MKTG317 Brand Strategy 2024/25 ASSESSMENT
Assessment Weighting: Coursework Assignment: 100%
There is no exam for this module – you are entirely assessed through an individual submission-based assignment based upon independent research.Coursework Assignment: The Michaelmas 2024 individual assignment details are below. You are required to address the following set assignment in the form of academic essay that draws from concepts explored in the classroom, your independent reading, and the broader research on brand management and consumer culture:
Critical Brand Reflection (limit: 2000 words*)
Please identify one brand that you consider to be meaningful in your life. This could mean: choosing a brand that factors into your consumption regularly, habitually and/or ritualistically and is not easily substituted; or a brand that you have developed a personal history with and find yourself showing favouritism towards amongst substitutes; or possibly even a brand that you consider to be instrumental for constructing your overall sense of self.
After identifying this brand, you are asked to draw from the suite of materials (e.g. theories, explanatory concepts, models, frameworks, labels, terminology) covered in MKTG317 and your own independent reading to evaluate and explore what makes it so meaningful and/or indispensable to you as a consumer.
*(The word count does not include bibliography (i.e. reference list) and appendices. For the main body (2000 words) the usual +/-10% rule applies)
Some guidance:
Citing academic and theoretical material is key for your critical brand reflection. You should set aside time to seek out and identify useful research via Google Scholar and Lancaster Onesearch as an immediate starting point when preparing your essay. Searching for research pertaining to your brand’s product category (e.g. food, sportswear, celebrity etc) in the scholarly literature will give you an idea of what kind of concepts and models are used to explore that area. Your critical brand introspection will be based on an analysis of your lived experiences as a consumer, but your writing NEEDS to be academic. You must show your awareness of major theorists, concepts or arguments as you make your points. This will demonstrate that you have an understanding of the wider academic context of the brand and its consumption context that you are writing about.
In terms of content, you should ask yourself questions like: which product categories does this brand operate within? What kind of theories and research can I draw from to explain and give some context for those categories? What are the main trends going on within those categories and how is this brand affected by them? Who are the brand’s closest competition and how does it itself set apart from them? What are its key brand elements and is there anything unusual about any of them that I might try and explain? What are the brand’s values? How old is the brand and where does it originate? What back-stage and front-stage activities does it engage with to demonstrate authenticity? Or perhaps, if inauthentic, how does the brand leverage superficiality? Etc.)
To ensure that you cover the introspective requirements of the essay well, you should navigate towards the more subjective appeal of this brand for you and how it fits within your broader consuming lifestyle, activities and/or overall “consumption constellation ” (e.g. how do you personally see the brand’s personality and how does it map onto yours? What kind of experiences do you have with the brand? Is the brand part of any consumption rituals you partake in? Are you part of a brand community? Is the brand important for your sense of identity? How? For how much longer can you see yourself consuming this brand? Why? Etc.).
As part of your introspection, it would also be helpful if you could explain your “highs” and “lows” with the brand in question. E.g.) Has this brand ever been implicated in a crisis or controversy and, if so, what were your thoughts on the matter and how was it resolved for you? Also, how you describe the relationship you have with the brand? Does loyalty and monogamy factor into this relationship or has it been constituted more by infidelity and functionality?
• Your reflection will be based mainly on information from secondary sources and what is known as “Subjective Personal Introspection” or SPI. To supplement your own subjective thoughts and opinions, you should bring in supportive evidence from academic theory and real-world discussion from business media and reports.
o you absolutely must use appropriate concepts, labels, and theoretical frameworks and you are expected to draw on a wide range of materials from both the classroom and beyond to justify and support your reflection.
• Your reflection must not exceed 2000 words. You must be very careful in selecting relevant material to include in your case. Exhibits, photos, and figures can be
added and are not included in the page total but ensure that they add analytical or illustrative value somehow. If they are just decorative, leave them out.
• A bibliography is required but is not included in the page total. This should capture a wide suite of material from academic journals (e.g. Journal of Marketing Management, Marketing Theory, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Product and Brand Management). I expect to see a plentiful list of references.
A high level of academic standard and professionalism is expected for this third-year assignment, and it will NEED to be bedded to suitable academic theory and concepts.
