2011 SMA Conference_Teacher-Friendly Experiential Learning Options Reference Guide.pdf

Copyright © 2011, Society for Marketing Advances

Teacher-Friendly Experiential Learning Projects for Marketing Educators

A Reference Guide to Accompany Session 10.5 of the 2011 SMA Conference

Teacher-Friendly Options for Incorporating Experiential Learning Projects in Marketing Courses

Prepared By

William M. Madway The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Leslie Kendrick

Johns Hopkins University

Marilyn Lavin University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

Katie E. Matthew

United States Military Academy

Sandra Utt University of Memphis

November 2011

Table of Contents

Panelists Profiles ............................................................................................................................................1

Section1: About the Guide.............................................................................................................................2

Section 2: The EdVenture Partners Marketing Internship Program ..............................................................4

Section 3: The Google Online Marketing Challenge.....................................................................................7

Section 4: Music2Go Marketing, An Online Simulation.............................................................................13

Section 5: The National Student Advertising Competition .........................................................................16

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Panelist Profiles

Leslie Kendrick combines 12 years of teaching experience with 12 years as a marketing practitioner. She currently is a Senior Lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, where she teaches undergraduates for the Whiting School of Engineering’s Entrepreneurship & Management Program in the Center for Leadership Education. Leslie is also the internship coordinator for the Entrepreneurship & Management Program and the academic advisor for the University’s American Marketing Association (AMA) student chapter. A former Vice President of Collegiate Relations for the AMA’s Baltimore chapter, Leslie founded the chapter’s Annual Student Job Search Workshop, now in its 19th year. Her case, “BP’s Deepwater Horizon: Ethics and Environmental Effects” will be published in the 11th edition of Marketing by Kerin, Harley, and Rudelius. Leslie earned an MBA in Marketing from Loyola University.

Marilyn Lavin is a Professor of Marketing at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where she teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. She focuses her teaching and research primarily on Internet Marketing and Retail Management. Her research has appeared in such publications as the Journal of Consumer Research, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, and the Journal of the Academy of Business Disciples. Marilyn is considered one of the preeminent experts on the Google Online Marketing Challenge and is a member of the Google Academic Panel. She earned a Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Ph.D. in U.S. History from Columbia University.

Katie Matthew is a Major in the U.S. Army and an Instructor at The United States Military Academy at West Point. As a faculty member at West Point, Katie teaches courses in marketing and military leadership for the Department of Behavioral Sciences & Leadership. In her capacity as a U.S. Army officer, Katie has served in a number of command and staff positions. She has also been deployed overseas, first from November 2001 to April 2002 in Uzbekistan/Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, and next from April 2004 to October 2004 in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Her awards and decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, and the Army Achievement Medal. Katie earned an MBA from Kansas State University.

Sandra H. Utt, is an Associate Professor and Assistant Chair in the Department of Journalism of the College of Communication and Fine Arts at the University of Memphis. Her main teaching interests are media planning, theories, research and design. She is currently co-editor of Newspaper Research Journal, a publication of the Newspaper Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). She also serves on accrediting site visit teams for the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. Sandy is the chair-elect of the National Education Executive Committee of the American Advertising Federation and serves on the National Student Advertising Competition committee. She earned a Ph. D. in Journalism and Mass Communication from Ohio University.

William M. Madway (Session Moderator) is a Lecturer in Marketing at The Wharton School. He has been at Wharton for three years after six years at the Villanova School of Business. He became a marketing educator after 20+ years in the marketing profession. His professional experience includes 6 years running his own marketing research firm, 6 years running the marketing research department of a major media company, and 2 years at The Gallup Organization. His main teaching interests are marketing research, entrepreneurial marketing, and integrated marketing communications. He has used various experiential learning projects in his classes including online simulations and the National Student Advertising Competition. Bill is on the editorial review board of the Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education. He earned an MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from Wharton.

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Section 1: About this Guide

William M. Madway The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

[email protected]

This reference guide has been prepared as a reference for the 2011 Society for Marketing Advances Conference special session, Teacher-Friendly Options for Incorporating Experiential Learning Projects in Marketing Courses. This special session has been designed to familiarize marketing educators with effective experiential learning projects that are relatively easy to implement. As explained in the special session abstract found in the Conference Proceedings, while many marketing educators recognize the advantages provided by experiential learning and students tend to prefer active, real-world teaching techniques, this approach presents many challenges that hinder greater use.

