Products

* Oonsiderthe importanceof brand recognition

Q". Discussthe importanceof researchinga product concept

Iead-in
. Givethreeexamples of brandsto whichyouareloyal,i.e.whichyo-
regularly
buywithoutthinkingaboutit. Whyareyouloyalto them?
. Whatproducts aretherefor whichyouarewhatmarketers calla brand-switcher,
i.e.youhaveno preference to a particular
for or loyalty brand?
. Whatproducts canyouthinkof for whichthe nameof the brandistotally
so thatyoudon'tevennoticeit?
unimportant,

Reading:Productsand brands
Readthe following text, and write a brief headingfor each section.

hran'"1na;::.*ean b* r*infcr*cd rry di*li:r*tive

lA(1.'-n .L rrtinr
-l ' rri rrr.

A produci is anytli::rg*1et **n i:* *ff*red ia a Th* k*1r*b;ecll'i* *f "crandlngls io cr*ale a

mark*t that snightcei:srya "#,rs.nt ar ne*d. This r*lati*:*hip rf trust"fust*r**rs hev* an im*g* *i
ir]#ailstiiat **rvic*s. icisur* a*iiv:li*s, p*i:pl* th* br*ed isrthfiir:::inds. cr*rhinrng knc.r-ledge
(Foiiiicia*,*,ethlet*s. {irii*r$},piarcs {hclitt*v .'t^.\.1"
6iJU"t
*:,^
l:tr
n-+"!:r,.e
li,UU lL'- ^6d
Oll!, tnF:r
i!itrrr nvn&rirFiJ:nr.r'
LAlJ: -,i.j.r.!J Ut

rf;ssrts!and *rganixeticnsihos*iials-rali*g**. i l . S f , : t " e L r j a : l L i Sc r f : j c e n 0 { f t j O r F i r r t i l j L l : 1

p*liticaSg:arti*s|*an als* be l*nsid*r*d as
pr*dn*ts.
&Au*in:.a::uf**tur*rsdiviii* tneir Fifidu*ts i::ta
ilr{:durt li::*s "- grdiup$*f closclyrelateript+ducrs.
s$id lo ti:e **::l* flncifi:Tl*rgr*uF$,::nd.:tr*rkeied
ti:r*L:g:rti:e san.:*ilu€ets. F*raus* ilus1{l:nors'
*e**r .3nrim*rir*t,! are **::*tariii-g *1r+islt!].
**ii i:**ai;se d:ff*r*::t p:**u*ts ar* e;*r*rali:r *r
d3ffer*nt *ta*cs *f f.3r*irlif* *V*3es"rrrrii!:gr*wilg,
#ahl* r:r d**linin'E *aleg anri pr*li:-ai:iiity,
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; i 3 . r rl A 1 ,-F ? tn n t,,+,r m 1l
^.,_tdUJl
p r c l d t t r l , ' r - r rs F I \ , i ': i . 3 : t h p , - 5 : i l : t '. : 5 i r . i i . , "r e n T t s c t i t
*ltst*ffier*- attlilr,i*$ *; fe*1i*gs, +*.g.lii:lc*"
Siaihu*ks.;ippie Cc;npr",i1*r"Th* S*d3rSh*p. *tc.
,*f
Fy"rr*y *xt*nsiv* advertisiitg,rompaniesca*
actrjev*i:rai:d r*cogni?i*n*;:r*i:Lgth* gen*ral
plllu ttr,.i':CrnUnriii:cnr,J ::e;ui+wi-o urr
::cl elrenint*resteeiin th* pradu*is.Era;:dinEis
:":.sed
f*r B?B i13usi*ess-i**H*.sin*s*!merk*tinq
; : ; ; , r a l - e f r : l l cl t : " '; c : 'n p l n =r ; t r i . d : . , v e j l c t l c r
csir$uffi€r g*i:*s in fr2C il3u*ines***l** il*;:.silmer!
fir*rk*ii;r9.

S**r* **rr,pagli*sin*L*d* ri:*ir nam* !:: all th*ir

lv3*sipro*u*ts *ftsy*ei-ftr saie hy letail*rs are
hra;rd*d.A l:rar:d i* a na:ne,*r a symbrl, *r *
l*g* th*t clis'ii*qui*ir+$
!:r**Llirts*:rd *errii*es
fro* ***.pt*?i::g ciferlngs. and mahescclisui:l*rs
;emeulJ:*rtlr'"*crnlpaftg.pr*daci c-:rservi**. ,4
p;*du*is i**rp*r;rt+ hrai:r!in';i,*. g. ilhllips, \rrg:n,
Y ;ni i ,ta l l i re;' .U :1,!r:l :j :S U t' ;rl :.i :r,' Lcl :rcnrl
i i .:t ,;tq
and gi:i* *a*i": pr*du*€ lis *-*,,n i:r*;:rl ?:eff.e. ${J
ii:* r*n:i:*::!r nafiie ii; l*ss -1,r,**11*kn*"i'fu';: thar: its
i:ranils i**:np*r* the r:iiir* ilr**i*: & *a*:hi*; valtit

60 Unit ll Products
 Marketing I

its individual hirandnarnesFampers,Fringles'

iluraceil and Gillettel.
Scmec*mpanles,surh as the major
produ*ers of saap powders, have a multi-brand
strategy which allows then: tCIfill up space
on supermarketshelves,ieaving less room for
csrnpetitors.Hven if ane brand tannii:alizes' {or
eats intol cr tak€s businessarvay fram another
ane produced by the same fompasy, th* sales
do nat go t* a competit*r. Having three out of
i2 brands in a market generally gives a greater
market share than having one out of ten, and
gives a c0mpany a better chance af getting same
0f the ct:stsm of brand-switcher*.
The lrrand cansultancyInterhrand pubiishes
an annuai iist of the Eest Global Brands,which
shovrs that the worth of a hrrandcan be much
greaterthan a company'sphysiealassets"Fcr
exampie.in the eariy 2000s, the value CIfthe tCIp
ranked brand. Coca-Cola" was caleulatedat aver
$70 biilion. Consequently"a *ompany'smarket
value {the combined price of all its shares}can be
much greater than its i:ssk vaiue * the recorded
rralue*f its tangible assetssuch as buildings
and maehinery.Brand value largely comesfrom
cristomerioyalty: the existenceof customerewlio
v,iill continueto buy the products.

