Altoids Media Plan

ALTOIDS MEDIA PLAN LUCY WELLBORN, EMMA MURPHY, GEORGIA STEFANIDI, RACHEL NIPP

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Table of Contents Executive Summary ..................................................................................................1 Situation Analysis ......................................................................................................2

Market Description ..........................................................................................2 Company Description ................................................................................................2

Product Positioning ..........................................................................................2 Competition.......................................................................................................2

Competitive Spending Analysis .............................................................2

Competitive Spending Chart ..................................................................2

Media Mix ..............................................................................................2

Share of Voice .........................................................................................2 Geography.........................................................................................................2

BDI / CDI Analysis ................................................................................2

Purchase Patterns..............................................................................................2

Seasonality .......................................................................................................2

Consumer Promotions ......................................................................................2 Pricing...............................................................................................................2

Advertising Period............................................................................................2 Budget...............................................................................................................2

SWOT Analysis.................................................................................................2 Objectives...................................................................................................................2 Marketing Objectives.................................................................................................2 Advertising Objectives...............................................................................................2 Media Objectives........................................................................................................2 Target Audience Profile .............................................................................................2 Creative Brief.............................................................................................................2 Media Recommendations...........................................................................................2

Media Recommended.......................................................................................2

Scheduling Strategy..........................................................................................2 Budget...............................................................................................................2 Strategy Evaluation.....................................................................................................2 Appendices..................................................................................................................2 Flowchart.....................................................................................................................2 References...................................................................................................................2

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Executive Summary ALTOIDS’ primary goal is to increase sales by 20%. By targeting younger age demographics, expanding their target market, and implementing digital advertising, ALTOIDS’ goal will be attainable. The brand will generate 3,522,000 more GRP’s, not including any exposure achieved by the many tentpole events, all while remaining within their budget of $25,000,000.

ALTOIDS differentiates itself from other mints because it is one of the oldest brands, and it is perceived as a brand that delivers the highest quality in mints, seen in the way the brand still implements the tin cans in their packaging. It targets the older audience who appreciate its history and quality. Last year, ALTOIDS was the highest selling mint brand, but the brand did not advertise at all, and as its target market grows older, ALTOIDS faces fierce competitors who have tapped into the younger audiences.

Our media plan emphasizes a target audience of men and women 25-44, as compared to the current target audience of 45-54. These people are budding professionals who are looking for ways to be successful. We plan to tap into these new audiences through the implementation of digital advertising, a market that successfully reaches the younger target audience because many of them use the internet daily. The plan also includes many tentpole events geared to the young professionals, who are likely to buy ALTOIDS in an attempt to appear successful.

This media plan puts an emphasis on reach rather than frequency in order to meet the objective of exposure to a new audience, demanding a reach of 70 to 80 percent, depending on the month.

The plan does, however, insist on a frequency of at least 3 at all times, ensuring that the target audience is being exposed to the brand enough times to retain the information.

The plan also targets several key cities through spot advertising. These cities are spread out throughout the country and are comprised of places in which the BDI is relatively high, but the CDI is far higher, insinuating a potential for success of the brand with slightly more exposure.

These cities include New York City, Los Angeles, Houston, Las Vegas, Tampa, and Columbus, Ohio.

This plan does not simply meet the advertising and media objectives; it exceeds them, offering higher reach and frequency than suggested and more than 20% of the budget put toward digital advertising. It does all of this while still remaining under the budget, allowing for contingency funds in the case of an emergency or unforeseen circumstances.

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Situation Analysis

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Market Description

Altoids are in a market category of gums, mints and breath fresheners. The audience for gum, mints, and breath fresheners purchases these products to remove a bad taste from their mouth or freshen their breath. In addition they may buy mints to try new flavors, to prevent eating or even relieve stress. Thus, the market has many opportunities to develop stronger breath and mouth-freshening products. The total sales in this market rose 1.7% between 2014 and 2015 and reached $4.8 millions. Looking more closely at it, gum sales had 1.6% growth, plain mints had 6.6% and breath fresheners had 5.4% increase.

Company Description

ALTOIDS, owned by Wrigley, is one of the oldest and most prestigious brands of breath mints in the United States. Over the years, the brand of ALTOIDS has changed hands many times. Originally owned by Smith & Company, they were designed to help lessen stomach aches and intestinal discomfort. The phrase “curisously strong� is derived from this era because it was believed that the heavy usage of peppermint oil in the recipe would serve as a digestive medicine. Later in the 1920s, the brand did not find a great success as a stomach reliever, they decided to market itseltf instead as a mint for eliminating bad breath. It was then that ALTOIDS, which was using cardboard packaging at the time, made the transition to the metal tins that they are known for today.

Currently, ALTOIDS offers four mint flavors: peppermint, wintergreen, spearmint and cinnamon. There are also sugar free mints available in tiny square shapes in peppermint, cinnamon and wintergreen flavors. The company attempted to introduce sour hard sweets, gums and breath strips, in 2002 and 2003 respectively; However, due to low sales, they had to discontinue them.

ALTOIDS are sold in a variety of stores within the U.S., though they are less popular in Britain and other countries. Within the United States, they can mainly be found in grocery stores and pharmacies, as well as superstores like Target.

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Product Positioning

In the two centuries that the ALTOIDS brand has existed, it has undergone shockingly little change. The brand offers the same four flavors of mints, as it has for several decades. Until very recent years, the company relied almost entirely on print ads that appeared vintage and nostalgic, such as this ad, which appeared both in 1998 and 2002.

Such ads targeted the older audience, who bought the mints because they reminded them of the “good old days” in which such an ad would have appeared all the time. After the discontinuation of chocolate-dipped mints toward the end of the new millennial decade, however, it became clear that ALTOIDS was falling behind in the contemporary chaos of advertising. Their competitors, such as their closets sales competitor Ice Breakers, pushed to incorporate younger audiences by engaging in topics that appealed to the younger generations, and also by implementing social networks and interacting with potential consumers.

