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Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy


Ad Council wished to run an educational campaign aimed at preventing the spread of AIDS. They were challenged to find acceptable ways to address this very sensitive subject matter--ways that the media and the public would approve. One of the big challenges was to make the word "condom" acceptable to the TV networks as condom use can prevent the spread of the HIV virus. The case gives a brief explanation of the disease and the reasons why Ad Council felt this campaign was necessary. Also outlines the target groups selected and basic strategy. The primary question is "How will this campaign get media approval?"

Authors :: V. Kasturi Rangan, Janet Montgomery

Topics :: Sales & Marketing

Tags :: Health, Marketing, Public relations, Social enterprise, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy" written by V. Kasturi Rangan, Janet Montgomery includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Campaign Condom facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Health, Marketing, Public relations, Social enterprise and Sales & Marketing.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Campaign Condom, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Campaign Condom operates in.

According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.




SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix


SWOT analysis of Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Campaign Condom
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Campaign Condom




Strengths Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Campaign Condom in Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy Harvard Business Review case study are -

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Campaign Condom has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.

Strong track record of project management

– Campaign Condom is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Learning organization

- Campaign Condom is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Campaign Condom is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Campaign Condom digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Campaign Condom has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.

Organizational Resilience of Campaign Condom

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Campaign Condom does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Diverse revenue streams

– Campaign Condom is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Campaign Condom has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Campaign Condom has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Campaign Condom has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.

High brand equity

– Campaign Condom has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Campaign Condom to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Training and development

– Campaign Condom has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Campaign Condom in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Campaign Condom in the sector have low bargaining power. Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Campaign Condom to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.






Weaknesses Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy are -

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Campaign Condom is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Campaign Condom needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Campaign Condom to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Campaign Condom 's lucrative customers.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Campaign Condom has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy, is just above the industry average. Campaign Condom needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy, it seems that the employees of Campaign Condom don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, V. Kasturi Rangan, Janet Montgomery suggests that, Campaign Condom is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Campaign Condom has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Campaign Condom even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy HBR case study mentions - Campaign Condom takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Campaign Condom has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Campaign Condom has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.

Lack of clear differentiation of Campaign Condom products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Campaign Condom needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.




Opportunities Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy are -

Leveraging digital technologies

– Campaign Condom can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Campaign Condom has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Campaign Condom to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Campaign Condom to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Campaign Condom to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Campaign Condom can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Manufacturing automation

– Campaign Condom can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Campaign Condom can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Campaign Condom can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Campaign Condom can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.

Developing new processes and practices

– Campaign Condom can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Campaign Condom has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Campaign Condom to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy case study. Campaign Condom can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Campaign Condom in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Campaign Condom to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Campaign Condom in the consumer business. Now Campaign Condom can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Identify volunteer opportunities

– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Campaign Condom can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.




Threats Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy are -

Environmental challenges

– Campaign Condom needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Campaign Condom can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Campaign Condom can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

New competition

– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Campaign Condom in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Campaign Condom is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Campaign Condom can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Campaign Condom with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Regulatory challenges

– Campaign Condom needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Sales & Marketing industry regulations.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Campaign Condom can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy .

Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc

– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.

Aging population

– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.

Instability in the European markets

– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Campaign Condom will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy, Campaign Condom may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .

Increasing wage structure of Campaign Condom

– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Campaign Condom.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy Template, Example


Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants. We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –

First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.

Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.

Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Campaign Condom needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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