2. Marketing Information and Research Angela Dalrymple Senior Examiner Assignment brief December 2013 / March 2014

3. Presentation title Assignment Introduction The MIR December 2013 / March 2014 assignment consists of three tasks: –Task one: a research proposal (12 sides of A4 +/- 10%) Worth 50% of the final mark. –Task two: a presentation (up to 12 slides +/- 10%) with supporting speaker notes (up to 1500 words +/- 10%) Worth 25% of the final mark. –Task three: a discussion paper of up to 1500 words +/- 10% Worth 25% of the final mark. 2

4. Presentation title Assignment Context You are required to write this assignment from the perspective of a Research Executive working for a Marketing Research agency. You are creating a research proposal, presentation and discussion paper for a client organisation of your choosing: –This should be your own organisation, or one you are very familiar with. –The assignment should not be written from the perspective of an employee within the chosen client organisation. 3

5. Presentation title Task One: Research Planning for Decision Making Research Proposal Context: –The client wishes to commission research amongst customers on attitudes towards receiving and responding to different types of marketing communications whilst on the move. Research focus:- –Determine the types and frequency of marketing communications which customers receive on the move. –Examine the main types of devices on which customers prefer to receive marketing communications on the move. –Explore customer perceptions towards ease of access to the client organisation whilst on the move. –Determine key types of marketing communications which customers would find acceptable to receive whilst on the move. 4 Note: Communications from both the client & other organisations Note: Both existing and potential customers

6. Presentation title Task One: Research Proposal Structure Candidates should follow the standard research proposal structure set out in e.g. BPP MIR Study Text –Background and rationale. –Objectives. –Approach and methodology (this should including sampling). –Reporting and presentation procedures. –Timelines (e.g. shown via a Gantt chart). –Fees/Budget. –Background to the research agency / outline CVs. No requirement for an Executive Summary –If included, introductory letter from the agency to the client / Executive Summary must be part of the specified 12 page count for this task. Table of Contents should show relevant page numbers of each section. 5

7. Presentation title Task One: Background and Rationale Background & Rationale –May be shown as separate sections. –Or as single section where Rationale clearly follows on logically from Background. Background should outline:- –Brief description of the client organisation, its markets, customers and products / services. –Context of the types of marketing messages which the organisation currently sends its customers on the move. Rationale should provide clear justification as to why the client needs this particular research:- –Main reasons why the client wants to carry out this specific research project at this point in time. –What the research results will be used for by the organisation. Background & Rationale approx. 1-2 pages (worth 10 marks). 6

8. Presentation title Task One: Research Objectives Objectives often lose marks for candidates who veer off the criteria in the brief. Candidates should cover the specific criteria given in the brief (12 marks):- –Determine the types and frequency of marketing communications which both existing and potential customers receive whilst on the move, from the client organisation and from other organisations. –Examine the main types of devices on which both existing and potential customers prefer to receive marketing communications whilst on the move. –Explore perceptions of both existing and potential customers towards current ease of access to the client organisation whilst on the move, eg. via phone, email and/or Internet. –Determine the key types of marketing communications which existing and potential customers would find acceptable to receive from the client organisation whilst on the move. 7

9. Presentation title Task One: Research Objectives Each of these criteria need to be presented as research objectives with associated information targets, e.g. the following general example:- 1.To determine customer perceptions of value in relation to the organisation’s products or services: Determine how perceptions of value are influenced by customer service levels received. Establish the extent to which price determines customer perceptions of product or service value. Identify any other key factors which influence customer perceptions of value. 8 Sub Objectives - Information Targets Main Research Objective

10. Presentation title Task One: Approach & Methodology A research proposal is a selling tool for the research agency –So your approach & methodology should convince the client organisation to use your agency for this research. –Need clear and specific links in your approach to meeting your stated research objectives and information targets. Avoid simply providing “shopping lists” of research approaches / methods unrelated to stated research objectives. And beware of developing too few or too many research methods –One single set of focus groups / one survey / secondary research alone would be unlikely to meet most sets of research objectives. –However a range of 5 or more research methods would be excessive / too costly. 9

