COURSE NUMBER: EWMBA 262

COURSE TITLE: Strategic Brand Management

UNITS OF CREDIT: 3 Units

INSTRUCTOR: Judy Hopelain https://www.linkedin.com/in/jhopelain/

EMAIL: jahopelain@berkeley.edu

MEETING DATE(S)/TIMES: 1/26, 2/2, 2/9, 2/16, 3/2, 3/9, 3/16, 4/6, 4/13, 4/20, 4/27, 5/11

This class is piloting holding electives on Saturdays from 9:00am-1:00pm. As a result, we are holding 2 fewer Saturday classes. This means that, in addition to Spring break (3/30), there will be NO CLASS on 2/23 and 3/23. The semester ends on May 11 when student teams will present their Team Assignment #3 recommendations. There is no class on May 18.

PREREQUISITE: EWMBA206 Marketing

REQUIRED READING & DETAILED CLASS PLAN
No textbook; reading assignments will include selected chapters, cases, articles, and websites.

Click here for the specific topics covered, readings and assignments for each class session. I will update this Detailed Class Plan over the course of the semester. So be sure you are looking at the latest version!

CAREER FIELD
Having an understanding of brand management is relevant for anyone working on the demand side of an organization. Startups, mature organizations, B2B, B2C, NGOs, all face challenges growing, acquiring and retaining profitable relationships. Brand is an essential component of the growth strategy and go-to-market plan for any organization. The knowledge about brand management from this course will increase the effectiveness of product managers, designers, sales people, recruiters, and executive managers.

ABSTRACT OF COURSE CONTENT & OBJECTIVES
Brand...it's one of the last remaining legal sources of unfair competitive advantage. It's up to us as marketers to build brand strength and leverage our brand assets on behalf of our organization's growth objectives. Smart brand marketing is the underpinning of an extraordinary number of business successes the world over.

The creation and capture of value through branding is complex. Strong brands are carefully created, actively managed, and judiciously leveraged for growth. They require aligned business models and organizational cultures.

Brand and marketing are disciplines of ideas, their expression, and their ongoing relevance and value creation. Creativity, structured problem solving and analytics, critical thinking, and writing and speaking convincingly are all important marketing skills. You will have a chance to further develop all of them in this course.

The primary objective of this course is to equip students with the tools brand marketers actually use and the knowledge to apply them on a range of brand marketing and business challenges. By the end of the semester, students will:

• Understand how brands are built
• Have experience building a brand
• Know how to apply fundamental brand concepts to brands at different stages of their development and have practice doing so to a range of brands and brand situations
• Better appreciate the challenges brand managers face, and understand alternative approaches to addressing them
• Have greater insight into your company’s brand and approach to brand management

To accomplish these objectives, the course will include:

• Assessments of Real Time Brand Challenges - A significant portion of class time during the semester will involve assessing the actions taken by brands right now. For example, the class will discuss topical issues such as (examples
• only): the battle between Apple and Samsung and other electronics brands for the hearts and minds of mobile users and the impact of “fast forward” fashion houses on traditional brands like J. Crew. These discussions and many others will provide an opportunity for students to explain how they would approach the increasingly critical issues brands are facing.
• Emphasis on CX – Brand management is increasingly focused on the customer experience (CX). Through course assignments and in-class discussions, students will explore the many ways that brands project their presence to customers and prospects and discuss opportunities to enhance the customer experience.
• Discussion of a Day in the Life if a Brand Marketer: Throughout the semester, we will discuss what a brand manager does in various industries.
• Current Cases and Topical Articles – This course does not require a
• textbook. Instead, assigned reading will focus on cases and articles that bring to life relevant issues that students are likely to encounter in the workplace.

