MKT500 Week 8 Discussion Board 8 attached are the questions, scenario, and supportive reading materials.

MKT500 DB 8 "The Importance of Social Media and Web Analytics" 1.) From the scenario, prioritize the most significant components of a social media campaign according to the level of influence each could have on the new product launch. Examine both the social media tools that will provide the highest return on investment (ROI), and two (2) key performance indicators (KPIs) that one could use to measure success. Provide a rationale for your response. 2.) Use the Internet to research social media marketing strategies. Next, imagine that you are a manager of a retail store in a major mall with decreasing sales. Suggest two (2) ways that you can use social media in order to increase sales and promote your business. Provide two (2) examples of businesses that have used these methods and succeeded. MKT 500 Week 8 Scenario: Developing Social Media Campaigns for the New Product Launch Slide # Slide 1 Scene # Scene 1 Narration MKT500_8_1_Samantha-1: Good morning, Ed. How are you doing today? [Ed, Samantha - Ed's Office] Ed and Samantha meet in the morning to discuss the next steps in the tablet PC launch. MKT500_8_1_Ed-1: Good morning, I'm doing quite well. What about yourself? MKT500_8_1_Samantha-2: Good, thanks. I'm really proud of the progress we've been making with our tablet launch, and I'm excited for the next steps. MKT500_8_1_Ed-2: I love your enthusiasm, Samantha! I spoke with Carl earlier. He said now that we have selected our advertising media and budget, we need to take a deeper look into social media. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-3: Yes, the enormity of today's media choicesthe Internet alone makes it a wonderful time to be alive. Social media is at the cutting edge of this trend. MKT500_8_1_Ed-3: As we discussed, we can use social media as one of our main media outlets for advertising the new tablets. However, mobile marketing is growing because our cell phones are particularly convenient; they contain our identities and those of the people we talk to frequently. They are our portals to email, social media and networking sites, which are many people's primary means of sharing information and entertainment. Interestingly enough, at the same time that electronic and information technologies are becoming more accessible and pervasive, traditional media are experiencing their own changes. Slide 2 Interaction Hover your mouse over each media to discover more information about the changes they are undergoing. Newspaper Newspaper circulations are declining, and while optimists continue to launch new magazines every year, their overall sales and circulations are down as well. Radio The number of radio stations has grown, boosted by satellite servers, but listeners are tuned in for less time each day than just a few years ago. MKT500_8_1_Ed-4: Hover your mouse over each type of media to discover more information about the changes they are undergoing. MKT500_8_1_Ed-4_Tab A: Newspaper circulations are declining, and while optimists continue to launch new magazines every year, their overall sales and circulations are down as well. MKT500_8_1_Ed-4_Tab B: The number of radio stations has grown, boosted by satellite servers, but listeners are tuned in for less time each day than just a few years ago. MKT500_8_1_Ed-4_Tab C: Television channels also continue to grow. The bad news about this fragmentation is that with more TV channels, the audience for any given show is typically smaller. The good news is that targeting is facilitated when the segments of viewers are somewhat more homogeneous. TV Television channels also continue to grow. The bad news about this fragmentation is that with more TV channels, the audience for any given show is typically smaller. The good news is that targeting is a facilitated when the segments of viewers are somewhat more homogeneous. Slide 3 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha - Ed's Office] MKT500_8_1_Samantha-3: Very interesting, Ed. I hadn't realized the effects of social media on more traditional media types. MKT500_8_1_Ed-5: The other part of the \"social media\" story is its social, or human, element. Belonging to different communities and interacting with different people in our social roles is part of our identity. The most fundamental means of interaction is dialogue. In social media, customers have become participants in a dialogue with marketers or brands. (Display social media graphic) Traditionally, customers had been mere recipients of one-way messages that had been shot out by marketers, but now customers have a means of talking back. For example, customers post positive endorsements about brands, and they also use the web to vent. I often vent on Facebook about restaurants where I have had a bad experience. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-4: (pointing to graphic of different types of social media) This is very true. Are there certain types of social media that you had in mind for our tablet launch? I have a Facebook account and use Twitter and Pinterest frequently, but I feel that using all of these might be overkill for our new tablet launch. MKT500_8_1_Ed-6: Well, there are a few sites that I believe will provide Golds Reling with very strong exposure during our initial launch. Let me show you this short video that discusses the advantages of using social media in our marketing campaign. Slide 4 Social Media Marketing in 3 Minutes http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=gza8dvN8Hkc Slide 5 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha - Ed's Office] MKT500_8_1_Samantha-5: Thanks for sharing that video, Ed. I understand better how social media helps connect companies to customers, and helps customers get to know, like, and trust companies better. MKT500_8_1_Ed-7: Yes. The key to a successful social media campaign is selecting a social media that creates good W.O.M. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-6: What is W.O.M.? MKT500_8_1_Ed-8: W.O.M. is Word-ofmouth. Word-of-mouth works on inherently exciting products like Golds Reling's new tablet, and it also works where the notion of buzz marketing makes sense. Yet creative brand managers have launched clever ad campaigns that get talked about even for pretty mundane products, too; the key being that the product and the message are meaningful to the customer. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-7: Okay. You know, I learned in my classes at Strayer University that different social media combined create social networks. In social networks, there are some members that are more connected and influential than others. We need to leverage these interpersonal group dynamics, ideally locating the highly connected influential members, to induce their trial of our tablet, in turn initiating and propelling the diffusion process. MKT500_8_1_Ed-9: You're right. To locate these influential members and get the word out about our tablet, we need to study how these potential consumers, or actors, are embedded in these networks to locate those that are relatively central. Centrality indices are computed for each actor in the network to describe the position of that actor relative to others in the network. The easiest and most common way to compute centrality is to count the number of connections each actor has with the others in the network. An index of degree centrality is derived for each actorthose with many links are said to be relatively central, and those with fewer links are more peripheral. In order to determine the degree of centrality for these consumers, we need to create several different accounts on various social media forums for Golds Reling. Strong centrality will be useful in creating buzz for our new tablets. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-8: Okay. We can start working on this right away. MKT500_8_1_Ed-10: First, though, let's begin with answering the return of investments, or ROI, issues. As you know, Carl is always focused on the bottom line. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-9: What should we focus on in terms of ROI? MKT500_8_1_Ed-11: As with traditional media, we can begin to answer return on investment questions only if we know the goal that the marketing action was initially intended to achieve. Based on our goals, selecting the media and ROI measures are rather straightforward. When estimating ROI, which is really the efficiency of investments, the primary expenditures might not be media buys or explicit budgetary contributions so much as salary equivalents of people's time allocations. We also need to consider KPIs. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-10: I know that KPIs are key performance indicators, but how do we identify KPIs for social media? MKT500_8_1_Ed-12: KPI's for social media are analogous to traditional measures for advertising effectiveness. Specifically, marketers are always interested in quantifying reach, frequency, monetary value of customers, customers' behaviors, attitudes, and memory, including recall and recognition. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-11: So, how can we determine the ROI and KPIs for our tablet? MKT500_8_1_Ed-13: I'm glad you asked this question, Samantha. A common way to determine ROI for social media is through conversation rate. This term refers to the true engagement for conversations in your social media communities. Conversations will be different depending on the network. For example, Facebook, YouTube, and blogs are focused on comments; however, Twitter is measured with mentions and hashtags. We, therefore, calculate the figures for each network, and calculate how many conversations took place about our company and products per post, tweet, or video submission. Another method we can use is viewability rate. This metric is a little harder to find on Twitter. However, for other networks and mediums such as Facebook, YouTube, and our blog, it is the total number of views or impressions per post. This is not as important as the conversation rate, but it is always satisfying to see how often your content is being looked at, and if no one is seeing it, then you better find a way to get users to view it! MKT500_8_1_Samantha-12: I see. Thank you for that explanation. Before we move on, let me check to make sure I understand what you are saying about KPIs. Slide 6 Check Your Understanding KPIs for social media are _________ traditional measures for advertising effectiveness. A) very different from B) analogous to C) opposite of D) inconsistent with Feedback: Incorrect A - very different from: KPI's are very similar to traditional media. Correct B - analogous: KPI's are very similar to traditional media. Incorrect C - opposite of: KPI's are very similar to traditional media. Incorrect D - inconsistent with: KPI's are very consistent with traditional media measurements. Slide 7 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha - Ed's Office] MKT500_8_1_Samantha-13: Great information, Ed, but can we go back to the word-of-mouth concept? How do we know consumers are talking about our new tablets on social media? How can we capture this and make it work for Golds Reling? MKT500_8_1_Ed-14: Word-of-mouth conversations and other customer-to-customer information flows have become a rich new source of consumer insights. There are two main categories for the ways in which consumers receive information about companies and their products: passive listening and active intervention. Slide 8 Interaction MKT500_8_1_Ed-15: Click the tabs to learn more about passive listening in marketing. Click the tabs to learn more about passive listening in marketing. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16: Passive Listening Passive Listening Research shows that a lot is learned from lurking, or web crawling, and scraping, all of which are examples of passive listening: Tab A - Tweets, blogs, and discussion forums are monitored to make predictions about new product launches more accurate. Tab B - Companies use text analyses on Facebook to get a read on customer opinions about their brands. Tab C - Beyond the brand itself, content analysis has been useful in detecting developing consumer trends. Research shows that a lot is learned from lurking, web crawling, and scraping, all of which are examples of passive listening: MKT500_8_1_Ed-16_Tab A: Tweets, blogs, and discussion forums are monitored to make predictions about new product launches more accurate. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16_Tab B: Companies use text analyses on Facebook to get a read on customer opinions about their brands. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16_Tab C: Beyond the brand itself, content analysis has been useful in detecting developing consumer trends. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16_Tab D: Brand managers check websites for misinformation to try to nip bad, grassroots PR in the bud. Tab D - Brand managers check websites for misinformation to try to nip bad, grassroots PR in the bud. Slide 9 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha - Ed's Office] Slide 10 Interaction MKT500_8_1_Samantha-14: Great information, Ed. What can you tell me about active interventions? MKT500_8_1_Ed-17: Click the tabs to learn more about active interventions. Click the tabs to learn more about active interventions. Active Interventions Active Interventions Tab A - Marketers enter online communities and ask for paid volunteers to be user groups to test beta products and offer feedback. Tab B - Marketers conduct experiments. In the so-called A / B split tests, one group is exposed to one ad, new product description, or whatever element of the marketing mix the marketer is testing. The other group is either a control group, or they see a different version of an ad, new product description, etc. The marketer then compares brand attitudes or subsequent sales in test markets to detect some lift due to the marketing intervention. Tab C - A company may wish to measure comparative clickthrough rates, member sign-up rates, or purchase valuation, as a function of whether the ad appeal is more rational or emotional, whether video or script MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab A: Marketers enter online communities and ask for paid volunteers to be user groups to test beta products and offer feedback. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab B: Marketers conduct experiments. In the so-called A / B split tests, one group is exposed to one ad, new product description, or whatever element of the marketing mix the marketer is testing. The other group is either a control group, or they see a different version of an ad, featuring a new product description. The marketer then compares brand attitudes or subsequent sales in test markets to detect some lift due to the marketing intervention. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab C: A company may wish to measure comparative click-through rates, member sign-up rates, or purchase valuation as a function of whether the ad appeal is more rational or emotional, whether video or script endorsements are featured, which price is posted and whether a discount is available. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab D: GPS data function much like live cookies, storing information for your convenience upon return while still protecting your privacy. The purpose of GPS units in phones was originally consumer service for mapping. GPS units are becoming geo-retailing units, and they will soon offer extremely timely endorsements are featured, which price is posted and whether a discount is available. Tab D - GPS data function much like live cookies, storing information for your convenience upon return while still protecting your privacy. The purpose of GPS units in phones was originally consumer service for mapping. GPS units are becoming geo-retailing units, and they will soon offer extremely timely opportunities for marketers, though some may consider this more intrusive than timely. A motivated company will know where its customers are at all times. opportunities for marketers, though some may consider this more intrusive than timely. A motivated company will know where its customers are at all times. Slide 11 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha - Ed's Office] MKT500_8_1_Ed-18: In general, social media pundits advise that any corporate postings or representations have to start by being interesting - otherwise, consumers won't even read them! The content needs to be honest, not defensive, and not too \"corporate\". There needs to be transparency to customers, employees, and stakeholders. Being transparent usually means being honest, building trust, and creating the opportunity for two-way dialog. Social media have sufficient variety and prevalence that they can be a tremendous marketing toolif we can offer something that provides value to those customers, and reaches them in a way that matters to them. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-15: You've given me a lot of valuable information about social media, Ed. MKT500_8_1_Ed-19: I'm glad that you feel that way. Next, we can start by creating Golds Reling accounts for each of these social media applications. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-16: Well, since we already have a Facebook account, I can create a Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest account for Golds Reling. Slide 12 Scene 2 [Ed, Samantha, Carl - Conference Room] Ed, Samantha, and Carl meet in the conference room to discuss the social media aspects of the product launch. MKT500_8_1_Ed-20: Excellent. Let's break for now, and then we can organize our information for Carl. MKT500_8_2_Carl-1: Good afternoon, Ed and Samantha. I saw you both looking very busy in Ed's office earlier. I'm looking forward to hearing the information that you two have put together concerning social media marketing for our new tablets. MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-1: Yes, Ed and I have been very busy. We have analyzed and concluded some basic concepts. MKT500_8_2_Carl-2: And what would these be? MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-2: Social media are an abundant opportunity for Golds Reling. Social media provides a web-based means for customers to interact with friends and strangers by posting opinions, pictures, and videos. Social networks are the structures of interconnections among customers that propagate word-of-mouth. Networks can be drawn and analyzed, and the actors measured on indices of centrality to assist Golds Reling in finding opinion leaders and influential consumers. Our campaign would identify these actors within two months of launch and create great buzz for our new tablets. A great feature of social media is the measurement methods; these are ROI and KPIs, and they can be computed with the help of online analytics, as for any marketing effort. MKT500_8_2_Carl-3: Good points! Why do you believe that investing in advertising through social media would be the right decision for Golds Reling and our new tablet? MKT500_8_2_ Ed-1: Social media is a great way to generate repeat business and to attract new customers. Furthermore, the target market we have selected are big users of social media. Golds Reling already has a Facebook account, but we believe that creating accounts for Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest will really help boost the conversation rate, and, thereby, the word-ofmouth, for both our company as a whole as well as our new tablet. MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-3: Carl, by utilizing social media, we feel that Golds Reling is spending our advertising money wisely. MKT500_8_2_Carl-4: Ok, sounds like a good investment. Explain how we are going to measure this investment. MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-4: The key is to communicate the different features of our new tablet and to have consistency in the message we choose for social media. Measuring effectiveness will occur through KPI's, recall, attitudes, click rates, and conversation and viewability rates from social media communications. MKT500_8_2_Carl-5: Excellent. I like what I'm hearing. Social media sounds perfect for generating buzz and word-of-mouth about our new tablet. I agree that Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest accounts for Golds Reling will be excellent additions to our existing Facebook account. Very nice work, both of you. Slide 13 Check Your Understanding What social media term refers to a set of actors (or nodes) and the relational ties that link them? A) Team B) Group C) Network D) Forum Incorrect A - Team: This is not the terminology used to describe relationships in social media. Incorrect B - Group: Although a group includes two or more people, this is not a part of the relational ties. Correct C - Social Network: A network is defined as the set of actors (or nodes) and the relational ties that link them. Actors may be customers, firms, brands, concepts, countries, etc. The connections between the actors are relational ties (or links). Ties can be symmetric or directional, and they can be binary or vary in strength. Incorrect D - Forum: Although this is a close description, it doesn't explain the interaction experienced in social media. Slide 14 Scene 3 [Ed, Samantha - Hallway] MKT500_8_3_Samantha-1: Today was a highly informative day. Using social media for marketing can help us generate word-of-mouth about our tablet, especially if we are able to connect with the most influential members of social networks. MKT500_8_3_Ed-1: Absolutely. It will also help customers identify Golds Reling as a company they know, like and trust. Don't forget to complete the e-Activity and participate in this week's threaded discussion on social media KPI's and ROI. See you next week! MKT500 Week 8: Social Media Slide 1 Introduction Slide 2 Learning Outcomes Welcome to Marketing Management. In this lesson we will discuss social media. Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to: Understand social media; Understand social networks, and Understand the return on investment, key performance indicators, and web analytics associated with social media. To meet this overall objectives we will cover the following supporting topics: Social media defined; Media trends; Types of social media, Social Networks and; Social Media, ROI, KPIs, and Web Analytics. Slide 3 Social Media Generally speaking, the enormity of today's media choicesthe Internet alonemakes it a wonderful time to be alive. Media are part of the \"social media\" story. Social media can be defined as people interacting and connecting with others via online software or alternative electronic access technologies, such as smartphones or tablet computers. The other part of the social media story is its social or human element. Belonging to different communities and interacting with different people in our social roles is part of our self-identity. The most fundamental means of interaction is a dialogue. In social media, customers have become participants in a dialogue with marketers or brands. Traditionally customers had been mere recipients of \"one-way\" messages that had been shot out by marketers, but now they have means of talking back. Customers post positive endorsements about brands, and they also use the web to vent. Mobile marketing is growing because our cell phones are particularly convenient: they contain our identities and those of the people we talk to frequently. They are our portals to email and Facebook, a primary means of sharing information and entertainment to many individuals today. Slide 4 Media Trends At the same time that electronic and information technologies are becoming more accessible and pervasive, traditional media are experiencing their own changes: Newspaper circulations are declining, and while optimists continue to launch new magazines every year, their overall sales