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State of Industry
According to Statistics Canada, university enrollment in Canada is up on almost all
fronts1. The latest numbers represent changes between the school year 2002/03 and 2003/04.
Enrollment across Canada was up 6.1%. This was due to an increase of 8.9% in full-time
enrollment and a drop of 1.4% in part-time enrollment. The highest increase could be seen in
Ontario – 9.6%, followed by Prince Edward Island – 8.3% and Manitoba – 8.2%. What is
interesting about Ontario is that the full time enrollment went up by 13.8%, but the part time –
dropped by 4.4%. In Quebec, enrollment was up 3.7%: 5.5% for full-time and 0.8% for part
time. These changes were lead by women with a 6.5% increase in enrollment for females and
5.4% increase for males across Canada. The figures for undergraduate and graduate studies were
only available for the period of 1997/98 to 2003/04. Increases of 22.7% and 26.7% could be
observed for undergraduate and graduate enrollment respectively.
Enrollment was up in the majority of fields of study, with the highest increase in
Business, management and public administration fields. It was up by 11.6%: 11.9% for females
and 11.3 for males. The difference in male and female enrollment was significantly smaller in
this field then in all fields taken together.
The following shows a percentage difference between increases in female and male
enrollment in business related fields compared to all fields together.
Business, management and public administration: [(11.9 – 11.3)/11.6]*100 = 5.2%
All areas of study: [(6.5 – 5.4)/6.1]*100 = 18.0%
1 All statistics for the state of the industry section taken from: http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/051011/d051011b.htm
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According to a provincial educational bulletin, forecasts for 2007 – 2015 show that
student enrolment will be increasing2 on average from 3.5% to 6% for all relevant to topic
Quebec Business Universities.
State of the Company and Product
Over the past three years the JMSB registered student population has increased. In fall
2004, 2005, 2006 total JMSB students registered were 1,206, 1,325 and 1,359 respectively.
Compared with the total student population in 2005 being 31,453, only 4.21% were from JMSB
(Kanaan, registrar’s office). Compared with Concordia University the John Molson School of
Business only makes up a small portion of the school. In fall 2006, 3,700 new students applied
to JMSB, and 1738 students were accepted and of those, only 988 actually registered. Within
Concordia University, there were 371 student internal degree transfers, which made up 27.30%
of the JMSB population (Kanaan, registers office).
From the sample of Montreal students from Champlain, Dawson, John Abbot, and Vanier
College, 43 of the 120 students (35.83%) ranked McGill University first compared with UQAM,
HEC and JMSB business programs. Out of the 120 students, 35.83% rated JMSB, 9.16% rated
University de Montreal and 3.33% rated UQAM first compared with the other three Universities.
Environmental Factors
DEMOGRAPHY: The John Molson School of Business is located at the heart of
Montreal, on the Sir George Williams campus. The city has a diverse population of over three
million people. Most of the population is comprised of a “francophone” community. In the city
there is a diverse range of activities to take part in.
Furthermore, it is a faculty within Concordia University, the second biggest English
university in Montreal. The school has a population of 30 931 full-time and part-time students
2 http://www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/stat/bulletin/bulletin_22an.pdf page 6
2
from 160 different countries. 26,136 are undergrads (16,385 of which are full-time and 9,772 are
part-time). The graduate enrollment is 4,794 – 3,745 full-time and 999 part-time.3
POLITICS/ECONOMICS: Quebec universities are now starting to feel the impact of the
10-year tuition freeze. Economically the law has been devastating for most schools. Universities
are struggling to provide quality education. Former premier Lucien Bouchard has said, “In the
decade that tuition fees have been frozen, Quebec’s universities have been short-changed three
billion dollars, and in 2006 were estimated to be short-changed $375 million when compared to
other provinces”.
Despite the politics involved, the truth is that the cost of sending students to University in
Canada is increasing. Canada is competing on a worldwide basis with other universities and must
keep pace. Quebec is failing to live up to the Canadian and Worldwide standard. Changing the
current economic system under which Universities operate would not hurt the moray of
universities. We need look no further than Ontario.
