Topic 18 – An Organisation's Marketing Strategy & its Effectiveness

There must be some publicly available information (e.g. some information that comes up on a Google search) as the marker needs to know you are not making the whole thing up (and yes my marker friend says that the ACO has discovered that some people invent a fictitious entity). If there us no evidence that the organisation exists your project is likely be subject to investigation. However no problem with high profile private organisations.

This topic is primarily about how a company positions itself in various markets in relation to its portfolio of products. The financial data is used to demonstrate that marketing costs have been effective in generating sales. If you focus mainly on irrelevant ratios you will fail as the marker will be looking to see that you understand and can apply marketing concepts in the context of your chosen organisation and can identify its various strategies. Brand would only be a small part of the project.

In answering your specific queries:

1) no
2) yes but they need to be relevant: marketing costs to sales; market share analysis
3) depends on the organisation but most companies set out the figures for you to be able to do / discuss marketing to sales and market share

I suggest you read up on marketing so that you are clear about the marketing mix and market segmentation as these concepts at the very least will need to be covered in your application.

@kernowkid – you comment “Surely looking at the PLC’s expenditure and sales as a whole, across these 200 brands, is a seriously flawed approach?” might be correct if you were a PhD student doing your doctorate thesis but you are doing a Research and Analysis project for a first degree. Again you are quite right that each major brand in the portfolio would have its own marketing manager and team who might be pursuing different strategies. They would be closely monitoring their brand’s individual performance (at least quarterly – possibly even – monthly) because they have the detailed information to do so which unless you work in marketing in the company you do not.

You have to make the best of what you can with the information available. There are other dimensions /approaches you could consider e.g. if selecting brands from the 200 you might first look at the Boston Consulting Group matrix and select them according to this (don’t focus just on the Stars and Cash Cows, look what happened to the Dogs and consider what is being done about the Question Marks). You could also consider Ansoff’s theory in relation to product rejuvenation – however this is possibly not applicable in your organisation as it has 200 brands. It usually applies more to the higher priced goods or technical sector e.g. how car models are updated or TVs or phones have new features added. However it might apply to well know product brands in the basic consumer market e.g. Lucazade – see this link for this and read the short but fascinating history of this product and note how it was once the main earner for Beecham’s and was totally revamped in the 1980s to become a major revenue earner again https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucozade

The above may influence your course of action in relation to your question. The marker will want to see you understand and can apply marketing theory and concepts and do some relevant basic financial analysis in relation to the company and it is how well you do that which influence your grade

thanks.

The short answer is I think you would be better off choosing a different company with a higher public profile for Topic 18. Possibly if this is your one and only time attempt you need to consider a different topic – think not just what interests you but what will provide the best opportunity to fulfil the assessment criteria (Appendix 1 of the Info Pack). For Topic 18 you would need to read around the topic and understand the terminology and concepts.

You should also invest in a decent mentor. Some of the OBU marking team apparently do mentor a few students at around GBP 500. I don’t think they normally advertise but if you ask the ACCA BSc Office they may provide you with the names to look for on the OBU mentor list. No-one can guarantee a pass – not even having an OBU marker will be a 100% guarantee as for ethical reasons and integrity purposes the work would be marked anonymously by another marker, however as they know the assessment criteria inside out, if you follow their advice you are mostly likely to pass. Good luck! 😀

@accastudentofoman said:

I would like to know which criteria help us determine whether an organisation is suitable for this topic or not.

Let me start guessing some, you can add or eliminate as necessary.

