Assignment 4: Communicate the Value (20%) – Instructions and Submission

Introduction

This assignment has been designed to help you integrate and apply the marketing concepts, terms, and information you have learned up to this point. These concepts provide a foundation on which other course concepts are built. Assessing your comprehension will help ensure that you are on track to successfully complete the course. This assignment is worth 20% of your final grade in the course.

4.1: Decisions (15 marks)

Suggested time: 1 to 2 hours

Length: Please write your response in essay format and/or point form as appropriate and limit your response to 1 page using 1.5 line-spacing. If you need to include a table, attach it as an exhibit or appendix.

Final Mark: This assignment is worth 20% of your final mark.

Assessment: This part of the assignment will be assessed using the following criteria:

• Comprehensiveness of the recommendations
• Rationale used to support those recommendations

Based on your understanding of integrated marketing communications, answer the following questions:

1. What is the definition of integrated marketing communications? (5 points)
2. Explain five benefits of integrated marketing communications? (5 points)
3. What are two important integrated marketing communication initiatives for this year? Explain why you think these are important for marketers. (5 points)

4.2: Advertising Critique (35 marks)

Suggested time: 1 to 2 hours

Length: Please write your response in essay format and/or point form as appropriate and limit your response to 2 pages using 1.5 line-spacing. If you need to include a table, attach it as an exhibit or appendix.

Assessment: This part of the assignment will be assessed using the following criteria:

• Depth of insight and analysis
• Support for the conclusions drawn
• Use of course concepts
• Demonstration of critical thinking

Select, from any medium, two advertisements: one that you think is effective, and one that you think is not effective.

1. Attach the ads to your assignment. Indicate where the ads came from and what media was used. Where was the ad placed (in what part of the magazine or newspaper, or when it was aired on television or radio, or was it part of digital media?)? (5 points)
2. Describe and then critique each of the two ads separately. Use the eight headings below when you critique each ad. (10 points for each)
   • Target audience
   • Communication objectives
   • Overall communication strategy
   • Positioning statement and key messages
   • Communication tactics
   • Communications mix
   • Creative execution
   • Evaluation
3. For each ad, describe the actual or perceived value created for the target audience. Explain what leads you to this conclusion. (10 points)

4.4: Communication Brief (45 marks)

Suggested time: 3 hours

Length: Please write your response in essay format and/or point form as appropriate and limit your response to 3 pages using 1.5 line-spacing. If you need to include a table, attach it as an exhibit or appendix.

Assessment: This part of the assignment will be assessed using the following criteria:

• Depth of insight and analysis
• Comprehensiveness of the recommendations
• Use of marketing concepts and analysis to support the recommendations

Choose one of the 4 vineyards listed below and assume the role of the director of marketing and think about how to improve upon their current level of success. You will need to do some research on the Internet to gather additional information about the organization.

• Chaberton Winery
• Beaufort Vineyard and Estate Winery
• Kalala
• Hester Creek 

You will need to do some research on the Internet to gather additional information about the organization.

Develop a Communication Brief for the next phase of your chosen vineyard’s branding strategy, for one target audience that you think is important to their growth.

Describe each element in the Communication Brief and provide a rationale for each of your recommendations using consumer behaviour insights, marketing concepts, and analysis.

Assume that you have a $100,000 budget to develop an Integrated Marketing Communications plan.

In your Communication Brief describe and provide a rationale for each of the following points:

• Target audience profile (5 points)
• Communication objective(s) (5 points)
• Overall communications strategy (5 points)
• Positioning (describe and illustrate with a map) and key messages (5 points)
• Communications tactics (5 points)
• Communications mix to support your strategies (5 points)
• Suggestions for creative concept and execution (5 points)
• Budget allocation (how much money you will allocate to different elements of the communications mix and why) (5 points)
• Describe the actual or perceived value created for the target audience. Explain what leads you to this conclusion. (5 points)

4.5: Report Structure and Presentation (5 marks)

Remember, you will be judged by the structure, clarity, presentation, and quality of your work. Prepare and present your assignments in a formal manner suitable for business.

To ensure the quality of your written work, refer to the Assignment and Final Project Structure section under the Assignments Overview tab of your course.

Assessment Criteria

The assignment will be evaluated using the following performance criteria:

Content —Address all points of information as outlined in the criteria and content for the assignments and Final Project. Incorporate specific references to readings, theories, ideas, and feedback that assisted you in rethinking your experiences and increasing your awareness of your marketing skills.

Knowledge —Demonstrate your knowledge, understanding, skills, and perspectives on the course’s learning materials by applying them in the assignments and Final Project. Link theory and practice by applying what you learned from the readings, reflections, and practical application of your new marketing skills and from discussions with your fellow students.

Theory & Practice —Demonstrate the connections between the work of others (course materials, readings, activities, and discussions) and actual organizational principles, practices, and processes. Go beyond general descriptions. Be thoughtful and critical in your analyses, conclusions, and recommendations.

Critical Thinking —Use reflective, logical, and rational thinking to gather, combine, process, interpret, and analyze the information to develop a reasonable conclusion. Provide examples to support your comments and observations. Be specific and concrete. Tell a complete story. Avoid generalizations. Support a statement with a specific example that demonstrates your understanding and skill.

Completion Guidelines

Submit your Assignment here. Be sure to save your assignment as a Word document and name it: MKTG 2431_Lastname_Assign4_CourseCompletionDate.

