Reflective essay on McDonald’s

 

As the world’s largest chain of quick service restaurants, McDonald’s serves more than 64 million people in 118 countries each day. In the UK, there are over 1,200 restaurants serving around three million people daily and employing more than 92,500 staff, with £43 million invested in training and development each year. As a part-franchised organisation, more than 65 per cent of McDonald’s UK restaurants are owned and operated by independent business people.

McDonald’s first filed for a U.S. trademark on the name “McDonald’s” on May 4, 1961, with the description “Drive-In Restaurant Services”, which continues to be renewed through the end of December 2009. In the same year, on September 13, 1961, the company filed a logo trademark on an overlapping, double arched “M” symbol. The overlapping double arched “M” symbol logo was temporarily disfavored by September 6, 1962, when a trademark was filed for a single arch, shaped over many of the early McDonald’s restaurants in the early years. Although the “Golden Arches” appeared in various forms, the present form as a letter “M” did not appear until November 18, 1968, when the company applied for a U.S. trademark.

The present corporation dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Czech American businessman Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois, on April 15, 1955, the ninth McDonald’s restaurant overall. Kroc later purchased the McDonald brothers’ equity in the company and led its worldwide expansion, and the company became listed on the public stock markets in 1965. Kroc was also noted for aggressive business practices, compelling the McDonald brothers to leave the fast food industry. The McDonald brothers and Kroc feuded over control of the business, as documented in both Kroc’s autobiography and in the McDonald brothers’ autobiography. The San Bernardino store was demolished in 1976 (or 1971, according to Juan Pollo) and the site was sold to the Juan Pollo restaurant chain. It now serves as headquarters for the Juan Pollo chain, as well as a McDonald’s and Route 66 museum. With the expansion of McDonald’s into many international markets, the company has become a symbol of globalization and the spread of the American way of life. Its prominence has also made it a frequent topic of public debates about obesity, corporate ethics and consumer responsibility.

McDonald’stoo used the sostac model of marketing and here are few of the points they used under the sostac model.

1 Situation

SWOT Analysis

Strength:

Strong brand name and reputation

Sales increased 7.4% in 2008, confidence market toward McDonald.

Strong and wide communication channel in the market.

Weakness:

Narrow product lines.

McDonald brand association as junk foods.

Opportunity:

Opportunity to enlarge market, the consumers who care about healthy issue.

Slightly changing market brand image about McDonald.

Threat:

 Changing taste of the consumers.

 Public attack about obesity issue.

 

Objectives

According to the current situation, McDonald’s designs a new communication campaign to change the dietary behaviors

of a large number of people, including potential health-oriented customers and frequent junk food users. McDonald’s

new communication Campaign called “Happy Exercise And Love Touch Health (HEALTH)” project, in partnership

with WHO, nutritionists, local communities, fitness centers and various media channels, etc. This campaign initially is

planned to be carried out in U.S. during one year and later it will be brought into effect in other countries all over the

world adaptively.

McDonald’s HEALTH campaign includes organized, communication-based interventions aimed at different groups of

people and social marketing efforts that include communication activities.

Strategy

Channels of Communication

For McDonald’s psychographic segmentation and the need of passing different messages, the HEALTH campaign

focuses on advertising on TV or radio or magazines, print such as brochures, posters, scientific reports and Public

Relations such as event, endorsements, and some new channels like internet and cell phone, etc.

Communication Strategy and Promotion

 Introducing of a new clown.

Ronald is now familiar with white-face, in a canary-yellow jumpsuit, and a fire-engine red wig. Ronald is still being

strategically re-fashioned. In 1998, refashion Ronald’s hair and increase the width of the red stripes on his socks.

The idea is to introducing the new endorser into Mc. Donald, called Ronnie.

As can be seen above McDonalds did not use the entire sostac model but they did use a good few of the headings. The sostac model is very useful model for business and is a very popular model with business. If it is followed there is nearly a guaranteethat the business will do well.

reflective essay on the advantages and disadvantages of having a website

Advantages

we covered this topic in our hand-out websites and social media.

Gain a larger clientele base

Everyday more people turn to the internet for their business solutions. Whether it is to research potential contractors, lawyers, or a new product, the internet introduces consumers to businesses they never would have heard of. Now people in Europe can learn about services a company in Seattle offers by the click of a mouse. Having a website introduces a business to new consumers and helps retain them as a client.