and circulations are down as well. The number of radio stations has grown, boosted by satellite servers, but listeners are tuned in for less time each day than just a few years ago. Television channels also continue to grow. The bad news about this fragmentation is that with more TV channels, the audience for any given show is typically smaller. The good news is that targeting is a facilitated when the segments of viewers are somewhat more homogeneous. Slide 5 Media Trends, cont. A particularly important phenomenon for business is that social media facilitates word of mouth, or W.O.M. Consumers tend to view ads with some skepticism, knowing that the point of the message is persuasion. By comparison, if a customer hears the endorsement of a brand from a friend, that message is seen as more objective because the friend presumably has nothing to gain from making any claims. When a message has been repeated or shared across a wide audience online, the term \"viral\" is generally applied to it. These widely shared messages can also generate a lot of \"buzz\" around a given product or service. Word of mouth works on inherently exciting products, where the notion of buzz makes sense. Yet creative brand managers have launched clever ad campaigns that get talked about even for pretty mundane products too, the key being that the product and the message are meaningful to the customer. Brand managers can achieve this through the use of humor, free give-aways, or associating the product or service with a social cause. Slide 6 Types of Social Looking at the types of Social Media, we discover that social Media media have the following properties: Some social media offer very rich, vivid, sensory experiences with their dynamic sights and sounds that compel the user to interact and engage, such as video games or virtual worlds. By comparison, other social media seem relatively simple, such as blogs or forums. Some social media are primarily social in nature, such as social network sites, which serve as places to asynchronously hang out with friends. Other media have more industrious goals. For example, many people seek jobs via professional sites, such as LinkedIn. Lastly, social media vary with regard to whether the interactions are pointedly commercial or not. For instance, many social networking sites use social content and ads to generate revenue. Slide 7 Slide 8 Slide 9 Social Networks Social Networks, cont. Social Networks, cont. A social network is defined as the set of actors, or nodes, and the relational ties that link them. Actors may be customers, firms, brands, concepts, countries, etc. The connections between the actors are relational ties, or links. Ties can be symmetric, as in Joe and Sally are co-workers, or directional, as in Joe likes Sally. Ties can also be binary or vary in strength. Networks are often depicted in a graphical form, called a sociogram, but their analysis requires tabular representation, called a sociomatrix. The figure shows a network for 6 actors and its corresponding matrix data. The bold green double arrow indicates that there is a strong mutual link between actors B and E. You can see by the thin, dotted arrow, however that only a weak, unidirectional link exists from C to B. F is isolated with no connections to any other actors, and actors B, C, and E form a group. In social networking sites, as in any social circle, some members are more connected and influential than others. Marketers would like to leverage these interpersonal group dynamics, ideally locating the highly connected influential members, to induce their trial of products, in turn initiating and propelling the diffusion process. To do so, network marketers study how actors are embedded in their network to locate those that are relatively central. Centrality indices are computed for each actor in the network to describe the position of that actor relative to the others. Slide 10 Social Networks, cont. The easiest and most common way to characterize centrality is to count the number of connections each actor has with the others in the network. An index of \"degree centrality\" is derived for each actorthose with many links are said to be relatively central, and those with fewer links are more peripheral. Slide 11 Another idea related to network analyses are cliques. Cliques are groups of people in the network. Cliques are common in delineating brand communities and can be a nice way to find homogenous segments of like-minded people. Social Media As with traditional media, we can begin to answer ROI questions ROI, KPIs, and only if we know the goal that the marketing action was intended Web Analytics to achieve. Once we know the goals, selecting the media and measures is rather straightforward. When estimating ROI, the primary expenditures might not be media buys or explicit budgetary contributions, so much as salary equivalents of people's time allocations. Key performance indicators, or KPIs, for social media are analogous to traditional measures for advertising effectiveness. Specifically, marketers are always interested in quantifying reach, frequency, monetary value of customers, customers' behaviors, attitudes, memory, including both recall and recognition, and so on. In social media, measures for these marketing goals simply take on slightly different forms. Slide 12 Social Media ROI, KPIs, and Web Analytics, cont. In the pre-purchase phase, marketers want customers to be aware of their brand, and consider their brand for purchase. Reach is the measure of the size of the audience that has been exposed to some brand information and who might therefore have some familiarity with the brand. Reach can be achieved via traditional media and measured via online capture, such as in a magazine ad that tempts the reader to learn more by going online and landing at a particular page associated with the magazine source. Reach can also be achieved wholly online, as a function of ads on popular sites, purchased status on search engines, even via clickthrus on annoying banner ads. If marketers wish to enhance awareness, they seek media that optimize reach. If there is an existing customer base, marketers can reward current customers with incentives to generate word of mouth. Word of mouth in customer networks is very rewarding to firms because they usually bring in new customers. Slide 13 Social Media ROI, KPIs, and Web Analytics, cont. Next, marketers want to offer more information to build customers' knowledge of the brand, and more persuasion to make their opinions as favorable as possible. To do so, marketers need to use media that convey more content. They pay for search engine ad placement, post some information teasers in related brand communities, and provide podcasts containing product information and customer testimonials. Many of the measures in this phase fall under the broad category of search engine optimization, or S.E.O. When customers have a preferred brand, they can go directly to purchase sites. However, when they do not, they will conduct a search. The search keywords depend on where customers are along the knowledge continuum. At the stage of brand consideration, several measures are prime web analyticsthey are frequencies, rates, or durations. Frequencies include the sheer number of visits and estimates of the number of unique visitors; that is, the second number is an attempt to remove the duplications from the first number. Durations are usually measures of times spent per page, and overall time spent on the site. Rates include bounce ratesthese are the percent of sessions for which a visitor lands on the website and needs only one page viewing to decide and click off the website altogether. Rates also include conversion ratescapturing when a visitor transitions from a looker to a doer. Slide 14 Social Media ROI, KPIs, and Web Analytics, cont. Ideally, customers are moving toward purchasing. However, there are a number of steps that serve as precursors that nevertheless are hopeful signals toward ultimate purchase. Thus