CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

(RSM01MM) FALL 2014

GUIDELINES FOR GROUP ASSIGNMENT

Marketers strive to increase brand equity. From a customer-based perspective, brand equity relates
to the value a brand has in consumers mind, and it depends on the positivity, strength, type, and
uniqueness of associations that a brand elicits. Thus, understanding the network of brand
associations in memory is important to improve the effectiveness of marketing efforts.
Specifically, capturing the complexity of such networks by using brand maps may help marketers
identify whether there is a strategic gap between the desired and the actual set of brand
associations. The identification of such gaps is critical to improve strategic decision making about
the target market and product positioning, as well as to improve tactical decision making about
specific elements of the marketing mix (i.e., product, placement, price, and promotion).
OBJECTIVES
The objective of the group assignment is to measure the network of associations of a target brand,
identify potential gaps between the desired and the actual brand associations, and provide a set of
strategic and tactical recommendations that will address the identified gaps. More broadly, this
assignment will provide you with practical knowledge on how to draw brand maps and use them
as inputs in decision making.

PROCEDURE
The first step is to choose a target brand. You can choose among the following options:
Aldi
Ikea
McDonalds
Twitter
Unilever (Choose one of the brands in Unilevers portfolio)
Zara
Once you select your target brand, use available sources of information to develop a better
understanding of the desired set of brand associations (desired brand map). Next, you should draw
an actual brand map, which is often referred to as consensus map. To draw the map, you should
interview at least 15 respondents and use established techniques for concept mapping such as
Brand Concept Maps, ZMET, or others. These techniques involve typically three stages (see John
et al. 2006):
Elicitation stage in which brand associations are elicited from respondents
Mapping stage in which respondents indicate connections among brand associations
and their strength
Aggregation stage in which researchers construct a consensus map, which includes
the most important brand associations and their connections.
For the elicitation and mapping stage you can use the same sample, although John and colleagues
(2006) use different samples.

Next, you should identify the most important gaps between the obtained consensus map and the
desired brand map, and develop a set of strategic and tactical recommendations to resolve these
gaps. You can be creative, but base your recommendations on the results of the analysis. Also,
you can include sample materials for the proposed elements of the marketing mix.

STRUCTURE AND FORMATTING

Length of the assignment: 10-12 pages A4, 12pt. font Times New Romans, single spacing
The structure of the paper should be the following:
1. Cover page (include students names and IDs, group number and target brand)
2. Table of content
3. Introduction (1-2 pages)
4. Description of sample and method for interviewing (2-3 pages)
5. Description of consensus map and picture (3-4 pages)
6. Explanation of why you want to change the current map and description of how will you
do it. Be as specific as you can (3-4 pages).
7. References
8. Appendixes (include summaries of individual interviews)
The presentation should be approximately 10 minutes long.
TIMELINE
1. Register your group on Blackboard (go to Tools, and then Groups) by Friday, September
12th. Form groups of 4 persons (no exceptions!). If there are problems with Blackboard,
please contact Annette Bartels (abartels@rsm.nl)
2. Hand in hard copy of the paper and presentation by 4pm on Friday, September 26th to
Annette Bartels (T10-28)
3. Evaluate teammates by 7pm on Friday, October 10th
4. Present the group assignment in class on Thursday, October 09th or Friday, October 10th

RESOURCES
D. R. John, B. Loken, K. Kim, & A. Monga (2006), Brand Concept Maps: A Methodology for
Identifying Brand Association Networks, Journal of Marketing Research, 43, 549563.
T. J. Reynolds, & J. Gutman (1988), Laddering Theory, Method, Analysis, and Interpretation,
Journal of Advertising Research, 28, 1131.
ZMAT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQzYclR8ufM