Marketing

Competencies

In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competencies:

· Apply elements of the marketing mix to inform business decisions that support organizational objectives

· Determine appropriate marketing and communication distribution channels

· Explain how marketing decisions are made to target the consumer

Scenario

Chocolate Bliss started as a small, family-owned store in Seattle, Washington in 1976. While once a boutique chocolatier selling handmade “secret family recipe” chocolate bonbons, the company today has a wider variety of product offerings including boxed chocolate candies, chocolate baking products, and carob (chocolate alternative) candies and health bars. Chocolate Bliss products are sold online and in their stores to consumers and to other businesses, specifically grocery stores, throughout the Northwest.

The company has maintained its “secret family recipe” brand even as it has expanded its product offerings, and today enjoys strong brand awareness in the states where it is sold.

The company’s primary competitors are:

· Ghirardelli Chocolate Company

· Chocolate Bliss’s higher-price range baking products, sold to grocery stores, compete directly with Ghirardelli.

· Chocolate Bliss also competes with Ghirardelli for its boxed chocolate candies sold in their stores and online to consumers, and sold to grocery stores.

· Nestlé

· Chocolate Bliss’s mid-price range baking products, sold to grocery stores, compete directly with Nestlé.

· Rise Bar

· Chocolate Bliss competes with Rise Bar for its carob (chocolate alternative) products sold in their stores and online to consumers, and sold to grocery stores.

Chocolate Bliss is financially healthy and has plans to expand into the midwestern United States. This expansion will include the launch of a new product.

You have been with the company for a few years and have been selected to be on the team that will develop a marketing plan for the new product launch. The executives at Chocolate Bliss will use the marketing plan to make decisions about how to best use the marketing budget to ensure a successful product launch, so you need to have sound research and reasoning to support your work that will contribute to developing a marketing plan. You also realize that the marketing plan is not just about a successful product launch; it is about building the Chocolate Bliss brand and positioning the company strongly against its competitors, especially when it comes to price point.

Directions

1. Product Selection: Begin by selecting which product you want to be the basis of your entire project. Specifically, choose one of the following products:

· Gourmet truffles with fruit, herb, and flower extract infusions

· Semisweet chocolate baking chips

· “Healthy” carob (chocolate substitute) bars

Then, based on your product selection, complete the components below, which will contribute to the development of a marketing plan. You will use the Marketing Plan Strategy Template in the What to Submit section to help structure your marketing plan submission.

1. Persona (Target Market): Research the target market (potential buyers) for your chosen product to develop a persona. Specifically, address the following:

A. Conduct target market research to identify key demographic and psychographic characteristics.

B. Develop one persona that represents users of your chosen product. Use the Module Two Milestone Worksheet in your Soomo webtext to create your persona.

C. Draft this portion of the project as part of the Module Two milestone, and after you receive feedback from your instructor, revise your persona as needed for inclusion in your project submission.

1. Promotion: Recommend marketing communication channels for your chosen product. Specifically, address the following:

A. Recommend two marketing communication channels for your chosen product. Briefly describe each and explain why they are appropriate based on your persona.

B. Draft this portion of the project as part of the Module Four milestone, and after you receive feedback from your instructor, revise your marketing communication channel selections as needed for inclusion in your project submission.

1. Price: Consider how pricing for your chosen product should be set. Specifically, address the following:

A. Explain how one of the following is used to determine the approach to pricing for any offering.

· Company profitability

· Competitor pricing

· Target market price sensitivity

B. Identify which one of the four basic pricing strategies you feel is most appropriate for your chosen product and persona from the Module Two milestone. Describe the general advantages and drawbacks of that pricing strategy.

C. Draft this portion of the project as part of the Module Four milestone, and after you receive feedback from your instructor, revise your pricing strategy selection as needed for inclusion in your project submission.

1. Place (Distribution Channels): Consider how decisions on distribution channels should be made. Specifically, address the following:

A. Describe how one recent change in the marketplace (e.g., purchasing habits or social, economic, and political events) has affected distribution of products.

B. Recommend one potential distribution channel for your chosen product and explain why it is appropriate, given your persona.

C. Draft this portion of the project as part of the Module Five milestone, and after you receive feedback from your instructor, revise your distribution channel selection as needed for inclusion in your project submission.

1. Product: Identify considerations for the ways in which your chosen product should be marketed. Specifically, address the following:

A. Explain, in one to two paragraphs, how your chosen product should be marketed in relation to meeting the needs and wants of your persona (e.g., the features and benefits of your chosen product that directly address your persona’s needs and wants).

i. Consider how a product you regularly purchase is marketed in terms of consumer needs and wants. What is the marketing message, and what other methods are used to convey the benefits of the product? Use this as a guide to describe how you would suggest marketing your chosen product to your persona.

