By the end of this course students should be able to:
1. Understand key principles of branding
2. Explain branding concepts and ideas in their own words
3. Understand and conduct the measurement of brand equity and brand performance
4. Practically develop a brand, including positioning and communication
5. Prepare a professional, logical and coherent report in the form of a brand audit
6. Deliver an oral presentation in a professional, engaging manner
7. Develop an argument and express themselves clearly in both written and oral communication
8. Consider ethical issues

Text: Uncles, M. (ed). (2011) Perspectives on Brand Management. Tilde University Press, Melbourne. ISBN 9 780734 610652

Reading 1: Keller, K.L., “Customer Based Brand Equity” (Chapter 2) in Keller, K.L., Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring and Managing Brand Management (International Third Edition) Pearson, 9780132336222
Reading 2: Keller, K.L., “Brand Positioning and Values” (Chapter 3) in Keller, K.L., Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring and Managing Brand Management (Second Edition) Pearson, 9780131105836
Reading 3: Sharp, B., “how Brands Grow” (Chapter 2) in Sharp, B., How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don’t Know. Oxford University Press, 9780195573565
Reading 4: Romaniuk, Jenni and Sharp, Byron (2004). "Conceptualizing and measuring brand salience." Marketing Theory 4(4): 327-342.
Reading 5: Wathne, Kenneth H. and Heide, Jan B. (2000). "Opportunism in Interfirm Relationships: Forms, Outcomes, and Solutions." Journal of Marketing 64(October): 36-51.
Reading 6: Kennedy, R. & Sharp, B., “Customer Segmentation and Targeting” (Chapter 6) in Sharp, B., Marketing: Theory, Evidence, Practice. Oxford University Press, 9780195573558

References
Keller, K. (2006) Strategic Brand Management (3Ed). Prentice Hall. Singapore, Melbourne.
Sharp, B. (2010) How Brands Grow. Oxford University Press. Melbourne.
Riezebos, R. (2003) Brand Management. Prentice Hall. Singapore, Melbourne
Aaker, D.A., 1992. The Value of Brand Equity. Journal of Business Strategy 13 (4), 27-32.
Ehrenberg, A.S.C., Goodhardt, G. and Barwise, T.P., 1990. Double Jeopardy Revisited. Journal of Marketing 54 (July), 82-91.
Keller, K.L., 1993. Conceptualizing, Measuring, Managing Customer-Based Brand Equity. Journal of Marketing 57 (1), 1-22.
Romaniuk, J. and Sharp, B., 2004. Conceptualizing and measuring brand salience. Marketing Theory 4 (4), 327-342.

Get in the element. You should be consuming blogs and twitter – as well as contributing. The more of it you do, the better your “Brand Me” project will be. We will be very active on MyUni, but you also need to get a blogspot account and a twitter address.

We will run a two hour lecture each week. All lectures will be uploaded to MyMedia. The tutes involve each student doing a presentation of their personal brand progress (“brand me”) in part of the session, consolidating the knowledge we’ve just done in lectures, plus pushing towards our “brand me” conclusion.

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

The University expects full-time students (i.e. those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. This means that you are expected to commit approximately 9 hours for a three-unit course or 13 hours for a four-unit course, of private study outside of your regular classes.

Students in this course are expected to attend all lectures throughout the semester plus one tutorial class each week.

Component Due Date Weighting Related Learning Outcomes

Tutorial Participation Throughout semester 10% 1,4,6,7

Assignment 1: A "Personal Brand" Audit - Pairs Midnight Thursday March 27 10% 2,3,5,7

"Brand Me" presentation (Individual) Throughout semester 5% 4,6,7

Assignment 2 : "Brand Me" Concept Draft Midnight Thursday May 8 5% 1,2,4,7,8

Assignment 3: "Brand ME" is live (Individual) Midnight Thursday June 5 20% 3,4,7,8

EXAMINATION Examinations Period 50% 1,2,3,7,8

1. A student shall not be eligible to attend for examination, and will consequently fail the course, unless they have attended at least 80% of tutorial classes.
2. Criteria that will be used to assess student’s work are enclosed in this course outline
3. To gain a pass, a mark of at least 45% must be obtained on the examination as well as a total of at least 50% overall.
4. Legible hand-writing and the quality of English expression are considered to be integral parts of the assessment process. Marks may be deducted in the final examination because of poor handwriting.
5. All assessment marks will be known prior to the final exam. Students are encouraged to check their marks and notify the Lecturer-in-charge of any discrepancies.

