Ad project [ung]



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One Year Advertising Campaign Project

The accumulation of knowledge is only one part of a well-rounded undergraduate business education. Another significant component is the development and refinement of skills necessary to function in the business world. Among those skills are the abilities to work with others, allocate time and energies over an extended period, develop written reports and oral presentations, and learn to apply business concepts. Your participation in this advertising campaign project will afford you the opportunity to develop these skills in a setting similar to one that you may encounter upon graduation.

Throughout this course, we are studying the Advertising Management process, which begins with the setting of advertising objectives and continues through measuring the impact of the advertising. This term project offers you the opportunity to practice key course learnings by developing a one-year ad campaign for a product/service.

As a member of an “ad agency” team of your choosing, your job is to create an exciting new campaign for a national product/service brand of your choice (subject to professor's approval). Be sure to check your information sources before selecting your 1st and 2nd brand choices (two are required in case of popularity of a brand) to be sure that there is plenty of information on the brands available for your use. Definitely check out all the sources listed below (i.e., 1-8) to make certain that your brand is included. IF YOU OMIT THIS STEP YOU WILL BE EXTREMELY FRUSTRATED IF YOU SHOULD FIND THAT THE INFO YOU NEED TO COMPLETE THE CAMPAIGN IS NOT PUBLICLY AVAILABLE! Also check the sources to make sure that your brand is old enough to be listed in Simmons or MRI which are needed to complete the project. Please keep in mind that if your team decides (despite the Prof.’s earnest efforts!) to select a new brand, private brand, or regional/local brand you will definitely encounter frustration when trying to do the situation analysis. Due to the constraints on pertinent information, you will also not perform as well as other teams in the completion of the project.

Assume that the client marketing your chosen brand has asked your agency to develop a new ad campaign. In addition to the class work, your advertising textbook is an invaluable guidebook that will help you enormously in completing the specific project steps. You will need to refer to it often as a guidebook during the course of completing your work. Please note that your syllabus designates certain text chapters as “AC” for Advertising Campaign. These readings are particularly relevant for your completion of the campaign project. The client organization also expects you to take advantage of the materials available via the World Wide Web as well as published materials contained in the agency’s library (Bobst) that would be relevant to the campaign. A good start is the home page for the company. In addition to the Web, the following reference works will be helpful to you and may be found in the Stern computer lab/ Bobst Library (6th floor):

1. MRI/Simmons

2. ABI/Inform, Lexis/Nexis and other literature databases

3. LNA/ARBITRON Multi-Media Service/Ad $ Summary

4. Standard Rates and Data

5. Marketer's Guide to Media

6. Editor and Publisher’s “Market Guide”

7. Lifestyle Market Analyst

8. Survey of Buying Power

Keep in mind that reference librarians (6th floor, Bobst) can be most helpful in locating sources of desired information. Teams also may go outside of traditional secondary sources for additional primary information (e.g., contact company, ad agency, run a focus group, etc.). It is not unusual for teams to invite company executives to attend their presentations or even to participate in the presentations. (In some cases, students have received job offers in the process.)

Each team will make a formal presentation of their proposed campaign to the class, as well as hand in a written campaign document (a "plans book") during the last weeks of the term. On the day of the presentation, the remainder of the class will serve as representatives of the client organization and will help to evaluate the team's campaign.

Rules of Group Work:

➢ Pick your own groups (If you have trouble getting into a group, I will help)

➢ All group work will be self policed

➢ There will be one grade per group, no matter how the workload is distributed among the group members

➢ If your group is experiencing a free rider problem, please submit final exam questions that can be used to put free riders at a disadvantage in completing the test. No other attempt will be made to allow for intra-group differences.

Group Roles:

Within any group, the members assume different roles, several of which have been determined to be necessary for a smoothly functioning, effective group. These roles may be assumed by separate members or shared by various members at different points in time. In any case, one or more of the individual members may fulfill more than one role.

