Task 1A & B - Case Study & Campaign Proposal

Week 1 -4
23.09.3024 -8.10.2024

Lim Jun Teng / 0362890

Creative Brand Strategy / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media

Task 1A & B

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Introduction

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Lectures

Week 1

1. Creative Brand Strategy: Introduction to Module

This module focuses on building brands through in-depth visual strategies to establish brand recognition in consumers' minds. It emphasizes creating meaningful brand experiences, which help form lasting connections with the audience. Building on identity design skills from previous coursework, this module aims to deepen students' understanding of how to design sensory experiences to strengthen brand-consumer relationships.

2. What is Branding?

Branding is the process of defining the value and authenticity of a product, organization, or service through a set of characteristics and benefits. It helps businesses differentiate from competitors and is a key element of business strategy. With the digital economy, even small businesses can access branding experts and leverage branding to enhance their competitive edge.

3. What is Brand Strategy?

A brand strategy outlines the rules and guidelines for how, what, where, when, and to whom a brand communicates. It ensures a consistent message and fosters a strong emotional connection with customers. A well-executed brand strategy increases brand equity and enhances the brand’s credibility, reputation, and overall market performance.

4. Why You Need a Brand Strategy

A brand strategy is essential for creating clarity in competitive positioning and understanding customer expectations. It plays a critical role in developing effective marketing strategies, improving name recognition, and building customer trust. A strong brand strategy contributes to better market performance and profitability.

5. Module Outline and Project Overview

The module comprises three projects:

Task 1: Case Study & Campaign Proposal (Weeks 1-4)

Task 2: Ideation & Design Direction (Weeks 1-6)

Task 3: Campaign Branding (Weeks 6-13) Students are required to document their work in an e Portfolio consisting of blog posts for each project, culminating in a final project compilation.

6. Continuous Assessment and Final Assessment

Continuous assessment makes up 60% of the final grade, while the final assessment constitutes 40%. Failure to pass the final assessment results in failing the module, regardless of the overall score.

7. Design Journal and E Portfolio

The design journal and e Portfolio are essential tools for articulating design decisions and documenting the creative process. The ability to rationalize and explain design choices is critical for designers. The e Portfolio is a chronological documentation of the design process, reflecting research, feedback, and reflections.

8. E Portfolio Requirements

The e Portfolio should be comprehensive, methodical, and visually appealing. It must include lectures, research, processes, feedback, and reflections for each project. Students are encouraged to use various digital media formats to showcase their work.

Week 2

1. Creative Brand Strategy: The Branding Process

Branding is more than just creating a logo or slogan; it encapsulates the perception, reputation, and customer experience of a company. Successful brands are dynamic and adaptable, constantly evolving with market changes. The branding process involves formulating a strategy that integrates the company’s vision, audience, and market, followed by creative execution and communication both internally and externally​.

2. Branding Now

Branding has expanded beyond companies to include universities, cities, and even individuals. With global consumption and new communication technologies like social media, brands must remain responsive to trends and global issues. Today, brands engage in dialogues with audiences, emphasizing transparency and co-creation. The core principles of branding still apply but in a more interconnected and evolving world​.

Fig 1.1

3. The Brand Experience

Modern branding emphasizes the "brand experience," which combines both tangible and intangible elements through various touchpoints. As consumers seek deeper emotional connections, brands are expected to demonstrate values such as social responsibility. The brand’s behavior, style, and communication create these emotional ties​.

4. Campaigns

Campaigns are long-term efforts to communicate messages and engage audiences. A concept campaign ties all elements together around a central idea, giving audiences a reason to take action. Examples of successful concept campaigns include Nike’s “Just Do It” and the Red Ribbon Campaign. Cause campaigns, focused on social or charitable goals, help brands improve public perception.

5. Event Campaigns

Event campaigns focus on creating memorable experiences, either virtual or in-person, to build brand awareness or loyalty. Examples include product launches, weekly events, or collaborations with other organizations. These campaigns are key for establishing customer connections​.

6. Launch Campaigns

A launch campaign introduces a new product or service, aiming to capture new customers, increase awareness, or gather feedback. These campaigns build momentum and traction around something novel​.

7. Personality Campaigns

Personal branding involves creating a distinct identity for an individual, often achieved through content marketing. This strategy can elevate a person’s reputation and visibility​.

8. Social Media Campaigns

Social media campaigns build relationships and engage with audiences across various platforms. Successful campaigns emphasize authenticity, open dialogue, and consistent interaction​.

