Assignments/Grading/Principles of Conduct

Grades will be based on the level of insight you bring to class, and how much thinking you've done to help enable us all to learn more about how to be better coaches in the design, development, and implementation of Integrated Market Communications campaigns or programs.

There is no text assigned/required for this course…

Students will need to get a copy of the course packet for the course (mandatory) as soon as possible from the student bookstore downtown.

For students wanting to go deeper, a recommended text is

 IMC: The Next Generation, by Don and Heidi Schultz, McGraw Hill, 2004

Your grade will be based on:

1.  Team Case Presentation (35%)

2.  Four (4) Case Insight Assignments (20%)

3.  Term Team Assignment –                                                                                                  Integrated Market Communications Campaign Outline (45%)

4.  Class Participation (+/- 20%)

Important Notes on Submitting Assignments Electronically:

• Send them to me by email to roliva@psu.edu, do not use Angel “drop box” or other method.
• IMPORTANT- PUT YOUR NAME ON EVERYTHING – ON EMAILS/IN DOCUMENTS ON/IN ANYTHING YOU’RE SUBMITTING FOR A GRADE!
• In the subject line of the email, or name of the powerpoint or word file be sure to include:
  • The name of the assignment
  • Name(s) of who is submitting the assignment for a grade…

1.  Assignment – Team Case Presentation – 35% of your grade

We’ll look to “wring out” all we can learn together from a deep discussion of a carefully selected set of cases:

o        30 minutes -- team presentations

o        15 minutes -- Q&A

o        15 minutes -- key takeaways / wrap-up.

It's exceptionally important that case teams are well prepared, and can deliver case questions on their key recommendations, in no more than 30 minutes. We'll gain a lot from the insights provided by the team, and then expand on that in the usual, lively Smeal MBA fashion with active case discussion. 

Presentation format:
The case team can present as a team, or with a leading spokesperson, in the usual fashion - but should be able to deliver their key points on the case in 30 minutes or less, demos or other props and aids can and should be used.  Each case presentation should address the key audience, segmentation, communications and other important issues in the business situation, as well as other elements of overall business strategy.

Assignment deliverables:
Each team should provide a copy of any visual materials, PowerPoint's, etc., they've prepared for the case.  You my wish to include a separate Word document summary, or embellish the presentation in the “Notes” View of PowerPoint, at the team’s option. Each team should not rehash the facts of the case extensively –everyone in the class should have read the case –but get right to:

• Your key recommendations
• Answers to questions provided in the case which you feel are important

·         Important the key insights or lessons learned from the case.

 

Case Evaluation –Grading Template for class presentations

Content:

·         Actionnable recommendations (versus general recommendations)

·         Rationale for recommendations

·         Key lessons learned / insights

• Important: Use templates / concepts / tools taught in course

Presentation:

·         Focused

·         Captured audience attention

·         Well structured

·         Questions answered well

·         Overall quality of report / charts / presentation materials.

2.  Assignment – Case Insights – 20% of Grade

As in any course with a heavy emphasis on cases, each student is expected to read each of the cases to be covered in class, before the session in which the case presentation is made.
Assignment: As 20% of your final grade, please select 4 cases - cases you are not presenting- and prepare a short e-mail on each of them to roliva@psu.edu with answers to the following questions:

·         The most important consideration in this case is:_______________________________

·         The key question I would like to ask the management of this business is:___________

(Note: make your e-mail BRIEF: One page or less)

Case insights are due by 6:00 AM on the day the case is being discussed in class. (Insights received after class discussion will be considered, but (in fairness) graded way down.)

Each case insight will be graded –the top 4 selected for your final grade – you may chose to omit some insight assignments – but be sure to turn in at least 4 for your grade.  Grading for case insights will be based on a thoughtful analysis of the case, key issues, and most important questions to be addressed to the team.

