Organization’s Marketing Communication Strategy

INSTRUCTIONS for Assessment

This is a project, in which you are required to carry out a critical analysis of an existing brand’s/ organization’s marketing communication strategy. For the purposes of this Project, you should imagine that you have been hired as a marketing consultant from Loumidis (the coffee company) in order to assess the current marketing communications strategy (in essence, you will conduct a simplified marketing communications audit).

Brief: The Brand

The brand that you will analyze for this assessment is: Loumidis.

Loumidis is a brand of coffee, marketed in Greece by Nestle GR. More information about the brand can be found at: https://www.nestlenoiazomai.gr/loumidis (The website is in Greek but can be translated in English through Google Translate). You can also visit the brand’s pages on social media to collect data on how this brand presents itself, as well as its marketing activities.

For this assessment, you need to focus on the brand’s practices in the Greek coffee market.

Please use other appropriate sources (see Instructions below) to find pertinent information about the market, consumers, competitors and the brand’s marketing communication efforts. Your ability to locate data and information and to evaluate the quality of information found in other sources is part of this assessment; you must not repeat in your work opinions or analyses of the brand’s practices expressed by others.

You should use the knowledge you have gained from this course (concepts and theories discussed in class and the core textbook, and additional knowledge gained through studying academic readings – you should cite all of these as appropriate), as well as your existing marketing knowledge, to analyze and interpret this information.

Instructions

1. Overview and Content

Your Project needs to address the following points:

Introduction: briefly state the purpose of the project.

Main Body: Please include all Sections below.

1. Analysis of the brand and its marketing strategy  (Heading)
   1. Brand Overview (Sub-heading) : Provide a brief presentation of the brand’s positioning.  Consider: what does the brand stand for? What does it promise? What is this brand’s personality?
   1. Description of target segments (Sub-heading): Identify the market segment/s the brand targets (use segmentation criteria to describe the key segment/s). Consider: Which segment(s) does this brand aim at attracting through its marketing mix?
   1. Overview of Marketing Mix (Sub-heading): Provide a summary overview of the brand’s marketing mix, focusing on product mix (include the key need that the branded products aim at satisfying), distribution strategy and pricing strategy.

Please allocate to this section approximately 15% of the word count.

Sources of your information for part 1 may be the company’s/ brand’s website, Passport Euromonitor database, internet research in general (credible sources), visits to outlets that stock/serve/or otherwise distribute the brand, and any academic sources you think are relevant.

• Analysis of the Market that the brand operates in (Heading)
  • Market Overview (Sub-heading):  Describe in brief the Greek Market for the chosen brand in terms of:

–major players in the market for the given product category (Identify direct competitors for the brand).

–market shares (if available)

• Consumers (Sub-heading): Present in brief the consumer behavior of consumers when it comes to the product category. Identify the key segments in this market. Consider: How do consumers buy and where from? What motivates them to buy? What do they look for in a product? Is the product category high or low involvement? Are there different wants/ needs that suggest the existence of diverse segments?
  • Competition (Sub-heading): Focus on the key direct competitors (select the two competing brands that you see as key competitors) and compare their offering to the brand you are analyzing. Analyze their positioning/ brand promise and discuss their marketing communication strategies. Consider the following: How do they position their brands and which unique intangible attributes are they emphasizing? Which segments do they target? What do they promise to consumers and how do they communicate with them? Which MC tools/ elements are they mostly investing in?

Please allocate to this section approximately 20% of the word count.

Sources of your information may be the company’s/ brand’s website, Passport Euromonitor database, internet research in general (credible sources), and any academic sources you think are relevant. In addition to the above, you may draw information on the basis of personal observation (e.g. conduct site visits in distribution outlets).

• Analysis of the present marketing communication strategy of the brand (Heading)
  • Marketing Communication Mix (Sub-heading): Discuss the marketing communication mix employed by the brand, focusing on its more recent campaigns/ communication activities (from 2018 and onwards).
  • Explicitly identify the elements of the marketing communication mix that the brand appears to invest more in, using appropriate terminology. Comment on these findings (try to understand why the marketer has chosen that particular communication). Consider: What were the underlying aims to achieve through MC (consider DRIP)? Consider that different MC elements might be used to target different segments or sub-segments.
  • Selected Campaign (Sub-heading): Select one recent MC campaign for the brand (from 2018 and onwards). Provide at least 3 samples of communication messages within the same campaign. Identify the target audience. Discuss the theme of the campaign, the creative strategy, and the appeal/s used. Discuss the media mix employed in this case. Consider: What was the thinking behind the campaign? Which was the intended objective for this campaign (consider IMC pyramid, DAGMAR)? Who are they trying to communicate with? How does the campaign fit (or differ) from past communication efforts?
  • Evaluation of marketing communication strategy (Sub-heading): Present your evaluation of the marketing communication strategy of the brand, considering: how does the brand communicate? How does the communication strategy ‘fit’ with the brand personality/ promise/ positioning? What are the distinctive characteristics that the brand consistently uses in its MC efforts (e.g. tone of voice, celebrities, communicated values? How does the marketing communication strategy fit with the rest of the marketing mix? How does it establish its unique ‘voice’ vis-à-vis its competitors? Is the marketing communication strategy effective? Why/ why not?
  • Suggestions (Sub-heading): Propose two recommendations for the brand’s MC strategy, applying knowledge from the course. Consider: How can the brand improve/ enhance its MC strategy in the future? How can it better communicate with targeted consumers? How can it enhance its perceived differentiation from key competitors?

