Auto Magazine Advertisement Analysis Sample Assignment

Introduction

There is a well known marketing cliché that even if you have invented the best mouse trap in the world, people will not beat a path to your house to buy it. In other words, the product has to be marketed well for it to be successful. This paper discusses some relevant points with regard to principles of marketing.

The context used is the automobile magazine scenario in Canada with specific reference to an advertisement that has appeared in one popular auto magazine in the country. The magazine that is reviewed here is the Motor Trend and the advertisement is for the Acura TL model, which belongs to the Acura brand manufactured by the Honda Motor Corporation.

Target market

It is important for any organization engaged in marketing to define its target market and the target customer of its products.. It is to be noted that the word customer relationship is stressed here. In order to build a relationship, the first step is to identify the target market and the target customer.

A target market can be defined as “The group of potential customers selected for marketing. A market segment. Combines with positioning and marketing mix to yield marketing strategy.” (Lantos).

Selected magazine

Motor Trend, as the name suggests, is a publication related to the automobile industry. “Motor Trend, part of SOURCE INTERLINK MEDIA, was founded in 1949 and has a circulation of 1.1 million and a total readership of 7.1 million. Internationally recognized as one of the leading brands in automotive publishing”. (Motor Trend Names Top 50 Industry Players to 2008 Power List: About Motor Trend).

The magazine itself provides comprehensive coverage on almost all aspects of the motor industry.. A few examples of the type of articles that are published is given here.

There are news items about new and used automobiles, technical specifications of selected models, product of the year, new about auto shows and about the automobile industry in general, adventure trips, future trends in products and the industry as whole and even a section on classic and vintage automobiles. So this magazine is useful to any person interested in any of the topics given above.

It can be seen that the magazine has a well defined target market and audience. It does not move away from its core competency which is the automobile industry. The fact that the magazine has been in existence for nearly fifty years with a large international circulation and readership is proof enough for the publication’s successful market strategy.

Selected advertisement

The advertisement selected for the paper is from Honda Motor Corporation’s Acura brand. The particular model is the Acura TL and the relevant advertisement is attached to the paper at the end. The Acura TL range has in fact five variants, even though the advertisement is for only one. It does not also specify which variant is shown in the picture. The advertising copy only attempts to define its features as a representative for the full Acura TL range.

The following are the full range of variants namely the TL5AT, TL NAVI Package 5AT, TL Type-S 6MT and the TL Type-S 5AT. The prices range from 42,700 dollars to 47,800 dollars, starting from the first variant given above. (2008 Acura TL: 4 Available Versions for Acura).

Two engine capacities are available namely the 3-2 liter ones available for the first two variants and 3.5 liter ones available for the last two variants. But from what trade publications have to say, the model is a nearly a high end or premium end one with all accessories and facilities required in a car of that class. (All new 2009 TL Redefines Performance With Most Powerful Engine in Acura History and Super Handling All Wheel Drive: All-New 2009 TL Redefines Performance with the Most Powerful Engine in Acura History and Super Handling All-Wheel Drive).

The article states that the 2009 version has the 3.5 liter engine as standard for all models. The advertisement copy written on the selected advertisement communicates the following points to its readers. The focus is on aggression, and the easy and stylish way to handle aggression.

The actual ad copy is “The civilized way to handle aggression is to embrace it”. The copy also specifies that the model shown has 286 horsepower communicating the high power of the engine. The advertisement also stresses on the high technology used in the car and gives ‘voice activated navigation’ and ‘real time traffic monitoring’ as examples.

The final lines again focus on aggression and goes like this – “Aggression has been defined. Barely”. So the points that communicated strongly are aggression, technology, style and the civilized way of handling of the car. There is also stylish photograph of the automobile taken from a low angle and showing the full front and its left side at an angle.

The color of the model is black or some other dark color and the setting appears to be on a prairie. The time is either early morning or late evening and the background sky is filled with clouds. The words “Civilized way to handle aggression” appears in bold right above the body of the car. Aggression and refinement are the points that are tried to be communicated most strongly here.

Clearly, the target is youth and the younger section of the society. The potential customer himself/herself would be among the elite, a highly paid executive or a young businessperson. The hint is that the customer himself will be a highly sophisticated person or one who is aspiring to be sophisticated. Even tough the advertisement copy only contains three lines apart from the bold heading; it clearly defines the intended target audience.

The advertisement also does not indicate that the Acura is a part of Honda Motors. This indicates that the brand is well established and that the target audience knows that it is a part of the famous automobile manufacturer. On the whole, the advertisement is pleasing, with somber colors, uncluttered lettering and with clear communication of the target audience. The emblem of the Acura is given on the bottom right hand corner of the page.

The words Acura and Advanced appear below the emblem. This is one more focus on the level of technology and refinement of the automobile. The large dimensions of the car (not given in the advertisement) would be more appealing to the male customer rather than for the fair sex.

Price is not shown in the advertisement which is an indication that the potential customer is one who is not attracted by price, but rather on looks, performance, style and refinement. In other words, the customer will be one who has the money to spend on luxury.

Marketing theory (Relevant concepts)

Advertising and buyer behavior: Buyer behavior is usually a planned process. The theory of consumer buying behavior should be considered when creating an advertising copy also. The steps followed in the whole process involves the following steps namely, need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and evaluation of purchase. (Lamb, Hair, and McDaniel, p.152).