One major impediment is the amount of time involved in designing and carrying out experiential learning activities, especially real-world class projects. Instructors often must find a company willing to serve as a “client,” and must then manage this relationship. These projects also require instructors to provide a great deal of support for students outside the classroom. What’s more, it can be difficult to assess individual student learning and performance, as many of these projects are carried out by teams. Online simulations eliminate the need to find clients, but still require considerable advising time, not to mention the time needed to address the inevitable technical problems.

Fortunately, a number of experiential learning options that overcome these challenges are now available for use in a wide variety of marketing courses, ranging from Introduction to Marketing to capstone courses such as Marketing Strategy and Advertising Campaigns. Many of these options involve “live” cases, developed in cooperation with major multinational companies, in which students conduct primary research, develop recommendations, and present their findings to the client company. Multiple universities can simultaneously utilize the cases, which usually include a competitive aspect, i.e., teams at participating schools compete against one another for recognition, and in some cases, prizes. Some of these projects allow students to actually implement their recommendations, with funding provided by the sponsoring company.

The SMA special session will focus on four, tried-and-true experiential learning projects. Because of the way these projects are designed and the ample resources that are provided, they are relatively easy to implement. Hence the term, “teacher-friendly.” By no means are these four projects the only “teacher-friendly,” experiential learning projects available. But they are among the best and provide a benchmark against which other options can and should be measured. Here is a capsule summary of each one:

• The Marketing Internship Program (MI), one of two types of industry-education collaborative programs created by EdVenture Partners. In the MI program, students taking a for-credit, marketing or advertising class research the target audience; create a marketing campaign, which they pitch to their client for approval; and implement their plan using funds provided by their client. Students also analyze their results and present their findings to their client. Organizations participating in the MI program in recent years include Chevrolet, Nissan, Sapphire Mobile Systems the FBI, and the U.S. Navy.

• The Google Online Marketing Challenge. Student teams receive $200 of Google advertising, and work with local companies or NGOs to create online marketing campaigns. The challenge is open to colleges around the world. Regional winners and their professor receive a trip to a regional Google office; the global winners and their professor receive a trip to Google’s world headquarters.

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• The Music2Go Marketing, a highly realistic, comprehensive online marketing simulation developed by Smartsims. Students take over the MP3 player division of a large consumer electronics company, and formulate segmentation, positioning, sales, distribution, pricing, new product development, and promotion strategies, as they attempt to build their firm into the leading player in the market. Students compete against others in their course.

• The American Advertising Federation’s National Student Advertising Competition. Student teams develop an integrated communications campaign to address a real-world marketing problem facing the sponsoring company or non-profit, and “pitch” it to a panel of judges in regional competitions. The top team in each region advances to the national finals. Recent NSAC sponsors include AOL, Coca-Cola, Florida Tourism, J.C. Penney, and State Farm Insurance.

Each of the marketing educators participating in the special session has experience using one or more of these projects. Each one will share her experience and advice on a variety of salient topics, including:

• The pros and cons of the four projects;

• The types of students and marketing courses the projects are best-suited for;

• How to integrate these projects into a course syllabus;

• The instructor’s role in these projects;

• Tips on how to implement the projects;

• The challenges that can come up and how to address them;

• How to assess learning outcomes and student performance; and

• How to get started and where to go for help.

This reference guide is intended to help you evaluate the suitability of these four projects for the courses you teach, and to assist you in the implementation process. For each project, you’ll find in-depth guidance prepared by one of the panelists. Each panelist was asked to cover the same topics in her written material to make it easy to compare the four projects. The panelists have also provided sample grading rubrics and other implementation tools.

We hope that you find the special session and the reference guide helpful. Regardless of the type of marketing class you teach, we are confident that one or more of these projects will be of interest to you and of value to your students. And because of the way the projects are structured and the resources the sponsoring organizations provide, these projects are relatively easy to implement. That said, you no doubt will have questions down the road, and all of us involved in this special session will be available to help. So please feel free to contact us. Good luck.

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Section 2: The EdVenture Partners Marketing Internship Program

Leslie Kendrick Senior Lecturer & Internship Coordinator

Johns Hopkins University [email protected]

1. Overview

1.1 Description of the project/courses I have used it in

The EdVenture Partners (EVP) Marketing Internship program, one of several models offered by the organization, pairs a faculty member’s class with a client that seeks to reach a segment of the undergraduate student population on that campus for either a new product launch (Nissan) or a recruitment campaign (FBI, Navy SEALs). It is a semester-long program that involves wrapping pre- and post-campaign research around an integrated marketing campaign (IMC) that is developed and implemented (budget of $3,000) during the semester.

