management

Final Exam Project

Due Monday December 6, 2021

This is a portion of an overall IMC Plan. It will measure your understanding of the concepts presented

through out the term. You are to select a brand, company, or organization, and create a document

creating an abbreviated IMC plan. You may choose to focus on an existing product or service; an existing

product/service launched into a new market, for new use or a different target; or a new conceptual

product or service. You will submit your word document using the Blackboard link for the assignment. In

two to four pages outline the following.

IMC Strategy – Every plan has key strategic components that need to be well-defined to insure that the

plan is “on target” - aligned with overall business/marketing objectives, focusing on the best audiences

and delivering the right message via the proper channels at the appropriate times.

(20%) Brand Strategy – This section establishes the overall positioning and message you will be

delivering and reinforcing across all your marketing activities. Done properly, this is the “glue” that will

hold all component together in an integrated, synergistic fashion. Your plan should articulate the

following brand components:

• Positioning Statement

• Brand Essence/Soul

• Brand Character, Personality, Tone

(20%) Target Audience – Every brand has multiple constituencies that comprise its overall franchise. As

presented in the text some audiences are more important to our business and brand than others. Your

job is to identify these key constituencies, prioritize them. You will also define the behavioral objective

for each of your key segments;

• Key Segment(s)/Constituencies – Every brand has multiple constituencies; you should identify at

least two.

• Define your target audiences – demographics, psychographics; any variables that aids your

understanding of your audience and informs your plan/tactics.

• Key Insights – Relationship with brand, category; key needs, motivations, triggers.

(15%) Behavioral Objective – You will define the behavioral objective for each segment selected. In

other words, what is the change in behavior, action, attitude, etc. that you seek in order to achieve your

larger business/marketing objective. This will provide a measurable metric for evaluating the success

of your IMC efforts.

(15%) Communication/Creative Strategy – Define your key communication points and messages, by

objective and target. This is where you should define product messages, specific promotional offers, etc.

(15%) Media/Channel Strategy - Recommended media/channels for each target/objective, including

rationale for your selections.

(15 %) You should also delineate any specific tactical efforts, such as sales promotion, fulfillment,

customer service, etc. called for by your plan.

• Geography, Timing – If there are important factors or skews related to geography or timing,

those should be articulated as part of the plan.

• Example: When I worked on Pillsbury Biscuits there were two key factors we needed to account

for:

1) 70% of biscuit sales occurred in the southern region of the U.S. (where biscuits are a

traditional, staple food), and 2) 65% of our sales occurred between November and March (when

temperatures are cooler and our audience was more likely to cook using the oven). Based on

this knowledge of our business skews, a key part of our strategy was to concentrate our

marketing activity in the South (geography) and during the “baking months) of October-March

(timing).

• Other Strategic Considerations – Each organization and/or brand is unique and therefore may

have certain factors that are important to take into account in setting the strategy for your IMC

plan. It will be up to you to discern and/or define any such factors for your topic.