Your paper should include the following sections:

1. YOUR BRAND IS GAMESTOP

• Brief brand history, mission and product or service category
• Sales Venue/Distribution Type – identify and define the type:
  • Online only
  • Brick-n-Click
  • Brick stores usual retail location (indoor mall, strip mall, stand-alone)
• Are they a regional, national, or worldwide brand?
  • Partnering Firms (provide one example such as Crayola & Colgate Toothbrushes, Kohl’s & Vera Wang, etc., and explain the nature of the partnership and/or affiliation.

1. WEBSITE Analysis (two parts):

• Website Target Market Analysis and (include the URL in this section): Analyze the target market for the brand solely BASED ON A VISIT TO THEIR WEBSITE and on your overall impression regarding its current branding campaign. Provide an initial statement/opinion of the target market based on this one observation. Do you feel the website accurately attracts and speaks to its intended target audience? Why or why not? Remember, the website is one of, if not the most important marketing tool that influences consumer behavior. Include a screen shot of the website on the day(s) you visited it.
• Online Brand Personality Analysis: Read what the brand says about itself on its own website and, most importantly on external sites, blogs, social media, etc. “Listen in” to what experts and consumers are saying online about the brand in these blogs and review sites. Note any connections and/or disconnections between your findings thus far and their findings. Identify key words and sentiments currently being used about the brand/product.

1. Identify the Target Market in terms of Demographics, Geographics, Behavioral Patterns and Psychographics:

• Demographics and Geographics (Address both)
  1. MRI Simmons and Claritas My Best Segments are required sources for this section. You may add other industry and/or database sites as well.
• Psychographics & Behavioral Aspects (Address both)
  1. VALS and Claritas’ My Best Segments’ (both are required for this section – See below). Consider the following:
     • Hobbies
     • Interests
     • Values
     • Specific behavioral patterns
     • Benefits sought
     • Comfort with technology
     • Other consumer insights you feel are important to understanding your target audience’s behavioral and psychographic patterns, traits, etc.

1. The VALS Site is a required source for this section to assess psychographic segmentation. Complete the survey in the context of the users’ persona. This requires you to put yourself in the shoes of your brand’s core/ideal customer.  to an external site.

• Use the “Claritas – My Best Segments” market research site to get psychographic/behavioral information.
• to an external site.

2. Create a User Persona, which describes the quintessential, typical consumer for the brand and should be written in a “story line” format. Examples from prior students are posted on BB for reference. Who are they?  What interests do they have that relate to the brand?  Describe their lifestyle.  This section should be in-depth and at least one-half to three-fourths of a typed page. (This is a critical part of your paper and one that market researchers glean from both quantitative and qualitative research findings). Resource:

3. Competition: List and evaluate one top competitor to the brand.  Who are they? Do they target the same consumers? What advantages or disadvantages do they have? How are they perceived by their target audience? Be specific and provide “apples to apples” comparisons for each example. Possible sources include:  Hoover’s, National Retail Federation, Pew Center for Research, Statista.

4. Evaluation of Resources: Evaluate the usefulness of all sources used in the paper.  Be specific – explain why or why not they were useful.

The word count of your paper should fall between 1000 to 1200 words of text (about four pages).  Supporting cites, sources, etc., are required and need to appear within your document and separately at the end of the paper in a Works Cited Section. At least six industry sources are required for this paper (this includes the required application of MRI Simmons, MyBestSegments and VALs). Use APA style for referring to sources within your paper and in your separate cite/source list. Make sure your Works Cited page is well organized and easy to interpret. I strongly recommend you number your sources and reference the numbers, in bold type, within your paper. I check the validity of all sources as well as the citation pattern within your document.

Appendix A: Website Evaluation: Include a screen shot of the brand’s web page on the day(s) you visited to conduct your analysis.