TASK 1A: UNDERSTANDING YOUR CONSUMERS AND COMPETITORS FOR TARGETED AUSTRALIAN MIDDLE-AGED WORKING MEN AND WOMEN WITH ADULT KIDS

WORD COUNT AT LEAST 1300

4 Page document (excludes reference list and appendix)

In the MKTG5001 unit of study we refer to this stage as “Where are we Now?”

In this individual task students are allocated a customer segment (Australian middle-aged working men and women with adult kids) and a client company see below allocated groups and client company/brand.

Your customer segment is specified as follows:

Resident of Australia.

Middle aged men and women.

Aged between 50-59 years of age.

No longer young, but not yet old.

Still in paid employment.

They typically have adult children aged 20+ who may or may not have left home.

They likely have elderly parents who are still alive.

Some starter materials are provided below. To be clear, these materials are just to get you started… you will be required to do your own further research. You absolutely must consider a broader arrange of references than the examples provided above if you wish to succeed in this course:

1. “Brace yourself: over 50% of young Australian adults still live with their parents.” by Roger Wilkins and Esperanza Vera-Toscana July 8, 2020.  (Links to an external site.)

https://mumlyfe.com.au/still-live-with-parents/ (Links to an external site.)

2. “Midlife: Midlife crisis.” by Psychology Today 2022.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/basics/mid-life (Links to an external site.)

3. “The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey: Selected Findings from Waves 1 to 19.” by Roger Wilkins, Esperanza Vera-Toscana, Ferdi Botha and Sarah C. Dahmann 2021.

https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/__data/a… to an external site.

4. “The rise of the ‘Kidult’.” by McCrindle 2022.

https://mccrindle.com.au/insights/blog/the-rise-of… (Links to an external site.)

5. “Adult ‘kids’ living with parents over-estimate when welcome mat will wear out.” by Rebecca Le May December 1, 2020

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/home/adult-kids-… (Links to an external site.)

6. “Young people living with their parents.” by AIFS May 2019

https://aifs.gov.au/research/facts-and-figures/you… (Links to an external site.)

7. “Relationships with ageing parents.” by Relationships Australia January 24, 2019

https://relationships.org.au/document/november-201… (Links to an external site.)

8. “The sandwich generation phenomenon is taking its toll.” by Australian Seniors November 12, 2020

https://www.seniors.com.au/home-contents-insurance… (Links to an external site.)

See below for your allocated groups and client company/brand

Your job is to demonstrate a deep empathetic understanding of the consumers in your segment; as well as conduct a thorough competitive analysis of the other businesses and brands who seek to fulfil the same customer needs and deliver this in a 4 page document (excluding references and appendix).

The consumer and competitive analyses will be critical in helping you to identify new ways for your client to better satisfy consumer needs in your future Task 2a and 2b (see Overview of MKTG5001 Assessments for links between practical assessments). So, the outcome of task 1A is to develop a solid understanding of the targeted customer and competitors that cater for the needs of this segment.

You have been allocated Australian middle-aged working men and women with adult kids as your target segment and client company (as announced in tutorials week 3) and deliver the following.

An in-depth customer analysis that includes the kinds of understanding addressed in the Empathy Map Tool that you have used thus far:

oRemember the goal of this exercise is to “understand” our customers as real people with wider lives, hopes, fears, and human needs (customers are not just demographics and numbers).

oThe empathy map is a key tool to help you think through the issues that allow for deeper customer understandings that you will explain in your assignment. You should attach your empathy map as an APPENDIX (Note: appendices are not included in page/word count).

oThe day in the life map is a key tool to help you think about what the customer sees, thinks and feels, hears and says and does at different points in their day. It gives you clarity on the role your brand plays in the life of the customer. It also informs you from a marketing perspective as to how, when and where to best communicate with your customer about your brand. You should also attach your day in the life map as an APPENDIX (Note: appendices are not included in page/ word count).

oYou may like to have a look at the a customer profile we have already shared. Click here.

Thorough competitor analysis. This is an important step because we want to know how our client’s product offering compares to that of competitors. Such comparison should be done through a values lens. In this context you may consider product features, service elements, advertising, sales promotions, approaches to distribution, brand awareness, brand imagery and price etc. The critical idea to keep in mind is to think about the competitors that also appeal to the specific needs of your segment i.e. Australian middle-aged working men and women with adult kids. You should attach your competitor matrix as an APPENDIX (Note: appendices are not included in page/ word count).

Remember that this competitive analysis must be viewed through the eyes of your targeted customers – Australian middle-aged working men and women with adult kids. For example, your customer segments will have specific needs and preferences that vary from other customer segments. This means that your targeted customers may emphasise specific product features that are not so important to other segments. Note: then that you need to understand your customers before you can do your competitive analysis.

Administrative Guidelines:
Individual reports must be no more than 4 pages in length in size 12 font, 1.5 line spacing. Please note the four pages excludes your reference list and appendices.

You must include your empathy map, day in the life and competitor matrix as appendices. We will be looking to see how you have USED the empathy map and day in the life map to develop your customer profile and your competitor matrix to compare your brand to competing offers in the market place.

Students must individually upload assignments to the appropriate folder in Turnitin (see link under Assignments on Canvas).