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Strategic Brand Management
Professor Cassie Mogilner
Spring 2015
COURSE SYLLABUS
INSTRUCTOR Professor Cassie Mogilner (pronounced Moe-gil-ner)
CLASS MEETINGS Tuesdays and Thursdays
MKTG #278: 9-10:20AM or 10:30-11:50AM
MKTG #778: 1:30-2:50PM
OFFICE HOURS Anytime. Please email me, and we’ll set up an appt.
CLASS POLICIES ATTENDANCE ON THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS IS
MANDATORY, AND IF YOU AREN’T IN A SEAT BY THE
SECOND DAY OF CLASS, YOU MAY NOT TAKE THE COURSE.
No exceptions.
Cell phones, laptops, and iPads are not permitted in class.
COURSE MATERIALS To keep costs down, there is no required textbook; instead
we’ll rely on a course reader, which incorporates a few
chapters from some seminal books, cases, articles, and a packet
of handouts.^1
SUPPLEMENTAL READING There are additional sources of information available to
further supplement the course readings which, depending on
your career interests and goals, you may want to check out.
None are required.
There are several books that provide useful perspectives and
ideas on brand management: Keller’s Strategic Brand
Management^1 , Aaker's Managing Brand Equity , Building Strong
Brands, and Brand Leadership (with Erich Joachimsthaler), and
Kapferer's The New Strategic Brand Management. Most
students find the articles in the academic journals dry and
abstract, but the Journal of Marketing and HBR have more of an
applied focus that tends to be easier to digest.
For current industry information, The Wall Street Journal,
Business Week, Fortune, Forbes, and The Economist have
marketing articles that frequently deal with brand issues. You
can also stay up to date through alerts from WSJ’s CMO Today
and MediaREDEF. ADWEEK is the industry trade publication.
(^1) Many of these handouts are selected from Keller’s, Strategic Brand Management (Prentice-Hall). This book is
complete with examples, tools, benchmarks and theories regarding brand management.
COURSE OVERVIEW
Which brands make you happy? Apple? Starbucks? The Daily Show? Google? What draws
you into these brands? How do companies create compelling brand experiences? How
could you cultivate a brand that fosters consumers’ happiness? This course takes a
consumer-centric approach to explore such questions with the goal of identifying the
ingredients for building and managing inspired brands, where brand is defined as “a
reputation” – departing from traditional perspectives of brand.
To bridge theory and practice, the course interweaves lectures, guest speakers, case
discussions, and in- and out-of-class exercises. The lineup of guest speakers pulls from a
broad ecosystem, including CEOs and company founders, VPs of product and marketing,
traditional brand managers, and those who work for brand consultancies or media
agencies. Exposure to this range of industry leaders – all who intimately deal with branding
questions from different angles – increases students’ appreciation for the role of brand in
business. These speakers also offer a firsthand view into the challenges faced and lessons
learned through their experiences working with brands, making the walls between the
classroom and the world outside a little more porous.
The course culminates in a Brand Audit group project that the students present in the final
days of class. A brand audit provides a systematic way to inventory current brand assets
and develop strategy. The project requires students to select an existing brand for which
they conduct their own consumer research and apply their learnings from class in order to
assess the current state of the brand and to provide recommendations for the brand going
forward.