It can be useful for a group to determine which roles are played by which members. If certain roles seem to be missing, the members can plan to incorporate the associated behaviors into their group activities. In addition, determining their role allows each member to form a clear perception of their value to the group, and they can consciously build on their behaviors and thus contribute in a positive way to the functioning of the group.

Here are some of the important roles:

( Initiator: Proposes tasks, goals or actions; defines group problems; suggests procedures.

• Information Seeker: Asks for factual clarification; requests facts pertinent to the discussion.

• Opinion Seeker: Asks for the clarification of the values pertinent to the topic under discussion, questions values involved in alternate suggestions. Seeks pros and cons to various arguments.

• Informer: Offers facts; gives expression of feelings, gives opinions.

• Clarifier: Interprets ideas or suggestions, defines terms, clarifies issues before the group, clears up confusion.

• Summarizer: Pulls together related ideas, restates suggestions, offers decisions or conclusions for the group to consider.

• Reality tester: Makes critical an analysis of ideas, tests ideas against data to see if the ideas work.

• Orienter: Defines the position of the group with respect to its goals, points to departures from agreed-on directions or goals, raises questions about the directions pursued in group discussions.

• Follower: Goes along with the movement of the group, passively accepts the ideas of others, serves as an audience in decision making and group discussion.

The roles discussed above are task related roles, i.e. roles that relate to the achievement of a specific task. In social groups, there are other kinds of roles that members perform to keep the groups from functioning and staying together as a team. These may be referred to as social roles:

• Harmonizer: Reconciles disagreements, reduces tension, encourages reconciliation.

• Gatekeeper: Keeps communication flowing, passes information on to others.

• Consensus Taker: Ensures that consensus is reached, sends out “trial solutions” to test the waters.

• Encourager: Warm, friendly, responsive to others.

• Compromiser: Offers a solution that will keep conflicting parties satisfied, modifies own stance in the interest of group cohesion.

• Standard Setter: Expresses standards for the group to achieve, applies standards in evaluating the quality of group processes.

❖ If at any point your group is having problems or is unclear about a particular aspect of your ad campaign, don't hesitate to consult your instructor. However, group conflict is inevitable; please try to resolve problems on your own as you would in a real life situation. It is up to the group to manage members who may desire a “free ride” or complete substandard assignments.

The following guidelines will help to structure the written and oral presentation:

WRITTEN PRESENTATION GUIDELINES

1. Situation Analysis:

This step includes primary and secondary research findings about the situation: i.e., the company, the brand (4 P's review), competition, the marketplace and consumers. Write a brief background summarizing the information you gathered on consumer research, company/product research, and competitive research in order to provide a context for your ad campaign.

Include a SWOT analysis that summarizes the situation in terms of key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the client.

This should be followed by your analysis of the client’s key problems, market analysis and competitive advantage.

2. Advertising Objectives:

Set advertising objectives for one year that will solve the communications problem/situation between the client and the consumer. Make certain that these objectives contain the necessary components for an effective ad objective.

3. Target markets and key strategy:

Are there different segments within the industry and if so, what are the characteristics of these segments (demographics, psychographics, benefits sought by various user categories, product usage, level of involvement, type of consumer decision process, etc.)? Is it possible or even practical to reach all segments? Identify the target market(s) on which the campaign will focus.

Be sure to check Simmons and MRI in completing this step. They are enormously useful in pinpointing your target audience. These resources are very similar and contain detailed demographic information and market segmentation of media audiences in relation to products. Detailed descriptions and characteristics of users, individual brands, products and services are included. Simmons includes a Kids Study, which is useful for some projects. (Please don’t be concerned if the Bobst Library materials are dated because we get what is available to academic libraries. I believe that Simmons may be a few years old and that MRI will be one year old. Just pretend that what you are using is current.) Once a target market is identified there are many books that provide more information on the targeted group such as Lifestyle Market Analyst (includes a mix of demographic, geographic and psychographic information, allowing three ways of identifying potential groups) and Survey of Buying Power (provides demographics and economic estimates by county, MSA and TV markets).

