GSBS6003
IMC Plan
Emma Fraser
c3284564
Executive Summary
The following Integrated Marketing Communication Plan is for Plant & Prosper; a
sustainable eco-friendly brand focused on making the switch to sustainable products easier
for consumers. The Target audience is identified as women, ages 25-34 who earn above
average income and have considered purchasing sustainable product alternatives in the
past. The plan will outline two communication objectives that centre around awareness and
interaction with the brand. These objectives will be achieved through a variety of media
platforms, the majority of which will occur online. The message strategy will focus on the
Perception Facet of Effect, the Behaviour Facet of Effect and to a lesser extent the Cognitive
Facet of Effect. This plan will create synergy across the platforms by using a consistent
colour scheme and aesthetic in imagery and creating a circular pattern of brand connections
across the multiple media platforms. Keeping within a budget of $100k over 12 months this
plan will be determined as effective if there is an increase in sales, social media followers
and engagement data.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary………………………………………………………………………………..2
Table of Tables………………………………………………………………………………………5
Table of Figures……………………………………………………………………………………..6
1. Response to Feedback ………………………………………………………………………7
2. The Big Idea …………………………………………………………………………………….9
Campaign Name:……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….9
3. Communication Objectives………………………………………………………………10
Objective 1 – Increase Brand Awareness……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..10
Objective 2 – Increase Interaction with the Brand ………………………………………………………………………………………………..10
4. Target Audience……………………………………………………………………………..12
5. Media Platforms …………………………………………………………………………….15
Website………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….15
Facebook………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..15
Instagram ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….16
Influencer Seeding …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..16
Email Marketing………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………16
In Person Event ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….17
Google Ads ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..17
6. Platform Objectives ………………………………………………………………………..18
Website………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….18
Facebook………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..18
Instagram ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….18
Influencer Seeding …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..19
Email Marketing………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………19
In Person Event ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….19
Google Ads ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..20
7. Platform Synergy ……………………………………………………………………………21
8. Message Strategy …………………………………………………………………………..23
Social Media (Facebook and Instagram) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..23
Email Marketing………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………25
Google Ads ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..26
In-Person Event……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….26
10. Media Scheduling …………………………………………………………………………..27
11. Budget ………………………………………………………………………………………….29
12. Evaluation of Effectiveness ………………………………………………………………31
References………………………………………………………………………………………….33
Appendix – 9. Draft Communication Materials …………………………………………41
1. Website Home Page ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..41
2. Facebook and Instagram Organic Post ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….42
3. Facebook Giveaway Post – Boosted…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..43
4. Instagram Giveaway Post & Story Share …………………………………………………………………………………………………….44
5. Event Specific Social Posts – Boosted across Facebook and Instagram……………………………………………………………45
6. Monthly EDM’s……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….46
7. In-Person Event (Mood Board)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….47
8. Influencer Brief……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….48
9. Google Ads …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….49
Table of Tables
Table 1. Media Schedule…………………………………………………………………………………………….28
Table 2. Explanation of Costs Table ……………………………………………………………………………..30
Table of Figures
Figure 1. Stockists Locations Plant & Prosper (Google Maps, 2022) (Plant & Prosper, 2022) 12
Figure 2. Razor Price and Inclusions Comparison (Woolworths, 2022) (Plant & Prosper, 2022)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..13
Figure 3. Ideal Customer Profile ………………………………………………………………………………….14
Figure 4. Example of image that would be reshot (Plant & Prosper, 2022)……………………….24
1. Response to Feedback
This Integrated Communication (IMC) Plan will address the client’s feedback from Part A.
The format of Part A was described as very good and as such this report will maintain the
same format. The business background was strong and will therefore not be readdressed in
this plan. The client responded positively to the overall concept of the Big Idea but
suggested a more distinct campaign name that ties into the brand name. To address this,
this IMC plan will present a longer campaign name with a strong link to the brand that
explains the same message. A valuable Big Idea needs to be enduring meaning it can be
extended and continue for a long period of time (Moriarty, Mitchell, Wood, & Wells, 2019).
Including the brand name will mean that this idea will resonate with the brand for years to
come and by focusing on the ease of switching to Plant & Prosper products, the brand will
be able to create multiple activations that fit under this umbrella.
The client questioned the analysis of the colours used throughout the Plant & Prosper
website and how this will be addressed in the IMC plan. As consistency across media
platforms and throughout the consumer journey is a key part of any integrated marketing
communication plan (Laurie & Mortimer, 2019) the colour pallet and imagery style already
present on the brands website will be kept almost the same but extended upon within this
plan. The IMC plan will use the same styling across all the brands communication platforms
to bring together more synergised integrated communication. The target audience
presented in Plan A was considered slightly confusing by the client therefore this IMC Plan
will readdress this by providing a more succinct explanation of the target audience and
creating a customer persona.
It was identified that the explanation of how consumers will be engaged to create user
generated content (UGC) was unclear. This plan will explain the concept in more detail and
provide a clear direction of how the UGC will be encouraged. The final concern was the
difficulty to engage retailers with an instore program in 12 months and therefore this will be
removed from the IMC Plan.
2. The Big Idea
Campaign Name: Simple to Switch, Plant & Prosper.
This campaign will focus on the brand’s mission; “to make the decision to go sustainable
that little bit easier” (Plant & Propser, 2022). Research suggests that consumers find that
lack of accessibility to sustainable products hinders their ability to purchase (Sharma, Saha,
& Rameshwar, 2019). Plant & prosper offer several alternative products but currently are
not widely recognised in Australia. The IMC plan will address this by building brand
awareness and increasing consumers overall interactions with the brand.
The campaign name will be used as a tag line that communicates that switching to
ecofriendly, sustainable products with Plant & Prosper is super simple and will enable each
person to prosper. The ability to find what other people are talking about through hashtags
has become a widespread phenomenon (Zappavign, 2015) so this plan will create the
hashtag #switchplant&prosper to be used across social media. This hashtag currently has no
posts on Instagram so the brand will be solely connected to images shared with this hashtag
including any UGC content. By focusing on engaging current consumers and encouraging
new customers into the brand experience Plant & Prosper will be able to build a strong
community of eco-friendly consumers. The crescendo of the campaign is a 1 week in-person
event held in The Rocks, Sydney creating an opportunity for the growing consumer base to
interact with the brand in a new way and provide the brand a way to encourage UGC.
3. Communication Objectives
Objective 1 – Increase Brand Awareness
Recent research suggests that Australians are more aware than ever about the impacts of
their habits on the environment with more than two thirds of the population concerned
about the negative impact of their lifestyle on the environment (Wallis, 2021). This suggests
that Plant & Prospers product lines are of interest to many Australians which is a main
component of Perception Facet of Effect (Moriarty, Mitchell, Wood, & Wells, 2019).
Consumers are interested in these types of products but may not have specifically heard of
or been exposed to Plant & Prosper. To increase brand awareness this plan will focus on
exposing more consumers interested in ecofriendly products to the brand through
consistent social media posts, influencer seeding and generating UGC. This will help Plant &
Prosper become more recognisable in Australia.
Objective 2 – Increase Interaction with the Brand
To compliment the awareness objective, the second objective will focus on increasing
consumers overall interaction with the brand. There are multiple ways consumers can
interact with a brand with many of these happening online (Foster, McLelland, & Wallace,
2022). Increased purchasing is the most important here, but we will also focus on online
social media interactions. This objective will lean into the interconnected facet of cognition
(Moriarty, Mitchell, Wood, & Wells, 2019) but will focus heavily on eliciting a behavioural
response from the consumers; the Behaviour Facet (Moriarty, Mitchell, Wood, & Wells,
2019). This plan will do this by initiating monthly giveaways and creating a circular
connection with the Plant & Prosper brand.
4. Target Audience
Plant & Prosper sell many sustainable household products and have a potential customer in
each of the 10 million homes across Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2022). This
plan will focus on the highest populated state, New South Wales (Australian Bureau of
Statistics, 2022) and further define this locality to the Greater Sydney Area where almost
65% of the population resides (NSW Government, 2022). This also aligns with the brands
retail stockists.
Figure 1. Stockists Locations Plant & Prosper (Google Maps, 2022) (Plant & Prosper, 2022)
A large portion of this plan will occur on social media and therefore the statistics about
social platforms will be used to help segment our audience. Social media platforms are
generally used by and accessed more often by women (The Yellow Pages, 2020). The largest
age group on Facebook are between 25-34 (31.5% of users) and the same group on
Instagram accounts for 31% of users. (Barnhart, 2022). This group falls within the Millennial
generation and many industry leaders believe that this generation cares about sustainability
more than previous generations (Kapferer & Anne, 2020). This 25–34-year age group is a
slightly smaller group than what was suggested to be Plant & Prospers current target
market.
The products require a certain level of income as the initial outlay is more expensive than
the non-ecofriendly version. Based on this, the IMC plan will target consumers who earn
above average income for our age group which is $60k per annum (O’Keefe, 2021). This is
not addressed currently by Plant & Prospers marketing.
