''This is the End'' Do do doooo

Yep guys, this is the one.   The last post of my comparison blog. throughout our journey, we have seen the basics of the two events, their advertising and marketing strategies, some primary research of where they place adverts, an analytic view of their websites and search engine optimisation, and of course their direct marketing. What conclusion have we come to?

The Olympics is a worldwide event, and an absolutely incomparable in size and distribution. They can afford the best advertisement spaces, and have a marketing team on a larger scale then any other. However We Will Rock You are a west-end theatre show, but they have managed to run for 11 straight years, relying on their reputation. Not all productions can do that! if they just advertised abit more, and created a great marketing comeback, their sales would go sky high.

I'd like to thank you all for reading, and remember, attend as many events as you can, even the little ones ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD74-1G9o_U

Here's a song to remember our time together

Emails and Marketing Communications

Our last informative post right here guys! Upset?   I knew it...

Afew weeks ago, I signed up to receive the Olympics and WWRY E-letters. They are pretty much emails that get sent directly to you so you can keep up to date with current affairs, gossip or even get promotional offers (such as half price tickets etc). Emails are a from of direct marketing; a new way of marketing communications brought on because the vast majority who use the internet. Here's a couple of screen shots of what they looked like.

Most websites have a 'Join Here' option, so its usually easy to find what you're looking for. Also, the Olympics had a choice of what updates I wanted to receive. I clicked on most of them; I like to get the down low on it :)         Below is a screen shot of what they have sent me over the past few weeks

I apologise for the appalling quality, and the random bits in-between, but here are 4 emails sent from the Olympics, straight to my web address. Each one has it's own unique nature; one informs me of what disturbances there are on the underground, one offers me a chance to attend the after show party, one is a shop where I can purchase merchandise, and one is offering me more news letters.

What a great mix! I had a look around the online shop, and it is really great. It has t-shirts, wrist bands, programmes, hats, mugs, coins and CUDDLY TOYS all with free post and packaging!!!!!!   If that doesn't give you something to spend your bank balance on, then what will!? 

You may be thinking 'where are the We Will Rock You ones?'   well fellow readers, they didn't send any :(

BOOO

I know! not even one email from them telling me anything. Just left me all alone. I'm thinking after all these years of sending emails for money off and updates, they have given up. Naughty!

An improvement would be just send an email every now and then, let the public know that they are still alive and kicking. Give a discount ticket every now and then, or a competition to excite the fans. Something.

We Will Rock You Webby Sitey

Hellooooooo

Ok, again we are going to look at the search engine optimization, but this time of We Will Rock You. So here we go, type 'We Will Rock You' into Google and...

BAM!  You got yourself some great SEO. Can you see that!? They've got Theatrepeople.com selling their tickets, then Boxoffice.co.uk doing the same thing, then a direct sponsored link to their website! But then just on the natural search, they have their website anyway, so I'm thinking, why would they pay for it when it comes up as No.1 in the first place? Wow, it seems as though these people really want to be seen. But hey, two ticket sales and two instant links is good enough for me. Now to assess their front page.

Here it is, the home page of WWRY. Well again, it has their logo in the top left and an altering picture in the middle. This one is more arty than the Olympics, don't you think? It's got the stage lights on the top, with a glowing crowd in the back. A metallic search bar stands out nicely, but with a lack of things to look for. Compared to the Olympics home page, it had choices, discussions and tables all neatly set out. But, having a look at this one, it is rather bland. Don't get me wrong, the design is great, but there is a lack of... information. The home page has a couple of small paragraphs about the story line, which can also be found on 'Show' on the bar. It has an option to buy tickets, which is always handy. But, that is it. There's no information. There's no discussion points. It doesn't even say where the venue is, unless you scroll down and see 'Dominion Theatre' in tiny writing. Besides from the fancy lay-out and a 'Facebook like' option, there's really not much going on. It's like a Ferrari without an engine; its great to look at but still bloody useless. 

Having a website is like a virtual presence; if people need information, they visit a website, simples! It's what everybody does. And with the rise of smartphones and tablets, websites are easier to access. Mintel's studies show that 44% of internet users use a smart phone, and 17% use a tablet. So, We Will Rock You kinda need to improve their website. Especially compared to the Olympics. A lot of thought and direction had been put into theirs, but WWRY are trying to disguise their lack of help with pretty lights and fancy boarders. NOT UP IN HERE!

You my friend, have been assessed

The Olympic Website

Cool, I've had a look at their website. Google, as we all know and love, is by far the greatest search engine of all time. But we are looking for something called search engine optimization. Now, if you were looking for a website and you 'Googled it', and it was the first on the list, it would have good search engine optimisation. But if you had to scroll down a couple of pages, then it has bad search engine optimisation. We get it? Also, sometimes you will see a little yellow highlighted section at the top. Websites pay to have this done, so people can find their site easier and raise their website's hits. But the natural search is always better. In fact, 72% of people prefer the natural search.  Think about it, when was the last time you clicked on the yellow section?

All right then! The London 2012 Olympics has great search engine optimisation, coming first, but obviously after the sponsored search. Lets have a look at their website.