Case insights can be done individually, in teams or in small groups other than your normal teams…

Special Note:  Audio Grading – Experimental

To enable a more thorough feedback process on the case insights for this class we’ll experiment with an audio grading process.  Each person/team presenting a case insight will receive an email with an audio file attached which can be opened with a free download described in the course packet…

This is an experiment –class feedback is invited –should this not work for any reason –we’ll go back to the more standard approach of sending an email with the grade to each person/team.

3.  Term Team Assignment –

Integrated Market Communications Campaign Outline

Integrated Market Communications is about lining up all of the various touch points, media, and communication tools and techniques to achieve business results, and a higher Return on Investment.

The tools you’ll be learning, (including the 8-step process, templates for the construction of a value proposition and a position, the behavioral timeline, the “FOCUS Process”, the Creative Brief and others) will enable you, as an “IMC Coach”, to lead your team to greater IMC impact and stronger business results.  And…remember that each market communications activity should work to achieve at minimum two effects:

• A short-terms sales/profit objective, and …
• Ongoing build of Customer-Based Brand Equity, which sets the stage for greater economic impact in future market endeavors.

Assignment: IMC Campaign Plan Outline

To provide some practice in putting it all together, we’ll ask each team to develop and present an Integrated Market Communications Plan Outline to our class.

Each team should pick a product/service offering, or other business situation, and using the 8-step planning process, and the tools outlined in the course, prepare and present a campaign plan to achieve the business result you set for your endeavor. The plan should include each element of the 8-step process,  outlined in enough detail so that a management team will understand your intentions, where you’re going, and what you want to do, including but not limited to:.

1. A detailed description of the target segment/audience for the campaign. What do you know about them as a segment, as people, their needs, and their view of your brand/offering – other things that will help in your planning.
2. A clean, crisp value proposition, to the targeted segment, and a positioning statement for your brand or offering.
3. Crisp numerical objectives for the program – short term sales, longer term brand equity building, other metrics of your choice.
4. A behavioral timeline, following the principles outlined in class.
5. An outline of suggested media for accomplishing the campaign objectives, along with a media brief.
6. A creative brief for your agency, which would enable them to build communications elements to punch through noise, get attention and accomplish your objectives.
7. A general approach to how you would budget for the program, and an execution plan at the top line level (Detailed Media costing is beyond the scope of this course, but how you would approach investing, where you’d put the emphasis, ballpark estimates…)  
8. An outline of an approach for measuring results.

Teams should select a product, or a service, or business situation (e.g. a crisis situation, spin-off, launch of a new brand, etc) where you’re able to gather information necessary to do an outline plan from available sources.

Important Note: (Reasonable) Assumptions Required

In doing an assignment such as this – the focus will be on having you get acquainted with each step of the process, to see where the challenges are and to think through how you would put things together. But…you’ll have to make some assumptions on many elements of the business situation as you go.  Just let me know what those assumptions are – and in your plan suggest what data you’ll need.  This in itself is a valuable part of the project – seeing where the data will fit –and giving you a feeling for the value of the data as part of the planning process.

(I certainly recognize that some of these data might be best guesstimates from the team of what might be required.  When that’s the case, make reasonable assumptions and suggest further research or data gathering when needed.  This will be most especially the case when outlining an approach to budgeting.  Media costing is a tricky process, and is beyond the scope of this course, although students will be much better equipped to interface with advertising and media agencies for this purpose utilizing tools and techniques we’ll go through.)

Objective:

An Integrated Market Communications Campaign is a carefully orchestrated, time phased, focused series of activities designed to produce a specific measurable business results. This IMC Campaign Plan Outline Assignment is not so much to create a “bulky” document, but to have the teams warm up with the 8-step plan and process tools, and other tools introduced in the program.

Milestones:

• By January 22, 2007, teams should have selected the date on which they’d like to present their campaign outline –and submitted that to me.

• Mid-Term Progress Meeting – Week of 2/5 or 2/12, 2007:  Teams should arrange for a brief meeting with me to go over the topic/focus of their campaign outline and progress on the plan and work through key questions and assumptions.  Work through Cindy Flango (3-2782) to set a meeting sometime either the week of February 5 or February 12. 
• (Note: if teams are having trouble with selecting a topic/focus, they should set a time to meet with me earlier/anytime for help.)

