Over the course of the semester, you will write a weekly blog on a brand of your choice.

Transcription

1 Project: Brand Blog (Avery) TAGS: brand management Over the course of the semester, you will write a weekly blog on a brand of your choice. Choosing a Topic For your topic, you will analyze a particular brand (Apple, Starbucks, Prius, American Red Cross, Greenpeace, etc.) Your chosen brand should be broad enough to provide you with plenty of inspiration for weekly discussion throughout the semester, but narrow enough to allow you to focus in and research something in depth. In your first blog post, you should outline your idea for a brand topic and tell me why you are interested in studying it and what you think the potential is for learning. I will respond with my thoughts about whether your topic is appropriate for study. Once you have received my comments, you may begin your blog. Weekly Blogging Activity Each week, you will write a short blog post (1,000 words) about your brand, relating it to the readings and discussions we have in class. Below are weekly questions to guide your blogging. Answer these questions in your weekly posts. The general business media (Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, Business Week) or specialized marketing trade magazines (Advertising Age, AdWeek) are good sources of information about your topic. I have also posted links to several brand blogs that may be helpful on the course website. You may also want to find current books devoted to your brand. You may embellish your blog by posting relevant news items, videos, and/or photographs; however, your grade will be based on your own description and analysis of your brand. Make sure that you are moving beyond description (describing your brand s activities) to analysis (analyzing your brand s activities and/or performance in relation to brand theories). Use the chart below to distinguish between description and analysis: Types of questions answered Typical activities Skills demonstrated Description What, when, where, who describe, list, tell, identify, show, examine, summarize, discuss, show, illustrate Observation and recall of information, knowledge of major ideas Why, how Analysis analyze, explain, connect, compare, infer, hypothesize, integrate, assess, decide, rank, grade, measure, recommend, convince, judge Seeing patterns, organization of parts into a coherent whole, recognition of hidden

2 Connection to course theory Atheoretical; could be written by a student not enrolled in the course; thinking about the brand is shallow. meanings, generalizing theory from given facts, making predictions, drawing conclusions Theoretically grounded; connection to course theory is evident; theory is used to prompt deep thinking about the brand. Weekly Guidance Questions Week 1: Brand Proposal In this first post, you should outline the brand that you have chosen to study and tell me why you are interested in studying it and what you think the potential is for learning. Answer the following questions: 1.) What brand will you study this semester? 2.) What is the history of the brand and what is it today? 3.) Why are you interested in studying this particular brand? Outline three interesting things about this brand that you are excited to explore and understand in more depth this semester. 4.) What puzzles you about the brand? Week 2: Brand Identity and Brand Personality Analysis For this week's blog post, think about how you can relate what we have been learning in class about brand identity and brand associations to your understanding of your brand. Remember to reference specific readings from the course reading list to highlight your analysis and provide a theoretical overlay to your discussion. Answer the following questions: 1.) What are the elements of your brand's identity? How is the brand constructed by its managers? 2.) Evaluate your brand's identity elements. How strong/weak are they? Remember to use the criteria outlined in your reading by Keller to evaluate whether your brand's identity is memorable, meaningful, likeable, transferable, adaptable, and protectable. 3.) What are your brand s prominent brand associations? Think about Aaker s functional, emotional, self-expressive, and social brand associations and the attributes/ benefits/ attitudes that form from these. Evaluate its brand meaning -- is it strong, desirable, and unique vs. other brands in the category? Why or why not?

3 4.) What is your brand's brand biography? What is its brand personality? Use Aaker s framework to identify the personality type embodied by your brand. Week 3: Consumer-Brand Relationships Analysis For this week's blog post, think about the types of relationships consumer form with your brand. You may be able to find clues into this on the Facebook page or elsewhere on the web. You also may want to talk with a few consumers of the brand to get their perspectives. Delve into your own relationship with the brand and analyze it using metaphors and concepts from our course readings and from what you know about human relationships. Remember to reference specific readings from Fournier and Avery from the course reading list to highlight your analysis and provide a theoretical overlay to your discussion. Answer the following questions: 1.) Using Fournier s typology, identify the predominant types of relationships your brand has with its consumers. What clues can you find that point to these types of relationships? 2.) Analyze your brand s ability to form strong relationships with its consumers by considering its performance on Fournier s brand relationship quality index. How does your brand stack up on the six facets of brand relationship quality? How do you know? 3.) Considering the types of relationships your brand has with its consumers, what are some of the rules of those relationships (that you know of from human relationships) to which the brand must adhere? Week 4: Brand Equity Analysis For this week's blog post, think about your brand s brand equity. Remember to reference specific readings from the course reading list to highlight your analysis and provide a theoretical overlay to your discussion. Answer the following questions: 1.) Conduct a brand-price tradeoff assessment experiment with consumers to assess your brand s level of brand equity. How much more will consumers pay for the brand versus a generic version of the product or versus its closest competitors? What does this indicate about your brand s brand equity? 2.) Using Aaker s markers of brand equity, assess the strength of your brand s equity. 3.) Using Young & Rubicam s Brand Asset Valuator, outline and evaluate the five pillars of brand equity of your brand. On which of the pillars does the brand do well and on which does it falter? Week 5: Brand Management For this week's blog post, think about how your brand is being managed. Remember to reference specific readings from the course reading list to highlight your analysis and provide a theoretical overlay to your discussion. Answer the following questions:

4 1. How well or poorly has the brand s equity been managed over time? Provide examples of good and bad brand management. 2. Evaluate whether the brand has maintained consistency over time or changed with its consumers. Does it target a segment or a particular consumer cohort? What are the dangers associated with your brand s choice? 3. Evaluate the brand s extensions and whether it has been leveraged appropriately. Use the brand extension checklist to assess your brand s major extensions. 4. Evaluate brand partnerships and cobranding to understand how other brands affect the meaning of the brand. 5. Evaluate the role of the brand in the overall brand portfolio of the parent brand and/or company. Is it part of a house of brands or a branded house? How does this choice affect the brand s equity? Week 6: Creative Appeals Analysis This week, analyze your brand s creative strategy. Remember to reference specific readings from the course reading list to highlight your analysis and provide a theoretical overlay to your discussion. Answer the following questions: 1.) What types of creative appeals does your brand use? 2.) How effective are these appeals for achieving your brand s objectives? 3.) How does your brand blend rational and emotional appeals? Which approach do you think is more effective for your brand? Why? Week 7: Brand Storytelling Analysis This week, analyze the brand storytelling that your brand is doing through its advertising, packaging, and other marketing communications. Remember to reference specific readings from the course reading list to highlight your analysis and provide a theoretical overlay to your discussion. Answer the following questions: 1.) Thinking about the criteria we outlined on what makes a good story, how effective is your brand's storytelling? 2.) Who is the hero and who is the villain in your brand's stories? How does the brand factor into their relationship? 3.) What is the conflict and how is it resolved? 4.) What prominent archetypes and metaphors do you see in your brand's stories? Why are they used and what do they communicate about the brand?

5 5.) How have your brand s stories changed over time? Use YouTube and Google to find old ads and compare them. Week 8: Identity, Cultural, and Social Mission Branding Strategies Analysis For this week's post, continue to explore and analyze your brand's storytelling techniques and connect it to the readings we have been doing over the past few classes. Remember to reference specific readings from the course reading list to highlight your analysis and provide a theoretical overlay to your discussion. Some new areas to explore include: 1.) How does your brand try to position itself as an identity brand? 2.) Using Holt s theory, assess the cultural value of your brand. How does your brand try to tie into culturally relevant stories? Is your brand a cultural icon? Why or why not? Can you find evidence of cultural branding in your brand's stories? If so, what cultural tensions does your brand address? 3.) What social mission branding techniques does your brand use? How do these techniques add to or detract from the meaning of the brand? Week 9: Social Media Branding Analysis For this week's post, think about how your brand is portrayed in social media. Remember to reference specific readings from the course reading list to highlight your analysis and provide a theoretical overlay to your discussion. Answer the following questions: 1.) What social media presence does it have? Look for your brand on Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, and other social media sites. 2.) Is the brand's social media presence created and managed by the brand's managers or organically created by consumers? How does the brand encourage or discourage social media activity? 3.) Is the brand's social media presence strong or weak, positive or negative? 4.) Using the criteria outlined in the UnME Jeans case, how well does the brand embrace the cultural values of Web 2.0? In what ways is it not embracing the cultural values of Web 2.0? What could the brand s managers do better? 5.) What can you learn about the brand from its social media presence that you didn't know before? Week 10: Consumer Co-Creation Analysis For this week's post, try to delve into the meaning that consumers are co-creating for your brand. Analyze what exactly is being said about the brand on Facebook, Twitter. Try typing in "[your brand s name] parody" into the search bar on YouTube and watch what consumers are creating. Search for your brand on Flickr to see what photos consumers are posting. Remember to reference specific readings

6 from the course reading list to highlight your analysis and provide a theoretical overlay to your discussion. Answer the following questions: 1.) What new meanings are consumers bringing to the brand? Are these new meanings consistent or inconsistent with the existing meanings of the brand? What do these meanings say about the difference between the brand s identity put forth by its managers and the brand s image in the minds of consumers? 2.) Have consumers hijacked the brand? If so, is the hijacking positive or negative for the brand? What kind of hijacking has occurred, using Wipperfurth s classifications? Is the company culpable in the hijacking? Why or why not? 3.) How is your brand trying to converse with its co-creating consumers? Is it successful or should it stay out of the way? Week 11: Brand Community Analysis For this week s blog post, analyze your brand s community of fanatics, filters, firecrackers, and facilitators. Remember to reference specific readings from the course reading list to highlight your analysis and provide a theoretical overlay to your discussion. Answer the following questions: 1.) Does your brand have a vibrant brand community? 2.) If so, what evidence do you see of the three markers of brand community: consciousness of kind, rituals and tradition, and sense of moral responsibility? What type of social structure do you see in the community? Where is the community found and who is the facilitator, the company or consumers themselves? How active is the company in the community? What more could the company do to facilitate the community? 3.) If not, what steps can your brand's managers take to ignite one? What do you think is standing in the way of your brand having a vibrant community? 4.) Where are your brands' fanatics found? What do they do with their brand? What activities do they engage in to celebrate their fanaticism for the brand? How is your brand's meaning shaped by its fanatics? Grading Criteria Your grade for the project will be based on the quality of your analysis and the depth of your learning. The grading rubric will include the following categories and is attached for your reference: Thoughtfulness and thoroughness in observing and cataloging brand activity from the real world. Rigor and depth of analysis used to interpret your brand.

7 Leveraging branding and marketing communications theories from the course readings. It is essential that you use the theories in the course readings to analyze your brand. Your blog should be written by a brand analyst, not a brand consumer. Persuasiveness and clarity of the written presentation.