Project Guidelines: Digital Advertising in Practice

Due: Oct 23 11:59pm via Canvas upload

This project applies digital advertising concepts and tools to solve marketing problems.There are three parts. Read these directions carefully.

Part 1: Google Ads Certification (40%)

Complete a Google Ads Certification of your choice. I recommend you choose Google Ads Display Certification (Beginner) or Google Ads Video Certification (Beginner). You may select a different option, but the two recommended modules build on the work we have already done.

The Certifications are timed assessments that must be completed in one sitting of 75 minutes. There are 50 questions and you must score 80% or higher to pass.

You may need multiple attempts to pass. This is ok, but you can only try one attempt every 24 hours. Plan your time carefully and be prepared to take the assessment using notes.

Deliverables:

1. Paste a screen shot of the completed Certificate into the project template.
2. Write a paragraph describing your certification that would be appropriate for a resume or cover letter. How would you explain your skills and knowledge to a potential employer? The launch pages on the certification modules contain some helpful language to draw from.

Part 2: Campaign Planning (40%)

Using the scenario below,create two marketing objectives and plan twoaccompanying digital advertising campaigns. (20% each pair)

CLIMB is an established outdoor recreation and camping gearbrand. The company has recently launched a new product line of high-end activewear and athleisure apparel. The new line operates as a distinct brand called FITNAS, but will be part of the same company and be sold in the same ecommerce store.

FITNAS is primarily focused on U.S. customers in a crowded activewear market. Company leaders believe digital advertising can help leverage the strong CLIMB brand to expand the customer base for FITNAS. They also believe there are opportunities to use digital advertising to bring in new customers who are not familiar with CLIMB or FITNAS. They are unsure how best to proceed and need your expertise to guide them.

The topline business objective is to sell 10,000 items from the initial FITNAS lineup of T-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, and yoga pants in six months.

To assist your planning and research, use notes and readings from class, Google Skillshop modules, and Mintel’s “Activewear, US October 2018” market research report (found on Canvas). The most useful section will be “The Consumer” pages 30-51.

Deliverables:

Using the project template, provide the following information for both of your marketing objectives/campaigns.

Marketing Objective:

• Write the marketing objective according to the guidelines we discussed in class and explain how it relates to the top line business objective.
• Select a target market and explain which sales funnel position you are working with.
• Select a KPI and explain your rationale.

Advertising campaign:

• What format will you use (e.g. Display, Video or Search)?
• What targeting strategy will you use? What specific tools will you use (e.g. affinity targeting or custom intent audiences)?
• Summarize your creative messaging with a Headline and Description. These are descriptive of the messaging and can contain ad copy elements, but they are not an exact reproduction of ad copy.
• What tools will you use to build creative if applicable (e.g. Responsive Display Ads)
• Explain your rationale for these choices and convince the brand leadership that this is a solid plan. Demonstrate your knowledge of advertising concepts and tools by explaining how your choices reflect your marketing objective.

Part 3: Advanced Concepts& Reflection (20%)

Respond to two of the following prompts. (10% each)

• Company leaders want to integrate CLIMB’s first party customer data (e.g. loyalty club members) into the digital advertising campaigns for FITNAS. In one or two paragraphs, describe a clear recommendation to achieve this goal. Be as specific as possible.
• Write a storyboard and/or script for a video ad for FITNAS. Make explicit reference to YouTube video ad best practices.
• In one or two paragraphs, describe something new you have learned about digital advertising from this course. Explain what you have learned and how it might be useful and/or interesting.