TEAM MARKETING PLAN PROJECT (25%)

Objective
The group project is designed to further develop your understanding of marketing concepts by
having you apply them in practice. Additionally, you will enhance problem-solving and teambuilding skills by interacting as a group and collaborating with one another.
Summary
Throughout the semester, weve viewed different marketing principles, strategies, and tools.
The Brand Analysis Group Project is intended to help you integrate these different components
together in a proposal and presentation. You and your group will analyze a brand and provide
two recommendations: one, relatively conservative update to the companys existing strategy
(for instance, in terms of its marketing mix or target market). Your second recommendation will
be bolder: proposing a potential brand extension to introduce to market.
The project has both paper and presentation components. The paper will provide a detailed
account of your brand, including its history, brand inventory, target segment, and positioning
(including the 4 Ps) and a justification for the recommendations. The paper portion should be
no more than 20 pages, excluding exhibits such as figures, charts, graphs, mockups, or other
visual aids.
The presentation will be approximately 20 minutes long. Your group will open with a brief (no
more than 5-6 minutes) pitch for your brand extension (modeled after real marketing pitches).
Afterwards, you will present a brief walk-through of the brand analysis and how it led you to
both modest and major (brand extension) suggestions for improvements.
Timeline
Oct 25th: Choice of Groups and Brand Due
Dec 5th: Brand Analysis Power-Point Presentation Due by 11:59PM via e-mail
Dec 6th: Hard Copy of Brand Analysis Group Report Due at Start of Class
Dec 8th: Online Group Evaluation to be Completed
Details
All teams will operate within the same product category. Within the product category,
however, each group can choose a specific brand (brands will be assigned on a first-come, firstserve basis).
Brand Analysis Report
In your brand analysis, you will assess a brand's sources of equity and its current position. This
will provide you background to make your two recommendations (one more conservative
suggestion relating to STP/the marketing mix, and one proposal for a brand extension) to the
company.
The analysis will be based on information from secondary sources (e.g., business

publications/trade journals), the textbook, and your groups professional experiences.

Please do not conduct any primary research (e.g., your own surveys).
More specifically, your report should include, at a minimum:
1. Executive Summary: A summary of your recommendations for your firm. This should
not exceed 450 words.
2. History of the brand (development and extensions). This is standard to most marketingrelated reports, but is not the meat of the paper, so I recommend keeping this section
to one or two pages.
3. Brand Inventory. This is an overview of how all products and services are marketed,
branded and sold by the company. This should be your most significant section. The
inventory should touch upon at least the following:

Identification of all brand elements (image/vision, logos, symbols, slogans,

trademarks).
A full description of the brands products & brand alliances (of any)
Segmentation and Targeting (What is the target market or markets for your brand?
Discuss the segmentation approaches managers use to describe this market space,
such as demographic, psychographic, or product benefits.)
Current positioning vis--vis competitors brands (e.g., POP & POD).
Marketing Mix: An explanation of how brand equity is reflected/addressed in
each of the marketing mix elements. (For example: Which specific elements and
tactics of the communications mix, such as advertising, public relations, sales
promotion, and direct marketing are important for these brands? What types of
distribution channels are used and why?)

Collecting and synthesizing this information should yield information about current
brand perceptions and offer direction for improvements/extensions which are
consistent with the companys previous marketing activities while offering competitive
advantages.
4. A mini-SWOT analysis of current marketing/ branding programs. Note that you do not
have to compile multiple matrices which rate different potential recommendations; you
need only summarize the four sections (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
and use it as support for your recommendations.
5. Two recommendations for future growth:
1) An improvement relating to the companys current strategy
2) A brand extension (note: should be new category, not product)
This is your opportunity to present & justify your recommendation for improvements
and potential extension here. Be clear about why your groups recommendations

