MAR002-2 Marketing Planning

Exam briefing AY2022-23 SEM1

As a marketing manager for Live Nation you have been asked to present your marketing plan to your manager for a new outdoor one day music event lasting six hours.

Your submission should take the form of an internal proposal document (so “we”/”I” not they).

Using found data, you should analyse what is a very crowded market place, look for a gap and develop your plans for a themed, branded event aimed at a specific and well-defined ideal customer. Such events usually feature a headline and a number of supporting acts as well as a compere/DJ to entertain while acts are changed on your single stage. Be sure that you understand what is meant by a gap and have discussed with your tutor what is meant by competition.

You may use the act costs chart* provided below and the other costs provided below to work out how much your event will cost to stage. You will need to provide some calculations…it is important that you clearly demonstrate how you plan to sell all of your tickets.

You may stage your event in any outdoor location. We strongly advise that you choose a location that you are familiar with as this will help you with understanding the local marketplace.

As part of your plans you should include a launch event designed to give your target audience a first heads up about your event. See the costs chart for any featured artist that you might choose to use.

To prevent disappointment no tickets can be sold on the door. You will need to decide a ticket price. You should choose one single ticket price point out of £25, £50, £80 or £120, and you will need to provide a clear justification why the price point you have chosen is right for your target market.

All tickets will be sold through the Live Nation website. The LN website is therefore your place.

Identifying your costs.

1. Costs of acts

*The costs chart overleaf gives costs for some popular acts but you may choose to use your own using similar costs.

List of possible acts

You do not have to use these acts…you can propose your own using similar costs.

2. Venue Hire

The venue will cost you £205,000. This includes facilities such as staffing, toilets, parking and seating. The venue has a capacity that will allow you to sell 36,500 tickets. The venue will make money from concessions and merchandise. You therefore only need to pay the single cost.

3. Insurances

Public Liability, event cancellation and other insurances will cost you £575 per 450 tickets sold

4. Theming your event

You have £23,000 to spend theming your event. You do not need to break these costs down although you will need to spend some time outlining your theme, how it will be attractive to your ideal customer and how you intend to execute it.

5. MarComms costs

You must use at least three different types of marcomms activity plus a launch event designed to gain “free” coverage and raise awareness when tickets go on sale. Your launch event will need supporting marcomms activity. You should include information for each of your three chosen marcomms activities about why it is the best way to reach your target audience and how you proposing making the most of the chosen medium.

Other Notes

You do not need to provide visuals

There is no requirement for primary data to support your proposal. However you should make extensive use of found (secondary) data which must be fully referenced using the Harvard system.

Live Nation will provide you with a dedicated web site including ticket purchasing, you do not need to account for this cost.

You should use a report style format, including an executive summary. You do not need to include numbering or an index. Avoid headings like “Main Body”.

You should apply (not explain!) appropriate marketing theories within your plan. You will want to refer to the materials covered at Level 4 in Principles of Marketing to support your plan.

Note that only 20% of the marks are allocated to your background/ scene setting/discussion of the competitive environment so do not spend too much time in this area. Rather, focus on the marketing aspect of your plan. If you don’t know what this means, ask!

Ticket resellers are NOT competitors. Be sure to attend and ask questions in the session on competition.

Finally, the aim of this exercise is NOT to make the maximum profit. Do not focus on this…the aim is to provide a reasoned a logical plan that sells a clearly defined event using clearly defined methods to a clearly defined target audience.

Don’t forget, you can and should prepare the majority of your plan in class. We will be allocating time each week to preparation, and this is your opportunity to ask your tutor for guidance. Tutors will not be able to review your plan, or give you help outside of the classroom.