1. February 29, 2012
BBUS 340 D
University of Washington Bothell
Educational Trips Abroad
Ann Barrick, Randy Chan, Vue Chang, Christine Maramba

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
Section I: The Marketing Brief Introduction
1. Purpose and Scope of the Marketing Brief
The objective of this marketing brief is to provide an analysis and capsulization of the
market for University of Washington Bothell Educational Trips Abroad. The purpose of
these trips will range from voluntourism to tourism. This marketing brief will recommend
ideas and steps towards providing and marketing this travel service by September
2013. UWB Educational Trips Abroad is meant to provide a means for current students,
alumni, and friends the chance to see the world and learn about other cultures and
lifestyles.
2. Limitations to the Marketing Brief
Survey: The participants in our survey did not vary in age by a large degree. Most of
the people surveyed were around 21 years of age. Furthermore, there was no ability to
contact alumni to survey them.
Secondary Research: Some reports used for data are slightly outdated.
3. Executive Summary
With the University of Washington Bothell expanding in number and in size each year,
UWB has the potential to deliver a non–profit educational and voluntourism travel
program for their alumni, students, and community. This travel program will develop a
strong relationship between the University of Washington Bothell and its community. This
marketing brief will clearly explain UWB’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats with great detail. There will be many explanations of possible marketing tactics
and steps to introduce and raise awareness for this program. Highlights of this plan will
include objectives of raising awareness of the Educational Trips abroad program, a
description of key market segments to market towards, and estimated pricing points for
potential travelers.

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
Section II: Marketing Situation Analysis
1. Market Research Methodology and Data
Primary Research - Catalyst Survey
Research Methodology: The purpose of the survey is to understand peoples’ needs,
wants, and desires toward trips focused on voluntourism and education provided by a
local university.
Respondents: 45 respondents of ages from 18 to 31 and over
Research Results:
If a local university offered an educational group trip abroad, would you consider
participating?
Figure 1: Participation in Education Trips
Figure 1 shows that a high percentage of respondents would consider going on an
educational trip. This indicates that there is a market for educational travel and that
UWB should take advantage of it.
91%
9%
Yes
No

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
What do you look for in education travel?
Figure 2: Types of interest in Education Trips
Figure 2 asked surveyors what aspects of educational travel they would like to participate
in. Surveyors were allowed to choose up to three categories in their answer. Almost half
of them were interested in learning about culture and lifestyle.
Would you have interest in a voluntourism/philanthropic trip abroad, such as creating
water wells in developing countries?
Figure 3: Interests in Voluntourism
43%
14%
23%
20% Culture and lifestyle
History and
museums
Helping the
community
Nature and the
environment
76%
24%
Yes
No

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
There are not many universities in Washington State providing voluntourism trips for their
alumni. This would be advantageous to UWB Educational Trips Abroad program to focus
on voluntourism because this allows them to market to a broader audience. Figure 3
demonstrates that more than three-fourths of the respondents are interested in
participating in these types of tours.
Secondary Research
Research Methodology: The methodology used here was to seek who the competitors
are to UWB Educational trips and what are the competitive pricing points.
Sources: Hands Up Holidays and Western Washington University Alumni websites were
used to obtain this information.
Research Results:
Hands Up Holidays is a voluntourism business that emphasizes luxury tailor-made
travel. Their top 5 trips are to Costa Rica, Peru, New Zealand, and Thailand (See Figure
4). At each place they have varying degrees of activity level but high levels of
comfort. Depending on location of the trip and activities, prices vary from $2,000 to
$7,000.
Figure 4: Hands Up Holiday’s Top 10 Trips
Image from Hands Up Holidays
Western Washington University located in Bellingham, Washington provides trip to
their alumni as well. The university provides trips based on luxury cruises, relaxing
cultural, family activities, and scenic river cruises. Prices vary from $1,500 for a nine day
trip to Beijing, China to something more luxurious such as a $6,500 Mediterranean cruise.
WWU has different travel agencies such as Oceania Cruises and AHI Travel to help
accommodate trips to the alumni.

