PRODUCT AND BRAND MANAGEMENT

PRODUCT CYCLE
Introduction stage. This is the first stage of the product life cycle, when the product is first
introduced to the market. Sales are typically low during this stage, as consumers are still
learning about the product and its benefits.
 Marketing costs are high, as the company is trying to generate awareness and
demand for the product.
 The company may use a variety of marketing strategies to promote the product
during this stage, such as advertising public relations, and sales promotions.
 The company may also offer discounts or introductory prices to encourage
consumers to try the product.

Growth stage. This is the second stage of the product life cycle, when sales start to
increase rapidly. This is due to increasing awareness and acceptance of the product, as
well as competition from other companies. Marketing costs start to decrease during this
stage, as the company is no longer focused on generating awareness.
 The company may focus on expanding distribution channels and increasing sales
during this stage.
 The company may also introduce new features or variations of the product to
maintain sales growth.

Decline stage. This is the fourth and final stage of the product life cycle, when sales start to
decrease. This is due to a number of factors, such as competition from newer products,
changes in consumer tastes, or technological obsolescence. Marketing costs are typically
low during this stage, as the company is no longer trying to sell the product.
 The company may focus on phasing out the product or introducing a new product to
replace it.

Maturity stage. This is the third stage of the product life cycle, when sales reach a peak
and start to level off. This is due to the fact that most of the potential customers for the
product have already bought it Marketing costs are also low during this stage, as the
company is focused on maintaining market share.
 The company may focus on improving the product's quality or features to attract new
customer.

DUNKIN DONUT

Just Call Us Dunkin

Dunkin moved towards becoming a lifestyle brand. It launched the first dunkin’ popup shop with
holiday items in November.
  Later that same month, Dunkin’ released a candle collab with brand Homesick, an early
indicator of the many other brand collabs to come.
 Plant-based food craze, rolling out the Beyond Sausage breakfast sandwich to
thousands of stores.
 Dunkin’ was also majority investing in its drive thrus around the time.
 In 2020, Dunkin started expanding its offerings outside of coffee with the Matcha Latte in
February
 The plant-based trend continued in August 2020 with the introduction of Planet Oat oat
milk.
 In the fall of 2020, Dunkin’ kept up the lifestyle branding with National Coffee Day merch.

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT

Product Management. Is the process of defining, developing, launching, and managing a

product. It is a cross-functional role that involves working with a variety of stakeholders, such as
engineers, designers, marketers, and sales representatives.

3 The main responsibilities of a product manager include:

 Understanding the needs of the target customers
 Deters it needled erisements
 Prioritizing features and functionality.
 Working with engineers and designers to develop the product.
 Launching the product and managing its post-launch success.

New product development (ND). Is the process of creating a new product or service. It is a
complex and challenging process that involves a variety of steps, such as:
 Idea generation
 Market research
 Concept development
 Prototype testing
 Product launch

The 7 Stages of Product Management

Idea generation: This is the stage where new product ideas are generated. This can be done
through brainstorming, market research, or customer feedback.

Idea screening: This is the stage where the most promising ideas are selected for further
development.

Market research: This is the stage where the target market is analyzed to understand their
needs and wants.

Product requirements: This is the stage where the product requirements are defined. This
includes the features, functionality, and performance of the product.

Product development: This is the stage where the product is designed, engineered, and
manufactured.
Product launch: This is the stage where the product is introduced to the market.

Product management: This is the stage where the product is managed throughout its life cycle.

The Challenges of Product Management and New Product Development

Meeting customer needs: It can be difficult to meet the needs of all customers.

Staying ahead of the competition: The competition is constantly innovating, so it is important

to stay ahead of them.

Managing risk: There is always some risk involved in new product development.

Managing time and resources: It can be difficult to manage time and resources effectivel

Launching a successful product: It can be difficult to launch a product that is successful in

the marketplace.

