Advertising
Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services (Kotler). Advertisements can be used many times to reach huge audiences across different geographical areas. This promotional tool is used through the internet, broadcasts, and print. Companies can easily communicate their product, message, and image to consumers through advertisements.
For example, Old Spice creates commercials and print ads, to communicate their message of “manliness”to men and women ages 15 to 34. They became successful because of their communication of their products value and the benefits it would bring to the consumers life. Their advertisements were able to get peoples attention and get them to remember the product. Below is a commercial of their famous Old Spic guy, portraying the image of what a man should look like, to influence customers that if they buy Old Spice products they will be like him.
Public Relations
Public relations is building good relationships, a strong company image, and handling bad publicity (Kotler). Companies conduct press releases, events, and sponsorships to promote their products. This form of promotion is most believable to consumers because it comes across as news, instead of sales communication.
For example, Old Spice uses public relations through Twitter and Facebook to directly communicate with customers. In 2010, they launched a campaign inviting customers to submit questions about their products on Twitter and Facebook. The Old Spice guy personally responded to 200 of the questions through YouTube. Below is one of the YouTube videos of the Old Spice guy responding to someones tweet.
Old Spice also uses sponsorships and endorsements as well. They sponsor the NFL and Super Bowl, while having many of the commercials air during the game. They also endorse many famous football and movie stores to portray the image of a “manly man”. These stars include:
- Terry Cruz
- Greg Jennings
- Neil Patrick Harris
- Wes Walker
Relation to a Product
When completing the practicum project, my group discussed how companies use promotion mix tools to communicate their objectives related to Old Spice. Promotional tools covered throughout the project consisted of advertising and public relations. Below is a link to my groups project on Old Spice.
Marketing Principles Learning Portfolio 