ADGR 7777 Evolving Marketing Strategies in the Digital Era Spring 2019
Case Study No. 1. Human Brand Analysis – Conduct an analysis of a brand that practices ‘human branding’ and clearly conveys and lives by their defined values.
Assignment Details: Choose a U.S.-‐based brand of your choice (excluding CVS and REI). Ideally choose a brand you have personal affinity for, but being a loyalist of that brand is not a requirement.
Conduct an analysis of that brand/company to find the most compelling argument that the brand lives by ‘human branding’ principles. In other words, they have clearly defined company values, a mission or reason for being, and ‘walk the walk’ of those values & cares through various aspects of their business.
I want you to support your argument by presenting your audit of how they perform/live by the values of the company across the following:
-‐ Quick, simple 1-‐slide providing an overview of the company – their origin and their mission (not text heavy, just a few key points about them, reason for being)
-‐ Their employees (how they train, support & advocate for their staff)
-‐ Their community/key community relation initiatives
-‐ Society (sustainable efforts, other value-‐providing ‘do good’ efforts that are not directly tied to sales efforts/product promotion, e.g. #optoutside, CVS’ decision to stop selling tobacco, etc.)
-‐ Their customers -‐ any policies they have in place that reflect those values as it relates to customer loyalty, etc.
-‐ Their strategic partners and/or suppliers (those who help make their business operate)
-‐ Their marketing/advertising efforts (show ONLY examples of their advertising that reinforces those values, or other programs that do if they don’t include in advertising)
-‐ Assessment of their current success as a brand and projections for future growth (i.e. the future is bright for this co.) – making any correlation you can find that the affinity created through human branding is, at least in part, a driver of this success. I also want you to conduct an assessment of the public’s perception of the brand to prove out that the values they uphold are creating the natural empathy and affinity and positive public opinion of that brand/company and represent this on 1 slide. You can do this by:
-‐ Providing an overview of some of the recent, published stories about the company that invoke the positive association of those values (i.e. they may not literally speak to values, but the stories reinforce (speak specifically to) some of those initiatives and/or the positive coverage of the company shows the byproduct or effect of a company who walks the walk of defined values.
-‐ Conducting an audit of their social media communities (any platform for which they have presences, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) and assess both the brand’s consistency in how they ‘walk the walk’ of values through their social dialogue AND their social community’s feelings and perception of the brand (by assessing the comments and exchanges from the customer side)
Finally, I’d like you to submit ONE idea that you would recommend to that company that would be aligned to their values and enhance their business/brand within one of those areas you explored in your audit of the brand. i.e. Something they’re not doing now, but makes sense for them to do based on your audit.
Assignment Requirements:
Max of 12 slides (Powerpoint or Google Slides) covering the areas outlined above. Use a balance of text and visuals to make your case for how the brand you picked practices human branding principles.
Due Date: Monday, February 18th. 5:00 PM via email w/ Google link or file attached. Must be sent to me by 5 PM on 2/18 otherwise bring to class on a USB drive). Make sure you put your name on the title page AND within actual file name. I will download each presentation to my laptop ahead of class, and for those who bring a USB drive, will give you back your thumb drive after your presentation is completed.
Class presentations will be made by 14 students on Mon. 2/18 (which means class that day will run until 9:15 PM). Each student will be timed and expected to present a topline overview of their 12-‐slide presentation in 5 min. or less. We will stop the presentation at the 5 min. mark. Points will be deducted if you go over, so prepare and be thoughtful about the key point(s) you want to make for each slide (i.e. do not read everything on each slide or you won’t finish within the 5 min. cut-‐off).
I’ll randomly determine the order of presenters on 2/18 and will email that list to the class earlier in the afternoon so you all know your place in order for our 2/18 class.
The following page shows the grading criteria sheet I will fill out for each presenter and associated points scoring.
Prof Madden
Student name __________________________ Selected brand__________________________
Human Branding Case Study Requirements: Maximum 10 Content Slides (designed/visual) Presentation of those slides not to exceed 5 minutes total. HARD STOP AT 5 MIN.
(8 Content Criteria – 60 points)
_____ Company mission and core values (i.e. why they exist and how they provide a positive value to society outside of the product or service they provide).
_____ Values expressed through their employees (how they train, support & advocate for their staff)
_____ Their community/key community relation initiatives (show examples)
_____ Broader Society (sustainable efforts, other value-‐providing ‘do good’ efforts that are not directly tied to sales efforts/product promotion, e.g. #optoutside, CVS’ decision to stop selling tobacco, etc.)
_____ How they express their core values to their customer experiences (not through sales or promotions but ways that the enhance the customer experience or express their values with their customers)
_____ Values expressed in how they work with their partners and/or suppliers (those who help make their business operate/part of their experience delivery)
_____ Their marketing/advertising efforts (show ONLY a few examples of any advertising they have that reinforces those values)
_____ Assessment of their public and social media perception as it relates to these values.
________________________________________________________________________ _____ (10 points) Visual representation of deck (mix of visuals and/or creative examples of values)
_____ (10 points) One idea that enhances the brand and is true to their values.
_____ (20 points) Presentation skills. (well-‐prepped, rehearsed, 1 key point made per slide, time)
_____ Total Points _____ Grade
Professor Comments: