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CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ………………………………………………………… 3 MARKET RESEARCH .…………………………………………………………… 4-5 TARGET MARKET PROFILE ……………………………………………………. 6 SITUATION ANALYSIS …………………………………………………………… 7 IMC STRATEGY & OBJECTIVES ………………………………………………. 8 CREATIVE BRIEF ………………………………………………………………… 9 IMC DELIVERABLES …………………………………………………………….. 10-12 SOCIAL MEDIA INITIATIVES ………………………………………….............. 13-17 MEDIA CONSIDERATION SETS & RATIONALE ……………………………. 18-19 MEDIA PLAN & BUDGET ……………………………………………………….. 20 EVALUATION METHODS ……………………………………………………….. 21 SOURCES …………………………………………………………………………. 22

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY For runners, having a recovery drink that encompasses the health benefits of a solid food while offering the hydration of water is essential. K Water offers both. With the potassium of two bananas, this beverage is a perfect recover alternative that skips the stress of a gross, mushy banana in your gym bag. Our research was focused on uncovering the potential that this product holds. Our objective was to determine how to better compete in the existing beverage industry, and to gain further insights into the market. Our target market is Millennial runners, between the ages of 18-34. This campaign for K Water accentuates the health benefits of the product and targets the key consumers within this market: the jogger, the runner, and the competitive racer. The strategy that we created raises brand awareness for K Water as a recovery drink to help runners “Run Fast. Refuel Faster”.

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MARKET RESEARCH As we collected research for re-branding Banana Water, we focused on uncovering the potential that this product holds. We aimed to determine the how to better compete in the existing beverage industry. We originally believed it would be best to market to millennial health conscious individuals. After extensive research, we were able to narrow that target market down to Millennial Runners. To better market to these individuals, we needed to gain insight into their way of thinking. What do these individuals think about flavored waters? What do they think about Bananas? Would they be interested in product that delivered the same nutrients as 2.5 bananas? Our objective while doing research was to determine how to craft the most effective marketing strategy to reach Millennial Runners. Our primary market research included surveys, individual interviews, market studies done by Mintel, and medical opinion articles. Through these methods, we were able to gain the following insights: 1. What do consumers think about Bananas? Advantages: The majority of people (89% according to our survey results) are aware of the health benefits of bananas, especially for runners: Potassium in Bananas stimulates your muscles, nerves and brain cells, and as a bonus, can also help reduce blood pressure and risk of stroke. While the health benefits are clear, bananas are not always preferred because they have a gross texture, they are inconvenient to carry around, they are hard to chew down after working out, they rot/perish quickly, they smell gross when it goes bad, and they can be easily squished in your gym bag. For this reason, consumers are likely to be attracted to a banana in a bottle. It is a more convenient way to get the nutrients that consumers seek from bananas.

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Consumers want to see:

§ More 100% natural beverages § More flavored waters § More beverages with health benefits

(Source: Mintel) Survey respondents said they are likely consume a natural recovery drink that has the nutrients of over 2.5 bananas. 2. Would it sell well as a recovery drink? Nutritional and Performance drinks have experienced a 5.1% increase in sales from 2014 to 2015, proving that the market for nutritional drinks is currently increasing and growing throughout the years. (Source: Mintel) 3. What social medias are Millennial Runners active on? 95 percent use Facebook, 39 percent use Instagram, and 27 percent use Twitter (Source: Runners World Interest) 4. What benefits could K Water provide as a recovery drink? The Potassium in Bananas provide benefits such as muscle stimulation, cramp reduction, and accelerated recovery times.

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OUR AUDIENCE

The target market for Banana Water includes males and females ages 18-34. They are health conscious, active, and always on the go. They are looking to meet their fitness goals and have fun while doing it.

Susan (age 32) is a married personal trainer with a two-year-old daughter. Running around 50-80 miles a week, she lives an incredibly healthy lifestyle, and is conscious about what she puts into her body. She runs two marathons a year and sticks to a disciplined running schedule the rest of the year. She shops a farmers market every Saturday before going to Pilates.

