Title: An Advertising Campaign Audit for xxx Campaign

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (not included in the word count) (2%)

This section summarizes the print advertising campaign that you are auditing, including its communication objectives and the key elements of the campaign.

1.   INTRODUCTION (3%)

This section contains a brief introduction of the campaign that you are auditing; for example, which company did the campaign (e.g., company background) and for which brand. Also, why you are interested in auditing the campaign.

2. SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS (25%)

2.1 Industry Evaluation (5%):

What were the marketing opportunities/challenges in the market with regards to the chosen product category before the campaign started?

What were the behavioural trends (sales, consumption, participation, etc.)? 

What market factors might affect the success of the campaign?

What barriers might limit the success of the campaign?

2.2 Brand Evaluation (5%):

What were the attributes and benefits of the brand?

What were the strengths and weakness of the brand before the campaign started? 

Who were the direct or indirect competitors and their strengths and weaknesses?

Using the perceptual mapping technique to illustrate the key points of differentiation.

2.3 Segmentation and Targeting (10%):

How was the market segmented for this product category? Discuss a) key demographic variables, and 2) psychographic variables. (*Behavioural graphic variables can be added if it is important to the product category).

Select a key target segment the campaign targeted and describe the segment in detail (following the examples of VALS and MINDBASE)

2.4 Positioning (5%):

What was the brand’s positioning strategy in the campaign (attribute, benefit or anything else)?  What were its competitors’ positioning strategies? Do you believe that the positioning statement was effective in terms of reaching the key market segment you have chosen to audit?

3. COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES AND MESSAGE/MEDIA STRATEGY (30%)

3.1 Communication Objective(s)-5%:

What was (were) the communication objective(s) of the overall campaign and what were the major communication tools and vehicles used in this campaign?

3.2 Creative Strategy-10%: 

What was (were) the major creative style(s) for this campaign (one or two)? 

Analyse the effectiveness of the creative style based on A-C-V framework.

Analyse the creativity of the advertisement based on the CAN framework.

Make sure your evaluation of creative strategy flows from targeting, positioning and communication objectives.  

3.3 Appeal Strategy-5%: 

What was (were) the major appeal strategy (ies) (one or two)? Rationale? Any advantage(s) or disadvantage(s) of using the appeal strategy to target the chosen segment?

3.4 Endorser(s) Strategy-5%:    Did the campaign choose an average consumer or a celebrity as the endorser? Why? What were the characteristics of the endorser? Why did the campaign choose this particular endorser?

3.5 Media strategy-5%: What were the media objectives related to this specific medium? What was (were) the major vehicle(s) selected? Rationale? What was the scheduling?

4. ALTERNATIVE ADVERTISNG STRATEGY

4.1 Design a print advertisement (20%)

Each group should design a print advertisement for the brand to target the same target segment.  The ad should be a completed advertisement (close to the actual advertisement).

The advertisement is A4 size, colourful, and in jpg format.

The advertisement should have include one or a number of endorsers. 

Students should include a Creative Brief in the Appendixes.

4.2 Ad comparisons (10%)

Compare the two advertisements in the following:

• Overall Creative Style: Which advertisement is doing better in terms of overall creative style? Why?
• Creativity elements:  Based on CAN, which advertisement is doing better in what element? Why?
• Appeal Strategy: Which ad is doing better in terms of the appeal strategy? Why?
• Endorser Strategy: Which ad is doing better in terms of the endorser strategy? Why

*Students should build their discussions based on the target consumers, the product, and other market factors.

5 CONCLUSIONS (3%)

This section discusses the overall effectiveness of the campaign and what you have learnt from doing the project.

6. END BIBLIOGRAPHY (2%) (Harvard Referencing Style; not included in the word count)

7. APPENDIXES (not included in the word count) (5%)

Appendix 1: The print advertisement you analysed (A4 sized & image format)

Appendix 2: The print advertisement you designed (A4 sized & image format)

Appendix 3: A Creative Brief for the advertisement you designed.

Other Appendixes (if there is any).