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STC200 – Advertising Strategy Development Spring Semester 2017 Professor: Jasper Nelissen Individual Assignment #4 – the strategic brief Objective Write a coherent strategic brief for the individual brand as chosen by each student, taking into account results and comments from the previous three individual assignments.

Description This assignment consists of eight elements, as described below. The eight elements combined will form the strategic brief. All elements need to be completed with a focus on the individual brand that the student has chosen at the start of term.

1. Context / situation – a short description of the current situation of your client. The context should describe the general situation that your client is in, considering its industry, company circumstances, stage of development on its life-cycle and other factors. The context should not describe the history of your client’s company, unless of relevance to the current situation.

2. Objective – a real, transformational and measurable business objective. The objective will have to be based on the business analysis that was done on the individual brand that the student has chosen, and has to be a relevant objective given the situation and context the client brand is in. The objective has to contain a metric that connects with what the client brand wants to accomplish. The actual value of the metric (ie- 15% or 20% growth) is of lesser importance.

3. Target consumer – your chosen consumer group in relation to the objective you have set Provide a detailed description of this consumer segment, including demographics, lifestyle, preferences, attitudes. Use storytelling to bring this consumer segment to life. Provide a rationale as to why this segment is the most important one for your client considering the objective (deliverable 2).

4. Issue – the one thing currently preventing us from reaching the objective. Any client brand will likely face multiple issues in their current situation, originating from many angles, such as competition, organization, consumer attitudes, product, etc. The goal here is to find the one issue that stand most in the way of reaching the objective as described under element 1. Defining this issue requires thorough root-cause analysis.

5. Insight – the simple truth we know about people that will help us overcome the issue. The insight will originate from the target consumer the student chose and defined under deliverable 3. An insight is a revelation, and aha moment about this consumer. Finding an insight requires the student to do research into the target consumer. The insight does not necessarily have to be connected to the individual brand or product – it has to be a truth about the lives, preferences and/or circumstances of the target consumer. Insights are not facts or universal truths.

6. Challenge – what we need to do to meet the objective. The challenge describes a change in perception or behavior from the consumer about the chosen client brand. A helpful construct is the From… To… method. The challenge does not describe a factual action, such as “make a TV spot”, or “tell the consumer that…”, or “launch a viral campaign”.

7. Organizing Idea – the big, strategic idea that has the power to shape your client’s business An Organizing Idea (OI) works best at the client’s business or brand level, is based the insight as defined under point 5, and can inspire decisions for your client for the long term. An OI is simple, emotionally engaging and distinctive, and should be capable of informing any client challenge. Organizing Ideas should be big enough to touch all partners, stakeholders and client representatives. OI’s are not tactical campaign ideas and/or tag lines.

8. Media directions – the places, times and occasions to reach your target consumer Based on the target consumer as described under deliverable 3, describe the media channels, times and occasions that are best suited to reach your target consumer. Take the consumer’s life and media consumption/preferences into consideration, as well as the circumstances and preferences of your client. The strategic brief has to be written in such a way that there is a connection and consistency between the eight elements, as described above, with a natural flow throughout.

It is required to define all eight elements as described above, and to include a short reasoning or rationale for each of the eight elements.

It is advised to use the feedback and comments as provided for each of the previous individual assignments to ensure improvement on those elements that were part of these previous assignments (target consumer, OIIC).

Grading Individual Assignment #4 counts towards 15% of the overall grade for the course, and is graded as follows:  Each of the eight elements has a maximum total of 10 points  There are an additional maximum total of 20 points awarded for the overall exercise depending on the coherency of the combined answers to the eight elements as listed under “description”  Grand total maximum points for IA#2: 100 Format Format is free, as long as the assignment is typed (not handwritten), legible (avoid very small fonts and line spacing), does not exceed 3 sides of a page (or equivalent amount of text on slides), and is printed out for handing in.

Due date The assignment is due on Thursday April 27 th, 2017 at the start of class. Late penalties Ten points will be deducted out of the maximum of 100 for the assignment for each class period that your assignment is late. For example, if the assignment is due on a Tuesday, and is handed in on the following Thursday, 10 points will be deducted from the assignment grade. If the assignment is due on Tuesday and is not handed in until Tuesday the week after, 20 points will be deducted, and so on.