Big Idea in IMC

Big Idea of an Integrated Marketing Communication Campaign Case study: Edunation’s “Pathway” Product in Vietnam LAB University of Applied Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Programme in International Business 2020 Loc Nguyen Abstract Author(s) Publication type Completion year Nguyen, Loc Bachelor’s Thesis 2020 Number of pages 40 Title of the thesis Big Idea of an Integrated Marketing Communication Campaign Case study: Edunation’s “Pathway” Product in Vietnam Degree Bachelor in International Business Name, title, and organization of the thesis supervisor Sami Lanu, Senior Lecturer, LAB University of Applied Sciences Name, title, and organization of the client Edunation Oy Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to figure out a big idea for an IMC campaign towards the target audience of Edunation’s “Pathway” product The big idea will be applied in a complete integrated marketing communication campaign to raise brand and product awareness, acting as communication objectives The main question was, what is the big idea of the campaign? Along with the sub-questions: how to create a big idea? Furthermore, what is the target audience insight? The research was done with Edunation, an educational consultancy company located in Tampere, Finland The big idea is the first step to build up an integrated marketing communication campaign The qualitative research method is applied in the thesis Data collected for the big idea generation is from Edunation’s research, books, and case study; hence, data collection source is secondary The thesis's theoretical framework covers all concepts and terms regarding big idea generation in an IMC campaign to gain a general picture The result of the research question is “Đừng mù đường”, or “Don’t get lost.” Keywords Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC), digital marketing, Edunation, Pathway, customer persona, customer insights, big idea Contents Introduction 1.1 Market context .1 1.2 Brand context .3 1.3 Motivation .3 1.4 Thesis objectives and scope .3 1.5 Research questions .3 1.6 Research Methodology and Data Collection 1.7 Thesis Structure Theoretical framework 2.1 Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) .5 2.1.1 2.2 Digital marketing 11 2.2.1 Definition of digital marketing .11 2.2.2 Benefits of digital marketing .14 2.2.3 Key digital media channels 15 2.3 Big idea 19 2.3.1 Communication objectives .22 2.5 Customer path 5A’s and O Zone (O3) model 23 2.6 Customer persona .27 2.7 Communication process 27 2.8 Big idea components 20 2.4 2.7.1 Promotion Mix .8 Message design 28 Customer insight 29 Big idea for Edunation’s Pathway campaign 32 3.1 Edunation company 32 3.2 Pathway product 34 3.3 Communication objectives and target audience persona .34 3.3.1 Students 34 3.3.2 Parents 36 3.4 Target audience insight .37 3.5 Brand connection and big idea 38 Conclusion 40 4.1 Answers to Research Questions .40 4.2 Suggestions or Further Research .40 References 41 1 1.1 Introduction Market context Undoubtedly, studying abroad has been becoming a big dream for many Vietnamese students Their parents also wish that their children can approach superior educational systems The statistics reveal that the number of Vietnamese overseas students has climbed up by 69% in the past six years (UIS UNESCO 2019) According to Vietnam’s Minister of Education and Training, 2019 saw approximately 108,527 students from Vietnam living and studying in foreign countries Such figures rank Vietnam standing in the top 10 countries outbound students in the world (The Pie News 2019.) Besides that, about billion USD yearly contributed to Vietnam's global educational market (HSBC 2019) Plus, having the high economic growth from 1990, by approximately 5.5% GDP annually, with the peak in 2015 at 6.7%, Vietnam is named in one of Asia’s strongest economies, resulting in Vietnamese families having sufficient spending power to send their children abroad from 2016 (The World Bank 2020.) Such numbers show that Vietnam is becoming an enormously dynamic and promising playground where developed educational system countries can jump in and hold market share in that industry Outbound Vietnamese students from 2016 to 2020 120000 108527 100000 80000 94662 82668 60000 40000 20000 2016 2017 2020 Number of outbound students Chart Uprise trend in outbound student numbers in 2016, 2017, and 2020 (World Bank & UIS UNESCO 2020) On a more profound aspect, the recruitment market currently is dominated by three major countries, namely Japan, Australia, and the U.S.A (UIS UNESCO 2020) Respectively, they make up 38,000 students (29.2%), 23.8% with 31,000 and 28,000 (21,5%) to the total number of Vietnamese international students Such nations are followed by China (13,000 – 10%) and the U.K (11,000 - 8.4%) (OECD 2020.) However, Vietnamese students consider Europe as an uninteresting destination To be more specific, the number of students from Vietnam studying in European nations is 28,000 contributing to around 14,7% (Tienphong 2020) Especially, Finland is now home to only 2500 Vietnamese