Scenario
Learning Objective
After completing this activity, you should be able to
• define brand equity;
• apply a brand building process; and
• explain the reasoning for the branding decision.
Scenario Summary
Our Town Photography Studio/Gallery is a photography company that provides photographic services to high profile customers. The owner of this company is Catherin Irvin, a nationally recognized photographer/portrait artist, who can use the latest tools in digital technology to produce archival quality canvas and watercolor portraits as original works of art. She is even beginning to get some international fame for the artistry and originality her work presents. She has been working hard to develop new techniques in portrait and photograph creation and she is very proud of her works.

Mark Bucas is the marketing manager for the Our Town Photography Studio/Gallery. He has helped Catherin and the company to open up many new markets throughout the country and to maintain customer satisfaction throughout the years.

Catherin had recently asked Mark to create a brand-building program for the photography service titled Premier Portraits. Premier Portraits will further employ state-of-the-art digital technological tools to produce high quality portraits for the customers. The target customers for Premier Portraits are corporate executives, high profile sports figures, politicians, actors and actresses, and other such near famous people.
Your Assignment
You, as the new product manager, have been asked to join Mark as he considers the branding decision for Premier Portrait service. You have just completed your master’s degree in marketing with an emphasis on small business marketing and e-commerce. Mark would like your fresh input regarding his decision.

You are eager to get started on this project so that you can put what you learned into practice. Below are some of the key conversations between you and Mark, as well as supplemental materials you will need for your proposal. Review them carefully before completing your report.
KEY PLAYERS

Mark Bucas, Marketing Manager (Conversation #1)
“Thank you for joining me this morning. Catherin wants us to design a brand-building program for our new Premier Portrait service. Our client base has grown over the years to include quite a few prosperous professionals whose children are getting married and having children. Historically, these clients have appreciated our high quality photographic portraits. However, competition is increasing and Catherin has moved into a higher value-add market with the Premier Portrait service. I have been considering the branding for this service and I would like your help in making the decision. I know you are new, but your recent education and past experience with small business e-commerce could help me bring in a new perspective on this project.”

“Before we begin, I would like to show you a portrait that Catherin recently developed.”

Sample Portraits for Premier Portraits
The photo here is a family portrait that Catherin developed recently. A 40×60-inch portrait printed on high quality canvas resembling a Rembrandt painting is on view. Catherin used Corel Painter to create the portrait, employing her unique brush style; she also has done some embellishments using real oil paint on the portrait and has signed it using a pure gold paint. The portrait is framed in a hand-carved, gold leaf–coated picture frame and covered with museum quality archival acrylic. The matting for the picture is the best that is available in the industry. Catherin is very proud of her latest creation. This is the area in which the prints are displayed to the customer using highest quality museum display methods. The customers of the Premier Portrait service do not get to see proofs or intermediate stages of the print. The portrait is a work of art meant to be passed on from generation to generation.
Mark Bucas, Marketing Manager (Conversation #2)
“Now you have seen one example of our Premier Portraits product that we are going to establish the brand for. The product is truly a work of art and Catherin has worked very hard to develop her technique. Our traditional market has included professionals wanting a high quality family portrait to put on display in their offices and homes. We believe the brand can be developed to appeal to corporate executives, high-profile sports figures, politicians, actors and actresses, and other such near famous people. We would like you to help us decide our online branding choices.”
YOU DECIDE
Activity
You Decide
Based on all of the information above, write an online branding proposal for Premier Portraits. Your proposal should address at least the following points:
1 Who specifically should Premier Portraits target with the new branding message?
2 What product should Premier Portraits really offer to this market?
3 What value should the company’s online presence deliver?
4 What should the brand equity building focus on?
5 What are the possible communications methods to use in order to achieve the brand equity the company desires?
You are free to pursue any additional research you may need. Just be sure to include an estimate of the cost in your recommendations.
Submit your final proposal to the Dropbox.
Grading Rubric

Category Points Description
Understanding 10 Demonstrate a strong grasp of the problem at hand.
Demonstrate understanding of how the course concepts
apply to the problem.
Analysis 10 Apply original thought to solving the business problem.
Apply concepts from the course material correctly toward
solving the business problem.
Execution 20 Write your answer clearly and succinctly, using strong
organization and proper grammar. Use citations correctly.
Total 40 A quality paper will meet or exceed all of the above
requirements.

