AF7420 Chap.6 Situation Analysis and Campaign Planning
Situation Analysis and Campaign Planning
Everything begins with situation analysis
The course defines situation analysis as collecting data to identify the trends, forces and conditions that could influence a business's performance and its choice of strategy. Three methods are taught in widening order of closeness.
PEST scans political, economic, sociocultural and technological factors, and the handout applies each to the film industry: censorship and tax policy, ticket prices and advertising costs, changing tastes and social platforms, and new production, projection and streaming technology, including cheap mobile tools that let user content into the market.
The 3C model looks at company, customer and competitor and places the sweet spot where the company's capability meets a customer need that rivals do not already serve. SWOT looks closest, at the project itself and its market.
The SWOT that goes nowhere
The chapter treats SWOT as a clinic because it is the tool most often misused.
Strengths and weaknesses are internal to the project; opportunities and threats come from the market. Each line must be specific, current and connected to a later decision, or it is decoration.
A rebuilt example shows a list of adjectives turning into a star-led publicity plan, a digital-first media mix, a holiday date and a release a week after a rival franchise.
A plan with a sequence
The lecture notes give the order for starting a marketing plan: a market overview, a situation analysis with SWOT, STP, SMART objectives, creative materials and an integrated campaign.
A separate handout sets out six steps for a campaign: situational analysis; the communications opportunity with objectives, a unique selling point and key audiences; agency selection through a brief and a pitch; development and implementation, covering the mix, creative execution and media; evaluation before, during and after through tracking studies; and future planning with reminders and follow-up campaigns.
Objectives that can be checked
A wish to raise awareness cannot be evaluated.
The chapter shows a SMART objective for a film, specific in segment, measurable in admissions, achievable against comparable titles, relevant to the chosen segment and bounded in time.
Beyond one campaign
The same analysis sits inside the business proposal for a content start-up and the application for an international project market, both of which rely on market analysis to make the rest of the document credible.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Situation analysis defined
- 02
PEST for the film industry
- 03
The 3C model and the sweet spot
- 04
Internal against external in SWOT
- 05
Rebuilding a weak SWOT
- 06
The order of a marketing plan
- 07
Six steps of campaign planning
- 08
SMART objectives and proposal documents
Worked example · free
Sort factors into PEST and SWOT
- 2Place the tax incentive and justify it.
- 2Place the lead actor and the budget as internal factors.
- 2Place the rival release as external.
- 2Name one decision implied by each fact.
Key terms
- Situation Analysis
- Collecting data on the trends, forces and conditions that could influence a business's performance and its choice of strategy.
- PEST Analysis
- A scan of political, economic, sociocultural and technological factors in the wider environment of a business.
- Sweet Spot
- In the 3C model, the area where a company's capabilities meet customers' needs outside what competitors already offer.
- SWOT Analysis
- An analysis of internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats relative to an objective.
- SMART Objective
- An objective that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound, so that a campaign can be evaluated against it.
- Creative Brief
- The document that tells an agency the objective, audience and message of a campaign before it is invited to pitch.
Situation Analysis and Campaign Planning FAQ
What is the difference between PEST, 3C and SWOT?
They look at different distances. PEST scans the wide environment through political, economic, sociocultural and technological factors. The 3C model compares the company, its customers and its competitors to find a sweet spot. SWOT looks closest, at the project's internal strengths and weaknesses and the market's opportunities and threats.
Why do SWOT analyses lose marks?
Usually because they list adjectives that lead nowhere, put market trends among the project's strengths, or use facts from a past season. A useful SWOT is specific, places each line in the right quadrant, and connects every line to a later decision about the date, the message, the channel or the partner.
What are the six steps of campaign planning?
Situational analysis; identifying the communications opportunity with objectives, a unique selling point and key audiences; selecting an agency through a creative brief and a pitch; developing and implementing the campaign across the mix, creative execution and media; evaluating it before, during and after; and planning follow-up to stay in consumers' minds.
Assessment move
Write a four-line SWOT for the film you are following, one line per quadrant, and beside each line write the decision it causes. Then turn the plan's main aim into a SMART objective with a number and a date. If any line causes no decision, delete it and look for a better fact.
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