Module code and title: MG412 Principles of Marketing Module leader:
Assignment No. and type: CW2 Brand Extension Report Assessment weighting:
50%
Submission time and date: Target feedback time and date: 3 weeks after submission deadline
Assignment task
Working in small teams to develop a 10 minute group presentation for a brand extension, you will then need to submit a group co-authored 1000 word report explaining the new brand extension.
This assignment has been designed to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your achievement of the following module learning outcomes:
LO 2 Demonstrate knowledge of STP marketing planning process
LO 3 Identify the key components of the marketing environment.
LO 4 Identify research requirements to begin to solve a business/marketing problem in a company
Task requirements
You now need to select an existing brand (you may choose one of the brands from the CWK1 assignment or a brand of your own preference) and develop an idea for a new brand extension e.g. Dove toothpaste. This is partly a creative exercise, but it must be based on thorough research into:
The current values of the brand being extended
The potential target market for the brand extension.
This will involve academic research, secondary research and competitor research in store. It may also involve small scale primary research to establish whether your new brand extension finds
acceptance with your chosen target market. However, for this assignment, marks will be awarded for the results of the primary research, not a full description of the process of carrying it out. Conducting the Research
Academic Reading
You need to ensure that you have read, at the very least, chapters 6, 9 and 10 in Brassington and Pettitt’s “Essentials of Marketing” and the BB source materials available on Kapferer’s Brand Identity Prism.
Also use WARC to find articles on (or related to) the topic of brand extensions – for example
WARC June 2016 :How to extend a brand
WARC News 23 January 2013 “Brand extensions favoured by shoppers”
WARC Case Study :John Lewis Insurance: The power of true brand extension marketing, IPA Effectiveness Awards, 2016
D. Aaker (1990) Brand Extensions: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Secondary Research You will need to make reference to appropriate Mintel reports as well as the company’s website and press articles about the existing brands. You should also try to find information about the brand’s values and existing target market. Additionally you will need to research current issues in the marketing environment (PESTEL analysis) that potentially could impact on your new product introduction.
Competitor Research
You will need to look at the existing products in the new suggested market to ensure that your new brand could compete effectively (e.g. with Dove toothpaste you will need to consider Colgate and Aquafresh)
10 minute Presentation
A 10-minute PowerPoint presentation with an additional 5 minute Q &A session. The presentation needs to cover the following points
Background on the chosen brand include useful data such as market share, market size and trends in sales.
Coverage of the existing brand values supported with use of visual examples.eg advertising campaigns, company’s web site, sponsorship activities etc.
A brief explanation of the new product with reference to what growth strategy the brand is adopting. (Ansoff).
Clear identification of the proposed target market for the new brand extension ( include any primary data results if undertaken)
Any key trends and PESTEL issues that have influenced your choice of brand extension idea.
A comparative analysis of your suggested brand extension with any key competition identified in the new market sector.
A Visual Image of the Brand Extension showing brand name, packaging design and logo. You also need to consider how your brand extension will be distinct from competing products.
Writing the Report
The report is a supporting document to the materials presented above and you need to include a sound academic framework to the discussion.
We suggest that you adhere to the following headings for your reports:
Executive Summary
THIS IS WRITTEN LAST (because it is a summary of your research) BUT IT APPEARS FIRST (even before the contents page), in order to catch the attention of the reader and encourage them to read further. It should cover in one page or less:
The aims of the report,
The methods of research,
The results (top-line summary only)
Conclusions
Contents Page (Use the feature in Word to do this automatically)
Introduction
This should be quite brief. It should include the aims of the report and some background on the chosen brand. Include useful data such as market share, market size and trends in sales, which you can find from the most recent Mintel reports and in the trade press
Methodology
A simple statement of how the research was carried out. This is particularly important in terms of competitor research, observational research, or primary research if you included it. Ideally you should critique whether your data is sufficient to justify your conclusions.
Findings
It is suggested that you use sub-headings to make your report easier to follow. You could adopt the following headings:
Existing brand and Brand Values -coverage to include key academic definitions explaining what is a brand, the concept of a brand extension and a detailed examination of one academic model on branding.(i.e.Kapferer’s Brand Identity Prism).
Description of the Target Market – a detailed description of the TA for the new brand extension supported by reference to secondary sources e.g. Mintel and TGI supported by academic coverage of STP marketing planning process.
Analysis of the New Market, Including Trends – PESTLE analysis and Ansoff’s Grid
An Explanation of the New Product (Tauber’s Brand Extension Options, product packaging, the choice of a brand name and brand positioning)
Competition – a comparative analysis of your suggested brand extension with any competition identified in the new market sector (this should be tabulated)
You should try to put relevant raw data in the appendices and just include a summary in the body of the report. Every time you state a fact e.g. market size, price data, sales etc. you must provide a referenced source for that fact (both in the text and in the reference list). All tables and graphs should have the source written directly underneath.
Conclusions
This is where you provide some element of evaluation of your research findings. Do you think your brand extension will be successful? Why/Why not?
Reference List
This should be listed alphabetically by Surname and should follow the rules of Harvard Referencing perfectly
Appendices
Use the appendices to display any raw research data, such as pricing data.
A group log of individual contribution to the task must also be included.
Style Issues
You may not write in first person – using I, me or my.
Your report should be written in a formal business-like manner.
