TASK D

TASK D: Compare one of Thorpe Parks Promotional Campaigns (Rush Launch) with one of the Promotional Campaigns at the National Maritime Museum (2002 Campaign).

DOWNLOAD Task D Writing Frame

What is a Promotional Campaign?

A promotional campaign is a very focussed approach to promoting a product and service. Unlike when an organisation develops its promotional strategy, a campaign has a set objective and has a start and end point. It uses a range of promotional techniques and materials. Promotional campaigns are typically used to promote a new product or service or a set period of time.

There are 5 stages of a Promotional Campaign

1. What does a promotional campaign try to achieve (objectives)?

2. Who is the target market?

3. What promotional technique(s) should be used?

4. What promotional materials should be used?

5. How can campaigns be monitored and evaluated?

Thorpe Park: Rush Launch 2005

1. Objectives

In the last few years, Thorpe Park has introduced a number of new rides. In 2005 there were two new rides: Slammer and Rush.

• Drive visitor volume through June onwards

• Assist in emphasizing the breadth of offer for Thorpe Park

2. Target Market

• Rush is visually impactful ride positioned just inside the entrance to the

park aimed to give a visually impactful impression to customers on

arrival

• Rush is positioned in Lost City themed area amongst the majority of

extreme thrill rides within Thorpe Park

Core target: 16-24 Year olds

Secondary Target: 13-45 Year olds

3. Promotional Techniques

Advertising

1. TV

GMTV

First ride on launch day 27th May

2. Radio

Kiss FM (Radio Station)

- Rush Adverts live on air from 23rd May

- Rush 1,000 free entry promotion communicated through a Kiss FM newsletter (mailed 26th May)

- Rush Banner of Kiss FM Website Live 20th May

3. Virgin Radio

- Bank holiday weekend promotion to launch Rush

- DJ’s to talk up 1,000 free entry promotion

4. Newspaper

National

- Daily Mirror report published about the exclusive first ride 27th May

- Sunday People advertising launch 1,000 free entry promotion

Regional/Local

- Metro and Evening Standard will run adverts to promote grand opening

5. Internet

- New Rush Banner to be put on website with countdown timer

6. Public Relations

- Many media sources as seen above have be provided with information about the Launch via several Press Releases. The Mayoress of Runymede will attend the opening ceremony and cut the ribbon to open the ride.

7. Sponsorship

- Thorpe Park and Rush sponsor the KISS FM Drive Time Show.

8. Sales Promotions

- To celebrate the launch of Rush the first 1,000 adults to come dressed in school uniform will enter the park for free. There is also a free gifts that will distributed by promotion girls and stilt walkers to all who ride Rush. There also will be golden envelopes that will be given out at random that have £10 of money vouchers that can be spent in the park.

4. Promotional Materials

1. Leaflets

- Leaflet communicating the 1,000 free offer will be handed outside School

- Disco Night at Hammersmith Apollo 21st May.

- In park communications (flyers) given out from April onward at exit

2.Posters

- As visitors enter the park there will be a a countdown to rush message poster that will continue until they get to the ride e.g. Rush to Rush 30 metres.

- There will be posters put over the normal Rush signage and Posters that read Grand Opening 27th May

3. Merchandise Materials

- Rush does not have its own shop like Stealth and Detonator. Merhcandise is available at the megastore. Rush rock sweets will be given out for free on the day.

4. Press Releases

- Press Releases were provided to the press about the Rush Launch. Media from the local and regional area have also be invited to attend.

5. Internet

- New Rush banner on website home page with countdown calendar

New artwork in central panel with Rush launch date and offer

5. Monitoring and Evaluation

All organisations will monitor (check on) and evaluate (make judgements about) the success of their promotional activities and particularly their promotional campaigns. It is easier to monitor and evaluate a campaign than it is general promotion as a campaign has a start and end and specific objectives. With a starting point, you know when you need to start your monitoring. When it is over you can judge how successful it was.

Success should always be judged against the objectives. If the campaign objective was to raise awareness there is no point finding out how many people visited or used a facility. You must find out how aware people are. If you are trying to increase sales, you can look at sales figures. However, if you are looking to increase sales amongst a specific target market, it may not be that straightforward as you may have no idea whether sales have increased amongst other market segments and not the one targeted. You could, however, give people a code or voucher to use and a review of the vouchers can then determine its success.

National Maritime Museum: 2002 Campaign

In 2002 the NMM is planned a general marketing campaign to promote the Museum. It featured 4 exhibitions.

Skin deep

The Voyage of Your Life

Oceans of Discovery

Beagles Voyages

Describe the objectives of the promotional campaign?

Go to the link here to see the National Maritime Museum’s objectives for their 2002 Promotional Campaign.

