WKU Floral Shop

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Table of Contents2. Table of Contents3. Introducing AC24. Executive Summary5. Company Analysis6. Consumer/Market Analysis7. Consumer/ Market Analysis8. Product Analysis9. Product Analysis10. Competitive Analysis11. Competitive Analysis12. Problems and Opportunities13. TargetMarketProfiles14. TargetMarketProfiles15. TargetMarketProfiles16. Objectives17. Message Strategy and Campaign Concept18. Message Strategy and Campaign Concept19. Message Strategy and Creative Brief20. Message Strategy // Print21. Message Strategy // Print22. Message Strategy // Print23. Message Strategy // Guerilla Marketing24. Message Strategy // Social Media25. Message Strategy // Video26. Campaign Calendar 27. Budget28. Evaluation plan

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Introducing

Colin PerschbacherDirector of Accounts

Alex SherrillDirector of Media

Charlie HeuglinDirector of Creative

Amber Waggoner Director of Analytics

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Executive SummaryAC2 is seeking to change the image of the WKU Floral Shop to make it more appealing to students on WKU’s campus. AC2 has developed a campaign featuring exclusive, better than ever student discounts as well as giving WKU students a rea-sontosupportthefloralshop.AC2’sfocusforthefloralshopis on providing discounts that allow for students to think of the WKUFloralShopastheirfirstoptionforflowersaswellasem-phasizing free delivery on campus. Branching out to all forms of social media, especially Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, drives this change in perception for the WKU Floral Shop. AC2 is also proposing that the WKU Floral Shop hire a student in-tern to manage its social media due to its importance in AC2’s campaign.

ThelengthofthecampaignisJanuary24ththroughWKU’sfi-nals spring week. The campaign budget is $6,485 and consists of many avenues of advertising. This includes guerrilla mar-ketingsuchasmossgraffiti,oncampusadvertisinginvolvingstudentsandBigRedhandingoutflowers,andaMarch2015campaign titled “March For The Homeless” that encourages students and the Bowling Green Community to purchase from the WKU Floral Shop and support Hotel Inc.’s local community garden.

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Company AnalysisThe Western Kentucky University Floral Shop is a full-service floralshoplocatedadjacenttoWesternKentuckyUniversity’scampus.Sincethefloralshophasbeeninbusiness,ithaspart-nered with WKU to bring the university’s students and commu-nityqualityfloralarrangementsatanaffordableprice.Withtherecent addition of Gary Ransdell Hall, the university has built itselfevenclosertothefloralshop.

Aconservativemanagementstylehaskeptthefloralshop’sbusiness steady over the past several years. The WKU Floral Shop is well established in the Bowling Green area but is inter-ested in furthering their share of the market, especially in the 18-24 college-age range. Many WKU students aren’t aware of thefloralshop’slocationandbenefitsandAC2feelsthatthisisan easy obstacle to overcome with advertising.

Salestrendsinthefloralindustryhavebeensteadilyrisingfor the past decade. The recent recession from 2007-2009, in which the unemployment rate rose to 8.5 percent, did not affect the industry’s sales. For a supposedly disposable in-come-relateditem,flowersappeartobeindispensabletoAmericans. The WKU Floral Shop’s revenue has increased accordingly.However,thefloralshopwishestoreachouttoanoften-untargeted market in the industry –college students.

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Consumer/Market Analysis

MRI Research.

The following information was taken from the MRI+ website andreflectsthetrendsoftheFall2013(themostrecentseasonposted)adultconsumerpurchasingprofileforthecategory“Flowers/Ornamentals”.

The consumers, according to the MRI+ website, are primarily white. The majority of them are currently married. Both men andwomenpurchasedflowersequally.Foradultsfromtheages of 24-65+ there was very little difference in the amount of flowerspurchased.The45-54-agerangewasthehighestwhilethe 18-24-age range was the lowest. The primary education level was that they had graduated from high school but had not attended college. The consumer owns his/her own home andhaslivedtherefortypicallymorethanfiveyears.Manyofthem live in the south. They watch the History Channel and The Weather Channel. Amazon.com and G-Mail.com are their most commonly accessed websites. They buy because they have the moneytobuy.Theybuyflowersforweddings,funerals,andspecial occasions. They look for a quality product. They don’t want to purchase something that is inferior in any way. They want to make someone else feel special.

