COM3708 Assignment 1 (PORTFOLIO DETAILED ANSWERS) Semester 1 2025 - DISTINCTION GUARANTEED

COM3708 Assignment 1 (PORTFOLIO DETAILED ANSWERS) Semester 1 2025 - DISTINCTION GUARANTEED - DISTINCTION GUARANTEED - DISTINCTION GUARANTEED Answers, guidelines, workings and references .... PHASE 1: ASSESS Outcome of phase 1 A document should be produced that exhaustively details particulars of the audience assessment, the organisation's broader operations and objectives, the pertinent environmental conditions, historical and future considerations, as well as the details, perceptions, status and communication of the idea that forms the focus of the campaign. The document should include a complete situation analysis. Assessment of the relevant variables should be based on observation, informal research and investigation and, finally, formal research. To compile this document systematically, you should do the following: 1.1 Identify the communicator Study section 13.5.1.2 in the prescribed book and do the following: 1.1.1 Identify an organisation or organisations that you will approach with the proposal to plan a communication campaign. Write down the name of the organisation(s) and its (their) contact details. 1.1.2 Write a letter to the owner/manager/organiser of the organisation in which you explain that you would like to meet him/her to propose the planning of a communication campaign – also explain what the campaign will entail. Explain that persons concerned will be under no obligation to implement the campaign, and provide particulars of what the planning process will require. Remember, this first act of approaching the organisation is also an act of communication – convincing the organisation and its management that you can add value to the organisation (selling yourself and your expertise). Attach the letter as an appendix. Write a report covering the following: 1.1.3 What was your experience in approaching the organisation – did you experience it as positive or negative? 1.1.4 How did the organisation respond to your request? 1.1.5 You have to establish a working relationship with the organisation – what arrangements would you make? To whom would you report and who would be your contact person at the organisation? How often would you report back to the organisation? Write a brief report on how you established a working relationship with the organisation. 1.1.6 Identify who the communicator for the campaign would be. Would it be the organisation as a whole, a section of the organisation, etcor so forth? Substantiate your choice by explaining why the communicator has been designated. 14 1.2 Identify the target audience Study section 13.5.1.4 in the prescribed book, as well as the work you may have covered in the research modules. You will be required to do some formal research, while consulting textbooks on research methodology would be advisable (assuming you are not familiar with research methodology). Complete the following activities and report on each in the portfolio: 1.2.1 Formulate a brief problem statement for the research (remember that this should be a research problem statement – trying to collect the information to identify the real communication opportunities or problems). 1.2.2 Formulate at least three sub-problems. (a) Sub-problem 1: How would it contribute to solving the main problem? (b) Sub-problem 2: How would it contribute to solving the main problem? (c) Sub-problem 3: How would it contribute to solving the main problem? 1.2.3 Formulate one research question for each sub-problem. (a) Research question 1: (b) Research question 2: (c) Research question 3: 1.2.4 Identify the unit of analysis. 1.2.5 Identify the population(s) for the study. 1.2.6 Describe the sampling procedure(s) that has (have) been applied. 1.2.7 Identify the specific methodology that you would apply and describe how you developed your measuring instrument. 1.2.8 Report your results in full. 1.2.9 Explain how you made provision for audience segmentation in terms of demographics (at least) and other variables in your research (e.g. by including these variables as part of a questionnaire). COM3708/101/3/2024 15 1.2.10 Explain what you learned from the research exercise by answering the following questions: (a) Explain what you discovered about the organisation. (b) To what extent could you predict the results? (c) In your estimation, was the research worthwhile? (d) Explain how the research could influence the way you plan your campaign. COMPLETING PHASE 1.2 1.2 Identify the target audience For this phase you will be required to conduct formal research on the target audience. It is therefore recommended that you consult the work you may have covered in the research modules. Read through section 13.5.1.4 in the prescribed book for guidelines on the information you need from the target audience of the prospective campaign. For example, you may want to demarcate the audience in terms of demographic, psychographic and sociographic definitions. As this is a communication campaign, it would be helpful to investigate the audience's current levels of awareness, perceptions, attitudes and opinions concerning the organisation with a view to formulating campaign objectives. The research involved will shed light on the relevant issues. 1.2.1 Formulate a proper research problem statement Your problem statement needs to be sufficiently informative to serve as a platform from which to plan the campaign. You need to discover why people do not support the organisation or contribute to its activities. Are people aware of the organisation, and if so, to what extent do they understand the organisation's work? Do they regard it as a worthwhile cause? Do they perceive the organisation to be credible – or do they think their donations are misused? How would they prefer to be informed or communicated with? What are their preferred media? What kind of feedback do they want if they donate? Should you not make provision for different audiences? Do not make the mistake of assuming that information will mobilise people. You need to do research to discover what people's needs and expectations, as well as their perceptions and attitudes are. You could formulate your problem statement as follows: "To establish potential supporter levels of awareness, as well as perceptions of, and attitudes towards the organisation and its cause." 