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Fall 2018

Welcome to Marketing Principles - Honors!

This class is intended to provide you with an overview of the basic marketing concepts

and tools. Regardless of the field you ultimately choose to pursue, this course should

give you a strong grounding in the marketing discipline.

The average person thinks of marketing as the advertising, promotion and sales of consumer

goods. This popular, narrow conception of

marketing is not surprising given that these are the

most common marketing activities with which the

average person has direct experience. The scope of

this course, however, will reveal the full breadth of

the principles and practice of marketing.

Fundamentally, marketing includes two core

activities:

1) understanding customer needs

2) satisfying customer needs

While on the surface this charter for marketing

seems relatively simple, there are many complex and

interdependent decisions that a company must make

with respect to the products it sells, the prices it

charges, where it sells the products and how they are

positioned and communicated in the market.

Collectively, these decisions (product, price, place

and promotion) are called the marketing mix.

Before a company can decide what its marketing

mix will be, however, it must decide what market it

is in and who it wants to target within that market – the choice of which depends on a rigorous analysis

of a variety of external and internal factors as well as

a thorough understanding of customer needs and

organizational competencies.

The overall intent of this course is to introduce you

to the terminology, concepts and activities

fundamental to marketing. While there is

necessarily a lot of detail that we will cover, your

primary objective should be to develop a “mental

map” of marketing that you will be able to evolve

and apply in subsequent courses and throughout your

careers – regardless of whether you are identified as

a “marketing person” or not.

Marketing Principles (Honors)

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Course Details, Objectives, & Approach

Instructor Alex Gabbi – alex.gabbi@mccombs.utexas.edu – 512-633-1193 (Mobile)

Office Hours CBA 6.314 – M 12:30-1:30; W 3:30-4:30 PM or by appointment

Class Info 05150 – MW 9:30-11:00 (CBA 5.330)

05155 – MW 11:00-12:30 (CBA 5.330)

TA Matthew Brunicardi

Phone 512.542.1305 713.884.0870

Primary Course Objectives • Understand the terminology, concepts and activities of marketing

• Understand the “big picture” of marketing, i.e. relationships between:

✴ Marketing activities

✴ People in marketing and in other functions

✴ Between firms; between firms & society

Secondary Course Objectives Improve presentation and writing skills

Learn about marketing jobs

Course Approach To start with, it is important for you to understand marketing-specific terminology, concepts, & activities.

• The first step in accomplishing this will be for you to read the assigned material by the dates outlined in the

schedule.

• In addition, our class discussions and lectures will reinforce key concepts.

Reading and attending class is, however, only the first step. To really understand this material, you must also

learn to apply it. To accomplish this, we will also have:

• Assigned readings from “popular press” sources (e.g., The Wall Street Journal)

• Class discussions & activities

• Many assignments intended to give you an opportunity to apply what you have learned

Class Resources 1. MKTG-12 (use a different edition only at your own risk)

Lamb, Hair, & McDaniel - Cengage

(OPTIONAL)

2. Course Articles (available on Canvas)

3. Lecture Slides & Course Assignments (available on Canvas)

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A few of my thoughts on teaching... My goal is to provide tools and create an interesting

environment for learning. I believe my responsibility as an

instructor is to ensure that this class contributes to the

overall return on your investment by providing a

worthwhile set of tools and resources and doing my best to

demonstrate how interesting and important this topic can

be to you and the world-at-large.

Since you all learn in different ways, your responsibility is

to take advantage of all the resources provided in all the

ways that are best for you. I expect you to be very active

in your learning, rather than sitting on the sidelines as a

passive observer. I have created a fairly interesting

structure for this course, but will maintain flexibility so

that we can adapt to the needs and desires of those

participating.

Throughout this course I am trying to encourage you to

read the material from the resources provided, critically

think about how they apply to a variety of marketing

circumstances, make connections to concepts larger than

marketing, and consider how you will make the world a

better place through your work.