Need recognition in this case would be the desire to own a luxury brand made by one of the most famous manufacturer in the world. The advertisement can create a need in the minds of many people, but only a few will go on to the next step or purchase evaluation (due to price).

Information search includes gathering information from relevant sources like the web sites, reviews in magazines like Motor Trend, brochures, visiting a car dealer, taking a test drive etc. In this stage the Motor Trend magazine plays a bigger role than the advertisement.

The advertisement plays a small part here in the sense that the reader can see that the model is powerful, refined and replete with high technology (enough to satisfy some persons). Motor Trend can also help in evaluation of alternatives because reviews of other models and makes will be available from different or even the same issue. Once purchase is made, evaluation of the product will take place.

Here both the advertisement and the magazine is not relevant. Of course the buyer can read the review again and see if all that has been reviewed is actually present in the model. If the product is an inexpensive one and also if the customer is not satisfied with it, he might opt for a repetition of the whole process (with a different product). In the case of Acura there is little chance of dissatisfaction.

Even if it happens the customer may not dispose such an expensive car and look to purchase another make. So with regard to buyer behavior the advertisement can play a role in need recognition and a small role in information search.

Motor Trend magazine can play a bigger role in need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives and even in purchase decision. The fact is that the customer may look for other sources in all of the above factors (in addition to the magazine).

Remote association matching (RAM)

Creativity alone does not ensure the success of the advertisement. “According to RAM, a print ad is perceived to be creative (ie. clever, imaginative and amusing) when a seemingly unusual, unrelated or remote picture, termed conveyor, can be linked to an attribute or benefit of the advertised product using the headline or copy”. (Ange, p.2).

In other words the picture given in the advertisement should contain a seemingly unrelated picture so that it can pique a viewer’s curiosity. In the Acura ad context, the ad picture is quite straightforward though the main headline copy is quite catchy. Another concept is the use of confusion to attract a reader to the advertisement.

This concept was written in the work titled “The Hypnotic Power of Confusion” by Joe Vitale, author and well known copywriter. He adds that purposeful inclusion of confusing phrases can in fact increase the reader’s curiosity to know more about the product. (Vitale). In a sense, the copy headline mentioned above in the Acura ad is quite confusing in a stand alone context. It can motivate the readers to know more about the product.

Branding

With the availability of a number of similar products in the market a need to have uniqueness were felt by manufactures over the ages. In some cases even a single company may have many similar products (example Honda). With availability of some many Honda models, customers will need something extra to remember a particular model (or a range of models).

This was the reason why Honda released its luxury segment model under the brand name of Acura. The fact that Honda is trying to project this brand as unique is seen from the fact that the given advertisement does not feature the name Honda anywhere.

“APQC and the AMA define the primary purpose of branding as to “establish a meaningful, differentiated presence that will increase the ability to attract and retain loyal customers and improve marketplace ability”. (Bock). This again is an affirmation that Honda is trying to project Acura as a separate brand that differentiates it from the rest of the models in the Honda Stable.

Conclusion

Marketing strategy is a wide field and includes many concepts like marketing environment, marketing information, customer relationships, pricing, communication, public relations, completive advantage etc. These concepts in a sense are not directly related with the field of product advertising.

Hence these were not discussed in this paper. It can be seen that both Motor Trend and the Acura advertisement are successful in their own fields. Both have been able to establish a well defined target market. They also have been able to communicate effectively to the target market.

It can be concluded that the Acura advertisement is an extremely appropriate medium it place an advertisement for the model of a car.

Even though other media like newspapers and TV will have a larger audience, there will be the presence of other product ads as a distraction. The reader of the magazine like Motor Trend will be one who is interested in at least one aspect of automobiles. The chance of an advertisement being noticed is very high in such a case.

Works Cited

All new 2009 TL Redefines Performance With Most Powerful Engine in Acura History and Super Handling All Wheel Drive: All-New 2009 TL Redefines Performance with the Most Powerful Engine in Acura History and Super Handling All-Wheel Drive. Auto Unleashed. 2008.

Ange, Lawrence. Towards a Structural Theory of Creativity in Print Advertising The Remote Associate: The Ram Model. 2008.

Bock, Wally. Best Practices in Branding. Digital Age Story Teller Resources. 2003.

Lamb, Charles, W., Hair, Joseph, F., and McDaniel, Carl, D. Consumer decision making process. Introduction to Marketing. 2006.

Lantos, Geoffrey. Glossary in Terms in New Products Management: Target Market. Business Administration Department. 2007.

Motor Trend Names Top 50 Industry Players to 2008 Power List: About Motor Trend. Reuters: Business and Finance. 2008.

Olsen, Henrick. Supporting Customer’s Decision Making Process: The Consumer Decision Making Process. The Interaction Designers Coffee Break: Weeklyn Postings and Quarterly Articles About Interaction Design. 2003.

Vitale, Joe. The Hypnotic Power of Confusion. Web Source. 2008.

2008 Acura TL: 4 Available Versions for Acura. Yahoo Canada: Autos. 2008.

How Do Transnational Organizations Affect The Sovereignty Of States?

Introduction

The problem of sovereignty is closely associated with the study of international relations and politics. In particular, the globalization process makes the issue even more critical as far as transnational organized crime is concerned.

Considering organized crime beyond the state system inevitably leads to the discussion of the sovereignty crisis among modern states and growth of non-state actors, including groups, international organizations, associations, and movements.

