“There are many ways to reach the customer via the mobile channel. This section describes the five most common applications that can be employed in mobile marketing campaigns: SMS, MMS, mobile web and mobile applications.
SMS: The short messaging service commonly referred to as SMS in a 160-character alphanumeric digital message that can be sent to and from any mobile phone. Apart from the pure telephony the SMS is the oldest and almost most used tool for mobile communication. It can be applied in various ways: deliver information, text alerts, tickets, newsletter, trigger a response, operate coupon programs, provide search capability of offer voting or market research services.
MMS: Very similar is the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) which can include multimedia objects (images, audio, video, and/or rich text), often in a slideshow format.
Mobile Web: The term mobile web is used primarily to refer to browsing web sites on a mobile phone. The Internet connection on a phone can also be used right moment to the customer. Also by including a response element in the mobile message the receiver can immediately take transactional steps.”
(Prenzel 2009)
Advantages of mobile commerce
M-commerce provides opportunities for reaching customers at multiple locations, for personalizing offerings and services in fres ways and for making possible new types of services and shopping experiences. However, one of the most critical factors affecting the success of m-commerce strategies is how well the m-commerce providers understand the variety of the roles that people play in the busy lifestyles and work styles of the day. (Leppäniemi 2008)
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Television and cinema marketing
Television is one of the newest media concerning the evolution of advertisement. When considering the advertising and its time placing, we consider rating of watching individual programs and structure of audience. The advantage of commercials is the visual demonstration of products; it can create image, costs and ideas connected with products. Another advantage is wide cover of market. The main disadvantage of commercials are high costs, a law constrained time limitation for broadcasting the commercial and also the fact that the consumer often switches to another program when seeing a commercial block.
(Kretter and collective 2004)
With the number of terrestrial stations increasing, as well as the expanding growth of satellite and digital channels, the advertiser has numerous opportunities to communicate with their increasingly fragmented audiences. Although television is not suitable for all advertisers (largely due to budget restrictions/expense as TV commercials are expensive to produce and air), many major brands use the medium regularly because of its powerful reach and ability to develop a strong brand image and awareness. The renewed popularity of the cinema as a leisure activity has also revived and fuelled the success of cinema advertising. The cinema allows brand messages to be communicated to a captive audience that is waiting to be entertained and willing to absorb the information presented to them on the big screen.
(Barfoot 2006)
The television and cinema commercial is still regarded by advertiser as the most powerful and pervasive medium For most creative teams, working on television commercials may well be the highlight of their career. Unlike other more static media such as press and poster campaigns, television or cinema commercials offer the chance to tell a story, trough a bespoke 30 or 40 seconds film about the brand or product. Using a combination of live action, special effects, dialogue, music and voice-overs provides the creative team with a chance to realize their concept in a powerful way trough the development of a script and storyboard.
Only as recently as 50 years ago, commercial were very basic almost live action ´press´ advertisements. Many featured presenters talking directly to camera, giving testimonials and demonstrations of the product. It was only when the agency copywriter and art directors began to write scripts which used the medium to its full potential that specialist film companies began to take the genre seriously. For the creative team, television advertising had massive creative possibilities and media opportunities.
(Barfoot 2006)
Reach of advertising
A single national broadcast TV commercial can reach millions of people. Local commercials, depending on the time and the program and the broadcast area, can reach hundreds or thousands of people. TV stations generate revenues trough subscriptions (cable TV), or selling commercial time (broadcast), or both. The most common TV commercial length is 30 seconds, but you can also purchase 60-secod commercials and even longer commercials, called infomercials.
Most brands attempt to end their commercial with some sort of consistent memory device, such as a sound effect, jingle, catchphrase, animation, action, gesture, spokesperson, or recurring the image that is tied to their name or logo.
(Callen 2010)
Celebrity endorsement in TV advertising
With the visual media becoming more popular the use of celebrities in the TV media has increased. Celebrities create headlines. Their activities and movements are being closely watched and imitated. What they endorse sell like hot cakes. It is not surprising therefore that using celebrities in advertisements has become common practice. Gupta 2009)
Television stars, movie actors, famous athletes, and even dead personalities are widely used to endorse brands. Advertisers and their agencies are willing to pay huge salaries to celebrities who are liked and respected by target audiences and who will, it is hoped favorably influence consumers´ attitudes and behavior toward the endorsed brands. For the most part, such investments are justified. (Shimp 2010)
The effectiveness of celebrity endorsement is moderated by several factors: celebrity attractiveness and credibility, product-celebrity match, message and product type, level of involvement, number of endorsements by celebrities, target receiver characteristics and overall meanings (e.g. personality, value, standards). (Bruce 2004)
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The aim of the work
The main purpose of this work is to study new trends in marketing which are used in the chosen company.
