Masterarbeit
As part of my degree in “Applied Media Science”, I wrote my final thesis on the topic “Ausarbeitung einer Brand Building Strategie am Beispiel der Obenland GmbH”. The brand was fundamentally revised in the areas of corporate and product design, marketing, product, performance, distribution and price policy. Furthermore, market and competitor analyses were performed in order to establish suitable strategies in the aforementioned fields.
Goal of my thesis
My final thesis dealt with the topic of building a strong brand using a brand building strategy. The aim was to illustrate the advantages a brand can have for a company and how it can help it stand out from the competition. The entire process was examined from the ground up and an example was used to illustrate the implementation of a brand building strategy. The work is intended to serve as a guide for successful brand development. Various analysis methods, models and marketing tools were used.
Competition, market and business analysis
Neben den größten Konkurrenten auf dem Markt wurde auch die Zielgruppe des Unternehmens genaustens analysiert. Hierbei wurde eine SWOT-Analyse, eine Zielgruppenanalyse durch Marktsegmentierung und die Einteilung der Zielgruppe mithilfe von Sinus-Milieus durchgeführt und anhand dieser ein Buyer Persona ermittelt. Mittels der gesammelten Informationen wurde ein neues Markenleitbild ausgearbeitet und der USP von Obenland herausgestellt. Tiefergehend wurde dann anhand des Markensteuerrads die Markenkompetenz, der Markennutzen, die Markenattribute, die Markentonalität und das Markenbild erarbeitet. Basierend auf diesen Informationen wurde anschließend eine ganzheitliche Markenstrategie entwickelt.
Product, performance, distribution and price policy
The product and brand strategy should be based on sustainability and customer satisfaction. The product policy focuses on the multi-purpose cleaning stone, which is to be offered in sustainable packaging. All products will be biodegradable and filled in glass or recycled packaging, supplemented by a refill system to reduce waste. Certifications such as the ECO label or the Blue Angel are intended to underline the environmental friendliness of the products, while a uniform design makes it clear that they belong to the new corporate design. The pricing policy aims to achieve attractive prices in the mid-range segment, supported by discount campaigns such as new customer and volume discounts. The distribution policy provides for an expansion of sales channels, for example through sales in organic markets, health food stores and later in larger retail chains, as well as entry into the B2B market, for example for hotels and restaurants. The communication policy focuses on target group-oriented channels such as social media, influencer marketing and print media, with a focus on the sustainability of the products and the historic Obenland brand. In addition, the website is to be search engine optimized to increase findability. Overall, Obenland is to be established as a sustainable brand that raises brand awareness and increases sales through an environmentally friendly, high-quality range.
Corporate Design
The corporate design was completely modernized and standardized. A new logo was created and a new color scheme selected. A number of new design elements were also introduced. The new design is intended to radiate warmth and nature and convincingly convey the brand's message. The new brand claim “Ecological cleaners since 1948” is also intended to emphasize that Obenland is a company with a long tradition.
Web Design
The new web design for Obenland incorporates all the new elements of the corporate design and blends seamlessly into it. The site has also been modernized and made user-friendly to give the company a professional but warm web presence.
Product Design
The products were modeled with Blender and the labels were implemented with Adobe Illustrator to realistically represent the product design. The design was created for the universal cleaner product range. The product images show the cleaning stone (bottom), the Clean Ultra Concentrate (top right) and the Orange Plus Cleaner (top left). The product design is kept simple. All products have a uniform design that differs only in color. As these are different universal cleaners, the different colors are intended to make it immediately clear which cleaner is involved. This means that buyers have to take a closer look when making their first purchase, but can immediately distinguish between the cleaners the next time they buy them.