B. Describe, in one to two paragraphs, how bringing this product to the marketplace can help support and build the company’s brand.

2. Describe the Chocolate Bliss brand based on the scenario. Explain how offering your chosen product is in alignment with the brand, and how bringing the product to the marketplace will help the company increase awareness of its brand.

1. Evaluation: Identify how you would evaluate the effectiveness of the marketing plan. Keep in mind that you need to collect data on the target market and the competition.

A. Identify two specific quantitative data-collection tools you should use and explain, in two to three paragraphs, how they can help you evaluate the marketing plan. Quantitative data comes in the form of numbers.

B. Identify two specific qualitative data-collection tools you should use and explain, in two to three paragraphs, how they can help you evaluate the marketing plan. Qualitative data comes in the form of words and sentences.

What to Submit

To complete this project, you must submit the following:

Template:  Marketing Plan Strategy Template Submit this template as a Word document. Your submission should be no more than 4 pages in length. Sources should be cited according to APA style.

Project Rubric
Criteria	Exemplary (100%)	Proficient (85%)	Needs Improvement (55%)	Not Evident (0%)	Value
Product Selection	Clearly states the product selection from among the options provided	N/A	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include naming a product that is an option in the project	Does not attempt criterion	2
Persona (Target Market): Demographic Characteristics	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Develops a logical description of the required demographic characteristics of the target market based on information from appropriate research sources	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include providing more accurate or complete listings of demographic characteristics	Does not attempt criterion	5
Persona (Target Market): Psychographic Characteristics	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Develops a logical description of the required psychographic characteristics of the target market based on information from appropriate research sources	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include providing more accurate or complete listings of psychographic characteristics	Does not attempt criterion	5
Persona (Target Market): Persona	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Creates a plausible persona that includes all of the required elements	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include creating a more logical persona based on the research	Does not attempt criterion	10
Promotion: Two Marketing Communication Channels	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Accurately describes two marketing communication channels and provides a logical explanation of why they are appropriate given the persona	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include providing a more accurate description of the marketing communication channels, or a more cogent explanation of why the channels are appropriate for the persona	Does not attempt criterion	10
Price: Approach to Pricing	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Clearly explains one of the factors used to determine product pricing	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include providing a more complete explanation of the chosen factor’s influence on price	Does not attempt criterion	10
Price: Pricing Strategies	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Selects a pricing strategy appropriate for the product and persona and accurately describes its advantages and drawbacks	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include providing a more accurate or thorough explanation of the pricing strategy, including advantages and drawbacks of the selected strategy, or providing a more cogent explanation as to why the pricing strategy is appropriate, given the persona	Does not attempt criterion	10
Place (Distribution Channels): Recent Change in the Marketplace	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Clearly explains a recent change in the marketplace and how it has affected distribution of products	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include providing a more detailed description of the recent change or a more logical connection between the change and how it affected distribution of products	Does not attempt criterion	10
Place (Distribution Channels): Distribution Channel	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Recommends a distribution channel and provides a logical explanation as to why it is appropriate for given the persona	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include providing a more accurate or thorough explanation of the distribution channel or a more cogent explanation of why the distribution channel is appropriate, given the persona	Does not attempt criterion	10
Product: Marketed	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Clearly explains ideas for how the product should be marketed that are appropriate given the persona	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include providing a more thorough explanation of ideas for marketing the product or a more logical connection between the marketing ideas and the persona’s needs and wants	Does not attempt criterion	5
Product: Brand	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Provides a cogent description of how the product can support and build the brand	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include providing a more convincing description of how the product can support and build the brand	Does not attempt criterion	5
Evaluation: Quantitative	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Selects two quantitative data-collection tools and clearly explains how they can be used to evaluate the marketing plan	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include recommending a more appropriate tool selection or providing a more thorough description of how the data collected can be used for evaluation	Does not attempt criterion	5
Evaluation: Qualitative	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Selects two qualitative data-collection tools and clearly explains how they can be used to evaluate the marketing plan	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include recommending a more appropriate tool selection or a more thorough description of how the data collected can be used for evaluation	Does not attempt criterion	5
Articulation of Response	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner	Clearly conveys meaning with correct grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, demonstrating an understanding of audience and purpose	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors in grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, negatively impacting readability	Submission has critical errors in grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, preventing understanding of ideas	4
Citations and Attributions	Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with few or no minor errors	Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with consistent minor errors	Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with major errors	Does not use citations for ideas requiring attribution	4
Total:	100%