students in higher education, a small number that the country deserves to be known The problems can be identified that, firstly, Finland, and studying in Finland have been unpopular among the Vietnamese students despite the vibrant market Secondly, Vietnamese students who paid great efforts to start studies in Finland, some of them unqualify Finnish universities’ English skills requirements in the Entrance Exam or SAT Thirdly, travel restriction, and social distancing policies due to COVID-19 hamper the students' approach to overseas universities That is to say; such obstacles are blocking the way to their dreams 1.2 Brand context Edunation, who believes that everyone deserves high-level education, is an educational support company that partners with many Finnish academic universities and universities of applied sciences recruiting students from Vietnam for Bachelor's Degrees In a stream of the Vietnam educational consultancy industry, there are not many brands raising their voices to deliver offers as the Pathway towards customers; therefore, this is a chance that Edunation, a new player, can penetrate, anticipate and strongly connect to solve their target customers’ problems that mentioned above with Pathway – a new product 1.3 Motivation In more than three years studying in the university, the author was inspired by marketing mindset through marketing campaigns run by successful brands, particularly how brands solve their target audience’s insights to deliver messages touching to customers’ minds and souls Fortunately, the author secured a position of ambassador for Edunation when he was searching for the thesis topic After meetings and talks, the author would like to contribute knowledge that the author has learned and collected from studying time to add values and help them somehow 1.4 Thesis objectives and scope The purpose of this thesis is to figure out a big idea for an IMC campaign to target the audience of Edunation’s “Pathway” product The big idea will be applied in a complete integrated marketing communication campaign to raise brand and product awareness, acting as communication objectives Because the author mainly concentrates on creating a big idea in the campaign, other aspects of creative strategy in an IMC campaign will not be mentioned 1.5 Research questions The thesis concentrates on looking for answers to the main question: What is the big idea of the campaign? To support the main question, sub-questions should be: What is the target audience insight? How to create a big idea? 1.6 Research Methodology and Data Collection The qualitative research method is applied in the thesis Data is shown in the form of words to express ideas in qualitative In this thesis, qualitative focus on data is shown in the form of words to express ideas supporting customer insight and big idea creation steps Primarily, Edunation provided the author insight into the target audience; the insight is demonstrated in words In terms of data collection, the practical chapter is based on secondary sources Data collected for the big idea generation is from Edunation’s research, books, and case study Building up a big idea, customer insights as fundamental elements provided by Edunation, who has interviewed target customers, collected, analyzed, and figured out their insights, are essential The author was offered access to the company database and collect such insights as materials for this thesis Therefore, the data collection source is secondary 1.7 Thesis Structure The thesis consists of four main chapters Chapter is the thesis introduction, where the author introduces the market context to develop this thesis and mentions thesis objectives, questions, and research methodology In chapter 2, the author will cover the theoretical framework of integrated marketing communication (IMC), digital marketing along with steps to create a big idea in IMC Chapter presents steps to big idea applied to Edunation with case product “Pathway program.” Chapter shows the conclusion and answers to the research questions Theoretical framework As being explained by American Marketing Association (2017), marketing is defined as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” In other words, marketing is figuring out customers’ wants and giving it to them Specifically, figuring out refers to “the activity, set of institutions, and processes” of identifying and anticipating the customers’ wants and needs Your “customers” are essentially scrutinized as “customers, clients, partners, and society,” in which clients can be associated with B2B marketing while a CSR marketing campaign can be executed to society Lastly, giving it to them is a set of activities, namely creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging to satisfy the customers The model of marketing mix 4Ps: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion has been ubiquitously presenting in forming a marketing campaign’s spine; it is a basic and effective tool to accomplish marketing objectives and business goals at large Lately, the model has been expanded into 