Get+a+Plan,+Stan!

You've been learning about the planning process for products and how companies use the process to improve existing products or create new products to meet the wants and needs of their customers. For this project, your team's assignment is to revolutionize the basketball. Working with your team, you will brainstorm and create a product planning cycle to make an improvement to the ball. Use the process posted on the Product/Service Management lesson page of the Wikispace. You will post your findings on your project page. Planning cycles will be due by the end of class on Thursday and you will share your product improvement ideas with the class on Friday. Advertisements and final projects will be due after we return from spring break.

1. Your first step is to review this list of inputs. What do customers want in a basketball? What information do the sales people provide? Study all of the input information provided. Based on this information, what kind of improvements could your team make to the basketball that would revolutionize the ball? 2. Your second step is to watch this video on how basketballs are made. 3. Next, conduct some additional research with your team. What other ideas did your brainstorm through this process?

You will need to brainstorm two or three ideas. Once you have chosen your product idea, your team will complete your team page with all of your information (see below) and create an advertisement to market your new basketball. Advertisements should be created in either Google Presentation, Google Draw, or another Web 2.0 tool and must be saved as .JPG files (teacher will show you how to do this). These files will then be uploaded to your team page on the Wikispace. Make certain that you incorporate an effective layout in your advertisement.

**To assist you in creating an effective advertisement:**
Help on crafting a successful print ad HERE Examples of successful ads HERE

Your team page will have 4 headings: 1. Input: Under this heading summarize what you learned from the input you received. Include the information you researched about basketballs (who the major manufacturers are and what materials the ball is made of). 2. Product Ideas: Under this heading you will list 2-3 product improvement ideas (be creative!! think outside the box!). 3. Product Approved: Under this heading you will give a detailed report on your proposed improvement and why you chose that idea. What input did you receive that lead you to this idea? What is the improvement and what does it do? 4. Advertisement: Under this heading you will detail where you will market the new basketball. You will also need to upload your advertisement .JPG file here.


 * Here is a link to a past project to help your team set up your page.**

Your team will be graded using the rubric below. Remember to refer to this project page and the rubric often to help your team stay on target!
 * CATEGORY || 25 || 20 || 15 || 10 ||
 * Spelling and Grammar || Project Page has no misspellings or grammatical errors. || Project Page has 1-3 misspellings and/or grammatical errors. || Project Page has 4-6 misspellings and/or grammatical errors. || Project Page has more than 6 grammatical and/or spelling errors. ||
 * Originality || Content shows considerable originality and inventiveness. The content and ideas are presented in a unique and interesting way. || Content shows some originality and inventiveness. The content and ideas are presented in an interesting way. || Content shows an attempt at originality and inventiveness. || Content is a rehash of other people\'s ideas and/or graphics and shows very little attempt at original thought. ||
 * Quality of Advertisement || Advertisement is attractive (size of graphics, text, and colors) and supports the theme/content of the advertisement. || A few graphics, text, and/or color are not attractive but all support the theme/content of the advertisement. || All graphics, text, and/or color are attractive but a few do not seem to support the theme/content of the advertisement. || Several graphics are unattractive (too small and/or illegible) AND detract from the content of the advertisement. ||
 * Cooperation || Group delegates tasks and shares responsibility effectively all of the time. || Group delegates tasks and shares responsibility effectively most of the time. || Group delegates tasks and shares responsibility effectively some of the time. || Group often is not effective in delegating tasks and/or sharing responsibility. ||