Project 2: Conducting a Brand Audit
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Introduction
You have a total of two weeks to finish your brand analysis report and should complete the seven steps of this project by the end of Week 4:
· Step 1: Review Slate Case File
· Step 2: Review the Branding Elements
· Step 3: Research Slate’s Competitors
· Step 4: Discuss Competitors’ Branding Strategies
· Step 5: Present Your Research Results
· Step 6: Submit your Brand Analysis Report
· Step 7: Complete your Brand Analysis Report
· Step 8: Submit Your Work
If you have any questions, ask your instructor. To get started, click Step 1: Review Slate Case File.
Competencies
Your work will be evaluated using the competencies listed below.
· 1.3: Provide sufficient, correctly cited support that substantiates the writer’s ideas.
· 1.6: Follow conventions of Standard Written English.
· 2.5: Develop well-reasoned ideas, conclusions or decisions, checking them against relevant criteria and benchmarks.
· 6.1: Identify the general (external) environment in which an organization operates and discuss the implications for enterprise success.
· 6.2: Evaluate strategic implications for domestic and international markets of an organization’s industry.
· 6.4: Develop and recommend strategies for an organization’s sustainable competitive advantage.
· 12.2: Analyze marketing information.
Project 2 Scenario Transcript
MBA640
Just as you are completing your work with your first client, Maryland Creative Solutions’ (MCS) CEO, Jillian Best, hands down your next assignment. She has recently spoken with both Shanice Watts, the CEO of Slate, Inc., and Carlos Chance, the company’s head of branding, and Jillian would like you to serve as the consultant for this new client. She calls you into her office for a debriefing.
“Thanks for taking on this project,” she says. “We have been contracted by Slate, Inc. to provide a report on the market performance of their two biggest competitors’ brands. The group has asked us to provide a brand analysis report on these two competing brands to inform Slate’s decisions on the direction of its own branding strategy.
“We need you to do a thorough brand analysis of both companies,” Jillian explains. “The report should stress the importance of these companies’ brands as assets, especially globally. Time is of the essence. Shanice and Carlos have asked that this report be completed in two weeks, as Slate’s board of directors will meet soon after that.”
To give Carlos and Shanice the most in-depth report, you will need to conduct an analysis of both of Slate’s two biggest competitors’ brand performance and branding strategies. In particular, you will need to discuss the branding elements that are important for the competitors’ brand success.
Working closely with Carlos, Slate’s head of branding, you will need to have a solid understanding of branding strategy (in particular the branding strategies of Slate’s competitors) to complete your report. In addition, you will need to have a good understanding of the importance of brands in our current era of globalization and a firm grasp on how to manage and sustain a brand in this highly competitive business environment.
“I won’t keep you any longer,” Jillian says. “Good luck with this assignment.”
Step 2: Review the Branding Elements
Through correspondences with Carlos about his expectations for the brand analysis report, the focus of your analysis starts to become clear:
INBOX: 1 New Message
Subject: Focus of Brand Analysis
From: Carlos Chance, Head of Branding, Slate, Inc.
To: You
Hello,
Primarily, we want you to examine the
branding strategies
of our competitors. This report will function as a
brand audit
that allows us to examine our competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, customer expectations, and our own relative position in the market.
These details form the basis of the main
branding elements
. I met with our CEO, Shanice Watts, and she wanted me to emphasize the following eight categories we would like you to analyze in your report about our two biggest competitors:
1. brand personality
2. brand image
3. brand identity
4. brand differentiation
5. brand positioning
6. brand communication
7. brand loyalty
8. brand equity (including financial equity)
Slate’s executive teams are really looking forward to your report. Thanks for helping us with this.
Best,
Carlos
![Email signature with Slate, Inc. corporate logo, Carlos Chance, Head of Branding, and contact info]()
When you have finished reading about the branding elements, proceed to the next step, where you will begin your research on Slate’s competitors.
Step 3: Research Slate’s Competitors
Required Readings
Ferrara, M. H. (2013).
Handbook of global marketing. Gale.
1.
Building an international brand
2.
Managing a brand across multiple markets
3.
Global brand success stories
To carry out this assignment, you need to understand Slate’s competitors’ brand strategies, their consumers, how to acquire market knowledge through
primary and secondary research
, and how to use that knowledge to build and support a brand.
To start your research, visit the websites of Slate’s two biggest competitors and review both scholarly and reliable nonscholarly sources to explore their branding decisions. Your research of the two companies should focus on the branding elements discussed in the previous step.
Consult a minimum of three scholarly sources and twelve reliable nonscholarly sources (15 total). Make sure that you use reliable, nonscholarly sources such as
Reuters,
Bloomberg,
Yahoo! Finance,
Statista,
Barrons.com,
Morningstar.com,
Money,
Forbes,
Fortune,
Financial Times,
The Wall Street Journal, and
Harvard Business Review, as well as the UMGC Library databases such as
Hoover’s,
IBIS World, and
ABI/INFORM.
In addition, explore the following branding websites for relevant content:
· www.adage.com
· www.adweek.com
· www.brandchannel.com
· www.ama.org
· www.cmo.com
· www.marketingprofs.com
Then proceed to the next step, where you will discuss branding strategy.
Step 4: Discuss Competitors’ Branding Strategies
Importance of Branding
As you are researching Slate’s competitors, Carlos asks you to participate in a
meeting on the importance of branding
with his team.
Review the meeting details, then go to the discussion area and begin by posting your main response to Carlos’s questions by Saturday midnight (latest!). Support your arguments with at least one source from the course readings, and three reliable nonscholarly sources derived from your own research. Then respond to at least two postings in the discussion group. Complete all discussion posts and responses by Tuesday midnight (latest!).
Review the
MBA Discussion Guidelines
for instructions on participation in discussions.
In the next step, you will respond to your boss’s request for a vetted list of references you are using to support your report.
DISCUSSION MUST BE AT LEAST 1 PAGE LONG – 4 SOURCES – 1 FROM COURSE READING – 3 NONSCHOLARLY SOURCES PER THE INSTRUCTOR
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