Chapter Seven

Product, Services, and Branding

Strategy
 Roadmap: Previewing the Concepts
1. Define product and the major classifications of
products and services.
2. Describe the decisions companies make
regarding their individual products and
services, product lines, and product mixes.
3. Discuss branding strategy – the decisions firms
make in building and managing their brands.
4. Identify the four characteristics that affect the
marketing of a service and the additional
marketing considerations that services require.
5. Discuss two additional product issues: socially
responsible product decisions and international
product and services marketing.
Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-2
 Case Study
FIJI Water – “The Taste of Paradise”
Product
 Brand name: FIJI Natural
Artesian Water.
 Product source: comes
from an underground
location in Fiji islands.
 Key benefits: ultra-clean
taste, no impurities or
pollutants.
 Brand image: “The Taste
of Paradise”
Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc.
Promotion
 It’s a brand experience!
 Name, packaging, label,
celebrity endorsers and
places through which it is
sold contributes to “Taste
of Paradise” imagery.
 Ads evoke exotic origins:
tropical forest, volcanoes.
 High price charged
supports premium appeal.
7-3
 What Is a Product?

 Anything that can be offered to a

market for attention, acquisition, use,
or consumption and that might satisfy
a want or need.
– Includes: physical objects, services,
events, persons, places, organizations,
ideas, or some combination thereof.

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 What Is a Service?

 A form of product that consists of

activities, benefits, or satisfactions
offered for sale that are essentially
intangible and do not result in the
ownership of anything.
– Examples: banking, hotel, airline, retail, tax
preparation, home repairs.

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 Market Offerings

 Continuum ranges from pure tangible

goods (with no services) to pure
services (with no good component)
with many combinations in between.
– Pure good: Camay soap.
– Pure service: Legal representation.
– Combination: Restaurant meal.
 Creating and managing customer
experiences differentiates offers.
Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-6
 Levels of a Product

 Core benefit
– What the consumer is really buying.
 Actual product
– Includes the brand name, features, design,
packaging, quality level.
 Augmented product
– Additional services and benefits such as
delivery and credit, instructions,
installation, warranty, service.

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-7

 Consumer Products

 Products and services bought by final

consumers for personal consumption.
– Also includes other marketable entities.

 Classified by how consumers buy them.

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-8

 Convenience Products

 Purchased frequently and immediately

 Low priced
 Mass advertising
 Many purchase locations
– Examples: candy, soda, newspapers

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-9

 Shopping Products

 Bought less frequently

 Higher price
 Fewer purchase locations
 Comparison shop
– Examples: furniture, clothing, cars,
appliances

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-10

 Specialty Products

 Special purchase efforts

 High price
 Unique characteristics
 Brand identification
 Few purchase locations
– Example: Lamborghini, Rolex Watch

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-11

 Unsought Products

 New innovations
 Products consumers do not want to
think about
 Require much advertising and personal
selling
– Examples: life insurance, cemetery plots,
blood donation

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-12

 Industrial Products

 Those purchased for further

processing or for use in conducting
business.
– Distinction between consumer and
industrial products is based on the
purpose for which an item is bought.

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-13

 Industrial Products

 Materials and parts:

– Raw materials, manufactured materials,
and parts
 Capital items:
– Products that aid in buyer’s production or
operations
 Supplies and services:
– Operating supplies, repair, and
maintenance items

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-14

 Other Market Offerings

 Organizations: Profit (businesses) and

nonprofit (schools and churches).
– Includes corporate image advertising.
 Persons: Politicians, entertainers, sports
figures, doctors, and lawyers.
 Places: Create, maintain, or change attitudes
or behavior toward particular places (e.g.,
tourism).
 Ideas (social marketing): Public health
campaigns, environmental campaigns, family
planning, or human rights.
Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-15
 Individual Product Decisions

 Product attributes
 Branding
 Packaging
 Labeling
 Product support services

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 Product & Service Attributes

 Product quality
– Performance quality
– Conformance quality
 Features
– Value to consumer
– Cost to company
 Style and design
– Influences experience
Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-17
 Branding

 Creating, maintaining, protecting, and

enhancing products and services.

 A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol,

or design, or a combination of these,
that identifies the maker or seller of a
product or service.

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 Branding

 Advantages to buyers:
– Product identification
– Product quality

 Advantages to sellers:
– Basis for product’s quality story
– Provides legal protection
– Helps to segment markets

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 Packaging

 Designing and producing the container

or wrapper for a product.

