The Evolution of CPG Brands and Package Design
Consumer brands, and the retail marketplace that supports them, have evolved through several stages in the last 150 years. Each has been strongly influenced by culture, events and the changes of the retail markets of which they are a part. The first three stages, from the 1850s through the 1990s, can be described as the era of the retailer, the era of the manufacturer and the era of the brand. The last decade has seen an evolution of brand activity toward a focus on consumer experience and lifestyle. Where does the CPG brand stand today and what is its future?
This course will review the historical evolution of CPG brand identities though the lens of retail brand identity and package design. We will review, decade by decade, the relatively brief history of CPG brand identities, and the aesthetic and cultural influences that have shaped their path. While reviewing these historical precedents, students will develop an informed judgment on where CPG brand identities are today and where they may be headed.
A Unified Theory of Branding
Leading the definition and evolution of a world-class brand requires more than intellectual rigor and insight. You must unify and leverage the expertise and efforts of an astounding array of people—leaders, followers, scientists, artists, magicians (consultants), engineers, establishmentarians and revolutionaries. In this course, you will learn to use powerful frameworks that harmonize and focus the efforts of diverse teams as they develop ambitious brand programs.
Using real-world case studies—including Caterpillar, Bank of America, DuPont, Harley-Davidson and National Semiconductor—we will look inside the processes that enable organizations to define the future of their brands. The course will provide you with a unique perspective of how research, strategic definition, identity, expression, communications and behavior are shaped into great brands.
The Meaning of Branded Objects
Brands transform objects into meaning-bearers. This course will explore the collective and individual history of this transformation. As we have evolved from hunter-gatherers into robustly cultural beings, objects themselves have also evolved: from disposable, purely functional extensions of the body to deeply personal, even cherished, expressions of an individual’s life. We will examine the history and insights of individual and social psychology in shaping the context for 21st-century perceptions of, and relationships with, the things that surround us. Concretely, we will investigate the increasingly sophisticated manner in which brands have gained and integrated quantitative and qualitative insights into our lives (and our cultural contexts) to create opportunities for complex, meaning centered relationships between people and things. Students will use their own experiences as the starting point for this exploration into the lived-meaning of individual brands and their collective role in the construction of modern personal identity.
MBA 101
MBA 101 outlines the ways in which a company’s diverse activities provide information about a company’s performance, problems and opportunities. The understanding of the business behind a brand can contribute to the value of a brand for both the owner of the brand and the consumer and is an asset for anyone in a development or management position.
The brand product is impacted by everything from the accounting principles to supply chain. The alignment of the business strategies is key to competitive positioning and how information is conveyed can tell various stories and be leveraged by different decision makers in sustaining a viable brand in the global market place.
Business and Branding Strategies
From developing a brand personality to discovering invisible brand assets, this multidisciplinary course is about creating brand value, strategy and business literacy. We’ll review core branding disciplines such as developing brand positioning, mission statement, brand character, naming and brand architecture. We’ll take a look at financial valuation models, as well as creative methods for discovery and ideation, and why a strong brand strategy is like an organization’s DNA, serving as a blueprint for strategy and informing other activities such as leadership, marketing, product development, communication, design and advertising. Discussions based on case studies and readings will also use worksheets as a lens, and provide a platform to examine forces and dynamics that shape brands from traditional corporate to entrepreneurial startups. We’ll touch on globalization, technology, critical thinking, culture and lifestyle.
Brand Management
Today brands operate in a global world. Thanks to the rapid expansion of information, technology and potential for economies of scale, multi-national organizations since the early ‘80s have been evolving into to true Global enterprises reaching many geographies and different consumers daily with their brands. In the attempt to make brands travel more broadly, some of them succeed, some fail, and very few become Iconic. Given the complexity that broader reach brings, managing brands at a global level typically requires a different approach to Brand Building and often also a different marketing and management structure is needed to enable success.
Brand Management explores how brands can achieve a high degree of similarity across countries with respect to brand equity, character, target, advertising strategy, product, packaging, look and feel, among other characteristics. This workshop starts with a specific business challenge and requires the students to show mastery of the brand building framework by applying it to a specific Brand and Region in the world. Each business team will present to the “board of directors” of the selected brand. Once the challenge is complete, the group is exposed to the process of rolling up regional strategies to a final Global model. It is an intense class that seeks to replicate the realities and complexities of managing brands in multiple regions and develop sensibility for the framework and processes to consider when working on Global brands.
