Question

Topic: Branding

Attn: Top Profs ! Budget For Brand Development

Posted by Anonymous on 12/5/2007 at 3:28 PM ET 1600 Points
I need some hard numbers from you on a brand development budget. The points are here because I want
to hear from folks like Randall and Mark. (Y'all know who you are)

I have a friend who is setting a budget for a branding project. At first he wanted to hire a person to do the work (a marketing manager at about 60K/year) Now he wants to budget it as a consulting fee. He thinks he will get the job done more quickly and not have the risk of a bad hire.

So I am trying to help him set up the budget for the consultant.

I want to get some feedback from the agency geeks and consultants among you to see if
1) M projections are realistic
2) If there is a rule of thumb cost and time estimate for a project like this.

Company is $30 million sales selling through dealers. Brand will be primarily dealer facing. The customer exposure will be through delaer signage.

I have this so far:
Research (dealer and consumer) $30K
Monthly consulting retainer $5K
Creative development 8K
Testing 12K
Initial collateral production $15K
Dealer program development
Truck signage

I cannot see this process taking more than 8 months.

How far off am I?

D4
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by ilan on 12/5/2007 at 4:06 PM Member
    Reading your message I was trying to understand what you call "brand development", and I got stuck.
    You are proposing to pay a professional brand consultant $31.25 an hour for 8 months...
    Right there you are insulting someone, and you know you will not get the best person.
    You are proposing to pay for creative work another 8,000. For what? a rebuilding of a brand?

    These kind of questions are the ones that make me think about the definition of Brand Building.
    It seems to me that you are talking about putting a new layer of coat on an old brand to "revitalize" it, but this is not a serious brand building where you invest in the organization and make them understand what they stand for and who they are.
    There is nothing mentioned about making the employees brand champions and the cost of that.
    There is no budget for training.

    The real budget of brand building is something that never starts as a project and ends a s a project.
    It lasts a lifetime, and you will be better off suggesting to your friend that he better consider a portion of the sales number for brand work.
    Say, 5% annually. Year after year after year.
    There is no other way.
    Good luck.
  • Posted on 12/5/2007 at 7:21 PM Accepted
    My background is in research, so I think I can speak more comfortably to that component than the others in your list. I think that part of the budget is close but maybe a little low. For a major branding project that involves at least two major targets (dealer and consumer), I think 40-50K at a minimum might be more realistic.

    I am not clear as to what is meant by testing...

    Hope this helps,
    Joy
  • Posted by Harry Hallman on 12/6/2007 at 4:44 AM Accepted
    Why not contact three agencies you feel could do this job and have them put a budget together based on their ideas? That way you will have an actual budget instead of one based on tasks you may or may not implement.

    You will also be forced to come up with specific goals and tactics.
  • Posted on 12/6/2007 at 9:34 AM Accepted
    Send the project out on RFP, define your goals, leave room for the consultant to add to any areas of the RFP where you are deficient.
  • Posted by ilan on 12/6/2007 at 2:13 PM Accepted
    Thanks for changing the name of this program.

    Here's a short realistic look:

    Research (dealer and consumer) $30K
    If you mean focus groups, this may allow you to do 3 of them and get the analysis. If you go to other locations, increase the budget by 25%. If you do it in markets like NYC it will be much more expensive

    Monthly consulting retainer $5K
    If you have one person on that budget you may get by, if you live in a major metro area and need a senior consultant go for $7,500-$10,000 a month

    Creative development 8K
    It is essential to know what is required from the creatives. It is also important to know what disciplines are under the term. If you mean copy/art only maybe, if you need web developers and designers add another 8k

    Testing 12K
    Could work

    Initial collateral production $15K
    Quantities? versions? all these things can double and triple the cost

    Dealer program development-you didn't put a number here, these things depend on the number of dealers, I've done stuff for Firestone Farm Tires dealers nationally for $100,000...so give us some info here


    Truck signage - same here, how many? are those 18 wheelers? short trucks? is the signage wrap around?

    Overall you are on the low side of the budget.
    Since I worked in markets like Des Moines and also Chicago and LA, I know that the location of the actual planning and execution could create a completely different budget.
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