Educate consumers about your business. Many consumers research services and products online before purchasing. By having a website, you can inform potential customers of your services or products and what separates your business from your competitors. A website will familiarize consumers with your business and make them feel comfortable doing business with you.

24 hour global presence. Consumers need information 24 hours a day. The internet is always active, and consumers around the world can look up information and conduct business at their convenience. A website allows a business to always be there for their customers regardless of the time of day.

 Keep your clients updated. Consumers feel more comfortable doing business with companies of which they are familiar. It is important for a business to keep clients updated with their latest news, services and products. A website is the best way to inform clients of specials or sales that a business is offering. This will help increase a business’ revenue.

 

 Improve communication with customers. A website enhances communication between consumers and businesses. A lot of the time consumers are interested in something on a website, but feel awkward or are too lazy to call for more information. Websites that are equipped with email forms allows consumers to ask their question in a moments notice. That is just one feature websites utilize to make communication easy. Other features are message boards, blogs, contact information and other web forms.

 

Keep the edge on competitors. The popularity of the internet and understanding of the value of a website increases everyday. Businesses that have a website are already at a huge advantage over their competitors. In addition to having a wider clientele base, their business looks more professional and established. That also goes for the design of the website. When a consumer visits a clean well structured website and an average website that offers the same services, it is a no brainer which business they will choose.

Disadvantages

Online Businesses

Online businesses operate entirely online. Many of these businesses are ruan from their owners’ homes. While startup costs and time are commonly minimal, as is the time and cost required to maintain these online businesses, there are several disadvantages to owning an online business.

Expertise Required

For one, some expertise is required – namely a knowledge of computers and the Internet in general. Obviously, many online businesses have their own websites, so some knowledge of how a domain name is purchased, how email addresses using the domain name are purchased or created, how to design and publish a website.

While, of course, it is possible to open an online business using ready-made websites and marketplaces, such as opening a store on eBay, some knowledge of computers is still required to use eBay in the first place. In addition, more professional-looking sites and e-stores tend to draw more customers; as such, some knowledge of how to maximize the appearance of the eBay store would be required, to use the same example.

 

 

 

REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO PREVENT YOUNG PEOPLE FROM SMOKING

Mass media campaigns have increasingly become a key strategy in efforts to reduce smoking among youth and young adults. Able to reach large proportions of the population, mass media messages have the potential to influence not only individual behaviors but also social norms and institutional policies, which in turn can shape patterns of population-wide tobacco use.

School based curricula alone have been generally ineffective in the long term in preventing adolescents from initiating tobacco use but are effective when combined with other approaches such as media and smoke-free policies. Prevention research should consider multiple approaches and the social conditions that influence the development of youth problem behaviours including tobacco use. Because youth smoking cessation has been understudied to date, scientifically rigorous adolescent smoking cessation studies need to be conducted with attention to high risk smokers and less than daily smokers. Tobacco prevention and cessation for young adults needs focused attention. Prevention and cessation programmes need to address other tobacco products in addition to cigarettes.

The sostac model is used once again here in this case study.

Situation the population aged from 11 to 15 who smoke. Smoking is the main cause of preventable morbidity and premature death in England. The government and many charitable group are trying to prevent this.

The Objective was to make a campaign on a pilot a film competition that took place across 10 schools and a youth club nationwide. They aimed to inspire young people and a change of attitudes towards smoking and s reduction in the amount of young people smoking.

Strategy was to cut short films and use social media to influence these young people. The power of the campaign aimed to engage young people through the creative attraction of film and new media technologies.

Tactics were once again to set up a presence for cut films on a range of social media sites. Example YouTube, facebook and twitter.

Action, this showed the films to the young people and helped them plan, reflect and evaluate the situation.

Control, overall this helped showed how powerful social media is. It empathized the importance of health and PHSE curriculum.

 

Campaigns which researched and developed their message to reach their target audience had a higher success rate than those which did

not. Effective campaigns also lasted longer and were more intense than less successful ones. The timing and type of broadcast made a

difference to their success, with older youths in one study preferring radio to television. Changes in attitudes, knowledge or intention

to smoke did not generally seem to affect the long-term success of the campaigns.