After putting a stop to the tuition freeze, they are struggling to accommodate an
additional 14, 000 students than expected.4
Analysis of the Product and Competition
There are many positive attributes to John Molson School of Business, a core attribute
that puts them at a competitive advantage over other Universities is that while visiting all of the
Montreal University web sites, it was evident that JMSB is the only business school to offer a
coop program to undergraduate students. Another evident factor seen in the course registration
guide is that the University offers flexible time slots that range from 8:45 a.m. to 11 p.m., so
3 Numbers taken from Concordia University: Undergraduates Admissions Guide 2007/2008 354 http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2006/09/08/qc-schoolfees.html
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whether part time or full time students, there are hours available for all types of schedule
demands.
According to an article in the Canada Newswire: “The John Molson School of Business is the
only business school in Montreal [4th in Canada] to have the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of
Business) accreditation, awarded by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business in March 1997"5. In
the same article it was also stated that “JMSB is the 1st in Canada & 3rd outside of the US to receive accreditation of
its Accountancy Programs by the AACSB (April 2001)”6. There are obvious competitive advantages for John Molson
School of Business in comparison to other Canadian Business Schools.
According to the survey conducted, of the 120 students who were surveyed from Vanier,
John Abbot, Champlain and Dawson College, 117 responded to a ranking question comparing
their perception towards JMSB, McGill, Université de Montreal, and UQAM’s business
programs. Of the 117 responses, 59, slightly over 50% of the students, ranked Concordia’s John
Molson School of Business as the number 1 business university (Refer to Appendix A).
John Molson School of Business is definitely in the growing life cycle, as previously
mentioned, there is an estimated average of 4% forecasted increase for the next 10 years across
relevant Quebec Universities7. They are just now beginning the construction of the new JMSB
building for future Business students. However, if the market were to decline, there would be a
need to invest in collegial pre-university program marketing to greater fight the decline.
John Molson School of Business is the only Business school to offer a co-op program to
students, allowing them to increasingly apply and learn the theory that is taught throughout the
program. As stated in an article by Sandra Bolan, “business schools are failing to provide
5http://0-proquest.umi.com.mercury.concordia.ca:80/pqdweb?did=73427703&sid=3&Fmt=3&clientId=10306&RQT=309&VName=PQD 6 http://0-proquest.umi.com.mercury.concordia.ca:80/pqdweb?did=73427703&sid=3&Fmt=3&clientId=10306&RQT=309&VName=PQD 7 http://www.mels.gouv.qc.ca/stat/bulletin/bulletin_22an.pdf page 6 (Average of all Universities relevant to discussion)
4
graduates with adequate e-commerce experience”8. However, the article goes on to state that
JMSB has come a long way in providing such an experience to their students (Bolan, 2).
JMSB’s mother school, Concordia’s slogan “real education for the real world,”9 shows
their importance weighing on application of education learnt. JMSB’s unique co-op program
allows students to prepare for the business world through practical application and experience in
the field of study. JMSB is the leader of the coop education.10 JMSB is among the 9 top MBA
schools in Canada11, it has significantly lower tuition fees than the rest of Quebec’s average in
2006 of approximately $4347.12 According to current fees being charged to JMSB students, the
annual tuition fees for the 2006/2007 year are: $2556.66.13
JMSB has numerous websites describing the many advantages of the programs and along
with a colourful brochure providing details about the co-op program.
Competition
There has been an outcry on the degrading value of Canadian MBA programs.
Researcher, Kelvin Ogilvie states “business schools are failing to provide graduates with
adequate e-commerce experience” (Bolan, 25). UQAM and HEC are 2 French Montreal
Universities that offer Business degrees, however the language barrier puts graduate students,
who want to do business internationally, at a disadvantage because English is the number 1
international language.
Although there is obvious success for the Montreal based business school, there is a
declining value of Business MBA programs in Canada. There was a claim by a Concordia
professor that students are now paying their way through a good education. He seems to be
8 http://0-proquest.umi.com.mercury.concordia.ca:80/pqdweb?did=69104313&sid=3&Fmt=3&clientId=10306&RQT=309&VName=PQD9 http://www.canadianmba.com/10 http://co-op.concordia.ca/documents/E2062-CoopFolder.pdf11 http://co-op.concordia.ca/documents/E2062-CoopFolder.pdf12 http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060901/d060901a.htm13 Refer to Appendix B
5
claiming that Universities are selling MBA’s.14 Another negative issue is that students seem to be
having a hard time finding jobs after they graduate. From the promise of a bright future, more
and more students are just happy to have found and maintained a job!15
Competition Positioning
McGill University: Being the oldest University in Montreal, McGill carries a sense of
tradition and culture and is “the country’s leading research-intensive University”16
HEC: Being the oldest Business School to be founded in the Montreal area in 190717, is
the first North American Business School to receive the 3 most prestigious accreditations in the
Business field: AACSB International, EQUIS and AMBA18.
