Consumer psychology– brand audit
Assessment 1: Brand audit
Weighting: 25%
Word length: 2,500w maximum, including tables, images (references are excluded).
Summary analysis word count = 1,800 – 2,000 words, with an additional 500 words for tables/maps.
Group assessment: 2-3 individuals maximum!
Report paper:
Submit your brand choice to your tutor no later than Week 2 workshop! Any assignments submitted without having the brand choice approved by your tutor are in jeopardy of not meeting the ‘brand choice requirement’, and as a consequence the group may fail this assessment.
Brand Audit task:
You are required to audit a brand’s positioning strategy relative to its competitors. The purpose behind a brand audit is to analyse the influence of brand’s marketing strategy against performance. For this assessment task you will analyse a brand’s strategy and evaluate how the strategy influences consumption and consumer perception. You are NOT evaluating performance. You are NOT developing a strategy.
Choosing a brand:
Your group will choose a single brand within a product category which you can find and collect brand-related information (e.g. advertisements, news/business articles, websites). The brand (good, service) is to be currently offered for sale in the Australian market today by a specific company (it need not be manufactured in Australia).
• Choose a brand/product all group members purchase regularly – this will assist in creating the means-chain analysis!
• With multi-national organisations that comprise of many brand entities under the parent brand you are required to choose a brand entity, not the organisation, for example Nudie Juice as opposed to Nudie Yogurt or Nudie soup; Cadbury Marvellous Creations as opposed to Cadbury Dairy Milk or Cadbury Coco or Cadbury as an organisation; VW Golf not VW as an organization or other vehicle models within the VW offering).
• However, a fashion brand such as Carla Zampatti, Collette Dinnegan or Kookai represents a single fashion brand. If the fashion brand has a sports and classical line you would then choose one of those.
Brand Audit Report structure:
To complete this task you will draw on your knowledge from Introduction to Marketing and 2004MKT content (lectures and workshops) discussed up to and including week 5. Specifically, your report will comprise 5 sections: USE THE FOLLOWING HEADINGS!
1) Brand overview:
– briefly overview the brand and related brand category characteristics (5%; summary analysis 200w)
2) Brand target psychographic profile:
– conduct a psychographic profile of the brand’s target audience (20%, summary analysis 400w)
3) Brand associative network analysis
– complete a means-end chain analysis of your brand and summarize findings (20%, summary analysis 450w)
4) Brand positioning strategy
– profile your brand’s positioning strategy and summarise findings (20%, summary analysis 450w)
5) Competitor analysis
– evaluate the positioning strategy of 2 key competitors relative to your chosen brand and summarise findings (20%, 450w).
6) Future recommendations
– from your analysis identify 2 marketing strategy recommendations for your chosen brand which aim to enhance consumption or consumer perception of the brand. (10%; 450w)
7) Referencing (5%)
Report guidelines
Ensure you target your analysis to the brand entity/product, not the organization!
Section 1: Product overview and brand category specification
Task: Identify the industry or category your brand is in and succinctly overview the brand/product entity (e.g: fashion retail, fast moving consumable, technological, niche brand, new market entrant, established brand with historical leverage (or not), established brand circa 1980 etc)
1) Example: Kookai overview
Kookai is an established niche brand operating in the fast-fashion retail sector. Kookai, an Australian textile and clothing manufacturer, encapsulates the vibrant Australian culture with French style. Originally founded as a French fashion label the brand has transitioned to a bespoke fashion label which uniquely 1) creates in-house prints and fabrics and 2) vertically integrates production processes ensuring exclusiveness of design and manufacturing. The first brick and mortar store opened in 1992 with over 30 stores currently throughout Australia and New Zealand, and a web presence since 2002. The KOOKAÏ vision is centred around a designer collection accessible to all.
Section 2: Psychographic profile of the brand’s target audience
Task: Succinctly describe the brand’s target audience with emphasis on attitudinal and behavioural influences impacting decision-making.
2) Example: Psychographic profile of Kookai target audience
KOOKAÏ attracts a customer who is looking for a “charming” style – whether she’s student, professional or young mother. The KOOKAÏ young woman is feminine, chic, discerning yet edgy. Kookai’s key demographic is a 22-year-old female: “She is the most fickle, she is the most challenging, she tends to be the most interesting in terms of her social life and her spending habits; and they continuously want to push the boundaries in their personal goals and boundaries, and dress accordingly, yet with feminine flair.
