2 Discussion questions

Slide #

Scene #

Narration

Slide 1

Scene 1

[Ed, Samantha, Carl – Hallway]

MKT500_4_1_Carl-1: Good morning, Ed and Samantha.

MKT500_4_1_Ed-1: Good morning, Carl.

MKT500_4_1_Samantha-1: Good morning, Carl.

MKT500_4_1_Carl-2: So, we have accomplished a lot during our previous meetings, and I believe that we are going to have a successful upcoming launch of the tablet computer.

MKT500_4_1_Ed-2: You’re right, Carl. We have come a long way in the past few weeks, and both Samantha and I feel confident that this will be a successful launch.

MKT500_4_1_Carl-3: Excellent. Have you started thinking about the best strategy to brand our tablet?

MKT500_4_1_Ed-3: Well, we did look at branding when we selected our target markets.

MKT500_4_1_Carl-4: Have you accounted for a strategy to transition from our current brands to the new tablet brand?

MKT500_4_1_Samantha-2: We have gathered some preliminary branding ideas, but we intend to investigate them further today.

MKT500_4_1_Carl-5: Sounds good. I look forward to seeing your work later.

Slide 2

Scene 2

[Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office]

Ed and Samantha meet to discuss the branding strategy for the tablet launch.

MKT500_4_2_Samantha-1: Ed, before we get into too many branding details for this specific launch, could we talk about the concept of branding strategy? Brand strategy is a part of the marketing management process that I struggled with a bit while I was in school.

Ed: I have a short video here that we can watch. I think it will be helpful.

Slide 3

What is Brand Strategy?

http://youtu.be/H-RaxV2as8s

Slide 4

Scene 2, cont.

[Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office]

(Displayed on screen)

MKT500_4_2_Samantha-2: Thanks, Ed. This video was great. A brand is so much more than just the logo we associate with the product.

MKT500_4_2_Ed-1: Exactly. When we’re thinking about how to brand our tablet, we need to intentionally and thoughtfully ensure that we are communicating a consistent message within the company as well as to our customers.

As part of our branding strategy, we need to develop brand associations, which you may recall are the feelings, beliefs, and knowledge that customers have about a particular brand. Since this is a new product in our portfolio, we also need to discuss how we are going to implement our brand extensions. Then we can use Golds Reling’s brand equity to leverage our good name in the electronics market in order to get customers to buy our new tablet. We can tackle this by creating a brand association map.

MKT500_4_2_Samantha-3: I remember that brand association maps are similar to perceptual maps, like the one we created for Carl in our last meeting.

MKT500_4_2_Ed-2: Right. The primary purpose of a brand association map is to illustrate a new strategic overview of our brand's associations and to depict our brand’s strategic meaning in a comprehensive visual presentation.

(Brand map displayed on screen)

As you can see by the Samsung brand map, the nodes in the network include elements, attributes, and abstract benefits about the brand. The links between the nodes indicate the connections. Some of the connecting lines are more prominent than others.

The idea that the figure tries to convey is that customers store quite a lot of information about a brand in their memory, and when the brand name is activated, the brand associations - such as service, quality, or product reliability - are subsequently triggered.

As for the practical implications, our strategic brand association map process provides us with a very clear, consumer-driven, strategic view of the associations our brand has and how those associations may, or may not, be serving to differentiate our brand.

Additionally, the strategic brand association maps serve as an excellent diagnostic as to the overall health of our brand. It can also provide actionable insight for better understanding of strategic reasons why a particular brand may be under-performing against expectations.

Furthermore, brand associations are one of the fundamental cornerstones of brand value. Brand associations serve to differentiate and create meaning for brands.

Better understanding and managing a brand's associations are fundamental roles of brand managers. The brands map process illustrates a new way to give brand managers strategic, consumer-driven insight into their brand's associative network.

MKT500_4_2_Samantha-4: I see! So when we are thinking about marketing the tablet, we need to have our customers relate to our brands by creating a brand personality. In other words, we should try to attribute personality traits such as “seriousness”, “warmth”, or “imagination” to a brand as a way to achieve differentiation in the market. These types of personalities capture information specific to our brand, as well as holistic perceptions about the brand and company position in the marketplace that we have communicated through items such as our advertising and packaging.

Golds Reling’s brand strategy has to attain a certain personality, and if customer perceptions concur that the brand has achieved those characterizations, then we can consider the branding and marketing efforts successful. If the brand manager does not like the brand’s current profile, then new marketing initiatives may be taken to reposition the brand.

MKT500_4_2_Ed-3: Exactly. We can conduct a consumer panel to help determine our brand personality.

