ARAB OPEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF BUSINESS STUDIES B324 – MARKETING & SOCIETY SPRING 2016 – 2015/2016 B324 – TMA – SPRING 2016 _____________________________________ Please read these instruction

ARAB OPEN UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF BUSINESS STUDIES
B324 – MARKETING & SOCIETY
SPRING 2016 – 2015/2016

B324 – TMA – SPRING 2016
_____________________________________

Please read these instructions carefully, and contact your tutor if you require any further clarifications. You should submit your completed assignment to your tutor to arrive no later than the cut-off Date: week 11.

Please use standard A4 size paper for submitting the hard copy of your TMA. Your name, personal identifier, course and assignment numbers must appear at the top of each sheet. A soft copy of your TMA must be uploaded to the university moodle within the indicated cut-off date. The hard & soft copies must be identical. Please leave wide margins and space at the end of each sheet for tutor comments. It is better to use double spacing so that you can easily handwrite corrections to your drafts and tutors have space to include their feedback on the script. Start each question in the assignment on a new page. Any extended text should ideally be word-processed, but, diagrams and accompanying notes may be hand drawn and hand written and on an A4 paper.

Completing and sending your assignments
When you have completed your TMA, you must fill in the assignment form (PT3), taking care to fill all information correctly including your personal identifier, course code, section & tutor, and assignment numbers. Each TMA and its PT3 form should be uploaded on the AOU branch moodle within the cut-off date. Late submissions require approval from the branch course coordinator and will be subject to grade deductions. All assignments are treated in strict confidence.
If you feel that you are unable to meet the cut-off date of the TMA because of unusual circumstances, please contact your tutor as soon as possible to discuss a possible extension to the cut-off date.


Plagiarism
The Arab Open University Definitions of cheating and plagiarism
According to the Arab Open University By-laws,
“The following acts represent cases of cheating and plagiarism:
• Verbatim copying of printed material and submitting them as part of TMAs without proper academic acknowledgement and documentation.
• Verbatim copying of material from the Internet, including tables and graphics.
• Copying other students’ notes or reports.
• Using paid or unpaid material prepared for the student by individuals or firms.
• Utilization of, or proceeding to utilize, contraband materials or devices in examinations.”
Penalty on plagiarism
The following is the standard plagiarism penalty applied across branches as per Article 11 of the university by-laws:
1) Awarding of zero for a TMA wherein more than 20% of the content is plagiarized.
2) Documentation of warning in student record.
3) Failure in the course to dismissal from the University.
All University programmes are required to apply penalties that are consistent with the University by laws.

Examples of Plagiarism

Copying from a single or multiple sources, this is where the student uses one or more of the following as the basis for the whole, or a good part, of the assignment:
1. Published or unpublished books, articles or reports
2. The Internet
3. The media (e.g.TV programmes, radio programmes or newspaper articles)
4. An essay from an essay bank
5. A piece of work previously submitted by another student
6. Copying from a text which is about to be submitted for the same assignment


Introduction:
This TMA has four questions. You should answer all of them. The questions in this assignment are all about Marketing & Society 1) Students should show understanding and reflection of market segmentation, targeting and audience segmentation in relation to the case study. 2) Students ought to demonstrate an understanding of the factors or elements that contributed to the higher-than-average response rates and the final results of the marketing effort in the case. 3) Should show proper understanding and importance of marketing mix as it relates to the case study. 4) Students ought to show an understanding of market analysis and research in the context of social marketing as applied in the case.

CASE STUDY
‘National Health Service Corps: Putting members first drives enrollment’

Melissa Otero and John Strand


Introduction

The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) was started in 1972 in response to the; healthcare crisis that emerged in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. Older; physicians were retiring, and young doctors started to choose specialization over general practice, leaving many areas of the country without primary care medical services.

The NHSC attracts medical students and recent graduates who are committed to helping those with limited access to primary healthcare. It offers scholarships and: student loan repayment to providers for their commitment to work at least two: years in an NHSC-approved health center or clinic in an underserved community. NHSC clinicians - primary care doctors, dentists, nurses, physician assistants, mental health professionals - also earn a salary from their sites. In 2009, 3,600 healthcare providers were members of the NHSC.

