Deadlines
2018 High School Business Language Competition
Competition Information
Marketing Plan Development
This document includes information about Thread Wallets' new product as well as information about the company. Teams will have until the day before the final event to learn about the company, the product, the target consumer, and to develop a plan to market the product to the Hispanic Community in Utah. During the process of developing the marketing plan, the following steps are recommended:
- Learn about the company. Understand the basic details of the business. Learn about the products they sell, understand the way they market and sell their products, and find out the type of consumer they target. Analyze the key trends of the industry to which they belong and identify key competitors.
- Learn about the product. Understand what the product is used for, its unique qualities, benefits, and cost.
- Learn about the target consumer. For this competition, your target consumer is the Hispanic Community in Utah. Teams should learn about the behavior and attitudes of the target consumer, where and how they shop, and what influences them in making a purchase decision as well as the accessibility of the target consumer.
- Understand the basic principles of marketing. Understand the basic marketing fundamentals (price, product, placement, and promotion). Learn about the industry’s channel of distributions and marketing tools.
Teams can refer to the materials provided in this package, the company’s website, government agencies, books, and other publications. Teams can also conduct surveys and interviews with the target consumer. A useful source for surveys is Qualtrics; they offer one free survey with organized reports and analysis.
Marketing Plan Presentation
Each team will present its marketing plan to a panel of Spanish speaking educators and executives. The presentation should contain all three items listed below and be emailed to mkllody@byu.edu on February 20, 2018, by 8:00 a.m. :
- A copy of your 1-2 page report with the proposed marketing plan.
The report should be written in an appropriate business style and should include information about the company, the product, the consumer, and the team’s marketing plan. The handout will be given to the judges right before the team’s presentation by one of our volunteer representatives. The judges will have 5 minutes to read the proposed plan, when finished, one of our volunteer representatives will let the team come in to present their presentation.
- A copy of your PowerPoint presentation with a maximum of eight slides per team.
In both competition rooms, we will have your presentation already loaded onto the computer so you will be ready to present at your designated time. No audio will be allowed in the PowerPoint presentation. The team should bring its presentation on a flash/thumb drive for your own personal backup. Your PowerPoint presentation should contain the following:
- Company and industry background
- Profile of target consumer
- Marketing plan and communication strategy (at least two marketing tools)
- Marketing plan financial analysis
- One or two visual aids of the proposed marketing tools and marketing message.
All presentations and written materials must be in Spanish. All members of the team are encouraged to participate in the oral presentation of the plan. Each team will have ten minutes to present its plan before the two different panels of judges, and five minutes will be allocated for questions and feedback for each presentation. A timekeeper will notify teams when they have five minutes, one minute, and 30 seconds left. Presentations will be interrupted if they exceed ten minutes.
Teams will be scored on language ability, written and oral presentation skills, and the content of their original marketing plan.
Coach Participation
Students, not the coach, must prepare the marketing plan. The coach can help the team by teaching the students business and marketing principles and by providing guidelines on how to write a marketing plan. However, the coach should not give specific suggestions for the development of the marketing plan. Coaches may or may not be native Spanish speakers and may direct team members in grammar and business terms as needed. The coach is not allowed to participate in the presentation of the marketing plan on the day of the competition.
Time
The competition material will be kept confidential until the appointed time of distribution. Teams should prepare their presentations following the competition material guidelines. All preparations must be done before attending the competition. All presentations must be given in Spanish. This competition will consist of two rounds where the teams will have ten minutes to present their marketing plan to two groups of judges with five minutes allocated to questions after the presentation. In both the first and second round, a timekeeper will notify the team when they have five minutes, one minute, and thirty seconds of presentation time left. The presentation will be interrupted at ten minutes. Five minutes will also be scheduled for each time slot for setup and take down.
Do not save the PowerPoint using a Mac/Apple Operating System, as they may not be compatible with the classroom computers!
Spectator Information
Only team advisors, BYU employees, official videographers and special guests may observe the presentations. Team members will not be allowed to view the presentations of competing teams. Photography and video recording by unauthorized persons are strictly prohibited except through official hired photographers and coaches who may only film or photograph their own team.
Judging
Judges will not, and should not, know which school the presenting team represents. The team may not infer this information verbally or through colors or graphics. Teams will use a fictitious name assigned to them on the day of the competition. After the second round of presentations is complete, there will be thirty minutes to compile the scores and come to a decision on the competition winners (1st, 2nd, and 3rd place).
Each team will present twice, once in the morning (Round 1) and once in the afternoon (Round 2). This will ensure that each team will have an opportunity to present more than once, making judging as fair as possible. There will be no final round. The winners will be determined by a cumulative score from their presentations in Round 1 and Round 2. The GMC Staff will compile the scores to determine 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place teams to be announced in the award ceremony at the end of the competition.
Honor Code
By registering for this competition all teams and coaches agree to live the BYU Honor Code while at BYU. For details on the BYU Honor Code please visit the following link:
https://policy.byu.edu/view/index.php?p=26
Attire
Professional business attire is appropriate for this competition. No jeans.
Supplies
The presentation rooms will be technologically equipped to plug in PC laptops. If you have a Mac/Apple laptop to plug in and present with, please bring your own Apple Mini Display Port to VGA or HDMI Adapter. However, any USB works great. It is the responsibility of each team to bring all other necessary supplies and equipment.
Copying and printing
It is recommended that all necessary copying and printing be done before arrival at Brigham Young University. However, printing is available on campus for $0.06 per page.
Contact Information
For questions or concerns, please contact:
Mary Kay Lloyd
Email: mklloyd@byu.edu
Lisa Stringham
Email: businesslanguage@byu.edu