Assessment Brief Details:
This assignment will be undertaken with reference to your experience on the marketing simulation
programme called ‘MARKSTRAT’. This simulation programme is designed to help you further your
understanding of advertising management within the context of strategic marketing and how it
relates to the various contexts of marketing and positioning.
In a series of lectures leading up to the one-week immersive engagement with the simulation
programme, you will be introduced to commercial principles and marketing strategies and
encouraged to think about the impact of advertising, branding and strategic decisions. You will take
part in group simulation exercises as part of the ‘MARKSTRAT’ programme where you will compete in
teams to maximise your company’s share price index. You will work in teams to understand the
various forms of research available to you as part of the programme and devise a strategy for
developing a successful brand in a competitive market. This will be supported by lectures on the
material you will cover and the use of MARKSTRAT itself. You will analyse the research studies and
market data and use this to develop considered strategies and decisions with respect to production,
planning, design, sales, advertising, distribution and budget allocation. You will develop an
understanding of brand contribution and the impact of marketing decisions on an organisation. This
module will give you an insight into the role of an advertising or brand manager, and the impact that
certain marketing decisions can have on the success of a product.
Assignment brief:
This will be an Individual illustrated report, which clearly explains the aims and objectives set,
the strategies employed, the results achieved, the monitoring carried out and corrective
actions taken by your group in the Markstrat simulation programme. Each member of the
team should analyse ONE particular product in your portfolio in more detail and discuss
how the Marketing, Design and Branding of the product led to its success or failure. You
should take an overview and highlight some of the key turning points taking a Strategic marketing
perspective. In your discussions you should use the relevant theory to explain your strategies. As a
guideline you should attempt to cover as many of the major headings in Markstrat as possible in your
discussions (e.g. R&D, positioning, market research, product portfolio, lifecycles, contribution levels,
consumer behaviour etc.). You can use diagrams to illustrate your arguments. The Appendix can be
used to incorporate any raw data or diagrams from the simulation that you feel will help your
arguments. This assignment interweaves advertising, branding and marketing theory and practice.
Reading list
1. MARKSTRAT Participant Handbook by Larreche and Gatignon-You will be supplied with a pdf
copy
2. Ranchhod and Gurau (2007), Marketing Strategies: A Contemporary Approach FT Pearson
3. Hooley, G., Piercy, N., Nicolaud, B., and Rudd, J. (2017) Marketing strategy and Competitive
Positioning. Pearson Education
4. Cooper, G.C. (2017) Winning at New Products: Creating Value Through Innovation
Structure of Illustrated Report
Structure your report as follows:
Title page
This should include the name of your Company and the product you are focusing on for the purpose
of the assignment. Include also, your wordcount.
Contents Page
Showing sections, subsections and page numbers. Also lists of any Egures, tables or charts that
appear in the main body of the text or appendices.
Introduction and Background to the company and the products
A brief synopsis about your company and the portfolio of products being oFered. How that portfolio
of products developed from the Erst period of trading up unto ‘present day’ along with brand
positioning and the market your products target.
Critical evaluation of marketing strategy
Here you will need to Focus on the company product you have chosen and the rationale behind the
strategic decisions that were made in the development and marketing of that product. Remember,
you don’t necessarily need to choose a successful product. You could equally choose an unsuccessful
product that your company developed and examined the reasons behind its failure. The important
thing is to demonstrate what you have learned, knowledge, understanding and insights that you
have achieved together with the ability to critically reHect on the decisions that you and the rest of
your group made. Where possible you should apply any appropriate advertising, branding or
marketing theory or concepts to support your discussion or analysis.
Conclusion
Summarise your key evaluative insights and observations
Reference List
All sources of information must be properly referenced using the Harvard system.
Not included in the word count: Appendices, References (Harvard style)
Appendices
Any raw data or diagrams from the simulation that you refer to within your report.