In 2009, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the govern¬ment agency that runs the NHSC, funded FHI 360, a nonprofit social marketing and health promotion organization, to rebrand and market the program to increase its national visibility and recruit 3,300 primary healthcare providers into the program.

Problem definition

Historically, demand for the NHSC exceeded available funding. More recently, with increased attention on the issue of healthcare and a growing primary care work¬force shortage, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided $300 million to support 4,000 new NHSC providers by 2011. With an influx of funding, this program - which had never much needed to market itself - was suddenly faced with having to more than double its size in just two years.



Market analysis

FHI 360 first conducted a market analysis to better understand the NHSC program, including internal operations, available resources and audiences. The inquiry also sought to examine what HRSA was currently doing to promote, manage and support the program, as well as to learn about the external market environment, including target audiences and NHSC competitors. Activities included intercept interviews with new members; observation and attendance at key NHSC events; key informant interviews with NHSC program staff, partners, Ambassadors, alumni and advisors (e.g. National Advisory Council members); a review of background documents and data; an audit of existing NHSC promotional materials; and a consumer experience innovation workshop. These activities were designed to illu¬minate the current NHSC program's key strengths and successes, weaknesses and gaps, and opportunities.

The analysis revealed that the NHSC was primarily being positioned as a govern¬ment-run financial program. This positioning was diminishing the value of the NHSC among its most important consumers - its own members and the healthcare providers it was seeking to attract. In addition to the impersonal and bureaucratic way the program was being defined, the 'Corps' in the NHSC did not exist. Once providers learned they were accepted into the program, most said they never heard from the program again, or anyone else in it.

Students haven't heard of [the NHSC]. When they do, they think it is like uniformed service. They might just equate it with another branch of the government.

NHSC [is] not [a] key recognizable phrase. If I went to the new physician reception in my town they would say 'what is that?' But they would know the loan repayment program.

The 'product' being sold - membership in the NHSC - was confusing, required navigating a complex application process, and had no values associated with it other than money. Yet, the analysis also showed that, for most current and potential NHSC members, money was just one part of the attraction of the program. Many NHSC members were already working in underserved communities before they applied for the program and most continued to serve beyond their two-year commitment - and had powerful stories to share. Furthermore, the personal values of providers who were most likely to work in communities with a shortage of health professionals had little to do with money. They valued service and social equity, as well as other benefits such as work/life balance, flexibility, meaningful patient relationships, and the opportunity to learn and practice different skills.

In terms of an emotional connection with the brand, input from members and others involved with the program suggested that the NHSC had a split-personality. Many contradictory words were mentioned to describe the NHSC (e.g. ‘cold’, 'faceless' and 'demanding' vs. 'dedicated', 'genuine' and 'caring'). A varied picture emerged of the NHSC depending on participants' association with the program and their length of involvement in it. This contradiction may have been attributed to participants feeling one way about their commitment to the social mission of the program, and the fact that they are able to do this work, in part, because of the NHSC, and feeling another way about the impersonal way the program was being run.

Some promotional materials did exist, including a website and a wide social media presence, but their effectiveness was undermined by an overall lack of focus, clear benefits, visual interest and an emotional connection. The findings also revealed an incredible opportunity to capitalize on the consider¬able assets that HRSA had in place for a revitalized marketing effort, including a commitment to program success at the highest levels, experienced and committed staff, and extensive relationships and resources throughout HRSA - including regional offices, and internal and external partners - that could be leveraged to market the program and its benefits. These assets, coupled with the significant goodwill that existed around the social mission of the program, primed it for success.

Aims and objectives

In order to help the NHSC recruit the large number of providers it needed to bring into the program quickly, and lay a foundation for future marketing of the program, the product needed to be repositioned in a way that:
1- was responsive to member needs and values; and
2- communicated NHSC members’ core values to the target audience in a clear, consistent and authentic way. FHI 360 created and helped implement a rebranding effort and marketing campaign to:
o Reframe the NHSC - through the voice of its current members - as relevant, responsive, compelling, exciting and more personal
o Begin to build the 'Corps' in the NHSC and position this network of like-minded, dedicated professionals as a member benefit
o Develop a suite of NHSC identity products and promotional tools and materials that communicate a revived NHSC brand - both for current and prospective members
o Drive prospective members to register on the NHSC website - the first step to completing the required application (and re-engage those already registered who had not yet applied).

