Marketing Plan Group Project
Your group is expected to develop a marketing plan for a new product/service to be introduced by the company that you did case presentation for (one of the companies in the “Case Presentation Guidelines”)
You will identify an interesting and relevant marketing challenge, and use your learning from the course, along with your creativity and problem-solving skills, to recommend a course of action to solve the problem.
Before the final marketing plan and the presentation slides are due by the end of the semester, you are encouraged to send me the draft for feedback in the middle of the semester. To help the team prepare for the marketing plan, our online group exercises/discussion will also cover some parts of it.
Format of the Document
• 8-page limit, Single-Spaced, 80 points in total (10 points for each section)
• All pages are single-spaced, in black type in not less than 12-point font (Times New Roman is best, and use only one font), with not less than 1 inch margins all around.
• The format style should be consistent.
• Create a cover page that has team # and team members’ names.
• You can add an appendix for tables and charts if necessary.

The object of this project is to apply thinking from class lectures and reading to solidify your new knowledge and turn it actionable strategy. There is no wrong or right approach to this project – marketing requires innovative thinking and creativity – let your mind go and have fun with this project! Every business is different, so every final project format will vary. While we have a general format for the report, I would encourage you to focus on quality demonstration of learning.

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1. Problem Identification
Based on the SWOT analysis you did for the case analysis, what do you think is the key issue that needs to be addressed by the company? What is the new product/service offering that can help address this challenge? What benefits does the new product/service provide to consumers?
Consider a new product/service that have not yet been introduced but are in R&D stages, or a new brand. The product or service can be either entirely new, or involve some improvement to an existing offering.
Examples: revitalize a current product/service (or a new use of an existing product), introduce a new product/service or a new brand, introduce a new package design, bring the product to a new market, expanding a business to a new segment/target of market; introduce a brand extension, etc.
2. Marketing Objectives
List (label, number) your three main Objectives in a way that makes it clear exactly what they are, in order of their importance. State clearly, directly under each Objective, ONE major Issue affecting the accomplishment of each objective, phrasing the Issue as a question.
Objectives are specific things that you want to accomplish. Issues are broad categories of problems, things you’ll need to think about while working out how you will obtain your objectives. In your text’s example of the objective of 15% market share, notice that the issue is not the specific question, “how can we get a market share of 15%?” but rather the very general question of “how does one go about increasing market share?” An even better way to phrase an issue here would be something like, “Given that we are a service industry with limited resources, how do we increase market share without risking XYZ?”.
Some examples of well stated issues for objectives (from previous Plans)
OBJECTIVES AND ISSUES
OBJECTIVES AND ISSUES
Earn a 10%profit in our second year of operation
Issue: How can we attract and retain a strong and loyal customer base?
Open 3 franchises within the Extended Market Area of Calgary by the end of 2015
issue: How do we ensure success in a slow economy?
Capture 10% of market in our first year and increase that to 14% in our second year
Issue: What do we need to do to constantly attract new customers?
Make your objectives specific to your organization. Don’t state as objectives things which are just common business sense or part of general business practice. “Satisfying customers”, “producing enough”, “finding a good location”, and “determining the right strategy” — these are not objectives for a Marketing Plan; they are incorrect because these are general things any marketer strives for. Objectives must be clear, specific, numeric, and limited to a particular time period.
Note that you are not required here to discuss how you will achieve the objective or to discuss how you will deal with the one major issue, only to list what they are. In a full length Marketing Plan, of course you would address these; this is a much-abbreviated Plan to introduce you to the concept.
3. Market Segmentation and Target Market
Describe your ONE target market segment in detail. State why you chose this target market. State specifically what “gap” in the market you are filling, that is, how your product is better than what is currently being offered by the competition. The “gap” statement relates to competition as well as customer needs. Be sure that what you later write about the competition matches what you say here about the gap.
• Geographic Segmentation
• Demographic Segmentation (e.g., its variables include age, gender, income, and ethnic)
• Psychographic Segmentation
• Benefit Segmentation
• Usage-Rate Segmentation
In general, two to three variables are enough to seg¬ment a market, so do not attempt to use all of them.
Next, do research to determine the test market(s) for your new product.
List the geographic regions where you plan to do market testing before introducing the new product into a wider market, and then visit (https://claritas360.claritas.com/mybestsegments/#zipLookup)website.
1. Enter zip code(s) look-up
2. Choose “PRIZM NE” and type in your test market’s zip code.
3. Click on the category with the highest number of PRIZM clusters, and view the page that describes what that cluster name means. You may need to click on “Submit” again to get back to the list your zip code generated.
4. Repeat step #3 for the category with the second highest number of PRIZM clusters. (If you plan to test in several regions, repeat steps #3 and #4)
5. Based on these categorizations, do you feel the test markets fit your target market and why do you think those test markets could represent your target consumers’ characteristics?

