BUSI49V15: Strategic Brand Management

• None

• None

• None

• To enable students to understand the key principles of brand management from socio-cultural, psychological and anthropological perspectives, rather than relying on just the cognitive approach to branding.
• To provide invaluable insights into, and a critical engagement with, the brand management subject. Students will go beyond the functional and naming aspects of branding to develop critical thinking. This will be based on an engagement with brands alongside managerial branding strategies. We will consider the ways brands transform consumer experience, build brand identity, and develop brand equity from both a financial and a consumer perspective.
• To provide students with an understanding of how brand management works in practice, taking into account the context (domestic or international), culture, market characteristics and trends.

• Part 1: The socio-cultural meaning of brands
• A semiotic act of naming a product from products to brands
• Semiotics and the symbolic meaning of brands
• Brands as symbolic resources for self and social identities
• The principles of cultural branding
• Part 2: Brand equity
• Brand equity from financial and consumer perspectives
• Stakeholders and brand equity
• Part 3: Managing brands
• Brand strategies
• Brands and advertising
• Global brands

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• By the end of the module students will:
• have an understanding of key branding concepts, strategies and current issues in brand management from socio-cultural, psychological and anthropological perspectives
• have an understanding that when a product-commodity becomes a brand, its use value is imbued with symbolic value that consumers deploy in constructing and maintaining their identities
• have a critical understanding of the social psychology of brands, the symbolic and cultural meaning of brands and the relationship between brands and emotions
• have an advanced knowledge and understanding of the brand equity concept from both financial and consumer perspectives
• have an advanced knowledge and understanding of different approaches to brand strategies and an ability to critically evaluate the main choices that brand managers must take into account when they manage their brands
• have an understanding of the complex relationship between brands and advertising and be able to evaluate how these are affected by new technology and media

Subject-specific Skills:

• By the end of the module students will:
• Be able to apply branding concepts and strategies in a dynamic, global, diverse and fragmented media landscape and the ever-increasing significance of social media
• Be able to explore the complex task of successful branding with regards to the semiotic act of naming a product, authenticity, reassurance, differentiation, the development of its cultural meaning and the transformation of experience
• Be able to apply knowledge of the branding concept and brand management in the context of the development of global brands
• Be able to critically evaluate the importance of strong brands to stakeholders

Key Skills:

• Effective written and oral communication skills
• Planning, organising and time management skills
• Problem solving and analytical skills
• The ability to use initiative
• Advanced skills in the interpretation of data
• Advanced computer literacy skills

• The module will be taught through a combination of lectures, seminars, group work and discussion, supported by guided reading.
• The summative assessment of the module, by individual written assignment, is designed to test students knowledge and understanding of the subject-matter and their ability to apply their knowledge and specialist skills in the context of specific issues in stakeholder brand management.

Group work, use of a simulated brand to develop and present a brand strategy, outlining all aspects of a brand's development, design, growth, and management.

If you have a question about Durham's modular degree programmes, please visit our Help page. If you have a question about modular programmes that is not covered by the Help page, or a query about the on-line Postgraduate Module Handbook, please contact us.

Prospective Students: If you have a query about a specific module or degree programme, please Ask Us.

Current Students: Please contact your department.