Luna, MKT 3520
IMC Plan Outline
Your project must cover the following topics. You can include additional sections, but you must include these. Throughout the semester’s class discussions I will provide more specific details about what to include in each section.
1. Executive summary. A 1-page reduced version of your report, containing a very brief summary of each section.
2. Background. A brief description of the current situation for the brand. Very brief SWOT analysis and brand equity audit.
3. Segmentation. An analysis of the segments you might consider targeting with your campaign.
4. Targeting. A detailed analysis of the segment you decide to target, including a justification of why you chose it (what makes this segment particularly attractive?). Make sure you include “data” or “numbers” to support your choice and as sources for your segment description. For example, you could use primary or secondary research. Examples of sources of secondary research include Euromonitor, Simmons, or articles from the business press. Bottom line: you must understand your target segment inside and out, and you must be able to justify your choice of segment.
5. Positioning. The centerpiece of this section should be a positioning statement. You should be able to support your choice of a point of difference (PoD), through primary or secondary research. This section should describe why you chose that PoD.
6. Communication Objectives. Follow the guidelines described in class to develop a set of objectives for your IMC plan.
7. Media plan. What media will you use to accomplish your objectives? Use Simmons to find what media may be more adequate for your target market. You can use pages 228-232 in Wells as an example of how to structure this section. Use program/magazine ratings to estimate your reach and the Gross Rating Points you will obtain with your media strategy. Your media plan should specify how you plan to spend your budget. Budget = $ 8 million (but you need to subtract 10% for production costs). Use the latest Marketer’s Guide to Media book on reserve at the library to obtain average media costs.
8. Creative strategy. The copy platform/creative brief will guide your creative efforts. This statement should be consistent with your positioning statement. Then, you need to include examples of ads and other promotional materials you would use. You need to use at least 2 different media and provide at least 2 executions for each medium. That is, if you decide to use radio and TV, you need to include 2 radio ads and 2 TV ads (or storyboards).
9. Evaluation. A brief statement of how you plan to assess whether you have met your objectives.
Other Guidelines
Primary research. At some point in your project, you must conduct a primary research study. That is, you have to conduct a survey, focus groups, interviews, etc. You could use your primary research study to help you decide on a target market, to help you decide what your point of difference will be, to test your ads before deciding which ad to use, etc.
In your report, you will describe the primary research study as completely as possible, to show that your findings were reliable and valid. The study description should be as follows:
1. Hypotheses/expectations/objectives of the research study.
2. Design. What research methodology (survey, focus groups, individual interviews,…) did you use and why?
3. Method:
a. Describe participants/respondents. Why did you choose them?
b. Procedure (How did you find respondents? How did you conduct the research?)
c. Materials (survey, questions used in interview, topics covered in focus groups)
4. Findings.
IMC tools. Use your budget only for advertising. You can describe how your advertising would tie with other communications tools (web sites, direct mail, public relations,…), but those other tools would be funded with a different budget. Be brief in your description of non-advertising communications tools.
Some Formatting Suggestions
1. Keep the whole report under 30 pages, including appendices, tables, graphs, ads,…
2. Graphs, tables, or figures that are not central to your argument but are helpful to support it should be included in appendices at the end of the report.
3. It is usually best to use single space text, with lots of “white” space between sections. If you single space, make sure that each paragraph is followed by a blank line.