REFLECTIVE EASSY “TIMES ESSAY MICROSITE-BRIAN CLOUGH”

Times Online microsite ­ Brian Clough, The Damned United

In this digital agency moonshine media were asked by times online to create a showcase about the life of Brian Clough.

Brian Howard Clough, OBE was an English footballer and football manager. As a player Clough was a prolific goal scorer with Middlesbrough and Sunderland, scoring 251 league goals from 274 starts. He also won two England caps, both in 1959.

 

Early Life (http://www.biography.com/people/brian-clough-17163934#early-life&awesm=~oCL4pSDwPqzICr)

Soccer player and manager. Brian Howard Clough was born into a large, working-class family in Middlesbrough, England, on March 21, 1935. Clough was the sixth of nine children born into a close-knit family of football (soccer) fans. From an early age, sports, stayed at the forefront of Clough’s mind. Though his teachers claimed he was a bright boy, school never captured his interest in the same way that football did. He dropped out of school at the age of 15 to play centre forward for the small local side Billingham Synthonia, leaving in 1953 for two years of mandatory national service in the Royal Air Force.

Upon his return from the military in 1955, Clough signed as a striker with his hometown club, Middlesbrough F.C., and quickly became a fan favourite, banging in a remarkable 197 goals in 213 matches over his six years with the club. He then moved to North East rivals Sunderland, scoring another 54 goals in 61 appearances with the Black Cats. Clough’s playing career as a prolific goal scorer was cut short by a devastating knee injury suffered in a collision with an opposing goalkeeper in late 1962. Clough tried to return from the injury, which had ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament, one of the major knee ligaments, in 1964 but appeared in only a handful of games before retiring.

 

 

This case study covered some parts of the sostac model which we covered during the course. They set out their situation analyse, objectives designed a strategy tactics action and control.

Situation was where they were at the beginning. The objectives, was where they wanted to go basically. Their aim was to promote the dammed united film which was about Clough’s stormy 44 day tenure of being Leeds united manager. The strategy was how they get or meet their objectives. So the website was designed to focus on Clough’s career instead of his personal life. It showed a clean and text minimalist look. Tactics. The web site provided links videos images and articles about his managerial career. Action was simply putting the work together. Control was reviewing the situation. The feedback received praised the website for giving a fresh new outlook on his career.

reflective essay on Brogan’s view of social media

Brogan (2009)

“open source technology- we need to drive twitter and all these other open source tools deeper inside the organization, drive use of said collaboration technology inside the firewall-social cast…”

 

Social media networks were a novelty 5 years ago, but today their importance is no longer debated. Yes, businesses have definitely realized the power of social media and accepted that social media marketing has to be part of their marketing and PR mix. In the Social Media Examiner’s 2013 End of Year Report, marketers now place very high value on social media marketing: 86% of marketers stated that social media is important for their business and89% of marketers stated that increased exposure was the number one benefit of social media marketing

These are the definitive benefits of social media marketing that are listed: Increased exposure, Increased traffic, Developed loyal fans, Generated leads, Improved search ranking, Grew business partnerships, Reduced marketing expenses, Improved sales, Provided marketplace insight

Social Media is the Game Changer. It’s obvious that social media will continue to have a significant impact in 2014 on marketers and business owners

Currently Facebook now has 1.26 billion users. Facebook averages 1.23 billion monthly active users. There are 128 million daily active Facebook users in the US. Facebook averages 945 million monthly active mobile users. Facebook usage is highest in North America: Facebook has 59% of all Internet users in North America as active users. Google+ only achieves 15% and Twitter 25%.

We covered this topic in class when we discussed the “new marketing communications”. It is vitally important for a business to monitor and listen to its customers that are using social media, it prevents a bad public image  and therefore shows the business is always active when it comes to their customers. It is important to set goals and priorities. Agree a key message. Develop good content. Constantly promote social media.

reflective essay on eMarkets

eMarkets

eMarket Services provides knowledge and information about e-marketplaces in different industries all over the world. Marketing Sherpa’s US study discovered that the vast majority of people they survey rate social media marketing effective at influencing brand reputation, increasing awareness and improving search ranking and site traffic. Many organizations have a corporate blog or facebook page few have strategies in place and even fewer have written social media policies. In fact only 33 percentage of large firms have a written policy to manage brand communications and a 13 percent of small business have a written policy. (eMarkets.com2009)

