Campaign Plan Proposal

MMC 6950_Fall B 2018 Professor Heather Radi-Bermudez

Structuring a Campaign Plan (Project A) – GSC Program There is no “exact” way to organize and assemble your plan book. However, it is critical to make sure all of the information you gathered, the analysis you did, and the conclusions/recommendations you are making are presented in a logical manner. Your campaign plan both tells a story and makes a case. You might know something, but if it isn’t written on paper or presented in a logical manner, it won’t make sense to the readers. In other words, you won’t make your case. Likewise, all assertions in your book MUST be attributed – if they are not, your book will read like the opinion page of The Miami Herald, instead of the factual analysis and decision-making tool it should be. Of utmost importance is to give credit and attribution whenever you “borrow” ideas or material from others. Please remember that committing plagiarism will have serious implications. With that in mind, below are all of the sections and subsections a typical campaign plan includes. The major “sections” of the plan are in bold. 1. Title Page (sample provided to you in orientation packet) 2. Table of Contents 3. Executive Summary - A short summary of the entire plan, describing the

process undertaken to conduct the study and brief reference to select recommendations; usually the last item to be prepared, but the first item in the book.

Research Section 4. Problem Statement - Describes, as succinctly as possible, the problem facing

the client and the issue to be tackled with this plan. 5. Situation Analysis - Contains data and information to illustrate the problem and

the client overview of the current situation. Includes “benchmarks” relevant to the company or industry. Typically includes all items pertaining to secondary research:

 Company analysis (history, mission, vision, values, organization, IMC resources)

 Product, brand, and/or service analysis (history, description, growth, historical sales, volumes)

 Analysis of existing markets/buyer behavior/current user evaluation (demographics, psychographics, seasonality)

 Competitive analysis (competitive sales, competitive media, direct/indirect competitors)

 Pricing/distribution analysis, if appropriate  Analysis of past IMC and overall communications efforts  Market and environmental analysis; market opportunity analysis if

it’s a new product to be launched  Other information gathered in secondary research  Implications and guide or rationale for primary research

Primary Research:

MMC 6950_Fall B 2018 Professor Heather Radi-Bermudez

 Objectives (What did we want to find out? What are the research questions addressed with this research?)

 Methodology and sample (How, where, when, and who did we consult to find it out?)

 KEY research findings, observations, and results (whichever is appropriate)

 Implications (THOROUGH analysis of all of the research leading the reader to the strategy section)

SWOT (summarizes internal strengths and weaknesses of the company,

product or service, and external opportunities and threats facing the organization, the industry, and/or the environment.) NOTE: The findings and SWOT form the basis for justifying the recommendations to be presented in the next sections.

A note about the research: If you include key findings in chart or graph form, they must have narrative explanations before the graph or chart. All data, listing sources or borrowed ideas must be cited using APA style, in both the body of the plan and at the end of the plan. If it’s doesn’t come from your head, you need to credit someone else with the thought, idea, statement or research.

Strategy 6. IMC Goal - What is the desired outcome of the campaign? What will determine

its success? 7. Target Market Profile – Demographic, psychographics described in DETAIL 8. IMC Strategies - Include narrative on the overall strategic, how are we going to

achieve the goal? What overall message will be communicated?

Tactics 9. Advertising/Public Relations/Sales Promotion, Merchandising and Point of

Sale/Direct Marketing/Event Marketing Recommendations - Include all advertising media to be used, all public relations tactics to be deployed, all sales promotion tactics to be carried out including but not limited to special events, exhibitions, and trade shows. Include one or more fully executed samples, as applicable, for each discipline used, including but not limited to, direct mail cards and collateral. For example:

Strategy #1

 Advertising tactics

 PR tactics

 Sales promotion, merchandising and point-of-purchase tactics

 Direct marketing tactics

 Event marketing tactics

 Other tactical recommendations – sponsorships, partnerships, personal selling, viral marketing, packaging, word-of-mouth, etc.

Implementation (if needed or appropriate)

MMC 6950_Fall B 2018 Professor Heather Radi-Bermudez

10. Budget - All projected campaign costs to be included here, including agency fees.

11. Implementation Schedule - Include a week-by-week or month-by-month schedule of ALL advertising, public relations and sales promotion strategies for the length of the campaign.

Evaluation Section 12. Evaluation --

 Preparation, implementation, impact evaluations  Methods, pre/post testing, concept testing, costs, KPIs

Appendix 13. Appendices, footnotes, research, survey questionnaire, summary of

responses/data collection, and all other relevant supporting material Student Bio