You may include tables and photographs in the body of the report, but they must all include the source (below and to the right) and title (to the left and above).
This assignment will be marked according to the grading descriptors for Level 4 with specific guidance on mark allocation below.
Part A :Presentation Weighted 30%
Background on the chosen brand including coverage of existing brand values.20%
Coverage of market trends including key PESTEL issues 20%
Explanation of the new product, proposed target market and key competition. 20%
A Visual Image of the Brand Extension 10%
Presentation Skills (Creativity of images used, fluency with the material presented and timing) 30%
Part B: Report Weighted 70%
Research Skills 20%
You need to demonstrate that you have spent at least a month working on this report. To do this, you need to provide evidence in the written text and in your reference list that you have engaged in research in the form of academic texts and secondary sources, such as Mintel, Trade and National Press and articles on WARC. We will be looking for more than 10 references from a variety of sources in your reference list. If all that is mentioned in the reference list is website links and company websites, you will lose marks.
Marketing Knowledge 30%
You will need to demonstrate full knowledge of a range of marketing concepts including: STP marketing, profiling target audiences, branding, and brand extension strategies. This knowledge needs to be supported via academic references and applied in full. You also need an explanation, with reference to academic text, of key models covered on the module including Kapferer’s Brand Identity Prism (in discussing the existing brand being extended from) and Ansoff’s Grid and Tauber’s Brand Extension Options (in discussing the new brand being extended to). Additionally a visual showing the application of Kapferer’s model to the brand to demonstrate your understanding is also required.
Analysis 20%
You need to be able to demonstrate that this brand extension will be successful. Marks for analysis will be given for your:
New Market trends/PESTLE Analysis 10%
Competitor Analysis (include in a tabulated format) 10%
Literacy Skills 10%
Please remember the LDU’s advice regarding academic writing i.e. it must be objective, impersonal, concise, accurate and evidence-based.
Group Work 10%
As this is a group assignment you need to submit a group log showing in detail who did what for both the presentation and report writing stages.
We will use the group log to identify inequalities in contribution and allocate individual grades if required.
The group log must be included in your appendixes
Use and modify the following table structure for the group log:
Date Students Attending Issues Actions
20th November NB, AV, SH, RH RH going into hospital for 5 days Primary research conducted in store by A.V. and NB – both to complete write up .Competitive research slide completed by SH.
28th
November NB, AV,RH SH on holiday for 1 week RH to structure PowerPoint presentation.
NB and AV to complete PESTEL analysis.
Submission details
You are reminded of the University’s regulations on academic misconduct, which can be viewed on the University website: https://bucks.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0024/9546/Academic-Misconduct-
Policy.pdf. In submitting your assignment, you are acknowledging that you have read and understood these regulations
Please also note that work that is submitted up to 10 working days beyond the submission date will be considered a late submission. Late submissions will be marked and the actual mark recorded, but will be capped at the pass mark (typically 40%), provided that the work is of a passing standard.
Work submitted after this period will not be marked and will be treated as a non-submission.
This assignment should be submitted electronically. Please use the relevant Turnitin submission point in the Submit your work area in your VLE module shell.
Please ensure that your work has been saved in an appropriate file format. Turnitin will only accept the following file types: Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint, PostScript, PDF, HTML, RTF, OpenOffice (ODT), Hangul (HWP), Google Docs, or plain text. Your file must also contain at least 20 words of text, consist of fewer than 400 pages and be less than 40MB in size.
You can submit your work as many times as you like before the submission date. If you do submit your work more than once, your earlier submission will be replaced by the most recent version.
Once you have submitted your work, you will receive a digital receipt as proof of submission, which will be sent to your forwarded e-mail address (provided you have set this up). Please keep this receipt for future reference, along with the original electronic copy of your assignment.
Before you submit
Please use the provided checklist below to make sure you are ‘fit to submit’ your work
We recommend you use this checklist as soon as you get this assignment brief to help you plan your work
Fit to Submit: Assignment Checklist
This brief assignment checklist is designed to help you avoid some of the most common mistakes students make in their coursework.
HAVE YOU READ THE ASSIGNMENT BRIEF?
IF NOT, DO IT NOW!
In it you will find details of the assessment task, word count, the assessment criteria your work is marked against, and the learning outcomes – the basis for the assessment strategy in each module.
Students often lose marks by forgetting some of the more straightforward elements of their assignments. We recommend that you “tick off” each of the points below as you prepare your work for submission. If you need any help, ask your tutor and / or visit https://bucks.ac.uk/students/academicadvice/assessment-and-examination
TICK
Have you read and understood the assessment criteria?
Have you met the learning outcomes? You will lose marks and your work may even be failed if you have not.
Have you demonstrated you can think and write critically in the completed work? This means you have supported your arguments/explanations appropriately e.g. using relevant academic sources and you have offered discussion points which extends your own or others’ viewpoints to make reasoned conclusions/judgements.
Have you maintained an academic tone throughout your work? Is your work formal, focused, developed and clear?
Have you checked that the referencing in your assignment is in line with your programme requirements?
Have you proof-read your work and used spellcheck software to check your spelling and grammar?
Have you checked the presentation of your work is as specified by your tutor, for example, are font size, colour, style, line spacing and margins as the tutor specified?
Have you kept to the word count (or equivalent)? If you are not sure, check with your tutor.
Can you confirm that the work submitted is your own and not plagiarised?
