By the end of this course students will have developed:

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1 Prof. Thomaï Serdari MKTG-UB86.01 FA15--DRAFT Luxury Branding: Brand Thinking and Experience Course Objectives Building on concepts and business principles discussed in Luxury Marketing, this course is designed to provide students with an understanding of branding, design thinking and how these are combined to define luxury business strategies. It also completes the discussion on luxury products and brands by demonstrating that branding within the luxury segment of the market is an integral part of business strategy. By the end of this course students will have developed: a. An understanding of design thinking and strategy and their fundamental role in reinforcing the emotional impact of luxury brands on consumers b. A deeper understanding of the luxury segment of hotel, fashion, beauty and automotive industries without excluding other product/service groups c. Analytical skills by hands-on experience and business case analysis, discussion, and presentation d. The critical skills to distinguish/discover faults in business strategies that are not compatible with or contradict the essence of a particular luxury brand Course administration The course consists of case discussions and lectures. Supplementary reading material will reinforce the cases and lectures. USE OF SMARTPHONES IN THE CLASSROOM IS FORBIDDEN. IF YOU HAVE A LEARNING DISABILITY AND MUST USE THE COMPUTER, PLEASE BRING ME A STATEMENT FROM THE MOSES CENTER. Course Methods Class assignments and discussions are designed to develop the critical thinking, communication and managerial skills necessary to successfully plan and launch marketing plans for luxury brands. Each class will include discussion of readings, case analysis and group activities. Students will analyze cases with an action orientation, for example, what steps should we take to further the development of a luxury brand? What are the brand s strengths or weaknesses and how should they be managed? How can a luxury brand be protected against competitors who use the same suppliers? Which factors increase the value of a luxury enterprise? 1

2 Classroom Contributions The learning experience in a course like this one depends heavily on each student being prepared to actively participate in every class session. We all have expectations that will enrich the topic and direction of discussion in the course. This means that you need to be fully acquainted with the readings and cases for a given session. Positive participation includes attendance, active involvement in all in-class exercises and discussions, and maintenance of a classroom demeanor that encourages the participation of others. You will be evaluated on the quantity as well as the quality of your contribution and insights. Quality comments possess one or more of the following attributes: (a) Contribute to moving the discussion forward; (b) Offer a different, unique and relevant perspective on the issue; (c) Build on comments of others; and (d) Include some evidence or analysis of inherent tradeoffs, i.e., demonstrate reflective thinking. Attendance Policy Attendance at all sessions is expected. Absences will significantly impact the class participation grade. Electronic Devices Policy Cell phones and other electronic devices may not be used during class. Case Discussion Teams may be designated as discussion leaders on each case that will be discussed in class. Each team will be trained on how to ask the right questions and how to guide their classmates in asking the right questions (and answering them). The professor will act as discussion moderator to ensure that the appropriate material has been covered and all the pertinent points have been highlighted. There is one question that relates to each case and which must be submitted in writing via NYU Classes under Assignments. Honor Code Students must adhere to the school s Honor Code. All students are obligated to report to the instructor any suspected violations of the Code (see Student With Disabilities If you have a qualified disability and will require academic accommodation during this course, please contact the Moses Center for Students with Disabilities (CSD, ) and provide me with a letter from them verifying your registration and outlining the accommodations they recommend. Please do this during the first week of classes. 2

3 Course Grading Pop Quiz 25% Class attendance & participation 25% Final group project 50% Course Materials There is a reader containing Harvard Business Cases. You may access this through the Harvard Business Cases website. Link will be provided for you on NYU Classes. Articles and book excerpts used for the course will be posted on NYU Classes. Supplementary readings may be distributed in class or posted on NYU Classes. There is no required text for this course. The following titles are optional but highly recommended if branding is your area of specialization. Aaker, David A. Managing Brand Equity: Capitalizing on the Value of a Brand Name, New York: The Free Press, 1991 Gobé, Mark. Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for Connecting Brands to People, Kapferer, Jean-Noel and V. Bastien. The Luxury Strategy, London: Kogan Press, (2 nd edition, 2012) Lockwood, Thomas. Design Thinking: Integrating Innovation, Customer Experience, and Brand Value, Lockwood, Thomas. Building Design Strategy: Using Design to Achieve Key Business Objectives,