Once the target audience is designated, establish the competitive advantage and the positioning that will guide your campaign.

4. Message/Creative:

Develop a creative concept (“big idea,” e.g., “Milk, Where’s Your Mustache?”) that will be reflected in every ad and communications piece. This creative concept is what makes a campaign vs. a series of ads.

Develop three ads in the form of a TV commercial (try to borrow a camera and give video a try or if you absolutely can’t, just do a storyboard), radio commercial, print ad, web home page (e.g., graphics, topics to click on), outdoor billboard, direct mail package, etc. (Choose any three that make the most sense for your brand). Some groups can’t stop with three and want to submit many more. To be fair to each team three is the minimum and maximum number of ads you may show during your presentation and may include in your Plans Book. Reduce all ads to letter size for purposes of inclusion in the Plans Book.

Describe (1) what each ad is doing, (2) the rationale of the creative theme as the appropriate "way" to promote the brand, (3) how the ads meet objectives. Be sure to justify the "what" of the message in terms of the actual message and the "how" in terms of executional techniques.

5. Media and budget:

Considering the previous analysis, the sophistication of message arguments to be used, etc., discuss the relative emphasis that will be placed on reach and frequency in the campaign. Present and discuss what types of media you will be using in the campaign (i.e., network and cable TV, radio, print, outdoor, etc.) Justify in terms of how they support your ad objectives.

Develop an ad budget based on the objective and task method (estimate the amount you will allocate to ad media, production, research, etc.). Discuss what percentages of the budget you are allocating to the various media categories that your agency will be using in the campaign.

List and justify your selection of the specific vehicles your agency will be using to deliver your messages.

Put your media plan in a table with months and weeks as the top heading (Jan.-Dec.) and the chosen media listed as a column on the left. See your text (p. 294) for a sample of how this might look.

(Be sure to check Marketer’s Guide to Media and Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS) which gives ad costs for various media including radio, TV, newspaper, magazines. Ad $ Summary gives total media expenditure by product name and 10 different media.)

6. Integrated Marketing Communications and other Communications Activities:

Give an overview of other forms of marketing communications such as sales promotion and public relations that will be used to support your advertising campaign. Describe how all marketing communications tools—from advertising to packaging—will be unified and will send a consistent persuasive message to your target audience in order to promote organizational goals.

7. Effectiveness measurement:

Provide an overview of the measurement techniques and approaches that you plan to use to evaluate the campaign. Discuss how and at what point(s) during the campaign the degree of "success" or "failure" will be measured.

USE YOUR ADVERTISING TEXT AS A MORE COMPREHENSIVE GUIDEBOOK IN COMPLETING STEPS 1-7.

8. Recommendations: (optional):

As a result of your team's analysis and campaign development, discuss any recommendations that you have regarding alteration of the brand or company that may be called for beyond the one-year time frame that the current project entails.

THE WRITTEN REPORT

❖ Each team will develop a written document called a "Plans Book" (the main document) and a “Fact Book” (i.e., Appendix) in which your campaign plan is presented in written form.

❖ Be sure to keep a copy of your report for safekeeping. You will receive written feedback on your reports, however, the report itself will not be returned.

❖ Use "conventional" paper writing guidelines such as appropriate margins, spacing and proper citation format connected with using endnotes or footnotes throughout the plans book and the bibliography.

Plans Book:

❖ Indicate the name of your advertising agency as well as all team member first and last names on cover page in alphabetical order.

❖ Include a one to two page Executive Summary. This should provide an overview and help "sell" your campaign to the client. After reading the Executive Summary, a manager should be able to decide whether to adopt your recommendations or not. Do not be surprised to find that this is one of the more challenging tasks of your assignment. Include a Table of Contents following the Executive Summary.