marketers speak of inducing any kind of action that begins to engage the prospective customer. Web analytics experts disdain the \"Contact Us\" buttons, instead recommending that a web visitor has to fill out a form, so the company can capture at least basic information on this customer and sales opportunity. In return, companies can provide exclusivity to web visitors. Brand fans may be asked to post opinions and reviews. Sales promos may be made available from site visits or Tweeted out to followers. Customer service can unfold in real time. KPIs are pretty clean when measuring behaviors. Thus metrics include numbers of posts regarding the brand on blogs or social networks, audience build as measured by incoming links and the speed of that growth. Conversion rates are straightforward to compute. They consist of frequencies of web visitors to engage in the focal behavior, such as purchasing or signing up for email, relative to the number of visitors who come to the website. That is, the rates compare the desired outcomes to the number of visits or to the number of unique visitors. Costs of the actions depend on the marketing goals: estimates of acquisition costs, payment for placement in search engines or banner ads, sending emails from a rented address database, etc. On the KPIs side, the effectiveness of those actions can be assessed by these frequencies, rates, and durations. Web analysts track the number of visitors coming via different routes, and they follow the customers' traversal to the particular engagement behavior of interest. Slide 15 Social Media ROI, KPIs, and Web Analytics, cont. The wise companies care about their customers long after the purchase. If customers are satisfied, they may post positive reviews. If they are ecstatic, they may post extremely happy endorsements. The company may wish to reward these brand evangelists. If the customers are unhappy, the company can at least read the nature of the complaint and work to address it. Companies can intervene to try for service recovery, bringing the customer back on board. Even grumbling customers respond to incentives company apologies, problem solutions, and restorative benefits can help in retention, preventing customer defections, and turning a bad situation around. It is not unusual for blogs, wikis, or lead user communities to be essential during product development, generating enthusiasm in the marketplace prior to launch. Slide 16 Check Your Understanding Slide 17 Summary We have reached the end of this lesson. Let's take a look at what we've covered. First, we defined what is meant by social media which defined as people interacting and connecting with others via online software or alternative electronic access technologies, such as smartphones or tablet computers. Next, we discussed the media trends. Then, we reviewed the types of social media, include rich, vivid sensory experiences, simple, industrious, and social. Then, we defined social networks as the set of actors, or nodes, and the relational ties that link them. Last, we discussed various methods that marketers use to measure social media, ROI, KPIs, and Web Analytics. This completes this lesson. 2013 2013 Cengage Cengage Learning. Learning. All Rights All Rights Reserved. Reserved. MayMay not not be scanned, be scanned, copied copied or duplicated, or duplicated, or posted or posted to atopublicly a publicly accessible accessible website, website, in whole in whole or inorpart. in part. 13.1 1 3 Social Media 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 13. 2 Marketing Framework 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 13.3 Social Media Social media Traditionally, customers were recipients With social media, customers now have dialogue with brands 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 13.4 Media Trends Media trends Social media & mobile marketing are growing Newspaper & magazines are declining The number of radio stations is growing, but listeners listen less The number of TV channels is growing, audience is fragmented Facilitates targeting 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 13.5 Social Media Properties/Types Some social media Offer very rich, vivid sensory experiences Are simple Are primarily social Are industrious Vary in commerciality 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 13.6 Word of Mouth Social media facilitates word of mouth 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 13.7 Word of Mouth Word of mouth works well with Exciting products Clever ad campaigns Extraverted consumers 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 13.8 Social Network Example Strong mutual link between actors B & E Weak unidirectional link from C to B F is isolated B, C, and E form a group 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 13.9 Identifying Influentials In social networks, some members are more connected & influential than others Locating \"central\" members 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 13.10 Identifying Influentials Centrality Central = many links; Peripheral = fewer Cliques 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 13.11 Recommendation Systems Structural equivalence Used in recommendation agents 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 13.12 Social Media ROI Social media seems \"free\" but is not Key performance indicators (KPIs) Reach, frequency, monetary value of customers, customers' behaviors, attitudes, memory, etc. 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 13.13 Social Media ROI Pre-Purchase: awareness Pre-purchase: brand consideration SEO Purchase or Behavioral Engagement Post Purchase 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 13.14 How to Proceed Engaging in all social media is not desirable Some media fit the target market better than others 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 13.15 How to Proceed Companies can learn from Monitoring tweets, blogs and discussions Analyzing text on Facebook to understand customers opinions about brands Search brand page or search for brand name on other postings Analyzing content to detect consumer trends Checking websites for misinformation 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 13.16 How to Proceed Companies can actively Enter online communities and ask for volunteers for beta testing Conduct experiments: measure attitudes, click through rates, sign-up rates, etc. Use GPS data to track customers and give offers 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 13.17 Managerial Recap Social media are web-based means of interacting with others by posting opinions, pictures, and videos Social media usage is growing 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 13.18 Managerial Recap Word of mouth feels authentic making social networks important Social networks are interconnections among customers Networks can be drawn and analyzed 2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 13.19 1.) From the scenario, prioritize the most significant components of a social media campaign according to the level of influence each could have on the new product launch. Examine both the social media tools that will provide the highest return on investment (ROI), and two (2) key performance indicators (KPIs) that one could use to measure success. Provide a rationale for your response. With the growth of means of communication, the social media has also grown as marketing strategy for the companies. It is important to identify, plan and execute a successful media campaign as there are the components that need to be understood. The impact of social media is that the customers were traditionally recipients of goods and services whereas now they undergo a dialogue with the brand. Ganguly, S. (2015) suggested the most significant media components that are discussed below: Carefully Developed Plan It is important to develop a careful social media plan as it is most vital for the success of campaign. The plan should be specific and should fit the