Marketing Communications in Practice

Learning outcome 1: Demonstrate application of creative thinking skill to practical problems by developing an effective integrated marketing communications plan

Learning outcome 2: Apply theories and concepts to the development and implementation of marketing communication in the fashion context.

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PLAN

You are required to develop a report for an Integrated Marketing Communication plan for GUCCI. The communication plan needs to cover the period July-September and/or October-December 2023. You should be prepared to consider the full range of available Marketing Communication tools to complete this assessment and to justify the rationale for their use based on solid academic theory and research. (You are also advised to justify the exclusion & inclusion of major tools if relevant). You are advised to ‘ground' your analysis and rationale in appropriate marketing communications theory paying particular attention to possible campaign objectives, message strategies, and communication tools and campaign measurement & control, bearing in mind any potential variation in target audience. Your plan should contain appropriate academic use of references and where these have been used to justify or support your proposals.

You are required to develop a marketing communications plan in report format. The plan needs to address the target market and address your company's brands marketing communication positioning and strategy.

The plan needs to cover the July - December 2023 period and new development plans following specified by reported information and events of your selected organisation. The plan needs to consist of a justification for your marketing campaign and marketing communication objective, Message and creative appeal, clear explanation of your tactics, media plan and coordination of activities, budget, and KPI monitoring, control, and plans.

You have been specifically requested to use advertising as one of the main communication tools and are required to create an appropriate creative semiotic message with an appropriate rationale

You must to ‘ground' your analysis and justify your rationales in appropriate marketing communications theory throughout all the stages of the plan.

Additionally you should be prepared to consider the full range of available Marketing Communication tools in the communication mix (e.g., Advertising traditional on line advertising , PR incorporating events, On line PR , product placement, sponsorship, celebrity endorsement and sales promotion, direct marketing and social media etc.) You will need to justify the rationale for their use based on solid academic theory and research. Your choices of communication tools should be smart, consistent, and effective and have high levels of synergy between the communication tools.

Budget allocation - it is expected for a marketing department to be allocated between 6-20% of company revenue towards communication campaigns, luxury companies typically allocating 20%. Please take note of the general revenue your chosen company generates, the campaign objectives and tactics, and adjust your budget accordingly.

Referencing - It is expected that you will cite sources in the text of the document and fully list your references to correct Harvard standards.

Illustrations - Illustrations may be inserted into the text of the document, but must be fully referenced to Harvard standards.
If you intend to develop your own illustrations such as posters, templates, social media posts of your creations, you must credit yourself as the author according to referencing standards.

Appendices - Please keep appendices to a minimum. These could include a mock up press release sample, sample blog or social media postings and mock up campaign shots etc.

Key texts for the assignment are:

- Fill, C. and Turnbull (2019) Marketing Communications: touchpoints, sharing and disruption, 8th Edition, Pearson (Available as an e-Book).

- Katz, H. (2019) The Media Handbook, 7th Edition, Routledge.

- Keller K. Swaminathan V. (2019) Strategic Brand Management Building, Measuring & Managing brand equity: Global Edition, 5 Edition Pearson.