I use this program in conjunction with my Advertising & Integrated Marketing Communication course.

1.2 Strengths/advantages of the project from an educator’s point-of-view

This project allows students in department manager roles to gain leadership experience in a classroom setting that mirrors the real world in many respects. It also allows every student in the class to contribute to the formulation of an IMC strategy and tactics since several key deliverables (i.e., development of the pre-campaign research survey, focus group script, the campaign theme and slogan and events) are selected following brainstorming sessions with the entire class. While all students’ communication skills are tested, department managers are required to communicate both orally and in writing to both their teams and the client (via the EVP account representative).

1.3 What students like about the project and how the project is impacting their learning and career prospects

• It provides students the opportunity to experience the development and implementation of an entire IMC campaign.

• It provides them with more responsibility and accountability than the typical internship as they are called on to develop and launch an actual campaign and then measure its success.

• It allows them to gain experience managing a team. • It allows them to gain experience working for a prestigious client. • It provides them with experience developing and managing a substantial budget. • It allows them to list this experience as an internship on their resumes, which makes them

more marketable.

1.4 Types of students the project is suited for

At JHU, we have an entrepreneurship & management minor in our Center for Leadership Education (housed in the School of Engineering) and a marketing concentration within that minor. So my students are undergraduates who have taken at least one prerequisite: Principles of Marketing. I believe that the bulk of the Marketing Internship model programs are run in conjunction with upper-level undergraduate classes.

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1.5 Types of courses the project is suited for

I use this program in conjunction with my 400-level Advertising & Integrated Marketing Communication course. Because it’s an upper-level course, many of the students who take it have had one or more internship and/or leadership experiences previously. This is very advantageous when it comes to selecting managers since their learning curve is shorter.

2. Implementation

2.1 How you integrate the project into my course syllabus

While I have them read Advertising & Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective, by Belch & Belch, and they are quizzed on it so I know that it is read, most of the class time is devoted to developing the client deliverables. I usually bring a social media practitioner and an advertising agency Account Executive to class and have each present an IMC case study, so that students can see how the “integration” works in the real world. In addition, the EVP account representative and the client come to the class (in person or by videoconference) to launch the project during week 1 or 2, and then for the Marketing Strategy Meeting and the Final Client Presentation.

In order to develop the campaign, the class is divided into “departments” including Market Research, Advertising/Multimedia, PR/Social Media, Strategy and Implementation/Events and Budget. Through an application process, students provide me with their top three department choices and indicate whether or not they are interested in a Manager role (including Agency Coordinator/CEO).

2.2 The roles I play during the project

Prior to registration for the course, I encourage strong students with skill sets needed in the class (Photoshop, web site design) to enroll. Once the course starts, I guide and mentor the agency Coordinator (CEO) who oversees all Department Managers and I provide guidance to every Department Manager. I communicate with EVP as well. I also make myself available by cell phone in the evening and over the weekend to help managers trouble-shoot problems that they cannot solve.

2.3 Resources and other assistance provided by the organization and/or company sponsoring the project

A dedicated EVP account representative oversees the project and interfaces with the client and the faculty member. In addition, extensive resources and templates for the students and the faculty member are provided on the EVP web site. A web site interface called “share space” provides the mechanism by which all client deliverables are uploaded, reviewed, and approved by the EVP account rep and then the client.

2.4 Challenges that can come up during the project and tips for dealing with them

The most significant challenges revolve around communication. Some examples are co-managers who don’t communicate effectively with each other and/or their teams, and interdepartmental communication. I spend a fair amount of time coaching the managers individually to overcome these issues.

2.5 Other tips for successful implementation

• Speaking with the EVP account rep and agreeing on deliverable deadlines up front so they are in your syllabus is the best way to set up this program.

• The JHU Institutional Review Board (IRB) exemption application needs to be done a month or more prior to the class starting because the students’ Research Department survey is

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finalized within 2 weeks of the start of the class. Even with an exemption, JHU students who conduct research must complete a module on human subjects research, so this is built into my syllabus and is worth 10 points.

• You also need to know up front that something will go wrong at some point—and you have to be ready to troubleshoot with your students or EVP.

3. Assessment issues

3.1 How I evaluate student performance on the project

The project is worth 60% of students’ grade for the course. Within this 60%, the weight is as follows: department deliverables, 40%; achievement of department objectives, 40%; and teamwork, 20%. Peer evaluation is factored in to all of these components.

