MKTG 4560 3.00: Digital Marketing

Schulich School of Business

York University

Course Outline

MKTG.4560: Digital Marketing

Wednesdays   11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., W256 Schulich School of Business

Fall 2017

Instructor

Detlev Zwick

(416) 736-2100, ext. 77199

N324 Seymour Schulich Building

dzwick@schulich.yorku.ca

Office hours:  By appointment

Course Website: www.yorku.ca/dzwick/4560

Administrative Assistant

Maria Rizzuto

N304A SSB

416-736-5077

Brief Description

This course explores the ways in which digital marketing tools support overall marketing and business strategies. The course covers both fundamental strategic challenges as well as specific digital marketing tools. It will discuss which aspects of the business should be delivered online, and to inform executive decisions about how digital marketing environments affect communication, pricing, channel, targeting and positioning strategy.

A main part of this course (and half of your final course grade) is based on working in an actual company problem. In other words, this course provides students with firsthand experience of marketing challenges organizations face and how digital marketing can be used to support the overall marketing effort. Student groups are paired with a company to explore, and find solutions to, a digital marketing challenge. The course consists of a mix of classes emphasizing useful digital marketing concepts and tools as well as team meetings where the instructor discusses company- and project-related questions and challenges specific to your project (what I call on-demand learning).

Prerequisite: SB/MKTG 2030 3.00

Expanded Course Description

The Schulich School of Business has partnered with Riipen to provide us with field studies for this course. Riipen is a platform to enable companies and students to arrange mutually beneficial work/learning experiences.

This course is designed to provide BBA/iBBA students the opportunity to obtain firsthand experience inside an organization facing a digital marketing challenge, and to get a practitioner’s perspective on how organizations solve such problems and use digital marketing strategy to support overall business and marketing strategies. Projects vary widely in scope and nature of company/industry/topic, thus students should be willing and prepared to take on projects as assigned.

Student groups in the course will be paired with an organization for the term to:

·         conduct research on a digital marketing challenge (or better, opportunity) that is currently facing a company and develop solutions that use digital marketing tools and techniques to advance the company’s marketing objectives.

Students will also participate in a limited number of classes that introduce the student to the basic concepts and theories of digital marketing.

Contents:

Course Learning Outcomes................................................................................................................ 2

Deliverables at a Glance..................................................................................................................... 3

Course Material................................................................................................................................. 3

Student Preparation for Class and Class Participation: Expectations..................................................... 3

Class-by-Class Syllabus....................................................................................................................... 4

Written Assignments/Projects and Exam[s]: Descriptions................................................................... 8

Evaluation of Written Assignments/Projects and Exams.................................................................... 10

Calculation of Course Grade............................................................................................................. 10

General Academic Policies: Grading, Academic Honesty, Accommodations and Exams....................... 11

Quick Reference: Summary of Classes, Activities and Deliverables..................................................... 12

Course Learning Outcomes

Because this course is highly project-based it presents the most current strategic themes and issues associated with success in digital and high-tech markets and highlights how these strategic themes and issues differ from the fundamentals of old economy success. Students will come out of this course with a well-developed experiential and theoretical knowledge of digital marketing.

Specific Outcomes 

• Acquaint students with a fundamental understanding of the marketing environment and strategies in the Digital Economy.
• Confront students with discussions about the cultural, social, and philosophical implications of an increasingly technological society.
• Understand the traditional and new communication/marketing approaches that create competitive advantage in the Digital Economy.
• Provide a fundamental understanding of the different types and key components of business models and the role of marketing in digital markets.
• Provide an experience-based (application) understanding of the different types and key components of digital marketing strategies in an organization.
• Provide insights on how to implement marketing strategy in the age of democratized innovation.
• Understand how the emergence of the digital technology (infrastructure, devices, content, etc.) affects marketing strategy, value creation, and consumer perceptions.

Deliverables at a Glance

Course Material

All readings will be made available online (see links in course website: www.yorku.ca/dzwick/4560/syllabus), plus Business Cases. To get these cases go here: https://hbr.org/search and cut and paste the product number or title into the search box.

