What is a brand community?
1 Term paper: Team assignment on developing a brand community plan
The project has two objectives.
1. First, it will help you to gain hands-on experience in applying what you learn in class to a realistic marketing situation.
2. Second, it will give you experience working as part of a team.
Your group will then be responsible for developing a brand community plan for a new or existing product or service. The term paper may include a market research project of some type. The term paper is expected to be written in a style that is appropriate for a university paper assignment, and therefore bullet-point lists should be avoided. For an excellent description with regard to writing an academic paper, please see https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/introduction.
It is expected that you use APA format for the paper, referencing and bibliography (https://apastyle.apa.org/). The use the referencing functionality embedded in Word is also required (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnVq_BpwP2E&t=113s). In addition, the term paper should be free of errors in spelling and punctuation. Please include reasonable number of figures, and tables (which may also be included in an Appendix). The submission of the papers is to be done electronically via E-Mail in Word format to the instructor.
Instructions for the papers
The teams for the paper will be formed during the second week.
Your team has to come up with an idea for the brand community paper by the end of the second week.
The brand community must be written in APA style. If the paper is not written in APA style it will be rejected.
You are expected to use approximately 30-40 references in your paper. Please use only reliable sources (not f.ex. Wikipedia).
You must use APA style as a referencing style embedded in Word.
The expected length of the marketing plan is 6-8000 words without references, cover page, and table of contents.
Be very careful with plagiarism. If any part of the paper is plagiarised, the whole paper will be rejected.
For further information, please see the course outline.
Academic writing
Introduction to Academic Writing for University Students (24 minutes): https://youtu.be/Pn4BEYq7Cxs
Introduction to the Writing Centre (2 minutes): https://youtu.be/i_R0-8IANJ0
How to Book a Writing Centre Appointment (3 minutes): https://youtu.be/a82r-8WtrHA
Academic Integrity in a Nutshell (7 minutes): https://youtu.be/_VqX2UR2xVM
APA Nutshell (10 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0C1C_miJBE
APA template: https://www.tru.ca/__shared/assets/Finding_and_Using_the_Microsoft_Word_APA_Template37818.pdf
Writing center link
https://www.tru.ca/current/academic-supports/writingcentre/resources/Videos.
Useful links:
https://youtu.be/dWOKdyuKWUA
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/community-management-expert-advice
https://hbr.org/2009/04/getting-brand-communities-right
https://keap.com/business-success-blog/marketing/branding/5-steps-to-building-a-community-around-your-brand
https://sumo.com/stories/online-community-from-scratch
https://marketing.toolbox.com/blogs/peterkowalke/6-tips-for-building-a-brand-community-030419
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/329110
https://www.disciplemedia.com/building-your-community/10-rules-for-community-building/
https://sifted.eu/articles/build-online-community-covid-19/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3203368
Other possibly useful links
Video Tutorials on Research Methodology
Hypothetico Deductive Method
Defining and Refining the Problem
The Critical Literature Review
Tools for Literature Review
Theoretical Framework and Hypotheses Development Concept of Variables
Theory Generation and Theoretical Framework
Hypothesis Development
Operational Definition and Measurement of Variables
Research Methodology
Measurement of Variables
Sampling
Research Proposal
Quantitative Data Analysis
Qualitative Data Analysis
#ResearchMethodology #ResearchStepByStep #researcher #businessresearch #researchmethods
Groups for the paper assignment will be formed by the instructor comprising of about 4 students. The topics for the paper will be provided by the instructor. The written report should be no more than 6-8000 words (excluding references, relevant tabulations, appendices etc.).
Important notes regarding the term paper assignment:
1. The rubric in Appendix A will be used by the Instructor to assess the contents of the Term Paper and Appendix B for the writing part. The oral presentation will be assessed using the rubric in Appendix D. For the screencast presentation, please follow the guidelines available at https://www.cjok.org/submissions/. Recommended software for the screencast presentation is Loom (available at https://www.loom.com/).
2. Term Paper 1 is a group assignment. However, each team member will be evaluated separately by their peers and these evaluations will be submitted to the Instructor when the written report is due (see Group Member Contribution Assessment sheet in Appendix C). The peer evaluations are very important and remain confidential. They may be used by the Instructor to moderate individual student marks.
3. Please submit a hard and soft copy of the assignment on the due date. Lateness as per the Late Assignment Policy.