 Developing a good package:

– Market the brand
– Protect the elements
– Ensure product safety
– Address environmental concerns

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 Labeling

 Printed information appearing on or

with the package.

 Performs several functions:

– Identifies product or brand
– Describes several things about the
product
– Promotes the product through attractive
graphics

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 Product Support Services

 Assess the value of current services

and obtain ideas for new services.
 Assess the cost of providing the
services.
 Put together a package of services that
delights the customers and yields
profits for the company.

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-22

 Product Line Decisions

 Product line length:

– The number of items in a product line.
 Adjust line length by:
– Stretching
• Downward
• Upward
• Both directions
– Filling

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-23

 Product Mix Decisions

 Product mix:
– all of the product lines and items that a particular
seller offers for sale.
 Product mix dimensions include:
– Length: the number of items in a line.
– Width: the number of different product lines the
company carries.
– Depth: the number of versions offered of each
product in the line.
– Consistency: how closely related various lines are.

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-24

 Brand Equity

 The positive differential effect that

knowing the brand name has on
customer response to the product or
service.
 Provides:
– More brand awareness and loyalty
– Basis for strong, profitable customer
relationships

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 Major Brand Strategy
Decisions

 Brands are assets that must be

carefully developed and managed via:
– Brand positioning
– Brand name selections
– Brand sponsorship
– Brand development

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 Brand Positioning

 Can position brands at any of three

levels:
– Product attributes
– Product benefits
– Beliefs and values

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 Brand Name Selection

 Desirable qualities for a brand name include:

1. It should suggest product’s benefits and qualities.
2. It should be easy to pronounce, recognize, and
remember.
3. It should be distinctive.
4. It should be extendable.
5. It should translate easily into foreign languages.
6. It should be capable of registration and legal
protection.

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 Brand Sponsorship

 Manufacturer’s brands
– Also called national brands
 Private brands
– Also called store or distributor brands
 Licensed brands
 Co-branding

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 Brand Development

 Line extension:
– introduction of additional items in a given
product category under the same brand
name (e.g., new flavors, forms, colors,
ingredients, or package sizes).
 Brand extension:
– using a successful brand name to launch a
new or modified product in a new
category.
Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-30
 Brand Development

 Multibranding:
– offers a way to establish different features
and appeal to different buying motives.
 New brands:
– developed based on belief that the power
of its existing brand is waning and a new
brand name is needed. Also used for
products in new product category.

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 Nature and Characteristics
of a Service
 Intangibility:
– Services cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard, or
smelled before purchase.
 Inseparability:
– Services cannot be separated from their
providers.
 Variability:
– Quality of services depends on who provides
them and when, where, and how they are
delivered.
 Perishability:
– Services cannot be stored for later sale or use.

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 The Service-Profit Chain

 Internal service quality

 Satisfied and productive service
employees
 Great service value
 Satisfied and loyal customers
 Healthy service profits and growth.

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 Services Marketing

 External marketing:
– Traditional marketing via the 4 “P’s”
 Internal marketing:
– Effective training and motivation of
customer contact employees
 Interactive marketing:
– Delivering interactions during the service
encounter that are satisfying to the buyer

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 Major Service Marketing Tasks

 Managing service differentiation:

– Develop a differentiated offer, delivery, and image.
 Managing service quality:
– Be customer obsessed, set high service quality
standards, have good service recovery, empower
front-line employees.
 Managing service productivity:
– Train current employees or hire new ones, increase
quantity and sacrifice quality, harness technology.

Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-35

 International Product and
Services Marketing
 Decide which products and services to
introduce.
 Decide how much to standardize or
adapt.
 Packaging presents new challenges.
 Services marketers face special
challenges.
 Trend toward global service companies
will continue.
Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-36
 Rest Stop: Reviewing the Concepts
1. Define product and the major classifications of
products and services.
2. Describe the decisions companies make
regarding their individual products and
services, product lines, and product mixes.
3. Discuss branding strategy – the decisions firms
make in building and managing their brands.
4. Identify the four characteristics that affect the
marketing of a service and the additional
marketing considerations that services require.
5. Discuss two additional product issues: socially
responsible product decisions and international
product and services marketing.
Copyright 2007, Prentice Hall, Inc. 7-37