Marketing Simulation: A Learning Experience

During the past few weeks, our course transitioned into the Simulation phase. We are working with Interpretive Simulations, which is an online simulation website geared to help students use active learning about business problems. This is the first time I have extensively used a simulation for a course, so it definitely has its challenges. We are put into teams of half Marketing majors, and half Marketing Communications/Advertising majors to bring different perspectives and thought processes together. My team members and I have created one marketing plan so far, and have advanced our simulation through two periods. Although we have been actively working hard to grasp the way this simulation works, we are still facing challenges.

The biggest challenge of this simulation, in my opinion, is all of the financials. As a Marketing Communications/Advertising major, I prefer and understand the more creative end of a marketing campaign. This simulation challenges me because I have to base the campaign off of the company's financial standpoint. Although it is difficult to grasp, it is definitely a useful skill to have as I am close to entering the marketing field upon graduation. It is important to understand where the financial resources are that support marketing efforts. A particular concept from the simulation is the Contribution after Marketing, which is something that I had not heard of prior to this experience. This contribution can give you an idea of how sales are affected after marketing strategies are implemented. The goal is that marketing will help increase sales and drive volume.

The simulation and marketing plan require us to also determine our strategy and tactics. As a Marketing Comm. major, I immediately think of generating brand awareness, strengthening brand image, etc. However, for this simulation we need to think more concretely, about measurable goals. For instance, instead of saying "increase profits as a result of marketing campaign", you would have to say, "increase sales revenue by x percent..." etc. Using the SMART objectives, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely (there are also some other variations of this acronym), you can ensure that your proposed goals are able to be achieved and properly implemented/examined.

An additional challenge our group has faced while working with the simulation is entering our own decisions. Each period, we advance the simulation by making various decisions that are based off of our objectives. These decisions are aimed at helping the Allround brand (our simulation company name) succeed in the marketplace. Each time we advance the simulation, our decisions will impact company performance. Again, this can be challenging because we are dealing with all numbers here. Instead of thinking of how to improve brand equity, we are trying to improve brand performance based off of financial decisions.

Overall, working with the simulation has been tough so far. I think the biggest challenge for me personally, is the unfamiliarity of it. Hopefully, in time I will get the hang of it through working with my group each period advancing the simulation. It is interesting to see how big of an impact financials play on marketing strategy. It's not all about the creative aspect, that's for sure.