Purpose of the assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to provide you with an opportunity to gain knowledge about market segmentation, target marketing, positioning, and the 4 Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). The assignment also enables you to compare different brand’s marketing mix strategies.

This assignment is a team (group) assessment that requires you to conduct an analysis of the brand studied in Assignment 1 (Anihana) focusing on targeting and positioning strategies and how they use these to create a market offering, in terms of the products they develop and offer, how they price, where they distribute and place their products, and the promotional activity they implement.

For people in a 3-person team, you will compare and contrast 2 additional brands to Anihana (3 brands in total). For people in a 4-person team, you will compare and contrast 3 additional brands (4 brands in total). 

The assignment requires you to work in your team to compare and contrast the brands – this is not an assignment where you can divide up the work. As a marketing postgraduate and budding marketing professional you need to learn to work in a team and discuss strategies. I recommend you set a time every week to meet with your team – think of it as a ‘marketing team’ meeting.

1. Introduction (300 words)

The introduction should outline the purpose of the report, provide a brief overview of each brand, and detail which sections will be discussed.

2. Target markets (400 words)

Compare and contrast the target markets for each firm/brand. Use a table to provide an overview of each brand’s target market. Discuss briefly the similarities and differences.

3. Positioning (200 words)

Draw a positioning map and place all brands/firms on the map in relation to others in terms of where they are positioned. Write a paragraph about how the firm/brands you are analysing position themselves in the market in relation to each other.

4. Product (400 words)

Compare and contrast the product offering for each firm/brand. Use the ‘product layers’ concept as a diagram to identify each brand’s product in terms of core, actual and augmented product. Discuss briefly the similarities and differences.

Draw the product lifecycle and place the firm/brands key products on the lifecycle. Discuss briefly the position of each.

Highlight briefly the strength of associations of each brand in terms brand equity (Note: Refer to Product lecture on Consumer Based Brand Equity – Types of Brand Associations related to attributes and benefits)

5. Price (200-300 words)

Discuss how each brand positions themselves in terms of pricing and the pricing strategies.

You can use a table to compare and contrast.

6. Place and Distribution (200- 300 words)

Draw the distribution channels that each firm/brand uses to reach their target markets.

Discuss briefly the retail channels that are used.

7. Promotion (400-500 words)

Discuss the different promotional mix tools that each brand use. Consider – advertising (traditional and digital), public relations, personal selling, direct marketing. Please show some evidence (i.e., take screenshots of examples).

8. Conclusion (200 words)

Please indicate which brand you think has competitive advantage and justify why.

Referencing and Sources:

AI Planning only: AI Planning only: AI MUST be used for planning, idea development and research. You MUST write these ideas in your own words independently and you MUST provide appropriate references to support the ideas and facts. You must also submit a separate

AI planning document (see Stream). EACH STUDENT MUST UPLOAD AN INDIVIDUAL AI PLANNING FILE.

Sources: The majority of sources for this report will be gained from secondary sources, such as company websites and publicly available reports.

Referencing: All sources of information need to be accurately documented using APA 7th reference style for both the in-text citations and references. You can find a simple tool to help you with this on the Library page for the APA Interactive: http://owll.massey.ac.nz/referencing/apa-interactive.php.

Plagiarism: See plagiarism rules from Assignment 1 brief.

Report Format:

Please create your report using the headings and subheadings as outlined above.

Title Page: 

This page should include the following information (in any order):

• Report title
• Student name and ID
• Course name and number
• Semester and year
• Word count