Length: 1 - 3 pages in a Word document (up to 1,500 words)

In our daily lives we are presented with numerous marketing communications via newspapers, TV advertising, on social media and even in transient form, i.e. on buses or in trains and taxis. Mostly you are the receiver of such marketing communications and it is ultimately up to you to make the decision to buy certain brands. Now visualise yourself on the other side, when you become the sender of marketing communications.

For any new marketing campaign, the creative brief is the foundation document that is created during the initial meetings between the client and the advertising agency. A creative brief details the goal of a new marketing campaign, the potential target audience and the key creative appeals to be communicated. A creative brief informs and guides the work until a marketing campaign is finalised.

This first assessment task is related to the second assessment task, the integrated marketing communications report which is due later in the term. You are required to use your chosen topic for both pieces of assessment. There are three options to choose from:

Option 1 (product category): You work as the marketing manager for an Australian based business that specialises in selling neck hammocks.

Option 2 (service category): You are the marketing manager for an Australian tourism operator selling tours that showcase Australia’s natural beauty, i.e. national parks or marine parks.

Option 3 provides the flexibility of developing a creative brief for your current employer or a business you wish to start up (but not both). If you choose option 3 then you must gain approval from your local lecturer/tutor (on-campus students) or from the unit coordinator (distance students).

Whichever option is chosen, the product or service should only focus on the Australian market.

This assessment requires you to develop a creative brief in the form of a poster, i.e. 1 - 3 pages in a Word document (up to 1,500 words). Students are encouraged to incorporate some visual ideas of creativity into their Word document, i.e. images and/or graphs. Example assignments will be provided on Moodle.

Title page

The title page will include your name, student id number and lecturer/tutor name and campus (for on-campus students) and course name and code.

The creative process consists of two key parts: what to say (message strategy statement and types of message strategies) and how to say it (appeals and execution).

What to say:

- Brief background information on your chosen product or service

- Identification of potential target audience. (Who do you wish to communicate to? What are some key facts already known about this market segment?)

- Message strategy statement: Outline the key idea/message you are trying to communicate. (What is the major selling idea? What is the customer’s need or desire that the idea will solve?)

- The type of message strategy to be used in your creative brief. (What type of message strategy is best suited to bring your message strategy statement to life? For example, generic, positioning, unique selling proposition, etc. p. 317)

How to say it:

- The advertising appeals to be used, i.e. rational appeals, emotional appeals, fear appeals, humour appeals, or a combination of rational and emotional appeals (pp. 323-325).

- The advertising execution techniques to be used, i.e. scientific evidence, testimonials, animation, imagery, dramatization (pp. 325-328).

- Incorporating of visual ideas and creativity, i.e. images, and/or graphs.

Finally, please include a reference list with at least five (5) references that outline your sources of information from a combination of scholarly academic journal articles, academic textbooks, trade journals and websites.

Assignment submission

All assignments should be submitted online through the MRKT19030 Moodle site. All reports will be checked by Turnitin to compare the report to other sources and will provide students and lecturers with a similarity score for the report. Reports with a similarity score index of more than 20% will be checked for plagiarism by the marker (although it may not necessarily mean that the student has plagiarised).

A brief marking criteria is provided below. A more detailed marking guide is provided on Moodle.

Creative brief content 

• Background information 
• Target audience 
• Message strategy statement 
• Type of message strategy 
• Advertising appeals 
• Advertising execution 
• References 

Creative brief visual aids 

• Clarity and design of brief 
• Concise and well-structured 
• Visual aids/creativity/innovation 

Length: up to 2000 words

Assignment submission

The second assessment task is related to the first assessment task, which was due earlier in the term. You are required to use your chosen topic for both pieces of assessment. All assignments should be submitted online through the MRKT19030 Moodle site. All reports will be checked by Turnitin to compare the report to other sources and will provide students and lecturers with a similarity score for the report. Reports with a similarity score index of more than 20% will be checked for plagiarism by the marker (although it may not necessarily mean that the student has plagiarised).

Whichever option you have chosen for your first assignment (creative brief), please follow through with this option for this second assignment (the IMC plan) with a focus on the Australian market.

Please note that the word count (2,000 words) will be taken from the first word of the introduction. It will not include your executive summary, title page, table of contents, reference list and any tables or appendices (if you have any). The maximum number of pages will be 25 for submission. The IMC plan should follow this structure:

Title page

The title page will include the name of your organisation, the start and end date of the IMC plan (e.g. July-Sept. 2019), campaign name, your name, student id number and lecturer/tutor name and campus (for on-campus students) and course name and code.

Executive summary (no more than 200 words)

The executive summary should not read like an essay. You need to highlight only those critical aspects from your IMC plan. You should provide a brief overview of the organisation (or proposed business) and product/service, outline the 3 to 5 communication objectives chosen with quantifiable targets and timeframe for achievement, present the creative strategy selected (including target audience) and highlight the main elements of the media plan (including total budget). Use of sub-headings, dot or bullet points is recommended to better present the required information.