3.2 Do I include any type of student reflection assignment as part of the project, and if so, what this consists of

Students do not complete a reflection assignment; however, every student provides anonymous feedback to their managers, summarizing strengths and providing constructive suggestions for the future. Managers do the same for one another. This feedback is copied and shared with managers at the end of the course.

3.3 What type of competitive component does the project involve, and what are the pros and cons of this element

The client decides ahead of time whether or not an SAA (Scholastic Achievement Award) is attached to the campaign for all participating schools. Pros of this are as follows:

• My students love to compete. • Winning gives my department another $1,000 – $2,000. • Students are flown to present at the client’s offices. • Students have an additional bullet for their resumes. • Score sheets are always provided to the losing teams so they can see where they fell short.

Cons:

• There is some additional administrative work involved. • Judging is subjective.

4. Getting started

4.1 Whom (what organization) should an educator contact if he or she is interested in implementing this project

Contact Tony Sgro, Founder and CEO of EdVenture Partners: [email protected] or 925-254-5081. EVP website: http://www.edventurepartners.com/programs.asp.

4.2 Suggested resources for educators

There are many resources for the class itself on the EVP website (see URL above). For a sample syllabus or any other materials, feel free to email me at [email protected].

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Section 3: The Google Online Marketing Challenge

Marilyn Lavin Professor of Marketing

University of Wisconsin-Whitewater [email protected]

1. Overview


The Google Online Marketing Challenge (GOMC) is a “real time, real client, real money” experience. It offers students the opportunity to run a three-week AdWords (pay per click) campaign for a small or mid-size business client of their choice, using a $200 voucher provided by Google. The ads run in real time on the Google search and display networks.

I have used the Challenge in my online and face-to-face graduate and undergraduate Internet Marketing classes.


• Students use online tools and see immediate results. • Grading rubric guides through the steps of designing an AdWords campaign. • Considers AdWords effort as part of business’s overall strategy. • Students serve as consultants to a real business. • Students need to budget the $200 across three weeks. • Grading rubric explicitly considers ability to communicate


• Students “love” Google! • Students like the fact that they’re competing with students all over the world. • Students like the fact that it is “real.” The Challenge is learning by doing. • Students, who know Search Engine Marketing, get jobs.


Juniors and seniors; graduate students.


Can be used successfully in a variety of Marketing, Advertising, and Computer Sciences courses. Pre-requisite should be a basic Marketing class.

2. Implementation


GOMC is the major project in both my Undergraduate and Graduate Internet Marketing classes. As soon as the classes start, students work to identify a business client and gather information about the client’s offline and online strategy. I use the first month of classes to teach such topics as Search Engine Marketing, Online Advertising, Keyword Selection, writing effective pay per click (PPC) ads, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and Google Analytics. I schedule the student campaigns to run the last week of February and first two weeks of March. I want the campaigns to be completed before Spring break!

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• Traffic cop!! • Review prospective client websites. • Conduct an online exercise where students look at a major company’s online PPC ads and

related website pages. • Review pre-campaign strategy papers with each team prior to submission to Google. • Answer a “bazillion” questions—some pertinent, others not! • Encourage students to explore Google links so that they can try more options.


• Google provides both GOMC student and instructor manuals online. They’re a starting point. To become really proficient, students need to become familiar with all the online tools Google provides for its paying advertisers. Basically, the students need to “click all the links” related to AdWords and the Google tools.

• Google also provides some online support, but is mostly related to technical issues.

• Students are encouraged to interact on a GOMC Facebook page.

• The grading rubric provided by Google is super!


Typical challenges:

• Students drop the class, and team size “shrinks.” • Uncooperative team members—usual free-riding, non-cooperation. • The Challenge is more work than students expect. • Business clients don’t offer the help students expect.

I meet with problematic teams. I suggest alternative means of acquiring info student may need but can’t get from clients.


• Have the students recruit their own clients. • Review the proposed client sites; many sites can’t support AdWords. • NEVER believe that the client will have the site up and running by the time that the campaign

is scheduled to start. • Keep all the teams on the same schedule. • Expect “less than perfection.”



Use the Google rubric. A copy can be found in Exhibit 3.1.


The Google rubric includes this.

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In 2011, more than 3,000 teams worldwide competed in the Challenge. I don’t think this is a critical component, though some students do like to try to “beat the competition.” But the winners aren’t announced until summer.

4. Getting started


http://www.google.com/onlinechallenge/


Follow the “For Professors” link available on the above webpage.