The media choices of our typical consumer:-Watch TV every week.-Listen to the radio from 6-10 A.M primarily but also listen to the radio at other times.-Magazine types: general editorial, women’s, newspaper dis-tributed.

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Consumer/Market AnalysisFocus Group

We conducted a focus group of six 18-24 year-old college stu-dents to gain further insight into their market segmentation’s buying choices and thoughts on the WKU Floral Shop. The following is a summary of the information we gathered from them.

3 men, 3 womenPurchase preference: 1hadneverboughtflowersbefore 2 from Kroger 1 from Walmart 1fromProflowers.com 1 from a farmer’s market1hadpurchasedfromtheWKUflowershopbefore.Theirrea-sonwasthatthefloralshopwasconvenientlylocatedandtheywanted to support WKU with their purchase. They thought the flowershopwas“reallygorgeous”andclosetocampus.

Forthepeoplewhohadn’tboughtflowersfromtheWKUFloralShop, we asked what could make them change their purchas-ing preference.

-If the WKU Floral Shop promoted their brand image on cam-pus more than they have in the past.-If the WKU Floral Shop promoted their discounts, delivery options, and competitive prices to more students-IftheWKUFloralShop’shoursweremoreflexibleforstu-dents. It was suggested that they stay open later on Fridays so thatstudentscouldpickupflowersontheirwayhomefortheweekend.

Everyonehadheardofthefloralshopbutstilldidn’tthinkofthemfirstwhenpurchasing.Onlytwoofthesixweinterviewedhadactuallybeeninthefloralshopandtheremainderhadonly seen the sign out front. All six of our focus group mem-berssaidthatthequalityoftheflowerstheypurchaseisim-portant. Their unanimous decision was that quality and price werethedecidingfactorintheirflowerpurchases.Onemansaid that he spends more or less according to the occasion he is purchasing for. The primary holidays that our focus group membershadboughtflowersforareMother’sDayandbirth-days. The look of the WKU Floral Shop was an important factor for the three women in our focus group. One of the women saidshewouldbuyflowersforherselftoputonherdinnertable.

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Product AnalysisSurveys

We conducted two separate surveys, one for members of Greek organizations on campus and one for anyone. We asked the question “What would cause you to consider changingwhereyoutypicallypurchaseflowers”ofoursurveyrespondents.Theyweregivenfivedifferentchoicesandcouldchoose as many or as few as they wanted. Both survey’s 18-24 age range responses were combined and the answers were analyzed. The responses are listed below.

22 18-24 year-old college students.

16respondedthattheythinkitmakesadifferencetobuyflow-ersfromafloristvs.agrocerystore,etc.

When asked if they had ever heard of the WKU Floral Shop, 14 responded yes and 8 responded no.

These are the reasons our respondents listed that would cause themtochangewheretheypurchaseflowers: A recommendation from a friend 8 A discount/coupon/promotion 11 Good service 7 A(n)effectiveapp/websitefororderingflowers12 Convenience 14

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Product AnalysisWhat the WKU Floral Shop has that college students want is convenience. The shop’s location is a huge advantage. Stu-dentswouldn’thavetoleavecampustoorderorpickupflow-ers and on-campus delivery is free. Another factor of conve-nience is online ordering, which the WKU Floral Shop has. The floralshop’sWKU-relatedgiftlineisanotherconvenientbenefitto the college student.

However, the WKU Floral Shop doesn’t have much of a brand image.It’sperceivedonlyasaplacetogetflowers,givingcon-sumersverylittlereasontopurchasetheirflowersratherthananyone else’s.

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Competitive AnalysisWhen considering the direct competition of the WKU Floral Shop,thosewhoautomaticallycometomindareotherfloralshops.However,manyfloralshopsarepartneredwithaninter-nationalcorporationcalledTeleflora.Telefloraisaffiliatedwithnearly40,000floristsworldwideandisresponsibleformanyofthebouquetdesignsthatfloralshopshavetooffer.

“Findaflorist.com”isTeleflora’swebsiteforconnectingtheircustomerswithfloristsintheirarea.For“BowlingGreen,KY”are listed:

Deemer Floral Co.

