HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITÉ LIBRE DE BRUXELLES SOLVAY BRUSSELS SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS & MANAGEMENT MMCoM9 LU TRAN DINH TRAN THI NGOC CHAU DRIVING BRAND AWARENESS THROUGH INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS: AN EVALUATION ON MANULIFE VIETNAM CAMPAIGN IN 2014 MASTER FINAL PROJECT MASTER IN MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT Academic Tutor: Prof Nguyễn Quang Trung Practicing Tutor: Mr Lê Minh Đức Ho Chi Minh City Mar 2016 STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICATION This thesis belongs to the requirements of our Master in Marketing and Communications Management course to implement training knowledge and practical know-how knowledge into a master final project With this specific aim and our interests in integrated marketing communications for brands, this thesis was consequently came in Due to the requirement of non-disclose information from the company, some figures and statistic results featured and used in this thesis were subject to be modified We, however, commit that the information provided will be sufficient to the thesis without revealing confidentiality to the brand and Manulife Vietnam ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to express our gratitude to all professors of Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management and Ho Chi Minh City Open University for valuable knowledge that you all had walked us through in our course of Master of Marketing and Communications Management, academic year 2014- 2016 We are also sincerely grateful to our tutors, Prof Nguyen Quang Trung – academic tutor and Mr Le Minh Duc – practicing tutor for their aspiring guidance and valuable constructive inputs to fulfill this thesis We also want to show our warm thanks to our families to give us supports and encouragement during our course and during the time doing this thesis CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Rationale and Background Executive Summary Objective of the Thesis Scope and Constraints Structure CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW CHAPTER 3: MARKET AND COMPANY REVIEW 3.1 Market Overview 3.2 Company Review 3.3 Manulife Vietnam Business Model Canvas 3.3.1 Customer segment 3.3.2 Value proposition 3.3.3 Customer relationship 3.3.4 Channels 3.3.5 Revenue 3.3.6 Key activities 3.3.7 Key resources 3.3.8 Key partners 3.3.9 Cost structure 3.4 Competitive Analysis 3.4.1 Porter Forces analysis 3.4.2 SWOT analysis 3.5 Customer Analysis 3.6 Product Analysis and Distribution Channels 3.6.1 Product 3.6.2 Distribution Channels 3.6.2.1 Agents 3.6.2.2 Partnership Distribution 3.6.2.3 Direct Marketing & Tele Marketing (DMTM) 3.6.2.4 Micro Insurance channel CHAPTER 4: MARKETING REVIEW 4.1 Marketing Objective 4.2 Marketing Campaign in 2014 4.2.1 Campaign objective 4.2.2 Campaign integrated channels 4.2.3 Campaign microsite 4.2.4 Campaign timeline CHAPTER 5: MARKETING CAMPAIGN ANALYSIS 5.1 Macro-model of Communication Process 5.2 Micro-model of Consumer Responses 5.3 KOTLER’S EFFECTIVE IMC MODEL 5.3.1 Target Audience 5.3.2 Objective 5.3.3 Design Communications 5.3.4 Select Channels 5.3.5 Establish budget 5.3.6 Decide on marketing communication mix 5.3.7 Measure communication result 5.4 CONCLUSION CHAPTER 6: ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS 6.1 Strategy 6.2 Implementation Plan ABBREVIATIONS AMA APE B2B B2C CEM CPC CRM CSR DMTM FB GDN GDP IMC IoT KPI MDRT MVL OOH PR SEM SEO STP TVC WOM American Marketing Association Annual Premium Equivalent Business to Business Business to Customer Customer Experience Management Cost per Click Customer Relationship Management Corporate Social Responsibility Direct Marketing & Tele Marketing Facebook Google Display Network Gross Domestic Production Integrated Marketing Communications Internet of Things Key Performance Indicator Million Dollar Round Table Manulife Vietnam Limited Out Of Home Public Relation Search Engine Marketing Search Engine Optimization Segmentation - Targeting - Positioning Television Commercial Word of Mouth LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Correlations between awareness and image Figure 1.2: Integrated Marketing Figure 1.3: Marketing Metrics Figure 3.1: Business Model Canvas Figure 3.2: Vietnam Life-Insurance Market Share Figure 3.3: Porter Forces analysis Figure 3.4: SWOT analysis Figure 3.5: Value Proposition Canvas Figure 4.1: Manulife branding roadmap Figure 4.2: IMC Campaign timeline Figure 4.3: Microsite is the landing page of IMC Campaign Figure 5.1: Element in the Communication Process Figure 5.2: Response Hierarchy Models Figure 5.3: Top 100 valuable