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
Research Methodology: Methodology was to find out what University of Washington
Seattle offers to their alumni association because UW Bothell is part of their brand.
Sources: University of Washington Alumni Association website provides information on
Research Results:
University of Washington Alumni Association has been around since 1889 and
started their travel program in 1975. They offer several trips in one year and depending
luxurious the trips are prices vary from the $1,500 to $8,000. Currently, they have over
50,000 members in the Alumni Association, so they UWAA have a large market they can
target. Figure 5 shows upcoming tours UWAA will provide in 2013.
Figure 5: UW Seattle 2013 Trips
Winter 2013 Spring 2013 Summer 2013 Fall 2013
Classic Safari:
Kenya & Tanzania
Classic China Black Sea
Odysseys
Turkey
Egypt & the Nile Spain & Portugal Iceland to
Greenland
Discovering
Eastern Europe
Research Methodology: The methodology used here was to focus on Generation X’s
attitudes towards travel.
Source: Generation X in the U.S. prepared by MarketResearch.com, 2005
Results:
According to Generation X in the U.S., the Gen Xers spent more money per capita in
travel. For example, Generation X spends about USD $2,140 per capita on travel whether
it is travel or leisure, while the Boomers spend an estimated USD $2,016.
Gen Xers show more passion to travel and are more likely to book trips online, travel to
places no one else has gone, and travel more frequently than the Boomers.
With this information it confirms the results of the Catalyst survey. For example, due to
some circumstances the respondents of the survey were mainly 18 to 24 years old. Also,
the report explains the Gen Xers prefer to travel to uncommon vacation spots and want
a quick booking system. Therefore, UWB should provide travel opportunities to various
countries around the world and make booking for a trip simple and easy.
Research Methodology: The methodology was to figure out the market size and
demographics of travel.
Sources: Simply Maps is a tool that allows users to find different demographics for
different areas.

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
Market Sizing
The market is sized using the following data.
SimplyMap allowed us to narrow down our target audience to King and Snohomish
Counties. While the Alumni Association is open to anyone who is interested in joining, we
decided to further focus in on those who are undergraduates, or graduate students,
currently enrolled in in a public university in these two counties. This currently puts our
target market close to 140,000 people (Figure 6).
Figure 6: Simply Map Demographic
Market Trends - Five Forces Model
Threat of Entry: There are not many barriers to entry in this industry. Most Universities
have the connections to create such programs. However, in this geographic location,
UWB has the upper hand because they are the only large University in the area. UWB
can get into this industry because they can piggy back onto UW Seattle campus’
programs and establish a University of Washington Bothell brand.
Intensity of Rivalry:
 There are not very many rivals in this niche market. In the overall travel industry,
there are several rivals. However, on the basis of educational travel sponsored by
a university, there are not many competitors.
Substitutes:
 There are several substitutes travelers can use aside from UW Bothell Educational
Trips Abroad.
o Tourist trips by other vendors.
109,738
28,967
# Enrolled at Public University
King County, WA Snohomish County, WA

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
o Voluntourism vendors.
 Substitutes as other vendors that can supply an educational trip with a sponsorship
by a University, then there would be no substitutes in the Bothell area. There is
the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington State University, and Western
Washington University, but all of these are within the state of Washington and not
in the Bothell area.
Bargaining power of buyers:
 Buyers do not have bargaining power over the set travel prices.
 There is bargaining power over what the buyers would like experience. For
example, UWB would want the buyers’ suggestions on travel ideas.
Bargaining power of suppliers:
 The suppliers have a lot of power in this situation. They are controlling all the
prices. Whatever the price they are willing to sell at, UWB must sell at a cost of
around USD $500 more as profit for UWB.
Competitive Landscape
Figure 7 Market Structure: Market Share of U.S. Travel Market
Market Role Market Share % Example in Travel Market
Market Leaders 70% Tour Operators
Market Challengers 20% Guided Tours
Market Niche Firms 10% Universities
Market Structure. Figure 7 displays market share of the market leaders, challengers and
niche firms. Due to the large percentage of market share from the leader, UWB will have
a smaller market share because they are a niche market.
Direct competitors. UWB Education Trips Abroad will have competitors of other
University alumni travel programs and travel agencies.
A list of direct competitors is Nature and Kind, Hands Up Holidays, Western Washington
University, Washington State University, and University of Washington-Seattle.
Indirect competitors. Online travel agencies such as Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity
could be considered as indirect competitors. These competitors focus on quick online
booking and quick getaways. They do not put an emphasis on voluntourism and
educational trips in their company, so they are not an immediate threat to UWB.
Competitive Comparison Framework. Figure 8 displays data for primary competitors
against University of Washington Bothell Educational Trips Abroad.

