Integrated Marketing Communications Plan for Challenge X Fall 2007

December 5, 2007

Ms. Lauryn Coit Marketing Coordinator San Diego State University 5500 Campanile Drive San Diego, CA 92182 (619) 594-5319 lauryn.coit@gmail.com Lynda Palombo Chief, Office of Coordination and Technological Information CANMET Energy Technology (CETC) Natural Resources Canada (613) 996-6149 lpalombo@nrcan.gc.ca Dear Ms. Palombo: Enclosed is a copy of Challenge X: Integrated Marketing Communications Plan, as per your request in September 2007. This report is a summary of our findings from the work we have completed this fall semester from September 2007 December 2007 at San Diego State University in our Integrated Marketing Communications class. This campaign addresses the issue of increasing awareness and interest in the Challenge X competition to meet the objective of augmenting interest of hybrid vehicle technologies. As promised in our proposal, this report includes information on the demographics of our green consumer target market, the primary and secondary research we have conducted, and our suggestions for the implementation of our campaign. Our conclusions and recommendations for the campaign are also included. Working closely with the Engineering Department and the expertise of Dr. Michael Belch at San Diego State University, we believe that our campaign proposal properly addresses what you have requested. If you have any questions regarding our proposal or need any clarifications, please feel free to contact us at anytime. Thank you for allowing us this incredible opportunity. We enjoyed working for you and are pleased to deliver this extensive proposal.

Respectfully,

________________ Mark Burris ________________ Chelsea Haupt ________________ Drew Polk ________________ Christina Smith

________________ Jamie Catlin ________________ Laura Milner ________________ Nicole Rothert ________________ John Sweeney

________________ Lauryn Coit ________________ Sara Nixon ________________ Juan Diego Saffon ________________ Caroline Weber

________________ Katie Hadland ________________ Janelle Otsuki ________________ Melissa Sharp ________________ Steve Williams

TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary Challenge X Overview and History Problem Statement Situation Analysis Target Market S.W.O.T Primary Research Objectives Creative Message Positioning Strategy Media Events Public Relations Print Media Support Media Direct Marketing Internet /Interactive Budget Tier 1 Tier 2 Measuring Overall Effectiveness Conclusions and Recommendations 54 56 57 58
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1 4 4

5 6 13 18 18 18

19 27 32 40 42 47

Works Cited 59 Appendices Environmental Awareness Questionnaire Public Relations Challenge X Fact Sheet Team Resources Media Alert SDSU Vehicle Spec Sheet SDSU Competition Fact Sheet Poster/Flyer Front Flyer Back San Diego Media Contact List Article in the Daily Aztec A B

Print Media Median Home Prices in San Diego County Newspaper Distribution Areas North County Times Market Area Example Newspaper Ad Support Media Example Bookmark Front and Back Internet/Interactive Website Flow Plan Facebook Page View MySpace Page View Care2 Page View Podcast Page View Challenge X SDSU Blog Page View

GANNT Chart

F
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Challenge X is a competition between seventeen universities to reengineer a Chevy Equinox to create a vehicle with minimal effects on the environment and continued superior utility and performance. Sponsored primarily by General Motors (GM) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Challenge X is in its fourth and final year of competition and includes a marketing component in which students must develop strategies to increase awareness of the Challenge X program, its sponsors and the advanced vehicle technologies involved.

Due to the environmental nature of the competition, green consumers would be the most receptive to marketing actions regarding Challenge X. Secondary research determined that the majority of green consumers are over the age of 34, earn an annual household income of over $50,000 and have a related overall higher level of education.

Many green consumers reside in California, making our market inherently more interested in efforts regarding environmental products. Well-known sponsorship also enhances consumer perceptions and attitudes of Challenge X. However, consumers are likely to distrust the motives of green advertisers and are consequently difficult to target and persuade. As this is the first year involving marketing, we assume there to be zero percent awareness of Challenge X. With so little initial awareness, the innovation adoption model guided the creation of our objectives. They are as follows:

Create awareness of Challenge X among 20 percent of our target. Generate interest in Challenge X and advanced vehicle technologies among 15 percent of our target. Create evaluation and positive feelings of Challenge X and its sponsors among 10 percent of our target.

To determine the motives of green consumers, a probability cluster sample was given to 222 individuals with questions regarding their attitudes and behaviors. We found that there were six top concerns for green consumers in San Diego including personal health, air quality, future generations, conservation of resources, global warming and dependency on foreign oil. We also discovered that they obtain their news and information from the Internet, newspapers and television and are likely to attend environmental events as well as cultural and art festivals.

Based on our targets concerns, we constructed this message: Through Challenge X, San Diego State University has created alternative fuel technologies that lowers emissions, slows global warming and provides cleaner air and improved personal health for present and future generations. We also created our slogan: Green Fuels Good. Both of these are designed to communicate the fundamental goals of Challenge X to our target market.

With the Internet being one of the most popular mediums for news and information among our target, the majority of the marketing efforts in this plan are focused on communicating in the new media. A database will be compiled featuring consumers names, email addresses and zip codes which will be used for email marketing and zip code segmentation. It is also recommended that SDSUs Challenge X website (www.socalhybrids.com) be redesigned to capture the embodiment of the Challenge X brand, facilitate email database sign-ups and display podcasts, blogs, RSS feeds and links to social media sites.

In addition to new media strategies, this marketing plan calls for attendance at five events through spring 2008. The SDSU Equinox Sendoff, San Diego International Auto Show, Earth Fair, Green Living Expo and Rock n Roll Marathon were selected because they have emphases related to our message. We also recommend advertisements be placed in eight weekly magazines during the weeks prior to the Earth Fair, Green Living Expo and Rock n Roll Marathon in order to direct traffic to the website and to generate awareness of Challenge Xs involvement at the events. A sweepstakes will be administered at each of these events offering a chance to win a $100 gift card to REI stores in exchange for the participants database sign-up. Extensive public
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relations efforts surrounding all five events will generate publicity for the competition and sponsors as well as create awareness among our target. Effectiveness of this campaign will be measured primarily by database sign-ups, and media hits. Furthermore, a survey will be taken after implementation and compared with our benchmark level of awareness to determine the overall success of this plan.

CHALLENGE X OVERVIEW AND HISTORY

Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility is a competition among engineering schools that addresses important energy and environmental issues. Sponsored by General Motors (GM), the Federal Department of Energy (DOE) and other government and industry leaders, this competition gives engineering students an opportunity to participate in hands-on research and development with leading-edge automotive propulsion, fuels, materials, and emissions-control technologies. Over the past three years, seventeen teams have been challenged to reengineer a donated GM Equinox, a crossover sport utility vehicle, for the purpose of minimizing energy consumption, emissions, and greenhouse gases while maintaining or exceeding the vehicles utility and performance. Year 1 focused on modeling, simulation, and testing of the vehicle power train and vehicle subsystems that were selected by each school. Years 2 and 3 required teams to develop and integrate their advanced power train and subsystems into their donated Equinox. The competition is in its fourth and final year and the teams are now required to market their refined vehicles (Challengex.org). This marketing plan and its recommendations are designed to promote the Challenge X competition, its sponsors and the advanced vehicle technologies involved.

PROBLEM STATEMENT As this is the first year a marketing component has been added to Challenge X, we assume that the awareness is zero percent among our target market. In order to develop a complete integrated marketing communication program, we must first determine who green consumers are demographically, what motivates them to live eco-friendly lifestyles and which channels of communication they will be most receptive of.

TARGET MARKET

The target market for our integrated marketing and communications campaign is green consumers who live in San Diego. Through secondary research we were able to define the demographics and lifestyles of green consumers.

Green consumers are predominantly females over the age of 34, live in California, and purchase green products for health related reasons (Count). They support and practice recycling, conservation of resources, prevention of pollution and eating organic food (Evans). According to the Environmental Research Associates in Princeton, 69 percent either have some college experience or are college graduates, 54 percent are executives/professionals or hold white collar jobs, 38 percent have household incomes over $50,000 and 22 percent over $75,000.

These individuals are early adopters (Get Your Green On) who make eco-friendly purchases, support environmental advocacy programs and contribute money to support these causes. They are culturally intuitive, frequent museums, are extremely health conscious and enjoy outdoor activities. (J. Ottman).

According to Simmons Market Research 35 percent of Americans are willing to pay more for green products. Taking the number of San Diegans between the ages of 35-54, which is 897,185 (SANDAG), the total estimate of our target market of green consumers in San Diego is 314,015.

S.W.O.T

The strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats to Challenge X were analyzed through the use of secondary research.

Strengths High consumer recognition of sponsors High involvement of sponsors Ability to host competition Consumer support for non-profit endeavors

Weaknesses Lack of awareness of Challenge X No previous experience marketing Challenge X Limited budget

Opportunities Students gain real-world experience Increased interest in green advocacy Increased consumer purchasing/company endorsement of environmental products Trend of businesses to become green High spending power of the green consumer Government legislation Continued progress in Advanced Vehicle Technology (AVT) Alleviate reliance on foreign oil Large number of green consumers in San Diego, CA Increasing gas prices Increasing concern for global warming

Threats Consumers likely to distrust green advertising Green consumption seen as just a fashion trend Green products can be more expensive than alternatives

Strengths

High Consumer Recognition of Sponsors Challenge X has 26 sponsors that provide the hardware, software, training, and support the teams need to integrate technologies into their competition vehicles (Challengex.org). Many of
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the sponsors of Challenge X have highly recognized brand names that attract attention and positive feelings for Challenge X by lending their brand equity.

