ASOS Digital Marketing Report

Individual Assessment Weighting: Coursework: 100%

You are to produce an individual, written report in PowerPoint format using the notes pages and upload to Moodle. You will not be required to present this. You are in role working for ASOS or Next (you decide) for their digital marketing team and are required to produce advice and conclusions from your analysis.

You are to write your data supported response to a number of questions on different aspect of digital marketing using for example, Comscore, Relative Insight, search marketing tools and concepts from Usability/ User experience studies. You will be introduced to each of these on the module and will have an opportunity to discuss throughout the course, either in the weekly lecture, workshops and also in seminars in weeks 17 and 19. Table 1 provides each of the questions in brief with the location in the module identified as well as the software that enables your analysis. You should try and start working on each of the questions as you encounter the topic in the module, even if you only include notes and thoughts on analysis.

Coursework Assessment Deadline:

Upload your individual assessment by Tuesday 19th April – 10.00 am

Aims and context

Brands compete by adopting specific targeting and positioning approaches. Strategic success arises from campaigns of substance frequently grounded in emotional appeals which resonate with the target audience and align with digital branding and digital advertising activity. This is supported by style and visual approach. Multiple digital channels and tools are frequently used to achieve this.

In role for this coursework you work for either ‘Next’ or ‘ASOS’. You decide which brand. The brand you select will then become the subject of your analysis (the focal brand), with comparisons made against your selected brand. You are to provide advice on digital marketing for your selected brand.

Specific objectives have not been set, as we do not have access to sufficient company data, however your digital research and advice should achieve the following:

increase traffic to the website
- and increase time on site

through digital marketing activity [ie excludes website redesign].

Table 1 Assessment Questions and Information Sources

(Please see the section below this table, “Indicative slide format Report Content”, where further explanation of required content for each question is provided).

Question	Question title	Source informing your answer
2	Abstract + introduction	Google trends, secondary research including social media
3	Develop one persona from visitor profile research	Start with Comscore analysis, relative insight and secondary research. [Weeks 14, 15 + Resources folder] + Seminar activity in week 17. See the persona template in the resources folder.
4	Online message appeal	Resources section including recorded lectures
5	Style and visual approach for digital advertising	Competitor analysis week 15 + computer lab session week 15 + week 18 linked to paid social input
6	Identify, and justify, 2 websites suitable to carry display advertising to encourage website visits/ purchases by your persona.	Comscore analysis (Weeks 14, 15)
7	Provide (a) targeting advice and (b) ad content, for a paid social Facebook ad.	Week 18 + recorded lectures elsewhere to be confirmed
8	Selection and justification of website for additional digital advertising – Mumsnet; Student Room and fashion blogs from Vogue and Grazia	Week 16 (RI) + free training + week 19 seminar activity

User Experience [UX]

Week 17 + week 19 seminar activity

Search marketing

Week 15 + Two agency videos recorded

for 411 (Week 15) + Week 17 seminar activity

Conclusions, recommendations

and unresolved issues

Your answer in Q1 (introduction element)

and Q2 to Q10.

Indicative slide format Report Content

Name, selected company and word count

No notes pages or other writing. This is not included in the word count.

2. Abstract

Provide a summary, integrating account of your work signposting key ideas and conclusions.

Rather than writing a separate introduction, include an introduction immediately following your abstract. You many have space to include both the abstract and the introduction on one slide and its notes page. In your introduction, include the product range on which you will focus and the sources used to determine the product range. Product range must link with the product range on which you focus for your search marketing answer.

3. Develop one persona from visitor profile research

You are to create one persona, including a characterisation of web browsing behaviours and geo-demographics and also provide justification for your persona selection. The required persona format (only as a table) is posted to the ‘Resources’ folder.

Comscore and persona

A persona profile should account for a minimum of 5% of web browsing behaviour on your focal company website. Details are provided in the file, “Buyer persona required content_2022” posted to the resources folder. Persona data from Comscore may support persona description based on their demographics and web browsing behaviour. This can include time on site, pages viewed, and types of websites [thematically] visited. You must justify selection of a particular persona mainly based on Comscore browsing behaviour data.

Justification for segment profile selection

The main arguments for focusing on a persona profile should accounting for a minimum of 5% of web browsing behaviour on your focal company website include:

A segment already highly attracted to your website but not quite as highly as competitors’
A segment with very low levels of unique visitors and or engagement compared to competitor websites – make sure you are comparing with the most appropriate
1. Relative can also be compared to levels of engagement by another demographic on your site.
A segment that is clearly most attracted to your website compared to the You argue that you are reinforcing success. Probably only has merit where your website in only marginally the most visited site by the demographic compared to the competition.

