2008 Annual Kellogg Marketing Competition Handbook

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AKMC 2008 HandbookTable of Contents

What is Annual Kellogg Marketing Competition?..............................................................3

Calendar of Events………………………………………………………….………………………………………………….4

Rules………………………………………………………………………………………….…….…………..…………….…… 5

Promotional Tools Description……………………………………………………….………..……………………… 8

Marketing Basics: STP/4P……………………………………………………………………..………………………….10

Contacts………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………12

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What is the Annual Kellogg Marketing Competition AKMC is an annual event dedicated to giving first years a chance to use their skills and creativity to work on a marketing campaign from beginning to end. Students form teams of 5 and apply to the competition. 13 selected teams draft products and create a full marketing campaign around them, culminating in a special AKMC TG November 7th, where each team sells 500 units of their product.

Teams apply the frameworks they learn in MKTG 430 to a real marketing campaign. Scoring is divided equally among:

The marketing campaign plan presentation, as judged by current brand managers of premier retail and CPG companies

Campaign execution, judged by fellow students through a survey to the school The final sale during TG, as judged by units sold and highest overall margin

The AKMC provides participants a great chance to show recruiters their interest in marketing, and gives participants a great opportunity to develop stories to share during interviews. Most importantly, AKMC is regarded as one of the most exciting and fun events at Kellogg!

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Competition Calendar of EventsOctober-November, 2008

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Rules of the GameGeneral Rules

Once teams have been assigned a product they are responsible for contacting their brand manager. Teams cannot receive any promotional materials from the brand team beyond the logo provided from the Marketing Competition Committee contact. Teams cannot discuss their campaign ideas with 2nd years. The competition is about creativity and assembling a campaign from beginning to end. The committee doesn’t want teams to “anchor” themselves to ideas from previous years at the expense of new ideas this year.

Most importantly, have fun!

The Marketing Competition is divided into three stages: the STP presentation, the campaign period, and the final TG event. Below are details on each:

STP Presentations

Teams will present their segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP) plan, as well as tactics they intend to use to execute their strategy. Each team will present their STP plans to a panel of judges. You will receive feedback within a few days of the presentation. Although you will not be able to revise these presentations for scoring purposes, feedback can be incorporated into your promotional material execution.

Campaign Period: Promotion and Marketing RulesEach team will receive 100 PROMO Bid Points for its promotions. These PROMO bid points will be spent on promotional activities (see below in Promotional Tools).

Teams are also permitted to spend $100 (real money), which will be reimbursed at the end of the competition. Teams are not allowed to spend more than $100 total for competition-related items.

Guidelines for what you can and cannot buy include: Items used for producing competition materials, but that are not physically present in

the school or at the TG, will not be counted in the budget (eg. paper cutter, computer, etc.)

Anything that is physically in the school and/or at the TG (beyond just your team members and their normal clothing) will count against your $100 budget unless approved by the co-chairs

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Items that you currently own or can get access to without paying for will generally not be counted, provided that said object will not cause an unfair advantage for the team. In other words, items that other teams could not reasonably attain will not be counted.

For example, costumes that you own or can borrow free of charge will be approved. Abnormally large donations will not be approved (such as a PS2, use of the Bud girls, etc.)

These rules apply to both the promotional period and the TG event. Make sure you keep all receipts, you’ll need them for reimbursement! Don’t forget to use the tax-exempt form. Northwestern will not reimburse money spent on taxes.

Posting RulesOnly approved material may be posted.

Authorized posters must have an “Authorized” stamp. Post and promote only what, where, and how you have been authorized to post and promote. (Honor Code applies). Promotions will take place on the ground floor of Jacobs Center and in all Jacobs Center bathrooms.

Promotions cannot be posted on wood, paint, or glass (including mirrors). No postings are allowed in the following:

1) Anywhere above ground level, except for bathrooms2) Class/study/group rooms (including doors)3) Inside Kafé Kellogg4) Stairs or stairwells5) Entrances to Kellogg6) Floors

Post with blue painter’s tape or masking tape ONLY. Avoid covering plaques containing important administrative information (room number, room name, etc). And avoid covering existing publications, including those posted by other teams.