UQAM: Is a French university whose research driven by social concerns, quality
programs, and innovative creation have helped build its prestige.19
Analysis of Past Efforts
John Molson’s advertising was tied with Concordia University, as it is one of the
Concordia University’s departments. They did not advertise specifically about John Molson.
This can be a PROBLEM. John Molson only advertises separately for the MBA program and
graduate students, not for undergraduate students.
The good thing is that John Molson hired new people for the marketing plan; this
includes the advertising campaign produced in August 2006. Recently the banner was changed.
For general Ads used in past efforts:
- Ads in CEGEP’s agenda: These are 1/2 page, black and white advertisements. They are
14 http://0-proquest.umi.com.mercury.concordia.ca:80/pqdweb?did=1163972081&sid=9&Fmt=3&clientId=10306&RQT=309&VName=PQD15 http://0-proquest.umi.com.mercury.concordia.ca:80/pqdweb?did=803839521&sid=7&Fmt=3&clientId=10306&RQT=309&VName=PQD
16 http://www.mcgill.ca/about/17 http://www.hec.ca/infogenerale/enbref.html18 http://www.hec.ca/infogenerale/agrements.html19 http://www.uqam.ca/apropos/
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consistently used year after year.
- CD-Rom: Was used 2 years ago. However, there is no measurement of effects.
- Print- ads
They do not have much information about the advertising campaign. However, they focused
on PR. (in marketing plan). There are many information sessions, and they have invited people to
speak in the CEGEPs. John Molson best advertises specifically its Business Commerce programs
not tied with whole university to attract more students. 20
Target Market Analysis
1. The prime prospects for John Molson School of Business would be students at the
CEGEP level whom are approaching graduation. Looking more in-depth, it would be the
students that are interested in perusing their education in the business field at the university level
and who have studied in the commerce background. It is felt that to target all CEGEP students,
from all the faculties would be too difficult and costly for the benefits sought. The largest part of
our target market comes from the CEGEPS in the Montreal area. In fall 2006, approximately
34.88% of the students registered came from CEGEPS in the Montreal area, (Labadie, registers
office).
To narrow our target market even further, we are only concentrating on five English
CEGEP’s in the Montreal area including, Vanier College, Dawson College, John Abbott College,
Marianopolis and Champlain College. This is due to the fact that in fall 2006, 89.50% of the
newly registered students in John Molson School of Business graduated from those five
CEGEP’s, (Dr. Kanaan, registers office).
20 All information used for “Analysis of Past Efforts” section taken from personal interview with : Karin Poulos & Labatie Shannon
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Most importantly, we are concentrating students that did not rate JMSB as there first
choice, when applying to University. To enable the achievement of our goal, to increase
enrollment by 300 equivalent full time students, we must concentrate the campaign on the
students that are not considering JMSB when making their University choices. It is also
important to note that by targeting the students that were already considering JMSB when
applying, our campaign would be unsuccessful, because these students have already
demonstrated interest.
2. Using the information provided by the registers office, we determined the percentages
of students that graduated from each of the five English CEGEP’s to determine the size of our
Target Market. Of the 89.50% of newly registered students in JMSB, 18.32% of the students
arrived from Vanier College, 25.90% from Dawson College, 24.34% from John Abbott, 11.50%
Marianopolis and 8.64% came from Champlain College.
Presently, there are 2,095 students registered, from the five English CEGEP’s, in the
commerce program. Of those students, 1,663 students make up our Target Market. The target
breakdown from each CEGEP, in which our marketing effort will be concentrated to increase
enrolment, is made up of, 511 students from Vanier College, 331 from Dawson College, 508
from John Abbott College, 110 from Marianopolis and targeting 203 students from Champlain
College.