❖ A bullet point presentation approach is desirable using lots of headings and subheadings to designate your analysis of steps 1-8 as described above. You may of course also present some of your materials in paragraph form as you deem appropriate.

❖ Only include letter size materials in the written project. Please don’t give me a copy of your TV, radio commercials (e.g., audio or videotapes) or large posters that will be shown during the oral presentation; storyboard and script will suffice. If you have developed a brochure, direct mail piece, etc. you may include it in a plastic sleeve.

❖ Use a high quality printer and font size of 12 or 14 point.

❖ While no page constraint is specified, conciseness is desirable and a range of 25-30 pages of text is probably about right for the Plans Book. The "Fact Book" (i.e., Appendix) will typically be somewhat longer.

Fact Book:

❖ Include appendix type materials such as back-up analyses/data, additional materials that you feel are important, the bibliography, and the Meeting Logs (see below). For the meeting logs that were reviewed by the professor, please include the originals that have the professor’s written comments.

❖ Bibliography should include sources that were ultimately included in the report. Standard bibliography format (very complete) should be used. Specify the citations for all articles, books, and other secondary materials used as well as describe any interviews, surveys, etc. along with relevant names, dates, places, etc. conducted along with a copy of the questionnaire.

❖ Please note that in your early meetings it is expected that you will discuss individual member roles in the group as well as how you may present your best work a la MBTI personality type. Be sure to note these discussions and the outcome in your meeting logs.

MEETING LOGS

❖ Meeting Log: a listing of dates, times, members present and a one to two paragraph entry for each meeting indicating what was discussed and decided.

❖ Best to use the following log format:

Meeting One:

Date:

Length of meeting:

Members present:

Agenda:

Discussion:

•

•

• ETC.

Next steps:

Meeting Two:

Date:

Length of meeting:

Members present:

Agenda:

Discussion:

•

•

• ETC.

Next steps:

etc.

❖ These logs will be reviewed periodically by the professor; see syllabus for dates.

Planning Board Meeting with Professor (outside of class):

Toward the end of the semester (and before your oral presentation date) your team will meet with the professor for about 15 minutes outside of class to review your presentation strategy**. Please prepare a one-page handout to be reviewed with professor during your meeting that gives an overview of your strategy. You should e-mail (or better yet, place in Prof. LaBarbera’s mailbox) a copy of this handout to the Prof. at least two business days prior to your meeting. On your handout be sure to include the time of your advertising class, ad campaign brand name, team member names and meeting time and date.

[**Strategy – Every great ad is strategically sound, i.e., it is carefully directed to a certain audience, it is driven by specific objectives, its message is created to speak to that audiences’ most important concerns, and it is run in media that will most effectively reach that audience.]

On your planning board meeting handout use the following subheads and include the corresponding information:

• Ad Objectives

• Target market, competitive advantage, positioning strategy

• Message, i.e., creative concept—your “big idea”

• Types of media (just note the media types you are planning to use, e.g., print, TV, radio, etc.. You don’t have to tell me specifically the titles of the magazines, TV programs, and so on.)

The purpose of this meeting is to provide assurance that the planned message and media are consistent with the ad objectives and target market for your product/service.

This meeting will also provide the opportunity to address any questions or concerns that the team has prior to their presentation.

Please note that the meeting location is the Marketing Dept. conference room (8-191 KMEC)—it is immediately to your right as you enter the Department’s door. You should arrive at least 5 minutes early. Be sure to stick your head into the room about 2 minutes prior to your meeting time so that the previous meeting can be wrapped up. Lateness or failure to let us know that you are ready means that your group loses that time. I invite you to help us make certain that we begin and end on time.

ORAL PRESENTATION:

The campaign plan also will be presented in a formal business presentation.

