Chris BumeterIntroduction to Media AdvertisingAdvertising ProcessMarch 30, 2011

Own a Dog as a Target Group for Orscheln Farm & Home

Client Description

Company Overview

With the headquarters of Orscheln Farm & Home located in Moberly, Missouri the

Orscheln family continues to provide supplies and services to consumers all across the

Midwest. With their wide range of goods, Orscheln Farm & Home is there to help

consumers who need products in departments like automotives, pets, gardening and

clothing. These are just a few of the categories that Orscheln Farm & Home will provide

goods for. The store first opened in November of 1960 in Sedalia, Missouri by W.C.

Orscheln. Their goal and slogan is to have “answers and low prices down every aisle.”

Orscheln Farm & Home has taken their business not just to their retail stores, but also

into the online world with their online catalog. The Orscheln Farm & Home website

offers tips and do-it yourself guides as well as project checklists to keep up on. Though

customers can’t purchase items online, they can research products and prices before

going to an actual store. They also have entered the social media world by allowing

consumers and employees the ability to follow them and get updates via Twitter.

Major product lines offered:

Orscheln Farm & Home offers 15 different item categories to fit the needs of consumers.

Those product lines include automotive, fencing, livestock, bird and wildlife care, home

and toys, pet care, clothing and footwear, home improvements, power equipment, equine,

hunting, tires and batteries, farm and ranch, lawn and garden and tools and welding. The

products in each of these categories range all across the board and in high numbers. You

can shop for concrete, blinds and toys all under the same roof. Each of the main

categories has their own sub-categories as well. For example, the tools and welding areas

are broken down in to power tools, hand tools, tool boxes, welding, wood cutting and

work shop aids. The clothing department gives you a variety of options too. When you

click on belts, jewelry, and accessories you can look at bracelets and necklaces for

women that all are reasonably priced at under $100. Belt buckles are available for both

men and women and are separated in their own categories. Each of them has pictures so

the customers can see what it is they want. The prices of the belt buckles vary from a

price range of &19.99-$109.99. Many of the subcategories that are listed then go into

even more detailed categories. If you’re looking in the subcategory of outdoor cooking,

you’ll then be brought to a page with new categories from charcoal grills, gas grills and

even parts and accessories. A cool feature when you’re searching for a specific item is the

ability to compare two items. So if you’re trying to decide on a bird house, you can click

two that are offered and then click the compare button and you get descriptions and

specifications line up next to each other for easy comparing.

Product Focus:

The product focus will be on the pet care area of Orscheln Farm & Home’s products. In

this area they have dog food in a number of different brands. IAMS, Purina and Science

Diet are just a few of the dog food brands that they carry. The IAMS food brands run for

$36.99 for bigger bags (44lbs) to $12.99 for small bags (8lbs). Science Diet is a little

more expensive for bigger bags (30lbs) at a price of $48.00. For a smaller bag (4.5lbs),

the price is $10.99. They also have dog beds that are heated, leashes, grooming tools,

health products for things like ticks and worms and training accessories for dogs. The

regular dog bed they offer runs for $25.99 and is 30’’ by 40’’ in size. If you want a

heated dog bed you can go with a Lectro Soft or Farm Innovator brands. The prices range

as you go up in size from $44.99 to $99.99. Orscheln Farm & Home also have a wide

arrangement of pet kennels from small pet carriers to large outdoor caged kennels. If you

are looking for a steel fence then you can choose from ten different sizes made by

Stephens Pipe & Steel. The prices vary from $43.99 to $101.99. They even have seven

different types of electric fencing for pets. They don’t just cater to dogs at Orscheln Farm

& Home; they also have products for cats, rabbits and other small animals. Things like

cat food, cat beds, toys and cat litter. All of these items are available at Orscheln Farm &

Home in the pet care department.

Target Audience: Own a Dog

The target audiences I will be targeting are the people who own a dog. In research done

by Nancy Birch, she determined that people who own dogs many times focus more on

making sure their dogs eat healthy than they do themselves. She also noticed that

consumers who buy for their dogs don’t pay as much attention to price like they do when

they shop for their own food (Tesfom). Orscheln Farm & Home has over 20 different

brands of dog foods, all ranging in a variety of health factors and flavors for dogs.