The courses’ basic objectives are to:
Provide an appreciation of the role of brands in consumers’ daily experiences and
in creating shareholder value
Increase fluency with the core principles underlying a consumer-centric approach
to brand strategy, and create familiarity with research tools that illuminate the
meaning and strength of any particular brand
Augment students’ ability to think creatively and critically about the strategies and
tactics involved in building, leveraging, defending, and sustaining inspired brands
Encourage the application of brand principles to oneself – so as to be aware when
building and communicating one’s own personal and professional reputation
COURSE SCHEDULE
# CLASS TOPIC ASSIGNMENT/ READINGS DUE 1 Jan. 15 th^ What is a Brand? Due: Favorite Brands worksheet in syllabus appendix Reading: Course Syllabus ; Brands and Branding 2 Jan. 20 th^ MTV Case— Consumer-Based Brand Equity Prepare: MTV Case 3 Jan. 22 nd^ Understanding Brand Reference: Dimensions of Brand Personality 4 Jan. 27 th^ Brand-Person Relationships Case— Brand Meaning Prepare: Exploring Brand-Person Relationships Case Reference: Brand Relationship Theory 5 Jan. 29th^ Guest Lecture: Jerry Steinbrink, CMO of Wharton— The Wharton Brand 6 Feb 3rd^ Guest Lecture: Eric Anderson, VP of Europe, Middle East & Africa for Domino’s Pizza, Taking a Brand Global 7 Feb. 5th^ Super Bowl Commercials Analysis Prepare: Analysis of your chosen commercial
8 Feb.10th^ Harley Davidson Case— Brand Community Prepare: Harley Case Due: Each group must email me the names of the group members and a listing of 3 potential brands for Brand Audit Project 9 Feb. 12 th^ Your Personal Brand Due: Personal Image-Identity Gap Write-up Self-Positioning Statement Reference: Firm Stereotypes Matter 10 Feb. 17 th^ Measuring Brand Reference: Brand Valuation Note Strategic Brand Management Chapts 9 & 10 11 Feb. 19 th^ Guest Lecture: Andrew Mitchell, CEO of Brand Foundry Ventures— Investing in Brands
Due: Brand Relationship Interview Write-up
12 Feb. 24 th^ Prof’s Research on Time, Money, and Happiness
13 Feb 26th^ No class Due: Positioning Statement for Brand Audit Perceptual Map for Brand Audit 14 March 3rd^ Crafting Brand Due: Six word personal story & Six word brand story Reading: Famous Names Prepare: Selecting a New Name for Security Capital Pac Trust Claiborne Asks Web Surfers To Name New Line Naming the Edsel 15 March 5th^ Guest Lecture: Eric Staples, Senior Creative Strategist for Bluedog Design— Package Design 16 March 17 th^ Due: Mystery Shopping Experience Write-up
17 March 19 th^ Class Presentations of Brand Qualitative Insights 18 March 2 4 th 19 March 2 6 th^ Guest Lecture: Adam Landau, Brand Manager on Lipton Tea at Unilever— A Day in the Life of a Brand Manager 20 March 31st^ Managing Brand Reading : The Brand Relationship Spectrum Should You Take Your Brand To Where The Action Is? Extend Profits, Not Product Lines Brand Versus Private Labels: Fighting to Win 21 April 2nd^ Guest Lecture: Fran Boller, Executive VP of Nike Brands at Haddad Brands— Brand Management through to Retail 22 April 7 th^ Guest Lecture: Tripp McLaughlin, Sr. Manager of Global Brand Strategy at Hilton— Extending Hilton's Brand 23 April 9 th^ Steinway and Sons Case— Brand Extensions Prepare: Steinway & Sons Case
24 April 1 4 th^ Guest Lecture: Sam Mogilner, Director of Entertainment Marketing & Business Development at Horizon Media —Brand Partnerships 25 April 16 th^ Brand Audit Project Presentations Due: All groups’ Brand Audit written reports 26 April 21 st^ Brand Audit Project Presentations 27 April 23 rd^ Brand Audit Project Presentations 28 April 28th^ Course Wrap-up Reading: The Brand Report Card
COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING
Your overall course grade will reflect your fulfillment of the requirements based upon the following weights: Class Participation & Attendance 28% Content Absorption Check-ins 12% Individual Assignments Personal Image-Identity Gap Analysis & Positioning Statement 7% Brand Relationship Interview 6% 6-Word Personal & Brand Stories 2% Mystery Shopping Experience Write-up 5% Brand Audit Project Brand Positioning Statement and Perceptual Map 5% Qualitative Insights Presentation 5% Written Audit 15% Presentation 15% TOTAL 100%
Class Participation
Critical to being part of the class is being at each of the classes, both physically and mentally. The course is developed to be an ongoing conversation, and like any meaningful conversation, it requires all parties to be present, again—both physically and mentally.
