Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign
In the several years preceding 1992, there had been a dramatic rise in the public's concern for environmental issues. Yet the Roper Organization reported that fewer than one in ten Americans made personal efforts to help solve environmental problems on a regular basis. The Environmental Federation approached the Advertising Council in New York to develop an advertising campaign to motivate individuals and businesses to modify their actions to restore and protect the environment. The case details three phases of campaign development: research, strategy, and execution.
Swot Analysis of "Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign" written by V. Kasturi Rangan, Jayne D. Kramer includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Campaign Advertising facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social enterprise, Sustainability and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Campaign Advertising, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Campaign Advertising 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 Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Campaign Advertising
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 Advertising
Strengths Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Campaign Advertising in Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Campaign Advertising 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 Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Campaign Advertising 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, Jayne D. Kramer 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.
Training and development
– Campaign Advertising has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Campaign Advertising 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Campaign Advertising is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Campaign Advertising to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Campaign Advertising to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Campaign Advertising is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Campaign Advertising has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Campaign Advertising to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Campaign Advertising 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 Advertising is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Campaign Advertising is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Campaign Advertising in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Campaign Advertising
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Campaign Advertising does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Campaign Advertising digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Campaign Advertising 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.
Weaknesses Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Campaign Advertising 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Campaign Advertising is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Campaign Advertising 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Campaign Advertising 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Campaign Advertising 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign, it seems that the employees of Campaign Advertising 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Campaign Advertising is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Campaign Advertising 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.
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 Advertising supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Campaign Advertising vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign, is just above the industry average. Campaign Advertising 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Campaign Advertising is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Campaign Advertising needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Campaign Advertising to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign | 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 Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign are -
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 Advertising can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Campaign Advertising operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Campaign Advertising has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Campaign Advertising to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign case study. Campaign Advertising can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 Advertising 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Campaign Advertising 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, Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Campaign Advertising 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Campaign Advertising can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign 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.
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 Advertising in the consumer business. Now Campaign Advertising can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Campaign Advertising to increase its market reach. Campaign Advertising will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Campaign Advertising 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 Advertising to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Advertising 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 Advertising 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Campaign Advertising 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Campaign Advertising 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 Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Campaign Advertising to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Campaign Advertising 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.
Threats Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Campaign Advertising is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Advertising can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Advertising 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.
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 Advertising needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Campaign Advertising has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Campaign Advertising 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Campaign Advertising 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.
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 Advertising.
Increasing wage structure of Campaign Advertising
– 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 Advertising.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Campaign Advertising 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Campaign Advertising 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 Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign, Campaign Advertising 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 .
Regulatory challenges
– Campaign Advertising 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign 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 Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign 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 Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign 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 Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign 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 Advertising Council Earth Share Campaign: Strategy, Execution, and Final Campaign 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 Advertising needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.