Submission MUST be done as WORD Document (doc or docx)
In this assignment, you will provide a comprehensive report of a product and brand of your choosing. Since this report will require a comprehensive analysis, it is recommended that you select a brand for which there is a wealth of publicly available information.
This report has two primary components:
1. Marketing Plan. This is a modified version of the classic Brand Value Creation Plan. Please see below for the full description and outline for this analysis
2. Strategic recommendations for this brand. Here, you will provide an informed argument of specific actions the brand should take to improve it’s goals and strategies. Here, you will provide an informed, data-driven argument that the company should adopt your advice. These are 2 of the following areas for the company to optimize:
A) A Brand Shift
B) New Product Launch
Submission Requirements:
6-8 pages, single-spaced (You should consider this a suggested range. This is not a limitation, and you should feel free to exceed this if you deem appropriate)
11 or 12 point font
Graphs, charts, or other visuals are encouraged
Citations in APA Format
Link to video submitted in comments
Additional details about each of these options can be found below
1) Marketing Plan
The Marketing Plan is a modified version of the Brand Value Creation Plan:
A) Goals of The Brand
Monetary goals involve monetary outcomes such as net income, profit margins, earnings per share, and return on investment. Monetary goals are the primary performance metric used by for-profit enterprises.
Strategic goals involve non-monetary outcomes that are of strategic importance to the company. Common strategic goals include growing sales volume, creating brand awareness, increasing social welfare, enhancing the corporate culture, and facilitating employee recruitment and retention. Strategic goals are the key performance metric for offerings that have the primary function of supporting other, profit-generating offerings. For example, Amazon might break even (or even incur a loss) in making, promoting, and distributing its Kindle devices and yet view them as a strategically important platform for its retail business.
Portfolio position: Where does the brand lie within the overall brand portfolio? Do the goals of the specific brand (e.g. Jordan) differ from that of the superordinate brand (e.g. Nike), or organization?
B) Strategy (how the brand creates value)
In marketing, strategy outlines a company’s choice of the target market in which it will compete and the value it intends to create in this market.
5 Cs Framework
Customers are the current and potential buyers of the offerings furnished by the company and its competitors.
The customer value proposition defines the benefits and associated costs that the company’s offering aims to create for target customers. The customer value proposition answers the question:
How does the offering create superior value for target customers relative to the competitive offerings?
Who are the company’s target customers? Do they vary in their needs and behaviors? What are the opportunities and threats associated with these customers? Should the company continue to serve these customers?
Company the parent company, sitting at the top of the brand hierarchy
What resources must the company have in order to create superior value for its target customers? Does the company have these resources? Can the lacking resources (if any) be built/acquired within the time frame defined by the company’s goal?
Collaborators are entities that work or could potentially work with the company to create the offering, communicate its benefits, and deliver the offering to customers.
Who are the company’s collaborators? What are the opportunities and threats associated with these collaborators? Should the company continue to partner with these entities?
Competitors are entities with offerings that cater to the same customers and/or aim to fulfill the same customer need as the company.
Who are the company’s competitors? What are the threats that these competitors pose to the company? Are there any competitive opportunities that the company could take advantage of?
Context defines the environment in which the company and its competitors operate. This environment is defined by five factors: economic (economic growth, money supply, inflation, and interest rates); technological (the diffusion of existing technologies and the development of new ones); sociocultural (demographic trends, value systems, and market-specific beliefs and behavior); regulatory (import/export tariffs, taxes, product specifications, pricing and advertising policies, and patent and trademark protection); and physical (natural resources, climate, and health conditions).
What are the sociocultural, technological, economic, regulatory, and physical aspects of the environment in which the company operates? What are the opportunities and threats associated with each of these contexts?
C) Tactics
Tactics refer to a set of specific activities, also known as the marketing mix, employed to execute a given strategy. The market tactics define the key aspects of the offering that the company introduces and manages in a given market, from the benefits this offering creates and how much it costs to how customers will hear about and buy it. The tactics logically follow from the company’s strategy and reflect the way the company will make this strategy a market reality.
4 Ps Analysis:
Price
How is the product priced? Is it priced the same way for all customers, everywhere, or are there different prices for different consumers/times?
How specifically, do consumers pay for the product (e.g. cash, credit card)
What pricing system is used (e.g. freemium, subscription)
Product
How is it branded?
What is the product and how is it used?
How does it deliver unique value to consumers?
What is unique about the product above and beyond competitor products?
Promotion
How does the brand communicate about it’s product?
How is the product advertised and how do marketing campaigns focus on it?
How is it branded? (include brand logo, slogans, and other brand iconography)
How is the product brand related to the company brand?
Placement:
How do consumers buy the product? Private retail, outlets, online?
How do consumers interact with the product?
What is customer service (and refunds) like for the product?
2) Strategic Recommendations
In this section, you are proving the company two persuasive, evidence-based recommendations which can further optimize their brands goals and/or profitability:
Brand Shift: The brand should consider shifting their brand positioning, brand iconography, and/or brand perception. Compelling case for why would this/these amendments help align the brand with their goals / their market etc.
New Product Launch: The company should consider launching a new product?
Complete a 4 Ps Analysis of this new product
Make a compelling case that this would align with brand goals / strategy / etc.
