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Group Marketing Plan (30%) – Assignment Brief

This document contains the details for the Group Marketing Plan assignment that you must deliver in BUSMGT.

Learning outcomes addressed in this assignment

LO1 Identify the role that marketing plays in achieving organisational objectives and creating value for the customer.

LO3 Analyse the components of the marketing mix to develop a concrete Marketing Plan. LO5 Apply and integrate theory and practice in various marketing contexts.

Assignment name:	Group Marketing Plan
Assignment weighting:	30% of your final grade
File format:	Word document
Word limit (NO appendices):	3,500 words +/- 10% (reference list not included in word limit)
Reference format:	APA 7th
BCT support:	Students are strongly encouraged to seek input from the BCT. You can submit a draft of your work to the BCT Canvas page, 48 hours prior to the submission date, in order to receive written feedback comments.

Aim of the Group Marketing Plan

The aim of this assignment is for you and your group to develop a strategic Marketing Plan for Wool+Aid by drawing from:

(1) The theory and concepts you have learnt in the plenary lectures

(2) The readings of this course

(3) Your own secondary research

Using the Wool+Aid Case as your starting point (see in Canvas Modules à Marketing Plan Resources à Wool+Aid Case), you are to conduct your own secondary research to help you formulate a strategic Marketing Plan for Wool+Aid. Your specific Task given to you by the CEO of Wool+Aid will be posted on Canvas (see in Canvas Modules à Marketing Plan Resources à Wool+Aid Task).

General guidelines

The tone of the Marketing Plan should be appropriate for a professional/commercial reader and of practical use to Wool+Aid (i.e., with SMART recommendations). However, an academic aspect is still required as you will use theories and frameworks to guide your analyses and structure your research and arguments, as well as use APA format for referencing all the sources of your information and theoretical knowledge.

The Marketing Plan should be structured logically with clear and coherent sections. It should be highly readable, concise and succinct, with little to no errors. It should be free of complicated jargon and highly academic language (i.e., for professional/commercial readers). Furthermore, no obvious formatting issues should be present.

General procedure

1. Read the information provided to you in the Wool+Aid case and task carefully, analysing and evaluating their current market position and strategy.

2. Conduct further secondary research where required (e.g., industry research, consumer research, business model research).

3. Conduct a target market analysis in the New Zealand market.

4. Develop a marketing mix strategy according to the task given to you.

5. Provide 3 key SMART recommendations for Wool+Aid according to the task given to you.

Group Marketing Plan Structure

Title page o Includes a creative title that captures the essence of your overall strategy. o Includes the correct course code and title, student names and student ID numbers, date, and word count.

Executive summary o Should stand alone (i.e., reader should gain a full understanding of the Marketing Plan just from reading the executive summary).

· Should summarise the purpose of the Marketing Plan, the main components and key findings, and your recommendations. o Should be written last, after you have written the rest of your report. o You can use bullet points sparingly.

· One page maximum.

Table of contents o List each section and sub-section heading of your Marketing Plan with the relevant page number.

· Ensure all the pages are numbered in your Marketing Plan.

· All headings and sub-headings are self-explanatory so that the table of contents has utility.

Situation analysis (supported by secondary research) o Conduct a brief analysis of the internal and external environment.

· Choose appropriate tools/frameworks to structure the analyses.

· You are advised to use only the elements of the tools/frameworks that are the most relevant for your plan. For example, you may find that only the political, social, and technological aspects of the PESTEL framework are the most relevant for Wool+Aid, so you may choose to only focus on those elements in your external analysis.

· Summarise the key points from your internal and external analyses in a SWOT analysis. Analyse the SWOT information by evaluating how the strengths could be leveraged to overcome weaknesses, capitalise on opportunities, and mitigate the threats. SWOT should NOT be the only framework you use in this section and it should NOT stand alone.

· See Canvas Modules for tips on conducting a VRIO analysis.

Problem definition o Provide a clear problem statement that you have identified from the situation analysis.

· A problem is simply a business issue, opportunity, or threat that needs to be addressed. E.g., a problem could be a lack of awareness in consumers’ minds about the benefits of the new product or intense competition in the market.

· Discuss what the problem is and why you think it’s an important problem to be addressed. o Your justification needs to be based on your understanding of the internal and external environment (i.e., the situation analysis).

· See Canvas Modules for tips on defining the problem.

Important note:

Everything that follows from this point onwards must be specifically focussed on addressing the problem that you have defined.

Target market(s) (supported by secondary research) o Choose your target market(s) based on a segmentation, targeting, and positioning approach.

· Apply the four bases of segmentation (geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioural) to first divide the market (i.e., segmentation).

· Subsequently, choose the most appropriate target market (i.e., targeting) based on data.

· Finally, develop the positioning strategy for Wool+Aid. You are expected to justify why the proposed positioning strategy is desirable for the target market, deliverable by the company, and unique against competitors.

· Can present this in a table or figure/illustration.

· You will likely use the insights gained from your situation analysis to identify your target market and justify your positioning strategy.

Marketing mix strategies (supported by secondary research) o Product and branding strategy

· Apply the product/market growth strategy matrix (i.e., Ansoff’s Growth Matrix) to justify which strategy is the most appropriate for solving the problem and why.

· Develop an appropriate branding strategy.

