Look at this as less of a checklist and more as a guide to the kind of information that should be included:

(And don’t miss the explanation of how to pull the situation analysis together.)

1. Brief History of the Brand (keep this section short; more focus should be put on the history of your client’s brand vs. your client’s corporate entity or parent company)
2. Industry & Market overview/trends
   This section is to demonstrate your team’s knowledge of the operating environment your client’s brand is competing in. While some discussion of the broader consumer category is warranted here (especially substitutes/complements to your product or service), you should spend much more energy on the dynamics of the specific category (e.g., heart-healthy cereal vs high-protein cereal). Is household penetration increasing or decreasing? What effect have recent economic changes had on the category? Who are the major retailers of your product or service? What macro issues do players in the category contend with? What is the future outlook for the category?
3. Competitive analysis, including rival and partner brands
   This section *must include a chart/table* showing how your product stacks up against others on key measures. Think about what would matter to consumers when deciding whether to buy your product or another one like it and show how they compare. You could also frame it on the elements of the 4Ps.
   The set of competitors you identify here should be the same set you use in the media use and creative analysis sections.
4. Consumer analysis:
   1. Consider users, purchasers and influencers
   2. Consider primary and secondary target consumers.
   3. NOTE: this section MUST include an analysis of Simmons data, at a minimum.
5. Brand analysis (provided by account director)
   1. Assess the Brand using the 4 P’s analysis.
   2. Assess the current positioning of the Brand.
   3. Assess the current personality of the Brand.
6. Paid Media analysis (provided by media director)
   What media is your client using to get its message out to consumers? What are competitors using? Are the brands in the category emphasizing certain paid media channels and vehicles. What media are most used by consumer prospect groups? Are there any underutilized media?
7. Category creative analysis (provided by creative director)
   What kind of messages and appeals is your client using to try to reach consumers, and how successful has it been? And what kinds of messages are competitors using? Be sure to show some specific examples of ads with screenshots or images. YouTube and Google Image searches will be most useful at finding examples of current and past advertising campaigns for your brand and competitors.
8. Public opinion and stakeholder analysis (provided by PR director)
   What opinion trends are affecting your brand? Who are the major stakeholder groups, and what challenges do these relationships entail? What groups have a direct stake in how well your client performs? What have news media written/reported recently about your brand? What do consumers think and say about your product? How is your brand and the category presented and discussed across social media platforms?
9. SWOT Analysis
   Summary of ALL of the above sections, into one area, called a SWOT — these should be one-line, brief statements, with three to four answers to each question:
   1. What are the brand’s key strengths?
   2. What are the brand’s key weaknesses?
   3. What are the brand’s key opportunities?
   4. What are the brand’s key threats?
10. Key issues and implications
    Add a summary at the very end of the situation analysis covering three key issues and their implications. When writing the implications, consider “What should the brand do about those key issues, when developing a campaign strategy?”