MKT2260 / MKT2261 – Motus Bank Project of Meridian Credit Union

1. MARKETING COMMUNICATION STRATEGIC OVERVIEW

IMC Mix Elements

Marketing communication is the audience centered activity aimed at encouraging engagement between the participants and provoking conversation (Fill, 2011). In order to achieve the marketing objectives, variety of tools can be utilized for supporting the brand marketers. The IMC mix elements are shown at right (Kotler & Armstrong, 2010).

1. Advertising

Advertisement is considered to be a significant mean of communicating with the targeted market. Belch & Belch (2001) defined advertisement as “paid form of non-personal communication tool utilized by an organization to spread awareness about its products or services through identified sponsor”. It can be utilized by Meridian Credit Union (MCU) to stimulate brand awareness, develop positive customers’ perceptions towards the services and promote brand image.

MCU can utilize “below-the-line” marketing strategy for strategically focusing on targeted customers (20-30 years, multilingual customers) through advertisement. The advertisements can be done through direct mail campaigns, trade shows, catalogs, magazines and targeted search engine marketing (Tandon & Singh, 2014). Since many customers might be living in rural areas, so connecting with them is critically important. MCU can utilize malls, multiplexes, events, targeted leaflet drop, intelligence based telemarketing and sports organizations for connecting with youth with multilingual approach. Moreover, seminars can be organized for answering questions of customers with different languages and for spreading awareness about offering 24 hrs customer services in different languages.

2. Sales Promotion

It is a short term incentive offered by brands for encouraging trial or usage of the services/products (Keller, 2008). The sales promotions can be related to consumers (offered to brand’s consumers) and trade (motivating distribution channels). This allows firms to gain brand equity and increase quality perception in customer’s mind. MCU can team up with trade partners for attracting promotions for the customers (Keller, 2008). The trade partners like WalterFedy, Enbridge, MTE, Laurier, EY, MBOT and Air Canada. From personal loans and mortgaging services, the promotion will be limited to gift vouchers; cash back opportunities and decrease in interest rates.  

3. Internet Marketing

Internet has dramatically changed the process of communication between businesses and customers. Internet marketing is the way with which the brands can market and sell their products/services while building customer relationship over the internet (Kotler & Armstrong, 2010). Internet tools like websites, social media and search engine marketing can be utilized for enhancing relationship with customers, spreading awareness of the services/products and capturing customers’ attention.

MCU can utilize internet marketing by logically structuring the website for providing all necessary information about banking services. Furthermore, for attracting “college and university students, part-time or full-time workers who speak multiple languages and cannot speak English properly and are aged between 20-30 years” social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter would be used. The Facebook functions will be utilized as a direct channel for connecting with customers where their queries can be answered in efficient manner. Multilingual customer services will be offered and marketed through social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter.

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4. Public Relations

Fill (2011) defined it as the effort for establishing and maintaining goodwill and mutual understanding of an organization with public. Press releases, newsletters and lobbying are some tools used by banks for promoting and preserving company’s image and its services. MCU can utilize its PR activities for coping with competition, entering new markets, investing in new services and for promoting use of digital banking. By using controlled channels like exhibitions, publications, displays and staged events, MCU can achieve awareness and understand preferences of its target audiences (Jemutai & Wambua, 2016). Image campaigns, press releases, publications and speeches can be used as PR tools by MCU. (See appendix 1 for other elements)

Traditional Media Vehicles

1. Magazines: The print media would be used for reaching the targeted audience (20-30 years old multilingual students living in urban and rural areas. Especially magazines like The Walrus (with reach of 579,000 people per month) will be utilized for advertising the digital services of Motus Bank including low interest rate services (The Walrus, 2020). The Walrus has 215,000 readership, 39,000 newsletter subscribers and online presence with 126,000 followers (The Walrus, 2020). (See appendix 2 for its supplements and statistics).
2. Radio: Radio Canada will also be used for reaching the audiences by MCU. The keywords like “We Speak Every Language”, “Let’s Break the Language Barriers” and “We Understand You Better” can be aired in different languages through Radio Canada so that multilingual students can be attracted towards the digital services of Motus Digital Bank and the new interest rates being offered. Moreover, the extension of helpline hours to 24 hours can also be adverted through Radio using different languages. According to report by CRTC (2020), the percentage of 18+ Canadians listening to traditional radio has risen from 2017 to 2018 based on different languages and platforms. The statistics show the decline in revenue growth from 2017 to 2018 for commercial radios, yet advertisement revenues increased incredibly (see appendix 3 for the detailed statistics).

2. IMC MEDIA RESEARCH

The potential media vehicles to be used in accordance with IMC elements for targeting the audience are outlined below.