6Ps with Positioning and Packing included or 7Ps People, Physical Evidence, and Process added Business managers will look at their business scale and characteristic to decide which Ps matrix should be used to reach goals After creating valuable offers, business uses Promotion as an effective channel to communicate with customers Fill (2011) believes “promotion is an audience-centered activity which attempts to encourage engagement between participants and provoke communications.” However, Promotion is not a single tool but rather a mix of several promotion mixes or marketing communications mix tools “Ideally, under the concept of integrated marketing communications, a company will carefully coordinate these promotion elements to engage customers and build a clear, consistent, and compelling message about the product” (Kotler & Armstrong 2018, 422) As mentioned in the thesis structure, in this chapter, the author focuses on defining theoretical concepts of integrated marketing communication, terms, and models applied in the campaign plan The theoretical framework plays a fundamental role that the practical plan can be based on and built up 2.1 Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) In the past decades, brands preferred interrupting and force-feeding the audience with a mass message Corporations used to spend millions or even billions of dollars in massadvertising media such as radio and television to engage their audience with a single ad Nevertheless, nowadays, traditional marketing communications face some new realities Particularly, Kotler and Armstrong (2018) pointed out three main reasons for a shift in marketing communications: consumers, marketing strategies, and digital technology The very first change stems from no other than customers themselves There has been a severe modification in this crucial resource’s way of receiving and reacting to brand messages in the digitalized era, where people are capable of hunting what they long for on the Internet instead of passively collecting them through brands Moreover, customers have the authority to build a brand message and brand experience in terms of connecting to other consumers via social media and countless digital technologies Secondly, marketing strategies alter from blasting messages by mass media to narrowing down target customer segmentation with tailored marketing programs to engage customers and build customer relationships The last change lies within how consumers communicate with brands in the digital age The appearance of numerous digital gadgets, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops, along with the Internet, reshapes the art of interaction and engagement greatly “Advertisers are now adding a broad selection of more-specialized and highly targeted media to engage smaller customer communities with more personalized, interactive content” (Kotler & Armstrong 2018, 426) such as social media, email, and blogs They are dominating the marketing communication world Consumers can watch or listen to anything they wish on any kind of platform they prefer The fact that marketers notice a wide range of potential digital channels delivering message enhance the definition of combining all channels with a consistent message to optimize consumers’ experience and engagement (Kotler & Armstrong, 2018, 426.) The need for integrated marketing communication comes from the failure in integrating communicating a consistent message through channels It is often to see that message from TV is different from one on videos posted on YouTube It can be a consequence of content creating inconsistency; an agency produces the content on television while another department is in charge of YouTube channel At the same time, consumers receive a wide range of brand messages from plenty of sources per day Unfortunately, they not distinguish between content sources that marketers do; the fact is that brand-related content from different sources will merge into a single message about the brand Therefore, the conflicting message can cause confused brand images and positioning (Kotler & Armstrong, 2018, 427.) That challenge makes marketers think of and develop a solution called integrated marketing communication, which brings all together in an organized way Kotler & Armstrong (2018) defined “Integrated marketing communication is carefully integrating and coordinating the company’s many communications channels to deliver a clear, consistent, and compelling 29 audience Secondly, ending anticlimax can cause by depicting compelling arguments first (Kotler & Armstrong 2018, 434.) 