MG412 Principles of Marketing | My Assignment Tutor -

Assignment Brief Academic Year 2020-21Internal approval: Celosia Mendes 21st Sept 2020.1 Assignment taskThis assignment assesses your secondary research skills and your ability to follow the rules of academicwriting. The topic is the 4Ps (product, price, place and promotion), which is also called the “marketing mix”.You need to compare and contrast how effective the application of the 4Ps is for one pair of brands (NOTALL OF THEM) from the list below:Brand A Brand BHaagen-Dazs ice-cream Ben and Jerry’s ice-creamLucozade Energy Red Bull energy drinkApple watch series 6 Fitbit Versa 2Dove (deodorant for women) Sure (deodorant for women)Weetabix Kellogg’s Coco PopsBulldog moisturiser (for men ) L’Oréal Expert moisturiser (for men)BrewDog Beer Guinness Module codeand title:MG412 Principles of MarketingModule leader:Faiz Amin SubhaniAssignmentNo. and type:Coursework 1:Individual report: The4Ps/marketing mix.1500 words.Assessmentweighting:Weighting 50%Submissiontime and date:Individual assignmentsubmission on by 2pm viaTurnitin on Tuesday 27th April2021Target feedbacktime and date:3 Weeks after submissiondeadline 2 This assignment has been designed to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate yourachievement of the following module learning outcomes:LO 1Analyse the effectiveness of the marketing mix for any given company or brand.LO 2Demonstrate knowledge of STP marketing planning processTask requirementsTask requirementsYou need to carry out in-depth research into the brand’s target market (who they are, their likes/dislikes,their levels of personal disposable income etc.) using market research databases – e.g. Mintel reports,WARC and TGI. You then need to look at the brands themselves, their brand values and competitivepositioning in the market before going on to discuss their application of the 4Ps – product, price, placeand promotion. The key to getting a good mark on this is to prepare a comparative analysis. Do notdescribe the brands in isolation – always look at the two together and explain why they do thingsdifferently.This assignment should be based on secondary and observational research only. You are notrequired to carry out any form of primary research. You need to research the following:1. Target MarketYou need to develop a detailed target market profile for each brand using data sources such asMintel, the companies’ own websites and other secondary sources. You need to think about age,gender, personal disposable income, social class, level of education, family life cycle, lifestyles,other brands they like, TV programmes they watch, hobbies etc.2. Product /BrandUsing Levitt’s model of a brand, try to analyse your two selected brands (their shape, packaging,colour scheme etc.). How different are they at the functional and emotional level? What are thebrand values that the companies are trying to portray? In addition, have a look at Aaker’s brandpersonality framework to see which personality type(s) each brand follows.3. PriceYou need to carry out some on-line and in-store research to establish a market price for each ofthe brands and any competing products. Display all this competitive pricing research in a table anddraw conclusions about which pricing strategy they are adopting.4. Place (Distribution)You need to look at channel management. Which stores stock this product? Is it a mass marketproduct where the company has maximised distribution outlets, or is it a luxury brand wheredistribution is deliberately limited? Explain your answer. If possible, take photos of the product instore/on-line. What does this tell you about brand values? 3 5. PromotionYou need to research their past methods of communication (e.g. cinema, TV, outdoor, print, socialmedia, mobile, own website etc.). Which communication methods do they use to build theirrespective brands? – and how do they do this? How are they positioning themselves in the mindsof target audiences? (E.g. affordable, luxury, healthy, socially conscious etc.)You only have 1500 words for your report so you need to decide what goes in the appendices. It issuggested that you follow this structure for your work.Executive SummaryTHIS IS WRITTEN LAST (because it is a summary of your research) BUT IT APPEARS FIRST (before thecontents page), in order to catch the attention of the reader and encourage them to read further. It shouldcover in one page or less: The aim of the report, The methods of research, The results (top-line summary only) ConclusionsContents Page (Use the feature in Word to do this automatically)IntroductionThis should be quite brief – it’s NOT a detailed coverage of a 100 years of corporate history. It shouldinclude the aim of the report and some background information on each of the chosen brands – I.E a briefdescription of the brands with useful data such as market share, market size and trends in sales,which you can find from the most recent Mintel reports as well as in the trade press.FindingsUse sub-headings to make your report easier to follow. We suggest you adopt the following headings:1. Comparison of Target Markets2. Product – Evaluation of the Products and their Brand Values3. Price – Evaluation of the Pricing Strategies Used4. Place – Distribution of the Brands5. Promotion – Communication of the BrandsYou should try to put relevant raw data in the appendices with only a summary of the data in the body ofthe report. Every time you state a fact e.g. market size, price data, sales etc. you must provide a referencedsource for that fact (both in the text and in the reference list based on the Harvard referencing rules). Allgraphs, data, diagrams and tables should have the title on the top e.g. Figure 1: XYZ Product Category 4 Market Share; or if it’s a table, Table 1: XYZ Product Category Market Share with a source written directlyunderneath and to the right of that table e.g. Source: Mintel (2014).Conclusion and RecommendationsThis is where you provide some element of evaluation of your research findings. How has each brand applied the 4P’s? Why have they applied the 4P’s in this way? Which brand has been most successful in its application of the 4P’s? How could each of the brands improve their use of the 4P’s?Reference ListThis should be listed alphabetically by Surname.AppendicesUse the appendices to display any raw research data such as pricing data which the reader could notaccess anywhere else.Style Issues You may not write in first person – using I, me or my. Your report should be written in a formal business-like manner. You may include tables and photographs in the body of the report, but they must all include a title(above and to the left) and the source (below and to the right)Referencing and research requirementsPlease reference your work according to the Harvard style as defined in Cite Them Right Online(http://www.citethemrightonline.com). This information is also available in book form: Pears, R. andShields, G. (2019) Cite them right: the essential reference guide. 