BBB4M Independent Study Unit
Marketing Challenge
Evaluation: Rubric. This is the ISU activity for the course. It will be worth 10% of your
final mark! DUE DATE: see the platform
The purpose of this assignment is to provide you with an opportunity to learn the overall steps
and detail involved in planning the marketing approach for a product. By completing this task,
you will demonstrate a skill that is essential to a business practitioner. The marketing plan
enables a business to establish strategies, objectives, and priorities, develop schedules and
budgets, identify tactics and initiate checkpoints to measure performance. Developing a
marketing plan also helps the business recognize potential problems, opportunities, and threats
which may emerge in the future
You are responsible for creating a product or service to market. You are creating a new
product/service but within an existing product/service category. (Ex. A new brand of soft
drink or a new brand of car etc… )
STEP 1 – THE IDEA
This process begins where all great marketing efforts begin – with an original idea! Brainstorm
ideas for products and/or services that are unique. Choose the best one for your marketing plan.
Remember, for your product to be successful, there must be evidence of demand for it.
STEP 2 – THE RESEARCH
Once you have developed a ‘product’ or ‘service’, you are ready to continue to the research
phase. It will be difficult for you to conduct primary research due to your distance from products
around the world, therefore where primary research is not possible, you will conduct secondary
research through use of books and internet.
In this phase, you will identify your competitors and decide how to successfully compete against
them. You will have to decide how to segment the market and which consumers you should
target. You will have to try to develop a competitive advantage
Some questions to consider: What can I do to set my brand apart from others? What value does
this society have? What do they like? What don’t they like?
STEP 3 – THE PLAN
The marketing plan is similar to a layout of a report. It is organized by headings and subheadings. The plan is a specific strategy for each of the 4 P’s. You will apply the concepts that
are in the textbook to your product/service. In this step you are forced to think about issues such
as:
branding, pricing, distribution, retailing, and promotions. This plan will include the information
from step 1 and step 2 above. This is what will be evaluated!
Format of Report
1. Title page

Name of product/service, person submitting the plan (student name), the person to
whom the plan is being submitted to (teacher), the date of submission of the
plan.
2. Executive Summary

A one page summary of the contents of the report. Its purpose is to provide a
quick summary of the marking plan. It should include a brief introduction, and the
major aspects of the marketing plan. This should be divided into sections.
3. Table of Contents

A listing of everything contained in the plan and where it is located in the report
4. Introduction

The introduction should explain the market chosen as well as the product/service
and why this plan is expected to be successful. This part of the report should make
the idea sound attractive to “management” (the teacher). It is useful to offer
estimates of expected sales, costs and profits as well.
5. The Marketing Mix (*Most important section of your report)

This section explains in detail the selected strategy consisting of product, price,
place, and promotion. Also, if marketing research has been done on these
elements, it can be discussed in this section.
i. Product: A description of the product/brand, packing, product life cycle, the
competitive advantage of the product.
ii. Price: The price of the product/service, the manufacturer price (estimated),
wholesale price (estimated), and suggested retail price should be listed and
justified.
iii. Place: The channel of distribution, logistical analysis. Do your research to
determine how the product will be distributed and the logistics of your operation.
iv. Promotion: A description and justification of the planned promotion mix
(examples: sales promotion, advertising, endorsements, coupons)
6. Financial Analysis (You may include this in the “price” section of your marketing
mix)

This section must contain sales forecasts and an estimate of relevant marketing
costs.
i. Sales forecast – based on a total number of persons in the selected target market
ii. Fixed and variable costs. This will include advertising costs, marketing
research costs, expenses, etc.. (your best estimate based on research)
iii. Feel free to include financial statements such as a balance sheet or income
statement to help identify your finance.
8. Appendices

Charts, diagrams, pictures, etc…
9. References: It is your responsibility to research & apply proper APA
format!

Sources of secondary data that was used in developing your marketing plan.
This assignment will be marked out of 100 points. A rubric is also attached.