4. 120 surveys were distributed to five CEGEP’s in the Montreal area. Of this sample, 46
people were considering registering into a business program later on. A question asked students
to rank four Quebec Universities, one to four, on their perception of their business programs. 59
students from the sample ranked Concordia as being the number one business school in Quebec,
followed by McGill at 43, HEC at 11 and UQAM with 4. It was also interesting to note that 32
8
surveyed CEGEP students ranked Concordia University’s business program (JMSB) as the
second highest in recognition. From these results from the sample of 120 students, although
though McGill University has a more dominating name on the world wide scale, JMSB is
perceived to offer a better business program.
5. As discussed in the previously, there are a potential of 1,663 students in our target
market that are nearing graduation from commerce programs that do not consider John Molson
School of Business as their first choice. Our goal is to change the opinions of these students and
get them to consider JMSB as their first choice for a business school and furthermore have them
apply in the University program. To bring ourselves closer to our goal we need to know what
the students consider important when choosing a business school. We found from our sample
that when choosing a school, the top three priorities respectively are academics, reputation of the
school and family influence. When choosing a major, the highest valued areas were ‘interest in
the subject’, ‘salary prospects’ followed by the ‘use of interpersonal skills’.
The Problem:
Based on the results of the survey students have a desire to be better informed before
making their final decisions. After reviewing the responses of only those students who did not
choose JMSB as their number 1 business University, this target population is highly concerned
with academic credentials and reputation of the school as a whole. They seem to be choosing
other Universities like McGill based on its academic excellence and recognized reputation. This
is important to note because the target is evidently ill-informed on the status of John Molson and
although Concordia (13th place) was ranked lower than McGill (6th place) and HEC (8th place) in
the Financial Times (Top Business Schools – 2000)21 JMSB has many attractive and appealing
21http://www.bschool.com/intlsbys.html
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attributes that need to be conveyed to the target market and detached from its mother school,
Concordia to stand on its own as Montreal’s top business institution.
Objectives and Goals
1. Marketing Objectives
Our marketing objectives for JMSB are to increase enrollment by 300 full time
equivalent students. A realistic time frame for seeing results would be in approximately one year
therefore having fall, winter and summer 2007 registration periods to show registration results.
Using the hierarchy of effects pyramid format, we are able to set stages which need to be attained
to reach our final objective of 300 full time equivalent full time students.
2. Advertising Objectives – Refer to Appendix E for Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid
As per the aforementioned problem statement, it is felt that when advertising to our target
market it is essential to better inform the students about the programs offered at JMSB, such as
their unique and effective co-op program, and the attributes that it has to offer business students.
When choosing Universities, applicants are faced with having to differentiate schools based on
the image that is portrayed.
Using the hierarchy effects pyramid, we are able to demonstrate the five stages in which
we need to reach to be able to attain our objective of having enrolled of 300 full time equivalent
students. Using the 2007-2008 Undergraduate Admissions Guide, we were able to determine the
ratios needed to define the number of students that we need to reach our objective. 47% of the
students that applied in 2006 were accepted, using this ratio, it was determined that 1124
students need to apply and of those applicants, 528 would be accepted. The same method was
used throughout the pyramid to determine the number of students needed, (refer to Appendix E) .
10
Using the data we collected for determining our target market, it was evident that 8,487 CEGEP
students need to be aware of the JMSB product.
3. Advertising Budget $350 000 – Details Provided in Appendix C
BUDGET CostMedia Out of Home Transit Transit Shelters 6524 GRPs @ $33.3/GRP $217,249.2 Station Shelters 3476 GRPs @ $33.3 $115,750.8 10,000 GRPs @ $33.3 $333,000 Fliers Creation Cost: 16000 * $40/1000 $640
Printing Cost: 16000 * $.05 $800 8000 *2 (Sept & Jan)= 16000 $ 1,440 Radio Donation $500 Agenda $400/ school * 5 $2,000 Campaign Evaluation 200 surveys * $25 $5,000Miscellaneous $8,060Total $350,000Strategies
Media
Reach
Out-of Home &Transit: According to the Media Digest 2006/07, people from the ages of
18-49 travel in-town on average 171 km per week (61). The transit user break-down shows that
the highest percentage of the “English population who have taken transit at least once in the
week” are those ranging from the age of 18-24, with 33.9% usage, and the next highest users are
those from the ages of 13-17 with 27.8% usage (68). This demographic segment covers the
largest age group of college students with a total usage of 30.8%22. There is a similar pattern for
the French population of transit users as well. According to a table found in the Media Digest
06/07, there was an estimated population in Montreal of 3 674 000, an out-door transit
22 See Reach Calculations in Appendix C
11
consumption estimate of 716 430, which has an estimated reach of 90%. Therefore, our
estimated reach would be 644 787 people23.