To assess your physical presence, I will take attendance. Classes start on time. Being late will count as an absence. If you have documentable special circumstances such as illness, or grave personal difficulties such as a death in the family, you should contact the Program Office, which will work with me in appropriate cases to find a resolution. The Program Office will require documentation of your conflict as a matter of course. If you find yourself with a conflict due to your career search or recruiting activity, you should work with the Career Management Office to find a resolution. Employers cannot require a student, as a condition of his or her employment candidacy, to participate in recruiting-related activities at a time that conflicts with his or her academic schedule. An employer’s inflexibility on this issue is considered a violation of Wharton’s recruiting policies. A time conflict due to a job interview, a career pursuit, or travel is not an appropriate reason to request accommodation on an academic commitment.
Beyond just being physically present, you also need to be there mentally. To allow the rest of the class to benefit from your engagement and fabulous insights, speak up and become part of the conversation.
Grading this aspect of class participation is necessarily subjective. Some of the criteria for evaluating class participation include:
- Are you prepared? Do your comments show evidence of deep case analysis (vs. stating case facts)?
- Are the points you make relevant to the discussion?
- Are you an effective communicator? Are concepts presented in a concise and convincing fashion?
Go for quality NOT quantity. For a good rule of thumb, think 2 – 2 : don't speak more than twice per class, and speak at least once every two classes.
Content Absorption Check-ins
Three times over the course of the semester, I will carve out 10 minutes of class to check-in and see if you have absorbed what has been discussed in class. The content you should absorb includes that
- On February 24th, you will be asked to hand in a preliminary perceptual map and the positioning statement of your brand. These may be revised for your final project, but this is to get you started in applying what we learn in class to better understand your brand.
- On March 19th, your group will present any insights about your brand you garnered from your qualitative investigation—either interviews or focus groups.
Final Report.
The final report is due at the beginning of class on April 16th^ for every group. In it, you should convey your vision of a “mental map” for the brand in terms of the key brand associations. You will have conducted both qualitative and quantitative market research using tools discussed in class sessions, the HBS case on Brand-Person relationships, and the readings. For your qualitative research, conduct either two one-on-one interviews or one 6-8 person focus group. For your quantitative research, conduct a survey among a larger number of consumers. Your goal is to find out about the brand associations, brand relationships, sources of equity, etc. How is this brand perceived by your informants? The final report will use all of this information to identify the sources of brand equity, providing the basis for your recommendations to the brand going forward.
Page limitations: 1 page executive summary; 10 pages of text (single spaced); up to 5 pages of appendices. I will distribute a more detailed set of guidelines for this brand audit approximately halfway through the course.
Oral Presentation.
Each team will have about 10-15 minutes to present their brand audit. These presentations should highlight the key insights from the Brand Audit focusing on your future recommendations. The goal here is to be compelling, engaging, and CREATIVE! Feel free to use PowerPoint, Prezi, video, skit, or any other compelling and engaging format. Presentations will take place on April 16 th, 21st, or 23rd.
Assignments
Favorite Brands Worksheet
Bring this with you to the first day of class, and be prepared to share one of them.
What are 3 of your favorite brands? Why?
Individual Assignment # Personal Brand Image-Identity Gap Analysis & Personal Brand Positioning Statement
To manage any brand effectively, you must constantly be in touch with what you think about your brand and what your consumers think about your brand. It helps to have some language to pull these constructs apart: Brand identity is defined as the set of (aspirational) associations the company has of its brand; Brand image is defined as the set of (actual) associations consumers have with the brand. Understanding how the brand is perceived internally and externally is critical to build and manage a strong brand.
This concept is equally useful in assessing and managing your personal brand. To conduct an imagine-identity gap analysis for your personal brand, do the following:
- Assess your identity (i.e., how you see yourself), by writing down: a. What are the first 5 words that you associate with yourself? b. What are 3 (positive) things you are not? For example, what are three areas of incompetence?
- Assess your personal image (i.e., how others see you), by asking 10 people—family, friends, and classmates/colleagues: a. What are the first 5 words that come to mind when they think of you? b. What are 3 (positive) things you are not?
- Visually capture your personal image by creating a word cloud, using a website like www.wordle.net. Just include the things you ARE that were generated by the people you asked.
- Analyze your findings. a. Are there any discrepancies between your identity and image? b. Would it (ever) be important to address those gaps? If yes, what steps can you take to close them? c. With respect to a certain group (e.g., Wharton students, all students or young professionals, your family, your gender), what are your points of parity? What are your points of differentiation? That is, with the insight you gained from assessing your identity and image, how should you position yourself from a personal brand perspective?
