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MARKETING PLAN GROUP PROJECT

Product Release Assessment & Presentation A significant portion of your career in marketing and business will involve working with others towards a common goal. Additionally, there will be many cases in your career where you will need to present material to colleagues in a clear and concise manner. This project is designed to allow you an opportunity to develop your presentation skills, as well as an opportunity to begin to apply international marketing knowledge into action. Students will be placed in groups consisting of about 5-6 people. Every member of the group is required to participate in the final presentation. It is up to the group to ensure that all members are doing their fair share of the work. Any issues involving group members and work habits should be brought to the attention of the instructor well BEFORE the group presents to the rest of the class.

Instructions: 1. Your group is required to develop a basic marketing plan for an upcoming product release. Products will be assigned by the instructor. 2. The written plan should cover AT LEAST the following items

:

i. Table of Contents & Executive Summary (1-2 sentence synopsis of every section)

ii. Introduction & Brief history of the firm

iii. Description of your product’s competitive environment and other products marketed by the firm:

• Recent sales/profit history of the firm

• Industry overview and trends (support with data/statistics)

• Key competitors

iv. Marketing Plan: • SWOT analysis

• Target markets

• Segmentation base(s)

• Marketing mix

• Product: positioning, perceptual map label/package

• Pricing: pricing strategy

• Distribution: market coverage, channels structure(s)

(includes the Internet if it is used for direct sales)

• Promotion: Advertising (TV, newspaper, magazine, on-

line, etc.)

• Personal Selling (salesforce organization, size, role of sales

rep., etc.)

• Sales Promotion (use of contests, rebates, coupons, in all

media)

• Public Relations (description of PR efforts for new/existing

products and description of programs that would promote

social responsibility)

Please note for the most part, these products are in the introductory

stage with regard to life cycle so your marketing plan should

reflect this reality. Groups must analyze whatever information is

available on current strategies, however, the main role is to

determine the appropriate marketing plan that should be followed

by the company going forward. Finally, groups should

recommend 3 growth strategies for the organization.

v. Recommendations • Choose only one of the market-product strategies covered

in Chapter 2 (market penetration, market development,

product development, diversification) and explain why it is

being recommended for your product/company (focusing on

the new product, market or both)

• Provide 3 recommendations as to how the marketing plan

(target market, segmentation, marketing mix—each of the 4

P’s) will need to be modified in order to implement this

strategy.

Based on these recommendations, each group will be

required to submit at least 2 TANGIBLE

examples/prototypes of how they would implement their

strategies (promotional materials, signage, website mockup

improvements, social responsibility initiatives, etc.)

vi. Appendices (tables, charts, etc.)

Please keep in mind the following:

• Students are expected to dress in business attire (suits, etc.) for

this presentation, set up their equipment and props. If group

members arrive late, the entire group will be penalized points

for the oral presentation.

• Speakers will be evaluated on eye contact with the class,

minimal use of notes, enthusiasm, effective use of Powerpoint

slides and communication effectiveness.

• Speakers may use note cards but they should not be read or

used as a crutch Please note this is a GENERAL outline. In other words, I’m trying to determine how well the group understands the theory and concepts discussed in the course. The entire written portion of the project should be somewhere between 10- 15 pages, double-spaced, 12 point font, 1 inch margins. Be sure to use headings and subheadings and a table of contents. You must use APA format. One paper will be submitted per group. The paper should look like it came from one entity. DO NOT have everyone write their portion independently expecting to staple the paper together the morning it’s due. Grammar and spelling DO count. Significant points will be deducted for lack of proofreading. 3. You will present your ideas to your classmates in a well-prepared presentation that will last no longer than 15 minutes. Please allow 10-15 additional minutes for questions and comments. The presentation should be rehearsed and should appear to be professional. It would be advisable (though not required) to use a tool such as PowerPoint to assist you in your presentation. The specifics of your presentation are largely up to the group, but be sure to include marketing concepts and terms discussed in class and found in the text. Your presentation should be attention-grabbing, and your ideas and strategies should be fundamentally sound. It should be clear that the group knows major functional areas of marketing and how they apply to the situation.

Please be mindful that social loafing is unacceptable. Each team member is expected to contribute fully to this assignment or the may be FIRED from the group. Groups must provide a signed letter by all other group members requesting the individual be fired.