2.8 Customer insight Insight is defined as “the moment you spontaneously come to an understanding of a previously incomprehensible concept, or you suddenly grasp the solution to a seemingly unsolvable problem It is something you previously did not know or did not think about, that has the power to surprise and inspire you” (Gibson 2015, 245) In other words, in terms of business context, it is a new and penetrating understanding of customers' attitudes and behavior, such as anxiety, unrevealed desire that they previously did not think of or perceive of it Insights are seen as “the fuel of big ideas” (Moriarty et al., 2019, 239) According to Kelley and Jugenheimer, insight “identifies the intersection of the brand’s benefit and the quality of life it provides to the consumer” (Moriarty et al., 2019, 239) Supporting the definition, Bullmore, member of the Advisory Board at WPP, the multinational marketing communications company, stated that “a good insight is like a refrigerator, because the moment you look into it, a light comes on going with a new fresh but familiar feeling.” Insights are defined as the unrevealed understanding of situations based on their behaviors, desires, and beliefs When being mentioned, these insights are going to trigger targeted customers (Steenburg et al 2018) They grant promising businesses opportunities to invent impacts on consumer behavior decisions (Wang 2010, 43-45) Collecting insights can be seen as one of the biggest challenges to marketers since they cannot be clarified from common sense Indeed, insight is the solid turmoil of the two aspects: Fact and Truth Fact owns itself clear and obvious meanings that contain no sentiment Oppositely, Truth is all about sentimental factors; however, it has more persuasive power over consumers In the aftermath, insight unveils a ground-breaking thought Exploring insight requires marketers to nurture their inner souls in terms of seeing objects' nature (Sawhney 2018, 134) The campaign of “Dirt is Good” of Unilever is a perfect example of successfully clear insight Through the story, the motive of Asian mothers who would rather allow their kids to actively play without the fear of dirt than keeping them clean, but no lesson learned Once Unilever fathomed out their motivation, the company can send a meaningful message of a concrete family bond and love that is the spine in a campaign to promote a laundry detergent – OMO (Dang 2018, 23-24) This campaign exponentially boosted Asian sales by ten times and made OMO the number one brand among Asian countries (Nielsen Consumer Report 2017) Therefore, the essential role of insights in emphasizing its position in the global presence is undeniable 30 Another instance of shining customer insight is from Starbucks, a giant coffeehouse chain in the world The company was founded and developed based on valuable insight Starbuck believes, in a busy life, a coffeeshop attracts customers not only by “pure and traditional coffee taste” but also by acting as a comfortable third place other than home and workplace where people can relax, enjoy life, and be inspired (Sawhney 2018, 134.) In human-centric marketing, as stated earlier, the path to approach customers is as whole human beings with minds, hearts, and spirits Marketers have to put customers' functional and emotional needs into consideration and focus on addressing their latent anxieties and desires (Kotler et al 2017, 68.) Therefore, good insight is undoubtedly the first step to conquer customers’ hearts and minds A customer insight that contributes to some remarkable marketing campaigns contains three elements: truth, deep tension, and motivation A company discovers insight from such concrete formula (Tomorrow Marketer Academy 2018, 26): Figure Customer insight formula (Tomorrow Marketer Academy 2018, 26) An illustration for the formula in the case of OMO, a laundry product from Unilever Unilever has detected that moms desire their children to gain new learning experience from playing with dirt, but they are still concerned with getting rid of the dirt off the clothes (Think with Google 2017) The truth that every single kid is delighted to hang outside, and they are not afraid of the dirt generates a dilemma Moms are facing the severe pressure of balancing everything, especially taking care of their family Doing laundry is the one task in the total of massive work, but it still can stress moms out The marketers acknowledged this tension, and they started to dig deeper into the motivation behind it It is common knowledge that moms only want the best for their children, and healthy development is not an exception This insight allowed Unilever to evolve the brand philosophy “Dirt is Good.” This campaign attempts to encourage all moms to give their kids more freedom to experience outside activities without being bothered by dirt The main goal of “Dirt is Good” is to change the belief that dirt is bad for children When children begin their exciting adventures, dirt probably appears all over their clothes On the bright side, moms should see this as a 31 potential growth opportunity for their kids because children would not learn much-watching TV or playing video games 32 3.1 Big idea for Edunation’s Pathway campaign Edunation company Edunation is a company that was established in 2017 to create a talent pool while making education the biggest industry in Finland They attempt to help students worldwide evolve their skills through the Pathway diploma program and successfully apply to partner universities in Finland and other European countries