You are a marketing innovation consultant for a client who has developed an innovative product that is environmentally friendly within the last 8 to 12 months in the micromobility industry

Assessment: One Individual Assignment (100%): A Marketing Plan for an innovative product within the micromobility industry

The individual assessment will be one written assignment designed to encourage you to formulate a marketing plan for a creative and innovative product within the micromobility industry and you will be assessed on all the 4 learning outcomes (LOs).

Assignment tasks:

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected millions of people worldwide, bankrupted businesses, and plunged the global economy into crisis. While lockdown measures and shelter-at-home orders are helping contain the coronavirus, they have also brought severe financial hardship. Amid a new reality of working from home, cancelling trips, and even forgoing outings to restaurants and grocery stores, the micromobility industry—encompassing a range of lightweight vehicles such as bicycles, e-scooters, and mopeds—is facing devastating declines in ridership and revenue (McKinsey Global, 2020

Link to report: LINK

You are a marketing innovation consultant for a client who has developed an innovative product that is environmentally friendly within the last 8 to 12 months in the micromobility industry.

Your client requires your expertise to help bring this innovation to the global market. You are required to:

1. evaluate of contemporary global developments within the industry (such as sustainability and ethical aspects) and suggest new insights of marketing innovation practices pertaining to the development and launch of this creative and innovative product.
2. provide an clear insight of the global target segment’s buyer behaviour, and this will need to include an evaluation of the customer psychology and the impact on the adoption and diffusion of the SME’s creative and innovative product and/or services.
3. develop creative marketing strategies to launch and manage innovative new product and services.

You must also read widely and carry out independent research. It will be useful to undertake preliminary marketing research (mainly secondary at this point) and also undertake extensive reading prior to writing your report for your client.

It is recommended that you focus on a single product or one market sector, not a class or family of products. The reason for restricting your marketing plan to a single product or one market sector is that each product of a company will have a somewhat different target market(s) and set of competitors, as well as potentially being impacted on by various environmental factors.

Assessment Requirements:

A written marketing plan in (report format) of 2,500 words that synthesises and critically evaluates business and marketing issues pertaining to an innovative product and/or service.

State the number of words used at the end of the assignment. You may include diagrams, figures, appendices etc. without word penalty. A sliding scale of penalties for excess length will be imposed.

The penalties will be as follows:      

Up to 10% excess words:  no penalty

11-20% excess words:      - 5% penalty

21-30% excess words:      -10% penalty

31% plus excess words:    cannot achieve more than a pass grade (50%).

Instructions for individual assignment:

1. This is an individual assignment – a written marketing plan in REPORT format (use font-Tahoma size 12).
2. The word count for this assignment is 2,500 words excluding appendices, diagrams, tables and bibliography. (Penalties will be applied in cases where the word limit is grossly exceeded)
3. You are allowed up to 4 pages of appendices (for supporting materials only)
4. You must reference any material/source that you use. You must also include a bibliography. Please use Harvard Referencing style.
5. Your written assignment must be submitted electronically in PDF format via TurnitIn on Blackboard.  You will be provided with an electronic receipt as proof of submission once you have submitted your individual assignment via TurnItIn on Blackboard.
6. 6.    Assignments must be submitted by the due date.  The only circumstance in which assignments can be submitted late is if an exceptional circumstances form is submitted before the due date.  If the exceptional circumstances claim is upheld, the assignment will be graded; otherwise a grade point 0 will be awarded for late submissions. You are strongly advised to keep your personal tutor informed of any circumstances that might give rise to an exceptional circumstances claim.
7. University rules will be strictly applied in the event of plagiarism/late submission.

Structure for the Marketing Plan (in report format)

Your marketing plan for this innovative product must include:

1. A clear outline of your key area of business creation and innovation with clear value creation and value capture;
2. A market overview and analyses - summary of key micro and macro-environmental issues facing the company competing within the global market; outlining the impact of issues faced within the global marketplace, concentrating on the opportunities for market growth; and identify and evaluate close and distant competitors;
3. Market segmentation with the chosen segment outlined and their customer psychology analysed;
4. Marketing objectives: strategic focus which should include recommendations and justifications of future growth strategies, prioritising the options you identify according to a market-based rationale using at least one growth model to structure your recommendations. Ensure that you draw upon the opportunities and threats identified and that consistency within segmentation analysis is retained.
5. You will also need to include evaluation of contemporary global developments and the application of sustainability, corporate social responsibility, ecommerce and ethical aspects of marketing creative and innovative product and/or services.
6. Marketing strategies for the creative and innovative product: market coverage, market targeting, differentiation and positioning strategies (STP), marketing mix tactics*; and
7. Building on your marketing strategies, include a brief discussion on resource requirements for taking the creative and innovative product to market.

Note: * It is recommended that you focus the implementation of the marketing mix tactics on a single innovative product or a single market sector. This is because each product or market sector can have different target markets and competitors and may even be affected differently by the same set of environmental factors.

Please ensure that you read the guidelines and assessment criteria carefully.

Report Guidelines:

A written marketing plan must be compiled in a suitable format that must incorporate the following:

1. A clear and concise outline of the practical business creation and marketing innovation issues;
2. Generation of recommendations that draw upon both theoretical and practical aspects;
3. Use of appropriate terminology that will indicate a thorough understanding of business creation and innovation; and marketing management concepts;
4. Suitable referencing of the materials used to support arguments put forward that will indicate competence in the academic issues discussed;
5. Evidence to suggest a more in-depth understanding of business creation and innovation and marketing concepts being reviewed and their practical applications;
6. Written content and structure that will demonstrate practical benefits being derived from the module, reading lists and research required for this individual assessment;
7. A wide range of reliable sources used or cited (a minimum of 10) and they should be current (not before 2016).
8. You must reference any material that you use. You must also include a bibliography. Please use the Harvard Referencing System.