Introduction
Tribute Ltd is a small music business specializing in promoting the work of tribute artists. This case study focuses primarily on Jonnie Jones, a tribute artist of Jimi Hendrix’s music. To promote music, Tribute LTD has been using a nostalgia marketing approach. The company also uses its website and retail stores as a means of promoting Johnnie’s own five albums featuring Jimi Hendrix’s music in his hometown. However, Tribute Ltd believes other strategies could be adopted to increase Jonnie’s sales and by extension, the company’s market share. The company is faced with a decision on how to market Jonnie’s music better and establish whether Johnnie’s music should move to a digital format, or if YouTube is a better platform to market Johnnie’s work. The purpose of this report is to critically analyze the senior citizen music market, provide an explanation of nostalgia marketing, and establish whether the internet should play a major role in marketing Jonnie’s work in the future. The report is based on five tasks that have been completed based on primary and secondary data and will be presented to the management of Tribute Ltd.
Analysis of Individual Tasks
Analysis of Senior Citizen Music Market
The UK music industry has enjoyed a period of resilience over the past five years, despite the recession and economic difficult times. In 2015, the UK’s music industry contributed £4.1 billion to the UK economy (UK Music, 2016). According to a report by Age UK, the UK has an estimated 14.7 million people aged over 60, or the equivalent of 23% of the UK population (Roberts, 2014). The population continues to increase, which implies that there is a booming senior music market in the UK. As baby boomers continue to age, so does the number of senior citizens.
Nostalgia marketing is based on the concept of nostalgia. Nostalgia is a yearning for an idealized past by an individual based on experiences. It is applied in marketing because customers long for a sanitized impression of their past. In the case of Tribute Ltd, the company has made use of the concept of nostalgia because people yearn for the past and senior citizens would be made happy listening to music released when they were young (Sharma, 2014). The reason why nostalgia has been an effective marketing strategy for Tribute Ltd is that it can make customers happy (senior citizens) that they remember Hendrix’s music when sung by Jonnie. Subsequently, nostalgia results in moments of cheerfulness, thus creating a competitive advantage and improved brand which enhances profits (Sharma, 2014). The use of nostalgia marketing by Tribute Ltd evokes a positive sensation to develop a strong brand association. Nostalgia Marketing establishes a strong link of mental and emotional association between a customer and a brand (Muehling & Pascal 2012). For senior citizens, the music evokes self-identity and assists consumers in connecting with the past. Nostalgia marketing is effective for Tribute Ltd because any campaign brings out positive and strong emotions from consumers and this strengthens brand recall, and past experiences trigger the purchase of Jonnie’s music (Muehling, 2013).
The Internet can play a primary role in marketing Jonnie’s work in the future. However, the use of the Internet to reach senior citizens cannot be an effective marketing approach. This is because conventional marketing is more effective for target customers who have limited access to the internet daily (Abraham, 2014). Senior citizens lack the time to download music from the internet and as such, they require a more conventional method of marketing. According to a report by the BPI (2017), audio streaming in the UK has increased by 500% since 2013, although vinyl experienced remarkable growth since the 1990s. Thus, targeting senior citizens via the Internet could not be feasible compared to other approaches.
Analysis of Secondary Data
Retail (54. 1%) was the most appropriate way through which consumers purchase Jonnie’s music, followed by Concert performances (28.8%), general (7.4%), and web orders (4.66%), in that order. Thus, the common sales locations for Jonnie’s music in the UK are via retail stores, while the least preferred location is Brighton Pubs which represents 1.5% of the distribution. Web order (internet) attracts only 4.66%, which indicates that it is not a common approach for senior citizens to access tribute music by Jonnie. Thus, Tribute Ltd must continue focusing more on retail and concert performances as they are more appealing and convenient to senior citizens. As pointed out by Abraham (2014) conventional marketing is more effective for senior citizens’ music industry in comparison with the internet and mail order (Abraham, 2014).
Retail was most profitable (42.32%) followed by concert performances at 39.63%. Thus, the advice to Tribute Ltd based on profits being made by the sales of Jonnie Jones CDs is they should invest more in concert performances and retail distribution as they contribute most sales and profits for the company. This position is supported by Nostalgia Marketing based on a strong association between the mental impact of listening to sentimental music on a customer and a brand based on the experiences derived from listening to Jonnie’s music (Muehling & Pascal 2012). Moreover, concerts remind senior citizens of their memories related to the music, which makes it profitable. Tribute Ltd should do away with complimentary as it adds no profit to the company, despite the costs incurred in CD production. The other streams of distribution namely, general (8.13%), web order (5.13%), mail order (3.84%), and Brighton pubs (1.7%) are also profitable avenues that reach certain clusters of consumers. Thus, Tribute Ltd is advised to continue using these avenues but concentrate more on retail and concert performances.
