Information Marketing Communications

1.0 Communicational Factors

The given potentially lucrative youth market is made up of over 27million teenagers across four European countries (UK, Germany, France and Italy) with an estimated Ј24.8billion of purchasing power between them.

1.1

Marketing to this age group is often broadcasted in a way to suit the core of the target audience, thus wasting money trying to communicate a message that will prove unattractive to a large portion of potential customers. Inevitably, narrowcasting would be an ideal approach to utilise the marketing department's efforts and minimise advertising cost in terms of CPT (cost per thousand reached). By specialising and narrowcasting to different segments of the given age groups across the four European countries, it becomes possible for the consumer to identify with the product in such a way that may not have been possible with a broadcasted message. Either way, a strategy of Confucianism (depending on the circumstances) or dynamism (regardless of circumstances) must be decided upon.

The reason for the suggested method is that not only will teenagers in the UK, Germany, France and Italy speak different languages, but they will also have different characteristics; social, personal, psychological and cultural diversities. All of these must be kept in mind when devising a marketing campaign and adhered to by communicating the appropriate message(s) in a clear concise manner to the target audience.

This can be achieved by applying one of several models available to help eliminate the occurrence of any communication problems (see appendices figures 1, 2 & 3 for Gerbner, Shannon-Weaver and Lasswell models). However, the Schramm model best identifies with this scenario as it specifically highlights the different stages of communication, allowing us to explore and evaluate any potential problems that may arise in the marketing campaign.

1.2

The Schramm model is shown below;

In order to create a better understanding of the model, an interpretation of each stage has been made below;

* Sender: Source of message (marketing dept. / organisation).

* Encoding: Fine tuning the language into a suitable context for the intended audience, ready for transmitting.

* Signal: the message transmitted via specific medium

* Noise: deformation of a message within the communication process where distortion complicates the message, thus not allowing the receiver to interpret the message as originally intended by the sender.

* Decoding: The process of interpreting the intended message into an understandable and convenient form.

* Receiver: the target audience receiving the intended message.

* Feedback: The response given back to the sender by the receiver subsequent to receiving the message.

1.3

By creating an understanding of this model, we can now look to put right any communicational problems which may arise as a result of broadcasting the same message across the four European countries.

Our clothing company is somewhat of a new brand and therefore has not had the necessary exposure across Europe. This is very important to the end receivers' initial perception of the message, as they are likely to judge the brand according to its past success/failure - and therefore brand positioning is the first issue on the agenda to be fine-tuned . For example, a brand that is not highly regarded in the UK maybe perceived differently in other countries whether it is down to ethical values, attitudes or even just fashion. A brand like 'Pony' for example, is seen as a low-end budget brand in the UK, in contrast to how it is perceived in Scandinavia and the U.S where it is regarded as trendy and 'funky' - so the history of the brand has a huge role to play in deciding how messages are to be conveyed. Nike for example, are so confident in their products that the message is often nothing to do with the product being sold, but the audience generally assumes the product to be of good quality because of Nike's history and dominative position in the market - thus glorifying a message which may not even make any sense.

One major internal factor that can affect the reception of the message is the characteristics of the marketing department itself. The teenagers must be able to identify with the message in order to respond positively, so if for example, the marketers in this company are older than 40 years, this is likely to present a problem as they would not be equipped with the knowledge of what today's fashion conscious 11-19 year olds would expect or recognise as 'cool'. With the appropriate market research and comprehension of such a young market however, such issues can be eradicated.

1.4

When encoding a message, words, phrases, images and other means of communication must be integrated accordingly and utilised with optimal affects if an eloquent and understandable message is to be constructed. Cultural differences and variations in languages across Europe oppose the biggest problem when encoding a message. In addition to this, clichйs are highly frowned upon by today's teenagers as they do not appreciate being undermined having grown up in a generation which is advertising and marketing literate.

Where larger companies have the credibility, they can broadcast the same message(s) across Europe. Our company does not have this luxury however, and in doing so we would face a few major problems. Selling to retailers in France may prove more difficult as opposed to having our clothes stocked in German outlets for example mainly because of the history and civil rivalry between the two countries. As a result, some teenagers may not be too welcoming of a British brand and may opt for an Italian or American brand instead - (this was well noted by Renault with the release of their new Clio as they labelled it 'half British-half French').

Language also imposes a problem and must be considered thoroughly as even parts of the countries with specific dialects may not be able to interpret the message as originally intended. Translation into four different languages will prove