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MANG3057

Measuring Marketing Effectiveness

A. Knowledge and Understanding

A1. The key marketing metrics available to contemporary organisations.

A2. Theoretical and managerial rationale for improving marketing accountability and measuring marketing effectiveness.

B. Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

B1. Evaluate different marketing metrics and the effectiveness of a firm’s marketing strategies and activities.

B2. Create recommendations to enhance marketing effectiveness based on critical, fact-based consideration of the choices available.

C. Transferable and Generic Skills

C1. Critically analyse and evaluate marketing actions.

Coursework Brief:

You are a marketing expert at Southampton Consultancy, a company that specialises in building and implementing marketing performance measurement (MPM) systems and dashboards. You are a conceptual (rather than implementation) consultant. When considering your role, a useful parallel might be drawn with architects, who are specialists in conceiving new building and landscape designs but don’t have the responsibility for laying the bricks or tiling the roof. Your line of work is the next bastion of marketing consultancy. Your employer has a number of clients actively seeking the support and guidance of experts in this field who can help in capturing their marketing effectiveness and designing systems that routinely track marketing performance. The quest for them is to focus investments around actions that actually matter.

Your employer has informed you that a new client* is in need of a Marketing Performance Measurement (MPM) system and has asked you to design (and do some preliminary work on) this system and then pitch it to them. They require you to do this in a manner that will encourage the client to move forward to the implementation (practical integration) phase. In essence, it is your job to conceptually develop and justify the new MPM system (with several other tasks) presented as a dashboard.

[*this is a client of your choosing]

To this end, your task is as follows:

- To identify an appropriate organisation (or strategic business unit) for the assignment. [we will talk a little in class about how to select this].

- Following an appropriate methodology, develop a customised MPM system of ten key metrics for your client, providing them with a deeper insight into each metric. To provide them with a sample of how the data might look, for a selection of FIVE of these metrics you will also collect, collate and / or calculate the metric using secondary sources.

- You will deliver a professional slide deck presentation (a video but see further instructions) in a manner that will engage and convince the client that: (i) your MPM system is fit for purpose, and that (ii) Southampton Consultancy is the right consultant for the implementation stage of the contract. You will submit your slides with a script (i.e. your script will be as notes underneath each slide) of a maximum of 3000 words (less is totally fine).

- You will record (and submit) this pitch (i.e. presenting your slide deck). Whilst we won’t be too prescriptive, we expect your pitch will not exceed 20 minutes on the basis that most people can speak around 150 words per minute or so when presenting but it is the script count that will form the basis of this.

As part of the task, the following elements should be evident / included:

(i) Background (i.e the pitch): Information on the company or brand that sets the scene for the MPM System.

(ii) Dashboard Visualisation and MPM System Justification: Visualisation of a marketing dashboard depicting the proposed MPM system with a (very) brief overview of the methodology and steps taken in getting to this point (that is, how did you narrow down the system to ‘these’ ten metrics). The client will expect to hear or see why this set of assembled metrics will drive performance based on the scientific evidence [hint: from your own reading of relevant scientific journals], and why it is the best set of metrics in your opinion!

(iii) Metric Evaluation: A more in-depth review of each metric with pertinent information concerning, for instance, the data source, regularity of data capture and a critical appraisal (where appropriate) of any considerations (limitations) that the client should be aware of when using that metric in the MPM system / dashboard for decision-making. As mentioned above, for half of your metrics (i.e. five), you should perform an actual analysis of marketing performance using relevant secondary sources. This stage (i.e. analysis of five metrics) should flag-up how the client’s marketing team might be performing, elucidating one or two opportunities for change (i.e. recommendations).

Your recorded video will reflect (and be structured around) the above points and is an opportunity to bring your slide deck to life. There are many ways to do this, and students are encouraged to be creative and independent in deciding on their exact approach to designing and delivering the pitch. No tuition is provided in designing and recording the slide deck especially when you are in the final year of undergraduate. But, remember that the marker of success will be your ability to convince the client to implement the conceptual plan.

Submission Date: 19th January 2024 (16.00), via Blackboard (Turnitin) [subject to change - this will be communicated]

Files to Submit:

Turnitin: 1 PDF version of your slide deck containing notes of your verbal script amounting to approximately 3000 words or less [this is the official document representing your coursework]. An example of one slide from your deck, “totting” up the word count in your script for that slide is given below:

Recorded Sessions: Upload your pitch video or record it directly to the “Recorded Sessions” link which is provided on Blackboard. Please ensure you are saving your work to the “assignment” folder [MANG3057-38605-23-24: 23-24-Measuring Marketing Effectiveness-38605 [assignments] and ensure that your file includes your name and student ID (so we can find it). For those of you not familiar with how to use Panopto - which is one of your options, then please see a video that will be posted on Blackboard for you under the assignment tab.

