MGT6145 Marketing Management Practice Coursework 1 Brief

Assignment Brief: Sports Nutrition - Environmental and Market Analysis 

Context

In the second (individual) assignment for this module, you will be asked to develop a marketing plan for the launch of a new sports nutrition product (i.e. a product that can be bought and stored for use/consumption at a later date rather than a service). You will be asked to put yourself in the position of being a new company - an entrepreneurial organization - introducing a new product brand to the market. You should NOT imagine you are operating within an existing organization. The marketing plan that you eventually produce will incorporate the key marketing decisions that need to be considered when deciding to go to market with a new product. This will include analysis of the marketing environment, competitors and consumers; segmentation, targeting and positioning; developing a clear and appropriate brand identity; and designing a marketing offering in the form of a comprehensive ‘marketing mix’. The new product will be launched in the UK, so that it is where you should focus your analysis and planning.

Assignment 1: Task Requirements

For this assignment, you are asked to work in a group to develop an analysis of the marketing environment and market for sports nutrition products in the UK. You are not required to develop the full marketing plan for the launch of a new product in this particular assignment, or even specify the precise nature of the new product (indeed you should avoid doing so at this stage), but rather to undertake and produce a market analysis that will provide a foundation for your decisions about this later. Specifically, in assignment 1, you are required to present an analysis of the following:

1. The external macro-environment; i.e. the key factors that are external to the market itself but significantly affect all organisations that operate within it, in some way. For this you should apply a PESTLE framework to structure your analytical process, and then present the outcome of this by identifying the key factors/trends in the external environment that are highly relevant to the sports nutrition industry, and may create opportunities and/or threats for organisations within it.

2. Segmentation; i.e. the key segments of consumers that exist in the market. For this you should aim to identity and profile at least THREE
distinct segments of the consumers that exist within the market, providing a detailed profile of each and applying a range of segmentation
variables to do this (as will be covered in the module)

3. Targeting; i.e. which segment of customers/consumers you would choose to focus if you were to launch a new product/brand in this market.
For this you should apply recognised criteria for evaluating and selecting target markets (as will be covered in the course), and as much data/information/evidence as you can, to make, explain and justify your selection.

4. Consumer analysis; i.e. for your chosen target segment you should now provide a more detailed analysis of the needs these customers/
consumers are seeking to fulfill and the types of value they are seeking to gain (or create) by consuming products in this category. You should
apply models such as ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ and ‘Theory of Consumption Values’ to structure, inform and explain these analyses, and you should support your claims and assumptions with as much data/information/evidence as possible. It might also be useful to analyse the consumption behaviour of these target consumers in terms of what kinds of products they are currently interested in, how they use them, how often they use them, where and when they use them, etc. and what they are currently missing.