The Course Project:

An Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Campaign Plan

The Course Comprises 4 Deliverables:

Week 1: Team Formation

Week 2: Brand Analysis Research and Video
Week 4: Course Project Draft
Week 7: Final Report
Week 8: PowerPoint Presentation

The Course Project will involve your team in developing an integrated marketing
communications (IMC) plan for a brand assigned to you by the professor. Integrating
marketing communications entails identifying a brand message and then conveying that
brand message through a series of touch points that are relevant to the target customer.
The figure presented in the Week 1 Lecture captures the steps involved in developing an
IMC plan—the brand is the central concern around which the IMC plan is developed.
Early in the process, we establish who the customer is, what the customer wants, where
the customer is, and then we think about how we will reach the customer in the space
they are in, with what message, and which media. Please note, this is not a marketing
plan or a business plan. The IMC plan focuses on the what we traditionally refer to as the
promotion P, and what we are now viewing as communicating the value.

The objectives of this project are to

1. demonstrate a good understanding of a typical marketing problem, through a clear

identification of the problem and careful analysis;
2. apply marketing concepts associated with branding and communications;
3. implement steps that are sufficiently clear and detailed for effective execution;
and (Would your plan work?)
4. present your work in clear, compelling, and relevant documents.

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Your professor will assign you a team and company that you will work with for this
project. You and your team are going to live with it for the next 2 months. You might
have been assigned brand that you can see has an obvious problem that can be helped by
an IMC. For example, the brand may be organic but nobody that matters knows this, and
because this is a growing market, there may be considerable growth potential that could
be realized with a campaign that creates awareness, interest, desire, and gets action.
Follow the process presented in the Week 1 Lecture carefully.

Use the Brand Analysis table below to gain an understanding of your selected brand.
Work on gathering data, and map out your ideas for the Week 4 deliverable, the Course
Project draft. The draft should help you determine what you know and where gaps still
exist. This document will guide you through to successful completion.

Your final report, due in week 7, should be about 10–15 pages, and must adhere to the
APA format for your paper and references. Keep in mind that you should use a
professional writing style. This should be based on business English, and involve the
correct use of marketing terminology. Use tables to summarize your information. A
report is more likely to be implemented effectively if it is brief, but sufficiently detailed,
clear, and relevant. Remember to experiment with the demand metric tools that are
included in the Week 6 Lecture, these may give you some ideas for organizing your
campaign. For each of your communications strategy plans, you should identify a specific
objective, a media strategy, a media plan, and a budget. You are asked to provide the five
typical options that form the communications strategy mix. Marketers must think about
how they need to match competitors or provide novelty, you may want to substitute a
campaign for something different—check this out with your professor.

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 Brand Analysis
Brand Problem:
Current New
Target Customer
Product/service offered:
Competitive advantage:
Brand name (e.g. Nike):
Brand term (e.g. Just do
it):
Symbol (e.g. Swoosh):
Functional benefits (basic
benefits relating to
performance – e.g. Nike –
a good quality shoe):
Emotional benefits
(benefits that make the
customer feel good – e.g.
Nike – makes you feel fit
and healthy):
Brand concept (essence of
the brand – e.g. excellence
in performance):
Brand Identity:
Physique – tangible form,
sound, smell, color, feel
Personality - character
Relationship – what is
exchanged, shared
Culture - the system of
values represented by the
brand
Reflection – what is the
aspired image?
Self-image – what is the
image of actual
customers?

The Written Report

You should include the following sections in your written report:

Executive Summary

Introduction

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IMC Objectives

Market Analysis

Communications Strategy Plans

 Traditional Media
 Internet
 Direct Marketing
 Sales Promotion
 Public Relations (PR)

Conclusions

To expand, the content of each section should address the following:

IMC Objectives (Quantify)

Identify the brand and the principle objectives of the campaign and quantify where
possible:
 Attract new customers
 Retain existing customers
 Branding objectives
 Marketing and corporate objectives

Market Analysis
A detailed analysis will provide the specific details for decision-making:
 SWOT
 Segmentation and Targeting
 Positioning
 Product/Service
 Customer Profile
 Marketing Channels

Communications Strategy Plans

Listed here are the typical options available that form the communications strategy
mix – marketers must think about how they need to match competitors or provide
novelty, each strategy requires a specific objective, a media strategy, a media plan,
and a budget, these are described more fully below:
 Traditional Media
 Internet
 Direct Marketing
 Sales Promotion
 Public Relations (PR)

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Communications Schedule
Using a calendar that covers the timeframe of the proposed IMC indicate when the
specific elements of the communications strategy mix will occur – including:
 Launch dates
 Key events

Budget and Evaluation

Develop a list of the planned communications strategy mix and estimate the costs of
each component

To elaborate further on the Communications Strategy Section there are numerous

options; marketers should consider a mix of the following depending on the
problem being addressed – you may wish to provide additional strategies that you
feel are more relevant.

