Free course 1 - Products Services and Branding

Hey, thanks for coming in this topic.

As it says in the course description i will take it and talk about new products and those from the existing portfolio on this forum.
Examining the particular case of service products.
I will learn what a product is (levels, types, categorization, the line and the mix)

Product services and branding
Key : The marketing markets a product only if it determined a need associated with it and a desirability to it
Key : test your product/service before launching it
Depending on trends, available local supermarket product-mix,  and the life cycle of the product, the product manager will take the decision to launch or discontinue a product from the portfolio.

How products are defined and classified
Activity 1
Task A
Began reading the Extract 1 from Marketing Essentials

In a nutshell, we have to know in what fields to innovate. We have to know what consumers need. By knowing that we will know when to innovate and where the product is in its life cycle (i read the field "smelly frabrics", page 5 to learn that). When you are the owner of a revolutionary technology (like the micro-encapsulated scent fabrics) you are ahead of the market and you position yourself as a leader. So you predict that your technology will be of use by your clients nor competitors.

Next time I'll be reading "3 Introducing the product life cycle and describing product features"

TASK A  

Marketing essentials - extract 2

An analogy is made between the product life cycle and the natural life cycle of nature. I think it is a great way to start the course, as we are more concerned and responsible for the environement. We have to treat the product like a thing which comes from nature, or at least try to design more natural products...but i am getting a little too much phylosophical. So let's get back to earth.
The product life cycle is easy to understand : it grows, it matures, it declines and finaly it desapears.

The publication shows a table with 2 dimensions : product line depth, which are the different products in each type of product and the product mix width which i think is how many different categories of products there are in the segment in term of applications.

There is a strategy for each stage of the life cycle. It means acting on the packaging, the brand, label techniques to help a product go into its next stage properly : it can be competition, promotion, distribution, pricing and market information that can change.

The goal is to be profitable : earn money on the long term with certain products and drop unprofitable ones.

The highest costs to handle when the product enters the market are promotion and distribution. Most of products drive sales rapidely. The author says that most of products are like copies of the others, but with an other set of caracteristics (visible or not by the consumer).

It says marketing companies with involved senior management are the one that drive innovation the most. It is a known fact that the higher the engagement in the company, the better the decisions will be (and the more agreement there will be).


During the growing stage, competitors react very aggresively, rapidely to the introduction of the product. 10 other brands can compete with your product. The more competitors enter the market, the more intense the competiton becomes (some competitors leave the market). More and more companies share the profits.
A typical marketing strategy is based on strong brand loyalty (driven by sales promotion).

The compagny tries to strengthen its market share by being aggressive on its prices, by using the Internet to create even more revenues and go into the maturity stage.


During maturity stage, competition is so severe that producers have to come up with fresh promotional and distribution efforts (brand visibility on the point of sale) and ways to surprise the consumers that have become specialists.


There is a decline stage when new trends or technology disrupt the existing ones.

A company owns multiple products with different life cycles. Whats she does is discontinuing products in decline and introducing new ones.

But Why some products fail and others succeed ?

Falling products :
- company didn't understand customer need
- inefective / inconsistant branding
- technical problems
- design problems
- poor timing (at the time of a controversy : coca cola and the purity of tap water, too soon : the market is not ready...)
- ineffective promotion and inefficient distribution (unable to be flexible, agile, efficient...)

Successfull products :
- perceivable benefit (value)
- target a sizeable amount of customers (who can buy the product)
- observable advantage over similar products (added value with more functionality, manufacturing process...)


Tangible elements of better quality :
- materials durability
- more expensive processing
- higher product price


Intangible elements of decisions making
- promises of satisfaction
- give guaranties (use guarantors) (unconditional, easy to understand and communicate, meaningfull, easy to invoque, quick and easy to act on)
- promise return, replacement, refund


Influence of Marketing :
- changing the communication message adressed to a segment of the population who changes quickly
- inspire through the brand content and products


TASK B    

A spiral notebook :

Tangible attributes :
- quallity of the paper
- quality of the metal spiral
- page number
- dimensions


Intangible attributes
- ability to write while standing
- satisfying writing experience




Benefits of the SPIRAL NOTEBOOK VS Benefits of LIFE INSURANCE

You pay to have a space to write in case you want to
You pay to be covered in case you die
In both cases, the future is uncertain.


TASK C



How the concepts of the product mix relate to the product life cylce ?
Each product corespond to a stage of a life cycle.
The link between the two are the evolution of sales, competitors reactions, trends...






Next time : "4 Thinking about the future for the Volkwagen Golf"

Wow. That was a lot of information.

What were your personal views on it?

Products and services are different things. Products are what you put physically on the market, services are designed to answer specific needs via digital platforms, apps, devices. Product marketing is based on life cycle strategy, digital services are helpfull to marketers to make more customers to buying a product physicaly.

Branding is using insights on physical and digital customers to articulate them in a coherent way that will generate sales. Plastical elements, such as graphic elements, products atributes and also communication campagnes, help build a coherent brand.

Nowadays, digital has become such an important way to both gather information on customers and make them buy services and goods.

To this point i find that that course is not too specific about the levers to inscrease sales, but it gives me the opportunity to strengthen my knowledge with relatively good examples.

So the 4rth question is about launching or not a new range ow Wolkswagen Golf. Here is my report giving the for and against for the 2 options :

Launching a new model
- for : customers will discover a new model
- the brand extands it's product ranges
- take the opportunity to innovate
- answer the current needs of the customers
- give the company the image of hardworking

Against : it will cost money (over the current money that is engaged on other products)
It will take time and effort (it's OK but...) the company may not have enough of them

This time i'll be finishing my online course by learning about Building a portfolio of beer brands (it's the 5th part).

Here is a quick summary of the document :
- 50% sales = europe
- +80% sales originating outside Dutch market
- Some competitors : only focus on the international premium beer brands
- H = Countries with 2 strong national brands  +   170 speciality beers brands (local)
- To stay ahead : The company has still to fit the needs of the different countries of the EU. The portfolios have to fit with the local cultures ans tastes.


Also : in each EU country there is Eineken + a national brand + a local brand. (this is the strategy of the Chairman Thony Ruys). A strategy based uppon having share in over 60 brewing companies. This strategy helps with the economies of scale and create successfull level of distribution. Along with this strategy, the company is trendy (it follows the trends so it is trendy) in term of design, tastes and branding policy (especialy in the UK). The brand has secured strong market positions in many countrie, especially in 7 countries of the Eastern Europe. Heineken now focuses more on the far east and far west (NA and Russia) but also some asian countries.

Now i will answer the 3 questions of the course :


  Why was the UK’s version of Heineken lager weaker than its counterpart in the rest of Europe? What problems has this product variation caused Heineken?


  Why does Heineken opt for a mix of internationally known brands marketed alongside local beers?
 

  In what ways is Heineken continually updating its product portfolio and its marketing mix?

Why was the UK’s version of Heineken lager weaker than its counterpart in the rest of Europe? What problems has this product variation caused Heineken?

As mentionned in the document, the branding policy of beverages in the UK is slightly different. It doesn't authorize to put on the market a too strong version of a beer. But that changed as the English people got more sophisticated.


Why does Heineken opt for a mix of internationally known brands marketed alongside local beers?

Heineken has a strategy focused on creating good level of distribution : be in much places as it is possible and with 3 clear types of brands. This strategy is also helping with the economies of scale : growing significantly to reach the critical size (where the company is the most profitable and can invest in its activities).


In what ways is Heineken continually updating its product portfolio and its marketing mix?
Heineken aims for other regions of the wolrd and it is staying trendy.