Reminders before submitting assignment:

• Did you put your name, student number, and your course completion date on the cover page of the document?
• Did you submit all parts of the assignment in one Word document to your Open Learning Faculty Member?
• Did you complete all the required elements?
• Did you use concepts, information, and terminology learned in this course?
• Did you support your statements with specific examples?
• Did you cite references, using correct referencing format?
• Did you ensure that there are no spelling mistakes?
• Is your report grammatically correct, clear, and well organized?

Topic 4.6: Marketing Communications Briefs

Your progress

·        Introduction

A communications brief often has the same headings as a communications plan but is done in less detail. It is typically four to eight pages in length and is created simply to communicate the strategy and design parameters to the creative team.

Account managers work with clients to develop a communications brief that provides the strategic context and parameters within which the creative team works to generate different creative approaches to implement the strategy. Clients are charged a fee to have an account manager work with them to create this brief. Organizations can save money by creating this brief themselves (if they have people who can do it) and by working with graphic design firms rather than full-function agencies. Graphic design firms usually have strong creative talent but do not have the account people that can help you design your strategy. If you can do the strategy part yourself, you can purchase the creative help you need to execute it.

You may recall we introduced the FCB Grid in Module 2 as a way of understanding consumer decision processes. Different consumer decision approaches require a different communications approach. The FCB Grid can be very useful for developing generic communications strategies.

Marketing communications strategy is the domain of the account management people, with their business degrees and diplomas, who understand a lot about target audiences, communications objectives, and the other strategic and tactical elements of a marketing communications plan.

An effective marketing communication plan covers the following stages, some of which we will discuss briefly:

1. Identify the target audience.
2. Establish marketing communication objectives.
3. Determine marketing communication strategy approach.
4. Develop key messages and positioning statement.
5. Decide on marketing communication tactic.
6. Plan the marketing communication mix.
7. Design creative concept and execution.
8. Determine and allocate marketing communication budget.
9. Measure and evaluate whether or not the objectives were achieved.

Target audiences (the primary target market segment) are a group of highly segmented people who receive and respond similarly to a marketing message and with whom you want to communicate. This is a subset of the target markets identified by the organization, as strategy and budgets often prevent organizations from focusing on all of their target markets at once and different target markets may have different priorities as target audiences. The profiles of target audiences are based on the target market profiles (see Module 3) created by the marketing organization, but these profiles are usually enhanced with greater focus on media use and responsiveness—such as how often these consumers watch television, what television shows they watch, and what types of appeals (such as informative, comparative, emotional, or humorous) best get their attention and interest.

Marketing communications objectives describe what you want to achieve in a campaign, such as increasing awareness of product features, attributes, benefits, or brand; informing; establishing or enhancing reputation; or signalling entry, exit, or some other action to stakeholders, among others. These need to be specific, (what do you want to achieve?), measureable (how are you going to measure whether or not you achieved the objective?), and fit with your SWOT Analysis. There are two types of marketing communication objectives:

10. Communication objectives are what you want to say to the target audience.
11. Behaviour objectives are what you want the target audience to do.

Marketing communications strategy describes the overall approach to the communication, whether it is an attempt at integrated marketing communications, whether a push or pull strategy (or both) is going to be used, whether the communication will be one-way or two-way, and other communications strategy options that you would learn in a marketing communications course. These marketing communications are intended to assist in achieving the marketing communication objectives.

The positioning statement is about identifying the main two points of differentiation for a brand: how it creates unique value, is different form and/or better than its direct competitors; and how it meets the needs and wants of the target audience. A positioning statement is similar to the concept of a unique selling proposition (USP)—the one, foremost message a marketer wants to convey to a target audience.

Key messages are what you want to tell people in your target audience, in order of priority. The messages need to fit with your positioning statement as you want to communicate a consistent message to your target audience. If you are creating a message for use on an outdoor billboard, for example, billboards can usually only accommodate one message—so the one message should be your USP.

Marketing communications tactic is the appeal you will choose (such as fear, humour, or testimonials) for your campaign. The appeal you select will determine the approach you will take to break through the perceptual screens of the target audience.

Marketing communication mix/media is where you decide on which media elements you will use in your campaign. Will you select advertising (print, broadcast, etc.), sales promotion, direct marketing, digital media, etc., for your campaign? Each media element in the campaign has a different way to connect with the target audience. This allows marketers to achieve their objectives, connect with their target audience, and sequence the media elements so that they build on each other—such as getting customers through the AIDA model (see textbook p. 378).

Creative concept and execution describe how the communication tactics/appeals will be expressed through the visuals, text, music, and other design elements in the selected media.

Marketing communication budget expresses how much money you will spend on the campaign and how you will allocate that money to the different elements of the communication mix.

As illustrated in Exhibit 7, which presents the marketing budget for a small laser eye surgery company, communications budgets are usually a key component of a marketing budget. Marketers keep track of actual expenses compared to those projected so that they can refine projections in future years. Communications budgets are typically made for more than one year, recognizing that communications is an investment and that results are often not immediate. Budgeting for more than one year also allows some economies of scale. It costs almost as much to print 2,000 brochures as 10,000 brochures, since most of the cost is in the creative process of designing the brochure and in the set-up of the printer. Planning ahead allows a savvy marketer to produce three years’ worth of brochures in one print run (assuming that the content will not likely need to be changed over that period).

Click here to view Exhibit 7.

Measurement and evaluation explains the criteria and methods you will use to determine whether the marketing communication plan is working.

Why must organizations measure the effectiveness of their marketing communication campaigns? First and foremost, marketing communication is an investment, not an expense. As with all investments, it is critical to measure and evaluate the results of these investments against the marketing objectives and financial objectives. Secondly, marketers need to analyze resultsso they can build on their strengths and minimize their weaknesses for future campaigns.