4 Instructor Thomaï Serdari, Ph.D. is a strategist in luxury marketing and branding. She helps clients launch, grow, and successfully manage luxury brands. She is an expert on luxury and actively studies, values, and reports on companies or funds that operate and invest within the luxury goods market. Prof. Serdari has been teaching at New York University since She has developed a variety of courses at NYU, among which: Cultures of Excess: Product and Fashion Design through Modernity and Entrepreneurship in the Business of Art. She also developed the core courses for the Luxury Marketing specialization at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business, MBA level: The Core of Luxury: Processes, Products, and Strategies through History and Luxury Branding: Brand Thinking and Experience. Originally trained as an architect at the National Technical University of Athens, Prof. Serdari received her doctorate in Art History & Archaeology from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University in She also holds an MBA from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University, with a specialization in corporate and quantitative finance (2009). Heavily drawing on her interdisciplinary training, Prof. Serdari writes a column on luxury at and contributes opinion pieces to Luxury Daily. She is the co-editor of the first academic interdisciplinary journal on Luxury: History, Culture, Consumption published by Bloomsbury Press. She is currently working on a chapter, titled Experiments in Suchness: Hiroshi Sugimoto Silk Shiki for Hermès, to be included in John Armitage & Joanne Roberts eds. Critical Luxury Studies: Art, Design, Media, Edinburgh University Press, (2015). Prof. Serdari is one of the main contributors to the LVMH Fundamentals in Luxury Retail: A CPC/Parsons Collaboration, an education program designed to train and provide a wide range of retail skills to Chinese-Americans. 4

5 Detailed Course Outline Class #1 October-- Introduction to branding principles: How the anthropological and sociological branding process defines commercial success Discussion of course methodology (Lecture) The new branding paradigm: How design thinking is applied in luxury brand development (Lecture and discussion) Case studies: Absolute Vodka, Aesthetics with a Twist Cathay Pacific Airways: The Heart of Asia Class #2 Corporate and Brand Expressions: The Who, What, Where, When, and Why of Brands (Styles, Themes, Impressions) (Lecture and discussion) Case study: The Four Seasons Hotel Researching, Measuring, and Protecting Brands (Lecture) Hospitality: Striving for lifetime value (Business Case Instruction) HBC Rosewood Hotels and Resorts: Branding to Increase Customer Profitability and Lifetime Value (2087-PDF-ENG) Class #3 Global Brand Management (Lecture) Automotive: Branding as competitive strategy (Business Case Instruction) HBC BMW of North America: Dream it. Built it. Drive it. (TB0301-PDF-ENG) Brands in Retail Spaces and Environments (Lecture and discussion) Case studies: Nike Godiva Chocolates Class #4 Principles of experiential design (Lecture and discussion) Case study: Burberry 5

6 Brands on the Internet and social media (Lecture) Case study: CHANEL Fashion industry: The power of images in a cyclical business environment (Business Case Instruction) HBC Shanghai Tang (HKU 650-0DF-ENG) Class #5 Luxury branding as corporate strategy (Lecture and discussion) Beauty: Start-ups, entrepreneurship, and luxury branding (Business Case Instruction) HBC TATCHA: Marketing the Beauty Secrets of a Japanese Geisha ( PDF-ENG) Class #6 Class #7 Final Presentations, Brand Re-Design, 5 groups Final Presentations, Brand Re-Design, 4 groups 6

7 FINAL PROJECT DESCRIPTION The final project for this course is a group paper/analysis of brand with recommendations for developing and implementing a luxury brand strategy. You will be working in groups of 4. Your paper should include a brand analysis for a premium brand with the goal to identify opportunities for a brand re-design. Brand re-design that is organic to the original brand identity may apply to a variety of business stages:. Corporate identity. Business strategy. Business operations. Business Communications (physical and virtual) Good examples of similar brand analyses can be found in each one of the business cases we are studying in this course. In other words, similarly to the Harvard Business Cases, you should aim at studying and analyzing the brand of your choice by looking at it at a macro-level first. From there you should proceed as deeply into the operational or financial profile of the firm as possible because these reveal the firm s relationship with its customers. Keep in mind that depending on the firm you choose, you may not have access to financial information. You aim at: Discovering what the brand truly stands for; Defining a course of action that will make it move higher in the universe of premium/luxury brands; Developing your strategic recommendations; and (ideally) Delivering the final product. (Students will be provided with a list of brands to choose from or they may choose their own) Each person will present for 5 minutes, which means that a team s presentation will take up 20 minutes. Then we will have about 10 minutes for comments and questions. The entire class is grading all presentations and submitting their comments to me. 7