Developing An Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) Plan For Edgell Brown Lentils

Introduction to IMC plan for Edgell Brown Lentils

Integrated marketing communication (IMC) plan is the formulation of the marketing strategic and tactics and attractive promotional campaigns, which combine together various marketing disciplines, like; promotion, advertising, public relations and social media sites, which are chosen and then implemented to attain the specific objectives of organization. Each and every organization needs to develop IMC plan for enhancing its brand image among the population of country. In the assessment 1, Edgell Brown Lentils is chosen for introducing a new business that is introducing its new product, i.e. Brown Lentils with Cheese Garlic sauce in the cans (Altstiel, and Grow, 2015).

For introducing this product, the organization is going to develop an IMC plan, which will include different strategies. These strategies will enable the organization in attaining its IMC objectives, are determined in Part A i.e. to increase its brand presence in domestic and international market, to enhance the brand reputation among the health concerned people and to increase market share with significant percentage over its competitors, i.e. Royal Nut Company and Pedov Trading Company Limited. For this new product, the company is targeting its existing audiences and children, as this flavor of sauce contains sweetness because of cheese. Part B of the task includes different strategies of IMC plan, i.e. IMC strategy, creative strategy and media strategy. Furthermore, it consists of a media plan and its evaluation and monitoring for analyzing the performance and effectiveness of this plan.

IMC strategy of an organization is the strategy that is made of different communication channels, like; social media, print media and others. Under IMC strategy, Edgell Brown Lentils will create an IMC strategy, while introducing its products. This strategy will include different functions, which will assist the organization in establishing the link between brand and potential customers. Before introducing this new product, the company will know about the industry whether any other organization is selling the similar products. After analyzing the market, it will develop some marketing strategies, which will be beneficial, when they communicate its brand message and ideas to the customers (Andrews, and Shimp, 2017). For establishing link with the customers, Edgell will first target the audiences, who actually need this and prefer to intake healthy food and sauces. It will assume that it can make the differences in the food habits and tastes of healthy people and children. The message through these strategies and functions will be very simple, so target audiences can understand it easily. Its brand and communication message will be very attractive and creative, which will include a simple and memorable description about the products and will show that what will make its product different from its competitors. In this way, the implemented strategies will link the Edgell Brown Lentils to potential customers (Ashley, and Tuten, 2015).

IMC strategies for Edgell Brown Lentils

Edgell will implement different functions for integrating the marketing synergy, like; advertising, sales promotion, personal selling etc. It will combine these marketing functions to create an impact greater than the total of their parts. For introducing its new products, Edgell will develop a marketing structure, under which all the functions, like; advertising, sales promotion, personal selling will integrate together to attain the marketing synergy. Under personal selling, sales people will have face to face contact with the customers and understand their needs and response towards it new lentil can with Cheese Garlic sauce. After analyzing this, further it will implement the sufficient sales promotion methods, like; free gifts, vouchers, free samples, discount on combo packs and other profitable offers. It will make efforts to make the multiple impressions by enhancing its logo and packaging of the lentils’ cans. Thus, the different functions of the marketing will assist the organization in integrating the marketing and promotional synergy (Belch, Belch, Kerr, & Powell, 2014).

Edgell will develop formulate these strategies in order to attain its IMC objectives, determined in part A, i.e. to increase its brand presence in domestic and international market, to enhance the brand reputation among the health conscious people and to upsurge market share with significant rate over its competing brands, i.e. Royal Nut Company and Pedov Trading Company Limited. By using different IMC strategies, the organization will be able to achieve its communication and marketing goals.

In today’s business environment, there are several companies, which have executed creative styles for advertising to entice the people towards its products and service offerings. They develop creative strategies by looking at different characteristics of target audiences, like; demographic, psychographic and demographic characteristics. Under IMC plan, creative strategy is a strategy that is used to make the decision that what information and data should be included in the advertising message and statements. For this new product, Edgell will develop a creative slogan, i.e. “Healthy Food, Healthy Life”, which will attract the health conscious people towards this new product with Cheese Garlic sauce.