4. Marketing Research
One challenge of marketing is allocation of resources. How much should be allocated to various marketing stages and tools? Etc. To inform these decisions it would be helpful to better understand how consumers make purchase decisions for a given product.
Conduct primary research (use interviews and other qualitative techniques learned in class) into your target market to understand their attitudes, purchase habits and motives regarding the product and brand.

(For example, as a brand manager for a cold remedy, you want to know how people perceive the category and how they land on buying a specific item. For example, think about the last can of soup you purchased.
Did you think: category, brand, sub-brand, flavor, pack size?
Soup, Campbell’s, Healthy Request, Chicken Noodle, Soup on the Go.
Or was it: category, flavor, pack size, brand, sub brand?
Soup, Chicken Noodle, soup on the go, Campbell’s, Healthy Request.)

Design a depth interview with questions to find out your target consumer’s decision-making process in each of the applicable steps. In other words, which of the steps of this decision-making process would you expect consumers to go through when evaluating your product/company?
1. Problem recognition (e.g., where, how, when)
2. Information search
3. Evaluation of alternatives
4. Purchase
5. Post-purchase behavior

Interview at least five people who are in your target market about their decision-making process. Formulate your questions to be open-ended and to find out about what people think, what they’re related problems are, and what they really want. Summarize your research technique, research procedure and interview results. What decision process did you discover? How are the products purchased? Why do they matter? What are the implications for brand managers?

Here you start the most important part of the Marketing Plan. As you start this part of the Plan, go back and re-read carefully the three main objectives that you outlined in the SWOT and Objectives section, because strategy is largely about how you accomplish your objectives. Be sure in all of this section that everything you lay out as strategy specifically and clearly links back to and is consistent with the Marketing Situation Analysis part of the Plan.
Use the concepts from your textbook and apply them creatively. For example, in Product, we talk about the Augmented Product. Use these terms in a way that shows you understand what it means, but don’t explain them. You can use the Discussion forum for discussing problems you may have while constructing this part.
Consider use different strategies for different objectives that you have set. Not every element in marketing strategies is equally important for different objectives; decide what’s most important; it’s also part of the purpose of the assignment — to give you practice in deciding what is important and then writing it concisely.

5. Product Strategy
State clearly and concisely at the start of the section exactly the main strategy for this part of the Mix. Then describe some specific details of your strategy for that area, going into further description and justification for your choices using theory and terminology from your text chapters to back up your decisions. (This applies to all marketing strategies in this part.)
• Describe how your product/service design would contribute to the goals (e.g., ease of manufacture, differentiation, supporting corporate identity, environmental friendly/ disassembly)
• Decide whether you will develop a brand for your product (individual brand) or whether you use an existing brand belongs to the firm/product category (family brand). Explain which of the branding strategies would work best for your product (justify your choice).
• If you decide to develop a new brand, brainstorm with your team and come up with five possible brand names. Then write the names in the table below, and rate each of them from 1 to 5 on the criteria in the form. In the end, which brand name did you choose? Why?

