Wella is Germany's largest--and the world's second-largest--producer of hairdressing products for home and professional use.

Wella AG operates in Darmstadt as the head company of the worldwide Wella Group. In the latter half of the 1980s, Wella took a significant step forward into the international hygiene-products market. This period was marked by a number of acquisitions and diversifications into new fields, by expansion into new markets, and by heavy investment in new production technology. Subsidiary companies of international importance include the French companies Parfums Rochas and Ren Garraud.

1. Critically assess the impact of the main elements of the marketing communications process on market behavior and dynamics Marketing communications is a management process through which an organization engages with its various audiences. Through understanding an audiences communications environment, organizations seek to develop and present messages for their identified stakeholder groups, before evaluating and acting upon the responses. By conveying messages that are of significant value, they encourage audiences encouraged to offer attitudinal and behavioral responses. Marketing communication functions within a marketing framework. The primary goal of marketing communication is to reach a defined audience to affect its behavior by informing, persuading, and reminding. Marketing communication acquires new customers for brands by building awareness and encouraging trial. Marketing communication also maintains a brand's current customer base by reinforcing their purchase behavior by providing additional information about the brand's benefits. A secondary goal of marketing communication is building and reinforcing relationships with customers, prospects, retailers, and other important stakeholders. Successful marketing communication relies on a combination of options called the promotional mix. These options include advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, and personal selling. The Internet has also become a powerful tool for reaching certain important audiences. The role each element takes in a marketing communication program relies in part on whether a company employs a push strategy or a pull strategy. A pull strategy

relies more on consumer demand than personal selling for the product to travel from the manufacturer to the end user. The demand generated by advertising, public relations, and sales promotion "pulls" the good or service through the channels of distribution. A push strategy, on the other hand, emphasizes personal selling to push the product through these channels.

2. Explain the marketing communications structure, processes and links between each stage of the process

Marketing communications normally covers personal selling , media advertising , direct response marketing , sales promotion and public relations. The range of activities / tools available to an organizations to communicate with its target

3. Explain

the

role

of

the

marketing

communications

plan

within

an

organizations strategy and culture

Marketing communications recognize the increasing role that the organization plays in the marketing process, and the impact that organizational factors can have on the minds of audiences. As the structure, composition and sheer number of offerings in some markets proliferate, so differences between products diminish , to the extent that it has become much more difficult to differentiate between products. This results in a decrease in the number of available and viable positioning opportunities. One way to resolve this problem is to use the parent organisation as an umbrella, to provide greater support and leadership in the promotion of any offerings hence the earlier reference to the emerging strength of corporate marketing. A view that is becoming increasingly popular is that corporate strategy should be supported by the organizations key stakeholders if the strategy is to be successful. Strategy must be communicated in such a way that the messages are consistent through time, and are targeted accurately at appropriate stakeholder audiences. Each organization must constantly guard against the transmission of confusing messages, whether this be through the way in which the telephone is answered, the navigability of a website, the impact of sales literature, or the way salespersons approach prospective clients. Many organizations recognize the usefulness and importance of good public relations. This is because of the high credibility attached to the messages received and the relatively low operational costs. As a result, the use of corporate advertising has grown. Finally, marketing communications recognize the development of channel or trade marketing. Many organizations have moved away from the traditional control of a brand manager to a system that focuses upon the needs of distributors and intermediaries in the channel. Organizations in the channel, work together to satisfy their individual and collective objectives. The degree of conflict and cooperation in the channel network depends upon a number of factors, but some of the most important are the form and quality of the communications between member organizations. This means that marketing communications must address the specific communication needs of members of the distribution network and of those other stakeholders who impact on or who influence the performance of the network. Indeed, marketing communications recognize the need to contribute to the communications in the channel network, to support and sustain the web of relationships. For example, many organizations in the airline industry have shifted their attention to the needs of the travel trade, customers and competitors. United Airlines, British Airways, KLM,

Qantas and other airlines have changed their approach, attitude and investment priorities so that channel partnerships and alliances are of particular priority. Now there is a clear emphasis on working with their partners and their competitors (e.g. British Airways and KLM), and this entails agreement, collaboration and joint promotional activity in order that all participants achieve their objectives.

4. Critically evaluate how tools of the communications mix can be coordinated

effectively The marketing communications mix consists of a set of tools (disciplines) that can be used in various combinations and different degrees of intensity in order to communicate with a target audience. In addition to these tools or methods of communication, there are the media, or the means by which marketing communications messages are conveyed. Tools and media should not be confused, as they have different characteristics and seek to achieve different goals. There are five principal marketing communications tools : advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing and personal selling. However, there have been some major changes in the environment and in the way organizations communicate with their target audiences. New technology has given rise to a raft of different media, while people have developed a variety of ways to spend their leisure time. This is referred to as media and audience fragmentation, and organizations have developed fresh combinations of the promotional mix in order to reach their audiences effectively. For example, there has been a dramatic rise in the use of direct-response media as direct marketing becomes adopted as part of the marketing plan for many products. The Internet and digital technologies have made possible new interactive forms of communication, where the receivers have greater responsibility for their part in the communication process. An increasing using communicate themselves relations) and also brands. number public both of organizations are to about public relations messages (corporate

messages about their

5. Examine the importance to marketing communications activities of developing long-term relationships with customers, agencies, and stakeholders

The relationship marketing process is usually described as one of establishing, developing and maintaining successful relational exchanges (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). The essence of these activities is to decrease exchange uncertainty and to create customer collaboration and commitment through gradual development and ongoing adjustment of mutual norms and shared routines. If customers are retained over several transactions, both buyers and sellers may profit from the experience gained through previous transactions. The basic aim is to increase profits by attaining a rising proportion of specific customers' lifetime spending rather than to maximize profits from individual transactions (Palmer, 1994). Thus, the development of customer-supplier relationships may be described as a set of cumulative phases during which the trustworthiness of suppliers and buyers is tested and mutual norms governing exchange activities are developed. Several relationship marketing scholars agree that communication is a fundamental aspect of relationship development. Communication is the quintessence of coordinating behaviour in any organizational setting, and marketing relationships are no exception (Cummings, 1984; Hutt and Speh, 1995). Communication is said to be the glue that holds together an inter-organizational channel of distribution (Mohr and Nevin, 1990). In the present paper, communication is defined as the human act of transferring a message to others and making it understood in a meaningful way. This definition focuses on the efficacy of communication in producing the desired effect rather than on the frequency or modality of information exchange. In marketing relationships, communication plays a central role in providing an understanding of the exchange partners' intentions and capabilities, thus forming the groundwork for relationship development. Communication is a prerequisite for building trust among exchange partners (Anderson and Narus, 1990). The quality and sharing of information influence the success of relationships (Mohr and Spekman, 1994) and are a central part of the relationship atmosphere (Hallen and Sandstrom, 1991). Moreover, communication informs the exchange actors when they develop their conception of the prospective partner's exchange intentions (Andersen and Srensen, 1999). Hence,

careful design of communication means and forms may play a decisive role in the relationship marketing process.