Figure 2. Razor Price and Inclusions Comparison (Woolworths, 2022) (Plant & Prosper, 2022)
Plant & Prosper cater to a niche market and the sustainability attitudes of our audience is
important. Given this IMC Plan is focused on the ease of switching to Plant & Prosper
products we will focus on consumers who have considered purchasing sustainable personal
care products. This is approximately 60% of Australians (Nijssen-Smith & L’Huillier, 2021).
Below is an example of our target customer:
Figure 3. Ideal Customer Profile
5. Media Platforms
Website
The Brands website is an integral part of the IMC plan and needs to be updated to align with
the overall communications from the brand. Website visits and sales via the website will be
a main indicator of increased brand awareness. It also plays an integral role in the
appearance of the brand in online search engines with search engine optimisation being
critical for increasing market share (Bhandari & Bansal, 2018). With 96% of Australian
Millennials, the generation in which our target market fits into, shopping online, this media
platform is extremely important (Mcilviane, 2016).
Facebook
As stated previously, our Target Audience is the largest age group on Facebook (Barnhart,
2022) with 31.5% of users. The Australian audience on Facebook is estimated to be a huge
19.57 million (FIBER, 2022) and it is frequented more often by women than men (The Yellow
Pages, 2020). This makes it a perfect vehicle for building brand awareness within our target
audience. Facebook is accessed on mobile devices by 98.5% of its users (FIBER, 2022) and
because of this we can create a personal connection with our target audience. The platform
allows two-way communication with customers and enables brands to gather rich insights
about their customers (Champoux, Durgee, & McGlynn, 2021). Consumers can report back
to the brand in real time and tell other consumers directly about their experience with the
brand (Champoux, Durgee, & McGlynn, 2021).
Instagram
Similarly, our Target Audience the largest age group on Instagram (Barnhart, 2022) with 31%
of users and it is also used more by woman than men (The Yellow Pages, 2020). This plan
will use these two social media platforms as they are both used by our target market. The
main difference between the two is that Instagram is more image focused than Facebook
(Limniou, Ascroft, & McLean, 2022) meaning our copy needs to be shorter on Instagram
posts.
Influencer Seeding
Drawing on the data presented above, Facebook and Instagram will also be used via
influencer seeding. Research suggests that Millennials, the generation our target audience
fits into, who follow eco-friendly influencers have an increased awareness and
understanding of sustainability issues (Johnstone & Lindh, 2017). By tapping into these
audiences, Plant & Prosper can further increase their brand awareness within their ecoconscience target audience.
Email Marketing
With 99% of email users checking their inbox each day (Kirsch, 2022) and 73% of Millennials
(the group our age target audience fits into) preferring to receive communication from
brands via email (Riserbato, 2022) email marketing is important to address in this IMC plan.
This will help increase traffic to the website and ultimately lead to an increase in sales.
In Person Event
Research suggests that having a positive interaction with the product will make consumers
far more likely to buy that product in the future (Meiling, 2017) and this in person event
would allow the brand to demonstrate their product range and highlight the functionality of
their offering.
Google Ads
Google Ads allow brands to target their audience when they are shopping or searching for
information online (Google, 2022). This plan will target consumers looking for sustainable
products in two peak selling periods, Easter/Mother’s Day, and the Christmas season
(Kokoszka, 2018). The Pay-Per-Click cost of this platform will also allow Plant & Prosper to
manage their budget and adjust advertising to ensure appropriate ROI is being met.
6. Platform Objectives
Website
1. Increase site visits by 70%
2. Increase online purchases by 30%
The website will be a main indicator of whether our communication goals are being
met and all other media platforms will help achieve the goals for this platform.
Increased site visits and increased online purchases will show an overall increase in
brand awareness and purchasing is the main indicator of brand interactions.
Facebook
1. Increase Facebook followers to 50k in 12 Months (3.3k per month)
This is an increase of 40k but given the way this plan integrates email and will be
promoting liking the page this should be achievable.
2. Increase Click-Through-Rate to the website to 1%.
This slightly above the average across Facebook and in line with the beauty and
fitness CTR (Irvine, 2022). Although purchasing is the main indicator of brand
interactions, clicking through to the website is an indication of interest.
Instagram
1. Increase Instagram followers to 50k
Same comment as Facebook objective 1.
2. Achieve average engagements (Likes, comments, shares) of above 0.2%
This is slightly above the, all industry, average (Cucu, 2022) but given our
communication strategy focuses on giveaways and education to promote
engagement this should be achievable.
Influencer Seeding
1. Over the course of the year have 12 influencers post about our products.
This will work to improve brand awareness and encourage more followers.