FHI 360 also reinforced with program staff that the current application process was going to be a choke-point for the influx of new applicants expected as a result of a marketing campaign. The process needed to continue to be improved to allow for a smoother entry into the program.

Formative research

Building on the market analysis, brand elements, messages and materials were developed to achieve the objectives. These brand and materials concepts were tested through focus group discussions with potential members - soon-to-be, and current, primary healthcare providers in NHSC-eligible disciplines - all of whom were either accumulating or still repaying student loans. The research revealed a very low awareness of the program among prospective members, as well as preferences for and questions surrounding various brand elements and messages.

After brand elements and materials were tweaked, FHI 360 fielded an online survey (n=201) with secondary audiences already involved in the NHSC, which aimed to confirm the brand and materials testing outcomes from prospective members; get buy-in for the new brand and materials; and elicit any previously unidentified concerns with the new brand and materials.

Strategy

The resulting strategy focused on defining and segmenting the target audiences and a '4Ps' approach to marketing the program.

Audience segmentation: Audience segments were driven by HRSA data that identified the specific clinician disciplines in greatest demand by the NHSC healthcare centers and clinics. Target audiences included physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, dentists and dental hygienists. The marketing strategy focused on those current and soon-to-be clinicians, in these disciplines, with a desire to help those with limited access to healthcare. These audiences had to be found and engaged in a way that clearly communicated the NHSC brand and benefits of membership (Table CS20.1):

Product: The NHSC brand was repositioned to feature the program’s clinician members and their personal stories about the benefits of their service. The refreshed value proposition offers clinicians the opportunity for rewarding service and professional development - with loan repayment and scholarships to boot (see Figure CS20.I). Key program benefits and messages that had not

Table CS20.1 Audience segmentation

Priority Rationale for ranking, What does the What do they want from
audience value of audience to NHSC offer the NHSC?
ranking the NHSC them?
Potential Need to meet current Meaningful and o Financial incentives
Members and future recruitment rewarding o Professional growth
goals careers that opportunities
Actual! providers of speak to their o Flexibility -
care values of providing geographically and professionally
patient-focused o Easy application and
care to, and ongoing paperwork
making a o Connection to the
difference for, community in which
those who need they're placed and a
it most sense of belonging to the Corps
Current Key to recruitment of Assistance and o Financial incentives
Members new members support to help o Flexibility ~
Their satisfaction and them make the geographically and
retention can improve most of their professionally
the reputation/ NHSC o Connection to the
branding of NHSC experience

o

o
community in which they're placed and a sense of belonging to the Corps'
Professional growth opportunities
Simple paperwork/ requirements


been communicated until now include: flexibility and choice in where members provide services; access to educational, training and networking opportunities; a sense of belonging to a community of providers with a shared desire to serve patients with limited access to healthcare; and the opportunity to pay off all student loans with continued service.

Price: HRSA focused on addressing the three major barriers expressed about the program:
1) its impersonal, bureaucratic personality;
2) its cumbersome application process, with unresponsive customer support; and
3) the sense of isolation and abandonment members felt once accepted into the program.

The pricing strategy aimed to humanize the brand, streamline the application process, and foster a sense of community among members serving in diverse settings throughout the country.
Place: HRSA sought to engage its many partners, stakeholders and resources in a coordinated outreach and support effort. FHI 360 redesigned the NHSC website to feature members, highlight the "Corps Experience/ provide relevant resources and content for members and prospective members, and offer a plat¬form for engagement (Figure CS20.2). The NHSC Facebook page was trans¬formed into an effective customer service tool and became a growing online community for current and prospective members. Orientation conferences were retooled to reflect the new brand and to add more networking time. The NHSC Ambassador program was reconfigured to more directly support and promote the program. Plans for an alumni program were in the works.