- Pulling from your analysis in the previous question, draft a positioning statement for yourself. The statement should capture your UNIQUE brand essence. It should also be appealing to your target audience. You choose your target audience: who are you trying to influence and impress? Keep in mind that to be compelling, you must be concrete in the support you provide.
The template below identifies each component that should be included either explicitly or implicitly in your positioning statement.
Positioning Statement Template:
______________Your name _____________(product/brand) is _____________________________________(unique and most important claim) among all ____________________________(competitive set) for ____________________________________(target audience) because ______________________________(concrete support).
Individual Assignment # Brand Relationship Interview
Your class reading, “Exploring Brand-Person Relationships,” will give you insight on how you may do this exercise. The case itself illuminates the concept of brand meaning by looking in-depth at the connections that form between three women and the brands they use. Thus, it sheds light on the insights that are possible when consumers’ lives are understood holistically, and brands are considered to be part of those lives. Perspectives from psychology, sociology, and the study of culture can be applied to illuminate the meanings brands contain for the consumers who use them.
Interview a classmate regarding a relationship they have or had with a brand. The brand you interview this person about should NOT be the brand you’re focusing on for your brand audit project. Please prepare a 1 page (single-spaced) write-up including your answers to the three following questions. If you need, you can use the back-side of the page (indeed, this effectively means you can use two pages. Go crazy.).
What you should be looking for is information about the relationship that can be managerially
useful. That is:
(1) What insights were revealed?
(2) As a brand manager, what would you do with this information?
(3) How might you more quantitatively measure amongst a larger population the type, quality,
and strength of relationship revealed in your interview?
Individual Assignment # Mystery Shopping Exercise
Visit the following stores:
Apple
Urban Outfitters
Anthropologie
Behave like a mystery shopper: Observe merchandising, pricing, communication,
atmospherics, service, and try to understand the brand’s positioning. Based upon your
store experience, how would you define the brand in three words? Share your observations
about whether and how the brand was effectively communicated through your experience
at the store. Write no more than 1 ½ single-spaced pages (less than half a page for each
store) about your mystery shopping experience.
This is a map to help you locate the four stores:
1607 Walnut
St.
110 S. 36th St.
180 1 Walnut St.
1 Walnut St.
1627 Walnut St.
Group Assignment # Brand Positioning Statement and Perceptual Map
Your group will be turning in a Positioning Statement and Perceptual Map for the brand you are auditing. When considering the optimal positioning for your brand, you will be thinking through and discussing the following questions within your group:
What is the product category? This is usually a set of products or services designed to meet a particular need (or closely related set of needs). Remember that your identification of a product category should be strategic, as the category you choose will help communicate the needs your brand addresses.
What are the available alternatives in the product category? The category should be defined so that these are reasonably close substitutes.
What are the important/relevant attributes that describe and differentiate the available alternatives in the product category? These include physical features and characteristics, product associations, user benefits, etc.
Who are the existing and potential customers for this product category?
How is the market segmented? Start by defining each segment according to needs and/or benefit(s) sought. Which attributes are most important to each segment? It should then be possible to profile these segments using criteria such as demographics, geography, lifestyle, etc.
What is(are) the appropriate target segment(s) for the new product? These need to be evaluated in light of the objectives of the company.
Which of the available alternatives in the product category are most appealing to the target segment(s)?
What are the different strategies one might use to position the new product against the existing alternatives for the target segment(s)? Look for opportunities to establish points of parity (to indicate membership in a particular group of products) and points of difference (to set you apart from that particular group). Some possible positioning strategies are: by attribute (one of which might be price/quality) by use or application according to who uses the product in a different product class with respect to a competitor
Your group will be turning in a 1-pager that includes 1) a Positioning Statement (with justification) and 2) a Perceptual Map (with justification).
Positioning Statement: A positioning statement can take many different formats. For it to be effective, it must communicate the objectives of the strategy, including the intended target market, the core benefit proposition of the product/service, and the key point of difference from competitive alternatives. The template below is slightly more specific than that which you completed for your personal brand positioning statement, but both address these key points. Keep in mind that the positioning statement should serve as a guide to subsequent marketing planning activity. Complete the