strategy without conflict. It requires research and an extensive analysis of existing social followers as well as identification of areas of improvement. The target audience and the time spent by them on social media is also required to be analyzed. Maximum of the potential customers of the smartwatch are internet users. So it is important to take a careful review about their internet surfing habits and to give due consideration to it at the time of developing the social media plan Clearly Defined Goals The goals should be defined clearly and should not carry ambiguity and confusion. Each goal should be personalized as per the needs of the business. Few of the common goals are of social media campaign are increase brand awareness, increase traffic on the website, improve conversion rate, etc. The social media plan of smartwatch will initially focus on increasing the traffic on website as well as to promote brand awareness. The fulfillment of these two objectives will itself result in improvement of conversion rate. Cross-Channel Promotion In social medial campaign the help of other marketing channels is also required. It helps in two ways. Audience reached through social media is reminded by using other communication and those who are less active on social media are also informed. Some of the social media vary in commerciality and are dependent in availability of internet or cable TV. So the social media plan of smartwatch will also use cross channel promotion so that different people can be reached at different time. Thorough Analysis Analysis of campaign helps in determining its success. It helps in benchmarking the progress from the start point. It aids in finding out if the goals are achieved, what is the improvement in website traffic, how much logins have increased, etc. Analysis of social media performance of the smartwatch will facilitate the managers to make social media campaign in more effective manner and to take corrective action if the campaign does not take off as per the expectations or plans. Return on investment (ROI) is a measure of determining the success of financial investment and compares the return received with the expenses incurred. It could be defined in social media lead generation, sales, sharing, etc. Key performance indicator (KPI) is a tool that fits different projects. It is designed in different departments of the organization. It shows the progress before initiating the social media business. The two KPIs used to measure the success are improvement in operational efficiency of the business and increase in customer relationship. Sylex, Inc. can check their operational efficiency by comparing their actual results with the planned results for social media planning as well as for production and selling. The customer relationship can be improved by providing good after sales services for the smartwatch as well as settlement of claims of customers quickly. 2.) Use the Internet to research social media marketing strategies. Next, imagine that you are a manager of a retail store in a major mall with decreasing sales. Suggest two (2) ways that you can use social media in order to increase sales and promote your business. Provide two (2) examples of businesses that have used these methods and succeeded. The ways that can be used to increase the sale of retail store are by offering free shipping to the customer making purchases and offering discount coupons to the customers for next sale. Free shipping will enable the customers to buy more goods than they have planned. The discount coupons on next purchase with the store will be helpful in retaining the customers and will enforce them to make quick purchases. Heavy discount sale for one day during the week is the other way of attracting more customers to make purchases from the retail store. The two examples of the business that have succeeded using these methods are the stores engaged in garment business and restaurant business. References Ganguly, S. (2015). 4 Components Of The Best Social Media Campaigns. Retrieve from: http://marketingland.com/4-components-best-social-media-campaigns-140715 International Conference \"Risk in Contemporary Economy\" ISSN-L 2067-0532 ISSN online 2344-5386 XVIIth Edition, 2016, Galati, Romania, \"Dunarea de Jos\" University of Galati - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration The Impact of Brand Awareness on Companies` Marketing Strategies Alexandra Zaif andra_zaif@yahoo.com \"Transilvania\" University of Brasov, Romania Within this paper,we will try to emphasize the importance of brand awareness and its significant role in brand-building,discussing how companies implementing brandawareness marketing strategies will have a substantial role in creating brand image,strenghten brand equity and increase profitability . Firstly,we will conduct an empirical research based on previous published literature concerning brand awareness and will discuss the effectiveness of marketing strategies that incorporate in their objectives brand awareness increase,acknowledging its impact on significant factors such as brand image ,sales increase,influencing customer behaviour and other important equity-related aspects.We will try to corroborate our statements by referring to a marketing strategy designed to enhance brand awareness and stimulate other brand-equity dimensions (brand association,brand loyalty,etc.),as well as generate higher sales revenues , namely sponsorship and we will discuss a particular category,respectively sponsorship in the sports industry.The study case wil be concluded with an example of a succesfull partnership involving a sponsorship agreement between a reputable multinational food and beverage corporation,PepsiCo(known for famous products such as Pepsi soft drinks and foods such as Lay`s Chips) and one of the most important events expected by football enthusiasts around the world,the UEFA Champions` League annual tournament. Keywords: brand awareness,brand image,sponsorship,marketing strategies,sports industry 1.Introduction Kotler(1991) defines the term ,,brand'' as a name ,term , sign , symbol ,or design ,or a combination of them which is intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or groups of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.Consumers are likely to chose a wellknown,familiar brand rather than an ordinary product,when it comes to making a purchase decision.Their reason may be determined by psychological factors,given that a recognisable brand has a strong brand image and is perceived as trustworthy ;customers often rely on brands due to the fact that ,mentally,they asume certain brands will guarantee them high standards of quality and services provided and the perceived purchasing risk will be reduced.Nowadays,due to higher than ever information accesibility and continuous technology innovations,accesibility to a wide range of products and services has increased.Therefore,brands facilitate consumers`decision making, signalling the source of the product and offering a fast,clear guidance to its characteristics and benefits it has to offer and measuring quality expectation. 2.Brief literature review 2.1 Brand awareness Considered one of the fundamental dimensions of brand equity ,brand awareness reflects consumer`s ability to identify a certain brand under different circumstances-the likelihood that the brand name will come to mind and the ease with which it does so (Keller,1993). Brand awareness also involves linking the brand(the brand name,logo,symbol,etc) to certain associations held in the consumer`s memory (that can be positive or negative ),shaping their perception of the brand and creating brand image.The presence of strongly held,favourable associations that are unique to the brand and imply superiority over other brands is what makes a brand successfull.Creating a strong brand within consumer`s minds will result in a positive brand evaluation ,as well as a consistent brand image. 