brand by Interbrand (2015) Figure 5.4: Brand Metrics Figure 5.5: KOTLER’S EFFECTIVE IMC MODEL Figure 5.6: Possible levels of Segmentation Figure 5.7: IMC master plan timeline Figure 5.8: Cost Effectiveness of three different communication tool Figure 5.9: Advantages and Limitations of Major Media types Figure 6.1: IMC STRATEGY mind map Figure 6.2: Start-Up search trend in Vietnam Figure 6.3: IMC implementation timeline CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE AND BACKGROUND With only five percent penetration, Vietnam’s insurance industry is still in its infancy and many of the country’s 90 million people still don’t understand the value of life insurance This makes life insurance market hugely potential There are more than 15 players in the life insurance market: Prudential, Bao Viet, MVL, AIA, Dai-ichi, ACE, Hanwha, Cathay, Great Eastern… Prudential has protected its market leader position over the past years, followed by Bao Viet and MVL ranks the 3rd, competing closely with Dai-ichi and AIA MVL, the first foreign-owned life insurer when it expanded into Vietnam 17 years ago, has realized the country’s potential Recent surveys showed that to capitalize on that potential, we needed to connect with potential clients to deepen their emotional connection with the brand and engage with them to build trust MVL has started to focus on marketing activities since 2012 with the first-ever launched roadshows in 13 cities nationwide to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Manulife Financial The roadshows were a successful start for a series of integrated marketing campaign in the following years In 2013 : the series of Kids Day Manulife Dream with Kids Roadshow at 13 cities, series of PR articles on kids’ education plan and cancer prevention tips from Dr Nguyen Chan Hung In 2014, MVL celebrated its 15 years anniversary, in order to commemorate and honor its successful journey in the past 15 years, an advertising campaign to both internal and external customers is needed 1.2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Manulife is the 1st foreign-owned life insurer in Vietnam in 1999 and has started Marketing activities and brand awareness building since 2012 However, integrated marketing campaign had only been executed in 2014 – the year marked the company’s special 15th anniversary This thesis focused on reviewing the 1st year (2014) of MVL’s implementing the IMC campaign in the whole strategy and plan to build brand awareness From that, assessment and recommendations were taken for more successful IMC campaign in the years to come The thesis started with some literature review mainly on branding and IMC planning and implementation to give basis for the assessment Then the introduction on the market and the company review supported by business model Canvas are stated to give further understanding about MVL business model and elements that affect to the business success Porter Forces and SWOT models were used to further analyze and to have a full picture of the company’s competitiveness Customers, products and distribution channels were also elaborated to fulfill the company review The next part (chapter 4) focused on reviewing particularly 2014 marketing campaign with details on the campaign objective and activities on each channel for a better understanding on how an integrated campaign was deployed From the information from Chapter 4, Chapter concentrates on the Marketing campaign analysis by using effective communication models: macro model of communication process and micro model of consumer response Kotler’s Effective IMC model was analyzed to reinforce and deep-dive analyze on MVL integrated campaign From all the findings and analysis, it came to the conclusion with and campaign results evaluating The thesis closes with the assessment and recommendations on strategy and implementation plan recommended for the coming year The implementation plan was detailed with the recommendation on each channel should be used to further leverage brand awareness as well as new trend should be captured in order to have an even more successful IMC campaign 1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE THESIS To evaluate Manulife Vietnam’s driving brand awareness through IMC campaign in 2014 and to give recommendations for a more successful campaign in 2015 and for the years to come 1.4 SCOPE AND CONSTRAINT This thesis was developed based on the scope of 2014 integrated Marketing campaign which was restrictedly deployed in key cities: Ha Noi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh city (due to the population concentration and advantages of these cities to the campaign) Besides, the