Evaluation and Control: Based on your understanding of this section, articulate what was useful in this section for FreeRiders, what was absent that could have been helpful from a strategic marketing point-of-view and rationale as to why for each

VII. EVALUATION AND CONTROL

A. Performance Standards and Financial Control

The importance of this new line extension to FreeRiders success as well as the current financial state of the company leave little room for overages and delays. It is necessary for each department to carefully monitor and report expenditures to the Marketing Manager in an accurate and timely manner. The Marketing Manager will report directly to the CFO on a weekly basis and is responsible for collecting all financial information from each department involved in the project. Due to the quick turn around time on this project, the Marketing Manager must report to the CFO all overages-real or anticipated-as soon as they come up. Additional spending may only be authorized by the CFO.

Each department will be given a budget to research, design, test, market, pre-sell and deliver the new product. The total budget for the project will be $300,000 with a 10% contingency. Overhead, including salaried labor, are not included in this budget.

The budget breaks down as follows:

R&D/Marketing: $33,000.

Includes street research, consultants and pre-sales to retail.

R&D/Design: $40,000.

Includes design, prototypes, patent registration, materials, safety testing and revisions.

Legal & Professional Fees: $20,000

Promotion: $27,000

Includes street teams, PR events and contests, social media activations, advertising and educational materials for resale partners.

Manufacturing demo models: $180,000

Includes the manufacture and delivery of 600 demo models.

Fifty percent of the project will be funded through a short-term equity loan against the company's current assets. It is anticipated that revenue from pre-sales will allow the company to pay off this loan within the first payment period. The remaining cost for the introduction of this new product will be distributed over a five-month period.

B. Monitoring Procedures

To assess the effectiveness of this new product launch, a careful analysis of the company's performance versus the marketing plan objectives will be conducted throughout the development stages of the project and one month after the projected product release date. Additional monitoring procedures will be put in place to assess the success of the new product as well as identify product extensions within the category. Finally, the company will conduct an audit of all its products and activities every fiscal quarter to ensure adherence to the short-term product goals outlined in this marketing plan as well as the five and ten year plans.