Assignment: Conducting a branding audit Project
Step 1: Review Slate Case File
From: Jillian Best, CEO, MCS
To: You
Good Morning,
I have attached the Slate case file to this email. It provides additional details you will need to inform your work with Carlos Chance, their head of branding.
Brandin is a very important element of marketing. As you work on this project, it is imperative that you stay focused on the consumer. Remember that a company's customers do not buy features; they buy benefits, both tangible and intangible. It is also critical to understand customers and how the brand influences their buying decisions.
Best wishes,
Jillian
• After you have reviewed the Slate case file and read about branding, proceed to Step 2, where you will examine the elements of branding decisions.
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:
From: Carlos Chance, Head of Branding, Slate, Inc.
To: You
Hello,
Primarily, we want you to examine the branding strategies of our competitors, as well as any brand extensions and their branding packaging decisions.
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
• 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
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 two scholarly sources and eight reliable nonscholarly sources (10 total). Make sure that you use reliable, nonscholarly sources such as Reuters, Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, Barrons, Morningstar, Money, Forbes, Fortune, Financial Times, theWall Street Journal, and the Harvard Business Review,
In addition, explore the following branding websites for relevant content:
• adage
• adweek
• brandchannel
• ama.org
• cmo
• marketingprofs
Then proceed to the next step, where you will discuss branding strategy
Step 4: Discuss Competitors' Branding Strategies
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 write a two pages main response to Carlos's questions. Support your arguments with one scholarly and one reliable nonscholarly source
Step 5: Present Your Research Results
From: Jillian Best, CEO, MCS
To: You
I know that you're deep into your analysis of the Slate, Inc. case, but I wanted to preview your work and check in on the sources of information you are using to develop your report. Slate has asked to examine the sources of secondary research that we are using in our report to ensure their quality and originality. Accordingly, I want you to share the list of references you have been using to research Slate's competitors.
Deliverable: Provide a reference list derived from your research that has a minimum of two scholarly and eight reliable, nonscholarly sources (10 in all).
I suggest using reliable nonscholarly sources, such as Reuters, Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, Barrons, Morningstar, Money, Forbes, Fortune, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Harvard Business Review. All sources should be referenced using APA formatting.
Thanks for your hard work,
Jillian
Step 6: Complete Your Brand Analysis Report
Deliverable: Based on your research of the two companies' brands, write an eight-page report (four pages on each company) that addresses the following branding elements:
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)
As you examine these branding elements, your report should also answer the following questions:
1. How strong are the companies' brands in the market?
2. What are the factors contributing to their strengths and weaknesses?
3. How are these two brands competing against each other? How strong is their global performance?
4. How do consumers perceive their brands?
5. Are there any sub-brands? Are there any brand extensions?
Your report should contain a one-page executive summary (following the cover page) that highlights the most important findings of your analysis. Also include a one-page table in an appendix at the end of the paper that compares the brand elements for the two brands.
Support your work with course readings, scholarly sources, and reliable nonscholarly sources, such as Reuters, Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, Barrons, Morningstar, Money, Forbes, Fortune, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Harvard Business Review. All sources have to be cited using APA formatting, both within the text and in the reference list.
Summary of the project
The student here is a branding consultant that has been contracted by Slate Inc. to provide a report on the market performance of their two biggest competitors' brands. Slate Inc. has requested a brand analysis report on these two competing brands to inform its decisions on the direction of its own branding strategy.
- The students start by researching the two competitors' websites, as well as other reliable non-scholarly sources, while focusing on eight branding elements:
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)
- Students provide a reference list derived from their research that has a minimum of two scholarly and eight reliable, nonscholarly sources (10 in all). All sources should be referenced using APA formatting.
The report should also have a one-page executive summary, and a one-page table (in an Appendix) that compares the two brands.
- Discussion: Students post a main response to the Discussion question(s) by Saturday
- Finally, the students write an eight-page report (four pages on each company) that addresses the eight branding elements; as well as answers to the following questions:
1. How strong are the companies' brands in the market?
2. What are the factors contributing to their strengths and weaknesses?
3. How are these two brands competing against each other? How strong is their global performance?
4. How do consumers perceive their brands?
5. Are there any sub-brands? Are there any brand extensions?
N.B. Extensive scholarly and reliable non-scholarly research, as well as the course readings should be used to provide the necessary market information, and support the students' arguments.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.