Tutor beth: Consumer Behavior Project

BUS2  134A  Online,  Project     1  

Consumer Behavior Project BUS2 134A Online

Marketing Strategy Analysis Project Objective An underlying assumption of the consumer behavior course is that students learn best and retain more when they actively apply and work with the concepts presented in the course materials rather than simply read about them. Therefore, the purpose of this assignment is to apply concepts and knowledge learned in class to real situations to enhance your understanding. Project Summary This assignment involves a marketing strategy analysis. You will work as a marketing consultant. You will select one company or brand of interest (e.g., Nike, local coffee shop, social networking site) and analyze the effectiveness of its current marketing strategy (e.g., 4Ps and services) used for the brand offerings (product, service, or experience). To do so, you will need to identify the company/brand’s target consumers and analyze advantages and disadvantages of the current marketing strategy. Based on the disadvantages of the marketing strategy that you identified, you will come up with an idea for a new marketing strategy concerning issues that we covered in our online class (e.g., external influences i.e., changing American society – demographics, values, subcultures etc. – and internal influences i.e., perception, motivation, learning, attitudes etc. as well as consumer decision process). Please see the Instruction section (next page) for more details. Please note that this assignment will be completed individually. Instructions Your short paper should contain the following three (3) parts: 1. First, you will select ONE company or brand of interest to you (e.g., Nike, local coffee shop, LinkedIn) and identify a particular consumption area that the company/brand offers (e.g., product, service, or experience). For instance, Nike’s brand offering might be apparel and shoes for sports; a local coffee shop’s brand offering might be coffee or other types of drinks; LinkedIn’s brand offering might be service for social networking. These are just examples. You should be creative in choosing a company or a brand! 2. Second, you will conduct research and analyze the effectiveness of the current marketing strategy (concerning 4Ps and services) with regard to this company/brand offering (e.g., product, service, or experience). Then, you will identify the company’s/brand’s target consumers and analyze advantages and disadvantages of the current marketing strategy with regard to reaching these target consumers. For instance, you might analyze (a) whether the company’s/brand’s current marketing strategy is

BUS2  134A  Online,  Project     2  

effective and satisfies the changing consumer behavior/changes in American society, (b) whether the marketing communication used for the advertisement is appealing to the targeted groups of consumers etc. You might use TV advertisements, printed advertisements, or other forms of advertisements/communication for this analysis (if applicable). 3. Based on the findings regarding the current marketing strategy, you will come up with an idea for a new marketing strategy that takes into account the issues we covered in class (e.g., external influences i.e., changing American society – demographics, values, subcultures etc. – and internal influences i.e., perception, motivation, learning, attitudes etc. as well as consumer decision process). All three sections should be addressed in a type-written report. The body of the analysis should not exceed seven double-spaced typed (12-point type) pages. However, extensive use of appendices (such as charts, tables, industry-related ads etc.) is acceptable. Each item in the appendix must be individually referenced in the body. References (i.e., sources of information) must be cited in the body and listed in a reference section. As with all written assignments, your analysis will be evaluated on its professional appearance, organization of the discussion, readability, and apparent effort, as well as on its content.