In groups of two or three, students will produce a PowerPoint presentation which outlines a complete marketing plan for a hypothetical product. The plan will include an advertising campaign that is designed specifically for the launch of the product/service.

The marketing plan must include a brief (maximum of one slide for each requirement outlined below) explanation of how the business will:

1. price its good / service;

2. package its good / present its service;

3. store its good or supplies;

4. transport its good / deliver its service;

5. advertise its good or service (paid use of media):
   
   • sample advertisement (either print, video, radio, etc);
   • explanation of the advertising strategy/method used (testimonial, lifestyle, informative, etc.);
   • explanation of the media used (including timing and price information);

6. promote its good or service (non advertising methods of increasing public awareness);

   

7. research its market: (students can utilize the research already performed in the previous assignment)
   
   • results of primary and secondary research should be presented;
   • describe the size of the market (number of potential buyers);
   • describe the characteristics of the market (age, income, psychology, attitude, gender, etc.);

8. facilitate the actual sale of the product or service (ie. online, face-to-face, etc.)

   
   

• Students must remember to research the costs associated with all elements of the marketing plan. Students must be able to present a final marketing cost figure, as well as a time period in which they would expect to reasonably recoup their marketing costs.

• Students must also be mindful to constantly reinforce their product image and target their selected market segment throughout all phases of their marketing plan. All of the decisions made must somehow be linked to the business' product/service, their differential advantage, and their target market.

• Given the requirements of this assignment, one should expect the length of the presentation to be approximately eight slides in length.

• In addition to the PowerPoint, students will also present a sample advertisement that demonstrates their advertising concept for their given product or service. The promotional medium used, and the advertising style to be used is entirely up to the group presenting. (Paper for print advertising, video for television advertisement, web page for web advertisement, etc.)

• Students need only complete one style of advertisement - as long as they feel it is practical for their product/service. However, if students wish to create more than one style of ad, or use more than one type of promotional medium, they are welcome to produce as many advertisements as they wish.

• Presentations should last no longer than 12 minutes. A brief question period, lasting no longer than 3 minutes, will follow in which classmates and/or the instructor can ask the presenters to explain or defend any of their strategies or decisions. Students may use the feedback the receive from the class to modify and amend their final marketing report.

  
  Marking:

  • Marking Key

  Relevant web sites:
  • mplans.com
  • Sample plan (Java Net Internet Cafe)
  • Advertisements Sampling from the Hartman Center Collections.
  • Target Marketing Online provides updated resources for direct marketers.
  • Marketing is more than sales by Tom Vassos, IBM Software Solutions Division
  • Internet marketing: the wrong way by Lee Levitt
  • How are BMWs advertised and promoted in the UK?
  • Case Study - Eric Cantona stars in new Eurostar TV campaign
  • What Advertising Does to Us, an in-depth analyses of advertising, by Susan Josephson's

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