Marketing Communications Campaign Plan for Brand A's Luxury Chocolate Launch

Task

Students should present a marketing communications campaign plan for the imminent launch of a new brand of luxury chocolate.

The chocolate market in the UK is evolving. There is an increasing demand for premium chocolate targeted at adults, and growing numbers of artisan chocolate makers are entering the market.

You work for a new chocolate producer in the UK (based near Durham City) that wishes to enter to premium chocolate market. Their product is a 90g bar of chocolate, currently available in three unique flavourings, hand-made, with a veryhigh cocoa-content, using single-origin, imported, organic cocoa and made with natural, organic flavourings. The bar is competitively priced (in line with similar  products) and is packaged using full recyclable materials. Currently the brand is referred to only as ‘Brand A’.

The company is confident they have a high quality product but how can the brand achieve success in this increasingly crowded market?

The company management team have asked you to provide a communications plan for the launch of Brand A. You have been allocated a maximum budget of £100,000, for a 3-month campaign which will be built around the brand launch. The launch date itself is scheduled to take place during National Chocolate Week 2021 (October 14-21).

Having given it some initial thought, you have decided that you will need to take an integrated, cost-effective approach to your communications plan in order to achieve awareness with your target consumer group, and generate initial trial and sales within the intended timeframe and the limited budget of the campaign. You should refer only to ‘Brand A’ throughout – you are not required to suggest a brand name.

Note: for the purposes of this assignment, the influence of any restrictions due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, can be ignored.

You should present your work in report format - including the appropriate use of bullet points, sub-headings, tables and figures.

• A summary of the key points discussed in the report

• Market Analysis (approx. 600 words)

Identification and discussion of the critical elements of the market into which the brand will be launched. This should include:

o Assessing the impact of relevant factors within the market environment (for example, market size and characteristics; the competitive landscape; relevant socio-cultural factors, etc. etc.)

o Identifying (and justifying) a gap in the market that your brand will aim to fill

o Note: it is important to base this analysis on referenced evidence from credible sources

• Target consumer (approx. 100 words)

Consumer Profile presented in visual format (examples of consumer profiles will be given). Primarily using behavioural, psychographic characteristics, and including media consumption patterns (this should be aligned to evidence discussed in the previous section)

• Brand positioning (approx. 300 words)

Background

o Highlighting the key characteristics of Brand A’s identity and its competitive positioning in the marketplace (both of which need to be aligned to the wants and desires of the chosen target market).

Note: it is essential that the campaign context be based on referenced evidence from credible sources.

• These must be based on SMART criteria, and focused on a new product launch

• Objectives should be listed in bullet point format Communications strategy (approx. 1000 words)

• Justification of the specific techniques and media you have selected for your communications campaign, explained in relation to relevant and appropriate communications theory and citing relevant academic sources

• Specific reference should be made to the integrated nature of the campaign

A visual presentation of the campaign over the 3-month period (excluded from word count):

• Presented in table format (examples will be given)
• Clearly showing the timing of each element
• Showing indicative costings for each element
• Identifying (in visual format) how the principles of integrated marketing communications planning will be followed

• Identifying how the campaign will be evaluated and monitored. Specifically, what and how, will evidence be provided to show that the campaign objectives have been achieved?

Submissiom instructions

Your completed assignment must be uploaded to Ultra no later than 11:59am on 4 May 2021

A penalty will be applied for work uploaded after 11:59am as detailed in the  Programme Handbook. You must leave sufficient time to fully complete the  upload process before the deadline and check that you have received a  receipt. At peak periods, it can take up to 30 minutes for a receipt to be  generated.

Assignments should be typed, using 1.5 spacing and an easy-to-read 12-point font. Assignments and dissertations/business projects must not exceed the word count indicated in the module handbook/assessment brief.

? Include all the text, including title, preface, introduction, in-text citations, quotations, footnotes and any other items not specifically excluded below.

? Exclude diagrams, tables (including tables/lists of contents and figures), equations, executive summary/abstract, acknowledgements, declaration, bibliography/list of references and appendices. However, it is not appropriate to use diagrams or tables merely as a way of circumventing the word limit. If a student uses a table or figure as a means of presenting his/her own words, then this is included in the word count.

Examiners will stop reading once the word limit has been reached, and work beyond this point will not be assessed. Checks of word counts will be carried out on submitted work, including any assignments or dissertations/business projects that appear to be clearly over-length. Checks may take place manually and/or with the aid of the word count provided via an electronic submission. Where a student has intentionally misrepresented their word count, the School may treat this as an offence under Section IV of the General Regulations of the University. Extreme cases may be viewed as dishonest practice under Section IV, 5 (a) (x) of the General Regulations.

Very occasionally it may be appropriate to present, in an appendix, material which does not properly belong in the main body of the assessment but which some students wish to provide for the sake of completeness. Any appendices will not have a role in the assessment - examiners are under no obligation to read appendices and they do not form part of the word count. Material that students wish to be assessed should always be included in the main body of the text. Guidance on referencing can be found in the programme handbook and on DUO.

Performance in the summative assessment for this module is judged against the following criteria:

• Relevance to question

• Organisation, structure and presentation

• Depth of understanding

• Analysis and discussion

• Use of sources and referencing

• Overall conclusions

The word count should include all the text (plus endnotes and footnotes), but exclude diagrams, tables, bibliography, references and appendices. Guidance on referencing can be found in your Assessment handbook under ‘Things you Need to Know’ on DUO.

Plagiarism Collusion

Students suspected of plagiarism, either of published work or the work of other students, or of collusion will be dealt with according to School and University guidelines.

Your assignment will be put through the plagiarism detection service