Section 3: (Insert brand name) brand associative network analysis
Task: The objective of an associative network analysis is to decipher the value consumer’s associate with a brand and the influence impacting purchase behaviour. See below the associative analyse relating to health – note you are required to create an associative network analysis identifying and evaluating the drivers of your own ‘consumer behaviour’ related to your chosen brand.
Source:https://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&tbo=d&q=mind+mapping&tbm=isch&tbs=simg:CAQSYAn9EwvGvhxBTBpMCxCwjKcIGjoKOAgBEhLSBoEGgAb8BakG3QaqBq8GjwMaIOpmfKn9t1U2yIu39mWXhW2E6_1cUbFTbiul5coxkOCcKDAsQjq7CBoADCGxEirLohEfjg&sa=X&ei=JaAhUZtsz9mSBYWkgOAC&ved=0CCkQwg4&biw=1920&bih=976
Your task is to take the key aspects of a means-end value chain and develop an interconnecting associative map to uncover the underlying emotions, consequences, and personal values that drive why you consume your chosen brand.
Summarize the key findings of your network analysis.
Section 4: Brand positioning analysis
Task: You are to evaluate your brand’s positioning strategy. Brand positioning is the marketing aspects that an organisation builds ensuring the brand occupies a distinctive place and value in the target consumer’s mind, which is otherwise known as the brand’s conceptual space that the organisation wants to own in the target audience’s mind. An effective brand positioning strategy maximises consumer relevancy and competitive distinctiveness. You will succinctly analyse the brand’s conceptual space addressing each of the following:
4.1) Analyse strategy elements associated with price, location/distribution, promotion, packaging aspects of your chosen brand;
4.2) Analyse brand characteristics of your chosen brand
4.3) Develop a perceptual map
o Identify and justify the criterion on which you will develop a perceptual map for your chosen brand and 2 competitors. DO NOT use price and quality as criterion (why? They are overused and do not reflect robust analysis). Use your analysis to identify the criterion.
o Develop the perceptual map
o Summarize findings
Use the tables below to aid synthesising information you have collected regarding your brand and 2 competitor brands. The categories in the tables below are indicative and may alter depending on the nature of the brand you have chosen. The objective of this analysis is to succinctly analyse the brand without using an essay format!
Example “analysis framework”: (change/add the column headings to suit your analysis)
4.1: Strategy Elements Analysis
Cadbury Milk Chocolate
Price positioning Location/ distribution Packaging
shape, size, colour etc Promotion
(identify key primary comms strategy)
Low price across all product sizes
– Often on sale – Major food retailers – Coles/Woorlworths/ IGA
– Smaller food retail outlets eg newsagents for smaller sizes
– Large in-store shelf space – Modernised traditional packaging
– Online – ‘Joyville’ interaction engaging consumers
– Traditional – TV
– In store – competitions
• NOTE: do not use full sentences in tables! The information in Tables identifies key information – a snapshot of information NOT a full explanation.
• The information provided in tables should be succinct and comprehensive, but not verbose.
4.2: Brand Characteristics Analysis
Brand logo/symbol Tagline (promise)
Brand colours Brand personality
Glass & ½ full cream milk logo – historical reference maintained Free the Joy – happiness, delight, pleasure and intrigue Distinctive Cadbury purple Carnevalisque : Energetic and happy
• Identify and synthesise brand elements of the most recent campaign/s
4.3 Perceptual Map Analysis
Perceptual mapping criterion
Example: lifestyle programming mapping
Market type: younger/edgier, older/ mainstream Programing targets specific audiences; essential to know consumer preferences for specific programs
Programming style (education, entertainment) Category type; to what extent are young vs older audiences watching education vs entertainment lifestyle programs
• Identify and justify the criterion on which you will develop a perceptual map for your chosen brand and 2 competitors. DO NOT use price and quality as criterion (why? They are overused and do not reflect robust analysis). Use your analysis to identify the criterion.