IMC Element	Key Media Vehicle	Explanation
Public Relation	Press Releases and University Staged Events for Account Opening and Investment	Audience Profile: College and university students, part-time or full-time workers who speak multiple languages and cannot speak English properly or who don’t feel comfortable when they speak English (aged between 20-30 years) and reside in rural/urban areas Coverage: Top 20 Colleges of Ontario Scheduling: Every month Lead Time: 10am to 2pm Rates: $275 to $600 per press release through CDN Wire (Canadone, 2020) Key Contacts: The CDN Wire media manager
Internet Marketing	Social Media including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, Website SEO, Google Analytics.	Audience Profile: Active social media Ontarians aged between 20-30 years who are multilingual Coverage: Ontario Scheduling: Every Day Lead Time: 4-6 weeks Rates: Between $2300 per month for boosted sales (Web Fx, 2020)  or $3.77 on average PPC Facebook rate (Word Stream, 2020) Key Contacts: Web FX Digital Marketing Agency
Sales Promotion	Live broadcast for fee discounts, raffle draws and joint promo with online payment of fees	Audience Profile: Coverage: 20-30 years college and university students with difficulty in speaking in English. Scheduling: Every month Lead Time: 4 to 6 weeks Rates: $20,000 on CBC for 1 minute live fee discount announcement on opening account in Motus Digital Bank (CBC, 2020) Key Contacts: CBC Canada
Advertising	Radio Canada, TV Canada, The Walrus Magazine	Audience Profile: Students aged between 20-30 years who are multilingual Coverage: Entire Ontario Region Scheduling: Every day Advert on TV and thrice a month in The Walrus Lead Time: 4 to 6 weeks Rates: $1,000 per 15 second ad slot in Omni Channel and Full page (3 times) The Walrus Magazine at $8,540/3times (The Walrus, 2020a). Key Contacts: The Walrus & The Omni Channel

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3. IMC & MEDIA STRATEGY

The Marketing Campaign of “The Multilingual Banking” will be carried on through the following media vehicles as a part of IMC mix identified above.

Media Vehicle	Description
The Walrus Full Page Advertisement (BTL Marketing Tool)	Target Market: Students aged between 20-30 years who are multilingual Matching Strategy: Rifle strategy for targeting only specific audience. Reach: 579,000.month people out of which 105,350 are university subscribers (The Walrus, 2020) Coverage: Distributed through The Book Shops and Top 20 Universities across Ontario Timing: Monthly in The Walrus Magazine Justification: The Walrus Magazine is Canadian general interest magazine that publishes international affairs, fiction and poetry by the Canadian Writers. It is chosen because it can attract students in Book shops and Universities for reading the peace of poetry or fiction. Moreover, it also offers internship programs that can be of interest to university/college students.
15 Second Advert in Mandarin, Italian, French and Cantonese in addition to English Subtitles on The Omni Television	Target Market: Students aged between 20-30 years who are multilingual Matching Strategy: Shotgun tactic will be used for reaching mass audience (along with targeted one) through advertisement. Reach: 6.2M Viewers Reached in 2019 (Omni Television, 2020) Coverage: Ontario Timing: 5Pm, 10Pm and 12am (15 sec slots) Justification: Omni Channel offers wide range of locally produced programs in 40 different languages including Mandarin, Cantonese, Italian, Mandarin & Punjabi (Omni Television, 2020). The programs include entertainment as well as news. It is chosen due to being a major multilingual content provider across Ontario.
Facebook Pay Per Click Adverts (Internet Marketing Tool)	Target Market: Socially active students aged between 20-30 years who are multilingual Matching Strategy: Rifle strategy for targeting only specific audience. Reach: 493,243 total university students in Ontario out of which 80% are expected to reach through social media (OCUL, 2020). Coverage: Ontario Timing: 50 times a day Justification: PPC on Facebook can be used due to its diverse ad targeting options ranging from multilingual students to university followers. It allows marketing managers to form completely tailored and targeted advert.
Broadcast for Fee Reduction & Raffle Ticket (Sales Promotion marketing tool)	Target Market: Students aged between 20-30 years who are multilingual Matching Strategy: Rifle strategy for targeting only specific audience. Reach: 6.2M Viewers Reached in 2019 (Omni Television, 2020) Coverage: Ontario Timing: 9pm Informercial Slot on Saturdays Justification: Omni Channel offers wide range of locally produced programs in 40 different languages including Mandarin, Cantonese, Italian, Mandarin & Punjabi (Omni Television, 2020). It is chosen due to being a major multilingual content provider across Ontario.