campaign was also performed in both internal and external communication channels However, with the limitations in time and experience, this project was only focused on analyzing external activities for external customers 1.5 STRUCTURE The thesis was divided into chapters: Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Literature Review Chapter 3: Market and Company Overview Chapter 4: Marketing Review Chapter 5: 2014 Marketing campaign analysis Chapter 6: Assessment and recommendations 10 CHAPTER : LITERATURE REVIEW Brand Awareness Kaferer (The new Strategic Brand Management 4th Edition,2008) Brand awareness is not a mere cognitive measure It is in fact correlated with many valuable image dimensions Awareness carries a reassuring message: although it is measured at the individual level, brand awareness is in fact a collective phenomenon When a brand is known, each individual knows it is known This leads to spontaneous inferences As is shown in Table below, awareness is mostly correlated with aspects such as high quality, trust, reliability, closeness to people, a good quality/ price ratio, accessibility and traditional styling However it has a zero correlation with innovativeness, superior class, style, seduction: if aspects such as these are key differentiation facets of the brand, they must be earned on their own merit Figure 1.1 : Correlations between awareness and image (source : Schuiling and Kapferer, 2004) 58 h Google Display Network (GDN) on both PC and Mobile In 13 weeks, GDN Standard banners are created for Matching game (on 08 Sep) and Sharing contest getting 37,109 clicks and 14,131,134 impressions Three Mobile ads are created for Matching game, Sharing contest & Testimonial clips getting 12,047 clicks and 4,270,751 impressions 59 i SEM and Hover ads For SEM, Manulife ran on groups: Insurance in Vietnam, Gifts, Manulife and Doctor Hung advise with total 19,643 clicks & 3,880,900 impressions 60 In weeks (from 08 Oct), Hover ads run with total 12,392 clicks & 290,549 impressions to promote 07 Testimonial clips 5.3.7.2 Sales and Other results: • • • • • • increased 1.5% market share increased 800 billion VND in revenue increased APE (Annual Payment Equivalent) 688 billion VND increased number of agents from more than 15,000 to 17,308 increased operational offices from 26 to 34 increased number of MDRT (Million Dollar Round Table) from 249 to 433 61 Brand KPI Brand metrics Top of mind Unaided awareness Total brand awareness Consideration Source : Manulife VN (2014) 2013 5% 29% 2014 13% 34% 59% 21% 62% 23% CONCLUSION Manulife’s IMC campaign consistently delivered key message and successfully increase Brand Awareness It also created good sales impact Target Audience : IMC Campaign was targeted to sub-segment effectively Both segment have passed important criteria • • • Measurable: The size, purchasing power, and characteristics of the segments can be measured Substantial: The segments are large and profitable enough to serve Accessible: The segments can be effectively reached and served Each segment is also linked to relevant product package Segment 1: From age 25- 34 is linked to “Protection Product” Segment 2: From age 35-45 is linked to “Health Product” Communication Objectives of Campaign is focus on Brand Awareness But it can achieve multiple objective to maximize the effectiveness One more objectives that can be considered • Brand Purchase Intention : Moving consumers to decide to purchase the brand or take purchase-related action 
 62 Creative Strategy : Combining TESTIMONIAL with 15th ANNIVERSARY to develop stronger message is a good approach That leads Manulife’s IMC Campaign differentiation from competitors Select Channel : Manulife used 5/7 communication channel for their campaign That help IMC campaign able to reach target audience • • • • • • Advertising : Print ads, Advertorial, Brochures, Posters and Leaflets Sales Promotion : Contests, Lotteries (15 years life inurance lucky draw) Events and Experiences : Entertainment ( Kid event) Public Relation and Publicity : Seminar (Cancer Seminar), Publications Direct and Interactive Marketing : Website, Email Word-of-mouth Marketing : Blogs (Forum) But there are some channel should be considered for the next campaign : • • • • • Email Marketing Fair and Tradeshow Sponsorship TVC Personal Selling Establish Budget: Manulife used Objective and Task budget planning method for their IMC It is a good selection However, Manulife should allocated more budget to Digital Marketing and Sale Support for the next campaign Budget for Billboard (43% total budget) should be considered carefully for the next year because the trend is moving from mass