You may be able to think of other justifications. Other parts of the buyer persona

This is subjective and interpreted based on secondary and primary research, but it needs some justification, i.e. connections to sources such as your secondary research and Relative Insight data, and this must be cited. We do not have data that allows us to prove that a particular demographic, with specific on-site browsing behaviour, will buy a particular style of dress, evening wear, partywear etc. Instead, you are to connect particular fashions, styles and fabrics that are trending and popular [use Google trends for example] to your persona. That is why this aspect of the persona is referred to as interpretive.

The introduction, immediately following your abstract, is important as it introduces your selected product range and source for your product range choice, so the reader can understand the context especially in your answer for product search. You must cite sources where you assert that particular product ranges and lines are trending and popular.

The interpretive approach is similar for the section of buyer personas referred to as, “conversations” and you have the opportunity to offer specific quotes from Relative Insight scraped sources.

The last 2 sections of the buyer persona required content, i.e. message strategy that is most appealing, and where are they in the buying life-cycle, requires you to think about the type of person you are characterising in the buyer persona. In normal times is s/he a party animal, likes going out a lot, stays at home, dresses conservatively, etc. Are they looking for ideas, or ready to buy to update their wardrobe, or for a special occasion etc? Are they a bit of rebel in their clothing or do they like to blend in with the crowd etc. If you prefer, you may locate the persona in the present with the associated restrictions imposed on behaviour. All aspects of the buyer persona allow you to think about an appropriate message appeal and also the stage they are at in the purchase funnel.

4. Online message appeal

The message appeal on which you will focus for your persona. Message appeal must include:

Fear, love, and humour appeals singly, or in combination, (maximum of two) and also

The academic literature should be used in support of your communication strategy in terms of emotional appeals.

The advertising context is for pre-roll YouTube videos, full YouTube/ ad videos, as well as other social media, video format advertising in the range of 30 – 60 seconds.

5. Style and visual approach for digital advertising

Advise on style and visual approach for display, video format and paid social advertising. This must include a ‘tag line’, as an integrating device, and to help understand the campaign message and tone of voice. This must align with the buyer persona you have identified.

Provide an analysis of competitor messaging, before finalising your selected approach.

6. Identify, and justify, 2 websites suitable to carry display advertising to encourage website visits/ purchases by your persona.

Brand owners serve display ads to websites where their target segment (i.e. persona) browses. To demonstrate your competence in identifying websites where display advertising is likely to be most successful, find 2 websites where your buyer persona is likely to visit. Facebook and Google obviously have other technologies to do this effectively but to demonstrate the principle you are to do this using Comscore data. You can do this by finding websites where your buyer persona indexes highly. Unfortunately, you can only use the demographic part of your persona for this analysis and not the web browsing behaviour in terms of pages viewed and time on page data. Your persona may cross visit to fashion sites, news channels, blog sites, grocery sites, sports sites etc. The Comscore advice file 2 explains cross visiting behaviour and how to run reports in Comscore in the section on “Cross Visiting”. Simply identify sites with high index values indicating a potential preference for the site for display advertising, ie the demogrphic indexes highly on, just like they index highly on your focal company website. You can of course construct an argument in favour of a persona that does not index highly on your focal company site and for this reason you wish to attract that particular demographic. Perhaps they index highly on competitor or a potential competitor’s website i.e. a brand in the top 30 or so in retail apparel.

7. Provide (a) targeting advice and (b) ad content, for a paid social Facebook ad.

You will find advice in the Facebook learning links provided in lecture 1, week 14 to be very supportive of this as well as paid social Facebook advertising informed by recorded lecture input from a digital marketing specialist from The Hut Group + some lecture input in week 15 and also week 18

8. Selection and justification of website for additional digital advertising – Mumsnet; Student Room and fashion blogs from Vogue and Grazia

Identify, and justify, a website as most suited to carry display or video format advertising for your brand message appeal and product range. You are to select only from the data scraped which includes Mumsnet (https://www.mumsnet.com/), The Student Room (https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/), Vogue (vogue.co.uk), or Grazia (graziadaily.co.uk). Justify your website choice, supported mainly by your Relative Insight analysis and your Comscore demographic analysis of relevant websites. Do not present a full demographic analysis but you could refer to it. Your advice in response to this question must be ‘connected’ to other answers, beginning with your buyer persona, which is informed by Relative Insight analysis.

9. User Experience [UX]

You are to use the CLASS framework, presented in the UX lectures, to assess the user experience for your focal brand retail website, and the retail website you have determined as your single main competitor.

Test the user experience by conducting the following, timed assessment. (Do not practice).