A great front page says a lot about the event. It has their logo in the top left hand corner, with the slogan 'Inspire a generation'. A big picture in the middle which changes every 6 seconds to keep the viewer entertained, and a highlighted search bar for all your searching needs. They also have a little section showing the top 5 countries in the Games, just on the front screen, because they know that a lot of people will attend the website just to see who has what medals.

It also has great site navigation, especially with that black bar above the picture, it links you to all areas of the site. The Photos section especially have a great archive of pictures including snap shots of the sports, some of the intense crowd and some just of the magnificent buildings and venues. But one of the greatest parts of the website is it's direct link to any sport you want. just put your cursor over the Sports section on the bar, and it has a little drop down.

Overall, this website is a user friendly site, with clear labels so people know how to find exactly what they are looking for. Also, it is endless; there are no 'dead ends' as it always has a search bar, or some form of link, so there is no need to press the back button. The colours are great; with a white back ground, all important areas are highlighted so the user is drawn to the links.

In case you didn't get the link before, here it is again! :)

http://www.london2012.com/

Their Websites

Lets face it; the internet is one of the greatest inventions. It allows you access to everything! You wouldn't even be reading this if it wasn't for the internet. As it's so effective, most venues and events have their own website, usually with information and pictures for everyone to read. I'm going to have a look at WWRY and the Olympic's website, and discuss their effectiveness.  Enjoy :)

Cheeky Cola

I had a little looky at the Coke-a-Cola website (as they are one of the sponsors of the Olympics) and they are very much involved!

They have a whole section dedicated to their partner; the Olympics with information on everything you need to know, including their contribution to the torch and what their company does to support the event. Here's a little vid for you all to enjoy :)

The site also contains blogs of mums who's children with disabilities have carried the torch. I've read through some of them, and this one really is the best.  Check it out! http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/olympic-games/coca-cola-london-2012-mums/debbie-brooks-blog-part-2.html

I was in a shop, and found some more of their sponsoring/advertising. IT'S EVERYWHERE!

Powerade belongs to the
Coke-a-Cola industry

 

Target Profiles

Fortunately, evvveryone is different. Personalities, preferences and looks all add up to make who we are. But, what sort of people would be attracted to, or be a target of, the advertisements of my two events? First, we shall look at We Will Rock You.

As we already know, WWRY has adverts in the underground and on buses, so covering public transport. A typical person using the transport often would be a smart business worker. Elizabeth Manning lives in Sidcup; a suburb of London. She is 47 and is married with 1 child who is looked after by a nanny. Her husband works flexible hours at an independent music label. She gets a train and 2 tubes to work every weekday morning, and some Saturdays, as it is more efficient than car. She gets a coffee from Cafe Nero and heads into work, where she is the Managing Director for a building firm. She (or her Nanny) would shop at either Morrison's or Mark's and Spencer's. She fits into the B (upper middle class) social group.

Now, every morning she sees adverts for musicals, cinema releases and London attractions, and occasionally sees one for We Will Rock You. TGI (a very reliable source) suggests that people in the ABC1 social groups attend musicals and theatre productions more often than those in C2DE.

So Elizabeth would be an example profile of a typical target of the We Will Rock You advertisement.  However, the Olympics would be different.

Shaun Stanton lives in Luton with his family. His wife, Ellen, is a house wife. He has two children, one in sixth form hoping to go yo university and one in year 10. He owns a successful pub in west London, and can work between 2 and 7 times a week, depending on the season. He gets a train to work on most occasions. He and his friends usually head to the pub once a week for more than a few drinks and is well liked by most people because of his easy going attitude. He grew up in Ireland on his parent's farm, and moved to south England when he was 19.  He spends a lot of time in London, sometimes on a family outing, shopping for upmarket clothes or just travelling to work. Due to the vast amounts of Olympic advertisements in London, he is a target of the hundreds of ways they spread their product to the public. Seeing these adverts, he would therefore be attracted to the idea of buying a ticket. Also, with the amount of money he earns, he can afford to buy tickets for his entire family.

The Difference?

The last two posts have been primarily about me showing you how the two events advertise in London, using different methods such as Billboards, Public Transport and reputation. But what is the difference?

We Will Rock You depends on it's reputation from years of solid reviews. Because of this, there is little need to advertise quite as much as it did when it was first released. However, it does have the odd poster in the surrounding underground stations just to tell people that it is still out there. It would be pointless to advertise in such places as Manchester, as the distance is too far. This would come under their marketing strategy, as they know not to advertise everywhere, but just in places where they are going to target and effect their desired audience. But the Olympics is a national event being held in London, and as it is only being held for 3 weeks, they make a big deal out of it. The host town is full of advertisements, with a range of media being used. Don't get me wrong, We Will Rock You is a large, popular event doing exceedingly well. But the scale of the Olympics being literally worldwide with an estimated 1 billion people watching the opening ceremony is hard to match up to. According to The Guardian, the Games are costing round £9.3 billion, and with that amount of money, they can afford to advertise however much they want. On top of that, here us a small list of companies sponsoring the event.

