You now need to select an existing brand (ideally choose one of the brands from CWK1 assignment) and develop an idea for a new brand extension e.g Dove toothpaste. This is in part a creative exercise but must be based on thorough research into:

1. The existing brand values and
   
2. The existing target market
   

This will now involve academic research, secondary research and competitor research in store. It may also involve small scale primary research to establish whether your new brand extension finds acceptance with your chosen target market. However marks will be awarded on the results of any primary research and not on the process of carrying out that primary research.

Research Stage:

1. Academic Reading
   

You need to ensure that you have read at least the following chapters in Brassington and Pettitt

Chs 6, 9 and 10

Also use WARC to find useful articles such as

Young L (2011) How to use segmentation effectively WARC Best Practice

WARC News 23 January 2013
Brand extensions favoured by shoppers

WARC News 16 August 2010 Novelty, clear benefits key for brand extensions

2. Secondary Research
   

You will need to make reference to appropriate Mintel reports as well as the company’s website and press articles about the existing brands. You should also try to find information about the brand’s values and existing target market

3. Competitor Research
   

You will need to look at the existing products in the new suggested market to ensure that your new brand could compete effectively (e.g with Dove toothpaste you will need to consider Colgate and Aquafresh)

 
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Poster Stage (30 marks)

The A2 poster (developed using either Powerpoint or Publisher) must explain your new brand extension idea. It should be both text and image based and must include the following:

• Image of new product with packaging
  
• A clear specification of the target market
  
• A statement of brand values
  
• Information on market size and major competition
  
• How your brand is different from that competition
  

Report Stage (70 marks)

The report needs to focus on why your brand extension will be successful. So you need to consider the following
:

1. How it fits with existing brand values
   
2. How it fits with existing target market or the new target market
   
3. How it can compete with its new competitors
   

You only have 1500 words for your essay so you need to decide what goes in the appendices. I suggest you follow this structure for your reports.

Executive Summary

THIS IS WRITTEN LAST – AFTER ALL YOUR RESEARCH AND THE REST OF THE REPORT IS COMPLETE – BUT APPEARS FIRST EVEN BEFORE THE CONTENTS PAGE. This covers in one page or less:

• aims of the report,
  
• methods of research,
  
• results (topline summary only)
  
• conclusions
  

 
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Contents Page 
(Use the feature in Word to do this automatically)

Introduction

This should be quite brief. Should include the aims of the report and should include some background on the chosen brand. This background should NOT be 100 years of history but useful data such as market share, market size, trends in sales which you can find from the most recent Mintel reports and the trade press.

Methodology

A simple statement of how the research was carried out. This is particularly important in terms of competitor research and any observational research or primary you did. Ideally you should critique whether you did enough research to be sure of your conclusions

Findings

I suggest you use sub-headings to make your report easier to follow. You could adopt the following headings:

• existing brand and brand values (including an examination of Kapferer’s Brand Pyramid, Brand Prism and/or Keller’s CBBE model)
  
• a detailed description of the target market for the new brand extension
  
• a summary of the new market and the trends
  
• an explanation of the new product
  
• comparative analysis of your suggested brand extension with any competition (this should be tabulated)
  

You should try to put relevant raw data in the appendices and just include a summary in the body of the report. Every time you state a fact eg market size, price data, sales etc you must provide a referenced source for that fact (both in the text and in the reference list) All tables and graphs should have the source written directly underneath

Conclusions

This is where you provide some element of evaluation of your research findings. Do you think you brand extension will be successful? Why / Why not?

Reference List

This should be listed alphabetically by Surname and should follow the rules of Harvard Referencing perfectly

Appendices

Use the appendices to display any raw research data such as pricing data which the reader could not access anywhere else.

Style Issues

You must not write I, me, my. Your report should be written in a formal business-like manner.

You may include tables and photographs in the body of the report but they must all be sourced / referenced directly underneath.

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