Who is the target market?

The following exhibitions were the subject of the promotional campaign in 2002. Find out what these exhibitions are about by clicking here and browsing the NMM website here.

Who do you think the target market is?

Skin deep

The Voyage of Your Life

Oceans of Discovery

Beagles Voyages

What promotional technique(s) were used?

This includes various components, e.g. advertising, personal selling (trade exhibitions, etc), public relations, direct marketing and sales promotion. The marketing department ensures that the most suitable promotional materials are targeted at travellers' decision-making points.

Click here to find out what promotional techniques were used in the campaign. There are a few pages to look at.

What promotional materials were used?

Click here to find out what promotional material were used in the campaign. Again there are a few pages to look at.

How was the campaign to be monitored and evaluated?

Click here to find out about how they monitored and evaluated the campaign.

TASK C

TASK C: Assess the range of promotional techniques and materials the organisation uses, including research methods used to identify target markets.

Teachers tips
- to assess something you must talk about its advantages an disadvantages (its good and bad points)

DOWNLOAD Task C Writing Frame

Promotional Techniques

Promotion is one of the 4ps. It is about how you let your actual and potential customers know about the products and services you provide.

There are many different ways you can go about this and these are called the techniques.

1. advertising
2. direct marketing
3. pubic relations
4. personal selling
5. displays
6. sponsorship
7. demonstrations
8. sales promotions

This is what you assess using the table under the following headings:

1. Target Market
2. Objectives
3. Quality of presentation
4. Use of colour and images
5. originality of design

Promotional Materials

You should assess these using the AIDA technique:

1. advertisements
2. brochures and leaflets
3. merchandising materials
4. videos
5. press releases
6. internet sites

Research Methods

Marketing is about ‘getting the right product, to the right people, in the right place, at the right price, using the right promotion.

How does an organisation know it has got it right? How does it know who the right people are? How does it know what product they want and the price they want to pay? How do they know if they have promoted it in the right way?

Organisations know because they use market research, another marketing tool. You research something to find out information. Market research is used to find out about the market – who they are, what they want, what they like etc.

There are different ways that organisations can conduct market research. The way they use it can depend on what information they want, how quickly they want it, how much money they want to spend and how they plan to use it.

What do Thorpe Park do?

This is to help answer: How does Thorpe Park find out who their Target Market is?

Postal Surveys

These are questionnaires that are sent to people by post. Many organisations have a list of their customers with their addresses. This can be used as a mailing list to send their customers information or surveys.

They can find out what their existing customers think about what they are doing or planning to do. They can also use this to find out more about their customers.

Thorpe Park use an ‘exit survey’. This is basically a postal survey because it is given to people as they exit or leave the park and they are asked to fill it in at their leisure and post it back.

Advantages

• it is cheap as no interviewers have to be trained
• it is quick – questionnaires can bet sent out and returned in a week or so
• people can take their time and give thoughtful answers
• honest answers may be more likely to be given because there is no interviewer

Disadvantages

• only around 20% will be returned
• some questionnaire can take several weeks to be returned
• they are impersonal and people can not be bothered to fill them in
• people might leave sections blank as they have no help to complete them

Personal Surveys

Just think, if Thorpe Park asked their entrance gate workers to ask everyone who came into the Park what they though about the new ride, would they have got a better response rate?

If the entrance workers asked one or two questions that only needed simple answers like yes/no or a point score between 1 - 5 they probably would. It would take less than one minute for each person and answers could be quickly noted on a sheet of paper; few people would refuse to give an answer.

At Thorpe Park, the management are provided with a PSION PDA. This is a handheld computer. Software has been installed so that they can use it to conduct personal surveys as they walk through the park. The surveys relate to different parts of the park. In these materials, you can find the surveys relating to 'RIDES, 'FB' (meaning Food and Beverages) and 'CLEANING'. These are put onto the PDA and the managers can quickly make note of the answers. They are then stored on the PDA and downloaded onto the computers in the Marketing Department later in the day. The results can then be analysed using computer software.

Advantages

• good response rate once people have been stopped in the street
• help can be given if people do not understand the question
• people have time to think about their answers
• people may feel that their views are valued when they are interviewed personally

Disadvantages

• they are more expensive because trained staff are used
• does not cover as wider area as postal surveys
• the interviewer may suggest answers so it will not be accurate
• some people avoid interviewers as they are feel uncomfortable
• it can take along time to gather a small amount of information

Observation

This is when you watch what is happening in order to form an opinion. For instance, if you want to know how long people are queuing for a ride at Thorpe Park you could observe one person as they join the queue, noting the time and then see what time they get on the ride. This is useful if you want to put up a sign saying ‘30 minutes from here’. This is something that Thorpe Park do.

