Brand Audit Project
Brand Inventory
This is a catalog of all brand elements, product attributes and marketing activities related to the brand. Prior to analyzing the marketing program, provide a brief history of the company/brand to establish a context for your analysis, e.g. when was the company founded, when was the brand launched, how has it grown over the years, etc. Refer to Keller text, Chapter 8, for additional information regarding brand audits.
Some questions to consider:
• What are the organization's brands and offerings? (i.e. document the brand architecture)
• What is the brand heritage?
• What is the brand’s point of differentiation/position?
• Develop a profile of the brand’s brand-building activities
• What is the brand’s market offering? (use the 4 P’s structure)
- Product: What products use the brand name? What is the brand hierarchy? What are the key product attributes? How is the brand positioned versus competition?
- Promotion: How is the brand communicated? What are the brand elements – symbols, logos, packaging, etc? How does the brand use advertising, PR, personal selling, sales promotion, and online/direct marketing to promote the brand?
- Place: How does the brand “get to market”? How do distribution channels add value to the brand?
- Price: What is the brand’s overall pricing strategy? Does this reinforce the brand’s position? How do the brand’s price points compare with competition?
• What is the brand’s current market strategy and objectives?
• How is the brand performing? E.g. market share, profitability, trends (brands and competitors)
Note: there are numerous secondary information sources appropriate for the brand inventory, including:
- articles in business publications and trade journals that describe the brand’s marketing activities, performance, consumer perceptions, etc.
- company materials; annual/quarterly reports, 10-K filings, corporate web site, interviews with company personnel, etc.
- research resource posted to BB/Brand Audit
- be sure to cite all your sources appropriately in a bibliography
Researching a Company's Brands and Offerings:
LexisNexis Academic:
Use Search the News section for business news from national and international sources. Use the Get Company Info section for company data.
Net Advantage:
Includes research, data, and commentary on companies, industries, stocks, bonds, and funds, from popular Standard & Poor’s research products such as Industry Surveys, Stock Reports, Corporation Records, The Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives, The Outlook, and Mutual Fund Reports among others.
OneSource:
Use this database for company and industry data and information:
Companies: detailed financial data; corporate family showing parent, subsidiaries, branches; competitors; analysts' reports; SWOT, etc.
Industries: market research reports; Datamonitor industry profiles; RMA Industry Norms, etc
Discovering Brand Building Activities:
Articles:
ABI/Inform Complete:
Includes articles from about 1000 business periodicals that contain company and industry information, as well as products, consumers, services and notable people.
Offers full-text articles for more than 2150 journals, magazines, reports, and more, including the Harvard Business Review. Also provides country reports, company profiles, industry reports, and market research reports.
Your company's web site: Press releases, media, products, company history, and other information
Commercials and Advertisements:
YouTube: Search for your brand to find ads and commercials
Tracing Company Strategies and Objectives:
Company and Industry Information and Performance:
Lexis Nexis Academic:
Use Search the News to find articles on consumers, industries, companies, trends and more!
IBISWorld:
Great information on 700 US Industries in the US economy. Each Industry Report includes overviews, data and statistics, market share, competitive landscape, major companies, outlooks and more!
Net Advantage:
Use the Industries search to find Industry Surveys with information on about 50 US industries.
OneSource:
Use this database for company and industry data and information:
Companies: detailed financial data; corporate family showing parent, subsidiaries, branches; competitors; analysts' reports; SWOT, etc.
Industries: market research reports; Datamonitor industry profiles; RMA Industry Norms, etc
Product/Brand Information and Performance:
Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands: Print reference source. Call number: Ref HF 5415.3 .E527
An older source, but gives good history and background on how some major brands were started and developed.
Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns: Online reference source.
Search using product, brand, or company names for information on marketing campaigns and branding for a particular product or company.
Market Share Reporter: Print reference source. Call number: Ref HF 5410 M35
Provides the market share for many companies within an industry, shown with pie charts and graphs.
TableBase:
Used for finding statistical information, including market share from journals and reports on companies, industries, products, countries and markets
The Making of a Name: The Inside Story of the Brands We Buy: Print book. Call number: HD 69.B7 R58 2004
Articles are useful for company and industry information too:
ABI/Inform Complete:
Includes articles from about 1000 business periodicals that contain company and industry information, as well as products, consumers, services and notable people.
Offers full-text articles for more than 2150 journals, magazines, reports, and more, including the Harvard Business Review. Also provides country reports, company profiles, industry reports, and market research reports.
Brand Exploratory
This analysis is directed at understanding what consumers think and feel about the brand and its competitors. The principal dimensions are brand awareness, associations, perceived quality, loyalty, etc. This information will come from primary data collection.
Some questions to consider:
• What is the brand image?
• What are key brand associations?
• What is the brand’s perceived quality relative to competitors?
• What is the brand’s personality?
• What is the awareness level of the brand?
• What is recognition of the brand, logo, tagline, ad campaign, etc.?
• What is the degree of brand loyalty?
Required research:
Each team is required to conduct two data collection studies: (a) a web search and (b) a qualitative study. Web research should be used to reveal what is being said about the brand by consumers and independent experts on C2C product ratings sites such as ePinions.com, BrandTags.net; postings by bloggers, consumers, etc.
Qualitative research should be used to explore consumers’ brand associations, and to allow consumers to describe and evaluate the brand in their own words.
Your primary research is not expected to be methodologically perfect – especially concerning the sample of respondents. For example, you are not required to use a large sample size, but should survey at least 10 appropriate respondents. However you should interpret your results as if they were based on a valid sample.
Students should revisit Keller, Chapter 9 for assistance in setting up their qualitative research. A few relevant articles will also be posted to BB/Brand Audit to provide additional ideas and guidance.
Researching Consumer Opinion on Brands:
American Customer Satisfaction Index:
Presents scores based on customer evaluations of goods and services purchased in the United States. Scores are broken down by economic sector, industries, and company names, and given quarterly.
Brandz:
Lists of brand rankings and information about global brands.
Interbrand:
Search Knowledge for papers, articles and studies on brands and branding, search Best Global Brands, to see brands rated, articles, and more.
Article web sites listed above.
