Identify the brands and sub-brands in your new brand portfolio.
This is an exciting opportunity for you to summarize a company( NIKE )and a brand in a unique course project. You will have the opportunity to lay out proposed brand architecture. As you know from your readings, some examples of brand architecture can include a master brand, a branded house, and a hybrid brand. The selection of architecture sets the direction for a company and is extremely important. Use your imagination and set that direction. You will use this information again and again.
Let’s start this project and get going! Now is the time to select a company that you are going to investigate. A strong recommendation to you is to choose a well-known company that you like because they will have lots of information that you can use as examples. You may however choose any company you like, but know that references are required.
Now comes an opportunity to create a framework or model for your project. Look critically at the company of your choice and think:
What critical decisions has this company made in the past? Look at financial decisions, brand decisions, and think about the array of products that the company has. Is this the company you really want to profile? The brand positioning statement is a critical part of the project. You now have the opportunity to develop a statement that will quickly, succinctly, and strongly represent the brand and architecture you are trying to create. Is your company aggressive or conservative, financially strong or weak? A brand positioning statement should not be more than about a paragraph, but that statement needs to be the representative of everything you are trying to do. This is hard; sell your statement to friends, family, and your colleagues. Get insight, and drive the statement to be the best that it can be. If you still need help, ask your instructor.
A SWOT analysis might sound dry but it is actually a chance to be creative. Think carefully about the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. Where does your company stand? Do not mistake opportunities for strengths. Many companies have tremendous opportunities, and converting them to strengths may take resources they do not have. Position weaknesses in terms of 1 year, 5 year, and 10 year plans. It is always good to think in timeframes of 1 year, 5 year, and 10 years when thinking about business.
Now is your to follow what you have read and learned in this course as you create a brand strategy and a brand architecture. Be sure to consider the Frederiksen reading assigned in Unit 1 as a potential guide for your finished strategy. This is a unique strategy for developing a brand. Many major theories about marketing have been developed by people like Frederiksen, Maslow, Herzberg, the Boston Consulting Group, and more. It is not necessary that you agree with all of these theories, but it is a very good idea to become familiar with them, especially Frederiksen, which is required for this course.
Your brand architecture and brand strategy are complementary and should mesh.
As you write, please be certain that you cover the following as part of your synopsis and strategy:
Brand portfolio: Identify the brands and sub-brands in your new brand portfolio. This is a powerful opportunity. How do you people to see your sub-brands? Do you want people to know that a sub-brand is part of your company? Some companies do, and some companies do not. For example, Starbucks closed its Teavana stores. Did you know that Teavana even belonged to Starbucks? Most did not, and Starbucks preferred it that way. Portfolio and product and market context roles: An excellent resource to help you here is the Brand Matrix from the Boston Consulting Group. This was developed by Bruce Henderson at the Boston Consulting Group in 1970 and is still viable. Many companies have brands that are in some sort of transition. For example, the Amazon Echo (Alexa) might be terms a dog because it was a huge investment with still unknown gain. A brand that might be considered a question mark is the Microsoft Surface Pro. 4K UHD TV might be considered a rising star as people and markets continue to adapt to it. Finally, Tide detergent is a cash cow that has been rebranded at least 30 times since its inception. Every time a new feature is added it gets rebranded as New Tide, which means it brings in enormous profits for not-so-large investments. These should give you ideas on how to categorize your own company\’s brands. Resources: What level of resources will your brands receive based on their new roles? Should they receive higher, the same, or lower resources than they receive now? Note that if two or more companies are integrated into one brand, their combined resources represent the current level of funding. So, how will you now allocate those ever-scarce marketing dollars? It is up to you to decide who gets the funding increases, and what products receive annual cuts to their budgets. Brand structure: Create a brand hierarchy tree. There are many examples of trees in your readings and on the Web. Use a tree that represents as much as you can think of about your brand. Remember, a brand hierarchy tree should clearly represent you, and the brand you are managing.To successfully complete this project, you will be expected to:
Conduct business analysis that links brand architecture to the business strategy. You have many examples in your readings and with Frederiksen and the Boston Consulting Group. What is important is that your brands and the assessment and structure of your brands clearly match the strategy for the business. How embarrassing if the CEO says we are going to drive Product X this year only to find out you have cut the budget for Product X. Create a brand vision and positioning statement. Above we have discussed both vision and strategy. Again, think 1-year, 5-year, and 10-year in your visions. Think carefully where you want your brand to be positioned. Develop recommendations for brand vision, brand positioning, and brand architecture. When you write the brand tree, you are essentially completing this task. Think about products that can rise, and also think carefully about products to cut. It is said, that when a major company cuts a product, it could be more than 5 years until that happens. Your recommendations may have enormous repercussions for the brand. Create a business analysis matrix and industry competitive map. You have examples from the Boston Consulting Group Matrix. Your map could easily show your brand juxtaposed with those of competitors. Try to use one map to represent this task. Project Requirements To achieve a successful project experience and outcome, you are expected to meet the following requirements.
Paper requirements. Your paper must include the following information:
A two or three paragraph summation of what you believe the present branding situation is. Think about competition as you write this. What are your major goals for the brand portfolio in the company you have chosen? Try to be succinct. A brand vision, business analysis matrix, and industry competitive map. You should have gained or will gain substantial information in your readings. Create a matrix for people to review. Provide information about the matrix: include a thorough explanation of why you have chosen to make the points that you did. A brand positioning statement. There is a thorough discussion above about a brand positioning statement. Think carefully and ask others about their opinion. A SWOT analysis, which must include the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the company. Try to list four or five attributes in each section and state why you made the selection that you did. Recommended brand architecture for your chosen company that includes a chart of the brand portfolio structure. Remember, this is a critical choice, but hopefully by this step, the selection is evident. A summary of your paper. In a relatively short wrap up, talk about your choices, sell your reader on your choices and push for approval. Remember, the recommendations are yours and these recommendations now represent you. In your summary and in your paper try to avoid statements like, \”In my view,\” or \”in my opinion.\” You are the one writing the paper, so the opinions and ideas must indeed be yours. Title page, table of contents, and a solid reference page. References are critical for a paper like this. Be sure that you follow APA guidelines. APA is the selected formatting structure for Capella University. There are other formatting guides, but APA has been selected by Capella. Visit Capella\’s APA Style and Format page for more information. At least 5 properly formatted references.The length of the paper should be between 7–12 double-spaced pages. Paper length does not include reference page, table of contents, or reference pages.
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