In the theoretical part was pointed out at the following issues:
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Definition of marketing.
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Analyzing marketing mix – 4P´s and 7P´s.
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Communication policy of the company describing new techniques of advertising and Guerilla marketing.
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Companies options to choose new media for marketing including viral marketing, social media marketing, Internet marketing, mobile marketing and television and cinema marketing.
The main aim of the work is elaborated into partial aims which create conditions to reach it. The practical part describes a chosen company with a particular emphasis on its marketing strategies. The main parts of the theoretical part can be categorized into these parts:
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Introducing the chosen company
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The historical background of the chosen company from its birth by now.
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New trends in marketing using various media are reflected through viral marketing, social network marketing and television advertising of the chosen company.
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The final part consists of questionnaire which is one of approaches to public opinion about the effectiveness of advertising of the chosen company.
The work should provide a view on marketing activity of the chosen company and more deeply analyze new trends in marketing.
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Methodology
The methodological approach and research technique used in this thesis along with choice motivations and a discussion on the method problems is based on the main purpose of the work to analyze new trends in marketing.
The following sections will discuss each step involved in conducting the study of new trends of marketing:
The first step, literary search, began after selecting the topic which I myself found interesting Theoretical base of the bachelor thesis was created according to opinions and statements of domestic as well as foreign authors. The various materials, including research papers available on the Internet also contributed to creating of the theoretical base of the bachelor thesis.
The second step was selection of the proper company to study the theoretical background in practice. The multimedia operator with many years’ experience and international expertise Slovak Telekom which is an umbrella for T-Com and T-Mobile brands was chosen. After the selection of the company I approached to designing the practical part
The next step presented a search for the information about the company. The data and information were provided directly from the franchisee of T-Center (brand shop of T-Com and T-Mobile). And the rest of information could be found online in the annual reports of the company or in the articles of various newspapers and magazines.
The next step was to evaluate the current marketing strategy of T-Com and T-Mobile, as well as evaluating the effectiveness of promotion of the company. I chose the time period from December 2010 to February 2011 as T-Com and T-Mobile has become a general partner of the popular TV show called Czechoslovakian Superstar for the second time. I wanted to find out whether advertising of T-Com and T-Mobile connected with the mentioned show created the awareness of people about the company and I also wanted to explore whether the commercial connected with Superstar was effective or not. To reach this aim, I decided to create a questionnaire.
The object of research was a sample consisting of 108 respondents from whole country of Slovakia. The forms were spread on the Internet by using Google spreadsheets. The research was done in the period from 4th to 9th May 2011.
The subject of research was, as mentioned above, the effectiveness of advertising of multimedia operators T-Com and T-Mobile.
The method of gathering the needed data by the questionnaire form about T-Com and T-Mobile operators. In the very beginning of the questionnaire the respondents were informed with the aim of the questionnaire and the usage of the gained data. The full anonymity was guaranteed when filling the questionnaire. The first 3 questions were general information about the respondents, as the gender, age and occupation. The number of questions aimed at the effectiveness of advertising of T-Com and T-Mobile was 9. All of the questions were closed. There was 1 question where respondents could select more then one checkbox. The form of questionnaire is placed in the part of appendixes.
The following methods are used to process the data:
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method of gathering the data – gaining the data
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method of selection – selection of data and information
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method of analysis – analysis of gained data
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method of comparation
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method of synthesis – summary of gained data
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method of deduction – formulation of conclusion and recommendations
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Teoretical part
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About Slovak Telekom
The Slovak Telekom Group is part of the worldwide Deutsche Telekom group of companies. The magenta T is an unmistakable graphic symbol of all group companies and it also stands for the globally applied values honored by their employees.
Slovak Telekom is a multimedia operator with many years’ experience and international expertise, bringing innovative technology trends to Slovak telecommunications market. The Company owns and operates a telecommunications network, which covers the entire territory of the Slovak Republic, providing national and international voice services and a wide portfolio of modern data services under T-Com brand.
