The goal of this written research report is for you to express sound and succinct analysis of two brand management issues grounded in personal views and quality research.

This first assignment has 3 options. You are to choose and complete 2 of the 3 options.

You will not use traditional report format (Cover Page, Table of Contents, etc.). Simply copy the titles below and provide your response.

Since this is a research report, you must use the APA format for this assignment, but you are not to include a Table of Contents or a list of references at the end of your paper. Instead, you are to do the following:

• 1. HOW CAN THIS BE POSSIBLE?
• Chick-fil-A has average sales of about $5 million per store. On the other hand, KFC—a major competitor in the fast-food chicken category—has average sales of only a little more than $1 million per store. 

For this part of your assignment, make a list, in priority order, of 3 or 4 reasons for this dramatic 4-to-1 difference in sales-per-store. Briefly explain the items in your list. NOTE: One popular resource is Quick Serve Restaurant Magazine (https://www.qsrmagazine.com/).

• To develop your list, you may also review articles from credible sources for information, customer comments or visit both restaurants. You should also review information on what you need to do to become a Chick-fil-A franchise owner in your local town. 

Please do not report on what you must do to become a franchisee. Instead, review this information to understand potential reasons why Chick-fil-A sales have surpassed KFC’s sales.

2. PRODUCT LINE

Go to the Colgate Toothpaste brand’s website (https://www.colgate.com/en-us/products/toothpaste ) to address the following:

Stocking Keeping Units: How many total Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) are offered in the Colgate Toothpaste product line? NOTE: The Ultrabrite brand is a unique brand that is not a part of the Colgate brand and knowing what a SKU is and what it is used for will help you answer this question.

SKU Analysis: Make two lists of what you perceive as the 5 most popular SKUs and the 5 that are highly specialized that probably have very low sales. If possible, present annual sales levels for all 10 items to prove the quality of your list.

Pro/Cons Analysis: Compose a Pro/Con analysis. 

On the PRO side, briefly explain why this SKU quantity and product options are ideal for the brand. Then, write a contrarian position explaining why this SKU quantity and product options are NOT ideal for the brand. NOTE: Each Pro and Con analysis should consist of 2 to 4 paragraphs.

Provide a closing section, 2 to 4 paragraphs, where you provide your point of view(s) about what you might do to address the number of SKUs and product options offered by Colgate if you were to become the new Colgate Brand Manager.

(You may use the text in bold above as headers for this area of the writing assignment – no colons.)

3. PRIVATE LABEL BRAND

Overall, private label brands (i.e., brands produced for retailers and sold only in the retailer’s stores) represent close to 20% of total sales in the USA. This level is predicted to grow over the next few years. Good evidence of the growth potential is seen in Europe, where private label brands exceed 30% of category sales in many European Union countries.

Most store brands evolve around a simple consumer proposition: “a good product at a price lower than the national brand.” The national brand’s challenge is to communicate a strong reason(s) for consumers to pay the higher price.

Please note that the marketing issues for the national brand are unique. The retailer is a critical business partner–you cannot sell your product if you are not in the stores. But the retailer is also clearly a competitor. Therefore, your brand needs a defensive position, but it cannot be apparent, offending the retailer. Also, you cannot expect support from the retailer for in-store signage placement or any other marketing actions that would reduce the retailer’s private label brand sales. Hence, taking a defensive position calls for the careful development of strategic programs.

In this mini analysis about Dr. Pepper, your charge is to propose 2 or 3 different programs that could grow corporate profits in this unique competitive environment. These programs should help Dr. Pepper win consumer favor over store brands similar in taste to Dr. Pepper. Provide operational details focused on marketing communications or brand initiatives with supporting data for each proposed program.

• For additional information to help you with ideas, read pages 176-178 of the Keller and Swaminathan (2020) text. I would also find an article by Harvard Business Review called Brands Versus Private Labels to review. 

You should also review information about the powerful and growing ‘store brand’ segment of grocery sales https://plma.com/about_industry/store_brand_facts. Please keep in mind that the source of this data is a trade association for private label brands, so some of this data may be inflated to support the store brands.