Purpose
The marketing plan career development event is designed to assist students with developing practical skills in the marketing process through the development and presentation of a marketing plan. Students research and present a marketing plan for an agricultural product, supply or service. It is intended as a competitive activity involving a team of three persons either working for an actual local agribusiness, either an existing or start-up enterprise, or for a fictitious business whose career pathway the student members of the team are interested in. For example, if students were interested in starting a hydroponic business, they could create a marketing plan for a hydroponic business that does not yet exist. Teams may involve the entire chapter, a specific agriculture class or just the three-person team in the development of the plan. A three-person team will present the results of primary research involving the local community that provides a reasonable and logical solution to a marketing problem. Understanding of the marketing process is manifested in the marketing plan, which is presented in a written plan and in a live presentation to qualified judges. Though only three individuals are on a team, any number of students may assist with the primary and secondary research.
Objectives
Through participation in the national event, participants will:
•Demonstrate an understanding of the marketing plan process.
•Explore and prepare for possible careers in agrimarketing.
•Develop partnerships and improve relations between industry, their local FFA chapters and the general public.
Event Rules
A team representing a chapter will consist of three members from the same chapter. Only the three certified team members can take an active role in the presentation of materials and use of technology during the presentation. It is required that participants wear FFA Official Dress for this event. Two qualified judges will be used. Judges are selected to represent a mix of industry, education and communication and will have a sufficient understanding of the marketing planning process.
Event Format
Equipment provided at the event site:
•One LCD projector hooked up to teacher desktop computer with suitable thumb drives and internet access.
•One clicker/laser pointer combination unit of changing presentation slides
•Two Medium Computer Speakers hooked up to Computer.
•One table.
Students should not assume there will be seamless, uninterrupted internet connectivity at the event site. If teams plan to use internet resources, it is recommended that they be embedded into the media presentations. It is the responsibility of the team to provide any additional equipment including computer adapters.
WRITTEN PLAN (100 POINTS)
Instructions
A marketing plan should be focused on the end consumer. This is not a business plan or a request from a bank to loan money.
•Emphasis should be placed on the “value-added” concept using marketing techniques to increase the value of products or services.
•A marketing plan is concerned with the future. Historical information is very valuable, but the actual plan must be a projection. A plan presented in the current year should be developed for the following year. A three-year timeframe may be needed, which would mean the inclusion of the two years following the current year.
•The project outline should include the following aspects of the marketing process:
Brief description of product or service attributes: size, quality, etc. (5 points).
Market analysis (30 points).
o Client’s status in current market.
o Trends in the industry.
o Buyer profile and behavior.
o Competition’s SWOT analysis.
o Product’s/client’s SWOT analysis.
o Primary research results (surveys, focus groups, interviews.
Business proposition (20 points).
o Develop a mission statement.
o Make key planning assumptions (cite sources of information).
o Have short and long-term goals —must be specific, measurable, attainable and have completion dates.
o Identify target market—specific market segments which achieve the goals.
Strategies and action plan (25 points).
o Product.
o Price.
o Place.
o Promotion.
o Position.
Projected budget(10 points).
o The budget should be future oriented and include the current year plus two additional years in advance.
o Cost of strategies.
o Pro forma income statement that details the realistic costs and returns of the marketing strategies.
o Calculate the financial return of the marketing plan.
Evaluation(5 points).
o Benchmarks to track progress toward goals.
o Identify tools to measure established benchmarks.
o Recommendations for alternative strategies, if benchmarks are not reached.
Technical and business writing skills(5 points).
Procedures
A copy of the written plan, in PDF format (no larger than 20 megabytes) must be emailed to the superintendent by the posted deadline. A penalty of 10 percent will be assessed for documents each day they are late for a maximum of three days, until which they will not be accepted. Chapter number MUST be on the written plan title page. If not included, a penalty will be assessed to the written plan. In addition, no chapter certification changes will be accepted after the deadline. The document should not exceed eight single-sided, 8.5 x 11-inch pages and must be 10 point or larger type size. Different formats and page sizes can be used as long as the document does not exceed the equivalent of eight single-sided, 8.5 x 11-inch pages.
LIVE PRESENTATION (200 POINTS)
The team assumes the role of a marketing consultant. The judges assume the role of the selected client. Each team will be allowed five minutes to set up before their 15-minute time allowance begins. After the presentation, teams are required to reset the equipment as they found it. In the case of equipment failure, every effort will be made to rectify the problem as quickly as possible; however, at the judges’ discretion, a team may be asked to move forward with the presentation. A back-up plan is recommended. The live presentation should not exceed 15 minutes. Five points will be deducted from the final score for each minute, or major fraction thereof, over 15 minutes for the presentation. Each member of the team should participate in the question-and-answer session. The preliminary presentation will be followed by five minutes, maximum, of clarifying questions. A minimum of three general marketing questions will be asked. Visual aids are only limited by your imagination. Do not assume that the lights can be adjusted or the competition room can be drastically remodeled. Scoring will be based on how effectively visual aids are used, not how elaborate they are. Remember that visual aids should enhance and clarify what the speakers are saying, not replace them. Visual aids (i.e., flyers, promotional materials, webpages, advertisements, mailers, etc.) should support the marketing effort and not the product itself. If props do not enhance the presentation, they should not be used. No handouts or samples are allowed to be given to judges during the presentation.
Scoring Teams will then be ranked by the judges utilizing the National FFA Marketing Plan CDE rubrics and a winner will be selected.