Brand Management – Stephen Shu, PhD

August 18, 2009

Mini-Brand Audit of Guitar Hero By Activision (Independent Research)

Listed below is a pre-release, draft copy of a brand audit on the Guitar Hero brand by Activision. I performed this mini-brand audit as a self-funded, independent party, and I created this document for reasons related to business development, marketing, and teaching purposes (brand management & consulting).

The purpose of a brand audit is to provide a company with a starting point for managing brand architecture, brand identity, and brand-building activities. Brand audits are often refreshed every one to two years and may be done by either internal staff of the company or external consultants.

Although I am a stickler for crafting problem statements, I did not explicitly articulate the problem statement assosciated with this audit (which is something I typically recommend in a consulting deliverable). That said, the general notion of an audit performed by an external 3rd party is to provide a wholistic, and independent view of strategy and tacics. I believe this document accomplishes that goal within the described limits stated in the document.

For the coming weeks, I would appreciate input and feedback from folks. I would also appreciate help in spreading the word as I am not a mainstream media channel. 🙂

Again, there are few angles I am thinking about in terms of releasing this note in the public domain:

business development purposes for consulting
general marketing & personal brand development
instruction and teaching purposes

I plan to finalize version 1.0 of the document and re-release around September 1, 2009 before key milestones are reached by Activision and competitors.

Thanks for your interest. Please help to spread the word!

Draft copy of brand audit here (PDF file replaced by update below).

Update (8/30/09): Version 1.0 of Guitar Hero brand audit here (PDF file).

Update (9/4/09): Guitar Hero and related subbrand logos get a bit of a refresh (see here and here). The changes are consistent with the strategies outlined in the audit.

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July 5, 2009

Collecting My Favorite Multimedia Clips and Exhibits For Marketing Course

Starting to collect my favorite videos and photos on my new posterous site (marketing section at http://steveshu.posterous.com/tag/marketing) for teaching business school classes (e.g., marketing, brand management). Folks may find some of the videos and photos entertaining.

I am still trying to find the best way to organize the videos in the context of what part of the marketing or brand management framework is being covered. I may also find a better way to include more detailed marketing notes on each video or photo. In any case, please feel free to send me links of your favorite videos. I may extend the posterous site to include organizational behavior topics, depending on my fall teaching load.

As background, I am using my posterous site as a scratchpad space separate from this blog and Twitter streams.

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March 25, 2009

If I Was A Brand (Marketing Collage)

When one is thinking about developing a brand identity from a marketing perspective, it is best to think broadly so that a cohesive system and set of principles are built to support the underlying cause. Dr. David Aaker (e.g., in his book "Building Strong Brands") puts forth a system that challenges practitioners to decompose the way they think about brand identity (both core and extended) along several dimensions, including "Brand as a Product", "Brand as an Organization", "Brand as a Person", and "Brand as a Symbol".

Although I leave the terms above undefined here (because they are defined more rigorously in Dr. Aaker's book), it is a useful exercise in some marketing and brand management classes to have students build a collage as if "they were a brand" by clipping pictures from magazines. The visual imagery is intended to connote some aspects of your core brand identity (some of your "essence") along multiple dimensions (e.g., quality, personality, attributes, skills).

Here's an example that I pieced together for myself (note: first draft, essentially unreviewed). What do you see? What does it tell you about how I see myself? If you know me, does it fit with what you know about me? What consistencies or inconsistencies do you see?