The Slovak Telekom Group comprises the parent company Slovak Telekom, a.s. (Slovak Telekom) and its subsidiaries T-Mobile Slovensko, a.s. (T-Mobile Slovensko), Zoznam, s.r.o. (Zoznam), Zoznam Mobile, s.r.o. (Zoznam Mobile), Telekom Sec, s.r.o.(Telekom Sec), and PosAm, spol. s r.o. (PosAm; from 29.1.2010) The Institute of Next Generation Networks (Institute of NGN), a special interest association of legal entities, is also part of the Slovak Telekom Group.
The merger of Slovak Telekom, a. s., and T-Mobile Slovensko, a. s., gave rise to a universal operator offering residential and corporate clientele benefits of a comprehensive solution provided from a single source. The company constantly introduces international know-how, innovative solutions and cutting edge technological trends to the market.
The Group's joint goal is to provide, from a single source, a full portfolio of communication and data services for business and residential customers. Members of the Group achieve significant synergy effects, which generate unique solutions in technology utilization and the development of new products and services. This cooperation also benefits from international know-how Slovak Telekom can build on thanks to its membership in the multinational Deutsche Telekom Group. In turn, the Slovak Telekom Group is the largest Slovak provider of full-array of telecommunications service setting new trends on the market and bringing its customers innovative and tailored solutions.
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History of the company
The first step leading to registration of the company EuroTel was made on 16 November 1990 when Správa pôšt a telekomunikácií (PTA) signed a Joint Venture Agreement with the US company Atlantic West B.V. and was awarded a license for construction and operation of the public radiotelephone network and the public data network.
On 12 September 1991, EuroTel – as the first mobile operator in Slovakia – facilitated a call in the analogue network NMT via a mobile handset.
In December 1992, the state-owned enterprise Správa pôšt a telekomunikácií (Post and Telecom Administration) ceased to exist. This step enabled registration of three successor state-owned enterprises: Slovenská pošta (Slovak Post), Poštová novinová služba (Post and Periodical Service) and Slovenské telekomunikácie.
In 2000 the state, being the 100 % shareholder represented by the Ministry of Transport, Posts and Telecommunications, signed on 18 July the privatisation agreement with Deutsche Telekom AG on sale of 51 % shares in Slovenské telekomunikácie, a. s. On 4 August, the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders was convened and the Shareholder Agreement was signed. Deutsche Telekom AG became a 51 % shareholder in Slovenské telekomunikácie, a. s. In the same year EuroTel Bratislava, a. s., was owned by Slovenské telekomunikácie, a. s., holding a 51% share and a 49% share belonged to Atlantic West B.V. (a joint venture of Verizon Communications and AT&T Corp). By signing the Shareholder Agreement also EuroTel became a member of Deutsche Telekom AG.
Slovenské telekomunikácie, a. s., changes its business name to Slovak Telecom, a. s. in 2004. The change also included the launch of the new corporate identify, logo, vision, mission and corporate culture.
Slovak Telekom, a.s., and launched the product brand T-Com on the market in 2006. The Boards of Directors of Slovak Telekom, a. s., and T-Mobile Slovensko, a. s., approved in February the date of integration of Slovak Telekom and T-Mobile Slovensko as of 1 July 2010.
The Boards of Directors of Slovak Telekom, a. s., and T-Mobile Slovensko, a. s., approved in February the date of integration of Slovak Telekom and T-Mobile Slovensko as of 1 July 2010.
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Social network marketing
T-Com is a member of Facebook and Twitter. The biggest advantage is that T-Com meets customers and maintains their relationship more easily there. The sites works on creating some version of “profile page”. The profile page is a great opportunity for the company to present and share information about itself. Customers have a possibility to become a “friend” (on Twitter “follower”) of the page. From that moment all the whole database presented in the social network is available to the customer. Friends of T-Com page are able to see the news feed and everything that T-Com presents on its profile page. T-Com informs the customers about new products, actions and changes via Facebook and Twitter.
