Marketing in Culture

The following research assignment will be used to assess the achievement of learning outcomes. Students will be working on projects in groups of 4-6. Each group will be assigned one cultural institution/organisation from Belgrade within which they will be working on their project. The project implies making a MARKETING PLAN for one of the program activities (one concrete project – a performance, exhibition…) that the institution has planned. The exam paper implies making a marketing plan without an obligation to have it realized. The students will use the theoretical knowledge acquired at the lectures, as well as the information gained through their own research.

This assignment is a “real life simulation”. You will be marked on your reports and presentations, and the level of feasibility of your marketing plan. You are encouraged to execute the marketing plans together with the organizations. However, you will be marked for your presentation and your written report.

Phase 1: Forming a group

This is a group assignment – each group should consist of 4-6 members. Lecturer will assign everyone to the group and inform all the students during the Week 4 about the organization they will be working with. Moreover, each group will be given contact-persons from each institution.

Phase 2: Working with the organisation

The organization you will be working with will define the marketing task (one concrete project) for you. You will have to understand what they are doing and what their aims are in regards to their general marketing strategy, as well as the marketing task they would like you to do with them.

The students should organize a visit to the institution (or on-line meeting) and an interview with the contact person (general manager, the authors of the project…) The idea is to gain all the necessary additional information about the institution, and detailed information about the project they will be working on.

Phase 3: Marketing Report

Marketing report should have 4-6 Chapters – 2000 words per chapter (excluding the list of references). Each member of the group should be primarily responsible for one of the Chapters, which should be clearly stated in the Content page at the beginning of the report. Each student will receive an individual mark, based on the Chapter they were primarily responsible for.

This is the list of chapters with their focus:

Chapter 1:

• Understanding the organisation
• Analysis of the organisations
• Mission and Vision
• How are they presenting themselves?
• What is the perception of the organization in the public(s) and professional environment(s)?

Chapter 2:

• Marketing Mix
• Analysis of the project of the arts organization you are working with through the lens of the marketing mix (4P’s) – Product, Place, Promotion, Price.

Chapter 3:

• Evaluation criteria and indicators
• Understanding what results of the projects will be considered as a success? What will be the criteria of success and what will be the indicators that we will use to measure it?

Chapter 4:

• Marketing research
• One element of marketing research needs to be conducted in the context of the marketing task that was agreed with the organization
• Chapter needs to present the methodology behind the research, present how it was conducted, what the results of the research are and how they will be used in the project

Chapter 5:

• Stakeholder analysis – Sponsorship and Fundraising plan
• Creating a stakeholder analysis as basis for sponsorship and fundraising plan for the project

Chapter 6:

• Promotional plan with focus on social media engagement
• Proposals for the promotional in relation to the project of the arts organization
• Analysis of the social media channels of the organization should be conducted which would include – alignment of their social media channels with their mission/vision; comparison with other organisations of similar kind; interactivity of the social media engagement; volume and content; freshness; design and aesthetics.

General guidelines

Your paper should be double-spaced and typed in 11-point Arial or Times New Roman font, with 1-inch (2.5cm) margins all around. Please use the cover page where you will have the title of the project, name of the organization and name of the University/MA programme and the names of the group members. Submit the report as a Word file, so that the markers could more easily add their comments directly in the text.

This evaluation will be also graded on content, organization, and writing style (up to 20% of the overall grade). Your assignment must be spell-checked, well organized, neat and proofread for errors in grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, and capitalization. You will be penalized for not following these formal guidelines.

Referencing and Methodology

You should include in your chapters references to some of the readings that you did as part of this course, as well as other academic readings you found that could be related to the work your organization is doing. You need to use specific academic and professional resources – academic books and articles, and reference them properly (Harvard referencing style).

Some of the methods you can use during the course of the research:

• Desk research – analysis of the organization’s governance and management documents, analysis of the ecology of the sector where the organization is part of;
• Interview(s) with the management representative(s) of the organisation;
• Structured observations of the programmes and/or regular working days in the organisation;
• Social media analysis – analysis of the social media accounts of the organization (in comparison with industry benchmarks and other organizations from their ecosystem).

Your mark will reflect performance in these five areas:

1. Answer. (Does the coursework address the question/issue or meet the assigned aims and keep on topic? Is there a comprehensive understanding of the topic?)

2. Structure. (Is the structure clear and material presented in a well-argued, coherent and synthesized manner?)

3. Writing Style. (Is the writing fluent and of a good standard with few errors in spelling, punctuation or grammar?)

4. Level of Reading. (Is the topic well researched and supported? Is there evidence of using a range of high-quality sources?)

5. Quality of Referencing. (Is the work appropriately sourced? Are the references well formatted and written up accurately and consistently?)