Class Participation You are all bright people who learn in

different ways. Because you all come

from a variety of experiences and

backgrounds, I am hoping that each

of you will contribute greatly to the

knowledge built in this class by

sharing your thoughts. Come

prepared to engage in the discussions,

whether you actually speak out loud

or not, by not just reading the

required material, but by also forming

opinions and questions about the

material presented. I will call upon

you from time to time, but these will

not be attempts to harass or

embarrass you, I promise. I simply

want to give everyone more

experience in being prepared to speak

on the spot about various topics. You

can read details below of how class

participation will be evaluated.

Communication Communication is a key skill for

anyone involved in any aspect of

marketing, not to mention almost

every other aspect of business.

Communicating effectively includes

the ability to organize your thoughts

coherently and use language

accurately so that the story is told in

the best way possible. Although your

assignments will be evaluated

primarily on the basis of effort and

content, you will also be evaluated on

your ability to communicate

effectively. This will apply to both

written and oral presentations of your

work.

Contacting Me There is just no substitute for

attending class to get all of the

information you need - I do not

send every instruction via email.

Do not email assignments to me

unless you’ve checked with me first,

as they tend to get lost in the shuffle

of my inbox. Never use email to

discuss grades, express concerns,

launch into passionate diatribes, or

anything similar. Instead, set up time

with me to discuss these things in

person.

Also, you may call or text my cell

phone if you require a more rapid

response to a question or to schedule

an appointment time outside of

regular office hours.

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Grading & Assignments

Final Level XP Grade

Legend 800 A

Superstar 750 A-

All-Star 700 B+

Starter 650 B

Professional 600 B-

Role Player 500 C

Amateur 400 D

Cut <400 F

Final grades will be based on your ability to earn experience points in our semester-long game. In order to support a

variety of learning styles and interests, there is no prescribed way to achieve the target experience levels associated with

each letter grade, just as in life there are many paths to the same objective. I assume all assignments will be turned in

within the prescribed due date ranges and will penalize late assignments at my discretion (i.e. I will consider valid,

documented reasons, but I will significantly penalize your grade if the lateness is unwarranted, including computer,

printer, relationship, and transportation issues, just to name a few). Also, assignments turned in that to do not have the

applicable prerequisites completed will not be accepted.

Exams There will be three exams and, collectively, they can account for up to 600 experience points. The exams will only be

given on the assigned exam dates during class time or the university-established final exam date. Exams end promptly at

the end of class regardless of when you arrive, so be sure to arrive on time, and no students will be allowed to begin their

exam after the first student finishes. See exam details below.

Format: The exams will include multiple short answer/essay questions. Each exam will cover only the material

from that portion of the syllabus (except for the final, which will be cumulative). The material will be drawn from the

assigned readings and lectures/discussions. All exams will be “closed note” and “closed-book.”

Make-up Policy: There are no make-up exams, but there are multiple ways to earn experience points if you have

to miss an exam for ANY reason, including car trouble, interview, illness, school-sponsored trip, personal issue, family

issue, etc.

Appeals: After taking an exam, you may submit an appeal on any question for which you believe there is some

cause for review. Each appeal must be made by the end of the second class session following the posting of exam grades

and must include the specific reason for the appeal, including the explanation for the reason why you believe the answer

you provided is the best choice, along with documentation or a citation as backup for your exam response (e.g., passage

from the textbook, lecture slide, notes, etc.).

Marketing Plan Assignments This assignment (and its prerequisites) will give you practice creating all of the specific and important sections of a

typical marketing plan for a current, real or hypothetical business venture. You will be able to choose your marketing

plan topic. The Marketing Plan and its prerequisites combined are worth the same amount of experience points (200) as

an exam. Additional details on this assignment will follow separately.

Extra Credit You may complete up to two marketing studies for a total of 10 experience points per study completed.

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Class Participation & Attendance Each class, you will receive a participation score from 0-3, based on the quality and quantity of your participation during

that class. One point will be awarded for attending class that day. The second and third point will be awarded based on

your quality of contribution that day. Answer questions, pose questions, participate in class exercises and provide

insightful observations. Keep in mind that quality is an important component of this - simply giving one-word responses

to questions I pose to the class will not automatically result in 1 point each. Periodic cold calls also count here.

