MKTG-GB.

2368 Consulting Lab: Branding

Fall 2018
Wednesdays, 6:00-9:00 p.m.

Professor Teaching Fellow

Fran Gormley Richa Deshpande

Adjunct Associate Professor of Marketing MBA Candidate Class of 2019
fran@greenwichmarketing.com richa.deshpande@stern.nyu.edu
914-325-5198 248-986-7717

Course Overview

This course is designed for advanced MBA students seeking real world consulting
experience.

Professor Gormley, who has extensive consulting experience, will coach teams and
oversee the partnership with the client organization. The branding and innovation
project has been carefully constructed to ensure students get a meaningful experience
developing strategies and creative ideas that will catapult a business forward.

Students will work in teams to solve a critical branding and innovation challenge facing
our partner organization. This syllabus will be updated with the client organization
and a high-level description of the challenge by early Summer 2018. Prior Consulting
Lab clients have included: Mastercard, Time Inc., BlackRock and National Geographic
Partners.

The final deliverable is a client presentation with actionable, well-developed marketing

and innovation recommendations. Client executives will select a winning team who
will present to senior management (e.g., Global CMO) in early December 2018.
Students will learn how to create strategic development frameworks and concepts as
well as valuable consulting skills, including building client relationships and optimizing
presentation skills.

Project Overview

While project approaches will be customized by each team, the development process
will be:
1. Discovery … In-depth review of category and brand, competitive analysis,
articulation of the branding/innovation challenge and opportunity.
2. Synthesis + Strategy … Evidence gathering and synthesis; distill learnings into
leverageable insights, create strategic framework for concept development.
3. Concept Development + Evaluation … Bring ideas to life via global brand
positioning concepts and ideas. Obtain feedback on ideas.
4. Recommendations … Create a final presentation that poignantly synthesizes
strategy, insights, branding and innovation ideas and recommendations.

Course Outline

Many weekly class sessions will be divided into two parts. The first part will focus on
effective branding and innovation strategies and topics relevant to project work. The
second half will be used for advancing the project work, planning, discussion and
feedback from faculty and clients.

Break Out Rooms

Please book break out rooms early and for the whole semester. Whenever Professor
Gormley is meeting with individual teams, you will need a break room for your
individual team to work.

Session 1: Course + Project Overview 9/26

Course Introduction, Team Formation, and Development Framework
The session introduces the project, course organization, and development framework.
Students will meet their team members. Teams have been formulated by Jamie
Tobias and Bryan Ramos from the Office of Student Engagement.
Session 2: Client Briefing #1 10/3
Speakers: TBD
Speakers will provide students with an in-depth review of the company and their brand
strategy, including positioning and expansion principles.

Session 3: Client Briefing #2 10/10

Speakers: TBD
Students will learn about key brand challenges and opportunities.

Session 4: Discovery Work Session 10/17

Students will have work sessions with Professor Gormley to review their discovery
activities and their initial insights, development framework, objectives and approach.

6:00-6:30PM: All class meeting/lecture

6:30-7:00PM: Team Aqua
7:00-7:30PM: Team Slate
7:30-8:00PM: Team Midnight
8:00-8:30PM: Team Cobalt
8:30-9:00PM: Team Indigo

Session 5: Internal Review of Situational Assessment 10/24

Student teams will present their situational assessments to Professor Gormley. Teams
will receive feedback for refining their presentations prior to presenting to the client.

6:00-6:30PM: All class meeting/lecture

6:30-7:00PM: Team Slate
7:00-7:30PM: Team Midnight
7:30-8:00PM: Team Cobalt
8:00-8:30PM: Team Indigo
8:30-9:00PM: Team Aqua

Session 6: Client Presentations – Situational Assessment 10/31

Student teams will present their situational assessments to client executives.

