> MKTG 534-301 – Spring 2007 – Exec MBA Program
Integrated Market Communications and Brand Management
Dr. Ralph Oliva
Grades will be based on the level of insight you bring to class, and how much you’ve helped enable us all to learn more about the concept of brand, and the design, development, and implementation of Integrated Market Communications programs.
This class should be fun... But it involves some work!
Good solid work will net an A minus – (see guidelines below)
Your grade will be based on:
o "BrandScape Presentation" assignment - 40%.
o Four "Case Insight" individual assignments - 40%.
o One Creative Critique Individual Assignment - 20%.
o Class participation/impact (+/- 20%).
Important Notes on Submitting Assignments Electronically:
· Send them to me by email to roliva@psu.edu, do not use Angel “drop box” or other method.
· IMPORTANT: In the subject line of the email, and in the name of the powerpoint or word file, and in the files themselves be sure to include:
o The name of the assignment
o Name(s) of who is submitting the assignment for a grade…
o PLEASE: Put your name on everything you’re submitting for a grade…
Assignment – Brandscape – 40% of Grade
As part of our work in this class, we will be immersing ourselves in the exciting--and often puzzling--world of brands. We'll work together to probe way beyond our normal, conscious, experience of the brands in our life. We'll work to develop a "Clinical and Critical" understanding of brands, how they are constructed, and how they work as THE key integrating ingredient in the market communications process.
Early in our time together, we will be discussing a set of tools and techniques for understanding brands, which comes to us from the noted consumer brand corporation Reckett and Colman, and the renowned agency McCann-Erickson. Owners and managers of such popular brands as "Lysol Disinfectants", Reckett and Colman, working with McCann developed a systemic methodology for understanding how brands are made up, and how they are managed. Building on this and other frameworks, we’ll be using a brand template and architecture, which includes four key brand components:
1. The Brand "footprint", which is, in turn, made up of 3 parts:
- Brand Core Values: Three 1 to 2 descriptions of the brands inner, driving priorities. What values lie deep in the brand’s makeup?
- Brand Personality: Three 1 to 2-word traits that would describe the brand if it were a person.
- Brand Essence: The essential point of the brand's relationship with the customer.
2. Positioning: The brand in a competitive frame of reference - the unique benefits it intends to own relative to competition, in the mind of a well-understood customer.
3. Capsule: A simple phrase at the front of a customer’s mind, with one key idea, relevant to their needs, that describes the brand.
4. Brand Elements: The visual, auditory, and other ways the brand response is triggered. This includes trademarks, logos, logotypes, colors, shapes, sounds, tastes, and all the ways the customer knows it’s connecting to this particular brand.
Your teams will be asked to select a brand of their choice - either business-to-business brand (selling products up in the value chain, raw materials for a subsequent process - such as Dow Chemical, DuPont, Intel); or a consumer brand (Crest, Lysol, Tide, Heineken) to analyze.
On days where BrandScapes are assigned, we’ll begin each class with a brief 20 - minute presentation - where the team will dissect the brand and each of the key components of the BrandScape described above. We'll then discuss their opinions on how well the brand is being managed as the key element in the firm’s communications process, working from what students can find in public literature and on the web.
So each team should present for the brand you have selected:
- The Brand Footprint: Personality, Core value, Essence
- Positioning: Relative to competition
- The “Capsule” -- Top of mind summary
- The Brand Elements – Visuals, Trademarks, Logos, etc. signaling the brand
- How well this brand is being used as the key integrating element
- What you have learned: about this brand, and brands in general.
Important:
The "BrandScape presentation" should serve as a springboard for further class discussion on the nature of brands, and in particular, some of the essential differences between brands. Together we’ll learn some of the reasons why:
- Brands are important
- Brands live in –and are owned by – the minds of the audience in the market segment being addressed
- Brands can behave differently - business-to-business and business-to-consumer
- Some brands have a very crisp "BrandScape", while others are "muddy"
- Brands can be very powerful - we will begin to build understanding together of the extent to which brands influence our behaviors, our careers, and our lives…
Each Team will be awarded a grade on their BrandScape presentation, which will contribute to 40% to their overall course grade.
Notes:
Once your team has selected a brand, check with Dr. Oliva before proceeding. Certain brands which we’ll be using as examples in class – or those discussed in the class cases –shouldn’t be used. These include Coke, Pepsi, Kodak, Fuji, and a few others. This leaves thousands of brands to choose from.
