Club 384 Imc Plan
Club 384 Imc Plan
Club 384 Imc Plan
the best way for your business to stand out is by building emotional connections with your
audience (Ellens, 2016). By focusing on the social causes and mission that drive both Our
Community Place and Ground Up, it will establish a deeper value within the consumer and
eliminate buyer's remorse. Because the main goal of the pesto product is not to make a profit,
but to make a difference, we chose to focus on the people the product will benefit rather than
The campaign will reflect the major selling idea that Ground Up helps struggling
individuals of the Harrisonburg community while simultaneously giving back to the community as
a whole. We want Ground Ups target markets to be taken through integrated steps that will
ultimately lead them to the new Ground Up landing page within the Our Community Place
website. We propose driving consumers to a place within the OCP website in order to urge
Ground Up product purchase and learn more about OCPs mission and values. In order to drive
large audiences to the Ground Up landing page, weve allocated a majority of the budget to
social media marketing and direct mail. We believe that these methods will garner the most
attention and action. Our Community Places existing and active social media following coupled
with a high response rate from direct mail will generate positive attention to the product.
We also propose using direct e-mail to alert existing Our Community Place volunteers
and customers about the Ground Up launch, events, and sales promotions because they are
already devoted members of the community. The sales promotions will promote initial purchase,
impulse buys, and repurchase. We believe that each factor of this campaign will greatly
contribute to the success of the Ground Up brand and people the product intends to benefit.
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MARKETING STRATEGY
Marketing Mix Assumptions
We propose naming your product Ground Up Pesto to reflect the theme of building from
the ground up and calling pesto what it actually is -- ground up basil. The product will be
packaged in a clear 8 ounce glass mason jar with an info-tag tied around the lid with elastic. The
info-tag will include information about the brand and product and the social cause driving it as
seen in Appendix A. The ingredients, which are basil leaves, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and
hard cheese, will also be listed on the labeling. We propose the product should sell at $7.99 for
the eight ounce jar and as the product succeeds we hope to offer different sizes of the product.
In line with the proposed promotional media plan, we project that 60% of sales will come
from online channels and 40% from offline channels. The online channel, which will be a
will have an e-commerce option where customers can purchase the product directly from the
site. We also predict that, while on the Ground Up page, customers will explore the rest of your
site and learn about the history, mission, and goals of OCP. The offline channels include the
Harrisonburg Farmers Market, Friendly City Co-Op, and RedFront supermarket. The Farmers
Market gives us an opportunity to not only advertise and sell the product to a large group, but
also drives home your companys values of community and togetherness. Attending and
operating an area of the Farmers Market offers a great way to interact with customers on a
personal level and get to know your target market. The Friendly City Co-Op operates under a
mission that closely aligns with that of Our Community Place, making them an ideal partner to
exceed customers expectations by providing a product that gives back to employees, facilities,
family and reacts to the needs and wants of their community. The supermarket offers a unique
opportunity for nonprofit organizations - the nonprofit operates their West End Cafe for a week,
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RedFront provides the supplies, and the nonprofit receives the proceeds from the weeks sales.
This channel would be extremely beneficial for both the Ground Up brand and OCP as a whole.
Competitive Analysis
The current pesto industry is comprised of two different types: national brands and
locally sourced and sold products. Given the composition of the product, pesto is one of the
most versatile and adaptable products based on consumer preference. In an article titled Pesto
Beyond Pasta, the Fancy Food and Products magazine said Whether frozen, fresh or
shelf-stable, theres a style of pesto to fit every meal and every shoppers preference (Noblett,
2010). Therefore, it is difficult to identify any specific industry leaders given the vast number of
companies that sell a variation of pesto, whether they sell in national retail locations or only
locally. However, like most other products, locally-sourced brands are typically less
recognizable and lack strong brand loyalty that national brands attract. This explains why Heinz
Kraft Co. and McCormick & Company Inc. are the recognized as the major players in the 2016
seasoning, sauce and condiment industry (IBISWorld, 2016). In addition, given the products
typical ingredients, most pesto products can be classified as organic. According to the United
States Department of Agriculture, a product must satisfy specific requirements set forth by the
National Organic Program to be certified as an organic product (USDA, 2016). There are
different requirements for products depending on the category it is classified as, such as
livestock, vegetables, dairy (USDA, 2016). Although there are strict requirements that need to
be met, research from April 2015 shows that 40% of consumers aged 18-36 are more likely to
purchase a product classified as organic (Organic food and Beverage Shoppers, 2015).