Black joggers with pockets [female]
Fur trimmed puffer jacket with hoodie – black or navy, (regular or tall if this is an option), UK size 14 or

End your timings when you get to select “checkout”. Include a screen shot of the finally

selected product. A summary of the UX experiment design is provided below.

	Focal website	Single main competitor
Joggers*
Puffer jacket*

* If you wish to select another two product ranges you have free choice to do this.

Use the CLASS criteria, and any supporting ideas from the UX lectures you consider to be relevant, to write up your conclusions and present these in your assignment slides.

10. Search marketing

Justify and provide evidence for your recommended search strategy for one persona.

In particular, you are to provide 10 search terms (word or phrases) which connect with at least two of the following stages of the following funnel:

Awareness
Consideration
Purchase
Loyalty

Your objective is to attract web searchers to your website for a specific product range you have identified as relevant to consumers.

Data supporting evidence can come from, Google Planner (and or other similar word search research/ planning tools), Google trends analysis, Relative insight analysis as well as secondary research.

MKTG411 Assignment Brief Feb 2022.docx

11. Conclusions, recommendations and unresolved issues

Include overall conclusions that integrate your responses to questions 1 to 10, avoiding excessive repetition of your abstract. Also include recommendations for further research which would be supportive of advice, where you consider you were constrained. This section is likely to include a single paragraph each for conclusions, recommendations, and unresolved issues.

12. References

Not included in the word count.

Two sections are especially important in imposing coherence and connectivity across your answers to the separate questions which involve different types of analysis and digital channels. These are the Abstract and your response in the section on, ‘Conclusions, recommendations and unresolved issues’. Ensure you give yourself plenty of time on these two sections. You may find that you might have to adjust the content and your analysis in sections 3 to 10 in order to improve further the coherence and impact of your work.

We will discuss this coursework further during the module.

Examples of additional Information sources

McKinsey (2021) The State of Fashion

https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Industries/Retail/Our%20Insights/State%20 of%20fashion/2021/The-State-of-Fashion-2021-vF.pdf

Critical perspective of the above report published in Forbes

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brookerobertsislam/2020/12/17/the-state-of-fashion- reporthow-accurately-does-it-represent-the-fashion-industry/?sh=448d93a64bab

Social media eg: Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/streetwear/

Passport Euromonitor (2020) Apparel and Footwear in the United Kingdom. Available at: https://www-portal-euromonitor-com.ezproxy.lancs.ac.uk/portal/analysis/tab

Also other library sources are likely to be supportive so worth time exploring especially as there are 4 in a study group.

Required assignment submission format

The assignment must be submitted in PowerPoint lecture slide format including notes pages, not as a pdf file. Maximum number of slides = 18. Maximum word count for all the notes pages is 2200 (+ 10%), using the PowerPoint word count system (target word count in MS ‘Word’ is 1800 (+10%)). Please note PowerPoint word count includes punctuation.

You can check the word count in a PowerPoint presentation by clicking on >File > Info and then bottom right click on > Show All Properties and the word count is top right. Please include the word count on the first slide. Safer to transfer your notes pages to word to get a better estimate of your word count. I will do this if word count appears excessive!

Slide content must not be smaller than 18-point font size and can include tables, figures, charts and
Notes pages should be in 11 or 12 point font. Please note that you should imagine the marker printing off each page to mark your slides, where the slide and its notes page are on one Please do not allocate very small space to a slide, to have a very large notes page, as that will make the slide impossible to read.

Slide 1 should include only your name, focal company (ASOS or Next) and PowerPoint word count with no notes page.

Slide 18 (or the last slide) should include only references. You can include references on the slide and in the notes page

Slides 1 and 18 are not included in the word

Notes page format including two main elements – slide and notes page content

Slides

Slides should include mainly tables, figures, and charts. The only other acceptable slide content includes, for example, headings, and slide/ chart labels or very short bullet points (maximum 8 words per slide). No paragraphs of text on slides.

Notes pages

Notes pages should be written in full sentences as you might find in a report. Please adopt an essay/ report style of writing in your notes pages. The section on ‘message appeal’ should show evidence of consulting the academic literature and this should be referenced. You may cite the academic literature on your response to the UX aspect of the questions.

No other parts of your answer require academic references. You should cite sources, either academic or commercial. All use of secondary sources, including data analysis from Comscore or Relative Insight, must be cited using standard Harvard referencing.

Where you need to write more on a table, figure, or chart presented on one slide, please use a new slide. This will count as a second slide page [eg 2 of 18]. You can include a new table, figure, or chart even where the notes page refers to the slide on the previous page, as long as this is clear in the way you present this.

Please note that one of the assessment criteria will be coherence between slides, so the marker will expect to see

RM February 2022