213 International Conference \"Risk in Contemporary Economy\" ISSN-L 2067-0532 ISSN online 2344-5386 XVIIth Edition, 2016, Galati, Romania, \"Dunarea de Jos\" University of Galati - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Along with brand image,brand awareness distinguishes the brand knowledge system ( defined as a brand node in memory with a variety of associations linked to it ).Brand awareness is related to the strength of the brand node or trace in memory. (Keller,1993). Brand awareness consists of the following components: Firstly,brand recognition,reflected in the consumer`s capacity to identify the brand,due to prior exposure,when given the brand as a cue.For instance ,brand recognition answers to the question of wether or not can a consumer identify a cereal brand such as Kellogs Corn Flakes in a supermarket ,if they were previously exposed to it. Secondly, brand recall occurs when consumers are able to retrieve and place a brand from their own memory,when given as a cue aspects such as product category,needs fulfilled by the respective category or a purchase or usage situation.Therefore, recall of Ariel may happen when a consumer will think of what brand in the detergent category should he decide to purchase ,or maybe ,when thirsty ,the first brand which comes to their mind will be Coca-Cola. A representative scheme of the brand-knowledge system concept by represented in the following figure: Keller(2003) is Figure 1:The brand knowledge system concept by Keller (2003 Taking into consideration previous statements,we can assert that brand awareness represents the first stage in including a certain brand of products in the consideration set when making buying decisions. Increasing brand awareness plays a pivotal role in building a strong brand image , and , consequently,of brand equity.High levels of brand awareness and a positive brand image increase the probabiliy of brand choice , as well as produce greater consumer loyalty , protecting the production company against competitors`marketing strategies. Therefore , it is significantly important that companies` marketing strategies should encompass methods designed to enhance brand awareness in order to establish favorable,strong and unique associations in consumer`s memory.Through repeated exposures to a brand ,people tend to become familiar with it,leading to a greater ability to recognize and recall the respective brand. The appropiate marketing strategy to increase brand awareness should be through constant,repetead exposure of the brand and its defining elements through different channels; 214 International Conference \"Risk in Contemporary Economy\" ISSN-L 2067-0532 ISSN online 2344-5386 XVIIth Edition, 2016, Galati, Romania, \"Dunarea de Jos\" University of Galati - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration frequent and proeminent mentions in advertising and promotion vehicles can increase consumer exposure to the brand,as can events or sponsorship,campaigns ,publicity,and other activities. 3. Sponsorship as a brand-building marketing tool Sponsorship is considered one of the most powerful communication tools used in marketing activities, becoming widely used by companies as one of their main strategies(Grey et al. , 2003). There are various interpretiations encountered in published literature,but ,broadly , sponsorship is viewed as an investment , in cash , in an activity , a person or an event(sponsoree) , in return for acces to an exploitable commercial potential associated with the sponsored activity , person or event by the investor(sponsor) in order to raise its profile,improve its image(corporate image of brand or product), enhance awareness, attract customers and possibly to increase sales (Meenaghan,1998). Sponsorship implies commercialy associating a brand with properties such as cultural attractions,causes,sporting events,teams,the arts,etc. , offering a unique advantage in brandbuilding,due to the fact that it can become a part of people's lives,differentiating itself from advertising,which can sometimes tend to be invasive,by attempting to convince and change perceptions(Aaker&Joachimsthaler,2000).The process and result of the brand-building efforts implicating sponsorship can positively impact the employees(at an internal level) ,the other brand partners and the customers(external level). Sponsorship has become a more popular communication instrument among customers, because, as it has been mentioned above,communication techniques such as advertising can sometimes be viewed as manipulative(Meenaghan,1998).Thus,when channeling the brand by the sponsorship strategy can be more effective,taking into consideration that potential clients are sharing enjoyable moments in a favorable environment.For example,event sponsorship increases the opportunity to connect and interact with customers and establish long-term relationships,enhancing loyalty towards the brand. The benefits can be regarded from an emotional point of view , considering that the parts involved in the sponsorship process tend to be more engaged and are working together to obtain a certain level of pride from the eventual outcome of the sponsorship agreement,generating a greater level of synergy among those participating in the project(Aaker&Joachimstahler,2000).Often , in team sponsorship , the emotional involvement is higher because there is a certain attachment to a goal and a winner.Relying upon particular interests towards a certain activity and channeling the brand's image through sponsorship is a strong marketing strategy , used internally and externally.Aaker and Joachimsthaler(2000) state that the dominant reason for sponsorship is to achieve ,,an association among a target segment''. Publicity is the most effective way to introduce a new product,and sponsorship can be an excellent method to raise its awareness ,enhance its visibility,and,implicitly,connect the brand to the event(Aaker&Joachimsthaler,2000).The ways in which sponsorship can contribute to brand-building are represented below,in Figure 2: Figure 2:Building brands thorugh sponsorships 215 International Conference \"Risk in Contemporary Economy\" ISSN-L 2067-0532 ISSN online 2344-5386 XVIIth Edition, 2016, Galati, Romania, \"Dunarea de Jos\" University of Galati - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration 3.1 The objectives of sport sponsorship Numerous researchers have identified various objectives of sponsorships,but in this study we will enumerate the most important of them and briefly explain them , reffering to several distinct authors. The first set of objectives we will be discussing about are the ones according to Jobber(2007),which consist of five principals: Creating promotional activities-by sponsoring events,companies are given the opportunity to promote their brands,logos and products(examples include branded t-shirts,pens and all types of branded merchandise) which will lead to increased brand awareness and higher sales revenues; Improving community relationships-this involves the social responsibility factor,which givesthe company a caring and socially responsible image to the customers(for example,The Body Shop cosmetics company`s campaign involving environmental protection,animal rights by sponsoring posters in 1985 for Greenpeace and presenting a peition against animal testing) Fostering favourable brand and company associations-by associating a company with the positivity of the event and transferring the positive feelings towards the products as well. Creating entertainment opportunities-when a celebrity accepts to endorse the sponsored event,it will be a great publicity source ,which will increase customer interest towards the event ,and the branded product. Gaining publicity-through sponsorship,companies can reach a wide audience at a global level,by increaseing their awareness due to publicity resulted from extensive media coverage,which will attract more customers. An alternative study conducted by Dolphin(2003) lists the following sponsorship objectives: Enhancing corporate image by reaching out to customers