These actors act beyond the influence of any national institution, but they have a potent political impact on their activities and represent common interest of the global society. In this respect, the problems of a national character are now requiring a global response from those organizations.

The influence of globalization and the increased number of transnational organizations can influence both positively and negatively the sovereignty of states. One the one hand, non-state actors can assist the nation state in effectively facing serious challenges and, as a result, the transnational organizations can be regarded as positive actors.

On the other hand, non-state actors can establish goals that are not congruent with those set at the national level. In this respect, such goals can constitute a serious threat to sovereignty. Organized crime can be a result of activities imposed by non-state movements. What is more threatening is that those groups are able to sophisticate their activities and methods to gain more benefits beyond the state borders.

While encountering the problem of organized crime, the state can have two alternatives. They can either fight with the outlaw actions or find a compromise in order not to lose. The decision largely depends on social, structural, and historical contexts.

In order to understand the impact of transnational organizations on the sovereignty of nations, it is purposeful to explore the major strategies used by state to fight with organized crimes, as well as to analyze how various transnational organizations influence sovereignty of nations.

Sovereignty of Nations in Relation to Fighting Transnational Crime with Examples

The development of the international law imposes a number of biases concerning the sovereignty states. Specifically, countries are now searching for new regulations and laws protecting them from external impact and creating a kind of sovereignty immunity.

With the advent of globalization, many sovereignty nations have faced a number of serious transnational crimes, such as human and drug trafficking, terrorism, and smuggling leading to serious consequences¹. With regard to this deplorable situation, the leading economies are now striving to work out specific protective strategies and effective defense lines².

Hence, Australia along with countries has enacted statutes underscoring their comprehension of sovereignty supremacy. In particular, the introduction of the European Convention on State Immunity and Additional Protocol was an essential doctrine restricting the actions of the international institutions on the national territories³.

Though the Protocol has been insufficient to solve the problem, the Act of State Doctrine has become a legal principle allowing the modern states to prevent courts from making important decisions and enact specific laws against those countries if they are situation beyond the state boundary⁴.

Many other countries are also under the pressure of the growing rates of crimes and this problem concerns both developed and developing economies. In particular, the United States have also implemented a number of strategies enhancing the protection of their borderlines from illegal actions.

The state has encountered the serious problem of money laundering and, therefore, the two legislative approaches introduced have marked the fight against this serious transnational crime⁵. The strategies involve RICO and the Bank Secrecy Act of 1960. These anti-money laundry actions have contributed to preventing the translations crimes and have introduced new legislations within the nation state.

Similar problems exist in other countries including the countries of the Great Seven. In general, the modern international scene has created a number of challenges and, in order to handle those, the countries launched an in-depth analysis of the problem of money laundering along with the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)⁶. The Great Seven also worked out a number of recommendations and projects aimed at preventing and improving the situation of transnational organized crimes.

The European institutions have also introduced a great number of prevention measures directed at fighting against the external attacks. Specifically, the establishment of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLA) was aimed to compensate the inefficiency of fighting fraud initiated by the Community⁷.

In order to limit the access of the Community to financial resources, the office introduced new cases associated within the illegal activities. About 10 % of cases were primarily connected with fraud campaigns started by the Community.

In general, the currently discussed problems of sovereignty fail to take into consideration the historical context of the development of this phenomenon. In particular, a more careful examination of different forms of independence and sovereignty should not ignore the peculiarities and nuances of the contexts⁸. Consequently, external and external perspectives of sovereignty should also be carefully considered.

The UN As a Transnational Organization and Its Influence on the Sovereignty of States

Though many transnational organizations introduce reforms beyond the national boundaries, their actions are also directed at struggling with the organized crime. In this respect, the United Nations has also been involved into anti-organized crime campaign to protect human rights and national sovereignty issues.

To enlarge on this point, the organization maintains its activities in accordance with Article 1 in the UN Charter and Article 28 presented in the Declaration on Human Rights. Hence, according to the UN Charter, the organization is obliged to “… maintain international peace and security and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace…”⁹.

Article 28 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights stipulates, “Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized”¹⁰.

With regard to the above regulations, the activities initiated by the United Nations organization have had a positive impact on the national reforms and legislature because the primary emphasis is placed on the strict observance of human rights irrespective of boundaries and national regulations.

In addition to the above, the United Nations Organization has made a valuable contribution to the fight against transnational crimes, specifically those connected with trafficking. Their conventions have managed to handle the problem of easy transportations across the states. Much reforms and changes have been introduced since the establishment of Transnational Crime Convention 2003¹¹.

The postulate pursues to establish the generally accepted rules and principles for controlling the crime control rates. The formulation of such concepts as “organized criminal group” was also been agreed during the Convention¹².

In addition, the records also comprise specific requirements for investigating, preventing, and prosecuting the transnational crimes and offences. Finally, the Transnational Crime Convention contains important articles on mutual assistance aimed at involving international cooperation against transnational crimes.

In whole, the analysis of feasibility of international cooperation in the fight against transnational organized crime should be carefully considered because many countries consider the UN actions are those directed against their security and sovereignty.

Under these circumstances, there should a tangible distinction between forms and perceptions of sovereignty and the human rights. In other words, the country often resists cooperating with the United Nation in the fear infiltration of translational organized crime on their territory¹³.

Consequently, an accurate rationale for cooperation should be outlined in order to eliminate all possible biases. The content and purpose of cooperation and mutual assistance should be primarily based on the commonly established purposes of national legislations that would not contradict other nations’ interests. To be more exact, different forms of cooperation should be introduced to meet the requirements.

In fact, various forms and principles of cooperation, as proposed by the United Nations, can have positive outcomes for all sovereign states. The emphasis placed on cooperation can greatly contribute to the enhancement of an effective law environment and creation of a more vigorous legislative system.

The introduction of bilateral, regional, and global approaches can be effective in dealing with various forms and characters of transnational criminal groupings. Hence, the emergence of new forms of bilateral and multilateral cooperation has promoted greater understanding and mutual assistance among the sovereign states.

Europol as an international counterterrorism agent

The establishment of the European international police organization has been discussed since the 1980s when the fundamental differences between the aims of different states in their fight against the international crime have become obvious.¹⁴

However, the establishment itself took place only after considerable delay in 1992 and was included into the Maastricht Treaty because some of the European states were afraid of possible limitations of their sovereignty.

Initially, Europol’s main goal was to fight against the drug crimes, but later its remits were extended to dealing with the international crimes on a thematic basis which is listed in the Europol Convention dated to 1998.

According to its mission statement, Europol is defined as the law enforcement organization as a part of the European Union focusing on criminal intelligence.¹⁵ The main goal of Europol is to improve the effectiveness of cooperation between the Member States in their fight against the international crime. The most serious crimes which are included into the Europol’s mandate range from terrorism to illicit drug and human trafficking.¹⁶

As to the governance of this international organization, Europol’s Director and Deputy Directors are appointed by the Council of Ministers for Justice and Home Affairs. Europol cooperates with Interpol and other third parties, such as the states and organizations, exchanging the information according to the current cooperation agreements. Annual strategic reports are delivered for evaluating the crime threats and regulating the activities of Europol.

The mechanism of cooperation of the member states with Europol is based upon two important elements, namely Europol National Units (ENU) and the European Information System (EIS).¹⁷

In the aftermath of 9/11, the counterterrorist mandate of Europol was extended when a specialized division called Counter-Terrorist Task Force (CTTF) operating 24 hours was created for exchanging the information whenever, evaluating the hazards and developing strategies whenever it is necessary.¹⁸

Europol has the authority to ask the police of the member state to share the investigation results with the US FBI or other third parties. Despite this extended mandate, the member states lack trust to the Europol, questioning its role in preventing the international crimes.¹⁹

The examples from the past can be regarded as important preconditions of this situation. For instance, there is evidence that Europol was not significantly involved into the counterterrorism operations after the 3/11 events in Madrid as well as the situation when the EU officials received letter bombs.²⁰

Therefore, Europol suffers from the so-called chicken-egg dilemma due to which some of the member states do not believe in Europol’s counter-terrorism role.²¹

Regardless of particular flaws within its structure and particular disagreements with the member states, Europol can significantly enhance the effectiveness of the counterterrorism operations by creating the standardized channels of the information exchange, capturing and disseminating the best counterterrorism practices.

The role of Interpol in fighting against the international crime

When the need of more intensified international criminal police cooperation arose in early 1900s, the problem was discussed at the international police conferences which took place between the years 1899 and 1914.

The first attempts to create an international formalized organization are dated back to 1902 and 1914 when during the meeting in Paris and Monte Carlo the participating states discussed the benefits of international cooperation for the white slavery suppression. However, the establishment of the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC) is dated to 1923 meeting in Vienna.²²

Responding to the environmental pressures, the Interpol underwent a number of organizational changes, preserving its competitive advantages in the course of time. For instance, the Interpol’s interference into the political areas expanded the list of the responsibilities of this international organization, but reduced its autonomy, but was an induced step in the context of the historical changes. ²³

Therefore, regardless of the initial goals of its establishment, the environmental factors played an important role in shaping the organizational culture of the Interpol and its behaviors. The 9/11 events and the Interpol’s inability to prevent them facilitated further changes within its organizational structure.

Interpol has always been seen as a professional counterterrorist actor playing an important role in combating the international crime and terrorism. The three main goals pursues by the Interpol include design of the global police information exchange system, maintenance of criminal databases and proactive support of the police initiatives all over the world.²⁴

These functions allow this international police organization to improve the effectiveness of the police operation in different countries through cross-border cooperation. Even though this organization is said to be underfunded, Interpol fulfills its functions on the highest levels.²⁵ Interpol developed a number of successful counterterrorism projects, including the Fusion Project Kalkan and radiological Project Geiger as the best-known of them.

Additionally, the Interpol Weapons and Electronic Tracing System (IWETS) and Interpol Money Laundering Automated Search System demonstrate the benefits of the innovative technologies and globalization for fighting against the international crimes and terrorism.

Moreover, the profound databases of the criminals’ fingerprints, suspected terrorists, lost and stolen documents allow the Interpol to help police in member countries to prevent or combat crime and terrorism attacks.

Therefore, the tools and systems developed by the Interpol are invaluable for assisting the member countries in their fight against the international terrorism, but require the members’ awareness and active involvement into the counterterrorism operations.

The Conditions of Effective Cooperation with International Organizations

The counterterrorism strategies and operations developed by different international organizations and other counterterrorist actors should be viewed in the context of the increased terrorism risks. The international counterterrorism policing underwent significant changes after the events of 9/11, shifting the main emphasis towards the efficiency-driven strategies and depoliticized definition of terrorism.