The company promises highly qualified customer service throughout the application process The customer service staff will thoroughly instruct and consult consumers with the program requirements, documents, and every university application aspect Finnish residence permit, which is one of the intimidating issues to students, will be managed by students with Edunation’s support Edunation has noticed and treasured all students’ efforts and dreams of studying and living in the world's happiest country because they are valued customers Therefore, the more motivated the company feels to grant students those opportunities With the widespread network of partner universities and universities of applied sciences in Finland and Europe and their bonded cooperation, both students' and universities' procedures become so much easier Edunation is deeply proud of their expertise in international education; they can provide that to their partners The company has an existing belief in the changing power of education in an individual’s life, which has a major impact on its long-term operating path Edunation is impressed by Finnish education's high quality; they reckon that Finland's education is akin to the world’s revolution Nevertheless, an utter boost is still in need Edunation confidently perceives itself as a “game-changer” in Finnish education’s development After three years of running, Edunation has owned remarkable milestones for their career They have companionship with a total of twelve partner universities, which includes: LUT; Metropolia University of Applied Sciences; Hanken School of Economics; Arcada University of Applied Sciences; Turku AMK University of Applied Sciences; HAMK University of Applied Sciences; SAMK University of Applied Sciences; SeAMK University of Applied Sciences; KAMK University of Applied Sciences; University of Northampton; Estonian Entrepreneurship University of Applied Sciences and Helsinki School of Business As it is recorded, the number of applications for the intake of Edunation in September 2019 is 1198 33 with a variety of 26 nationalities These achievements are considered to be reasonably auspicious, and the number of partnerships is unstoppable Vision & mission cannot be excluded from the company’s introduction • Edunation Vision: The company’s ambition is to become the most desired education provider to study online and in chosen countries Simultaneously, they are persistent in recruiting an international talent pool for Finland while making education the most massive industry in the region In other words, Edunation creates educational gravity • Edunation Mission: The responsibility of helping students reach their professional ambitions by guiding them to achieve world-class education and career abroad is the company’s core priority Moreover, they consider profitable growth as a method of measuring success Edunation has developed and maintained a set of values that play an important role in raising brand awareness Reliability and Quality; Cooperation; Customer Focus; Determination; Learning and Innovation are included in Edunation’s values • Reliability and Quality: The company’s constant intention is to optimize customer service, which is performed as an individual approach The desired relationships with customers should be built with trust and responsibility According to Edunation’s motto, excellent quality is made of sufficient bonds with customers • Cooperation: Edunation encourages all stakeholders to work in close cooperation in a transparent, committed, and honest way to make a greater impact on future education • Customer Focus: Customers are the imperative resource of the company, so that they long to ensure a valuable, trustworthy, and useful service to customers • Determination: “Can attitude” is, in fact, the go-to-phrase of the company They are seriously determined to bring a positive difference to the lives of people from around the world • Learning and Innovation: Continuous learning is the key to professionalism The company pushes themselves every day to learn and improve from mistakes and also achievements in the past Edunation does not hesitate to try new things 34 3.2 Pathway product Pathway program is another way for students to apply to university studies in Europe They provide a fast and more economical- track to obtain the dream of high-quality education in Finland: a guaranteed study place at a Finnish university or in the EU without concerning Entrance Exam, accredited credits in advance, receive the Finnish study in their home country In Edunation’s Pathway program, two majors are considered accepted and carried out: Business and Engineering The program aims to create flexibility in the studying environment: Online; at study hub in Asia or Finland Students catered by the programs should reach two different English levels: Standard (IELTS 5.0) and Extended (IELTS 5.5) Finnish education's hands-on training contains Finnish studying platform; Finnish teachers' teaching courses relating to academic skills and major-related fundamental courses are assured for students