Each communications strategy (e.g. a traditional media campaign involving a print

ad in a magazine) requires:
 Specific Objective
 Media strategy: Big idea, Message, Copy, Visuals
 Media Plan: Reach and Frequency
 Budget: How much will this cost?

Traditional Media
A paid for, mass-mediated, attempt to persuade, use to build brand identity, this is a
big investment:
 Television, Print and Radio

Internet
As advertising became more expensive and the Internet grew – online
communications have become a cost effective option with the added benefit of being
measurable (closed-loop marketing) – this area has become highly specialized:

 Search engine optimization (SEO) strategy: Google AdWords

 Online advertising: Banners, reciprocal links
 Social media: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram…
 Website

Direct Marketing
Direct marketing evolved from the catalog business, which involved gathering
customer information – this approach is data base driven and is used to send
personalized messages either by mail, phone, email or text messages, inviting a
direct response. There is an important role for direct marketing in branding as it
facilitates relationship building and customer retention. This is becoming integrated
into a web campaign. Direct marketing might include:

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  Post cards
 Personalized mailings
 Emails concerning special offers
 Newsletters

Sales Promotion
Alongside traditional advertising, there are many options for communicating with
customers and building positive associations with the brand – sales promotion is
growing in popularity and can be incorporated into a direct marketing piece such as
a postcard or email. Sales promotion is instant demand stimulation, it creates a
perception of greater value through contests and samples, it compliments the longer
term advertising campaign, it motivates trial use, and encourages larger purchases
or stimulates a repeat purchase. Sales promotion is helpful when launching new
products and new product samples can be attached to existing brands. Problems
arise because frequent sales promotions alter price perceptions and encourage
consumers to become “deal-prone”. Examples include:

 Consumers: Coupons, price-off, gift with purchase, contests, samples,

mail sampling, newspaper sampling, on-package sampling, mobile
sampling
 Trade/Business: Training, allowances, incentives, trade shows
 Internet: New opportunities for contests and trial subscriptions

Public Relations (PR)

PR is a communications function used to promote understanding between an
organization and its various stakeholder groups. PR is a critical component of
brand building and generates publicity for the brand, helps solidify the public’s
opinion of the brand and defines the brand; seamlessly.

Public relations involves:

 Creating publicity; buzz, viral messages
 Building media relations
 Corporate communication (issues management, community relations,
government relations, industry relations)
 Building employee relations
 Maintaining financial/investor relations
 Crisis management
 Image building
 PR deals with what is difficult to control; but a company can be prepared
 PR amplifies the effects of other communications strategies

The tools of PR include:

 Press releases
 Feature stories
 Company newsletters

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  Press pack
 Interviews and press conferences
 Sponsored events

Your final report should be about 10-15 pages, please use the APA format for your
paper and references. Keep in mind that you should use a professional writing style,
this should be based on business English, and involve the correct use of marketing
terminology. Use tables to summarize your information - a report is more likely to
be implemented effectively if it is brief, but sufficiently detailed, clear and relevant.
Remember to experiment with the Demand Metric Tools that are included in the
Week 6 lecture, these may give you some ideas for organizing your campaign. For
each of your communications strategy plans you should identify a specific objective,
a media strategy, a media plan, and a budget. You are asked to provide the five
typical options that form the communications strategy mix – marketers must think
about how they need to match competitors or provide novelty, you may want to
substitute a campaign for something different - check this out with your Professor.

The PowerPoint Presentation

Your PowerPoint presentation will be based on your final report and should include
10-15 slides. A professional PowerPoint presentation in marketing should be based
on good quality content, your slides should be clear, and compelling - it is important
to engage your audience and convey all of the important points that you have
developed in your written report. Please include the artwork that you have
developed - this is what your audience will want to see.

Your PowerPoint presentation, due in week 8, will be based on your final report and
should include 10–15 slides. A professional PowerPoint presentation in marketing should
be based on good quality content, your slides should be clear and compelling. It is
important to engage your audience and convey all of the important points that you have
developed in your written report. Please include the artwork that you have developed, this
is what your audience will want to see.

Your PowerPoint will be a video presentation that must involve your entire team.

Finally, a Peer review will be required, to evaluate your colleague’s contribution to your
team project, this is due in week 8.

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TEAM WORK!

As you read this is a TEAM PROJECT! You will be given tools to communicate in this
course shell and it is expected that you meet at least weekly (if not more often as needed)
as a TEAM! Please respect each other and be present for team meeting and communicate
any issues you have with your professor! GOOD LUCK!

Note: As you may have seen in the syllabus, in Week 5 the professor will have an update
with regards to this project, the information will be provided to you via email after your
turn in your Week 4 Draft.