Marketing Communications

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS OBJECTIVES 157

z b e q u a n t i fi ed in order to be measurable, which allows a precise evaluation of the campaign

results to be made;

z be comprehensive and motivating to all involved persons but at the same time be realistic

and achievable;

z be timed to enable specifi c scheduling of the campaign as well as planning the evaluation

of results;

z be translated into sub-goals when necessary.

Th e communications objectives are guidelines for everyone who is involved in campaign

development and realisation: marketers, advertising agencies, PR offi cials and sales promotion

agencies, media planners and buyers, and researchers. Th ey are also fundamental to campaign

strategy: all phases of the marketing communications plan, such as creative, media and budgeting

decisions, should be built on the goals.

As communications objectives are also the criteria against which a campaign’s success

(or failure) is evaluated, it is important that they are well defi ned and quantifi ed. Only when

goals are measurable are they a management tool enabling returns to be gauged against

investments.

Developing category wants

Th e fi rst basic condition to be fulfi lled by a brand is that it should fi t within category needs

and wants. If buyers cannot perceive the communicated product or brand as an appropriate

answer to their needs and demands, they will not be motivated to buy it. Category wants or needs

can be defi ned as the existence of one or more of these buying motives and the perception

of the product category as a good means of meeting these motives ( Photo 5.1 ). Of course,

although category need is always necessary before other brand-related objectives work, it is

clear that in most cases, i.e. when promotional actions and communications are targeted at

category users, it can be considered as already present and thus can be ignored. Indeed, it can

be assumed that category wants are already well developed in product categories such as

food, detergents, insurance and cars. However, in product categories that are infrequently

purchased or infrequently used, such as painkillers, communicating category needs to remind

buyers of their present but forgotten need may be useful.

Using category need as a primary communications objective is a must for innovations.

Consumers should fi rst understand which need is satisfi ed by an innovation and the diff erence

between the ‘new category’ and known categories should be stressed. When Sony invented

the CD player, the fi rst thing to communicate, before building awareness for the Sony brand,

was the diff erence in sound quality compared with the cassette player. Creating category

awareness is also an appropriate goal when non-category users are addressed. For instance,

when telecom operators of cellular phone networks communicate to a group of non-owners

of a cellular phone they will stress the need for mobile telephones. When they address owners

they will stress other benefi ts such as special rates and special services. Sometimes a manu-

facturer repositions a product or service to meet other usage occasions or methods of use.

Kellogg’s introduced Variety cereals in small packages to broaden its cereal market from the

breakfast moment to other snack and school moments and consequently takes part in the

between-meals market. Category wants can be omitted, refreshed or actively used in market

communications in the diff erent situations described above. Th e following communications

goals are not on a category level but focus on the brand.^4

Brand awareness: recognition and recall

Brand awareness is the association of some physical characteristics such as a brand name, logo,

package, style, etc., with a category need. Th ere are two ways brand awareness can be defi ned.

For example, if people think of a soft drink, they may spontaneously think of Coca-Cola,

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