Edunation Pathway programs are an unbelievable advantage granted for students It is a starting base for them to embark on their adventures in different lands In general progress, Pathway programs are possibly generous contributions to the brand name 3.3 Communication objectives and target audience persona Communication objectives for this campaign are perception objectives raising Edunation and Pathway awareness As Edunation is a new player on the ground, getting brand and product awareness is its foremost goal Based on 5A’s customer path, after this campaign, the target audience will be at the stage “I know” to the Pathway and Edunation brand 3.3.1 Students Pathway programs are ideal and convincing for those interested in studying abroad in Europe, especially in Scandinavia and Finland Edunation targets the group of students that long for exploring a new culture and new ways to looking at life, that are keen on searching for an opportunity to study in the top happiness countries, that wants to pursue an Englishtaught bachelor and master degree in one of the best education systems in the world The target audience tends to be too busy to prepare for the Entrance Exam of Finnish universities and is worried about their unfamiliarity with the Entrance Exam format They are unfamiliar with the Finnish education system and the so-called residence permit in Finland (e.g., differences between university and university of applied sciences, Finnish application portal, required documents for school application and residence permit application, differences between regular visa and residence permit) Also, they have never traveled abroad and have no contacts in Finland Therefore, they may prioritize the safest 35 choice for their study abroad The target audience also struggles with standardized English tests such as IELTS, SAT, and the Entrance Exam Students’ ages range from 17 to 19 Both male and female are optimal These students live in small to big cities in Vietnam, such as Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, Can Tho, Da Nang, Hai Phong, etc The education level is located primarily in freshman (public and private) or just-gradated high school (public and private, gifted high school) Single household composition and none salary categories are focused on These students live in a house with their family They are into surfing the Internet, hanging out with friends at cafes, and shopping and entertaining in shopping malls Students prefer an easy and safe way to approach everything, and they tend to procrastinate Their interests may land in foreign educations and posting nice pictures on social media They value safety and self-confidence Demographics 17-19, single Age, gender, and relationship status Female and male Geographic Live in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, Can Tho, Da Nang, and Hai Phong Level of education Freshman (from public and private school) or just-gradated high school (public, private, and gifted high school) Home environment Salary Live in a house with their family None Table Target audience demographics (Edunation 2020) Psychographics Surfing the Internet Hobbies Hanging out with friends at a coffee house 36 Shopping and entertaining in shopping malls I prefer an easy and safe way to approach Lifestyles everything Tend to procrastinate things Foreign Educations Interests Posting nice pictures on FB and Instagram Values Safety and self-confidence Table Target audience psychographics (Edunation 2020) 3.3.2 Parents Parents of the students are also considered because of the common knowledge that they hold financial decisions Edunation heads for the type of parents who want their children to receive a good education and seize the job chances upon graduation They prioritize the safety, high living standard, happiness, and quality of education over the destination's popularity They are capable of their finance to support the studying abroad of their children (able to pay 12,000 – 20,000 per year, including tuition fees and living costs) They may be unfamiliar with the Finnish education system and the so-called residence permit in Finland (e.g., differences between university and university of applied sciences, Finnish application portal, required documents for school application and residence permit application, differences between regular visa and residence permit) They cannot manage their time to help their children through the school application and residence application process Besides, they not have any relatives in the EU or Finland Last but not least, they are stressfully concerned about their children studying abilities Parents of the targeted students shall be graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees Executive levels in foreign companies, state employees, or officials are scrutinized Their household composition may be a married spouse with at least one child Their salaries are estimated to be no less than 3,000 euros per month, and they should own a house Surfing the Internet, watching the news on TV (getting all information to convince and rocket their