Student Preparation for Class and Class Participation: Expectations

Preparation. 

Students are expected to have prepared the readings and other required class assignments for that week.

Class Participation (contribution).  Twenty percent of the overall score are allotted to your active contributions to in-class/session discussions. Coming to class/sessions prepared and ready to discuss the material is critical to make this course an enjoyable and valuable leaning experience. You are expected to be present, prepared, and willing to share your views in every class/session, both voluntarily and when called upon to do so. Try to consistently contribute with comments that pass the “so-what” test by providing insightful analysis that builds on the prior discussion and moves our thinking forward.

Some of the considerations for evaluating your course contribution include:

• Are you a good listener? Do your comments relate to the questions and suggestions of others and to the themes that the class is exploring together?
• Are your contributions relevant to the discussion? Are you willing to challenge the ideas that are being expressed? Are you willing to take risks and test drive some new ideas?
• Do you integrate material from past classes or discussions where appropriate?
• Do your comments reflect cumulative learning over this course or do you merely consider each issue in isolation?
• And most importantly, do you add value to the learning of the class?

Course Materials Website:

A Course Materials Website has been created for this course. It includes links to readings and messages for the students if necessary: www.yorku.ca/dzwick/4560.

I post teams and companies there as well so I and everyone else can always see their team and with who they are working. I will also use Schulich email addresses for class emailing. Make sure your emails get forwarded to whatever account you use. Feel free to e-mail me with questions or concerns throughout the term. 

Class by Class Schedule

Note: If any changes in this schedule become necessary, notifications will be posted on the course website, and when changes need to be announced between classes, an email will be sent to students’ Lotus Notes email accounts, notifying you of the change.

Week 1

Sept 13

Topic: Course Introduction

Introduction to Digital Marketing

• Power shift from sellers to buyers.

• Customer engagement and voice of the customer

• Inbound marketing

• Predictions for the Web 3.0

Prep: read assigned reading, course website.

Week 2

Sept 20

Online Consumer Behavior and e-Business Models

•       A changing consumer story

•       Fragmentation of channels and attention

•       Dealing with too much choice

•       What do consumers want online?

•       e-marketing map

•       Curating & subscription models

Marketing in the Age of Fragmentation

•             Mapping Digital Marketing Media

•             What can we learn from an Youtube/ebay/Facebook world?

The BP Oil Spill Challenge

_____________________________

•             Group Workshop

Prep: read assigned reading, course website.

Week 3

Sept 27

Online Branding: When they talk back...

•             Communication and Branding in the Networked Economy

Tools of Marketing in an Online World:

•             Blogs, Viral, Wikis, and why they matter.

•             Thought Leadership

Case: Mitalio Software (see course kit)

Prep: read assigned reading, course website.

Week 4

Oct 4     

First one-on-one meeting between teams and professor.

·         Questions to prepare (additional questions will be asked based on need):

o   What exactly does your company do?

o   What are its strengths and weaknesses?

o   What is its marketing strategy (think STP and 4Ps)?

o   What role, this far, has digital marketing played?

o   What are some of your initial hypotheses of what the company needs to do?

Prep Reading: Market Research: Listen & Learn, Harvard Business School Press. See course pack for this article.

Week 5

Oct 11  

Submit your Project Plan (see below for details on format).

Online Communities and Innovation Communities, Mass Collaboration and Crowd-sourcing: How does the Internet help Innovate?

Web 2.0 and Social Media I - Key Strategy Tools and Concepts

•       Long Tail

•       Prosumerism and Co-Creation of value

•       Innovation Communities

                Case: Molsen Canada: Social Media Marketing (see course kit)

Prep: read assigned reading, course website.

Time permitting:

E-CRM and Customer Branding

• Define customer relationship management and identify the major benefits to e-marketers.

• Outline the three legs of CRM for e-marketing

• Understand e-CRM as Customer Branding

Week 6

Oct 18

Quiz

Second Half of Class:

Even teams only: Second one-on-one meeting between teams and professor

·         Questions to prepare will depend on your work thus far. They should become more specific to the problem. They might include:

o   How can we drill down more on the company’s (digital) marketing strengths and weakness?

o   What specific resources of the company have we already identified?

o   What is the segmentation strategy and does it make sense for digital?

o   What are some of your initial hypotheses of what the company needs to do?

