Competitive study of brand and product

Competitive study:-
The competitive analysis process presents an opportunity to
describe your major competitors in terms of the factors that
most influence revenues. This may include your
competitor’s:

• organization size
• market share
• comparative product quality
• growth
• available capital and resources
• image
• marketing strategy
• target markets
• And any attributes you consider important.

We can also adopt competitive study on the basis of product

and brand.

Product:-
Each company positions their products a little
differently. When reviewing the competitive
products, don’t wait until the annual trade show. Buy
your competition’s products. Study them. Understand
their key benefits and key downfalls. Evaluate the
good, bad, and indifferent, and develop competitive
product strategies accordingly.
These questions should be asked when undertaking
competitive analysis? The following is a useful list to bear
in mind:

• Who are our competitors? (see the section on identifying

competitors further below)

• What threats do they pose?

• What is the profile of our competitors?

• What are the objectives of our competitors?

• What strategies are our competitors pursuing and how

successful are these strategies?

• What are the strengths and weaknesses of our

competitors?

• How are our competitors likely to respond to any changes

to the way we do business?

Brand:-
A brand is a name, sign, symbol, slogan or anything that is
used to identify and distinguish a specific product, service,
or business. A legally protected brand name is called
a proprietary name.

Brand is the image of the product in the market. Some

people distinguish the psychological aspect of a brand from
the experiential aspect. The experiential aspect consists of
the sum of all points of contact with the brand and is known
as the brand experience. The psychological aspect,
sometimes referred to as the brand image, is a symbolic
construct created within the minds of people and consists of
all the information and expectations associated with a
product or service.

For the study of product and brand we can take the example
of Pepsi and Coca Cola.

We know that Coca-Cola and Pepsi are the two most

popular and widely recognized beverage brands in the world.
Within their lineup of beverages, Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola
Classic are the predominant carbonated cola beverages.

Taste:-
Coca-Cola is the original cola, while there isn't a huge difference
in taste, Pepsi mirrored their cola after Coke's, being just
different enough in taste to not actually be the same drink.
Sweetness
Pepsi tastes sweeter than Coca-Cola, This is the reason why many
prefer Pepsi over Coca-Cola in a blind test but prefer Coke when
drinking an entire can.
Carbonation:-
Coca-Cola has more carbonation than Pepsi depending on what
region you are in. It was said that depending on where each one was
made the amount of carbonation in them will be different therefore
proving that neither Coca-Cola nor Pepsi have more carbonation than
one another.
Brand War:-
Both drinks are no longer seen as a beverage but mainly as a brand.
Both companies commit heavily to sponsoring outdoor music festivals
and even charitable projects in third world countries,

Marketing Approach:-
Both Coca-Cola and Pepsi try to market as part of a life-style. Coca-
Cola uses phrases such as "Coke side of life" while Pepsi uses
phrases such as "Hot stuff", to promote the idea that Pepsi is "in
sync" with the cool side of life.
Pepsi tries to reach out to the younger generation by appealing to
pop culture.

Advertisements:-
Coca-Cola had Christina Aguilera featured in their commercials, while
Pepsi had Britney Spears.

VS
Aquafina vs Dasani
Distributors:-

Aquafina is distributed by Pepsi. Dasani is distributed by

Coca-Cola.

Approach to "Purity":-

Dasani aims to "enhance" water by adding salts and

minerals. Aquafina, on the other hand, aims to remove all
salts and minerals from the water to leave pure H20.
Pepsi's Aquafina brand advertises its water as "Pure Water
—Perfect Taste". Aquafina strips out all minerals and other
substances to create its "pure" water. It’s pure "purified"
water and easy on the palate.

Coke's Dasani is "enhanced with mineral for a pure, fresh

taste". Note how "pure" appears in both brands taglines—
stripped of minerals (Aquafina) and enhanced with minerals
(Dasani).

Purification Technology:-

Aquafina uses the HydRO-7 purification system,

which includes reverse osmosis, charcoal filtration,
and ozonation.Dasani uses the reverse osmosis
process for purification.
Taste:-
Some complain that Dasani has a salty taste. This is
most likely due to Dasani's water purification method.

