PM FPX 4010 Assessment 1

Project Charter

Project Title: New Marketing Strategy for Cosmo Inc.

Project Start Date: July 8, 2021

Projected Finish Date: January 7, 2022

Budget Information: $150,000

Project Manager: Daniel Blandford

PM FPX 4010 Assessment 1:Business Need

Cosmo Inc. is a market leader in the development and distribution of wearable technology. Apart from its main products, the company also markets products pertaining to fitness coaching, nutritional coaching, and lifestyle advising. A recent senior leadership marketing study has revealed that heightened competition could harm future profitability. In this context, CEO and President Harold Living has underscored the imperative of creating a new marketing campaign in order to maintain the current 33% market share and enhance future sales. The proposed project for this new marketing campaign needs to be conducted within a 10-week timeframe and also within $150,000. 

Project Objective

The project scope involves the production of a smart brain-sensing headband designed to create immense consumer demand. The headband will be sold within a period of six months and should deliver the following milestones:

• A consumer device brain-sensing headband designed to take over other consumer devices.
• An affordable brain-sensing headband targeted at consumers earning more than $75,000 per year.
• A fashionable and comfortable wear product.
• An all-brain-sensing headband that contributes 25% to production.
• An all-brain-sensing headband that contributes 20% to customers.
• An all-brain-sensing headband that outsells any other competitor.

Besides this, the project aims to introduce a new wearable product to complement and reinforce current Cosmo products, for instance, on fitness coaching, nutrition coaching, and lifestyle advisory. 

Approach

The project will be managed according to the standards set by the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). It will be structured into the standard PMBOK phases: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and control, and closure. The initiation phase will seek to create a project charter approving funding and specifying the project as a response to business needs. In the planning stage, there will be a project management plan that will outline execution strategies, team roles, and the project schedule. The project sponsor will need to approve the plan prior to finalization. The project deliverables will be created in the execution stage. The monitoring and control stage will provide conformance to the project management plan, e.g., tracking of schedule, cost, and scope. Finally, the project will be officially closed, capturing lessons learned (Project Management Institute, 2017).

Assumptions

The most crucial assumptions for the Cosmo project are:

• The availability of significant team members for the six-month period.
• The key capabilities of these vital members in key skills and performances.
• Abundant finances provided to be able to achieve the project by time and scope.
• Rightness of marketing strategy and targeting the right segments of target customers (PM Tips, 2019).

Constraints

The primary limitations of the Cosmo project are

• A tight 10-week timeframe for the development, testing, and launch of the brain-sensing headband.
• Quality control concerns, given the novelty of the technology. Creating a high-quality, stable, and better-than-competing headband is imperative.
• Budgetary constraints necessitating accurate estimates and being within financial limits to ensure the quality of the product.
• Time and budget constraints that can affect the project when time or budget is exhausted.

Dependencies

Headband development that detects the brain involves the following dependencies:

• Extensive market research for features that the customer desires.
• Availability of technology and skilled human resources to implement these features on the headband.
• Aggressive testing for quality, scope, and cost, with monitored results impacting quality, scope, and cost.
• Successful marketing and target audience identification, relying on a successful marketing department with expertise in social media and data analysis to achieve a 20% increase in the customer base.

Initial Risk Factors

The implementation of new technology inevitably carries some risk, including:

• The simplicity of use of the device.
• The reliability and consistency of its operation.
• Compatibility with a broad range of devices produced by several manufacturers.
• Cost-effectiveness, to be cost-effective enough for customers that make over $75,000 without pricing prospective buyers out on expense. 

Project Scope Overview

Cosmo Inc. is a market leader in the distribution, sales, and creation of wearable technology, including lifestyle advising, nutritional advising, and fitness coaching solutions. Heightened competition was perceived as a threat by new market patterns. To sustain 33% market share and achieve growth, CEO and President Harold Living has determined that a new marketing strategy is essential. The new policy will incorporate technology trends into the existing marketing framework.

Project Scope Description

Due to the marketing analysis, a new marketing campaign must be developed and executed. The scope of the campaign entails a 25% increase in the production of wearable technology and a 20% increase in customers. Achieving the 20% growth mandates the segmentation of customers by age, demographics, income, education, and technology. The campaign will be employing currently available technologies, i.e., data analysis and social media, to acquire new customers. The ultimate goal is to make Cosmo Inc. one of the leading competitors in wearable technologies.

The scope of the project entails deliverables, the life cycle of the project, data collection methods, and data sources:

New Marketing Strategy

10 weeks

Sales levels and customer base levels

• Data Sources: Performance Reports
• Data Collection Organizations: Information Technology, Customer Service, Marketing, Finance

Acceptance Criteria

Acceptance criteria of the new product marketing plan include the successful launching of the new product to a representative population of people. Effective implementation of the marketing plan requires careful coordination and supervision. The feedback from customers and sales levels would be carefully monitored to make sure that the objectives are attained, with sales levels forecasted to improve steadily according to marketing activity.

Deliverables

The first deliverable is the new product. Following production and testing, there will be the marketing campaign launch. The second deliverable is a 25% increase in sales within 12 months, then a 20% increase in the customer base. The third deliverable is making Cosmo Inc. a strong competitor in the wearables technology sector. Deliverables of the marketing strategy project interact with one another to yield overall successful outcomes.

The marketing team will develop a plan to boost sales by 25% and customers by 20%. Such a plan must consider age, demographics, income, education level, and technology, including recent trends in internet use, digital services, data, analytics, and mobile technology.

The customer support staff will be in charge of establishing support services for the new product, ensuring they know its unique features to establish an effective support program. Because the brain-sensing headband is advanced technology, it is important that customer support staff are properly trained in its specifics.