Powerpoints used in the BrandScape Presentation – Either with notes in the notes pages, or with a separate Word document supporting it – should be turned in with the BrandScape assignment.
Assignment – Four Case Insights – 40% of Grade
As in any course with a heavy
emphasis on cases, each of you is expected to read each of the cases to be
covered in class, before the session in which the case presentation is made.
Assignment: As 40% of your grade, please select 4 of the 8 cases, and
prepare a short e-mail on each of them to
roliva@psu.edu with answers to the following questions:
- The most important consideration in this case is:_______________________________
- The key question I would like to ask the management of this business is:___________
(Note: make your e-mail BRIEF: One page or so.)
***Case Insights are due any time before the case is to be discussed in class. Once we’ve discussed the case – too late…
Each case insight will be graded –the top 4 selected for your final grade – you may chose to omit some Case Insight assignments – but be sure to turn in at least 4 for your grade.
Grading for Case Insights will be based on a thoughtful analysis of the case, key issues, most important questions to be addressed to the team.
Case Insights can be discussed in your teams or with other class Members, but are individual assignments. Each of you should please turn in individual work…
Creative
Critique – 20% of Grade:
For this (fun) assignment, select a piece
of market communications – print ad, TV or radio ad you can record or get to
(try You Tube) in some way, direct mail piece, outdoor billboard if you can
photograph and capture it –and submit it with your assignment.
Take a critical view of the piece:
- Tell us why you selected it
- Give it a FOCUS Score (to be covered in class)
- Use the Creative Filters Framework to analyze it (also covered in class)
- Discuss how it might be made better/stronger
- Discuss how it is or should be part of an Integrated Market Communications program.
Assignment
deliverables:
Include a Word or Powerpoint document with
your critique, along with the piece you’re critiquing captured in some
way.
Class Participation +/- 20% of Grade
We’ll be looking for insight versus “airtime”. Please use your name tents to help the process and be sure to add your insights, questions and texture to the class…
This can be a “plus up”, neutral or knock down – so consider this in class…
Grading
A+ Really outstanding. Totally new insights, frameworks for thinking, or tools for case analysis. Rarely given.
A Great
work. Obviously well thought through, recognized key insights and lessons,
brought new knowledge to bear on the problem, internally very consistent,
great presentation. More than what was expected –by quite a lot.
A- Very good work, beyond what was
expected.
B+
Thorough and solid work – generally
what was expected. Covers most important insights, worked through most
important issues.
B OK --
Good work, covers the fundamentals, solid presentation and write-up, covered
all the bases.
B- The
basics covered. Reflected some work on the problem, summarized the basics
well, hit the key points, missed one or more of the key lessons to be
learned in the case, didn't put the case presentation together effectively.
C/D Shoddy work, cursorily covered the basics, didn't really bring anything new to the ballgame.
Principles of our work together…
(Note: Rather than just repeat the required boilerplate here for the Executive MBA Program, I’ve tried to get to the essence of the situation..)
Your colleagues are suggesting that the following be attached to any work turned in. While this is still in discussion –it seems like a good idea to me:
“I/We ______________________ have neither given, utilized, received, nor witnessed unauthorized data on this deliverable, and have completed this work honestly and in accordance to the professor’s guidelines.”
- As in business, we’re counting on us all to bring our own principles and moral compass to the world, and to class. My assumption is that all Penn State Executive MBA’s bring very high standards to their practice now –and will do so in the future.
- Academic integrity: We’re all here together to learn, work, share. “Free riding,” sitting back and let others do the work, reflects lack of integrity and engagement with the class. If I hear complaints – which are rare – as in business, I do try to take fast, prudent, confidential action.
But note: Most everyone I’ve worked with in business – throughout 30 years – is ferociously honest, and of very high integrity. You need to be as well. Cheating, plagiarism – all of the things listed in many pages of legal-sounding policies on the subject – simply is dishonest and not good business. We need to hold one another accountable for not doing these things. Acts of support, team play, enabling diverse points of view, and mobilizing the special creativity in each of us is fun, honest and good business.
- “Google-ing” the cases and copying what is there
will be easily recognized – please don’t do this. Give the cases a fair
shake with your own thinking.
- We together should tolerate no sort of discrimination or harassment.
- Students with disabilities are invited to take this class, and if you need any accommodations please see me directly or call me at 814-863-2782. We’ll do what we can to make our time together pleasant and productive.
This site is for educational purposes and for the advancement of Business to Business Practices. © Ralph Oliva, 2003