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Exhibit 3.1: The Google Online Marketing Challenge Rubric (A 4-page Document Provided by Google)

Written Reports Both reports should use the following formatting: 12-point Times font, 2.54cm page margins, A4 paper, left-justification, 1.5 line spacing. A4 paper is a standard paper size, in the 'Page Layout' section of most word processing programs. Reports that exceed the page limit or ignore the formatting guidelines are ineligible for judging. Do not include cover pages, Title Pages, or a Table of Contents with your reports. Similarly, do not include any information that shows your team members' names or institutional affiliation (e.g., college, university). Pre-Campaign Strategy (30 points total, maximum four pages, submitted in one of these 14 languages: English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, Polish, Hungarian, Turkish, Czech and Hindi.) In addition to Communication and Readability (5 points), the Pre-Campaign Strategy has two components: A Client Overview (12 points) helps your team craft and defend your draft AdWords Strategy (13 points). Combined, both components should be a maximum of four pages. Ideally, the groups would gather input from their clients in developing the Pre-Campaign Strategy. All groups must submit the Pre-Campaign Strategy to their professor and to Google. Client Overview (12 points, about two pages) As a foundation for the proposed AdWords Strategy, this section provides a brief overview of the client and their marketing. • Client profile (2 points, a few sentences including some of the following. Please note that some

clients may not want to share some information. You may note this in the report if this is the case) - Name, location - Sales and number of employees - Goods and services offered - Key online marketing personnel - Age of the company - url, website age, website management - Company presence and sales via online and offline channels - Other relevant information

• Market analysis (4 points, about a paragraph including some of the following) - Current and potential customers - Current and potential competitors - Overview of the industry (key characteristics, competitive/saturated/mature) - Projected and historical online spend for the industry - Market position/specialties - Unique selling points of the goods/services offered - Seasonality of their goods/services or seasonality that the company has identified - Other relevant market information

• Current marketing (4 points, a couple of paragraphs including some of the following) - Website uses, e.g. sales, customer service - Website strengths and weaknesses - Website visibility, such as Google PageRank, incoming links, a few keyword search results,

online advertising, and offline promotion of the url. - If available, summary information from Google Analytics or other third party web tracking software - Email campaigns

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- Offline advertising - Other online or offline marketing

• Conclusion on how the AdWords campaign should align with the client's business (2 points, a

few sentences) Proposed AdWords Strategy (13 points, about two pages including sample AdWords and keywords) Based on an analysis of the client, their website and their marketing, teams should craft an appropriate AdWords Strategy and metrics for their campaign. The Proposed AdWords Strategy should include: • Number of Ad Groups and the focus for each Ad Group. • Keywords and negative keywords • Text for at least two AdWords versions for some Ad Groups • Daily and weekly plans for spending their campaign budget • Network(s) for their AdWords ads • Target audience settings • Ad Serving options • Keyword Bidding • Geotargeting • Goals for impressions, clicks, CPC and CTR • Proposed success metrics • Other relevant information

Communication and readability (5 points) The Pre-Campaign Strategy should have a logical flow, be easy to follow, and avoid grammatical mistakes. Post-Campaign Summary (70 points total, maximum eight pages, submitted in any of the 14 accepted languages) The Post-Campaign Summary has five components: an Executive Summary (8 points), Industry Component (28 points), Learning Component (14 points), Communication and Readability (10 points), and relevant use of Tables, Figures and Charts (10 points). Executive Summary (8 points, one page) This stand-alone document provides your client with a project snapshot and highlights four key factors:

1. Campaign Overview - a basic review of the project by introducing the campaign goals and operational details.

2. Key results - discuss the overall campaign performance as well as each ad group’s performance. You should reference each group as well as the overall campaign. This section should provide a brief overview of the key metrics.

3. Conclusion - a clear synthesis of the report content and key items. This is your chance to tie together the entire package and focus the client's attention on important project aspects.

4. Future Online Marketing Recommendations - simple, actionable and well-justified advice on what your client’s future online marketing, particularly in relation to AdWords and the website.

Develop the Executive Summary after you generate all other content, as it summarizes and will overlap with your Industry Component content. Industry Component (28 points, maximum five pages) This is the team's chance to share the results with their client and expand upon the Executive Summary. The ideal approach is to write the Industry Component first and then summarize this content for the Executive Summary. As a rule, you would include most if not all of your Charts, Tables and Figures in your Industry Component and cover the following areas:

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1. Campaign overview: • Review the major campaign goals (strategic goals as well as metrics: CTR, CPC, and

Impressions, etc.) set prior to the project and discuss your general strategies for approaching each goal.

