Welcome to the Big Picture online learning platform

Big Picture Basics is structured as a series of modules that can be viewed sequentially as a whole or independently by topic area. Each of the Basics course modules address important marketing strategy questions as shown below: Module 1: Introduction  What is Marketing? What are the major principles that underpin the Big Picture approach to marketing strategy? How is the course organized? Module 2: Brand Objective  What is a brand? Why is brand architecture a strategic decision? Why should we use brands as units of analysis when conducting planning work? What is a core competence and why is it important to develop a shared understanding of its role in driving brand equity? Why does your brand need a purpose?  Module 3: Strategy - Customer Focus  Who are customers of our brand? Why is it important to define these customers? Why do we say that customers are strategic assets of the commercial organization?  Should your brand grow primarily by acquiring or retaining customers? Module 4: Strategy - Category Focus  What is your brand's business category? Why is it important to define the category? What role should your brand play in the business category given your growth objectives? Module 5: Value Proposition  What is a value proposition? What are the six (or five) elements of a value proposition? What tools should we use to understand customer value? How do we write effective value proposition statements?  Module 6: Execution  How should we approach execution given our strategy? How do we execute to create a customer brand experience aligned to our brand’s value proposition?    Read more

This online course is a four-hour interactive learning experience that introduces professionals to the Big Picture framework, and provides a fundamental understanding of its integrated nature as well as of its component tools. The Fundamentals training includes video and graphical components and utilizes curriculum design and adult learning principles to deliver an engaging learning experience. Each module contains a progressive assessment toolset that levels-up the learner as he or she progresses through the online course. High-level learning objectives for the Big Picture Fundamentals training include: Understand the benefits of adopting the Big Picture framework’s iterative integrated strategy-execution methodology Understand the principles of brand architecture, core competence, goal setting, customer discipline and measurement and competitive focus Understand basic value proposition principles including needs based segmentation, targeting and positioning Understand how to integrate fundamental aspects of execution (channels of distribution and communications, product and service alignment, and pricing) to the strategy using the framework. Read more

Pricing is one of the most flexible and multifaceted elements within the marketing toolbox, yet we often miss pricing opportunities because we address pricing as a separate and narrow discipline. The allure of changing price relates to its status as the marketing element with the greatest impact on both profitability and market share. Yet, in undertaking pricing actions to achieve short-term outcomes firms underestimate their long-term impact on firm positioning and on their ability to optimize profitability. This powerfully pragmatic course teaches participants how to integrate pricing into the company strategy and how to avoid the major pitfalls that have gotten us intro strategic problems by way of pricing ‘solutions.’ During this two-day workshop we examine how to better address pricing within the context of company profitability and what to do in response to competitive and customer pressures to cut price. We also present a framework to improve pricing competence in the organization, linking value to price, and developing a structured approach to identifying and correcting pricing challenges, both of strategy and execution. Read more