How do eMarkets work?

the main trading functions and features found on business-to-business internet platforms, such as e-markets. You can see the role of these functions in the supply management process
Auctions
In an auction, a specific product or a specific quantity of products is being placed for sale. The auction starts and ends at a pre-set time. Buyers can then submit bids during that period of time. Auctions help sellers get the right price for products ranging from fish and flowers to chemicals and patents. Auctions can also be used to get rid of surplus assets and offer buyers the opportunity to find a bargain. Sometimes they are a combination of online and offline auctions, where traditional auction houses also make their auctions available online, either by themselves or in cooperation with Internet platforms. Most of these services are more than just a B2B Internet platform. They should rather be regarded as auction full service providers.
Catalogue
A list of products and services offered by the sellers. Some catalogues list product information on a general level, others are very detailed. Some are quite informative while others are more promotional. Some carry pictures and others do not. Catalogues facilitate the search for products and suppliers in industries with a wide range of products and producers. Prices published in a catalogue are generally fixed and often not disclosed to customers prior to registration since different buyers might have agreed on different prices.
Classified ads
Classified ads display offers of specific products for sale or wanted by a buyer. The ads are sorted by the type of product, brand or company. They very much resemble the “for sale” sections in newspapers or trade magazines and are often focused on an industry or a certain range of products. This function can also be called a bulletin board, where buyers and sellers post things they would like to buy or sell.

Relating back to the course work we done which ties in with this, is the section on websites and social media. It also refers to the handout we covered on the marketing and communications plan. There are four key satisfaction factors for websites high quality content easy navigation fast down loads and not forgetting updated content which is really important.

reflective essay on tesco

 

Though I’m not a fan of its jumbled cover photo, Tesco has done a good job of filling up its timeline with engaging visual content. Unlike many other retailers Tesco only tends to post one update each day, and it is nearly always related to the brand or its products. Tesco also frequently incentivises user comments by offering Clubcard points in return for sharing stories on various topics. This is a good way of driving engagement, but could also be seen as akin to paying for ‘likes’. A more natural way of encouraging conversation are the live chats it regularly hosts with various food and health experts.

In comparison, Walmart posts several updates a day and they are often just conversation starters such as caption competitions or sports chat, and these achieve a much higher response rate than Tesco’s posts. However it obviously needs to be taken into account that Walmart has 26m fans to Tesco’s 1.1m, so it’s all relative.

You may’ve heard that supermarket behemoth Tesco has signed up for Foodie.fm – a service which has been dubbed by its backers as “the Facebook for grocers”.

Launched by technology firm Digital Foodie, Foodie.fm claims to be the first social network to offer a social shopping platform for grocers via a fully integrated checkout with www.tesco.com.

Having purchased social media company BzzAgent back in May last year,Tesco is certainly not shy about using social media as part of its wider business strategy, and their partnership with Foodie.fm looks like another way of embracing multichannel more effectively.

Foodie.fm, available as free app on iPhone, Android and Nokia applications, as well as via the Web and Facebook, enables users to make friends with other food lovers and to swap cooking tips and recipes. Visitors can create an editable shopping list, based around a meal, by clicking on photos of recipes. For example, if a user was to click on the recipe for beef burgers, the shopping list would consist of  mince meat, onions, salt, etc.

The Foodie.fm site then checks availability with Tesco before the order is placed, the customer pays and delivery is arranged.

At the core of Foodie.fm is a recommendation system that learns from a user’s eating and purchasing habits, and suggests recipes and groceries that match his or her ‘taste profile’. The system takes into account personal preferences like food allergies or intolerance, as well as any budgetary restrictions. This enables users to personalise their profile and allows the site to suggest recipes and groceries to match customer profiles. It is this customised shopping list that will help the consumer plan and budget for a week, or even month’s worth of meals, and the shopping that is needed for it, in one go.

Until now, food retailers and consumer packaged goods were somewhat sheltered from the toughening economy, with 40% of people spending more on groceries than 3 months ago (according to Deloitte) – a result not just determined by inflation, but the fact that the tough current economy means that people spending are more time at home cooking for themselves rather than eating out in bars and restaurants.