ALTOIDS then launched a new campaign in 2009 to introduce ALTOIDS Smalls, a mint that was meant to appeal to the younger generation. The ads veered from the vintage look slightly, showing young adults and aspiring businessmen who were holding the mints behind their backs as weapons of choice in the nerve-

ALTOIDS has since continued to target the younger generation, including young women in their print ads in 2014. The company, however, did not use paid advertising at all in the year 2015. In addition, the brand’s web presence is almost non-existent, as it exists only as a subcategory of the Wrigley’s website, with no indication of tone or branding by the uniform design, and no information on product history or place for customer interaction.

ALTOIDS’s product positioning is undergoing a shift from older to newer; the brand has long survived on minimal advertising by coining itself as a “niche” brand, the longstanding classic choice for anyone who enjoys aesthetics and appreciates the unique tin packaging, as well as anyone who is nostalgic for the past, particularly the first half of the 20th century. Today, though, the brand is experiencing a necessary shift in positioning to a brand that appeals to a younger audience, as ALTOIDS is now up against some committed competitors who are determined to dethrone America’s first “curiously strong” mints.

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Competition

Tic Tacs present some of the fiercest competition for ALTOIDS. According to MRI, they tend to be finding success in an audience slightly younger than ALTOIDS (the highest indices for Tic Tacs being in the 18-24 and 35-44 categories, as opposed to ALTOIDS’s category of highest success which is the 45-54 range). Still, the two brands sold almost exactly the same amount last year, and they both hold a 7.7% share on the total sale of mints in the last six months. Tic Tacs also appears to be allocating at least some portion of their funds to advertising, while ALTOIDS spent nothing at all on ads in the past year. Tic Tac also has a fun, interactive website that displays the product in creative ways, such as a Tic Tac rotating used as the loading page. They offer several different flavors, from minty to fruity. As the graph shows, Tic Tacs was the bestselling brand in 2015, though that includes the sales of the non-minty flavors such as Orange Tic Tacs, so their sales of the mint flavors alone may put the brand behind ALTOIDS in popularity; however, their online presence and advertising efforts make them the top competitor still. They have 15,000 likes on Facebook, which is not much compared to ALTOIDS 97,000, but still notable. Even more notable, though, is their official Twitter account, which has 806,000 followers (while ALTOIDS has no Twitter account at all).t

IceBreakers: With an index of 161 in the 18-24 age category, IceBreakers has done an exceptional job of targeting the younger generation. Though slightly less popular than ALTOIDS overall, holding only 6.5% of mint sales in the past six months as opposed to ALTOIDS’ 7.7%, the brand is serious competition, especially because they are targeting an age demographic that many other mint brands ignore. A Hershey’s brand, IceBreakers does not have its own website, but its page on the Hershey’s site features the story of the brand and also mimics the branding in its icy appearance. They also have a strong presence on social media, including Instagram, Twitter, and especially Facebook. The brand updates their social media regularly and has over 1 million likes on Facebook. The brand offers many of the same flavors as ALTOIDS, such as wintergreen and cinnamon, but they also offer gum cubes, sour flavors, Cool Blasts gum, and a mix of minty and fruity mints called “DUO”. Their offerings are therefore much broader and more diverse than the ALTOIDS brand.

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Competition Continued Breath Savers: Another Hershey’s brand, Breath Savers are competing in the same age category as ALTOIDS currently: ages 45-54. Like ALTOIDS, they have minimal advertising and low variety between the various products of their brand. Their social media is sparse, with only 850 likes on Facebook and no Instagram or Twitter presence. Still,w they are a relatively new and smaller brand, founded in 1973, while ALTOIDS has been around for over two centuries.

Mentos Mints: Mentos, which has found recent success in the 45-54 category, also has a well-established online presence, which helps it reach its younger audiences. It has over 12 million likes on Facebook. Their twitter following, though smaller at only 6,500, enjoys usual engagement with the brand itself. The tweets, which are mostly responses to tweets by consumers or simply people referencing the brand, identify the brand as comical and witty.

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Competitive Spending Analysis

Among the competition, ALTOIDS spent the least amount of money on advertising in the last year because it spent none at all. The brand was ranked third in total sales, with $97 million in sales, and a market size of 658 million. According to Kantar, competitors spent a lot of money on advertising; Icebreakers, for example, spent about $37,751,000, and Tic Tac spent about $13,000,000.

According to Kantar, most of the ad dollars were spent on cable TV, totaling $123,100,000 across all brands in the last four years. The second most popular medium was consumer magazines, with only a fraction of that spending at $35,594,000. ALTOIDS, in contrast, has not used TV at all and instead advertised in almost exclusively consumer magazines.

According to the case study, ALTOIDS “enjoys a reputation for premium quality among consumers”. The brand is in the mature stage of the product life cycle because it has been in the market since 1780. Because of its age, introduction of the product alone will not suffice, and ads with higher levels of frequency will be ideal for drawing a consumer audience.

The company has used the platforms of TV, magazines, radio, newspapers, and outdoors in the past, while the competitors have used internet videos and other online media, like Icebreakers’ unicorn in the office ad, which appears not only on television but also on YouTube, and on their website (hersheys.com/icebreakers/

Media Mix

In 2015, ALTOIDS did not spend on advertising. The media that got the most advertising dollars from the other mint brands was Cable TV. Most of the brands chose to use one form of media for all of their advertisements. For example, Eatwhatever allocated 100% of their media budget towards Cable TV, ForeverMints allocated 100% towards Local Radio, Seely dedicated themselves to Spot TV, as Sencha Naturals and VerMints did towards Internet Display. The other brands, Ice Breakers, Mentos, and Tic Tac, spread out their budgets a bit more but heavily focused on Cable TV.