marketing to customized marketing Deciding on Marketing Communication Mix Manulife decide choose Advertising as the most effective way to increase Brand Awareness Advertising can repeat the message many times but the media type should be choosing wisely and need to be controlled Below is the advantages and limitations of major media channel 63 Fig 5.9: Advantages and Limitations of Major Media types IMC campaign only used Prizes (Contest, Sweepstakes, Games) for Promotion Some major promotion Tool can be considered for next campaign • • • • Cross Promotion Frequency Program Price-Off Coupon For Event and Experience : Manulife used Street Activity and Entertainment for IMC Sponsorship should be considered as it is also a very good way to increase Brand Reputation We suggest Sponsorships Event for Start-Up Communities 64 Measuring Results Google Display Network (GDN) CTR was lower than expectation ( 0.26% vs 0.5%) Recommendation • • • Banner re-design Bidding cost review Target website should be selected carefully based on target audience Facebook Fanpage 65 Engagement is quite low compare with Impressions Recommendation • • Generate creative content Facebook ads review Traffic source Traffic come from online newspaper, MobileAds have very high bounce rate and low Avg Session Duration Recommendation • • Online banner on 24h.com.vn should be considered Responsive web design for mobile 66 CHAPTER 6: ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS 6.1 Assessment How MVL can come out on top needs a comprehensive strategy and an investment in all strategy channels To capitalize on the opportunities, the company should be more proactive in being alerted of emerging threats and decisive impacts from both outside and inside the industry, focus on potential customers and nurture them, develop new customized products and forge ahead in terms of partnerships with banks in distributing the products Looking at forces that shaping the changes, there are some key highlights: Population: According to the statistic of General Statistics office of Vietnam, Vietnam population is in its golden period with the labor population is at 70%, yet the total population is getting older This will create a high demand for retirement solutions Besides, there is also an increasing in wealthy population as the number of middle class people currently is million people and be expected to grow up to 44 million people in 2020 This will create more demand in life insurance needs Technology: it is vital to make sure how the company is able to keep pace with the development of technology to enhance customer profiles, reduce cost, create customer convenience and improve customer experience Compared to Fast Moving Consumer Goods or technology business, financial and insurers are staying behind the technology and specially in taking advantage of big data on the internet Advanced analytical techniques and accessing big data would pave the way for the business in having more insights of how customers behave, what they expect and how to adapt to their changing needs Economic: As mentioned earlier in the beginning of the thesis, GDP per capita in Vietnam is growing and life insurance market in Vietnam of GDP penetration of less than 3% This is such a considerable room for growth 6.2 Recommendations 6.2.1 Strategy With positive results from 2014 campaign, continuing to increase brand awareness had proven the right strategy and should be remained as the main goal for the brand in the next years The brand awareness building strategy is a long-term plan and needs time to build and increase this brand metric 67 Activities Stage Drive brand awareness and consideration Stage Drive engagement and brand reference 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 IMC should be considered as an effective way to reach more customers thanks to its multiple channels In an integrated campaign, using advertising to raise awareness of a product and generating leads for the sales force can be applied at the same time There was customer engagement in 2014 campaign (cube display, kid event) However, customer information was not lead to leads generation Suggestion for next campaigns is to use direct mail or email to follow up inquiries from provided information of prospects and convert those prospects to customers by using telemarketing or direct sales to make appointments This will lead to the increase in sales significantly Being said that MVL had only started its branding activities since 2012 with the positioning “Strong support for your family” In the first years of building brand awareness in 2012 and 2013, this positioning had conveyed both functional and emotional