Scenario
In my previous position I was responsible for managing a small team of 8 in a high volume retail store. Due to the small team and high work volume, many of the team members had established a close friendship. This team comprised of a combination of new and original team members. This team brought both a combination of youth and enthusiasm, and maturity and professionalism to the team. Due mainly to the retail environment, the store has always had a high turnover of team members, but the store has always comprised a combination of both new and training team members and experienced team members.

A new team member was hired to fill a vacant position created by the departure of one of the team. This individual was a mid-twenties male university student that was to work three days a week. After two months of training, a situation arose where the new team member failed to turn up for their shift without advising anyone in the store. This situation was unacceptable but was caused by an unforseen accident. After this incident had occurred we were to go through training in the companies procedures to reinforce the absenteeism policy. With the knowledge of what was expected from him we had no more problems for about one month until the same situation occurred again. This time we were to conduct the same training as last time but the team member was to receive a verbal warning in regard to not following company procedure for absenteeism. With this training completed he agreed that his behaviour was unacceptable and he acknowledged that he understood what was required from him if he was unable to turn up for a shift.

This problem escalated while I was out of the country on annual leave for four weeks. While I was away this team member had been late to work on many occasions and had not turned up for his shift on a few occasions as well. This situation had caused a lot of problems with job motivation, productivity and satisfaction within the team. On arriving back to the store and realising the problems that had occurred while I was away, I called a meeting with this team member to discuss what had happened in that previous month. He was then disciplined for his behaviour through a written warning system. This absenteeism problem persisted until he was fired approximately a month later. This team member caused the departure of one senior team member. The team suffered from low job satisfaction, high absenteeism, low productivity, and low motivation both before and after his departure from the company. This situation created problems within the store for months after his departure.

Scenario Example 2

The following account is from when I was finance manager within shopping centre management. An event took place that caused the work environment and the group dynamic to change.

I had been working within the shopping centre management team for 2 years when head office relocated all of the centre managers. The manager, Stewart, had been there since the opening of the shopping centre, meaning that he had hired and trained everyone. Some had been working there for over 10 years. The team environment was supportive and Stewart had faith in our ability, allowing all departments to do their job while providing guidance. The new manager, Barry, was coming from a larger shopping centre on the Coast where major developments were planned. A hand over was never completed between Stewart and Barry and this meant that the team was not introduced to Barry until his first day. He arrived two hours late that day and continued to consistently arrive late and leave early which upset a number of individuals in the group. He originally only introduced himself to the four department managers. As I was the manager of the finance department he introduced himself to me but did not allow me to introduce him to any of my staff. He also appeared to favor me over many of the other staff, taking me out on lunches I had previously not been to and leaving behind the people who usually went. A number of my staff members made numerous comments to me over the following weeks about having never even spoken to Barry and feeling as though they didn’t exist. Barry made comments to the departmental managers having to move to a hick country town. He also immediately began to look for errors in everyone’s work under the guise of performance evaluations, with no communication to staff.

In addition to this, Barry took a dislike to the marketing manager Susan, which she speculated would be the case, based on comments from other marketing managers within the company. As a result the marketing department was offered little support and Barry began to withhold information from them. Consequently this resulted in Susan and Barry engaging in negative and ‘backstabbing’ behaviour. Staff began to side with the each of them, the feel of the office had been negatively impacted and people began to arrive late and leave early. A few, including Susan, began to contemplate resignation.

