Instructor: Mike Nguyen
Office: 249 Mervis Hall
Email: mikenguyen@pitt.edu
Class Hours: 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM (Monday) 08/29/2022 - 12/17/2022
Classroom: 201 Mervis Hall
Office Hours: by appointment
The Brand Management course will benefit the prospective brand and product managers, as well as marketing-minded managers. The course examines how brands influence customer choices and how to manage them. As organizations have purchased or grown brand assets, they’ve realized that branding is challenging. Since branding success is both an art and science, there is hardly ever a “right” strategy for a branding problem. This course will attempt to provide a comprehensive understanding and discussion of important theories and models, as well as a toolkit that is available at the brand manager’s disposal. However, an “optimal” solution will ultimately depend on the manager’s expertise and the brand’s context.
Students learn how to establish effective brand strategies in this elective course, in which three important questions will be answered:
This course’s fundamental aims are to understand:
It includes lectures, exercises, case discussions, and a brand audit assignment. The course content is relevant for students pursuing various professional goals (marketing, consulting, entrepreneurship, etc.) in any type of firm (public or private, large or small, etc.).
| Components | Points |
|---|---|
| Individual | |
| Examinations (2) | 200 |
| Attendance | 40 |
| Participation | 60 |
| Biweekly Quizzes | 100 |
| Case Studies (10) | 200 |
| Group | |
| Case Discussion Leader | 100 |
| Brand Audit | 300 |
| Total | 1000 |
Extra Credit: 3-5%
| Letter Grade | Range | To |
|---|---|---|
| A | 100% | 94% |
| A- | <94% | 90% |
| B+ | <90% | 87% |
| B | <87% | 84% |
| B- | <84% | 80% |
| C+ | <80% | 77% |
| C | <77% | 74% |
| C- | <74% | 70% |
| D+ | <70% | 67% |
| D | <67% | 64% |
| D- | <64% | 61% |
| F | <61% | 0% |
This class meets in-person at the scheduled time slot. Students are expected to be present at all class sessions and to participate by asking and answering questions at multiple points during each class session. In other words, attendance is mandatory. Failure to do so will result in loss of class participation and attendance points. Both quality and quantity of contributions are considered in assigning the class participation grade.
To be excused due to illness, the student must either notify the professor before class of the illness, or provide the instructor with a doctor’s note.
Be on time to class. Important material is covered in the first few minutes of class. Students who are late to class will lose attendance points.
Students are expected to be prepared and to read assigned discussion cases before class begins. Students are also expected to pay attention in class, and will be called upon to present their views on class material and discussion cases. Students are also expected to contribute to the class by asking questions. Both quality and quantity of contributions are considered in assigning the class participation grade.
Professional behavior is expected of all students. Professionalism includes being on time, being courteous to class members and the instructor, being reliable and conscientious when working on group projects, and other aspects of behavior normally expected of students or employees.
Everyone is allowed to have one absence no questions ask. After that, each absence will cost you 50% of the attendance score unless excused by the instructor. Thus, on your third absence, all your attendance points will be gone.
iClicker attendance will be run automatically from 6:25 PM to 6:40 PM (UTC-06:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada) on class days.
Attendance points are recorded by iClicker.
Your participation points are also recorded by iClicker in class polls.
Students who are late to class will be marked absent, but can still earn participation points.
There are 12 class sessions that I will take participation, and each class participation can earn you 5 points, in total 60 participation points.
You need to respond to at least 75% of the questions to earn participation points.
For each correct response, you can earn 1 point extra credit. (This can add up!!!)
The start and end times for the class are determined by the classroom clock, not the time on students’ phones.
Please create an account on iClicker App in Apple or Android store with your full name on the Pitt system. If you don’t have a smart phone, you can do so through desktop version.
Once you have successfully downloaded the app and signed in, search for “University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Campus”
Then search for “Brand Management” for your course. And select the course by”Mike Nguyen”
Click “Add This Course”.
You attendance, in class participation, and quiz will be done through the iClicker.
Assignments are to be turned in using Canvas and are due at the time noted on Canvas.
Late assignments are eligible for up to 50% of total points if they are turned in within 24 hours of the due date; after that, no credit will be given for late assignments. To be considered, any requests to re-grade an assignment must be made within one week after the grade has been posted on Canvas.
Assignments consist of:
Every two weeks you will have to complete a quiz on Canvas that is due on Sunday evening (11:59 PM). Students can view correct answers after the due date.
The quiz will cover class materials, chapter and journal articles readings. It’s very important that you read the chapter and review the class materials before taking the quiz.
You can use your notes during quizzes, but you can’t search for answers online (Lockdown browser).
There will be 5 questions to be completed in 30 minutes.
Students will have 2 attempts to take the quiz and only the higher score of the two will be taken as the final quiz grade
These questions are randomly selected from a test bank. Hence, no two quizzes will be the same to prevent students from cheating. Hence, 2 attempts from a student will be different as well.
No extensions whatever will be granted.
Case Studies are individual exercises to be completed on your own and form the basis for our class discussions.
They need to be completed before class meets, and you will be called upon at various times throughout the semester to discuss your work on these exercises.
This is a chance for you to apply marketing research materials to real-life settings.
Each case study is 20 points. There are a total of 10 cases.
To purchase the case studies, you can use this link
Please read the “Case Studies” for more information.
Each team is expected to lead 2 case studies.
It’s up to each presenting team to use 40 minutes wisely and creatively to lead an interesting case study so that the class can come out understanding the case better and can leverage insights from the discussion for future application.
A suggested format includes:
A team can have up to 5 members.
Each group will examine a different brand (can consult the Interbrand list).