worries), and taking care of children are these parents’ hobbies They pay a great deal of attention to their children It can be said that caring about their children is a life-time responsibility They are delighted at attending study-abroad events, reading/watching 37 study-abroad news on the media if planning for children to study abroad Lastly, just like their kids, they treasure family and safety 3.4 Target audience insight As mentioned earlier, customer insight, which is structured by three elements, namely motivation, tension, and truth, plays an important role in formulating a big idea In this part, the author will analyze the three components of the target audience's insight before concluding an accurate statement Edunation provides insight The statistics reveal that young Vietnamese tend to avoid studying in domestic universities and prefer studying abroad instead The number of Vietnamese overseas students has climbed up by 69% in the past six years (UNESCO, 2019) According to Vietnam’s Minister of Education and Training, 2019 saw approximately 108,527 students from Vietnam living and studying in foreign countries Such figures rank Vietnam standing in the top 10 countries outbound students in the world (The Pie News, 2019.) As a result, conversations about studying abroad are booming in number Studying aboard becomes a hot topic and trend, which is frequently mentioned on social media and popular e-newspapers, where the target audience interacts and visits every day The content of conversations is mainly about fellow Vietnamese students studying or having finished their studying abroad programs The posts highlight benefits that studying abroad brings to international students, such as discovering the world, gaining experience, enriching knowledge, living independently, and how excellent they are in academic performance to apply for a slot in overseas universities The outstanding performance is identified by IELTS and SAT scores Such people are set as general role models to study aboard The target audience is into wandering on social media to interact with and showing points of view on posts and news They also raised such topics in talks with their friends Consequently, discussions gradually form a desire to study abroad among the target audience community (Edunation 2020.) Being curious about the target audience and loving to understand them deeply, Edunation has researched and found out two deep reasons urging young Vietnamese students to study aboard Firstly, the target audience believes studying abroad can differentiate themselves and be respected in their community Secondly, they love following the trend; they look up to the individuals studying abroad on the Internet and wish to experience such people are witnessing However, the role models establish a belief that they have to be excellent to qualify the requirements The target audience starts enrolling in IELTS and SAT courses to obtain their big dream (Edunation 2020.) 38 One of the reasons giving birth to the Pathway product is that the target audience struggles with standardized English tests such as IELTS, SAT, and the Entrance Exam To be more specific, the students from 17 to 19, who wish to study abroad, believe that IELTS, SAT, or Entrance Exam might be the ways to obtain the acceptance letter to study oversea Such tests are always tremendous obstacles for them as their structures are complicated, and the knowledge required to get a qualified score is enormous However, because of the big dream, they try harder with the tests, but they much wonder whether they can successfully secure a study plot overseas or not In a nutshell, they believe they are still pushing themselves every day, but inside, the fear of being rejected and the wrong direction is vivid The insight can be looked through truth, tension, and motivation perspectives (Edunation 2020): Truth: Studying abroad is a big dream, which requires much effort to be qualified for overseas schools’ requirements Tension: I have a fear of being rejected and going the wrong way though I try hard Motivation: I desire to be paid off what I have tried by being accepted to study in an overseas school The insight statement: I know studying abroad is a big dream, which requires much effort to reach out, so I am pushing myself every day However, I always wonder whether my try will be paid off, and I am going in the right way 3.5 Brand connection and big idea After figuring out the piecing insight, marketers need to finally find out brand connection to come up with a big idea Briefly, a big idea is a concise and relevant message that solves the target audience’s insight This big idea is able to execute a wide range of marketing channels and reach communication objectives The big idea for this insight is “Đừng mù đường” in Vietnamese and “Don’t get lost” The author would like to explain how to come up with the big idea as follow Based on one of the company values, customer focus, Edunation tries to get into the customers’ lives to understand their big problems and act as an experienced friend to tackle