Topics that are off limits are any images, language, or innuendo which would be inappropriate, distasteful, or adult in nature. (Keep it PG – kids come to TG, as do recruiters, alumni, prospective students, etc!) Do not include references to alcohol, and NO sexual innuendos!

Also do not include anything that could be perceived as offensive by a subgroup of students. If you have a question, ASK BEFORE submitting copies of ads for approval. (FYI, several years ago, one team developed an entire campaign, printed multiple ads, etc, only to be told by the administration that they had to redo all of their work due to inappropriate content.) Basically, respect yourself, your classmates, our visitors, and your school.

Campaigning begins at 7:30am on Thursday, October 30th and NOT ONE MINUTE EARLIER. Teams are only permitted to send competition-related emails to small groups of people (10 or fewer) – no listservs. You cannot ask other people to send your email to a listserv either. The

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only exception is if the team has purchased the right to email the class listerv. Also keep in mind that your target audience may not appreciate multiple emails, and may voice their opinions in the market research survey (see below).All teams must remove their promotional material on the evening of Wednesday, Nov 5th, by 5pm. Any team that intentionally sabotages another team’s campaign will be automatically disqualified, will lose their deposit, and will be referred to the Honor Committee. The Kellogg Honor Code applies.

Teams will be judged based on a market research web-survey to the Kellogg student body (performed by Kellogg Marketing Competition leadership team) evaluating recall on the teams’ campaigns. Adherence to the rules will also be taken into consideration. Be aware that competing teams may not take the survey and individuals may only take the survey once.

Final “Selling” Event at Kellogg TGEach team will receive 100 TG Bid Points for the Friday TG Mega-Mart Event. These TG Bid Points will be spent on items such as in-store circulars, booth location, etc. Each visitor to the TG Mega-Mart will be given 20 AKMC Mega-Bucks that they can choose to spend on any of the products. Teams will be judged by their revenues and profitability and by the event execution scores as judged by competition judges. Teams are responsible for post-TG cleanup of their booth area. Also, no messy materials (e.g. sand, water, jell-o) should be used. In addition, Kellogg prohibits having helium balloons in the atrium, so these cannot be part of your campaign or booth at TG. And finally, no alcohol can be involved in campaigns or booths, and awards will be given after the final event.

Disclaimer: Any and all omissions from the rules will be determined on an ad-hoc basis by the competition co-chairs. The competition co-chairs have the right to interpret the rules as we deem necessary.

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Promotional ToolsAs stated above, teams will have the opportunity to bid on various promotional tools, both scarce and non-scarce. Teams will bid on scarce tools, then “buy” non-scarce tools after scarce tools are distributed and unused or losing points returned. Bidding is similar to the Kellogg class bidding, with the lowest winning bid establishin the amount charged to all of the winning teams.

Teams do not have to bid on any scarce tools, but they may obviously not bid over 100 points. A bidding spreadsheet for submission will be distributed separately.

SCARCE Promotional Tools: Media Options Instructions1st Floor Posting Posting on both billboards on 1st Floor of Jacobs. Only one sheet can be

posted per billboard.Atrium Balcony Hang a billboard from the Atrium Balcony railings. Billboards can cover

both sides of the entire railing, but cannot go below the surface of first floor, nor can it be wider than the railings.

Atrium Pillar Use an Atrium Pillar as a billboard! Your posting can cover as much of the pillar as you’d like, but can't cover neighboring windows or go above the bottom edge of the first floor

Club Listserv A major club’s weekly email will include your ad. Only one team will be posted per club.

Lunchtime Guerrilla Marketing

Take over the Atrium for the lunch break! Events must be approved by co-chairs in advance.

McManus Posting Posting on McManus notice boards next to elevators. Only one sheet can be posted per billboard.

Serial Ad Ad posting on the front-page of Serial for one full day.Table Tents Table-top ads on the Atrium tables. Table tents cannot be larger than

one 8.5x11 sheet of paper.

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NON-SCARCE Promotional Tools:

Media Options Instructions$50 for your Budget Get an extra $50 to spend on your campaign.Mailbox stuffing Size of mailbox stuffing materials should be such that students can still

receive materials from other parties. You are allowed to use 3-dimensional materials, as long as it does not entirely cover students' mailboxes.