11. Presentation title Task One: Approach & Methodology Remember to justify your recommended methodology & sampling approach:- –How will your approach and research methods meet the research objectives? E.g. costs / types of respondents researched? –Do you need both secondary and primary research? If so why? To meet which research objectives? –For secondary research, which data sources would meet specific research objectives? –Do you need both qualitative and quantitative primary research, or just one or the other? Why? To meet which research objectives? –No need to include actual questionnaires / discussion guides / carry out the actual research. –Do not copy directly from a template or previous assignment Strictly forbidden – detectable via CIM plagiarism software…!!! 10

12. Presentation title Task One: Sampling Sampling is key, and must be both clear and justifiable. Don’t just include general sample theory with no justification –E.g. “For the quantitative survey we recommend using stratified random sampling” Why is this the most appropriate sampling approach? For which group of respondents? Don’t create sample numbers which have no justification –E.g. “For the proposed focus groups we will run 6 groups with 8 participants per group” Why 6 groups? What will be the difference in content between the sample in each group? Why 8 participants? What will they be asked in relation to the research objectives? 11

13. Presentation title Task One: Example - How to Set Out Sampling Remember to provide a basic summary of:- –Overall sample universe. –Sample frame you recommend drawing from this universe. –Proposed number of respondents to be researched from this sample frame. Example:- –“There are 907,000 businesses operating in the UK construction sector (Federation of Small Businesses, 2013) –Using sample from Dun & Bradstreet, a sample frame of 9,000 construction businesses would be recommended to purchase sample for the quantitative survey –Working on a conversion rate of around 1:10, 900 interviews would be conducted for the proposed quantitative survey to meet Objective 1.2: 12 LocationLondonManchesterBirminghamGlasgow No. of Interviews240230220210

14. Presentation title Task One: Timing, Fees & CVs Timescales - can either be presented as a Gantt chart, or with key activities simply listed under e.g. “Week 1”, “March 2014” onwards –Examples of Gantt charts can be found in previous Senior Examiner reports. –Candidates should not copy generic Gantt charts, but should contextualise them to their recommended approach. Fees - should include an overall total, and a breakdown by key areas of research activity / researcher man days. CVs and agency background information should show experience relative to the proposed research project –Real agency / candidates’ own names should not be used. 13

15. Presentation title Task Two: Secondary Research & Presentation Planning Context - You are still writing in the your role as an Agency Research Executive from Task One. Requirement - To undertake a short secondary research study into:- –Changing trends in how customers communicate with organisations whilst on the move, –Ways in which other organisations or competitors in your client’s marketplace communicate with their customers whilst on the move. Need to produce up to 12 presentation slides, plus speaker notes providing explanation with each slide (speaker notes 1500 words in total) –Slide count and speaker notes word count must be within +/- 10% of these limits. –Cover slide, table of contents slide and bibliography / appendix slides may be included in addition to the 12 presentation slides. 14

16. Presentation title Task Two continued You therefore need to: 15 Gather secondary information on the market Select the most important elements of this information Prepare a presentation of your findings

17. Presentation title Note: All your answers must be applied to the organisation you are writing about Task Two continued 16 Note the different command words for each bullet:- –Compare usefulness of sources of secondary information found which discuss how customers on the move communicate with organisations E.g. usage of different devices. –Evaluate other useful sources of secondary information which show how other organisations/competitors communicate with customers on the move E.g. in terms of marketing, sales and/or customer service support features, and the types of communications used. –Discuss benefits and limitations of your agency’s secondary research approach for the client Value of its contribution to the organisation’s future strategy for communicating with customers who are on the move. –Briefly describe what other sources or types of secondary data would have been useful, but your agency was unable to find Suggest further actions to obtain such additional information.

