This integrated marketing communications plan is designed for KUMKUM hair oil. The plan includes a promotions opportunity analysis, corporate strategies, IMC objectives as well as all relevant advertising, promotion, selling, public relations, sponsorship and database programs. At last, the IMC plan describes the media plan in full detail including all ready-to-send schedules, as well as the methods to evaluate the success of the IMC plan.

KUMKUM has the opportunity to pioneer in hair oil advertising in the Punjab area since no other hair oil co. is currently advertising heavily. A mix of media will be implemented to better establish the KUMKUM brand name and create an image within the greater Punjab community. Secondly a business-to-business approach was identified to establish a further communication channel for the hair oil to reach it target market, create greater awareness and ultimately increase sales.

Having a very high end female target a revision to KUMKUM existing brand image was necessary. To better reflect what the oil stands for and attract the right customer the corporate image had to be improved by making the logo more memorable and related to the higher lifestyle, as well as by developing an integrated advertising campaign to increase this brand recall, awareness and sales. Furthermore a public relations and sponsorship strategy is described to tighten the ties with the community and to create yet another channel of reaching the target.

The overall 2009 marketing budget is set to $400,000 for KUMKUM with the largest portion being media costs.

Promotion Opportunity Analysis

KUMKUM has been in operation for over 5 years in Punjab Region. The company has grown from an initial staff of three to one of the busiest selling hair oil in the area employing more than 350 people. KUMKUM offers a wide array of services ranging from hairstyling and hair massages.

Our primary marketing strategy is to inform people about KUMKUM and to convince them that KUMKUM is superior to hair oils. The main goal here is to persuade consumers to make KUMKUM their number one choice when it comes to hair.

KUMKUM positions itself as high-end full service hair oil. On top of that KUMKUM is an exclusive hair oil, meaning that the products are all-natural and already have a very high-end positioning in the consumers mind. KUMKUM’s marketing strategy is based on a positioning of brand and service differentiation. The primary target for the oil and its services are females, with 30 above age limit, that are lower upper to upper upper income professionals or retired professionals, who have the time and money to be able to afford the Product.The secondary target for the oil are younger females between 14 and 30 years of age, that are girl child, collage going girls, and professionals, home makers ets.

The IMC program must convey this sense of superior quality in every aspect of the campaign. KUMKUM cannot afford a second-rate appearance in any marketing piece or advertisement, since its target is very upscale. Poor quality promotions, design or ads would make the oil look less elegant and drive business away rather than bring it in. The same is true for pricing strategies. The target customer expects slightly higher than average prices since she/he is able to pay for it and she/he relates upscale prices to superior quality.

Communications Analysis

Marketing Communication strategies for hair oil are almost fully concentrated on TV and print advertising and even more on word of mouth. Depending on how the oil differentiates and positions itself the print ads can be found in newspapers and local community magazines or high-end regional magazines. At the high end more money is spent on developing a strong brand name in the community, where as on the lower end hair oil almost completely depend on word of mouth and usage.

Attractive ways of communication for medium sized hair oil are also local and regional newspapers, which have a very high readership, but are usually very expensive. Slowly hair oils are discovering that direct mail can constitute a very valuable help to drive in new business. Although most hair oil mostly rely on the “do it yourself” method of simply collecting customer data in order to send updates and promotional materials some results can be seen, especially in making sure the customer returns. There is a very limited number of hair oils that actually use advertising agencies or direct mail companies where the focus is not only on maintaining an active customer database for repeat business, but also to extend the database on a regular basis through acquisition of additional mailing lists containing data of possible targets. Another medium that is becoming more and more affordable and rapidly establishing itself as a major source of information is the Internet. Hair oil nowadays uses the Internet primarily as an online portfolio or information source for its customer base. What most hair oils haven’t discovered yet is the area of interactive marketing in order to push visitors to their website and generate sales. Only a very small number of hair oil chains actually advertise in broadcast media or national print publications.

Target Market Analysis

The target market for the hair oil is predominantly female. The female individual appreciates beauty, fashion and style and likes to show that normal for her definitely includes shopping in a number of the best stores in town. This female tends to take very good care of herself through exercise as well as numerous upscale beauty products. Although having an elaborate lifestyle, the target is a person of high influence and in or close to retirement. The person also tends to have traveled the world and is influenced by an “international culture.”

If the person is not retired she is involved in business and tends to be in upper level management with a vast influence in the Punjab community. She appreciates quality and is willing to pay for it.

