C17MK
Introduction to Marketing
Coursework Brief – First Essay
2022/23
1. Introduction
This coursework requires you to select one of three essay questions and answer it using two required readings (detailed in the table overleaf). One is an academic source to provide you with a contemporary theoretical perspective of the topic. The other is a practitioner source to provide you with insight into how marketing professionals are changing their practice. You must research both the theory and the professional practice of the question. You will also need to find sources to provide context (more detail on Canvas – including example topic choices). You will write an essay offering deeper insight and demonstrating critical thinking.
2. Course Learning Objectives
The coursework is designed to assess the following:
• Demonstrate a critical awareness of changing trends in marketing and be able to identify the nature, role, and value of marketing within business.
• Engage directly with research in the marketing area through contemporary journal articles and demonstrate an understanding of the marketing concepts, theory, practice, and terminology introduced in these sources.
• Find, understand, synthesise, and apply relevant and reliable information to marketing activities to demonstrate a critical awareness of the complexity of the marketing environment.
• Engage with practitioner material via Marketing professional groups and bodies (i.e., CIM) and apply knowledge from these sources to a relevant real-world context.
• Identify and critically evaluate marketing concepts and principles in distinct business contexts and apply these to challenges faced by marketers in these contexts.
3. Your Essay
Your essay should be a maximum of 1500 words long. Essays do not usually feature tables or figures, and so we do not expect to see these and there is no need for an Appendix. The essay will be formatted in Times New Roman, Arial or Calibri, font size 12, and be 1.5 lines spaced.
You will write an essay answering ONE of the following questions:
1. What is more important in marketing practice – satisfying consumer needs efficiently or spending additional resources turning consumers into advocates?
Linked to Market History, please read, and include the following sources:
Academic Source:
Fitzgerald, R. (2005) ‘Products, Firms and Consumption: Cadbury and the Development of Marketing, 1900-1939’, Business history, 47(4), pp. 511–531. Link to article.
Practitioner Source:
Golding, I., (2021) ‘What’s next for customer experience in 2022?’ CIM Content Hub. Link to article.
2. Should the default setting across all internet applications, sites and settings protect user privacy or promote corporate interests?
Linked to Social Media Marketing & Privacy, please read, and include the following sources:
Academic Source:
Jacobson, J., Gruzd, A. and Hernández-García, Á. (2020) ‘Social media marketing: Who is watching the watchers?’, Journal of retailing and consumer services, 53, pp. 1-12. Link to article.
Practitioner Source:
Carroll, N. (2022) ‘‘Use this time wisely’: Marketing bodies welcome delay of Google’s third-party cookie ban’. Marketing Week, Link to article. NOTE: Marketing Week does not provide unlimited access without a subscription. Please save a copy of this article by downloading the text or copying it to a Word document.
3. How can marketers make a positive impact for sustainability?
Linked to Sustainability, please read, and include the following sources:
Academic Source:
Carrigan, M. (2017) ‘Revisiting ‘The Myth of the Ethical Consumer’: why are we still not ethical shoppers?’, Journal of Consumer Ethics, 1(1), pp. 12-21. Link to article. (Note: link downloads a pdf)
Practitioner Source:
CIM (2022) ‘Report: Sustainability marketing skills gap report’, CIM Content Hub. Available at: Link to article.
4. Instructions
Here are the suggested steps you take to complete this assessment:
Step 1: Choose your essay question and fully read the essential reading (academic and practitioner sources) for that topic, identifying any questions you, and asking them as early as possible.
Step 2: Find other academic journal articles that will help you answer the essay question.
Step 3: Develop your understanding of the academic journal articles and practitioner source by considering how the articles relate to examples of contemporary marketing practice (e.g., advertisements, company products/services, online communications).
Step 4: Answer the essay question with a clear statement in a single sentence. This should feature in your introductory paragraph, and your essay will support this statement.
Step 5: Craft your essay with specific examples of marketing practice to support your answer to the essay question. You should have a clear introduction and conclusion to introduce and summarise your essay.
Step 6: Cite all sources and include a complete list of references with at least 3 academic journal articles and any other sources you have used. Please include the assigned readings (academic and practitioner sources) in your reference list.
5. Submission
The deadline for the assignment is Monday 24th October 2022. Edinburgh students must submit before 4:00 p.m., Dubai students must submit before 7:00 p.m.
The essay should be submitted via Canvas in digital format only. BEFORE you will be allowed access to the submission site, you MUST complete and submit the Declaration of Authorship form available on Canvas. Please allow time for this – it is suggested you complete this a week before the deadline.
Late submissions will only be accepted without penalty if mitigating circumstances apply. Late submissions will have a 30% reduction applied to the final mark. Any late submission made more than 5 days after the deadline will not be marked and will receive 0.
6. Marking Criteria
Criteria Weighting
Essay summary
• The essay question is answered with a succinct statement.
• The summary introduces the essay and clearly links the statement to contemporary marketing theory and practice identified in the academic and practitioner sources. 10%
Demonstrated understanding of the practitioner source and context
• The practitioner source is used to identify / demonstrate a critical awareness of marketing, the complexity of the environment, challenges faced by marketers and marketers’ response to these challenges.
• There is evidence of wider research into the context and examples are used to illustrate how the concerns of marketing practitioners apply to relevant real-world contexts. 35%
Use of academic source and additional academic literature
• There is critical Assessment and discussion of literature, and academic sources are used to demonstrate a fuller understanding of the topic.
• Marketing terms introduced in class are integrated into the writing with demonstrated understanding of the marketing concepts, theory, and terminology. 35%
Scholarly writing skills, presentation, and references
• Formal style of writing used (third person, no contractions – e.g., don’t, isn’t).
• The work is well structured and presented (good use of paragraphs to help organise the writing, essay has a clear beginning, middle and end).
• The writing is supported with in text citations and a complete reference list which is formatted to Harvard reference style (as per Harvard Cite Them Right).
20%
