Peer Review

eMe: event music experience

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Reviewed:: Apr 20, 2015 by Business

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Ratings

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Content Quality:

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Overview:: The module, via case study, details “Spain’s first interactive online concert,” and highlights a potential new platform for music dissemination. Students are also given the opportunity to create a digital marketing plan. As explained by the authors, "the case study tells the start up of a new music platform for live concerts on the Internet. The real protagonists of the case tell in an interactive video interview how the first concert worked from the initial idea until web realization, with the help of web 2.0 tools." Students are challenged to design a digital marketing plan for the next live eMe concert.
Type of Material:: Case Study
Recommended Uses:: This case would be most effective in an undergraduate or graduate promotion-focused course. This could be a social media, advertising and/or promotion management course. It might be utilized in other courses that contain a promotional component. The module could be used in number of ways, both in-class and as homework, as an individual or team assignment.
Technical Requirements:: Users must have Internet browsing capabilities, be able to download pdf files, and watch and listen to videos.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: Students learn to critically evaluate the success or failure of the inaugural eMe concert. They must then develop an appropriate digital marketing plan for their chosen target market that will provide a good ROI. The module highlights the evolution of the music industry, and a new idea for using the Internet as an advantage in the dissemination of musical events. Students are able to see a digital marketing plan put into practice for one concert, and have the opportunity to create their own plan for an upcoming event.
Target Student Population:: The case study lends itself to uses in a number of courses, with Product Development, Internet Marketing, and Strategic Marketing perhaps being the most applicable. Any course, however, that touches on Promotion may also find it helpful.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: The case assumes that the student has basic marketing knowledge and knowledge of various forms of digital marketing. A student without this knowledge would struggle with the case.

Content Quality

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Strengths:: The module provides a comprehensive look at a new digital format for the promotion and dissemination of musical events, and does a more than adequate job in providing background information on the evolution of the music industry, and the development of this idea. Supporting data includes the transformation of the music industry, the market, consumer habits, and business models, with marketing plan components highlighted in the associated video discussions. Not only does the module showcase a marketing plan, it does so with a relevant and easily identifiable issue. The case deals with a topic that should be of interest to most students. The video case does a nice job of presenting the history of the industry and the inaugural eMe concert. Students then complete a series of relatively easy to follow tasks to arrive at a digital marketing plan for a subsequent eMe concert. The printed version of the case is available to augment the video case. However, students cannot complete the online task without accessing the various components of the video case.
Concerns:: This industry changes rapidly resulting in a case that is verging on being outdated. Also, portions of the case seem to get lost in translation. There are subtle cultural differences in the music industry that might not make this case as relevant for use in the United States, for instance. In addition,the YouTube video is in Spanish. The other videos provide subtitles, but after awhile, reading subtitles becomes monotonous. A few of the steps in developing the digital marketing plan are not self-explanatory. As an example, the differentiation step utilized some sort of graph that was not clear. Although presumably accurate, the industry data on the introductory page does not include citations. Additionally some of the data is presented as the worldwide market, while others are focused on the Spanish market. Although the topic is certainly translatable across cultures, the information provided might need additional elaboration if other markets are the central focus.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

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Strengths:: The module provides for a complete lesson, which is estimated at 60 minutes, but could be extended. The case, background information/data, and various marketing plan concepts (i.e. competitive analysis, SWOT analysis, value proposition, social marketing, value chain, etc.) is supplemented by three videos (one each from the CEO, the social marketing manager and a musician) discussing the recent event. Upon completion of the videos, students are given the opportunity to create a digital marketing plan for an upcoming event. The information as presented lends itself to multiple applications, either in-class or out, individual or team. Due to the interplay of the concepts, students would be able to learn a great deal of applied marketing in a reasonable time frame. The case has a well-defined outcome and learning objectives. The topic should be of interest to a typical university student.
Concerns:: Instructors must determine whether or not the cultural differences are too great for use in their respective classrooms. Also, some direction regarding the various tools the students will need to utilize in completing the digital marketing plan is warranted prior to assigning the case. The module site was temperamental. There was some difficulty in gaining initial entry. Once inside the site, this reviewer could not access the first eMe concert “See the Making of” video to work via YouTube or the printable case study. Although the videos are in Spanish (with translation), the associated information, i.e. the “access to social networking sites in Spain,” is in Spanish. Lastly, the exercise at the end of the videos presents information in Euros – non-European-based students would need to calculate the currency.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

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Strengths:: The case is highly interactive, and presents a great amount of information in one easy-to-see case study. Students would be engaged by the videos simply due to the discussion material and its relatable issues. The supporting documentation appeared to be very readable and rooted in the discipline. Students would be able to readily see marketing concepts interconnected. The online portion of this case presented no difficulty in downloading/viewing speed. It takes the user a few minutes to figure out how to navigate through the video case, but once one figures it out, it goes smoothly.
Concerns:: As previously mentioned, some of the tools utilized to complete the digital marketing plan are not self-explanatory. Students might struggle with this aspect of the case. From the instructor's standpoint, a teaching guide is not available. Some instructors might view teaching this case daunting, as a result. Various difficulties in accessing certain portions of the site (namely the printable case study) may limit usage of material from an instructor’s perspective.

Other Issues and Comments:: Instructors need to be mindful of the timeliness of this case. It will quickly become outdated. This could be problematic given that students are likely to be more knowledgeable about the industry than many of their instructors.
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