MKT82210 Marketing Strategy and Plan

This report is an in depth study about the market and strategy plan of the organizations and how they help in community development. A number of theories are studied in this regard and their influences are studied. To understand community marketing the Milo Cricket program is researched in detail as it is one of the most successful community engagement programs of the country. Theoretical framework construction by popplet is for better understanding of the theories and interlink between them. The theories help in evaluation of the effectiveness of the community development plans and their importance in marketing strategies.

Brand Community as defined by Muniz and O’Guinn is “a specialized, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relations among admirers of a brand.” There are various theories of community engagement and marketing the product or service. These theories include Consumer Engagement Theory, Consumer Brand Engagement Theory and Community Brand Engagement Theory. The Consumer Engagement Theory states that the firm takes initiative to involve consumer and their feedback in the business for a better approach towards marketing (Hollebeek, Glynn and Brodie 2014). One of the examples of this theory is the introduction of Roastery by Starbucks to involve consumers with a taste for coffee and rare coffee beans. Consumer Brand Engagement Theory aims towards making a firm and lasting bond between the consumer and the brand so that the consumers relate themselves with the brand and remain loyal to it (Graffigna 2017). One of the examples is the marketing strategy used by Clinique for its men’s skincare products where it used people from different types of lifestyles to advertise for it. The Community Brand Engagement Theory studies the involvement of the brand with the consumers who identify themselves as a community related to the brand (Habibi, Laroche and Richard 2014). It is seen in among the users of Sony Playstation or the Harley Owners Group where the users of a single brand are loyal to it and identify themselves as a community. The study of the Milo Cricket Program in Australia shows the importance of consumer brand engagement.

Milo Cricket Program

The Milo Cricket Program is one of the major community engagement programs in Australia helping Milo brand of Nestle market its idea to consumers through Corporate Social Responsibility. It has succeeded in involving a large number of people in its programs. The Milo Cricket program aims towards engaging kids of 5-8 years of age to play cricket, it inculcates in the children a sense of team spirit and sportsmanship and other social skills. The understanding with a number of cricket clubs of Australia also makes sure that they understand the intricacies of the game. The cricket program helps the consumers to relate with the brand as they full fill a social responsibility as well as interacting with the consumers (Shams 2013).

 Constructing theoretical framework in Popplet

The Milo Cricket Program aims towards including the consumers and potential marketing community under the purview of their marketing strategy by involving the target audience in a community sport. The introduction of the different programs across various ages helps in different theories of the brand development. The community appeal approach is not a marketing strategy but a business in itself. It involves the consumers and helps them identify themselves with the brand as in consumer engagement theory. Similarly, these target audience under the program relate themselves with the brand and subconsciously market it by word of mouth marketing or marketing through social sites (Groeger and Buttle 2014). Thirdly, the inculcation of habit of a community playing under a brand creates a community loyalty towards the brand and the players relate themselves to the brand as consumers as well as beneficiaries of the brand. Therefore, the Milo Cricket Program has helped create a brand loyalty for Milo and Nestle and the company fulfills the Corporate Social Responsibility by participation in welfare helping in brand development (Pai et al. 2015).

Justifying Theoretical Framework

The theoretical implication of various brand engagement theories helps the business in achieving positive reinforcement in favor of the brand by the organization. The Milo Cricket Program helps its brand owner Nestle by helping it by developing a relation between the consumers and the brand. By involving itself with a renowned game as Cricket helps the brand, reach out to emotional and sentimental values of the consumers. This helps the consumers identify themselves with the brand Nestle and Milo (Swaminathan 2016). While participating in a Cricket Tournament under the brand the individuals identify themselves with the community fulfilling their wishes and benefiting from the brand (Skålén, Pace and Cova 2015). This creates a sense of community and the consumers are engaged with the brand playing for it. Thus, all the three theories are involved in this strategy and Nestle gains from positive marketing and brand loyalty from this strategy. The brand gains from this strategy without a direct advertisement marketing strategy.

Conclusion

Thus, in the study the importance of various brand engagement theories are explained and their importance in marketing development and strategy are understood. The marketing development with the help of Milo Cricket Program by Nestle shows how through community engagement the brands can attract consumers by allowing them to identify themselves with the brand. The consumer behavior as an individual and a part of the organization as a consumer and a part of the brand helps them identify with it and create brand loyalty. Nestle as a brand benefits from this and through community involvement, it has reached a larger mass without a major marketing strategy just by community partnership.

 References 

Graffigna, G., 2017. Is a Transdisciplinary Theory of Engagement in Organized Settings Possible? A Concept Analysis of the Literature on Employee Engagement, Consumer Engagement and Patient Engagement. Frontiers in psychology, 8, p.872.

Groeger, L. and Buttle, F., 2014. Word-of-mouth marketing: Towards an improved understanding of multi-generational campaign reach. European Journal of Marketing, 48(7/8), pp.1186-1208.

Habibi, M.R., Laroche, M. and Richard, M.O., 2014. The roles of brand community and community engagement in building brand trust on social media. Computers in Human Behavior, 37, pp.152-161.

Hollebeek, L.D., Glynn, M.S. and Brodie, R.J., 2014. Consumer brand engagement in social media: Conceptualization, scale development and validation. Journal of interactive marketing, 28(2), pp.149-165.

Pai, D.C., Lai, C.S., Chiu, C.J. and Yang, C.F., 2015. Corporate social responsibility and brand advocacy in business-to-business market: The mediated moderating effect of attribution. Journal of Business Ethics, 126(4), pp.685-696.

Shams, S.R., 2013. Competitive advantage in market space: Implications of relationship marketing. E-Marketing in Developed and Developing Countries: Emerging Practices, pp.19-38.

Skålén, P., Pace, S. and Cova, B., 2015. Firm-brand community value co-creation as alignment of practices. European Journal of Marketing, 49(3/4), pp.596-620.

Swaminathan, V., 2016. Branding in the digital era: new directions for research on customer-based brand equity. AMS review, 6(1-2), pp.33-38.