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
Figure 8: Competitive Comparison Framework Chart
Criteria UWB Travel Hands Up
Holidays
UW Seattle Travel
Market Share New to travel industry In the industry since
2003
UW Alumni Tours
has been around
since 1975
Messaging Quality education
trips that brings UWB
community together
Provides luxury tailor-
made voluntourism
trips
Commitment to
delighting and
educating alumni
and friends through
travel opportunities
Competitive
Advantage
Differentiation
advantage from other
University Alumni
programs
Luxury travel Cheaper and hassle-
free
Strengths Non-profit
organization; UW
Brand
Developed several
trips all across the
world
Long history of
Alumni; Bigger
school; UW Brand
Weaknesses New to market; Self-
reference Criteria
Offices located in
London and not local
Offer only
educational trips; Fee
for Alumni
Association
Product Four trips per year in
different countries
Multiple trips in
different continents
Approximately 40
trips a year
Pricing Competitive pricing of
USD $2,000 to
$5,000
Varied pricing of USD
$2,000 to $7,000
Varied pricing of
USD $1,500 to
$8,000
Distribution University of
Washington Bothell
Online distribution
across the world
University of
Washington Seattle
Promotion Strong focus on
social media, print
marketing, and word
of mouth
Promotion through
media
Promotion through
UWAA, social media,
and word of mouth
Messaging: Competitor’s messaging was obtained through competitors’ websites. These
competitors mentioned their how long they have existed and why travelers should choose
them.
Competitive advantages: The competitive advantages vary from each travel agency.
Hands Up Holidays has become a leader in luxury voluntourism trips market.
Product: UW Seattle trumps UW Bothell’s program by offering more trips in one year.
This will be a goal UWB can aspire to in the upcoming years.
Pricing: UW Bothell will offer a competitive price relative to Hands Up Holidays and
University of Washington Alumni Association. However, prices will be slightly lower in the
first year due to becoming a start-up company.

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
Distribution: Each competitor will use websites to distribute their product. However, UW
Seattle and Bothell will have local offices to keep contact.
Promotion: UWB Educational Trips Abroad will have emphasis on social media to raise
awareness of this new program. Also, flyers and newsletters will be sent out to students
and alumni and that will help start spreading news about educational and voluntourism
trips.
Figure 9: Perceptual-Positioning Map of Competitors
Figure 9 is a perceptual map indicates there is an open market for educational
voluntourism. Since there is a great focus on global studies and the environment as
majors at UWB, the alumni program should focus on this potential market opportunity.
Voluntourism
Non-Voluntourism
UW
Seattle
WWU
WSU
Hands
Up
Nature
& Kind
Educational
Non-Educational

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
3. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Analysis
Figure 10: SWOT
Strengths:
 UWB Brand. No other school has the University of Washington Bothell
brand. With unique branding, we have the ability to make our product have a
higher perceived value than other schools. By building our brand through having
a quality program, people will want to go to UWB educational trips instead of other
channels.
 Resources & Connections. Since this is a UWB program, UWB’s resources and
connections are available for the program to use. Influential people can be
reached to help bolster the program’s credentials and different classes in the
school can be used to help enrich the program. These classes could be foreign
language classes that can teach about the culture of the areas to be visited or
interdisciplinary and arts classes that can teach about globalization and other
topics. These resources and tools are a very strong part of UWB’s educational
trips program.
Weaknesses:
 Self-reference Criteria. This is just the beginning of the program so there is not
enough research yet about where people would want to go and whether or not they
would want it to be voluntourism or tourism, or educational tourism. Currently, the
places picked are chosen from a small sample from the primary data we received.
Strengths
• UWB Brand
• Resources/Connections
• Non-profit
Weaknesses
• Self-Reference Criteria
• New to market
Opportunities
• Niche Market
• Voluntourism
Threats
• Other Universities offering
similar programs
• Travel Agencies

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
 Being New to the Market. With this program being brand new, there are many
obstacles to overcome. These obstacles can range from inexperience in the
market and having no market reference points to underestimating the amount of
preparation and advertising needed to gain the needed amount of awareness.
Opportunities:
 Niche market. Currently, there are no universities offering this kind of service in
the area. By targeting UWB students, alumni, and friends, there is a largely
untapped opportunity to be taken advantage of.
 Voluntourism. Since UWB is an educational institution, having volunteerism
within an educational trip can entice more people to join. Many people desire to
make a difference and that is an opportunity that UWB educational trips can create.
Threats:
 Other universities offering similar programs: UWB students, alumni, and
friends are able to go to other universities and ask to join their programs. This is
a main threat to UWB educational trips. UWB needs to find a way to differentiate
its quality from the other schools’ trips in order to come out ahead of the pack.
 Travel agencies. If UWB students, alumni, and friends are only looking for a trip
to go on, travel agencies will become a large threat. Somehow UWB needs to
entice people that their time should be spent on an educational trip or voluntourism
trip instead of just a getaway vacation.