Magazine: There will be a flier created to hand out to commerce students when they go to
buy business texts from their bookstore. It will be a 2 page fold out of information about the
school detailing the campaign. 16 000 fliers in total will be created and distributed in the bags of
commerce students at their bookstores in each school at the beginning of each semester. This
reach will be a lot more narrow and selective of the target market with an estimated 90% because
the intended audience alone will be given the flier.
Frequency:
Students taking the buses or metros will be exposed, whether to the Transit Shelters, or
Station Posters on average every time they travel to and from their college. According to the
budget and due to our constraints, we are averaging a total average frequency throughout the
campaign of 11124.
Geographic Coverage
This campaign will cover Montreal Metropolitan Area, concentrating mainly on the
shelters, and stations that are around the Colleges (Ville-Saint Laurent – Cote-Vertu, Down-
Town Montreal – Atwater, Saint Anne De Bellevue, and Longueuil)
Seasonality
The campaign will follow pulsms scheduling for Exterior transit, fliers, and radio. The
first part of the campaign will begin early autumn, back to school, and go on for a 2 month
period, the second part will commence at the beginning of the winter semester, which will go on
until application deadline date (March 1st).
23 See Reach Calculations in Appendix C24 See Reach Calculations in Appendix C
12
The final portion of the campaign will follow continuous scheduling for Agenda ads and
the website, which will go on throughout the entire academic year.
Depth
The messages will be basic, clear and straight to the point. The individual will feel
inclined to research further with the direct link clear in view and easy to remember.
Intangibles
Due to the excessive students taking public transportation to get to their schools, they will
be inclined to read what is in their environment to aid in passing time. Some may have their
laptops out with wireless internet access while they are riding and may want to connect directly
to get a quick look at their options.
Schedule
The initial campaign launch will begin with the fliers (agenda ads as well which will go
on all year long) on Augusts 27th 2007 and will continue for a 4 week period until September 21st
2007. Next from October 22nd, 2007 and continue until November 16th 2007, which will include
simply the exterior transit portion of the campaign. College radio at John Abbot will also
commence on October 22nd however will only go on for 2 weeks until November 1st (application
deadline).
The follow-up will be when colleges are back in session for the winter semester, which
will be January 21st. Fliers will begin circulating once again and will last for the fist 4 weeks of
school, or until fliers run out. At the same time the exterior transit will resume for a six week
boom campaign until February 27th, 2008 before the fall application deadline of March 1st. John
Abbot college radio will resume for its 2 week period on February 18 th 2008. (See Blocking
Chart in Appendix F)
13
The advertising will cease during the period starting in the middle of November and
ending before the last week of January because it is an examination period at CEGEPs, followed
by the holiday season. Advertising during this time would not be effective and would waste
money.
Creative Strategy
Our goal is to show how JMSB can contribute to the applicant’s success. We chose the
slogan that will support this goal: LEARN, EXPERIENCE, SUCCEED. Helping applicants
succeed involves helping them solve problems, which have been determined earlier in the report
that they are facing and capitalizing on opportunities.
This campaign must affect students who are planning to enroll in University in a business
program and who do not consider JMSB to be the top University level business school in
Montreal area.
Based on the survey findings, we believe that we need to educate our target market about
JMSB’s academic achievements and let them know about the great reputation JMSB is enjoying
both among educational institutions and in the industry. We want our target market to know that
they will have an interesting and challenging program recognized for its high quality in
comparison with other Universities in Montreal and possibly beyond. We also want them to
know that people in the industry and in other educational institutions are aware of JMSB’s
excellence. This will let the prospective students from our target market know that after their
Bachelor degree they will be potentially more successful whether in the job market or pursuing
higher education with a Master’s degree. In addition, we want to let our target market know
about some exceptional features, also affecting reputation that they can get at JMSB and
nowhere else in the Montreal area in an English business program at the University level
14
This is conveyed through the emphasis of two of JMSB’s advantages. First, JMSB has
been doing consistently well in the Commerce games in the last couple of years. In fact it has
shown the best academic performance in the competition last year and won overall gold this
year. Winning this competition requires exceptional academic training. It shows the level of
academic achievement of the students in the participating schools. JMSB’s win establishes it as
the top university level business school among participants. This in turn, adds to JMSB’s already
impressive reputation. Even if the target market is not already aware of JMSB’s standing, once
they learn about it winning a prestigious competition like Commerce games, they are likely to
realize that this type of an achievement shows the school in a very favorable light.