You can use observation to see at what point people are getting fed up with queuing for a ride. You can tell this from their body language, the things they talk about with their friends, how animated they look. This can be important because you might want to organise some entertainment or something for them to look at while in the queue.

Using observation is important because not everyone answers questions truthfully. When you have been queuing for a ride for an hour you can get fed up. If the ride is really good you can forget how fed up you felt when you were queuing so any questionnaire or interview might not get accurate results.

Advantages

• you can actually observe what people do, not what they tell the researchers they do
• observations can be done over time, allowing to observe changes

Disadvantages

• need permission from customer (not always got)
• can only occur in the Park

Thorpe Park encourages staff to feedback on anything they observe that could help improve the organisation. This is an informal system of research. They simply tell their supervisor or manager if they observe anything. There is no formal way that this is then fed into the marketing team.

Observation can also mean using ‘focus groups’. This is where a group of people are invited to attend a meeting. The people are carefully chosen to reflect the type of people that use the organisations facilities and buy their products and services. If 52% of people that visit Thorpe Park are male, then their focus group would be 52% male. If 70% of people are under 60, then 70% of the focus group would be under 60.

Advantages

• can provide a lot of information

Disadvantages

• expensive (people often paid to take part)
• time consuming
• small number of people so may not be accurate

Internet

Thorpe Park has a section on its website were customer can review the rides they went on.

Advantages

• it is much easier to write a review as you don’t have to find a stamp and a post box you can just return the email or submit the form,
• and because it is sent electronically it is much easier to analyse the results as you can set up a spreadsheet or database in advance so that as soon as the
• information is received the information goes straight to the relevant file in the computer. This can save money on analysis as you don’t have to pay a member of staff to input the results and you are not paying any postage costs.

Disadvantages

• not all people have access to the internet

TASK B

TASK B: Include an item of promotional material you have produced for the organisation, designed to attract a particular target market.

Teachers tips
- your promotional material must be innovative and creative (something different)
- it must clearly show who the target market is do this by matching images, words and and graphics relevant to the target market
- the promotional material should be printed in colour

Promotional Materials

A wide range of promotional materials are used by organisations. Some examples of promotional materials are below:

1.Brochures and Leaflets
2.Advertisements e.g. posters and flyers
3.Merchandise
4.Videos
5.Press releases
6.Internet sites

Advertisements use different media such as:

1. Radio
2. Television (terrestrial, satellite and cable)
3. Cinema
4. Teletext
5. Newspapers
6. Magazines
7. Billboards
8. Internet
9. Buses, trains and other forms of transport
10. Sports venues

Producing the Promotional Material

Whatever type of promotional material is used, it needs to be planned. You have to select the appropriate content. This varies depending on the purpose and audience (target market) for example,
• if you are promoting a new ride do you give details of all of the rides?
• if it is for over 55s do you give details of all the facilities for young children?

As well as information about the product, the content should also include relevant information about costs and access.

You then need to think about the space available:
• if it is an advert you are not limited by space except that the more space you use the more it will cost so cost can determine space,
• for radio and TV advertising, space is time.
Structure - you have to think about the order in which you present the information.
• What comes first?
• What goes at the end?

Usually you will focus on what you are trying to promote. Information about costs and access has less emphasis and will often be at the end.
Once you have decided on the content and structure, you have to think about how you communicate this information:
• Will it all be in writing or will there be images?
• What information will be represented by images?
• What type of images?
• Does the target market suggest some images are more appropriate then others?

You will also have to think about the style and tone of the words that are used.

Again, you have to think about your target market:
• would under 5s be able to read detailed information with lengthy technical terms?
• would business people be happy with information that is simplistic and basic?

This planning process doesn’t only apply to advertisements. Advertisements are only one type of material. The same amount of planning needs to be given for posters, leaflets, press releases, websites, merchandise etc.

All of this planning is to make sure you produce promotional material that is effective – that makes people aware of what you are selling. Key questions are:
• will more people buy your product?
• will more people attend your event?

What should you promotional material promote?

Need ideas! Thorpe Park has 3 new products planned for 2007. Click here to find out more.

Writing frame to explain your promotional material

Teacher tip
- use the following writing frame to justify your promotional material, make sure you have read all the information above first!

DOWNLOAD Task B Writing Frame

My (promotional material) is designed to promote....

I got the idea from....

In my (promotional material) I have included....

The target market it attracts is....

You can see this because....

The reasons I have decided to design my (promotional material) like this is because ....

The type of information I have included in my promotional material is....

I felt this was important to include because....