• Operational details (campaign dates, money spent, ad groups used). Review the basic schedule and cost structure you followed, your methods for monitoring the account, etc.

2. Evolution of Your Campaign Strategy: • What were the major changes you made during the campaign and what led to these changes? • How did these changes affect your campaign?

3. Key Results - Summarize your results based on three weeks of data, such as: • Overall performance of the campaign and individual ad groups. • Performance of the initial campaign and changes in performance following your optimization efforts. • Keyword combinations that were effective and ineffective. • Your success stories and quick, but clear references to failures you experienced. • When discussing performance, refer to metrics such as:

- Impressions - Clicks - Click Through Rate - Average Cost per Keyword - Total Cost of Campaign - Other metrics provided by the client, such as conversions

4. Conclusions - Synthesize the Industry Component, tie together the entire package and focus the client's attention on the key project aspects. Take this opportunity to repackage all the information from the data section to display your practical lessons learned to the client. The goal here is to develop a great transition that summarizes the critical results and starts to link these results to the future recommendations in the next section.

5. Future Recommendations - Provide simple actionable and well-justified advice on your client’s future online marketing, particularly in relation to AdWords and the website. Learning Component (14 points, maximum two pages) The teams' reflection on what they learned should cover four points:

1. Learning objectives and outcomes - what did the team hope to learn? How well did the team meet their learning expectations? What else did they learn? What key outcomes will the team remember? What were the expected and unexpected outcomes from participating in the Challenge?

2. Group dynamics - what problems did the team encounter and more importantly, how did they overcome these problems? What were some expected and unexpected outcomes from working as a group?

3. Client dynamics - what problems did they encounter and as importantly, how did they overcome these problems? What were some expected and unexpected outcomes from working with the client?

4. Future recommendations - what would they do differently in the future to improve their campaign strategy, learning experience, group dynamics and client dynamics?

Communication and readability (10 points) The Post-Campaign Summary should have a logical flow, be easy to follow and avoid grammatical mistakes. Charts, Tables and Figures (10 points) Teams should intersperse relevant charts, tables, figures to illustrate their results. In addition, teams should label and refer to the charts, tables and figures in the body of the report. Appendices are not permitted. Charts, Tables and Figures count towards the total number of pages.

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Section 4: Music2Go Marketing, An Online Simulation

Katie E. Matthew Major, US Army

Instructor, United States Military Academy [email protected]

1. Overview


Music2Go Marketing (M2G) is an online simulation developed by Smartsims that allows students to make decisions regarding the production, marketing, and sales of an MP3 product line. I used M2G as a major event for my introductory Marketing course.


M2G is a self-contained, online program that is managed by a strong team at Smartsims. Advantages include:

• Adjust timelines to course needs; • Add/limit decision aspects to student’s skill set; and • Oversight of all teams.


Here are some comments about the simulation from my students to give you an idea:

• "I enjoyed it way more because of the competitive aspect it offered. I also learned more because it is a nice change of pace to move away from the books and to see what we would be doing if we actually were in marketing as a profession."

• "It is different from other group projects because divide and conquer doesn't work. You all have to be involved in [all] the decisions…”

• “It helped us apply what we learned in class; to see the how wrong or how right we were in making decisions. This experience can't be replaced except by real life."


This simulation is for undergraduate, introductory-level students, ideally with some general management classes. It can be adapted for increased difficulty. My students were a mix of 2nd to 4th year management majors.


Music2Go is an experiential learning method suitable for an introductory marketing course. It forces students to get involved and apply concepts from the beginning, such as long-range planning and problem-solving. I also think M2G would be appropriate for use in a capstone marketing strategy class, as it involves both strategic marketing issues, such as segmentation and target marketing decisions, and tactical marketing decisions.

2. Implementation


Our course is taught in forty 55-minute sessions. The simulation is introduced after the broader marketing concepts and integrated throughout the remainder of the course. M2G is set up to have eight rounds. I schedule the first few rounds to be a week apart to allow for learning and

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incorporating new course material. Later rounds are only three days apart. This increases the need to think quickly and use the now larger skill set from the course to make decisions.


I play the role of overseer and advisor. For a “price,” teams can bring their reports to me and I will advise them as a consultant. I then can deduct that fee from their company account in the simulation. I do not serve as a corporate spy or provide information on other team’s performance/decisions.


Smartsims will set up the industry, manage fees, and remain in contact with the students and instructors. I found them very helpful when, as a result of a scheduling issue at the Academy, we needed to shift rounds.