Our research has indicated that brand equity has a significant impact on perceptions of brandevent congruence, which greatly impacts consumer behavior. Sponsor recognition, corporate image of the sponsor, attitude toward the sponsoring brand, and attitude toward the event were all significantly higher for subjects with high-perceived brand-event congruence (Roy). This is beneficial for Challenge X because the majority of its sponsors have a direct relation to the purpose and objectives of the competition through individual company strategies to improve the economy and environment. Therefore, there is a strong brand-event congruency.

General Motors, the headline sponsor of Challenge X, is the largest vehicle manufacturer in the world. GM had a global market share of 14.2 percent in 2005, and is still the market leader in the US, with a market share of about 26 percent in 2005 (Intier). The support of this well known company enhances consumer perceptions and attitudes of Challenge X.

Ability to Host Competition Given the support of the two main sponsors (GM and DOE) Challenge X is able to host their competitions and other events at special venues, while also supplying transportation costs and hotel accommodations for all participants. For example, Challenge X recently hosted a marketing seminar in Boston during the month of September, and provided everyone with hotel rooms and paid for their flights. The great support that comes from our sponsors is what allows challenge X to continue along and be such a great program.

Consumer Support for Non-Profit Endeavors The presence of ownership plays a large role in consumers buying behaviors. A statistical examination of consumers buying behaviors, supports the argument that when given a choice between a for-profit versus a non-profit output consumers choose non-profit in most situations. Some of the most prominent reasons consumers choose non-profit are that they identify with the
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mission of the non-profit organizations or believe that the proceeds will be used to cross-subsidize mission-related activities (Ballou).

There is a strong social value in supporting non-profit organizations because people perceive them to be cause-related or welfare-enhancing endeavors. Companies donate to and sponsor nonprofit events and organizations through corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives because they enhance consumer perceptions of the company through customers' identification with the corporation. This is the degree of overlap in a customer's self-concept and his or her perception of the corporation (Lichtenstein).

Weaknesses

Lack of Awareness of the Challenge X Competition Among Our Target Market We assume that public awareness in regards to the Challenge X competition is close to zero. This academic competition has been in motion for the last three years and has made little attempt to specifically reach green consumers in San Diego.

No Previous Experience Marketing the Challenge X Competition This year is the first year that a marketing aspect has been added to the competition. Given that this competition's competitors are primarily engineers there is little knowledge as to how to effectively create a marketing plan.

Opportunities

Students Gaining Real-World Experience Due to the fact that GM, DOE and other government and industry leaders created Challenge X to be a competition among engineering schools, students will not only gain valuable hands-on experience with real world engineering practices, but also with leading-edge automotive propulsion, fuels, materials and emissions control (Challengex.org).
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Increased Interest in Green Advocacy According to Andy Counts, a writer from Home Furnishing Business, concern for the environment is moving rapidly toward the forefront in consumer purchasing behavior. Soaring gasoline prices are also helping consumers feel their impact on our planet, (Ebenkamp). These reasons, among others, are responsible for creating increased general concern for the environment among a growing number of consumers.

Increased Consumer Purchasing/Company Endorsement of Environmental Products As Americans are becoming more aware of the impact of their purchasing habits on the environment, retailers are noticing this new concern. They are realizing that consumers are willing to pay more to protect the environment and stock their shelves accordingly, (Oloughlin). The consumption of organic products alone has doubled in the last five years, justifying retailers recent trend toward offering environmentally sound products (Hein). In addition, business leaders are awakening to the connection between employees driving habits and the well-being of the companys surroundings. Companies like Hyperion, offer their employees $5,000 dollars towards the purchase of a hybrid. (Corporate Incentives)

High Spending Power of the Green Consumer In the U.S, green consumers who are concerned about the environment a great deal or fair amount; have increased from 62 percent to 77 percent between 2004 and 2006. Statistics show that most of these green consumers have a higher disposable income than the average consumer. They brought $229 billion to the U.S market in spending power in 2005 alone (Ryan).

Government Legislation California State government legislation promotes hybrids by offering tax refund incentives, freeway High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) privileges even when driving solo, and free parking in certain cities around California.

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Tax Refund Qualifying vehicles purchased on or after January 1, 2006, will be eligible for a tax credit ranging from $400 to $3,400 based on fuel economy. The hybrid tax refund incentive is actually a combination of two separate tax credits and is considered a reward for emitting less pollution (Perez).

Carpool California will allow hybrid electric vehicles that get at least 45mpg and have Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (SULEV) ratings to use HOV lanes without regard to the number of passengers in the vehicle. Current eligible vehicles include the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight and Honda Civic hybrid (dmv.gov).

Free Parking Cities and businesses that offer free parking to Hybrid vehicles are Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), City of Sacramento parking lots, metered parking in Downtown San Jose, Hermosa Beach, and Santa Monica as well as free parking at numerous hotels throughout the state (hybridcar.com).

Continued Progress in Advanced Vehicle Technology (AVT) The Scuderi Group, an engine development company, has received over $8 million in funding from numerous private investors, including a $1.2 million award from the U.S. government. These grants are intended to promote AVT with hopes that it will eventually become increasingly mainstream and therefore the future of automobile engines. Sal Scuderi, president of the Scuderi Group, believes that Consumers are demanding better fuel efficiency in their vehicles and less dependence on foreign oil. (He) believes the investment community has identified (their) technology as being poised to meet this demand, especially as (the industry) struggles to increase the value of their products. Investors understand the opportunities that AVT create and are eager to be among the first to aid in the creation and application of these technologies (Scuderi Group).
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Alleviate Reliance on Foreign Oil Last year, 56 percent of the nation's oil - some 11 million barrels a day - came from abroad. That's far more than the one-third share imported during the first oil crisis of the 1970s. And it's halfway to the two-thirds share projected for 2025, if nothing changes. If all US cars (not including light trucks) were Priuses today, the nation would save 15 percent more oil than it received from the Persian Gulf in 2002 (Douglass).

Large Number of Green Consumers in San Diego, CA California is considered one of the most environmentally friendly states. Therefore people residing in San Diego, CA are going to be more receptive to an eco-friendly program (Heffren).

Rising Gas Prices As gas prices rise consumers look into vehicles that save money on gasoline. Gasoline prices are higher today than ever before. Consequently, people are actively seeking automobiles that will save them money in the long run (Douglass).

Increasing Concern for Global Warming As recent information about global warming reveals that our planets ice caps are worse off than once anticipated, people are beginning to recognize how their driving behavior has already impacted our planet. Increased media attention to the issue also brings global warming to the top of the public agenda. For these reasons, consumers are searching for alternatives especially in vehicles which allow them to continue their current lifestyle with lessened effects on the environment (Power). Challenge X offers a solution to the growing problem and, as such, will resonate with all consumers who are concerned about or aware of global warming.

Threats

Green Consumers are Likely to Distrust Green Advertisers Zinkhan and Carlson stated in the Journal of Advertising that green consumers are somewhat cynical about marketing activities and they are likely to discount advertising messages and to
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distrust corporate motives. Because marketers and advertisers are relatively quick to identify new trends, and they move quickly to capitalize on these trends, there is an "anticapitalist" streak attached to the green movement. Therefore, green consumers are difficult to target and difficult to persuade.

Green Consumption is Just a Fashion Trend Certain environmentalists are calling the green movement a fashion trend and are suggesting that it will come to an end soon. They blame news media and marketers for turning environmentalism into fashion and distracting from serious issues. George Black, an editor and a columnist at OnEarth, a quarterly journal of the Natural Resources Defense Council, recently summed up the explosion of high-style green consumer items and articles of the sort that proclaim green is the new black, that is, a fashion trend, as eco-narcissism.

Green Products Can Be More Expensive Than Their Alternatives. Due to many reasons, including technology and product development, environmentally friendly products can cost more that their substitutes. Green consumers are willing to sacrifice the extra money to benefit the environment, but other consumers wont. Studies have shown that consumers perceive green products as more expensive in comparison to the alternative products or that they dont work as well (Aceti Associates of Arlington, MA).