However, as Deloitte has pointed out in their recent Consumer Review,  40% of the value of all transactions in non-food retail are now digitally influenced, and it’s hard to believe this influence will not impact food and consumer packaged goods too moving forward.

With this in mind, food retailers would do well to explore options like Tesco’s partnership with Foodie.fm. Given the rise of the connected customer, retailers should look at strategies for integrating social and multichannel into their offering, and should look at ways at becoming an agile and fully engaged social business

 

Though I’m not a fan of its jumbled cover photo, Tesco has done a good job of filling up its timeline with engaging visual content. Unlike many other retailers Tesco only tends to post one update each day, and it is nearly always related to the brand or its products. Tesco also frequently incentivises user comments by offering Clubcard points in return for sharing stories on various topics. This is a good way of driving engagement, but could also be seen as akin to paying for ‘likes’. A more natural way of encouraging conversation are the live chats it regularly hosts with various food and health experts.

In comparison, Walmart posts several updates a day and they are often just conversation starters such as caption competitions or sports chat, and these achieve a much higher response rate than Tesco’s posts. However it obviously needs to be taken into account that Walmart has 26m fans to Tesco’s 1.1m, so it’s all relative.

You may’ve heard that supermarket behemoth Tesco has signed up for Foodie.fm – a service which has been dubbed by its backers as “the Facebook for grocers”.

Launched by technology firm Digital Foodie, Foodie.fm claims to be the first social network to offer a social shopping platform for grocers via a fully integrated checkout with www.tesco.com.

Having purchased social media company BzzAgent back in May last year,Tesco is certainly not shy about using social media as part of its wider business strategy, and their partnership with Foodie.fm looks like another way of embracing multichannel more effectively.

Foodie.fm, available as free app on iPhone, Android and Nokia applications, as well as via the Web and Facebook, enables users to make friends with other food lovers and to swap cooking tips and recipes. Visitors can create an editable shopping list, based around a meal, by clicking on photos of recipes. For example, if a user was to click on the recipe for beef burgers, the shopping list would consist of  mince meat, onions, salt, etc.

The Foodie.fm site then checks availability with Tesco before the order is placed, the customer pays and delivery is arranged.

At the core of Foodie.fm is a recommendation system that learns from a user’s eating and purchasing habits, and suggests recipes and groceries that match his or her ‘taste profile’. The system takes into account personal preferences like food allergies or intolerance, as well as any budgetary restrictions. This enables users to personalise their profile and allows the site to suggest recipes and groceries to match customer profiles. It is this customised shopping list that will help the consumer plan and budget for a week, or even month’s worth of meals, and the shopping that is needed for it, in one go.

Until now, food retailers and consumer packaged goods were somewhat sheltered from the toughening economy, with 40% of people spending more on groceries than 3 months ago (according to Deloitte) – a result not just determined by inflation, but the fact that the tough current economy means that people spending are more time at home cooking for themselves rather than eating out in bars and restaurants.

However, as Deloitte has pointed out in their recent Consumer Review,  40% of the value of all transactions in non-food retail are now digitally influenced, and it’s hard to believe this influence will not impact food and consumer packaged goods too moving forward.

With this in mind, food retailers would do well to explore options like Tesco’s partnership with Foodie.fm. Given the rise of the connected customer, retailers should look at strategies for integrating social and multichannel into their offering, and should look at ways at becoming an agile and fully engaged social business

Coca Cola

Coca Cola uses Integrated Marketing Communications in order to communicate with its target.

It is a pioneer company in 360° communications as they rapidly understood they had to get in touch with consumers to create links and to look for them wherever they are. 

The communication plan is adapted regarding the market, the society, the potential, the product positioning etc. Coca Cola is willing to be close to its consumers, to be part of their daily life, to become a kind of ritual attached to specific moments; for that, they use social media and social marketing through social responsibility for example, creating emotions and feeling of affiliation toward its customers. For example, they raise funds for social causes like earthquake or hurricane.

