MANAGING PRODUCT LINES & BRANDS

PRODUCT:

A product is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a want or need.

CLASSIFICATION OF PRODUCT:

Based on Durability & Tangibility

Non-durable goods (tangible) Consumed in one or few uses Eg: beer & soup. Durable goods (tangible) Long survival goods Services (intangible)

Continues.,

Consumer goods Classification

Convenience goods tobacco products, soaps, news papers Shopping goods Customer select & purchase suitability, quality, price & style Ex: furniture, clothing, used cars, etc. Specialty goods goods with unique characteristics or brand identifications. Ex: cars, stereo components, photographic equipment etc. Unsought goods goods that the consumers does not know about or normally does not think of buying. Ex: life insurance, Health insurance etc.

Continues.,

Industrial goods classification

Materials & parts Capital items installations & equipments Supplies & business services Lubricants, coal, paper, pen, and paints.

PRODUCT MIX

It is the set of all products and items that a particular seller offers for sale.

Product width Product length The Depth The Consistency

Product width:

Product width of a product mix refers to how many different product lines that company carries. (soaps, powders, shampoos, etc)

Product length:

Total number of items in the mix. (total of all product and product lines, i.e., above 100 products of HLL)

The Depth:

How many variants are offered of each product in the line. (i.e., how many brands are in shampoo line,)

The Consistency

The refers to how closely related the various product lines are in end use, production requirements, distribution channels or some other way.

What is a brand?

A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors. The best brands convey a warranty of quality.

Brand Equity

Five distinguished levels of customer attributes towards their brand from lowest to higher.

Not known by buyers High degree of brand awareness High degree of brand acceptability High degree of brand preference High degree of brand Loyalty.

1.

2. 3. 4. 5.

Customer will change brands, especially for price reasons no brand loyalty. Customer is satisfied, no reason to change the brand. Customer is satisfied and would incur costs by changing brand. Customer values the brand and sees it as a friend. Customer is devoted to the brand.

Brand Equity

Brand equity is high related to how many customers are in classes 3,4 and 5. it is also related to the degree of brand name recognition, perceived brand quality, strong mental and emotional association, and other assets such as patents, trademarks and channel relationships.

Branding Decision:

Once a company decides on its brand name strategy, it faces the task of choosing a specific brand name.

A company may choose:

The name of a person Honda, Ford, Muniandi vilas, T.V.S. Location American Airlines, Chetinad foods. Life style Life style, Healthy choice, High look T. shirts Artificial name Kodak, Miyami

BRANDING DECISION PROCESS

1. BRAND DECISION
a) b)

Brand or No Brand

2. Brand-Sponsor Decision
1.

2.
3.

Manufacturer Brand Distributor (Private) Brand Licensed Brand

3. Brand-Name Decisions
1.

2.
3. 4.

Individual Brands Blanket Family Names Separate Family Names Company trade name combined with individual product name (KelogConfliks)

5. Brand-repositioning Decisions
1.

Repositioning (7up) one of the soft drink to alternative to Cola, as refreshing. (or)

2. No-repositioning

DESIRABLE QUALITIES OF A BRAND NAME:

It should suggest something about the products benefits, eg: Beauty-rest, Fair & Lovely etc., It should suggest product qualities such as action or colour Ex: Jet Airways It should be easy to pronounce, recognize & remember Ex: Bata, etc It should be distinctive Ex: Kodak, Xerox It should not carry poor meanings in other countries or in other languages, (Ex: Nova is a poor name of a car in Spanishspeaking countries, it means doesnt go)

BRAND STRATEGY DECISION:

Line Extension (Existing brand name extended to new sizes or flavors in the existing product category. Brand Extensions (Brand names extended to new-product categories). Multi brands (New brand names introduced in the same product category). New Brands (New brand name for new category products). Co-Brands (Brands bearing two or more wellknown brand names. Ex: Hero-Honda.

PACKAGING:

It includes the activities of designing and producing the container for a product. Primary Package Secondary Package Shipping Package

ADVANTAGES OF PACKAGING:

Self-Service

Impulse purchase

Attracts attention Describe the products feature Create consumer confidence Favourable overall impression

Continues.,

Consumer affluence
Convenience Appearance Dependability Prestige of better package

Company & Brand Image (Packages contributes instant recognition of company & brand). Innovation opportunity (change may give increase in sales).

LABELING:

A label performs several functions: Label helps to identify the product or brand, Grade the brand (ISI, ISO 9000) Describe the product

Who made it? Where it was made? When it was made? What it contains? How it is to be used? and How to use it safely?

Finally the label might promote the product through its attractive graphics.

Thank You