Our marketing campaign focuses on 2 target segments:

* Primary market: Females between 14 and 30 years of age with a total family

* Secondary market: Females above30 of age with a total

Market Segmentation Strategy

Since KUMKUM hair oil is a focus based business the segmentation analysis focuses on solely on end-consumers. They constitute the target market for the KUMKUM and can be separated into three different groups:

* Primary market: Females between 14 and 30 years of age

* Secondary market: Females above 30

* Men between 35 and 69 years of age

KUMKUM’s strategy is focused primarily on affluent age 14-30 yrs aged women, since research shows that this target is first and foremost extremely attracted to KUMKUM and secondly already constitutes the hair oil main customer base.

Corporate Strategies

KUMKUM’s image is based on providing excellent service which goes hand in hand, translating into commitment to continuous improvement, care for the world we live in, giving back to society as well as environmental leadership and responsibility. Although they are already well-known in the Punjab community, the hair oil’s corporate image had to be improved by making the logo more memorable and related to the hair oil, as well as by developing an integrated advertising campaign to increase brand recall and sales. The advertising campaign will focus on the aspect that KUMKUM delivers superior service and simply does the best services. Concentrating on this one aspect will allow them to set themselves apart from the competition and to construct a simply memorable message that helps sales and branding at the same time. Going hand in hand with this is the public relations strategy, which will focus on providing a positive image in the community and giving back to the community and caring for Mother Nature, be it through events or sponsorships.

IMC Management

It was determined that the hair oil has lots of room growth. By implementing an extensive marketing campaign the goal will be to increase market share for KUMKUM and to create a greater awareness for the hair oil. The overall budget for the IMC program will be around US$ 400,000 for the 2010 calendar year. The largest percentage of the budget will be spent on media costs to fulfill these objectives for the consumer market targeting women. Only a small percentage will be allocated to business to business efforts

IMC Objectives

The overall goal of the hair oil is to increase profits. Following are the goals the company needs to achieve and the objectives they need to fulfill in order to make this happen:

Objective 1 Consumer

* Grow customer base and increase the market share for KUMKUM

* Build traffic by increasing the new customer rate from 150 new customers per month to 300 new customers per month

* Build brand awareness

* Inform target and encourage to action

Objective 2 Distribution

* Maintain good channel relationship with others

Objective 3 B2B

* Create new communication channel for the hair oil, targeting businesses and offices to create greater awareness in the community and ultimately build traffic in the hair oil.

IMC Budget

The IMC budget for the salon is set to US$400,000 per year. This budget is an estimate and will only provide a rough idea as to how much can be spent. Especially since KUMKUM will be new to advertising, the KUMKUM has to enter with a big bang and high frequency to be able to get the ROI they are looking for.

The budget may vary over time and won’t be set for the whole year to stay exile and act on the market. Most of the budget will be spent on media costs for brand development since those are the main pillars of the campaign.

Although the budget is set to be exible, the forecasted advertising expenditures run at around US$ 30,000. per calendar month.

The budget can be broken down to the following objectives:

IMC Objective One (Consumer) $300,000

IMC Objective TWO (Distribution) does not apply

IMC Objective Three (Business-to-Business) $100,000

Agency selection

The agency selected to handle most of the integrated marketing communications materials is KUMKESH .KUMKESH is an advertising agency that has experience in all aspects of Marketing, media planning/buying as well as creative development and production. The company decided to hire an external agency since the hair oil has no marketing department. The company is run by Luca and Joseph as the business owners, who required help in formulating an effective integrated marketing campaign. KUMKESH will handle all aspects of the campaign and act as a marketing concierge desk for KUMKUM HAIR OIL.

Internet Web Site

KUMKUM’s website serves as a place where customers and potential customers can find all the information they need. The website offers a comprehensive list of products offered including prices. The visitor can also meet his/her stylist and read about his/her achievements. The other part of the website will be linked to KUMISH, where customers have the chance to order products online and have them delivered to their home. To make the site more attractive the site was kept hybrid. Beautiful visuals were incorporated in Flash to keep the viewer interested and on the page, while the rest of the page is kept in html for optimization purposes.

IMC Objective: Consumer

The objective for the target market is to create greater brand awareness in the Punjab community and to persuade consumers that KUKKUM is the best for hair. This will ultimately increase traffic in the shops and generate more sales, resulting in increased profits.

To accomplish this objective, a combination of advertising, consumer promotions, direct marketing, as well as public relations and sponsorship programs will be used. The overall market hasn’t been advertised to heavily by the competition, which provides a great chance for KUMKUM to pioneer hair oil advertising in the area.

Objectives:

A: Create a corporate ID package tailored to the target audience by the end of the fourth quarter 2009.

B: Develop an integrated advertising campaign including

* TV ad (script)

* Radio spot 30 sec

* Print ad

* Direct mail piece

* Banner ad

* Media Kit (PR)

* Gift cards

* Posters

* Mall posters Completion by the end of calendar year 2009.