The Bouquet Shoppe

All About Flowers

Flowers By Shirley, Inc.

WKU Florist

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Competitive AnalysisAs you can see on the previous page, all of the websites look thesame,Theyareallsellingthesamefloralarrangements.AllofthesefloralshopsareassociatedwithTeleflora.Theyaren’t so much competitors as they are business associates. Teleflorabenefitsthembygivingthemareputablebrandtobe associated with, improved connectivity with consumers, andnation-widerecognition.AdownsideisthatTelefloraturnsthe WKU Floral Shop into franchise-like business. WKU Floral Shopsellsthenationallyadvertisedflowerarrangementsandgets very little differentiation in that area. As has been pointed out, however, from a national standpoint the system can be extremely useful.

The problem is that a huge majority of our respondents pre-ferKrogertoatraditionalflorist.AstrengththatKrogerhasisthat they are open 24 hours. Buyers don’t have to worry about if they will get to Kroger when it’s closed. Many people shop thereforgrocerieseveryweek.Theflowerdisplayisrightnextto where customers walk in the door so they can’t be missed and the cheaper bouquets are displayed to attract customer’s attention

Krogerhasawebsite(ftdfloristsonline.com/kroger)dedicatedtotheirfloraldesigns.ThepricestheylistaresimilartoTele-flora’s.Forexample,foraChristmasdisplayofpoinsettias,theprices are very comparable.

Teleflora Kroger

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Problems and OpportunitiesEvery company has problems and opportunities they can choose to ignore or take advantage of. AC2 have discovered both in the WKU Floral Shop and have based the proposed advertising strategy on them.

Problems:

A lack of social media presence.A lack of brand differentiation.Unfamiliarity of many in the area that the shop exists and of its location.A lack of incentive for WKU students to purchase from the WKU Floral Shop.

Opportunities:

The association with Western Kentucky University. The location next to the university and the free delivery they provide to the campus.DiscountsforstudentsofWesternKentuckyUniversityand,subsequently, student organizations.Floral design expertise as opposed to that of a pre-made bou-quet from a grocery store. Theconsumerappealofviewingflowersonsocialmedia.

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Target MarketGreek College Student

SororitiesandFraternitiesmakeup9%(2,218)ofallstudentsatWKU(20,456).That’sahugeportionofthepopulationatWKUandoneofthemostinfluential.Becauseofthisnumber,astu-dent involved with a Greek organization should be one of the Floral Shops key targets. By targeting a president of a sorority or fraternity, you’re already attempting to reach 2,218 potential customers.

Tom is a 21-year-old male who goes to Western Kentucky University and is an active member of a fraternity. He is a very active and busy college student. He is on campus about 8-12 hours a day. His day is mixed with class, his on campus job, organizational meetings, and going to the gym. He spends the majorityofhistimeoncampusatDSU,massmedia,andhisfra-ternity house. Being in a fraternity requires him to be a part of a weekly meeting and to attend about 5 monthly events. Being in fraternity also requires him to be very involved with commu-nity service, requiring him to have 15 hours a semester.

Tom’s life isn’t all work however; he spends the majority of histimeawayfromcampusworkingout,surfingtheweb,andcycling. His weekends include partying it up with his fellow fra-ternity brothers, hanging out with other friends, and going to football games and other athletic events. Tom also has a signif-icant other and a good amount of disposable income a month. $400 a month allows for him to have quite a bit of freedom and allows for him to spoil his girlfriend as well, buying her gifts as often as he can. He buys her an assortment of items, including clothes,candy,dinnerandflowers.

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Target Market

Average College Student

Joey is a 21-year-old male who goes to Western Kentucky Uni-versity. He is an average upper class college student, one who goes to class and then leaves campus. He is only on campus about 4 times a week for class, spending his downtime be-tweenclassesatmassmedia,CherryHall,andDSUsurfingtheInternet and working on homework. His average day during the week includes going to class, grabbing a bite to eat with his meal plan swipes, and going back to his apartment to work on homework and relax.