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PRIMARY RESEARCH Being able to successfully reach our target audience is a key factor in this project. While secondary research defined what made up a green consumer, additional research was needed in order to determine pertinent information about this target audience. We conducted primary research by implementing a survey to find out what motivated San Diego green consumers and what media channels would be most effective to reach them. Questionnaire Design In order to gain the appropriate level of information, survey questions were asked using a Likert scale. The Likert scale effectively measures the behavior and attitude level of respondents, producing more precise and accurate conclusions. The actual layout of the questionnaire was also taken into consideration. Taking into account that people do not enjoy filling out lengthy surveys, the layout of our questionnaire was intended to appear as short as possible. To achieve this we used multiple grid questions through the entirety of the survey. This enabled us to create an in-depth questionnaire, yielding substantial information that was critical to the remainder of the project. The questions themselves ranged from a simple qualifying section to specific values, behaviors and demographics of respondents. It was important to begin the questionnaire with a section dedicated to determining if respondents were considered to be green. Those who showed little or no concern for the environment were not considered to be in our target market and therefore had minimal weight in determining our messages and channels to be used. The second section asked respondents to indicate the level of importance they place on certain environmental issues. This information helped us to develop our message strategies. The third portion of the questionnaire was designed to designate what channels should be used to reach our target audience, while the final section pointed out additional demographics. (See Appendix ###) Another critical component to the success of our data collection was the distribution of our surveys. For this particular assignment we needed an economically efficient yet effective way to
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distribute our surveys. The most appropriate sampling method in this case was cluster sampling. Of the geographic locations that fit the income profile of our target market, we randomly chose clusters to be sampled. These included areas in the north county, south county, inland and downtown San Diego. Specific locations in these areas were often based on secondary research findings that showed green consumers frequenting health food stores. Because of this, a substantial amount of surveys were handed out at Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and Henrys grocery stores. In the end, a total of 222 individuals were surveyed throughout San Diego. The results from this survey were input into SPSS, an analytical software program, and reviewed to assist us in making informed decisions regarding our target audience. Results

Based upon the 222 questionnaires that were passed out, our target demographics were surveyed. 56 percent were female, 75 percent were above the age of thirty-five and 71 percent had household incomes of over $45,000 a year. Based upon these frequencies of demographics, the results of the questionnaires accurately represent the attitudes and behaviors of a green consumer. Frequencies The most important and beneficial results obtained from the questionnaire were the respondent's feelings towards a particular environmental issue. They were asked to rate their level of importance towards an issue from a scale of not at all important to extremely important. The nine different environmental issues that were given included: global warming, quality of air, foreign dependency on oil, protect future generations, personal health, social obligation, selfgratification, positive image and conservation of resources. In interpreting the results, we focused on the issues that the majority of respondents felt were extremely important. Since the respondent is already considered green, we wanted to know what environmental issues were most important to them, so we could tailor messages towards their feelings. The following table shows the number of green consumers who rated each issue as extremely important.

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1. Personal Health (125) 2. Air Quality (115) 3. Protect Future Generations (108) 4. Conservation of Resources (100) 5. Global Warming (99) 6. Foreign Dependency on Oil (78) 7. Socially Obligation (45) 8. Positive Image (37) 9. Self-Gratification (29)

The top six issues include personal health, air quality, future generations, conservation of resources, global warming and dependency on foreign oil. These issues concern survival needs based upon actual concern for the earths existence. The less popular issues include social obligation to be green based upon having a positive image and self-gratification. These issues concern self-fulfillment needs where consumers might be green because of social pressures. The results show that green consumers have a genuine concern for not only their personal health, but also the quality of life for future generations. They feel that current mainstream issues such as global warming and foreign dependency on oil have raised concerns for the quality of the environment. Using these results, messages and strategies will be tailored towards the green consumers concerns.

From the 222 respondents, 11 percent currently own a hybrid vehicle while 89 percent do not. Given that the majority of respondents drive a gas-fueled vehicle, 96 percent said they would consider owning a Hybrid. An open-ended question was then asked regarding why they currently do not own a Hybrid. The most frequent and consistent responses were that Hybrids were too expensive and that they desire to drive a larger and more powerful vehicle. Since Challenge X and the Equinox are positioning itself as a powerful SUV that uses alternative fuel technologies, this will be an effective message strategy to use towards the green consumer.

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The frequencies analysis also provided information on which types of media our target market uses to obtain news and information. 40 percent of the respondents use the Internet Very Frequently to get their news and information. Television and newspaper are also used frequently to receive news and information. The respondents indicated that they receive their information from radio and magazines just not as frequently as from TV, Internet and newspaper. The last section provided results about the types of events the respondents go to. The frequencies of the seven types of events in this section (participate in sporting events, attend sporting events, car shows, cultural/art festivals, music concerts, environmental events, and myspace) all had a bell shape. The bell shape indicates that there is an even distribution on the positive and negative sides of the scale. Therefore further testing is needed to make any significant interpretations from this section. (See Appendix A)

Correlation In order to determine where we were going to reach our target market we performed correlation analysis tests. These tests uncovered any relationships between two variables. When variables are compared in the correlation analysis it tests the strength of the relationship between the two variables. The most valuable correlations we found were between the reasons why people are green and what events they attend or how they get their information and news.

Personal Health Television Get News Internet and Newspaper Information Radio from: Magazines Music Concerts Environmental Attend: Events Cultural Events Sporting Events Participate in: Sporting Events X X X

Air Quality

Future Conservation Global Generations of Resources Warming

Dependency on Foreign Oil X X X

X X X X X

X
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The Xs in this table show where positive correlations were found at an alpha level of .05. For example, there was a correlation between personal health and getting news and information from the television. This means that the correspondents who value personal health also get a majority of their news and information from the television. This information helped us choose what mediums to use in our marketing plan, and what message to use in each medium in order to maximize the appeal and reach of the campaign.

Our results also showed us where not to target the campaign. We learned that our target market does not generally attend sporting events and rarely reads magazines. We were also unable to find a general type of magazine (ie. Beauty, outdoor, health) that our target market tends to read. This excluded any national magazine advertisement or article from the campaign. However, we will be using targeted local magazines to add to the Public Relation efforts mentioned later on in the plan.

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OBJECTIVES

Create awareness of Challenge X among 20 percent of our target market (62,803) Create interest in Challenge X and advanced vehicle technologies among 10 percent of our target market (31,401) Create evaluation and positive feelings about Challenge X and the sponsors among 5 percent of our target market (15,701)

CREATIVE MESSAGE

Message Through Challenge X, San Diego State University has created alternative fuel technologies that lowers emissions, slows global warming and provides cleaner air and improved personal health for present and future generations.

Slogan "Green Fuels Good"

Rationale The message and slogan were derived from primary research results of our questionnaire. Our message encompasses the top six reasons why consumers in San Diego are green while communicating the purpose of Challenge X. The slogan represents Challenge Xs position as an environmentally conscious organization while communicating an emotional appeal to green consumers.

POSITIONING STRATEGY We will position Challenge X as an organization that values their markets personal health, their markets vested interest in the future, and as an organization that embodies green values.
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EVENTS

Target Market Primary: San Diego green consumers attending and/or participating in events throughout San Diego Secondary: green consumers attending and/or participating in events throughout San Diego

Objectives Events are ultimately a sales promotion tool used to achieve several objectives. The specific objectives of our promotional events are the following: Increase awareness and interest of Challenge X amongst our target market at scheduled events throughout San Diego Create a positive evaluation of Challenge X by presenting it in an engaging way Increase the number of daily visits to the Challenge X website Get various media hits so as to further increase awareness

Tactics We recommend Challenge X participate in five events in San Diego between Fall 2007 and the spring 2008. The first event which already took place on November 20, 2007 was a sendoff for SDSUs Challenge X vehicle, Equinox. This event is different from the others in that its main objective was to gain awareness through media coverage and publicity. The other four events will take place at expositions and have several thousand attendants with a high concentration of our target market. Each event will have a booth and various types of marketing collateral to give to people who are interested. The collateral includes informational bookmarks that contain flower seeds inside.
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Informational posters and media kits will also be available. In addition, at the expo events we will have a sweepstakes to win a $100 REI e-gift card. To enter this sweepstakes people will fill out a small piece of paper with their name, email address, zip code, and a question that asks, How did you hear about the Challenge X booth? If people have business cards they will be encouraged to drop those in as well. This information will be used to create a database. The five events are: SDSU Equinox Sendoff (11/20/07) This event included the following: Expected to Attend: Media and SDSU students Media Kits Flyers: 100 Posters:3

This event took place on the SDSU campus. We had a table that showcased Challenge X awards won by the SDSU engineering team, informational flyers, posters, and media kits. The Equinox was on display next to the table, and Frank Falcone, head of the engineering department, and the 2007 IMC department was on hand to inform media and students about Challenge X and the Equinox. This event generated 3 media hits that included interviews with the IMC leaders and Frank Falcone. San Diego International Auto Show (12/26-12/30/07) This event will include the following: Expected Attendance: 100,000 Media Kits Posters: 3 $100 REI e-gift card sweepstake

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Challenge X will participate in the Eco-Center feature of the 2008 San Diego International Auto Show. This is a five day event. The Eco-Center spotlights the automotive industrys commitment to developing fuel efficient, low emission technologies for a cleaner and healthier environment. Included in event participation is a main floor space with heavy traffic in the Eco-Center where the car and information will be displayed, a half page four color ad in EcoCenter supplement in the San Diego Business Journal and 50 auto show tickets. Two to three IMC volunteers will be present at our event booth each day informing people about Challenge X and encouraging them to visit our car to learn more. They will also be encouraging people to fill out their information in order to be entered in the REI e-gift card sweepstake. SDSU engineering volunteers will be present at the vehicle to educate guests about the technological advancements of the Equinox. Earth Fair (4/20/08) This event will include the following: Expected Attendance: 60,000 Media Kits Bookmarks: 12,000 Posters:3 $100 REI e-gift card sweepstake