Event management. Is the process planning, organizing, and executing events. It can involve a
wide range of activities, such as:
 Determining the goals of the event
 Developing a budget
 Choosing a venue
 Hiring vendors
 Marketing the event
 Executing the event
 Evaluating the event

MICE

Meeting is a gathering of 10 or more individuals for a minimum of four hours in a contracted

venue (Convention Industry Council, 2011). Meetings are often exclusive and formal. They are
held in different fields of professions. Those that are held among top officials of the national
government with top officials of other nations are known as high level meetings. Examples are
the ASEAN ministerial meetings and APEC Heads of State meetings. Types of meetings include
annual general meetings, board meetings, and management meetings.
 Conference comes from the Latin word confer meaning to bring together. It is another
big meeting of various sectors of an industry that can last for several days with hundreds
or thousands of participants discussing a variety of issues concerning their industry. It
can be accompanied by an exhibition, or other activities. If the conference aims to attract
different sectors of an industry, it usually has break out sessions to focus on each
subsector of the industry.

BRAND EQUITY
Brand Equity is the value of a brand, based on the consumer’s perception of its quality,
desirability, and associations. It is a measure of how well a brand is known and liked, and how
much it is worth to the company that owns it.

Brand Equity can be build throught a variety of factors, including:

 Brand Awareness: How well-known is the brand

 Brand Image: What are the positive and negative associations that consumers have
with the brand?
 Brand Loyalty: How likely are consumers to repurchase the brand?
 Brand Perceived Quality: How good is the brand perceived to be?
 Brand Price Premium: Are consumers willing to pay a premium for the brand?

Types of New Products

o Innovative products: Products that are new to the market.

o Replacement products: Products that are new versions of existing products.
o Incremental products: Products that offer minor improvements over existing products.
o Repositioned products: Products that are repositioned in the market to appeal to a
new target market.

Components of Brand Equity

 Brand Awareness: This is how well-known the brand consumers.

 Brand Image: This is the set of associations that consumers have with the brand, both
positive and negative.
 Brand Loyalty: This is the likehood that consumers will repurchase the brand.
 Perceived Quality: This is how good consumers believe the brand to be.
 Brand Associations: These are the specific attributes, benefits, and values that
consumers associate with the brand.
 Brand Personality: This is the human-like characteristics that consumers ascribe to the
brand.
 Brand Experience: This is the sum of all the interactions that consumers have with the
brand, both online and offline.
 Brand Value: This is the financial worth of the brand.

How can brand equity be measured?

o Brand awareness
o Brand image
o Brand loyalty
o Perceived quality
o Brand associations
o Brand personality
o Brand experience

How can a company build brand equity?

 o Create a strong brand identity: This includes developing a clear and consistent brand
name, logo, and visual identity. The brand identity should be memorable, distinctive, and
relevant to the target audience.
o Invest in advertising and marketing: This will help to build awareness of the brand
and create positive associations with it. Advertising and marketing should be consistent
with the brand identity and should focus on creating a positive emotional connection with
consumers.
o Provide excellent customer service: This will help to build customer loyalty and trust.
Customer service should be responsive, helpful, and friendly. It should also be
consistent with the brand identity.
o Be consistent in your messaging and branding: This will help to create a clear and
memorable brand image. The brand messaging should be consistent across all
channels, including advertising, marketing, social media, and customer service.
o Be innovative and creative: This will help to keep the brand fresh and relevant.
Innovation can be seen in new product development, new marketing campaigns, or new
ways of interacting with customers.
o Engage with consumers on social media: This is a great way to build
relationshipswith customers and get feedback on the brand. Social media can be used to
share news and updates about the brand, to answer questions from customers, and to
host contests and giveaways.
o Build partnerships with other brands: This can help to extend the reach of the brand
and to reach new customers. Partnerships can be made with complementary brands,
with non-profit organizations, or with celebrities.
o Give back to the community: This can help to build goodwill and positive associations
with the brand. Companies can give back to the community through donations, volunteer
work, or other initiatives.

Brand architecture is the organization of your company's portfolio. It includes its brands,
products and services. Written down, it will resemble some sort of family tree type diagram.
 In an ideal scenario, this diagram will flow nicely, with a clear understanding of how your
products and services both relate and create a point of difference from each other. This
understanding will help you focus your marketing efforts and define your offerings clearly
to customers.

Types of Brand Architecture

 Branded house architecture is the most common type of architecture, all brand activity
is orchestrated by the core brand.
 While there may be specific designations for different product and service lines, they are
all centralized under the parent brand that owns them.
 Sub-brands cannot stand on their own if they live under a parent brand architecture.
 Google is a good example of this type of architecture.
 Google (Google Chrome, Google Cloud, Google Maps)

Benefits of Branded House

 Sub-brands amplify the parent brand through consistent visibility, which increases
overall brand equity.
  Visual consistency and homogeneity reduce the risk of confusion for customers.
 Sub-brands are automatically associated with the qualities and reputation of the parent
brand - a benefit as long as it's good, of course.
 The parent brand gives space to develop and market sub-brands.
 Marketing operations are more cost-effective and efficient because they are
concentrated within the parent's organization.
 Overall operational efficiency.

