Posted: April 10th, 2015

MSc in International Strategic Marketing

MSc in International Strategic Marketing

Topic:
Select an organisation or a brand, analyse its curr
ent Marketing Communications and
Suggest a New Marketing Communication Strategy and
Tactics.
Report structure:
1.   Executive  summary
summarises  key  issues  raised  in  the  report.  The  Su
mmary  should
commence with a general description of the current
communications organised by the firm. It
should   also   include   the
NEW
key   communication   aim   and   subordinate   communicatio
n
objectives. It is a summary of the key propositions
for the campaign, as well as a summary of
how  plans  will  be  implemented.  It  should  be  present
ed  in  a  separate  page  on  its  own  and
should not be longer than 1 page long.
A table of contents should follow the executive sum
mary.
2.   Situation  analysis.
An  examination  of  the  current  position  and  its  offe
r.  This  analysis  of
background information is the research that provide
s the basis for the objectives, strategy and
tactics.  It  refers  to  the  analysis  of  the  current  c
ommunications  of  the  selected  firm.  It  could
include areas such as:
•
Company’s analysis, Brand and product analysis
•
Customers’ analysis (target markets, target audienc
es)
•
Competitors analysis
You  should  focus  on  situational  issues  that  are  rel
ated  to  the  communication  strategy  and
APPLY the theoretical concepts in a manner that you
will provide input to the communication
strategy. Try to organise your thoughts in tables a
s much as possible.
Information in this section may derive from primary
or secondary sources.
3.   Objectives
are  goals  or  aims  or  end  results  that  communicator
s  should  seek  to  achieve.
Marketing    communications    objectives    typically    refer
to    the    goals    that    marketing
communications  have  in  affecting  the  mind  of  the  ta
rget  audience.  They  should  be  Specific,
Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Relevant, Target
ed, and Timed.  They should be presented
in a hierarchy:
•
Marketing Objectives
•
Communication   objectives.   Within   these   communicatio
n   objectives,   think   of   the
contribution  of  the  various  elements  of  the  integra
ted  marketing  communications  in
achieving them. You might want to think about subse
ts of Advertising objectives or Other
Communications Mix Elements’ objectives
Link the objectives with the suggested communicatio
nal tools in part 4.
4.   Marketing Communications Strategy and Action Pla
n.
Strategy provides the direction for all
those  involved  in  the  campaign  to  follow.  It  provid
es  the  framework  within  which  they  should
operate. It is a means by which it is intended to a
chieve the objectives stated. You should think
of the DETAILED decisions on each one of the sugges
ted marketing communication tools.
The structure of this section per each component of
the mix can be broken down to something
like this:
4.1 Advertising Strategy and tactics
4.2 Sales promotion strategy and tactics
4.3 PR strategy and tactics
4.4 Direct Marketing and tactics
4.5 xxx
You  do  not  necessarily  have  to  use  all  the  marketin
g  communications  mix  element.  It  very
much  depends  on  the  chosen  product,  the  objectives
of  your  campaign  and  the  target
audiences.
You should state the objectives for each communicat
ion tool. Think how these objectives relate
to the overall communication objectives (see point
3). You should also analyse the suggested
tactics.  The  Tactics  section  of  the  planning  proces
s  details  the  specific  activities  and  events
that are going to be undertaken to address the obje
ctives, so the action plan should be slotted.
Some areas that you should think about include:
•
The development and continuous monitoring of the ca
mpaign
•
Campaign flow (what are the functions to be perform
ed)
•
Resource management (do we need internal or externa
l resource?)
•
Briefing (what do we need from our internal/ extern
al suppliers?)
You  should  also  include  a  detailed  Schedule  of  the
marketing  communications  plan.  Here  a
comprehensive  calendar  describing  when  each  one  the
activities  for  each  component  of  the
communication mix should take place.
Make  sure  that  you  are  thinking  of  the  situation  th
e  company  faces  and  the  marketing
communications objectives as you are developing you
r suggestions.
5.   Campaign evaluation
. The campaigns need to be evaluated in terms of th