Similar to company’s projects, group projects in academics can be frustrating (e.g., scheduling issues, unequal division of labor, free-rider problem, etc.). However, it’s important that you learn how to handle teamwork. Since you can choose your team members, do so wisely! Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal skills are critical for this project. The first component of your Brand Audit includes data collecting, so consider adding at least one marketing research analyst (i.e., those who can conduct data analysis) to your team.
All concerns outside of the intersection between group project works and course content (e.g., contribution quality or member participation) must be addressed internally.
There will be two group evaluations throughout the semester (mid-term and final evaluations). Your individual group project grade will be adjusted based on your team member’ evaluations to ensure fairness and professionalism.
Group members will evaluate each other’s performance on the project, and the evaluation will be considered in assigning individual students’ grades for the project. If a group member consistently fails to contribute appropriately to the group’s work, the other group members may request in writing to the instructor that the non-performing member be terminated from group. In such instances, the terminated group member will be allowed to use data collected by the group but will be required to complete remaining project assignments on his/her own, including data analysis, presentation, and final report. A terminated group member may appeal this decision to the instructor in writing, but must do so within four calendar days of notice of dismissal.
Project Assignments (PA) are described in a separate document tilted “Brand Audit.” To be considered, any requests to re-grade an assignment must be made within one week after the grade has been posted on Canvas.
Sign-up for presentation and meeting with the instructor.
Since academic journal materials can take some time to migrate to textbooks (e.g., about 3-10 years), it’s best to stay on top of emerging topics in branding by reading seminal journal articles. Even though you are not expected to fully understand the statistical methods, experiments, or the whole background literature, you are expected to understand the key objectives and major findings when reading articles.
A typical approach to reading journal articles is
understand the study’s motivation by reading the introduction and literature review
skim through the method and results section
read the discussion and conclusion section to understand the implications of the study
write a short summary (for the exams and quizzes)
Import note:
| Week | Date | Topic | Assignments Due | Brand Audit | Case | Biweekly Quiz | Chapter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aug 29 | Course Introduction | Recommended Readings:
|
Group Formation | 1 | ||
Sep 5 (Labor Day) |
No class | Group Formation Announcement | |||||
| 2 | Sep 12 | Customer-based Brand Equity Brand Positioning |
Brand Selection | Nike | 1 | 2 | |
| 3 | Sep 19 | Brand Resonance & Value Chain Brand Communities |
Required readings:
Recommended
|
Brand Exploratory | MTV | 3 | |
| 4 | Sep 26 | Brand Elements (e.g., names, logos, slogans, packaging) | Brand Positioning | Target | 2 | 4 | |
| 5 | Oct 3 | Marketing Programs (Product, Pricing, Channel) | Brand Elements | Redbull | 5 | ||
| 6 | Oct 10 | IMC (Promotion) | Pricing | got milk? | 3 | 6 | |
| 7 | Oct 17 | Branding in the Digital Era Brand Associations |
First Exam Required reading:
|
Promotion | Intel | 7, 8 | |
| 8 | Oct 24 | Meet with instructor | Sign-up sheet | Progress Report |
|||
| 9 | Oct 31 | Brand Equity Measurement and Management | Required reading:
|
Dollar Shave Club | 4 | 9 | |
| 10 | Nov 7 | Sources of BE - Customer Mindset (Brand Personality) Outcomes of BE - Market Performance |
Guest Speaker Recommended reading:
Recommended reading:
|
The Hunger Games | 10, 11 | ||
| 11 | Nov 14 | Brand Design and Implementation (Brand Architecture) New Product Development and Brand Extensions |
Required reading:
Recommended reading:
|
Nivea | 5 | 12, 13 | |
| Nov 21 | No class | (Thanksgiving break) | |||||
| 12 | Nov 28 | Sustainable Branding Revitalizing diluted brands |
Snapple | 14 | |||
| 13 | Dec 5 (Last day of class) |
Presentations | Sign-up sheet | Presentation |
|||
| 14 | Dec 12 (Final Exam Week) |
Second Exam (No class) |
Report |
Academic honesty is fundamental to the activities and principles of a university. Students are expected to comply with the University of Pittsburgh’s Policy on Academic Integrity. All members of the academic community must be confident that each person’s work has been responsibly and honorably acquired, developed, and presented. Any incident of academic honesty (such as cheating on tests or plagiarism) will be reported to the office of the provost. Academic dishonesty is an extremely serious matter with serious consequences, potentially including an automatic F for the course and probation or expulsion.
If you have special needs as addressed by the Americans with Disabilities Act and need assistance, you must notify the instructor by the second week of the semester. To request academic accommodations, students must also register with the Disability Resources and Services, 216 William Pitt Union, (412) 648-7890. It is the campus office responsible for reviewing documentation provided by students requesting academic accommodations, and for accommodations planning in cooperation with students and instructors, as needed and consistent with course requirements.
We have no tolerance for discrimination or acts of hate in our community and encourage robust, respectful dialogue and interactions. No matter where you come from, no matter your race, gender, identity, preference or idea & perspective, we all come together to learn, and everyone deserves to be treated with respect and to thrive. If anyone experiences discrimination or harassment, we encourage them to report it to our campus Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
Students must follow public health legislation and University of Pittsburgh health standards and recommendations during the epidemic. While in class, you must wear a facial covering and comply with physical distance restrictions; the University may impose more requirements during the semester. These guidelines protect everyone’s health and safety. Failure to meet these requirements may result in a Student Conduct violation. Please review these resources:
Community Wide Compliance from Dr. Kenyon Bonner, Vice Provost and Dean of Students
Culture and Compliance page that lists ways to support a culture of Health and Safety
For the most up-to-date information and guidance, please visit coronavirus.pitt.edu and check your Pitt email for updates before each class.