AMS sustainability fund marketing plan
Creators: name: Chan, Stephanie
name: Kazi, Ashar
name: Kim, Sarah
name: Ko, Ivy
name: Lee, Mandy
name: Salimoff, Salim
Publisher: name: The University of British Columbia
Year: 2012

description: The Alma Mater Society (AMS) of the University of British Columbia (UBC) prides itself upon being one of the largest student unions in Canada. The AMS distinctly recognizes itself as a separate entity from UBC Administration and proudly presents itself as an independent decision maker in regards to student-related issues. With sincere efforts to establish UBC as a leader in sustainable practices, both entities take measures in their own separate capacities to increase awareness, develop sustainability-oriented programs, and implement sustainability initiatives. Confining our discussion to the AMS as an organization, it should be noted that the AMS has ownership of several operational businesses and the AMS finances a number of initiatives that deal with specific causes. The specific initiative being considered for this marketing plan falls under the responsibility of the AMS Sustainability Office and has been logically referred to as the AMS Sustainability Fund. This marketing plan is geared towards increasing awareness of this Fund and eventually giving rise to a student movement that revolves around creative thinking and innovative student engagement in regards to sustainability on campus. This document will first outline the general classification of this Fund while defining the category under which it falls. Then, a comprehensive analysis of the environmental factors affecting the Fund will follow. It should be noted that since this Fund is not a conventional consumption product, the situation analysis and discussion of environmental factors will comprise of a specific framework which is carefully designed to mention only the most relevant external factors. The situation analysis will seek to briefly describe fund providers and fund users before discussing the environmental factors at play in the “World at Large.” A “Student Society Analysis” will be provided to better understand the AMS and its different functions. Next, a key deliverable of this project will present itself in the form of target market identification. This section is systematically divided into several parts that elaborate on each identified segment of our primary target audience. In the same section, a brief description of our secondary target audience is also provided along with explanations of how the secondary audience is fundamentally different from the primary audience. Having executed in-depth interviews with students who are keen on instigating sustainability initiatives, there are several suggestions brought forward through these interviews for the purposes of enhancing the quality and completeness of this marketing report. The main recommendations of the Marketing Team will be listed alongside descriptions of specific strategies and the underlying tactics. The three strategies mentioned in the final section include: “Get-the-ball-rolling,” “Drip Marketing,” and "Affiliate Marketing”. Each of these strategies have distinct purposes: The first strategy, given its name, focuses on the ways in which the AMS Sustainability Fund can be advertised through primarily unconventional methods that initiate an immediate increase in awareness of the Fund. The strategy of “Drip Marketing” elaborates on how this Fund can provide information to its audience on periodic intervals through different channels. The third strategy of “Affiliate Marketing” relates to the opportunities available to the Fund for cross-promotions and collaboration with different initiatives on campus. The recommendations conclude with a brief discussion of long term goals for the AMS Sustainability Fund. Lastly, this document will outline the limitations of the project. The Marketing Team had to work with several obstacles and the findings were subject to certain restrictions. These matters are brought to the attention of the reader before the closure of this report. All financial aspects of the recommendations are considered and provided along with the specific tactics. This document has pursued the incorporation of many visual and graphical elements that are demonstrated in the appendices; the references used in this document may consist of previous research, in-class lectures, and scholarly articles.[Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”]