eir efficiency – how
productive is the campaigns in terms of providing v
alue for money and their effectiveness – how
productive is the campaign in terms of achieving wh
at is supposed to be achieving.
6.   Budget
. In this section a break down of all costs need to
be presented. This should be linked
with  the  method  used  to  determine  the  promotional  b
udget.  Detail  the  cost  associated  with
specific activities.
7.   References
.  Both  on  theory  and  on  market  data  (i.e.  media  cos
ts,  trends  in  consumer
behaviour, academic references that support your en
coding choices etc)
8.   Appendices:
This  section  should  be  used  to  present  details  or  e
xamples  of  all  the  issues
raised in the rest of the campaign plan.
Important information:
This  is  an  INDIVIDUAL  report.  Reference  should  be  m
ade  to  relevant  theories,  concepts  or
frameworks as well as to current Marketing Communic
ations practices and examples, but only in
the way that they are applied and
not
as theories themselves.
All references should be cited and a bibliography d
etailing the source be positioned at the end of
the report. Students should use relevant diagrams,
models and figures throughout the report.
The reports should be clearly divided to the pre-me
ntioned sections. The emphasis should be on
the marketing communications plan, rather than the
situation analysis. Details on the choices made
on the communication approach is expected.
The  length  of  the  reports  should  be  around  3,000  wo
rds  (excluding  executive  summary,  table  of
contents,   situation   analysis,   appendices,   tables   an
d   references).
Only   the   marketing
communication  objectives  and  action  plan  counts  in
the  word  limit,  not  the  situation
analysis
.  However,  you  are  expected  to  provide  all  the  nece
ssary  background  information  that
made you make these communication choices.
Please make sure that you do include the Turn It In
report with your assignment. More information
on  how  you  can  access  this  facility  will  be  send  to
you  from  the  administrative  staff.  If  your
submission is delayed, it will be penalised accordi
ng to the information in your handbook.
Marking
Marking will focus on your written demonstration of
your understanding of the concepts covered in
the  Marketing  Communications  and  your  ability  to  ap
ply  these  concepts  in  a  real  situation.  The
main  elements  that  are  assessed  is  selection,  analy
sis,  and  evaluation  of  relevant  to  marketing
communications  decisions  elements  of  the  situation,
the  suggestion  of  robust  and  relevant
marketing   communications   objectives   and   the   choice
and   full   development   of   appropriate
marketing communications tactics. The marketing com
munication strategies and tactics should be
developed  to  the  level  that  are  executable.  The  pre
sentation  of  the  situation  analysis  and  the
suggested  marketing  communication  decisions  are  exp
ected  to  be  based  on  your  academic
reading.  The  suggested  marketing  communication  obje
ctives  and  decisions  on  strategies  and
tactics  should  also  be  related  to  the  situation  ana
lysis.  A  successful  essay  must  of  necessity  go
beyond development and presentation at the level at
which material is covered in class as well as
that which is simply restated from the text.
Starting  your  assessment  early  will  very  likely  imp
rove  the quality  of  your  essay.  An  assessment
such  as  this  cannot  easily  be  done  with  little  time
for  considerable  and  careful  development  and
crisp, clear presentation.
All participants must work independently for the pr
esentation of their written assessed assignment.

Far more reading (theory) is needed at this level. Papers from academic journals should have been also used for assignments in the MSc level. The situation analysis lacks depth. Very limited use of appropriate theoretical frameworks to analyse the situation. The objectives weak. It would be really surprising to have only 1 marketing and 1 marketing communication objective. 3 pages of marketing communications of the quality submitted really do not meet the requirements of what was asked. There is not enough detail to make this communication program ready for implementation. The evaluation is not existing.

How to improve and further comments:

Far more work and thinking is needed for this level.]

One thing to notice is that the brand or organization should be small and better located in glasgow.