Principles of Marketing
Quality Assurance Record
Internal approval: Celosia Mendez
Assignment Brief Academic Year 2021-22
Module Code and
Title: MG412
Principles of Marketing Module Leader:
Module Tutor: Abid Taufique
Assignment No.
and Type: CW2
Group Task: 10 mins group
presentation and co-authored
1000 word report. Assessment
Weighting: 50%
Submission Date: Presentation: In class week
commencing:
Report: 7th January 2022 by
2pm via Turnitin. Target Feedback
Date: 2 Weeks from Deadline.
Assignment Task
Working in small teams to develop a 10 minute group presentation for a brand extension, you will then
need to submit a group co-authored 1000 word report explaining the new brand extension.
This assignment has been designed to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your
achievement of the following module learning outcomes:
LO 2 Demonstrate knowledge of STP marketing planning process
LO 3 Identify the key components of the marketing environment.
LO 4 Identify research requirements to begin to solve a business/marketing problem in a company
Task requirements
You now need to select an existing brand (you may choose one of the brands from the CWK1
assignment or a brand of your own preference) and develop an idea for a new brand extension e.g. Dove
toothpaste. This is partly a creative exercise, but it must be based on thorough research into:
1. The current values of the brand being extended
2. The potential target market for the brand extension.
This will involve academic research, secondary research and competitor research in store. It may
also involve small scale primary research to establish whether your new brand extension finds
acceptance with your chosen target market. However, for this assignment, marks will be awarded for the
results of the primary research, not a full description of the process of carrying it out.
Conducting the Research
1. Academic Reading
You need to ensure that you have read, at the very least, chapters 6, 9 and 10 in Brassington and
Pettitt’s “Essentials of Marketing” and the BB source materials available on Kapferer’s Brand
Identity Prism.
Also use WARC to find articles on (or related to) the topic of brand extensions – for example
• WARC June 2016 :How to extend a brand
• WARC News 23 January 2013 “Brand extensions favoured by shoppers”
• WARC Case Study :John Lewis Insurance: The power of true brand extension marketing,
IPA Effectiveness Awards, 2016
• D. Aaker (1990) Brand Extensions: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
2. Secondary Research
You will need to make reference to appropriate Mintel reports as well as the company’s website
and press articles about the existing brands. You should also try to find information about the
brand’s values and existing target market. Additionally you will need to research current issues in
the marketing environment (PESTEL analysis) that potentially could impact on your new product
introduction.
3. Competitor Research
You will need to look at the existing products in the new suggested market to ensure that your
new brand could compete effectively (e.g. with Dove toothpaste you will need to consider Colgate
and Aqua fresh)
10 minute Presentation
A 10-minute PowerPoint presentation with an additional 5 minute Q &A session.
The presentation needs to cover the following points
• Background on the chosen brand include useful data such as market share, market size and
trends in sales.
• Coverage of the existing brand values supported with use of visual examples.eg advertising
campaigns, company’s web site, sponsorship activities etc.
• A brief explanation of the new product with reference to what growth strategy the brand is
adopting. (Ansoff).
• Clear identification of the proposed target market for the new brand extension ( include any
primary data results if undertaken)
• Any key trends and PESTEL issues that have influenced your choice of brand extension idea.
• A comparative analysis of your suggested brand extension with any key competition identified in
the new market sector.
• A Visual Image of the Brand Extension showing brand name, packaging design and logo. You
also need to consider how your brand extension will be distinct from competing products.
Writing the Report
The report is a supporting document to the materials presented above and you need to include a sound
academic framework to the discussion.
We suggest that you adhere to the following headings for your reports:
Executive Summary
THIS IS WRITTEN LAST (because it is a summary of your research) BUT IT APPEARS FIRST (even
before the contents page), in order to catch the attention of the reader and encourage them to read further.
It should cover in one page or less:
• The aims of the report,
• The methods of research,
• The results (top-line summary only)
• Conclusions
Contents Page (Use the feature in Word to do this automatically)
Introduction
This should be quite brief. It should include the aims of the report and some background on the chosen
brand. Include useful data such as market share, market size and trends in sales, which you can find from
the most recent Mintel reports and in the trade press
Methodology
A simple statement of how the research was carried out. This is particularly important in terms of competitor
research, observational research, or primary research if you included it. Ideally you should critique whether
your data is sufficient to justify your conclusions.
Findings
It is suggested that you use sub-headings to make your report easier to follow. You could adopt the
following headings:
• Existing brand and Brand Values -coverage to include key academic definitions explaining what
is a brand, the concept of a brand extension and a detailed examination of one academic model on
branding. (i.e. Kapferer’s Brand Identity Prism).
• Description of the Target Market – a detailed description of the TA for the new brand extension
supported by reference to secondary sources e.g. Mintel and TGI supported by academic coverage
of STP marketing planning process.
• Analysis of the New Market, Including Trends – PESTLE analysis and Ansoff’s Grid
• An Explanation of the New Product (Tauber’s Brand Extension Options, product packaging, the
choice of a brand name and brand positioning)
• Competition – a comparative analysis of your suggested brand extension with any competition
identified in the new market sector (this should be tabulated)
You should try to put relevant raw data in the appendices and just include a summary in the body of the
report. Every time you state a fact e.g. market size, price data, sales etc. you must provide a referenced
source for that fact (both in the text and in the reference list). All tables and graphs should have the source
written directly underneath.