MKT500_4_2_Samantha-5: How will that work?

MKT500_4_2_Ed-4: Well, a consumer panel is a sample group of consumers in a target market whose buying behavior is believed to be representative of the entire market. By studying and defining the brand preferences, buying patterns, attitudes, and opinions of a consumer panel, marketers can extrapolate the behavior of the total market. For example, Apple used consumer panel research to launch its iPhone 5 to determine whether trial usage of a new product could lead to adoption.

MKT500_4_2_Samantha-6: Hmmm, but Carl wants this information by this afternoon. How are we going to put together a consumer panel that quickly?

MKT500_4_2_Ed-5: Well, in Google’s new tablet launch, they used a consumer panel. The results of the panel research are now available on Google’s website.

MKT500_4_2_Samantha-7: Why would we use Google’s research data for our product launch?

MKT500_4_2_Ed-6: The Google tablet is very close to ours; so we can review the results of their consumer panel to see which aspects of Google’s research apply to our brand.

See, brand personality is a lot like a human’s personality, and is usually described using effective and catchy adjectives. This method was used in our previous launches to establish a branding statement for our XY Two computer.

Here’s a list of adjectives commonly used to describe people’s personalities. We can ask ourselves, is our new product:

· Conservative or progressive?

· Urban or outdoorsy?

· Casual or professional?

· Funny and playful or serious?

· Big or small?

· Leader or underdog?

· Stylish and fashionable or plain and practical?

· Thrifty or affluent?

· Outspoken or reserved?

· Dynamic or stable?

· Predictable or surprising?

· Stable or fluid?

MKT500_4_2_Samantha-8: I’m not sure all of these apply to our product though.

MKT500_4_2_Ed-7: We can narrow down the list after we conduct the consumer panel, and use these results to finalize our brand personality statements. However, for now, we can focus on those adjectives that most closely describe our target market the Experiencers and Innovators - who are both trendy and seek out new and exciting experiences.

Tell me, which adjective do you think would be the most beneficial brand personality attribute for marketing the new tablet?

Slide 5

Interaction.

Based on the information Ed shared with Samantha, select the most beneficial brand personality attributes for marketing the new tablet?

A. Urban

B. Dynamic

C. Leader

D. Progressive

Correct Feedback: A – Urban. This adjective relates most closely to the Experiencers and Innovators profile of being trendy, new-experience seekers.

Incorrect Feedback: B – Dynamic. Although the target segment lives in a dynamic environment and are thrill seekers, this adjective really doesn’t cover the branding statement.

Incorrect Feedback: C – Leader. This adjective is too over-used in the computer industry and; therefore, it would not distinguish Golds Reling’s new tablet from others on the market. If the product does not stand out, Experiencers and Innovators most likely would not take notice of it.

Incorrect Feedback: D – Progressive. Although the consumers purchasing a tablet want to purchase from a progressive company, this adjective is not targeting Experiencers and Innovators, who are motivated more by self-expression and image.

MKT500_4_2_Ed-8: Based on the information I shared with Samantha, select the most beneficial brand personality attribute for marketing the new tablet.

Slide 6

Scene 2, cont.

[Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office]

MKT500_4_2_Samantha-9: I think we should use the “urban” adjective in our branding statement because it most closely relates to the lifestyle characteristics of our target market.

MKT500_4_2_Ed-9: Yes, I agree. But, first we’ll need to check with our legal department to see if any of our competitors have used “urban” in their branding statements.

MKT500_4_2_Samantha-10: You’re right. I had forgotten about intellectual property rights. In the U.S. and Europe, there are regulations as to what can be said in ads and on product packaging. This would be of particular importance for our trademark.

MKT500_4_2_Ed-10: I’ll go check with Legal now, so we can get started writing the branding statement for our new tablets.

MKT500_4_2_Samantha-11: Sounds good!I want to be sure we have everything we need for our meeting with Carl later.

Slide 7

Scene 3

[Ed, Samantha, Carl – Conference Room]

Ed and Samantha meet with Carl in the conference room to discuss their branding materials.

Display Brand Map

MKT500_4_3_Carl-1: Good afternoon, Ed and Samantha. What did you come up with for a branding strategy and brand statement?

MKT500_4_3_Ed-1: As you know, at Golds Reling we believe that our brands have value above and beyond the benefits of the product itself. Our brand is not just a well-known name, but it projects images that our name invokes. While a brand begins with the name that we choose to label our new product, a good brand is a portfolio of qualities associated with that name. The brand associations begin with qualities under our control. Companies such as ours build associations via classical conditioning in consumer learning - for example, through a jingle, slogan, or spokesperson.

