May 7th, 2020 
You are seeking a job at leading research group MBA:Foresights.
They have asked you to demonstrate your skills and abilities in marketing by looking at the main issues firms need to take into account when building their brand(s) and also crafting their marketing communications strategies. They want to see how you can find leading-edge academic thinking on the subjects and how you can, from this research, craft clear and logical proposals for how firms can build branding strategies and communications strategies.
Specifically they would like to have guidance from you on:
1. How they should approach drafting a well-integrated marketing communications plan using both top-down and bottom-up approaches.
2. Why getting customers engaged with a firms brands in a media channel saturated world of hyper-connectivity, and complexity will help them to grow their business.
To get you going on this your kindly Marketing Professor,X, has provided you with four core readings from which you can develop your thoughts and thinking. These are:
Batra, R and Keller, K L, (2106), Integrating Marketing Communications: New Findings, New Lessons, and New Ideas, Journal of Marketing, 80 (November), 6, 122 – 145.
Hewett, K, Rand, W and Rust R T, (2016), Brand Buzz in the Echoverse, Journal of Marketing, 80 (May), 3, 1 – 24.
Keller, K L, (2020), Consumer Research Insights on Brands and Branding: A JCR Curation, Journal of Consumer Research, February, 46, 5, 995 – 1001.
Swaminathan, V, Sorescu, A, Steenkamp, J-B E M, OGuinn, T C B & Schmitt, B, (2020), Branding in a Hyperconnected World: Refocusing Theories and Rethinking Boundaries, Journal of Marketing, March, 84, 2, 24 – 46.
Your word limit is 3,000 words excluding Executive Summary, charts, tables, figures, appendices and references.
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