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Marketing literature refers to a number of tools, commonly known as ‘communication -mix’, comprising advertising, public-relations, personal-selling, sales-promotion and direct marketing etc.. Thus, the obvious question remains as to which of these tools is more effective to ensure the desired reach, awareness, and positioning of the brand without putting too much of undue pressure on the scares financial resources.
In the backdrop of this, an attempt has been made to conduct a micro study in the city of Lucknow to empirically explore the survey-based impact and role of the five tools of ‘communication-mix’ with reference to three beauty care brands of a single group (Avon, Lakme, Shehnaz Hussain) used by Indian female consumers.
The primary data for the study was collected through structured questionnaire by tapping customers directly at various beauty parlours. Sample size of the study is 150. The study has been undertaken during January to March, 2011. Research tools used for analysis were percentages, mean, standard deviation, T-test and F-test.
The testing of hypothesis proves that advertising is the most effective medium in brand awareness whereas celebrity-endorsement is not such an important factor. Also it is the brand and not the price which decides the buying preference of beauty care products
Brand, Communication –mix, Customer, Buying –preferences
