Chapter 7: Product Positioning, Branding, and Product Line Strategies

Question 1

what is a brand?

Answer 1

a BRAND is a name or symbol used to identify the source of a product

–> Name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify goods or services, to distinguish them from the competition

Question 2

what are the five benefits of branding

Answer 2

1. High brand awareness
2. Emotional connection
3. Brand loyalty
4. Price premiums
5. Product line extensions

Question 3

describe a fighter/flanker brand

Answer 3

newly launched brand in an area/category where you already have a brand

–>protective brands

• introduced to try to augment market share
• can protect companies’ existing brands’ price premiums
• To create stronger points-of- parity with competitors’ brands

Question 4

describe the different kinds of differentiation with regards to product positioning

Answer 4

• Product Differentiation
  Quality, performance, reliability
• Service Differentiation
  Reliability, extended service, reputation
• Brand Differentiation
  Brand status
• Low Cost of Purchase
  Low price or lower transaction cost

Question 5

relationship between market share and product positioning

Answer 5

market share = product position x marketing efforts

Question 6

what are the three general management efforts needed that are related to product positioning strategies?

Answer 6

1. Differentiation and Product Positioning
2. Branding and Brand-Management Strategies
3. Brand and Product Line Strategies

Question 7

what three things make up the total benefits derived from product position?

Answer 7

1. Product performance (prod. differentiation)
2. Service quality (Service diff)
3. Brand Reputation (brand diff.)

Question 8

customer value rough formula

Answer 8

cust value is difference between total benefits derived from product position and the total cost of obtaining these benefits

Question 9

what are product performance requirements

Answer 9

1. Reliability
   –> The length of time before failure or malfunction of the product.
2. Conformance
   –> Incidence of defects that should not have occurred.

Question 10

what are product performance differentiators?

Answer 10

1. Improvements
   –> Operational characteristics that distinguish product performance.
2. Durability
   –>Product life and ability to endure demanding use conditions.

Question 11

what are product performance enhancements?

Answer 11

1. Features
   –> Number and types of options that can be added.
2. Serviceability
   –> Ease, speed, and costs of maintenance and repair.

Question 12

what are product performance emotional enhancements>

Answer 12

1. Appearance
   –>The fit, finish, and overall appearance of the product.
2. Reputation
   –>The image created by the brand name or company.

Question 13

what are service quality differentiators?

Answer 13

1. high levels of service performance
2. high responsiveness

Question 14

service quality enhancements

Answer 14

1. Extended services
2. Customer empathy (individualized customer attention)

Question 15

service quality emotional enhancements

Answer 15

1. appearance (e.g. quickness of service personnel at a tire shop)
2. reputation

Question 16

A strong brand enhances _____________ , maintains a high level of ____________ , and provides a ________ image or brand personality

Answer 16

enhances positive evaluations of a product’s quality

high level of product awareness

consistent image or brand personality

Question 17

what are the two ways a low cost advantage can be used?

Answer 17

low price position

lower ownership costs

Question 18

what are the four different parts of branding and brand management strategies?

Answer 18

1. brand identity
2. brand encoding
3. brand assets and liabilities
4. brand equity

Question 19

how to create brand identity

Answer 19

define the desired product positioning and value proposition for a specific target market.

*want it to be meaningful to target customes

Question 20

brand encoding system

Answer 20

encoding system is pre- sented as a hierarchy of possible naming components, starting with the:
(1) company name, followed by
(2) a brand name, and
(3) enhanced or modified by sub- brand names,
(4) numbers, letters, product names, and benefits.

Question 21

umbrella brand

Answer 21

Used in more than one product category
* But is not necessarily the name of the
company or corporation
* Also called a range brand or family brand

• If the corporate brand is applied to a range of products, then it functions as a family brand too
• If products linked to a family brand are not carefully considered, the associations to the family brand may become weaker

Question 22

subbrand

Answer 22

Brand extension in which the new product carries both the parent brand name and a new name

• tie back with value, message, but have own values as well
• look at individual brands to see about own impressions of sub brand (ie Apple Watch might not have same quality impressions as iPhone)

Question 23

what are the five kinds of brand names?

Answer 23

1. Founder Brand Names
2. Functional Brand Names
3. Invented Brand Names
4. Experiential Brand Names
5. Evocative Brand Names

Question 24

functional brand names

Answer 24

These names are derived from the basic benefit provided by the product. Duracell (long lasting), Federal Express (fast delivery), Lean Cuisine (low calorie), Sub-Zero (stays cold), and Microsoft (microcomputer software) each strived to build an association between the brand name and core function of the brand. Federal Express eventually shifted to a name morpheme (FedEx).