Applying the theory of police bureaucratization, the recent changes and the enhanced involvement of the police institutions into the operations of the international organizations can be explained with the purposive-rational logic.²⁶

In other words, the police institutions agreed to their formalized autonomy for the purpose of fighting against the world terrorism and understanding the urgent need for the international cooperation and its benefits for achieving the common goals and minimizing the risks. Three main conditions are extremely important for accomplishing this task.

The first of these conditions is ensuring the relative independence of the police institutions from the dictates and local government. This requirement is based upon the depoliticized definition of terrorism. Without this relative bureaucratic autonomy, the police institutions are deprived of opportunities to engage in international cooperation.

The second condition is creating the expert systems of knowledge and enhancing the understanding of the problem of the international terrorism in the local police agencies. These systems of knowledge should be shared by the police institutions inside of the country as well as with the international organizations whenever such a need arises.

The third condition is to enhance understanding of the police agencies that the international organizations are focused on the enforcement tasks and creating the conditions for the effective collaboration networks. The regular meetings and shared networks are intended to affirm the local police institutions as active partners of collaboration.

Therefore, the tools, strategies and projects developed by the international organizations, including those of the UN, Interpol and Europol can be effective for predicting, preventing or combating the international crimes and terrorism. However, the bureaucratic autonomy of the police institutions in the member states and their relative detachment from the local governments need to be ensured for getting the maximum from the international police cooperation.

Conclusion

The chicken-egg dilemma and the related problem of sovereignty of the state had a significant impact upon the relations between the international police organizations and police institutions of the member states. Protecting their rights for sovereignty, some states lack trust to the international organizations, denying value of their role as counterterrorism actors in solving the global problems of international terrorism.

For instance, the lack of trust from the member states is one of the most important problems faced by the Europol which has become a hindrance for exchanging the information on the highest levels. Though the lack of trust is traditionally explained with particular failures of the international organizations, the importance of uniting the efforts for struggling against the international crimes as the common enemy has become obvious.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 events in America, the importance of the international cooperation among the counterterrorist actors is understood by the majority of the states.

Relative autonomy of the state police agencies from the dictators and local governments is regarded as one of important conditions for the effective cooperation between the member states and the supranational organizations in the frames of their struggle against the international crimes and terrorism.

Bibliography

Barnett Michael, ‘Designing Police: Interpol and the Study of Change in International Organizations’ (2005) 49 International Studies Quarterly 593, 619.

Bures Oldrich ‘Europol’s Fledging Counterterrorism Role’ (2008) 20 Terrorism and Political Violence 498, 517.

Deflem Mathieu “International Police Cooperation against Terrorism: Interpol and Europol in Comparison” in Durmaz Huseyin (ed.) Understanding and Responding to Terrorism (IOS Press 2007) 17, 34

Fagersten Bjorn ‘Bureaucratic Resistance to International Intelligence Cooperation – The Case of Europol’ (2010) 25 (4) Intelligence and National Security 500, 520.

Hurst Jennifer, ‘Interpol – Providing Support and Assistance to Combat International Terrorism’ in Durmaz Huseyin (ed.) Understanding and Responding to Terrorism (IOS Press 2007) 3, 14.

Irrera Daniella,‘Transnational Organized Crime and the Global Security Agenda: Different Perceptions and Conflicting Strategies’ in Defining and Defying Organized Crime, (Routledge, 2010). 73.

Jacobsen Trudy, Sampford Charles JG, and Thakur Ramesh Chandra, ‘Fables of Sovereignty ’ in Re-envisioning sovereignty: the end of Westphalia? , (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2008) 30.

Kaunert Christian ‘Europol and EU Counterterrorism: International Security Actorness in the External Dimension’ (2010) 33 Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 652, 671.

Madsen Frank, ‘Initiatives against Transnational Crime’, in Transnational Organized Crime, (Routledge, 2009) 93, 108, 120.

Mitsilegas Valsamis, Jorq Monar and Wyn Rees, ‘The Development of the EU as an Internal Security Actor’ in The European Union and Internal Security: Guardian of the People? (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) 6, 41.

Okubo Shiro and Shelly Louise I. Human Security, Transnational Crime and Human Trafficking: Asian and Western Perspectives. (Taylor & Francis, 2011) 92.

The United Nations, ‘The Universal Declaration on Human Rights: Article 28’, (1948)

The United Nations, ‘UN Charter: Article 1’ (n. d.). Web.

United Nations, Combating Human Trafficking in Asia: A resource Guide to International and Regional Intruments, Political Commitments and Recommended Practices, (United Nations Publications, 2003) 98.

UNODC, The Globalization of Crime: A Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessment (2010).

William Fox, International Commercial Agreements: A primer on Drafting, Negotiating, and Resolving Disputes. (Kluwer Law International, 2009) 369.

Williams Phil and Savona Ernesto Ugo, The United Nations and Transnational Organized Crime. (Routledge, 1996), 141.

Footnotes

1. UNODC, The Globalization of Crime: A Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessment (2010). Web.
2. Daniella Irrera, ‘Transnational Organized Crime and the Global Security Agenda: Different Perceptions and Conflicting Strategies’ in Defining and Defying Organized Crime, (Routledge, 2010). 73
3. Fox William, International Commercial Agreements: A primer on Drafting, Negotiating, and Resolving Disputes. (Kluwer Law International, 2009) 369.
4. Ibid.
5. Frank Madsen, ‘Initiatives against translational crime’ in Translational Organized Crime, (London, 2009), 108.
6. Ibid., 112.
7. Shiro Okubo and Louise I Shelly. Human Security, Transnational Crime and Human Trafficking: Asian and Western Perspectives. (Taylor & Francis, 2011) 92.
8. Trudy Jacobsen, Charles JG Sampford, and Ramesh Chandra Thakur in ‘Fables of Sovereignty ’ in Re-envisioning sovereignty: the end of Westphalia? , (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2008) 30.
9. The United Nations, ‘UN Charter: Article 1’ (n. d.). Web.
10. The United Nations, ‘The Universal Declaration on Human Rights: Article 28’, (1948).
11. United Nations, Combating Human Trafficking in Asia: A resource Guide to International and Regional Intruments, Political Commitments and Recommended Practices, (United Nations Publications, 2003) 98.
12. Idid.
13. Phil Williams and Ernesto Ugo Savona, The United Nations and Transnational Organized Crime. (Routledge, 1996), 141.
14. Valsamis Mitsilegas, Jorq Monar and Wyn Rees, ‘The Development of the EU as an Internal Security Actor’ in The European Union and Internal Security: Guardian of the People? (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), 18.
15. Frank Madsen, ‘Initiatives against Transnational Crime’, in Transnational Organized Crime, (Routledge, 2009), 99
16. Ibid, 99.
17. Christian Kaunert ‘Europol and EU Counterterrorism: International Security Actorness in the External Dimension’ (2010) 33 Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 655.
18. Ibid, 655.
19. Bjorn Fagersten ‘Bureaucratic Resistance to International Intelligence Cooperation – The Case of Europol’ (2010) 25 (4) Intelligence and National Security, 501.
20. Ibid, 656.
21. Oldrich Bures ‘Europol’s Fledging Counterterrorism Role’ (2008) 20 Terrorism and Political Violence, 513
22. Madsen, 98.
23. Barnett Michael, ‘Designing Police: Interpol and the Study of Change in International Organizations’ (2005) 49 International Studies Quarterly, 616.
24. Jennifer Hurst, ‘Interpol – Providing Support and Assistance to Combat International Terrorism’ in Durmaz Huseyin (ed.) Understanding and Responding to Terrorism (IOS Press 2007) 3.
25. Madsen, 98.
26. Mathieu Deflem “International Police Cooperation against Terrorism: Interpol and Europol in Comparison” in Durmaz Huseyin (ed.) Understanding and Responding to Terrorism (IOS Press 2007), 17.

Stakeholders Views On The Success Of Social Marketing Campaigns

Abstract

The marketing environment keeps on changing, just like the consumers. Marketing as a discipline and style also changes so as to be in touch with emerging trends. The dynamism of the marketing styles has seen the discipline evolve over the years, from the traditional product marketing concept to societal marketing.

The latest development however, is the emergence of social marketing: a discipline that does not have any direct benefits or gain to the organization but instead aims at solving social problems and promote well being of the individual and the society. Although it borrows so much from the commercial marketing techniques, it is an exact contrast to the former.

Due to this fact, stakeholders’ view of the success of the social marketing campaign is unique. Social marketing is itself challenging and risky; it can be organized successfully using the guide provided by Phillip Kotler and also provide for the purpose of this paper. For the purpose of this paper, therefore, we depict how stakeholders of social marketing view success of social marketing campaigns

Introduction

Marketing is a very dynamic discipline (Kotler, 2000). Just like the consumers and marketing environment, marketing principles, and style keeps on changing every other day. Consumer behavior varies widely among individuals, market segments, and times.

As a result, marketers have to change with them if at all they will remain significant in the mind of the consumers or for them to stay in touch with the current marketing trends (Andreasen, 1999). The latter is important since the competition in today’s marketing environment keeps on intensifying.

Marketers, therefore, are required to keep on devising the most effective and relevant strategies that will keep them in the best competitive position possible as well as pass on the greatest value to their customers (AMA,2004). This paper, therefore, gives an insight into the social marketing concepts and reviews how stakeholders view the success of social marketing campaigns.

Background of marketing: the evolution

The evolution of marketing, as it is clearly demonstrated in the principles of marketing, is indeed an affirmation of this fact: marketing has come a long way. In the first instance, marketing was purely commercial oriented, involving massive production of goods and services to fit an already existing market.

As competition crept in, marketers started developing aggressive marketing campaigns, mainly advertising aimed at wooing customers to buy their products at the expense of the rivals (Kotler, 2005).

The marketing concept which came afterward saw marketers develop sensitivity to the needs of potential markets and hence incorporated marketing research. This was an approach that sought to clearly understand the consumer needs so as to come up with market fit (products that meet the needs of the consumers with the greatest accuracy possible (Gabbot, 2004).

At this point, many would have thought that the evolution of marketing had reached its peak. However, many other changes have occurred and continue to occur in this noble and important discipline. Among the latest development in the marketing field is the shift to societal marketing as well as relationship marketing.

Apart from designing marketing mixes to satisfy the markets’ needs, societal marketing is also concerned about the wellness of the society in which it is the very part. In designing the societal marketing programs, organizations seek to give back to society, which contributes greatly to their business survival and success (Andreasen, 2000).

Relationship marketing is a situation were marketers design marketing program aimed at establishing a close one on one relationship with customers in such a way that there is a valuable two-way communication between the customer and the organization (AMA, 2004).

