Deliverable 7 - Integrated Marketing Communications Plan

Competencies

• Outline the relationship between marketing communication and brand development.
• Explain the components of communicating a brand strategy.
• Develop a brand messaging architecture using strategic questioning.
• Analyze customer-focused copy that resonates with the brand messaging architecture.
• Map a network of internal and external influencers who can advocate for the brand messaging strategy.
• Recommend an integrated marketing communication plan to decision makers.

Scenario

You are a marketing coordinator for a clothing company with a reputation for being innovative. The brand marketing manager has approached you for some outside-the-box thinking and enlists your help in developing an integrated marketing communications campaign for a new hat product to compete with the big-brand hats in fashion today.

You are asked to contribute to the group’s efforts to achieve organization-wide buy-in for the new product as well. You can best do this not only by highlighting your product’s advantages, but also by utilizing integrated marketing communications in writing a series of marcom messages, reports and presentations to decision makers.

Instructions

For this project, the type of hat you use can be any style --Ball-cap, Western, Fedora, Beret, Deerstalker, Flapper, Trapper, etc.—but it should be described in detail. Describe a new brand of hat to compete with the big brands and use it to complete an integrated marketing communications to highlight your product’s advantages.

• Write a memo to the brand manager differentiating marcom from branding.
• Compose a short internal newsletter article explaining and championing the six elements of branding.
• Write an email to leadership explaining and championing the components of the brand messaging architecture for your new product.
• Compose customer-focused copy for an integrated communication campaign about your new product in the form of an “About Us” webpage, radio spot, print ad copy, and press release. Include a complete brand architecture in the copy.
• Create a report to the brand manager that maps a network of internal and external influencers who can advocate for the brand messaging strategy. This is needed to schedule for a pre-meeting before providing recommendations about your new product to the marketing team.
• Develop a PowerPoint presentation recommending the new product and an integrated marketing communications plan to decision makers. (Should include speaker notes on each slide).