bonding to customers In 2014 campaign, this positioning was reinforced in a stronger way “Strong support, firm future” To continue building “Strong support” as a unique proposition could be consider in the following years as it would create a consistent perception of MVL in customers’ mind 68 Figure 6.1 : IMC STRATEGY mind map 6.2.2 IMPLEMENTATION PLAN TVC In 2014 campaign, TVC had not yet deployed Hence, start investing for a TVC for next year campaign is essential to acquire and retain older consumers and non-category owners Communications taking place during lunch or dinner time have most potential to increase reach via this medium Impression TVC is the effective way to deliver stronger message to multiple segment, therefore it can increase brand awareness OOH As billboards remain the key channel to communicate with customers when TVC has not yet been available, the company should maintain current billboards in key cities (Hanoi, HCMC and Danang) and extend to 2nd tier cities (Phu Tho, Thai Nguyen, Hai Duong,…) to increase more awareness 69 Digital Marketing Focus on digital will not only be a more cost effective way to communicate but it is also more likely to reach a younger and more affluent segment of the market For the campaign in 2015, SEM, SEO, Online Banner should be more focused There has also been a rapid uptake of smart phones – with Vietnam’s young population Leveraging mobile technology can help MVL to reach the new young, tech-savvy customers WOM Marketing Build consulting blog to consult and answer questions on life insurance should be considered For life insurance industry, WOM is important as customers tend to believe in what they are advised from friends or relatives who already had the insurance policies with a specific insurer Therefore, MVL should unleash the power of WOM by having more focus on forums and social seeding activities, develop more story-telling posts on fanpage Sales Promotion Fair and Trade show is also a platform that MVL should be considered Mom and baby fair or education fair are good opportunities to reach prospects and Adapting new trends According to our research, there will be some trends that Manulife can tap into to increase its good reputation and enhance brand awareness Start Up communities influence Start Up is a new trend now Manulife can take chance to influent to Startup Communities by Sponsoring Event, open Seminar Manulife can get Earn Media value, therefore raising its brand awareness and brand reputation Figure 6.2 : StartUp search trend in Vietnam (source : Google Trends) 70 Public Relations and Publicity • Sponsorship for Start-up communities (Co-branding with Dreamplex in HCMC and TOONG in Hanoi) • Personal & Corporate Financial Management seminars for StartUp • Sponsor for a feasible start-up project to create a good image in start-up community Besides is to emphasize on the brand attribute “Forward Thinking” as supporting for start-up community is supporting for new businesses The new businesses are also prospects of MVL in the near future Being known as top insurer is an advantage for MVL to organize seminars on Financial management and Funding (one of the most attractive topics for start-ups) These seminars can also create good WOM, viral marketing and get earned media for MVL CSR activities : Showing 'human' values via a social media presence and a brand personality is no longer enough Consumers demand real action from brands to show that they really care Public Relations & Corporate Social Responsibility • • Sponsorship for serious diseases knowledge of heart disease, diabetes, safety traffic Deploy CSR activities: Funding for “Bright tomorrow” to support for cancer patients, “Schooling support” of Tuoi Tre newspaper IoT (Internet of Things) CRM will be shifted to CEM, Mass Marketing is moving to Customized Marketing Direct and Interactive Marketing • • Deploy Email Marketing based on CEM (Customer Experience Management) Based on database collected from seminars, events, … to send customized content Mobile Application allows users to choose the products that fits with customers’ needs and financial capability 71 TASK Jan Feb Mar Apr May Start-Up Sponsorship Event for Startup Financial Management Seminar Funding for Startup CSR Serious decease knowledge poste, seminar Safety Driving Street Activities Funding for Cancer patient, poor Student IoT Email Marketing based on CEM Mobile App launching Other Co-Branding with Fitness brand Figure 6.3 : IMC Implementation timeline Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 72 REFERENCES The new strategic brand Management 4th Edition – J N Kapferer (2008) Marketing Management 14th Edition – Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller (2012) http://www.manulife.com.vn/ Business Model Canvas, Value Proposition Canvas - Strategyzer http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/canvas/bmc A Model for Predictive Measurement of Advertising Effectiveness – Robert J Lavidge, Gary A.Steiner (1991) Michael R Solomon, Consumer Behavior 7th ed (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2007) 