6:00-6:30PM: Team Midnight

6:30-7:00PM: Team Cobalt
7:00-7:30PM: Team Indigo
7:30-8:00PM: Team Aqua
8:00-8:30PM: Team Slate
Session 7: Ideation 11/7
Professor Gormley and Jim Ferry will discuss how to conduct a productive ideation
session. Jim Ferry is one of the leading practitioners of innovation sessions and has
lectured at Yale School of Management and MIT Sloan. After a short lecture, teams
will meet in breakout rooms for ideation sessions. Professor Gormley and Mr. Ferry will
help teams have productive ideation sessions and generate a broad range of ideas.

Session 8: Idea Selection + Concept Development 11/14

Students will learn how to bring their ideas to life via concepts. Teams will meet in
breakout rooms for concept development and refinement.

6:00-6:30PM: All class meeting/lecture

6:30-7:00PM: Team Indigo
7:00-7:30PM: Team Aqua
7:30-8:00PM: Team Slate
8:00-8:30PM: Team Midnight
8:30-9:00PM: Team Cobalt

Thanksgiving Break – No Class 11/21

Session 9: Introduction to Design Partners + Designer Briefings 11/28

Teams will meet their design partners and present their briefs. They will receive
feedback on how to best develop their solutions.

6:00-6:30PM: Introduction to Design Partners/Recap of Challenge for Designers

6:30-7:00PM: Team Cobalt
7:00-7:30PM: Team Indigo
7:30-8:00PM: Team Aqua
8:00-8:30PM: Team Slate
8:30-9:00PM: Team Midnight
Session 10: Building the Final Presentation 12/5
Students will learn how to build their final presentations. The second half of class
will be a work session.

6:00-6:30PM: All class meeting/lecture

6:30-7:00PM: Team Aqua
7:00-7:30PM: Team Slate
7:30-8:00PM: Team Midnight
8:00-8:30PM: Team Cobalt
8:30-9:00PM: Team Indigo

Session 11: Rehearsal + Feedback 12/12

Individual team ‘dry run’ with faculty who will provide feedback and suggestions.

6:00-6:30PM: All class meeting/lecture

6:30-7:00PM: Team Cobalt
7:00-7:30PM: Team Indigo
7:30-8:00PM: Team Aqua
8:00-8:30PM: Team Slate
8:30-9:00PM: Team Midnight

Session 12: Client Presentations 12/19

Client Offices
Each team will have 20 minutes to present and clients will provide 10 minutes of
feedback. Professor Gormley will send an email announcing the order of the
presentations.

Please arrive at 15 to 20 minutes early to allow time to get through security and
familiarize yourself with the room set-up.

Grades:
Given the nature of this course, you will be graded on your ability to master the
concepts, think strategically and generate truly creative solutions to the challenge.
Grades are based on participation, situational assessment, final presentation and
growth during the semester.
 Fran Gormley
Founder + Managing Partner

150% / 100% Fran Gormley is a highly successful serial entrepreneur in branding and innovation. In
1992, she founded Gormley & Partners, and eight years later sold it to an Interpublic
Group venture. In 2000, she opened Greenwich Marketing Group.

Fran’s relationship with clients and their brands has endured for decades, through
changes of ownership in her company and client mergers. Over the years, her clients
have included: Johnson & Johnson Consumer Healthcare, J.P. Morgan Chase &
Company, Citibank, Mastercard, Bausch + Lomb, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and
Lincoln Center.

Prior to her consulting career, Fran was Director of Positioning, New Products and
Advertising at Citibank Card Services. She began her career at Young & Rubicam in
New York.

Fran received a B.S. in Psychology summa cum laude with University Honors from
Fairleigh Dickinson University. Fran also holds an M.S. in Social Psychology from
Rutgers.

Fran is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Marketing in the Graduate Program at NYU

Stern School of Business where she teaches Brand Strategy and Branding + Innovation
Consulting Lab. Mastercard, BlackRock, National Geographic Partners and Time Inc.
have participated in her Consulting Lab.