Table of contents

The table of contents will present each section of the IMC plan, including sub-headings, with their appropriate page number(s). Sections should be numbered with page number (e.g. 1.0 Introduction on page 1). Pages prior to the introduction are using lower case Roman numerals such as i, ii, iii, iv.

Introduction (no more than 200 words)

The introduction should present a brief outline of the organisation (or proposed business) and the product/service that is the major focus of this IMC plan. In addition, aims and structure of the report should be presented.

Background and target audience analysis (no more than 400 words)

The focus here will be on presenting information as to your chosen target audience. If you chose option 1 or 2, then it is expected you research the communications management and marketing literature to better understand who is likely to have an interest in such products or services. A profile then needs to be outlined that gives the reader of your IMC plan a better understanding as to who you will be directing the proposed marketing communications at. Consider market segmentation according to demographic, psychographic, socioeconomic and geographic customer characteristics. Use of additional sources of information to help support the discussion is expected. If you choose option 3, a similar approach is expected for your target audience analysis. 

3-5 Communication objectives (no more than 400 words)

Students must present and explain 3 (minimum) to 5 (maximum) communication objectives for their IMC plan with quantifiable targets and timeframe for achievement. Some objectives of marketing communications include creating brand awareness and recall, establishing a positive brand image and encouraging purchase behaviour. Think about, and justify, why you have chosen these communication objectives for this particular target audience. Use of additional sources of information to help support the discussion is expected.

Creative strategy justification (no more than 400 words)

Students must justify their creative strategy against the target audience profile and your communication objectives. I’m looking for a brief description of your creative ideas with appeal and execution outlined that matches the style of creative strategy chosen. Creative approach is covered in chapter 11, e.g. type of message (pages 316-321), advertising appeals (pages 323—325) and advertising execution (pages 325-328). Use of additional sources of information to help support the discussion is expected.

Media plan (no more than 400 words)

Select the advertising media and vehicle(s), i.e. billboards, radio, newspaper, internet, etc., you will use to achieve each of your communication objectives and justify your use of this media based on how this best communicates with your target audience. The media plan should be a reflection of the duration of the IMC plan (start and end date) as presented in the title page. You must take into consideration the creative strategy to be adopted when selecting the most appropriate media to use. For option 1 and 2, the budget is fixed at AUD $10,000. For option 3, think of realistic figure/s given the organisation, communication objectives and creative strategy to be adopted. A table (including budget totals) summarising this discussion is encouraged. Use of additional sources of information to help support the discussion is expected.

Conclusion (no more than 200 words)

In your opinion, why do you think it will be possible to achieve each of your chosen communication objectives? Briefly outline the target audience, each of the communication objectives and the creative strategy adopted to explain your answer.

Reference list

The IMC plan should include at least ten (10) sources of information from a combination of scholarly academic journal articles, academic textbooks, trade journals and websites. All sources listed should be in alphabetical order and be cited in the main body of the IMC plan using the APA referencing style.

Further instructions

- The IMC plan should be presented as a formal business report.

- Your argument and analysis in this report requires theoretical support from a minimum of 10 journal article references.

- Note: This is a recommended outline for your IMC plan. Any deviation from the above recommended outline runs the risk of not addressing the assessment criteria. To enhance the presentation of your assignment, you can use many headings and sub-headings used to specify the information required for each of the above criterion. The assessment marking criteria below should guide you for this assessment task, in particular the weighting attributed to each section of the assignment.

Important:

- You should start working on the assessment as early as Week 3, even though it is due for submission in Week 12.

- Selection of literary support from Wikipedia, www.NetMBA.com, www.marketing, teacher.com, www.tutor2u.com, etc. will be treated very negatively. These are not appropriate sources for your academic assignment and their use is not acceptable.

- Students’ requests for an extension of the deadline for this assignment need to be submitted through the Assignment Extension System. Requests for reasons not mentioned in the CQUniversity Assessment of Coursework Procedures policy and not supported by appropriate evidence will not be considered. For example, if a student has been sick for 2 days before the assignment is due, the student needs to submit his/her request in the AES by the due date for the assignment and upload a medical certificate dated the day(s) of the sickness.

A brief marking criteria is provided below. A more detailed marking guide is provided on Moodle.

• Executive Summary 
• Introduction - provides a brief overview of the company, the aims and structure of the IMC plan 
• Background and target audience analysis 
• 3-5 Communication objectives 
• Creative strategy - choice and justification of one style of creative advertising 
• Media plan – which media will you select to reach the target audience? 
• Conclusion 
• Structure, grammar and presentation 
• Citations and reference list