represent, in your opinions, the greatest opportunity the company has to further
enhance its offering.
Presentations
Each team will prepare a presentation to be given in class. The presentation is to be a maximum
of 20 minutes.
For the pitch portion (first 5-6 minutes), you are to assume that you are one of three marketing
consulting firms bidding for the management of a potential brand extension, and that since the
competition is fierce, you should professionally and vigorously advocate your group's position.
For the rest of the presentation (portion that is not the pitch; the overview of your findings)
your group can present in a more relaxed in tone.
Peer Evaluation Forms
At the conclusion of the project, each member of each team will submit a group evaluation
form via online questionnaire. The results will be kept in strict confidence (see sample
document on Blackboard). The group evaluation involves rating the individuals contribution to
both the presentation and the written report. In assessing course grades for this project, scores
for the write-up and presentation of the marketing plan may be modified for each individual
based on the contributions of each team member.
Evaluation forms should be completed in advance (privately) and turned in prior to the last day
of class.
Grading
In total, this assignment is 25 percent of the course grade.
The final marketing plan is worth 20 percent of the course grade.
The team presentation is worth 5 percent of the grade.
Criteria used to evaluate the brand analysis include: depth of analysis (critical thinking),
organization, comprehensiveness, innovation and quality of material. The draft marketing plan
should be as close to a final product as possible.
If there are some aspects of your group's brand strategy that you cannot complete in time for
write-up and presentation, summarize your strategic orientation, research findings, and/or
tactical approaches under consideration for each such item. Any remaining workflow or items
in progress should have clearly articulated steps and timelines for completion.
Presentations will be graded based on the overall quality of the pitch, which involves distilling
a large collection of information into a concise and persuasive story. You should quickly
motivate the problem and then build persuasive support for why your solution solves the
problem. Presentations will also be graded based on verbal communication, delivery, and

creativity. I strongly suggest that for the presentation, each member of the team be present
and that you practice the presentation before you actually make it in front of the class.
For each day the assignment is late, 10 percent will be deducted from the grade.
Resources
Office Hours Harriman 309 Saturdays 12pm-1pm, Wednesdays 4pm-5pm
Communal Storage www.dropbox.com
Collaboration mycloud.stonybrook.edu, www.facebook.com/about/groups/
TV Episodes* http://www.amctv.com/full-episodes/the-pitch
http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank
*Watch a few episodes to get a feel for what its like to pitch an idea. Note, however, that
episodes of The Pitch are almost exclusively focused on the creative side of ad campaigns
and episodes of Shark Tank primarily revolve around bringing products to market. Your task is
to develop something strategic (i.e. market driven). You do not need to replicate the
(admittedly glorified for TV audiences) style in the classroom. Rather this is intended to provide
inspiration and insight for how you might approach this project.

Group Project Tips and Tricks

1. Get organized.
Get and save E-mails and phone numbers. Know where to find them.
Consider creating a Facebook group and/or setting up a shared folder on www.dropbox.com or
drive.google.com.
2. Assign leaders. Share the work.
One person must be the group leader. This person is responsible for organizing meetings and
taking the lead in communication.
Each member should be responsible for a specific area. But this does not mean that this person
does all the work for that component of the project. For example, in conducting background
research, everyone should read and write a 3 sentence summary of five articles. Similarly, if
you were to conduct primary research instrument (survey, interview guide, experiment) each
group member should submit 10-20 potential questions for inclusion. These should be e-mailed
to the person heading the primary research section of the project. This person will then compile
the questions, integrate ideas, extend ideas (if needed), and ask for additional support when
necessary.
3. Hold meetings, not group work sessions.
Meetings are a time to check in and make decisions. Discussions should focus on strategies,
timelines, and subsequent tasks to be completed (with due dates). This can be accomplished in
30-60 minutes.
Meetings should not be spent debating about what to do for 2 hrs.
Ultimately, this wastes your time and will lead to poor grades.
4. Utilize resources available to you.
Library databases. Google. Team rooms. Skype. Writing Lab. Office hours.
5. Have fun.
Group projects dont have to be painful! The people you sit next to or across the room from on
Saturday mornings are interesting, intelligent, and fun. Get to know them! Hold a group
meeting or two during happy hour and split a pitcher, or meet at someones place to grill
burgers and hot dogs. But refer to point 3 above to ensure you make progress during meetings.