Developing an integrated marketing communications plan for African Polistas
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Abstract
African Polisats is an organization that boasts of being a pan-African polo club deeply rooted in the Ghanaian and South African community. It is currently chaired by Harold Awuah - Darko. With the organization’s knowledge of polo and the aim of teaching and nurturing generations of horse lovers, the team recently introduced its riding school which targets not only the elite but horse lovers including children and all others willing to learn and play polo at a fee. Having been in operation for over a decade, the organization has acquired its clients mainly through referrals. This was as a result of low brand awareness among its potential customers. This conclusion was reached after an extensive needs assessment on the organization which exposed relevant gaps within the firm’s operations. In conducting this needs assessment, qualitative research was employed to gather in-depth analysis and specific themes related to the research topic. Methods employed included observations, semi-structured and unstructured interviews and internet research. Pictures were taken during periods of observations which can be found in the appendix. An aide-memoire guided the researcher through unstructured interviews. Interview guidelines aided the conduction of semi-structured interviews. Findings from the research showed low marketing efforts of African Polistas among potential clients. The marketing mix was then employed to develop an Integrated Marketing Communications Plan which was best fit for the organization. Recommendations and conclusions were reached in the latter part of the chapters which illustrated the end of the project’s journey.