Orscheln Farm & Home also offer a wide variety of dog kennels and dog beds. The target

audience also finds it very important to keep their dog healthy and fit. Giving them

suitable dog beds to sleep on can be good for a dog’s body instead of sleeping on

concrete. Purchasing special shampoos and grooming products will keep their dog’s skin

from becoming irritated and prevent their fur from knotting. Health products for dogs can

be quite expensive regardless of what store you get them from. Frontline’s flea and tick

control for example costs $40 at Orscheln, but as it appears, dog owners are very

interested in the health of their pets. The average dog owner spends about $225 on

veterinary visits a year (Humane Society). All of these products will aim directly towards

the audiences that specifically own dogs.

Geographic Choice Explanation

For my three choices below I referenced the lifestyle profiles sheets of dog owners that

we were given in class to help determine suitable locations to advertise in. As I went through the

lifestyle profile handout it provided household statistics for dog owners. I made a list of states

that I felt were important to advertise in based on population of dog owners in certain cities. I

then coordinated this information with states that had an Orscheln Farm & Home in or around

highly populated cities. I then listed each city in those states and wrote down the household

number and percentages that were given in the handout. That gave me about three to six cities to

choose from for each state. I then multiplied the dog owner household’s number by the

percentage for each city to get some higher ranked cities. I took the three highest numbers from

each state and put them on their own list. The list consisted of about 15 cities that spanned all

across the Midwest. I put them all into a spreadsheet and listed their total number of households

of dog owners and zip codes. From there I then searched each zip code on the Orscheln website

to locate nearby stores. Each of the 15 cities I searched came up with five results each. To

narrow this search down, I then went into MapQuest and searched how close each store was in

proximity to the given city. My results varied from nine minutes to 238 minutes away. I then

decided to stay within about a 45 minute drive. Any drive that would be more than 45 minutes

away may push the consumer to just go to a different store. So when I set a filter of 45 minutes,

it eliminated six possibilities. I also checked the population of households of dog owners in each

city. If a city had a much smaller population of dog owners in a household and a very far

distance to drive, it eliminated them fairly easily from the running. My final step was to look at

the time of travel to the population. Some cities had a very short drive, but a very small

population of dog owners in a household. I wanted to make sure the city had a high number of

total dog owners in a household, but also kept the distance to drive in mind. What I came to are

the three results below.

Metro area priority No. 1: Indianapolis, Indiana

For my first priority I chose Indianapolis, Indiana. Their total number of households of dog

owners was 186,107. This was the second largest population of the 15 cities I originally

chose. When I researched the nearest Orscheln Farm & Home store I found that it was only

38 minutes away in Shelbyville, IN. I also considered that if there were five other stores in

the search results for Indianapolis, then customers may have a better way of getting a product

if one store doesn’t have them in stock. Another store may be able to ship it to that store

sooner. For example, if they need a certain brand of dog food, maybe one store can order it

from another nearby store and get it sooner. So I felt that with this city having the highest

population of dog owners and being under 45 minutes away it would be the best choice for

my main priority.

Metro area priority No. 2: Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City is my second priority choice. This was actually the location with the closest

store proximity which was located in Raymore, Missouri which is just about nine minutes

away from Kansas City. Kansas City had a dog owner household population of 164,487

which made it the third largest dog owner population of my chosen cities. With this I felt that

it was a top choice. It was a tough decision between Kansas City and Indianapolis as the top

spot since they are only separated by about 22,000 dog owner households. I felt that was a

large enough difference to give Indianapolis the top pickings. Kansas City was also offered

five different choices of stores to choose from, but the one in Raymore was the closest to

Kansas City.

Metro area priority No. 3: Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky is my final choice of my three priority metro areas. They had the six

highest dog owner population at 126,226, but it had the third shortest travel time. That was

what prevented the higher totaled dog owner households from being chosen, their travel time

was well over 45 minutes. Louisville’s nearest store is the one in Charleston, Indiana at only

27 minutes away. There is also one about 40 minutes away. The reason I didn’t choose

Louisville as my first choice was the smaller population compared to the other two locations.

I think with their stores being close, mixed with higher dog owner populations, they would

suite as more of a priority.

