Branding Strategy

Michelle, Elena, and the Mobile Manufacturing, Inc. (MM) board of directors know how important it is to understand the environment in which it is operating. They hired you—a highly-regarded marketing consultant—to bring a fresh perspective to the marketing plan. You are scheduled to meet with Michelle and Elena next week to discuss the environmental conditions that are relevant to introducing the new product.

As you prepare for the meeting, you consider all of the possible environmental issues. You recognize that Elena brings an interesting perspective to the process because she has experience designing mobile phones for the Eastern European market, and she is pushing for a new product that can be marketed worldwide. On the other hand, Michelle is more concerned with the domestic marketplace and is worried that trying to market a new product anywhere outside the United States—much less worldwide—could be very risky.
Now that you’ve analyzed the environmental situation and established who is in the target market, it is time for product development. Product design is crucial because new products are being introduced every day. So, while other people focus on that aspect of development, you turn your attention to branding.

Primary Task Response: Within the Discussion Board area, write 600 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

This morning, walking into the office, you greet Michelle who says, “I’d like to meet with you tomorrow to develop the branding strategy for the new product. Let’s meet for a working lunch and brainstorming session.”
“That sounds great,” you reply. “I’ll schedule the meeting and order in lunch.”

Entering your office, you begin to think about the items that you will be discussing during tomorrow’s meeting with Michelle.

We haven’t even come up with a product name yet, you think. We also need to work on an advertising slogan or tag line. You know that Michelle has an extensive background in marketing, but you really want to make a good impression and bring a sound branding strategy to the meeting. How are we going to distinguish our product from our competitors? What are the benefits that we are going to highlight in our brand that will meet the needs or wants of our target customers?

You create the following list of items that you need to address:

Identify in one sentence your overall branding strategy or brand image you want to achieve in the mind of your target segment.

Product name
Advertising slogan or tag line
Product attributes
Product benefits

You sit down to start your work on the marketing plan, and you begin by drafting some goals that the marketing plan needs to address.