Resources / Ripples & Wipeouts

This blog entry, by Kate Boardman Hall, is the second in our series about Global Partnership for Afghanistan.

Bonnie’s marketing class met for the second time this week. Our sense of identity as a real consulting team was realized as we divvied up the first set of tasks for the creation of a marketing strategy for our client, Global Partnership for Afghanistan (GPFA).  Our class is now divided into two teams (not competitors) each charged with the responsibility of developing either a Marketing Audit or Landscape Analysis, both of which are essential elements for our overall strategy and final deliverable. 

The marketing audit group, which will ultimately be divided again into two subgroups, will work to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the organization.  One guiding question for the audit is: “What is our client’s competitive advantage?” The landscape analysis is an examination of the external environment, i.e. “How is our client positioned in the marketplace?” We were assigned to a group based on our individual strengths.  For example, one student has especially strong research skills so she will be a great asset to the landscape analysis group.  As a team with a diverse set of complimentary strengths, we are well suited to take on the task ahead of us.

We are looking forward to meeting with the client next week, for whom we developed a list of questions.  We had to remind ourselves to create questions that are open-ended, but also formulated in such a way that we will use our time efficiently.  If for example, we could find an answer from the GPFA materials we already have, it would not be worth using the client’s time to ask a question about that topic.  We hope to gather information about GPFA’s goals, target audiences, and competition.  We think that this conversation with GPFA leaders will significantly inform our approach for the semester’s project. Check back next week to hear how it went!

--Kate Boardman Hall