Consumers listed safety and healthy benefits as the main purchase influences (Organic Food
and Beverage Shoppers, 2015). Therefore, it is a fair assumption that the same consumers are
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As stated earlier, the pesto industry is currently comprised of nationally recognized
brands and local brands that vary based on geographic region. It is difficult to identify local
brands that are sold all over the nation, but OCPs target market in Augusta, Bath and
Rockingham counties has a number of locally-sourced pesto products available in various retail
locations. We analyzed 11 different pesto products on price, packaging, size, distribution and
brand awareness generated through user reviews on online grocery distribution channels, such
as Amazon Fresh and WalMart Grocery (Appendix B). Overall, many of the brands position
themselves to highlight fresh quality, abundant flavors and a traditional staple in cooking. Barilla
and Classico, two of the most well-known brands, both capture the traditional and classic Italian
feel by calling their product Traditional Pesto and having their labels more neutral, rustic colors
to capture the vintage look (Appendix C). This portrays the companies as having been in
business and selling this product successfully for a number of years to increase their reputation
as a long trusted product. In addition, many of the products try to capture the authentic Italian
positioning by naming their products with Italian words. For example, Trader Joes named their
product Giottos Pesto alla Genovese which translates to pesto from Genoa, an old city on the
Italian coast (Republic of Genoa). Based on the overall competitive landscape, we believe
to capture fresh and high quality ingredients and emphasizing OCPs social cause because no
Target Marketing
The first segment to target is the upper and middle-class Mennonite population
surrounding the Harrisonburg area. This segment has a household income between
$85,000-$125,000 and live in the Shenandoah Valley area, more specifically from Woodstock,
VA to Staunton, VA and the counties of Shenandoah, Bath, Rockingham, and Augusta. This
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segment includes males and females between the ages of 25-44 to target adults and parents
who are purchasing food for themselves and their families. This segment regularly gets their
news from local newspapers like the Harrisonburg Daily News Record or Rockingham County
Daily Journal, and from television channels like Fox, CBS, and CNN. Appendix D shows the
The second segment to target is females between the ages of 25-34 who have an
interest in cooking or gardening, have free time after school or work, and are more inclined to
spend extra money on products that benefit their community. Members of this segment normally
shop at co-ops, farmers markets and Martins grocery stores. This segment stays in touch with
national and local events by reading the Skimm email newsletter and regional newspapers such
as Harrisonburg Daily News Record or Rockingham County Daily Journal. Members of this
segment also tend to gravitate towards Facebook and Twitter for up-to-date happenings in their
community. Visuals for the typical person within this target market can be seen in Appendix D.
CREATIVE STRATEGY
IMC Objectives
To build brand awareness so that 90% of the target markets are a ware of the Ground Up
brand within 2 months of campaign launch on July 1, 2017.
To educate consumers so that 70% of the target markets know about the Ground Up
Pesto product within 3 months of campaign launch.
To appeal to consumers to that 50% of the target markets like the Ground Up Pesto
product by November 1, 2017.
To interest and persuade consumers so that 30% of the target markets p refer the
Ground Up Pesto product over competing products by November 15, 2017.
To promote positive word of mouth so that 25% of the target markets purchase and tell
their peers about the Ground Up Pesto product by December 1, 2017.
To have 15% of the target markets repurchase the Ground Up Pesto product by
December 31, 2017.
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Creative Rationale
The basis for the major selling idea highlights Our Community Places social cause of
helping struggling individuals while simultaneously giving back to the community as a whole.
The decision to name the brand Ground Up emphasizes that the product is made with organic,
locally-sourced ingredients. The name also ties into the major selling idea to illustrate how OCP
helps individuals rebuild their lives from the ground up. As seen in the visual representation in
Appendix E, the suggested theme includes a man kneeling next to a grey outline of the word
LIFE being filled with colorful and vibrant Ground Up pesto jars. This visualization connects
with the major selling idea that Our Community Place can help individuals rebuild their lives one
step at a time. This will appeal to customers emotions and help them connect with OCPs
inspiring cause on a deeper level. In addition, we propose that the messages are mainly
image-driven and centered around the major selling idea because of the strong emotional effect
they create. The message of helping struggling individuals will appeal to the emotional senses
The proposed slogan for the campaign is Build from the Ground Up. This slogan can
be used to highlight the benefits Our Community Place provides for their employees and
community members and connect it with the brand name. By placing the slogan in large, bolded
letters above the image it will grab customers attention, emphasize our major selling idea of
Our Community Places social benefits, and create visual interest. In addition, it is
recommended to include call-to-actions listed below the image such as, Visit our website for
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F. We expect potential customers to remain connected with Our Community Places website
landing page throughout each stage of their purchase journey. With that being said, Website
Landing Page is the center of each stage shown on the map. Rectangles represent media
messages and diamonds represent promotions. All arrows represent the connections that will
lead consumers the key touchpoint, which is the Ground Up landing page.