Note that if you arrive more than 10 minutes late to class or leave more than 10 minutes early, you will not receive the

one point for attendance. Additionally, if tardiness becomes a chronic problem (e.g., consistently showing up 3-5 minutes

late for class), then I will consider more penalties because of the disruption.

At the end of the semester, your total participation points will be tallied, and you will be awarded experience points based

on the table below:

Platinum Level (35+ points) 30

Gold Level (30-34 points) 15

Silver Level (24-29 points) 5

Academic Integrity Don’t cheat in any way, shape, or form. Integrity is important in the “real world” and in the classroom. The bottom line

is that I will not be tolerant of any unethical behavior and will seek out the maximum penalties for any student violating

the University’s policies. Please read the “University Policies” section below for more details and links to the official

policy. Students are often confused about academic dishonesty when it comes to projects/papers. The most common

confusion is with plagiarism. The basic rule to avoid plagiarism is to simply cite your sources: If it’s not your idea, then

cite the source. You can use APA style (or any other style) to cite references as long as you are consistent. Try this link

for details about APA style: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/students/citing/online/apa.html

University Policies The McCombs School of Business has no tolerance for acts of scholastic dishonesty. The responsibilities of

both students and faculty with regard to scholastic dishonesty are described in detail in the BBA Program’s

Statement on Scholastic Dishonesty at http://my.mccombs.utexas.edu/BBA/Code-of-Ethics. By teaching this

course, I have agreed to observe all faculty responsibilities described there. By enrolling in this class, you

have agreed to observe all student responsibilities described there. If the application of the Statement on

Scholastic Dishonesty to this class or its assignments is unclear in any way, it is your responsibility to ask me

for clarification. Students who violate University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary

penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from the University. Since

dishonesty harms the individual, all students, the integrity of the University, and the value of our academic

brand, policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced. You should refer to the Student Conduct

and Academic Integrity website at http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/conduct/ to access the official University

policies and procedures on scholastic dishonesty as well as further elaboration on what constitutes scholastic

dishonesty.

Students with Disabilities Students with disabilities may request appropriate academic accommodations from the Division of Diversity

and Community Engagement, Services for Students with Disabilities, 512-471-6259,

http://diversity.utexas.edu/disability/.

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TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE

Date Session Core Topic Covered Concepts Assignments (Detail on Canvas) XP Prereq Type

29-Aug 1

Marketing Overview / Basics

Course structure / syllabus review

Introduction to marketing process

- [001] Write a 2 paragraph statement of work where paragraph 1 is a product/service idea you have or a company you're interested in and paragraph 2 explains why you're interested 5 None Individual

5-Sep 2

Strategic Analysis & Planning Marketing plan (use, content)

- [002] Conduct a BCG for a company (existing or your concept) 5 [001] Individual

Portfolio / Strategic analysis tools (SWOT, BCG matrix, Ansoff)

- [003] Conduct a SWOT for a company (existing or your concept) 5 [001] Individual

10-Sep 3 Marketing Environment

Important trends (economic, political, demographic, technology, environmental, globalization)

- [004] Interview an expert on market trends. Submit your interview audio file and a summary of the key highlights 5 None Individual

Industry analysis tools and concepts (value chain, Porter framework, hypercompetition, co-opetition)

- [005] Conduct an industry analysis using all appropriate frameworks for either an existing company or your concept; - [006] Submit an article or podcast on a trend of interest to you and provide a summary and analysis of its impact areas 10/5

[001] None Individual

12-Sep 4 Marketing Environment

Futurism - painting a picture of alternate futures

- [007] Subcribe to a futurism podcast or YouTube channel. Record yourself and at least 2 classmates having a dicsussion (10 minute minimum) on the issue. 10 None Group

Tools and information sources to stay abreast of key trends

- [008] Build and publish a directory of at least 20 podcasts / web sites / apps that are useful for staying abreast of key trends. 10 None Individual

17-Sep 5 Opportunity Assessment

TAM and SAM - definition and measurement

- [009] Define a market and size it for a company (existing or your concept). Describe in detail how you arrived at the sizing. Use your industry analysis and trend analysis to provide 10

[001], [005], [006] Individual

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an objective assessment of the market opportunity.