More Detailed Guidelines / Key Contents:

- The organisation you choose should be a UK-based or have a UK presence, as there is likely to be more publicly accessible information available, e.g. the marker will need to be able to fact check parts of your submission if necessary. However, if you feel a non-UK company suits you best, have a conversation with the instructor to confirm. Any data you use about the company should come from, and be cited, from sources in the public domain or through the University Library resource catalogue. Primary data collection is prohibited for this assessment.

- It is accepted that many organisations have multiple brands and can operate in numerous sectors. In cases such as these, you may choose a single business unit for the assessment. E.g Amazon sell products on a website and also deliver Amazon Web Services (AWS), Alexa, Prime etc. You might choose to focus on one part of the business such as Alexa to make your life simpler. It would also be advised to narrow down your geographical remit to a single country / region such as the UK (e.g. focusing on Nike in the UK). [once again, you are advised to discuss your client company with the module instructors].

- The submitted PDF slide deck should originally be designed in either Microsoft Powerpoint or Apple Keynote. The number of slides is not constrained but should only be as many as can be realistically discussed with 3000 words of script and so we realistically expect this to be around 15-20 minutes in length depending on how quickly you speak. Do think about these timings - too long and frankly you will bore the audience. If you feel confident in using less than 3000 words of script, then this is technically your prerogative. We would thus be quite cautious of a pitch going beyond 20 minutes in terms of retaining audience attention.

- You should record your pitch / presentation and (should it be necessary) edit it accordingly using a suitable software. The University uses Panopto for both recording and editing, which is available at the University but you aren’t necessitated to use this. The slide deck (inc. script notes) and the verbal pitch will be considered together (side by side) when marking the work.

We now turn our attention to some suggestions on each of the components of your pitch.

Background:

In this section you should provide:

• A brief overview of the organisation and the industry/market in which it operates. You may also wish to:

o briefly discuss key facets of the organisation, such as its size, type of offering, strategic approach, targeting and competitive positioning. Be clear about the exact remit of your work if you are focusing on a specific market (i.e. Google in the UK), strategic business unit (SBU) or brand. Whilst the client will naturally know these details, they will appreciate that this information has fed into your decision-making and that you have done your homework.

o briefly discuss the characteristics of the current and recent business environment, such as key competitors, intensity of competition, any key sources of competitive advantage, and emerging industry trends. This will be useful for any benchmarking you suggest/provide in the MPM system.

Note: focusing on facts and insights that helps create stronger argumentation for the inclusion of metrics in your MPM system is a good approach. Don’t just provide details for the sake of it - make sure what you say enhances the work.

Dashboard Visualisation and MPM System Justification

After introducing the relevant background information, you will:

• Present an attractive and practically useful dashboard visualization of your chosen ten marketing metrics (KPI’s). To provide the client with a realistic picture of the (prospective) future dashboard, you should also populate the dashboard with any data you have collected (where you haven’t got actual numbers, feel free to make the values up for those metrics). We would like to see your creativity, intuition and broader experience and learning to shine through in the dashboard.

• Explain and justify how your MPM system has been developed (from a holistic perspective), providing a brief overview of the steps or decisions you’ve taken in getting to the final set of ten metrics.

o Further details: At this point it is unnecessary to discuss specific details about individual metrics. However, your focus should be on providing a thorough justification for how and why this particular “combination” or “set” of metrics has been selected. For instance, you may talk about how are the “rules” relating to the design of MPM systems (dashboards) are evident in your system (providing examples)?

- Remember to strive for comprehensiveness and coverage; we recommend that the ten metrics should come from a range of areas rather than be very narrow in focus. There is an element of pragmatism here as we don’t cover EVERYTHING. If in doubt about if you are meeting this important requirement, just check with the instructors.

