Unit: Luxury Brand Management
Element 2
Brief and Make the Grade:
Assignment Check list
Students often lose marks by forgetting some of the more straightforward
elements of their assignments. We recommend that you “tick off” each of
the points below as you prepare your work for submission.
Element 2 Brief: An individual report (2500 words) (60%)
You will produce a brand analysis report that highlights the importance of strategic
thinking, planning, decision-making and implementation in the context of luxury brand
management. You will select one brand from a choice of seven global luxury fashion
brands (7 choices: Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Thebe
Magagu, Loewe, Versace or Moncler), and you will analyse and propose appropriate
brand strategies.
More specifically, you will research and examine the current context, evaluating
challenges and opportunities faced by the chosen luxury brand, and then propose
forward-looking solutions for the brand’s repositioning, rejuvenation and/or new market
entry strategies.
Your report needs to be academically robust with theoretical underpinning and presented
appropriately and professionally to the assumed executives of the brand. You must
include visuals and frameworks to help communicate your overall plan and strategy.
As part of your overall proposal, you must also include how sustainability, ethics
and cultural aspects could be integrated into your strategy, connecting this with
the appropriate UN’s SDG’s.
1. You will choose one luxury brand to analyse, and select supporting topics
from two or three of the areas below to help you frame your proposal in
relation to luxury brand management:
o Brand equity and the communication of brand values
o Brand extensions and new products/services
o Heritage, culture and design & craftsmanship
o Sustainable sourcing (including materials/textiles), distribution
and manufacturing
o Generation Z, Millennials, and consumer behaviour
o Digital strategies and online innovation
o Brand experience and the use of the senses
o Other – another aspect of a luxury business of your choice
2. Your report must discuss and apply theoretical concepts and frameworks
outlined in the unit and the recommended unit readings.
3. You should include visuals/moodboards within your report to help
communicate your brand strategy (eg: displaying before and after of the
recommended strategy). Your report should therefore be visually appealing in
line with your chosen brand.
4. You should include risks as a part of your report, along with a clear
implementation plan, critical path to launch your new strategy, with some
indication of timings, cost/price points as appropriate to your strategy.
Make the Grade Check list:
□ Have you completed all the assessment requirements?
□ Have you checked this written report is 2500 words?
□ Have you understood the assessment criteria?
□ Have you read and understood the UAL policy regarding plagiarism?
□ Have you practiced submitting your work on Turnitin?
An Individual 2500 Word Report
□ Title page
To include title of the report, your name and student ID number,
your degree, name of unit and the unit leader. To include total
word count of report (mandatory). Your Student ID Number can
be found on your Library card.
Contents Page
□ Have you included a table of contents?
□ Does your contents page include page numbers?
□ Have you included a list of tables / figures?
Executive summary (250 words - not included in the word count)
□ Have you summarised the contents of the report?
• This is the first thing read by your reader.
• It will be the last thing you write, even though it's usually the first thing
read by others.
• Your executive summary should be no more than a page.
• It should summarise all the other sections of your report including your
analysis and recommendations.
• It should be concise in length, in a summary format that will enable the
reader to quickly understand what the outcome of your report is.
1. Introduction (Approx 300 words)
□ Have you introduced the luxury brand and discussed the reason you
selected this brand to analyse?
□ Is there a clear context, rationale, and a set of aims and objectives?
□ Have you discussed your intended research approach and evidence of
research skills?
□ Have you mentioned the sources you intend to use?
□ Have you discussed the limitations of your research?
2. Case Analysis – (approx. 700 words)
□ Have you analysed the brand carefully in the context of luxury brand
management?
□ Have you evaluated the internal and external environment of the brand
with reference to academic and business sources?
□ Have you created a SWOT analysis on the brand?
□ Have you analysed the brand based on academic and reputable
industry sources, including academic journals/case studies/
reports/Mintel/Statista/Drapers etc.
□ Have you included theories relevant to luxury brand management (eg:
brand identity, brand equity or brand extension models?)
□ Have you identified the specific opportunities and challenges – that the
luxury brand is facing?
□ Have you included visuals to help capture the current situational
analysis?
□ Are you showing critical analysis and evaluation of strategic
management issues and concepts?
□ Are you utilising a range of academic literature, industry sources or
primary data to show management issues of the brand?
3. Strategic Recommendation/Solution (approx.1000 words)
□ Have you provided a brief rationale for your brand
rejuvenation/repositioning recommendation/strategic solution?
□ Is your recommendation detailed and realistic?
□ Is there a synthesis of research and analysis into your proposed
solutions to contemporary industry issues?
□ Have you created visual mockups of your proposal ideas through mood
boards or digital mockups?
□ Have you referred to the theory related to your strategic luxury brand
management solution?
□ Have you linked your brand strategy to the UN’s SDG’s – and which
ones specifically have you aligned to?
□ Have you linked your strategy to at least two or three of the topic areas
listed in the brief in Section 1?
4. Risks and Conclusions (approx. 500 words)
□ Have you outlined how to implement your strategic recommendation,
mitigating any risks and challenges the firm might face during this
process?
□ Have you included an indication on timings, costs and price points
appropriate to fit with your strategy?
□ Have you created a critical path or implementation plan?
□ Have you reflected on the brand’s health after implementing your
strategy?
□ Does your report tell a story throughout - does it all link?
5. References and Appendices (not included in the word count)
Make sure that you use Harvard Referencing for all visual and written
referenced material.
Your reference list should be appropriate to the report, robust, with a balance
of literature and industry knowledge. Include 25 references at a minimum.
Include all of your sources used for any additional research.
Keep frameworks and models within the text, do not use the Appendices
for valuable content, it should only contain any superfluous background or
competitor information and must not exceed three pages.
Overall Design, Planning, and Structure
□ Have you presented your work to a professional standard of
language, style, structure, citations, references and presentation
□ Is there organisation, coherence and consistency throughout the
report?
□ Is there evidence of critical analysis and evaluation?
□ Is it well presented and correctly referenced throughout?
□ Have you used a range of academic references, online sources such
as e-books and databases through the UAL library, industry articles
and business reports?
□ Have you made time for proof reading?
□ Have you included enhanced visual material such as tables, charts,
graphs and visuals to represent your data and recommendations?
□ Does your report reflect the brand identity? Have you utilised your
digital skills?
□ Have you created a time plan from now to the deadline date?
LEARNING OUTCOMES (& MARKING CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT)
LO1: Detailed analysis of the external forces affecting the global business
environment and their impact on the management of responsible luxury
fashion organisations (knowledge);
LO2: An ability to develop appropriate strategies for luxury fashion brands at
corporate and business levels (knowledge, realisation);
LO3: Critical analysis of international market structures in order to
recommend relevant entry and development strategies for fashion brands
(enquiry);
LO4: Evaluation of global fashion organisation strategies using appropriate
communication techniques (communication, process).