At this one day event we will be provided with a 10 x 10 booth and canopy to display all of our Challenge X collateral. The booth will come equipped with a table, table cloth, chairs, and a large sign. The car will be in an area designated for car display, where people can come observe and learn about the Equinox. There is also an Earth Fair parade through Balboa Park that the Equinox will participate in. Three to four IMC department volunteers will be at the booth passing out bookmarks and informing people about Challenge X and encouraging them to visit our car to learn more. Three to four IMC department volunteers will also be placed at various locations throughout the event, including the entrance, passing out the informational bookmarks and encouraging visitors to visit the booth and the Equinox. Two volunteers from the SDSU
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engineering department will be located at the car to educate those who are interested about the Equinoxs innovative technology. All volunteers will also be encouraging people to visit the booth to fill out their information in order to be entered in the REI e-gift card sweepstake. Green Living Expo (5/17-5/18/08) This event will include the following: Expected Attendance: 4000 Media Kits Bookmarks: 800 Posters:3 $100 REI e-gift card give away

This event will provide a 10 x 20 space for two days, as well as a Challenge X sign to display at our table. We will provide our own table, table cloth and chairs. The booth will be in the outside area so that the vehicle will actually have room to be on display inside the booth. Participation in this expo will allow Challenge X to be mentioned on the Green Living Expo website in addition to a business size advertisement in Green Living Magazine. Two to three volunteers from the SDSU IMC department will be at the table to get people interested in Challenge X and encourage them to take a look at the Equinox outside as well as encourage people to fill out their name, email address and zip code for the REI sweepstake. At least one volunteer from the SDSU engineering department will be on hand at the car to educate the public. Three to four IMC department volunteers will also be placed at various locations throughout the event, including the entrance, to pass out informational bookmarks and encourage visitors to visit the booth and the Equinox. Rock n Roll Marathon (5/30-5/31/08) This event will include the following: Expected Attendance: 60,000
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Media Kits Bookmarks: 12,000 Posters: 3 $100 REI e-gift card give away

This event does not take place at the actual Rock n Roll Marathon. The Rock n Roll Marathon has an expo at the San Diego Convention Center on the two days leading up to the marathon. This is what Challenge X will take part in. At this expo we will have a 10 x 10 space for two days equipped with a table, chairs, and Challenge X sign. The car will once again be displayed in a designated area outside of the expo center. Three to four SDSU IMC department volunteers will be on hand at the booth to inform people about Challenge X and encourage them to fill out their information in order to be a part of the REI e-gift card sweepstake. They will also urge visitors to visit the car outside. Two volunteers from the SDSU engineering department will be with the car outside to inform the public. Rationale SDSU Equinox Sendoff The sendoff of the vehicle held on November 20, 2007 was put on in order to raise awareness among students, faculty and staff of San Diego State University as well as to gain media exposure. The presence of the media at the sendoff event generated publicity and increased awareness beyond those who actually attended the event. This was be the only event that Challenge X will put on independently which gave us a great opportunity to gain exposure with no cost involved for renting a space. San Diego International Auto Show The 2008 San Diego International Auto Show, at the San Diego Convention Center, will be featuring an Eco-Center to showcase the automotive industrys commitment to improving alternative fuel technologies. This will be the first auto show in the country to have such a feature and is a perfect outlet to promote Challenge X and SDSUs Equinox. The Eco-Center will also include General Motor's "Green Initiative's" along with the VW Dieselution Tour. They
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will both have a large display in the Eco-Center. Smart Car, Toyota, Honda, Ford, Mazda, Lexus and Chrysler will also have alternative fuel vehicles and Envision Solar will be displaying their LifePort Solar Carport at the Eco-Center. Many large automotive companies have invested heavily in this event and are expecting to attract the interest of many people. With 100,000 San Diegans expected to attend, (and 43percent falling with in our target income demographic) the San Diego Auto show is an excellent opportunity to create awareness about Challenge X among our target market Earth Fair The Earth Fair, which will take place in Balboa Park, is the largest free annual environmental fair in the world. Produced by 400 volunteers, The Earth Fair features more than 200 exhibitors, special theme areas, a Food Pavilion, a special Kids Activity Area, five entertainment venues, the Childrens Earth Parade and Alternative Fuel Vehicle Parade and Show. The exhibitors at the event represent every type of environmental organization, governmental program and commercial enterprise with goods, services and causes that address our environment and quality of life. Given the details of this event, Challenge X will benefit greatly by hosting an exhibit to help increase awareness and interest among our target audience. With 60,000 visitors attending annually and 68 percent falling within our target market age demographic, we be given the opportunity to will generate interest of the Challenge X program among our target market. Green Living Expo The Green Living Expo, which takes place at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, is dedicated to preserve the environment through education, communication and networking. Their motto is A Better life through Better Living. The 4000 people who attend this event are all very concerned with being green and giving back to their environment in any way possible. Given that these goals reflect that of Challenge X and our key messages, the Green Living Expo will be an ideal event to target those community members that are in our target audience and actively participate in green living.

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Rock n Roll Marathon The Rock n Roll Marathon will be hosting an expo two days before the actual race at the San Diego Convention Center. This expo is based around health & fitness and includes more than 100 exhibits featuring free samples, interactive displays, and exciting sweepstakes. Based on demographics of previous years, 79 percent of attendees are between the ages of 25-49 with 50 percent having an income greater than $70,000. Considering that one of our key messages is focused toward consumers who are health conscious, this expo will be a very successful way for Challenge X to raise awareness amongst our target audience and to gain interest. Additionally, the racers in the marathon are required to attend the expo in order to receive their race number, timing chip, T-shirt and goodie bag. From our primary research we found that members of our target market are likely to participate in sporting events; therefore, by having the participants of the race attend the expo, we will increase the likelihood of reaching our target audience. Sweepstakes Sweepstakes are often a tactic for Event Marketing, used to drive attendance to the event. We are using the same idea to draw attendance to our booth at the various events we are attending. We are also using our sweepstake as a promotional technique that provides consumers with an incentive for engaging in a certain form of behavior, (Belch and Belch, 524). This behavior is entering their contact information, with the incentive of winning a prize. Contact information will be used to build a database. (See Direct Marketing for database rationale and Print Media for survey question rationale) REI e-Gift Card Our research shows that green consumers are concerned with personal health and frequently enjoy outdoor activities. For this reason we have chosen a $100 REI gift card to be our give away prize. REI is a well-known outdoor retailer selling everything from sporting equipment to top of the line outdoor apparel. The merchandise at this retail store is sure to appeal to people in our target market. In addition, the amount of $100 is significant enough for the winners to purchase desirable merchandise at this store. Considering the possibility that people may not
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live near an REI, we have decided to make this an e-gift card. The e-gift card does not expire, is easily redeemable for merchandise at the REI website and can also be sent to winners via e-mail.

Measuring Effectiveness We used the number of media hits to measure the overall effectiveness of the SDSU Equinox sendoff. We invited 12 reporters to our event and 3 of these 12 attended the event. (see public relations section for additional measurements) In order to measure the effectiveness of the four expo events we will do a benchmark before the first event (International Car Show) and see on average how many daily visits the Challenge X website receives. Once all four events have occurred, we will check to see how much the daily visits to the website have increased/decreased and use that information to determine the overall effectiveness of the events. After each event we will use the database to contact the attendees with current information related to Challenge X. Within the email we will provide a link to our website. We can then measure the effectiveness based on the number of visits this email brings to the Challenge X website.

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PUBLIC RELATIONS

Target Market The public relations efforts made in this project are directed primarily towards the media. We will be targeting key local broadcast and print media whom, in turn, will create publicity that will reach our campaigns target market of green consumers. Objectives Create awareness and favorable public attitudes towards Challenge X Generate a public understanding and acceptance of Challenge Xs role in aiding the research of alternative fuel vehicle technology and its impact on the environment

Tactics Press Kit Creation for Every Event (See Appendix B) Media Alert Fact sheet on Challenge X Competition Fact sheet on SDSU's participation in Challenge X Vehicle Specs Sheet

Media Pitches Pitch to local magazines and newspapers to create publicity

Interview Schedule interviews with media prior to events Seek on-location broadcasts at the events
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Rationale The benefits of receiving coverage is that it is not in the form of a purchased advertisement is considered to be more credible because it is perceived as endorsed by the medium in which it appears and powerful in its news value and frequency of exposure it generates (Belch and Belch, 580). Media Kit Creation Development of a media kit will deliver comprehensive and detailed information to the local media regarding Challenge X and how it is supporting the creation of alternative fuel vehicles and SDSU's participation in the competition. This information will allow the media to create reports and articles for local media outlets that reach to our target market. We chose these certain print media outlets because they reach a significant amount of our target market in San Diego. The following describes the media we chose and a short description of their readers: North County Times: A daily newspaper with news, business and sports for San Diego and Riverside counties. Daily readership is 232,000, 38 percent are between the ages of 35-56, 7 percent of the readers attend college and 61 percent have a household income of $50,000+. San Diego Business Journal: A publication in the field of business and finance, offering news and analyses about local business trends. It has 16,000 subscribers, averages 3 readers per copy, has a median age of 49, 77 percent are college graduates and an average household income of $251,000. San Diego Daily Transcript: A city guide to San Diego. It contains San Diego news, business, finance, real estate, construction, legal, government and more. February and December issues have editorials about building green and going green. The average age is 49, 80 percent have graduated college, and have an average household income of $342,000. San Diego Union-Tribune: A daily newspaper that contains classifieds, entertainment, sports, hotels and visitor information for readers across San Diego. Its circulation is
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319,606 from Monday to Friday, 350,910 from Thursday to Saturday and 419,633 on Sunday. Its readership is 756, 284. Daily Aztec: An independent college campus newspaper for San Diego State University. It contains articles pertaining to everything from politics and campus lifestyles, to sports and entertainment. Its circulation is 10,000, with 66 percent of readers over age 21.

