Marketer’s Showdown – Overview Materials
Marketer’s Showdown
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
About Marketer’s Showdown
Marketer’s Showdown: Offering more experiential learning opportunities, this online, interactive video case program puts students in the middle of dynamic marketing strategy decision-making with real marketers. Nine cases focus on up-to-the-minute issues in the music, automotive, and soft drink industries. Within Marketer’s Showdown cases, students will be able to analyze the marketing problem, choose a proposed solution, and then watch their proposal debated by marketing professionals. After the debate, students have the opportunity to change their plan or stick to their guns, then see the outcome of their decisions. As in real marketing situations, not every good marketing decision leads to a good outcome!
About This Supplement Package
We have developed these materials to help you use Marketer’s Showdown both effectively and efficiently. Ultimately, Marketer’s Showdown is a tool designed to help you enhance student learning. Each case brings together a variety of Marketing concepts for discussion. Consider, for example, the Vix Records: Coffee Bandwagon case which addresses Strategic Planning Inputs, Channels of Distribution, Consumer and Trade Promotion, New Product Growth Strategies, and other concepts. You have the flexibility of including each case into the flow of your specific course based on your preferences and professional judgment. So, you might use the Coffee Bandwagon case in at least four different areas of your course (Strategic Planning, Channels of Distribution, Promotion, or Product Planning) depending how you choose to focus or ‘channel’ the case. So, even though the cases are numbered 1 to 9, you are not compelled to use them in sequential order.
We have developed Instructor resources to assist you. First, we offer some suggested objective questions (multiple choice and true/false) and discussion questions for your use. The first five objective questions for each case are designed for use as ‘checks’ to see if your students have completed the case prior to coming to class. Assuming they engaged with the Marketer’s Showdown, they should be able to successfully answer these questions. The remaining ten questions for each case are more integrative. So, for example, a case may include decisions about growth possibilities. While the Product-Market Growth Matrix or the Boston Consulting Group Portfolio Model may not be included in Marketer’s Showdown presentation of that case, you will likely bring these models into your class. We’ve anticipated you doing so and provided such questions for your possible use.
We know that you’ll develop your own discussion questions to guide your classroom discussion of each case. Your questions will reflect your teaching style. And, your positioning of the case in your course will influence your questions as well. To further support your efforts, we’ve developed seven additional integrative discussion questions for your possible use.
We have also developed “User’s Guide” resources for quick reference. Your students will likely assume that you are the expert in navigating the Marketer’s Showdown. To be sure, the computer platform used to deliver Marketer’s Showdown is very user-friendly. However, it is linear. You cannot simply jump to the latter stages of a case to see how things worked out. So, we’ve developed a sequential presentation for each case to guide you. That way, you’ll know exactly the information presented to your students. Each case can be viewed in approximately 15-30 minutes. But, we know you’re busy. So, you can jump around in each case with the print materials provided.
Teaching Tips
Marketer’s Showdown was designed to provide a value-added experience for your students. You’ve likely heard the old adage:
“Give someone a fish and they’ll eat today. Teach someone to fish and they’ll eat for a lifetime.”
That’s the logic behind the active learning experience provided by Marketer’s Showdown. In essence, we want to help you teach your students how to fish! Seriously, your students will confront real-world marketing problems in product categories they are somewhat familiar with (recorded music, energy drinks, and automobiles). They will work through background information to determine what they believe to be an appropriate course of action for a firm to follow if faced with a certain fact set. They will select an advocate from one of three Stand-in character options who best represents their worldview. They will evaluate the performance of that character in advocating their position relative to others. They will suggest a recommended solution. Finally, they will reflect on the ultimate resolution of the case.
Integrating Marketer’s Showdown into Your Course
You have committed to using Marketer’s Showdown to provide an active learning experience for your students. Thank you for trusting our product. Now, keep that trust. The system itself was developed to provide an active learning experience. Let it do so. Marketer’s Showdown will enhance your coverage of course materials. It will allow your students to apply the concepts developed within your course. For example, you may talk about Push and Pull promotion. In the Marketer’s Showdown, your students will have to decide how to direct a promotional effort during a market re-entry. And, it will provide you with case examples you can continually refer to as your course develops.
