THE NEXT TOP FIRM
WEEK 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE NEXT TOP FIRM
TODAY'S MISSION
ACTIVITY 1: WHAT IS NEXT TOP FIRM
Let's watch this quick advertisement to get us started?
GROUP DISCUSSION
- What are they trying to sell or promote in this advertisement?
- Who is their target audience?
- How are they trying to sell or promote it? How do they make it look appealing?
- What do they do to persuade people?
ACTIVITY 2: OVERVIEW OF THE COURSE
CES Next Top Firm is a fifth grade enrichment experience where you will form business partnerships and create advertising firms that compete to win the advertising accounts of local Trussville businesses.
This course is an extremely challenging course. It is a year long cumulating EnRich project. The class meets one day a week for 30 minutes. It is divided into three, 8 week trimesters. The following is an overview of the material covered in each trimester and a description of how the project will develop throughout the year.
FIRST TRIMESTER
In this trimester, you will develop the foundational knowledge needed for the course.
- You will get an overview of the course and the expectations in behavior and work ethic
- You will learn about the advertising business and how advertising companies work
- You will evaluate the strategies and tactics advertising companies use to develop advertising campaigns
- You will access the importance of understanding the client’s goals, values, and needs when developing an effective advertising campaign.
- You will explore the different components of an advertising campaign and analyze how each component is developed for a purpose.
- You will investigate the elements of a persuasive and successful advertising pitch.
SECOND TRIMESTER
In the second trimester, you will take the knowledge and skills you gained in the first trimester and apply them in creating an advertising campaign of your own.
- Two local Trussville businesses will be announced as our “Shark Tank” businesses.
- These businesses will visit the school to talk to you about what their company does, describe what they want in an advertising firm, and participate in a whole class interview.
- You will use what you learned from the interview to decide on a firm to compete
- You will develop your advertising campaign by adding a component each week.
THIRD TRIMESTER
In the third trimester, you will have the products of your advertising portfolio ready and will focus on organizing the portfolio and developing your sales pitch.
- You will work to format and organize your products portfolio
- You will develop a marketing strategy
- You will develop a sales pitch and presentation
- You will practice presenting a sales pitch to a client.
JUDGEMENT DAY
Judgement Day is the day when you will deliver your advertising campaign portfolios and sales pitches to the two Trussville Businesses. Each group will have 10 minutes to present. When all the firms have presented, the businesses will be left alone to deliberate. The businesses will share their winner with the teachers and the winners of CES’s Next Top Firm will be announced on 4th and 5th Grade Awards Day.
ACTIVITY 3: EXPECTATIONS
Let's go over this presentation to learn about the procedures and expectations of this experience.
ACTIVITY 4: THE CONTRACT
You know can describe what an advertising company is and summarize the main idea of an advertising campaign. You also have a good idea of what we will be doing in this course and the expectations involved. When you begin a business, you are expected to sign a legal contract. This contract holds you liable for the actions of your company. If you would like to go forward and participate in CES's Next Top Firm Enrichment Experience, fill out the online contract below and submit it.