Mark (age 26) is a young professional living in the city who regularly goes for 5 mile runs along the lake before work. On the weekends he likes to either run with his dog or go for long bike rides with his friends. Mark recently signed up for his first triathlon which he will be participating in with a team from work.

Samantha (age 19) is a sophomore in college who regularly uses social media as inspiration to meet her health and fitness goals. She follows health trends until she gets bored of them, then goes back to eating ice cream out of the pint after a 2 mile run. She runs occasional 5k’s with friends.

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CREATIVE BRIEF

Why are we advertising? The purpose of the campaign is to increase brand awareness and promote health benefits of Banana Water Who are we talking to? Runners (18-34) who want consistent hydration and nutrition after their runs. What do they currently think? “I hate eating bananas after a run because they’re gross and hard to choke down.” What would we like them to think? “Banana Water makes it easy for me to get the potassium I need without having to actually eat a banana after I run.” What is the single most persuasive idea we can convey? Banana Water is like a banana in a bottle. It will make it faster and more convenient for runners to get the potassium plus other nutrients they need in order to improve their running performance. Why should they believe it? Banana Water is all natural and contains the potassium equivalent to 2 medium sized bananas in every bottle. What is the tone or personality of the campaign? Motivational; Emphasizing the importance of Banana Water being the most convenient and fastest method to receive key nutrients. Tagline/Slogan:

Run fast. Refuel faster. Are there any constraints or mandatories? Nutritional Facts, logo, Elmhurst Naturals logo, tagline.

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IMC DELIVERABLES In order to spread brand awareness and enhance purchase action, we will place advertisements and sales promotions in both traditional and non-traditional platforms including print publications and digital spaces that reach our target market.

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PRINT AD: INSTAGRAM FACEBOOK TWITTER

Banner Ad:

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Sales Promotion: This coupon will be inserted in race swag bags that runners pick up with their bib number prior to a race.

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SOCIAL MEDIA INITIATIVES In order to spread brand awareness and engage with our target market, serving as a supporting promotional platform for the campaign, K Water will establish presence on several social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

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Facebook:

The K Water Facebook page will serve as an engagement tool for all K Water friends. It will be primarily used so runners can get to know the product, be exposed to all of the “Run Fast, Refuel Faster” campaign promotions, and to invite runners to participate in K Water promotional activities and events. One post per day will be made, purposely aimed to create discussion with our consumers and incentivizing them to know our product by offering online promotions, giveaways, etc.

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Twitter: @KWater will essentially be used to promote K Water’s tagline: “Run Fast, Refuel Faster” and to enhance brand awareness. Encouraging consumers to tweet #RefuelFaster #KWater will permit them to engage with our campaign and spread brand awareness within the Twitter platform. @KWater Tweets will vary between 25-30 per day.

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Instagram:

The @KWater Instagram account will be used to promote the “Run Fast, Refuel Faster” tagline and enhance brand awareness by posting a minimum of three times a day. In addition to having promotional Instagram photos, we will encourage consumers to upload photos of them running with K Water and using the hashtag #RefuelFaster and #KWater. K Water will also partner with other Instagram accounts such as fitness bloggers, celebrity endorsements and wellness accounts to enhance brand awareness and create credibility.

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Pinterest:

K Water’s Pinterest account will give consumers the opportunity to access post-workout smoothie recipes made with K Water, advertisements and running regimes made by professional trainers to motivate our consumers to try our product. Our Pinterest account will post once a day.

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MEDIA CONSIDERATION SETS & RATIONALE

Media outlets were strategically selected to blend traditional and nontraditional platforms including print, television, digital, and social platforms. Overall, our campaign media strategy aims for consistency throughout the six-month-long Run Fast, Refuel fast campaign to maximize our budget while achieving our campaign goals.