16 In light of the above, your problem statement could be elucidated by including the following elements: • The method – for example, a survey • The time dimension – cross-sectional or longitudinal • The action to be taken – for example, an evaluation • The nature (methodology) – qualitative/quantitative • The issue – for example, potential supporter levels of awareness and perceptions of, and attitudes towards the organisation, as well as the reason for the organisation's existence Taking the above into consideration, a research problem statement could be formulated as follows: "A quantitative evaluation of potential supporter levels of awareness, as well as perceptions of, and attitudes towards the organisation, and the reason for the organisation's existence: a cross-sectional survey." This research step is vital in the planning stage of the campaign. When developing your problem statement or research problem, you need to remember that your research will provide you with information that will help you gain a better understanding of your target audience (e.g. familiarity with their attitudes and perceptions). Remember, the problem statement relates to your target audience and addresses how you are going to gather information from them that will help you with your communication campaign. 1.2.2 Formulate at least three sub-problems After developing the research problem statement you should formulate sub-problems, which should contribute to solving the main research problem by dividing the main problem into lesser researchable units. The following sub-problems could be formulated in light of the exemplary research problem provided above: 1. Establish potential donors' current levels of awareness of the organisation. 2. Establish potential donors' perceptions of the cause of the organisation and of the organisation itself. 3. Establish donors' attitudes towards the organisation's cause and towards the organisation itself. 4. Investigate potential donors' needs and expectations when contributing to the organisation. 5. Establish potential donors' media preferences and preferred ways of contact and feedback. COM3708/101/3/2024 17 REMEMBER: YOU NEED TO FORMULATE ONLY THREE SUB-PROBLEMS. 1.2.3 Formulate one research question for each sub-problem. The purpose of the research question is to operationalise a sub-problem. If the sub-problem is: "Establish current levels of potential donors' awareness of the organisation", then the research question could be: "What are the current levels of awareness among the organisation's potential donors?" You need to formulate a research question for each sub-problem. 1.2.4 Identify the unit of analysis Page through the research study material for a definition of the unit of analysis, that is to say, the smallest elements investigated in the study. For example, if you are doing a survey or interviews, individuals will be your unit of analysis. 1.2.5 Identify the population(s) for the study It is important to define your population very carefully, as this will determine your sample and the procedure used to draw a sample. For a local charity or small business the population could be a neighbourhood, or the whole region – depending on how it is defined by the organisation. The population should not be too small – it must be an entity that will justify a campaign. It may be a good idea to differentiate between the target population and the accessible population. The target population is the population for which you want to generalise findings, while the accessible population includes all members to whom you have access. 1.2.6 Describe the sampling procedures applied You need to describe your sampling procedures in detail. How did you decide who to include and how did you actually do this? Make sure that the sampling method you selected corresponds with the procedures actually applied. Please study the issue of sampling in your study material for the research modules. Sampling is an important aspect of research because it will have an impact on the validity of the research. For example, you are welcome to make use of convenience sampling, but then your procedures must be consistent with the method. If you decide to do random sampling, then again you have to ensure that you comply with the requirements for randomness. 18 1.2.7 Identify the specific methodology you will apply and describe how you have developed the measuring instrument. You will most likely make use of one of the following two methodologies (however, you are not limited to these two): 1. Survey research (via the use of questionnaires) 2. Interviews If you use a questionnaire, add it as an addendum to your assignment. Similarly, if you make use of interviews, add all your discussion documents, transcripts and notes as an addendum. Your measuring instrument has to be aligned with the sub-problems you identified earlier. (You could even use the sub-problems as sections of the questionnaire or as an interview guide to ensure that you cover everything.) Look at the factual information you need to ascertain – for example, concerning perceptions, attitudes, awareness, preferences, etc. – and construct your measuring instrument accordingly. Remember, the information produced by this measuring instrument will have to form the basis of your campaign. 1.2.8 Report your results in full Results of survey research (via questionnaires) must be reported in full (e.g. how many responses were actually obtained?). Reporting could be done by means of frequency tables for all items in the questionnaire. We need to see if you interpreted your results correctly. An example of a frequency table is the following: Yes No Don’t know Question 3 35% 25% 40$ After you have transcribed/summarised your interviews you need to properly analyse your data and identify different themes that emerged from the interviews. These themes are then presented in a format (e.g. a table) that makes them accessible for purposes of planning the campaign. 1.2.9 Explain how you made provision for audience segmentation You are expected to indicate demographic characteristics (e.g. age, gender and socioeconomic status), specified as demographic (at least), psychographic and sociographic variables that should form part of your measuring instruments (e.g. by highlighting age, gender, etc. in your questionnaire), thus enabling differentiation of audiences targeted by your campaign and showing how to effect such differentiation targeted audiences. For example, in your research you could ask questions about age or gender in order to distinguish hypothetically between housewives and working women as a basis for estimating the time people have available to do volunteer work at the organisation. COM3708/101/3/2024 19 1.2.10 Explain what you have learned from the research exercise by completing the following: 1. Explain what you discovered about the organisation by doing research. 2. To what extent could you predict the results? 3. Why would you say it was worthwhile (or not) to do the research? 4. Explain how the research will influence the planning of your campaign. 1.3 Analyse the situation and identify campaign aims Besides audience research, a vital component of assessment for the planning of a communication campaign is the situation analysis. This means that you need to do a lot of observation and informal research to properly identify, analyse and describe the factors that could influence the functioning of the organisation in society. Study section 13.5.1.5 in the prescribed book and discuss the following factors as they apply to your organisation: 1.3.1 Give an historical review and forecast (10 to 15 lines). 