Brand name Appropriate image (consistent) Suggest product benefits Short and easy to remember Distinctive Overall

6. Price Strategy
The following are some questions for you to think about.
• Which pricing objective you will pursue (justify your choice): Profit-oriented (Profit maximization; Satisfactory profits; Target return on investments); Sales-oriented (Market share; Sales maximization; Status Quo)
• Which pricing strategy you will follow (justify your choice): Price Skimming/Premium Pricing; Penetration Pricing/Discounting; Status Quo
• Which of the following tactics for fine tuning the base price you will choose (justify your choices): Quantity discounts; Cash discounts; Functional discounts; Seasonal discounts; Promotional allowance; Rebates

7. Distribution Strategy
The following are some questions for you to think about.
• Choose which of the following distribution channels would be most adequate for your product (justify your choice in terms of market factors, product factors and producer factors):
Producer  Consumers
Producer  Retailers  Consumers
Producer  Wholesalers  Retailers  Consumers
Producer  Agents or Brokers  Wholesalers  Retailers  Consumers
• Decide on the distribution channels (e.g., company website, app, retail website, retail storefront, or a mail-order catalogue, etc.). Try to design a multichannel marketing strategy.
• How would you integrate the online and offline strategies to provide customers with a seamless shopping experience?
8. Advertising and Promotion Strategy
The following are some questions for you to think about.
• Define the features and benefits your product/company has to offer. (Why will this product make the customer’s life better?)
• Based on these benefits, develop at least two advertising appeals (e.g. emotional appeals, rational appeals) and evaluate them in terms of desirability, exclusiveness and believability.
• State which of these appeals is going to be your unique selling proposition and develop a slogan.
• Decide on the executional style (e.g. slice of life, cartoon, or comparative ad) of your ad.
• Which tools for consumer and trade sales promotion you will use (justify your choices):
• If there are several market segments for your product, which market responds best to advertising? Do you differentiate the advertising strategy for different markets?

Rubric
Poor (7) Satisfactory(8-9) Excellent(9-10)
SWOT
Problem Identification Some parts are missing or those that are identified are inappropriate.
Unclear description of a want or unmet need in the market is presented.
Identified the business’s strength, weakness, opportunity and threat.
Clear description of a want or unmet need in the market is presented.
Clearly identified the business’s strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats external to the business. Used data to support claims.
Clear and engaging description of a want or unmet need in the market. Used data to support claims.
Marketing Objectives Marketing objectives are missing or those that are identified are not quantified or are inappropriate. Linkage of marketing objectives to business is not clearly stated. Some of the objectives and goals are unclear and/or not appropriately quantified. The marketing objectives are clearly stated and appropriately quantified. The questions for each objective are important and relevant.
Market Segmentation and Target Market Little detail provided on segmentation and target market’s characteristics and needs. Provides a description of the target market and its characteristics and needs, but is limited in depth and use of secondary data to support the assessment. An outstanding assessment that clearly identifies the target market, its characteristics and needs, and utilizes secondary sources to support this assessment.
Marketing Research No attempt or only defined the problem. Defined the problem; Analyzed the situation. Collected and organized data. Defined the problem; Accurately analyzed the situation. Clearly explained the research procedure Appropriately collected, analyzed data and proposed solution/s.
Product strategy
Product/brand description is missing Product/brand description is stated, but somewhat unclear Service and/or product description is clearly stated and appropriate. Creative use of visuals.
Pricing Strategy
Pricing strategy is missing or weak. Tactics are unclear and hard to understand. Pricing strategy is clear. Most of the tactics are clearly identified, but some detail on tactics is missing, or hard to understand. Pricing strategy or strategies for managing price are thoroughly and clearly identified and reasoned. Sufficient detail about tactics is provided.
Distribution Strategy
Distribution strategy is missing, or, if identified, is weak in detail. Distribution strategy is identified but not described in enough detail to convey a strong and clear strategy. Distribution strategy is appropriately identified and described with clear identification of how product will be distributed to target audience through distribution channels.
Advertising and Promotion Strategy
Advertising and promotion strategy is missing, or, if identified, is weak in detail and specifics on the range of promotional tools used. Does not seem appropriate given the product/service description and other marketing strategies. Advertising and promotion strategy is identified but not described in enough detail to convey a robust promotional strategy. Advertising and promotion strategy is appropriately identified and described with a range of promotional tools.