Question 25

invented brand names

Answer 25

There are two kinds of invented names: those which are built from root words and morphemes, and those which are poetic constructions based on the rhythm or experience of saying them. Agilent and Alliant are invented company names from roots that mean “agile” and “ally.” --> Poetically created brand names include Oreo, Kleenex, Snapple, and Google. Google is actually derived from the mathematical term googol. Ketchup is an invented word created in China in the 1690s as Kê-chiap. The word evolved to Kechap in Malaysia and Singapore (early 1800s) and eventually became Ketchup in the United States.

Question 26

experiential names

Answer 26

These are company or brand names associated with an experi- ence, such as the experience of discovery, success, movement, or good health. The Internet browsers Explorer, Magellan, Navigator, and Safari are names created to com- municate the experience of surfing the web. Big Bertha, Red Bull, Path Finder, and Silk Soy Milk are also brand names that convey meanings based on people’s experience.

Question 27

evocative names

Answer 27

Companies also create names that evoke a positive attribute or a feeling. Examples include Apple, Yahoo, and Virgin Airlines

Question 28

what are the five main ways to protect a brand name and intellectual property

Answer 28

1. copyright 2. trademark 3. US Patent 4. Licensing 5. Assignment ( Assignment of the rights to a product formalizes the transfer of rights held by one party—the assignor—to another party—the assignee. The financial terms may consist of a single payment, a series of payments over time, royalties, or a combi- nation of these options.)

Question 29

what are the five brand assets?

Answer 29

– Brand awareness – Emotional connection – Brand loyalty – Product line extensions – Price premium

Question 30

what are the five brand liabilities

Answer 30

– Customer dissatisfaction – Product or service failures – Questionable practices – Poor record on social issues – Negative associations

Question 31

how to calculate brand assets/brand liabilities scorecard

Answer 31

relative importnace of Brand asset/liabillity multiplied by performance (very low = 0, below avg= 25, avg = 50, above avg = 75, very high = 100) = brand asset/liability score add each individual asset/liabiltiy score to get total

Question 32

brand equity formula

Answer 32

brand equity = brand assets - brand liabilities

Question 33

benefits of broad product line

Answer 33

– more selling opportunities for sales force and channel members – Potential for higher share of wallet – “Upsell” potential – More profitable in emerging and growing markets

Question 34

narrow product line must be ____________

Answer 34

more focused in marketing efforts

Question 35

The intent of umbrella branding is to enhance the effectiveness of marketing programs and to increase demand for product line extensions by _____________________________

Answer 35

transferring brand awareness and perceptions of quality from the umbrella brand.

Question 36

What are the four ways that an addition to business’s product line benefits from a strong umbrella brand and adds to the business’s overall profitability?

Answer 36

1. Brand Awareness 2. Known Quality 3. Market reach 4. Product Experience

Question 37

describe vertical brand extensions

Answer 37

same brand same product category e.g. kit kat new flavours

Question 38

horizontal brand extensions

Answer 38

same brand new product category --> adding complementary products

Question 39

co branding

Answer 39

leverage a strong brand by entering another product-market with cobranding, rather than creating a brand extension. Cobranding takes advantage of the potential synergy of two brands that share a common market space. e.g One example is Yoplait yogurt’s cobranding with Trix, a children’s cereal, to create Yoplait Trix yogurt for children.

Question 40

what are three main ways for firms to expand their product line?

Answer 40

- umbrella brand - flanker brands - new brands

Question 41

new product-market brand extensions

Answer 41

enter new markets to exploit brand reputation --> e.g Honda building lawnmowers, snowblowers, etc

Question 42

product bundling

Answer 42

Bundling products creates a complete customer solution that has the potential to pro- vide a superior customer value and attract customers. Products such as living room sets, entertainment packages, and software applications that come with a new compu- ter are product bundles that can create a superior value (economic and perceived) for target customers

Question 43

pure product bundling

Answer 43

involves the sale of two or more products at an overall price that is lower than the total price that a customer would pay to purchase the products separately

Question 44

mixed bundling strategy

Answer 44

offers the customer the opportunity to purchase each of the items separately at a sale price or bundled with an additional level of savings. There is evidence that when both options are available, customer perceptions of value exceed those produced with a pure bundling strategy. *shown to be more profitable than pure bundling strategies

Question 45

product unbundling

Answer 45

Unbundling a set of products that is normally sold as an integrated bundle or system may also attract and satisfy customers