Promotion: FHI 360 updated the NHSC logo and all program materials to reflect the new brand personality (Figure CS20.3). Brief video stories were produced that expressed the brand values through the voices of its members. Earned media efforts focused on a radio media tour and pitching local newspapers in members' communities. FHI 360 also employed targeted direct mail and paid advertising campaigns to micro-target the priority clinician segments.

Outcomes

On October 13, 2011, a US Department of Health and Human Services pre-release announced that the largest number of NHSC providers in history - more than 10,000 - are providing healthcare to communities across the country. This is neatly three times the number of NHSC providers there were three years ago,, and nearly double the number of providers FHI 360 was tasked with helping: to recruit1.

Specific outcomes included:
• A 208 per cent increase in the number of visits to the NHSC website homepage (456,836 more visits) from February to July 2011, when compared to the same time period in 2010
• A 2-3 per cent response rate on the tailored direct mail campaign, higher than the industry average of 1-2 per cent, which resulted in 800 to 1,200 new loan repayment program registrants
• An average click-through rate nearly twice the national average (0.15 per cent vs. 0.08 per cent) for the banner advertisement portion of the paid media campaign
• A 72 percentage-point shift from negative to positive online sentiment expressed about the NHSC online (from 18 per cent to 90 per cent), primarily via the NHSC Facebook page and Twitter, from September 2010 to September 2011.

Discussion

- The key factor in the success of the NHSC marketing campaign was HRSA's commitment to fix the product, namely the NHSC brand, program and features. Too often, social marketers are asked to promote poorly designed programs or poorly delivered services. Once HRSA began to address the major barriers of NHSC personality, entry and engagement, the program almost sold itself.
- Focusing on the ‘consumer experience' - that is, what did the NHSC look like from the clinicians' perspective - helped reframe the marketing challenge for HRSA managers.
- NHSC clinician members proved to be the best sales force. They simply needed a venue to express their passion, commitment and enthusiasm about the life-changing opportunity offered by the program.

Note
1 The NHSC received new funding from the Affordable Care Act in 2010 to support additional providers.

Source: adapted from: Hastings, G. and Domegan (2014). Social Marketing: From Tunes to Symphonies (2 Ed.) Routledge



Question 1 (30 marks):

Outline your understanding of the concepts of market segmentation, targeting and audience segmentation. Use the case material provided to illustrate your response. Word count: 550 words (30 marks).
Question 2 (20 marks):

Explain the factors that contributed to the higher-than-average response rates and the final results of the marketing effort in the case. Word count: 400 words (20 marks)

Question 3 (25 marks):
Discuss the marketing mix employed by NHSC and evaluate its success in achieving its objectives. Word count: 500 words (25 marks)

Question 4 (25 marks):
Outline your understanding of research and market analysis in the context of social marketing. Evaluate and illustrate its importance in this context using the case material provided. Word count: 550 words (25 marks)
...............................................................................................................................................

General Mark’s deductions of 20% as follows
• PT3 Form (failure to use the PT3 completely filled) (deduct up to 5% marks)
• TMA Presentation and Structure, and word count (untidy, work way below or above the word count, no display of word count) (deduct up to 5% marks)
• Referencing and in-text citation (poor referencing and in-text citation, without plagiarism, (deduct up to 10% marks).



Guidance to Question 01

Market segmentation and targeting is at the core of marketing strategy and consumers (or potential consumers) are the key stakeholder group for both commercial and social marketers. The market segmentation is the process of dividing the market into groups of consumers who respond in a similar way to a given of marketing stimuli, such as price or product features (session IV). The students are also expected to address audience segmentation in relation to the case.

Guidance to Question 02
The answer is mainly based in the case study. The students should properly outline and discuss the elements that contributed to the higher-than-average response rates and the final results of the marketing effort in the case.

Guidance for Question 03
The marketing mix in social marketing once the target market has been identified, the traditional marketing approach is to develop a program of tools that will result in the right product for that market; offered at the right price and delivered at the right time and place, etc. (Session 4). Students are also expected to support their answers with case examples.

