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INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION PLAN
Bournemouth Wheels Festival
Daniel Bethell, Alexandra
Elderfield, Sophia Slade,
Emma Butler
Word count: 7,424
SADE MARKETING
BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY
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List of Figures
Figure 1: SOSTAC Model
Figure 2: Bournemouth Matrix
Figure 3: Internet users aged above 16 years interacting with leisure activities
Figure 4: Customer Journey of attendees staying in hotels and travelling guests
Figure 5: Persona 1
Figure 6: Persona 2
Figure 7: Persona 3
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List of Tables
Table 1: Marketing Objectives
Table 2: Project Plan
Table 3: Key Performance Indicators
Table 4: Marketing Budget
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Executive Summary
The following report represents an integrated marketing communication plan,
developed by SADE Marketing, for the Bournemouth Wheels Festival 2016. The
report also includes a strategy to extend the festival experience time out of the
wheels festival, while still enabling the attendees to be connected with the
event. The purpose of this proposal is to upsell the Wheels Festival through an
analysis of the customer journey and touch points. This has identified the
customers’ needs and wants which has resulted in a partnership with the
festival and local hotels.
In order to highlight an area of customer’s needs, an approach of different
research methods were used to give a broad understanding of the Wheels
Festival audience. The first point of quantitative research was based on a
survey from individual attendees. Through this, a ‘Customer Journey Map’ has
been created to mark the behaviour of the attendees in relation to their
satisfaction.
Through this analysis three SMART objectives have been established which
have enabled the report to identify a strategy, as well as specific tactics and
actions. Furthermore, the development of Key Purpose Indicators (KPI) have
been established to track the performance of the proposal. Moreover, the report
has also considered certain limitations which include excluding event attendees
that are not staying in hotels along the sea front. For example, locals that return
to their homes after the event for the day will not be subject to the proposal,
thus will miss out on being connected with the event out of hours.
Lastly, the return of investment value is predicted to be 97.5%.
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Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 Intended Outcome
2. Research Methods
2.1 Bournemouth Matrix
2.2 SWOT
2.3 PEST
3. Customer Analysis
3.1 Trends
3.2 Performance
4. Customer Journey
4.1. Attendee Persona
5. Analysis of Findings
5.1 The Pitch
6. SMART Communication Objectives and Strategy
6.1 Communication Message
7. Project Plan/Tactics
8. Control
9. Promotion Strategy
9.1 Social Media
10. Marketing Budget
11. Conclusion
12. References
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1. Introduction
Throughout the report, it will be structured according to the SOSTAC model
developed by Reed (2014) as seen in Figure 1 .Firstly; it will begin by explaining
the intended outcome for the proposal developed as a result of the market
research for the Bournemouth Wheels Festival. Next, the report will go through
the research methods undertaken to analyse the customer journey and
customer touch points. The research methods will include a customer analysis,
performance analysis, SWOT and PEST, trends, and finally a Bournemouth
Matrix.
To continue, the report will explain the communication objectives using the
acronym SMART to ensure they are specific, measureable, achievable,
relevant, and time manageable. What is more, the communication strategy will
then be highlighted which will aid in the development of the communication
tactics. From this, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will be shown and used
later for evaluation purposes. Here, the report will highlight the communication
message.
Next, the report will continue by explaining the Promotional strategy with the
help of a table. The promotion strategy will use both online and offline channels
in order to be successfully integrated. Moreover, a plan to use social media will
then be discussed as part of the promotional strategy.
After this, the finances will be discussed. This will include an overview of the
proposal, highlighting the expenses and income for the first year. Lastly, the
report will conduct an evaluation using the ‘control’ stage of the SOSTAC
model. The KPIs will be considered here to assess how successful the plan was
in meeting the target to upsell the Bournemouth Wheels Festival in 2016.
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Figure 1: SOSTAC Model
Source: Edward, 2015
1.1 Intended Outcome
The intended outcome for this report is to critically analyse the Bournemouth
Wheels Festival 2015 successfully, in order to improve its performance and
awareness for the coming year. This will occur through the use of a ‘Customer
Journey Map’, as well as consideration of the given touch points, drawing upon
specific moments that will benefit from creating a more inclusive experience;
personal to the individual.
Also, it is intended for this plan to successfully integrate all methods of
promotion to sell the service to the target audience. This should help to increase
sales and maximise cost effectiveness. As a result of this report, a clear plan
will be established showing the specific steps which need to be followed in
order to meet the overall communication objectives.
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Finally, it is hoped the intended outcome of this integrated marketing
communication plan will be favourable to the client during the pitch.
2. Research Methods
The Bournemouth Wheels Festival is a three day event along the beach front. It
is a new summer festival for Bournemouth; with June 2016 seeing the event for
the third time. In order to understand the audience and their needs, first the
festival must be critically analysed to recognise the intricacies of the market and
the steps that can be taken to improve the audience’s experience.
2.1 Bournemouth Matrix
The Bournemouth Matrix is a tool to analyse which location would be best to get
more people connected to the festival. The matrix has two axis. The customer
appeal is measured from weak to strong and the potential for development is
either low, medium or high. Available services to the attendees have been
categorised into Entertainment, Food and Drink, and Retail Shops.
With reference to the matrix seen below, a circle has been placed according to