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
Section III: The Marketing Strategy
1. Mission Statement
The University of Washington Bothell Educational Trips Abroad’s mission is to enrich the
community’s roots by offering travel opportunities to alumni and friends. Travelers will be
inspired to be passionate about experiencing the world through culture and humanitarian
efforts.
2. Market Segments
Figure 11: Segmentation Overview Chart
Segmentation Variable Category Segment
Demographic Age
Occupation
Ages 18 and up
Currently enrolled in public
undergraduate or graduate
Universities
Geographic Local King and Snohomish
County
Psychographic Interests
Activities
Interests in travel
Activities in volunteer work
Figure 11 narrows down our market into five segments.
Segmentation: B2C. For the consumer market, UWB proposes to focus on those who
are currently enrolled in public undergraduate or graduate Universities in King and
Snohomish counties. The targeting section below states the reason for this selection.
Targeting:
Potential: Currently there are about 140,000 students enrolled in a public
University, according to data from SimplyMap. These people are potential
customers that can be targeted upon graduation from their school.
Alignment: Most alumni travel associations find their members to consist of older
generations. While older members will not be excluded as potential consumers,
UWB may find the opportunity to strengthen community ties and increase
involvement with their alumni association by focusing on a segment that can be
overlooked, soon be to graduates with an enthusiastic outlook on their Alma Mater.
Marketability: Baby Boomers used to make up the majority of volunteer-
vacationers; however, social consciousness is constantly increasing with Gen X.

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
With majors such as Global and Environmental Studies offered at UWB, students
participating in the humanities are gaining more popularity in promoting such things
as voluntourism.
Positioning: What UWB Trip Abroad is offering to a consumer that is different from any
other local University is voluntourism. This is a Niche positioning that has not been
explored. While there are Universities that offer travel abroad, most focus on the
education and culture. On the other hand there are websites that allow the consumer to
find opportunities for voluntourism, but lack the intimate community of the alumni
association. UWB would be able to provide both aspects, in doing so, creating their own
niche.
3. Marketing Objectives
Date of service launch: The program will be set to launch in June 2013.
Target market awareness: Raise target market awareness by 20% by the end of 2012.
Market share forecasts: Forecast of 5% increase in market share in December 2013.
Unit sales and revenue: UWB needs 15 people per trip, 4 trips per year, and UWB will
earn USD$500 per person which comes out to be USD$7,500 per trip and USD$30,000
per year.
Other: By the third year since the inception of this program there should be two trips per
quarter through different areas around the world.
4. Marketing Mix
Marketing Mix: Product
Customers to Target: UWB will target alumni, students, and their surrounding
communities who enjoy education, have activities in volunteer work, and have interests
in travel.
Features: There are several features to this travel program.
 Hassle-free booking and planning: Everything will be arranged for
travelers
 Learn and play at the same time: The trips will have a good balance
of education while having a good time.
 Meet new people: Traveling with UWB will allow people to reconnect
with their University roots and make new travelling friends that have
common interests.
 Travel in style: UWB will put great effort making sure their travelers
receive an experience of their lifetime. Travelling should not always be
traditional, but extraordinary and atypical.

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
Quality: To provide quality trips, each trip will last about two weeks that includes
sightseeing, learning, and hands-on activities to experience the culture in a different way.
If travelers seek more of a voluntourism trip, then UWB will offer a community service
experience travelers have never done before such as, a trip to South Africa to focus on
the environment.
Packaging: In the introductory years, UWB will offer four different travel experiences
each year.
Brand: UWB will want to position themselves as one of the best group/community
travelling agencies that offer differentiated travel experiences to their customers.
Value Proposition: UWB educational trips’ value proposition should attract travelers to
want to participate in quality educational and voluntourism trips that make a difference in
the community.