Coke-a-Cola
acer
McDonald's
P&G
Panasonic
 SAMSUNG 
VISA

These are just a hand full of the supporters, providers and overall sponsors of the event, and as you may well recognise most, if not all of these, it goes to show how much money is pumped into the advertising., hence their advertising methods are different.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/mar/09/olympic-games-budget-cost

Olympics Adverts in London

Bonjour!

This is slightly continuing from my last two posts, about how the London 2012 Olympics has used marketing and advertising in differing areas.

Now, obviously I went into London and had a look around to see where the Olympics is reaching its audience, and why it would put certain adverts in places. And oh my, I found quite a lot!

This flag is just one of the thousands blowing in the streets of London, attached to 30 ft poles and are seen down nearly every major street in town! It was, to say the least, amazing. Not only were they tall for all to see, look at the colours! It's a bright reddy orange with the very noticeable logo at the bottom. Like I said, there were thousands of these, in every bright, noticeable colours such as blues and pinks. If that doesn't grab the public's attention, then maybe this will.




Yes, on over half of the London buses, plastered alongside the iconic public transport, were Olympic related adverts. In these pictures it was one of their official sponsors; Cadbury chocolate. Chocolate is seen as quite a fun treat (for some anyway), and their adverts can display their informal, almost playful side by having 'how many Dairy Milks can contenders jump over' and 'how many Dairy Milks weigh the same as a shotput'. So although Cadbury are advertising their product and brand, they are also including the Olympics, as Shotput and Long jump are involved. But this wasn't all!

No no fellow readers, flags of colour and transport of sponsor are just not enough for the Olympics. Telephone booths are also plastered with more, more and more adverts for the Olympics, and this example is with British Telecom. Their slogan 'Bringing us all together for London 2012' is nothing less than perfect. (For all those who need an explanation, the Olympics brings the world together, and BT do phones and internet, which connects people. I'm glad we got there ;)

Alas, there is more.  Great LED billboards like this present yet another sponsor of the Olympics doing what it does best; telling the whole world that it exists. In this example, the Sun displays patriotism with 'Lets make it Great, Britain' and also mentions a free Olympic pull out every day. This could tempt people to buy the Sun regularly, just to get the entire 'collection' of what they have to offer, therefore raising the Sun's sales.






In this post, I have shown you examples of the Olympic's sponsors, like Coke-a-Cola, BT, Cadbury and The Sun. These are just a few of the largest companies sponsoring the event. From a marketing point of view, one can already tell that the event is going to be a Mega Event. 'Mega Events should exceed 1 million visitors and be a 'must see' in nature' (Marris 1987). Vanhove and Witt (1987) added that they should attract worldwide publicity, which the Olympics certainly does.

We Will Rock You Advertisment

Firstly, We Will Rock You has been around for eleven years, and when it first came out, EVERYONE knew about it. They had advertisements all around London; on the buses, billboards etc      But years later, most of the public is aware of the Musical and it's popularity. It has become a pseudo-brand; an icon in the theatre industry. So with such a great reputation and awareness, their advertisement expenditure has decreased. But, I did manage to come across some!

This little poster was in Charring Cross Underground, which is only two stops from the Dominion Theatre. There were also some more on the escalators in surrounding stations, but I wasn't fast enough to catch any.  Damn my slow camera skills...

I did go into most areas of London, but the only adverts I could find were the odd one in the Underground (most of them near to the Dominion) and a large advert on the side of a bus to the O2 (again, I failed to get a picture. it was moving).  So I'm thinking, they have purposely placed small adverts in the area, so if people are having a day out in London, they could attract potential theatre goers. Also, the Underground is the easiest way to get around London, and is used by 1,107 million people every year, therefore their adverts are seen by so many people. My opinion, is that they have done a great job of choosing their Market, especially at first; they got their name out there for everyone to recognise, and allowing their reputation to take control, their advertising has become subtle, yet effective.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/modesoftransport/londonunderground/1608.aspx

TFL Facts

A Trip to Town

Right! Over the past few days, I took a trip into London; the city of which both of my events are being held, to take photos and primary research of their advertisement. I specifically looked at where they would advertise,  and who it would appeal to.

I'll do separate posts for each event :)

Marketing Communications

Every product, company and event must market themselves in public, in order to draw attention. First, they have a primary objective in mind, then use Marketing Communications to connect to the audience.

The objectives of this could be for Increased Sales, Better Reputation, or even just Brand Awareness, and revolve around the 4 P's of marketing; Product, Place, Price and Promotion. Firstly, the product would be created, in this case tickets for WWRY or the Olympics. Secondly, the place would determined where to advertise and display the product. The price would be how much you are selling for, and the promotion would be if there are any deals included, just to maximise the objective's potential.

“The means by which a supplier of goods, services, values and/or ideas represent themselves to their target audience with the goal of stimulating dialogue leading to a better commercial or other relationships”  (Egan, 2007)

This is a diagram of the Communications Process (P.Hall, 1991) and shows how you get the marketing idea to reach your desired audience. The diagram is effective, including contributing and differing factors such as Noise, and also has a Feedback section for a repeated, better turnout. 

I'm gonna have a look around town, check out the sites, and get back to you about how WWRY and the Olympics uses these things for marketing :)