AT Economics / Winter Quarter Final Project

Your final assessment for the winter quarter will focus on a topic that synthesizes behavioral and financial economics: marketing. You will have the entire week of March 7 to work on this assessment in class; brief presentations will follow on the last two days of the quarter, March 14 and 15.

Point total: 50

Step 1: Choices

Find a partner. Brainstorm about a company you both know well. Familiarity with both product/service and public image is important for the success of the project, as you will need to design a marketing campaign that speaks to the consumer base of the company in a convincing manner.

Step 2: Concept

Your design for the marketing campaign will need both a verbal and a visual component. The most effective campaigns tend to have concise, memorable phrases to accompany a striking image. An example is Apple’s recent iPhone 6s campaign, one of which pictured below. Apple chose photo submissions from 40 iPhone users around the world to include in their campaign:

Think about what your chosen company values in itself and its consumer base. Are you going to look for something simple and direct, or something more elaborate with colorful, dynamic visuals?

Step 3: Design

In your presentation, you will need to show us three variations on your marketing idea. The different individuals in Apple’s iPhone 6s campaign are one example. Another example is the award-winning campaign for Oregon tourism, where different landscapes were pictured alongside a logo for “The Seven Wonders of Oregon.”

For this stage, you can physically draw or paint your ads, or you can create them on Photoshop or another visuals program.

Step 4: Explanation

Your partnership will also turn in a very short paper, no longer than two pages, that explains your rationale for the campaign you have designed. Be sure to consider:

·         What you understand of the company ethos and how the phrases and visuals you chose relate to that ethos.

·         How the campaign will speak to the company’s consumer base. Is it looking to maintain or expand that base?

·         How the campaign would be presented: on billboards, in magazines, digitally, on public transit, etc. What medium works best for your particular campaign?