"It boils down to this: If you want to make it big in advertising (or any business), you'd better put `presentations' somewhere near the top of your list of required courses." Ron Hoff, "Make Your Next Presentation a Winner"

❖ Required during presentation time: situation analysis as set up for client problem, ad objectives, target market, positioning, competitive advantage, creative concept/big idea and showing of your three ads and discussion of what your ads are doing, how they implement the big idea and how they solve the client’s problems. It is optional to include the remaining topics in your presentation, e.g., media and budget, effectiveness, etc.

❖ Note that regardless of your presentation date, your written plan is due on designated syllabus date.

❖ All group members should participate, however, not all need to speak during the formal presentation. Perform whatever function you enjoy. For example, some may develop videos, charts, props, etc. while others deliver the oral presentation. Plan to have at least a few speakers to add variety to your presentation. Make certain that you designate alternates in case of an illness on the day of your oral presentation without any backups. There will be no rescheduling of groups. Please do not rely on one or few speakers to deliver the oral part of the presentation. It’s unfortunate, but true, that crises have precluded some team members from participating in the oral presentation at the last minute. Always be prepared for this situation.

❖ Review the “class audience evaluation form” and the “Professor’s Evaluation Form” which are in your campaign handout. These forms will be the means by which the class and professor will give you feedback. It specifies the areas regarding how we will be grading each team.

❖ Use an array of creative presentation methods. Self-made videos, especially to "shoot" your storyboard are typically a big hit during your oral presentation and give you good experience. Use a variety of attractive visuals large enough for all to see and be sure that visuals (e.g., charts, handouts, overheads, videos, props) are not just entertaining, but also relevant to your campaign. Be creative in how you present to the class. In the past teams have used music, candles, posters, guest appearances by executives from their chosen brand organization or agency, contests, costumes, etc. to add interest to and retention of the material that they present.

❖ Lights (except for board light) must be left on at all times!! Please prepare your power points slides, etc. with this in mind. No presentations can proceed in darkness.

❖ Take xx minutes for your team's presentation. It is your responsibility to time your presentation on the day your group is performing. Questions and answer/discussion to follow the xx-minute presentation for no longer than x-minutes. Have a team member be the timekeeper so as not to exceed the xx minute presentation and x-minute Q & A maximum. If you start 5', etc. late, you forfeit your presentation time by 5', etc. Always make sure that your presentation is a few minutes short of your allotted time to leave room for unexpected contingencies such as an overhead light burning out.

❖ Each group should plan a Power Point presentation--be sure to check the equipment in the classroom to ensure that it is compatible with your presentation. In addition, if you are planning to use the Internet, video, etc. check the class equipment prior to your presentation.

❖ Unfortunately, with the locked rooms and equipment you cannot do a dress rehearsal in our classroom prior to the presentation. Just be sure to review how equipment works during the class time designated.

❖ Be sure to also practice setting up and leaving because there is only 5 minutes between you and the next group starting.

❖ As a courtesy, be sure not to turn off the PC, which may cause the next group to experience delays in starting up. It is wise to check with the group who is presenting before you to determine precisely what equipment it is using so that you can instruct the team on how it can best assist you in your presentation startup in terms of proper connections, etc.

❖ Reading of the presentation is not permitted; thoroughly rehearse.

❖ If your team wishes to show a video or have a guest speaker talk to the class, please limit this time to 3-4 minutes of your total presentation time.

❖ You are required to attend all other oral presentations and to complete feedback forms for the groups presenting.

❖ The days devoted to the oral presentations are an enjoyable learning opportunity where we can hone in on advertising goals and the appropriate strategies for a wide variety of brands. Assume that this is a professional Board Meeting and that you are attending to evaluate an important advertising campaign being presented by the Advertising Campaign Team. This means that if you walk in late, don’t listen attentively, or engage in any other distracting behavior, it will be embarrassing to you and does not send a supportive signal to the team presenting. You, in turn, can feel assured that your team will be extended the same professionalism from the audience when you present and you will not encounter audience distractions.