Analysis of Primary Data (Field Observations)
The primary data was collected via field observations in a shopping mall in Brighton and a Theatre in Uxbridge to have a better understanding of Jonnie’s music and his marketplace. The combination of the two sets of data revealed that the consumers who showed interest in Jonnie’s music were senior citizens especially those aged (61-75), with the Brighton Mall being the most preferred place followed by the theater. Also, persons under 30 years are not attracted to tribute music played by Jonnie at either the theater or the mall.
Pannucci and Wilkins (2010) have described bias as the tendency to avoid unprejudiced consideration of a question. Bias is experienced when the researcher introduces a systematic error in the processes of sampling, testing, or data collection. Bias is experienced at any phase of research, such as data collection, study design, and the process of data analysis and publication (Pannucci & Wilkins, 2010). Data collected via observation experienced bias during data collection, especially during the observation process. The bias is referred to as the observer-expectancy effect or the observer effect whereby the researcher's cognitive bias caused them to influence the subjects of an experiment subconsciously. For instance, it is hard in some instances to establish the age bracket of an individual by simply looking at them from a distance. Thus, the observer estimated the age of senior citizens and assumed that the majority of them were old and preferred tribute music.
Data collection via observation could be improved by reducing observer bias. For example, the researcher can analyze subsets of data independently to acquire high inter-observer reliability associated with behavioral coding. Hammer, du Prel, & Blettner, 2009). Additionally, the researcher could be part of the audience and have a closer look at the subjects being observed to have the correct age groups noted.
Analysis of Primary Data (Questionnaires)
Based on the data assembled by the intern and in the form of median Ranking, purchasing, and listening preferences by age group retail is the most preferred purchasing option for both young at heart and seniors. Also, online was least appropriate for seniors, while the concert was preferred by seniors more than by the young at heart. On the listening preferences, cassettes were least preferred by the young at heart, while radio seemed to be preferred by both seniors and the young at heart. Lastly, seniors least preferred digital than young at heart.
The cross-tabulations between the two age groups, ‘young at heart’ and ‘seniors’ were performed automatically using the MS Excel software to establish if preferences differed significantly in terms of preferences of where to purchase music or preferred music format based on age group. Based on the findings, it is evident that there is a significant difference between the preferences of the seniors from that of the young at heart. For instance, the senior citizens preferred retail more as a form of purchasing preference, and radio as a listening preference. On the other hand, the young at heart preferred online and retail as purchasing preferences, and CD and radio as the listening preferences. In the same regard, there was a significant difference in the least preferred listening preferences, with cassette the least preferred for young at heart and digital for seniors.
The intern’s survey research was appropriate because it focused on two elements (listening preferences and purchasing preferences) which are required in marketing research to establish consumer trends. The research revealed that the most preferred purchasing preference for tribute music was retail (50%) followed by concern performances (29%), while the least preference was phone (28%0 followed by online (24%). This implies that concert performances and retail are the most preferred purchasing preferences as they are more convenient to the targeted group. In addition, radio (33%) is the most common listening preference followed by CD (22%), while cassette (35%) and digital (29%) are least preferred.
In the case of designing the survey, I would have increased the number of questions to cover other areas other than those already covered. For instance, I would have asked the respondents to provide a short description of why they preferred music listening preference like radio over digital. I would also have included the objective of undertaking the survey and the yes/no questions in the questionnaire. Lastly, I would have undertaken pretests and pilot studies to help me identify questions that made sense and which did not. On tests, I would not have any other tests other than cross-tabulations because the ones performed by the intern are appropriate and have provided meaningful information related to the market research. The rationale for cross-tabulation would be to analyze the link between several variables in the survey questionnaire data.
Conclusion
Tribute Ltd uses nostalgia marketing as part of the marketing strategy to promote Jonnie’s five albums to the senior music market. This form of marketing is most appropriate for Tribute Ltd compared to digital and online means because it ensures that an idealized past by an individual is based on experiences.is remembered. During my attachment to Jonnie when he was performing at live gigs, promoting his albums, and visiting venues in his hometown, Brighton. Regarding purchasing preferences, it was established that retailing was preferred by senior citizens compared to the use of CDs, ma il, and phones. The most preferred form of listening was radio, with digital and cassette being less preferred. Based on all the data provided from Tasks 1-4, Tribute Ltd should market Jonnie Jones’ music via the use of retail distribution and radio. This is based on the assumption that senior citizens do not have time to access the internet to stream live music or to download music (Abraham, 2014). In addition, the majority of the customers in the senior music market may not have access to the Internet. It is also assumed that the old prefer listening to music during concerts and radio without any other form of disturbances. Therefore, the advice to Tribute Ltd is not to invest much in the online distribution of Jonnie’s music via an online platform.
References
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