1.3.2 Describe the social, political and economic environment and the impact on the organisation (at least two paragraphs) on each of these environments. 1.3.3 Describe the organisation's competitors. 1.3.4 Describe the organisation and its culture. (Remember to identify those factors that could influence the integration of the campaign.) 1.3.5 Identify three issues, based on the research results and situation analysis, which are relevant to the campaign (e.g. credibility, awareness and image). 1.3.6 Specify at least three broad general aims of the campaign. All the above should now be documented in a report describing phase 1 of the Interactive Model of Communication Campaigns. The document is simply a compilation of all the elements requested above. The compilation should be systematically filed and presented as a complete section of the assignment. 20 COMPLETING PHASE 1.3 1.3 Analyse the situation and identify campaign aims 1.3.1 Historical review and forecast A historical review and forecast should identify the following: • The evolution of the product/service/idea. • The reason for its present status. • Problems or opportunities that should be dealt with. The idea behind this exercise is to collect facts about the organisation and its functions that will offer insight into the origination. This will allow you to predict the course that the organisation will follow in the near future. 1.3.2 Social, political and economic environment Social environment Discuss the social context in which the organisation functions. (For example, explaining that the local community experiences high levels of unemployment and is in general very poor, with high incidences of drug abuse.) You also have to indicate what the impact of this is on the organisation. (For example, explaining that security at the premises of the organisation is compromised by the poor state of the community and high drug abuse levels, which forces the organisation to spend a lot of money on security services that could be put to better use.) Political environment Identify the political environment, as well as the political issues that may have an impact on the organisation. You could, for example, indicate that the community is dominated by a specific political party and that the organisation's management is associated with another political party; and therefore is not supported by the local municipality or community. You need to explain how the political environment influences the organisation or what its impact is on the organisation. Economic environment Identify the economic environment, as well as the economic issues that may have an impact on the organisation. For example, you could explain that, due to the poverty in the community, the local community is unable to support the organisation financially (but that it also means that people have time to do volunteer work at the organisation – which represents a potential area of growth for the organisation). COM3708/101/3/2024 21 1.3.3 Competitors The intention with this task is not only to identify direct competitors (that are the same/similar kinds of organisations in the same community or region), but also to cause you to look wider at the demands that are placed on the audiences that you have selected for the campaign. For example, if your aim is to increase financial contributions to the organisation, you have to look at the financial position of your target audience and the financial demands on them. Are you competing with the SPCA or with HIV/Aids clinics and other charities in the nearby environment? If the local community is very poor, it will not be advisable to try to increase financial contributions. You should rather concentrate on getting them to do volunteer work at the organisation. 1.3.4 Describe the organisation and its culture Describe the organisation and its culture in detail. In this exercise you should identify the elements that may impact on the planning of the campaign. For example, if you find that the physical premises of the organisation are untidy and decayed, this may have an impact on the campaign – insofar as you may steer away from, say, an open day as a showcase event. Or, you discovered that the receptionist of the organisation is rude and bossy and not at all friendly. You would have to plan for training in telephone etiquette and interpersonal skills to ensure that when the campaign is implemented, potential donors and contributors are not alienated by the receptionist. 1.3.5 Identify three communication issues based on the research results and situation analysis that are relevant to the campaign You should study the results obtained in section 1.2, as well as the findings from the situation analysis conducted in this phase, and look at problems that are identified – for example, you may have discovered that the organisation is not credible. The issue identified is then credibility and you will have to address credibility in the campaign. Discuss at least three related issues identified in the results. 1.3.6 Three broad general aims for the campaign General aims will assist in guiding the campaign in the right direction. The aims should be relevant and based on the research you have done and the situation analysis you completed. If you discovered that people do not know about the organisation, one of the aims can be to create awareness as a first phase of the campaign. For example, another aim can be to establish the credibility of the organisation (and its cause) as a second phase for the campaign. 2 PHASE 2: CREATE In the second phase, the campaign should be planned – based on the work that was done in the first phase. 2.1 Stipulate the communication problem or opportunity From the assessment document, the main communication problem or opportunity needs to be stated – as a communication objective. This statement should satisfy the question of why the campaign is necessary and what it would achieve. 22 Answer the following questions: 2.1.1 Formulate the main communication problem or opportunity for the organisation that you selected as the object for your campaign. 2.1.2 Why do you need to conduct this campaign? 2.1.3 What does the campaign aim to achieve? 2.2 Define strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis) As a precursor to the SWOT analysis, the following information must be extracted from the research document: 2.2.1 What information is obtained about the audience? Describe at least three audience characteristics that are relevant to the campaign – as discussed in activity 10.7 of the study guide. 2.2.2 Define the needs of the audience. 2.2.3 Based on the above, provide a summary of the following: (a) Strengths (b) Weaknesses (c) Opportunities (d) Threats (e) Problems