Assignment Four 1. Pick two product categories – one should be a physical good and the other should be a service. For each product that you have selected, outline how the three product levels could be structured (Core – Actual – Augmented) (5 points) ————————————————————————————————————————– As you probably know, brand equity is becoming increasingly important factor to successful brands. Brand equity has the ability for firms to to gain additional market share, at a price premium, with increased customer loyalty, and greater acceptance of new products. It also provides significantly more access to more retailer channels and easier ability to enter new markets. Here are the top 10 brands for 2015 as determined by Millward Brown. 1. Amazon 2. Apple 3. Google 4. Microsoft 5. Visa 6. Facebook 7. Alibaba 8. Tencent 9. McDonalds 10. At&T Factors that may contribute to (or detract from) the building of strong brand equity: • Product range, Relative product quality, Points of differentiation, Retailers used, Retailer prominence, CEO profile, Media (mainstream and blogs/forums), Word-of-mouth, Use of celebrities, Other brand associations, Visibility of the product, Social media ‘connection’, Social ‘status’ of the product, Entertainment or self-identity product, Market share (extent of popularity), Perceived innovation, Perceived integrity, Success of new products, Sales + service staff, Target markets, Market coverage (global?), Time in market, Competitive set, B2C or B2B only, Social responsibility, Competitor’s actions, Employee behavior 2. Have a look at the top 10 brands in the world, what similarities can you see in regards to their marketing activities? (3 points) —————————————————————————————————————————— In this activity, you will first review an excerpt from a marketing industry conference where several marketing managers from different industries are discussing who has the hardest task. You should note that each manager markets a product from a different class of the consumer products classification system – namely, convenience products, shopping products, specialty products and unsought products. MARKETING MANAGER’S DISCUSSION David (marketing manager for a charity): My marketing task is clearly the toughest challenge of anyone else here at the conference. Consumers do not want to give money to charities without being asked directly – there’s nothing in it for them. Julie (marketing manager for a candy bar): I don’t agree, many consumers get a feeling of goodwill by supporting their chosen charities. If you present the offer in the right way it should be an easy sell. Jordan (marketing manager for a high fashion brand): And besides, charities can also market to businesses, which is probably a great market for large-scale fund raising events. David: Sure businesses can be an attractive market, but it’s very competitive, and businesses are often set in their ways and difficult to influence. Individual consumers can be persuaded, but it takes expensive and usually quite direct promotional efforts. Sam (marketing manager for sports shoes): You want to hear about expensive promotions? We have to spend a lot of money with image advertising, often with celebrity endorsements to build a brand. And then we need to spend another pile of money on trade promotions to get in the retailer’s door and then obtain a good in-store position. Julie: Yes but once you’ve built the brand and established the retailer relationships, your job is pretty easy. You don’t have all the logistics challenges that we face marketing candy bars. Not only do we have a perishable product, but we have 1,000’s of retail locations to supply and support with point-of-purchase materials. Jordan: But you also sell a lot of product. Most of your customers and habitual repeat buyers; your sales are so predictable and stable. And everything you bring out a product line extension, it’s guaranteed to bring in reasonable sales. In the fashion business, you can be so successful one year and not sell much the following year if you don’t get the fashion trends right. Sam: But once you’ve got a strong fashion brand, consumers will beat a path to your door and buy your products because of the brand alone. You’ve got exclusive retailers, which mean no competition in-store, whereas our products are compared to competitors side-by-side. Jordan: But your retailers provide most of the customers because of your name, we need to work with our retailers to jointly build the brand and the sales – so you have more control over your marketing activities. 3. For each of the marketing managers above, identify which class of consumer product they market: convenience products, shopping products, specialty products or unsought products. (2 points) 4. Prepare a list of advantages and disadvantages involved in marketing each class of product. Use the points from the above conservation, plus your own ideas. (3 points) 5. In your view, which marketing manager (class of consumer product) has the biggest marketing challenge? Why? (2 points) ————————————————————————————————– Mini Case: A company must manage its product lines carefully. Jefferson Company (who has manufactured high-priced, high-quality sports machines for gyms and sport clubs) recently decided to embark/investigate into new business opportunities which they hoped would remedy/fix their declining sales. The company decided to begin to manufacture and market a line of durable but low-priced machines intended for private use. Using the correct terminology with respect to product line decisions (upward , downward, both direction stretching): (5 points) 6. Describe what Jefferson is attempting to do (2 points) 7. Give a judgment about whether you think the new product line might be a good fit. (2 points) 8. Do you have advice for them on how to improve their performance (1 points) Be sure to explain your rationale and justify your conclusions. Good Luck
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