The events themselves outlined in the scenario have the ability to impact the individuals within the group. It is also evident that the motivation of the individuals, mainly through a lack of communication, has been affected. The most notable though, is the breakdown of a once cohesive group. By exploring the scenario I will discuss some actions that could have been taken to address these issues.
Scenario Example 3

Last year I was interviewed for the role of Queensland programs manager. I had become suspicious during my interview of the trouble that was going on in the programs team that I was about to join, due to the majority of questions asked were about how I would address conflict and performance management issues. However, I was assured by my new manager, Kym and that everything was fine.

I accepted the role that Kym was previously doing. I had a team of 5 direct reports. On my first day, Kym commenced in her new role of National Programs Manager. That morning, the human resources manager and Kym informed me that there were performance issues with 4 of my new 5 direct reports. The other project officer, Beth was seen as the favourite by Kym and she could do no wrong in Kym’s eyes. To compound the situation, there was conflict and bullying within the team. Beth and Carol did not speak to each other. Job satisfaction was low.

Kym’s perception was that Carol was not performing well. She believed Carol was incompetent. However, it was obviously that Kym did not personally like Carol, and she was jealous of her popularity and this appeared as to the real reason she wanted to terminate her employment.

Kym had already met with Carol to inform her that her job was on the line and that she was now on probation for 3 months. Kym also asked me to look for reasons to sack her.

Kym’s attempt to rectify this was to put Carol under a lot of pressure by meeting with her twice a week to examine her work and question each and every decision she had made. Carol could not understand why. This made her feel even more nervous and less confident. What made matters worse, was that the meetings were held in an office with glass windows where all the other staff could see what was going on. Carol would be in tears after every meeting.

Carol was highly motivated and valued her job. She believed this was her dream job. However she was extremely stressed and emotional (also due to currently undergoing IVF at the time), and felt she was being treated unfairly for no reason. Carol did not want to leave, as she felt that she had done no wrong.

Weeks later, Kym asked me to give Carol marching orders before 9:00am so she would be out of the building before the rest of the staff arrived, hoping for less disruption to the team. This backfired. Carol had taken longer than planned to gather her personal things and leave. On her way out, she bumped into a number of staff who were obviously upset that she been treated this way. At 10am, more than 20 staff members were consoling her on the street. The staff was angry, and Kym had to call a full staff meeting to explain. Carol never came back. I resigned 3 days later.

Scenario
In my previous position I was responsible for managing a small team of 8 in a high volume retail store. Due to the small team and high work volume, many of the team members had established a close friendship. This team comprised of a combination of new and original team members. This team brought both a combination of youth and enthusiasm, and maturity and professionalism to the team. Due mainly to the retail environment, the store has always had a high turnover of team members, but the store has always comprised a combination of both new and training team members and experienced team members.

A new team member was hired to fill a vacant position created by the departure of one of the team. This individual was a mid-twenties male university student that was to work three days a week. After two months of training, a situation arose where the new team member failed to turn up for their shift without advising anyone in the store. This situation was unacceptable but was caused by an unforseen accident. After this incident had occurred we were to go through training in the companies procedures to reinforce the absenteeism policy. With the knowledge of what was expected from him we had no more problems for about one month until the same situation occurred again. This time we were to conduct the same training as last time but the team member was to receive a verbal warning in regard to not following company procedure for absenteeism. With this training completed he agreed that his behaviour was unacceptable and he acknowledged that he understood what was required from him if he was unable to turn up for a shift.

This problem escalated while I was out of the country on annual leave for four weeks. While I was away this team member had been late to work on many occasions and had not turned up for his shift on a few occasions as well. This situation had caused a lot of problems with job motivation, productivity and satisfaction within the team. On arriving back to the store and realising the problems that had occurred while I was away, I called a meeting with this team member to discuss what had happened in that previous month. He was then disciplined for his behaviour through a written warning system. This absenteeism problem persisted until he was fired approximately a month later. This team member caused the departure of one senior team member. The team suffered from low job satisfaction, high absenteeism, low productivity, and low motivation both before and after his departure from the company. This situation created problems within the store for months after his departure.

Scenario Example 2

The following account is from when I was finance manager within shopping centre management. An event took place that caused the work environment and the group dynamic to change.