Comprehension
1 Whydo companies' change?
productmixesregularly
2 Whydo companies brandtheirproducts?
3 betweencorporate
Whatisthedifference branding branding?
andindividual
4 Whydo the bigsoappowderproducershavea strategy?
multi-brand
5 Whvcanthe marketvalueof companiesbe muchhigherthanthevalueof theirtangible
assets?

Vocabulary
Find words or expressionsin the text which mean the following:
1 placesof business for sellinggoodsto customers (shops, stores,kiosks,etc.)
2 allthe differentproducts,brandsanditemsthat a companysells
3 businesses thatsellgoodsor merchandise to individual consumers
4 a graphicimageor symbol created
specially to identifya company or a product
5 wrappersandcontainers usedto encloseand protect a product
6 the extentto whichconsumers areawareof a brand,andknowits name
7 surfaces in a storeon which goods aredisplayed
8 the salesof a company expressed as a percentage of totalsalesin a givenmarket
9 consumers who buyvariouscompeting products rather thanbeingloyalto a particular
brand

Brandsand attitudes
Discussion:
1 What attitude would you associatewith the following brands?
. Apple . LouisVuitton
. BMW . MTV
. Harley-Davidson . Nike
. lkea . Sony

2 Which brands do you have an emotionalattachmentto, becausethey

representyour attitudes or feelings?

Productsunit lt 61
 listening l: Notjust a juice bar f,@
MelissaGlasshas openeda chainof juice bars in Switzerland.Listento her
talking about ZesteJuiceBars,and answerthe questions.
1 Whatlinesof oroductsdo Zestesell?
2 WhydoesMelissa Glasssay'wedon'tconsider
ourselvesjusta juicebar'?

Listening2: The originof smoothies@

Listento MelissaGlasstalking about where smoothiescome from, and why they
launchedthe product in Switzerland,and answer the questions.
1 Wheredidthe conceptof juicebarsoriginate,
andhowdid it develop?
Melissa Glass and
her partner 2 WheredidMelissaandherhusband f rstseethe conceot?
3 Whydidtheydecideto opentheirjuicebarsin Switzerland?

listening 3: Launchingthe product[38fr

Listento MelissaGlasstalking about doing market researchand opening the
first store, and answer the questions.Then listen again to checkyour answers.
1 Fillin the gapsbelowin whatMelissasays.

into1
Wehadto do research , we hadto do research
intocolours,what
2-whereitwasgoingtobethemoSt5UcceSsfu|.Weknewthatobvious|ywe
needed3-
the placeswith highpassage
locations, areextremely so it'salwaysa balance
expensive,
betweengettingsomewhere
that'sgot enoughpassage
but not too,too expensive,
whenyou'resellinga productthat hasa costpriceof f ve francsyou haveto sell
because
a|otofjuicesandsmoothieStocoVerthebase,thea-.Apart
questionnaire
fromthatwe hadto do obviously friends,takesurveys,
we hadto do,we
a|sodid5-,6-,wedidacoup|eofpartiesatourp|acetotrythe
products,
different andto choosethe different thatwe weregoingto startwith.
smoothies

2 Whatdoes'high-frequencypassage'
mean?
3 Whydidtheygivetheirbarsandproducts names?
English
4 Whatwastheirplanafterlaunching
in Lausanne?

62 Unit lt Products
 a productconcept
Casestudy:Researching
In smallgroups,chooseone of the followingbusinesses,
and think about how you would go about launchingit in
yourtown:
. a j u i c eba r
. a taxicomPanY
ptzzaservice
a home-delivery
a gymandftnesscentre
school
a language
of Yourchoice.
anotherbusiness

Thinkabout:
1 Theoroductconcept: whatexactly offer,andhowwouldit differ
wouldthe business
competing
fromsimilar, businesses?
whatwouldthe ideallocation
2 fhe location: be,bearingin mindthatthe closerto the
towncentreandthe busierthestreet,the higherthe rent?
3 Thenameof the business, andthe imageit wantsto project.
Whatkindof design
wouldyouuse?
wouldyoutry to competeon price,by beingcheaper
4 Pricing: thancompetitors,or
andchargea higherprice?
shouldyoutry to be betteror different,
Onceyou have some ideas about the product concept,the preferredlocation,
the nameand image,and your pricingstrategy,decidehow you could do some
market researchto see whether potential customerswould be interested'
What informationwould you need?Where could you get it?

Couldyou use the followingmarketresearchmethods?

. questionnaireresearch:askingquestionsby telephoneor personal
interviewing
. focus group interviews:getting severalpotentialtarget customersto meet
(for a small fee) and discussthe product concept
. secondarydata: studying governmentstatistics,businessnewspapers,
magazinesand trade journals,reports publishedby private market research
agencies,competitors'annualreports, etc.
lf time permits,carry out the research,and report back'

Writing
words) either outlining your product concept and
Write a short report (150-2OO
plansfor the business,or explainingwhat researchyou undertookand what the
resultswere.

ProductsUnit I I 63