The majority of Joey’s time during the weekend is spent at his apartment hanging out with his roommates, drinking, playing video games, and playing with his dog. He also has a part time job that takes up only a few hours during Friday and Satur-day. Joey also likes to cook, but only does that sparingly. Joey enjoys playing music as well and can play a couple of instru-ments. Joey has a girlfriend and tries to spoil her as much as he can. He doesn’t have much disposable income, with only $100 a month that typically goes to food. But when he does buy his girlfriend gifts, its usually movie tickets, concert tickets, and flowers.Healsolikestogivethespontaneousgift.

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Target MarketNon-Greek involved student

Sarah is a 21-year-old female WKU student who is involved on campus with various events and organizations. Not being apartofasororitydefinitelygiveshermoretime,butshestillstays relatively busy. Sarah tries to keep busy by going to var-ious events, helping volunteer, and hanging out with friends. She spends all of her time on campus considering she lives in adorm.Duringanaverageday,Sarahgoestoclass,studiesin between classes, and hangs out with friends. Most nights during the week is she a part of some event. From a church event to volunteering, she is always doing something.

On the weekends, she likes to shop, hang out with friends, read, and do some more studying. She doesn’t have a job, so income is scarce, but her parents do help her out and she has about $100 a month in disposable income. Most of this spent on food, but she still likes to spend money on clothes and shoes every so often. She likes to buy gifts for her boyfriend as well, but only on special occasions like his birthday or for Christmas. She typically buys him clothes or concert tickets.

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ObjectivesAC2 wants the WKU Floral Shop to be able to reach the entire WKU Campus. That’s 22,000 students. To do this, AC2 would liketopromotethefloralshopthroughprint,socialmedia,guerilla marketing, and a promotional video.

Print advertisements

Flyers will be distributed and placed in every building and bus stop on campus. Print ads will also be placed in the WKU Her-ald for a semester. We fully expect a spike of 10% in sales from print advertisement alone. From the number of students who read The Herald and who are walking on campus throughout theday,printisabigpartofAC2’splanforthefloralshop.

Guerilla Marketing

AC2proposesthatthefloralshopreachWKUstudentsthroughtwo guerrilla marketing strategies that will reach all students who walk through the middle of campus and have class all overcampus(12,000students).Thecostandplanningofthisportion will generate a 20-40% spike in sales.Thefirststrategyisthatmossgraffitibeplacedoncampusattheendofwinterbreak. It will grow throughout the springThe second guerilla marketing tactic is to have Big Red and thewhitesquirrel,thetwomascotsofWKU,handoutflowersduringValentine’sweekwhenthefloralshophasitstablessetupinDSU.Theywillattractattentiontothetablesandempha-sizethefloralshop’scloseassociationwithWKU.

Social Media

AC2’s proposal for hiring a student intern is essential in the socialmediaplanforthiscampaign.DailypostsonTwitter,Facebook, and Instagram (1-5 posts on each social media platform daily) are AC2’s initial projections. With so many col-lege students on social media almost every hour of the day, we seesocialmediaasthemostimportantpartofthefloralshop’sgoal of reaching more college students. We expect another 30-40% spike in sales from our social media outreach and the promotional offers it will provide.

Promotional Video

A promotional video for the “March for the Homeless” cam-paign has been created and will be distributed by AC2. AC2 has created and shot the promo as part of the campaign so that the job will not have to be outsourced for the campaign. This video will be distributed via social media only and will be placedonaYouTubeChannelcreatedfortheWKUfloralshop.It will be distributed on Twitter and Facebook for the month of March. We expect this promo video to line up with the same stats for social media and should boost sales by upwards of 50% for the month of March.

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Message Strategy // Campaign ConceptAC2isconfidenttofindsomefunandefficientwaystoreachthe market currently lost on campus. 22,000 students live in or commute to Bowling Green on a weekly basis for classes it opens a good opportunity for improving sales at the WKU Floral Shop.

Startingwiththecontentwehaveproposedforthefloralshopto obtain, this can all be student provided. In most cases, students will be eager to provide video and photo content for free if it means that their images are to be used for print or any other sorts of advertisement. Utilizing student work will be thefirststep,creatingtheideathatthefloralshopisthereforthe students. We will touch a little bit more on student involve-ment later, but it will play a key role in the marketing process to reach the student population at WKU.