C: Develop the media strategy and create a media plan for the calendar year 2010, starting 01.01.2010.

D: Implement the campaign into different media by the end of December 2009.

E: Post buys analysis, follow-up and tweaking of campaign to ensure on-going success through out 2009. The goal for this campaign is an average return on investment (ROI) of three dollars for 2010 Budget

The 2010 Marketing Budget for KUMKUM is set to $400,000 for the purpose of this IMC plan. The largest portion of the budget, $200,000 will be spent on advertising media costs, while an estimated $20,000 will be charged for creative development fees for the entire year. Advertising will help the company to create brand awareness in the community and help drive in traffic.

The second big pillar, $20,590 will be spent on a consumer promotion and direct mail mix that will be sent out throughout the year. The goal here is to keep the current customer base involved and to solicit new prospects through the use of promotional materials and coupons.

Around $16,000 will be spent on Public Relations, updating the website on a regular basis and local sponsorship opportunities that are going to arise throughout the year.

The rest of the budget is reserved for a new database program the hair oil plans to install in the future as well as possibilities that will arise throughout the year

IMC Methodologies

Reaching our target market requires a blended approach. While advertising constitutes the main pillar of our campaign, it will be supplemented by consumer promotions and direct mail, as well as public relations and sponsorships.

The primary role of advertising is to create awareness of the salon as well as to increase traffic. The direct mail consumer promotions are geared primarily to encourage trial of the superior company services through specials and to create a bond between existing company customers. The PR and sponsorship programs will help to create brand awareness and to force deep ties in the community.

Advertising

The overall goal for KUMKUM is to increase sales. This can be done through creating a greater awareness of the hair oil in the Punjab community and persuading consumers that the hair oil is the best, which will ultimately lead to increased more clients.

This makes advertising crucial. Advertising will help to establish the hair oil in the people’s minds through frequency and the use of multiple media. The message also has time to grow within the community and awareness will increase over time. The greatest amount, 33.0% of the advertising budget will be spent on radio advertising. The radio spots will air throughout the year on a very consistent basis to create an ongoing listener relationship. The goal is to make the hair oil super familiar with the listener, almost make the hair oil part of the listener’s daily routine. Since our target listens to the radio a lot, radio was chosen as the number one advertising medium.

The second largest investment, 24.9% is dedicated to cable advertising. To ensure that KUMKUM is able to stay within the budget, the target area does not extend beyond the greater Punjab area. Mixes of ten different cable networks, which resemble our female target, were negotiated as a package deal, since the buys will be placed for the entire year.

11.1% of the advertising budget was dedicated to magazine advertising in the Magazine prevailing in Punjab region. The Grah shobha Magazine has the greatest resemblance with the target the hair oil is looking for on a regional level. KUMKUM is going to have a full page ad featured in all 8 issues as well as 2 premium back cover positions throughout the year.

Since the Grah shobha Magazine has such a great similarity with KUMKUM’s female target, some of the direct mail efforts will be distributed through the magazine. The salon will distribute the direct mail cards inside the magazine to hit the affluent audience, the Grah shobha Magazine delivers, in a very unique way. This will take up 11.7% of the advertising budget.

About $9000 of the budget will be spent on creative development fees including: In store posters and brochures to let people know about gift card opportunities the hair oil has to offer, magazine ads, copywriting and miscellaneous creative.

The rest of the budget will be spent on theater advertising and mall advertising to help establish rapport with the Punjab community.

Creative Brief

* Objective: Create brand awareness, inform target and build traffic

* Target Audience Profile: The target market for the Kumkum is predominantly female. The female individual appreciates beauty, fashion and style and likes to show that. A normal day for her definitely includes shopping in a number of the best stores in town. This female tends to take very good care of herself through exercise as well as numerous upscale beauty products.

Although having an elaborate lifestyle, the target is a person of high influence and in or close to retirement. The person also tends to have traveled the world and is influenced by an “international culture.” If the person is not retired she is involved in business and tends to be in upper level management with a vast influence in the Punjab community. She appreciates quality and is willing to pay for it.

Demographic:

Primary age group: 14 – 30

Secondary age group: 30 above

Gender: female

Family life cycle: Girl child, older, married with children

Psychographic:

Social class: lower uppers, upper uppers

Lifestyle: Achievers

Personality: Ambitious

* Message Theme

The primary theme will be that KUMKUM is for the woman of today, who enjoy their elaborate lifestyle to the fullest. KUMKUM is their number one choice – focus on best Products.

* Unique Selling Point-Focus on the fact that KUMKUM does the BEST TREATMENT and daily usage product for hair.

* Product Benefit-KUMKUM is exclusive healthy nourishing hair oil. The oil is more natural than other hair oil products and does beneficial to the hair.