adding a page dedicated to Ground Up and inserting the brand in the A Few Things We Offer
page under the What We Do tab as seen in Appendix G and H. The Ground Up page will
include informative material about the product and its background and a place to securely order
the pesto. We also recommend featuring the product on the homepage during the first couple
months of its launch to draw attention and promote purchases. Because consumers are driven
more by an image or short video than they are by a text-based, fully rational appeal, we suggest
adding a section within the Ground Up page dedicated to the people the product is helping
(Panepinto, 2016). If those creating Ground Up pesto feel comfortable, we would also like to
feature their stories on the Ground Up web page to highlight the social causes backing Ground
Up and OCP, an example of which can be seen in Appendix I. The current OCP website is
already well-equipped with all of the social media platforms you appear on, we would simply
streamline the homepage to match the direct mail, direct e-mail, and sales promotion tactics to
Social Media
Since Our Community Place already has a company Facebook page
the existing page to promote Ground Up Pesto. This form of social media also aligns with both
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target markets allowing high viewability. Using Facebooks Ad Manager feature, we can
promote both the OCP Facebook page and drive customers to Ground Ups landing page in
order to increase video views, product sales, and brand awareness. The Ads Manager also
allows us to target by geographic area, demographics, and psychographics to ensure that our
exact target markets are reached. More than 50% of people who come back to Facebook every
day in the US watch at least one video daily, therefore we recommend using the campaign
video as the main focus of the ad to allow a high click-through rate and landing page visits
(Facebook Media, 2015). This platform has the largest following of all OCPs social media and
contributes unique benefits that will aid in the ultimate goal of driving customers to Ground Ups
webpage within the OCP site. Examples of potential Facebook news feed ads can be found in
Appendix J.
Our Community Places Twitter account (@ocplife) has the next largest following at 475
followers. Although this has a considerably smaller audience than the Facebook page, it is still a
capable platform for advertising to the female postgrad audience. Twitters advertising platform
allows us to create a campaign that will specifically promote the Ground Up brand and promote
website visits by connecting with people who are interested in our business. Twitter has a higher
lead conversion than all other platforms combined including organic and paid search, making it
an extremely useful platform for driving product purchases (Moth, 2014). Examples of potential
promoted Twitter advertisements can be seen in Appendix K. The Twitter ad will cost $5 per day
advertise the Ground Up brand. Instagram created an algorithm that orders users feeds based
on the likelihood theyll be interested in the content, their relationship with the accounts, and the
timeliness of the posts (Instagram, 2016). This means that the people who like, share, and see
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both the promoted and organic posts are truly interested and involved in the content, giving us
an idea on who to target for other marketing expenditures. Since your Instagram account is
frequently updated and has a loyal following, we expect there to be a large positive response
with the Ground Up brand. We also suggest editing the link within the accounts bio to lead to
the Ground Up landing page. An example of the Instagram ad and changes to the account can
be seen in Appendix L and M. It is important to note that we ultimately want the potential
customer to be lead back to Ground Ups landing page within the OCP website. The Instagram
and Facebook ads will cost $17 per day with a total cost of $3,127.29 (Facebook Ads Manager,
n.d.).
Direct Mail
Direct mail is one of the most widely used and traditional forms of promotion. According
to the Direct Direct Marketing association, in 2012 direct mail had an average response rate of
3.7%, which was predicted to increase in the future (Marketing Charts Staff, 2015). Given the
high response rate, direct mail reaches the target market with a personalized and memorable
piece of content (Belch, George E., and Michael A. Belch). We plan to use a 4x6 self-mailer to
attract new customers within our geographic target market to explain the mission of OCP, and
introduce the new pesto business. We plan to send out 80,000 units total over a three month
period of time. The postcard will capture the major selling idea and promote the OCP logo
through attention-grabbing graphics (Appendix N). In addition, the postcard will feature OCPs
Direct E-mail
We believe OCP should utilize direct e-mail promotion to introduce their new pesto
product to their already existing customer base by sending out an emails to customers in their
house list with a pulsing strategy that would start on the launch day. During the information
session, Ron Copeland described OCPs existing customer base as incredibly loyal and
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dedicated (Copeland, 2016). He explained how customers continuously attend OCP sponsored
events and support the company. Since the current customer base is so loyal, we believe they
will not require high levels of promotion to be influenced to purchase the new pesto. Therefore,
the best way to reach them is through a direct email campaign to alert them when the new
product is available. Through low levels of pulsing advertising, OCP can promote the pesto at a
consistent rate to increase recall and engagement but also avoid high advertising costs.