Design your course so your students engage with the Showdown. Make sure you assign points to various activities or, quite frankly, they may not get done. Here are a couple of templates for using Marketer’s Showdown. As someone who has used Marketer’s Showdown in my Marketing Strategy course, I prefer the first option presented. But, you are a professional. It is your course. They are your students. You’ll make that call.
Prepare Outside of Class to Discuss in Class – students must complete a case prior to coming to class. Cases are spread evenly over the academic period (semester, quarter, etc). You can ensure your students are ready for class in a variety of ways:
· You can require your students to print and submit (in paper or email form) their responses to various questions posed in Marketer’s Showdown.
· You can administer online quizzes in Blackboard or similar course management system to ensure your students have worked through each case prior to the assigned date.
· You can work through each case with your students and ask them to defend their solutions and discuss the three positions advanced.
NOTE: The author of these materials uses the above two strategies in his Marketing course. Students must complete a case prior to a scheduled class period. They print their responses to the discussion questions and assemble a portfolio of all 9 cases over the life of the semester. Further, students must complete an online quiz for each case (given in Blackboard) prior to that assigned date. This quizzing process ensures their readiness to discuss each case in detail together in class. We spend class time working through each case from start to finish.
An example daily schedule from my Marketing Strategy course in Fall 2008 is provided in Appendix A at the end of these overview materials.
· You can administer in-class quizzes before you begin in-class discussion of a case to ensure student readiness.
· You can run through the case in class with your students. You can start and stop Marketer’s Showdown as you choose to emphasize certain points or ponder alternative strategies being discussed.
Simultaneous Class Discussion of Case – students will participate in the case analysis during the class period acting independently or in small groups or teams.
· You can run through the case in class with your students. Start and stop the Showdown as you choose to emphasis certain points or ponder alternative strategies being discussed.
· You can administer a quiz at the end of the class meeting. Or, you can choose to put questions pertaining to the case on class quizzes or exams.
· You may elect to assign discussion questions to be completed outside of class pertaining to the case.
· You may elect to give take-home exams with discussion questions. Students would need to re-visit the case in Marketer’s Showdown to perform effectively.
Course Introduction Event – students could be required to complete all cases in a concentrated period (say, one or two weeks) at the beginning of the semester. Students could review the core Marketing Concepts included in each case and apply them independently. Then, as you develop material in your course, you will be able to refer to each case with your students and show how the firms profiled used the strategies and tactics discussed in class.
Course Capstone Event – students could be required to complete all cases in a concentrated period (say, one or two weeks) at the end of the semester. You will have covered all course content. They will see course content evident in the flow of each case in Marketer’s Showdown thus providing another example to help them understand and retain course information.
Placing Each Case in Your Course
Marketer’s Showdown was designed for integration into multiple Marketing courses without regard to a specific textbook or its organization. You may choose to use the Showdown in an introductory Principles of Marketing course or a capstone Marketing Strategy course. As noted above, each case typically has 3-5 focal points. You decide where each case can best be used in your course.
The sequencing of your course and the placement of each case within your specific course framework will influence your selection of quiz, exam, and discussion questions. For example, early course presentations of Portfolio Models, the Product-Market Growth Matrix, Porter’s Five-Forces Model and other strategic planning models may allow you to include such questions for a case whereas a colleague with either a different course or organization of materials may opt for entirely different questions. Consider the following:
· Each case includes 15 suggested objective questions (multiple choice, true/false).
· Questions 1-5 are ‘prove it’ questions designed to ensure your students can demonstrate (prove) they’ve engaged with the case prior to class.
· Questions 6-15 are more integrative types of questions that require the students to go beyond recognition of events and to apply common marketing models or concepts. The organization of your course will influence the student’s readiness for some of these questions.
· Each case includes 7 suggested discussion questions. These may be used to guide class discussions, take-home exams, or as simply an out-of-class assignment.
From the table that follows, you can see where you could elect to use each case in your specific course using your specific book.
