MARKETING for Group members: Sarah Nivet Christina Shipley Tom Bickley Ross Craig Chosen organisation -

The Concept: Yearbooks for University Staple part of high school life in US Part of the lifestyle: Income for school. Memento for students. Beginning to catch on in the UK 6 th forms / 6 th years. 14 Universities in Scotland 250,000 students. Usually aimed at Graduating years Expanding to Sports and Societies.

The Concept: Examples of Yearbooks

The Concept: Universities in Scotland  TARGET = Groups that cover average 4 years of University. Not just graduates. MAXIMISE SALES

1) If you had the opportunity to buy a Yearbook that you and your friends could design and fill with photos and memories, would you? 2) Would you pay £19.99 for a hardback copy? 3) Do you think you could get 10 or more of your friends involved? 4) Are you involved with a sports club or society? If yes, which one?_____________ 50 students 2 Universities The Concept: Market Research

38/50 said they would like to make a yearbook (76%) 35/50 said they could get more than ten friends involved (70%) 24/50 said they were involved with a sports club/society (58%) The Results: Market Research

Potential Sales – Lower Estimate Eg. SPORTS CLUBS An example of potential sales at the 14 universities could be to consider the sports teams 14 universities 100 students per university (low estimate of students in sports) £19.99 – best yearbook available £14.99 – low cost yearbook 14 x 100 = 1,400 students 1,400 x = £27,986 PROFIT = £7, x 100 = 1,400 students 1,400 x = £20,986 The profit per book at £19.99 is £5.00The profit per book at £14.99 is £5.00 1,400 x 4.99 = £6,9861,400 x 5.00 = £7,000

Potential Sales – Higher Estimate Eg. SPORTS CLUBS An example of potential sales at the 14 universities could be to consider the sports teams 14 universities 400 students per university (high estimate of students in sports) £19.99 – best yearbook available £14.99 – low cost yearbook 14 x 400 = 5,600 students 5,600 x = £111,944 PROFIT = £28, x 400 = 5,600 students 5,600 x = £83,944 The profit per book at £19.99 is £5.00The profit per book at £14.99 is £5.00 5,600 x 4.99 = £28,0005,600 x 5.00 = £28,000 (One university taking on this opportunity alone will provide Venture Books, £2000 profit.)

---YEAR 0--- What went wrong? ( )

The Current Company: Problems --- YEAR Finance A grant from the university was awarded to the team for the venture. Of this grant money, £1500 was spent on a website. The rest was spent on extras and is available for spending in Year 1. (£1500) Sales No sales were achieved. The company was not advertised and the website was not up to scratch, even for a start-up business. Marketing The product and company were not marketed. People in Aberdeen University are still unaware of the opportunity they have to make their own yearbook.

---YEAR 1--- Aim : Raise funds and achieve sales in preparation for Year 2. ( )

The Current Company: Solutions --- YEAR Finance Having been allowed to keep the funding provided, the company needs to invest in a new website in order to promote the business to those who are potential customers. Sales Sales must be achieved in order to keep the company going. There may be no running costs however with no profits there is no extra funding for the future start-up companies at the university. We will target the sports associations of each university as a whole. Marketing Marketing should be aimed at sports teams at universities across Scotland in order to capitalise on team spirit and large rosters. This would also mean that the contract agreed with BookBuilder would be fully exploited.

The New Company: Strategy --- The sports market --- Year 1 = focus on raising income/sales. Market towards are the sports teams at each university. Goal = persuade Sports Associations to buy one yearbook for all teams. (Either way this market provides hundreds of potential yearbook buyers for each university.)

---YEAR 2--- Aim : Having achieved repeat sales from the sports teams Venture Books must now appeal to the smaller markets in order to make the most of the opportunity. ( )

The New Company: Strategy --- The societies market --- Student Show This year = 86 th Student show – 21 st to 25 th April at HMT. Perfect opportunity. Website – Lots of pictures already taken. - Actor/Actress/Production profiles. Evidence of potential = 243 photos from the ’07 production

The Band = 8 Production & Tech team = 29 Cast = 28 Script team = 4 TOTAL = 69 customers. QUESTION – “They have a souvenir programme, why pay for a yearbook?” 69 x = £1, The profit per book at £19.99 is £ x 5 = £345 PROFIT The New Company: Student Production

21 screens around campus Flyers and Postering The Advertising: Drawing in Customers

The Advertising: Our Flyer ! Focuses on important details: - Price - Type - DIY aspect Uses the Aberdeen sports team as example: - Shows numbers of members/customers - Portrays potential - The ‘camaraderie’ yearbooks represent Includes the website address for further info. Colours/text/icons all play on the American culture of yearbooks etc, this is the culture we want to sell to universities across Scotland.

The New Company: How to compete? Google is the key internet market to exploit. Adverts can be bought that appear when specific keywords are searched on Google. These keywords could be :- UNIVERSITY + YEARBOOK If we are able to promote the company offline and promote the name and idea of “Venture Books” then we can get the URL out to potential customers, this can be done via clubs or teams and their regular meetings. Year 1 – Barriers to entry to the market. Sheer number of competitors. ‘Contracted company’ Create strong presence in Scotland. Cement a place in the ‘yearbook market’ online

All Students No Minimum order Example of past order: Sixth Form year group with 125 students Softback (50 pages) x 100 copies works out at £18.50 each Hardback (50 pages) x 100 copies works out at £21.00 each University students Minimum order of 10 (til Year 2) Once repeat business is established, minimum order = less than 10. Softback is £14.99 each. Hardback is £19.99 = PRICE ADVANTAGE The New Company: Competition?

The Current Company: Problems --- The Website ---

The New Company: Strategy --- A new website --- The current website is overly complicated, it does not make understanding the business easy enough to interest any potential clients. It would be possible to produce a cheap alternative, a more efficient and tidier website. By improving the website, ordering a yearbook will become easier and hopefully business will improve. A step-by-step guide would aid the business and should take up the majority of space on the site. The features currently provided by the website are pointless and it would be difficult to incorporate these into the business. The new website should include : 1.Easy to use interface [No mess] 2.Step-by-step guide [How to order] 3.Contact page [ for queries] 4.FAQs [Standard queries] 5.Gallery [Examples of Yearbooks] 6.Better graphics [Ease of use]

The New Company: Strategy --- Conclusion --- Year 1Year 2 SOCIEITIESSPORTS Target large group – across Scotland This will provide repeat sales for Year 2 Each university has a sports team so we have opportunities to get a ‘foot in the door’ Target smaller groups – Aberdeen only This provides further sales on top of the sport clubs. By testing out the societies market in Aberdeen we can assess the potential for the other 14 universities.

Any Questions? Thank you for listening.