Prep: readings may be assigned based on previous meeting’s discussion.

Week 7

Oct 25

Online Retailing and Fluid Markets

•       What Matters Most in Internet Retailing

•       Innovations in online pricing strategy

•       Value of Free

 ______________________________

Case: Can Retailers win back shoppers that browse and then buy online? (see course kit)

Prep: read assigned reading, course website.

Second Half of Class:

Odd teams only: Second one-on-one meeting between teams and professor

·         Questions to prepare will depend on your work thus far. They should become more specific to the problem. They might include:

o   How can we drill down more on the company’s (digital) marketing strengths and weakness?

o   What specific resources of the company have we already identified?

o   What is the segmentation strategy and does it make sense for digital?

o   What are some of your initial hypotheses of what the company needs to do?

Prep: readings may be assigned based on previous meeting’s discussion.

Week 8

Nov 1

Even Teams Only: Third one-on-one meeting between teams and professor

·         Questions to prepare will depend on your work thus far. They should become more specific to the problem. They might include:

o   How can we drill down more on the company’s (digital) marketing strengths and weakness?

o   What specific resources of the company have we already identified?

o   What is the segmentation strategy and does it make sense for digital?

o   What are some of your initial hypotheses of what the company needs to do?

o   What else do we need to know to move towards solid recommendations?

o   Is our analysis of the information and data sound and is it producing useful insights?

o   Are we moving towards good ideas and possible solutions? How do we know?

o   Is a main story emerging from our research and analysis? If so what is it? if not, why not? What is getting in the way of moving toward a good story and sound recommendations?

o   For the next 14 days, who will do what exactly?

o   Have we started drafting the slide deck?

o   What do we need to do to be absolutely ready for the presentation in 2 weeks from now?

o   Are we completely clear about our story and the value we offer to the client?

o   When will we practice the talk?

o   What questions is the client likely to have?

o   Who will prepare the team for these questions?

Week 9

Nov 8   

Odd Teams Only: Third one-on-one meeting between teams and professor

·         Questions to prepare will depend on your work thus far. They should become more specific to the problem. They might include:

o   How can we drill down more on the company’s (digital) marketing strengths and weakness?

o   What specific resources of the company have we already identified?

o   What is the segmentation strategy and does it make sense for digital?

o   What are some of your initial hypotheses of what the company needs to do?

o   What else do we need to know to move towards solid recommendations?

o   Is our analysis of the information and data sound and is it producing useful insights?

o   Are we moving towards good ideas and possible solutions? How do we know?

o   Is a main story emerging from our research and analysis? If so what is it? if not, why not? What is getting in the way of moving toward a good story and sound recommendations?

o   For the next 14 days, who will do what exactly?

o   Have we started drafting the slide deck?

o   What do we need to do to be absolutely ready for the presentation in 2 weeks from now?

o   Are we completely clear about our story and the value we offer to the client?

o   When will we practice the talk?

o   What questions is the client likely to have?

o   Who will prepare the team for these questions?

Week10

Nov 15 

NO CLASS!!!

Week 11

Nov 22 

All Teams: Questions to prepare will depend on your work thus far. They should become more specific to the problem. They might include:

o   What do we need to do to be absolutely ready for next week’s presentations?

o   Are we completely clear about our story and the value we offer to the client?

o   When will we practice the talk?

o   What questions is the client likely to have?

o   Who will prepare the team for these questions?

Week 12

Nov 29

Research Presentations & Final Debrief

Prep: NA

Written Assignments/Projects and Exam[s]: Descriptions

How to deal with group conflict situations:

The class will be divided into teams of 4 (or more or less depending on number of students). A lottery system will determine the composition of the teams. Please note that the focus on team work is meant to reflect the nature of a contemporary firm wherein people regularly form teams to work on key issues. The best time to deal with discord within a group is when it appears, rather than when the final project is due.  If team members experience disagreement that they cannot resolve themselves, they should speak with the instructor. 