Challenges Solutions

• Timid use of system Tutoring available

• Members overwriting decisions Select a team scribe

• Poor company management Present mission and objectives at beginning


Arranging a class period mid-way through to analyze industry performance allowed all teams to see how they were doing and adjust mission objectives. This created a learning attitude as opposed to pure competition.



I grade their performance based on three criteria: overall performance, achievement of goal, and final analysis.


The teams turn in three papers during the course:

• Company Plan (3 pages); • Strategic Marketing Plan (6 – 8 pages); and • Performance Analysis (10 – 15 pages).


Competition is used as a motivator in two ways:

• Team’s overall net marketing contribution vs. other teams in the class; and • Bonus for achieving the M2G Hall of Fame (top 25 across all participating schools).

4. Getting started


Smartsims Business Simulations can be found at www.smartsims.com.

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• Doyle, Declan and Brown, F. William (2000). “Using Business Simulation to Teach Applied Skills—The Benefits and Challenges of Using Student Teams from Multiple Countries,” Journal of European Industrial Training, 24/6, 330-336.

• Whitley, Richard T. and Faria, Anthony J. (1989). “A Study of the Relationship Between Student Final Exam Performance and Simulation Game Participation,” Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 16, 78-82.

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Section 5: The National Student Advertising Competition

Sandra Utt Associate Professor

University of Memphis [email protected]

1. Overview


The National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) is an annual case competition organized by the Education Division of the American Advertising Federation (AAF), with more than 150 colleges around the country participating each year. A corporate sponsor provides an assignment or case study outlining the history of its product and current advertising situation. The case study is always candid and reflects a real world situation.

Students must research the product and its competition, identify potential problem areas, and devise a completely integrated communications campaign for the client. Each student team then “pitches” its campaign to a panel of judges. Regional NSAC competitions are held each spring in districts throughout the U.S. Winning teams then advance to compete on the national level at the AAF National Conference in June.

We use this case for our Advertising Campaigns class.


• Allows students to have a real client with real integrated marketing needs. • Client provides secondary research. Amount varies from year to year, but usually is a very

good beginning point. • Student work is seen off campus as part of a district competition. • Client’s needs usually fit well with the practical application of an advertising research class

(both quantitative and qualitative methods needed). • Needs of clients have expanded to include promotions, direct response, social media, PR, etc. • Allows students to have as close to an advertising agency experience as possible while in school. • Level of student expectation very high. Among the tasks students are responsible for:

Completing a Plans Book that can be 32 pages; Creating print executions that look finished; Creating TV and radio executions that also are close to being finished; Creating finished auxiliary pieces, e.g., DM brochures, media kits, POP pieces, etc.,

based on the client’s needs; Creating a 20-minute interactive multi-media presentation; and Writing and memorizing a 20-minute speech.


The case study is probably the closest that students will come to a “real-life” experience. The project forces them to learn to work as a team, something that most other classes do not allow for.


The Advertising Campaigns course is designed for advanced undergraduate students. Graduate students may work on the campaign, but the NSAC rules prohibit them from being part of the actual presentation team.

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The Advertising Campaigns course is a one-semester course that is part of the capstone experience for all University of Memphis advertising students. They take it along with Media Planning and Advertising Research in their senior year.

At some schools, the NSAC is integrated into a full-year advertising campaigns course. At other schools, the competition is integrated into a one-semester marketing course through the business school, although it is usually open to non-business students as well.

Please note that in order to participate in the NSAC, the school must have an AAF college chapter, i.e., a student advertising club affiliated with the AAF, and all students working on the campaign must be AAF student members. However, participating in the NSAC does not have to be an activity of the AAF college chapter. In fact, for many of the schools participating in the NSAC, the competition is integrated into a course, as we do at University of Memphis, and is not undertaken as part of an extracurricular activity.

2. Implementation


The client for the NSAC becomes the client for the class; therefore, the competition and the course are completely integrated.


I’m the students’ adviser for the competition and counsel them as requested. However, all decisions regarding the campaign—marketing, creative, media, tactics, etc.—are made by the students. I also serve as the students’ liaison with the AAF regarding the competition.


The AAF provides the case study material and the following resources: Nielsen data, Simmons data, and SRDS data. Getty Images provides camera-ready art students can use in their various advertising executions. Students can also submit questions for clarification to the sponsoring organization at specified times through the AAF.


• Competition rules often change. If you want to be successful, then you need to completely understand the rules and the changes made from year to year. Additionally, all students must read and understand the rules as missing deadlines, for example, is grounds for disqualification.