Share of Voice

Amongst ALTOIDS’ competitors, the top spender in the Network TV category was Tic Tac with a 69.5% share of voice (SOV). Ice Breakers had the most advertising in Spot TV at 96.9% and also the highest SOV in Cable TV at 59%. As far as Syndication, 100% of SOV comes from Ice Breakers. 100% of Consumer Magazine SOV comes from Mentos and 100% of Local Radio SOV comes from Forever Mints. Tic Tac has the highest Business-to-Business SOV with 94.9%. Ice Breakers has the highest Internet Display SOV at 37.3% and the highest Online Video SOV at 97.4%. Nobody used Outdoor advertisements, Spot Radio, Network Radio, or National Newspaper.

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Competitive Spending Chart

Media Mix

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Share - Of - Voice

Geography These cities have high indexes and are therefore great locations to further invest advertising dollars in brand promotion of ALTOIDS. These places are large urban centers that contain many businesses, and thus many business people; the target audience of a young professional is likely to be found in a large city.

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BDI / CDI Analysis

These markets were weighted on a scale of 75% BDI and 25% CDI. Cities with high BDI’s were selected because it is more important to promote ALTOIDS as a brand than the mints/other products themselves.

Many consumers have heard of ALTOIDS, but they need to be encouraged to choose it over other brands.

Though BDI is more important for this plan, it is good to still have a relatively high CDI. New York City, Los Angeles, Houston, Las Vegas, Tampa, and Columbus were among the cities that had high BDI rates.

New York City’s indexes are high, indicating potential growth for the brand and its category on the north-east coast. It would be a smart choice for ALTOIDS to invest there because the city is fast-paced, globally influential center of art, culture, fashion and finance. On the other side of the United States, Los Angeles, also has great indexes. Just like NYC, Los Angeles would be a great city to advertise ALTOIDS because it is racially diverse and it reaches many people from our target market. Houston,Texas with similar BDI and CDI indexes, could be another market to promote ALTOIDS.

Las Vegas and Tampa have moderate indexes. Nevertheless, they have great potentials to become flourishing cities for ALTOIDS advertisements, since last year ALTOIDS did not advertise at all. By introducing digital advertising and continuing to promote the brand, ALTOIDS will experience a great increase in brand awareness and sales. These five major markets, which are spread out all over United States will help ALTOIDS to succeed in its new campaign.

Purchase Patterns

ALTOIDS mints are usually available in single metal tins, although, there are some places that offer ALTOIDS mints in big packs. They come in a variety of tin sizes and flavors. They can be found and purchased in many places such as big supermarket chains, like Walmart, Kroger, Target and Walgreens or gas stations. A few coffee shops, local or national, provide ALTOIDS too.

Big packs are purchased usually by loyal customers at the supermarket chains during their supermarket routine, while the single metal tins are more likely to be purchased at gas stations or coffee shops in the morning, when people have just got their coffee and they need something to cover their bad breath. For this reason, the single packages are more randomly bought, and people who buy them are not necessarily loyal to the brand.

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Seasonality

ALTOIDS mints are usually available in single metal tins, although, there are some places that offer ALTOIDS mints in big packs. They come in a variety of tin sizes and flavors. They can be found and purchased in many places such as big supermarket chains, like Walmart, Kroger, Target and Walgreens or gas stations. A few coffee shops, local or national, provide ALTOIDS too.

Big packs are purchased usually by loyal customers at the supermarket chains during their supermarket routine, while the single metal tins are more likely to be purchased at gas stations or coffee shops in the morning, when people have just got their coffee and they need something to cover their bad breath. For this reason, the single packages are more randomly bought, and people who buy them are not necessarily loyal to the brand.

Consumer Promotions ALTOIDS Smalls Campaign (2009) This campaign didn’t get a lot of buzz and there is not much information to be found about it, but featured a woman holding ALTOIDS Smalls behind her back, with various taglines like the one featured below. The ads were targeted towards women and humorous, focusing on fresh breath as a selling objective.

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Consumer Promotions Continued “Curiously Strong” (1995) The idea behind the “curiously strong” campaign is that ALTOIDS mints have an incredibly strong taste/scent to cover bad breath, and that they are better than other mints. The vintage look to the ads and the quirky themes were created based off of the use of ALTOIDS by Seattle counterculture. They are designed to approach those with a cynical and smart sense of humor. Not wanting to alienate the current consumers by becoming too mainstream, Burnett ran these ads in bus shelters, subways, and alternative weeklies.

“Burn Through” (2005) Leo Burnett USA produced this ALTOIDS Gum Print ad which was printed in the New Yorker in 2005. The idea behind this ad plays off of the “curiously strong” theme associated with ALTOIDS. The cinnamon flavor indicated on the passage is known for its “burning” quality, so the ad indicates that the ALTOIDS burned a mark on the page. They chose to demonstrate the effectiveness of this gum by using funny images partially to add humor and partially because the New Yorker is famous for its cartoons.

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Pricing There are a variety of sizes of Altoids, each with their own cost (takens from Target.com) Altoids Smalls - $0.99 Altoids Peppermint - $1.69 Altoids Artic - $1.79 Altoids Peppermint 2 pack - $2.89 Altoids Smalls 3 pack - $2.67

Advertising Period Altoids advertising period is from May, 2017 to May, 2018.

Budget The ALTOIDS advertising budget has been much lower than their competitors such as Ice Breakers, the number two brand, who has had a budget between $30-$50 million in the last couple years. Recently, ALTOIDS’ advertising spending has varied greatly. For example, no funds were spent on advertising in 2015, ALTOIDS has proposed to increase their ad budget in the upcoming year to $25 million. The hope is that this budget will help the company compete with high-spending brands in the same market.

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SWOT Analysis STRENGTHS - Being around since 1780’s - Distinctive packaging (unique metal tins) - Brand loyalty-recognition - Strong and unique flavor - Variety of flavors - Multiple use of the metal tins - Metal tins are recyclable

OPPORTUNITIES - Rise of Social Media use as a way of promotion - Target audience is less concerned about calories - Consumers are looking for alternatives of food when they are on a diet

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WEAKNESS - ALTOIDS product lines such as gums or breath strips have failed - Too strong flavors making people consume them one at a time - Contain more calories than competitive mints - No distinct brand voice - Low media presence

THREATS - Fierce competition - Crowded category - The mint market is declining while the gum market is rising

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OBJECTIVES

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Marketing Objectives

ALTOIDS wants to increase sales by 20 percent to around $116.5 million from May 2017 until the end of the following May. The brand hopes to accomplish this while remaining within a budget of $25 million and focusing on national advertising, as opposed to regional advertising.