According to our primary research, 67 percent of green consumers get their information from television frequently or very frequently. The following stations are derived from a list of local broadcast media from SDSUs Department of Media Relations. (See Appendix B). By contacting these networks with timely press releases, the awareness, interest and credibility of Challenge X will be enhanced. The broadcast media we will contact are: KFMB Channel 8 KGTV Channel 10 KNSD Channel 7/39 KPBS News KUSI Channel 9/5 FOX Channel 6

Media Pitches Effective media pitches will convince the media that Challenge X is "newsworthy" and, in-turn, will feature an article in a future issue. This will allow us to reach our target market and create a positive image of the competition and those involved. We chose the following magazines because they all reach a very significant amount of our target market. Also, since media pitches are essentially free, we are trying to use as many magazines in San Diego that reach our target market in order to receive free exposure. San Diego Magazine: The nation's first city magazine, features articles covering all aspects of living in San Diego. Distributed to luxury hotels all over San Diego, sold in
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local mass-market chains such as Kmart and Wal-Mart, supermarkets, health food stores, major bookstores and airports all around San Diego. Circulation is 49,000, 49 percent are 35-54, 92.5 percent are college educated and 58 percent have a household income of $100,000. San Diego Reader: Covers politics, the arts and entertainment. It has 770,000 readers in San Diego County, 74 percent are over 35, 60 percent have college degrees and 60 percent have an average household income of $50,000+. Pacific Beach Magazine: Composed of insightful, engaging and entertaining editorials, elegant photography and stunning design, Pacific Beach Magazine strives for that rarest of publishing ideals. Distributed monthly to 35,000 households in Pacific Beach and Mission Beach, also distributed to upscale locations from downtown to Oceanside. San Diego Metropolitan: Distributes the most important local business news to the largest business/professional audience in San Diego County. Circulation is 25,000, readership is 97,500, the average reader per issue is 3.9, 38 percent are between the ages of 35-49 and 72 percent have a household income of $62,000+. San Diego CityBeat: San Diego's Real Alternative Newsweekly publication. Circulation is 50,000, 60 percent are between the ages 25-59 years old, 55 percent attended college, 26 percent graduated and the median household income is $54,000.

Interview Targeting local broadcast morning shows and print media for interview opportunities and feature stories will increase awareness and create a positive image of Challenge X among viewers in our target market. Interviews of engineering team members will give credibility to Challenge X and its efforts to create alternative fuel vehicles that will ultimately lead to a cleaner environment. The following outlet was chosen for our interview: KPBS: 89.5 FM: These Days is a morning show hosted by Tom Fudge, MondayThursdays beginning at 9:00am. This show had the highest index for our target market, which is 126 and has approximately 8,119 listeners per half hour. Also, since KPBS is on-campus, they are the station most likely to air an interview regarding Challenge X.
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We decided to only pitch the radio interview to one station because of time and budget constraints. KPBS has the highest index for our target market, and using this outlet will reduce waste coverage that we would have received from using other stations. Measuring Effectiveness In order to measure the effectiveness of the Public Relations portion of this campaign we will use a basic level of measurement, which measures the actual Public Relations activities undertaken (Belch and Belch 579). Throughout the campaign we will collect press clips of the different media hits we receive. At the end we will compile a list of every media hit and press clip received throughout the campaign. In order to find the total PR value of the hits, we will compare them to the value of the advertisement of comparable ads for that medium. Current Media Hits At the Send-Off event on November 20, 2007, we received three media hits: one thirty second news spot on KUSI (65,000 viewers/PR value $1,200), one sixty second news spot on NBC (45,000 households/PR value of $2,400), and a front page article in The Daily Aztec (10,000 daily copies/PR value of $400). (See Appendix B).

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PRINT MEDIA

Target Market Primary: San Diego green consumers, whom have an average annual income over $50,000 and live in the wealthiest suburbs of San Diego. Secondary: All residents whom receive newspapers to the targeted geographic segments.

Objectives To build website awareness, brand awareness and interest for Challenge X among the target audience. Drive traffic to the Challenge X booths at the Earth Fair, Green Living Expo and Rock N Roll Marathon. Tactics Advertise for Challenge X in the local newspapers: La Jolla Village News, Beach & Bay Press, The Peninsula Beacon, The Coast News, Del Mar Times, Rancho Santa Fe Record, Solana Beach Sun and the Carmel Valley Leader. Each newspaper is distributed on a weekly basis. Community Newspaper Group owns the La Jolla Village News, Beach & Bay Press, and The Peninsula, which are distributed every Thursday of the week. The Coast News Group Inc. owns The Coast News, which is distributed every Friday. San Diego Coastal Newspapers owns the Del Mar Times, Rancho Santa Fe Record, Solana Beach Sun and the Carmel Valley Leader, which are distributed every Friday of the week. Each advertisement should appear in all eight newspapers the week prior to the Earth Fair, the Rock & Roll Marathon and the Green Living Expo to create awareness and interest for Challenge X. Based upon the various newspaper drop days, the following table describes the recommended distribution day for all three advertisements:

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EVENT Earth Fair

DATE OF EVENT April 20, 2008

DATE OF ADVERTISEMENT -April 17, 2008 (Community Newspaper Group) -April 18, 2008 (The Coast News) -April 18, 2008 (San Diego Coastal Newspapers) -May 15, 2008 (Community Newspaper Group) -May 16, 2008 (The Coast News) -May 16, 2008 (San Diego Coastal Newspapers) -May 29, 2008 (Community Newspaper Group) -May 23, 2008 (The Coast News) -May 23, 2008 (San Diego Coastal Newspapers)

Green Living Expo

May 17 and 18, 2008

Rock & Roll Marathon

May 30 and 31, 2008

The advertisement will maintain a consistent visual look and message, while highlighting the specific location and time of the event where Challenge X will be in attendance (See Appendix C). A 3/20 vertical advertisement (4.125 width by 5.75 depth) will appear in the La Jolla Village News, Beach & Bay Press and The Peninsula Beacon. A page black and white advertisement will appear in The Coast News, Del Mar Times, Rancho Santa Fe Record, Solana Beach Sun and the Carmel Valley Leader. Rationale Location Based on our secondary research, typical green consumers are wealthy individuals with annual incomes of over $50,000 per year. In most areas, 50 percent or more of households read a daily newspaper, and the reach figure may exceed 70 percent among households with higher incomes (Belch and Belch 399). Using this information, the most efficient way to target these consumers
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is through newspapers that are distributed to the most affluent areas of San Diego. Based on research regarding average home prices, the wealthiest regions in San Diego are along coastal cities, Rancho Santa Fe and other surrounding areas in the East (See Appendix C). Coastal cities and Rancho Santa Fe will be targeted for print advertising over the areas of Jamul, Alpine and Valley Center. These counties have a high average home price however they have a much lower population concentration compared the coastal areas. The combined population of Jamul, Alpine and Valley Center is 26,365 people. Del Mar alone has near 40,000 individuals. The coastal areas have a much higher population than the rural eastern counties (U.S. Census); therefore the most cost-effective use of print advertising should target those areas. From the Community Newspaper Group, the La Jolla Village News, Beach & Bay Press and The Peninsula Beacon will be used for advertising because they are located along the southern coastal regions of San Diego (See Appendix C). These three newspapers target coastal residences from Point Loma to La Jolla. The Coast News is distributed among the northern coastal communities of Oceanside, Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar, Carmel Valley, Vista and San Marcos (See Appendix C). The Coast News will be used to target residents north of La Jolla all the way to Oceanside, who are outside the coastal distribution areas of Community Newspaper Group. Lastly, the Del Mar Times, Rancho Santa Fe Record, Solana Beach Sun and the Carmel Valley Leader will be used to reach the areas of Del Mar, Solana Beach, Rancho Santa Fe and Carmel Valley. These four papers overlap with some of The Coast News distribution areas, with the exception of Carmel Valley and Rancho Santa Fe which is crucial to reach because it is one of the wealthiest regions in San Diego. Readership and Costs According to the Circulation Verification Council, the La Jolla Village News, Beach & Bay Press and The Peninsula Beacon have 100 percent market saturation because they are distributed door-to-door to every residency in the geographic segment. These newspapers pride themselves on having 100 percent community news and 93 percent readership among their wealthy market (SD News). The La Jolla Village News has a 18,500 circulation rate, The Beach & Bay Press has a 19,000 circulation rate and The Peninsula Beacon has a 16,000 circulation rate for a total
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circulation rate of 53,500. Since Challenge X will be present at Earth Day, Green Living Expo and the Rock & Roll Marathon, we want to advertise the presence of Challenge X at these three events. A 3/20 vertical advertisement (4.125 width by 5.75 depth) in black and white can be distributed among the three newspapers for a price of $592 per weekly distribution, which would be a total budget of $1,776 to advertise the presence of Challenge X at all three events. The CPM is therefore $11 per weekly distribution through all three papers. The Coast News is freely distributed to all local businesses and homes in the northern coastal communities, and has a total circulation of 26,468 people. A page black and white advertisement can be purchased for $405 per weekly distribution, or $1,215 for three weekly issues. The CPM is therefore $15.3 per weekly distribution through The Coast News. The Del Mar Times, Rancho Santa Fe Record, Solana Beach Sun and the Carmel Valley Leader have a total weekly circulation of 36,000 people. A page black and white advertisement can be purchased for $422 per weekly distribution, or $1,266 for three weekly issues. The CPM is therefore $11.7 per weekly distribution. All advertisements in each of eight newspapers have a potential to reach 115,968 total residents. A summarized table explaining the readership and costs for these newspapers is shown below:

NEWSPAPER

READERSHIP

COST PER WEEK $592 $405 $422

TOTAL COST

CPM

La Jolla Village News, Beach & Bay Press, Peninsula Beacon The Coast News Del Mar Times, Rancho Santa Fe Record, Solana Beach Sun, Carmel Valley Leader TOTALS

53,500 26,468 36,000

$1,776 $1,215 $1,266

$11 $15.3 $11.7

115,968

$1,419

$4,257

$12.7

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Competition There are also other community newspaper groups in San Diego that need to be considered and compared to the recommended course of action. The Coast News Group Inc owns The Coast News, The Vista/San Marcos News, Village & Valley News and the Rancho Santa Fe News. The only newspapers that segment the target market out of these four options are The Coast News and the Rancho Santa Fe News, which have a total circulation of 35,468. These two newspapers specifically target northern coastal cities and Rancho Santa Fe residences. To remain consistent with recommended advertisement sizes, a page black and white advertisement can be purchased at a combo rate for $625 per weekly distribution, or $1,875 for three distributions. The CPM is therefore $17.6 per weekly distribution through both newspapers, which is obviously much higher than the recommended technique. The residences of Rancho Santa Fe can be targeted through San Diego Coastal Newspapers for $11.7 per thousand readers, while also reaching three other areas of San Diego. The most cost-effective way to reach Rancho Santa Fe residents is through San Diego Coastal Newspapers and not through Coast News Group Inc. San Diego Ranch Coast News is also a community newspaper group who distributes the Carmel Valley News, Del Mar Village Voice and the Rancho Santa Fe Review. The Carmel Valley News and Del Mar Village Voice have 22,000 in-home deliveries and 8,000 distributions in racks and subscriptions for a total circulation of 30,000 in the Carmel Valley and Del Mar suburbs. If a company wants an advertisement in The Carmel Valley News, it also appears at no additional charge in the Del Mar Village Voice, and vice versa. A page black and white advertisement can be purchased for $645 per weekly distribution for a total CPM of $21.5. The Rancho Santa Fe Review reaches residences in Rancho Santa Fe with a weekly distribution of 8,500 copies. A page advertisement in this newspaper costs $416 per weekly distribution for a pricey CPM of $49. Advertising through San Diego Coastal Newspapers targets the same geographic area, with a higher distribution and much lower CPM compared to the San Diego Ranch Coast News. For this campaign, wealthy areas of San Diego are being targeted to reach the green consumer more effectively. The North County Times offers nine different zoned areas for advertising
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distribution (See Appendix C). Only zones one, three and four will be targeted, which include the coastal regions from Del Mar to Oceanside and Rancho Santa Fe. The newspaper offers a Coast combo deal for advertising that includes zones one through four. These four zones reach a total of 92,399 possible readers. A 24 (6 depth by 4width) advertisement would cost $528 per daily advertisement Monday through Saturday, while one advertisement on Sunday costs $565. To advertise each day of the week in the Coastal zone before a particular event, it would cost $3,733 for a total CPM of $40.4. Not only is the CPM extremely high compared to the community newspapers, but The North County Times does not distribute along the coast south of Del Mar, where secondary research says most green consumers reside. Another problem is the Coastal zone includes Vista, which is not part of the geographic target, and can be seen as wasted circulation money. The San Diego Union Tribune is on the decline as daily circulation at the San Diego UnionTribune has declined about 8.5 percent while Sunday was down about 7.9 percent (Saba). Since 2006, The Union Tribune currently has a 756,284 daily readership out of a total San Diego population of 2,236,066. This means that The Union Tribune carries a 33.8 percent readership out of the entire population of San Diego. Advertising in The Union Tribune has a high absolute cost that is unrealistic for Challenge X as well as a high CPM. For example, a 24 (6 depth by 4 width) advertisement costs $10,392 to advertise Monday-Wednesday, $10,608 ThursdaySaturday and $13,178 for a Sunday advertisement without any agreement. To advertise for one full week in the newspaper would cost a total of $76,178 with a $101 CPM. This is based upon a widespread newspaper distribution through out San Diego. The Union Tribune does offer advertising to specific geographic locations, which are collapsed into north, south, east and central zones. Since there are only four zone breakdowns, the newspaper does not target the area as well as the community newspapers reach. These zones are only available to target specific days of the week, so it is difficult to get an actual estimated cost. In conclusion, The San Diego Union Tribune is far out of the Challenge X budget, and does not offer specific targeting capabilities that the community papers offer.

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Primary and Secondary Research Advertising in eight local newspapers has advantages over other daily newspapers in San Diego such as The San Diego Union Tribune and The North County Times. According to The Newspaper Society, regional newspapers no longer painted an accurate picture of the market because falling circulations had been offset by increased distribution of free editions (Online Publishing). The advantage of these smaller, local newspapers is that you can micro-zone specific areas without wasted paid circulation to geographical areas outside the target market (Kidd). Companies that advertise through these editions also benefit from the association because Consumers use their local newspapers to source information about the local area and the advertising is very much part of that (Clark). Residents can see advertisements directly related to their local areas of interest, and will recognize major events Challenge X will be a part of. The eight local newspapers also have a longer shelf life than the pricey competitors because they are distributed weekly versus daily. Newspapers with a longer shelf life would be more beneficial to use because it gives the target market a better chance to be exposed to the advertisements. Since all the community newspapers are distributed weekly, placing an advertisement in the newspaper a week before the event would enable the target market to be exposed to the advertisement for the entire week prior to the event at a much smaller price. Community newspapers are also an effective media strategy for this campaign based upon our primary research. Research gathered from the questionnaire showed that green consumers have a positive correlation towards getting news from newspapers compared to other print media such as magazines, which had no correlation. By advertising in community newspapers, both the green consumer and other people who live in the same areas can more effectively be reached.

Measuring Effectiveness One way to measure the effectiveness of print advertising will be through inquiry tests. Inquiry tests are designed to measure advertising effectiveness on the basis of inquiries generated from ads appearing in various print media (Belch and Belch 616). When consumers visit the
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Challenge X website, they will be prompted to enter their contact information into the opt-in email database and will be asked a How did you hear about us? question. Possible response options will include: newspaper, friend, other and a list of all the events Challenge X will be attending. This question will be asked in either a link from the emails sent to the addresses or in a one question survey imbedded in the homepage. Another way to measure the effectiveness of print advertising will be through responses from sweepstakes at the events. When each person fills out the sweepstakes card for the REI e-gift card, the question How did you hear about the Challenge X booth? will be asked. Possible answers will include: newspaper, walk by, internet, friend and other. This response will measure the percentage of people that heard about Challenge X from previous advertising efforts compared to walk bys. Based on the amount of people that respond to the question, we will be able to measure how accurate the sample of responses will be when applied to the total expected attendance.

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SUPPORT MEDIA

Target Market Green consumers attending the Earth Fair, Rock n Roll Marathon, and the Green Living Expo.

