Overview: “Comparing brands”
The objective of this assignment is to test students’ ability to measure, compare and critically analyse the brand salience and associations of two brands available in the Australian market. It is expected that students will be able to justify the importance of brand salience and brand associations for brand managers.
The report should be typed in 1.5 line spacing on one side only of single A4 sheets using 12pt font and 2cm margins. It should be of no more 1,500 words (excluding cover sheet, reference list and appendices). Include all survey responses (Excel worksheet), and all brand association research work in the appendix.
To complete the assignment, you need to be familiar with the customer based brand-equity (CBBE) model (Chapters 2 and 3, Keller 2013). The CBBE model looks at building a brand as a sequence of steps required for successfully achieving set objectives. The first step – brand salience – ensures the identification of the brand by customers, as well as step 2 – allows for identification of relevant brand associations of the brand with a specific product class and customer need.
Details
Choose any two brands from a FMCG product category available in Australia. Choose one brand that is prominent in the marketplace and another one (same product category), which you feel Australian consumers are not very familiar with. Conducting primary research in form of a survey, you are expected to measure and report on the breadth and depth of brand awareness (page 108; Keller 2013) for the chosen brands.
For any one of the brands discussed, identify the associations that you feel contribute significantly towards the brand’s equity. Using primary research, you have to construct a mental map by undertaking a ‘brand associations’ research task. You are expected to report on the strength, favourability and uniqueness of brand associations (pages 76-79; Keller 2013) as well as present the brand’s mental map (pages 297 and 327; Keller 2013).
Your report should have the following components:
1. Introduction (about 150 words)
The introduction should highlight the main purpose of your report. Further, it should guide the reader/ examiner on the structure of your report.
2. Discussion
I. Brand awareness (600-650 words)
a. Theoretical discussion of the importance of brand awareness (about 200-250 words). Referring to 1-2 journal articles on brand awareness (concepts relating to brand salience include brand recall, recognition, and brand familiarity), discuss the importance of measuring brand awareness. Note: Do not regurgitate the Keller textbook.
b. Presentation and discussion of breadth and depth of brand awareness for chosen brands (about 400-450 words).
(Note: Research method, sample description, and survey structure, as well as results to be included in the appendix).
I. Brand associations (about 600-650 words)
a. Discussion of the importance of brand associations (about 200-250 words). Referring to 1-2 journal articles, discuss the rationale for measuring brand associations from the authors’ perspective.
b. Presentation and discussion of the “brand associations” findings including mental map (about 400-450 words).
(Note: Research method, sample description, and results to be included in the appendix).
3. Conclusion (about 100 words).