Under its creative strategy, it will choose different functions, like; advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and events and sponsorships. These all functions are chosen to introduce this new range of products at Edgell, because the company will be able to generate the customer demand for cheese garlic sauce brown lentils (Blakeman, 2018). At Edgell, these functions will be managed in an effective manner that can inform and persuade the customers to purchase new products. These functions will assist the organization in winning the hearts of customers and generating more sales and revenues. Different functions of creative advertising will be used in different and innovative ways, which are explained below;

Creative strategy for IMC plan

Advertising is one of the most significant tools, which can be used for the promoting the products and brand among the large population. It assists the companies to approach wider audiences within a small timeframe. For the introduction of its new product, i.e. Brown Lentils with Cheese Garlic sauce, Edgell will use advertising function and reach to large population of Australia and some other countries (Brummer, Kaviani, and Tosh, 2015). Under its advertising function, the company will use different media, like; online, traditional and print media, through which it will communicate its brand message to its potential customers.

Under traditional method of advertisement, Edgell will give the advertisement on television, newspaper and billboards. It will assist the final consumers to believe in its new product and also encourage them to purchase and stay loyal towards the Brown Lentils of Edgell. Apart from this, it should use social media sites, like; Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, where it should post the pictures of its products and its healthy ingredients used in the Brown Lentils and its new sauce. Through this, the children and their parents will come to know about its new and existing products. By using this technique, Edgell will not only able to increase the consumption of its new product but also develop the brand presence and awareness among people. In addition to this, it can use different technologies for promoting and advertising the products to the people (Daoud, 2016).

Personal Selling is also a significant tool that can be used in the integrated communication plan to attain its IMC objectives. It takes place when the sales person or marketers sell their products and services to the customers. It is the most effective promotional technique, in which the firms hire the sales person to sell the products by contacting the customers face to face. To promote its new brown lentils with cheese garlic sauce, Edgell will first contact with its existing customers through telephone calls, e-mails etc. and communicate about this new product for them and their children. Through this creative strategy, Edgell can give more and additional data and information about the taste and nutritious benefits of this new range of Brown Lentils (Edgell, 2017).

In addition to above communication techniques, Edgell should use sales promotion. Sales promotion is the technique, which can be used by a company to stimulate an increase in the sales and consumption of goods and services. Sales promotion is an important part of the marketing mix of an organization. Edgell Brown Lentil can promote its new products using different ways, like; discount coupons, discount for regular customers, free samples, free gifts and vouchers. In the beginning, the company will develop the free samples for testing the new products, through which it will come to know about the reaction and response of public towards the taste of company’s new lentils (Holm, 2006). In addition to this, it will provide free small packets of other sauces, like; tomato sauces, sweet corn flavor etc.

Media strategy for IMC plan

Organizing different events is also an effective way for approaching its potential customers. The company may conduct various events, which can position for the customers. Through these events and sponsorships, the customer executive and sales people may have the conversation with the people and communicate about the health benefits of the new brown lentils. These events will be organized in the shopping malls and other public places. It will help the company in identifying the needs and expectations of people. At these events, it will establish the free stalls of brown lentils with Cheese Garlic sauce, so people can taste them. In addition to this, it should sponsor the sports events and other fashion events, so that it can approach and attract more customers. This is the two-way creative communication strategy, which can entice the population effectively (Holt, 2016).

In this way, Edgell will develop the functions and work on them to communicate its brand and product message to its target audiences. It will include all the above stated functions in its creative communication strategy.

Media strategy is an important part of the IMC plan, which is used for the advertising and online broadcasting and it is related to how the brand and product messages will be communicated to the target markets. Under media strategy, the IMC plan includes an action plan, which assists the company in approaching the target customers and they enhance their conversion rate through this process. Media strategy of an organization may include various media categories, which assist the company in increasing its brand presence both online and offline. With this media strategy, the major objective is wholly dependent on what the organization wants to attain.