how large the development potential and customer appeal is to each service
during the Wheels Festival. The size of the circles indicate how attractive the
category is to the attendees. Food and drink have been categorised as the most
popular according to the qualitative research.
Furthermore, the squares represent popular locations around Bournemouth
during the festival. Squares have been placed on the matrix to show their
customer appeal and development potential in attracting the largest amount of
people during festival days. Their size represents how effective the location
would be in increasing the overall performance and attendee satisfaction of the
festival. According to the matrix, is it highlighted that hotels would be the most
effective in reaching the largest audience of attendees during the festival. This
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is supported by a study from the Bournemouth Wheels Festival Sponsorship
Prospectus (2015) that “confirmed over half of the Wheels Festival visitors,
travelled from outside of Dorset”. This suggests a majority of hotels within
Bournemouth are fully booked over the duration of the Festival, as people wish
to stay over the three days rather than travelling home. This is why it is ranked
as the most effective.
Figure 2: Bournemouth Matrix
Source: Personal collection
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2.2 SWOT
The wheels festival has a number of strengths that drove 300,000 people to
attend (Lets Go Out 2015) in June 2015. It can be argued that one of the main
drives is that the festival is free to attend. There are extra features throughout
the days and priority seating available for extra cost, however the bulk of the
events, such as the monster truck displays can be attended for free. Psychology
professor Barry Schwartz commented in a business article (Brad Tuttle 2011)
“Free is magic. If you offer something for free, people will gladly spend money
to get it”. Therefore the success of the festival in attracting attendees could be
down the nature of the event. Another strength of The Wheels Festival is that it
has a presence across most social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, and
YouTube. This allows the consumers to access useful information about the
event, both prior and during, and also submerses them into the action as they
are virtually inundated with photos, videos and reviews about the festival. In turn
the customers will feel more involved and feel the need to include themselves
with the festival through eWOM (Becker at al. 2012). Along with social media
presence and a low cost, the newness of the event can also be accounted as a
strength as the Wheels Festival has a fresh new appeal to both local
Bournemouth residences and people travelling from further afield.
However, not all Bournemouth locals will see the Wheels Festival in the same
light. A weakness of the event is the impact it has on road traffic and general
crowdedness of Bournemouth town centre. In the years that the event has
occurred it has run for three days, prolonging the impact of the surge of people
in the town. One of the main issues firstly is the number of cars on the roads as
there is a large increase of vehicles trying to enter Bournemouth. This will cause
annoyance in Bournemouth residence as it is likely that travelling around
Bournemouth for their everyday errands by car will take longer due to delays.
Along with this, parking near the beach front and town centre will cause further
problems as there is limited parking for attendees travelling to the event by car.
The biggest weakness that the festival may possess is a factor that is
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uncontrollable- the weather. Although the festival takes place during summer
time, one cannot rely on the English weather for sun or a comfortable
temperature. Given that the festival and the majority of its attractions take place
outside, if it was to rain on one or all of the days the event takes place then this
could have a detrimental impact on the number of people attending the event.
The strength of the event being free may also be a weakness as in case of
unattractive weather people have no paid commitment to attend the festival.
The Bournemouth Wheels Festival has a large presence, not only on social
media, but also occupies a place on many tourism websites promoting events in
Bournemouth. Along with these, the festival also has a specific webpage which
gives people information about what to expect on the day, the time and location
of attractions (Wheels Festival 2015). This gives the festival an opportunity to
create promotions and deals on the website. Mintel (2015) has highlighted the
prospects that doing so would create. For example, for someone hoping to
attend the event they would be able to have a connection to the festival before it
has even started by participating in advertised deals. This would become a fun
pursuit for the customers as they interact with the website. Along with this it
would also create and drive traffic the site, thus creating a ‘buzz’ around the
event.
Similar to the festival’s weakness of being an outside event, as the years go by
its increasingly threatened by the weather. Climate change is causing an
increased risk of not only altered seasons but extreme weather all year round.
Extreme weather such as wind and rain would create unsuitable conditions for
the event to take place and may also pose health and safety risks as attendees
are vulnerable to the sea (Monfries 2013). It is likely that such weather
conditions could cause a disruption to transport links, further reducing the
number of visitors into Bournemouth. Although the Wheels Festival is new and
exciting after only two events, figures show that the festival lost 200,000
attendees between the first and second year that it occurred (Heart 2015) (Lets
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Go Out 2015). This indicates that the event may be threatened by the fact it has
little history in Bournemouth and has no prestigious status.
2.3 PEST
Pest Analysis is a simple but common tool used to help analyse the political,
economic, socio-cultural, and technological changes within the business
environment. This type of analyses in important for the companies as it helps
them find business or personal opportunities that could develop the work
environment, giving them an advantage against other companies. Also, it points
them in the right direction by avoiding the projects that are most likely to fail.
Within this specific sports event, PEST Analysis has determined that:
Within the political factors that involve mainly government regulations and safe
and security aspects:

As Audretsch and Caiazza (2015) argue that “sports events highlight the
fact that event legacies cannot be reduced to their economic dimension,
but ought to take seriously their social and cultural impacts, both positive
and negative.”

“In the absence of safe space, a sports event or project is likely to be
experienced as exclusionary and alienating by some community groups,
and unlikely to transform social relations and produce social change.
However, the creation of safe space is not done simply; instead, it
requires careful deliberation, planning, and management”. (Audretsch
and Caiazza 2015)
Within the social-cultural factors that involve mainly stereotypical, educational
and environmental issues, as well as religious and ethical beliefs:

“Durable benefits, including enhanced fitness and health, travel, an
active outdoors lifestyle, and opportunities for socialization with likeminded people, explain why athletes commit to serious leisure careers.
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
“Each event gives participants the impression composed of many
individual parts, which include the proximity to the cultural mind set of the
participants (i.e. a form of thought corresponds with form of thought of
participants), connection to local.”
Within the economic factors it mainly involves cost of parking; economic trends;
profitability of the event and its productivity within the marketing strategy and
rate of inflation:

Gratton and Preuss argued in Technology and Economic Impacts of
Mega-Sports Events: A Key Issue? Exploratory Insights from Literature
by Chanaron (2014), that found “various characteristics of legacy from
tangible aspects such as urban planning and sport infrastructure,
increased tourism, enhanced international reputation, improved public
welfare, additional employment, more local opportunities, better chances
for city marketing”

Gratton and Preuss in Technology and Economic Impacts of MegaSports Events: A Key Issue? Exploratory Insights from Literature, by
Chanaron (2014) also added negatives to the economic impacts, such as
debts from constructions, high opportunity costs, infrastructure not
needed after the event, temporary crowding, and so on.
Within the technological factor that mainly involves good technology
infrastructure (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc) that leads to a better
production of the product or event and to an effective presentation to capture
the target market can find according to this event:

“The biggest slice of the entertainment pie is spent on viewing and
listening pleasure. Households spend an average of more than $450 a
year on televisions, VCRs, videotapes, stereos, musical instruments,
recorded music, and assorted accessories”