COURSE COMPONENTS, CLASS FORMAT, & GRADING
I believe students learn best through a variety of experiences. As a result, classes will be a mix of facilitated discussions, student presentations, practice session, “client” and potentially other guest speakers. The course will include the following graded components:

• Three team assignments in Powerpoint presentation format, accounting for a total of 70% of student grades:
• Brand Audit
• Brand Platform
• Brand Positioning & Activation Plan
• Quality of responses to questions about cases/other assigned readings, accounting for 16% of student grades
• Individual contributions during highly interactive exercises and in-class discussions, accounting for 14% of student grades

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Judy Hopelain is a brand and marketing executive who has spent her career helping companies drive profitable growth through product/service offering, brand, and marketing innovation at leading consultancies and retailers. Her thought leadership and insight have driven top- and bottom-line impact for clients like McKesson, eharmony, Foster Farms, and others.

She is the founder and managing partner at Pure Gravy LLC and a partner at Brand Amplitude LLC, two consulting firms that deliver practical recommendations to drive business results through go-to-market strategy, product and brand positioning, portfolio strategy and employee brand engagement.

Judy’s consulting experience runs the gamut from corporate strategy giants to specialty brand and strategy boutiques. She was a Partner and Managing Partner at Prophet Brand Strategy, an Associate Partner at Accenture’s Retail Practice, and promoted up the ranks from Associate to Manager at the Boston Consulting Group.

In addition to helping to grow three major consulting practices, Judy was SVP of Direct Channels at specialty retailer, Illuminations, and Director of Corporate Strategy at Patagonia. She has been on the advisory boards of four Internet startups, and a board member at a non-profit committed to economic empowerment by providing reliable employment to deaf artisans in Kenya.

Judy earned a Master of Public Policy from University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and a
B.A. in Political Science/Public Service from UC Davis. An empty nester, she lives in Mill Valley with her husband, Rick, and their dogs Barney and Rosey.

Teaching Experience
Judy joined the Berkeley Haas Marketing faculty in 2010 to teach UGBA162 – the undergraduate Strategic Brand Management elective. She is the course manager for Principles of Business (UGBA10), the Haas feeder course, and teaches the Marketing module. She is on the IBD faculty in the full time MBA program and mentors student teams working with clients all over the world and on the EWMBA faculty teaching Strategic Brand Management. She also sponsors the American Advertising Federation's case competition team at UC Berkeley and is the undergraduate faculty advisor for Marketing.

Consulting Experience
In her consulting work, Judy provides hands-on advice to senior management on driving business growth through customer insight, brand and marketing. She also develops and delivers custom training for marketers as well as non-marketers interested in partnering more effectively with marketing at their organizations.

She has served the following clients in a consulting, training and/or research capacity (alpha/abridged): Angie’s List, American Girl, Carhartt, Chevron, Concur, eharmony, Foster Farms, Gap, Genentech, Guavus, Healthy Pet, Janssen, J. Crew, Jet.com, Kaiser Permanente, Madewell, Maple Leaf Farms, Mattel, McKesson, Phillips 66, TripIt, US Oncology Network, and Visa, among others.

Thought Leadership
Judy has written or been quoted in numerous articles and publications. Below are links to articles reflecting her perspective on a range of brand-related issues:

https://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2017/07/using-brand-communities-to-fight-low-cost-rivals.html#.WaYOxJOGNE4

https://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2017/07/5-ways-to-exploit-amazons-brand-weakness.html#.WaYPYZOGNE4

https://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2012/12/the-trinity-of-brand-strategy.html#.WaYP2pOGNE4

https://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2012/08/brand-identity-defined.html#.WaYPH5OGNE4

http://www.mobilepaymentstoday.com/articles/opinion-loyalty-is-more-than-points-programs/

http://loyalty360.org/Content-Gallery/Daily-News/Engagement-is-the-New-Loyalty

http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2012/01/brand-threat-the-out-of-touch-ceo.html#.VyvspyMrLe0

https://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/articles/how-retailers-are-giving-men-what-they-want/

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/indie-woman-138525

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/business/media/name-brands-embrace-some-lesswelloff-kinfolk.html?_r=0

http://www.millennialmarketing.com/2011/11/mobile-brands-are-in-for-a-thrill/

http://retailhitsandmisses.blogspot.com/