Also, it always focuses on fun and entertainment as it is the main message they want to deliver. They adapt their message to the target market but they are always based on the same values: sharing, happiness, fun, tradition of coke… One of the most spectacular action for by Coca Cola done to show their leadership is certainly the one made for their 125th birthday:

 

The IMC campaign has started in 2006, with the new brand platform “Taste the Coke side of life”. From there, the company had to rethink its whole organization in communications department (from  a vertical and unilateral communication to a dialogue with customers). Such an approach means creating new jobs, new departments, different recruitment process and strategy…

 

Element of IMC mix

This depends on not only on the market & the product but also on the objectives. In IMC mix there are the three types of mass media: TV advertising, Print media, and banners advertisement. The various elements that are included in the IMC mix must work together to deliver a consistent and persuasive message to the target audience.

 

Tools of IMC:

–          Advertising: very important for Coca as it cater mass consumers market worldwide. They allow building a brand image and creating brand awareness. Coca Cola Slogan became memorable and universal, as well as the message conveyed.

            EX: print media, POS, TV commercials, billboards…

 

 

source: reportingonhealth.org

 

–          Direct marketing: offerings throughout partnerships such as restaurants, hotel…, but also campaigns including emailngs, texting/SMS, sponsorships…

 

   source: tatango.com

 

–          Interactive marketing & social media: interactive & entertaining website, social networks, advertising…

 

  source: socialmediajamaica.com

 

–          Sales promotion: It is really important for Coke to be distinguished from its competitors in supermarkets, city markets… thus, the company uses different strategies, oriented toward consumer or toward trade:

-Consumer oriented strategy: Visibility in shelves, eye-catching positions…

-Trade: Discounts, merchandising, free goodies, return back allowance…

 

For example, Coke Zero has built a reversed pyramid, it was an ingenious idea for its merchandising strategy. Its aim is to prove that nothing is impossible, so does Coke Zero which has the same taste than Coke but without calories.

 

source: algorythms.blogspot.com

 

–          PR: Coca uses PR in its strategy through events (culture, music, cinema…), social causes, CSR,…

–          Personal selling: build relationship with buyers and indirect consumers (restaurant, grocery, supermarket…)

 

     Coca Cola has made Americans vote for their favorite park, and the beverage giant donated $ 175,000 total to the three top vote-getters

 

Source: http://www.reportingonhealth.org

 

By using different types of media, the message will be delivered to the whole target, who doesn’t necessarily have the same attitude toward the brand and toward communication. Some people are more on TV while others more on Internet, and others are willing to live and/or share an experience with the brand. Cokes uses a lot interaction with its consumers throughout PR and social media advertising.

 

 

reflective journal T-Mobile

Reflective journal

T-Mobile

So basically here I am going to discuss what I have learned about T-mobile. T-mobile is a phone company.  In 2008 t-mobile were in fourth spot in the UK telecoms market behind o2 Orange and Vodafone. They decided they need to do something different or else face closure. So they set out objectives.

 

The main objective of t-mobile was to establish an emotional brand promise. T-mobile needed to differentiate itself and give the brand new purpose and direction so it could attract higher value customers who wanted to have a long term relationship with the brand.

 

So how did t-mobile achieve this?

Well they made themselves a strategy. Their strategy was to go beyond traditional telephony and acknowledge the role t-mobile had in peoples real lives. “LIFE’S FOR SHARING” became t-mobiles new slogan. T-mobile had to show its new philosophy and prove to the public that it was genuinely. The organic strategy allowed the agency to follow the flow and develop the campaign into a sequence of three tv advertisements fully integrated with social media.

 

At 11am on January 15, 2009 a single commuter started dancing. Moments later hundreds more joined in, including hundreds of genuine members of the public. Everybody there enjoyed a moment worth sharing.

The live event was reported by six TV news stations, including ITV news and London Tonight. They even reported the launch time for the commercial.

Fourteen national, local and regional newspapers, including The Times, The Guardian and The Sun (who described it as ‘an epidemic of joy’) reported it.

Nineteen regional radio stations, including BBC London, LBC & Heart, shared it. The event aired, in a full length commercial break. Rushes were re-cut for brand and product TV, digital outdoor, online advertising, radio ads, Print & Poster, direct press and retail P.O.P.

A branded YouTube channel was created where people could learn the dance, add their faces to it, watch the many tribute dances from both the public and celebrities.

 

Following their great video t-mobile repetted in massive rewards. T-mobile enjoyed record football and impressive year on year increases in sales.