WEEK 6

a. What is Brand Equity? b. Identify and explain the major elements of Brand

Brand Equity is the marketing and financial value associated with a brand's strength in the market. Four major elements underlie brand equity: brand name awareness, brand loyalty, perceived brand quality, and brand associations. Being aware of a brand leads to brand familiarity, resulting in increased levels of comfortableness with the brand. Customers are more likely to choose familiar brands over unfamiliar ones. Brand loyalty allows an organisation to keep its existing customers, and loyal customers reassure potential new ones. Customers associate a certain level of perceived overall quality with a brand. A brand name can even substitute for actual judgement of quality when customers are themselves unable to make quality judgements about products and rely on the brand as an indicator of quality. The final component of brand equity is the set of associations linked to a brand. Positive associations contribute significantly to a brand's equity.

Explain the Strategic Power of Branding across the Extended Marketing Mix.

Brands and branding are an essential part of effective marketing. People don't buy products they buy brands and therefore astute managers and marketers need to create, build and sustain strong brands. Understanding the operating environment and translating that into an effective market position, the brand is a powerful tool by which to demonstrate and encapsulate that position.

How does Branding benefit Consumers and Marketers?

Brands aid buyers by helping them identify specific products that they like and do not like, which in turn facilitates the purchase of items that satisfy individual needs. A brand also helps a buyer evaluate the quality of products, especially when the person lacks the ability to judge a product's characteristics. Brands identify a seller's products, which facilitates repeat purchases by consumers. To the extent that buyers become loyal to a specific brand, the firm's market share for that product achieves a certain level of stability. A stable market share places a firm in a position to use its resources more efficiently. When a firm develops some degree of customer loyalty for a brand, it can charge a premium price for the product. Branding helps an organisation introduce a new product that carries the name of one or more of its existing products. Branding facilitates promotional efforts because each branded product indirectly promotes all the firm's other products that are similarly branded.

How do Convenience Products and Shopping Products Differ? What are the distinguishing characteristics of each Type of Product?

CONVENIENCE PRODUCTS (milk, pay telephones, and gasoline) are purchased at the closest retail facility. SHOPPING PRODUCTS (clothing and furniture) are purchased after comparisons and alternatives have been evaluated. DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS include frequency of purchase, time of consumption, searching time, margins, and product adjustment. Convenience Products rank lower than Shopping Products in terms of searching time, margins, adjustment, and time of consumption. Convenience Products also are replaced more often than Shopping Products.

a. What is Co-Branding? b. What major issues should be considered when using Co-Branding?

Co-branding is the use of two or more brands on one product. Marketers employ cobranding to capitalise on the brand equity of multiple brands. The brands used for co-branding can be owned by the same company or by different companies. Some issues to consider when using co-branding are that the brands not lose their identities, and it should be clear to customers which brand is the main brand. It is important for marketers to understand that when a co-branded product is unsuccessful, both brands are implicated in the product failure. To gain customer acceptance, the brands involved must represent a complementary fit in the minds of buyers. Co-branding can help an organisation differentiate its products from those of its competitors. By using the product development skills of a co-branding partner, an organisation can create a distinctive product. Co-branding can also take advantage of the distribution capabilities of co-branding partners.

How do you market unsought services? For example, visits to the dentist and insurance services?

Suggestion: By activating problem recognition, for example showing how important it is to have regular check ups with the dentist or showing the need for insurance. Also the consequences of not using these services could be highlighted to the consumer.

How would you classify eBooks—a tangible good, an experience, or a service? Explain your choice.

Suggestion: While the device used to store and read an eBook is a tangible good, most students will probably argue that an eBook is not. eBook providers like Amazon, Google, and others treat books like a service, but they don't fit neatly with the four characteristics of services (intangibility, inseparability, variability, and perishability). At best, eBooks exhibit two of these characteristics—intangibility and perishability.

Can the Australian Open Championships be described as a product? Give reasons for your answer.

The Australian Open Championships fits the definition of a product as 'anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. It includes physical objects, services, persons, places, organisations and ideas' (Kotler et al., Marketing). 'Consuming' a tennis match can meet needs for entertainment and affiliation. It offers entertainment services and persons (in the form of star tennis players). The core benefits of the product may provide the consumer with an entertaining experience. The actual product might include stadium facilities, catering, booking service, information about tournament dates and merchandise. The augmented product could include access to VIP seating and facilities, club memberships, package deals such as travel plus accommodation plus tickets. Other commercial products in the form of tennis tournaments include The Davis Cup, The Fed Cup, Tennis Pro Circuit and Australian Open Series.

According to the text, a Product is defined as: a. Anything the customer receives in an exchange b. The physical object the customer receives in an exchange c. The service that is rendered to a customer d. The idea the customer receives in an exchange e. Goods and services the customer receives in an exchange.

a. Anything the customer receives in an exchange

Energizer batteries would be classified as which type of product? a. Convenience b. Shopping c. Specialty d. Unsought e. Industrial Service

a. Convenience

Convenience Products are: a. Relatively inexpensive, frequently purchased items for which buyers exert only minimal purchasing effort b. Frequently purchased items for which buyers are willing to exert considerable effort c. Frequently purchased items that are found in certain retail outlets d. Items that are expensive but are easy to purchase e. Items that require some purchase planning and for which the buyer often will not accept substitutes.

a. Relatively inexpensive, frequently purchased items for which buyers exert only minimal purchasing effort

