Purpose of Assignment

Marketing plans help coordinate an organization’s departments and activities toward a mutual benefit between the organization and the consumer. Well thought out marketing plans contain both internal and external research aimed at understanding who the customer is, what they want, and any barriers the company may encounter in meeting customer demands. This research and information allows the company to create strong strategies and realistic goals. Part 1 of this four-part learning team assignment is designed to place students in the role of a company marketing team demonstrating to the CEO and Stakeholders why and how their new product/service should be launched. This assignment assesses the company, the target market and product, and identifies potential obstacles a company may face when deciding to launch a new offering will be identified.

Assignment Steps

Scenario: Your team has been chosen by the CEO to lead the development of key marketing strategies for the marketing plan for your company’s launch of a new and unique product/service (not already offered). Your marketing team’s mission is to prove to the board of directors and investors through research, strategy development, and reasoning, that this product/service is viable and will meet the company’s goals. In this first half of the project, you will be reporting to the board and CEO about the target, the product’s strengths, a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis, and the brand’s position in the competitive environment.

Create a company or use a company with which you are familiar. WE WILL BE USING WHOLE FOODS HEALTH MARKET

Create a new and unique (not already offered) product or service the company will be launching. WE WILL BE PITCHING A VEGAN STEAK PRODUCT to the CEO OF WHOLE FOODS.

Create a minimum of 1,050-word report covering the following:

• Describe the organization, who are they, what industry they operate in, their mission and values, as well as what makes them different from other organizations.
• Briefly explain your new and unique product/service. How will this add value and differentiate the brand and product from the competition, while encouraging the target market to buy?
• Conduct an environmental scan for your company focusing on which of the five external forces the company is likely to be impacted by and what actions they will need to take to overcome them.
• Prepare a SWOT analysis using the SWOT graph.

Cite a minimum of three peer-reviewed sources. One must come from the course textbook or videos and one from the University Library.

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.