Product Mix Decisions & Branding

Marketing Concepts

The Marketing Mix

(The 4 Ps of Marketing) Major Marketing Management decisions classification

Product - function, appearance, packaging, service, warranty, etc Price - list price, discounts, financing, and other options such as leasing Place (distribution) - market coverage, channel member selection, logistics, and levels
of service

Promotion - advertising, public relations, media types, etc

Product

Place

Target Market

Price

Promotion

Product is a key element in the market offering

Customers judges the offerings by three basis elements Product features and quality Service mix and quality Price appropriateness

Components of the Market Offering

All three elements must be meshed into a complete attractive offering

Product
Anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a want or need Physical goods Services Experiences Events Persons Places Properties Organizations Information Ideas

Product Levels
Marketer has to turn core benefit into basic product Bank accounts like savings account, current account Encompasses all possible augmentation and transformations The the product might undergo in future fundamental service or product the customer is buying Anywhere banking, ATM sharing, CRM In a priority banking, portfolio management bank the customer is looking for security of his money

A product that exceeds customer expectations A set of attributes and conditions the buyers A bank can offer facilities like ATM/Debit expect when they buy the product cards, Telebanking, Internet Banking and The bank customer would expect a cheque book, also other financial services locker and other deposit products like FD, RD

Product hierarchy
Stretches from basic needs to particular items that satisfy those needs (Audio System) Need family entertainment Product family audio entertainment Product class audio systems Product line stereos, mini systems Product type basic, mid range, premium Brand Phillips PowerHouse Item (product variant) V220

Product Mix
Product mix has a certain
Width Length

Depth
Consistency

Case Study
Product-Mix Width and Product-Line Length for PepsiCo India Product-Mix Width Beverages Pepsi Mountain Dew Aquafina Mirinda 7-Up Dukes Soda Dukes Mangola Slice Juice Tropicana Orange Nature Sweet Apple Grape Pineapple Tomato Mixed Fruit Snacks Lays Cheetos Lehar Numkeens Nutyumz Kurkure

Product-line Length

Case Study contd..

PepsiCo India - Landmarks

1990 - First Pepsi produced

1991 - Year of the Flavors 1993 - Fountain Pepsi, Slice, Teem 1996 - Mirinda attained leadership in Orange category 1999 - Launch of 500ml & 2 Ltr PET, Aquafina & Diet Pepsi 2000 - Launched 200 ml 2001 - Launched Mirinda Apple

2002 - Launched Pepsi Aha

2003 - Launched Mountain Dew, Pepsi Blue

Case Study
The Times Group

Print

Net

Entertainment

Retail

The Times Group contd..

Print

The Times Group contd..

Net

GROUP SITES

The Times Group contd..

Entertainment

The Times Group contd..

Retail

The Times of India Product Mix!!

The Times Group
Print Net Entertainment Retail

TOI-- ET -- MT-- NBT- FILMFARE- FEMINA indiatimes.com & Group Sites

TOI BT WSP TP CGP VP DTP ET CD BE

Times Music
Radio Mirchi MT Mumbai Times

Planet M

Product Line Decisions

A. Product Line Analysis
Market profile
80 20 rule 1. SALES & PROFITS

Collapse
Cutting the deadwood 2. GROSS MARGIN, SALES & PROMOTION a. Core Product

b. Staples
c. Specialties d. Convenience items

Product Line Decisions

B. Product line Length
a. Objectives b. Cycle

1. Line Stretching
a. Down market Stretch b. Up market Stretch c. Two way stretch

2. Line Filling
Just-noticeable difference

3. Line Modernization, Featuring and Pruning

Branding
Definition: A brand is a name, Term, Sign, Symbol, Brand or combination of them intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors. - American Marketing Association

6 levels of Brand meaning

(Mercedes Benz) Attributes Features - Well Engineered, Durable, High Prestige
Benefits Emotional - Feels important, Functional - Well Built Values Product value High Performance, Safety Personality Associates Personality No Nonsense Boss Culture Represents culture Organized, Efficient, High Quality User set of users who will respect brands values, Culture and personality Business Head

Challenges in Branding and decisions

Branding to be or not to be..

Whether Produce Manufacturer Brands or Distributor / Private Brands

Which Brand Name/s to use

Whether to use Line extensions, Brand Extensions, Multi Brands, New Brands or Cobrands

Brand Name Features

A Brand name should
suggest something about the products benefits suggest the product or service category suggest concrete, high imagery qualities be easy to spell, pronounce, recognize, and remember be distinctive not carry poor meanings in other countries and languages

Building Brand Identity

Brand bonding
Brands are not built by advertising but by the brand experience Everyone in the company lives the brand Three ways to carry on internal branding Employees must
Understand Desire, and Deliver on the brand promise

Brand Equity
Brand awareness Brand acceptability Brand preference
Five levels of customer attitude:
The customer will change brands, especially for price reasons. No brand loyalty. Customer is satisfied. No reason to change brands. Customer is satisfied and would incur cost by changing brand. Customer values the brand and sees it as a friend. Customer is devoted to the brand.

Companies will try to be in situation 3,4 & 5

High Brand Equity Benefits

Reduced Marketing Cost
More trade leverage with channel Can charge higher price than competitor because of higher perceived quality Easy launch of brand extensions because of high credibility Defense against price war

Brand Building Tools

Public relations and press releases Sponsorships Clubs and consumer communities Factory visits Trade shows Event marketing Public facilities Social cause marketing High value for the money Founders or a celebrity personality Mobile phone marketing

Case Study
THE BRAND NAME - HCL INFINITI

25 Years of IT Service to nation

PAST:
Previously known as The Calculator Company. Started its operation 28 years ago. Decided to put brand name on the self manufactured P.Cs as: HCL-Infiniti Tied up with HP for their servers.The brand name was modified to HCL-HP Corporate decision to break the tie up with HP

BRAND EXTENSION
HCL-Infiniti range of servers launched under the flagship of HCL Infiniti Brand name. HCL-Infiniti range of both managed and unmanaged switches launched again branded as HCL-Infiniti. Active and Passive components in networking launched and branded as HCLInfiniti Storage hardware as JBOD launched under HCL Brand name.

BRAND REPOSITIONING HCL Infiniti Challenger (Workstation) repositioned in high end graphics market for video streaming and CAD/CAM applications. HCL-Infiniti Strata Z (Vertical and Horizontal Mount slimline P.Cs) repositioned in corporate segment.

BRAND QUALITY DECISION Quality Improvement: ISO 9001:2000 Quality is continuously improved by our H.O. Product team and R&D Centre. Quality Maintenance: Quality of all the HCL manufactured products is maintained under strict QC norms as Drop Test,Rigorous tests, etc.

Top Ten Brands April 2002

(source Google)

Ferrari Sony BMW Nokia Disney Ryanair HP IKEA Adobe Nike

Thank you