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
Positioning Strategy
Figure 12: Perceptual-Positioning Map of UWB Educational Trips Abroad
Figure 12 shows where UWB will be on the on the perceptual-positioning map. The focus
will be providing educational trips and voluntourism trips to the alumni and community.
Marketing Mix: Pricing
Pricing Objectives. The pricing objective will be service-quality leadership. UWB
Educational Trips Abroad will position the trips as affordable, but still valuable.
Pricing Approach. As a non-profit organization UWB’s pricing approach will be using
perceived-value. The University of Washington brand is one of a kind and takes real
interest in their students and alumni. This brand needs to be communicated carefully so
the perceived-value is seen by the customers.
Voluntourism
Non-Voluntourism
UWB
Educational
Non-Educational

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
Competitor Impact. UWB will be entering in the travel service market. The focus will be
on the direct competitor. There are several competitors in this market, so UWB
Educational Trips Abroad needs a distinctive value proposition that is communicated
clearly to their customers. If there is not a clear value proposition, the pricing of the trips
may not be justified.
Costs. Costs should be relatively low even though UWB is now entering the market. This
is because of UWB will not be hiring a company to plan the trips and already have
resources from University of Washington, Seattle.
Environment. A weak economy can affect the number of travelers wanting to go on these
trips provided by UWB Education Trips Abroad. On the other hand, a strong economy
can lead to a higher demand for international travel. However, because of the high quality
trips and competitive prices UWB will offer, people will actually be getting more for their
money.
Marketing Mix: Distribution
Distribution Channels. The UWB is providing an educational program that directly
allocates information to people who want to learn abroad. It is distributed by knowledge
of tour guides and leaders who have experience on educational trips. Within this group,
we have people who are interested in going on the educational trips and it will be easy to
manage because it is exposed to a market of a selective group who want to build a strong
relationship.
E-Commerce. The UWB education trips will have a website that displays the features of
voluntourism and education trips. It will show when future plans are tripped, space
availability and information about the trips that will help narrow down options for interested
individuals. It will be a valuable tool in drawing the interest of customers.
Marketing Mix: Promotion
Advertising. Since UWB is new to the market, the objective is to inform and raise
awareness about this new upcoming program UWB has to offer. There will be detailed
website to supplement information. Newsletters will be sent out to UWB students, alumni
and affiliates.
Social Media. As stated, a professional website will be used, as well as creating a
Facebook page to help spread the word. Twitter will be beneficial because of frequent
updates which can be used to inform customers about upcoming trips, promotional
events, and ideas. These social media tools could range from travelers blogging about
their experience with UWB and by giving live feed from the actual trip.
Sales Promotions. Sales promotions will be not be used in promoting educational.
Instead there will be possibility to UWB offering scholarships to those who need it.

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
Events & Experiences. To put a jump start to the program there will be a launch party
before the first trip of 2013. This will also help raise awareness and get people excited
about the fun adventures they are about to experience. Also, UWB Educational Trips
Abroad can attend college fairs and other college events to get the word out.
People and Process Tactics
The individuals who work for the UWB educational trips must have attained a Bachelor’s
degree, must be knowledgeable in the field and also enjoy teaching others. A professional
approach to everyday work is required, as we will be working with educated individuals
who are professionals in their respective fields. The training process will take time, as we
want our employees to gain an experience in trips abroad as well and be able to display
their own personal experiences on trips to potential customers.
5. Financial Data: Sales Forecasts and PNL Analysis
12-month Sales Forecast
Figure 13: Financial Data: 2012-2013
Africa China France Peru
Fixed Cost $44,250.00 $73,425.00 $76,425.00 $47,250.00
Unit Cost $500.00 $500.00 $500.00 $500.00
Price $3,450.00 $5,395.00 $5,595.00 $3,650.00
Sales Forecast $51,750.00 $80,925.00 $83,925.00 $54,750.00
Figure 13 indicates the individual cost for each destination. The target is to make USD
$500 over the costs in order to cover for the majority of overhead expenses. With 15
members for each trip as the minimum, revenue was forecasted at 15 units per trip.
12-month Income Statement
Figure 14: Income Statement: 2012-2013
Financial Element Year 1
Revenue $271,350.00
COGS $238,350.00
Gross Margin $ $33,000.00
Gross Margin % 12%
Total Rev. Exp. $27,040.00
Operating Income $5,960.00
These are the key figures (figure 14) taken from our forecasted income statement for
2012-2013. With one trip to four separate destinations (15 units per trip), total revenue
was calculated to come to $271,350.00. Since this is a non-profit organization, the gross
margin percentage is not extremely high. Profits are only pursued in order to cover
overhead costs that mainly come from administrative expenses.