Metric Evaluation

• This section requires you to introduce the ten metrics in a much more granular, detailed and critical manner (remember also that all metrics have limitations), and for a portion of these (i.e. five) you will also perform a numeric assessment and evaluation of the client’s performance using the secondary data you have reviewed:

o From a pragmatic point of view, make sure that you select metrics that you have access to reliable data [the more precise method is to design the system, and then look for the data, but this also requires some pragmatism – no company would or could include a metric it wouldn’t have data for, so neither would you!].

o For the metrics that you provide data for, if you decide or need to calculate the metrics yourself (which you may want to even when data is readily available), document and evidence this somewhere in your slide deck. For the five metrics you collect data for, put that performance into context using relevant internal and/or external benchmarks.

o Provide, where possible, a review of what the results (for the five metrics you have data for) might suggest about the company’s marketing effectiveness. For instance, (i) in which area(s) is the company performing well or problematically, and (ii) what might the reason or explanation be? [the latter is important – an analyst would always give a clue as to why the results go a certain way – is there any evidence that can full in these gaps?].

We would expect to see evidence of your wider reading in all sections of the presentation, but especially here.

Conclusions

• Every pitch has to have a conclusion. Provide a concise overall summary/conclusion of the report.

• Provide a full reference list (Harvard [see further particulars below]) on the final slide.

• You may wish to have some slides at the end (which you may not discuss) that can host / work as appendices without going overboard.

Additional Considerations

• We only have limited time together, which affects the amount of content we are able to cover. As such we only cover a small number of metrics in a population of thousands. It is therefore perfectly acceptable (in fact, recommended) that you independently employ metrics not covered in class (when relevant to do so!).

• Strive to adopt a critical and constructive view supported by a range of external information, not just personal opinions. When referring to other people’s work, please use clear and consistent academic referencing even if you prefer to detail this in a much smaller font in the corner of the slide, or even in the notes section alongside your script (student’s prerogative).

• Whilst a natural starting place is the company report (predominantly for establishing mission and objectives) for your chosen client, simply cherry-picking metrics from this would be very much ill-advised.

• The slide deck should be useful and understood as a standalone document. Being able to clearly communicate key information to relevant stakeholders (e.g. head of marketing department and other members of the top management team), using attractive methods to visualise information (i.e. charts / figures / dashboard) will be credited.

Assessment marking

You will not be directly marked on your choice of company, but students should be aware that this decision will naturally influence the data that can be accessed and the direction of the work. You are encouraged to discuss your choice of company with the instructors, especially where time is scheduled for this purpose.

The assignment will be marked on the following criteria, but students should refer to the more comprehensive grade boundary descriptor on Blackboard:

Criteria

Background (20%)

Overview of the case company and its business context

Dashboard Visualisation and MPM System Justification

(30%)

Suitability, explanation and justification for the broader (holistic) MPM system and appropriate visualisation of the marketing dashboard.

Metric Evaluation

(30%)

Critical appraisal, demonstration of analytical skills, quality of assessment, range of relevant sources and consideration of explanations for performance outcomes

Presentation & Pitch

(20%)

Quality of the visual materials used, engagement of the pitch and creativity of the presentation

Further Particulars

Draft work: We would not look at draft work. However, you will have a chance to discuss your work with Rob in the early stages of the module on a one-to-one basis. Seminars are designed around the assignment, and students are encouraged to ask questions from the designated seminar and wrap up lecture.

FAQ’s

Can I use a family business, contact, or employer as my case study?

In theory yes, although only if the information is accessible to the student and marker. Our expectation would be for you to select a firm whereby secondary information can easily be collected.

Can I use the same firm as my friend?

We are not going to stop you. However, we would warn that we take great care to compare work for replication (plagiarism) meaning clear discrimination must exist.

How do I show my script/notes?

Your script is your formal and final version notes for each slide in your pitch and should amount to somewhere in the region of 3000 words in total (recall that 3000 words is the maximum word count in this case). This doesn’t mean that you have to “word for word” stick to this in your recorded final pitch, but it will provide a very, very good guide of what you say. Taking these parameters together, coupled with an average speaking rate of about 150 words a minute we don’t expect your pitch to go much beyond 20 minutes as a guide. You are advised to submit your script using the “notes” section in Powerpoint, meaning they appear under each slide, or you can find another way of presenting the script that works for you but is clear (e.g. using a word doc and copying in your slides typing the script underneath). Please make a note of the final word count (i.e. the number of words in your pitch) as we will look into this using software if we feel the need. For those who do not know, you can save your slides and notes as a PDF by doing print preview and choosing notes in MS Word - this will give you something like the example provided above.

Submission of the Video

As mentioned above, there will be two things that you submit for this assignment.

