BMI3C – Marketing
Term Project - Marketing Plan
Issued: 10 Dec 07
Group size: A maximum of 2 students (Individual submissions are allowed but not recommended)
Due Date: 21 January – Monday
PROJECT REQUIREMENTS
Your team is to create a marketing plan for a new HEALTHY FOOD product. YOUR PRODUCT IS TOP SECRET.
Your target market is 20 – 34 year old male and females who are looking for a different, more interesting, healthier food alternative.
Members of your target market have busy lifestyles, are fit, educated, and they believe that healthier eating is the way to a happier life. They also believe in protecting the environment at all costs. They are also supporters of fair trade initiatives.
Members of this target market are heavy users of health food products, vegetables, grains, recreational facilities, technology, and non-cola beverages, and they are light users of coffee products, chicken and fish. Most avoid red meat products and pork. They prefer fresh or fresh-frozen rather than preserved.
You are to apply what you have learned in the course to complete each section of the project. Much of what you need to know is contained in the assignments you have completed throughout the course.
There is no restriction to the type of product you choose to create, but it must meet the needs of the target market, be safe to consume, legal for sale, and ready for sale.
It is most important that you justify each of your decisions throughout the marketing plan where applicable. This means providing a rationale to support the decisions you have made.
PRODUCT
Your product can be a new creation or an innovation of an existing product. If you choose to innovate, you must identify the product you are starting with.
Provide a clear and complete description of the product. Include
q Basic ingredients (do not include chemical additives)
q Appearance: size, shape
q Taste
q Size (Does it ship in separate parts that need to be combined before eating, for example?)
q Texture: hard, crunchy, soft, chewy, etc.
q Key selling point (How is your product different from competing brands?)
q What is the value equation you are creating in the minds of your potential consumers?
q Brand name and Slogan
q Packaging size(s) – quantity in each size, design, selection of materials, logo, labelling requirements (see page 233), illustrations, prizes, information utility, etc. You can use an existing package and alter it to suit your product.
q a sample package – the faces of the package can be created by hand or using software
q a logo – this can also be done by hand or using software
MARKETING RESEARCH
q Visit the Statistics Canada web site http://www.statcan.ca/menu-en.htm . Look under Community Profiles to find the size of the target market in the Ottawa area based on age.
q What marketing research activities would you conduct to get primary and secondary information to ensure your product is a success? Be sure to justify your choices.
q What product(s) would be in direct competition with yours? (Give brand name(s) and specific product.)
q Give details as to how you would conduct your test market activity.
PRICE
Provide details of your pricing strategy. (7.3 for Pricing Strategies)
q What pricing strategy(ies) will you use?
q What price will you charge given your target market’s ability to pay, the position of your product in its product category, and the competition’s prices? You must justify your decision.
PLACE
q What distribution method will you use: intensive, selective, exclusive; other?
q Provide a list of at least 3 locations where you would sell your product.
q For one of the retail locations you have chosen, describe where your product would be placed.
q Identify competitive products that would be nearby – if your product is on a shelf, what products would be located on either side of your product; likewise if it is placed in a refrigerated unit, freezer, etc.
q Will you require the services of a wholesaler or distributor to get your product in the stores on your list? If so, who in the Ottawa area would provide that service? (Search in the yellow pages or on the web.)
q What transportation method would be suitable for your product?
PROMOTION
Include the following:
q What type of positioning will you use?
q What Push or Pull methods will you use (you may decide to use both) to position your product? Give at least one example to illustrate how you would implement these strategies.
q What sustainable and unsustainable advantages will you focus on to generate target market awareness?
q What branding strategies would apply to the product you have created?
q Suppose you were hiring an ad firm to create a TV commercial to advertise your product and they are waiting for instructions as to what you would like that commercial to be. Give a brief description of what would take place in the commercial, the situation, the type of people that should be cast as actors, the sequence of events, and the motivators you will apply, appeal selection, and so on. No script is needed. Your ad should support the branding and positioning strategies you have selected, and be relevant to your target market to build brand awareness.
q Suppose you had a radio ad, on which Ottawa radio station(s) would you have the commercial air?
q Provide an illustration of an ad that would appear in a magazine. Choose the magazine your ad would appear in and justify your choice. (Celebrity endorsements are an option.)
q Describe at least ONE other promotional strategy you would use to create top of the mind awareness among the consumers in your target market.
OTHER ELEMENTS CONSIDERED FOR EVALUATION
q Originality
q Creativity
q Viability (the likelihood that the product would be successful in the marketplace)
RESPONSIBILITY REPORT (A copy of the table is included in the marketing plan template.)
This project is a joint effort. Each member is to make an equal contribution to the final report.
Complete the following table to describe what each team member has done towards completing the project.
The final mark given to each member will depend, in part, on the quality of the work submitted by each team member.
TEAM MEMBER / RESPONSIBILITIES ASSIGNED AND COMPLETED.Write these in the same order as the sections in the marketing plan template. An example is provided below.
Larry O’Brien / Product, Marketing Research, Promotion
Conrad Black / Price, Place, Promotion, Other Factors to Consider
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