Conclusions
This is where you provide some element of Assessment of your research findings. Do you think your brand
extension will be successful? Why/Why not?
Reference List
This should be listed alphabetically by Surname and should follow the rules of Harvard Referencing
perfectly
Appendices
Use the appendices to display any raw research data, such as pricing data.
A group log of individual contribution to the task must also be included.
Style Issues
• You may not write in first person – using I, me or my.
• Your report should be written in a formal business-like manner.
You may include tables and photographs in the body of the report, but they must all include the source
(below and to the right) and title (to the left and above).
Referencing and research requirements
Please reference your work according to the Harvard style as defined in Cite Them Right Online
(http://www.citethemrightonline.com). This information is also available in book form: Pears, R. and
Shields, G. (2016) Cite them right: the essential reference guide. 10th edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan. Copies are available via the university library.
How your work will be assessed
Your work will be assessed on the extent to which it demonstrates your achievement of the stated
learning outcomes for this assignment (see above) and against other key criteria, as defined in the
University’s institutional grading descriptors. If it is appropriate to the format of your assignment and your
subject area, a proportion of your marks will also depend upon your use of academic referencing
conventions.
This assignment will be marked according to the grading descriptors for Level 4 with specific guidance on
mark allocation below.
Part A :Presentation Weighted 30%
Background on the chosen brand including coverage of existing brand values.20%
Coverage of market trends including key PESTEL issues 20%
Explanation of the new product, proposed target market and key competition. 20%
A Visual Image of the Brand Extension 10%
Presentation Skills (Creativity of images used, fluency with the material presented and timing) 30%
Part B: Report Weighted 70%
Research Skills 20%
You need to demonstrate that you have spent at least a month working on this report. To do this, you need
to provide evidence in the written text and in your reference list that you have engaged in research in the
form of academic texts and secondary sources, such as Mintel, Trade and National Press and
articles on WARC. We will be looking for more than 10 references from a variety of sources in your
reference list. If all that is mentioned in the reference list is website links and company websites, you will
lose marks.
Marketing Knowledge 30%
You will need to demonstrate full knowledge of a range of marketing concepts including: STP marketing,
profiling target audiences, branding, and brand extension strategies. This knowledge needs to be
supported via academic references and applied in full. You also need an explanation, with reference to
academic text, of key models covered on the module including Kapferer’s Brand Identity Prism (in
discussing the existing brand being extended from) and Ansoff’s Grid and Tauber’s Brand Extension
Options (in discussing the new brand being extended to). Additionally a visual showing the application of
Kapferer’s model to the brand to demonstrate your understanding is also required.
Analysis 20%
You need to be able to demonstrate that this brand extension will be successful. Marks for analysis will
be given for your:
• New Market trends/PESTLE Analysis 10%
• Competitor Analysis (include in a tabulated format) 10%
Literacy Skills 10%
Please remember the LDU’s advice regarding academic writing i.e. it must be objective, impersonal,
concise, accurate and evidence-based.
Referencing 10%
We expect you to apply the rules of Harvard Referencing in full both in the text and in the Reference List
at the end of the report.
Group Work 10%
• As this is a group assignment you need to submit a group log showing in detail who did what for
both the presentation and report writing stages.
• We will use the group log to identify inequalities in contribution and allocate individual grades if
required.
Submission details
• This assignment should be submitted electronically. Please use the relevant Turnitin submission
point in the Submit your work area in your Blackboard module shell.
• Please ensure that your work has been saved in an appropriate file format. Turnitin will only
accept the following file types: Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint, PostScript, PDF, HTML,
RTF, OpenOffice (ODT), Hangul (HWP), Google Docs, or plain text. Your file must also contain at
least 20 words of text, consist of fewer than 400 pages and be less than 40MB in size.
• You can submit your work as many times as you like before the submission date. If you do submit
your work more than once, your earlier submission will be replaced by the most recent version.
• Once you have submitted your work, you will receive a digital receipt as proof of submission,
which will be sent to your forwarded e-mail address (provided you have set this up). Please keep
this receipt for future reference, along with the original electronic copy of your assignment.
• You are reminded of the University’s regulations on academic misconduct, which can be viewed
on the University website: https://bucks.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0024/9546/Academic
Misconduct-Policy.pdf. In submitting your assignment, you are acknowledging that you have read
and understood these regulations.
Submission date and time
The presentation will be in class week commencing:
The report should be submitted before 14:00 UK time on Friday 22nd January 2021 via Turnitin.
Work that is submitted up to 10 working days beyond the submission date will be accepted as a late
submission. Late submissions will be marked and the actual mark recorded, but will be capped at the
pass mark (typically 40%), provided that the work is of a passing standard. Work submitted after this
period will not be marked and will be treated as a non-submission.
• The group log must be included in your appendixes
Use and modify the following table structure for the group log:
Date Students Attending Issues Actions