Email Marketing
1. Increase the open rate to 20%
This is in line with the industry benchmark for consumer-packaged goods and is
slightly above the retail average (Campaign Monitor, 2022)
2. Achieve 2% CTR’s
This is in line with the industry benchmark for consumer-packaged goods (Campaign
Monitor, 2022). This is important to increase traffic to the website and will have a
significant sales impact.
In Person Event
1. Achieve on average 50 attendees per day. Totalling 350 for the week
This would indicate we have created a loyal customer base who are looking for more
ways to interact with the brand.
Google Ads
1. Increase CTR from google searches by 40%
By targeting consumers searching for specific products and sustainable good through
our keyword selection this should increase purchasing and engagement with the
brand.
7. Platform Synergy
All these platforms will work together to form strong integrated communication that will
impact consumers at each stage of the decision-making process. Synergy is said to arise
from the combination of different media types, the use of consistent designs and creating
integrated content across the media types (Naik & Peters, 2015). Plant & Prosper will do this
by ensuring all visual communication across the range of platforms presented above have a
similar photographic aesthetic and incorporate its logo along with an olive green and offwhite colour scheme. By creating consistency in our visual aspects and content the brand
will be able to build a positive perception that the brand can provide an easy way to switch
to sustainable products. The consumer journey between each platform ensure that the
platforms become interconnected. The monthly emails link through to the social media
giveaways and the giveaways encourage more people to like and follow the social media
accounts and then the other organic posts will encourage them back to website. The idea is
that by creating this circular pattern of brand connections, the engagement and interaction
with the brand will grow.
Figure 4. Circular pattern of brand connection
Brand awareness has been said to improve when the quality of the content presented by
the brand and a high level of interaction between brand and social media is achieved
(Dabbous & Barakat, 2020). Research also suggests that brands that proactively incentivise
online users will achieve higher levels of customer engagements (Liu, Liu, Wang, & Wen,
2021). This plan will work to increase interactions with social media users by creating
interesting on-topic content about sustainability issues and providing monthly giveaways.
The two communication objectives outlined in the previous section are closely related as
when brand awareness increases interactions with the brand should also increase. This plan
will use those interactions, such as sharing on social media, to then improve brand
awareness further.
8. Message Strategy
As noted above, all our communication will have consistent imagery style and use a specific
colour scheme. The platforms will use the brand logo on all images to reinforce the brands
image and connect the images together. We are also using a hashtag across all the social
media platforms.
Social Media (Facebook and Instagram)
Facebook and Instagram will be used in multiple ways and the main objective of the
communication is to encourage engagement and attract new customers to become part of
the circular connections discussed above. The organic posts on Facebook and Instagram will
be targeting individuals who are already engaged with the brand. As these consumers have
opted into following the brand, we can assume that they have an interest in sustainable
products. Interest is the main factor when crossing the selection barrier (Moriarty, Mitchell,
Wood, & Wells, 2019) which means our communication should have their attention.
Therefore, the communication and copy of these posts will focus on the Cognitive Facet and
help consumers comprehend the product offering. An example is provided in Appendix 1.
which highlights information on why reusable cotton pads are good for the environment.
From this, consumers will understand why this is being offered by the sustainable Plant &
Prosper brand and consider it as a practical alternative. The brand will use current imagery
and reshoot some items that need a more aesthetically pleasing product image.
Figure 5. Example of image that would be reshot (Plant & Prosper, 2022)
Both posts will link through to the website to ensure a smooth transition for interested
consumers and encourage them to act.
The giveaway post on Facebook and Instagram will be a moving image that flickers between
two images as shown in the example given. The moving image is to attract attention as this
post would be seen by consumers outside the brands followers as it will be shared by users
and boosted on Facebook. The idea is that a giveaway with moving imagery would help
overcome selective awareness in users who are not engaged with the brand already. By
offering giveaways the posts will target the Behavioural Facet of Effect as consumers are
encouraged to take an action (Moriarty, Mitchell, Wood, & Wells, 2019). In the example
provide (Appendix 2) consumers would need to follow the brand and comment a
sustainable tip to be in the running for the giveaway. This ensures only consumers
interested in sustainability begin following the brand and limits the exposure of the brand to
people just interested in free items. Other examples of competition copy could be to show
an image of a recent sustainable swap or answering a sustainability question.
Social media influencers will also be engaged. The message from these content creators will
be specific to their audience but we will provide them some instruction on what we they
need to cover (Appendix 8). A genuine review of the product is what we will be hoping to
achieve and by targeting opinion leaders with large eco-friendly followers we will be able to
expand our awareness within the niche market.
Event specific social media posts will also be used to promote the event and offer an
additional offline experience to our consumer base. Through the short caption and
interesting behind the scenes imagery the brand will be able to illicit feelings of intrigue and
create buzz around the event.
