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 - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, 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.

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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

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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 -

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Campaign Condom has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Campaign Condom are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.

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.

Analytics focus

– Campaign Condom is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by V. Kasturi Rangan, Janet Montgomery can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.

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.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Campaign Condom is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.

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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 -

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.

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.

High dependence on existing supply chain

– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Campaign Condom supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Campaign Condom vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

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.

Need for greater diversity

– Campaign Condom has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Campaign Condom is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Campaign Condom needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Campaign Condom, firm in the HBR case study Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

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.

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.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Campaign Condom has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

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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 -

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.

Reconfiguring business model

– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Campaign Condom to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Campaign Condom is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

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.

Buying journey improvements

– Campaign Condom can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Campaign Condom can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Campaign Condom operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Campaign Condom can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Sales & Marketing segment.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Campaign Condom can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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 -

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Campaign Condom high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.

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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Campaign Condom in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.

Backlash against dominant players

– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Campaign Condom business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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 .

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.

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.

High level of anxiety and lack of motivation

– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Campaign Condom needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Capital market disruption

– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Campaign Condom.

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.

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.

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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Campaign Condom has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Campaign Condom needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.

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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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