個案總覽

Converting myriad data into a simple, visual conceptual model is the basis for developing the ability to communicate consumer marketing insights up, down, and across the organization. This enables the marketer to persuade others of his or her analysis and helps with alignment of the broader organization. And while throughout the MBA program, students have been exposed to various models, once students graduate and enter the workforce, they will be expected to convert complex data into usable insight, typically through visual models of their own design. This exercise, then, is designed to help the students transition from users of conceptual models to creators or developers of models. The ability to create a conceptual model sharpens the abstract thinking required to convert insight about the market, consumers, competitors, or other entities into an understandable model. The detailed teaching note accompanying this exercise guides instructors through the process of eliciting and evaluating students' visual models, and then proposes a simple, complete model that frames many consumer categories surprisingly well. Additionally, there are videos that can be used to help explain the development of a new-to-the-world conceptual model. This exercise is intended for use in either an undergraduate capstone class or at any point during an MBA, executive MBA, global MBA, or executive education program.

This note introduces the concept of a marketing technology blueprint (MarTech Blueprint), instructs students how to create one, and gives real-world examples of how a MarTech Blueprint might be used.

Although most people are consumers of social media, few understand how to leverage it to build a brand-whether it is their own brand or a firm's brand. Just as Wal-Mart customers are not experts at marketing the retailer, consumers of social media are not yet skilled at utilizing it from a business-building perspective. This note is designed to help you think about social media from a brand manager's perspective; specifically, you will: (1) learn how to begin building your own social and professional brand; (2) understand the critical link between insight, strategy, and implementation; and (3) gain an appreciation for the difficulty associated with consistently behaving in concert with your desired brand.

Few cases allow the student to understand the relationship between brand strategy, marketing strategy, implementation, and analysis. While some conceive of the process as being sequential, this case demonstrates that in fact, this process is more fluid, and that implementation and analysis impact subsequent strategy. This field-based case provides a rare glimpse into the turnaround of a brand that was all but dead. After Buick suffered more than five decades of declining business results and an inferior brand image versus all rivals, few thought that the brand could be resuscitated. This case provides a valuable under-the-hood look at how the Buick team, over time, progresses through a series of marketing improvements all anchored on an evolved strategy. Specifically, Buick introduced a shift in brand strategy behind an evolved brand essence statement (i.e., brand positioning), improved product lineup, new-to-the-world innovation, enhanced dealership service, and more compelling advertising. The results led to a record number of product awards, significantly improved advertising measures, improved service ratings, and better business results. Despite significant improvement across multiple dimensions of the business, Buick still trailed key competitors on one of the most important measures Buick tracked-the brand momentum rating-suggesting that there was still more work needed to complete the brand turnaround. The case introduces Molly Peck, the new marketing director on Buick, who is wondering what more, if anything, Buick should do. The material allows for instruction around marketing strategy and the process of converting it into implementation through the use of a creative brief.

This technical note is designed to introduce the Creative Brief, a document that plays a crucial role in the process of converting marketing strategy into implementation. Many creatives believe that briefs are generally poorly written, which then leads to poor advertising messages. This note will help strategists better understand the criticality of developing well-crafted, carefully considered, and expertly vetted creative briefs that increase the chance of superior implementation and, ultimately, impact. While this note focuses on a Creative Brief, there are many similar documents (e.g., project briefs and technology briefs) that serve the same bridging purpose. As a result, the insight from the note can be useful in trying to create any document that helps convert strategy into action.

While both management and marketing courses detail the importance of having a strategy, there is a dearth of tools available that can help students understand how to create a strategic plan-as well as some of the attributes that make for stronger strategic plans. This technical note describes a tool that can be used to construct a strategic marketing plan. The note helps walk students through the process of constructing a strategic marketing plan and provides examples. This is appropriate for strategy, marketing strategy, brand management, and marketing capstone courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Brands make promises to consumers, but where do these promises come from? How do brand teams decide what promise to make? This is where the brand essence statement (BES) comes in. It is a document, picture, video, or some other communication vehicle that captures, usually in words and visuals, the intrinsic nature and indispensable quality that makes the brand unique, compelling, and meaningful to the target. Importantly, the BES goes far beyond marketing communications to describe the holistic nature of the brand, and it informs company-wide decision-making. Identifying the essence of a brand such that it fits with the target, can fit with the current brand, and is superior to competitors requires artistry and science-artistry to create a BES and science to assess, refine, validate, and perfect it. This note explores the process of developing a superior BES-and then consistently executing against it.