Marketing Strategy

In order to reach this objective, ALTOIDS will need to target younger audiences in addition to their older, pre-established audience. This can be done by winning over customers from other top competitors who are currently finding success by targeting the 25-44 age groups, specifically IceBreakers and Tic Tacs.

ALTOIDS is a well-established brand, but its advertisement (or lack therefore) are reflective of its age, and it needs to adapt to accommodate changes in the contemporary culture of their markets. ALTOIDS currently relies heavily on print advertising, which is not as effective at reaching the younger audiences as new and popular digital media options. ALTOIDS needs to expand their brand’s voice into the digital realm.

tThis voice, though it will reach potential consumers through different platforms, should remain consistent in its assertion that ALTOIDS are a sophisticated and clever choice for the budding businessman or young, determined go-getter. This campaign will be a fresh twist on the traditional ALTOIDS image, which is one of class and consistency.

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Media Objectives Target Audience

ALTOIDS should target men and women between the ages of 25 and 44.

ALTOIDS is currently not effective in reaching these younger individuals, but this age category will respond well to advertisements targeted at them because they are aspiring to climb the social ladder and impress their employers. ALTOIDS looks professional because it is well-established and widely accepted by the older, successful crowd of businesspeople.

Creative Requirements

ALTOIDS should choose ads that are simple and professional in style, and utilize social media.

The company should stick to muted tones that portray the product as one that will make you fit in with the executives, rather than standing out as inadequate or unqualified. Their ads should be visually appealing and move away from the vintage style that they have been using in order to convince the new audience that the product is relevant to them. They also might be wise to incorporate metallic elements to insinuate refreshing newness and strong, reliable quality to the product.They should also take advantage of social media, as it is a great means of reaching the younger demographic. ALTOIDS should specifically focus on creating shareable content for Facebook, where they already have 97,000 likes, and they should establish a Twitter presence.

Timing

ALTOIDS should use a pulsing strategy that peaks in May and June, as well as November and December.

Kantar shows that in the past, ALTOIDS has increased their advertising in the late late and early winter months, most likely as holiday “stocking stuffers�. Another likelihood is that the sale of the mints increases in conjunction with the sale of coffee as the months get colder. We therefore will increase advertising in November and December to encourage purchasing in conjunction with the changing conditions. In addition, Kantar shows that many competitors increase their sales in the late Spring and early summer, perhaps because the summer is a transitional period; people often move, start new jobs, or undergo other transitions during the summer months.

In 2014, IceBreakers, Breath Savers, and Tic Tac all three increased their spending in April, May, or June. For this reason, we chose to increase ad spending in the month of May.

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Media Objectives Reach and Frequency

ALTOIDS should optimize reach, aiming to reach 75% of the target market, while maintaining a frequency of 3.

Because the brand is well-established and already the top brand within the category, ALTOIDS does not need to focus on frequency as much as it needs to focus on reaching the new demographic. Our goal is to balance the two so that ALTOIDS can still maintain their established customers, while gaining new customers

Geography

Our goal is to have a relatively widespread reach, covering not simply one particular part of the country, but instead focusing on an array of areas through spot advertising in addition to national advertising. We looked for areas where the CDI is high and the BDI is low, meaning that the product category sells well, but the brand is not selling as well due to low awareness. These areas are particularly of interest because with an increase in advertising, ALTOIDS can likely overtake other brands competing in the market and take advantage of the high demand for such products in the area.

Because the brand is doing well nationally, there were very few areas where the CDI was higher than the BDI, yet both numbers were high enough to indicate a potential for success in the areas. These included places like: Las Vegas, NV (CDI: 112, BDI: 102), Tampa, FL (CDI: 103, BDI: 87), and Knoxville, TN (CDI: 101, BDI: 71). These locations were weighted with 75% BDI and 25% CDI to maintain an emphasis on the brand above the category (since the brand will still need to sell, regardless of the category success), and the resulting weighted indices were reorganized. The product was these five key locations, in order weighted index: New York City, NY (112), Los Angeles, CA (109), Houston, TX (106), Las Vegas, NV (104), and North Platte, NE (102). The last city was replaced with Columbus, Ohio (99) because the city of Columbus is larger. These cities distribute our spot advertising across most of the country, allowing for a broad influence of the brand’s new advertising.

Advertising Objectives

The advertising objectives are as follows: to increase brand awareness and recognition from 35% to 45% by the end of the first year, to accommodate the new, younger customers by taking into account their needs and lifestyles, and to reestablish ALTOIDS’ brand personality to match the personalities of the younger generations.

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Creative Brief Client: Wrigley Product: ALTOIDS Overview: Problem: Objective: Target Audience: Men and women between the ages of 25 and 44 . As far as

personality, these people are aspiring to one day be financially-secure individuals who live lifestyles of leisure. They are young, determined, and hard-working people. They are careful with their money and not quick to spend frivolously.

Promise:ALTOIDS is the ideal brand of mint for young professionals aspiring to succeed.

Support: ALTOIDS is already the choice mint for the established, successful businessman that every driven employee is striving to become; it still has the highest sales from 2015, according to MRI data, and it also has the highest index in the 45-54 age category of all of its age category indices, with an index of 111. To make sure it does not fall behind, though, the brand will need to break into the age categories below 45-54 to sustain its income as time continues to move its consumers older and older.

Mandatories: The ads must clearly associate the new look of ALTOIDS with the old one so

that the old customers are not lost, and the brand can capitalize on the familiarity of the brand.

Still, they should imply that there is something very new and different about this version of ALTOIDS, something that has been revamped to fit the needs of a younger generation.