from a specific market segment; Increase of brand awareness which positively impacts the brand`s corporative image ,thus building brand equity; Stimulate sales; Corporate reputation; Alter public perceptions-association with a sponsored event will influence the perception of customers regarding the company and its products;(better perceived quality) Building relationships Create goodwill Enhance employee motivation Mullin et al(2007) have common perceptions regarding sports sponsorship as the ones belonging to the above-mentioned authors,adding a few additional objectives .We will list the entire set of objectives,including the ones that are similar to the ones of the other authors`: Increasing public awareness of the company,the product,or both; Altering or reinforcing public perception of the company; Company identification with the particular market segments; Involving the company in the community; Building goodwill among decision makers; Generating media benefits; Achieving sales objectives; Showcasing unique product features,technologies or advantages; Creating an advantage over competitors,through association or exclusivity; Gaining unique opportunities in terms of hospitality and entertainment; Securing entitlement or naming rights. As we can observe,the authors` views concerning the definition of sponsorship objectives share numerous similarities ,but we can notice that brand awareness and brand association are mentioned in almost every set of objectives,playing a major role when implementing a sponsorship marketing strategy ,due to the fact that these factors can influence customer behaviour,by attracting new customers because their perceived quality will be positively affected by associating the brand with the event or cause it sponsores, or it can strenghten loyalty among long-time consumers of the branded products or services,resulting in increase of sales. 216 International Conference \"Risk in Contemporary Economy\" ISSN-L 2067-0532 ISSN online 2344-5386 XVIIth Edition, 2016, Galati, Romania, \"Dunarea de Jos\" University of Galati - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration This research will furtherly explore the benefits of a particular type of sponsorship,namely the one involving sponsoring sport events and will mention the association between one of the most popular international food and beverage brand in the world(PepsiCO) and one of the most anticipated,highly publicised sport event ,the UEFA Champions` League annual football championship. 3.2 Sports sponsorship and a succesful example of using it as a marketing strategy:The PepisCOUEFA Champions` League contract Over the last decades,sports have been evolving into a complex industry,evidenced by constant coverage by the media through every channel possible(TV,newspapers,magazines,social media,etc.) The definition of sports marketing given by Mullin et al.(2007) defines sports marketing as ,,consisting of all activities designed to meet the needs and wants of sport consumers through exchange processes.'' It is also mentioned that sports marketing has developed into two major thrusts:the marketing of sports products and services directly to sport enthusiasts,and the marketing of other consumer and industrial products through the use of sport promotions( Mullin et al.2007). Sport events can generate significant revenues for their respective organizers,that is why companies frequently use sport sponsorship as a marketing strategy,not only to make a higher profit margin,but also to reach a wide audience on a global basis,thus gaining competitive advantage,creating brand awareness and improving corporate image.The market for sporting events was woth $80 billion in 2014 , and is expected to grow impressively in the near future. Between 2009 and 2013a typical sports cycle that included the Winter Olympics and World Cup in 2010 and the Summer Olympics and the UEFA European Championships in 2012sports market revenues increased almost $18 billion (7 percent CAGR), with a peak of $78.2 billion in 2012, when London hosted the Olympics and Poland and Ukraine hosted the European Championships. The revenues for yearly events are growing steadily too, from $58.4 billion in 2009 to $76.1 billion in 2013 . Football is the leading sport when it comes to revenue growth ,experiencing an increase from $25.1 billion in 2009 to $35.3 billion in 2013, a CAGR of 9 %,and is expected to experience a 5% increase by 2017,as evidenced by the chart below. Multinational companies have a common belief that advertising is the core of building brandawareness.It is often described as an investment in brands which generates sales revenue over time. To approach the goals of this research ,we will conduct a study case,discussing advertising through sports sponsorship as part of companies`marketing strategy,resulting in increase of brandawareness. We will be reffering to multinational food ,snack and beverage corporation PepsiCo,best known for producing Pepsi ,Mirinda,7up soft drinks ,as well as for snacks such as Lay`s and Doritos. Global brands have integrated sports sponsorship into their strategic marketing programmmes because it represents a long term investment in creating dynamic relationship between brands and consumers(Santomier,2008). The benefits of sponsorship include brand positioning in an effort to differentiate the value of a brand compared to other competitors(Davis,2002),reaching target markets,sustaining relationship with customers and increasing sales(Crompton,2004).Jobber(2007) alsto states that sponsorship of certain major events like football aids in drastically producing awareness shifts for various products. 217 International Conference \"Risk in Contemporary Economy\" ISSN-L 2067-0532 ISSN online 2344-5386 XVIIth Edition, 2016, Galati, Romania, \"Dunarea de Jos\" University of Galati - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration These factors were probably taken into consideration by the Management-Marketing team of food and beverage giant PepsiCo,known to have closed various major sponsorship contracts,including with the NBA,NFL,NHL,Major League Baseball and,most recently,the contract which we shall be discussing,the three-year partnership contract with UEFA Champions League,closed in July 2015.The agreement is centered around products such as Pepsi,Pepsi Max,Lay`s Chips,Gatorade,but will also involve Doritos,Lipton and 7up . PepsiCo has a solid tradition in supporting young ,talented football players ,at an international level,so that is why it became the first supporter of project Next 11-Team of the Future,after signing a partnership in Romania with the ,,Gheorghe Hagi Footbal Academy''.This project aims to offer proper training conditions to future generations of gifted football players by investing in young men who display potential,thus improving its corporate image and reputation by engaging into sociallyresponsible actions. As stated by the CEO of PepsiCo Europe,Ramon Laguarta,the UEFA Champions League is without a doubt one of the most prestigious football competitions in the world,reaching significantly high audiences on a regional and global level(over 1.1 billion viewers worldwide watch every livebroadcasted match).Last year`s final which took place on the 6th June 2015 was broadcasted in over 200 countries,reaching over 400 millions of viewers,with an anticipated live audience of 180 millions of fans. A very commonly used marketing strategy,which has been proven effective in sports partnership contracts,used by PepsiCo as well, has been initiated during this season`s UEFA Champions League,the #gameready promotion relaunched by PepsiCo,which gives fans the opportunity to win hourly prizes of UEFA related merchandise plus entry to a draw to win tickets to the UEFA quarter final, semi final and final matches and a grand prize of a VIP trip for two to the Final in Milan.This will generate interest towards the brand,significantly enhancing awareness among new customers ,mainly football enthusiasts. PepsiCo's latest on-pack