CONSUMER BEHAVİOR TEAM PROJECT
1 BUS 326 Consumer Behavior Team Project Guideline Team Project due Tuesday, April 25th by 11:59 PM via Blackboard Overview and Objectives The objective of this project is to deepen your understanding of the course materials by applying the consumer behavior concepts discussed in class. One of the specific goals in understanding consumer behavior is to design highly effective influence tactics that will connect with your audience and persuade them to buy your product. The purpose of the group project is to give you some insight into why some marketing tactics work with respect to the consumer as well as why others do not.
Organization and Administration Each team should consist of 3-5 students. Teams will be assigned by the instructor in the beginning of the semester. Although not required, it may be most productive to select a team "manager" responsible for coordinating all team activities. In addition, each team member should be assigned specific duties; ideally those best suited to her/his experience and interests. Like team projects that you will someday encounter in the workplace, the project for this class involves a process that must be managed in order to ensure a successful outcome. Project Description Your group will need to identify a consumer influence tactic to evaluate. First you select a specific company and its product and then you will evaluate whether the tactic will be effective or ineffective in influencing consumer behavior. Your group will do a 20 minute presentation and will hand in two PowerPoint decks, one with full description of your project (PPT documentation) and the other one for your class presentation. This tactic could be a specific advertisement (e.g., Dorito’s Superbowl 2011 commercial), point-of-purchase communication, sales promotion device (e.g., Great Clips $5.99 haircut coupon), sales presentation, etc. So, if your group decides to focus on advertising, you will begin by reviewing a number of print, radio, and/or television ads. Out of this set, a specific ad will be selected that the group feels is either effective or ineffective. You will need to turn in the actual tactic that you have selected (e.g., the print ad itself, a recording of a radio ad, a recording of television commercial.) Do not choose a tactic that you have already used (or are currently using) in another class unless you receive permission from me.
Once this influence tactic has been selected, you will need to use the concepts discussed in class to identify reasons why the ad will be effective or not. As a starting point, your group should discuss in general terms why this might be the case. Then, get more precise in your analysis. Go back through your class notes and the text to identify relevant concepts and theories that can be used to analyze why the tactic will be successful or not. By following team project outline, your team is to conduct market research on a company and one of its products. Choose a company, and one of its product, and answer the following questions in project outline.
The product must be at the item level (e.g., 12oz Diet Pepsi), not a product category. It will be easier for you, if you choose a publicly-held company as more information is available on them. 2 Team Project Outline 1. Introduction of Your Product What is your product?
2. Market Research 1) Customer Analysis What “need or want” does the product satisfy of the consumer?
Who needs or wants your product?
i. Define your market using one (or combination of others) of the criteria: ii. Demographics, geodemographics, psychographic or behavioral 2) Marketing Strategy (STP) Segmentation i. Describe how to segment market using criteria you used to define market ii. Provide rationales for your segmentation methods Targeting i. Identify the target market by analyzing company’s tactics for your product Positioning i. What are the attributes (characteristics) of products in your product category?
ii. What attributes are most important to your target customer?
iii. Find relative strengths and weaknesses of your product versus competitors in terms positioning of your brand (note: This is NOT SWOT analysis) - Is your brand on the right (or ideal) place on perceptual map?
3. Impact on the Consumer Perception, learning and memory, motivation, consumer self-concept, and persuasion method, etc - What kind of customer value the ad is telling (e.g., Utilitarian vs. Hedonic) - What type of decision making is involved in the product (High involvement vs low involvement) decision? Does it depend on target customer?
- What is the customer’s motivation to purchase this product (Maslow’s Hierarchy)?
- What is type of persuasion method applying here if any?
- What types of appeal they are using if any (e.g., Rational, humor, sex, fear appeal)?
- What are the consumer behavior theories embedded in this ad if any?
*Be sure to use concepts you have learned from the book and in class and reference cites* 4. The Consumer Decision Process (Refer to Ch12 and Ch13 for the lecture) Which stage of decision process the ad is trying to influence?
How is the ad trying to influence the decision process?
Any other consumer behavior theories in the consumer decision process?
*Be sure to use concepts you have learned from the book and in class and reference cites* 3 5. Assessment of the Tactic Appropriateness of arguments, messages, selection of appeal, and settings in the commercials to target market Key messages are clear and easy to understand.
Anticipated competitor response, anticipated results, etc.