Tone:

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Target Audience

Due to the success of other brands in the younger age demographics and the ease with which this demographic can be reached through new digital media, ALTOIDS should target people who are between the ages of 25 and 44. Looking at competitors from the MRI data, Mentos seems to be successfully targeting the 35-44 age category (where their index of 114 is the highest of all their indices in the age categories). Because the two brands offer similar products, people ages 35-44 will likely respond well to ALTOIDS with an increase in brand awareness.

As far as personality, these individuals range from brand new in the workplace to established in the workplace and climbing the corporate ladder, but across the board, they are determined and hard-working people.

Our target market is very ethnically diverse; Tic Tacs, the leading competitor, does a great job of targeting minorities and a diverse audience, with high index numbers in Latin American television and magazines like Latina.

These people care about hygiene greatly; the frequent buyers of our competitors, Tic Tac, whiten their teeth several times a week, with an index of 225. This indicates that appearance is important to them, and they will respond well to the idea that they need mints in order to look and smell their best.

These people regularly engage in physical fitness programs to keep themselves active.

They are likely in the process of decorating their first family home. Using the Tic Tac MRI as a model, these people tend to shop at Pottery Barn with an index of 151.

They are budget shoppers, cautious in their financial decisions. They are hesitant to spend frivolously and good at managing their money. They hope that by the time they reach their 50’s, they will be the very successful, affluent individuals that make up ALTOIDS’ most loyal customers today. As they aspire for financial security, they tend to shop at places like Payless, where Tic Tac has an index of 185 and Mentos has an index of 225. They also are buying businesswear at places like Men’s Wearhouse, where Tic Tac purchasers have an index of 175, and Mentos purchasers have an index of 231.

These people have recently become parents, with an index of 156 for Mentos. They are attempting to save up in order to raise their kids in a financially sound environment.

They watch a lot of daytime TV, and even more primetime TV (with an index of 113 for Tic Tacs) and listen to the radio on the way to work, and view a lot of magazines, all of which have high indices in competitor categories on MRI.

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Target Audience Profile

Nick is a 32-year-old businessman working in management at a firm in Los Angeles, CA. He has been married for three years, and he and his wife are expecting their first child in a few months (indicated by the index of 174 for baby-related magazines for the consumers of Mentos, who target the 35-44 category).

Nick does most of his shopping at Men’s Wearhouse, where he buys suits that he can wear to work. He gets his shoes, however, at Payless, to help save up for his coming child.

He and his wife recently purchased their first house together, and they are in the process of decorating. She works part-time at a clothing store, and they are saving almost all of their earnings to put toward supplies for the baby, as well as a college fund for the child; Nick is cautious and likes to think ahead.

He is attached to his smartphone at the hip, and he never lets an email go unopened for more than 15 minutes.

On the way to work, he listens to the radio.

He and his wife like to watch television together in the evenings, mostly during primetime.

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Media Recommendations

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Media Recommended Cable TV

According to the ALTOIDS All Data Excel Spreadsheet, current ALTOIDS customers are heavy watchers of prime time cable television. The new market also has heavy watchers of prime time, so this is a great media to keep current demographics and obtain new ones. People watch Cable TV when they get home from work whether they are single, married, or have children. Shows that are popular during the campaign period, along the same lines of popularity as “Game of Thrones” and “House of Cards,” will be designated for the ALTOIDS ads because “Nick” from the target audience likes mainstream television shows.

Spot Television NEED TO ADD

Online Video and Banner Display

Young professionals are on the web a lot; both on their computers at work and on their cellphones.

Tracking and cookies will target who is watching business videos online, reading business articles, and reading the news in general. After these audience members have been found, online videos and banner ads will be targeted to them via YouTube videos and website like The Economist, The Guardian, and Forbes. Also, Delta offers online advertising through their in-flight Wi-Fi connection. Many professionals travel for business, especially younger ones without families, and this in-flight advertising will reach them as they work on the plane.

The video ads will run for 30 seconds and will correspond with the banner ads to maintain a constant theme.

The advertisements will fresh and professional with something interesting to appeal to the audience (and so that they won’t skip videos); for example, the videos will play up the sound of the tin can being opened, which is something special to ALTOIDs versus other mint brands that use plastic.

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Magazines

Looking at the MRI index data, it becomes clear that people that buy ALTOIDS are heavy users of magazines. This media platform attracts people from our target age market. In fact, this type of media has the highest index number for ALTOIDS. Thus, in order to reach ALTOIDS target audience advertisers will have to spend a considerable amount of money on magazines. According to MRI media data, there is a variety of recommended magazines for advertisers to reach a satisfying percentage of their target market. For example, First for Women magazine will appeal to women between the ages of 25 to 44. On the other hand, Wall Street Journal magazine will be a good way for advertisers to draw the attention of the male target audience. They can also reach both genders with types of magazines that have to do with art or decor. Two great examples of magazines for both male and female is Elle Decor and Popular Photography.

The total amount of money spent on magazine advertisements will be $410,000. 1-page, 4-color advertisements can provide the reader quick visibility of the ALTOIDS unique packaging, which is full of bright and distinctive colors. During the months with the highest mint’s sales, which are June and December, ALTOIDS will include ads in all those four magazines, while the other ten months it will only buy ads in two magazines.

Elle Decor: Elle Decor is a print and digital publication, which focuses on the synergy between fashion and the home with decorating trends and personality-packed interiors. It presents a message of accessible elegance, showcasing people and homes with creative flair in locations around the globe .Although Elle Decor has one of the highest indexes in the MRI data, according to the SRDS total circulation data, it mainly reaches women. For this reason, Elle Decor will not be advertised the whole year, rather only in June and December, when people purchase more mints and mint related products. Besides, the cost per single copy is $5.99, which is a bit higher than the average price of a magazine, something that indicates that people cannot afford buying this magazine all throughout the year.

First for Women: First for Women magazine addresses real-life needs, concerns, and interests. It provides an equal combination of service editorial (family, kids, health, food and home) with personal lifestyle and general interest topics (personal health, fitness, nutrition, beauty, fashion and contemporary issues) for the “30-40 something” woman. According to SRDS data, First for Women has a high total circulation (915,880), and it is mostly purchased by women, as the title of the magazine indicates. The cost for a single copy is $2.49, which is considered cheap compared to other magazines. ALTOIDS will buy ad space in First for Women all 12 months of the year, since the magazine is relatively cheap and the circulation is high.

