Brand

A name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, to identify goods and services a seller or group and to differentiate them from competition.

Brand elements

Name, Term, Sign, Symbol, Design, or Combination!

Product

Anything we can offer to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a need or want.

Examples of products

Physical good, a service, a retail outlet, a person, an organization, a place, or even an idea.

Five Levels of Product Meaning

Core Benefit, Generic Product, Expected Product, Augmented Product, and Potential Product

Core Benefit Level

Level 1. The fundamental need or want that consumers satisfy by consuming the product or service.

Generic Product Level

Level 2 . Basic version of the product containing only those attributes or characteristics absolutely necessary for its functioning but with no distinguishing features. This is basically a stripped-down, no-frills version of the product that adequately performs the product function.

Expected Product Level

Level 3. A set of attributes or characteristics that buyers normally expect and agree to when they purchase a product.

Augmented Product Level Level 4. Includes additional product attributes, benefits,

or related services that distinguish the product from competitors.

Potential Product Level

Level 5. Includes all the augmentations and transformations that a product might ultimately undergo in the future.

Why is a brand more than a product It can have dimensions that differentiate it in some way

from other products designed to satisfy the same need

Why brand?

Harder to break through the clutter, Increased competition, Capacity exceeds demand, Parity in product/service offerings, Rapid imitation of differentiating advantages, More sophisticated customers, Financial performance does not guarantee long-term success!

Importance of Brands to Consumers

Identification of the source of the product, Assignment of responsibility to product maker, Risk reducer, Search cost reducer, Promise, bond, or pact with product maker, Symbolic device, Signal of quality!

Product Consumer Risks

Functional, Physical, Financial, Social, Psychological, Time!

Importance of Brands to Firms

Identification to simplify handling or tracing, Legally protecting unique features, Signal of quality level, Endowing products with unique associations, Source of competitive advantage, Source of financial returns!

Can everything be branded? YES! Even commodities.

What is branded? Physical goods, Services, Retailers and distributors,

Online products and services, People and organizations, Sports, arts, and entertainment, Geographic locations, Ideas and causes!

Sources of Brand Strength

Vision & Will. Any brand—no matter how strong at one point in time—is vulnerable, and susceptible to poor brand management.

Branding Challenges/Opportunities Savvy customers, Brand proliferation, Media

fragmentation, Increased competition, Increased costs, Greater accountability!

The Brand Equity Concept No common viewpoint on how it should be conceptualized

and measured, it is defined in terms of the marketing effects that are uniquely attributable to the brand.

Brand Equity Because of brands, a product or service could have

different outcomes in the marketplace than if it did not have a brand

Strategic Brand Management Involves the design and implementation of marketing

programs and activities to build, measure, and manage brand equity.

Strategic Brand Management Process ID'ing/establishing positioning/ values

2. Planning/implementing marketing programs 3. Measuring/ interpreting performance 4. Growing/sustaining brand equity

Brand Equity Measurement System

A set of research procedures designed to provide timely, accurate, and actionable information for marketers so that they can make the best tactical decisions in the short run and the best strategic decisions in the long run.

Brand Audit

A comprehensive examination of a brand to assess its health, uncover sources of equity, and find ways to improve and leverage the equity.