Individual Report

Due: Sunday, Week Nine 11.59pm
Weighting: 40% Word Count: 3,000  (title page, table of contents and reference list not included

Assignment Item Two Information:

On completing Assignment Item Two you will have:

1. Applied the core marketing concepts of segmentation, targeting, positioning (STP) and needs, wants and demands to an organisation’s specific activities,
2. Critically evaluated the organisation’s marketing strategy (Marketing Mix P’s) and 3. Prepared and submitted a formal written report.

This document outlines the instructions and required structure for the Individual Marketing Report due Sunday of Week 9, 11.59pm, Weighting 40%. Guidance is provided in this booklet on how the report should be arranged and information that is required in each of the sub-sections of the report. To ensure that your report covers all of the required components, please review this document alongside the marking rubric that is available on Canvas.

In this assignment, you need to undertake research, analyse the information you collect and then apply marketing theory. This is not a data gathering assignment; hence, we are not evaluating your capacity to gather data about the organisation. We are looking at your ability to develop analytical skills that utilises theoretical terms, as well as demonstrating a practical application of the theory to the organisation. 

Please Note: there should not be any definitions or explanations of concepts in this assignment. You should be analysing the marketing actions of the organisation by applying the theory covered in the course.

Word Count: 3,000 words (+/- 10%). This word count excludes the title page, table of contents, in-text tables and reference list – ALL other parts of the report are included. Marking will stop once your report reaches 3,300 words.

Report Instructions:

Follow the steps below: 

1. Choose one of the organisations from the list of Goods brands for the course (Goods brands: Frank Green, the oodie, Tesla, 4 Pines, Clothing the Gaps). Should the organisation have multiple brands, product lines or product categories, you are to select ONLY ONE. If you are unsure on what to do, discuss this with your tutor. Please ensure that you have your choice approved by your tutor before proceeding with the
2. By reviewing the organisation’s marketing communications (i.e., social media, website) and other researched data (i.e., news articles, industry reports), IDENTIFY and JUSTIFY the target market profile of ONE specific customer persona.
3. You will need to undertake research, use journal articles, reputable websites, and industry resources to have the required information to complete the sections of the report as outlined below.
4. Use the instructions provided here as a guide on how to structure a formal report, with numbered headings and subheadings. Using the headings and subheadings that are provided below will ensure you include everything required and fulfill the marking rubric.           

Title Page 

Your title page must include the following points of information:

• Name and student number, o Selected organisation/brand,  o Workshop day/time
• Campus you are studying from (Newcastle or Ourimbah), and o Total report word count.

Be creative and make your title page visually appealing. Include the brand logo or a picture of the product.

Table of Contents 

• All headings and subheadings need to be listed; alongside the page they appear on.
• Please watch the video on Canvas if you are unsure of how to create a Table of Contents in word.
• Ensure that headings for sub-sections, tables and figures are included.

Executive Summary 

An executive summary is a brief section at the beginning of a report that summarises what is discussed within the body of your document. Hence, it is advised that it is the last section that you complete. It is not a background and not an introduction. It is an overview and as such it is suggested that it is no more than one page in length.

For a report, the executive summary should cover the following:

• Briefly explain the product and organisation you have chosen for the report o Briefly identify the customer segment chosen
• Outline the main findings of the report

1.0 Introduction 

An introduction should briefly introduce all remaining sections of the report.  You need to explain what you are going to talk about:

• Introduce ALL sections of the report o Write in future tense e.g. This report will…
• Briefly introduce the organisation (you will explain it in more detail in the next section) and the chosen product line
• Do not include aspects of the conclusion of the report

2.0 Organisation Background 

From the research you have conducted, critically discuss your selected organisation. Include the following:

• Information about the organisation and its market offering, for example: o When was the organisation created?  o          Where was the organisation established?  o      How many different products does it sell?
• Which countries does the organisation operate in?
• Information on the product line you have chosen. Make it clear here which specific product line will be the focus of the report.

Don’t assume the reader will know the organisation you have chosen.

Explain enough here for your reader to understand who the organisation is and what they do.

3.0 Market Segments

Please look to the learning activities and related course content from Week 3 for guidance on this section

Based on your chosen organisation, you will need to research their website, news articles and marketing communications (i.e., social media) in order to complete this section.

Identify and discuss the multiple segmentation factors (geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioural) used by your organisation to segment the market.