I had been working within the shopping centre management team for 2 years when head office relocated all of the centre managers. The manager, Stewart, had been there since the opening of the shopping centre, meaning that he had hired and trained everyone. Some had been working there for over 10 years. The team environment was supportive and Stewart had faith in our ability, allowing all departments to do their job while providing guidance. The new manager, Barry, was coming from a larger shopping centre on the Coast where major developments were planned. A hand over was never completed between Stewart and Barry and this meant that the team was not introduced to Barry until his first day. He arrived two hours late that day and continued to consistently arrive late and leave early which upset a number of individuals in the group. He originally only introduced himself to the four department managers. As I was the manager of the finance department he introduced himself to me but did not allow me to introduce him to any of my staff. He also appeared to favor me over many of the other staff, taking me out on lunches I had previously not been to and leaving behind the people who usually went. A number of my staff members made numerous comments to me over the following weeks about having never even spoken to Barry and feeling as though they didn’t exist. Barry made comments to the departmental managers having to move to a hick country town. He also immediately began to look for errors in everyone’s work under the guise of performance evaluations, with no communication to staff.

In addition to this, Barry took a dislike to the marketing manager Susan, which she speculated would be the case, based on comments from other marketing managers within the company. As a result the marketing department was offered little support and Barry began to withhold information from them. Consequently this resulted in Susan and Barry engaging in negative and ‘backstabbing’ behaviour. Staff began to side with the each of them, the feel of the office had been negatively impacted and people began to arrive late and leave early. A few, including Susan, began to contemplate resignation.

The events themselves outlined in the scenario have the ability to impact the individuals within the group. It is also evident that the motivation of the individuals, mainly through a lack of communication, has been affected. The most notable though, is the breakdown of a once cohesive group. By exploring the scenario I will discuss some actions that could have been taken to address these issues.
Scenario Example 3

Last year I was interviewed for the role of Queensland programs manager. I had become suspicious during my interview of the trouble that was going on in the programs team that I was about to join, due to the majority of questions asked were about how I would address conflict and performance management issues. However, I was assured by my new manager, Kym and that everything was fine.

I accepted the role that Kym was previously doing. I had a team of 5 direct reports. On my first day, Kym commenced in her new role of National Programs Manager. That morning, the human resources manager and Kym informed me that there were performance issues with 4 of my new 5 direct reports. The other project officer, Beth was seen as the favourite by Kym and she could do no wrong in Kym’s eyes. To compound the situation, there was conflict and bullying within the team. Beth and Carol did not speak to each other. Job satisfaction was low.

Kym’s perception was that Carol was not performing well. She believed Carol was incompetent. However, it was obviously that Kym did not personally like Carol, and she was jealous of her popularity and this appeared as to the real reason she wanted to terminate her employment.

Kym had already met with Carol to inform her that her job was on the line and that she was now on probation for 3 months. Kym also asked me to look for reasons to sack her.

Kym’s attempt to rectify this was to put Carol under a lot of pressure by meeting with her twice a week to examine her work and question each and every decision she had made. Carol could not understand why. This made her feel even more nervous and less confident. What made matters worse, was that the meetings were held in an office with glass windows where all the other staff could see what was going on. Carol would be in tears after every meeting.

Carol was highly motivated and valued her job. She believed this was her dream job. However she was extremely stressed and emotional (also due to currently undergoing IVF at the time), and felt she was being treated unfairly for no reason. Carol did not want to leave, as she felt that she had done no wrong.

Weeks later, Kym asked me to give Carol marching orders before 9:00am so she would be out of the building before the rest of the staff arrived, hoping for less disruption to the team. This backfired. Carol had taken longer than planned to gather her personal things and leave. On her way out, she bumped into a number of staff who were obviously upset that she been treated this way. At 10am, more than 20 staff members were consoling her on the street. The staff was angry, and Kym had to call a full staff meeting to explain. Carol never came back. I resigned 3 days later.