 Havard Business Review “When Marketing is Strategy” – Niraj Dawar (Dec 2013) https://hbr.org/2013/12/when-marketing-is-strategy [...]... Activities 2014 2015 Stage 1 Drive brand awareness and consideration Stage 2 Drive engagement and brand reference Figure 4.1 : Manulife branding roadmap 2016 2017 2018 In an attempt to build brand recognition, marketing objectives for the stage from 2014 2016 is to strengthen and sustain brand awareness and customer understanding in big cities and extend to 2nd tier cites 4.2 Marketing campaign in 2014 4.2.1... superior: Strong protection and built-in benefits with short premium payment period Weaknesses: Low brand awareness: Since its presence in the market in 1999, Manulife has low brand awareness compared to its key competitor – Prudential Unstandardized in branding: Although the brand identity was well-developed, branding in general, was not standardized and consistent among offices nationwide High management... sources 
 The Scope of Branding Kotler (Marketing Management 14th Edition, 2012) Branding is endowing products and services with the power of a brand It’s all about creating differences between products Marketers need to teach consumers “who” the product is—by giving it a name and other brand elements to identify it—as well as what the product does and why consumers should care Branding creates mental... products and services in a way that clarifies their decision making and, in the process, provides value to the firm For branding strategies to be successful and brand value to be created, consumers must be convinced there are meaningful differences among brands in the product or service category Brand differences often relate to attributes or benefits of the product itself Marketing Metrics Tim Ambler, “What... getting fierce That is the reason why from the company’s perspective, how to make customers aware and understand the benefits of life insurance to increase sales and from the brand perspective, is to increase its brand awareness and build brand trust among customers is very crucial 3.2 COMPANY REVIEW Manulife is a leading Canada-based financial services group with principal operations in Canada, United States... Display ads Microsite KOL & hot Fanpages Adnetwork Forum Seeding Fig 4.3 : Microsite is the landing page of IMC Campaign Microsite Your support sharing contest 09/10 /2014 – 07/12 /2014 34 Testimonial clip game voting 19/11 /2014 – 14/12 /2014 The microsite had 2 main activities: Your support sharing contest and Testimonial clip game voting In Your support sharing contest, players were encouraged to send... product differentiation is low 3.4.2 SWOT analysis STRENGTHS - Good reputation and strong commitment - Financial strength - Diversified product portfolio - Product superior WEAKNESSES - Low brand awareness - Unstandardized branding - High management cost SWOT OPPORTUNITIES THREATS - High potential market - Economic crisis - Increase demand for retirement products - Fierce competition industry - New technology... campaign in 2014 4.2.1 Campaign objective 2014 marked the 15th anniversary of Manulife in Vietnam To commemorate and honor the company’s successful journey in the past 15 years, the campaign must deliver the following objectives: Announcing and celebrating the 15th anniversary of MVL in the market Promoting the key theme “15 YEARS OF PROFESSIONALISM” Enhancing it brand awareness as a leading life insurance... Manulife ,2014) 19 3.4.1 PORTER 5 FORCES analysis Figure 3.3 : Porter 5 Forces analysis ( source : Competitive Strategy, Michael E Porter, 1981) Threat of new entrants Life-Insurance is high potential market in Vietnam Operation cost and Capital Requirement for entry is high but Threat of new entrants is LOW Government regulation encourage people to buy insurance Strong Financial Health, Strong Brand Awareness, ... Financial services (insurance, investment) Assets management 3.3.6 Key activities Sales (Insurance) Financial Management Investment (Manulife asset management) Customer service (After sales) Branding 3.3.7 Key resources Brand Manulife plaza and its office branches Capital and Fund Human Resources 3.3.8 Key partners Agents Banks Capital investment funds 18 3.3.9 Cost structure Operational cost Marketing