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
Marketing Communications Budget
Print Advertising. $50 will be used to advertise through posters and brochures. The
timing of each campaign is to get members to become aware of the trip 3 months prior to
the next trip’s date.
Promotional Events. $400 will be spent to advertise through a promotional dinner. The
budget covers food, drinks, event floor, and speakers. The timing of this is to get people
to know of the trip 3 months prior to the next trip’s date.
Social Media: $50 will be spent on social media resources as a way to reach potential
new members and build a stronger presence online.
Website Development and Hosting: $500 will be spent on creating an interactive
website to bring in new traffic and inform alumni members of upcoming trips and emerging
ideas.
The total of $1000 will be used to advertise for each destination during each quarter.
6. Marketing Controls
Awareness: Once awareness is brought to the program, brand recognition and brand
recall should be familiar to the market. For example, getting people to recognize the UW
Bothell brand and remembering their travel programs provided for the alumni and friends.
Customer Satisfaction: Once customers are aware of the educational trip program, they
will be able to experience the UWB travel adventures and give a rating to the program.
This will help monitor the satisfaction of customers and how well UWB is providing quality
trips. A high customer satisfaction can be measured by how many “likes” the UWB
Educational Trips Abroad gets on Facebook.
7. Conclusion
The UWB educational group is very confident that offering voluntourism and educational
trips abroad will succeed. It operates in a niche market that offers a hybrid of voluntourism
and education, whereas other Universities in the area do not offer a program alike. To
drive success as a non-profit organization, the UWB hopes to provide scholarships to
interested individuals. It will also build relationships with prominent foundations such as
the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and nationally recognized non-profits like Premera
Blue Cross. In the future, as the UWB educational group plans to expand, more trips
abroad will be offered and to different corners of the world.

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Section IV: Marketing Brief Appendices
Appendix 1: Marketing Brief Sources
Alumni Travel. (2012). Western Washington University Alumni. Retrieved from
http://www.wwu.edu/alumnitravel/
Educational Trips Abroad survey. (2012, January 30). Retrieved from
https://catalyst.uw.edu/webq/survey/rkchan/156038
Hill, C. (n.d.). Hands Up Holidays. Retrieved from http://www.handsupholidays.com/
Geographic Research, Inc. (2011). Census 2010 Current Estimates Data retrieved February
27th, 2012, from SimplyMap database.
Marigny Research Group, Inc. (2006). Generation x in the u.s.. Retrieved from Packaged Facts
website:
http://academic.marketresearch.com.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/product/display.asp
?productid=1272015
UW Alumni Tours. (2012). W Alumni Association. Retrieved from
http://www.washington.edu/alumni/tours/index.html

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Appendix 2: Lessons Learned and Project Feedback
Four Key Lessons Learned
1. One key lesson learned here is the quality of surveys makes a great impact on our
research. For example, it was unfortunate that we did not ask surveyors if they had an
option to travel where would they go. This would have been vital information to our brief
because we would have been able to pick travel locations based on what the consumers
want.
2. The detail needed to create a fantastic market brief takes many hours to compile. When
the right research is found, it can allow the user of the brief to decide whether or not the
project is worth pursuing or not. Market briefs are invaluable to companies because they
look at every aspect of a company before the company’s inception.
3. The marketing brief taught us that we must be very detailed. The financial data, desired
locations, educational experience, target market, etc. are all very important in deciding
how to approach a successful marketing scheme.
4. Marketing plans are meant to be flexible. You might originally start out with one target
audience in mind, and discover another segment opportunity that could potentially change
your mission and goals. Not getting upset when the plan deviates from the original
strategy means you might come across an innovative idea that will help set your product
or service apart from the competition.
Project Feedback
1. Did you find this marketing brief project worthwhile?
2. Was it reasonable or unreasonable amount of work?
3. Did the Outline help you or would have you preferred to just be given the
case and the flexibility to develop your own approach and outline?
4. If you could change three things about this assignment, what would they
be?
Ann Barrick
1. I enjoyed becoming familiar with the necessary steps towards bringing an idea to
fruition. It will be an approach used later on when I have a notion that needs to become
concrete.
2. The applicable assignments given throughout the quarter were useful in giving
feedback on our brief. However, some steps could not be taken until the end of the
quarter, after we learned about the topic in class, which rushed some areas of the project.
Overall, I think it was a realistic and reasonable amount of work for a final project.
3. The outline was helpful for some scenarios in which we did not know how to proceed.
However, there are some places in the project that I would have liked to have a little more
freedom with.

