Marketing project

Marketing 305 | Instructor: Kristin Minetti | 125 points | Due: December 5th

Even # groups will turn in a paper following the Q& A format. Please copy the question in your report and then answer it using verified academic research. Odd # groups will turn in their presentation slides

1) Classification of products (5 points)

a) Is your product a good, service or idea? You should use the goods-services continuum (Pg. 300) to help you classify the product.

b) In what category would you place your product: convenience, shopping, specialty or unsought?

2) Type of new product (10 points)

a) How would you characterize your product when it was introduced in terms of its innovativeness?

b) How did the degree of innovativeness of the product impact how the product was first marketed?

c) Were there any problems with the introduction of your product?

3) Managing the product (30 points)

a) Where is your product in terms of the product life cycle?

b) Use the graph on page 268 (Figure 11-2) to describe how the stage of the life cycle impacts your product in terms of marketing activity

c) Has your product been modified or repositioned to better serve customers? Did the company try to go after different customers by a modification of the product or a repositioning campaign?

d) Does your product have a brand personality? Describe it

e) How has your product created brand equity?

g) Describe your product’s branding as well as any packaging issues that help/hinder their marketing

4) Pricing strategies (20 points)

a) How is your product priced compared to the competition?

b) What type of pricing policy did your product use: penetration pricing, prestige pricing, odd even pricing, target pricing, standard markup pricing, etc.

c) What are your products points of differentiation or points of difference? How have these points of difference affected the price of the product compared to its competition?

5) Channels of distribution (20 points)

a) How would you describe the distribution channel for your product (direct channel, type of indirect channel)?

b) Does your product have an electronic marketing channel? If so, describe it.

c) If your company has a dual distribution strategy, describe it.

d) Does your product exhibit intensive, exclusive or selective distribution? Describe why your product was classified in one of the categories above.

e) In terms of supply chains, how does your product get to its final customers?

6) Marketing communications/IMC (10 points)

a) Describe the product’s current Integrated Marketing Communications campaign

b) Does your product use a push or pull strategy…or both. Describe.

7) Promotion (30 points)

a) Provide at least 5 examples of promotion from the five promotional elements: advertising, pr, sales promotion, personal selling, direct marketing that your product uses.

b) Why is your product using these specific promotional strategies?

c) What, if any, emerging technologies is your product using to promote/communicate with customers?

d) What, if anything, should your product be doing differently in terms of promotion?

Research Notes & Formatting

Written Report Format:

1. This report should be in numbered Q & A type of format

2. Please follow the outline in each section EXACTLY!

3. All reports should be typed, double spaced, and in 10pt Arial font.

4. All reports should follow the outline above. Copy the section and then provide a detailed answer below it.

5. Please limit your margins to 1” for left/right/top/bottom.

6. Please be sure to include a title page with all team member names IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER!

7. Please include a table of contents and page numbers.

8. The CSU, Chico College of Business uses the APA format for citing references .

9. If you are researching well you will have no problem reaching approx. 10-15 pages for this paper.

Important Note about Writing and Citations: I reserve the right to deduct up to an additional 20% of your grade for unacceptable writing and lack of appropriate citations. PRESENTATIONS SHOULD ALSO INCLUDE APA STYLE CITATIONS!

Research Resources:

Visit csuchico.edu and click on the Campus Resources tab. From there, click through to Meriam Library and then click through to the Business section. The librarian can help you in person as well.

Other great resources include:

· Wall Street Journal articles

· Forbes.com

· Encyclopedia of Associations

· Census.gov

· Books published on your company/industry

· Other newspaper articles, etc.

· Wikipedia is NOT a valid source for academic research papers.

Doing general searches in Google/Yahoo News pages for information about your topic can also yield some interesting research. As long as the articles you pick are coming from valid news sources (not blogs) you are allowed to use them in your papers as long as you cite them appropriately . If you have any questions about how to research your topic or are having a difficult time finding information, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am happy to help out!

1. Lack of editor to make the paper seamless.

2. Citation issues. Often, students make a very definitive statement with no source of the information cited. For example: “The snowboard industry is huge and most college students are interested in getting the latest equipment regardless of the price.” To make a statement like this, you should have a source for the actual size of the industry and a source about how college students spend money in the industry. If you don’t have a source for a statement like the example, the reader has to assume you are offering your opinion. THE AUDIT IS NOT ABOUT YOUR OPINION, IT IS ABOUT RESEARCH!!!

3. Not enough research

4. Not writing in a formal tone