Your assignment is to pick an established (that is, an existing) product or service that you feel
addresses one of the core needs proposed by Maslow mentioned in the chapter on Consumer
Motivation and Personality. How does the product or service’s marketing communications reflect that
it addresses the need? Or does it not even mention it? Whom does the product appear to be targeting?
Why do you think that’s a good/bad idea?
Then pick another need that you think this same product/service also addresses and provide a specific
example of how the company could position its product/service to communicate the idea that the
product/service addresses this need (e.g., via packaging, promotion, placement in particular stores,
etc.). Also discuss whether the original positioning for the first need and your newly-proposed
positioning based on the second need addresses the same consumer segment or a different consumer
segment(s).
The focus of this assignment is on your ability to understand how products and services satisfy our
needs can be positioned differently depending on which need is emphasized and/or whom we want to
target. A great write-up will include ideas from STP (Segmentation, targeting, and positioning) and the 4Ps (product, price, place, and promotion) so that you can convey you
understand how to apply these concepts in the real world, as well as content pertaining to needs,
motivation, and motives.
Your write-up should consist of no more than five-pages double-spaced. Be sure to address all of the
questions above and, whenever possible, to support your suggestions and claims with reasons and/or
research (this support can be cited and will not count in the page limit). That is, don’t just give an idea
and not explain why you believe in that idea.
Learning Goal: My learning goal for you for this assignment is to review the foundational marketing
concepts of STP, the 4Ps, as well as to understand how fundamental human needs often form the root
of a marketing campaign. This assignment gives you the opportunity to demonstrate an understanding
of how these ideas fit together, and like all the assignments in this class, is wide open – meaning you
have the creative freedom to choose just about any product or any service you want. So choose
something interesting to you – that will make the assignment more fun – and do your best to illustrate
to me that you can apply these concepts to the selected example.