Before developing the media strategy, Edgell Brown Lentils will first determine its goals and objectives of IMC plan. After this, it will make decision on its target customers and mode of advertising and communication (Khan, 2017). Under its media strategy, Edgell will use different media categories, like; online media, traditional media, print media etc.

Online or digital media category can be used as the most effective way in the IMC plan of any company. Edgell Brown Lentils can utilize online media and marketing to advertise its products to a large population all over the world. The major reason behind selecting this communication media is that most of the population is actively using the social media networking sites and mobile applications. It is one of the most popular modes in today’s modern environment. So, online media category will be the best that can be used by Edgell to promote its new brown lentils with Cheese Garlic sauce. Under this category, the business can use various social networking sites, like; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube etc. that will be preferred by Edgell to advertise its new lentils with Cheese Garlic sauce.

Advertising function for IMC plan

In the digital media tools, it will use both unpaid and paid tools. In this context, it can create the page on Facebook and Instagram, where Edgell will post and display the pictures of new brown lentils in attractive way, so that it can entice the customers. Moreover, it can adopt e-mail marketing and communicate with its regular customers through e-mails (Luttrell, 2016). If the organization will use these channels, it will help in focusing on the market and increasing its customer base. Online media category can be used as two way communication method.

There are some old and traditional methods of media, which can be used for promoting and communicating its brand message to the people. Under this, Edgell will broadcast advertisement of brown lentils on those channels, which are very popular in the country. The company will use various modes, like; television and radio, where it can give the ads about its new products.  It will help the company in approaching the people, who are not engaged on using the internet and social media sites. In addition to this, it will distribute the pamphlets and put the hoardings on road, which will assist the Edgell in enhancing the brand awareness (Luxton, Reid, and Mavondo, 2015). This is one way communication method that will be utilized by the company for communicating with the potential customers and specifying health benefits of its new lentils with cheese garlic sauce.

Print media is also a better way to improve the brand presence of Edgell Brown Lentils. In addition to above media categories, the organization can use this media category to introduce its new products in the market. Under this media category, public can become aware about the new products and services of the Edgell through different modes of print media, like; newspapers, magazines, posters and billboards (Mihart, 2012). These are the vehicles of print media, which can be used by the organization, are stated below;

The marketers of Edgell will choose some local and national newspapers, which are the most circulated in the area. For advertising its new product, it will buy the space for advertisements and display the texts, pictures and graphics and illustrate the health benefits of brown lentils with cheese garlic sauce. Newspaper is read by most of the people, so company can communicate and spread the message easily.

Magazines

By the use of magazines, Edgell can approach its target people, as these offer marketers wider choices of frequency and readerships. Use of the magazines will be beneficial for the organization, as it has longer life in comparison to newspapers (Nelson, & Alkhafaji, 2013). Generally, women prefer to read magazines at their home, so they can come to know about new brown lentils with cheese garlic sauce. They can buy this for their family and preferably for their children. So, it will give the advertisement in the fashion and health magazines to entice the target audiences. The company will give the communication message in the magazines as the page quality and image will look very attractive and presentation will be better than other modes of print media category.

Personal selling in IMC plan

Posters and Billboards

Furthermore, Edgell will use the billboards and posters to advertise its new products, which will give it opportunity to approach the people. It can place the posters in shopping malls, like; will assist the Edgell Brown Lentils to approach the customers close to the purchase point. Along with this, it can place the billboards and posters on airports, train stations, which have the reach of large population. The company can use different modes to appeal different types of customers towards its brown lentils with cheese garlic sauce in the can (Pavlou, & Stewart, 2015).

Thus, Edgell can use the above given media vehicles under different media categories and reach to its target audiences, which are chosen in the part 1 of the integrated marketing communication plan.