Guidance for Question 04
At the very beginning of a project, research with the target group can help define the nature of the problem to be tackled, determine whether the media has a role to play and, if so, what objectives it might fulfill. Students ought to show an understanding of research (session 6 and chapter 9 in textbook) and market analysis in the context of social marketing. They are also encouraged to seek and use external sources to seek additional ideas. Moreover, the students are expected to address market analysis and its link to formative research, providing examples from the case.













Harvard Style - References / bibliography
How -to guide

Note: It is a requirement that all students include a header/footer of the following information on every single page of the TMA: Name, ID, Course Code, TMA #, Tutor name, section, and semester.

• You have to use the Times New Roman Font Size 12 (except for the cover page).
• Line spacing should be 1.5
• All pages should be numbered
• Keep wide margins for your instructors' comments
• Align your text to the left. Don’t justify leaving spaces between words

Harvard Style Referencing:

• There are various ways of setting out references / bibliographies for an assignment.

• “Harvard Style” is a generic term for any referencing style which uses in-text references such as (Smith, 1999), and a reference list at the end of the document organized by author name and year of publication.

In this guide, we are using a “Harvard Style” which is based on the author-date system for books, articles and “non-books”.

NOTE: When you write your list of references/bibliography, please keep in mind the following points:

• Your bibliography should identify an item (e.g. book, journal article, cassette tape, film, or internet site) in sufficient detail so that others may identify it and consult it.
• Your bibliography should appear at the end of your TMA with entries listed alphabetically.
• If you have used sources from the Internet, these should be listed in your bibliography.

FOR A BOOK

The details required in order are:

1. name/s of author/s, editor/s, compiler/s or the institution responsible
2. year of publication
3. title of publication and subtitle if any (all titles must be underlined or italicized)
4. series title and individual volume if any
5. edition, if other than first
6. publisher
7. place of publication
8. page number(s) if applicable

• One author

Berkman, RI 1994, Find it fast: how to uncover expert information on any subject, Harper Perennial, New York.



• Two or more authors:

Cengel, YA & Boles, MA 1994, Thermodynamics: an engineering approach, 2nd edn, McGraw Hill, London.

Cheek, J, Doskatsch, I, Hill, P & Walsh, L 1995, Finding out: information literacy for the 21st century, MacMillan Education Australia, South Melbourne.

• Editor(s)
Pike, ER & Sarkar, S (eds) 1986, Frontiers in quantum optics, Adam Hilger, Bristol. Jackson, JA (ed.) 1997, Glossary of geology, 4th edn, American Geological Institute, Alexandria, Va.

• Sponsored by institution, corporation or other organization

Institution of Engineers, Australia 1994, Code of ethics, Institution of Engineers, Australia, Barton, A.C.T

• Series
Bhattacharjee, M 1998, Notes of infinite permutation groups, Lecture notes in mathematics no.1698, Springer, New York.

• Edition
Zumdahl, SS 1997, Chemistry, 4th edn, Houghton Mifflin, Boston.

• Chapter or part of a book to which a number of authors have contributed
Bernstein, D 1995, ‘Transportation planning’, in WF Chen (ed.), The civil engineering handbook, CRC Press, Boca Raton.

• No author or editor
Kempe's engineer's year-book 1992, Morgan-Grampian, London.
FOR AN ARTICLE

The details required, in order, are:
1. name/s of author/s of the article
2. year of publication
3. title of article, in single quotation marks
4. title of periodical (underlined or italicised)
5. volume number
6. issue (or part) number
7. page number(s)

• Journal article

Huffman, LM 1996, ‘Processing whey protein for use as a food ingredient’, Food Technology, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 49-52



• Newspaper article
Simpson, L 1997, ‘Tasmania’s railway goes private‘, Australian Financial Review, 13 October, p. 10

FOR A NON- BOOK
NON-BOOK
The details required are the same as for a book, with the form of the item (eg video recording, tape, computer file, etc.) indicated after the year.

Get the facts (and get them organized) 1990, video recording, Appleseed Productions, Williamstown, Vic

FORM OF ITEM
Dr Brain thinking games 1998, CD-ROM, Knowledge Adventure Inc., Torrance, California

FOR WEB SITES AND OTHER ELECTRONIC SOURCES