“The single largest entertainment expense is for TV, a fact that reflects
the increasing popularity and expense of cable television.” (Professor,
School of Public Health, 2015).
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
“Generally we can say that event without a campaign in social media
cannot exist. Their effect is many times greater than conventional
invitations on the website or on posters. Events promoted through the
social media allow the participants to feel that they are part of something
big, something that interests a wide range of people. Many individuals
registered through the social media to participate in some event often
start to act as the advertising in the virtual environment”. (Professor,
School of Public Health, 2015).
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3. Customer Analysis
In order to better understand the customers of the Bournemouth Wheels
festival, a customer analysis needs to take place. This will include a ‘Customer
Journey Map’ that analyses the nature of the attendees, as well as three
persona scenarios which helps to analyse the customers touch points. These
persona scenarios help identify what the attendees are interested in during the
festival. It also helps to highlight what their needs are and to assess their
customer experience. This breakdown will then allow the development of a
product or service to create an upselling strategy.
When it comes to the customer experience there are different ways of thinking
about it. One way of regarding the customers experience is via the customer’s
participation. Customers can be passive with their participation of an event, this
means that their attendance does not actually affect the performance, but they
are simply observing the event. This kind of participation can be found with
activities such as a symphony. On the other hand, there is active participation.
This means that customers have a direct impact on the event and have an
effect on the outcome of said event. An event such as this could be an activity
like skiing lessons.
The other way of looking at the experience is the connection or the
environmental relationship that customers get from their event. There are two
ends of the spectrum when it comes to looking at a customer’s connection with
their event. These two are immersion and absorption; immersion is watching
and listening to an activity whereas absorption is actually taking in the events
that are surrounding an individual. Examples of this would be that absorption
could be a student who is actively making notes and absorbing the information
that is being given to them, and immersion would be someone who is watching
and listening to a film and getting immersed with the audience as opposed to
seeing the film at home.
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Joseph Pine (No Date) says that there are four realms of experience and that
these four realms fall within the spectrum of these two dimensions. The four
realms that he describes are aesthetic, escapist, entertainment and educational.
Entertainment is the most commonly thought about experience. This kind of
experience is generally passive as it tends to be customers absorbing their
experience rather than participating, examples of this would be watching
television or attending a concert. Educational events are generally more active,
however customers/students could also be described as passively participating
in the event as they will be immersing themselves. Escapist experiences can
also be educational however generally the level of participation is a lot higher,
the kind of events that could be described as escapist are things that customers
do to have a change in routine of their daily life. Examples of escapist events
are acting in a play or skydiving. Both of these involve active participation and
also a high level of immersion within the event itself. Aesthetic events are
similar to escapist events however there is a lot less participation and a lot more
immersion within the event so for example if an escapist event was to abseil the
Grand Canyon, the aesthetic counterpart would be a tourist who just goes to
view it.
3.1. Trends
Events and festivals make up just a small number of activities within the leisure
sector. Looking at leisure activity participation (Mintel 2015) it shows a number
of trends that are common for the people that participate in leisure activities.
These people are commonly men between the age of 18 and 34 years old;
peaking at 20-24. They are more likely to be in full time education, or come from
higher-income households. The report shows that people with children in their
household participate in a range of different types of leisure more than those
without.
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The Bournemouth Wheels Festival is known to be the UK’s biggest free family
themed festival, as it contains an action packed programme for family
entertainment, as well as a set of safe and security components based along
the sea front, creating a family friendly environment. The official Wheels Festival
website tell us the percentage of the demographic age groups that attend this
type of event (Bournemouth Wheels Festival 2015):

