Organization Analysis

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

You are charged with creating a strategic marketing plan for Fabletics. Your first tasks will be to do some research

(A) to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your company/department, (B) to

understand the competitive landscape, and (C) to more narrowly define your target market

so that you can create a marketing plan to meet the needs of those consumers. You are also

encouraged to consider upcoming and current sport trends for this assignment.

SECTION 1: BRAND OVERVIEW

This brief section (up to 500 words in length) should provide an overview of the brand,

including history/background of the brand, relevant product category(ies), vision/mission

statement. (Note: utilize brand website as primary-but not only-source)

SECTION 2: SWOT ANALYSIS

In order to determine your marketing objectives, strategies, and tactics, you must first do a

detailed SWOT analysis. To populate your SWOT, you must do some research. Be sure to

look through a variety of sources such as SportsBusiness Journal, academic research through

the library, library databases (SportDiscus, etc.), secondary data sources (census data,

published reports on companies and industries, etc.), financial data, public records, reputable

news sources, etc… You may also consider collecting your own data, such as conducting

interviews or focus groups or observing social media conversations or organizational websites

for information about product offerings and reviews. Focus on information that will

ultimately inform your overall marketing plan. Again, be specific and make your statements

based on research and not on assumptions.

Focus on information that will ultimately inform your marketing plan. For example, if

you are creating a new Nike product, you dont need to cover everything about Nikes history.

You should focus on your particular product category and the strengths and weaknesses of

Nike that will impact your ability to sell your product. Be specific and make your statements

based on research and not on assumptions.

SECTION 3: PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

After presenting sufficient information for the reader to understand the organization under

question as well as the situational landscape in which they exist, it is time to identify the

product

you will be focusing on for your marketing plan. You will create a new product (good or

service). Based on your understanding of the existing landscape, you might have noticed an

area that needs to be filled. For example, perhaps your company does not offer X product

or service, while your competitors do. In this case, you may want to develop a new product /

service for your company. Here you must describe the basic concept of your product /

service and what hole it is filling (i.e., why it must be invented, offered, and marketed by

your organization).

SECTION 4: TARGET MARKETS

For this part of the assignment, you are to identify at least two (2) different market segments

who are likely to buy or use the product/service that you have created. You want to be

specific about what defines each group of users without limiting the number of people in each

segment.

Remember that traditional marketing strategies segment consumers based on simple

demographic profiles (location, age, gender, etc…); however, new marketing is different. It

is critical that you consider attitudinal and behavioral characteristics as well in your

segmentation strategy. Finally, remember that some of your target segments may be

businesses instead of individual consumers. Please give each market segment a creative

and descriptive name.

The correctness of your answer is determined largely by your ability to find credible

information to support your ideas. Do not make any assumptions about people, their

attitudes, or their behaviors. Define your market segments based on data (see the example

below). If you have any questions about what sources are credible, please let me know.

Bad example:

We have an opportunity to market to young kids because most kids like shoes.

Good example:

According to census data, our target market has a large percentage of families with

children living at home (Denver Community Planning and Development, 2006).

Further, our market is also highly active (56% engage in outdoor activities such as

tennis, hiking, running, and basketball). Therefore, we have an opportunity to expand

our market to include these highly active families, both children and adults.

SECTION 5: PERSONA DESCRIPTIONS

Consistent with the corporate structure presented in the Rethinking Marketing reading (see

Assignment Instructions on Canvas), your role will be of Customer Segment Manager

where youll be asked to develop the marketing plan for one specific market segment. In

this section write a brief biography for one (1) potential consumer in EACH of your

selected market segments 2 personas total. You may find it useful to do additional

research as well. Each biography should be about 250 words.

Example: Ashley, 34, wakes up early to go running since she knows she wont have time

later. A former high school tennis player, Ashley is now of mother of two who lives in a

small suburban community just outside the city of Denver. She enjoys hiking with her

family and prides herself on keeping fit. This core value carries over into her parenting style

as she pushes her children to participate in as many extracurricular activities as possible.

While she works hard to maintain her active lifestyle, time and budget restrictions limit her

ability to be as active as she would like. This year, her fitness goals are less about actual

fitness and more about participating in as many activities as possible with her husband and

kids. She hopes that by eating right and staying active, she will maintain her current fitness

level even if she isnt able to improve it. (150 words)

** Other information that would be relevant in this example include, but are not restricted to,

the kind of job she has, other parts of her past, her perception of fashion, her favorite

products/brands, political affiliation, her social networks, etc…

SECTION 6: MARKETING OBJECTIVES

The purpose of the above situational analysis is to provide direction on how to capitalize on

your opportunities and identify/minimize your threats. For this part of the assignment,

connect specific pieces of information from your analysis and develop three

S.M.A.R.T. objectives. Consider as marketers, you should be concerned with other

aspects of your companys performance such as generating awareness for your product or

creating/enhancing your brand image. Use these guidelines for creation of the three objectives:

One of these objectives should be tied to sales or other financial outcomes (i.e.,

involving Product and/or Price elements).

One of your objectives should lead to a strategy of creating an ad/marketing

campaign (Promotion element).

One should utilize one (or a combination) of marketing mix elements not employed in the

other two objectives.