discussion 1:

I’ll take the job!

Here’s the scenario to imagine: a new five week marketing manager internship has opened up at each of the organizations listed below. And based on your past accomplishments (and that awesome business card), they all want you. The internship involves researching your employer’s current marketing efforts and then creating a marketing plan for a new product or service that you dream up. So, the question is – who would you choose to work for and why?

The List

Your choices span a variety of categories as well as marketing approaches. We’ve provided website links, so you can learn more before making a decision. You will be working with this brand throughout the course, so choose carefully.

Guided Response:

You’re going to create a discussion post that includes the information below. See our sample post for Harley Davidson (which is not one of your choices).

1. Include the brand you’ve selected to do your marketing internship with.

• Choose from the list above.

2. Give the reasons you selected the brand you did.

• Give at least two reasons. No right and wrong answers here.

3. Provide a link to a representative tweet from your brand.

4. Answer these questions about your brand’s unique selling proposition in at least 350 words:

• Using your textbook, define what constitutes a USP.
• How would you describe your brand’s unique selling proposition?
• How is that USP reflected by your chosen tweet?
• Do not forget to cite and make a reference to your textbook.

Respond to at least three of your fellow marketers, including one who choose your same brand and two who did not.

• How are your rationales, USPs and sample tweets similar or different?
• Try to respond to those who do not yet have three replies.

Do I need to create a Twitter account?

You do not need to create a Twitter account to do this assignment.

discussion 2:

Every year hundreds of millions of dollars are spent marketing products (or services) that fail. Millions of dollars those companies would love to get back.

Fortunately you happen to have a functioning time machine that you bought on Craig’s list. And now you’ve got one chance to fix what went wrong in the marketing research process and convince one of those companies not to spend that money.

image: Gary Knight via Flickr (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (CC BY 2.0)

Guided Response:

You’re going to investigate and document the story of a famous new product flop (and market research failure) and how you went back in time to fix it. Your response must be at least 350 words and also refer to your textbook.

• Identify and research a prominent new product/service failure.
   
  • The press loves failures, so you won’t have any problem finding examples.
  • Identify the following: product/service name, the company who marketed it, the year it was introduced and where (particularly if not in the U.S.).
• Answer the following questions about the market research process. Refer to Section 2.3 in the text.
   
  • What are the steps in a market research process? Provide each step relating it to your product as possible.
  • Where was the failure in your product’s market research process? Which step was missing, not followed correctly, misinterpreted, or misrepresented?
  • What is the market research finding that you’re going to go back in time and share with management to stop this introduction?
• Don’t forget to respond to your fellow marketers.
   
  • Respond to at least three of your fellow marketers.
  • Explain how their market research failure was similar or different than yours
  • Try to respond to those who do not yet have three replies.