Product and Corporate Brand Management – 2020-2021
Task:
You are to adopt the role of a brand consultant and develop both a brand and marketing communications strategy (2020/21) for an existing or new brand (product, service, organisation, destination, cause, or some other brand entity).
You must present the above in the form of a ‘Consultant’s Report’ (max. 4,000 words), containing the following components (for the brand manager):
Marks: %
- Identify and describe the brand’s target audience/customers and conduct some form of ‘situation analysis’ (e.g. a brand audit) which culminates in the creation of a brand SWOT Requires Both
20%
- Create a suitable ‘brand map‘ (brand, concept, perceptual/positioning…) relevant to your chosen context and strategy, and link it explicitly to the above task.
10%
- Dependent on your chosen scenario, select and develop an appropriate ‘brand planning model’ (such as Keller’s… – Aaker’s… Balmer’s… Kapferer’s… or AN Other’s…) to develop some core aspects of your branding strategy. You must state explicitly why you have chosen your model, as well as create the relevant content for your specific application, culminating in the design of an appropriate brand mantra. Ultimately, of course, the brand manager (report reader) will need to understand, exactly what you’ve done, why, how, etc.
35%
- Develop and present a typical target customer journey and specify how you intend to interact with and engage them along the journey from awareness to advocacy, stating explicitly which marketing communications tools, techniques, channels and media you intend to use, and why.
20%
- Specify which brand and marketing performance metrics you intend to use to assess the performance of your marketing communications campaign.
10%
- Write and include an Executive Summary (max. 200 words) at the beginning of the report, summarising key points in the report for a brand manager. 5%
Appendices: 10 pages max.
Intro to Assessment – 100 words (maximum).
You can – and should – add a brief introduction to your chosen brand and the context within which it is operating and/or you are undertaking this project.
Please note:
Do:
- Do what you’re asked to do – within the specified word limit!
- Include and cite/reference relevant and/or underlying academic theory
- Use well-structured paragraphs and include headings and sub-headings.
- Ensure that the sections are well linked to each other i.e. flow nicely.
- Include figures and tables to support your arguments and recommendations.
- Follow good academic practice and cite all references using Harvard Referencing System.
- Check your assignment thoroughly for grammatical and spelling errors.
Do not:
- Use the first person.
- Exceed the stated word limit!
- Include exhaustive lists and bullet points.
- Cram lots of content into tables to get around the word count.
- Forget to cite references that you have used, as these will be interpreted as plagiarism.
Marking Criteria:
>80: Excellent selection and discussion of appropriate theory and application within chosen context, covering in extensive detail all of the critical elements of the task, all of which is excellently presented, in a concise, consistent, logical and visually appealing fashion. Excellent synthesis of relevant content and cross-referencing with other relevant branding – and where appropriate, non-branding – theory and application.
70-79: Very good selection and discussion of appropriate theory and application within your chosen context, covering in depth all critical elements of the task, with very good presentation i.e. concise, consistent, logical and visually appealing. Very good synthesis of relevant content and cross-referencing with other relevant branding – and where appropriate, non-branding – theory and application.
60-69: A good selection and discussion of appropriate theory and good application within chosen context, covering in some depth all critical elements of the task, with nice presentation i.e. concise, consistent, logical and visually appealing. Good synthesis of relevant content and cross-referencing with other relevant branding – and where appropriate, non-branding – theory and application.
50-59: Basic, though reasonable selection and discussion of appropriate theory and application within your chosen context, covering reasonably the core elements of the task, with reasonably good presentation – but could be much better. Basic, though reasonable synthesis of relevant content and cross-referencing with other relevant branding – and where appropriate, non-branding – theory and application.
<50: Weak selection and discussion of appropriate theory and application within your chosen context – too descriptive and/or generic. Inadequate coverage of several – or perhaps even all – of the critical elements of the task. Little, if any, synthesis of relevant content and cross-referencing with other relevant branding – and where appropriate, non-branding – theory and application. Poor presentation (content, structure, use of graphics, tables, etc., ‘English’ grammar, spelling, etc., word count…).
<40: Very weak selection and discussion of appropriate academic theory and application within your chosen context – far too descriptive and/or generic. Totally inadequate coverage of several – or perhaps even all – of the critical elements of the task. Little, if any, synthesis of relevant content and cross-referencing with other relevant branding – and where appropriate, non-branding – theory and application. Poor presentation (content, structure, use of graphics, tables, etc., ‘English’ grammar, spelling, etc., word count…).
