Assignment : Factors Affecting Marketing Strategy

Go to a local store that sells store brands or off-brand consumer products. Choose any off-brand consumer product that you want to reposition into a national brand. To qualify as a product for this assignment, the consumer product should not be currently represented by an advertising campaign. (A quick Google search, as well as the absence of ads for the product in your daily life, is one way that you can verify a product's lack of an associated major advertising campaign). For this assignment, you will be creating an advertising campaign to launch this off-brand product to national prominence. Determine whether you wish to mimic an existing advertising campaign or whether you wish to create a completely unique campaign altogether to launch the selected product.

Go to the following pages of the United States' Census Bureau's Website and locate information regarding the market segment that the selected product is geared toward:

American Fact Finder: http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/searchresults.xhtml?refresh=t
2012 National Population Projections: Summary Tables: http://www.census.gov/population/projections/data/national/2012/summarytables.html

Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you:

1. Briefly (one [1] paragraph) describe:

a. whether the product is a low, medium, or high involvement product.
b. the perceived quality signals for the product (e.g.: price, advertising intensity, warranties).
c. whether you are mimicking an existing campaign or building your own and the reason for your choice.

2. Provide statistical data from the U.S. Census on the size of the market segment to which the advertisement will be geared toward. Using the summary tables, determine if this market segment has grown over the past ten (10) years, and project if it will continue to grow within the next ten (10) years. Analyze three (3) factors affecting this market segment, as well as how these factors are changing the segment's purchasing behavior for this product.

3. Determine which reference groups influence this market segment. Strategize which diffusion rate is most appropriate for this product to move it into national prominence. Determine diffusion determinants and diffusion inhibitors for this product using Table 7-3 in Chapter 7. Recommend a diffusion enhancement strategy that incorporates reference groups for this product.

4. Develop characteristics of the product that you want to promote in your advertising campaign using Table 10-2 in Chapter 10.

5. Determine which dimension best suits the selected product, and build a promotion-focused or prevention-focused campaign.

6. Determine whether the selected product will have a high or low involvement learning need. Develop a strategy for consumers to rediscover the selected product, using Table 9-1 in Chapter 9 as a guide.

7. Map out the impact of lifestyle on consumer behavior, using Figure 12-2 in Chapter 12 to assist you. Determine if there will be an increase or decrease in purchases or consumption. Evaluate how these factors affect consumption.

8. Evaluate your campaign for the selected product and its effect on problem recognition.

9. Use at least three (3) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.

Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the professor's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

Formulate marketing strategy and actions that influence the consumer decision process for targeted market segments and foster customer satisfaction.

Analyze key social and external factors to determine the impact on consumer behavior and the changes needed in marketing strategy.

Apply the concepts of perception, learning, and memory theories to develop an integrated marketing strategy that influences consumer behavior.

Apply the concepts of motivation, personality, and emotion to analyze consumer behavior and develop a responsive marketing strategy.

Integrate consumer psychographics, situational factors, and purchase involvement into the design of marketing strategy.

Use technology and information resources to research issues in consumer behavior.

Write clearly and concisely about consumer behavior using proper writing mechanics.