• Students are expected to engage in wider reading than what has been provided inclass and on Moodle. You may find there are very useful explanatory concepts (i.e. concepts that can help explain what you are trying to say) available in the broader literature. Start first with your allocated readings on Moodle and then consult the literature consulted in the reference sections of these papers.
• Although your observations will be based on personal introspection, conceptualise everything (i.e. label your observations using explanatory concepts, ground your comments and analyses in academic language and theory). Theory MUST feature heavily in your reflection. For example, if you are looking at a luxury brand then it would be expected for you to seek out and draw upon useful theories that can help explain the function of luxury in your own and other consumers’ lives (e.g. conspicuous consumption, consumer identity projects, extended self etc) or if you are looking at a brand that you loved in your childhood, you be expected to draw upon theories appropriate to that context (e.g. nostalgia, rituals, retrobrands etc). Remember that theory functions much like a lens: when we use it to ‘look’ at something, it brings particular elements of it into focus that we can discuss.
• In addition to academic materials, you can draw upon a variety of sources of information to support your claims such as trade magazines, suitable media reports and business publications, and official company sources i.e. website materials, promotional materials. Not many marks are going for these however – again, your focus must remain on theory.
• Make sure you follow Harvard Referencing guide carefully – marks will be lost for even the most minor errors in your citation style.
Assessment Deadline: Electronic essay submitted to the Moodle MKTG317 submission folder by 12 noon Friday 10th January 2025.
(COURSEWORK FEEDFORWARD NEXT PAGE – V. IMPORTANT!)
COURSEWORK ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
Your coursework will be assessed against and you will receive feedback on the criteria detailed in the table below. These criteria (on the left of Table 1. below) are those typically used to evaluate written coursework in the Department of Marketing. Feedforward (on the right of Table 1.) provides guidance to help you translate these criteria into what is needed for this particular piece of coursework. You can also use the general grade descriptors to help you critically evaluate your own work. The grade given to your work is a summary of the overall standard of the piece of work across all criteria.
Table 1. Coursework Assessment Criteria and Feedforward
Marking Criteria Feedforward is provided here to help you apply these abstract criteria to this specific piece of coursework. Feedback will be provided against each criterion.
Argument, understanding and analysis
E.g. Relevance to set question, understanding of the issues, appropriate criticism, balance of the arguments, pertinent analysis, quality of conclusions. The BEST critical brand introspections will make great use of theories found from wider reading – they will draw on a wide range of relevant literature and is not confined to reading lists, textbooks or lecture notes; arguments are well supported by a variety of means. Excellent work will provide a detailed and insightful look into the myriad of roles that the brand plays for you in personal and social environments, its functioning in the practical/material and symbolic aspects of your life and other pertinent consumer behaviour areas of enquiry. Excellent answers will clearly “conceptualise” the functions and appeals of the brand using relevant theories and concepts from the academic materials made available to students on MKTG317 while also seeking out wider explanatory literature.
Sources and evidence
E.g. Use of relevant theory/data, recognition of ethical concerns, accurate referencing, suitable bibliography. Excellent work will display very clear evidence of wider reading and an engagement with academic readings and conceptual frameworks beyond what was covered in class. Students are urged to go out and seek out conceptual explanations for the phenomenon and need to be able to apply theoretical explanations based firmly on academic evidence. Poor answers will ground their discussion to only media-based, less-scholarly evidence. Appropriate and compelling use of explanatory theory and branding language from academia is necessary for good marks.
Marking Criteria Feedforward is provided here to help you apply these abstract criteria to this specific piece of coursework. Feedback will be provided against each criterion.
Written communication
E.g. Format and structure, clarity of communication, appropriate illustrations, creativity/originality. Excellent essays will be well-organised with a clear and identifiable narrative, with useful segues between sections and will be conveyed in a high standard of academic English.
ACADEMIC SUPPORT
If you need help with your academic writing and study you can visit the LUMS Learning Development Team, based in B103 in LUMS (near LT10) and B38a (near Economics).
Basic info about what the LUMS Learning Development Team do is available on the university website: http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lums/study/undergraduate/study-support/ (UG)
Enjoy 24/7 customer support for any queries or concerns you have.
Phone: +1 213 3772458
Email: support@gradeessays.com