It is very cost effective and the news or photos spread at once for thousands of people. The social networks provides T-com with feedback, as the customers can write what they like, do not like and even their problems on the profile page. There are currently about 6, 600 people who are friends with either T-Com or T-Mobile on Facebook. However there are only 73 “followers” of this page, since this social network is not so well known and used in Slovakia. Plus, T-Com claims that the profile on Twitter is created for journalists.
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Viral marketing
T-Com realizes that traditional forms of advertising such as television, radio or newspaper advertisements are not reachable for all the customers. Viral marketing is becoming more and more popular and effective. T-Com creates videos, pictures or text, and afterwards can choose from a variety of places on the Internet where to post it.
T-Com posts the videos or commercials on the web sites like Youtube or MojeVideo. People like to spend time on web sites like these and watch funny videos and forward them to their friends.
Another option for Viral marketing of T-Com represent social networks. T-Com simply shares videos, pictures or text on their profile page on Facebook and instantly there are hundreds of people who see the advertisements and share them with their friends. T-Com knows that social networks are best place for Viral marketing. People usually share commercials if they like them.
Viral marketing happens also via blogging. T-Com has its own blog where it publishes news, commercials, pictures and text about their products or services supported by the additional articles. There are even the most popular commercials behind the scene. T-Com claims that their blog has become an appreciated component of two-way communication of the T-Com brand with consumers.
T-Com knows that Viral marketing is very effective way to reach people all over the country, as the commercials or photos are spread by people to friends. And the special advantage of this kind of marketing is that people can play the videos, or see the pictures again and again anytime.
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Internet marketing of T-Com and T-Mobile
Nowadays, companies sale their product not only in the shops but also on the Internet and T-Com is not an exception. People can visit T-Centers (brand shops) or the official web page of the company. T-Com realizes that Internet marketing is a convenient way for its customers to find information, news, advertisements and even purchase goods and services. That is why the company has been constantly developing this kind of marketing strategy.
When the e-shop portal was launched in September 2008, customers could order only selected products and services. Today, www.t-com.sk offers a much broader portfolio of options. They may order new services or make use of a special promotion on their existing products. Additional discount for placing an online order is almost taken for granted. On-line sale of equipment (computers, television sets, games) is an innovation; the Company also arranges their free delivery to customers’ homes.
Web is, however, not focused exclusively on sales. Existing customers may use web to configure their services, change contact information, access electronic invoices or lodge a complaint. The Company also wants to get closer to customers through social networking platforms (such as Magio on Facebook). For customers, the web has thus become the easiest way to “visit” the Company. This fact is also supported by an ever growing number of customers actively using company web pages.
Due to impressive volume of Internet users T-Com decided to create loyalty program called Max Club. Customers register to Max Club and then, they get 1 point for 0,33 € of their overall invoice. Depending on the amount of points the registered customer gathers, they can choose from a wide range of T-Com products and services, household goods as well as products and services of UniCredit Bank – partner of Max Club.
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Television advertising of T-Com and T-Mobile
Television commercials are most powerful element of T-Com´s advertising strategies. Although commercials are considered to be the most expensive way of advertising, they have an ability to develop a strong brand image and awareness. T-Com creates commercials almost for every new product or service.
As any other brands, T-Com ends their commercials trying to leave a kind of consistent memory device. It has its representative jingle, animation and of course their logo. The logo consists of capital letter “T” and small pink squares on the white background. Their catchphrase currently says: “
“In 2009 the T-Com brand won several awards for creativity and effectiveness of marketing communication. At the national creativity festival Zlatý klinec (Golden Nail),
T-Com received two silver nails, two bronze nails and four shortlist nominations. T-Com brand successes in the national competition of marketing communication effectiveness, EFFIE Slovakia 2009, were even more highly prized. The silver Effie went to the Christmas campaign “Matej Dužina” for 4G Internet, and the campaigns “Agent” promoting Magio TV and “Zavolajte komukoľvek” (Call Anyone) promoting voice services were shortlisted.”
(T-Com annual report 2009)
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Marketing research
The opinions of people about the brand T-Com and T-Mobile were explored via the questionnaire. In the period of time from December 2010 to February 2011 the questionnaire filled out 108 respondends of various age ranges and social background. The data were in the whole country of Slovakia to provide more accurate data. The return of the questionnares was 100%.
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Characteristics of the sample and details about respondents
Gender
The sample represents 62% female respondents and 38% male respondents.
