Assessing IMC mix strategies of a UK-based company/brand

Main Objective of the assessment

Main Objective of the assessment

This coursework aims to assess the understanding of theories and practices related to marketing communications mix, the ability to apply and analyse them and to offer creative solutions to business problems.

Description of the Assessment

Choose an organisation (a company or a brand) that operates in the U.K. market from any of the following industries:

• A charity (e.g. WWF, Greenpeace, Age UK etc. ) List of UK-based charities available in this directory: https://www.gov.uk/find-charity-information
• A café, restaurant or pub (e.g. Starbucks, Nando’s, Wetherspoon etc.)
• A car company which sells electric/hybrid cars (e.g. Tesla, Ferrari, Toyota etc.)

You will analyse, assess, and develop the integrated marketing communications (IMC) mix strategies for the chosen company/brand and recommend future actions.

Scenario

You are the junior marketing and communications executive for your chosen organisation; your manager has asked you to pick 3 recent marketing communications activities (no more than 3 years old, targeting the UK market, using multiple tools and different media) which they have conducted to either promote one of their products/services and/or their brand, and write a comprehensive report about their integrated effectiveness  and provide future recommendations.

Report format

CBASS coversheet

Link to coversheet available in Submission instructions section below

Table of Contents (not included in word count)

Provide headings/sub-headings along with corresponding page numbers

Executive Summary (not included in word count)

Provide a concise summary of the report’s main arguments, findings and recommendations for the busy executive who doesn’t have time to read the whole report, focus on sections 2-5 to write this (max: 1 page).

Introduction

Briefly introduce your chosen organisation (no history lesson please) e.g. what they sell, what their IMC mix strategy is as well as what the 3 marketing communications activities are your report will be focusing on.

Literature Review

On the basis of the 3 activities you have picked initially, you need to now critically review the academic literature on integrated marketing communications, IMC tools (those which were used in the 3 activities you have picked) as well as Branding. You should review the literature on relevant models, theories and concepts which theoretically underpin and apply to the 3 activities you have picked, including, but not limited to: the linear model of communications, the interactional model of communications, Word-of-Mouth communications, AIDA, the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of persuasion etc.  (Note: please do NOT discuss your chosen organisation, nor the 3 marketing communication activities themselves).

Market environment analysis(UK market only)

Provide a brief review of the UK market of your chosen company/brand/product. Identify at least 3 key competitors, market trends and relevant market environmental factors and explain how they have influenced your chosen organisation’s strategic IMC decisions and given rise to the 3 activities you have picked.

Critical Analysis and Discussion

You are now required to critically analyse and discuss the 3 marketing communications activities you have picked for your chosen organisation. A critical analysis requires synthesis with relevant points you have made in your Literature Review and Market Environment Analysis, hence these two sections should ‘inform’ and be part of your analysis. For each activity you should:

A)Briefly assess what the activity involved, which tools and media were used

B)Apply relevant theories/models applicable to the activity as you see fit

You should then consider the 3 activities collectively and evaluate:

C)How well the tools and media in all 3 activities are used in an integratedmanner as part of the integrated marketing communications mix

D)How effective the 3 activities, in an integrated manner, were for the organisation - based on concrete factual data about budgeting and favourable outcomes directly related to the 3 activities

E)How well the 3 activities, in an integratedmanner, contribute towards the brand’s positioning – relative to the competition (competitive positioning) and within consumers’ minds (differential appeal)

Recommendations

Based on your critical analysis (section 4) provide recommendations for improvement for your chosen organisation’s IMC strategies, justified using relevant statistics/references to back up and strengthen your points.