1. A PDF of your slide deck. This will be the formally submitted work. The slide deck can be in PPT or Pages so long as you have notes with the script clearly identified. The notes will be your script (i.e. what you are saying/going to say) for the pitch. You will submit this document in the normal way via Turnitin.

2. Recorded Pitch. Your recording will be uploaded to Panopto via the Blackboard site. You will submit your video via Blackboard by clicking on the Recorded Sessions tab and clicking on the folder with the course code and [assignments].

There are ostensibly two options for uploading your pitch video.

(i) create a video yourself in a favoured software and then simply upload it into Panopto ready to view.

(ii) use the Panopto web browser or app to record and edit the video, ready to be updated.

Here is a link to the guide: https://elearn.soton.ac.uk/knowledge-base/panopto-studentassessment/. We also have posted a guide from our perspective on this.

If you wish to edit directly in Panopto, here is a short guide: https://elearn.soton.ac.uk/article-categories/panopto-student/

Please note: you can submit and replace your video up until the point of the assignment deadline. This link doesn’t CLOSE like other assignments and so, technically, you could edit further after the deadline. However, we WILL be able to see if your video has been edited after the deadline, so DO NOT DO THIS as it will impact your grade.

NOTES

Nature of Assessment: This is a SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT. See ‘Weighting’ section above for the percentage that this assignment counts towards your final module mark.

Word Limit: please refer to the broader brief.

Title/Cover Page: You must include a title/ cover page that includes: your Student ID, Module Code, Assignment Title, Word Count (for the script). This assignment will be marked anonymously, please ensure that your name does not appear on any part of your assignment.

References: You should use the Harvard style to reference your assignment. The library provide guidance on how to reference in the Harvard style and this is available from: http://library.soton.ac.uk/sash/referencing

Submission Deadline: Please note that the submission deadline for Southampton Business School is 16.00 GMT for ALL assessments.

Turnitin Submission: The assignment MUST be submitted electronically via Turnitin, which is accessed via the individual module on Blackboard. Further guidance on submitting assignments is available above and on the Blackboard support pages.

It is important that you allow enough time prior to the submission deadline to ensure your submission is processed on time as all late submissions are subject to a late penalty. We would recommend you allow 30 minutes to upload your work and check the submission has been processed and is correct. Please make sure you submit to the correct assignment link.

Email submission receipts are not currently supported with Turnitin Feedback Studio LTI integrations, however following a submission, students are presented with a banner within their assignment dashboard that provides a link to download a submission receipt. You can also access your assignment dashboard at any time to download a copy of the submission receipt using the receipt icon. It is vital that you make a note of your Submission ID (Digital Receipt Number). This is a unique receipt number for your submission, and is proof of successful submission. You may be required to provide this number at a later date.  We recommend that you take a screenshot of this page, or note the number down on a piece of paper.

The last submission prior to the deadline will be treated as the final submission and will be the copy that is assessed by the marker.

It is your responsibility to ensure that the version received by the deadline is the final version, resubmissions after the deadline will not be accepted in any circumstances.

Important: If you have any problems during the submission process you should contact ServiceLine immediately by email at [email protected] or by phone on +44 (0)23 8059 5656.

Late Penalties: Further information on penalties for work submitted after the deadline can be found here.

Special Considerations: If you believe that illness or other circumstances have adversely affected your academic performance, information regarding the regulations governing Special Considerations can be accessed via the Calendar: http://www.calendar.soton.ac.uk/sectionIV/special-considerations.html

Extension Requests: : Extension requests along with supporting evidence should be submitted to the Student Office as soon as possible before the submission date. Information regarding the regulations governing extension requests can be accessed via the Calendar: http://www.calendar.soton.ac.uk/sectionIV/special-considerations.html

Academic Integrity Policy: Please note that you can access Academic Integrity Guidance for Students via the Quality Handbook: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/quality/assessment/academic_integrity.page?. Please note any suspected cases of Academic Integrity will be notified to the Academic Integrity Officer for investigation.

Feedback: Southampton Business School is committed to providing feedback within 4 weeks (University working days). Once the marks are released and you have received your feedback, you can meet with your Module Leader / Module Lecturer / Personal Academic Tutor to discuss the feedback within 4 weeks from the release of marks date. Any additional arrangements for feedback are listed in the Module Profile.

Student Support: Study skills and language support for Southampton Business School students is available at: http://www.sbsaob.soton.ac.uk/study-skills-and-language-support/.