Techniques for evaluating opportunity potential

19-Sep 6 Consumer Behavior

Traditional consumer decision making process

- [010] Working with at least 4 other classmates, identify a product/service of interest and map out the consumer decision making process using Visio or some other process mapping tool. 10 None Group

Buyer psychology

Audience, customer personas

- [011] Define at least one persona for your topic concept or a different product/service that is of interest. Write a storyboard for that persona. 10

[009] or None. Individual

24-Sep 7 Consumer Behavior

Modern consumer decision making and influencer marketing

- [012] With one other classmate, develop a set of interview questions and then interview a consumer marketing executive or business owner on the topic of customer acquisition and how their customers make decisions. 10 None. Group

26-Sep 8 Business Behavior

Traditional B2B decision making process

- [013] Pair up with another classmate. One student should interview a B2B salesperson with the goal of understanding their process and perspective on how customers make decisions. The other student should interview a procurement professional at a customers with the goal of understanding their decision-making process. Compare notes and write up one PPT slide comparing and contrasting the two perspective. Be prepared to present the findings on this class date. 10 None. Group

1-Oct 9 Business Behavior

Modern B2B decision making process

Leveraging B2C techniques in a B2B world

3-Oct 10 Segmentation & Targeting

Segmentation, targeting & positioning

- [014] For an existing company or your concept, define at least three potential customer segments at a high level. Then pick the most promising one and write a detailed 10 [011] Individual

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analysis of the segment, including segmentation criteria used, sizing, and a persona.

Building an effective positioning statement and strategy

- [015] Write a positioning statement for the persona and market segment defined for your concept or an existing company. 5 [014] Individual

8-Oct 11 Marketing Research Research objectives

- [016] With a group of at least 4 other students, define a relevant marketing question for some aspect of your student life. Then design the research instrument, gather the data, and analyze the results in a 1-2 page executive summary. Publish your findings. 20 None. Group

Research methodologies and techniques

Transformation of research in the Internet and mobile device age

- [017] Prepare a 2 minute elevator pitch on a cool new research technique you found that has been enabled by mobile devices and/or the Internet. Record your clip and be prepared to present it to the class. 10 None. Individual

10-Oct 12 EXAM #1 200 None

15-Oct 13 Products / Services

Traditional new product development cycle

Modern enhancements/effects on new product introduction

Impact of lean methodologies on new product development

- [018] Define a new product experience for your new product/service or existing company. Outline how you would go about developing and validating the product/service. 10 [014] Individual

17-Oct 14 Products / Services Product management concepts

- [019] Partner with another student. Pick one spectacular product success and one spectacular product failure in the last 5 years. Hypothesize how this happened in both cases and post this hypothesis in a discussion forum that you moderate online. You must have at least 10 insightful comments to receive credit. 10 None Group

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Managing the product mix

- [020] Analysze the product portfolio of an existing company. If you were the product manager, what product mix, product line, and product item decisions would you make and why? 10 None Individual

Unique characteristics of services

Managing the service mix

22-Oct 15 Promotion AIDA approach to promotion

- [021] Design the promotional mix for your product/service or existing company. Use AIDA as the core framework and then describe which promotional levers you would use, how, and why. 10 [014] Individual

Managing the promotional mix

Impact of B2B / B2C on the promotional mix

24-Oct 16 Promotion

Developing an advertising campaign using the DAGMAR approach

- [022] Develop an advertisement for your promotion mix *or* pick a product/service you like and using the DAGMAR approach make an advertisement for it. Present your ad for the classroom "viewer's choice" awards for bonus points. 20

[014] or None.

Indvidual or Group

Effective sales promotion

- [023] Your team has been hired by a travel company seeking to drive last minute travel bookings for Thanksgiving. Develop a sales promotion to incite customers to action and justify your recommendation. A one-page brief is sufficient. 10 None Group

Common current approaches to personal selling (consultative, challenger)

- [024] Read an article on a popular current personal selling technique. Explain the key aspects of this technique to the class via a 5 minute video that you upload. 10 None Individual

29-Oct 17 Promotion Social media platforms

- [025] Pretend you're a blogger and you've been asked to find the next big social media app (i.e. the next Snapchat) for your generation. Find it, explain why, and do a review. 10 None. Individual

Building a social media campaign

- [026] Build a social media campaign following the structure outlined in class for your new product/service or existing company. 20 [022] Individual

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31-Oct 18 Place Channel management concepts

- [027] With a team of 4, pick 2 retailers that are thriving and two that are struggling (at least one of each must be brick and mortar and one of each must be electronic). Have a free-form discussion around why each of the retailers is in the situation it is - then turn this into summary bullets that you can post on slideshare. 10 None Group

Channel strategy

- [028] Using concepts described in class, build and document a channel strategy for your product/service or existing company. Be sure to justify all of your choices. 10 [014] Individual

Retail

5-Nov 19 Place E-commerce and M-commerce

- [029] Pick one of the following companies and write 2 page analysis of how they use their supply chain as a competitive weapon. (Amazon, Walmart, HEB, Apple, Dell) 10 None Individual

Supply chain as a key enabler of e-commerce

Convergence of brick and mortar and virtual commerce

Virtual and augmented reality in commerce

- [030] Identify an expert in either augmented, virtual reality, or retail and ask them to comment on hwo they believe AR/VR will change retail in the future. Add your commentary and post for discussion. 20 None Individual

7-Nov 20 Price Pricing concepts and strategies

Importance of segmentation in pricing, price optimization/peer pricing

12-Nov 21 Price Pricing management and tactics

- [031] Using concepts covered in class, describe and justify an introductory pricing strategy and then steady-state pricing tactics for the market segment that you identified for your product/service or existing company. 10 [014] Individual

Pricing externalities (inflation, deflation, tariffs, exchange rates)

14-Nov 22 Analytics / Metrics Common marketing metrics

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Applications of marketing analytics

- [032] Define what metrics you would use to assess the efficacy of your marketing plan, how you would measure them, and why they are the appropriate ones. 10

[015], [018], [021], [028], [031]

Tools for data visualization and analytics

- [033] With two other classmates, set up and conduct an evaluation of three data visualization and analytics tools typically used in marketing applications. Post your review in either video or PDF format. 10 None Group

19-Nov 23 GUEST SPEAKER SLOT

21-Nov 24 THANKSGIVING BREAK

26-Nov 25 Non-Profit Marketing Non-profit landscape

Unique challenges of non-profits

28-Nov 26 Non-Profit Marketing Marketing for non-profits

- [034] Research and select a non-profit that speaks to you. In a 2 minute elevator pitch (which you may be asked to present to the class), convince us to make a donation and provide one unique marketing idea that the non-profit might be able to use to raise money. 10 None Individual

3-Dec 27 Modern Marketing

Transformational trends in marketing

Skills required by a modern marketer

5-Dec 28 Modern Marketing What's next?

- [035] Fill out the class fedback survey and submit it. 5 None Individual

10-Dec 29 EXAM #2 NON-CUMULATIVE EXAM 200 None

CUMULATIVE FINAL CUMULATIVE FINAL 200 None

MARKETING PLAN MARKETING PLAN (10 Pages) 100 None

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EXTRA N/A Achievement Badges Collaboration / Coaching

Be a top 10 contributor to Coil at the end of the semester 50 None Individual

Contribute an idea for a class activity

Extracurricular Experiences Attend a Blackstone Launchpad Event (up to 3 @ 5 per event) 15 None Individual

Research Support Participate in a marketing department research study (up to 2 at 10 per study) 20 None Individual

Competition Winning squad bonus 25 None

Attendance Platinum Level (35 points) 30

Gold Level (30 points) 15

Silver Level (24 points) 5

TOTAL POINTS AVAILABLE: 1,200