Magazines Due to the accessibility of this medium, and the fact that is tangent for a longer period of time, aids in the connectivity to the product. It also creates a sense of satisfaction seeing our product in magazines out target audience knows and loves. Although magazines are similar to newspapers in the way that they are slowly fleeting and becoming increasingly outdated, our target is likely to pick up a physical copy of a magazine if the opportunity was presented to them. For placement of our print ad, we selected Women’s Health, Men’s Health, Runner’s World and Trail Runner as our magazine outlets. These four magazines will reach over 60 million people in total; the majority being in our target demographic. Magazines such as Runner’s World and Trail Runner fit our strategy perfectly because they “provide all runners—men and women, from beginners to marathoners—with the advice and information they need to pursue their goals, the inspiration, and entertainment they crave, with a sense of authentic community they won't find anywhere else.”

Television Millennials spend about four hours of their leisure time a day watching television. We chose prime-time shows that match our target market’s preferences and time when they are most tuned in. With Limitless, Quantico, and American Ninja Games, we aim to grab the attention by pairing our ads with the shows they love and watch on a regular basis.

Online Every modern consumer is plugged in all the time and constantly using these mediums to acquire knowledge and find the best deals. Our Millennial target are glues to their phones and laptops, so well strategized ads that can reach them through this portal will be able to substantially affect the outcome of our campaign. In addition to the Runner’s World website, we will use Spotify as platforms for banner and pop-up advertising in this campaign. We aim to use the sites like Runner’s World because many people use this platform as a place to seek health and running advice, and Spotify as well since 72% of

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its listeners are Millennials who are able to integrate music into their day-to-day fitness routine.

Social Social media is wildly popular with our Millennial target. By using promotional tweets and Facebook posts, this will enhance consumer awareness of K Water and invite them to be an active part of the conversation. We will have promotional Instagram photos that will encourage consumers to use the hashtag #refuelfaster, as well as fitness celebrity endorsement posts. We will also maintain a presence on Pinterest specific to our campaign, including advertisements and healthy recipes including our product.

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MEDIA PLAN & BUDGET

2016 MEDIA SCHEDULE

Total $7,864,804

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EVALUTION METHODS We will measure the success of our promotional tools by using message, online and behavioral evaluations. Message: To measure the brand awareness of K Water, we will assess the performance of the campaign by using recall testing and recognition testing to see how well consumers are responding to our message. We will track consumers’ attitudes before and after the campaign to determine if our content was able to change their beliefs and perceptions of K Water as the new version of Banana Water. Online: To measure our online tactics, we will keep track of click-through rates, dwell time, impressions and web chatter. Behavior: Finally, we will evaluate the consumers’ purchase behaviors by looking closely at our sales, response rates and redemption rates.

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WORK CITED “Runner’s World Media Kit.” Runner’s World Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov 2016. “Women’s Health Media Kit.” Women’s Health Magazine. N.p. n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2016. “Men’s Health Media Kit.” Men’s Health Magazine. N.p. n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2016. “Advertise with Trail Runner”. Trail Runner Magazine. N.p. n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2016 Steinberg, Brian. “TV Ad Prices: Football, ‘Empire,’ ‘Walking Dead,’ ‘Big Bang Theory’ Top The List.” Variety. N.p., 29 Sept. 2015. Web 12 Nov. 2016. “How Much Does it Cost to Advertise on Pandora?” Internet Marketing Webpage FX. N.p. n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2016. “How Millennials Consumer TV Depends on Which Stage of Life They’re In.” AdWeek. N.p., n.d. Web 14 Nov. 2016 “All About Banana Potassium.” Chiquita Bana Potassium. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2016 “What Should I Eat After a Morning Workout?” LIVESTRONG.COM. Leaf Group, 10 Jan. 2014. Web. 7 Nov. 2016. “Benefit of Eating a Banana for Sports.” Healthy Eating SF Gate. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2016 “Why Are Bananas Good for Athletes?” LIVESTRONG.COM. Leaf Group, 13 Mar. 2014. Web. 7 Nov 2016. “New Study Looks at What Millennial Runners Want.” Runner’s World. N.p., 19 Feb. 2016. Web. 7 Nov. 2016. “Non Alcoholic Beverages at Restaurants – US.” Mintel. N.p. May 2013. Web. 20 Nov. 2016