TASK A: Describe the 4P's in relation to Thorpe Park and show how they work together to achieve Thorpe Park's objectives

Products and Services

Teachers Tips
- You must describe the full range of products and services a list is not good enough
- You must describe both products and services

Although, almost without exception, a new attraction is launched every year and the main launch communication will focus on that, general communication about the rest of the Park is required. Theme Parks provide a whole day out for the family and it is not just about the rides. The other attractions, places to eat, games, photography, and the atmosphere all play an important part in delivering a great day out.

A PRODUCT describes the goods or services offered for sale by organisations. It is through the product that the customers' needs are satisfied.

A SERVICE is something offered by an organisation that benefits the customer.

Products

The main products at Thorpe Park are the rides.

The main rides are listed below:
1. Stealth
2. Colossus
3. Detonator
4. Nemesis Inferno
5. Rush
6. Slammer

There are also other rides at Thorpe Park that can be divided into three sections:

1. Thrill Seekers
2. Families
3. Young Families

Services

Thorpe Park has a range of services it offers visitors:

1. Eating and Drinking
2. Shopping
3. General Facilities
4. Ride Photography
5. Disabled facilities

Price

Teachers Tips
- Include details of all pricing
- When describing the price of different tickets actually quote the price
- Discuss the different pricing methods used by Thorpe Park

There is a complex pricing structure for the Park which aims to maximize the revenue the Park can achieve with its targeted number of visitors. Marketing will review the pricing each year and along with the finance department look at how the budgeted targets can be achieved through the pricing matrix. Advance bookings help to reduce the queues at admissions as visitors already have their tickets and can go straight into the Park.

The main ticket prices at Thorpe Park are here

Pricing Methods

Charging the right price for a product is difficult. Thorpe Park needs to cover costs and make a profit. Thorpe Park uses different methods to arrive at their ticket price.

Competition Based Pricing
* Thorpe Park is influenced when setting prices (e.g. Alton Towers and Chessington)
* The price is set to be fairly similar to avoid a price war between these organisations

Market Orientated Pricing
* Thorpe Park looks at what is going on in the market when they set their prices
* It looks at what customers are willing to pay at certain time in certain situations e.g. Senior, family and group pricing

Peak and Off Peak Pricing
* For school trips only Thorpe Park offer peak and off peak pricing
* Peak - higher prices when the park is busy
* Off Peak - lower prices to encourage more visitors

Discounts
* Thorpe Park offers discounts on their normal prices e.g. large groups, students, seniors and schools
* This makes Thorpe Park appeal to a wider range of customer

Special offers
* Products are offered at a special low price, this encourages the sales of product

Place

Teachers Tips
- When you describe place do so in your own words
- Describe why place is important to Thorpe Park
- Include at least two maps at different scales to show the location of Thorpe Park

Thorpe Park has to make its products available to customers at the right place at the right time.

The Thorpe Park website has an excellent section on place here

Place key points
1. Thorpe Park is located close to London the most populated area of the country
2. Thorpe Park employs many people and therefore needs a big population nearby
3. Visitors travel along way to get to Thorpe Park so good transport links are important such as motorways, rail stations and airports
4. Thorpe Park is not located in a city because it is covers such a large area and the land would be to expensive and there would not be enough space

Promotion

Teachers Tips
- Use examples when you describe different types of promotional techniques Thorpe Park uses

Thorpe Park has to tell its customers about its products. It uses the following Promotional Techniques to do this.

Advertising
* This involves the publishing, displaying and broadcasting of information about products and services. It is one of the most common promotional techniques.
* Examples: TV, radio, posters, newspapers, internet, magazines, public transport

This is a TV advertisment for Colossus

Direct Marketing
* Involves sending information direct to customers homes
1. Direct Mail - sending letters to people through post
2. Telemarketing - directing selling over the phone

Public Relations
* Thorpe Park wants a good image with the public
* They give the media information (press release) that is then portrayed to the public
* This can be on TV or in the newspaper at national and local level

Personal Selling
* Thorpe Park use personal selling at special events, it is selling face to face
* Example: Fright Night - selling scary masks and glow sticks

Sales Promotions
* Used to encourage people to buy products, aim to give a short term boost to sales
1. Money off vouchers
2. Discounts
3. Competitions
4. PR Promotions
5. Combination offers (e.g. Thorpe Park and Anchor Butter)

How do the 4 P's work together?

Teachers tips
- You must show how the 4P's work together in order to meet the Thorpe Parks Objectives
- Do not describe explain how they work together
- You only need to do four objectives

Thorpe Parks Objectives

1.To attract new visitors to the facility

2.To maintain the highest levels of health and safety

3.To raise awareness of new products and services

4.To improve sales of merchandise

5.To maintain existing visitor numbers

This is a good way to set it out: