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Internal Operating Environment for Comic Relief
1.0 Internal Operating Environment
1.1 Comic Relief Objectives
Comic Relief's main objective is raising money from the general public by actively involving them in events and projects that are innovative and fun. It also attempts to inform, educate and promote social change (Comic Relief, 2005).
1.2 Comic Relief Resources
The marketing resources of Comic Relief are limited, especially when considered in comparison to a commercial firm. Comic Relief's fundraising costs are covered by sponsorship in cash or in kind so that every penny raised goes to charity. Therefore Comic Relief has had to be inventive in its marketing activities.
1.3 Comic Relief Culture
The culture of Comic Relief matches its brand image; cheerful, caring and confident (Adkins, 1999, p174). Marketing is fundamental to what Comic Relief do.
1.4 Role of Marketing in Comic Relief
Whereas commercial organisations may have a number of marketing objectives, such as increasing market standing or improving profitability (Brassington & Pettitt, 2000, p900), a charity like Comic Relief has only one target, to raise as much money as possible for its causes. Therefore Comic Relief can measure how well its marketing has done by analysing how much money is raised.
Comic Relief is unique in that the Government, corporate donors and individual suppliers fund its marketing activities. One hundred percent of personal donations go to worthy causes (Comic Relief, 2005). The more money Comic Relief raise, the more the money spent on marketing can be said to work. The method and timing of the donation lead to evaluation of the marketing activity that initiated the donation.
1.5 Evaluation of Marcomms
McCarthy (1964, cited in Mohammed & Pervaiz, 1995) offered the four Ps (product, price, place and promotion) as the combination of factors that satisfies the target consumer. This approach is now used to evaluate Comic Relief's current marketing marcomms.
When considering the product or service Comic Relief provides there are two aspects that need to be looked at. First of all Comic Relief provide the service of raising money for worthwhile causes. As part of this, Comic Relief provides a number of products. These include ring tones, the Dubble chocolate bar (made from fairly traded cocoa beans), a Nationwide credit card and books written by J.K. Rowling (Comic Relief, 2005). These products offered by Comic Relief will now be analysed.
Evaluating these products, it can be seen that Comic Relief provide a variety of different types of products. However, they all have a similar style of packaging (where appropriate); namely simple, bright and loud. The books have Harry Potter themed packaging.
The pricing of these products is set by the partners involved. For example, Nationwide set the APR available on the Red Nose credit card it launched with Comic Relief. The products that Comic Relief has greater control over in terms of pricing policy, such as the t-shirts and ring tones are priced just slightly higher than comparable products. The ring tones cost 3; comparable ring tones cost 2.
Comic Relief utilises numerous marketing channels. Retailers such as TK Maxx (t shirts) and Sainsbury's (red noses) sell Comic Relief merchandise. Comic Relief also has a strong online presence. The Red Nose Day website increased its market share in the weeks leading up to 2005's Red Nose Day. Of all Internet traffic directed at the online community sector, the Red Nose website was responsible for 11.4% on Red Nose Day itself (Hitwise, 2005).
Most of Comic Relief's marketing activity is concerned with promotion. Since RedNose Day's conception, more than 2050 celebrities have been involved (Comic Relief, 2005), the most notable being Lenny Henry, Billy Connolly, and John Cleese. Using the VisCAP model of presenter characteristics (Brassington & Pettitt, 2000, p581), it can be seen that these people are highly suitable for the promotion of Comic Relief. They are all highly visible, i.e. very well known and are highly likeable and therefore attractive to consumers of Comic Relief.
Now the traditional four P's have been used to analyse Comic Relief, there are three more Ps that can be utilised. These are people, process and physical evidence.
The attitude and behaviour of volunteers in Comic Relief has been praised (BBC News, 2005). The process of how the service is delivered by Comic Relief is noteworthy because Comic Relief utilises other companies to deliver its services. For example, BT sets up and manages the telephone network needed on Red Nose Day (Comic Relief, 2005).