Products for which buyers are willing to spend much time comparing stores and brands for differences in prices, product features, and services are called _____ products. a. Shopping b. Specialty c. Service d. Convenience e. Unsought

a. Shopping

Shannon Hill needed to buy an airline ticket to visit her parents. She called several airlines to compare rates and chose a flight on Jetstar Airlines because, for comparable prices, it had a better reputation for service. For Shannon, this flight is an example of which type of product? a. Shopping b. Convenience c. Specialty d. Unsought e. Industrial

a. Shopping

Products are classified as being Business or Consumer Products according to the: a. Goals of the organisation b. Buyer's intended use of the product c. Seller's intended use of the product d. Location of use e. Types of outlets from which they are purchased.

b. Buyer's intended use of the product

Peter is offering discount fishing tours during the winter months in Victoria. Andrew has spared no expense on the design of his meeting room at his architectural office, yet his own office behind closed doors is just functional and often messy. Arabella holds training session for all staff at her executive recruitment firm on a regular basis. Sam hires extra labourers in the spring and summer months to ensure building jobs are finished on time. Emma always leaves a free pen when she has completed her "computer doctor" home visits. Peter is responding to which dimension of services? a. Synchronous delivery and consumption b. Perishability c. Intangibility d. Variability e. High involvement

b. Perishability

Buyers do not compare alternatives when shopping for_____ products. a. Convenience b. Specialty c. Shopping d. Unique e. Unsought

b. Specialty

To make Intangible Products more tangible or real to the Consumer, Marketers often: a. Use low prices on intangible goods b. Use symbols or cues to help symbolise product benefits c. Use external reference prices d. Use multiple channels of distribution e. Offer more support services with such products.

b. Use symbols or cues to help symbolise product benefits

Destination Unlimited is a medium-sized travel agency that wants to become larger. Its slogan is, "You dream. We deliver. We plan. You play." Currently, it offers customers travel bags, personal electronic organisers, and city maps as ancillary products to the trips it arranges. The staff dresses informally. A gregarious soft-spoken receptionist takes incoming calls and greets each caller like a long-lost friend. The travel agency makes every single arrangement for the traveller down to the slightest detail, and even provides travellers with a mobile phone to call the agency if they have any problems on their trip. The travel agency is an example of a: a. pure service. b. major service with minor goods and services. c. hybrid. d. pure tangible good. e. tangible good with accompanying service.

b. major service with minor goods and services.

The part of a Brand that can be spoken, including letters, numbers, and words, is the: a. Brand b. Brand Mark c. Brand Name d. Trade Name e. Trademark.

c. Brand Name

A Brand is best defined as a: a. Registered design or symbol that may be displayed on a product or used to promote it b. Related group of words that describes a product c. Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one marketer's product as distinct from those of other marketers d. Copyrighted word or group of words that gives the manufacturer exclusive ownership and the right to sell a product under that name e. Name of the manufacturer of a product

c. Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one marketer's product as distinct from those of other marketers

When a sudden problem confronts a consumer, such as an emergency car repair, he or she is likely to view solutions to that problem as: a. Specialty Products b. Installations c. Unsought Products d. Shopping Products e. Convenience Products

c. Unsought Products

The Nike swoosh that is prominent on all of the firm's packaging, products, and advertising is a: a. Trade Character b. Brand c. Trade Name d. Brand Mark e. Brand Design.

d. Brand Mark

The value, measured in either marketing or financial terms, associated with a brand's strength in a market is referred to as Brand: a. Loyalty b. Value c. Share d. Equity e. Association.

d. Equity

Which of the following is most likely to be considered a Convenience Good? a. A Lamp b. A Haircut c. Running Shoes d. Gatorade e. Concert Tickets Purchased Online

d. Gatorade

Sports stars such as Ricky Ponting, Brendan Fevola or Billy Slater are often promoted as faces of the codes they represent. This is known as person marketing. This is done to: a. improve the endorsement potential of the stars. b. justify the sport's resource demands. c. improve the star image. d. improve interest in the sport. e. improve interest in the star.

d. improve interest in the sport

As Beth and Ron Barker search for a new home, they are interested only in houses built by a particular builder. This purchase is characteristic of a(n) ___________ product. a. Convenience b. Unsought c. Disposable d. Shopping e. Specialty

e. Specialty

Bells Bicycle Shop offers an extended warranty on the bicycles it sells; a free checkup after one month of use; and will assemble and deliver bicycles. In terms of the customer value hierarchy, the bicycle shop is offering a(n) ________ product. a. core b. basic c. service-added d. expected e. augmented

e. augmented

In the processed meat industry, Arabella Quality Meats (AQM) is a star. AQM had almost $4.6 billion in sales last year with sales in more than 140 nations. It owns and operates meat-processing plants in 40 different nations. AQM's business strategy includes product innovation, acquisitions and mergers, and market leadership in a number of different categories. Its growth strategies support an annual 6 percent growth in sales. Brands in the Arabella Quality product line are Belle's, Emma's Home Cookin', Sunnydale Farms, Sarah's Cookies, Quick and Tasty and Cordy's Kosher Foods. According to an AQM executive, "We work very hard at Arabella Quality on brand equity. We have to make sure our new ideas are not only profitable and achieve big volume for our [retail] customers, but also that they are consistent with the quality of the brand and there is a good fit." Some of AQM's recent new products that seems to have a good fit with the company's other products was Quick and Tasty. Quick and Tasty is described as a lunch combination. It features two small sandwiches, chips, and dessert. The lunch combination was developed and marketed by Emma's Home Cookin', a company that prior to the introduction of this product had just made cakes. When Sunnydale Farms, a manufacturer of various kinds of sausages, introduced a new line of sausages made with turkey meat under the Sunnydale Farms brand, it was an example of a ________ strategy. a. co-branding b. brand licensing c. line extension d. multibranding e. brand extension

e. brand extension