The “Brand Me” Project
You are here to learn how to build and manage a distinctive, competitive brand. We want you to learn the theories of branding, but also some practical. So we have the “Brand Me” project.

The first and most important brand you need to build is your personal brand. It’s your number one asset, building and managing it well – now – will serve you brilliantly for the rest of your life.
I have been teaching in universities for sixteen years now. The one thing that always challenges me is when a good student comes to me after they’ve graduated and ask me “What now? How do I get a job”

Have a look at this quote from some time ago, from Dan Schawbel:

‘In the past few years personal branding has been discussed exhaustively throughout the Net. The difference between today and over ten years ago when it was first mentioned by Tom Peters, is the rise of social technologies that have made branding not only more personal, but within reach.”
http://mashable.com/2009/02/05/personal-branding-101/

The “Brand Me” project aims to get you ahead on all three things:
• Learn branding and marketing communications principles – by doing
• Determine the nature of your personal brand – and begin to crystallise your own brand equity
• Give you a “head start” in the employment game

So we’ll have you do an audit of somebody else’s personal brand. You can do that in pairs. We want you to then plan and build a personal brand using a range of social media tools. At the very least, I would expect you to use:

• Blogger.com
• Twitter
• Youtube

But the tools you use are limited only by your creativity. I want you to punch out a 5 minute, snappy, presentation in a tutorial over the semester, I need you participating and I want you to build an awesome brand presence by the end of semester.

Tutorial Participation
You will be expected to have read the relevant chapters – and beyond – in order to come to the tutorials willing to discuss the material. I don’t expect you to have all the answers but you must be prepared to engage. Simply turning up is not enough and sitting silent will get you a zero for that tute. Ten tutes, ten marks. One thing’s for sure – if you’re not there, there’s no chance for a mark.

Assignment 1: A “Personal Brand” Audit
1000 words
Do this in pairs. Consider this a chance to get your bearings in the “Brand Me” business. The person you choose can be famous or private. It might be somebody like Elle MacPherson, Paris Hilton, Prakky or Malcolm Campbell – you choose who you wish to review. But we need you to review their branding from a theoretical as well as a practical perspective.

Tell me why you think their branding is good, justify your choice of personal brand you are auditing. Based on our discussions, analyse their sources of brand equity, their positioning strategy and what they could be doing better.

As with all of this course, I need you to be immersed in the element so some academic research on branding theory is good, and extensive research using commercial sources (critically evaluated) is important too. Some of the hottest new topics in branding and social media include:

• Co-creation of brand meaning
• Content Marketing
• Brand Curation / Content Curation
• Location Based Marketing
• Social Influence and Klout
• Brand / Pageview Tracking

Have a look at the rubric at the rear of this guide.

Presentation: “Brand ME”
You have five minutes. Get yourself in front of the class and make a big impression. Use this as a trial run for employment. Not an interview – but it’s as if you met the “dream job” employer in an empty lunch bar and you happen to have your laptop with you. The dream job future employer says “that’s handy, we’ll be hiring soon. Tell me about yourself”. This happens more often than you think – although not as explicitly.

You still have the chance to use branding concepts – in fact it’s even more important than ever to understand the essence of your brand, positioning and your sources of brand equity from a theoretical point of view. There are marks for that. And the “you” that you present needs to be interesting. There are 20% marks for that.

You need to engage with your potential audience using cool tools. And you need to use them well. You have a huge range of social media tools at your disposal; you can use blogs, twitter, foursquare, facebook, community service. So when you present what you’re planning for your personal brand there are 10% of marks for cool engagement tools, and also how you plan to be using them. Have a look at the rubric at the rear of this guide.