The seventh P that is used to evaluate Comic Relief's marcomms is physical evidence of quality. In Comic Relief's case this involves the information given to the public about how the money raised is being used. Comic Relief's main strength is the ability to demonstrate that the funds raised are used efficiently. It does this mostly via mini-documentaries as part of the Red Nose Day televised shows.
The philosophy of Comic Relief is to use comedy and laughter to get serious messages across. This is unique amongst its competitors.
Overall, it can be said that a large part of Comic Relief 's success is down to its success at marketing. It has limited marketing resources, yet has an amazingly strong brand presence and extensive brand awareness.
2.0 Recommendations
The author would like to put forward that Comic Relief is an excellent marketeer and has utilised its limited marketing resources extremely well to gain and maintain a strong brand presence over a number of years. With such a successful company, it is difficult to identify to identify areas for improvement or new marketing activities to be tried. However, the author will make several suggestions for improvements to Comic Relief's marketing marcomms.
It has been identified that Comic Relief is currently not gaining any marketing information at all. It does not record which marketing activities have prompted particular donations. A small and simple change could garner much more detailed marketing information so that not only the effectiveness of the whole campaign, but the effectiveness of the individual elements of it could be analysed.
Comic relief offers a strong online presence, it should further increase this, by trying to create an online community that has useful information all year around, not just on Red Nose Day. This will ensure that the brand of Comic Relief is in consumers' minds year round. It could perhaps provide diaries of volunteers, methods of getting involved at home and polls on topical issues. All of these features would change regularly and therefore encourage repeat viewings.
Comic Relief currently offers mobile phone ring tones, which is an excellent use of current technological trends. They should take advantage of another emerging trend and use viral marketing to advertise Comic Relief. Viral marketing is the uses of electronic media to stimulate and encourage word-of-mouth or electronic message dissemination between individuals (Morden, 1993, p 101). This method of marketing would fit well with Comic Relief's confident and cheeky brand image.
The Dubble chocolate bar needs to be available in more stockists for it to be a viable product. It is currently available in a limited number of stores. It does not have much penetration into the confectionary market.
Comic Relief needs to integrate their marcomms offering more. The American Association of Advertising Agencies defines IMC as 'a concept of marketing communications planning that recognizes the added value of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic role of a variety of communication disciplines, e.g., general advertising, direct response, sales promotion and public relations - and combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency and maximum communications impact' (Keller, 2000, p267). Even looking at the packaging of the various Comic Relief products, it can be seen that there is a big difference in the looks of the various products offered. This needs to be addressed.
The final recommendation offered by the author is that of increasing the number of promotions with other brands, such as the Persil Go Red Campaign. This campaign was a success for both parties involved, and similarly well thought out campaigns could also have the same effect. Care has to be taken to ensure that the companies that are chosen to take part are appropriate. By this it is meant that their brand values match those of Comic Relief. Persil provided a 'synergistic brand fit with Comic Relief's emotional values and brand attributes (Adkins, 1999, p172).
Bibliography
1) Adkins, S. (1999). Cause Related Marketing, Who Cares Wins. Oxford: Reed Educational.
2) Brassington, F. and Pettitt, S. (2000). Principles of Marketing (2nd ed.) London: Pearson Education.
3) All About Us Comic Relief. http://www.comicrelief.com/ (29th Apr. 2005).
4) Dibb, S et al. (2001). Marketing Concepts and Strategies (4th ed.) Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
5) Jobber, D. (2001).Principles & Practice of Marketing. (3rd ed.) London: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company.
6) Keller, K. (2000). 'Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity', Journal of Consumer Marketing, 17, (3), p263-72.
7) Kotler, P et al. (2001). Principles of Marketing (3rd ed). London: Pearson Education.
8) Morden, A. (1993). Elements of Marketing. (3rd ed.) London: DP Publication Ltd.
9) 'Online Communities', Hitwise Competitive Intelligence.
10) http://www.hitwise.co.uk/info/ (24 Apr. 2005).
11) 'Red Nose Day: Your comments' BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4336791.stm (30th Apr 2005).
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