• Campaign Plan Outline Assignments will be due the final week of the course, and time will be assigned for each team to make a 30 minute presentation, outlining their 8-step approach, key elements of their plan, what they learned in the process.

Suggested format for preparing the plan would be to work in PowerPoint to outline the plan – with details explained in the notes section of the PowerPoint, or in a separate Word document, whatever is preferable to the team.

Grades for this assignment:

Teams will be graded on how well they use the tools and techniques taught in the course to create a plan that would be viable, one that if linked together with an agency would produce business results for their firm. Detailed knowledge of a specific domain of the offering will not necessarily impact grading for this course. Thoughtful use of the tools, templates, and approaches in the course, with additional insights from the teams own additional research – will boost the grade.  And…

Most importantly, teams will be graded on chronicling what they’ve learned through this process. Where they’d like to go further. Where they found the process frustrating. Where they found the approach enabling. Suggestions for stronger, better Integrated Market Communications plans and outcomes.

Have Fun.  Go Nuts!

Questions?

Please call me early in the module for clarification or explanation:

814-863-2782

roliva@psu.edu   Connect with Cindy in the ISBM Office for an appointment….

4.  Class Participation   +/- 20% of Grade

We’ll be looking for insight versus “airtime”.  Please use your name tents to help the process and be sure to add your insights, questions and texture to the class…

This can be a “plus up”, neutral or knock down – so consider this in class…

Course Grading Guidelines:

A+       Really outstanding. Only one group in the whole class may get this through the course of the semester. Totally new insights, frameworks for thinking, or tools for case analysis.

A         Great work. Obviously well thought through, recognized key insights and lessons, brought new knowledge to bear on the problem, internally very consistent, great presentation.

 

A-        The course “benchmark” grade:  Very good work, beyond what was expected.

 

B+       Thorough and solid work a bit beyond what was expected. Covers most important insights, worked through most important issues.

 

B         What was expected. Good solid work, good groundwork in the fundamentals, solid presentation and write-up, covered all the bases.

 

B-        Reflected some honest work on the problem, summarized the basics well, hit the key points, missed one or more of the key lessons to be learned in the case, didn't put the case presentation together effectively.

 

C/D     Clearly not what was expected or typical from a Smeal MBA. Cursorily covered the basics, didn't really bring anything new to the ballgame.

Important:  Principles of Conduct (Note:  I’ve replaced a whole bunch of boilerplate here with the essence of the situation.  It’s important that you read this carefully.)

First of all, on assignments, we suggest attaching the student integrity pledge, brought forth by your class:

“I/We ­­­______________________ have neither given, utilized, received, nor witnessed unauthorized help on this deliverable and have completed this work honestly and in accordance to the professor’s guidelines.”

• As in business, we’re counting on us all to bring our own principles and moral compass to the world, and to class.  My assumption is that all Penn State MBA’s bring very high standards to their practice now –and will do so in the future.

• Academic integrity:  We’re all here together to learn, work, share.  “Free riding,” sitting back and let others do the work, reflects lack of integrity and engagement with the class.  If I hear complaints – which are rare – as in business, I do try to take fast, prudent, confidential action.
  
  But note:  Most everyone I’ve worked with in business – throughout 30 years – is ferociously honest, and of very high integrity.  You need to be as well.  Cheating, plagiarism – all of the things listed in many pages of legal-sounding policy documents on the subject – simply is dishonest and not good business. We need to hold one another accountable for not doing these things.  Acts of support, team play, enabling diverse points of view, and mobilizing the special creativity in each of us is fun, honest and good business.  

• We together should tolerate no sort of discrimination or harassment.

• Students with disabilities are invited to take this class, and if you need any accommodations please see me directly or call me at 814-863-2782. We’ll do what we can to make our time together pleasant and productive.

Dr. Ralph Oliva