Explanation of Collaborative Activity Research Paper

Introduction

In developing a collaborative activity, it is necessary to do so in a way that encourages creativity, cooperation and above all accuracy in the content provided. This online collaborative activity focuses on students who are part of advertising courses and will be designed as a means of introducing them to the world of online advertising.

It is through this activity that students will learn to work together in teams in order to create a viable online advertising campaign through a variety of free online tools such as free website makers, free online advertising campaigns as well as a variety of other such methods of online promotion.

It is expected that by the end of this activity students will come to realize the importance of combining ideas, collaboration as well as the importance of teamwork in creating an advertising campaign.

Activity Synopsis – (Introduction to activity that students will see)

Within the past 10 years, as the internet and online digital media have become one of the largest and most prevalent platforms of advertising and product sales to date, it has become increasingly apparent that for any company looking to expand its market share it has to be able to appeal to online consumers groups (Gould, 2004).

As a team of new hires (hypothetical) it is your responsibility to develop an online advertising campaign for your company in order to promote it through a variety of advertising channels in a way that is free yet is able to potentially reach thousands of people.

This consists of developing a method of advertising that is not only in conjunction with the latest social media trends and sites but is also able to act as stand-alone platforms that can entice customers to purchase particular items and services (Stockwood, 2008).

Such platforms of advertising can consist of interactive websites (i.e. websites with games), online viral advertising campaigns (YouTube videos, Facebook, Twitter etc.), banner ads and a variety of other processes and projects. It is based on this that the brand objective of this particular project is to create a sufficiently enticing online presence that it would result in greater interest in the company’s product (Thornton, 2002).

For the purpose of this particular project the brand that will be focused on is (student’s choice) that focuses on young children

The objectives of this project are as follows

Create an online social media presence for (your choice) Brand in order to achieve a sufficient degree of “hype” and social media awareness of what the brand can offer in terms of educational experiences for children (i.e. toys that actually teach them something) as well as special offers, limited time discounts and promotions that are only available via being a “friend” or “follower” on any one of the social media accounts that you will create for the brand (Collins & Schumacher, 2005).

Develop a customer oriented online sharing platform (i.e. a forum) where parents can share their stories regarding their experiences with the Thomas the Train Engine brand via uploading stories, videos and a variety of other customer created content (in order to promote this particular platform special competitions will be held with cash incentives for the most insightful and interesting uploaded content by a user).

Develop a sufficient online advertising strategy that takes advantage of not only traditional methods of online advertising (i.e. banner ads) but also the creation of a viral advertising campaign to help penetrate new markets as a result of the company’s unique approach to promoting the brand.

Create a simple yet effective online E-commerce platform that is connected to the various advertising campaigns and applications via hyperlinks in order to take users of such applications to the E-commerce site in order to introduce them to the various (your brand) merchandise they can avail of.

Learning Activity

In this online collaborative learning activity students will be evaluated based on the quality and overall effectiveness of their advertising campaign. Methods of creating this activity will proceed as follows:

1. Introducing students to a variety of free online tools they can use in order to create their advertising campaign
2. Creating an appropriate timeframe for the completion of the project
3. Setting limitations involving the number of people per group and the type of branding campaigns that are appropriate
4. Providing students with an overview of established strategies involving social media and online advertising
5. Separating students into groups of three
6. Setting up a bi-weekly presentation schedule so that students can report on the progress of their advertising campaign
7. Creation of a final presentation of the overall setup they have created

Scoring Plan

The scoring rubric in this particular case will evaluate the students based on the following criteria

Potential effectiveness of chosen online advertising strategy

1. Overall appearance of website
2. Degree of cooperation
3. Variety of online tools utilized
4. Effectiveness of individual members during the presentation

Within an actual setting the rubric will consist of the following:

Were the students able to prove that all members collaborated during the creation of the advertising campaign?

1. Yes
2. No

How effective was the advertising campaign in terms of the various tools and methods utilized?

1. Exemplary
2. Satisfactory
3. Vague
4. Terrible

Was the overall campaign creative and imaginative or did it lack sufficient enough flare?

1. Yes
2. No

In each presentation, were all members able to show that they were capable individuals and that they were able to properly and succinctly present the parts they worked on?

1. Yes
2. No

Did the presentation and the online advertising campaign sufficiently address the course requirements?

1. Yes
2. No

Reflection

Explanation of the Scoring Plan

The main purpose of the scoring plan was to evaluate the visual impact of the advertising campaign, its operational effectiveness and most important of all, the level by which the students were able to cooperate in its creation.

This is the primary reason why the bi-weekly presentations are necessary since by having each individual member explain their parts and what they did, it will be easy to determine the level of cooperation of the entire group. It is based on this that the selected criteria had been devised in order to examine such factors and create a succinct output regarding the overall effectiveness of the online collaborative activity.

Rationale for Course Goals

Overall, the main purpose of this particular activity was to encourage collaborative action among students in what amounts to a real world setting. By introducing them to the concept of collaboration as well as social media, this creates the necessary mindset they will need when it comes to attempting similar activities when they enter into workplace environments.

Reference List

Collins, S., & Schumacher, J. (2005). Unleashing the Partnership Advertising Opportunity. CRM Magazine, 9(10), 56.

Gould, D. (2004). Leading the Lead Generation Challenge with Online Advertising. Franchising World, 36(10), 20.

Stockwood, J. (2008). Modern romance. Brand Strategy, (227), 14.

Thornton, R. (2002). Electronic Advertising: Examinations and Implications. Journal Of Promotion Management, 9(1/2), 57.