9. Creative Strategy: The Brand Story

Stories play a powerful role in branding, simplifying complex ideas and connecting with audiences. A brand’s story can guide campaigns and help customers understand the brand’s purpose. The story gives context to a brand’s existence​.

10. SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis identifies a brand’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This tool helps in decision-making by focusing on leveraging strengths and opportunities to overcome weaknesses and threats​.

Fig 1.2

11. Customer Journey Map

A customer journey map visually represents the entire customer experience with a brand across all touchpoints. This tool helps companies align their actions with customer needs, ensuring all communication points and customer segments are accounted for​.

Fig 1.3

12. Brand Positioning

Brand positioning defines the conceptual space a brand occupies in the audience's mind. It includes the brand’s unique value and competitive advantage. Positioning statements guide external communication and ensure the brand resonates with its target audience​.

Fig 1.4

Week 3

1. Creative Brief

A creative brief serves as a guide for a campaign, summarizing the objectives, target audience, brand positioning, and key messaging. It is a tool that ensures alignment between the creative team and brand objectives, providing direction for the campaign’s development​.

2. Frame of Reference

This refers to defining the competitive landscape in which the brand operates. The Brand Positioning Statement outlines the target customer, market definition, brand promise, and the reason to believe in the brand. The Onlyness Test is a method to identify what makes a brand unique compared to competitors. Understanding a brand’s competitive frame of reference is essential for positioning and ensuring it resonates with the target audience​.

Fig 1.5

3. Big Idea

The "Big Idea" is the core message or overarching concept that drives a campaign. It’s the hook that audiences will remember, share, and act upon. A well-executed big idea is integrated across all media platforms, creating a consistent and powerful brand experience. The goal is to develop an idea rooted in insight, connecting to the campaign’s objectives while offering flexibility for future growth​.

Fig 1.6

4. Clarifying Strategy

This phase consolidates research and insights into a unifying strategy. It involves refining the target market, understanding the competitive advantage, and establishing the brand's core values and attributes. The focus is on identifying the brand's essence, which forms the foundation for the campaign's execution​.

Fig 1.7

5. Developing a Positioning Platform

After gathering information, a positioning strategy is developed to differentiate the brand in the market. Perceptual Mapping helps visualize how the brand compares to competitors in the minds of consumers, while ensuring clarity in the brand’s strengths, weaknesses, and overall competitive advantage​.

Fig 1.8

6. Uncovering Brand Essence

The brand essence reflects the core values and attributes that define the brand. This is distilled from analysis and provides a simple, memorable way to express the brand’s identity. It often culminates in a single sentence or tagline that encapsulates the brand’s unique proposition, as seen in examples like Nike's "Just Do It"​.

Fig 1.9

7. The Power of Focus

A brand becomes stronger by narrowing its focus, owning a specific word or concept in the consumer's mind. This focus helps solidify the brand’s position, as seen in how Mercedes owns "prestige" and Volvo owns "safety." Focusing on a unique, unclaimed space in the market strengthens the brand’s identity and value

Week 4

1. Introduction

This course focuses on the process of brand building through complex visual strategies. Branding involves measuring the value and authenticity of a brand, as well as highlighting its unique traits and benefits. A well-executed brand strategy establishes long-term competitive advantage by creating a strong emotional connection with consumers.

2. The Branding Process

Branding goes beyond visual elements like logos and taglines. Successful brands are adaptable and can evolve with changing market demands. A brand's identity must connect with its audience and provide reasons for people to care and engage.

3. Campaigns

- Concept Campaign: The campaign concept ties all the elements together, creating a reason for the audience to take action.

- Cause Campaign: Focuses on promoting an idea or cause to improve customer perception or brand image.

- Event Campaign: Creates in-person or virtual experiences to educate customers about the brand.

4. The Creative Strategy

The creative strategy begins with a brand story that establishes the brand’s identity. A SWOT analysis helps assess strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Additionally, tools like the Customer Journey Map help visualize and clarify customer experiences with a brand.

5. The Creative Brief

A brand positioning statement provides clarity on the target audience, market definition, and brand promise. The "big idea" acts as the central theme that resonates with the audience, serving as the foundation for campaign strategies.

6. Touchpoints

Brand touchpoints are the various interactions a consumer has with a brand, from website visits to in-store experiences. Prioritizing these touchpoints based on their impact and ease of implementation helps create a cohesive customer journey.

Fig 2.0

Step 1 :

Fig 2.1

Step 2 :

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Step 3:

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7. Moodboard

A moodboard is a collection of visual assets representing the brand's identity. It guides the artistic style and tone, aligning the brand's communication strategy with its values and visual direction.

