Marketing Project (Disantis)

AT Economics / Spring Semester Project

Due date: Prospectus on Friday, March 6; final on Friday, April 3.

Length: 3 variations on campaign + 3 page paper

Point total: 100

Citations: Chicago style footnotes

Primary objective: Design a marketing campaign for an organization of your choice that reflects the ethos and target audience of that organization.

Your project for the second semester will focus on a topic that synthesizes behavioral and traditional economics: marketing.

As you work on the project, keep the three major purposes of marketing at the front of your mind, which are, regarding an organization’s products or services:

·            Create positive associations

·            Increase demand

·            Reduce elasticity

Step 1: Choices

Brainstorm about an organization you know well. This can be a for-profit (company) or non-profit organization; familiarity with and confidence in the organization are the critical pieces here, as you will need to design a marketing campaign that speaks to the consumer base of the company in a convincing manner.

Step 2: Research

Get to know your chosen organization by looking at

·            History

·            Ethos / mission

·            Financial status (revenue, debt, research & development, etc.)

·            Current consumer / donor base

·            Future plans

Steps 1 & 2 will form your prospectus, which should be a 3-4 paragraph description of why you chose the organization you did and assessment of the 5 items above. This prospectus is due on Friday, March 6 and is worth 25 points.

Step 3: 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 "shot on iPhone campaign," of which one is pictured below. The user-submitted photos began with iPhone 6 and recently took on an environmental element with the "earth shot on iPhone" tag.

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

Step 4: Design

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

 

Feel free to be creative with format. Photos, digital design, hand-made art, and video are all possibilities.

Step 5: Explanation

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

* What you understand of the organization’s ethos and how the phrases and visuals you designed relate to that ethos.
* How the campaign will speak to the organization’s consumer or donor 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 and why?

Steps 3-5 will form the final project, which is due on Friday, April 3 and is worth 75 points.

Final Project: Grading Criteria

25 points: depth of explanation and context in paper.
25 points: alignment of stated goals and ad design.
25 points: consistency and originality of ad design.