Group Assessment – Political Marketing Campaign
Working in groups you are required to use the theories and concepts about which you have learned to research and prepare a political marketing campaign for UKIP. (http://www.ukip.org/).
Your report must include the following elements:-
1. Context (500 words)
Brief explanation of the party which you have chosen and brief background information to set the context for the benefit of someone who may not be familiar with that party (approximately 500 words). For example:-
o Which country is the party from? You may choose a party from any country that you wish – it does not have to be a party from within the UK.
o What is its current situation – is it in government or opposition? Part of a coalition? A minority party? What was its percentage share of vote in the last election?
o Briefly, what does the party stand for? Is it left / right / centre? Does it campaign on one particular issue (for example a Green Party) or across a range of issues?
2. Campaign aim and objectives (approximately 300 words)
Identify the strategic issue faced by the party which your campaign is designed to address and the specific objectives of the campaign. For example, this could be a forthcoming election (general or local) in which an opposition party hopes to win power, or a party in government wishes to maintain its position, or you could work on a campaign designed to help a party motivate its supporters to donate money, or volunteer as campaign workers. It is up to you to set the context for your campaign and determine what realistic objectives for it might be. Objectives should be SMART.
3. Marketing campaign ideas (approximately 2,200 words)
In this section you should present your campaign ideas i.e. how you will use each element of the promotional mix to achieve your campaign objectives. This section must include examples of marketing communications which you have designed. This could be posters, direct mail, TV campaigns, internet advertising, social media or anything else you think would be appropriate. Your ideas must link back to the objectives of the campaign and be clearly justified in terms of political marketing theory.
4. Conclusion (approx. 300 words)
Summary of key ideas from the above
(Don’t just use mass media. This will only get you the bottom line of the population.)
Notes
1. Reports should be submitted as word documents. Please ensure that you have checked your document for spelling, grammatical and formatting errors prior to submission.
2. The maximum word count is 3,500 words excluding the title page and bibliography. Everything else, from the introduction to the conclusion, is included within the word count. There is a 10% +/- on wordcount.
3. All assignments should be submitted electronically via Blackboard. Blackboard will automatically record your assignment as being late even if you submit just one minute after this deadline. If your assignment is late, as recorded by Blackboard, then standard late penalties will apply. Please note that it is your own responsibility to ensure that you are able to submit your work on time – problems with your computer or internet connection will not be accepted as legitimate reasons for late submission.
4. This is a group assignment and you only need to make one submission per group. It is the responsibility of each individual within the group to make sure that they are happy with the contents of all elements of the report. If any part of the report is found to be plagiarised then any penalty awarded will apply to all members of the group.
5. All members of the group will receive the same grade however the module leader reserves the right to reduce the grades of individuals whose contribution falls significantly below that of other group members.
Guidance
• We are looking for evidence that you have taken the academic theories and models that we have talked about in class and applied them to a real life example of your choice. That means you need to explicitly identify which models and theories you are using and include a good range of relevant references, not just to text books but also to journal papers. We want to see evidence that you have read widely in the academic literature.
• The campaign you design should be integrated. That means that each element of the campaign works with all the other elements and there is a consistent style and message across all elements of the campaign.
• The academic and creative elements of your campaign should be balanced. Do not focus solely on the creative angle at the expense of the academic theory. All your creative ideas should be justified in terms of relevant academic theory.
• Make sure your report has a consistent style throughout. It is a mistake to divide it into parts, have each person work on their part and then stick the parts together just before the deadline. Meet regularly with your group to discuss and agree together how you plan to approach each part of the report. This will help to ensure that you do not contract yourselves within your report. One member of the group (usually the person with the best English) should be responsible for putting the final report together and making sure that it is consistent in style throughout.