Email Marketing
Emails will seek to address sustainability issues and give engaged consumers another reason
to visit the website. Introducing how to’s and links to the blog will help build a succinct
message and cement Plant & Prosper as their go-to sustainable brand. The emails will build
upon the colour scheme and messaging presented on the website and offer advice on issues
that should resonate with the interested audience. Messaging will also include links through
to social media and link strongly to the monthly giveaways.
Google Ads
These ads are to ensure Plant & Prosper are front and centre for anyone searching for
sustainable products. The messaging focuses on eliciting a behavioural response and play
into the cognitive facet by offering the idea that it is easy to switch to sustainable products.
In-Person Event
The in-person event would be the crescendo of the full year campaign. It would be an
interactive event which would allow consumers to arrive, gather sustainable information
and switch their regular products to a sustainable, Plant & Prosper, products. The event
would work to increase brand awareness and interaction with the brand by having a photo
wall/staging which would be highlighted and used to encourage consumers to take photos
and share on social media thus creating user generated content (UGC). Research indicates
that user generated content can influence the perception and attitudes of consumers
toward eco-friendly actions (Han, McCabe, Wang, & Loong Chong, 2017). To further
encourage UGC, Customers who share on social media and use the hashtag
#switchplant&prosper will receive 20% off their purchases either on the day or online.
Offering the option for later would allow customers to go home, edit their photos and
upload later extending the impact of the UGC beyond that initial date. The event would also
be professionally photographed throughout, and this content can be used in future
advertising.
10.Media Scheduling
The following page provides a complete 12-month schedule for each media platform and
highlights which activations will be focused on the In-Person event.
The plan is using a pulsing strategy (Moriarty, Mitchell, Wood, & Wells, 2019), covering the
whole period with advertising and increasing platform coverage over 2 weeks in each
month. This is to ensure the platforms are integrated and linking each monthly email with
the monthly social media giveaways. It has been assumed that Plant & Prosper have a small
team and may not have someone specifically employed to look after their social media
accounts. Based on this and as quality content is more important than frequency (Stacey &
Brayden, 2021) this plan suggests only posting once week to social media.
The flighting schedule for Google Ads gives flexibility to trial and error different ads to
improve the return on investment (ROI) and possibly extend the Google Ads if the budget
allows.
The plan also has heightened advertising across Facebook and Instagram in the lead up to
the in-person event. This is to ensure we capture the total consumer base that would be
interested in attending. The Event itself could be said to be based on a flighting strategy
(Moriarty, Mitchell, Wood, & Wells, 2019) as the plan is that this will create ongoing UGC
past the date of that activation and consumers who did attend will remember this in the
future.
Table 1. Media Schedule
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52
Website Home Page
Facebook and Instagram
Static Post
Facebook Giveaway Post
Facebook Post Boost –
Giveaway Posts
Instagram Giveaway Post
& Story
Event Specific Socail Posts
– Boosted across
Facebook and Instagram
EDM’s 1 every month
In-Person Event
Influencer Seeding
Google Ads
UGC Content
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
Event Specific Communications
General Communications
Key
11.Budget
The below table outlines the investment required for the activations associated with this
IMC plan along with an explanation of how we came to these costings.

Item	Estimated Cost	Explanation of Cost
Website Home Page	$0	Owned media platform, there is no cost associated with updating this. If any new imagery is required, this cost will come from the budget which is against asset creation.
Facebook and Instagram Organic Post	$0	Owned media platform, there is no cost associated with posting on Facebook. If any new imagery is required, this cost will come from the budget which is against asset creation.
Facebook Giveaway Post	$840	Owned media platform, there is no cost associated with posting on Facebook. The cost here is based on the median cost of products sold by Plant & Prosper (Plant & Prosper, 2022) multiplied by 12.
Boosting of Facebook Giveaway Posts	$5,880	The plan is to boost the Giveaway post on Facebook for one week after the post goes live. We have budgeted $490 ($70 per day) per post but will begin with a smaller amount to ensure we are getting maximum return on investment.
Instagram Giveaway Post & Story Share	$840	Please see explanation for Facebook Giveaway Post.
Event Specific Facebook Posts – Boosted	$3,920	Owned media platform, there is no cost associated with posting on Facebook. The cost here is to boost the weekly event specific posts for one week each. We have budgeted $490 ($70 a day) for each post.

 

EDM (Electronic Direct Mail)	$4,000	As Plant & Prosper currently do not send frequent emails it is assumed that do not have the capacity to do this in house. The cost here is associated with engaging and online platform that will help with creation and sending of the EDM’s to Plant & Prospers database. This cost is based on MailChimp pricing for 20,000 contacts and allows some additional budget for overages (MailChimp, 2022).