* Leverage Point-A high end look / feel of the ad will give the KUMKUM an edge and show that it is superior to other hair oils.

Advertising Design

In developing the print ads, a mixture between a preemptive message – and a unique selling proposition strategy will be used. KUMKUM will be positioned as the best Oil for damaged hair and the ads will also feature that KUMKUM was voted into the top 20 hair stylist in the country. This will be conveyed through a mix of appeals. Sex, rationality and emotion will give the ad an edge. The executional framework will be a mix of dramatization, testimonial and slice of life, showing a model with beautifully oiled hair.

The television commercials will use a affective message strategy with an emotional appeal and a testimonial/slice of life/demonstration executional framework. The ads feature a beautiful woman in her mid 30s to mid 50s that seems to be fully enjoying her life – a person our target can relate to. As she enters the shop and had the kumkum hair oil a time lapse starts and the viewer can see the whole treatment and see the after.

For the radio ads a cognitive message strategy will be used with a mix of appeals (depending on the day). The executional framework will be a pure testimonial, since the radio morning show host will endorse the product.

Consumer Promotions

The budget for consumer promotions is set to $3,750 for the entire year. Since the hair oil offers an upscale product the consumer promotion is mixed with direct mail. Each month the company will send out 25,000 direct mail cards with different themes featuring specials and other freebees to their current customer database as well as purchased target lists.

Since the company offers a very high end product, no price reductions or similar will be offered. Price reductions or similar would tend to project a different image than what has been outlined in this IMC plan. The goal here is to involve the customer and make him feel important. Direct mail cards will be designed as gift cards and invitations that thank the receiver for being part of the KUMKUM community, or invite the receiver to join the KUMKUM community. Specials include:

A thank you massage

A thank you Card

A thank you gift

Small premiums like the ones above will show the target that KUMKUM cares about them, which again, creates rapport and awareness.

Throughout the year, gift cards will also be available for sale at the stores provided by the company.

Public Relations & Sponsorship Programs

The company stresses the fact that the employees should be involved in every aspect of planning and know about every current IMC effort the company makes. The employees are the direct client contact and can help to make or break a campaign. They are the ones demonstrating what KUMKUM is all about – if they are kept in the dark about what the company is trying to do, it can have an even negative impact on the company’s message theme.

KUMKUM’s corporate reputation will be monitored on an ongoing basis. After being in business for over 5 years and building a business mainly through word of mouth, it can be said that the company has an excellent reputation with the customers as well as the community.

* The public relations efforts have 2 main goals: Extend the positive reputation in the community (let more people know about KUMKUM)

* Maintain a constant image of community involvement.

Besides actively advertising in broadcast, print and interactive media, the PR efforts will help to reinforce the brand recall and create stronger brand ties with the hair oil through effective events and sponsorships. People in the greater Punjab community will not only see or hear KUMKUM ads; they will also read about the community efforts the company makes in various newspapers. Cause related marketing programs scheduled for 2009:

* KUMKUM will be a major contributor to “Locks of Love Drive” where hair is collected throughout the week to make wigs for kids with cancer. One whole week worth of sales will be donated to the kids as well.

* KUMKUM is involved with mothers and children in distress. Anyone who needs help and lives in the distress communities in the community will receive free service from company throughout the year.

* KUMKUM will be involved as a sponsor in the yearly AIDS walk. It will be involved as a sponsor in the Broward / Palm Beach Breast Cancer Walk.

The brand itself will help the salon to establish itself as environmentally friendly, since company positions itself as the brand that cares for mother earth. Since the brand is so strong and so evolved the image has a spillover effect on the hair oil and in some way borrows its reputation to KUMKUM. In this case company does all the green marketing for KUMKUM just by mentioning its affiliation.

Media Plan

The following pages constitute the media plan specifically tailored to the target audience of KUMKUM. The media plan consists of the following media outlets that have been carefully chosen to maximize frequency, reach and profitability for the salon:

1. RADIO

2. CABLE

3. THEATER ADVERTISING

4. MAGAZINE

5. DIRECT MARKETING

6. WEB

7. MALL

All these outlets are chosen as a result of in-hair oil surveys as well as data from Magazines to best hit the target audience and generate the most response. This is a complete media list for the hair oil. The KUMKUM does not have to choose to air on all media listed in this report, they were merely put together for the purpose of this IMC plan and to show the company what possibilities are out there.

Evaluation

The evaluation of the advertising and marketing efforts will take place on an ongoing basis over various levels.

The company will receive the month’s media schedules before the first of the month. It is the company’s duty to ask how the dealers (when they call in to make an appointment) heard about KUMKUM. They have to find out if it was through a referral, a direct mail piece, or if they have seen an ad somewhere.