Assignment 2: Brand Equity Report
General Instructions
You will analyse quantitative data to report on the brand’s observed sources of equity and make recommendations with regards to brand strategy and integrated marketing communications.
• To complete this assignment, you are required to write a 2500-word report that must be submitted via Blackboard. Please note that this word count is an absolute maximum. Filling pages without adding content is strongly discouraged. Every word/ sentence/ paragraph that can be removed without losing content should be removed.
Assume that you are the junior brand manager for one of those brands and that your role is to provide insights for your direct report – the senior brand manager – in the form of a brand equity report.
As part of this assignment, you will be provided a dataset and research questions. That is, you do not need to collect data yourself as part of this assignment. Rather, I provided a dataset via Blackboard, which you will need to analyse using Microsoft Excel. It will not be possible to complete this assignment without access to Microsoft Excel.
Note that you are required to incorporate three statistical tests in your analyses:
• Independent Samples T-Test
• ANOVA
• Regression
That the meetings should be used to ask your tutor questions related to your research assignment. Since your questions might apply to the other students as well, we strive to answer as many questions as possible within the meetings or via Blackboard.
Your final research report should be written in a compelling way and clear communication is critical. While the marks allocated to professional communication may seem small in comparison to other sections in the CRA, particularly poor communication can decrease evaluation in other sections as it may interfere with the graders’ ability to assess your performance.
Please use Times New Roman, a font size of 12 and single line spacing.
To complete this report, you will be assigned to one of two brands in line with the last number of your student number. You cannot freely choose.
• Students whose number ends with 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 choose Brand A – Doritos
• Students whose number ends with 6, 7, 8, 9 or 0 choose Brand B – Lay’s
Imagine that a few months ago, Doritos launched a brand-extension specifically for female consumers. Given the competitive landscape and the global presence of the Doritos brand, this has consequences that affect other brands and consumers across countries. A few months later, your direct report, the senior brand manager asks you, the junior brand manager, to write a brand equity report that is supposed to address the following questions:
Brand A – Doritos
1. Do brand evaluations (the degree to which consumers perceive the new Doritos as bad vs. good in general) vary across countries? Due to cultural differences in gender expectations and the importance of these markets, there is a particular interest in understanding differences between French, UK and US consumers.
2. The senior brand manager is worried that any change in consumer evaluations (positive vs. negative) is just a consequence of novelty. Consequently, she would like you to provide insights on whether evaluations differ for consumers that tried the new chips more recently.
3. The senior brand manager would like to know whether there is a difference in perceptions of femininity among male and female consumers.
4. Finally, there is a specific interest in whether there is a difference in perceptions of femininity among male and female US consumers.
Brand B – Lay’s
1. PepsiCo’s general management has voiced interest in learning about whether the company’s chips (irrespective of brand) are evaluated as more or less positive across markets such as China, the UK, and the USA.
2. The senior brand manager is interested in whether chip evaluations (positive vs. negative; irrespective of brand) differ for consumers that have tried the chips more recently.
3. PepsiCo’s general management has voiced concerns that Dorito’s brand extension could lead to cannibalization. Consequently, as a junior brand manager of Lay’s, you were tasked to provide insights on whether either the Lay’s or Doritos is perceived as different in terms of femininity.
4. There is a particular question about whether Lay’s or Doritos are perceived as more feminine in the US market.
Brand Equity Report Structure
A guideline for the brand equity report is provided below. Please note that the entire document counts towards the word-count.