35% FAMILIES

55% COUPLES & SINGLES

55% MALE

45% FEMALE
Figure 2: Internet users aged above 16 years interacting with leisure
activities
Source: Mintel, 2015
According to Mintels Leisure Review (Mintel 2015), the graph above shows how
internet users aged above 16 years old interact with leisure venue operators.
From the graph it is clear that the main use of interaction is done online by
visiting the venue’s website. This information will aid the report to create a
product or service that the consumers would primarily interact with. For
example, everything should be promoted on the website to reach the maximum
number of consumers.
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3.2 Performance
In comparison to other UK motor festivals such as Carfest, the amount of
visitors that attended are significantly larger, in 2014 the Bournemouth wheels
festivals had visitor numbers in excess of 500,000 in comparison to Carfest
which only had around 55,000. Despite this however, because Carfest charges
their visitors for the attendance of the festival it would make sense that the
festival was a lot more profitable than the Bournemouth wheels festival. While
the actual festival itself may have made more money than the Bournemouth
wheels festival, the sheer number of visitors that attended the wheels festival
meant that in 2014, over £9m was spent in Bournemouth town centre by
attendees and by visitors. The success of the Wheels festival did not last
however, as in 2015 they experienced a drop in visitor numbers of over
200,000, however despite this loss in visitor numbers, the event organisers
have still planned for the 2016 wheels festival with the dates confirmed. The
wheels festival also had more visitors in comparison to another major car based
event that is the Silverstone Classic event which took place on the 24th July till
the 26th July in 2014. The reason for the massive attendance at the
Bournemouth wheels festival is not completely clear, however the fact that it is a
free event to attend may have been a pull factor for many of those who
attended.
The festival, although free to attend offers services to its visitors for a price,
some of these things include seating for the monster truck shows for £2 per
person and also offering rides in monster trucks at £10 per person. Doing things
such as this also ensures some profit will be gained from visitors. As previously
mentioned, the visitors from this year spent over £9m within the town centre via
the use of restaurants and bars etc. Hotels also experienced a good influx of
visitors, a hotel in Southbourne opened the weekend of the wheels festival and
they were fully booked as a result of the wheels festival.
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4. Customer Journey
Following qualitative research conducted on the attendees of Wheels Festival
2015, SADE was able to develop a Customer Journey Map in Figure 4 as seen
below. This shows what people did before, during and after the festival. The
qualitative research included an interview as well as a profiling survey which
assessed the nature of each attendee; looking at what attracts them most about
the festival, and how much they use their mobile devices during everyday
activities.
Before the festival, it was discovered that most of the attendees used their
mobile devices to check the weather forecast. They also looked at the traffic
news to see how well they could get to the location. Most attendees arrived
within an hour of the first event. The main activities involved just getting ready
for the day. During, most people used their mobile devices to take pictures and
phone friends for meeting points. They also had lunch by walking into the town
centre or finding a spot along the beach to have a packed lunch. After the
festival had finished, many people resorted to social media such as Facebook
and Instagram to share their experiences with friends and family. This was also
the time where people searched for places to eat and drink. Also, most people
spent the evening at the beach or in the Lower Gardens before returning home.
According to one interviewee, most people ‘hung around’ for hours after the last
event finished.
As a result of analysing the customer journey, it aided in the development of a
product or service to help increase the awareness of the Wheels Festival. A
reoccurring activity by most attendees was the use of a mobile device. In this
case, an app would be most effective as there is a high guarantee people will
easily access this. Another common activity was the desire to find a place to eat
and drink. This means, it would be possible to approach restaurants around the
town centre to see if they wish to take part in deals or offers alongside the
festival.
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Figure 3: Customer Journey Map of attendees staying in hotels and
travelling guests
Source: Personal collection
4.1 Attendee Persona
Following from the customer journey and the findings from both the research
methods and customer analysis; Attendee Personas can be developed to
give a much clearer picture of the nature of the attendees at the Wheels
Festival. This helps to identify their specific touch points such as their needs,
goals, anticipations and problems.
Each persona is a fictitious person that is created based on the data collected
from the primary research surveys. Therefore it is assumed these people are l
likely to attend the 2016 Wheels Festival. This is effective as it is not
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manipulated by the market researchers and should help direct the plan in the
right direction, in order to develop a relevant product or service (Mitsue 2013).
The first persona is a 36 year old woman, married, with two children. She
requires information about the schedule in order to make plans ahead of the
day to make sure she is organised due to her having two children that she
needs to look after. She also requires food and drink services which include
family restaurants and easy access food stalls. Furthermore, exciting
activities are needed to keep the children occupied when the festival has
ended. Lastly, she uses social media regularly where she uploads pictures.
The second persona is Maureen who is a 65 year old widow. She also
requires information about the event times as well as special needs for
walking. Her entertainment needs requires places targeted for the older
generations such as quiet restaurants and cafes that do not have a fastpaced nature. Her entertainment needs do not require any educational
aspects due to her motives only being to participate in leisure activities, and
gain a personal experience.
The last persona is Joanna who is a student from Spain. She again needs
specific details for scheduled events during the festival as she is not from
within the UK. Also, she requires language translations for her to gain a more
inclusive and personal experience. Furthermore, she spends much of her
time on social media, sharing photos to her family back home for them to feel
more connected with her. Lastly, her food and drink requirements include
bars and restaurants for the younger generations. These may also include
fast-food services.
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Louise: 36 yr old wife and
mother of two children
Getting
information
about
schedule
Time updates
Requirements:
Schedule regular
updates according
to weather
conditions
Food and
drink
services
Looking for
restaurant,
bar, or cafe
Education and
entertainment
Looking for
easy access
foods (eg,
food stalls)
Requirements:
Walking distance
from the festival
with a reasonable
price range
Exciting
activities for
children
Requirements:
Educational games
adequate for
every age group
Working on
social media
Taking family
pictures
Personalisation
Uploading on
social media
Requirements:
Easy access to
personalised
pictures through a
hashtag
Figure 4: Persona 1
Source: Personal collection
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Maureen: 65 yr old widow
Getting
information
about
schedule
Actual time
updates
Requirements:
Updates of the
program including
delays
Food and
drink
services
Easy walking
access to food
and drink
services
Requirements: A
range of food/drink
services accessible
for elderly people
Entertainment
Fun games for all
ages
Requirements:
Entertainment
that approaches
all the audience
Figure 5: Persona 2
Source: Personal collection
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Joanna: 19 yr old exchange
student from Spain
Getting
information
about
schedule
Estimated time
of programme:
start to finish
Requirements:
Available in other
languages for an
inclusive
experience
Food and
drink
services
Looking for
restaurant,
bar, or cafe
Looking for
easy access
foods (eg,
food stalls)
Requirements:
Walking distance
from the festival
with a reasonable
price range
Education and
entertainment
Influence of
social media
channels
Finding
memorable
activities,
buying
memorabilia
Edit/customise for
friends
Broaden
understanding of
English culture
Uploading to
social media
Requirements:
Active participant
involvement with
activities in
festival
Taking photos
Requirements:
Uploading and sharing
photos through
hashtag, allowing
family to get involved
Figure 6: Persona 3
Source: Personal collection
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5. Analysis of Findings
This section of the report will highlight the findings from the research methods
as well as the customer analysis. This part of the report will also highlight
findings from customer journey. The results from this will be used to develop a
pitch which will lead the creation of SMART Communication Objectives.
To begin with the results from the research methods, the Bournemouth Matrix
discovered that hotels near the beach would have the highest potential in
reaching attendees during the Wheels Festival. The reason for this was
because over half of the attendees which attended in 2015 travelled from
outside of Bournemouth to the festival. This suggested that most of them would
be staying in a hotel as the event lasts over three days. To continue, the SWOT
analysis showed the festival was very strong with social media coverage.
However the weaknesses for the festival were traffic congestion as well as the
dependability on the weather during the three days. Even though the festival
takes place in summer, poor weather conditions would influence many
attendees to either shorten their dwell time or not attend altogether. Moreover,
the PEST analysis highlighted there were many issues regarding safety during
large events. Also, the economic factors showed there were lots of long term
issues such as high levels of debt as a result of construction during the event.
There were also lots of high opportunity costs.
Moving on to the customer analysis; trends in the demographic age group
showed the highest percentage of attendees were males between the age of 18
and 34 years old; peaking at 20-24. These people were more likely to be in full
time education, or come from higher-income households. Furthermore, the
performance of the festival was overall successful as it had visitor numbers in
excess of 500,000 in comparison to Carfest. This also resulted in an increase of
£9 million worth of sales in Bournemouth Town Centre during the three day
festival. Next, the customer journey identified that a lot of activities were
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performed on a mobile device such as taking pictures and videos as well as
sharing them on social media. Mobile phones were also used to check the
weather forecast and the traffic situations.
Lastly, common demands from the Attendee Personas included food and drink
needs, social media needs as well as the need to be within close proximity to
the event from where they are staying during the festival.
5.1 The Pitch
After considering the results gathered from the research methods and customer
analysis, the report is able to produce a pitch which plans to meet the intended
outcome. The pitch aims to create a partnership with the SADE Marketing
Agency and hotels along Bournemouth coastline. The aim of this is to enable
guests attending the festival to feel as though their experience is extended even
when scheduled events are over or before they have begun.
Once a collection of hotels have agreed the partnership, the agency plans to
provide hotels with:
 Packed lunch for guests who are Wheels Festival attendees.
 Facemasks of the famous BMX driver, Ryan Dungey, available for event
days.
 Vehicle toys and activity packs for family rooms.
 Increased publicity awareness.
The reasons for the development of this proposal firstly derives from the
Bournemouth Matrix which highlighted that hotels would be best in reaching the
festival customers; as over half of the attendees travelled from outside of
Bournemouth to take part in the festival. This means that the use of hotels in the
next Wheels Festival would be effective in reaching a large audience as these
people are likely to stay in hotels. Next, another reason why this proposal was
developed was due to the consideration of the ‘threats’ from the SWOT analysis
which was the weather. By working with hotels, the pitch would not need to
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worry about the weather as plans can still take place regardless as everything
will be inside. The only negative that arises due to bad weather, would be in
decrease in packed lunch sales as attendees would prefer to eat in rather than
have a picnic on the beach.
Furthermore, according to the Attendee Personas many people used their
mobile phones to upload pictures after the event was over. This is why the
development of an app was avoided due to the risk of no internet access, and
also to avoid people spending time on their mobile devices instead of actually
taking part in the festival. This helps to meet the intended outcome of extending
the attendees experience. Lastly, the packed lunches will be popular for the
guest attendees because it helps promote the marketing message of a ‘stress
free day’, as guests do not have the hassle of searching and buying food; giving
them more time to enjoy the festival.
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6. SMART Communication Objectives and Strategy
Objective
Strategy
1. Reach
50%
guests
of
hotel
attending

the
festival to purchase a
packs during guest check-in

lunch pack
2. Extend
Place specialised leaflets in the welcome
Leaving leaflets within bedrooms and
communal areas
attendee

Decorate
bedrooms
with
a
Wheels
experience during out
Festival theme, eg: car toys, towel
of
shaping
the
festival
scheduled programme

Specific wake-up call aimed at attendees
providing details for the daily event

Restaurant and Bar designed with a
Wheels Festival theme.

Place ‘Cardboard Cut-out’ displays in
each hotel for guests to take pictures
with. Place hotel and Wheels Festival
logo on each board to advertise both.

Place complementary Wheels festival
pens in welcome packs.
with
 Send emails advertising the following
attendee guests after
years programme of the Wheels Festival
the
once released
3. Stay
connected
festival
encourage
to
returning
and new customers.
 Sending attendee guests a personalised
email with a thank you and promotional
offers for the hotel if they fill out a
questionnaire.
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4. Promote the use of the
hashtag
 Place
hashtag
on
welcome
packs,
cardboard cut-out displays and emails to
‘RoomsOnWheels’
to
attendees.
increase awareness of
Wheels
Festival
through social media.
Table 1: Marketing Objectives
Source: Personal collection
6.1 Communication Message
Following on from the marketing objectives, the following communication
messages have been developed, as shown below:
 Communicate an extended festival experience before and after the event
 Communicate a welcoming atmosphere to non-local attendees during the
festival
 Communicate a stress free stay during the festival
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7. Project Plan / Tactics
A project plan has been developed as shown in Table 2. This reflects stage 4
and 5 of the SOSTAC Model (Edward 2015) which highlights the tactics that
need to be completed in this specific order.
When interpreting Table 5, the blue indicates when the action needs to be
completed. It has been highlighted that the Bournemouth Wheels Festival will
take place in June 2016 as highlighted in yellow.
2016
2017
Jan Feb Mar April May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan
Approach
participating hotels
Order
supplies
(Lunches, toys, card
cut-out)
Promotion launching
Send
welcome
emails
Send
thank
you
emails/questionnaire
Wheels
Festival
2017 details
Table 2: Project plan
Source: Personal collection
Page 30 of 41
8. Control
With reference to the last stage of the SOSTAC Model known as ‘Control’
(Edward 2015), Key Performance Indicators can be developed to monitor the
objectives as seen in Table 4.
Marketing Objective
KPI
1. Objective 1: Reach 50% of hotel guests Sales
attending the festival to purchase a lunch pack
figures
first year
2. Extend attendee experience during out of the Questionnaire
festival scheduled programme
for
at
end of stay at hotel
3. Stay connected with attendee guests after the Welcome and thank
festival to encourage returning
and new you emails
customers
4. Promote
the
use
of
the
hashtag Monitor
‘RoomsonWheels’ to increase awareness of usage
Wheels Festival through social media
hashtag
on
social
media
Table 3: Key Performance Indicators for ‘Control’ stage of SOSTAC Model
(Edwards 2015)
Source: Personal collection
Page 31 of 41
9. Promotion Strategy
What is the Promotion Strategy?
Promotion is the method used to spread the awareness of a product or service
to customers, stakeholders and the broader public. This is the main source of
the marketing mix; used to generate a way that describe the different kinds of
choices or methods, organisations undertake in order to reach the desired
product or service for the market. The 4Ps (McCarthy 1969) of the marketing
mix is used to reinforce this procedure.
The 4Ps stand for:

Product (or Service)
 Used to understand exactly what the customers are looking
for, and what is needed to satisfy the target audience.
 What features are required to meet the customer
expectations.
 What will it look like (colour, size), and how will customers
experience/use it.
 What will it be called and how is it branded.
 How will it stand out from the competitors.

Place
 Where will customers look for this product/service, if it is
supplied in a store, if so- what type of store. Online or
offline.
 How can customers access the right channels.
 What and how competitors feel about the product/service
designed, comparing it to what they do and how to
differentiate it.

Price
 What is the value of the product/service.
 Are
there
certain
price
points
valued
within
the
product/service.
Page 32 of 41
 Is the customer price sensitive. Will a small decrease in
price gain them extra market share, or will it give the
customers extra profit margin.
 What discounts should be offered, if any.
 How will the price compare with other competitors price.

