Is this real life?

Hello Culminating Project!

Today I submitted my proposal for LSM 450.

It is hard to believe that this is my last semester of college. I am looking forward to finishing the year strong and tackling a project I am passionate about. For my LSM project I will analyze a consumer brand and create a marketing plan for them. I want to include elements of experiential marketing. I am hoping that the finish product will be something that I can talk about in a future interview. I fully intend on working in an experiential marketing agency after graduation. 

Experiential Marketing

Experiential marketing is definitely my biggest passion. I have known that I wanted to work in the industry since I was a sophomore in high school.  Experiential marketing is event planning for brands. It allows for direct interactions between a brand and the consumer. The purpose of experiential marketing is to build a relationship with the consumer. My favorite thing about experiential is the authenticity. 

One of my favorite examples of experiential marketing comes from the agency I worked for after freshman year, Gigunda Group, Inc. Gigunda specializes in disaster relief marketing. When Hurricane Katrina hit,  Gigunda produce an event for Tide. They assembled tractor tailor trucks with dozens of washers and dryers and headed off to New Orleans. With a giant orange branded truck they went to different areas in the city doing laundry using Tide for the people who were left stranded in the devastated city. After the Hurricane, sales of Tide skyrocketed in the city. This is especially surprising considering New Orleans is a poorer city and Tide is a more expensive premium product. This quick case study is a powerful example of the effectiveness of experiential marketing and relationship building. 

My Vision

For my marketing plan I want to select a fun consumer brand. In my past internships I have always worked on B2C companies so I would like to stick to what I know. I want to analysis of the environment of the industry that the brand is operating in and their strengths and weaknesses. I want to identify areas where the company is weak. I will develop a full experiential market plan, but I also want to prove why they need an experiential campaign. I will also incorporate elements of media - like photos and social media posts to tie the project more directly to my LSM. I plan on creating a written report with a lot of exhibits. 

Timeline

This is probably my busiest semester ever so I should be very proactive in planning how I will execute my LSM Project. I'm a thinker and a brainstormer, should I give myself plenty of time to solidify a topic and choose a specific brand. I think that after I pick my topic, I can complete the marketing plan section by section. I am going to try to avoid leaving everything for the end like I usually do.

Other thngs I have on my plate this semester: Super Bingo and Spring Day, DSP Pledge Mom, work 15 hours per week, and five classes. Hopefully my light and color physics class will not be the death of me. X)

I am actually looking forward to this project. It 100% caters to my interest so it shouldn't be so much of a task and more of an assignment.