While I expect you all to work together as professionals and hence deal with the inevitable differences in view points and approaches to work and research that diverse team members represent, it is unfortunately possible that your group just cannot function. The sooner I hear about it the easier it will be for me to take corrective action. However, I rarely ever dissolve a group. I am much more likely to encourage working out any issues in a collegial manner (as you would do working in a marketing team at Canadian Tire, for example). In addition, to ensure that the team members each deliver on their commitments to the project, a formal peer evaluation process will be used.  A grade will be given to the project, and then apportioned by the team members, to each team member, based on the team’s collective opinion of individual performance and commitment. Thus, individual final grades for the assignment may be adjusted downward and upward based on the outcome of this peer evaluation.

Performance in this course will be evaluated based on four criteria:  1) the Project Plan, 2) Final Report & Presentation, 3) Midterm and 4) Participation.  A more detailed description of the assignments follows. 

How to submit your document:

For the written assignments, please complete all written reports in Roman 12-point font.  Please submit soft copies only of your project plan and final report (including slides) to me at the due dates indicated in the syllabus. For details about lengths and content of these reports, see descriptions below.

Please submit your Project Plan in this format: 

Max. 2 pages. Appendices max 3 pages.

Please submit your Final report in this format: 

Main body: max. 3 pages. Appendices max 6 pages.

Please also make sure you include your names and student numbers on the front of the document itself (cover page! This page does not count against the main body page limit).  All late submissions will lose ½ of a letter grade per day. Assignments that are more than one week overdue will not be accepted, and will be assigned a grade of zero.

1)      The Project Plan (20% of final grade, due Week 5) will be a preliminary assessment of the company’s current marketing strategy (not just digital but including digital) and an initial assessment of the company’s current plan for addressing a specific digital marketing issue it faces. Finally, it will include a detailed (week by week) workplan for the team for the remaining 7 weeks stating in concise manner (use table format) what each team member will be doing between now and then (can be put in appendix)? Finally, the Project Plan will state very clearly what the end goal of this project will be (what is the problem that you will solve and what will be the product you produce?). You will also have to show evidence that the company has signed off on your project plan (e.g., email, memo, etc.). 

2)      The Company Research Final Report (40% of final grade, due Week 12) will be your opportunity to present your research and your final solutions. In other words, here is where you present recommendations on how to solve the problem you formulated in the Project Plan. To get here, students will spend the second half of the term to complete any remaining research and write up the results of their study, incorporating all feedback they have received from me and the on-site contact. In your presentation and extended executive summary (due at the day of the presentation) you will make recommendations to the company! That’s a non-negotiable requirement of this assignment (e.g., “based on the insights derived from our research we believe that the company must do x tomorrow and y in the next 3 months because our research suggests that if they do and do so successfully, z will happen”.

During our first class, teams will be formed and a company project will be given to each team. Names of team members should be provided to the instructor immediately after class.  Click here for the format of your email! At this time make sure that you know who your team members are and that you exchanged the requisite contact information.

The final presentations will take 7 minutes and will be of a professional nature followed by a 10-15 minute Q&A.

3)      The Quiz (20% of final grade) will consist of 4-5 short essay questions and will be 45 minutes long. Quiz questions can be about all the material assigned for reading up to that point, including cases, as well as topics from discussions and slides. See course table for date of the quiz. 

4)      Participation in this course is worth 20 %. We will have several classes and a number of team meetings and participation is expected by all members of the team during these meetings. Coming to class and the team meetings prepared and ready to discuss the material is critical to make this course an enjoyable and valuable leaning experience. You are expected to be present, prepared, and willing to share your views in every class and meeting, both voluntarily and when called upon to do so. Try to consistently contribute with comments that pass the “so-what” test by providing insightful analysis that builds on the prior discussion and moves our thinking forward.

Some of the considerations for evaluating your course contribution include:

• Are you a good listener? Do your comments relate to the questions and suggestions of others and to the themes that the class is exploring together?
• Are your contributions relevant to the discussion? Are you willing to challenge the ideas that are being expressed? Are you willing to take risks and test drive some new ideas?
• Do you integrate material from past classes or discussions where appropriate?
• Do your comments reflect cumulative learning over this course or do you merely consider each issue in isolation?
• And most importantly, do you add value to the learning of the class?