Gatorade vs Powerade
Taste:-
The tastes are very similar, however because Powerade has a higher
sugar content and lower sodium content than Gatorade, it is
considered by many to have a slightly sweeter taste. Powerade offers
more flavors than Gatorade.
Science:-
Sugar Type:-
Gatorade use normal glucose where as Powerade uses a different
type of glucose, polymers. Studies have shown that polymers such as
maltodextrin are absorbed into the body fast. Although Gatorade has
a high level of sodium content (almost twice that of Powerade), I am
more interested in the sugar level when in the middle of a run as it is
much easer to get sodium from day to day foods then it is to when a
slightly higher sugar spike is needed (about 6gms Gatorade to
Powerade’s 8gms).
Both Powerade and Gatorade contain high fructose corn syrup, a
heavily processed sugar-based sweetener that has recently begun to
gain controversial attention for its supposed health dangers.
Sodium Replenishment:-
The sodium content of Gatorade is about 450 milligrams per liter; for
Powerade, it is 225 mg/L. Thus Gatorade does a somewhat better job
of replacing the sodium lost in sweat...
Viewed scientifically, the differences between Gatorade and
Powerade are small, with neither beverage appearing clearly superior
to the other. I personally prefer Gatorade, since it replaces sodium
losses more effectively than Powerade does. However, this may not
be an important consideration except in very long runs in which
several liters of sweat are secreted.

Brand:-
Gatorade is owned by Pepsi. Powerade is owned by Coca-
Cola.

Branding:-
The original The second
stylized Pepsi- stylized Pepsi- Pepsi logo (1973-
Cola logo, Cola logo, 87). In 1987, the
trademarked at trademarked at Pepsi logo (2003-08).
font was modified
the USPTO, and the USPTO, and Originally the Pepsi
slightly to a more
owned by the owned script was written
rounded version
Pepsi Company byPepsiCo above the globe; it
which was used
would be moved
until 1991. this
below the globe when
logo was used for
Pepsi redesigned the
pepsi throwback in
packaging in 2007 for
2010
the "Design Pepsi
Can" contest. Pepsi
Wild Cherry
continued to use this
design through the
first quarter of 2010.
SWOT analysis template

Subject of SWOT analysis: (define the subject of the

analysis here)
strengths weaknesses
• Advantages of proposition?
• Disadvantages of proposition?
• Capabilities?
• Gaps in capabilities?
• Competitive advantages?
• Lack of competitive strength?
• USP's (unique selling points)?
• Reputation, presence and reach?
• Resources, Assets, People?
• Financials?
• Experience, knowledge, data?
• Own known vulnerabilities?
• Financial reserves, likely returns?
• Timescales, deadlines and pressures?
• Marketing - reach, distribution,
• Cashflow, start-up cash-drain?
awareness?
• Continuity, supply chain robustness?
• Innovative aspects?
• Effects on core activities,
• Location and geographical?
distraction?
• Price, value, quality?
• Reliability of data, plan
• Accreditations, qualifications, predictability?
certifications?
• Morale, commitment, leadership?
• Processes, systems, IT,
• Accreditations, etc?
communications?
• Processes and systems, etc?
• Cultural, attitudinal, behavioural?
• Management cover, succession?
• Management cover, succession?

opportunities
• Market developments?
• Competitors' vulnerabilities?
• Industry or lifestyle trends?
• Technology development and
innovation?
threats
• Political effects?
• Legislative effects?
• Environmental effects?
• IT developments?
• Competitor intentions - various?
 • Global influences?
• New markets, vertical, horizontal? • Market demand?
• Niche target markets? • New technologies, services, ideas?
• Geographical, export, import? • Vital contracts and partners?
• New USP's? • Sustaining internal capabilities?
• Tactics - surprise, major contracts, • Obstacles faced?
etc?
• Insurmountable weaknesses?
• Business and product development?
• Loss of key staff?
• Information and research?
• Sustainable financial backing?
• Partnerships, agencies, distribution?
• Economy - home, abroad?
• Volumes, production, economies?
• Seasonality, weather effects?
• Seasonal, weather, fashion
influences?

There are also so many dimensions on that basis we

can do the competitive study of brand they are –
• Hard association
• Soft association
• Image of company
• Image of users
• Product image