Case / Focal PointsVix Records: Fidelity Freefall / · Buyer Motivation
· Branding
· Brand Equity
· Ethics
· Piracy
· Changing Technology Environment
· Intellectual Property Rights
Vix Records: Coffee Bandwagon / · Consumer and Trade Promotions
· Channels of Distribution
· Retailer Mix
· Cross-Functional Efforts in Strategic Planning
· Strategic Planning
· Growth Strategies
Vix Records: Something for Everyone? / · New Product Development
· Market Segmentation and Selection Strategies
· Promotional Mix
· Versioning
· Product Positioning and Re-Positioning
Yuma Puma: Category Crowd Control / · Competition
· Product Life Cycle
· Integrated Marketing Communications
· Branding
· Brand Equity
· Competitive Response
Yuma Puma: The Price is Heating Up / · Pricing
· Ethics
· Technology
· Public Relations
· Acting on Marketing Information
Case / Focal Points
Yuma Puma: Stock Shock / · Retailing
· Channels
· Global Marketing
· Buyer Information Search
· Market Entry Strategies
· Product/Promotion Planning
· Relationship Marketing
Zuna Motors: Target Practice / · Market Segmentation
· Marketing Research
· Product Positioning
· Target Market Aggregation
Zuna Motors: Feature Frenzy Freak-Out / · Buyer Behavior and Cognitive Response
· Marketing Information Systems
· Consumer Decision-Making Processes
· Product Management
· New Product Introductions
· Translating Research into Strategies
· New Product Adoption and Diffusion
Zuna Motors: Missing the Online Boat / · Retailing
· Channels of Distribution
· Supply Chain Management
· Logistics Management
· Sales Force Management
· E-commerce, E-tailing
· Changing Technology
Pattern of the Three Stand-In Characters
Each case in Marketer’s Showdown presents three Stand-In characters for your students to consider. Each Stand-In character presents his/her suggested response strategic response to the central marketing question driving the case. As you use the Marketer’s Showdown, you will see a pattern to each case. Typically, you will see: (1) an advocate of big or bold change, (2) an advocate of selective implementation or smaller change, and (3) an advocate suggesting we not implement the underlying strategic response under discussion. Below is an overview of the “Vix Coffee Company: Something for Everyone?” case.
Something for Everyone?Do we introduce compilation CD’s (collections of songs by individual artists)? And, if so, how should we segment the market? / Linda – Yes. We selectively develop compilations of songs after their peak popularity has passed and sell such compilations only during non-peak periods of demand (outside of the holiday shopping season)
Erik – Absolutely! Compilations will expand the sales potential for our artists and draw more listeners to their music. We must be in the compilation business as part of our foundation business strategy.
Sharon – No. Compilations are not healthy for the long-term interest of the record industry. Short-term gain will be bad for the industry.
Quick glance summary tables such as the one above have been presented for all nine cases in the Marketer’s Showdown. They are presented in the pages that follow.
Quick Glance Table - Vix Records Cases
Do we develop a very public and aggressive campaign to correct the problems created for our customers by including anti-piracy software on CD’s sold? / Linda – Yes. Address the issue directly and publicly. Apologize to consumers. Seek to minimize damage.
Erik – Absolutely! Embrace this opportunity to turn a negative into a positive and reposition the record company.
Sharon – No. Consumers move on. We should, too.
Coffee Bandwagon
Do we enter into a new distribution partnership with Java Wheels (a coffee retailer) to expand the distribution of recorded music beyond traditional retailers? / Linda – Yes. We should try to develop a relationship with Java Wheels while concurrently strengthening our relationship with Frankie’s Café (a sister company).
Erik – No. Focus on strengthen existing relationships.
Sharon – Absolutely! We must redefine the marketing channel for recorded music.
Something for Everyone?
Do we introduce compilation CD’s (collections of songs by individual artists)? And, if so, how should we segment the market? / Linda – Yes. We selectively develop compilations of songs after their peak popularity has passed and sell such compilations only during non-peak periods of demand (outside of the holiday shopping season)
Erik – Absolutely! Compilations will expand the sales potential for our artists and draw more listeners to their music. We must be in the compilation business as part of our foundation business strategy.
Sharon – No. Compilations are not healthy for the long-term interest of the record industry. Short-term gain will be bad for the industry.
Quick Glance Table – Yuma Puma Cases