This contrasts prior marketing approaches where such a relationship ended upon the closure of the sale i.e., an adversarial kind of a relationship. With relationship marketing, marketers use the two-way communication channel to reach for consumer feedback on the level of satisfaction and experiences with the product.

It enables organizations to enhance close touch with their customers, offer high-quality products, acquire a cheap source of market intelligence and probably maintain a stable customer base (shielded from the competitors) (Curtis P et al., 2005). Irrespective of the above developments which represent the commercial face of marketing, emerging trends have seen marketing move beyond commercial aspect to noncommercial marketing; social marketing.

Social Marketing

The concept of social marketing was first conceptualized in 1971(Dann, 2005); since then, various scholars have had various definitions for the concept. Kotler and Zaltman (1971) defined social marketing as designing and controlling marketing programs with the objective of influencing customers to accept products, prices, marketing communication, and research.

However, Andreasen criticized this definition as being commercial and instead modified it in 1995. According to Andreasen (1995) social marketing, despite making use of commercial marketing tool, attempts to make the target audience change a behavior that is seemingly unfavorable to the society on their own volition, its main objective being to improve individuals’ welfare as well as that of the society at large.

Social marketing is the use of marketing strategies and tools to lure the focus group accept, deviate from, refuse a certain behavior, or leave it all together for their own benefit or for the good of the whole society (Kotler et al., 2002).

From all the definitions, the fact that social marketing makes great use of commercial marketing principles is clearly brought out. However, social marketing is the exact contrast of commercial marketing (Greenspan, 2002). The major characteristic of social marketing is that it is known profit-oriented and has no direct benefits to the stakeholder.

Instead, it tries to indict a behavioral change among the targeted individuals purely for the benefit of the latter or the entire society. The stakeholders do not stand to gain any benefit directly from the success of the social marketing campaign (Dann, 2005).

Commercial Marketing versus Social Marketing

According to Andreasen (2002), both commercial marketing and social marketing share the same marketing principles. However, the two concepts are exactly opposite to each other. Commercial marketing is carried out to influence consumers to buy and use products and services with the ultimate objective of optimizing the organization’s profit margins (AMA, 2004).

As a result, the commercial marketers rely largely on the fund from the organization, and the marketing programs are therefore completely supported by the organization’s finance docket (Dann, 2005).

According to the latter, a direct benefiting venture whose viability is gauged by the amount of profit it generates at the end of the exercise. In addition, commercial marketing is largely affected by industrial competition since there are many other players in the market, seeking to maximize profit, too (Andresen, 2002). As a result, the expectation of the market share is relatively low.

Market segmentation and targeting in commercial marketing are highly explicit and easy. Marketers can divide the market on the bases of the many variables presented by the market and target each segment with specific products without any resistance or difficulties (Dann, 2000).

On the contrary, social marketing is carried out on moral principles, based on trust and aims at solving social problems. Irrespective of being strongly based on commercial marketing theories and principles, social marketing is purely a nonprofit doing practice with an objective of influencing individuals’ behavioral change either for their own well being or/and that of the society at large (Greenspan, 2002).

The social marketing campaigns, unlike commercial marketing, are funded mainly by well-wishers & donors and the government, to whom they are thus accountable. The results from the social marketing campaigns are not explicitly ascertainable since the outcomes of the exercise are unpredictable. After all, social marketing has no direct benefits to the stakeholder.

Instead, the campaigns mainly focus on unsuitable behavior in society, which they intend to correct. As a result, their success is not guaranteed, and achievements are usually realized in the long run (Andresen, 2000).

The social marketers often seek to pursue highly risky and challenging goals hence the possibility of limited success in their campaigns. In addition, the social marketing programs and decisions are influenced by many external factors such as political and social factors which makes their outcome greatly uncertain (Dann, 2005)

The Success of Social Marketing Campaigns

Social marketing campaigns are challenging to perform. As a result, the success of the campaign is highly unpredictable (Andresen, 2005). According to Kotler (1999), there is elaborate guide on how to organize and implement a successful social marketing campaign. In the edition changing behavior for good, Phillip Kotler provides several principles which social marketers can employ to ensure success in their campaigns.

To begin with, the benefit of that will result from the change of behavior should be clear to the focus group i.e., based on real-life situations in order for the target group to voluntarily accept behavioral change with ease. In addition, proper analysis of the costs involved in initiating behavior change should be done well in advance so that prior preparations cost-wise are made.

To enhance behavior change, the campaigns should promote real products, which the target group can clearly see and ascertain their benefits. The social marketers should also learn and recognize as well as appreciate the target audience for cooperating with the campaign.

In addition, they should make the products used in the campaigns as accessible to the audience as possible so that they have the opportunity to exercise new behaviors, practice them and most probably initiate a change in behavior, which is sustainable in the long run.

Success in social marketing campaigns largely depends on the effectiveness of the marketing communication methods used (Curtis et al., 2002). According to Curtis, the message should be attractive to the target audience. It should not at any one time be boring to the target audience as they will obviously ignore it. Social marketers should hence, incorporate a little fun in the message.

However, the fun could be counterproductive to the achievement of the message if it is too much to make it appear like it is a joke. The media used in communicating the message should be the one that is widely used and accepted across all quotas of the focus group.

This will ensure that the message is communicated to the entire audience wherever they are. The decision on the media to be used should, therefore, be incorporated in the initial planning of the social campaign.

