welcome to social brands ABOUT THE CLASSAs savvy consumers are increasingly participating in brands rather than merely receiving their messages, how do leading organizations stoke conversations, co-create experiences, amplify stories, and build engaging relationships with consumers?

Social Brands is a hands-on two-week survey of Marketing's cutting edge, where bold brands are becoming ever more open, participatory, experiential & experimental.

Inspired by a smattering of provocative real-world examples and special guests, diverse student teams will employ design methods to conceive of and visualize their own creative proposals for how the Stanford GSB itself might engage with the world in radical new ways. Teams will ultimately pitch their final concepts to the GSB's Chief Marketing Officer for consideration, feedback and potential real-world implementation.

with jennifer aaker + chris flink + blair shane | lauren connolley, ashish goel, jamaal montasser

MKTG 541 | Spring 2013 | MWF, May 6-17 | d.school studio 2 (May 13th lecture in GSB co-lab)Class Website: www.stanford.edu/class/mktg541

TEACHING TEAM

Jennifer AakerA social psychologist and marketer, Jennifer Aaker is the General Atlantic Professor of Marketing at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. Her research spans time, money and happiness, and how small acts create significant change - fueled by social media.

Chris FlinkChris Flink is a Consulting Associate Professor at Stanford's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design ("d.school") and a lecturer at the GSB. Chris is also a partner at IDEO, where he’s played a range of leadership roles such as heading the Consumer Experience Design practice, co-founding a Manhattan studio, and guiding strategic client relationships.

Blair ShaneBlair Shane is the Associate Dean and Chief Marketing Officer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She’s held a variety of leadership roles in industry at Charles Schwab, General Mills and the California Academy of Sciences.

Lauren Connolley

Ashish Goel

Jamaal Montasser

TALK GUEST LAB DUE

1May 6

exciting times + GSB brand introwhat do we mean by “social brand”?

youget to know your new classmates

d.thinkingdesigning a new gift experience

book team meeting schedule

2May 8

think inside-outhow do brands engage?

eBayRichelle Parham ,CMO

develop a povchannel your design with your new view

start interviewing, gathering relevant project information and inspiration

3May 10

be human centeredbuilding empathy for customers to serve them

HOT/FacebookMaria Giudice, CEO & Founder

idea to storygenerate ideas and bring them to life

to share in class:bring inspiration board (photos, visuals and quotes from interviews - including single focused goal and voice guideline)

4May 13

spark participationstoking conversation and action

JetBlueJoel Peterson, Chairman

review storyboardsget feedback and hone your story

rough storyboard of 3 favorite ideas

5May 15

inspire storiesgetting smart about your brand narrative

Heat SFJohn Elder & Steve Stone

iteratingevaluate and evolve your idea

beta of your final project

6May 17

your graduationepic presentations

youteam presentations

nada to share in class:final project

COURSE BACKGROUNDPreviously Social Brands was offered as a full-quarter project-based course. The course examined various examples of social brands and the emerging genre of social commerce and marketing. Students were challenged to design and launch their own social experiments to form their own hypotheses with a brand of their choosing.

This year Social Brands has been redesigned into a fast-paced two week course that focuses on re-imaging, and envisioning a remarkable, implementable and uniquely-GSB aspect of the graduation experience, based upon insights into the Stanford GSB brand and it's participants.

Class dates:Location:Time:Support:

May 6 - 17, MWFStudio 2, d.school ** except May 13 in GSB Co-lab**Mondays, Wednesdays, Friday; 3:15 - 6:15PMKarina Longinidis, karinal@stanford.edu

CLASS DETAILS

COURSE PROJECT

On-time attendance to all lectures is essential; however, if you must miss one lecture, please discuss with a TA immediately.

To envision a remarkable brand-enhancing graduation experience, the design process will be used to develop empathy for users, create bold new ideas and prototype them. For the final presentations, designs will be communicated using a variety of mediums: acting, quick filmmaking, physical prototyping, etc. However, regardless of the medium, design expression should clearly show the essence of a re-imagined aspect of graduation and how your design fits into that story.

You will be evaluated on both the caliber of your team’s final concept and the quality of your creative process. We expect your approach to be strategic, human-centered, insightful, wildly imaginative, and iterative. We hope the seminal moment you craft within the broader brand experience will spark participation, inspire stories (see Social Butterfly framework, below), and just blow our minds.