Title Page
Executive summary (~ 200 words)
Table of contents
1. Introduction (~ 200 words)
1.1 Purpose of the report
1.2 Issues to be discussed and their significance
2. Body
2.1 Literature review
2.1.1 Research Question 1 (Marketing and Brand Management literature should be provided to underline the importance of each research question. scientific journal articles are encouraged ~ 100 words per research question)
2.1.2 Research Question 2
2.1.3 Research Question 3
2.1.4 Research Question 4
2.2 Method (The description of your sample goes here)
2.3 Discussion and analysis of data
2.3.1 Results for Research Question 1 (Each question must clearly indicate the chosen test and clearly state the result of this test ~ 100 words per research question)
2.3.2 Results for Research Question 2
2.3.3 Results for Research Question 3
2.3.4 Results for Research Question 4
3. Recommendations
4.1 Recommendation 1 (Recommendations need to be formed based on research results and should be further strengthened by referencing scientific journal articles ~ 150 words per research question)
4.2 Recommendation 2
4.3 Recommendation 3
4.4 Recommendation 4
4. Conclusion (~ 150 words)
5. References
6. Appendices
AMN446 Assignment 2 Report
Grade 7 6 5 4 0
KS 1.2 Apply technical, technological and technical research skills to organise and interpret discipline knowledge, including theory and practice, to investigate business issues.
Cut off mark 35-29.6 29.5-26.1 26.0-22.6 22.5-17.5 17.4-0
Application of technical research skills
35 marks You have critically analysed the data provided and used your interpretation skills to answer the research questions insightfully and in full.
You have analysed the data provided and shown good data interpretation skills. You have used your findings to respond to the research questions well. You have analysed and interpreted the data provided and use your findings to answer the research questions. There are some minor limitations and/or misinterpretations present. You have conducted basic analysis and interpretation of the data provided. You use this to respond to the research questions though some remain unanswered//incomplete.
You have not analysed and/or interpreted the data provided correctly.
HO 2.1 Critically investigate real world business issues and problems drawing on analysis, evaluation and synthesis of discipline knowledge, including theory and practice.
Cut off mark 10-8.5 8.4-7.5 7.4-6.5 6.4-5.0 4.9-0
Brand equity
10 marks You have conducted a critical analysis of the brand’s equity as evident in the data. You provide additional insights into how this may be improved further. You have critically analysed the brand’s equity using the data provided. You have analysed your brand’s equity based on the data provided though there may be some gaps in analysis. You have identified your brand’s equity as outlined by the data provided. There is some attempt at analysis. You do not identify your brand’s equity.
HO 2.2 Exercise creativity and intellectual independence and make informed decisions and judgements in planning, designing, and executing strategic and research-based responses to address real world issues and problems.
Cut off mark 5-4.3 4.2-3.8 3.7-3.3 3.2-2.5 2.5-0
Recommendations
5 marks Your proposed recommendations for brand strategy and integrated marking communications are original, suited to your brand and technically feasible. You have used your insightful research findings to justify your recommendations.
You provide recommendations for brand strategy and integrated marking communications that demonstrate some creativity. Recommendations are suitable and technically feasible. You have used your research findings to support your recommendations.
You suggest recommendations for brand strategy and integrated marking communications that are sensible and feasible. Some technical elements have been overlooked. Recommendations are linked to research findings. You suggest recommendations for brand strategy and integrated marketing communications. These are mostly feasible though there may be some misalignment between your recommendations and your brand’s current position. Some links to your research findings present. You do not propose suitable recommendations for brand strategy and/or integrated marketing communications. You have not linked to your research findings.
PC 3.1 Use information literacy skills and communicate effectively and professionally in written forms and using media appropriate for diverse purposes, contexts and audiences.
Cut off mark 10-8.5 8.4-7.5 7.4-6.5 6.4-5.0 4.9-0
Professional communication
10 marks
Your report reflects professional standards in content structure and layout. There are no technical errors; correct use of referencing throughout. Your report is logically organised and well written. There may be a few minor technical errors; mostly correct use of referencing throughout. Your report is logically structured and the meaning is consistently clear. Some technical errors present. Referencing is mostly accurate. Your report is well organised. Some technical errors but the meaning is generally clear to the reader. Some referencing errors. Your report is not logically structured. It contains significant technical errors. Incorrect referencing.
Total:
