Your task: Write an individual 3,000 word illustrated report critically
reviewing the strategic decisions your company made during the Markstrat
simulation programme, and subsequently develop a creative strategy and
advertising brief.
In tackling this assignment you must refer to the Markstrat simulation programme
that you engaged in. Your paper should be divided into two parts: “Marketing
Strategy” and “Creative Strategy”
Part 1: Marketing Strategy (Approx. 2,000 words)
Choose one particular product in your Markstrat company’s product portfolio (can be
Sonite or a Vodite) and analyse how the key strategic decisions that your company
made led to the success or failure of that product. You should take an overview and
highlight some of the key turning points during the Markstrat programme in relation to
the strategy that your company adopted for marketing the product.
In doing so you should try to cover as many of the Markstrat ‘factors’ as possible, such
as: R&D, positioning, market research, product portfolio, lifecycles, contribution levels,
consumer behaviour, etc. You can use diagrams to illustrate your text, and the
Appendices can be used to incorporate any raw data or diagrams from the Markstrat
simulation that you feel are important.
Where appropriate, you should refer to current theories and practices and
demonstrate an awareness of the challenges of developing a marketing strategy.
Part 2: Creative Strategy (Approx. 1,000 words)
Consider how a creative advertising campaign would have helped support your
marketing strategy for your chosen product. Write a creative brief (approximately 500
words) that could be used to brief creative teams in an advertising agency. This should
be accompanied by a written rationale (500 words) justifying the creative strategy
that underpins your creative brief and the information or data (evidence) you have
based that strategy on. For the purpose of writing your brief you will need to state
exactly what your product is. If it’s a Sonite you should imagine your product to be a
mobile phone. Alternatively, if it’s a Vodite, consider it to be virtual reality headset.
You can then include any important background information about your product in the
first section of the creative brief.
Structuring your report
Part 1
 Your report should begin with an introduction section outlining the key issues
and briefly outlining the Markstrat task your company faced. (Approx. 400
words)
 You should then follow the introduction with a section that critically reviews and
analyses the key strategic decisions your team made that led to the success or
failure of one of your products. (Approx. 1200 words)
 You should finish Part 1 with a conclusion that is supported by (and emerges
from) the preceding body of text and provides a summary of what you have
learned from the Markstrat Programme. (Approx. 400 words)
Part 2
 Write a creative advertising brief for the Markstrat product used in Part 1 above.
(Approx. 500 words)
 Provide a written rationale explaining and justifying the creative strategy that
underpins your creative brief. (Approx. 500 words)
All sources of information must be properly referenced using the Harvard system.
Not included in the word count: Appendices, References (Harvard style)
Assessment
This work will be assessed based on the learning outcomes for this module outlined on
Blackboard and will cover all assessment points of the ‘Advertising & Branding,
Contextual Themes & Issues’ module.