Wall Street Journal: The Wall Street Journal, explores the interests and passions of today’s affluent, from style to travel, from property to philanthropy, from automobiles to the arts. Combining the journalistic integrity and access of Wall Street Journal covers the most sought-after people, places, products and experiences from around the globe.

With its main audience being men, and its circulation being around 1,500,000 millions, Wall Street Journal is a great source to reach males in their 30’s or 40’s. Nevertheless, it would not be wise for ALTOIDS to buy ad space from Wall Street Journal for an entire year, since it only reaches half of the target audience (males) and it is relatively expensive. Thus, ALTOIDS will advertise their mint products in the Wall Street Journal only in June and December.

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Popular Photography:

Popular Photography is a print and digital publication, which is edited for photographers from amateur to professional. Combining easy-to-follow advice, images, and product test and analysis, Popular Photography give photographers at every level of experience all the tools, techniques and inspiration they need to make great pictures. Although this magazine has a specific target audience, the paid subscriptions are rather high (296,820).

This is a very promising magazine because people that are interested in photography are usually interested in the arts in general. In the last couple of years, people started using the ALTOIDS’ metal tins to create other creative crafts. This new “trend” will draw the attention of the artsy people, and hopefully it will attract subscribers from Popular Photography magazine. ALTOIDS will be placing ads in this magazine for the entire year because it is not very expensive and it has a great number of loyal buyers who will probably love to experiment with the metal tins.

Social Media

Young professionals are on the web a lot; both on their computers at work and on their cellphones.

Tracking and cookies will target who is watching business videos online, reading business articles, and reading the news in general. After these audience members have been found, online videos and banner ads will be targeted to them via YouTube vide In the social media culture of today, it is not enough for ALTOIDS to only have a product and a website. A stronger presence in Social Media is important because it would allow ALTOIDS to be personally connected to their customers. After looking at the MRI data indexes, ALTOIDS buyers are already heavy users of the internet. Although their highest index is in twitter, Twitter only has 20% of the adult population as users, while Facebook has 62% of the adult population. Facebook can be used to push advertisements that can then be shared by consumers, in addition to ALTOIDS can see into the daily life of the customer by viewing their Facebook posts, likes, dislikes, etc. ALTOIDS presence on Facebook is not strong yet, but with the ability to pay Facebook advertising, measured in cost per click, the media buyer can choose what they want to pay for advertising and push ATLOIDS directly at the target market of ages 24 to 44. ALTOIDS should not limit themselves to only Facebook though. ALTOIDS needs to establish their social media voice across other social media platforms, especially Twitter, which is that Altoids is current and relevant to the digital conversation. Although they have a classic brand, it is also relevant in today’s world. ALTOIDS can chat with consumers on Twitter or throw up a funny picture on Facebook. They can “hang with/ the cool kids”, you know? os and website like The Economist, The Guardian, and Forbes. Also, Delta offers online advertising through their inflight Wi-Fi connection. Many professionals travel for business, especially younger ones without families, and this in-flight advertising will reach them as they work on the plane. The video ads will run for 30 seconds and will correspond with the banner ads to maintain a constant theme. The advertisements will fresh and professional with something interesting to appeal to the audience (and so that they won’t skip videos); for example, the videos will play up the sound of the tin can being opened, which is something special to ALTOIDs versus other mint brands that use plastic.

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Tent Pole Events

Sponsorship; Langham Huntington Hotel (Los Angeles, CA / November 9-10, 2017)

ALTOIDS should help sponsor the ACG Business Conference in Los Angeles November 9-10 2017.

This conference, which takes place in a target location during a peak time period, would offer the company a collection of much of its target market. By offering to place ALTOIDS cans on pillows instead of the hotel’s usual mints, the company could expose these young, hardworking professionals to the brand. By associating the brand with a conference about furthering your business skills, the attendees will position ALTOIDS as a tool for success. The brand could also set up a table at the event that offers free mints and water, as well as information about the product.

There are 380 guest rooms in this hotel. Assuming that 200 of them will be filled for the conference, with 2 beds in each, about $400 will go to putting mints on the pillows (although Altoids can be bought in bulk).

Based off of other conference sponsorship costs (http://www.homebrewcon.org/sponsors-and-exhibitors/opportunities/) factoring in the enormity and importance of this event, along with the vast amount of other sponsors, a booth will cost approximately $10,000. With other fees to consider, the budget for this event is $15,000.

Sponsorship: Cocktail Party

Since this sponsorship is not associated with another event but is one created by ALTOIDS, it will be more costly. Hosting this party Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) would be a good idea because the target audience is relatively young and would enjoy a night out at a museum. For a corporation to host an event at LACMA they first must join as a corporate member for $10,000. To book the North Piazza is $15,000. (https://www.lacma.org/sites/default/files/specialeventsinfo2.pdf) Accounting about $2000 for a band, and $5000 to cover all other fees, the total budget for this event is $32,000. ALTOIDS cocktails will be served; these consist of vodka and peppermint Schnapps, essentially. Marketing professionals will be invited to attend. The other fees will go towards hiring artists to create pieces of art featuring ALTOIDS that guests can view.

Sponsorship: Macy’s Giveaways

One of the key advertising times for ALTOIDS is Christmastime. ALTOIDS will work with Macy’s to give a free ALTOIDS container to every customer at Macy’s in New York. Macy’s is a great company to use because they cover a wide variety of people, especially those in the target market of young professionals that are buying clothes for work or for their children. Macy’s, specifically the one in NYC, is also well known for their Christmas festivities. The Peppermint and Arctic flavors will be used to match the season, and the mints will be implied as good stocking stuffers. $500,000 will be allocated to this project; that will cover the ALTOIDS themselves and any fees that Macy’s wants (though that specific information cannot be found). This money will be well spent; people associate Macy’s as a classic place that is still obtainable.

