08 Mar A critical analysis of the brands historical and current performance. Adidas, Ben & Jerrys, Boohoo Group PLC, Disney+, Gucci,

Assessment 1: Brand Audit

2,000 word Individual Report (70% TMM)

[Submission Deadline: Tuesday 8th March, 10 am UK TIME]

Select one of the following brands and conduct a critical analysis of the brand’s historical and current performance:

Adidas, Ben & Jerry’s, Boohoo Group PLC, Disney+, Gucci, KFC, LEGO, L’Oréal, Louis Vuitton, LinkedIn, Lululemon, Lush, Netflix, Nike, Marvel, Off-White, Peloton, Richard Mille, Rolex, TikTok, TRIB3, Uber Technologies Inc, Wendy’s, Zara, Zoom.

TRIB3 is a fitness studio – fusing sensory experiences, with heart-rate monitored scheduled workouts. https://trib3.co.uk/ Regent’s has agreed an educational partnership with this company, so if you select TRIB3 as your brand, then you will have the opportunity to share your work directly afterwards and meet with them.

You are free to analyse the overall company brand, or instead select one of their product or service lines. You report should be underpinned by academic theories, models and industry insight, using:

· Secondary data, tables, charts, and diagrams

· At least 3 academic theories and models – applied specifically to this case

· A selection of references to academic journals, books, trade press, and websites.

You are free to use whatever format and subheadings you wish to. Also, you can include images, screen grabs, diagrams, tables, models and charts in your body text. Where possible, you should create your own tables and annotate models, images and diagrams.

You should attempt to arrive at your conclusions through investigating the following sources:

· Academic literature

· Corporate websites

· All forms of marketing communications(Advertising, Marketing, Public Relations, Sponsorship, Endorsements, Events)

· The context and positioning of the media where the branded communications have taken place

· Packaging, promotions, and points of purchase

· Trade press, consumer press, online forums and product reviews

So, for example, if the brand is being advertised in a television commercial break, or glossy magazine: then it is perfectly reasonable to draw conclusions about who the brand is being aimed at – through supporting situational data pertaining to the audience consuming that media.

You are free to make recommendations concerning improving the performance of the brand, but these should be restricted to those that follow the current brand strategy. In Assignment 2 you will have the opportunity to propose new activities and directions.

Key areas to discuss:

Breakdown and Present the brand’s: Image, Identity, and Personality with criticality and from a number of perspectives. Remember to dedicate your discussions and analysis to the brand over and above that of just describing the functionality and design of the product or service. Also, avoid simply writing a generic business report on the history of the company. This is a specialist module on Brand Strategy. Therefore, be very careful about applying generic models such as SWOT, PESTLE, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Porter’s 5 Forces, BCG Matrix, Ansoff’s Matrix etc. Instead, you should look to more specialist models from branding and behavioural psychology, that you have been introduced to during the module.

You should consider:

Who are the desired target audiences and what emotional and social relationship do they have with the brand? You will be expected to define and focus on two consumer segments. There needs to be a clear definition of several unique attributes of each consumer segment. Beyond this, also offer an appreciation of how they think, feel and do – mapped specifically to the brand.

What are the key facts and pieces of information communicated by the branded product or service explicitly, implicitly, and tacitly – that give messages and meaning to the offering and that are transferred and acquired by the consumer?

What is the creative approach? Consider for example the use of semiotics, colours, typography, humour, celebrity endorsement etc.

Where does the branded offering communicate these elements? What are the integrated marketing channels, and where are the touch-points and moments of truth? What are the respective strengths and weaknesses of each of these?

Why do you feel that these audiences have been worth targeting?

Why is a branding-led approach to these activities the best way to achieve objectives, beyond other strategic business approaches?

How is effectiveness judged, and what data is used to do this?

 Note:

1. Word count does not include endreferences, tables, charts, or executive summary

2. You should not develop a new campaign

3. Full reference list, adhering to Harvardprotocol is required. As an approximate guideline:

· 10-15 academic journal papers

· 5-10 trade press articles

· 5 news stories

· 5 books

· 5 company websites

· 5 social media posts

· 3 Branding/Marketing/ConsumerBehavioural models