Figure 1: Gender
source: own research
Age
From the whole sample of 108 respondents who filled out the questionnare:
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17% of respondetns were 20 and less than 20 years old.
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66% of respondents were from 21 to 30 years old.
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4% of respondents were from 31 to 40 years old.
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6% of respondents were from 41 to 50 years old.
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7% of respondents were 51 and above.
Figure 2: Age
source: own research
Occupation
From the whole sample of 108 respondents who filled out the questionnare:
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6% of respondents were employed in public sector.
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24% of respondents were employed in private sector.
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7% of respondents were self-employed.
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6% of respondents were unemployed.
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56% of respondents were students.
Figure 3.Occupation
source:own research
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Effectiveness of T-Com and T-Mobile advertisin questionnare summary
The questionnaire covers following issues:
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What kind of media attracts respondents attention towards T-Com and T-Mobile company.
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Wheter or not is the promotion of T-Com and T-Mobile services effective.
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Evaluating of current T-Com´s and T-Mobile´s TV commercial and its influence on respondents.
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Finding out an attitute towards company´s advertising of people who are not T-Com or T-Mobile customers.
Question number 1.
Are you a customer of either T-Com or T-Mobile?
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Yes
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No
Are you a customer of either T-Com or T-Mobile?
Figure 4: Share of T-Com and T-Mobile cutomers
source: own research
From the total number of 108 respondents 73% were customers of either T-Com or T-Mobile, which represents 79 people. The remaining number of 27% were not customers of these operators.
Question number 2.
If you answered „yes“ in previous question: what influenced your decision to choose these operators?
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Price of products and services
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Advertisements on TV, radio or printed ads
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Friends´ recommendation
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I did not care
If you answered „yes“ in previous question: what influenced your decision to choose these operators?
Figure 5: factors influencing decisions of customers
source: own research
The customers of T-Com and T-Mobile decided to choose these operators based on different criteria. From the sample 33% of respondents considered price of products and services when choosing the operators. The smallest percentage of sample consisting of 8% was influenced by the advertisement in TV, radio and printed ads. So it indicates that the promotion of the company did not play a significant role. 12% of respondents chose the operator based on recomendations of their friends. And surprisingly vast majority of customers 47% had not a real reason why they chose T-Com or T-Mobile.
Question number 3
Which media attracts your attention to T-Com or T-Mobile?
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Television
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Radio
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Print
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Social networks
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Internet
Which media attracts your attention to T-Com or T-Mobile?
People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to mre than 100%
Figure 6: Media attractin customers´attention.
source: own research
When asked about the media which attracts the attention of people towards operators T-Com and T-Mobile, people could choose more than one checkbox. The Figure 7 shows that the prevailing type of media which attracts their attention is television. The number of respondents counts for 88% of respondents. This supports the idea that single TV broadcast can reach a vast number of people. The smallest percentage on the other hand have social networks, the number of respondents counts for 9%. The main reason of this fact might be that people use social networks mostly for keeping in touch with their friends. 10% of respondents´ attention were attracted by the radio. Printed ads have a power to attract attention of 28% of respondents and ads on Internet 35% of respondents. This shows that TV advertising is very significant element of the companies´ promotion.
Question number 4
The ads leave favourable impression of the company.
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Strongly agree
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Agree
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Nature
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Disagree
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Strongly disagree
The ads leave favourable impression of the company.
Figure 9: Favourable impression left.
source: own research
When asked if ads left a favourable impression 44% of respondents answered that the impression is neutral. It may mean that nowadays people sense advertisements as natural part of their lives and there is no resistance to advertising. 25% of respondents even disagree with the statement that advertisements create a favourable impression of the company. Only 14% of respondents completelly agree with the statement.
Question number 5
Do you watch Superstar?
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Yes
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No
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sometimes
Do you watch Superstar?
Figure: TV show Superstar
source: own research
When asked if the people watch Superstar which is currently on TV, 44% answered that they watch this TV show sometimes. 24% of respondents watch the show regularly. And 32% of respondents do not watch Superstar at all.
Figure 9.
Question number 6
Are you familiar with current T-Mobile commercial „S mobilným internetom byť Superstar sa dá dá dá.“?
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Very familiar
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Familiar
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Not familiar
Are you familiar with current T-Mobile commercial „S mobilným internetom byť Superstar sa dá dá dá.“ ?
Figure 9: Mobile internet commercial
source: own research
Figure10: Familiarity with the commercial
source: own research
T-Mobile is a sponsor of Czechoslovakian Superstar broadcasted both in Slovakia and also in the Czech Republic. Although majority of people in the previous question claim that they do not watch Superstar regularly, from the whole sample 77% of respondents know the current TV commercial of T-Mobile very well. 17% of respondents have seen the commercial on TV and only 6% of respondents are not familiar with the commercial at all.
Question number 7
Have the mentioned commercial encouraged you to search for more information about the mobile internet?
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Yes
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No
Have the mentioned commercial encouraged you to search for more information about the mobile internet?
Figure 11: Influence of the commercial
source: own research
We can clearly see from the Figure 12 that although vast majority of respondents are very familiar with the TV commercial, only 4% of the respondents were encouraged to search for more information about the mobile internet.
Question number 8
Which of these advertisements of T-Com and T-Mobile is most familiar to you?
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Advertisement number one (TV Magio via satelit)
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Advertisement number two (Superstar mobíci)
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Advertisement number three (Hamšík calling Dede)
Which of these advertisements of T-Com and T-Mobile is most familiar to you?
Figure 12: TV Magio Figure 13: Mobíci Figure 14: Hamšík and Dede
Source: www.t-com.sk
. The Figure 16 shows that people are most familiar with advertisement number three. The advert about small African boy named Dede who wants to be like his idol slovak football player was very popular during the 2010 FIFA World Cup 2010. The number of respondents who liked this commercial counts for 76%. The second most popular commercial was „Superstar mobíci“ and 21% of respondents like it. Only 3% of respondents were familiar with number one represented by „Zvieratká“. This indicates that celebrity endorsement in commercials is very effective and people like it. It seems that T-Com and T-Mobile create awareness of their products and services trough sponsoring culture and sport programmes.
Figure 15: Commercials sample
source: own research
Question number 9
If you are not a customer of either T-Com or T-Mobile: the ads of this company creates a desire for me to purchase their goods and services.
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Strongly disagree
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Disagree
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Nature
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Agree
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Strongly agree
If you are not a customer of either T-Com or T-Mobile: the ads of this company creates a desire for me to purchase their goods and services.
Figure 18: Desire of noncustomers created by ads
source: own research
Figure 17 consists only of those respondents who are not nor T-Com´s neither T-Mobile´s customers. They were asked whether the ads of T-Com or T-Mobile create a desire to pruchase their goods and services. Majority of respondents has a neutral attitude. Although 20% of noncustomers of these operators strongly disagree with the statement that ads of T-Com and T-Mobile create a desire to purchase goods and services.
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Recommendations
The research done by questionnaire shows us the effectiveness of advertising of T-Com and T-Mobile. The majority of respondents were customers of T-Mobile and T-Com. According to the data gained from the research the promotion of these operators is sufficient and successful. The most popular media which attract customers’ attention are television and printed ads. T-Com and T-Mobile should also focus on the advertisement on the social networks and Internet, as these kinds of media are becoming more and more popular and they reach hundreds of thousands of people every day. It seems that sponsoring is an important part of the company current presentation. T-Com and T-Mobile are sponsors of cultural and sport evens in Slovak republic.
The company uses witty and creative ideas in their commercials and based on company´s business orientation it is natural that media communication focuses mainly on product and service support. People like commercials and printed ads with celebrities starring in them. Using of celebrities in commercials to endorse brands creates a match between the brand (product) and the celebrity. The company however does not seem to be successful with creating desire of non-customers towards its products and services.
I would recommend the company to use new media for marketing such as Guerilla Marketing. The Guerilla Marketing would be an untraditional way of promotion company´s products and services. Since the Guerilla Marketing is not widely used in Slovakia, the company would gain the advantage over its competitors.
Conclusions
Due to fast-growing technology, the market environment changes quickly. In order to be successful, companies have to come up with something new, innovative and original to attract customers’ attention. They have to adjust to current situation in the market, as well as to new trends that spread quickly around the world. The new trends of marketing are slowly gaining on their importance. Viral marketing, social media marketing, Internet marketing and mobile marketing are becoming more and more popular in the world as well as in Slovakia. Slovak people continue to go online to search for various kinds of information or for entertainment. This is the chance for the companies to formulate their strategies using new marketing mediums to present the brand and inform about their product and services. The new technologies drive companies ahead and force them to be creative, innovative and better than the competition.