4. IMC & MEDIA EXECUTION

Cost Summary:

	Per Unit Cost Per Day	Month Cost	Production Cost	Total Cost	3-Months Budget
The Walrus Magazine	–	$8,540	$2,000	$10,540	$36,160
Facebook PPC	$3.77	$5,655	$2,000	$7,655	$24,620
Omni Channel Advert	$1,000	$90,000	$50,000	$140,000	$410,000
Broadcast Informercial	$25,000	$100,000	$80,000	$180,000	$480,000
Total		$204,195	$204,195	$408,390	$1,020,975

Note: The budget is made using the rates found on Omni Channel (2020), The Walrus (2020) and OCCUL (2020) See Appendix 4 for the pie chart.

 

 

5. CAMPAIGN CALENDAR

Media	Description	Frequency	Months								Budget
			Aug		Sep		Oct		Nov
Elements			1-2	3-4	1-2	3-4	1-2	3-4	1-2	3-4
Advertisement
Magazine	The Walrus	Full Page Per Month									$8,540
TV	The Omni Channel	3 Times 15 Sec Commercial									$90,000
Sales Promotion
Broadcast Informercial	The Omni Channel	Weekly (Saturdays)									$100,000
Internet Marketing
Social Media	Facebook PPC	50 times per day									$5,655

6. CAMPAIGN EVALUATION

The evaluation of the effectiveness of whole IMC plan will be done against the objectives set before (Belch & Belch, 2001). The effectiveness will be evaluated against the volume of daily enquiries from students about opening account with Motus Bank, registering with Meridian for wealth management and enquiring about interest rates. The effectiveness will also be evaluated against the amount of money that has been deposited in Motus Bank by multilingual students for paying their fees. Other criteria will be to evaluate the growing number of multilingual students registering with Motus Digital Bank for wealth management, deposit, personal loans, insurance and mortgage. Level of brand awareness toward the Motus Bank among publicity, customer satisfaction rate, brand recognition and word of mouth will also be evaluated.

Before the broadcast on Omni Channel, MCU can scale trial audience to watch the adverts and ask for their comments and feedback. Due to high cost of the broadcasting, the MCU can monitor website traffic, track sales and inquiries from the customers for witnessing the final results. For internet marketing, the Facebook insights for analyzing functions of page, reach and impressions can be done. Alternatives could be amended if the internet marketing plan didn’t reach the targeted audiences. A contingency marketing plan must be made parallel to this IMC plan for testing other elements in case the proposed ones fail.

7. REFERENCES

Belch, G. E. & Belch, M. A., 2001. Advertising and promotion: An integrated marketing communications perspective. New York: The McGraw-Hill.

Canadaone, 2020. Distributing Your Press Release. [Online]
Available at: https://www.canadaone.com/promote/newsrelease5.html
[Accessed 24 July 2020].

CBC, 2020. Shorter commercials sweeter for advertisers. [Online]
Available at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/shorter-commercials-sweeter-for-advertisers-1.886304
[Accessed 24 July 2020].

CRTC, 2020. Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. [Online]
Available at: https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/publications/reports/policymonitoring/2019/cmr5.htm
[Accessed 24 July 2020].

Fill, C., 2011. Essentials of marketing communications. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.

Jemutai, C. R. & Wambua, P. P., 2016. Integrated Marketing Communication and Performance of Kenya Post and Savings Bank. Social Sciences, 5(3), pp. 37-49.

Keller, K. L., 2008. Strategic Brand Management. New Jersey: Pearson Education.

Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G., 2010. Principles of marketing. London: Pearson Education.

OCUL, 2020. Population. [Online]
Available at: https://ocul.on.ca/populations
[Accessed 24 July 2020].

Omni Television, 2020. Brands: Omni. [Online]
Available at: https://www.rogerssportsandmedia.com/brands/omni/
[Accessed 24 July 2020].

Tandon, S. & Singh, B., 2014. Promotional strategy for sustainable growth in banking sector. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Management Studies, 4(3), pp. 202-208.

The Walrus, 2020a. Magazine Rates. [Online]
Available at: https://thewalrus.ca/assets/img/Walrus_RateCard-2014.pdf
[Accessed 24 July 2020].

The Walrus, 2020. Media Kit. [Online]
Available at: https://thewalrus.ca/about/mediakit/
[Accessed 24 July 2020].

Web FX, 2020. How Much Does Social Media Marketing Cost in 2020?. [Online]
Available at: https://www.webfx.com/Social-Media-Pricing.html
[Accessed 24 July 2020].

Word Stream, 2020. Facebook Ad Benchmarks for YOUR Industry [Data]. [Online]
Available at: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/02/28/facebook-advertising-benchmarks
[Accessed 24 July 2020].