This module uses brands of beers to investigate the demographic segmentation used for a parity product. Students are to watch several beer commercials and match the brands to five specified demographic profiles. Students can add additional categories if desired.
Type of Material:
Experiential exercise.
Recommended Uses:
This module could be utilized as either a homework or an in-class activity, and both individually or as group work. It is very flexible and adaptable to a variety of uses.
Technical Requirements:
The module itself can be printed and distributed to students, however students would need access to advertisements in order to complete the exercise (beer commercials not provided). At the instructors discretion, those advertisements could be web based, and a basic Internet connection would be required.
Identify Major Learning Goals:
The goal of the exercise is to expose students to a companys efforts to differentiate products for specific target markets. In addition, it supports a students understanding of a products promotional campaign as it relates to segmentation and target marketing. The student learns to critique advertisements, to analyze which groups may or may not be targeted by those advertisements, why and how those groups are targeted, and to address ethics in advertising, specifically whether potentially harmful products should be promoted to underage populations.
Target Student Population:
This module is best designed for a freshman-level general business class. The exercise may prove too basic for any group of students with more marketing experience.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
None.
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
The module is short, clearly written, and offers a series of suggested questions for discussion. It provides an easy to enact exercise that takes minimal preparation by the instructor. Students can apply their understanding of segmentation and target marketing concepts to a real-world product, and likely a product that is very familiar to them. The exercise incorporates conceptual and creative activities that can be either individual or group-based, and provides thoughtful questions for students to consider as the activity is completed. It is easy to understand, current and is not so time-consuming as to be daunting. Students would find the topic interesting, and it would form the basis for a good classroom discussion.
Concerns:
The module moves directly from a match the beer to the segment exercise straight into questions related to the ethics of advertising beer to underage markets. While the activities and questions are both thoughtful, the module does need additional support in this first matching exercise. Discussion could be expanded to address why different markets for beer consumption were/are selected, competition within each segment, etc., so that students have a more thorough understanding of marketing strategy. The background material is quite basic. No commercials are provided. The attempt to devise a marketing strategy for women is too simplistic to offer great value.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
The module is an effective teaching tool, and provides an engaging and interesting example for students to address. Students have the opportunity to apply concepts, analyze advertisers motivations and be creative in developing their own product/advertisement. Since the module could be completed individually or in groups,
it is extremely flexible and adaptable in its usage. Likewise, although the module calls for students to review television commercials, the exercise could easily be completed via a magazine or web-based search. The module is simple and will not require much preparation before using. The product category should allow easy access to a wide variety of commercials.
Concerns:
The module will function well if the goal is to merely expose students to an example of target marketing. However, if any higher order learning goals are desired, this module may fall short of delivering. While students could intuitively comprehend a great deal by just completion of the exercise as is, the module could benefit from a more well-defined set of objectives and support material.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The module is extremely easy to use, could be utilized with a number of products and could be assigned as homework or in-class work. There is minimal preparation involved, and students would find it entertaining as well as informative.
Concerns:
No commercials, or even suggested brands, are provided. It would have been relatively simple to include clips, or print ads, on the webpage. However, the module requires the user to discover their own beer brand advertising.
Creative Commons:
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