The email would introduce the new product and feature Ground Ups major selling idea,
the Ground Up logo and a link to the OCP website encouraging target users to seek more
information (Appendix O). This email can include Ground Ups major selling idea and Ground
Up logo, but will provide more information about where to retrieve the pesto. By providing more
information in the email about retail locations selling the product, it makes takes away additional
The Daily News Record reports a daily circulation of 25,150 from Monday-Friday and 26,419 on
Saturday (Daily News Record Rate Card, 2016). Their reach stretches across Rockingham,
Augusta and Bath counties which can be a key factor in OCP successfully reaching their target
market. A main advantage of newspaper advertising is its ability to target specific segments by
geographic area, demographics, or lifestyles by placing the advertisement in the section target
markets are most likely to read (Meisner, 2006). Based on our target analysis, we suggest OCP
logo and the Ground Up slogan with a link to the OCP homepage, and example of which can be
found in Appendix P. The advertisement will run 6 weeks total and 3 days per week on
Sales Promotion
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On the launch day of Ground Up, July 1, 2017, we propose giving a 10% discount to any
customer that purchases your brand of pesto. Since there are a variety of brands of pesto, we
believe that offering prospective consumers an extra incentive towards purchasing Ground Up
will give the product necessary exposure. We also propose offering a 10% discount of the
product on Small Business Saturday (November 25, 2017) to promote the holiday and bring in
more customers. We plan to also offer a downloadable online coupon promoting the discount
starting the week before the event (November 18, 2017) (Appendix Q). Volunteers from OCP
can go to The Harrisonburg Farmers Market, Red Front supermarket, and Friendly City Co-Op
to set up Point-of-Purchase displays at the end of aisles and checkout counters. As the daily
consumer is waiting in line to checkout their groceries this display will draw their attention and
cause them to make an impulsive purchase of Ground Up. The cost of end cap displays is $735
(ULINE, 2016) and cost of point-of-purchase displays is $299.55 (Displays2Go, 2016). The
fairly spread out. An important factor to highlight are that all social media marketing methods will
be continuous for the first six months after the launch. We propose the direct mail method be
used at the beginning of the launch and two months after the launch attract new customers and
remind them of the product before the holidays. We suggest using zip code targeting to send
the self-mailers during the two proposed times. Please see Appendix S for the proposed Media
Plan Timeline.
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REFERENCES
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-53645/
Belch, George E., and Michael A. Belch. I ntroduction to Advertising and Promotion: An
Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective,. 10th ed. New York: McGraw Hill-Irwin, n.d.
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Daily News Record Rate Card (2016, January). Retrieved November 28, 2016 from
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Ellens, J. (2015, August 7). Effective Marketing Appeals to Emotions Instead of Reason.
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Facebook. (2015, January 7). What the Shift to Video Means for Creators. Retrieved November
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Meisner, C. (2006). The Complete Guide to Direct Marketing: Creating Breakthrough Programs
that Really Work. Chicago, IL: Kaplan Pub.
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Moth, D. (2014, January 30). Facebook drives most social B2B traffic, but Twitter is top for
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APPENDIX
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Appendix B: Competitive Analysis of Pesto Industry
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Appendix C: Competitor Labels
Barilla:
Classico:
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Appendix D: Target Market Personas
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Appendix E: Visual Representation of Major Selling Idea
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Appendix F: Integration Map
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Appendix G: Mock-Up OCP Website Landing Page
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Appendix H: Addition to the A Few Things That We Offer Webpage
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Appendix I: Mock-Up Ground Up Webpage Feature Story
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Appendix J: Mock-Up Desktop & Mobile News Feed Facebook Ads
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Appendix K: Mock-Up Mobile Twitter Ad
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Appendix L: Mock-Up Mobile Instagram Ad
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Appendix M: Changes to Our Community Place Instagram Page
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Appendix N: Mock-Up Direct Mail Self-Mailer
FRONT
BACK
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Appendix O: Mock-up Direct Email
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Appendix P: Mock-Up Newspaper Advertisement
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Appendix Q: Ground Up Loyalty Program Punch Card
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Appendix R: Point-of-Purchase Displays
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Appendix S: Media Plan Timeline
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Appendix T: Budget Accrual for Ground Up Marketing Campaign
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We, Team Club 384, would like to thank everyone at Our Community Place for partnering with
James Madison University and providing us with this valuable learning experience. We deeply
admire all of the lives OCP impacts, and appreciate the help you provide to the greater
Harrisonburg and Virginia community.
Christian Durrett
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-durrett-587b39128
Allison Gill
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/allison-gill-b51337102
Alyssa Greene
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyssacgreene
Nick Yore
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-yore-52381bb8
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