MKW1120 Marketing Fundamentals A1: Individual Poster Semester 1, 2026 | Monash University

MKW1120 Assignment 1 Brief

Learning Outcomes

This assessment assesses the following learning outcomes:

Weighting

This assessment is worth 30% of your overall grade for this unit. Please see the assignment rubric for the weightings of each assessment criterion.

Requirements

This assignment has the following requirements:

Assignment Instructions

Imagine you are a marketing intern at a company that sells fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). Your manager has asked you to prepare a poster presentation for the management team to evaluate one of the company’s existing products. The purpose of this poster is to assess how effectively the product communicates its value and sustainability positioning, and to propose a smart and sustainable improvement that strengthens its appeal to consumers.

The poster should showcase:

1. Understanding of the chosen product, including how its features and packaging communicate the current value proposition.
2. An evaluation of the product’s sustainability, based on observable evidence from the product packaging.
3. Identification and explanation of sustainability gaps (e.g., product’s current design, ingredients, usage or message)
4. Identification and analysis of the potential consumers of the product, based on the existing product and packaging communication.
5. Analysis of the product values to these consumers, using Smith and Colgate’s customer value framework
6. One proposed sustainable product improvement.

Preparation Guidelines

Design the poster based on the following instructions:

1. Select one FMCG product from one of the following categories (only products within the listed sub-categories are permitted):

• Food and beverages (packaged only)

  Bottled or canned beverages

• Personal care

  Skincare

 Hairca Oral care

Important tips: Your selected product should have sufficient packaging information (e.g., ingredients, claims, usage instructions etc). Products with minimal packaging information may limit the depth of your analysis.

2. Visit a physical shop/outlet (e.g., convenience store, supermarket etc) that sells your chosen product.
3. Take clear, high-quality pictures of the actual product in the shop/outlet or at home. These photographs must be taken by you and must not be downloaded from websites or generated using AI tools.

Note: Details on how these photographs should be presented on the poster and in the appendix are provided in the “Note on Poster Images” section below.

4. Your analysis should be based on what is directly observable from the packaging, including product claims, materials used, ingredient information, usage instructions, and sustainabilityrelated messaging.
5. Where you make interpretive or evaluative claims (for example, regarding environmental impact, ingredient safety, biodegradability, recyclability, or sustainability performance), these points must be supported using appropriate secondary sources, such as:
   • the company’s official website,
   • credible industry or sustainability reports, or
   • relevant academic sources.

Note: Secondary sources are intended to support and justify your analysis of the packaging, not to replace it. All secondary sources must be properly cited using APA 7th style.

Content Requirement For The Poster

Page 1: Poster

The contents for page 1 of the poster includes:

1. Product Description and Features
   • Describe the product, including its key features and how it is intended to be used.
   • Analyse the product’s sustainability based on observable evidence from the packaging, such as packaging materials, ingredient choices, usage behaviour, recyclability and environmental claims.
   • Link your product to one relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and briefly justify the linkage.

2. Target Consumers and Value Analysis
   • Describe the potential consumers of the product based on the existing product and packaging communication.
   • Based on the article by Smith & Colgate (2007), identify and explain at least two types of value offered by the product. The article is available on the Moodle site.

Note: Please ensure that the analysis of target consumers and value analysis are based on the product description and features described in the first section (see no 1).

3. Sustainability Analysis and Proposed Improvements
   • Identify sustainability gaps, explaining where the product’s design, formulation, usage or claims falls short.
   • Propose ONE realistic improvement that directly addresses the identified sustainability gap.

Note: Students may identify more than one sustainability gap. However, they are required to select one key gap as the focus of their proposed improvement.

4. In text-Citations
   • Include citations on the poster in APA 7th style.

Page 2: Reference List, Declaration Of Ai Use, Final Word Count

1. Reference List
   • List all references on Page 2, using the APA 7th referencing style.
   • The poster should include a minimum of three references from scholarly/academic journals listed in the ABDC journal list. The journal list is available on Moodle.
   • Resources from Moodle do not count towards the three required sources.
2. Declaration of AI use
   • Please refer to the section on Generative AI.
3. Final word count
   • Include the final word count of your content from Page 1 (excluding in-text citations).

Page 3: Appendix (Evidence)

To support your analysis and verify authenticity, you must include two types of photographs in the appendix.

1. One unedited context photo showing the product in a natural setting (for example, at home or on a store shelf).
2. One unedited close-up photo showing packaging details such as ingredients, claims, sustainability information, or recycling instructions.

Poster Format Instructions             

Poster Submission Guidelines And Turnitin Checking

Step 1: Turnitin Checking – Multiple Attempts

• Prepare your poster according to the given guidelines.
• Upload the poster for Turnitin checking.
• Review the Turnitin index. The threshold level should not be more than 20% of similarities. If the similarity index exceeds this threshold, you may revise your draft and upload it again.

[Tips: Start your submission a few days before the due date to allow enough time to receive your Turnitin report and make any necessary amendments. Turnitin may take up to 24 hours or longer to generate the report for your subsequent upload(s). Hence, potentially causing your assessment submission to be late. Plan your schedules accordingly.]

Step 2: Final Submission – Only One Attempt

• Proceed with the final submission once you meet the Turnitin similarity index threshold (not more than 20% similarities).
• Upload two separate files. Only PDF submissions are accepted.
  1. Main file which includes the poster, the reference list, and the declaration of the use of generative AI
  2. Marking rubric
• After all the PDF files have been uploaded, please click the “SUBMIT BUTTON” to complete the submission process.
• There is no need to upload a Monash assignment coversheet.
• Read and check the plagiarism declaration in Moodle before submitting.
• It is your responsibility to upload the correct file, as you only have one Any wrong submissions will not be entertained by your tutors.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen Ai)

Declaration Of The Use Of Gen Ai Tools

• Gen AI tools can only be used to get ideas for this assessment task. While you can use gen AI to explore ideas, the final submission must be your original creation.
• Include a declaration after your reference list:
  • Provides a written acknowledgment of the use of Gen AI o Specifies which technology was used
  • Includes explicit descriptions of how the information was generated o Identifies the prompts used o Explain how the output was used in your work.

Examples of your declaration:

Late Lodgement Policy And Extension Guidelines

Penalties For Late Lodgement

• The submission link for the assessment will remain open after the due date. Any submissions submitted 7 days past the due date will not be marked.
• In the event of late submission, a penalty of 5 percent of the total mark to this assessment task will be deducted for each day (or part thereof) that the assessment is late.
• Students may not receive feedback on any assessments that receive a mark of zero due to a late-submission penalty.

Extension & Special Consideration

• Students must submit a request for a short extension before the assessment due date and time.
• For an extension longer than two calendar days, students must apply for special consideration.
• A short extension can only be granted once for an assessment. Any additional extension requests for the same assessment require a special consideration application. 

Resources And Tips 

• Important reading: Smith, J. B., & Colgate, M. (2007). Customer Value Creation: A Practical Framework. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 15(1), 7–23.
  https://doi.org/10.2753/MTP1069-6679150101
  ● Understand the concepts in Lectures 1 and 2.
• You may include references to support your points relating to sustainability, the concepts of value, and product description, etc.
• This assessment is a hybrid between theory and application. Your task is to understand the concepts of value and apply it to your chosen product. Evaluate the resources and craft your own message to complete the task.
• Ensure that each paragraph/section has a clear main point and provides evidence to support your argument where applicable.
• Since this is an individual assessment, there are many ways to design and present your thoughts. Refer to the marking rubric for more guidance.