11th edn. Basingstoke: PalgraveMacmillan. Copies are available via the University library.More than 10 references are required and from a variety of sources suitable for use in H.E.How your work will be assessedYour work will be assessed on the extent to which it demonstrates your achievement of the stated learningoutcomes for this assignment (see above) and against other key criteria as defined by your programmeteam. 5 If it is appropriate to the format of your assignment and your subject area, a proportion of your marks willalso depend upon your use of academic referencing conventions.This assignment will be marked according to the grading descriptors for Level 4 with specific guidance asdetailed below.Research Skills 25%You need to demonstrate that you have spent at least a month working on this report. To do this, you needto provide evidence in the written text and in your reference list that you have engaged in research in theform of academic texts and secondary sources, such as Mintel, TGI, Trade and National Press andarticles on WARC. We will be looking for more than 10 references from a variety of sources in yourreference list. If all that is mentioned in the reference list is website links and company websites, you willlose marks.Marketing Knowledge 30%You will need to demonstrate full knowledge of a range of marketing concepts including: STP marketing,profiling target audiences, branding (e.g. Aaker’s brand personality and Levitt’s product model), as well asthe 4Ps/marketing mix. Importantly you need academic references to demonstrate applied knowledge andunderstanding of the two brands under discussion.Analysis 25%You will need to demonstrate analytical skills in terms of interpreting the data you find on the market, thetarget audience and the two brands. Most important is that you provide a comparison i.e. what is the sameand what is different about the way the two companies market their brands.Literacy Skills 10%Please remember with academic writing that it must be objective, impersonal, concise, accurate andevidence-basedReferencing 10%We expect you to apply the rules of Harvard Referencing throughout the report, both in the text and in theReference List at the end of the report.Submission details You are reminded of the University’s regulations on academic misconduct, which can be viewed onthe University website: https://bucks.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0024/9546/Academic-MisconductPolicy.pdf. In submitting your assignment, you are acknowledging that you have read andunderstood these regulations Please also note that work that is submitted up to 10 working days beyond the submission date willbe considered a late submission. Late submissions will be marked and the actual mark recorded,but will be capped at the pass mark (typically 40%), provided that the work is of a passing standard.Work submitted after this period will not be marked and will be treated as a non-submission. This assignment should be submitted electronically. Please use the relevant Turnitin submissionpoint in the Submit your work area in your VLE module shell. Please ensure that your work has been saved in an appropriate file format. Turnitin will only acceptthe following file types: Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint, PostScript, PDF, HTML, RTF,OpenOffice (ODT), Hangul (HWP), Google Docs, or plain text. Your file must also contain at least20 words of text, consist of fewer than 400 pages and be less than 40MB in size. You can submit your work as many times as you like before the submission date. If you do submityour work more than once, your earlier submission will be replaced by the most recent version. 6  Once you have submitted your work, you will receive a digital receipt as proof of submission, whichwill be sent to your forwarded e-mail address (provided you have set this up). Please keep thisreceipt for future reference, along with the original electronic copy of your assignment. Before you submit Please use the provided checklist below to make sure you are ‘fit to submit’ your work We recommend you use this checklist as soon as you get this assignment brief to help you planyour work Fit to Submit: Assignment ChecklistThis brief assignment checklist is designed to help you avoid some of the most common mistakes studentsmake in their coursework.HAVE YOU READ THE ASSIGNMENT BRIEF?IF NOT, DO IT NOW!In it you will find details of the assessment task, word count, the assessment criteria your work is marked against,and the learning outcomes – the basis for the assessment strategy in each module.Students often lose marks by forgetting some of the more straightforward elements of their assignments.We recommend that you “tick off” each of the points below as you prepare your work for submission. Ifyou need any help, ask your tutor and / or visithttps://bucks.ac.uk/students/academicadvice/assessment-and-examinationTICKHave you read and understood the assessment criteria?Have you met the learning outcomes? You will lose marks and your work may evenbe failed if you have not.Have you demonstrated you can think and write critically in the completed work?This means you have supported your arguments/explanations appropriately e.g.using relevant academic sources and you have offered discussion points whichextends your own or others’ viewpoints to make reasoned conclusions/judgements.Have you maintained an academic tone throughout your work? Is your work formal,focused, developed and clear? 7 Have you checked that the referencing in your assignment is in line with yourprogramme requirements?Have you proof-read your work and used spellcheck software to check your spellingand grammar?Have you checked the presentation of your work is as specified by your tutor, forexample, are font size, colour, style, line spacing and margins as the tutor specified?Have you kept to the word count (or equivalent)? If you are not sure, check with yourtutor.Can you confirm that the work submitted is your own and not plagiarised?