Objective Tactics Bookmark: 28,000 informational seed bookmarks will be given out at the three events we will be attending. (See Appendix D ) o The San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon: estimated 60,000 attendants 12,000 bookmarks distributed (20 percent of 60,000) To create awareness among 20 percent of participants of the events To reach parts of our target that the primary media may not have reached and to reinforce their messages

o The Earth Fair: estimated 60,000 attendants 12,000 bookmarks distributed (20 percent of 60,000)

o Green Living Expo: estimated 4000 attendants Design will include: o Challenge X logo o Challenge X message o Website address: www.socalhybrids.com o Information about the Challenge X competition o Inside contains flower seeds you can plant 800 bookmarks distributed (20 percent of 4000)

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Rationale The use of support media at specific events creates an opportunity for a direct relationship to exist between the target market and the program. Bookmarks The seed filled bookmarks were designed to create awareness of Challenge X at the events. Staying consistent with our objective, we will pass out bookmarks to 20 percent of the expected attendees at each event. The natural characteristic of the flower seeds will not only add dimension and aesthetic appeal to the bookmark, but also connect green consumers to the ecofriendly goals of Challenge X. Our encouragement to plant flowers aims to create a positive image of Challenge X among our target market. A bookmark is relatively durable and will remain with the potential customer for an extended period of time, providing repeat exposures to the advertising message at no additional cost. The bookmarks will be distributed at the entrance and other various locations at each event in order to obtain the maximum exposure. Their distribution will be spread evenly throughout the events in order to not limit distribution to individuals attending earlier. Advantages of bookmarks over less durable forms of support media include: selectivity, flexibility, frequency, cost, goodwill, high recall, and as a supplementation for primary media. Because specialty advertising items are generally distributed directly to target consumers, the medium offers a high degree of selectivity (Belch and Belch, 424). Due to their selectivity, the distribution of the bookmarks will be accurately targeted at three specific events, effectively eliminating waste coverage and maximizing our resources. A study conducted by George Southern University showed that 71.6 percent of attendees at a trade show remembered the name of the company that gave them the specialty; 65.5 percent thought it was useful; and 76.3 percent had a favorable attitude toward the company as a result (Belch and Belch 426). Measuring Effectiveness Owing to the nature of the industry, specialty advertising has no established ongoing audience measurement system (Belch and Belch, 426).
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DIRECT MARKETING

Target Market Green consumers attending the San Diego International Auto Show, the Earth Fair, Rock n Roll Marathon, and the Green Living Expo.

Objective

Obtain an immediate behavioral response from consumers through the act of voluntarily giving us their contact information, ultimately allowing us to build a database

Create a positive image of Challenge X through use of emails Maintain brand awareness among consumers through the dissemination of information in our emails

Tactics Create a Database Sweepstakes We will hold a sweepstakes opportunity at our booth during the four events we will be participating in (San Diego International Auto Show, Earth Fair, Rock n Roll Marathon, and the Green Living Expo). This sweepstakes will encourage people to enter their contact information with the incentive of winning a $100 e-gift card to REI stores. Contact information will include name, email address, and zip code. Consumers will also answer How did you hear about the Challenge X booth for print media measurement purposes. If the customer has a business card, they will be encouraged to drop it in as well. All consumers who enter information will be added to our database. One winner will be chosen from each event, and will be announced in Challenge X emails.
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Website Incentive On the re-designed Challenge X website, there will be a call to action link on the homepage. This link will encourage people to sign up for our emails with the incentive of winning a $100 egift card to REI stores. Those who opt to sign up will have to enter there name, email address, and zip code, and will be entered in our database. One winner will be chosen every month, for four months, and will be announced in our emails.

Database Usage

Emails Our database will be used to send monthly emails, so as to keep our consumers up to date and informed about Challenge X. We will send an email after each event, for a total of four emails. It is a way to stay active in our consumers mind, and maintain brand awareness. These emails will contain the following ideas:

Updated information on both Challenge X and GM. It will give insider information about what GM is planning to do with the Equinox Hybrid, and how GM is staying active in the Green movement.

Green news in San Diego, as well as advice on how to be green in every day life. Promotions and discounts on eco-friendly products. This can include green consumer goods, organic products, or other items that are beneficial to the environment.

A link to a one-question survey will be included in each of the four emails. The survey will be on the Challenge X website, and the response format will be determined by the objective of the question (ex: likert scale, open-ended, etc). These surveys will inquire about how consumers feel about Challenge X, how much they know about Challenge X, and how they heard about Challenge X. Answering the survey question will increase the receivers chances of winning the REI e-gift card, so as to give an incentive to respond.

Consumer picture and profile. The winners of the sweepstakes and the website incentive will have their picture and a short profile in the emails. The profile will be a brief description of what makes that person green, how they are helping the environment, or any concern they have for the environment.
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Zip code segmentation By getting consumers zip codes, Challenge X can see what regions of San Diego are most responsive at our participated events. This will strengthen our target market, allowing us to know more specifically where in San Diego they live. Challenge X can use this information to know where to find existing consumers, and where to target potential consumers, for their future marketing efforts.

Flyers Where: Flyers were distributed at the Equinox Send Off. (See Appendix B) What: The flyer contained general information about Challenge X. The messages for our IMC plan were on the flyer, as well as the Challenge X website.

Rationale Creation of Database The first tactic requires an immediate response from consumers, and allows us to obtain consumer data that will be entered into a database. We are using our sweepstakes and website incentive as sales promotion techniques that provide consumers with an incentive for engaging in a certain form of behavior (Belch and Belch, 524). This behavior includes entering their contact information, with the incentive of winning a prize. For both the website incentive and the sweepstakes, we are asking for name, email address, and zip code, which are the minimum factors that a database should contain. We want to maximize both the number of sign-ups we receive online and the number of people who enter the sweepstakes, so we dont want to discourage anyone by asking for too much information. We are asking the question How did you hear about the Challenge X booth? for print media measurement purposes. We are going to send four emails, one after each event. The fourth email will conclude our marketing plan, and Challenge X can continue to send them on their discretion (See Event Rational for event choice and REI e-gift card, and see Print Media for question rationale).

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Database Usage:

Emails The monthly emails will allow for customer relationship management (CRM). CRM can be used for relationship marketing efforts to develop long-term, cost-effective connection with individual customers for mutual benefit (Belch and Belch, 578). The emails will also allow us to maintain brand awareness by staying active in the consumers mind. Updating our consumers about Challenge X and GM will allow Challenge X to increase interest among consumers. Also, informing consumers of how Challenge X can improve the environment will give Challenge X a positive image, which has the potential of achieving brand loyalty among our target market. Consumers will feel privileged by receiving exclusive GM updates, which will create positive feelings for Challenge X. We will give our consumers incentive to continue reading our emails by providing promotions and discounts. We will only promote eco-friendly products so as to appeal to our target market, and sustain a green synergy throughout all of our marketing mediums. The one-question surveys will be used to measure the effectiveness of our marketing efforts.

Zip Codes The purpose of getting consumer zip codes is to improve the selection of market segments (Belch and Belch, 451). By analyzing the zip codes, Challenge X can target a greater potential audience in future marketing efforts (Belch and Belch, 452).

Flyers Flyers, or print media, are used as a tool to implement the communications process (Belch and Belch, 447). The messages on the flyer were derived from our primary research so as to appeal to our target audience. The information about Challenge X was meant to appeal to consumer interest and ultimately drive them to the website. Our secondary research shows that communicating the educational purposes and benefits of the Challenge X program will also appeal to our target audience (See Events Rationale for event choices).
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Measuring Effectiveness

The results from the one-question surveys will allow us to measure how effective the marketing has been on consumer awareness, image, and knowledge.

Our emails will always provide an opt-out option, which allows consumers to unsubscribe from receiving emails. After every email that is sent, we will measure the percentage of consumers who opted out in comparison to how many total emails were sent. This will measure how effectively the emails are appealing to consumers.

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INTERNET/INTERACTIVE

Target Market Internet users, age 34 or older with an annual income of $50,000 or more, that are interested in green issues. Objectives Tactics Website Redesign Redesign the homepage interface to embody the Challenge X brand by organizing the sensory points of contact and feedback in the most relevant and user-friendly fashion possible (See Appendix E). The navigation bar will show up at the top of the home page and will include the following links: Home, About Challenge X, Equinox, Team, SDSU, Events, Multi Media, News, and Links. The right side of our homepage will contain links to our Green Fuels Good blog and will encourage visitors to become a friend on any of our Social Networking sites. The upper left corner of our home page will contain an opt-in e-mail sign up where visitors can sign up to receive monthly e-mails. (See Direct Marketing for details). Drive our target market to the SDSU Challenge X website Disseminate information about Challenge X to increase knowledge about the competition and the environmental benefits of the Equinox Create a relationship with our target market using non-traditional media

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The middle of the home page will contain a flash video of the Equinox in action along with a description of the Challenge X program and SDSUs involvement in the competition.

After the events that Challenge X participates in, the website will display a onequestion survey embedded in the homepage. The survey will ask questions that will be used to measure objectives in our various marketing channels.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Insert keyword phrases within the content of our HTML code using metatags and alternative text tags. Edit tags using relevant and popular keywords that can be found using Google Adwords keyword selector tool. Links Provide links on the homepage to other websites that pertain to related green concerns found in our primary research. Request a link to socalhybrids.com be provided on other green content websites.