Social media is such a big part of students lives, the majority of our students we questioned had admitted to committing to 20+ hours a week on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest just to name a few. This means that AC2 recommends the strength-ening of the social media outreach for students. If we could change a few things about the current social media attempts itfirstwouldbeexpandtoPinterestandInstagram.Thiswouldcater to many female users seeing as many females ages 18-24 use Pinterest on a daily basis. We want to begin the branding process through social media. This includes correlating de-signs, fonts and colors used in these outlets. To expand the

social media following, the WKU Floral shop can start pro-moting their student discount, seasonal specials and monthly promotions for students to take advantage of. This can easily be accomplished by using programs like Hootsuite to schedule Tweets on a monthly basis. Scheduling the tweets allows for thefloralshoptoplaninadvancewhentheirpromotionswillgo out. This will lift some weight of the shoulders of the em-ployees so they can keep focused on delivering their product.

Promoting the WKU Floral Shop’s brand will extend further than social media. A vital part of spreading the word of the shop will also have to come from relationship expansion on campus. AC2 thinks it would be an excellent opportunity to pay attention to semester calendars, special events, Greek organi-zations and all other organizations on campus and get involved with them. While surveying the Greek community at western, over 70% of fraternity members indicated they would be more inclinedtopurchaseflowersifamemberoftheshopcametotheir meeting and handed out promotions.

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Message Strategy // Campaign Concept

(Cont.)Sororitymembersallnotedthattheyuseflowersfortheir initiation ceremonies, alumni events, and other ritual events but none of them had ever taken advantage of the floralshoponcampus.Itwouldbewiseforthefloralshoptonot only go to the meetings of these organizations to promote their brand but make those organizations a priority to be ca-teredto.Thisalsoprovidestheopportunityforthefloralshopto get involved with any other events organizations might hold on campus.

AC2 determined it would also be wise for the WKU Floral shop to take advantage of a philanthropy week on campus. Thiswouldbeaweekwherethefloralshopgivesbacktothecommunityfoodbankbysellingflowerpotsandseedstoraisemoney.Eachflowerpotcombinationwouldbeadvertisedtoraise a certain amount per purchase and t-shirts could also be sold to raise money. This week would be a good opportunity for the WKU Floral shop to thrive in the community, get recog-nized in the Bowling Green community and once again expand them selves on campus.

AnothereventcouldbeheldonValentinesDay.AboothwillbesetupintheDowningStudentCenterthatwillsellindividu-al roses at very affordable prices for students. This could be ad-vertisedtheweekbeforeviasocialmedia,flierandtheHerald.

Another key part of promoting the name on campus is reach-ing out to the Herald and Talisman to produce a multimedia piece and publish a newspaper article in the spring. The read-ership of the Herald is big enough on campus and will aid in most subtle expansion of the brand on campus. Advertising in the Herald also supports the school newspaper, which again goes back to one of the shop’s primary goals: to support and work with the university.

One of the primary advantages of being a campus business is the opportunity to employ student workers. AC2 highly rec-ommends a student worker who is paid 10-12 hours a week to manage a blog and social media, design logos, take photos and keep up with the events that take place at the WKU Floral Shop. In the beginning of this section we touched on the im-portanceofstudentinvolvementwiththefloralshop.Thefloralshop already hosts classes for students to take but an intern-ship would take things to a whole new level.

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Message Strategy // Creative Brief(Cont.)Thispositionwouldbeavailabletocompetentstudentsin the Advertising, Photojournalism and Public Relations ma-jors. Students chosen for this position would have outstanding portfolios,knowledgeintheAdobeCreativeSuite,proficiencyin social media management, knowledge of cameras, and who resembles a good representative of the WKU Floral Shop. This intern could also be obligated to attend the Greek meetings we mentioned earlier. As a fellow student this could give the floralshopanadvantageforspreadingtheword,astheinternwill know more students on campus. Providing this internship gives students an opportunity to gain experience they may not have been able to receive anywhere else. It is also a good opportunity to build a resume and expand on their portfolios.

