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 or the Research Guide provided by the Business Library)

  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 home paper goods mega category is warranted here (especially substitutes/complements to paper towels), you should spend much more energy on the dynamics of the paper towel category specifically. Is household penetration increasing or decreasing for paper towels? What effect did the pandemic have on the category? Who are the major retailers of paper towels? 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 Insights data, at a minimum.
  5. Brand analysis (provided by account manager)
    1. Assess the Brand using the 4 P’s analysis
    2. [Pete’s section only – pilot] Using the brand positioning statement tool, prepare the CURRENT positioning of the Brand based on your observations of its owned and paid media — i.e. Brand website, Brand social media accounts, current campaign executions, etc.
  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 weighting their paid media toward channels and vehicles most used by relevant consumer target groups? Are there any places your client should be advertising that they are not currently?
  7. Category creative analysis (provided by creative director)
    What kind of messages 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 of some advertising. YouTube and Google searches will be most useful at finding examples of current and past advertising campaigns for your Brand
  8. Public opinion and stakeholder analysis (provided by PR director)
    What do consumers think about your product? What more general trends (The economy? The political climate?) are affecting opinions about your client? What have news media written/reported recently about your brand?
    And what groups have a direct stake in how well your client performs?
    This section should also include an analysis of social media accounts, personality and tone.
  9. [Pete’s Section Only – Pilot] Social media analysis (provided by Social Media director)
    Assess your brand’s official US/North America social media accounts (be sure to review all major platforms including Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, Reddit, etc.). Does the brand carry a consistent tone and voice across all platforms? Does the type of content change depending on the platform, or is it consistent across social media sites? Frequency of content? What are the active follower counts, and how do those numbers compare across platforms? What influencers are the brand working with, and what about them makes them well- or ill-suited to reach the brand’s target audience? How are the influencers engaging or representing the brand (overt or more subdued? Think about how the brand shows up)?
  10. SWOT Analysis
    Summary of ALL of the above sections, into one area, called a SWOT — these should be one line, brief statements, with three 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?
  11. 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?”