In-Person Event	$36,950	This is the cost of hiring the venue for 9 days (2 days included for set up and pack down) in The Rocks, Sydney (NSW Government, 2021) plus $5k for hiring of furniture and plants. We have also added an additional $5k for printing of advertising materials and banners.
Influencer Seeding	$840	The plan is to engage influencers on a Contra Basis using products as our form of payment. The cost here is based on the median cost of products sold by Plant & Prosper (Plant & Prosper, 2022) multiplied by 12.
Google Ads	$15,000	This is the budget allocated to our two periods of Google Ad placements. The suggestion here is to start small and work out what works and make changes as we go to ensure we get appropriate return on Investment. As Google Ads allow you to choose your own budget, we do expect some of these funds to be left over.
UGC Content	$0	Content created by our customers and is free.
Asset Creation	$15,000	This is budget for any additional asset requirements, reshoot of products or designer engagement for social media posts. This also includes hiring of a professional for the in-person event which is Approximately $7.2k (Service Seeking, 2019)
Extra	$15,000	This budget is for any unexpected costs or expenses we have not fully captured in this budget plan.
Total	$98,270	Within $100K Budget

Table 2. Explanation of Costs Table
12.Evaluation of Effectiveness
Given the size of the Plant & Prosper business evaluating effectiveness may be difficult. They
will not have the budget to complete large scale tracking studies or memory tests as these
require contacting and collecting data from random consumers (Moriarty, Mitchell, Wood,
& Wells, 2019). The brand will however have various data points on which they can assess
the effectiveness of this campaign and many of the platforms used will interlink to one and
another. A main indicator of brand awareness will be the increase in Facebook and
Instagram followers. This can be tracked month on month and if the number of new
followers is increasing the campaign could be considered effective. Tracking month on
month will allow plant and prosper to make small changes to the artwork or copy used
across the other platforms that are driving users to follow on socials such as email and the
website. In the same way increases in the number of emails in their database would
indicate growing brand awareness and this links back into following on social media as
described above, the circular connection to the brand. This plan will also suggest that reach
data collected from Facebook and Instagram be used to evaluate if the plan is successful in
increasing the number of people who have heard about the brand.
As mentioned in previous sections the main indicator of increased interactions with the
brand would be sales. This is an easy data point to track. It could be further analysed
through scanner research (Moriarty, Mitchell, Wood, & Wells, 2019), the process of
collecting consumer buying information. As this IMC plan focuses on sales via the website
repeat customers and customer purchase patterns should be able to be worked out without
additional budget. If repeat customers are present this is a definite sign of increased
interactions. Engagement data from Facebook and Instagram (how many likes, comments &
shares) should also be used as an indicator of effectiveness. By tracking the behavioural
responses of the growing socials will ensure Plant & Prosper are on track to meet their
communication objectives.
Outside of the digital advertising covered, this plan also has an offline component in the InPerson event. The effectiveness of such an event is very difficult to evaluate and it will be
difficult to find reliable indicators of exposure (Moriarty, Mitchell, Wood, & Wells, 2019).
Achieving the attendee numbers highlighted above should be used as an indication that the
brand has built momentum and is acknowledged by the sustainable consumer market.
Overall, if this campaign is effective and manages to create the circular connections with the
brand there should be an increase in sales, social media followers and engagement data.
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2022). National, state and territory population. Canberra:
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Retrieved from
https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/national-state-and-territorypopulation/latest-release#states-and-territories
Barnhart, B. (2022, March 2). Social media demographics to inform your brand’s strategy in
2022. Retrieved from sproutsocial.com: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/newsocial-media-demographics/
Bhandari, R. S., & Bansal, A. (2018, March 18). Impact of Search Engine Optimization as a
Marketing Tool. Jindal Journal of Business Research, 7(1), 23-36. Retrieved from
https://doi-org.ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au/10.1177/2278682117754016
Campaign Monitor. (2022, July 20). Ultimate Email Marketing Benchmarks for 2022: By
Industry and Day. Retrieved from Guides:
https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/guides/email-marketingbenchmarks/
Champoux, V., Durgee, J., & McGlynn, L. (2021). Corporate Facebook pages: when “fans”
attack. The Journal of Business Strategy, 33(2), 22-30. Retrieved from https://www
proquest-com.ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au/docview/2439024047?pqorigsite=summon
Cucu, E. (2022, Febuary 24). [STUDY] 2022 Social Media Industry Benchmarks – Know Exactly
Where You Stand in Your Market. Retrieved from Socialinsider.io:
https://www.socialinsider.io/blog/social-media-industry-benchmarks/
Dabbous, A., & Barakat, K. A. (2020). Bridging the online offline gap: Assessing the impact of
brands’ social network content quality on brand awareness and purchase intention.