Sponsorship: SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) Expo 2017 in Seattle

This is a yearly coffee exposition that will take place April 20-23, 2017. It draws huge crowds of employees and executives in the coffee business, like Starbucks. These people are in the target market of professionals who work for corporations and who are interested in branding. After sampling coffee all day, they will like to have ALTOIDS to help their breath. These are also people that are very likely to drink coffee often in their daily lives, and it will be good if they can associate ALTOIDS as their go-to mint. Another perk to this event is that many of ALTOIDS “Curiously Strong” ads originated in Seattle, so ALTOIDS has a history with the city. Most of the other sponsors there will be coffee shops and brands, but ALTOIDS can sponsor the Press & Media Lounge. $15,000 will be allocated, as the prices to sponsor at this event range from $7000-$15,000.

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Sponsorship; Langham Huntington Hotel (Los Angeles, CA / November 9-10, 2017)

ALTOIDS should help sponsor the ACG Business Conference in Los Angeles November 9-10 2017.

This conference, which takes place in a target location during a peak time period, would offer the company a collection of much of its target market. By offering to place ALTOIDS cans on pillows instead of the hotel’s usual mints, the company could expose these young, hardworking professionals to the brand. By associating the brand with a conference about furthering your business skills, the attendees will position ALTOIDS as a tool for success. The brand could also set up a table at the event that offers free mints and water, as well as information about the product.

There are 380 guest rooms in this hotel. Assuming that 200 of them will be filled for the conference, with 2 beds in each, about $400 will go to putting mints on the pillows (although Altoids can be bought in bulk).

Based off of other conference sponsorship costs (http://www.homebrewcon.org/sponsors-and-exhibitors/opportunities/) factoring in the enormity and importance of this event, along with the vast amount of other sponsors, a booth will cost approximately $10,000. With other fees to consider, the budget for this event is $15,000.

Sponsorship: Cocktail Party

Since this sponsorship is not associated with another event but is one created by ALTOIDS, it will be more costly. Hosting this party Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) would be a good idea because the target audience is relatively young and would enjoy a night out at a museum. For a corporation to host an event at LACMA they first must join as a corporate member for $10,000. To book the North Piazza is $15,000. (https://www.lacma.org/sites/default/files/specialeventsinfo2.pdf) Accounting about $2000 for a band, and $5000 to cover all other fees, the total budget for this event is $32,000. ALTOIDS cocktails will be served; these consist of vodka and peppermint Schnapps, essentially. Marketing professionals will be invited to attend. The other fees will go towards hiring artists to create pieces of art featuring ALTOIDS that guests can view.

Sponsorship: Macy’s Giveaways

One of the key advertising times for ALTOIDS is Christmastime. ALTOIDS will work with Macy’s to give a free ALTOIDS container to every customer at Macy’s in New York. Macy’s is a great company to use because they cover a wide variety of people, especially those in the target market of young professionals that are buying clothes for work or for their children. Macy’s, specifically the one in NYC, is also well known for their Christmas festivities. The Peppermint and Arctic flavors will be used to match the season, and the mints will be implied as good stocking stuffers. $500,000 will be allocated to this project; that will cover the ALTOIDS themselves and any fees that Macy’s wants (though that specific information cannot be found). This money will be well spent; people associate Macy’s as a classic place that is still obtainable.

Sponsorship: SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) Expo 2017 in Seattle

This is a yearly coffee exposition that will take place April 20-23, 2017. It draws huge crowds of employees and executives in the coffee business, like Starbucks. These people are in the target market of professionals who work for corporations and who are interested in branding. After sampling coffee all day, they will like to have ALTOIDS to help their breath. These are also people that are very likely to drink coffee often in their daily lives, and it will be good if they can associate ALTOIDS as their go-to mint. Another perk to this event is that many of ALTOIDS “Curiously Strong” ads originated in Seattle, so ALTOIDS has a history with the city. Most of the other sponsors there will be coffee shops and brands, but ALTOIDS can sponsor the Press & Media Lounge. $15,000 will be allocated, as the prices to sponsor at this event range from $7000-$15,000.

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Scheduling Strategy

Our strategy is to move away from print ads, instead focusing our efforts on the digital realm, where the younger target markets are likely to frequent. This change will allow ALTOIDS to expand its reach beyond the current target market, and to experience the benefits of digital advertising, especially the social media realm, which offers the opportunity for spreadable content to be shared by fans with no cost to the company.

Cable Television: Though there is an increase in cable spending during May and December, the cable television spending remains mostly consistent throughout the year because we wanted this medium, which reached a very diverse and broad audience, to be present throughout the year as a constant voice of the brand.

Spot Television: We continue to run spot television ads throughout the campaign to expose the targeted areas to our campaign, but the months of May and December are specifically emphasized to meet the increase in popularity for the early summer and holiday seasons. Here, we implemented a flighting schedule that is likely to result in almost four times the GRPs in those two months (about 80 GRP’s), compared to the other months (about 20 GRP’s). This flighting schedule should be especially successful in making the brand appear new and fresh during those times, rather than stoic and unchanging as customers may be inclined to associate the brand as a result of recent lack in advertising.

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Cable Television: Though there is an increase in cable spending during May and December, the cable television spending remains mostly consistent throughout the year because we wanted this medium, which reached a very diverse and broad audience, to be present throughout the year as a constant voice of the brand.

Spot Television: We continue to run spot television ads throughout the campaign to expose the targeted areas to our campaign, but the months of May and December are specifically emphasized to meet the increase in popularity for the early summer and holiday seasons. Here, we implemented a flighting schedule that is likely to result in almost four times the GRPs in those two months (about 80 GRP’s), compared to the other months (about 20 GRP’s). This flighting schedule should be especially successful in making the brand appear new and fresh during those times, rather than stoic and unchanging as customers may be inclined to associate the brand as a result of recent lack in advertising.

