THE CREATION OF A MARKETING PLAN THROUGH SERIOUS GAMING: A JEANS BRAND EXPERIENCE IN THE UFV

One of the main challenges facing university education programs at the UFV (Universidad Francisco de Vitoria), and especially in the area of marketing, is to allow students to develop a comprehensive set of skills and knowledge that allow them to obtain excellent professional results in the future, as marketing managers of companies. At the same time, they must develop solid human values, as well as personal skills that allow them to change society. The business games (serious games and simulators) respond to these needs: they are transversal, practical, and innovative.

In these paper we summarize the experience and results obtained by students of 4th year of Business and Marketing degree learning to create a Marketing Plan through serious gaming, as a teaching innovation initiative of the Business Simulation Center (CSE) of the Business Area (Business Administration (ADE) and Marketing (MKT)) of the Francisco de Vitoria University.

Objective:
The main objective of this innovative education experience is to help students to develop a set of competences very much related with marketing planning as:
(1) to know and take advantage of the synergy of the marketing plan in the general strategy of the company, as well as the fulfillment of the objectives of the same;
(2) analyze the environment in which the company moves, obtaining relevant information useful for the development of business strategies;
(3) prepare and present a Marketing Plan for a specific product;
(4) have a global vision of the business and all aspects that affect it, adopting a leadership position in its development;
(5) Enjoy a strategic vision of the situation of the company and the environment, which facilitates decision making with less risk.

The Process:
In order to get the previous objectives, UFV students have been working in groups with a marketing simulator called ‘MyMarketingExperience’ Developed by Pearson in the subject of Marketing Plan. UFV students act as the marketing department of a jeans brand. Played in eight rounds, students make strategic decisions and tactical actions based on their analysis, objectives, segmentation and targeting strategy, combined with the 7 Ps of marketing (Positioning & Branding, Promotion & Price, Place, People & Process and Physical Environment). Every round includes a basic decision set as well as an in depth focus on one of the 7 Ps. additionally, students have to respond to changing market conditions, news events and influences from competitors.

Outcome of the simulation:
When the simulation has ended, students received their automatically generated marketing plan based on all the strategic decisions they have taken in all previous rounds. This marketing plan can be marked by the lecturer

The students presented their marketing plan to a group of professors from the Marketing department who evaluated the development achieved in each of the competences previously mentioned in this document. They also self-evaluated the development of the same competencies that they had achieved, as well as the level of utility and satisfaction obtained with the simulator. The experience and results will be explained in detail in the final article.