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Task 1A : Case Study

1. Identifying its brand strategy: The Brand Story, Objective & Purpose, Brand Values, Vision & Mission, Target Audience, Brand Positioning.

2. Understanding its brand experience: features and activities. 

3. Reviewing its key visuals and the applications: identity and usage from different platforms.

I chose the brand Calvin Klein to complete the case study for Task 1A because I really admire the brand's design, which is simple, classic, and modern. At the same time, Calvin Klein excels in brand building by conveying a strong visual identity through minimalistic yet impactful designs, consistently maintaining a cohesive brand tone. This approach has successfully established strong global brand recognition. It is the combination of minimalism and fashion that allows Calvin Klein to stand out in a highly competitive market. Through this study, I hope to delve deeper into the brand's strategy and visual design to further enhance my understanding of brand building.

Task 1B : Campaign Proposal

We are to propose a Branding Campaign. The campaign will be for a snack of your choosing and may be conceptualised as a rebranding exercise to introduce a new concept or as a new product line launch. The suggested proposal outline: Campaign Description, Brand Story, Objective & Purpose, Brand Values, Vision & Mission, Target Audience, Organizers. SWOTs, Brand Positioning. Furthermore, you are to identify the Brand Touch Points by producing a Customer Journey Map.

I chose the brand Cadbury this time to help with the branding of its new product, Dairy Charge, a protein bar, because Cadbury is a brand we have all been familiar with since childhood. Its long-standing reputation for delivering high-quality products and creating memorable experiences through its chocolate and confectionery lines gives it a strong foundation to introduce a new product like a protein bar. By leveraging Cadbury’s existing brand trust and consumer loyalty, I aim to create a branding strategy that effectively positions Dairy Charge in the health and wellness market, while still maintaining Cadbury’s signature appeal and connection with its audience.

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Feedback ：

Week 1 ：Complete Task 1A and think about the idea of Task 1B

Week 2 ：In Task 1A, I did not fully understand the requirements, and most of the research I conducted was still focused on the original branding rather than rebranding research. In Task 1B, I have two ideas: one is Lays X Shake.co and the other is Cadbury Protein Bar. The idea in the first concept is relatively simple because I can only rebrand one product, which is quite a challenging task. On the other hand, the Cadbury Protein Bar can have more diverse content. After a discussion with Ms.Lilian I will go for the second idea (Cadbury Protein Bar) Continue at Task 1B ( complete the proposal )

Week 3 ：The feedback provided by Ms. Lilian was very helpful for me to continue to improve this proposal. First of all, the brand value should not only stay on the surface, but the concepts and principles behind it should truly represent the new brand image. We can emphasise the healthy attributes of the product ingredients to show the unique value of Dairy Charge. In addition, the vision section can be further clarified to position Dairy Charge as the leader of protein bars in the entire snack industry. In the SWOT analysis, it is worth exploring in depth how the economic recession becomes a threat and affects consumers' purchasing desire. As for the optimization of the customer journey map, it is recommended to first list 4 offline and 4 online touchpoints, and then evaluate which touchpoints can be reused according to different stages to improve the consistency and effectiveness of the customer experience. Improve task 1b based on feedback.

Week 4 : Based on Ms. Lilian's feedback, I need to conduct more in-depth research to strengthen my project. My ideas currently feel hollow. I should investigate market trends, consumer preferences, and successful similar cases to provide a solid foundation for my design concepts and strategies. This research will help ensure my ideas are more substantial and persuasive, enhancing the professionalism and credibility of my project.Do more research on Task 2

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Reflection :

Based on the feedback I received, it’s clear that I need to shift my approach, especially in understanding the requirements more thoroughly. For Task 1A, my focus on the original branding rather than rebranding was a critical oversight. This reflection has made me realize the importance of not only researching a brand's current position but also thinking critically about how it can evolve to meet new market demands and expectations.

The feedback for Task 1B has given me valuable direction. Initially, I struggled with the choice between the two concepts: Lays X Shake.co and Cadbury Protein Bar. The insight that the Cadbury Protein Bar idea offers more creative flexibility was eye-opening, as it highlighted the need for diversity in content, which I now see as essential for effective rebranding. Moving forward with Cadbury Protein Bar will allow me to explore more varied aspects of branding, like product positioning, consumer health trends, and target audience engagement.

This reflection emphasizes that my next steps should involve a deeper understanding of rebranding strategies. I need to focus on how a brand can adapt and grow while staying true to its core values. Taking the feedback into account, I now feel more prepared to refine my proposal and approach Task 1B with greater clarity and purpose.