This page provides
access to the module activities
Designed for in-class/on-line discussions & self-paced learning – ideal for assessments. The following are a series of fictional activities. You may notice that some of the characters appear in more than one activity.
Section 1: Activities
The foundations of marketing knowledge are constructed in section 1; we will: holistically, discuss the values embedded in the marketing concept; discuss and define markets and marketing from both a buyer and seller’s perspective; Explore what is marketing and what is not marketing; discover how marketing has evolved and how history has revealed 4 marketing quests; identify the role of marketing in shaping society; identify how marketing has a role in the financial, strategic and communication objectives of an organisation.
The activities provide scenarios to consider, explore and discuss ‘typical situations’.
In this activity we create a fictional situation, yet student feedback suggests a very familiar situation as students tackle their first assessments.
In this activity we take a virtual field trip of markets around the world. By understanding markets we can better understand the relationships between buyers and sellers and how both come together to satisfy needs and wants and provide an insight to marketing as a process. An important activity for all modules in section 1.
In this activity we explore the evolution of marketing and society; our objective is to learn from the past, identify the historical patterns, and be able to recognise how this knowledge can assist marketing practitioners to design and develop best satisfying products in the future.
In this activity we explore the recent conversations on social media regarding the 4Ps of marketing. Clearly, there are strong, enduring, and divergent ‘opinions’ on this topic. With this in mind, it would be prudent [not to mention brave] to share an abbreviated summary of the academic literature regarding the marketing mix and the 4Ps.
On social media I have read a number of comments [+ comments on comments] that indicate a general lack of understanding on the general V specific nature of marketing. This post should help increase your understanding on the structure of marketing, help you to consider context when applying theories, and may help you avoid costly marketing mistakes.
Jacob [a fictional young man] is uncertain about his future and doubts whether his values need to be sacrificed ‘just to get a job’. The 3 business concepts are explained and the importance of the marketing concept is inferred.
After participating in this activity students should be able to:
identify the 3 business concepts and describe their characteristics.
Section2: Activities
The theoretical framework for marketing practitioners will be presented in section 2. We will discuss how marketing practitioners have developed concepts and theory to consider and manage the situational factors of customers, organisation, market, and product. We discuss how it is worthwhile to consider the marketing concept as a giga-marketing concept comprised of 3 mega-marketing concepts – the buyer decision process, the total product, and the circle of satisfaction. We also outline that the mega-marketing concepts encompassed many milli-marketing concepts.
The activities provide scenarios to consider, explore and discuss ‘typical situations’.
In this activity: different people different holidays – we consider the people in the images and discuss how they would approach their decision making. Keep in mind autocratic and syncretic decision making, family life cycle, and who influences the product selection process.
In this activity; the buyer decision process – car we follow three ‘mates’ as they come together to watch AFL football and talk about cars. This activity provides the opportunity to explore needs the influence of friends and how needs and wants vary according to the situational factors.
In this activity: technology & the sales process – we explore how technology has changed the way people search for information, establish a considered set of products, & evaluate the value of alternatives.
In this activity: marketing in a time of disruption – we explore how marketing practitioners were required to reconsider the situational factors and design, develop, and deliver new product offering. Although tragic we can see marketing as a societal system was disrupted and how marketing practitioners must evolve with the changing situational factors.
In this activity: price pricing and the product life cycle we follow Joseph a representative of a global automobile manufacturer and his conversations with Sam the marketing manager of a automobile dealer. You will notice how this is activity is written from a B2B perspective and how the dealership is a channel partner in a marketing channel.
In this activity we take you on a bus trip designed for backpackers. This activity is employed to highlight the buyer decision process, the total product, and the circle of satisfaction within an identifiable target market and market segment. Along the way we discuss the role of service providers in contributing to the customer experience and customer satisfaction.
In this activity a number of buying scenarios are presented for consideration.
Sorry – under reconstruction
This activity: identifying service dominant products is designed to highlight the diversity and prevalence of products where the service component is the dominant product component – these are referred to as service dominant products and often simply as services. They are often discussed in the marketing genre of ‘services marketing’
SORRY – under reconstruction
This activity: the job application, is very similar to an earlier activity: the buyer decision process – cars. That activity provides a scenario of a group of friends as they form schemas and brand attitudes and employ different mediums as they search and consider alternatives during the buyer decision process. In this activity you are asked to demonstrate [to a greater degree than the earlier activity] your understanding of marketing from the perspective of how marketing can prepare graduates for a B2B role within an organisation. The activity accepts that we live and work in a world where working from home or the office is also about working across different time zones and different markets – and this is becoming the norm. We also live in a world where content management requires that we can effectively and efficiently communicate a message. WARNING: This activity requires a different approach to most activities and case studies as you can improvise and make inferences, however, avoid giving personal opinions or advice.
Section 3: Activities
How marketing practitioners apply a marketing philosophy and marketing theory through the CADDIE – business-marketing planning process is discussed in section 3. In the collect and analyse section of the CADDIE process, we discussed how marketing practitioners conduct a marketing audit to research the prevailing situational factors [COMP factors] of the customer, the organisation, the market, and the products to assess the market attractiveness and ability to compete. We noted from our previous discussion on the evolution of marketing that situational factors are constantly evolving and this requires the organisation to adapt, however, we also noted that marketing practitioners have areas of responsibility that must be continually researched and this required two types of marketing research – as needed research and everyday marketing research.
The activities provide scenarios to consider, explore and discuss ‘typical situations’.
In this activity [we revisit this activity later with different learning in mind] we follow 4 university friends as they chat about life and work since leaving university. After participating in this activity you should recognise that organisations have different size and structures and this influences the marketing tasks that marketing practitioners will be involved in. From this an understanding of strategies and tactics should emerge.
In this activity we follow Neil [from 4 university friends] and his role of a panel member of a small-medium business forum. During the forum he expands his network of contacts which results in new opportunities.
In this activity we follow Neil [from 4 university friends and the small-medium business forum] and how he is asked by his local chamber of commerce to produce a video on the business-marketing planning process for uploading to the chamber of commerce website.
In this activity we follow Neil [from 4 university friends] and how with his expanded network his business took a new direction after the small-medium business forum.
The Italian Restaurant Renaissance is fictional, however, it is a scenario that has been played out a thousand times. In this activity we explore the topic of new product development. Often, marketing textbook examples focus on the goods component of a product [e.g., FMCG ‘goods’]. However, ‘new’ product development can mean a refreshed, repositioned, and rejuvenated total product – and that means exploring the product considerations, product layers, and product components [GSIEPP].
The important of the business planning process for existing and new ventures is discussed within this activity.
Click the above image to access the images related to a marketing audit as discussed in this series of activities. It is delivered as a PowerPoint to enable copying and pasting of the JPEG images .
This is the second time we visit this activity. Previously, we looked at it from a ‘theory’ perspective we will now look at it from the CADDIE Business-marketing planning process. Often when we think of strategic planning we think of larger organisations, this activity helps us consider strategy and tactics from a SME perspective.