1. Interesting: Obviously, company should be interesting. This applies for all topics. AGREED
2. Primary information: You should have permission to access confidential, internal information. ALWAYS
3. Secondary information: There should be lot of stuff written about the company in newspapers, business journals and analyst reports. YES. THIS DOES NOT ALWAYS HAVE TO BE ARTICLES – FROM YOUR OWN OBSERVATION YOU CAN DEDUCE PROMOTION AND PRODUCT RANGE AND TO A LIMITED EXTENT THEIR TARGET MARKET (FOR EXAMPLE WHO BUYS [SOCIAL CLASS] THE NEWSPAPER/ MAGAZINE)
4. Size: It should be preferably large (??) WELL KNOWN
5. Business Model: Retail, selling of products more than services(??)
NO DISTINCTION -SERVICES STILL NEED TO BE MARKETED AND HAVE DISTINCT MARKETS (THINK: AIRLINES, HOTELS, MOVIES ETC) -THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THEY HAVE A LESS TANGIBLE PRODUCT
6. Marketing department: They MUST have this dept (??)
USUALLY, HOWEVER THEY MAY OUTSOURCE SOME MARKETING ACTIVITIES (NOTE MOST COMPANIES OUTSOURCE SOME OF THEIR PR (PUBLIC RELATIONS) AS THIS IS A SPECIALIST AREA OF MARKETING AND EXTERNAL PR COMPANIES USED PARTICULARLY TO COMBAT NEGATIVE PUBLICITY SITUATIONS
7. Advertising budget: They should spend sufficiently on advertising, promotions, etc. YES
8. Word of mouth advertising ? marketing THIS IS JUST ONE ASPECT OF ADVERTISING /PROMOTION
9. Marketing models should be easily applied upon the org. CONSIDER ANSOFF, THE BOSTON MATRIX AS WELL AS THE 4/ 7 Ps
10. Company should have been in business for atleast 5 years(??)
NO HARD AND FAST RULE BUT NORMALLY THERE WE WOULD BE INSUFFICIENT INFORMATION UNLESS IS WAS WELL KNOWN
11. We need comparator (competitors) in order to judge how effective the marketing strategy in comparison with industry and competitors. A COMPARATOR CAN BE USEFUL IN PLACES BUT IS NOT MANDATORY
12. The more forms of marketing the better (??) for eg. using web, social media, billboards, etc?
NOT NECESSARILY BUT IT MAY AID DISCUSSION IN THE PROMOTION SECTION OF THE REPORT
13. Company should cater to a large market and not a niche market. (??) NOT NECESSARILY -THINK LUXURY PRODUCTS, PRODUCTS WITH A CULT FOLLOWING (HARLEY DAVIDSON v HONDA)
14. Products should be preferably tangible (??) ANSWERED ABOVE IN SERVICES
15. What else?

I’ve chosen a business software solutions company known as DataMation. They have around 400 clients.
https://datamation.lk/

It’s local, not international. I’m confused whether to move forward with this company or choose another, mainly because secondary information is not much. THE MARKERS NEED TO BE ABLE TO SUBSTANTIATE MOST OF THE CLAIMS MADE

Please guide me. I have only ONE chance at the Degree. My 10 years time is up!

IN THIS CASE I WOULD SUGGEST THAT YOU CHOOSE A DIFFERENT COMPANY OR A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TOPIC AS A SMALL, LOW PROFILE COMPANY WOULD DIMINISH YOUR CHANCE OF SUCCESS.

ALTHOUGH NOONE CAN GUARANTEE SUCCESS I WOULD SUGGEST IN YOUR CASE YOU ACTUALLY SEEK OUT ONE OF THE OBU MARKERS (SOME WILL MENTOR FOR ABOUT GBP 500). YOU COULD CONTACT THE ACCA BSc OFFICE AND SPECIFICALLY ASK FOR A LIST OF SUCH MENTORS. NOTE EVEN THEY WILL NOT GUARANTEE YOU A PASS AS YOUR WIRK WOULD BE MARKED BY A TOTALLY DIFFERENT MARKER FOR ETHICAL REASONS BUT AS A MENTOR WHO IS A MARKER THEY WILL BE 100% FAMILIAR WITH THE ASSESSMENT CRITERIA SO YOU WOULD BE GETTING THE BEST ADVICE AND THEREFORE LIKELY TO PASS

Trephena – I have used upper case to answer most of your questions above

Hi there! Sorry for delayed reply (a) have been busy with the day job and (b) the long post was actually written before the shorter answer but for some reason wouldn’t post at that time#

First back to some of your questions from a few days ago:

1 Most (if not all) of the information will derive from secondary sources.

2. Primary data may be used if appropriate e.g a survey of customers but it is NOT mandatory as it would depend on what other (secondary) info is available

3. For those with only one remaining attempt to submit and pass we recommend absolute mentoring. The mentor, a former senior marker for the OBU Research & Analisys Project itself is probably in the best person to help direct and guide you towards a pass as she understands every aspect of the Assessment Criteria -contact via absolutementoring.uk (note NO co dot)

4. The Chartered institute of Marketing website could be useful but as a non-member access may be limited. Kottler was the marketing guru so any of his books /articles (use Google Scholar aas the search engine and look for off access to any on the right hand side of the screen

Virtual mentor: Is the name Masood Ahmad Qureshi? ?

You’ve highlighted the improper way in which students go about collecting primary information.

More over, getting the information is a hassle. You need permission + the other person should give their time.

My mentor stressed that primary information scores more marks as it shows that the student has done bit of work rather than just taking the ‘lazy’ approach of using secondary information.
I feel that just copying/describing secondary information is the ‘lazy’approach which won’t score marks but evaluating & analyzing is the hard part which is mandatory.
Even beautifully collected primary information is not going to help you if you don’t do proper evaluation.

So, either primary or secondary information, we need to collect sufficient of them, analyze (why & how) and maybe get corroborating evidence from the other.

Some topics demand primary information. Hopefully this topic is not one of them.

Thanks for elaborating how marketing applies in many aspects of our life. We don’t actually think we are marketing but the core elements of a seller, a buyer and a product (it maybe even selling yourself) are there. This makes it more interesting and pushes to think creatively.
The PowerPoint presentation is another way of ‘marketing’ your RAP!

This can help me in SLS when I justify choosing marketing as a topic.

That was a wonderful example of a dating site. I feel the ‘ordinary’ guy is catering to a niche market ? when everyone else is promoting themselves.
Maybe he should make it clear, how ‘ordinary’ he is in comparison with the other ‘ordinary’. Talk about ‘extraordinary’! ?

My mind is getting stimulated and filled with creativity by these wonderful discussions with you.

I want this kind of motivation and engagement when I’m going through articles/theories. Some are so massive that you get overwhelmed by the loads of information. Some are so boring, filled with technical terms and with barely little real life examples, that it just tires us out.
Also reading excessively strains the eyes. I try to overcome this issue by summarizing, putting things in a nutshell and having the big picture approach. You feel less nervous and have a better grasp of what is being said. Anyway learning how to learn is vital, otherwise you lose out on the joy of learning.

Let me get back after making some solid progress. Cheers till then!

Great glad you feel stimulated by the topic and hopefully the work you produce reflections your enthusiasm and this in turn communicates itself to the marker. My friend on the marking team tells me that it would be great if all students tried to ‘thrill rather than kill’ the marker (with boredom of reading the same-old, same-old) 🙁

Regarding primary data – your mentor is only partially right – for my own Masters I did no primary data collection but I still got a distinction 🙂 – however no one is likely to get a PhD on the basis of secondary data alone.

According to my dealings with the OBU Marking team many RAPs fail because of primary data – badly worded questionnaires, unscientific approach, using flimsy (if not fabricated data -yes it happens a lot) to ‘prove’ the unprovable…. whereas if the student had done better secondary research and focused on better quality sources to underpin their work instead they might well have passed. So seriously I implore you to argue this one out with your mentor and ask serious questions -what is his pass rate for T18 and how many used primary data? (I suspect he mostly mentors T8s as most students go for that – boring! Boring!) Much as I respect MAQ/ HAQ Trust me on this one you do NOT, repeat NOT have to do primary data for T18 when there are better alternatives Got it? 😀

I have to say straight off I am not a ‘techie’ person and therefore would find it hard to advise on Topic 9. However with it you would have to ensure you do adequate analysis and did not just describe what goes on. There is something in my article on Evaluation and Analysis about this on our homepage http://www.opentuition.com/obu

To do T18 you do need to understand some marketing concepts and apply them to the case study. As I have said many Topic 18 RAPs pass on secondary data alone if they are well researched and have some financial analysis directly related to assessing the effectiveness (or otherwise) of the marketing (e.g. revenue to marketing costs, revenue to market share).

A small customer survey if well produced and conducted in accordance with the best principles of operational research can be included but is not mandatory and it should be only a minor part of the information gathering (with secondary data and information comprising the greater part). A T18 however based mainly on primary data unless this includes an interview with those involved in the actual marketing department of the company (unlikely as most people will be too busy doing their jobs) is a recipe for disaster especially if it consists mainly of a,questionnaire.

Thanks – you are better off doing T18 and more likely to pass at the first attempt than with T9.

Yes I have seen your email. I’ll email back tomorrow as I am currently on a mobile device and on my way to a night out in London. My marker friend has provided me with a useful document written by a couple of senior markers specifically on Topic 18 as that could be useful to you, I’ll let you have a copy.

Positioning and segmentation tend to be specific strategies. As well as covering those and the 4 Ps you should bring in the BCG Matrix (often known as the Boston Matrix), Ansoff or any other models as appropriate