Mass e-mail One email may be sent to the entire school during the campaign period.Restroom Postings You may place five posters in each of your assigned restrooms, as per

the instructions above. Posters must not exceed 8.5”x11”Viral Email One email may be sent to ten people. Then hope they pass it on! You

may not explicitly ask them to forward the email.Website Create a website for your brand.Wild Postings (Small Posters)

Flyer postings almost anywhere on the ground floor. Each sheet must be 8.5”x11”

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Marketing Basics to Get You Started4Cs: Consumer, Competitor, Company, CollaboratorThe 4 C’s are used to identify a market opportunity/entry for a company in a category, segment, industry, country, etc.

Consumer analysis: What does the consumer need? Always start with the consumer! If you can’t show the consumer a need for the product, you will not succeed.

Competitor analysis: Do competitors exist? How strong are they? How will they react? Company analysis: What are your firm’s capabilities? Is the firm able to produce and

deliver the product? Collaborators or Channel Partners analysis: Can synergies be gained through working

with retailers, suppliers, distributors, or companies with complementary products.

STP: Segmentation, Targeting, PositioningSegmentation: Divides the market into distinct groups of buyers with different needs, characteristics, or behavior. Bases for segmenting the market include:

Geographic segmentation: Divides market into different geographical units such as nations, states, regions, counties, cities, or neighborhoods.

Demographic segmentation: Divides market into groups based on variables such as age, life-stage, gender, income, family size, occupation, education, religion, race, and nationality.

Psychographic segmentation: Divides buyers into different groups based on social class, lifestyle, or personality characteristics.

Behavioral segmentation: Divides buyers into groups based on their knowledge, attitudes, uses, or responses to a product.

Targeting: After evaluating different segments, you must decide which and how many segments to serve. A target market consists of a set of buyers who share common needs or characteristics that the company decides to serve.Positioning: A product’s position is the place the product occupies in the consumers’ minds relative to competing products. Products may be positioned based on attributes, usage occasions, users, against a competitor, away from a competitor, or based on product classes.The classic positioning statement:To (target market), X is the brand of (frame of reference) that (benefit/point of difference) because of (product attribute).“To health conscious women ages 35 – 50, K is the brand of cereal that has a perfect balance of flavor and health because it is made with wholesome grains and contains 30% of your daily fiber needs.”A positioning statement is not limited to products but can be extended to services too:“To affluent and sophisticated travelers, the X resort is the warm weather vacation experience that provides the ultimate in relaxation because of our commitment to high quality service and professional personnel.

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4Ps: Product, Price, Promotion, PlacementKotler’s 4Ps or Marketing Mix is used in marketing execution/implementation cases suchas in new products launches.

Promotion· Buying process· Consumer awareness and interest· Trial, Repurchase, Loyalty· Select sales (Pull versus Push) Pull = advertising / Push = discounts to merchandisers· Advertising medium (reach and frequency)· Direct selling· Sales promotions – incentives to consumers, sales force, and channel members· Public relations

Placement (Distribution Channel)· Channels (consider level of sales and margins desired)· Coverage (trade off between coverage and costs)· Inventory – levels, turnover, carrying costs· Transportation – alternatives, efficiencies, costs

Price· Retail and discounts· Strategy: MR = MC, skim, penetrate· Economies of scale vs. profit margin· Perceived value vs. cost plus margin· Economic incentives to channel· Establishing barriers to entry

Product· Features and capabilities· Positioning decisions and market segmentation· Differentiated vs. commodity· Quality, service, variations in product· Brand strength· Service and warranties· Future strategy

Porter’s 5 ForcesThe 5 Forces will be covered in greater detail in your Management and Strategy course. A general overview:

Buyer power: bargaining power of buyers. Supplier power: bargaining power of suppliers. Substitutes: threat of substitute products or services. Potential entrants: threat of new entrants. What sort of barriers to entry exists? Rivalry: competitiveness of industry players.

Profitability· Profit = Volume * Price – Cost

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Questions? Contact us!

Name Email

Tonya Fenske tfenske2009@kellogg.northwestern.edu

Blaire Fraser bfraser2009@kellogg.northwestern.edu

Blake Hamill bhamill2009@kellogg.northwestern.edu

Alissa Menovich amenovich2009@kellogg.northwestern.edu

Alix Reisinger areisinger2009@kellogg.northwestern.edu

Aviva Tropp atropp2009@kellogg.northwestern.edu

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