Another feature that we are going to emphasize to prove our point is JMSB coop
programs. Coop programs in themselves have a great reputation with employers, who prefer to
hire new graduates who possess relevant industry experience. JMSB has the advantage of being
the only university level institution that offers business programs with coop options in the
Montreal area.
To sum up, we want our target market to be persuaded of JMSB’s great reputation and
outstanding academics to the point that they apply for their Bachelor degree at JMSB and
consider it to be their first choice of school. The way we are going to achieve this is by explicitly
stating that JMSB has a first-rate reputation and exceptional academics and providing evidence
for our claim. The evidence will consist of JMSB’s top notch performance at Commerce games
and information about the availability of coop programs.
15
Creative Execution
Some attributes of the campaign are going to be present throughout all of our advertising.
The colors in all of the ads are going to be predominately burgundy and white. This is consistent
with the current JMSB color scheme.
JMSB’s existing logo and website address as well as our new slogan “LEARN,
EXPEIENCE, SUCCEED” are going to be present on all of advertisements. This consistency
will ensure that all the ads reinforce each other and develop the brand in the same direction.
It was also decided to make all ads fairly simple, without any pictures, and not much in
terms of graphics, aside from the logo. The reason for that is that we realized that people are so
overwhelmed with excessive advertising and a multitude of bright pictures that making a simple
ad maybe more effective.
The Following are the chosen media tools and their associated description:
1) Posters (bus shelters/ metro stations) – Sample in Appendix G
The posters are going to be simple and will be in a form reminiscent of an exam question.
This will not only be different and interesting, and may attract our target market’s attention, but
will also help students identify themselves with the ad, because it taps into “their world”.
The choices A and B convey academic excellence and outstanding reputation. They do
this through the mention of Commerce games and coop programs, which is consistent with our
creative strategy.
The option C is included to give extra information, added as a supporting argument in
favor of JMSB, on majors that are available at JMSB. The extra information is given because
people are waiting for their transportation and generally don’t have very much to do at that time.
They are likely to stand and read a poster for a little while, as long as the information interests
16
them. Based on the survey, it was found that our target market tends to choose their major
considering their interests as the most important criteria. We are assuming that the first two
options are going to get students interested in JMSB. With this third choice, we are giving an
extra bit of information that is likely to entice the students even more into applying to JMSB.
Once they are interested, the students can easily find the web-site address on the bottom
of the poster, so they know where to go to get more information.
These posters are going to be displayed during two periods that can be seen in the
blocking chart (Appendix F)
2) Fliers – Sample in Appendix H
The fliers are the basis for the direct marketing part of the campaign. When students go to buy
their books from the bookstore, the clerk will insert the flyer into the bag, along with the newly
bought business books. Because, students can sit down and take some of their own time to read
the handouts, they will contain slightly more information than the other creative programs. The
focus will be on the environment of the John Molson School of Business. The medium will
concentrate on what John Molson offers as a school in relation to other schools. To name a few,
the programs offered, the co-op program, the Kenneth woods portfolio program, and the AACSB
accreditation. Also included, will be information on program requirements and links on where to
get more information.
3) John Abbot College Radio – Skit outline provided in Appendix I
Because John Abbot only has 1 of the 2 main exterior transits that are being used, the
college radio will be used to compensate for the loss in variety. This skit will concentrate on
John Molson’s excellence and what they have accomplished as compared to other Business
Schools so as to show just how reputable they are in the Business world.
17
4) Agenda ad – Sample Provided in Appendix J
The half page agenda ad provides the student body with basic information about John
Molson School of Business. The open house date in listed to encourage the commerce students
to come and visit actual students already registered in the program. The website is also given to
demonstrate where the students can more information about the programs offered at JMSB. This
ad will be placed in the agenda that are given to the students in the beginning of the first
semester and will last throughout the year. We approximated the price to be 400$ per CEGEP
for a half page color ad, due to the fact that Concordia University charges that amount.
