Part - 1:
o Select a current debate in marketing and brand management.
o Search the Internet and University of Roehampton Library and identify a relevant article about the current debate you selected.
o To complete the critical review, compose an essay of approximately 1,500 words that includes the following:
- An introduction paragraph identifying the current debate you selected and why it interests you.
- A paragraph critically reviewing the article you identified.
- An explanation of what side, if any, you take in the debate, incorporating learning from the module. If you did not take a side, explain why.
To prepare for this Individual Assignment:
- Reflect on the following:
o What is marketing? Why is important? Review the Readings. Consider how marketing strategies and orientation might contribute to or reduce an organisation's profitability. What strategies do the Readings suggest for aligning business and marketing strategies?
o What is a brand? Why is it worth developing? Consider the various categories of brand equity proposed by Aaker (1996) for what makes a strong brand and why this adds to customer perceptions of value.
- Using the Interbrand Web site (http://www.bestglobalbrands.com/2014/ranking/ ), consider how Interbrandhas calculated brand value.
- Select one brand and corresponding organisation from the bottom 50 (50-100) on the Interbrand report to research and feature throughout this module as the focus of your Final Project.
- Using credible online sources, research and critically assess the business, marketing and brand strategies for the organisation you chose.
- Reflect on the following: Are there any areas of marketing in which your chosen organisation appears to be particularly strong or weak? Are there any areas of business in which your chosen organisation appears to be particularly strong or weak?
To complete this Individual Assignment:
- Describe your process for conducting an informal situational analysis on the organisation you chose. What areas did you consider in your analysis?
- Based on your situational analysis, describe the business, marketing and branding strategies.
- Describe the alignment of the business, marketing and branding strategies. Be sure to address the following questions:
o At what points do they intersect and diverge?
o How strategic is this alignment?
o What are the dangers of not aligning these strategies?
Part -2:
To prepare for this Individual Assignment:
- Review the organisation you selected for your Final Project.
- Review the Readings from this unit. In addition, search the Internet and University of Roehampton Library. Identify three relevant articles regarding market research approaches for determining market demand for branded products.
- Think of a new fictitious product that you believe would be commercially successful in a new international market of your choice.
- Choose two market approaches that you believe would be most effective in determining the demand for this new product.
To complete this Individual Assignment:
- Describe a new fictitious product idea that you believe would be a logical fit for your chosen organisation and its brand promise as well as commercially successful in a new international market of your choice.
- Describe the market research approaches you chose that you believe would be most effective in determining the relevant segments and demand for this new product. Your post should explain why you believe they would be most effective in allowing you to better understand three of the following topics in terms of market demand:
o Current brand strength (e.g. measures of brand equity)
o Market and segment size and growth
o Customer segment characteristics
o Competitors and alternatives
o Buyer behaviour and the buying process (i.e. choice criteria)
o Potential for the use of digital marketing processes (e.g. ecommerce, social media) to support the customer buying process.
Part -3:
To prepare for this Individual Assignment:
- Building on the learning from previous units, review the Readings and research articles online regarding how market research informs segmenting, targeting and positioning.
- Review Agarwal et al. (2010). Consider the cross-cultural and cross-national models of perceived quality. These relate more to services, but could these themes resonate with products as well?
To complete this Individual Assignment:
Create segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies for your new, fictitious product that falls within the organisation and brand identified in Unit 1. For this Individual Assignment, include the following:
- Produce a graphic representation of your segmentation strategy for your new, fictitious product. Include any niche or subgroups in your graphic depiction that you think might be effective. Also include in your graphic representation a brief summation of the needs of each segment.
- In addition to this graphic depiction, write a 1,000-word paper that outlines strategies for creating or increasing brand equity for your branded product. Include:
o One strategy for targeting marketing efforts to each segment
o One strategy for positioning your product for each segment
- For each of the strategies, explain why they would be effective. Include specific examples and appropriate citations/support from the literature for your findings.
Part -4:
To prepare for this Individual Assignment:
- Review the Readings. Focus on specific examples of effective marketing mixes that improved the marketability of a product or brand. Also focus on digital applications related to the marketing mix.
- Consider the need for a marketing mix in a marketing strategy. What would be the danger in too little or too much of a focus on one of the P's?
- Using online or other sources, explore how the organisation that produces the brand you chose for your Final Project makes use of its current marketing mix. Pay special attention to how much or how little it focuses on each 'P'.
To complete this Individual Assignment:
- Evaluate the effectiveness of the current marketing mix for the brand you selected for your Final Project. Does the marketing mix meet goals of forming consumer brand relationships? Include in your evaluation whether the marketing mix includes the right mix of P's.
- In a 1,000-word paper, create a marketing mix you believe would be more effective for this new product in order to build brand equity in an international market and explain why you chose this mix. Include a variety of marketing methods, including digital marketing. How is the marketing mix for this new product different from the marketing mix that was most likely used for the organisation's other products? Why?
Part -5:
To prepare for this Individual Assignment:
- Read Day (2003). Consider what this author views as the components of customer-relating capability. How can these components be leveraged to build a competitive advantage?
- Read the module text chapters. In Chapter 11, consider how organisations can develop objectives and strategies to manage a product or brand through inception, growth, decline and new growth through new products or brands. In Chapter 19, review Porter's 5 Forces model.
- Read Hamel and Pralahad (1985), focusing on the strategies for building a global presence, defending domestic position and overcoming national fragmentation.
- Review some of the Sector Overviews in the Interbrand Web site. Consider how some of the world's top brands strategise to maintain competitive advantage.
To complete this Individual Assignment:
In a 1,000-word paper, create a plan for increasing competitive advantage for the selected organisation and brand. The plan should include three appropriate strategies for increasing competitive advantage in your chosen organisation. For each strategy, include the following:
- Explain how the strategies support overall corporate business and marketing strategies to increase competitive market advantage.
- Identify essential resources required to execute these strategies for increasing competitive advantage.
- Explain how you might measure performance related to meeting strategy objectives for increasing competitive advantage.