APA Style: Master's in Marketing: Mobile Manufacturing (MM) Marketing Plan Memorandum

For this International Marketing class, there was a fictitious company that manufactured cell phones. As an acting Marketing Consultant, hired by the company on contract; I'm addressing the marketing campaign and strategies; here I am writing a Memorandum to the Board of Directors.

Mobile Manufacturing (MM) Marketing Plan Memorandum

Targeting “The Founders” (Generation Z) for Prospective Market Gains in Cell Phone Sales

Thomas Mezzacapa

Applied Managerial Marketing (MKTG630)

Unit II: Individual Project One

Colorado Technical University

2016: October 5th

Professor: Dr. Freddy Lee

MEMORANDUM

Attention: Michelle Dietrich

President: Mobile Manufacturing

c/c: Elena Steokovich

Electronics Designer/Engineer

from: Tommy Mezzacapa

Marketing Consultant

October 16th 2016

Establishing a Target Market for (MM) Mobile Manufacturing’s New Phone Mobile Manufacturing is about to release it’s newly designed cell phone. Design and Engineering expert Elena Steokovich has developed an amazing new product that warrants a defined, target-market to begin MM’s marketing plan. With the ever-changing, fast-paced world of technology, we need to establish what demographic we want to target with this new release. As a marketing consultant, hired by MM, I believe that the target-market should be the current adolescent, aged teens that are some of the biggest consumers of technological products. Because of their youth, we must combine this demographic with the parents of this generation; a generation that has received a multitude of monikers such as Gen Z, Homeland Generation, the Plurals, and, after an extensive MTV study: The Founders. 

The network-phenomenon, MTV’s recent study took in over 544 suggestions from this transforming generation and has named “The Founders” as the chosen name for these teens that Time Magazine’s article titled: Here’s What MTV Is Calling the Generation After Millennials, reports: MTV President Sean Atkins says the name acknowledges that while millennials have disrupted society, it’s this new generation’s job to rebuild it. “They have this self-awareness that systems have been broken,” he told TIME ahead of the announcement. “But they can’t be the generation that says we’ll break it even more.” (Sanburn, 2015).

The article continues with the found research with: MTV is part of a growing number of media companies and marketers that have been trying to figure out what drives this group.

Research is beginning to show that teenagers today are more pragmatic and independent than

their millennial predecessors. They’re more likely to stand out than fit in. They’re digital natives

who don’t know a time before being constantly plugged in. And they’re part of the most diverse

generation in history, a generation that will soon be as coveted among marketers as millennials

(Sanburn, 2015).

There really seems to be a viable market with this demographic. By targeting these youth,

MM can use a well thought out marketing plan to aid with increased sales and a more favorable

market-share in the industry. This is the group that will determine a large portion of consumer

buying over the next decade and more; they’re the ones that will control the global market in

electronic device purchasing.

This targeted group’s psychographics are teens that only really knows a Black president,

they are far-more extrovert than any other generation, they grew up without a safety-net and

were practically born into selfies. They have been labeled as “always wanting the next-big-thing”

and continue to show significant numbers that affect the buying power of the entire technological

market.

Because of this generation’s age group, they are mostly still in grammar or high school.

Many do not have jobs, and if they do, their income is limited. Therefore, it is important to also

consider the parents of Gen Z as a significant part of our target-audience; we must devise a plan

that really targets these youth while thinking of the actual financiers for their buying decisions.

The majority of The Founders’ geographics are located in the outskirts of large, metropolis

areas, in the suburbs. There is also a significant part located in the middle and upper-middle

class neighborhoods of larger cities. Still, we must not forget, there is a portion of these consumers

in the smaller towns across America and in Eastern Europe. These youth visit malls, they

watch an insane amount of YouTube videos (that has constant video ads), they’re plugged into

their devices for most of their waking hours and can be easily influenced with a successful marketing

campaign.

The Founders generation have never known life without the multitude of social-media avenues that are offered around the world in very, large numbers. With all of these social outlets, there are a plethora of ways to advertise at nearly constant intervals with their social experiences. By targeting this demographic MM can start to take hold of a generation that will control the world market in technology for a long time.

The Founders have a unique set of behavioral characteristics that set them apart from the rest of the consumers in our market. They are always on their devices for anything from entertainment, social connections and yes, believe it or not: education. It is very difficult to find any teen in this demographic that doesn’t have their phones with them at all times. If they’re not on their devices, they’re thinking about them, often shoved in the back-pockets of the jeans or shorts, ready to be drawn out like a gunslinger in a gun fight. They’re constantly connected. Most teens from this generation often have symptoms of withdraw when their devices are not near them, even just out of sight. They find it difficult to even function without the aid of the electronic sibling. This Substantiates the demand for the latest products in technology and is a very favorable market to target with our upcoming marketing plan.

In order for this marketing plan to be successful, we need to get The Founders attention

by offering a cell phone with something new and innovative. The best camera’s, able to do panoramic

shots, fast-framed, rapid-fire shots, the best video features (playing and recording) and of-course,

a really great, front-facing camera. There are so many devices on the market today that

have amazing cameras able to do a lot of what is listed above; however, many lose credibility as

soon as the selfie-camera is turned on. The mega-pixels are too low and without great lighting,

rarely take a pic that is even worth sharing. And, as this generation would exclaim, “We love to

Share Our Pics!” Instead of cutting costs with a low-resolution camera for front-facing shots, I

say we reinvent the selfie-camera with at least 2.8MP and a front-facing flash. These high-quality

aspects should also be carried over to video, especially with new features like Facebook’s “I was

LIVE” options. With these added improvements, we can gain the attention of this developing

generation and gain back the market share that we so desire.

With expectations high, we need to cater these sought after features to the financiers of our demographic. Some of the ways that this could be accomplished is with an education factor.

We could set up educational apps to automatically be part of the device’s firmware. For instance,

the world-renowned app for learning new languages is DuoLingo. It takes the treacherous task of

learning Espanol, for instance, and turns it into a game with points and accomplishments. With

this type of educational experience being an integrated part of their children’s choice in a phone,

these and other similar-type applications could serve as a nice appeal to The Founders parental

units. 

Additionally, the integrated apps could link both parents, their children and the school

that they attend. Then, the gaps in communication could be dramatically lessened, improving the

grades of students and the connection of teachers and parents; gaining MM a fruitful, marketing

edge. 

We’ve covered a lot about this almost unknown generation. With an extensive, market

study, using the best formed research, Mobile Manufacturing can implement a trendy, sought-after

campaign that targets these “Founders” buying decisions. By gaining these types of sales,

MM can re-establish itself in the global market place.

Thank You Sincerely,

T. Mezzacapa

Marketing Consultant

References:

Sanburn, J. (2015, December 1). Here’s What MTV Is Calling the Generation After Millennials. In

     TIME. Retrieved October 15, 2016, from http://time.com/4130679/millennials-mtv-generation