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 53. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.101966
FIBER. (2022). Social Media Statistics (Worldwide + Australia) 2021. Fiber.com.au. Retrieved
from https://www.fiber.com.au/post/social-media-statistics-worldwideaustralia#:~:text=Facebook%20Statistics&text=Facebook%20has%202.91%20billion%
20monthly,female%20and%2056.6%25%20are%20male.
Foster, J. K., McLelland, M. A., & Wallace, L. K. (2022). Brand avatars: impact of social
interaction on consumer–brand relationships. Journal of Research in Interactive
Marketing, 16(2). Retrieved from https://www-emeraldcom.ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JRIM-01-2020-
0007/full/html
Google. (2022, July 20). Benefits of online advertising and Google Ads. Retrieved from
Google Ad Help: https://support.google.com/google
ads/answer/6123875?hl=en#:~:text=Online%20advertising%20allows%20you%20to,
those%20people%20clicked%20your%20ads.
Google Maps. (2022, 06 17). Emma Fraser Map – IMC Plan A. Retrieved from Google Maps:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1i0yyaWbGCXeifUCNZMJfiqpO1Qq
gH-0&ll=-21.23077019798729%2C110.69830263526802&z=4
Han, W., McCabe, S., Wang, Y., & Loong Chong, A. Y. (2017). Evaluating user-generated
content in social media: an effective approach to encourage greater proenvironmental behavior in tourism? Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 600-614.
Retrieved from https://doiorg.ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au/10.1080/09669582.2017.1372442
Irvine, M. (2022, March 27). Facebook Ad Benchmarks for YOUR Industry. Retrieved from
Wordstream.com: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2019/11/12/facebookad-benchmarks
Johnstone, L., & Lindh, C. (2017). The sustainability-age dilemma: A theory of (un)planned
behaviour via influencers. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 17(1), 127-139. Retrieved
from https://doi-org.ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au/10.1002/cb.1693
Kapferer, J.-N., & Anne, M.-D. (2020). Are millennials really more sensitive to sustainable
luxury? A cross-generational international comparison of sustainability
consciousness when buying luxury. Journal of Brand Management, 27(1), 35-47.
doi:10.1057/s41262-019-00165-7
Kirsch, K. (2022, July 24). The Ultimate List of Email Marketing Stats for 2022. Retrieved
from Hubspot.com: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/email-marketing-stats
Kokoszka, P. (2018, November 22). What are the biggest dates in retail? Retrieved from
retail-insight-network.com: https://www.retail-insightnetwork.com/roundup/biggest-dates-in-retail/
Laurie, S., & Mortimer, K. (2019). How to achieve true integration: the impact of integrated
marketing communication on the client/agency relationship. Journal of Marketing
Management, 35(3-4). doi:10.1080/0267257X.2019.1576755
Limniou, M., Ascroft, Y., & McLean, S. (2022). Differences between Facebook and Instagram
Usage in Regard to Problematic Use and Well-Being. Journal of Technology in
Behavioral Science, 7, 141-150. Retrieved from https://link-springercom.ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au/article/10.1007/s41347-021-00229-z
Liu, Y., Liu, X., Wang, M., & Wen, D. (2021). How to Catch Customers’ Attention? A Study on
the Effectiveness of Brand Social Media Strategies in Digital Customer Engagement.
Frontiers in Psychology. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.800766
Mackay, W. (2021, November 12). The Consumer Sustainability Journey. Retrieved from
BCG.com: https://www.bcg.com/publications/2021/the-consumer-sustainabilityjourney
MailChimp. (2022, July 28). Marketing Platform. Retrieved from mailchimp.com:
https://mailchimp.com/en-gb/pricing/marketing/
Mcilviane, H. (2016, November 2). Who is the typical Aussie online shopper? Retrieved from
Internet Retailing: https://internetretailing.com.au/typical-aussie-online-shopper/
Meiling, B. (2017, March 6). Grandesign Creates the Experience; The Audience Creates the
Buzz. San Diego Business Journal, 38(10), 22-13. Retrieved from https://wwwproquestcom.ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au/docview/1876665350?OpenUrlRefId=info:xri/sid:su
mmon&accountid=10499
Moriarty, S., Mitchell, N., Wood, C., & Wells, W. (2019). Advertising & IMC: Principles and
Practice (11th ed.). Harlow, United Kingdom: Pearson Education Ltd.