The case study of chosen company, T-Com and T-Mobile is used to demonstrate theoretical base. The internet boom brings new trends of marketing to this company.
Viral marketing, known also as the world-of-mouse is based on the idea that company creates a video, picture or text that it wishes to be forwarded. T-Com and T-Mobile use this new trend of marketing. They have their own blog, they create videos and pictures that are shared and forwarded from one person to another. The TV commercials and promotion videos can be found on video sites and the biggest advantage is that the viral marketing creates an opportunity to customers to see the video, pictures and read the text again and again.
T-Com has its own profile page on Facebook and Twitter and that is how the social network marketing is done. This is a very effective way to communicate with their customers.
The brand has also an e-shop portal where people can order selected products and services and as an innovation the company added sale of equipment (computers, television sets, games) and arranges their free delivery to customers´ homes.
Although the Internet is a cost effective, T-Com and T-Mobile continue to create commercials to support the sale of their products and services. The brand won several award for creativeness of marketing communication. They build customer awareness of the brand by sponsoring the sport and culture events.
The questionnaire created with the purpose to find out whether or not is the advertising of T-Com and T-Mobile brand effective.
One of the questions asked in questionnaire was which media attracts people’s attention to T-Com or T-Mobile brand. The results show that although the new trend is to go online, TV commercials and printed ads are most popular among people. And that indicates that the brand has a good marketing strategy and knows its customers. The celebrity endorsement in commercials is a significant way to promote products and services. There is created a match between the brand (product or services) and the celebrity. T-Mobile has become a general partner of popular TV show Superstar. People are very familiar with the commercial connected with this show however it does not encouraged them to search for more information about the product presented in the commercial.
All in all, we can say that marketing strategy of T-Com and T-Mobile is a properly chosen combination of new and old trends of marketing.
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9. HARRIS, Jason. Internet Marketing 100 success secrets : Online marketing´s most asked questions on how to manage affiliates, techniques, advertising, programs, solutions, strategy and promotion of an Internet business. 1st edition. [s.l.] : [s.n.], 2008 [cit. 2011-04-09]. 522 pg. ISBN 978-1-9215-2331-1.
10. HORSKÁ, Helena; UBREŽIOVÁ, Iveta. Manažment a marketing v medzinárodnom prostredí. Nitra: Slovenská poľnohospodárska univerzita v Nitre, 2001. 209 s. ISBN 80-7137-884-4.
11. KRETTER, Anton and collective. Marketing. 1st edition. Nitra : Slovenská poľnohospodárska univerzita v Nitre, 2004. 283 pg. ISBN 80-8069-390-0.
12. KUMAR, Prasanna. Marketing of hospitality and tourism services. India : Tata McGraw Hill Ltd. , 2010 [cit. 2011-04-11]. 450 pg. ISBN 13:978-0-07-067057-0.
13. LEVINSON, Jay. Gerrilla marketing : Easy and inexpensive strategies for making big profits from your small business. 1st edition. The United States of America : Houghton Miffin Company, 2007 [cit. 2011-03-07]. 390 pg. ISBN -13:978-0-618-78591-9.
14. MICHAEL, Alex; SALTER, Ben. Mobile Marketing : Achieving competitive advantage trough wireless technology. 1st edition. The United Kingdom : Elsevier Ltd., 2006 [cit. 2011-04-10]. 225 pg. ISBN 13:978-0-7506-6747-0.
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17. PRENZEL, Immo. ApplicabilityApplicability of Mobile marketing in the marketing mix of trade fair organizers. Germany : GRIN Verlag, 2009. 24 s. Master Thesis. Germany. 5 – 6 pg ISBN 978-3-640-60405-0.
18. SHEWELL, Christina. Voice work : Art and science in changing voices. 2nd edition. United Kingdom : Wiley-Blackwell Ltd. , 2009 [cit. 2011-04-07]. 355pg. ISBN 978-0-470-77314-7.
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Online Books
21. GUPTA, Seema. Branding and advertising [online]. 1st edition. New Delhi : Global India Publications Pvt, Ltd., 2009 [cit. 2011-04-23]. Available at WWW:
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