Beginning to Research and Planning Ahead

Over the past week I have made it my priority to undertake as much research as possible, scouring Mintel reports and trawling through books, articles and journals to give me a basis and basic understanding of the market in which we are trying to enter, which can then be built upon when heading forward. This is all important as when building up the new brand we need to know the state of the market, where the gaps lie and what trends are influencing it as these factors will all impact how successful the brand will be as it teaches how best to optimise the marketing, branding and communications.

I have been able to find within the pictured books (plus several more) a lot of useful information (and taken notes as I went along) which I am sure will help me going forward in designing the brand and promoting it successfully. I plan on expanding my research further as I move ahead with the project by looking at a broader range of books, in particular; those specified on the reading list, as I believe they will provide me with a deeper insight and thorough understanding of theories, models and strategies.

As well as this I plan to look more in depth at trend websites such as WGSN and Mintel as well as current articles in magazines and journals, as up until now I have looked over several but I believe I need to do more thorough research in this area to give me an up to date view on what the current market demands from brands. So far, I have come across several macro trends which I believe will be relevant to the brand, these include 'individualisation' and 'health and wellness'. These are all having a prolonged effect on today's consumer and so will impact the way in which the brand will be marketed, and so going forward, I will focus my research on these key trends with the objective to:

• Fully understand what the trends are and what they mean

• Understand what is driving them (the cause and innovators behind them)

• Gather information as to what the future of the trend will hold

• Ultimately gain insight into what impact the trend will have for the brand