Magazines: Because of the desire to reach the younger target audience through digitalization, magazines are used very minimally in the campaign. Still, the magazine scheduling doubles in the months of May and December (from 2 full-page 4-color ads to four), to accommodate both the seasonality of the product, and the fact that potential customers will likely have more free time to read over holiday break. In addition, May is a big month for planning summer vacations, redecorating, and embarking on other new projects, so many of our target audience members will likely be reading travel magazines, home magazines, or otherwise looking for inspiration.

Online Videos and Banner Display: We kept our digital schedule consistent throughout the year because digital is an emphasis of the campaign. We wanted to make sure to allocate 20% of the funding to the digital media to meet the requests of the company, and also to help target the younger audience successfully. In addition, we realized that people use the Internet both in times of work and in times of leisure, so each month offered advantages for choosing to advertise at that particular time. As a result, we decided to keep our amount of advertising in the digital realm consistent throughout the year.

Social Media: The social media schedule will be regulated to at least one post per day per media. These high frequency schedules will keep the audience engaged with the brand. In addition to daily post it is important for any brand on social media to post about important current events in the world today and in their own company.

Although audiences use social media frequently and year round there are key times of viewing that can be found through research on the interest.

Tentpole Events: The tentpole events allow a first hand engagement between customer and brand. selected in the seasons around June and December. One is in the summer, one is around Christmas, one is in November, April, May through July, and June. We chose December due to the heavy comsumption of peppermint.

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Budget

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Strategy Evaluation

The purpose of this campaign is to raise brand awareness through new and previously used forms of advertising. In return this will increase the ALTOIDS revenue by 20%. The media selected in the media plan are the key tools for the ALTOIDS increase of brand awareness and they reach people nationally and regionally. In addition, the five selected markets are very promising for ALTOIDS’ sales growth.

The advertising budget for ALTOIDS in 2017 will be $25 millions. With this media plan, ALTOIDS will be able to exceed the monthly reach, frequency and GRP goals. The contingency budget for national and spot advertising is to be used for the tentpole events and for any emergencies or underestimated media costs. The costs of the tentpole events, specifically, are roughly estimated, thus, it would be wise to save some money, in case something goes wrong.

This campaign will effectively meet the marketing, advertising and media objectives. There will be a significant growth in brand awareness since we are using many media platforms, such as spot and cable television, magazines, and digital advertising. Television and internet advertising will reach instantly many masses due to the estimated high reach and frequency. The brand’s personality will be effectively shown through magazine and television ads because of the visual advantages of these media. Finally, the digital advertising will reach more people from our target audience, since people of our target market are tech-savvy and spend a lot of time in the social media platforms.

Overall, this media plan will meet the needs of ALTOIDS and it will increase brand awareness and brand recognition, something that will result in an increase of ALTOIDS sales by 20%.

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Appendices

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Flow Chart Default Flowchart Title

Default Flowchart SubTitle

Student Emma Murphy Professor Peggy Kreshel Semester Spring 2016 Target Demo: All Adults ages 25-49

Medium May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr Total Across Net Cable-Daytime 75 100 75 75 75 75 75 100 75 75 75 75 GRPS: 950 $(000) 144.5 192.7 144.5 144.5 144.5 144.5 144.5 192.7 144.5 144.5 144.5 144.5 COST: 1830.7 Net Cable-E Fringe 30 50 30 30 30 30 30 50 30 30 30 30 GRPS: 400 $(000) 115.1 191.9 115.1 115.1 115.1 115.1 115.1 191.9 115.1 115.1 115.1 115.1 COST: 1535.2 Net Cable-Prime 100 150 100 100 100 100 100 150 100 100 100 100 GRPS: 1300 $(000) 885.4 1328.1 885.4 885.4 885.4 885.4 885.4 1328.1 885.4 885.4 885.4 885.4 COST: 11510.2 Magazines-General Interest 2 4 2 2 2 2 2 4 2 2 2 2 GRPS: 28 $(000) 29.3 58.6 29.3 29.3 29.3 29.3 29.3 58.6 29.3 29.3 29.3 29.3 COST: 410.0 Digital National - Ad Networks - Run Of Network - Ad Networks - Demo Targeted - Video Networks - Publisher Video Sites - Social - Mobile 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 GRPS: 474 $(000) 480.0 480.0 480.0 480.0 480.0 480.0 480.0 480.0 480.0 480.0 480.0 480.0 COST: 5759.8 Spot Cable 20 85 20 20 20 20 20 85 20 20 20 20 GRPS: 370 $(000) 97.9 416.0 97.9 97.9 97.9 97.9 97.9 416.0 97.9 97.9 97.9 97.9 COST: 1810.8 National Only Area GRPS 246 343 246 246 246 246 246 343 246 246 246 246 GRPS: 3152 $(000) 1654.3 2251.3 1654.3 1654.3 1654.3 1654.3 1654.3 2251.3 1654.3 1654.3 1654.3 1654.3 Cost: 21045.9 Reach 68.3 74.1 68.3 68.3 68.3 68.3 68.3 74.1 68.3 68.3 68.3 68.3 Avg. Freq.

3.6 4.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 4.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 Spot Only Area GRPS 20 84 20 20 20 20 20 84 20 20 20 20 GRPS: 370 $(000) 97.9 416 97.9 97.9 97.9 97.9 97.9 416 97.9 97.9 97.9 97.9 Cost: 1810.8 Reach 16.4 38.4 16.4 16.4 16.4 16.4 16.4 38.4 16.4 16.4 16.4 16.4 Avg. Freq.

1.2 2.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 2.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 Spot + National GRPS 266 428 266 266 266 266 266 428 266 266 266 266 GRPS: 3522 $(000) 1752.2 2667.2 1752.2 1752.2 1752.2 1752.2 1752.2 2667.2 1752.2 1752.2 1752.2 1752.2 Cost: 22856.6 Reach 72.9 82.6 72.9 72.9 72.9 72.9 72.9 82.6 72.9 72.9 72.9 72.9 Avg. Freq.

3.7 5.2 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.7 5.2 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.7

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Budget Summary

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References

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