5) Links to an existing JMSB web-site
We highlight our new slogan to emphasize the campaign in the website. The target
market can visit the website through 3 ways. First, they can visit JMSB website by the
advertising campaigns we run. An important objective of this campaign is to get people to visit
the JMSB website to get more informed. So, the website address is written in the selected media
we mentioned before. We can make a link to the JMSB website by entering
“LearnExperienceSucceed.ca” Second, people visit JMSB website through the Concordia
University homepage. Lastly, JMSB can put a link in the Cegep’s websites. For example, in the
commerce program website, they can access to JMSB website directly by clicking the link.
Campaign Evaluation
Because an important objective of this campaign is to get people to visit the JMSB
website and get informed on just how well JMSB is viewed in the business world, it is important
that the viewers are intrigued enough to take the time to do so. The campaign will be evaluated
by measuring the bandwidth before the campaign, during, and after to compare the spike
variations, which will be compared to average previous years. If the amount of visits increases
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dramatically, then the first part of the campaign is successful and later the amount of application
increase compared to previous years and forecasts, and finally the number of enrolments
compared to previous years and forecasted amount.
Another form of evaluation that will not incur costs throughout the campaign is to create
a case based on this report, about the campaign and distribute it in business classes at the College
and University level to attain feedback on their thoughts towards the campaign, and for college
students, attach a 1 page survey to the case with questions that respond whether they saw the
campaign, and how they were affected it.
The last form of campaign evaluation will occur at the end of each pulsm, 60 telephone
surveys for the autumn semester and 140 telephone surveys for the winter semester, which will
determine people’s feelings towards the school before and after the campaign.
A pre-test was already conducted concerning the advertisements, out of 10 people, 90%
found the advertisements would convey the message. The radio skit was created with and with
out music and 5/6 people preferred the skit without music.
Rationales and Support of Recommendations
The demographics of the target market is young students wanting to pursue their
education, with low income levels, aged from 17 – 22. According to the Media Digest 2006/07,
the largest portion of this specific group of individuals is reached using transit (68). Among the
different transit options, Transit Shelters “have the ability to deliver high reach and heavy
frequency,” and due selectivity of the shelters, only those that are found near the schools will
carry the ad allowing for narrow reach of the target audience. (Media Digest 67).
Station Posters, are a lot more targeted to the student body that this campaign is trying to
reach. The student has to go into a metro station in order to be exposed to the advertisements.
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The metro stops that students come in and out of from the colleges will be chosen to further
narrow the target market.
The fliers that will be created were chosen because of their low cost and high efficiency
at reaching the precise target market at the beginning of the semester before the workload gets
intense. They are given to commerce students which allows for selectivity.
Advertising on the college radio at John Abbot was decided to compensate for not having
a metro station. They will be at a disadvantage to the other schools having both exterior transits,
so although a lot more students take the bus, the radio commercial will be aired at their school
alone.
Media Rejection
Television was not chosen due to our extremely tight budget constraint. We found that
$350 000 is an insufficient amount of money to invest in television to reach the specific narrow
market that is being targeted as efficiently as exterior transit. There would be increased testing
costs necessary to ensure that the right message is being conveyed and errors would not be an
option. There are insufficient funds to pre-test, to perform appropriate campaign tracking, and to
fix mistakes after the results are in, creating a great risk for failure.
Radio was not chosen because the expenses incurred would be twice as high for a less
targeted reach and elevated frequency. It is difficult to narrow the market because of the limited
radio station choice, which would create too much wasted reach that could be more efficiently
spent elsewhere. The campaign did however find a way to advertise on the school radio at John
Abbot College because there are no Metro Station in the area, so to compensate for the loss of
reach, there will be a school radio playing a 30 second commercial for a 2 week period.
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Public Magazines were not chosen because this is an academic campaign and it is
difficult to target the exact market through specific public magazines without wasting too much
reach on people outside of the target. General Business Publications would be the narrowest, but
they are aimed at business people, not students, therefore there is not enough of our target to be
reached (Media Digest, 60)
Newspapers cover a very wide range of the community, but it was decided that fliers
given directly to the students in school would be more effective and narrow. The largest majority
of readers of newspapers are from the age of 35 – 49 with 30% readership, which is completely
off of our target market range (Media Digest, 38).
LEARN, EXPERIENCE, SUCCEED
JMSB!
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