In order to enhance behavioral change, social marketers should aim at engaging the target audience to commit themselves to adopt a new behavior (Kotler, 1999). The marketers can even make the audience vow and make pledges to change the behavior to the better.

For a social campaign to be successful, proper targeting of audiences is of paramount importance. The social marketers should consider concentrating on audiences who are ready and willing to change behaviors with ease so that the adamant ones can emulate them later, thus making the campaign success across the board.

In addition, marketers should use examples of previously successful social marketing campaigns in order to draw an important lessons from them and apply them in the current campaigns. According to Kotler (2005), the applicability of these guides depends on the nature of the campaign, but they are mutually inclusive. Practicing the principles, therefore, increases the probability of planning and running a successful social marketing campaign.

For social marketing campaigns to be successful, ethics are of significant importance (Andreasen and Nancy, 2005). Social marketers, while enhancing behavioral change, will have to understand the community and individuals’ way of life so as to be consistent with them.

According to the latter, focus on the audience’s culture, and beliefs should be prioritized and put into consideration. Social Marketers should, therefore, seek to understand such culture well in advance as they could be a source of resistance to change.

In addition, cultural variables could cause prejudices to the message and the campaigns, thus making it flop. For instance, a campaign on female genital mutilation should take into account the issue of community culture on the practice, appreciate it and lure the members to do away with it, instead of condemning them voluntarily.

The success of Social Marketing Campaigns: Stakeholders’ View.

Unlike in commercial marketing, the stakeholders’ in social marketing perceive the success of a social marketing exercise from a completely different perspective. In the first place, stakeholders of social marketing are different from those of commercial marketing. Success in social marketing is viewed as a universal set of indirect benefits and is depicted by the ability of the campaign to solve social problems (Dann, 2005).

The more successful a social marketing campaign is, the less the demand for the marketing programs and the organization. Stakeholders, therefore, will judge the success of a social marketing campaign with excellence in solving all the social problems that it is established to. Upon success, the campaign is rendered insignificant hence, the marketing team can be disbanded together with the organization (Kotler, 2005).

While stakeholders in social marketing are the shareholders who view the success of the marketing programs in terms of profitability levels, in social marketing, they are the donors, sponsors, and the government who funds the campaigns either directly or indirectly. In addition, social marketers who are responsible for undertaking the campaigns hold an important stake in the exercise.

A successful social marketing campaign is the one that is able to influence the focus group to change the seemingly unsuitable behavior on their own volition and that the change of behavior is of real benefit to the individuals involved as well as the entire society (Andresen, 2000).

According to Rossiter & Bellman (2005), a successful social marketing campaign is embedded to efficient and effective marketing communication that is able to convey the message of the need for behavioral change and engage the audience so well that they ultimately change their behavior to the better, benefiting both individuals and the society.

The stakeholders of social marketing do not measure the success of the social marketing campaigns in terms of the gains that they obtain from them (Dann, 2005). In fact, such stakeholders barely expect any benefit from the exercise.

Instead, they intend to solve a social problem and change society for the better via influencing favorable behavioral change. When the social marketing campaign is able to evoke a change in behavior effectively, and the change is sustained in the long run, then such a campaign will be seen as successful by the stakeholders.

For instance, anti AIDS campaign will be viewed as being successful by the stakeholders if it influences positive sexual behavior among the members of the focus group, reduce HIV/AIDS, changes the groups attitude towards HIV/AIDS, encourage testing and reduce HIV preference rate in the entire target group to zero percent in the long run.

To the donors, sponsors, and government agencies, the campaign will be deemed successful if, by the time the ultimate objective is achieved, all the funds will have been accounted for and if the campaign lived within the initial budget.

Stakeholders of social marketing also gauge the success of the social marketing campaigns in terms of the market share that the campaign is able to cover and meet the objective. According to the success will only be achieved if the campaign achieves positive change in behavior in all the members of the target audience, that is if it achieved a 100% market share (Dann, 2000).

In addition, a successful campaign is also measured in its ability to meet highly risky and challenging tasks that seem impossible to handle in the first instance. The stakeholder expects the campaign to achieve high results irrespective of the risk and the challenge involved.

The campaigns’ success is therefore viewed as its effectiveness to influence positive behavioral change in the entire focus group, which in return brings real benefits to the individuals and society despite the risk and the challenges involved.

In conclusion, stakeholders view the success of marketing campaigns in terms of its ability to institute a social change that has benefits to both the individuals and the whole society and not the gains obtained since there are no direct benefits in social marketing.

References

American marketing association, 2004, “Definitions,” Marketing News, September 15 2004

Andreasen A 2002, Marketing Social Change in Social Change Market Place, Journal of Marketing 21(3), 10-14

Andreasen A and Nancy lee 2005, Ethics in Social Marketing, Georgetown University Press; Washington DC.

Curtis P et al. 2005, Understanding And Influencing Consumer Behavior In The Virtual World, Inc Journal Of Consumer Research 301-321 Routledge.

Dann S, 2005, Social Change Marketing In The Age Of Direct Benefit Marketing: Where To From Here? Queensland University of Technology Washington.

Gobbot M (ed) 2004, Introduction To Marketing; Value Exchange Approach, French’s forest: NSW; Pearson

Greenspan B, 2002, Social Change Marketing Inc. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 67-95: Emerald Publishing Group; Emerald