The Core Assessment for MK 380 is the development of an advertising campaign for a product or service of the studen's choice. The project involves research and analysis or the target market and the creation of multiple deliverables and mediums. Each student will work as if they were in an advertising agency/company on a live case of their choice. The student will need to gather information to assist with the creation of an ad campaign. There are two parts to this assignment: a paper and sample ads for online presentation.

Directions

Consider yourself to be an advertising agency and this paper a pitch to win a new business from a prospective client. You will discuss the feasibility of the given target market, campaign objectives, and your resulting ad campaign with media plan and evaluation metrics. You should justify your campaign as one which appeals to your target market and effectively meets the campaign objectives. You must also justify your media choices. The paper should provide much more detail about the campaign than you will be able to fit into your project presentation. Your grade will be based on your ability to communicate that you have learned the course material and can effectively apply the appropriate concepts and information to a real world situation. The papers should be double-spaced with 10 or 12 point font and one-inch margins. There is no page limit but use your words effectively. The paper for this assignment is a document that is suitable for presentation to a client.

A Campaign Plan

In addition to or instead of an annual plan, a firm may develop a campaign plan that is more tightly focused on solving a particular marketing communication problem in a specified time. Such a plan typically includes a variety of marketing communication (marcom) messages carried in different media and sometimes targeted to different audiences. The following outline of the sections, and the decisions they represent, in a typical campaign plan.

Typical Campaign Plan Outline

1. Situation Analysis, Background research, SWOTs: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, Key advertising problem/s to be solved

2. Key strategic campaign decisions, Objectives, Target audience (or stakeholder targets in an IMC Plan), Brand position: Product features and competitive advantage, Campaign Strategy: Key strategic approach or marcom tool

3. Media strategy (or Points of Contact in an IMC Plan), Media objectives, Media selection, Media planning and buying:, Vehicle selection, Budget allocation, Scheduling

4. Message strategy, Key Consumer Insight (Brand Relationship Insight in IMC), Message objectives, Selling premise, Big idea, Message design and executions

5. Other marcom tools used in support, Sales promotion, Public relations, Direct marketing, Personal selling, Sponsorships, merchandising, packaging, point-of-purchase, Integration Strategy (maximize synergy)

6. Campaign Management, Evaluation of effectiveness, Campaign Budget

The outline is useful as a guide for the planning document but more importantly, it also identifies the key strategic decisions that guide various sections of a campaign plan. They include: identifying the key problems and opportunities, stating objectives, targeting the audience, creating or reinforcing a position, identifying the key strategic approach that will deliver the objectives, and using management controls to determine efficiency in budgeting and effectiveness through evaluation.

Sample Ads

The student must deliver at least one print ad and at least two additional media options (TV, radio, cable, internet, billboard, magazine, etc.). Previous campaigns have included travel and cruise lines, new degree programs, cell phones, and casinos.

Pre-assignment

My business is Afford-A-Wedding KC (https://affordaweddingkc.com/). Our brand is to provide affordable weddings to those getting married. Our services are DJ, officiants, and photography. We are currently working on expanding and adding a videographer and a photo booth. Our target customers are engaged couples or even couples wanting to renew their vowels. In this industry, we provide entertainment for the bridal party and their guest. When it comes to Afford-A-Wedding KC, we are very competitive with our prices because that is what our brand is. Afford-A- Wedding KC's advantage is our price points. We run our business with little to no overhead and no debt. With no overhead, this allows us to keep our prices below our competitors while maintaining the same if the not better quality of service that our competitors offer. When it comes to our competition, we are always keeping an eye out for change in prices with our competitors. Our top 3 competitors right now are Levity events, Complete weddings, and Michael Lauren weddings. These can change from month to month depending on who books more events and who drops or raises their prices. Our services are distributed at events for example when the DJ shows up and plays his music or when the photographer shows up and takes pictures. Pictures are distributed through our website after editing (https://affordphotos.smugmug.com/). The couple can purchase the rights to the image and then download them from the site, or they can buy the prints from us. The Ad three campaigns I will do are A print ad, Online, and a billboard Ad.