After making decisions on the target audience and media vehicles, Edgell Brown Lentils will develop a media schedule or plan, which will includes the implementation plan and promotional budget for the company. Under this media plan, the company will decide about the investment on different media categories, like; print media, online or digital media and traditional media. After developing the creative and media strategies, Edgell will emphasize on preparing a media schedule, so that it can execute all the processes and practices in an effective manner (Priyanka, and Srinivasan, 2015). This plan will include all the required activities and processes for achieving the predetermined IMC objectives. The media schedule for the brown lentils with cheese garlic sauce is given in the below table;

Media Tool	Duration	Description of activities
Facebook	2 Weeks	Post the link to content from  official website of Edgell	Share the content and promotional offers	Create a page on the social media networking site	Share the content, photographs and videos about brown lentils with cheese garlic sauce.
Twitter	2 weeks	Re-tweet the content	Create tweet, which links to content on official website	Post direct messages on the Twitter page	Re-tweet the content
E-mail Marketing	4 weeks	Know about the past and regular customers	Find the data and information about them	Send e-mails to them about new product	Understand their response towards new product
Print Media	3 weeks	Develop the content for advertising	Contact with the newspaper agencies	Provide them advertising content and buy the space in newspaper	Publish the advertisement in newspapers and magazines
Traditional Media	2 weeks	Choose the mode of traditional media	Prepare the content for company	Contact with the TV channels and radio stations	Give the advertisement on traditional media

The above given media schedule is displayed in the below gantt chart, which is created in the excel spreadsheet. It includes all the activities, which are performed in the duration of 13 weeks (Rodriguez, Dixon, and Peltier, 2014).

Media Budget
Media Tools	Amount
Social Media Marketing
1. Facebook	$8,000
2. Twitter	$3,500
Total Social Media	$11,500
E-mail Marketing	$1,200
Google Ads	$1,000
Other Online campaigns	$3,000
Total Budget for Online Media	$16,700
Traditional Media
1. TV Channels	$150,000
2. Hoardings	$80,000
Total	$230,000
Events and Sponsorships	$120,000
Total Required Budget for Promotion	$613,400

Edgell will use the above given budget to implement its media plan for promoting its new product, i.e. Brown lentils with Cheese Garlic sauce and invest the amount accordingly (Scott, 2015).

After formulating the IMC and media plan, it is an important task to evaluate the creative and media strategies, which are implemented by the organization. Under this process, Edgell Brown Lentils will take the confirmation that the executed strategies are on the point and able to predetermined IMC objectives. First, the organization will look at the feedback and response of customers on the media channel advertisements. The marketing team at Edgell will make efforts to see that the ads are impactful for attracting the customers towards its new product. As it is using different vehicles and media categories, so the impact and effectiveness of this plan will be dependent on these vehicles. These media sources will display the new products and their features. It will consider the testing product and number of customers, who like the taste of new lentils with cheese garlic sauce (Šeri?, & Šeri?, 2017).

Sales promotion in IMC plan

Moreover, it will implement the testing techniques, like; post testing that will be used after advertising and promotional campaign. It will analyze the actions and perception of customers towards its new products. In addition to this, a customer survey will be conducted, which will assist the organization in understanding the opinions of people. The questionnaire will be assisting the company about the response of customers. Through this evaluation, the company will observe the outcomes of media and IMC plan (Šeric, Gil-Saura, & Ozreti?-Došen, 2015). It will analyze whether the IMC plan of Edgell is able to communicate the people and attain its IMC goals. Thus, it will assist the organization in analyzing the success and failure of IMC and media plan and it can measure the attainment of objectives.

Conclusion

Thus, it is hereby concluded that Edgell Brown Lentils is a leading company is producing the lentils and now offering a new range of brown lentils with cheese garlic sauce. This product is or low fat and healthy for its existing customers and children. People can eat it for being healthy and add it in their curries and soups. Under the IMC plan, company is using media strategies and channels to promote the products among the population. This plan will assist the company in enticing the people and staying more competitive in the industry. Thus, this plan will assist the company is approaching a large population using different media categories, like; online, print and traditional media. By this, the company will be able to increase brand awareness among people and attain its IMC and marketing objectives through its effective implementation.

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