Marketing strategy, part of the marketing planning process, flows directly from a company's goals and helps define how the marketing organization will help the firm achieve its objectives. Marketing strategy is guided by the goals and objectives of the organization, the business unit, or the particular product or service for which the plan is developed. The choice of which marketing strategy (or strategies) to pursue then guides the marketing mix decisions, which, taken together, become the value proposition offered to the target market segment(s). Marketing strategy involves four steps, and this note addresses the first three.

This case replaces UVA-M-0837. It can be used in a variety of marketing and strategy classes to understand how (1) at a macro level, a shift in consumer and environmental factors can impact firm strategy and (2) at a micro level, an e-mail-based marketing campaign designed to address these changes can impact firm-level performance. The case puts the students in the position of CEO Robert Huth as he is preparing for a board meeting. He had taken David's Bridal from a loss in 1996 to sales of over $1 billion by 2011, but he was concerned about future growth. People were waiting longer and longer to get married and, once they decided to, were spending much less than in the past, so the industry had seen year-over-year declines since 2007. How would David's Bridal establish its brand in the minds of a new generation of brides who shopped, purchased, and decided differently than had brides in past generations?

This exercise will help students understand how to develop a Strategic Marketing Plan: an essential skill, but one that many business, government, and organizational leaders are not equipped to develop strong and competitively superior strategic plans. Because it is complicated to develop a case with the information needed for students to practice developing a Strategic Marketing Plan, this exercise is designed to help students understand how to create a strategic plan in the context of their own brand creation. As such, this exercise not only provides students with practice creating a strategic plan, it has a side benefit of helping them achieve greater success during their internships and careers through more proactive thought and management of their professional brand. In general, this exercise should provide useful, practical insight regarding what it takes to create and demonstrate a superior brand at work, while generating depth of insight about the process of creating a strong strategic plan. This exercise is intended for more advanced students (e.g., undergraduate seniors or MBA, executive MBA, or executive education students) at any point during the business school curriculum. It is designed to follow either "Your Professional Brand: Creating a Brand Essence Statement for Your Internship" (UVA-M-0881) (designed for use by someone starting a dream internship) or "Your Professional Brand: Creating a Brand Essence Statement for Your Career" (UVA-M-0887) (designed for use by someone starting a dream full-time job), which help students understand how to create a superior Brand Essence Statement (BES). The assignment in this exercise also requires students to read and work with "Developing a Superior Brand Essence Statement" (UVA-M-0892) and "Developing a Superior Creative Brief Plan" (UVA-M-0890).

Although not all MBA students end up working in a marketing function and/or on a brand per se, all students will develop a professional brand, whether it is proactively built or created through happenstance. This exercise helps guide students through a process to think strategically about how to develop their professional brand in an internship setting. It is used in conjunction with a technical note that details how to build brands using a tool called the Brand Essence Statement. In this exercise, students are asked to use the tool to create their own Brand Essence Statement, focused primarily on the brand image that the students wish to achieve during the internship period. This exercise is appropriate in a general marketing, brand management, or strategic marketing course at the undergraduate or graduate levels during a module focused on branding. It should be used in conjunction with the technical tool and a discussion on Brand Essence Statements.

Although not all MBA students end up working in a marketing function and/or on a brand per se, all students will develop a professional brand, whether it is proactively built or created through happenstance. This exercise helps guide students through a process to think strategically about how to develop their professional brand at work. It is used in conjunction with a technical note that details how to build brands using a tool called the Brand Essence Statement. In this exercise, students are asked to use the tool to create their own Brand Essence Statement, focused primarily on the brand image that the students wish to achieve as a full-time employee. This exercise is appropriate in a general marketing, brand management, or strategic marketing course at the undergraduate or graduate levels during a module focused on branding. It should be used in conjunction with the technical tool and a discussion on Brand Essence Statements.