· Pricing strategy

· Propose pricing approaches and tactics and justify why.

· Distribution strategy

· Propose strategies to deliver the product/service to customers’ hands.

· Specify the types of channels to be used. o Promotion/communication strategy

· Develop a clear communication objective.

· Propose appropriate promotional mix tools to be used.

· Propose a message strategy.

· Identify the media outlets/communication channels.

Recommendations o Develop 3 recommendations for Wool+Aid according to the task given to you. o Recommendations should be SMART (i.e., Specific, Measurable, Achievable/attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound).

· Should be arranged as a numbered list and clearly justified with supporting evidence.

· Recommendations should align with the whole Marketing Plan and strategic approach.

Reference list o Include full APA format references of all sources of information and knowledge cited in the Marketing Plan.

· Follow the APA 7th conventions and guidelines for both citations and references.

NO appendices – please only include the important and relevant information in your Group Marketing Plan. 3,500 words is not a lot; hence you need to prioritise carefully and craft your written parts.

(Marking rubric on next page)

Marking rubric (marked holistically)

Section Total 30 marks	Very good (Fulfils all aspects of the task to a high standard)	Good (Fulfils most aspects of the task)	Passable (Addresses some but not all of the aspects of the task)	Not Passable (Does not adequately fulfil the task)
Title page 1 mark	Title is creative and captures the essence of the overall strategy. Includes all details.	Title is thoughtful and generally represents the essence of the overall strategy. Includes most details.	Title is appropriate but not thoughtful and does not fully capture the essence of the overall strategy. Missing many details.	Title is missing or is not appropriate, nor does it capture the essence of the strategy. Missing most details or no details provided.
Executive summary 3 marks	Clearly communicates the critical elements of the Marketing Plan so that it reads as a standalone document. Bullet points are used sparingly. One-page length.	Communicates the key elements of the Marketing Plan so that it generally reads as a stand-alone document. Bullet points are used sparingly but could be fewer. One-page length.	Communicates most of the key elements of the Marketing Plan but does not read well as a standalone document. Too many or too few bullet points. Less than one page or slightly longer than one page.	Does not clearly communicate the key elements of the Marketing Plan and does not read as a stand-alone document. No bullet points or only bullet points used. Insufficient length or much longer than one page.
Table of contents 1 mark	Well-organised and easy to read with high utility.	Well-organised and easy to read with few inconsistencies.	Adequately organised and generally easy to read with several inconsistencies.	Not organised and difficult to read with inconsistencies that affect navigation.
Situation analysis 6 marks	Tools/frameworks chosen are appropriate and analyses are insightful. Strongly supported by research and clearly justified.	Tools/frameworks chosen are generally appropriate and analyses provide some insight. Supported by research and well-justified.	Tools/frameworks chosen are adequate, but analyses are weak. Supported by some research and attempts to be justified.	Tools/frameworks chosen are not appropriate and analyses are not insightful. Not supported by research and not justified.
Problem definition 2 marks	Clear problem statement that directly aligns with the situation analysis. Clearly outlines what the problem is and why it’s important.	Generally clear problem statement that aligns with the situation analysis. Outlines what the problem is and why it’s important.	Adequate problem statement that somewhat aligns with the situation analysis. Somewhat outlines what the problem is and why it’s important.	Weak problem statement that does not align with the situation analysis. No clarification of what the problem is and why it’s important.
Target market(s) 4 marks	Well-executed and thorough segmentation, targeting, and positioning. Well-supported by secondary research and well-justified.	Thorough segmentation, targeting, and positioning. Supported by secondary research and justified.	Adequate segmentation, targeting, and positioning. Somewhat supported by secondary research and somewhat justified.	Weak segmentation, targeting, and positioning. Not supported by secondary research and not justified.
Marketing mix strategies 6 marks	Well-aligned strategic decisions and clearly planned implementation. Very high level of detail and justification.	Aligned strategic decisions and appropriately planned implementation. High level of detail and justification.	Somewhat aligned strategic decisions and somewhat planned implementation. Some detail and justification.	Unaligned strategic decisions and unclear plan of implementation. Low level of detail and justification.
Recommendations 5 marks	Well-aligned and SMART. Very clearly justified and supported with evidence.	Generally aligned and generally SMART. Clearly justified and supported with evidence.	Somewhat aligned and somewhat SMART. Somewhat justified and somewhat supported with evidence.	Unaligned and does not meet the SMART criteria. Weakly justified and not supported with evidence.
Citations and reference list 1 mark	Excellent range and quality of sources. Accurate APA formatting of citations and reference list.	Good range and quality of sources. Generally accurate APA formatting of citations and reference list.	Adequate range and quality of sources. Adequate APA formatting of citations and reference list.	Poor range and quality of sources. Mostly inaccurate APA formatting of citations and reference list.
Professionalism and formatting 1 mark	Structured logically with clear and coherent sections. Highly readable and concise. Appropriate tone. Little to no errors in formatting and language.	Mostly structured logically with mostly clear and coherent sections. Readable and concise. Mostly appropriate tone. Very few errors in formatting and language.	Structured logically in some places with generally coherent sections. Readable with appropriate tone but not concise in some places. Few errors in formatting and language.	Not structured logically with unclear and incoherent sections. Mostly unreadable with inappropriate tone. Many errors in formatting and language.

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