Aim of the course
The most valuable asset that a company has is its brand/s . A brand value includes physical, emotional, and symbolic factors and how relevant, affordable, available, easy to use, unique etc. these are compared with consumers’ physical and emotional needs.  This is true for large conglomerates as well as for small start-up companies. Often a company itself is considered a brand. Brand Management is the concept of organizing marketing activities around the identification, positioning, communication and optimization of brands and brand portfolios. Although manufacturing processes, product designs, service and retail concepts often can be duplicated, strongly held consumer beliefs, emotions, and attitudes regarding a brand or business often cannot be so easily reproduced. Like people, brands have their own individual personality. This differentiation drives the ability for a brand to grow and expand or alternatively, may limit a company’s potential if not managed effectively.
 
Since part of brand value is less tangible, creating and nurturing a brand is a challenge; i.e., building a brand is both an art and a science. By understanding the concept of brand value, marketers can gain valuable perspectives that allow them to interpret effectiveness and tradeoffs of various brand strategies and tactics. The Strategic Brand Management course provides students with both theoretical frameworks and tools necessary to thinks strategically and to manage a portfolio of brands, including making decisions in a simulated brand environment. As such, students will play in teams of around three persons against other companies and participate in all aspects of information analysis, strategic decision making, and implementation over 9-10 simulated periods (years).
 
Content
The course provides students with a global theoretical framework for strategic brand management, which enables the students to make and implement well-informed strategic decisions in a simulated environment. The simulation game involves topics such as creating brand value and positioning, measuring the financial aspects of brand value, as well as understanding the functions of brand management to deliver sustained customer value and brand loyalty. It also demands practical management of strategic planning, product management, and marketing mix decisions (price, promotion, discounts, segmentation, etc.). Students learn how to grow brand value through carefully designed and implemented brand and line extension decisions. Students also study how to adjust brand strategies over time to maximize the company earnings.
 
PharmaSim Simulation Game
PharmaSim drives home the Four Ps of Marketing: Pricing, Promotion, Product and Place (distribution), while introducing students to the concepts of brand value and marketing planning for multiple product lines. The brand management simulation covers segmentation, positioning, management of a portfolio of brands, integrated marketing communications, and multiple channels with intermediaries.  PharmaSim is co-authored with Thomas Kinnear of the University of Michigan, and is used at leading universities worldwide. PharmaSim allows students to apply business concepts in a dynamic, integrative environment.
 
The Case:  Groups with 3-4 students take the role of a brand management team in the over-the-counter pharmaceutical industry during 9-10 simulated periods. As members of the brand management team, students analyze data, make strategic product decisions such as reformulating their brand, introducing a line extension, and launching a new brand and manage the marketing mix for their products. Student teams learn how to optimize interaction with consumers and channel partners, measuring their progress through marketing research.
 

TBA
PharmasSim from Interpretive.com

A licence to the game will be provided by the programme (if funding allows) more information will be given in the weeks before the course starts