Disadvantages of Branded House

 Sub-brands are very dependent on the reputation of the parent brand, so if the parent
brand goes down, so do the sub-brands.
 If something goes wrong with a sub-brand or the parent brand, the overall architecture
will suffer.
 The parent brand's performance depends on its sub-brands, if they don't perform well,
the parent brand will suffer and building brand equity will be difficult.
 If the parent brand offers too many products, it can become confusing to the consumer
who loses sight of the brand's core mission and business.

ENDORSED BRANDS

 Endorse brand/ Sub-brands are related to the parent brand but have a little more
independence from the branded house.
 Their product and service lines are more distinct and defined, they have their own
qualities while still meeting the values and message of the parent brand.
 Visually, the main brand remains predominant.

ENDORSED BRANDS

 MARRIOT (Countyard, SpringHill Suites, TownePlace Suites)

 KELLOGG’S (Rice Krispies, Crunchy Nut, Corn Flakes)

Benefits of Endorsed Brand

 The endorsement adds credibility, but sub-brands can have their unique look & feel.
 All new sub-brands can benefit from the positive equity of the master brand.
 Allows to compete in the market without alienating the existing audience.

Disadvantage of Endorsed Brand

 If any sub-brand goes through a crisis it can also affect the parent brand (and peer
brands).
 A higher cost and longer time-to-market wait for every new endorsed brand (than
monolithic).
 Although sub-brands are independent, they must align with the master brand to some
extend.

HOUSE OF BRANDS
  In this model, the core brand houses a series of autonomous brands, disconnected from
each other. They all have their own logo, name, slogan and marketing strategy.
 In this architecture, consumers are often unaware of the connection between the sub-
brands and the main brand, which is primarily required for administrative or investment
purposes.
 The brand has multiple individual brands, ranging from personal care to home products,
in different consumer segments.

EXAMPLE: P&G — Ariel, Gillette, Pampers

Key advantages
 Excellent market penetration in many market segments.
 Negative spillover from other brands is avoided because they are all separate from each
other.
 Each brand has its own promise, message and reputation.

Key disadvantages
 It's expensive to create new sub-brands (legal, creative, marketing etc.)
 It's a challenge to establish new brands without any endorsement.
 It requires time and money investment in order to build awareness for new brands.

HYBRID BRAND

 Also called a blended house or hybrid brand, the architecture of endorsed brands is a
combination of the architectures of the brand house and the house of brands.
 All sub-brands have their own brand promise while using certain features and elements
of the parent brand to their advantage.
 In the endorsed brand architecture, the parent brand owns the sub-brands but they have
more individuality and flexibility as they can have a greater presence in the market.
 Of course, being under the umbrella of the parent brand, they are expected to perform at
a certain level, but their actions are not dictated by the parent brand.

Benefits of Hybrid Brand

 It allows to basically get the best of both worlds.
 Allows for mergers/ acquisitions of different types of brands.
 Some sub-brands can have a new identity, while others are closely related (greater
flexibility).

Downsides of Hybrid Brand

 It can be confusing as to which sub-brands should be independent and which ones
endorsed etc.
 It can be quite a challenge to keep the brand books updated across the board.

EXAMPLE: The Walt Disney Company — MARVEL, ABC, Walt Disney World

CREATING A BRAND IN A COMPETITIVE MARKET

 Start with a clear understanding of your target market.

 Define your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
 Create a strong brand identity. This includes your brand name, logo, colors,
typography, and overall visual style. Your brand identity should be consistent across all
touchpoints, from your website to your marketing materials to your customer service.
 Build brand awareness. This means getting your brand in front of your target market as
much as possible.You can do this through advertising, public relations, social media, and
other marketing channels.
 Deliver on your promises.
 Be consistent. Your brand should be consistent across all touchpoints, from your
website to your marketing materials to your customer service. This will help to build trust
and familiarity with your brand.
 Be authentic. Don't try to be something you're not. Be true to your brand's values and
personality. This will help you connect with your target market on a deeper level.