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
4. Perhaps mention after a lecture how we can use the recent topics discussed in the
project, or at what phase we should currently be at in the project. Smaller groups would
mean less difficulty in coordination of schedules. Having examples online of past briefs
would be convenient.
Randy Chan
1. The marketing brief was worthwhile. It allowed me to apply what I learned in class to
a realistic simulation. The information I learned from this marketing brief will be invaluable
for the future. This is the closest to this day that I have done real market research in such
fashion.
2. The amount of work given would be more reasonable if the Professor started us on it
earlier and guided us through some parts of it. I did not realize the amount of work needed
to complete the brief until I started working on it. However, experience in this situation
would have helped a lot to help the team determine what needed to be done when. A
helpful implementation would be having checkpoints all along the quarter, to push groups
further in their market briefs.
3. The outline was helpful. However, at times, it was very obscure and the team did not
understand how to input the data. More explanations for the questions would be more
helpful in the future.
4. I would have chosen a different topic of research. Educational travel is more of a
service than a product. This class has been more about marketing products than
services. If it were me, I would have chosen a product like dried fruits or energy drinks
because it would be easier to compare our product with our competitors. In the case of
the educational trips, it was harder to think of core competitors and other aspects of the
market due to it being a service. The second thing I would change is maybe making this
project part of a capstone. It was great to learn everything, but I believe if I spent another
quarter learning how to develop and implement plans, I would be less in a rush to finish
and more calm and ready to learn. The last thing I would change with the market brief
assignment is the advertisement part. The class should have enough time to make an
ad and learn about an integral part of marketing. It is a shame we did not have enough
time to create one. I believe the planning and implementation would be a great learning
experience.
Christine Maramba
1. I found this project to be very much worthwhile because it showed me the how to
produce a marketing brief step by step. Although I am not majoring in marketing, I find
this information to be very useful because all aspects of a business are connected
together. This process also showed me how hard and stressful it can be to make a
marketing brief. This is not something that can be done in a day.

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BUS 320 D Marketing Brief
2. The workload was a lot, but it was not unreasonable because every aspect of this
project was crucial to preparing a marketing brief. This project is probably one of the
biggest projects I have ever worked on, but that is not a bad thing.
3. The outline was very helpful; otherwise I think I would have been lost when preparing
this marketing brief. It’s always nice when there are guidelines to follow to make sure we
are doing the brief right, however I can see why not having an outline would be beneficial
for students because it would make students be creative and come up with their own
ideas.
4. A) I would change the due date by a few days later because it was hard to do the
Marketing Controls section when we have not learned that yet and having more time to
make an advertisement would have been fun. B) Use the last 20-30 minutes of class
discussing the brief to make sure we understand what we learned in class and that we
are able to apply to the brief. C) Last thing I would is using the Sorger textbook as a
guideline for the marketing brief in chapter 13. I found that the information given in a figure
was the same information when the brief explained the figure, so it seemed to be repetitive
information.
Vue Chang
1. This is the first time that I have done a Marketing Brief. I learned a lot from this
assignment, we did plenty of research, primary & secondary. It was hands on of what we
have learned from our class and M=R-STP-O-MM-IC.
2. This was a final project, and the work load was plenty but it seemed reasonable. It is
an legit marketing brief with real life examples and the work had to be tedious so that we
get the most learning experience out of it.
3. The outline definitely helped us develop our marketing brief. If we did not have the
outline to follow, we may have lost out on many learning opportunities, however it did
restrict us to following the guidelines set and in some parts we wished we could have
worked around it.
4. If I could change three things about this assignment, I would (a) not use SimplyMaps,
I felt that the map did not help us very much because we could not use more than one
variable. However it did help us narrow down our market segments and demographics.
(b) I would have picked a different subject, maybe to a business where we sell dry fruits
or sports drinks. Making a marketing brief for the UWB educational trips was more
complicated then we thought. (c) Lastly I think that having briefs that have done in the
past at our disposal would've been incredibly helpful. It would have given us ideas and
draw us in the right directions.