TASK:

• Contribute to completing Brand Exploratory

  From the segment profiles you developed a couple of weeks ago, you will now work on the Brand Exploratory -- to find out what the consumers actually think of the brand.

  To complete this task, you will form a mental map (a detailed portrayal of all salient brand associations and responses for a particular target market) for each target segment. Since you were required to choose at least 2 target segments whose profiles you developed, you should have at least two mental maps! Refer to page 268-269 for this task.

  Useful questions for this task are:

  1. What comes to mind when you think of this brand? What does the [ ] name mean to you?
  2. What do you like best about the brand? What are its positive aspects or advantages?
  3. what do you like least about the brand? What are its negative aspects or disadvantages?
  4. What do you find unique about the brand? How is it different from other brands?
  5. Who uses the brand? what kind of person?
  6. What types of situations do they use the brand?
  7. How and where do they use the brand?
  8. Why do people use the brand? What do they get out of using it?
  9. How do they use the brand? What do they use it for?

• After forming a mental map, group brand associations into related categories with descriptive labels. Select CORE BRAND ASSOCIATIONS (attributes or benefits that characterize 5-10 most important aspects or dimensions of a brand).

  These Core Brand Associations can help verify/form the Brand Mantra. Organize core brand associations into two buckets (abstract, imagery-related, and functional, performance-related) to formulate Brand Mantra (with the 3 essential components; refer to pages 65-66 in Chapter 2)

  Utilize these associations to evaluate Brand Resonance Pyramid. An example done for Rolex is found on page 292.

  The Core Brand Associations for each target market should be compatible with the PERSONAs you developed for them. Assess the compatibility. If you have not yet completed this process, read "The Science of Branding 9-1: The Role of Brand Personas" and complete the persona descriptions. Do you need to create 'negative personas'?