Please allocate to this section approximately 65% of the word count. This is the most important section in your Project.

Sources of your information for this part may be the brand’s/ company’s website, special interest websites (advertising.gr, marketingweek.gr, adweek.com, businessinsider.com, edee.gr, etc.), internet research in general (credible sources) and relevant academic sources. In addition to the above, you may draw information on the basis of personal observation (e.g. conduct site visits in distribution outlets).

Important: Remember that this assessment primarily tests your ability to demonstrate understanding and analyze – not simply summarize or report information found elsewhere. Therefore, it’s important to remember that you should not try to locate the answers to the questions asked through googling – instead, you should try to locate the data/ information you need through secondary sources of information (see more details in the next section on how to use sources) and then use your own informed judgment and the knowledge you have acquired through the course to provide your own answers to the questions.

1. Sources for the Project

For your project, it is required that you use several sources of information – both academic and non-academic.

(a) Academic Sources: Your Project must include a minimum of 8 references to academic sources (plus credible non-academic sources). Academic sources (articles from academic journals and textbooks) should be used to inform your understanding of marketing and marketing communications theories and thus help you cultivate the critical mindset you need for your analysis. For example, in order for you to identify how marketing communications relate to the positioning of the brand you are analyzing, you should first study and understand the relevant theory on the relationship between positioning and marketing communications – then you need to critically apply that theory on the case you are studying. You should not look to find information on the specific brand in academic sources; academic sources should be used to understand theory that you will then apply on the case you are studying. Note that you must not simply repeat theory (refrain from quoting definitions) – you should use theory to inform your answers. The only acceptable sources for relevant theory are academic ones (articles from academic journals & textbooks – please use the library services to access these; there are hard copies of relevant textbooks available, while you can use EBSCO-Business Source Premier to search for academic articles using appropriate keywords). Under no circumstances should you use online or any other non-academic source to derive theoretical comments.

For more advice on using academic sources for this course, read the Course Information Packet.

Articles from Academic Journals. You can access these through the Library (EBSCO). Some recommended titles of academic journals are:

Academy of Marketing Science Review, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Psychology and Marketing, Journal of Marketing Communications, Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Behavior, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Marketing Letters, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Marketing Intelligence and Planning.

 (b) Non- academic sources

Non-academic sources (Databases, Industry Reports, online sources freely available through Google) can be used to provide you with information and data specific to the brand and company, the market, trends, the consumers, the competitors, marketing communication messages, information about campaigns etc. For example, in order for you to identify how marketing communications relate to the positioning of the brand you are analyzing, you should also locate data/ information on the key attributes of the brand by browsing its website or reading information on trustworthy sources.

Industry Reports, White Papers and other Online Sources. These can be found freely available online. Use Google to find and locate data pertinent to the Brand, competitors, the market and consumers. Do not use websites such as Wikipedia and essay mills.

Word Count Limit & Deadlines

1,900 – 2,000 words

Word Limit does not include: cover page, contents, references, tables and figures, appendices (if any).

Referencing Style

APA Citations

Consistent in-text citations should be used, along with a list of full references.

Formatting, Structure & Layout

Title Page                            Please leave blank.

Table of Contents:	The contents page should list the Section Headings (and sub-headings) and page numbers.
Main Body:	Please follow the structure specified in Section I above. The Main Body needs to include all sections and sub-sections accompanied by appropriate headings (see Section I). Citations should be included in the main text. Tables and figures should be numbered and include a descriptive title, along with a citation of the source (if necessary).
References:	Full details for all sources used must be listed in the end in accordance with APA Style.
Appendices:	The use of appendices is optional. The Appendix should include any supporting/ related material not deemed necessary to be in the main text (e.g. if you have prepared a detailed table to compare the brand’s marketing strategy with that of key competitors to support your answer in Section 2, you can include it in an appendix to evidence that you have made this effort). Please do not reproduce material that one can readily find in other sources (e.g. website). Any material drawn from another source in the Appendix must be accompanied by citations (same as in the main body of the text).
Font & Spacing:	Times New Roman, Calibri, Arial 12, 1.5 lines

1. Assessment (Rubrics)

The Project will be assessed individually. Please look carefully at the criteria below when preparing your Project, as you will be assessed accordingly.

Criteria	%
Content / Key Points (Evidence of understanding, quality of research): Includes all points specified in the instructions without deviating from the topic, uses appropriate terminology, shows understanding of Marketing Communications strategy, demonstrates understanding of the role of Marketing Communications within the overall marketing mix of the company, uses appropriate sources to derive information on the brand, the market and marketing communications efforts, utilizes an appropriate array of quality academic sources.	60%
Critical thinking (Application of knowledge to the project, analyzing patterns, originality of ideas): Applies knowledge to the particular case of the brand selected, analyzes and evaluates critically marketing communications efforts, analyzes and evaluates MC strategy, provides original and thoughtful recommendations.	20%
Organization & Mechanics (Structure of responses, Clarity of writing, correct citations):  Writes in a formal and unbiased tone, uses third person/ passive sentence structure, writes clearly and understandably in continuously flowing text structured in appropriate sections, uses an appropriate format and layout, uses consistently in-text citations and follows APA style, respects word count limits and word allocation across sections.	20%
Total Points	100%