing in order to promote and advertise the products and services to the huge target audiences.

7. Media strategy and plan

7.1 Promotional mix: As per understanding the issues and challenges faced by the Glen’s Vodka in UK market, there are so many recommendations can be made in order to overcome the issue and problem. It has been figured out that consumers are less aware about the quality of the products and service offered to them. Glen’s Vodka primarily should have to focus on the brand building in order to communicate with the external market. The implementation of communication mix supposed to be the good option in increasing the brand value and products awareness in the market

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Directma rketing

Sale promtin

Pub licreations

Elemnts ofcmun icationmx

Personal eling

Ade rtisment

Figure 5: Elements of communication mix (Source: Cameron and Haley (2009, pp.89) Although, the brand has adopted effective promotional mix strategy for the communication and creating value for the customers in marketplace, but the brand should have to pay attention on the advertising campaign, marketing mix and uses of latest innovation. It has seen that advertisement campaign of Absolut is considered as one of the most outstanding across the world until the present day.

7.2 Outdoor communication Unlike the Absolut, the Glen’s Vodka needs to follow the advertising campaign in order to promote the products and services effectively. On the other hand, marketing mix is supposed to be major part of marketing concept and communication. Consumer in the market generally influences through the products, price, place and promotion.

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8. Budgets evaluation: Brownlie and Saren (2014) opined that successful implementation of the proposed communication strategies into the Glen’s Vodka require some budget. Glen’s Vodka will have to spend huge deals of revenue on these following categories: Budget categories Advertisement campaign Public relation Advertisement ( Print) Advertisement (Online) Event and sponsorship Promotional activities Software and subscription Marketing mix Total

Total required budgets $60,000 $30,000 $8,000 $11,000 $120,000 $90,000 $65,000 $180,000 $565,000

Table 2: Required budget for proposed marketing communication strategy and plan (Source: Created by author)

9. Conclusion: From the above discussion, it has been concluded that Glen’s Vodka has able to create value for the consumers in UK market. The marketing communication strategies adopted by the brand over the last three years were supposed to be good and effective in order to make the consumers aware about the products and services. The brand has also faced different types of issues and challenges that reduced brand value and brand equity to great extent. Counterfeit of Glen’s Vodka is considered as one of the major issues for the brand. On the other hand, it has been also figured out that Glen’s Vodka can over the issues faced in its external business market by doing outstanding advertisement campaign, adopting IT infrastructure and effective marketing mix.

The promotion strategies must be based on the digital marketing in order to aware the consumer about the quality of the products and value of the services.

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Reference list Books Parente, D. (2009). Advertising campaign strategy. Fort Worth: Dryden Press.

Percy, L. (2010). Strategic integrated marketing communication. Amsterdam: ButterworthHeinemann.

Wood, M. (2011). The marketing plan handbook. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Journals: Ballantyne, D. and Varey, R. J. (2009). “Creating value-in-use through marketing interaction: the exchange logic of relating, communicating and knowing”. Marketing Theory, 6(3), p.335-348 Brownlie, D. and Saren, M. (2014). “Beyond the one-dimensional marketing manager: The discourse of theory, practice and relevance”. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 14(2), pp.147-161.

Calder, B. J. and Malthouse, E. C. (2014). “Qualitative Media Measures: Newspaper experiences”. International Journal of Media Management, 6(2), pp.123-130.

Cameron, G. T. and Haley, J. E. (2009). “Feature Advertising: Policies and Attitudes in Print Media”. Journal of Advertising, 21(3), pp.47-55.

Cigliano, J., Georgiadis, M., Pleasance, D. and Whalley, S. (2011). “The price of loyalty”. The McKinsey Quarterly, 9(4), pp.68-77.

Clancy, K. J. (2012). “The Coming Revolution In Advertising: Ten Developments Which Will Separate Winners From Losers”. Journal of Advertising Research, 30(1), pp.47-52 Corsten, D. and Kumar, N. (2010). “Do Suppliers Benefit from Collaborative Relationships with Large Retailers? An Empirical Investigation of Efficient Consumer Response Adoption”.

Journal of Marketing, 69(3), pp.80-94.

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Cova, B. and Dalli, D. (2009). “Working consumers: the next step in marketing theory?”

Marketing Theory, 9(3), pp.315-339 Coviello, N. E., Brodie, R. J. and Johnston, W. J. (2013). “How firms relate to their markets: An empirical examination of contemporary marketing practices”. Journal of Marketing, 66(3), pp.33-46.

Laborie, J. L. (2010).“Managing Brand Experience: The Market Contact Audit”. Journal of Advertising Research, 45(1), pp.9-16 Websites: Glen's Vodka, (2015). Home page. [online] Available at: http://glensvodka.com/ [Accessed 2 Dec. 2015].

Datanyze.com, (2015). Keynote Market Share and Competitor Report | Compare to New Relic, Pingdom,

Google

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https://www.datanyze.com/market-share/wpm/keynote-market-share [Accessed 10 Dec. 2015].

Store.mintel.com, (2015). Vodka - UK - Consumer market research report - company profiles market trends - 2009. [online] Available at: http://store.mintel.com/vodka-uk-march-2009 [Accessed 10 Dec. 2015].

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