MKT500_4_3_Samantha-1: At Golds Reling, we have two areas to cover for our branding strategy.

For our customers:

Our brands must convey information to customers. Brands can gain reputations for being bad, but the goal of our strategy is to create a product that is reliable, or predictable in quality.

Brand building is based fundamentally on the predictability of the item being purchased. When the brand name is an assurance of reliable quality, the customer’s decision is made easier. There is less perceived risk associated with the choice among the products offered in the marketplace when the customer knows which brands are good. Risk is essentially a measure of variability, whereas reliability implies a consistency or predictability in the performance of the product. We feel that our current brands also serve as status symbols.

For our company:

Our new brands must induce loyalty.

If customers appreciate the reliability, high quality, and status of a brand that we have already built like the XY two, then they will willingly pay premium prices for it.

The mechanism that gives our current and new brands meaning is the set of associations that are linked to the brand in the customer’s mind. These associations are created through a number of sources. They are built from:

· Our company’s advertisements and communications in the marketplace.

· Our customers’ own experiences with the current brand and company and the customers’ experiences with competitors’ brands.

· The stories related about the brand by other customers through word-of-mouth.

MKT500_4_3_Carl-2: Do you know the attributes our customers seek?

MKT500_4_3_Samantha-2: ( pointing to brand map) I’m glad you asked that, Carl. We have created a brand map for you that reveals the attributes in a graphical format.

The attributes we believe align most with the our tablet computers are:

· Affordable

· Urban

· Sophisticated

· Fun

· Hi Tech

· Easy-to-use

· High Quality

MKT500_4_3_Carl-3: Well-conceived. Do you both believe this aligns with our intended target audience?

MKT500_4_3_Ed-2: Yes. Based on the data we extracted from industry research and our own experience with the XY Two computer, we believe these attributes are correctly aligned.

MKT500_4_3_Carl-4: Excellent. Have you crafted a branding statement that includes the brand name, logo and features?

MKT500_4_3_Samantha-3: Yes. Ed and I came up with a couple of statements and names.

We have a few versions to show you, but we are still in the process of gathering the consumer panel information.

Display Mockups

Slide 8

Interaction

Hover your mouse over the images to see the branding statements.

Gold Reiling_logospics of tablets.docx

MKT500_4_3_Ed-3: Hover your mouse over the images to see the branding statements.

Slide 9

Scene 3, cont.

[Ed, Samantha, Carl – Conference Room]

Gold Reiling_logospics of tablets.docx

MKT500_4_3_Carl-5: Okay, these are great mock-ups. I like the “Golds Reling’s X- Tab - The Urban Legend!!” version the best. However, I’m not sure if I like the type style. We need something that denotes action, and that sounds hip and cutting edge.

MKT500_4_3_Ed-4: Exactly, Carl. We are working on that.

MKT500_4_3_Samantha-4: What do you think of our initial ad mock-ups?

MKT500_4_3_Ed-5: Samantha and I have been working with our creative department. Our idea is that the Gold Reling’s brand affords our customer the cyber world.

Insert ad mock-ups here.

MKT500_4_3_Carl-6: I like what the both of you have done. You have created a branding strategy, logo, and tagline that will really have an impact. Let’s send your ideas to our creative department to work on some refined mock-ups.

Slide 10

Scene 4

[Ed, Samantha - Hallway]

MKT500_4_4_Ed-1: I’m glad Carl likes our ideas. We have worked hard on this project. Let’s recap some of the key points we went over today.

Slide 11

Interaction – Check Your Understanding

Match each phrase with its definition.

Brand Strategy – Generating and influencing brands carefully, intentionally, and thoughtfully with a corporate viewpoint.

Brand Associations - The feelings, beliefs, and knowledge that customers have about a particular brand.

Brand Extensions – A strategic use of a brand’s equity, in which the marketer leverages the brand’s good name to get customers to buy something new.

Brand Personality - The attribution of human personality traits to a brand as a way to achieve differentiation.

MKT500_4_4_Ed-2: Match each phrase we reviewed today related to branding with its correct definition.

Slide 12

Scene 4, cont.

[Ed, Samantha - Hallway]

MKT500_4_4_Samantha-1: Thanks, Ed. I really appreciate your guidance during this project.

MKT500_4_4_Ed: You’re welcome, Samantha. Don’t forget to complete your e-Activity and participate in this week’s threaded discussion on core market offerings and defining the product. I’ll see you next week!