Evaluation of Written Assignments/Projects and Exams

Details are given above under each assignment. Unless otherwise indicated by the instructor, assignments are to be submitted before the beginning of class.  Late assignments are penalized one grade point (e.g. B+ to B) per day late.

Calculation of Course Grade

In this class, final course grades will be determined by the following process:

Course grades are earned according to the following scale: A+ = 9; A = 8; B+ = 7; B = 6; C+ = 5; C = 4; D+ = 3; D = 2; F = 0. 

General Academic Policies: Grading, Academic Honesty, Accommodations and Exams

Grades at Schulich are based on a 9-value index system. The top grade is A+ (9) and the minimum passing grade is D (2).  To keep final grades comparable across courses, the average course grade within a section of an undergraduate course is normally between 5.5 and 7.0 (B to B+).   

For more details on the index, grading policy, and grade point average (GPA) requirements, consult your student handbook.

Academic honesty is fundamental to the integrity of university education and degree programs, and applies in every course offered at Schulich.  Students should familiarize themselves with York University’s policy on academic honesty, which may be found in the Student Handbook and on the Schulich website:

http://www.schulich.yorku.ca/current-students/academic-honesty/

Accommodations.  For accommodations sought due to exam conflicts, religious reasons, unavoidable absences or disabilities, please refer to the Student Handbook or contact Student Services. 

For counseling & disability services, contact Student Services or see http://www.yorku.ca/cds/.

Exams and Quizzes (Absence from)

Students who miss a mid-term examination must contact their course instructor within 24 hours and provide the course instructor with documentation substantiating the reason for the absence. A copy of the documentation must also be submitted to Student Services; it will be placed in the student’s file. 

http://schulich.yorku.ca/client/schulich/schulich_lp4w_lnd_webstation.nsf/page/Enrolment+-+MBA+Exam+Schedule?OpenDocument

Evaluation of One Page Case Summary

Counts towards your participation grade. I only accept submissions by students that attended class that day. This is what I am looking for:

One Page Case Analysis

PROBLEM

·               A range of issues should be identified

·               The issues should be prioritised in some fashion, e.g. (i) central problem vs. symptoms; (ii) immediate problem vs. long-term problem

SITUATION ANALYSIS

·               Internal Analysis:  strengths/weaknesses should be clearly distinguished according to the four functional areas (Production, Marketing, HR, and Finance) or the 4Ps (Product, Price, Promotion, Place).

·               External Analysis:  opportunities/threats should be identified in each of the social, technological, economic, and political (STEP) environments and other environments that are pertinent to the case.

·               Resource Identification:  The internal analysis and external analysis should be brought together to identify the salient strengths and weaknesses.

ALTERNATIVES

·               alternatives should be strategic. That is, they should advance a particular strategic goal (e.g. differentiation based on price, differentiation based on value) and/or they should be about the means by which to increase revenue (market penetration, product development, market development, and diversification).

·               alternatives should be complete.  That is, they should address: (i) the market position of the company, (ii) its product strategy, (ii) price strategy, (iii) place strategy, and (iv) promotion strategy.  NOTE:  reduce price is NOT an alternative.  It is a tactic that is part of a larger strategic plan or alternative.

EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES AND RECOMMENDATION

·               the alternatives should be compared on common criteria such as (i) maximum profit, (ii) ease of implementation, (iii) consistency with organizational goals, and others you can think of.

·               based on this discussion and referring back to your problem statement, one or some combination of the alternatives should be recommended.

·               state a brief contingency plan.

IMPLEMENTATION

·               KEEP THIS SECTION SHORT. In my class, this is NOT the most important exercise of the case. Do include:

·               KEY details on what is to be done and how it is to be done.  DO NOT SIMPLY SAY, "We should increase advertising," tell me by how much, where you will advertise, how often you will advertise and so on. 

·        

Quick Reference: Summary of Classes, Activities and Deliverables