Time table:

February 18 (by 11:59PM)

Identify the specific brand and category of the product/category that your group wants to follow. It is preferable that this brand has been around in the market for at least 5 years so that you have significant information available online about the history and performance over the years. For example, you cannot just say Pepsi Co., you need to specify that your chosen brand would be Aquafina, from the purified water product category. This will focus your data collection and making the connections that you need to make to consumer behavior concepts. Submit TWO choices with the order of preference and I will assign one of the two to your group. You will have to submit this via Canvas (look for the drop box named “Product choice”). Only one member in every group needs to submit on behalf of the group. Just giving me the names of the brand and the company are enough. For example, it is enough to say:

Group # ____, Members (name, name, name)

Choice 1 – Aquafina by Pepsi Co.

Choice 2 – BiC Mechanical pencils by MMXI Bic Inc.

You will get a reply from me via Canvas on by February 20 with the final assignment of the brand. You will work ONLY on that one brand that is assigned to your group.

Feb 21- March 31

This is the most important time that you will be working on your project. If you let this slide, it will be difficult to catch up.

1. Your team will scour the news and tap into personal experiences to relate your specific brand to all the concepts we have discussed so far/and are discussing currently in the class. You may want to ignore some introductory topics in Chapter 1 as they may be too generic to apply. And you will have to be choosy with the actual concepts that truly apply. Only some concepts/terms will apply and you will need to provide evidence from literature to support your claim.
2. You will have to also have to tell me why the connections that you made are important to the study of Consumer Behavior. You can add advertisements (print or video) to illustrate these connections. It will augment your arguments.
3. Your group should collaborate through Canvas or Google docs or some such sharing mechanism in order to keep a running tab of all contributions, connections, and observations.

April 1-15

Start writing your group report on all your observations. Your written report needs to be at least 15 pages long with the following sections.

1. Brand and product category chosen and why that specific one (1 to 2 paras)
2. History of the company and brand in particular (2 pages max)
3. CB terms/concepts that relate to your brand and how and why (1 page for every concept with evidence, APA style in-text citations)
4. Observations, conclusions (2 pages min, 4 pages max)
5. Appendices (in addition to the 15 pages)
6. References (in addition to the 15 pages)
7. Double spaced (or at least 1.5)
8. I HAVE DISTRIBUTED A SAMPLE PROJECT. TRY TO DO BETTER THAN THE SAMPLE (no pressure!).

April 15-25

Work on your PPT presentation slides in class with your group. You will need to have at least one lap-top per group. Last 15 minutes in every class session will be group time.

April 19, 23, 26

30 Minute presentation per group (2-3 groups in one day). 15 minutes for presentation and 10 min QA. Every member has to present.

Attendance is mandatory on both days. Unless prearranged, absences will be penalized at my discretion. If you are sick, I need to see a doctor’s note.

Business casual clothing for the groups presenting.

Order of presentations determined by lottery in class sometime in March.

April 30

Written report due via Canvas by 11:59 pm. Only group member needs to submit it.

360-degree group member evaluations due via Canvas. Every student submits the evaluation via Canvas.