This is a first-year gateway course and is not available for second-year bidding. Second-years must wait until the add/drop process begins in January to add this class.

 

COURSE NUMBER: MBA 262.2*  Cross-listed with EWMBA

 

COURSE TITLE:  Brand Management & Strategy

 

UNITS OF CREDIT:  3

 

INSTRUCTOR:  Lynn Upshaw

 

E-MAIL ADDRESS:  Upshaw@brandbuilding.com

 

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION (Change from default of Catalyst if you are using something else.):  Catalyst

 

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME:  Thursdays, 6 – 9:30pm

 

PREREQUISITE(S):  MBA 202B and MBA 206, or equivalent

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This is a highly interactive course is a hands-on, practical exploration of product, service, and enterprise-wide brand building and management.  The course is structured along the daily responsibilities and challenges faced by working brand/marketing managers.  As such, the course will provide experience with proven strategies for building successful brands in the competitive marketplace, the decisions and options faced by brand managers, and the tools to effectively manage brands. 

 

The course will cover such topics as:  strategic targeting, constructing compelling brand platforms, brand portfolio management, brand equity building, online branding, global brand building, metrics and measurements, and integrated marketing communications. Selected brand modeling will be presented and discussed, but the course will emphasize 1) numerous contemporary case analyses, both on a team and individual level; 2) discussion of topical marketing issues, 3) contemporary brand building best practices, 4) exercises co-designed by senior brand executives in major corporations, and 5) guest speakers from a spectrum of consumer and business-to-business industries.

 

Course components will include class participation in case analysis, team exercises, a team brand audit paper, and an individual brand marketing plan, which will serve as a hand-in final.  The course components carry the following weight in determining your final grade:

  • Team Work:
    • Team Exercises:  25%
    • Team Brand Audit:  25%                                    
  • Individual Work
    • Class Preparation and Participation:  20%
    • Brand Marketing Plan:  30%

 

Required Text:  Strategic Brand Management (Second Edition) by Kevin Keller (Prentice-Hall, 2003), ISBN:  0-13-041150-7. This text will serve two purposes:  1) to provide students with key brand management information and strategies that they can learn and reflect in their course work; and 2) to serve as a comprehensive reference book when the student moves into marketing or related positions in business.

 

Additional required Articles and Cases:  There will be approximately 20 cases and several articles discussed over the course of the semester.

 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:

Lynn Upshaw is an internationally known brand/marketing consultant and principal of Upshaw Consulting.  Earlier in his career, Mr. Upshaw served as a senior consultant to Interbrand Corp., Executive Vice President for Client Brand Marketing for Ketchum Advertising Worldwide, and EVP/Chief Operating Officer of Ketchum Advertising/San Francisco.

 

As his consulting permits, Mr. Upshaw also teaches strategic brand management in the MBA programs at the Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley, and in the Berkeley-Columbia MBA Program.  He was a recipient of the 2005 Earl F. Cheit Award for Teaching Excellence.

 

Over the course of his career, Mr. Upshaw has provided marketing counsel to consumer and business marketing brand teams in such companies as Visa International, SBC Communications, Blue Cross of California, R.H. Donnelley, 3Com Corp., Wind River Systems, Bayer Corporation, ConAgra, McKesson Corp., esurance.com,  LG&E Energy, Pacific Telesis, Bank of America, Lee Enterprises, and McClatchy Newspapers, among many others.

 

Mr. Upshaw has written two books on brand marketing, including “Building Brand Identity: A Strategy for Success in a Hostile Marketplace” and “The Masterbrand Mandate: The Management Strategy That Unifies Companies and Multiplies Value” (co-authored by Earl Taylor), both published by John Wiley & Sons/New York.  He has also authored articles for numerous leading publications including Brandweek, Advertising Age, The Journal of Brand Management (UK), Advertising Express (India) and The Design Management Journal.  Mr. Upshaw has also served as a source for marketing articles in such publications as Forbes, Newsweek, USA Today, American Banker, Electronic Media, and various major metro newspapers. 

Mr. Upshaw has been the keynote or featured speaker at industry and client conferences throughout North America, and in Europe, Asia, South America, and the Subcontinent.  He also creates and facilitates brand building and strategic planning workshops covering a wide variety of subjects, including general brand building, global branding, company-wide brand training, marketing planning, corporate identity, strategic marketing, professional services branding, and integrated marketing communications.