Create an advertising campaign assignment

Unit 7: Assignment - Ad Campaign Project

Overview
The Core Assessment for MK 380 is the development of an advertising campaign for a product or service of the student’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.

He 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.