The “March For The Homeless Grow Life” video is a direct way to get college students and the Bowling Green community alike to lend a helping hand. AC2’s overall objective with this video is to get the community motivated to help the environ-ment while also helping the homeless. Hotel Inc.’s commu-nity garden supplies homeless in the community with food throughout the year and AC2 couldn’t think of a better cause for the WKU Floral Shop to support. The video features na-ture along with very close-up shots of people to help provoke feeling. The eyes, the wind, and the sound of nature along with a thought-provoking song give the WKU Floral Shop a great video to get people motivated. The video is going to be dis-playedonYouTubeandlinkedviaeverysocialmediatheWKUFloral Shop is involved in, primarily Twitter and Facebook.

To appeal to the target audience of WKU students, AC2 creat-ed a design that was fresh, modern, minimalist and will catch the eye of the younger audience. The clean, simple designs are easytoreadandunderstand.AC2’sCreativeDirector,Charlie,said “I just wanted to create something that would look nice, yet display all the information needed in a concise way. The logo was designed to be clean, colorful and simple enough. Thelogohasseveralcolorsbecauseflowersarealldifferentcolors. The sans-serif font, “Avenir Next,” is used because it’s very simple, yet elegant, and it’s easy to read. Also, it looks nice,andlooksnicerthantheflowershopcurrentbrand,orlack therof.”

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Message Strategy // Print

Asampleflyertobeplacedaround WKU’s campus.

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Message Strategy // Print

An ad designed for the WKU student newspaper, The Herald, to promote student discounts.

A sample coupon forthe WKU Floral Shop.

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Message Strategy // Print

GROW LIFE KIT• Flower Pot• Pack of Seeds• Bag of Soil• T-Shirt

$25

March 1st - 31st

In March, the WKU Floral Shop is partnering with Hotel Inc., a local non-profit organization that donates food to the homeless through their local community garden.

The Grow Life kit is an opportunity to help feed the homeless in your local community. The WKU Floral Shop will donate $10 to Hotel Inc. for each kit purchased.

Post a picture of your decorated flower pot on twitter with #growlifecontest for a chance to win $100!

MARCHf o r t h e

HOMELESSThe poster for the March for the Homeless Campaign.

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Message Strategy // Guerilla Marketing

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Message Strategy // Smartphone App

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Message Strategy // Video Storyboard

campaigncalendarJanuary

February

March

April

Kick-Start Weekend24th - 26th

Valentine’s Promo9th - 13th

March for the Homeless 1st - 31st

Social Media Promo1st - Ongoing

•Putupflyersaroundcampus •BigRedhandsoutflowers• Hand out coupons • Help students move in

• 9th -11th |SetuptableinMassMediaforflowerpreorders• 12th - 13th | Free on-campus delivery for preorders• Partner with Greek students to help with deliveries

• Partner with Hotel Inc. to support their local community garden•CreateandselltheGrowLifeKit|$25|flowerpot,seeds,soil,t-shirt• Flower pot decoration contest via Twitter | #growlifecontest | $100 prize

• Provide content to social media sources | Facebook, Twitter, Instagram• Content may include promotions, pictures, or greetings

campaignbudgetOverallBudget $6485.00

$1290$980$1065$1200$1800

Print

Web

Event

Wages

Other

• Herald Ads • Business Cards • Event A-Frame •PromoDiscounts• Magnets • Handbills • Fliers

• Hosting •WebDesign •Domain

• March for the Homeless • Print Ads •Donations• Grow Life Kit: Flower Pots, Seeds, Soil, T-Shirts • Social Media Ads

• Internship

• Flowers •DeliveryFees:Fuel,Maintenence

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Evaluation Plan

We at AC2 are committed to our media strategy and advertis-ingplan.AC2isconfidentthatourresearchhasgivenustheability to design advertisements that will increase your busi-ness’s sales in a measurable way. To insure this, monitoring and evaluation will take place throughout the campaign. Results willbecomparedtotheobjectivesandiftheresultingfiguresdiffersignificantlyfromtheplan,emergentmeasureswillbeemployed.

We personally recommend the following:-Monitoryourwebsite’strafficwithGoogleAnalytics.Weareeven willing to install this onto your site for you.-Watchyoursales.Anincreaseinprofitsandcustomersisthemost obvious sign that our strategy is working for you.-Keep an eye on the number of likes and comments on your social media posts. We guarantee the numbers will go up with the increase of consumer awareness! -Continue to improve communication with your customers. Re-sponding to comments on social media is an easy way to make your customers feel loyal to your brand and keep them coming back.