Naik, P. A., & Peters, K. (2015). True Synergy for Real Effects: How to Control Integrated
Marketing Successfully. GfK Marketing Intelligence Review, 7(1), 31-41. Retrieved
from https://www-proquestcom.ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au/docview/1683318238?pq-origsite=summon
Nijssen-Smith, L., & L’Huillier, M. (2021, September 8). Sustainability isn’t what it used to be.
Retrieved from ey.com.au: https://www.ey.com/en_au/future-consumerindex/sustainability-isn-t-what-it-used-to-be
NSW Government. (2021, August). THE ROCKS Pop Up Design Guidelines. Retrieved from
Therocks.com:
https://www.therocks.com/cmspages/getamazonfile.aspx?path=~therocksmediat
herocksmedialibrarytenantspop%20upspmnsw-pop-upguidelines.pdf&hash=6babaa24d1a864108f7b6abf608f40d696e5fd2c70d0c199f6dc3
9904a38f6aa
NSW Government. (2022, April 9). Key facts about NSW. Retrieved from
https://www.nsw.gov.au/: https://www.nsw.gov.au/about-nsw/key-facts-about-nsw
O’Keefe, A. (2021, April 8). Average Salary in Australia by Age & Industry. Retrieved from
ManofMany: https://manofmany.com/lifestyle/advice/average-australian-salary
Petro, G. (2022, March 11). Consumers Demand Sustainable Products And Shopping
Formats. Retrieved from Forbes.com:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregpetro/2022/03/11/consumers-demandsustainable-products-and-shopping-formats/?sh=586513e66a06
Plant & Propser. (2022, June 25). About Us. Retrieved from Plant & Prosper:
https://www.plantandprosper.com.au/pages/about-us
Plant & Prosper. (2022, June 25). Products. Retrieved from Plant & Prosper:
https://www.plantandprosper.com.au/collections/all
Plant & Prosper. (2022, July 23). Safety Razor. Retrieved from Plant & Prosper:
https://www.plantandprosper.com.au/collections/bathroom/products/plastic-freerazor
Plant & Prosper. (2022, June 25). Stockists. Retrieved from Plant & Prosper:
https://www.plantandprosper.com.au/pages/stockists
Ramshaw, A. (2022, July). Social Media Statistics for Australia (Updated July 2022). Retrieved
from GENROE: https://www.genroe.com/blog/social-media-statisticsaustralia/13492
Riserbato, R. (2022, July 24). 12 Benefits of Email Marketing Your Marketing Team Must
Know. Retrieved from Hubspot.com: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/benefitsof-email-marketing
Service Seeking. (2019, August 23). How Much Does a Professional Photographer Charge per
Hour? Retrieved from serviceseeking.com.au:
https://www.serviceseeking.com.au/blog/cost-of-a-professionalphotographer/#:~:text=In%20New%20South%20Wales%2C%20photography,average
%20price%20of%20%24100%2Fhr.
Sharma, N., Saha, R., & Rameshwar, R. (2019, June 17). “I don’t buy LED bulbs but I switch
off the lights”: Green consumption versus sustainable consumption. Journal of Indian
Business Research, 11(2). doi:https://www-emerald
com.ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JIBR-01-2018-
0040/full/html#sec010
Stacey, M., & Brayden, C. (2021, June 16). How Often to Post to Social Media in 2022.
Retrieved from blog.hootsuite.com: https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-often-to-poston-social-media/
The Yellow Pages. (2020). Social Media Report. The Yellow Pages. Retrieved from
https://www.yellow.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/07/Yellow-SocialMedia-Report-2020-Consumer-Statistics.pdf
Wallis, S. (2021). Finder Green Consumer Report 2021. Finder.com.au. Retrieved from
https://www.finder.com.au/finder-green-consumer-report-2021
Woolworths. (2022, July 23). Schick Womens Razor Exacta 2 5 Pack. Retrieved from
Woolworths.com.au:
https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/704059/schick-womensrazor-exacta-2
Zappavign, M. (2015). Searchable talk: the linguistic functions of hashtags. Social Semiotics,
274-291. Retrieved from https://doiorg.ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au/10.1080/10350330.2014.996948
Appendix – 9. Draft Communication Materials
1. Website Home Page
2. Facebook and Instagram Organic Post
Reference for Copy information: https://easyecotips.com/reusable-makeup-remover-pads-vs-disposable-pads-or-wipes/
3. Facebook Giveaway Post – Boosted
4. Instagram Giveaway Post & Story Share
5. Event Specific Social Posts – Boosted across Facebook and Instagram
6. Monthly EDM’s
7. In-Person Event (Mood Board)
8. Influencer Brief
9. Google Ads