Based on an assessment of the client's mass communication needs and potential audience reactions, you will recommend communication goals, plus mass media and message strategies to attain those goals. The focus of the assignment is on your strategic recommendations and (more importantly) your pragmatic and research-based reasons why you think they might be the optimal approach for attaining the goals.

Do not just toss out information -- the entire paper is to present a tight, logical, step-by-step assessment, such that each section is based on your discussion of information and materials that came before it and all data presented must be relevant for decision making. Do not write lists or bullet points. For the entire paper (except for the reference list and optional appendices), you are to write in prose form, with sentences and paragraphs.

OUTLINE:
Below is the outline you are to follow in writing the paper, with each bold <> numbered item a major subhead, and each letter item in bold a minor subhead.  The rest of the statements in regular type describes the information that should be included in the discussion. 

<1> MARKETING GOALS. A short specific statement of marketing expectations (directed by client's priorities and concerns.)

<2> SITUATION ANALYSIS
A. Product Features. This is not a list of features, but an analysis of the client's attributes and how those features are (or might be) perceived by present and potential customers.

B. Present & Potential Customers. Tied to #1 above, analysis of the "types" of people who are customers (e.g. what gets them to buy the first time & what brings them back). As the basis for mass communications decisions, emphasis must be placed on mental perspectives (e.g. beliefs & benefits desired), as well as relevant demographic data as needed for media plans.

<3> COMMUNICATION GOALS
A. Target Audience. Based on #2, recommendation of primary target audience and why it was selected. Again, since this is for communications, emphasis must be in terms of consumers' frames of reference and benefits, as well as relevant demographic data that might correlate with those segments. This must be based on situation analysis and provide a pragmatic and relevant basis for decisions.

B. Communications Objectives. A specific and measurable statement, with your logic and rationale for why these specific goals should be used. Based on the situation analysis, there should be a logical link between marketing and communications expectations, and as will be explained in class, you will need to use a model of consumer decision making for relating the communications goals to buyer behavior of the marketing goals. The discussion in this section needs to have adequate detail to provide a basis for your strategy recommendation. Accordingly, this section is the core of the paper and provides the basis for all that follows in section <4>. (As we will discuss in class, there are many useful consumer behavior models of their decision making that could link communications goals and the final consumer actions that underlie marketing goals, but we want the term paper to focus on decision making, not the value of different consumer psychology models. The need is for a model you will use and apply to explain what you are doing and why. More details on this part will be explained in class.)

<4> STRATEGIES AND TACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR ATTAINING GOALS
A. Message Program. Determination of message strategy that would be the central theme and message of the campaign. This copy platform must be both realistic and tied to communications goals, and should include: image to develop, engender and/or reinforce; how primary benefit(s) can be "creatively" conveyed to the target; and central appeal(s) to be made. Remember, the goal is to develop a coherent image for the client that is based on: a) how present or potential customers can realistically perceive the client; and b) what the customers consider important benefits.

B. Media Strategy, tied to communications goals, it should  include: (a) Selected allocation to media classes & your justifications; (b) A general statement of reach, frequency, continuity and size of messages; and, (c) Qualitative factors of media selections to optimize communications. Any discussions of relevant usage of sales promotion or publicity strategy should also fit in here.

C. References: List of references of secondary non-textbook sources cited in body of paper.

D. (Optional) Appendix: Example of communications message tactics. If you wish, you may place a sample ad or television commercial script in an appendix to the paper as an example of how the strategy would be executed.

E. (Optional) Appendix: Details of research materials not used for other parts of the report.