For this individual assignment, you are asked to produce a fully referenced Industry Briefing Paper for the Marketing Director of a company of your choice. Note, the size/scale of your chosen organisation [SME, multinational, domestic vs. international], industry/market sector) will be important when writing up your implications for this paper!

The paper needs to be written in 3rd person and provide the Marketing Director of this company with the following:

an up-to-date picture of the practitioner literature and practitioner insights in your chosen topic area (see below for full details) and supported by the Source and Practitioner Insights Worksheets.

provide recommendations regarding future use and/or implications of this topic for your chosen company

Your review of the practitioner literature should draw upon at least eight industry/trade/market reports, newspaper, and magazine articles.  It should be fully referenced in Harvard style and should aim to provide a critical overview of research which has been carried out in the area. Your briefing paper can also refer to online blogs, discussion boards and/or academic textbooks.

Your paper should be a maximum of 2000 words (excluding references and appendices).

Topics for the Industry Briefing Paper (choose one only)

          Topic 1: COVID-19 and attendance at music festivals

          Topic 2: Post-series depression and consumer behaviour

          Topic 3: Artificial intelligence in the film industry

          Topic 4: Cultural misappropriation and the fashion industry

          Topic 5: Service Robots in elderly care networks

Your briefing paper should be addressed to the Marketing Director of your chosen company, suggesting how your insights and recommendations could be incorporated into future marketing plans and activities.

Key elements of an Industry Briefing Paper

Introduction to the briefing paper (clarification of its purpose)

Critical analysis and discussion of your chosen topic are (use the Source Worksheet to help develop the questions and search terms and record sources to be used)

Use of case studies and practitioner comments to clarify how your chosen topic is already being considered/used by other companies in their marketing activities (recording findings on the Practitioner Insights and The Case CT worksheets)

Discussion of key issues and challenges specifically from a marketing perspective (using the findings from above)

Conclusions and recommendations: based on your research, what recommendations would you make to the Marketing Director of your chosen company?

References: List ALL sources used, in Harvard style (refer back to the CT tools for the references)

Appendices: include any case studies and supporting information (include the completed critical thinking worksheets)

Assessment 3: Allocation of Marks for the Industry Briefing Paper

Marking guidelines

Allocated Marks

Introduction to the briefing paper (clarification of its purpose)

5

Critical analysis and discussion of your chosen topic

20

Use of case studies and practitioner comments to clarify how your chosen topic is already being considered/used by other companies in their marketing activities

20

Discussion of key issues and challenges specifically from a marketing perspective (using the findings from above)

20

Conclusions and recommendations: based on your research, what recommendations would you make to the Marketing Director of your chosen company?

20

References: List ALL sources used, in Harvard style

5

Appendices: include any case studies and supporting information (include the completed critical thinking worksheets)

10

Students should also refer to the University Grade Criteria for Level 4 which is available in the Module Handbook.

Rubric
Industry Briefing Paper and Critical Thinking Tasks
Industry Briefing Paper and Critical Thinking Tasks
Criteria    Ratings    Pts
This criterion is linked to a learning outcome Introduction to the Briefing Paper
5 Pts
Full marks
0 Pts
No marks
5 pts
This criterion is linked to a learning outcome Critical analysis and discussion of the topic
20 Pts
Full marks
0 Pts
No marks
20 pts
This criterion is linked to a learning outcome Case Study and Practitioner Comments/examples
20 Pts
Full marks
0 Pts
No marks
20 pts
This criterion is linked to a learning outcome Key issues and challenges from a marketing perspective
20 Pts
Full marks
0 Pts
No marks
20 pts
This criterion is linked to a learning outcome Conclusions and recommendations
20 Pts
Full marks
0 Pts
No marks
20 pts
This criterion is linked to a learning outcome References
5 Pts
Full marks
0 Pts
No marks
5 pts
This criterion is linked to a learning outcome Appendices
include any case studies and supporting information (including IMPORTANTLY the completed critical thinking worksheets)
10 Pts
Full marks
0 Pts
No marks
10 pts
Total points: 100