Group Project 2
In this project, you will focus on understanding attitudes and its cognitive, affective, and conative functions (Chapter 5). You will conduct secondary research to analyze the a social/cause-related marketing campaign and write up your findings. Below is the brief description of social and cause-related marketing that will help you choose a campaign for the analysis. This is a research assignment, which means that you need to find academic, media, trade, and other published research to support your analysis.
Social Marketing
Social marketing is defined as the design and implementation of programs used to increase the acceptability of social ideas, which involves the four Ps (price, product, placement, and promotion) of marketing. Social marketing involves the application of commercial marketing technologies to the analysis, planning, execution and evaluation of programs designed to influence the voluntary behavior of a target audience in order to improve their personal welfare and that of their society. Social marketing has been used extensively in the health promotion branch of public health as a means to improve health and prevent disease in the target market. Examples of social marketing in public health include programs focused on increasing physical activity, increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, anti-smoking/smoking cessation, and sexually transmitted disease prevention. Brands benefit from social marketing through improved brand equity, brand awareness, and brand loyalty because consumers of the brand supporting social marketing initiatives often benefit from the feeling that their support of the brand made these initiatives possible.
Cause-Related Marketing (CRM)
CRM is defined as activity by which businesses, charities, or causes form a partnership with each other to market an image, a product, or a service for mutual benefit. Examples include the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge or PAMPERS and UNICEF partnership to provide global coverage of tetanus vaccines. One study found that nearly 50% of consumers reported that they had made a purchase because of their desire to support a cause, were willing to try a new brand because of cause-related promotion, and the majority had a high recall of cause-related advertising.
Your Tasks
- As a group, select a social or cause-related marketing campaign that is trying to change consumers’ attitudes/behaviors in some way. This is a critical point, and you need to do this as a group, discuss what causes or social issues are important to you as well as relevant to society. Spend time brainstorming as well as doing research on such campaigns. The more last minute you do it, the more last-minute the project quality will be, and subsequently, the grade.
- For secondary research, use Google, Google Scholar, and the library databases, which are free: LexisNexis, Business Source Premier, and Academic Search Premier. Go to Oviatt website, click on Databases on the left-hand side, and under the Browse by Database Name, click on the appropriate letter. Search within the database by word or phrase.
- Once you have selected the campaign, do the research on it and then write a report addressing these specific points:
- What is/was the purpose behind this campaign, that is, why did the brand/company do it?
- Who is the target market for this campaign? Why was this target audience selected?
- What consumer attitudes/behaviors is the campaign trying to change? Why is there a need to change this attitude/behavior? What characteristics are typical of this attitude? What makes it challenging to change this attitude/behavior and why? Elaborate on your answer using existing research.
- How did the campaign address the attitude/behavior change component? (Use Ch. 5 to help your analysis).
- Was it through the message? If yes, what is the message trying to do? How was it executed?
- Was it through the source? If yes, what was the rationale behind the source? How was it executed?
- What were the appeals used? What was that rationale for their effectiveness?
- How did the brand benefit from this campaign? Discuss the aftermath of the campaign. If there was any backlash or contradictions, discuss them in light of consumers’ attitudes/behaviors.
- Discuss the difference between attitude towards the ad and attitude towards the brand in the context of this campaign.
- Was the campaign effective in changing attitude/behavior? Why or why not?
- What are broader consumer behavior implications in terms of changing consumer attitudes or behaviors?
- How would you re-design this campaign to make it more effective? Be critical and creative in your recommendations.
Submission and Formatting Instructions
- One submission per group in your Google drive folder. A hard copy due in class at the same time.
- Label your submission: Group Project #2. DO NOT copy and paste from Google Docs. Use a proper, stand-alone Word doc to submit the assignment. If the formatting is messed up, you will lose points.
- Cover page listing the project title (Changing Consumer Attitudes), your group member names alphabetized by the last name, class name, professor name, date.
- Your analysis should be about 5-6 double-spaced pages, excluding the cover page and the reference list page, and the campaign link.
- Do not waste pages on describing the campaign, you will provide a link where I can view the ad in your report, on a separate page under the heading: Campaign Video. Make sure that the link is active.
- Write in Times, 12-size font and use paragraphs. Use headings and subheading as you see fit to make your writing neat and professional.
- Use page numbers in the same font in the upper right corner of the page. DO NOT number the cover page.
- Write in a grammatically and syntactically correct, formal English (no informal language).
- Use references throughout the report and cite in the proper APA format both within the text and on a reference list. Here’s the shortcut to citing sources in APA format: http://www.apastyle.org/?gclid=CjwKCAiAlfnUBRBQEiwAWpPA6XgD7cYbnBDeHiQgQ1hRpts-QCsLbXpRsQdmXa6rzOGTOl-QhfznehoCRFEQAvD_BwE
DO NOT use “Running Head,” only citations need to be in APA format.
Grading Rubric
The project is 30 points in total:
- Analysis, integration and use of secondary research, application of concepts – 25 pts.
- Formatting – 5 pts.
- The points will be given based on the appropriate and thoughtful use of concepts, application of research, and the quality of your reasoning.
