MKTG 380 Principles of Marketing Summer Online Course Six Week Undergraduate Session

Information Literacy in Marketing:  An Exploration of Print Marketing Resources

PURPOSE OF THE EXERCISE: 
There are two objectives of this exercise:

1. To give you some initial practice in marketing a product to a target market. 
2. To develop your information literacy skills by acquainting you with some of the print marketing resources available to assist in marketing decision making and strategy development for Marketing Plans.  (Appendix A of your text provides information about creating an effective Marketing Plan.)

While you are not required to develop a complete marketing plan for this class, you should be exposed to some aspects of the marketing planning process.  You will accomplish this via an exercise that gets you involved print marketing resources in a fun and engaging way!  I am confident you will enjoy this exercise, especially if you are a very creative person. 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

To evaluate and recommend print marketing resources that could be used within a Marketing Plan.  More specifically, students will:

• Creatively dramatize the features, advantages, and benefits of two different print marketing resources through development of two effective magazine-style advertisements.  (One ad per resource)
• The two magazine-style ads should:
  • explain the primary information that each print marketing resource contains, and
  • identify specifically where and how each print marketing resource could be used within a Marketing Plan.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Read about Marketing Plans:  Carefully read Chapter #1 and Chapter #2 of your text as well as Appendix A (at the end of Chapter 2) to learn what is involved in the creation of a marketing plan.
2. Learn the Products:  Marketing is more than generating great ideas for products like beer and potato chips.  Even mundane products can benefit from skillful marketing.  With that in mind, your products for this assignment are print marketing resources.  Print marketing resources are reference books containing research that can assist in developing marketing strategy and tactics.  They provide data a marketer may need in order to make sound strategic decisions.  For this step, select any two print marketing resources from Table 1 below. Go the JMU library or another university library and learn as much as you can about any two of print marketing resources assigned.  Please note that most libraries do not allow you to check out reference books so plan accordingly in terms of time needed in the library and money you might need for copies.

• If your local public library does not carry the resources below, you should make plans to visit JMU's Carrier Library or find a nearby university library that has at least two of these resources. 
• For this assignment, you are welcome to use other editions of any of the references presented in Table 1.

3. Develop Two Magazine-Style Ads:  For each of the two print marketing resources you selected, develop a magazine style advertisement for each product.  Simply put, your goal is to advertise and market the two resources you selected.  You may assume that the target market for the ad consists of college students studying marketing.  In your ad, convince them that the product has value and communicate how the resource might be used in the development of marketing plans.  Each ad should creatively dramatize the features, advantages, and benefits of the print resource.  Furthermore, the two magazine-style ads should:
   • explain the primary information that each print marketing resource contains, and
   • identify specifically where and how each print marketing resource could be used within a Marketing Plan.

• Please try to include both of your ads in the same file.  If you are using the same program to create your two ads, do not send me two different files.  The ads can be developed in PowerPoint, Word, Adobe, or any other software program.  You are welcome to use clip art or any images found on the Internet.  If you do not have access to a graphical software program, you may develop an ad by hand and then scan or digitally photograph it so that it can be sent to my Digital Dropbox in electronic format.  (See sample adidas ads (.ppt) for more information on print ad layout, not content.)  Each ad must fit a full sized sheet of paper and should be presented in portrait orientation rather than landscape orientation.  For example, in PowerPoint, select File - Page Setup - and then select "Portrait" under the slides section.  Submit one electronic copy of your two ads to my Digital Dropbox in Blackboard prior to the due date and time (Table 2 below). 

4. Analysis:  Please reflect upon this exercise by evaluating your learning outcomes.  In a 400-500 word essay, please address the questions below and submit a Microsoft Word (.doc) file to my to my Digital Dropbox in Blackboard prior to the due date and time (Table 2 below).  If you are using Microsoft Word for your ads, you are encouraged to include the Analysis write-up within the same file as your ads.  If not, you may submit this document as a separate file in Blackboard.  You are also welcome to convert all of your files into one .pdf file.

o       Explain what you learned most from this assignment?  Also please indicate how many total hours you spent working on this entire assignment (not including chapter readings).

o       What were some of the problems/challenges encountered in doing this assignment?

o       What did you enjoy most and least about this assignment?

o       In the future, what changes should be made to this assignment to help future students learn more effectively about print marketing resources?

REMEMBER - Please try to include both of your ads in the same file.  If you are using the same program to create your two ads, do not send me two different files. If you are using Microsoft Word for your ads, you are encouraged to include the Analysis write-up within the same file as your ads.  If not, you may submit this document as a separate file in Blackboard.  To ensure I receive all of your files, I suggest that you submit your files to my Digital Dropbox one right after the other.  They will appear in the order that I receive them.

ASSESSMENT: 
This assignment will be evaluated using the five-point scale below.  This assignment is worth 10% of your final grade in the course.