• Can be very expensive as district competitions require 12 copies of a color-printed, bound Plans Book, travel, staying in a hotel, large prints of the ads for presentation, etc. (See tips in Section 2.5 below about raising or seeking money.)

• Competition intensity varies from district to district. One district may have only four schools and another may have more than 20 competing. You need to be prepared for intense competition regardless of the size of your district. Students will learn from each other so the more schools, the more they will share with each other.

• Very time consuming for advisers. Get help from your colleagues.

• No contact allowed between client and students. Use secondary sources. AAF provides each school with Simmons, Nielsen, SRDS, etc.

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• Plan ahead with research as getting people for personal interviews and focus groups can be time consuming. If you need IRB on your campus for marketing studies, you need to plan for that project.

• Have a good working relationship with your colleagues as they can be very helpful, especially those in the “creative” departments. Graphic designers, advertising students and marketing students can work on the project.

• If you have to raise money for travel, printing books or posters, plan ahead for those projects. Attempt to get travel money from your University. Students can get travel money from “Student Activities” people.



I’m including Table 1, which has part of the matrix that I use. Please see Exhibit 5.1.


Peer Evaluation form is used throughout the course. I have included a copy of the form I use. Please see Exhibit 5.2.


See comments in Section 2.4 above.

4. Getting started


Visit the American Advertising Federation’s website, www.aaf.org, and click on the Education tab.


The AAF website is a good beginning. You can also contact Melissa Wong of the AAF at [email protected].

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Exhibit 5.1: Student Performance Evaluation Matrix (Developed by Sandra Utt for University of Memphis Advertising Campaigns Course)

Excellent Very Good Adequate Barely

Adequate Not Adequate

Demonstrates superior understanding and application.

Demonstrates strong knowledge but application is not outstanding.

Minimal ability to apply concepts.

Minimal ability that includes deficiencies.

Unable or unwilling to perform.

Problem Solving Generates primary and secondary research for product, category, media and/or consumers.

Manages time, deadlines and results with group.

Critical Thinking Identifies primary and secondary marketing objectives.

Derives solutions to objectives.

Identifies persuasive arguments.

Strategic Planning

Creates integrated communications program.

Anticipates sales objectives.

…continued on the next page

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Exhibit 5.1: Student Performance Evaluation Matrix (continued)

Excellent Very Good Adequate Barely Adequate

Not Adequate

Demonstrates superior understanding and application.

Demonstrates strong knowledge but application is not outstanding.

Minimal ability to apply concepts.

Minimal ability that includes deficiencies.

Unable or unwilling to perform.

Execution Creates an integrated campaign that includes an overview, target audience information, strategic analysis, media recommendations and creative executions.

Creates a Plans Book that includes all relevant information presented in a finished manner.

Creates advertising and other needed integrated communication.

Makes a formal presentation of campaign.

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Exhibit 5.2: Peer Evaluation Form (Developed by Sandra Utt for University of Memphis Advertising Campaigns Course)

Date ___________ Please identify all members of your group, including yourself: _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Please allocate 100 points among group members, including you, so that points indicate how much work each member contributed to the project. The total must add up to 100 points. Group member’s name _______________________ ____ points Group member’s name _______________________ ____ points Group member’s name _______________________ ____ points Group member’s name _______________________ ____ points

Total: 100 points Rate and discuss each team member’s performance, including your own, on the back of this sheet. In your discussion, please include a description of the work and responsibility that each member of the group contributed. These reports are confidential. Your rating of each team member, including you, should use this scale: 5 SUPERIOR The team member performed on an outstanding level in all phases of the

project, including leadership, responsibility, reliability, a good attitude, contributions of time and effort, ideas and ability to cooperate.

4 ABOVE AVERAGE The team member made most meetings, was enthusiastic and cooperative

and contributed more than average amount of work, which was higher than the average ability.

3 AVERAGE The team member’s contributions were adequate. He/she did not adversely

affect the project but did not make more than an average number of contributions and the quality of the work was no higher than average.

2 BELOW AVERAGE While some work was performed, both the quantity and the quality were

below average. No leadership was given. The team member missed meetings and was generally uncooperative.

1 INFERIOR The team member made no meaningful contributions to the project.

He/she attended few meetings, missed deadlines, did not produce, was generally uncooperative and offered no leadership.

Documents

2011 SMA Conference_Teacher-Friendly Experiential Learning Options Reference Guide.pdf