18. Presentation title Task Two continued Remember to plan how to allocate the contents of your 12 presentation slides –Pay attention to the different weightings for each bullet in the mark scheme. Use a credible range of sources - published reports, newspapers and academic / Internet sources. Reference these sources both in your slides and in a Bibliography slide –Use correct Harvard referencing format - further information on Harvard referencing can be found on the CIM learning zone. Ensure slides only contain key points, with speaker notes to provide supporting explanation –Font sizes on slides should be large enough to read when pasted into the assignment. –Slides should not be overcrowded with text – “Death by PowerPoint”! 17

19. Presentation title Task Two continued Consider the target audience of client directors and senior managers –Tailor your presentation content accordingly. Graphical / statistical data should be included in the presentation –Supporting speaker notes should clarify what the information means for the organisation. You are not expected to actually give the presentation in person. No need to develop costings for this task. Examples of useful secondary research sources of information, data and evidence are provided in the guidance notes to this assignment. 18

20. Presentation title Task Three: Using Customer Communications for Data Collection and Insight Context: Still writing from your role as Agency Research Executive from Task One. Requirement: To produce a discussion paper on the client’s use of customer communications for data collection and insight (1500 words +/- 10%) –Explain strategic importance to the client of building data analysis tools, including databases, to gain insight from key customer data. –Identify relevant data analysis tools the client organisation could use, to gain more insight into customers’ travel patterns and frequency of interaction with marketing messages whilst on the move. –Explain how data protection legislation and controls will impact on storing / analysing data collected on customers whilst they are on the move. –Recommend how the organisation can ethically use data collected on customers when they are on the move, to gain insight into customers’ travel patterns and frequency of interaction with marketing messages whilst on the move. 19

21. Presentation title Task Three continued The purpose of this task is for you to brief the client organisation on key trends, issues and challenges involved in using data collected via communications with customers on the move –This will help the client organisation to gain deeper insight into customer travel patterns, and their frequency of interaction with marketing messages whilst on the move. –This can include data collected from customers using mobile phones, smartphones, tablet and/or laptop devices etc. –Communications with customers on the move could include emails, text messages, phone messages etc. 20

22. Presentation title Task Three continued Start by identifying the importance to the organisation of building a set of data analysis tools to gain insight from key customer data. Then consider which data analysis tools the client organisation could use, to gain insight into customer travel patterns and their frequency of interaction with marketing messages whilst on the move. Remember that many organisations make use of e.g. mobile location-based data and other types of information such as home / work postal, email and device IP addresses to analyse their customers' travel patterns. This might include how often / which times of the day / where customers might want be contacted via e.g. mobile devices, post, fixed phone, home/work PCs etc. 21

23. Presentation title Task Three continued There are several types of data and analysis tools which candidates could recommend to the client organisation –Depending on the characteristics of organisation, and the types of customers which the organisation deals with. Note: “data analysis” tools do not refer to data presentation tools such as spider charts etc., but specifically to tools for analysis of research data –E.g. database analysis, data mining, web analytics etc. 22

24. Presentation title Task Three continued Candidates should then set out the likely impact of data protection legislation and controls on how the organisation can store and analyse data collected on customers whilst they are on the move. Finally, need to make specific recommendations as to how the organisation can ethically use data collected on customers when they are on the move –In order to gain insight into customers’ travel patterns and frequency of interaction with marketing messages whilst on the move. Do consider e.g. location, technical skills, potential marketing budget and typical customer base of the client organisation. 23

25. Presentation title Task Three continued You must address all four bullets of this task, and pay attention to the marking scheme. Make sure all four bullets are discussed specifically in relation to the client organisation –Generic content or material simply copied from textbooks / lecture notes and not applied specifically to the client organisation is likely to fail this task. Support your answer with examples from the client organisation, and references to relevant theory or authors which you have read in preparing your answer to this task. 24

26. Presentation title Format & Presentation Marks for format and presentation are awarded over each task These marks are awarded for e.g: –Relevance of content to the tasks set. –Use of course concepts and frameworks. –Use of professional business tone and format – third person recommended (not “I”, “we”, “you” etc.). –Contextualisation of content as required for each task. –Correct in-text and bibliographical Harvard Referencing. –Adherence to word / page / slide count in each task. –Reference to relevant supporting information such as the BPP MIR Study Text Other useful sources to help with writing this assignment include MIR reading list textbooks, Senior Examiner reports, the guidance notes in the assignment regarding font sizes etc., and the CIM Learning Zone. 25