such difficulties Understanding customer insight, Edunation believes the target audience is getting lost on the way to accomplish their dream when no obvious goals are set “Mù đường” can be understood as a poor sense of direction for persons who are getting to the destination but have no idea where they are going to and how to reach the destination 39 no matter how hard they try On the other hand, the target audience living in cities usually faces this problem, so they are aware of and relevant to a poor sense of direction difficulties The brand connection can be pointed out as one of the promises of the “Pathway” product, which Pathway guarantees a study slot for those who pass the program This function can partly solve the tension “fear of being rejected” of the target audience Otherwise, “Don’t get lost to your dream” makes the target audience thinking of a question which is the right way to my dream, then, “Pathway” appears to refer that Pathway is a right and proper way solving the rest of the insight Edunation as well acts as a reliable person who guarantees every effort student spent is paid off The big idea also can be delivered through relevant stories to the target audience about “poor sense of direction” difficulties in cities where they live The message can be that a poor sense of direction in the streets is fine, but not in a way to your dream 40 4.1 Conclusion Answers to Research Questions The purpose of this thesis is to figure out a big idea for an IMC campaign towards the target audience of Edunation’s Pathway product The big idea will be applied in a complete integrated marketing communication campaign to raise brand and product awareness, acting as communication objectives The main question was, what is the big idea of the campaign? Along with the sub-questions: how to create a big idea? Moreover, what is the target audience insight? Firstly, there are four steps to create a big idea: setting communication objectives and defining the target customer persona, then discovering and figuring out target audience insight, finding brand connection, and articulating the idea clearly and succinctly Secondly, the answer to sub-question two is based on the theory of model Truth, Tension and Motivation, and customer persona presented above Truth: Studying abroad is a big dream, which requires much effort to be qualified for overseas schools’ requirements Tension: I have a fear of being rejected and going the wrong way though I try hard Motivation: I desire to be paid off what I have tried by being accepted to study in an overseas school Therefore, the answer to this sub-question is the following statement “I know studying abroad is a big dream, which requires much effort to reach out, so I am pushing myself every day However, I always wonder whether my try will be paid off, and I am going in the right way.” Lastly, applying and practicing those steps, the author created a big idea for the campaign, called “Đừng mù đường”, which means “Don’t get lost” in English 4.2 Suggestions or Further Research Research about media strategy generation for the campaign is recommended to undertake As the big idea is a theme of the campaign was in shape, the next research questions are which channels are the most suitable for the big idea and which type of message form should the big idea be most effective? 41 References American Marketing Association 2020 Definitions of marketing Retrieved on October 2020 Available at https://www.ama.org/the-definition-of-marketing-what-is-marketing/ Belch, G & Belch, M 2018 Advertising and Promotion An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective 11th edition New York, U.S.A.: McGraw-Hill Education 1617, 21, 23, 26-27, 266-268 Belch, G et al 2011 Advertising: An Integrated Marketing Communication Perspective 2nd edition New York, U.S.A.: McGraw-Hill Education 13-14 Chaffey, D & Ellis-Chadwick, F 2019 Digital Marketing Strategy, Implementation and Practice 7th edition Harlow, England: Pearson Education 10-11, 18, 33, 35, 79, 441, 772773, 764-765 Dang, H 2018 Customer Insight: Why and how? 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Retrieved on 10 November 2020 Available at https://trungduc.net/digital-marketing-la-gi/ UIS UNESCO 2020 Global Flow of Tertiary-Level Students Retrieved on October 2020 Available at http://uis.unesco.org/en/uis-student-flow Wang, J 2010 Lean Manufacturing: Business bottom-line based Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press 43-45 ... going in the right way 3.5 Brand connection and big idea After figuring out the piecing insight, marketers need to finally find out brand connection to come up with a big idea Briefly, a big idea. .. programs are ideal and convincing for those interested in studying abroad in Europe, especially in Scandinavia and Finland Edunation targets the group of students that long for exploring a new culture... essential role of insights in emphasizing its position in the global presence is undeniable 30 Another instance of shining customer insight is from Starbucks, a giant coffeehouse chain in the world