Target Segment Breakdown

Target’s Psychographic Summary

o Interested in dogs

o Concerned with dog’s health

o Concerned about own health

o Enjoy companionship

o Enjoy the “great outdoors”

o Interested in taking on responsibility

Target Demographic Summary

o Gender: split with males/females

o Marital Status: married normally with at least one childe

o Income: $39,000 a year

o Age Range: varies

Target’s Geographic Summary

o Metro Priority No. 1: Indianapolis, Indiana

o Metro Priority No. 2: Kansas City, Missouri

o Metro Priority No. 3: Louisville, Kentucky

Orscheln Media Plan

Introduction: My media plan is focusing on dog owners and will run during the

summertime. I chose ads to run in a variety of media types including radio, television,

websites, magazines, newspapers and Google keywords. I focused on three main cities to

promote my ad campaigns, those being Indianapolis, Kansas City and Louisville. I

focused on Internet and radio as my two priorities. I finished up spending about 1.6

million dollars for my entire media plan.

Media Type Priorities: My first priority will be the Internet, because I think that is a far

more target market than any other media type. People who go to the website I chose are

specifically looking for information or products about dogs. I chose nine different sites to

advertise on and totaled about 3700 banner insertions. I didn’t spend the most on internet, but I

did plan on more emphasis in the media type with a lot more media vehicles. My second media

type priority is country radio stations. I locked in on four different stations, two that are in my

highest priority city, Indianapolis. This is where I spent the most money, but not because it was

my top priority, but just because of the cost of radio advertisements versus internet. I will have

an even 1,000 insertions in the radio media field.

Specific Media Choices:

Magazine Choices:

- AKC Family Dog: Of all of my magazine choices this turned out to

be the cheapest cost per thousands but also had the highest total

audience of all of my magazine choices. It is the third highest cost per

ad choice, but with the high audience it would pay off.

- AKC Gazette: The cost per thousands of the AKC Gazette was the

second most expensive of my six choices, and the total audience was

the second lowest, but the total campaign cost came out cheap as well

and it specializing in dogs made it a good choice.

- Bark: This magazine almost sold me from the name, it’s definitely

going to attract people who are already dog owners or interested in

being one, so purchasing an ad was an easy decision. They sit in the

middle with total audience of my other choices as well as in cost per

thousands.

- Dog Fancy: Dog Fancy was the most cost/ad price, but having dog in

the title automatically made it an ideal choice for advertising in to dog

owners. It also had the second largest total audience and the largest

circulation number at 248,000. The price per thousand was also the

second lowest at $30.30 so it helped justify my decision.

- Dog World: Dog World magazine had the second lowest total

audience of my choices as the highest cost per thousand, but with the

cost/ad being more on the cheaper side than AKC Family Dog and

Dog Fancy I decided to include it, also having the word dog in the title

again point’s right at my target audience.

- Dogs USA: Dogs USA was another one of the most expensive choices

when going by the cost/ad column, but its total audience was pretty

decent and the circulation was the second highest at 193,000 so I felt it

a good choice to round out my final magazine selection.

Newspaper Choices:

- The Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis was my first priority and the

Indianapolis Star fits right into the region perfectly as it’s the city’s

main newspaper. Its circulation numbers reach over a million at

1,383,000. The cost per thousand is the highest of my newspapers, but

since it was my first choice as a city it will pay off I believe.

- The Journal Gazette*News-Sentinel: I chose this because with

Indianapolis being my first priority city I wanted to find another

newspaper in the area to advertise in as well. I chose the outdoors page

because it’s the most relevant of any of the sections in the newspaper

and its cost per thousand is pretty cheap coming in at $5.63.

- The Kansas City Star: The Kansas City Star is the largest newspaper

in my second priority city Kansas City, so in order to advertise in each

priority city I wanted to find the top newspaper in Kansas City. The

KC Star is the second most expensive in the cost per thousand at

$11.59, but they also have the second largest audience at 4, 514, 00.

- The Courier Times: The Courier Times fits my third priority city

which is Louisville, Kentucky which actually has the highest total

audience of all of the newspapers listed above at 4,600,00 total

audience. In this newspaper I will advertise in the Home & Garden

section as I think that was the best section for dog owners to read out

of any of the categories. I have chosen four insertions for all

publications above.

Radio Choices:

- WFMS - Indianapolis: Radio is my second media type priority so I

wanted to go more than just one radio station in each city. Again my

emphasis was on Indianapolis. For WFMS I chose to run my ads on in

the AM during the morning commute. It’s also a country station which

I think will best target dog owners over any other music genre. I don’t

want to be stereotypical, but many times people talk about the country

and cowboys as having their dogs and their pickup truck. That’s not

necessarily a stellar point of information, but going off of personal

opinion I thought it would work. This was the second most expensive

cost per thousands coming in at $6.41 but it also had the most

overwhelming number of listeners than the other three radio stations at

147,213.

- WLHK – Indianapolis: I chose WLHK in Indianapolis as my second

radio station because it again emphasizes my number one city priority,

but Indianapolis also has two country stations. This allows me to run

one set of ads in the morning on my primary station, and then go in the

evening on this country station. They have a much smaller listener

number at 54,163, but surprisingly it had the highest cost per thousand

of any of my stations chosen at $6.70.

- KBEQ – Kansas City: KBEQ in Kansas City is another country radio

station I chose to advertise in. I decided to go with the AM hours in

this city as well, as they had the second highest number of listeners of

my four choices with 86,805. The total cost for the ads came in at

$104,760 which is the second cheapest.

- WAMZ – Louisville: My last choice was to fulfill the radio station in

Louisville, which is WAMZ, a country station. They have 77,809

listeners, and it was the cheapest total cost of all of my radio stations at

$70,470. Its rating was actually fairly high too at 8.1. WFMS, my first

choice, had a rating of 10.6 so it will also give me some advertising

power in Louisville.

TV Choices:

- The Dog Whisperer: My choice for television programming came

pretty easy with this one. As soon as we discussed advertising on

television and that I was going to cover dog owners, this show came to

mind. It’s directed specifically at dog owners and may be one of the

most popular shows about dogs on television. The total cost of the

show came in at $54,972 which is quite a bit less than my other

television show choice, but it also does not run as often as my other

choice.

- It’s Me or the Dog: It’s Me or the Dog is my second choice, and a

show I had to do a little research on. I hadn’t actually ever seen the

show, but after looking at it, I realized it would definitely fit dog

owners as it puts people with dogs in direct viewing. The price for the

advertising for the show came in at a total cost of $148,424. I believe

it’s more expensive because new episodes are still coming on and they

rerun the new episodes fairly frequently throughout the week.

Web Site Choices:

- Animal.Discovery.com: I chose this website because it is basically

the starting page to find my television shows I chose. They offer a

large banner area and also have a few other shows featuring dogs on

their website. I ran the most impression on this site as I felt it to be the

most popular over the other sites. I chose 300,000 impressions a

month.

- Nextdaypets.com/directory/breeds: This site is dedicated specifically

to dogs from names, pictures and articles. They also offer banner

advertising at the top of their website which would be idea for

advertising Orschelns. It is a perfect site for dog owners.

- Dogchannel.com: This website is also dedicated to pretty much any

and everything dogs. They have dog care, dog breeds, dog breeders

etc. For a store that sells a lot of the items they probably mention on

the site, this is an ideal place for Orschelns to advertise, especially

with their stock of dog car products.

- Dogs.net: Dogs.net is a website obviously dedicated to dogs. I think

with its simple name and fairly common domain, it would be a sure

fire website for dog owners to check out. Advertising will be ideal for

dog products from Orschelns as well. I chose my second most number

of impressions per month with this site with 250,000.

- Dogs.about.com: This website offers dog behavior tips, health tips

and even dog breeds. Again just looking at the website you will know

this is a site for dogs. I invested 200,000 impressions a month on this

site as it will cost me $32,000 in total.

- AKC.org: AKC.org is a website that I recognized from my magazine

research in the SRDS books. A few of them actually had AKC in their title,

and when I looked at the website itself I found that it stands for the

American Kennel Club. This is specifically for dog owners, where they can

register their dogs see future dog events and even get dog breeder

information. I stuck with 200,000 impressions a month with this website as

well which will cost me $8,000 a month and a total of $32,000 similar to

dogs.about.com.

- Greatdogsite.com: This site at first had me a little skeptical just from

the title. After investigating the site though I realized it was a great

source for information for not only dog owners, but those looking to

maybe eventually adopt a dog. They have a list of breeds, dogs for sale

and dogs for rescue. Advertising on this site would reach those who

may already have a dog or who are in the process of adopting and will

need supplies to fit their newly adopted dog. I still didn’t place a ton of

impression on the site, only 50,000 a month which totaled out $8,000.

- Thebreedsofdogs.com: This website focuses mainly on breeds of

dogs, if somebody visits the site, they are looking for a specific kind,

but they also offer at the top dog training and nutrition, which I found

was important to dog owners. They want their dog to be healthy and

shopping for healthy dog food will be important for dog owners.

- Dogbreedinfo.com: This website is another website that focuses on

dog breeds, but would still be a great place to advertise since it is

strictly dog breeds. Within the site there are sections about dog

behavior, raising a puppy along with a ton of other topics. This would

be a great resource for new dog owners or current dog owners, and

advertising is located on the site, making it a great spot for Orschelns

to buy advertising space on.

Google Keywords:

- Small breed dog food: these keywords actually came up with a strong

number of total clicks with 14,000. The total cost is the highest of any

of my keywords at $16,240 but I feel it’s one of the more popular

search results since dog foods come in specific styles. Small dogs can’t

always eat food meant for larger dogs so finding specific types of dog

food is important. The cost/click for these keywords is $1.16.

- Large breed dog food: These keywords are very similar to the small

breed dog food keywords. In the sense that dog owners may be

looking for specific styles of dog food to fit their dog’s size. The total

clicks was 14,00 here too and the cost/click is $1.01

- Outdoor dog kennels: The outdoor dog kennels CPC came in at $1.51

and I decided to only devote about 800 clicks/month. Surprisingly the

CPM of these keywords was the third highest of all of my keywords at

$1,680. The total cost would be $4,832. I think these keywords are

important for dog owners because many don’t allow their dogs in the

house on a regular basis so having a place to keep them without them

getting loose or running wild is important to dog owners I think.

- Healthy dog food: These keywords were very easy to decide on since

dog owners care a lot about the health of their dog. With Orscheln

offering so many styles and brands of dog food like Science Diet, I

think dog owners will benefit from finding results that very

specifically relate to the keywords they search for. This was the second

most expensive cost/click at $1.68 and a total cost of $5,376.

- Tick guard: I thought these keyword would be very important since

preventing dogs from getting ticks and fleas seems like a common

concern for dog owners, as I thought about it though not all dog

owners may have to worry about ticks, so from a regional perspective

that may be why the cost/click was so low at $0.05.

- Electric dog fence: The electric dog fence keywords came in with the

highest cost/click at $3.09 which doubled pretty much any other

keyword search numbers. It also resulted in the third highest total cost

at 12,360. I think the technology is still developing and getting better

and better so the keywords may grow even in the next few years. This

is a product Orscheln specifically offers and would be a good

investment.

- Insulated dog house: Insulated dog houses came in at $0.99 cost/click

and was very cheap compared to some of the other in total cost. It

came in at $1,980 with a CPM of $990. As stated above that dog

owners care a lot about their dogs and are caring people in general so

an insulated dog house is something that if they do get a dog house,

they may pay that extra bit of money for the insulation.

- Large breed dog collars: These keywords are similar to the dog food

in the fact that they are size specific and not every product will fit

every dog. Larger dogs need thicker collars. The cost/click is $.75 and

the total cost was the second cheapest at $1,350.

- Long dog leash: the keyword long dog leashes came in at $0.92 and a

total cost of $1,656 which surprisingly a little more expensive than I

thought it would be. It is still cheap in regards to the rest of the other

keywords, but still ranked higher than tick guard or large breed dog

collars. The CPM for long dog leashes is $920 and would have a total

number of clicks of 1,800.

Media Plan Schedule: For my media plan I have chosen the four consecutive months

that coincide with summer. Those months are May, June, July and August. I finished with

August because after doing a little research I found that August 26th is actually National Dog

Day, so I will do heavy advertising just prior to that. I feel that even though in the mainstream

this day may not be known, but to dog owners, I think it may be a familiar date. Advertising just

prior will help hype it and people will be in the mood perhaps to purchase dog supplies.

Justification of Money Spent: The exact amount of money I am spending on my media

plan is $1,603,770. Most of that is going towards radio and newspapers because of the high cost

associated with them. I feel this is efficient because I was able to stay within the budget of $2

million dollars while still making sure I secured 25 media vehicles to advertise in.

Bibliography

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http://www.petplace.com/dogs/are-you-the-average-pet-owner/page1.aspx

Tesfom, G. (2010). Do they buy for their dogs the way they buy for themselves? Psychology &

Marketing.

U.S. Pet Ownership Statitistics. (2009, December 30). Retrieved February 10, 2011, from

Humane Society:

http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/pet_overpopulation/facts/pet_ownership_statistics.

html

Warner, D (1991). FYI; Survey provides proof of US Passion for pets. The Orange County

Register.