❖ Please bear in mind that without numerous practice sessions as a group there is little chance of getting a decent grade for your work. It does not work to try to string together several "individual" reports. You must integrate as a group and perform as a team. Invest time in practice and enjoy the great feelings and rewards of a job well done. Your feedback is given to the team and it is your responsibility to make it a team effort. For example, if someone in the group is reading his/her notes during the practice sessions, the group must come to the rescue and be responsible for this type of performance. Bear in mind that if a member is unprepared, it will impact the grade of every team member.

❖ The order of presentation will be determined by picking your date and time out of a hat.

❖ Devote energies to developing a professional presentation--it is worth 40% of your project grade. More importantly, you will feel proud of your achievement as a result.

Oral presentation evaluation:

When preparing your work please bear in mind that the quality of the oral presentation is based on the factors included in the Prof.’s feedback to each group:

PROFESSOR'S EVALUATION FORM

Name of client brand:

Agency name:

Team members:

The following evaluation form lists the criteria and weights that will be used to determine each team's score for the ad campaign project. In the final stages of assembling the plans book and in preparing for the oral presentation, it may also serve as a "checklist" for your to determine your state of preparedness.

Written Presentation

(60 point maximum possible)

Content: (38 points maximum)

_____ Situation analysis and fact book (7 points max)

_____ Advertising objectives (5 points max)

_____ Target markets and key strategy (8 points max)

_____ Message/creative (8 points max)

_____ Media and budget (6 points max)

_____ Effectiveness measurement (4 points max)

Form: (16 points maximum)

_____ Physical presentation appearance (2 points max)

_____ Writing style (professional tone, appropriate advertising jargon) (4 points max)

_____ Organization (Cover page, Executive Summary, TOC, appropriate use of headings and subheadings, etc. as specified in the guidelines) (3 points max)

_____ Grammar, punctuation and spelling (2 points max)

_____ Bibliography and information citation (2 points max)

_____ Meeting log completeness (3 points max)

Process: (6 points maximum)

_____ Campaign team topics submitted on time with all library resources checked prior to submission (3 pts max)

_____ Planning board meeting handout submitted to Prof. on time and as instructed (3 points max)

Oral Presentation

(40 point maximum)

_____ Presentation started promptly and stayed within the time allotment (5 points max)

_____ Presentation "polished" and practiced with no reading from notes (10 points max)

_____ Effective use of audio visual aids (including lights on at all times!) (8 points max)

_____ Convincing and powerful campaign to solve client's problem (12 points max)

_____ Team's answers to class questions (5 points max)

_____ TOTAL (100 points max)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

CLASS AUDIENCE EVALUATION FORM

Name of client brand:___________________________

My code identification: (needed for student to get credit for this assignment and yet keep the form confidential to the group receiving feedback) ____________

Oral Presentation

(40 point maximum)

_____ Presentation started promptly and stayed within the time allotment (5 points max)

_____ Presentation "polished" and practiced with no reading from notes (10 points max)

_____ Effective use of audio visual aids including lights on at all times (8 points max)

_____ Convincing and powerful campaign to solve client's problem (12 points max)

____ Team's answers to class questions (5 points max)

_____ TOTAL (40 points max)

Several meaningful sentences giving the team feedback on what was especially terrific or needed improvement. (Note that the quality of your feedback is important to the presenting group. The thoughtfulness of your feedback is worth 15% of your final course grade. Comments like “good presentation” or other such general comments are not useful. Please make certain that your remarks are detailed with respect to strong and weak points and are legible. Your comments also need to be accurate so listen carefully to the team presentations. In addition, it is important that your point distibution for the criteria listed above are consistent with your comments. Each of these factors will be considered in your grade.)

AD CAMPAIGN AUDIENCE EVALUATION FORM PACKET

(Contents: blank evaluation forms to be used for end of semester campaign

presentations)

Name of student:________________________

Code identification (make up anything you wish so the Prof. can give you credit for the assignment while permitting anonymity to the team being evaluated):______________

Number of completed evaluation forms attached: _________

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