• Develop the perceptual map (of course you may include other competitors in the map)
Source: https://www.slideshare.net/JenniferHoffmann/cooking-channel-marketing-project
In your Section 4 summary consider the following:
Summarise findings and the impact of the strategy on the consumer. This summary is to emanate from your analysis! For example you will discuss key information such as:
• Does your chosen brand own a distinctive place in consumer’s minds? What is the brand’s point of difference?
• Does the brand strategy match consumers’ perceptions? Is the brand easy to understand, difficult to copy? Discuss
• What is the brand’s promise? Is the brand promise believable and credible relative to the 2 competitors? Has the promise been consistent over history, or does it change? Discuss.
• Identify key outcomes of the perceptual mapping analysis.
Your analysis in this section centres on evaluating key aspects of the strategy of your chosen brand and its influence on consumption/ perception.
Section 5: Competitor analysis
Task: Use the information in Section 4 to identify 2 competitors.
1. Provide a brief statement justifying your choice of competitors.
2. Evaluate the positioning strategy of each of the two competitor brands
o Apply the same “analysis framework” you used for Section 4 for each of your chosen competitors. Of course, if competitor brands have distinctive advantages not captured by the Section 4 headings, then add additional headings or create alternate tables. This is an important criterion!
At the end of this section summarise your findings comparing your analysis of your chosen brand with the competitor analysis. For example you will discuss key information such as:
• Relative to competitors is your brand’s point of distinction strongly defended, or not? Discuss
• Does your brand possess a point of parity? That is, a point of parity is a point of difference that a competitor has over your brand that needs to be counteracted. In many cases, you won’t even be able to compete in the market unless you can nullify this advantage that your competitor has.
o For example: McDonald’s had a competitive parity problem when it began losing customers concerned with healthy eating. They were vetoing the brand altogether. So, they began to offer grilled chicken sandwiches, a variety of salads, fruit smoothies, a choice of apples in the kids’ Happy Meals, and started making their signature fries with dramatically reduced “bad” fat. The goal was not to make McDonalds a destination for the healthy-eating segment, but to create enough parity to reduce the number of customers who wouldn’t even consider the brand.
• Is there a consistency in your brand relative to competitors? Can the brand withstand counterattacks from your competitors?
Your analysis in this section centres on evaluating the extent to which your brand defends its position, or not, relative to competitors. As with Section 4, the objective of this analysis is to succinctly analyse competitor brands without using an essay format!
Section 6: Future recommendations
From your analysis identify and justify 2 marketing strategy recommendations for your chosen brand which aim to enhance consumption or consumer perception of the brand. Use marketing strategy terminology with recommendations stemming from your analysis.
Brand Audit Report paper (Overall):
This assignment requires you to use your words wisely, to think critically about the application of strategy to consumption behaviour, to integrate theory and models to analyse how a brand’s strategy encourages consumption. Importantly, the assignment requires you to engage in a process of editing to ensure you articulate yourself clearly and concisely.
You are also require to:
• Present the report format using the required headings.
• Keep to the word limit. References are excluded).
• Referencing style to be used is APA – guidelines are at Resource Bank on Navigation Menu at Learning@Griffith. See also the Assessment tab on course L@G site.
• Include a cover page detailing chosen social issue, student name & ID information
• Include a cover page detailing chosen brand, student names & ID information.
• Writing quality is important, so please edit and revise your writing for careless spelling, formatting and poor grammar as these give the reader the impression of carelessness and a lack of regard for the assignment. Also, good sentence and paragraph construction helps with the presentation and flow of your ideas and arguments.
• Prior to submission your report must meet these requirements: 1.5 spacing; 2.5cm margins; single sided; 12 font.
• Submit your document with .doc or .docx file extension.
o Do not PDF your submission
o Submit only .dox or .docx file extensions. Any assignments that cannot be opened will receive a mark of ‘0’.
• Name your assignment as per the following requirement:
Lastname_Firstname_snumber_AssignmentName (eg Smith_Jane_s123456_Assign1)
• Submission via Learning@Griffith by due date.
• Please consult your marking rubric as a guide.
• It is not necessary to identify definitions – you are expected to apply theory to practice.
Refs:
http://www.smartcompany.com.au/people-human-resources/leadership/26886-kookai-fashion-empire-sticks-to-its-niche-market-strategy-amid-retail-shakeout/