In this section you should do the following:  o Look at the segmentation bases broadly and outline the multiple segments the organisation sells your chosen product to determine the market segments being targeted by the brand

• Complete the segmentation table from the Week 3 worksheet, showing the range of market segments the brand is targeting their communications towards (table not included in word count).
• Provide a paragraph that explains the information provided in your table

You will then need to introduce and explain a customer persona that will be focus of the report drawing from this segmentation analysis. Make sure you include information here that links to the next section – Customer Persona.

4.0 Customer Persona

Please look to the learning activities and related course content from Week 3 for guidance on this section

From the broad segmentation analysis undertaken in Section 3.0 (Market Segments) develop a customer persona. You should only develop one customer persona – this should not cover all characteristics identified in the table from Section 3.0, only the ones relevant to the segment you will be focussing on for the rest of the report.

In this section you should do the following:

• Complete the Customer Persona table from the Week 3 worksheet (table not included in the word count)
• Explain your customer persona in detail – you should refer to your chosen persona throughout the remainder of your report.
• Do not only provide a table, you also need to provide a paragraph of explanation

5.0 The Marketing Strategy (Marketing Mix 4Ps)

Please look to the learning activities and related course content from Weeks 4 to 7 for guidance on this section

Ensure you focus only on the chosen product and not the entire brand. Refer to your chosen persona as much as possible here. 

5.1 Product:

Using the 3 levels of a product, describe the chosen product offering including attributes, quality, features, style, and design. Where relevant include images to help support the discussion.

5.2 Price:

Outline the price a customer pays for the product. Identify and justify which pricing strategy the company uses. What internal and external considerations will impact price? Discuss whether the product is elastic or inelastic and justify. It may be useful to also look at the main competitors’ prices too.

Include a discussion on whether the price aligns to the product levels that were discussed in section 5.1.

5.3 Place:

List the physical and virtual places (locations, websites) where the product can be bought. Discuss how easily the customer can access the product. Describe the channel of distribution and distribution intensity used by the company. Highlight any logistics management issues that are of importance.   

Include a discussion on whether the distribution intensity aligns to the product and price that were discussed in sections 5.1 and 5.2.   

5.4 Promotion:

Identify the types of promotion employed by the brand to reach your customer persona. Identify and discuss the message (value and benefits) the brand is trying to communicate through its communication channels to the selected persona. Provide examples of recent promotion messages as much as possible (e.g. Social media posts, screenshots of advertising, posters etc). Make sure to integrate marketing theory here and analyse the promotions as opposed to just describing what the ads look like.

Include a discussion on whether the promotion and messaging align to the product, price and place elements that were discussed in sections 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3.

6.0 Sustainable Marketing Analysis 

Please look to the learning activities and related course content from Week 8 for guidance on this section

Identify and briefly explain whether the selected brand engages in any sustainable marketing practices. Critically evaluate the implications to the marketing mix, its consumers, and society.

• Consider what sustainable practices the organisation integrates (consumer oriented, customer value, sense of marketing, societal marketing and/or innovative marketing) into their marketing strategy and choose ONE to discuss in detail.
• Provide evidence of how these practices are integrated into the operations organisation.
• What are the implications of these practices to the marketing strategy (marketing mix), consumers (target market) and society at large?

7.0 Conclusion 

Finish off your report by providing a concise conclusion. There are some important things you need to do in the conclusion:

• Briefly summarise the main findings of the report o Use past tense, e.g., “This report has outlined…..”
• No references are needed here, you should only be summarising what you have already written in your report
• You need to avoid introducing new material

8.0 Reference List 

Your reference list should follow these points:

• Start on a new page o Use APA reference style. Either 6th or 7th edition is fine.
• Must be in alphabetical order
• Please look at Canvas and your workshop activities for examples of how to reference o Ensure that in-text you include a reference for any information that you have pulled from a resource
• Do NOT use Wikipedia
• Do NOT use Course Hero, UKEssays, Study Corgi etc

Do NOT cite lecture slides or workshop slides 

o DO NOT use ChatGPT or any other artificial intelligence software as this is considered cheating for this assignment! 

o Severe penalties including expulsion from the university could occur when cheating or plagiarism is found. Don’t risk it!

o Ensure that you go beyond the Course Textbook and the organisations  Webpage