Assignment 2: "Brand Me" Concept Draft
500 words
Give me a few pages telling me your plan. Tell me who your audience is, what sorts of groups exist within that audience. Who do you care about and what do you want your brand to mean to them? When discussing the positioning of your personal brand you need to talk about the core product you are providing – are you an energetic promotions manager, a methodical research and problem solver, a sales dynamo? When a company employs you, what are they going to get?

Using brand positioning theory (either Keller’s or Rossiter’s approach) describe how your brand is distinctive. If you choose to use Rossiter’s approach from the text – the 45% of marks from the rubric will be awarded – 15% for each part of the Macro, Meso and Micro positioning. I will not prescribe which of the two methods you should use.

Again, make sure you are using good tools to promote your brand and show me that you’ve spent a lot of time reading and learning new things.

Have a look at the rubric at the rear of this guide.

 
Assignment 3: “Brand ME” is LIVE!
1000 words – individual work – no page limit
It’s done! Your personal brand is conceived, built, launched, communicated and probably tracked. I’m excited to see what you’ve got. You need to keep the writing lean, but I encourage you to use many screen dumps from your blogs, twitter posts or whatever your tools are.

You’ve had six weeks from conceiving your personal brand to this point. That is a very long time in the world of social media. The review of your strategy should reflect this. “Execution” is where you get to show your flair, however the content you provide needs to be consistent with your branding strategy. I will award 25% of your marks simply for how good your blog and other content looks, and 25% for how well you’ve presented your activities – is it a good story, in the context of branding theory?

So, show me that this is a personal brand, built by a person who knows a lot about branding. One of the best ways to do that is to draw on the vast amount of commentary that is out there.

Have a look at the rubric at the rear of this guide.

Extensions to the due date of individual assessment may be granted under special circumstances. An extension request based on illness or on exceptional personal circumstances must include the "Supporting Statement / Certification Form" that is page 4 of the Supplementary Assessment application available at: www.adelaide.edu.au/student/exams/pdfs/supp_applic.pdf Students applying for an extension based on medical reasons must visit their medical practitioner, with that approved University form, and have the medical practitioner complete it. A normal doctor's certificate will not be accepted.
Please submit your assignments through the “assignments” tab in MyUni. A hardcopy is not required.
There will be no re-submission. You cannot rework your paper and put it back in.

Presentation of Assignments
• Please must retain a copy of all assignments submitted.
• Please attach an ‘Assignment Cover Sheet’, which is signed and dated by you before submission.
• All group assignments must be attached to a ‘Group Assignment Cover Sheet’, which must be signed and dated by all group members before submission. All team members are expected to contribute approximately equally to a group assignment.

Lecturers can refuse to accept assignments which do not have a signed acknowledgement of the University’s policy on plagiarism.

No Resubmission
Once your paper is in, it’s in. You can’t take your assessed paper, rework it and resubmit it.

Re-Marking / Disputes
The markers work very closely for consistency. We mark to rubrics (that you have) and we consult throughout the marking process. If you wish to dispute a mark you’ve been given, you need to raise it with the lecturer in charge within a week, giving the areas (referring to the rubric) that you think deserve more attention. You might get an email in response, but you’ll probably be asked to come in and see the lecturer.

Late Assignment Submission
Students are expected to submit their work by the due date to maintain a fair and equitable system. Extensions will generally only be given for medical or other serious reasons. All requests for extensions must be emailed to the lecturer in charge of the course before the due date. Each request will be assessed on its merits. A late assignment (without prior arrangement) will be penalised by according to the schedule below. Submitting your assignment late (with or without an extension) also means you miss the primary marking cycle; it probably will get returned to you a lot later than your classmates get theirs.


Return of Assignments
Lecturers aim to mark and return assignments to students within two (2) weeks of the due date with written feedback. Students are responsible for collecting their marked assignments from either their tutorials or lectures. If assignments aren’t collected after two (2) weeks, the assignments will be available at the Student Hub for two (2) weeks. The remaining assignments will only be posted out to the students, if the correct mailing addresses are on the assignments.