6. Recommendation How should the tactic be continued if it is effective, how should the tactic be changed if it is ineffective Be very specific for new tactics such as:
- Goal of the new commercial - Selection of key message - Use of persuasion method - Selection of appeal - Stage of decision making process to influence via new commercial - Use of consumer behavior theory Your main goal is to provide a convincing argument that the influence tactic will be effective or ineffective by using the approaches, frameworks, and concepts we have learned in class. In addition, your recommendations should help remedy any of the problems associated with the influence tactic that you identified in your analysis. While a comprehensive approach is encouraged, with 20 minutes, you will have to focus your discussion on the assessment and recommendations. 4 Team Project Assessment Please note the following: A. PPT Documentation outlining team project findings and PPT slides for presentation 1. 80% of your grade for the PowerPoint decks is based on thoroughly answering all of the project questions, and following the additional guidelines below. 20% will be assessed based on:
• Logical reasoning and enough elaboration. • Well-supported defense and assumptions. • Explaining and supporting WHY your answers make sense as a whole. 2. Submission • One of your team members needs to submit your team’s TWO SEPARATE PPT DECKS, one for full description of your team project (PPT documentation) and the other for presentation via dropbox 3. Organization and Structure • Market research findings and your tactic analysis and recommendations are clearly and succinctly summarized. • Graphs or charts are used to present numeric data that shows proportions, trends, rank, or comparison. • Ideas developed based on the findings are clearly and logically stated. • Sources of information (e.g., facts, graphs, charts, etc.) are provided following APA style.
(http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/) • Proper titles for tables, figures, graphs, charts, and X and Y-axes of graphs are provided. • Slides are consistent (e.g., font, color, etc.) with one another. • Slides are readable and contain the right amount of information. • Spacing, alignment, capitalization, punctuation, spelling are all correct. 4. PPT documentation needs to include: • Sources are cited. • More detailed information in Appendix slides. 5. PPT slides for presentation concisely and briefly summarize the key points of the market research findings outlined in the PPT documentation. B. Oral Presentation in Class (Individual Grading) 1. Preparation: • Is it clear the speaker practiced his/her presentation ahead of time? • The speaker dresses in business casual. 2. Organization 5 • The introduction gets the attention of the audience. • The specific purpose of the presentation is clearly stated. • Information is clearly presented to achieve a purpose. • The conclusion reiterates the main points and relates back to introduction. 3. Topic Knowledge • The speaker has a clear grasp of information.
• The speaker demonstrates full knowledge (more than required) by answering all class questions with explanations and elaboration.
• The speaker does not read the text of their slides or note cards to the audience. 4. Delivery • The delivery is natural, confident, and enhances the message.
• Graphics and visual aids explain and reinforce screen text.
• The speaker maintains good posture and eye contact, smooth gestures, and proper volume and pace.
• The transition from topic-to-topic and person-to-person is done well.
• Articulation and pronunciation are clear.
• Audience gets a clear sense of what the most important points are.
• The speaker is able to effectively keep the audience engaged.
• The team makes sure to limit the presentation to the time allotted (20 minutes). CONFIDENTIAL Project Team Member Peer Evaluation: 1. Your grade on the team project depends on the average score you receive from your team members about your contributions. Details are described on the Peer Evaluation Form. 2. The deadline of project team member peer evaluation submission is 12:00PM one week after your team presentation. The Peer Evaluation Form is downloadable on Blackboard.
3. The peer evaluation applies to the grade for PPT deck submitted, not the team’s oral. The team’s oral presentation will be graded on an individual basis. 4. Failure to submit the peer evaluation form by the deadline will result in the loss of your team project points. 5. All evaluations are confidential and only read by the instructor. 6. Students are required to be professional in their dealings with teammates and are expected to put forth their fair share. 6 Penalty for Late and Wrong Submissions 1. LATE OR WRONG SUBMISSIONS WILL BE PENALIZED. 1 day late or wrong dropbox submission: 10% deduction from total assigned grade 2 day late: 20% deduction from total assigned grade 3 day late: 30% deduction from total assigned grade 4 day late and more: Zero Point.
2. I do this because a student who takes additional time to complete an assignment may be unfairly advantaged, and late or wrong dropbox submissions delay feedback to students.
3. Occasionally, a student will miss a deadline because of a verifiable prolonged illness or emergency.
Such a student should meet with me to discuss the illness or emergency.
