MKTG3512 – Brand Management 

GENERAL INFORMATION

Instructor:
Email:
Consultation: By appointment
Assignment Box: to be confirmed
Pre-requisites: MKTG2501 Introduction to Marketing
Other important details:

COURSE DESCRIPTION & OBJECTIVES

Why are some brands more preferred by the customers? Do brands make organizations more competitive, gaining higher market share? Are favourable brands more profitable and sustainable than their counterparts? What are the meanings of brand to organizations and customers? How to develop and manage brands that benefit organizations while creating value for customers? What makes a brand successful and last longer? Why so many brands fail, even when they have managed to draw attentions in the market? What makes a good branding strategy?

This course explores the answers to the above questions. It will lead the students through a journey of brand development process to have an in-depth understanding of strategic brand management.

The course is designed to address important branding decisions faced by an organization. Through theories, examples, cases, and class discussions, students are enabled and inspired to think logically, creatively, critically, with increased precision about the strategies involved in identifying, developing, managing, and growing brand equity – a valuable intangible asset and source of competitive advantages of escalating importance to all organizations.

FACULTY GOALS

Goal 1: Acquisition and internalization of knowledge of the programme discipline
Goal 2: Application and integration of knowledge
Goal 3: Inculcating professionalism and leadership
Goal 4: Developing global outlook
Goal 5: Mastering communication skills

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

Course Learning Outcomes

Aligned Faculty Goals

On completion of this course, students should be able to:

CLO1. Identify the key decisions that a brand manager needs to make and acquire an understanding of brand management processes.

Goal 1, Goal 2, Goal 3

CLO2. Critically analyze brand management issues using relevant theories and methods, and provide theoretically sound and practically feasible solutions.

Goal 1, Goal 2, Goal 3, Goal 4

CLO3. Develop analytical and problem-solving skills through applications.

Goal 1, Goal 2, Goal 3, Goal 4

CLO4. Demonstrate effective written and verbal communication skills and teamwork skills through discussions, presentations, and report writing.

Goal 1, Goal 2, Goal 3, Goal 4,

Goal 5

COURSE TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Course Teaching and Learning Activities

Expected contact hour

Study Load (% of study)

T&L1. Interactive Lectures with Discussions/Class Work T&L2. Group Case Study
T&L3. Group Brand Project
T&L4. Self-Study

36
20
48
36

26%
14%
34%
26%

Total

140

100%

TL1: Interactive Lectures with Discussions/Class Work
Instructor will provide interactive lectures to illustrate and reinforce key brand management concepts.  Students are expected to complete pre-class readings and preparations, and they are encouraged to share their views and experience actively in class discussions to deepen their learning.

Examples of company cases/videos and applied marketing scenarios will be integrated in the lectures and class discussions. Students will be challenged to view marketing from different perspectives (e.g., consumer, company, competitors) to enhance their critical thinking skills.
Class work will be used to deepen students’ learning and develop their application capability on specific topics. Students are expected to address issues posted in these class exercises and share their thoughts in class.  Verbal/ written feedback from lecturer, peer, and/or self will be used to facilitate continuous learning.

TL2: Group Case Study
Case study is used to provide students with opportunities to (1) apply their learned brand management principles and tools to analyze the business situations, identify critical issues and/or problems, evaluate alternatives, and make recommendations in applied marketing settings; and (2) reinforce the learning with formative feedback for continuous assessment.
The case study will be completed by a group of 5-6 students. This group will be the same for the group brand project below.

TLA3: Group Brand Project
Group brand project will allow students to go through the steps of the brand management process from the perspective of a marketing manager/consultant and integrate the learned branding concepts and skills in an applied business situation.

Major goals:
–     to promote students’ active learning
–     to develop students’ skills on critical thinking, analysis, and problem-solving
–     to stimulate students’ creativity
–     to enhance students’ skills on communication, presentation, and teamwork

Project Background and Requirements:
–     Assuming that you are a cross-functional taskforce of a company with 5-6 members coming from different departments, appointed to review the branding situations of the firm (or a particular product / service) and to propose a plan to revamp the brand. CEO of your company expects an innovative while pragmatic proposal from you which includes the followings:

1. An analysis of the current situation of the concerned brand with identified gaps and potential opportunities for a revamp that may increase brand equity and strengthen its competitive advantages in the market,
2. A distinctive, new branding concept that is relevant to customer expectations
3. Recommended branding strategies and marketing program for your proposed initiatives that help the company stay competitive and sustainable with enhanced brand equity.

–     Each group will first select a company or product/service and then conduct a situation analysis by collecting and analyzing relevant information, suggest a new branding idea, and make recommendations on the strategies and integrated marketing program to establish a unique and desirable brand presence, as well as, a set of systematic tracking measures to audit the brand management effectiveness.
–             Each group is required to
(1) make a 15-minute group brand project presentation in class followed by a 5-minute Q&A session and
(2) submit a group written project report [Maximum of 5 pages (A4-size paper, typed, 1” margins, 1.5 line spacing, and font size 11), excluding cover page, appendices/exhibits of diagrams, figures, tables, and graphs, and references].

–     Individual groups can seek instructor’s feedback on its presentation performance and areas for improvement after the completion of group presentation.