Team 5 MARK 1120-002 Final Project Report

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Feb 20, 2024

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MARK 1120-002 Final Project Report Team 5 LEE YI HSUAN - 300378776 JUAN CARLOS SANDOVAL MONTIEL - 300386861 MANZEEL POUDEL - 300384722 YASH JHUNJHUNWALA - 300383816 McGraw Hill Practice Marketing Simulator November 27th, 2023 1

MARK 1120-002 Final Project Report 1. Overall Outcome 2. Strategy 3. Target Market 4. Marketing Mix 5. Competitive Analysis 6. Turn Decision-Making Review 7. Improvement 8. Application of Marketing Knowledge Conclusion Appendix 2

1. Overall Outcome Throughout McGraw Hill’s “Practice Marketing” Marketing Simulator, our team ( Team 5 ) was tasked with making strategic decisions to maximize our brand’s performance in a competitive market. With a focus on achieving strong financial performance, capturing market share, return on marketing, and enhancing customer satisfaction, we developed and executed a comprehensive marketing strategy. In this report, we will delve into our results, analyzing our performance across all key metrics and identifying opportunities for improvement. Based on Figure 1 , our financial performance shows that we have achieved a cumulative Net Profit of $3,248.55 and a Total Revenue of $53,612.55. These figures demonstrate the strength of our strategic approach and have significantly contributed to an overall Account Balance of $13,248.55, indicating a solid financial standing. Figure 1. Financial Performance Figure 2 shows that our promotional campaign was efficient, as reflected by the cumulative Return On Marketing of 31%. However, there is still room for improvement in meeting customer expectations since the cumulative Customer Satisfaction Score was 30%. Although our cumulative Market Share of 14% showcases a competitive market presence, we believe that had our strategy been different, we could have improved our presence. 3

Figure 2. Market Share, ROM, and CSS Performance 2. Strategy Managers need a strategy to navigate the competitive landscape. Our initial Strategic Plan served as a guide for us as marketing decision-makers. Here, we'll discuss our approach during the game's turns, the reasoning behind our strategy changes, and the outcomes. Initial Strategy The changes to the Strategic Plan were felt right away, initially, our strategy was to sell our backpacks at $60 a piece, however, we realized that this was a very risky move to make, so we lowered the price to $40 per backpack in the first quarter. We will delve deeper into our pricing strategy in Section 4, as well as the rest of the 4 P’s. As stated in our Strategic Plan, our target market was University Students. To differentiate our product from others, we designed it to meet our client’s preferences for eco-friendliness and capacity of the backpack. Reaching our target audience was of the utmost importance to us, which is why we developed a promotional strategy that specifically targeted the channels that our audience was typically exposed to. We chose cheaper channels to avoid overspending, rather than costly ones. 4

We initially focused on distributing our product through the most popular channels among university students. As a result, we decided to distribute our backpacks through University Stores and Department Stores. Strategy Evolution and Key Shifts As the game progressed, our promotional strategy shifted and we began to incorporate additional channels. In addition to an increased number of channels, we also began to increase the frequency of our advertisements on selected channels. We closed more distribution deals over time. However, as we adjusted our prices, our backpack's eligibility for certain distribution channels changed as well. On average, we sold our backpacks through three distribution channels in each quarter. On average, our backpacks were sold at $35 apiece. The biggest price changes were made after looking at initial feedback from University Students, and a major change in our selected target audience. During the third quarter, we made an important decision to change our target audience to school children. We noticed that this group was showing a growing interest in our products and brand. After studying the feedback we received from school children on the product and size aspects, we were pleasantly surprised to find that they were very satisfied with our offerings. Their comments such as "This is exactly the kind of pack I need" and "It's the perfect size" helped us realize that we had found a winning segment for our business, and we had to change our entire strategy accordingly. In Sections 4 and 6, we will delve into the specific changes we made to our strategy. However, the most significant modifications we made to our marketing mix were focused on the backpack itself due to the change in target audience. 3. Target Market Initially, we focused on University Students, as we believed they were the perfect target audience for our product. During the first two quarters, we learned to customize its features to meet the preferences of this specific market. However, we encountered difficulties while trying to optimize our promotion and advertising strategies to attain maximum efficiency. When we shifted our focus to School Children, we diligently adapted the materials and features of our backpack to cater to their preferences, aiming to increase sales through diverse channels. Transitioning from university students to school children as our target market was a difficult decision. Though we were seeing promising sales among University Students, we noticed a rise in sales for School Children, as well as very positive feedback regarding our backpack and its features. This presented us with a dilemma: should we cater to both groups simultaneously? 5

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