Promotion
 Where, when, and how can producers get their marketing
messages to reach the target market.
 Will the target audience be reached by online advertising, in
press, TV, or radio.
 When
is
the
best
time
to
promote,
considering
environmental issues that may arise during the launch of a
product or service.
 How do other competitors conduct their promotion strategy,
and how it influences the producer’s choice in promotional
activity.
Within this Integrated Marketing strategy, the element that was primarily
analysed was the Promotional aspect from the marketing mix, as it was used to
guide the promotion strategy for the service created.
Offline Promotional Strategies:
As the Internet is an enormous influence on today’s popularity, marketers refer
to other media channels, those that are not connected to the World Wide, as
“offline”. Therefore, offline marketing strategies use offline media channels to
create awareness of a company’s products or services, such as, radio, print
advertising, signs, and television ads. However, offline marketing seems to be
linked to online marking. With reference to the service idea created, it is mainly
promoted through print media, but it will also be advertised online through the
use of the hashtag ‘RoomsOnWheels’.
Page 33 of 41
Companies use offline media channels to build enthusiasm about their products
and services. However, the first step to succeed in offline marketing is to reach
the right target demographic. Customers may read certain magazines, giving
the marketers the opportunity to strategically influence their decision buying
process by placing advertisements related to their products or services within
the magazine. For example, placing the hashtag ‘RoomsOnWheels’ within a
car/motorbike magazine.
Online Promotional Strategies:
Online marketing is a critical but also complex strategy, therefore businesses
are enhancing the power of the Internet to promote their products or services
and satisfy their consumers in new and innovative ways that are always
changing. Marketing as a whole is practiced on the Internet as products and
services are positioned, promoted, purchased, distributed, and serviced online;
providing consumers with more choice and a bigger influence of power. An
online business can improve its value and attention from the consumer,
however with regards to the user; the value can be added through a form of
entertainment. Therefore it can be said that online marketing provides benefits
to both parties.
Most companies are getting better at online marketing, however those that lack
online marketing are seen as out of date and not worthy of consumers attention,
due to the fact that customers focus their products or services on online reviews
and eWOM such as online comments.
9.1 Social Media
Research shows that many people will interact with leisure through a company’s
website (Mintel 2015). This shows the imperative use of an online presence and
social media in any marketing campaign. As technology improves the
consumer’s accessibility to potentially unofficial information, the Wheels Festival
Page 34 of 41
must keep on top of providing factual information that will not only increase the
attendee’s involvement with the festival, but also allow them a stress free
experience as all information is clearly given.
The proposal will focus a hashtag on Twitter with #RoomsOnWheels. This
refers both to the Wheels Festival and the Hotel’s rooms. From this, the hotel
guests will be able to search on twitter to connect with other attendees,
alongside getting information from The Wheels Festival and relevant hotel
Twitter accounts. When individuals use this hashtag, whether that be to find
information, or when posting a photo- this will have a positive impact on other
social media users as electronic word of mouth (eWOM) has a strong impact on
the way people will perceive an event (BuzzTalk Blog 2012).
Page 35 of 41
10. Marketing Budget
Table 4 below highlights the forecasted costs estimated for the production of the
products that will be sold during the three day festival.
Units
Costs
Apples - £1.50 x 167 packs
250.50
Bread - £0.89 x 112
99.66
Butter - £2 x 20
40.00
Plain Crisps 12 pack – £2.95 x 84
247.80
Tuna
Sandwich
Filler
-
£1.35
x
70
(350 94.50
sandwiches)
Ham 5 slice pack - £2 x 70 (350 Sandwiches)
140.00
Cheese 10 Slices -£1.75 x 30 (300 Sandwiches)
52.50
Water Bottles 12 Pack - £2.99 x 84
251.16
Sandwich bags 25 Pack - £0.99 x 40
39.60
14 packs of 36 cars at £5.65 each (504 toy cars)
79.10
75 masks - multibuy deal at 5 for 14.95
224.25
Total
1519.09
Table 4: Budget
Source: Personal Collection
It will cost SADE £1215.74 to make the Lunch meals. If each lunch is sold at £3,
a profit of £1784.26 will be made. On top of this, the children’s activity packs
and face masks will cost £303.35, making no profit due to the item’s main
purpose of being free memorabilia. Taking all of this into consideration, by
subtracting the investment of £1519.09 from the £3000.00, from the packed
lunches, SADE will have a total profit of £1480.91.This results in a Return of
Investment (ROI) value of 97.5%.
Page 36 of 41
11. Conclusion
To conclude, by following this integrated marketing communication plan, SADE
Marketing should successfully meet the intended outcome of upselling the
Bournemouth Wheels Festival, as well as extending the attendees experience,
for the following year. The report has critically analysed the customers that
visited the Bournemouth Wheels festival in 2014/15 by completing various
primary and secondary research, such as interviews with previous attendees
and surveys. The bulk of the secondary research has been conducted on
websites such as online journals, academic books, as well as looking at Mintel.
Furthermore, the report developed three ‘Attendee Persona’ which was derived
from the customer journey. This enabled the report to continue in developing
SMART marketing objectives, which then aided in the development of the
marketing strategy. From this, the report was able to identify the Key
Performance Indicators (KPI) which was used to help monitor whether the
objectives have met the intended outcome. Moreover, the report summarises
three marketing messages which plan to be communicated to the guest
attendees before, during, and after the festival. Next the report shows the
project plan for the proposed pitch. This highlighted the tactics which needed to
be followed step by step during the build up to the next Wheels Festival. After
this the promotional strategy was explained, which highlighted the offline and
online marketing strategies adapted from the marketing mix. This ensured that
the marketing communication plan was successfully integrated.
To continue, the plan to use social media as a marketing tool was explained.
This included how the use of the hashtag ‘RoomsOnWheels’ is planned to be
distributed around the hotels, via welcome pack leaflets, and on the packed
lunches that the hotel will provide to customers. Lastly the financial elements
were calculated, showing the predicted expenditure of the lunches and the
expected revenue. This resulted in a return of investment of 97.5% which shows
that the proposal will be successful, and that it will be favourable to the client.
Page 37 of 41
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