E-Mail List Collect consumer e-mail addresses through the homepage and SDSU Challenge X events to build contact database. (See Direct Marketing) Social Media Optimization (SMO) Social Networks Set up user accounts on social networks (Care2.com, Facebook.com and MySpace.com) using the Challenge X brand. (See Appendix E) Include pictures, profiles of team members, event postings, and discussions.
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Blogs Create a blog where our site visitors will be able read and discuss different topics (See Appendix E). Focus on how Challenge X is taking strides to help the environment. The SDSU engineers will discuss specific details of the alternative fuel technology used in the Equinox. Podcasts Make the podcasts available on the MySpace, the blog, and iTunes (See Appendix E). The podcasts will include audio of Frank Falcone explaining the car and its journey from idea to actual implementation, audio of a member from the marketing department explaining the benefits that Challenge X is providing, and videos of the Equinox in action at various events. Real Simple Syndication (RSS) Set up an RSS feed where visitors can subscribe to receive the most recent blogs and podcasts. Rationale Internet usage by people of all ages is increasing on a daily basis. Data shows that households with annual incomes of $50,000-$60,000, with an index score of 109, are moderate to heavy internet users. 38 percent of our target market has annual household incomes of over $50,000 a year and 22 percent over $75,000. Due to the high internet usage in our target market, the internet is an effective way to provide information about Challenge X.

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Website Redesign Driving the target market to socalhybrids.com is a key part of our marketing efforts. In order for our visitors to receive the optimal experience the site must be designed to look and feel professional as well as credible, while being informative and entertaining. The proper organization and location of images, body, and links on the homepage optimize a visitors experience (Honea). The more pleasurable the experience, the more likely visitors will return and create a positive evaluation of Challenge X. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) To be sure that the site ranks well in the organic list, the use of relevant keywords in the metatags is very important. Links Top search engines, such as Google and Yahoo!, rank websites by how many backlinks they have on high traffic websites. When another site features a link to socalhybrids.com, the message is being sent to the search engines that our site is important and credible. By having links on credible sites socalhybrids.com will show up higher in organic searches. By having links to websites with similar content, visitors will perceive a connection between Challenge X and other green organizations (Berkeley). E-Mail List The creation of a database is a powerful tool for contacting the target market in present and future marketing efforts. By requiring minimal information from the consumer, you can maximize sign-ups. The email list will allow for customer relationship management (CRM). CRM can be used for relationship marketing efforts to develop a long-term and cost-effective connection with individuals.

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Social Networks According to an article on HitWise, the market share of Internet visits to the top 20 social networking websites grew by 11.5 percent from January 2007 to February 2007, and accounts for 6.5 percent of all Internet visits in February 2007. You can search among the social network for people in specific regions and interest groups. This will allow for easy contact with target the market. The pages created on social networks will build relations with green consumers disseminate information about Challenge X. FaceBook Creating a Facebook page for Challenge X is an excellent way to inform our target market about the competition. The use of Facebook has been increasing steadily and currently takes the position as the ninth most popular domain in the U.S., accounting for one percent of all Internet visits. According to an article in Time magazine, Facebook users tend to be more affluent, with its users skewing towards households earning over $60,000 per year. The psychographic system Mosaic, used to track U.S. internet users, describes Facebook users as "the wealthiest households in the U.S., living in exclusive suburban neighborhoods and enjoying the best that life has to offer." MySpace MySpace.com is one of the most frequently visited domains on the internet and accounts for 4.92 percent of all Internet visits. At its peak in June of this year, the site accounted for 7 percent of all Internet visits (Time). According to an article in Hitwise, over 40 percent of MySpace users are over 35 years of age. Due to the popularity of this site and the high internet use of our target market, creating a MySpace page will be beneficial in increasing awareness, interest, and evaluation of Challenge X.

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Care2.com According to our primary research, green consumers are interested in issues that have to do with personal health and the environment. Care2.com is a social network for people who have specific green interests. It currently has 7 million members and is rapidly growing. With the increasing growth of social networking, and the interests of this specific network, we feel creating a Care2 profile will allow for direct communication with green internet users. Blogs (SMO) The content of our blog will contain discussions on Challenge X, SDSU, and other environmental issues in the news. Thirty-seven percent of internet bloggers have a college degree and 30 percent are between the ages of 30-49. Fifty-nine percent of these spend two hours a week on their blog (Lenhart & Fox). Podcasts Although podcasting has a small but growing audience, listeners are in our target market segment. In a lecture by San Diego State Marketing Professor Holly Berkeley, her research stated that one percent of Americans listened to podcast in 2006 and is expected to reach 12.3 million households by 2010. Her research also indicated that 23 percent of podcast listeners are 35 or older with an MRI index of 115. Even more so, 50 percent of listeners have a Bachelors degree or higher and 15 percent have an annual income of $75,000 to $99,999 (Berkeley PPT). Measuring Effectiveness Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Through the use of Google Analytics we will measure which keywords result in the most traffic to the website.

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E-Mail List In order to measure the effectiveness of the email list, a database will be compiled and the email contacts will be counted. Social Networks The effectiveness of social networks will be measured by how many people we have in our online communities. Blogs The effectiveness of the blogs will be measured through the rates of engagement from our online community.

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BUDGET

The following budget represents two tiers that increase according to importance. The first tier includes the most important aspects of the IMC program given limited resources of $4,980. The second tier includes additional marketing tools for a $12,241 campaign that will greatly improve the IMC program.

TIER 1
1 Earth Fair 2008 10 x 10 Booth Car Display Car Parade Large Company Sign Table Cloth (1) Canopy (1) Table (1) Chair (2) Bookmarks with Seed Packets (12,000) Media Kits (15) Sweepstakes Giveaway Total CPM 2 Newspaper Ad (one week distribution) 3/20 vertical black and white ad (4.125" width by 5.75" depth) The La Jolla Village News Beach & Bay Press The Peninsula Beacon 1/4 page black and white ad Del Mar Times Rancho Santa Fe Record Solana Beach Sun Carmel Valley Reader 1/4 page black and white ad The Coast News Total CPM San Diego International Auto Show Floor Module within Eco-Center (5 $265

$1,800 $123 $100 $2,288 $38.13

$592

$405

$422 $1,419 $13 $10,000

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days) Public Relations (3.2 Million Ad Value in 2006) 1/2 page ad in San Diego Business Journal Tickets (50) Media Kits (20) Sweepstakes Giveaway Sponsor Donations Total CPM 4 Green Living Expo 2008 10 x 20 Booth (2 Days) Business Size Ad in Green Living Magazine Mention on Green Living Website Bookmarks with Seed Packets (800) Media Kits (5) Sweepstakes Giveaway Total CPM 5 Car Send Off Media Kits (5) Poster (1) Flyers (25) Table Cloth Total 6 Website Redesign Total 7 Social Media Optimizations Social Networking Accounts on MySpace, Facebook, and care2.com Blogs Podcasts Real Simple Syndication (RSS) Live Polls Total

$164 $100 ($10,000) $264 $3 $600

$120 $41 $100 $861 $215

$41 $87 $15 $5 $148

$0 $0

$0

Tier 1 Total

$4,980

TIER 2
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Rock n Roll Marathon 2008 10 x 10 Booth (2 days) Tables (2) Chairs (3) Small Company Sign Bookmarks with Seed Packets Media Kits (15) Sweepstakes Giveaway Total CPM

$2,100

$1,800 $123 $100 $4,123 $68.71

Newspaper Ad (one week distribution) 3/20 vertical black and white ad (4.125" width by 5.75" depth) The La Jolla Village News Beach & Bay Press The Peninsula Beacon 1/4 page black and white ad Del Mar Times Rancho Santa Fe Record Solana Beach Sun Carmel Valley Reader 1/4 page black and white ad The Coast News Total CPM

$1,184

$810

$844 $2,838 $13

Website Incentive E-Gift Certificates to REI (3) Total $300

Tier 2 Total

$12,241

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MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS OF OVERALL CAMPAIGN

In order to measure the effectiveness of the overall integrated marketing and communication plan a second survey will be administered at the end of the campaign. This survey will measure whether or not our objectives of creating awareness, interest, and a positive evaluation of Challenge X were achieved. Because there have been no previous marketing efforts for Challenge X, we assume a zero percent awareness level to use as a benchmark. If 10 percent of the second surveys respondents state they positively evaluate Challenge X, our objectives have been achieved.

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CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The objectives of this integrated marketing and communications plan are to create awareness of Challenge X among 20 percent of our target market (62,803), create interest in Challenge X and advanced vehicle technologies among 10 percent of our target market (31,401), and create evaluation and positive feelings about Challenge X and the sponsors among 5 percent of our target market (15,701). We plan to achieve these objectives through Events, Public Relations, Print Media, Support Media, Direct Marketing, and Internet.

Through the use of these integrated communication methods we will deliver our message, Through Challenge X, San Diego State University has created alternative fuel technologies that lowers emissions, slows global warming and provides cleaner air and improved personal health for present and future generations. We will use the slogan, Green Fuels Good, to enhance the synergies between our marketing techniques. Through the dissemination of our key message by means of our proposed methods, we believe Challenge X can effectively achieve the set-forth objectives.

We would like to recommend the upkeep of the Challenge X website, online social networks, and email database following the conclusion of this campaign, so as to continue maintaining and building relationships the target market. We also recommend reviewing the evaluations of each integrated communication method and make changes as needed based on the results of their effectiveness.

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