Great Ideas for Teaching Marketing
Ideas and resources for teaching marketing
Here is a free marketing game that requires students working in teams to determine their 4P’s and trade with other teams in order to maximize profits over several decision rounds.
This is a very effective learning exercise for getting students engaged as it is highly competitive as well as a fun, social activity.
As most students would be aware, Toys R Us went into liquidation in 2018 closing virtually all their stores throughout the world.
Toys R Us were essentially a victim of failing to adapt to a significantly changing marketing environment. They maintained their large-scale supermarket retailing model for over 50 years without considering trends in retail design, retailing itself, changing consumer … See the full activity...
While many industries have been impacted by the Internet-era, the banking sector is an industry that has faced numerous environmental challenges. They have been impacted by new competitors, changing technology, record low interest rates, different consumer buying approaches, new distribution channels, and so on.
As a result, traditional banks cannot maintain their existing marketing strategy. They need to be … See the full activity...
In this exercise, students will look at the role of the internal marketing environment when developing a marketing strategy.
This activity is best completed in small groups, with a report back to the main class. You should allow around 15 minutes for discussion.
The internal marketing environment refers to INSIDE the organization itself, … See the full activity...
Preferred format: This teaching activity is designed to be completed in small groups of students.
Student audience: This exercise is more suitable for students studying marketing ethics.
Exercise time: The group discussion time should run around 15 minutes, plus any additional class discussion time.
Additional resources:
Information on the societal marketing concept
Walmart Policies… See the full activity...
From Bricks and Mortar to Online Retailing
In this exercise, you need to review the key findings from recognized industry forecasting firm regarding the potential impact of online retailing on traditional shopping centers and retailers. The challenge is to determine the best way forward for these traditional retailers.
ACTIVITY/TASK
Traditional shopping centers (shopping malls) are under significant pressure to adapt … See the full activity...
This mini case study profiles the successful launch of Winkiwoo, a new division of a photo printing firm, which has successfully tapped into the new internet and digital world, with an innovated Facebook related photo product.
ACTIVITY/TASK
A company from regional Australia (called Winkiwoo) has experienced tremendous success with their innovative Facebook photo books product. Surprisingly, the new-to-the-world product, which … See the full activity...
Use Porter’s Five-forces model to help analyze the book publishing industry, simply based on the hypothetical information and data presented below.
ACTIVITY/TASK
The book publishing industry in Australia
The following exercise contains is a list of questions facing particular industries, where there is increasing expectations on them to move to a more socially responsible position. Identify the arguments for and against – what would you recommend in each case?
ACTIVITY/TASK
Using a CRM strategy is probably one of the best solutions for the problem in the following case study. Your task in this activity is to develop a strategy to increase attendance for this organization’s main event.
Please note that there is an updated version of this activity now available, which also includes an interactive spreadsheet.
ACTIVITY/TASK
You’ve been called … See the full activity...
Listed below are some examples of how the culture has altered in a number of countries over the past 10 to 20 years or so. For this exercise, your task is to consider the impact of these lifestyle changes, from the point of view of an organization that markets holiday packages and tours.
ACTIVITY/TASK
List of some key socio-cultural … See the full activity...
This case study looks at a hypothetical regional bank. Your task here is to prepare a SWOT for the firm; that is, identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. As a result of this exercise, you should have a much clearer idea of what marketing strategies would best suit them, given their current environment.
ACTIVITY/TASK
Beautiful Sunny Valley region, … See the full activity...
Firms generally need to adapt their marketing strategy to the changing environment. With this exercise, you need to consider whether McDonald’s successfully and proactively leveraged the changing factors in the macro-environment, or whether their business operation at the time just happened to be quite suited to this new environment. In other words, was it an adaptive strategy or just lucky?… See the full activity...
In this short case study, you are required to assess whether this toy manufacturer was too flexible and too willing to adapt to its changing macro-environment. Set back in time, this case is based on a real firm that implemented a number of changes in order to stay current. But were they guilty of over-reacting and, as a result, losing … See the full activity...
Department stores have tended to be less relevant in today’s environment than in the past. Your task in this activity is to identify the various environmental factors that contributed to the downfall of some major Australian department stores. You also need to consider, as you review the case study information, whether the firms should have recognized and responded to the … See the full activity...
In this exercise, you are required to help a traditional hamburger store adapt to the new market environment of more health-conscious consumers. To help guide you, some market research data has been presented. The issue here is to determine whether there is still a viable traditional market or whether the shop needs to adapt to the new environment situation – … See the full activity...
For this activity, you will play the role of a marketing consultant advising a small change of CD/music retail stores how they can best adapt to the changing lifestyle and technological macro-environment. You are presented with some introductory information regarding the key trends in this sector. What advice would you have for this firm?
ACTIVITY/TASK
A CD music shop … See the full activity...
Review the following list of macro-environment changes/trends. For each one, work out how it is changing and then determine whether (and how) it will impact marketing activities. As we know, there are three key aspects to an environmental scan; identify the environmental change, determine its likely impact, and how firms can turn this challenge into a market opportunity.
(Note… See the full activity...
In this exercise, you need to evaluate how well this manufacturer is progressing with their retailer relationships (in its micro-environment). As you can see, they have increased sales to retailers by $2m and they have also increased the number of retailing chains that they deal with. These results are obviously pleasing, but are there any areas of concern and what … See the full activity...
For this exercise, you need to identify the competitive set for a manufacturer of instant coffee (such as Nestle’s many brands of coffee, sold via retailers). The aim of this activity is to think beyond just like-competitors (that is, other manufacturers of coffee). We need to consider what types of products and offerings would form their indirect competition (often offering … See the full activity...
