Module 2 – Case
THE MARKETING MIX: PRODUCTS AND BRANDING STRATEGIES
Questions/Tasks
Assume that you are the newly appointed Marketing Manager for any of the products listed below. To quickly bring you up to speed on your product or retailer, your VP of Marketing has asked you to prepare a short report that answers the following question: Do Consumers have positive relationships with (the product or retailer you chose) or negative relationships with the (the product or retailer you choose)? Defend your position. Either way, if they have a positive, negative, or no relationship, what does having a relationship or not having a relationship mean for marketing (the product or retailer you chose)?
Automobile or Truck
Fact Food Restaurant
Laundry Detergent
The Situation
Some authors argue that consumers have relationships with brands. People are brand loyal. Others argue that a relationship with a brand is not possible because a relationship has to be 2-way. In other words, brands can’t respond to consumers. Others argue that the relative importance of the brand, quality of the product, distribution intensity, and price vary by product.
Susan Fournier (1998) argues that customers have relationships with brands. Either way, if they have relationships (people are loyal) or do not have relationships with brands (people are not loyal), so what? When you explore the idea that consumers have relationships with products, pay particular attention to the implications of whether or not having a relationship might have for marketing managers in the management of and the development of marketing strategies for those brands, (the “So what?” in the above question).
The Task
Thus, in response to Fournier (1998), using the information you gather, you are to answer the question:
Do Consumers have positive relationships with the brands they choose and negative relationships with the brands they do not choose?
Defend your position. Either way, if they have a positive, negative, or no relationship, what does having a relationship or not having a relationship mean for marketing (the product or retailer you chose)?
Assignment Expectations
Note that it is not assumed that you will agree with Dr. Fournier that people have relationships with brands, (nor is it assumed that you will necessarily disagree). Clearly marketing scholars disagree about this so you can too! You might choose two brands, examine them, examine what it means to “have a relationship with a brand” and conclude that this idea does not hold water and has no benefits for marketers, in the process explaining why Dr. Fournier is wrong in your opinion. On the other hand you might conclude that her idea holds for one of the brands you have examined and not for the other, or perhaps holds for some people and not for others. In that instance, contrasting the two is very important. Or you might conclude that it holds for both.
Note how the case you will make in favor or against the issue of people relating to brands takes you beyond the basics of product management to thinking about branding, product meanings, the roles brands play in customer choice, the views customers have of brands developed through marketing and non-marketing influences, and the implications of these for marketing managers relative to the other attributes of the product such as its quality, location, and price.
Note also that the materials describing the situation introduce you to three of the major journals in marketing, the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Brand Management, and the Journal of Consumer Behavior. In that regard, I believe it important that you be introduced to some “academic” research which you should find both interesting and easy to understand. The topics covered in these articles (brand relationships and brand communities) are important and relatively new ones in Marketing and I hope you’ll find them stimulating enough to feel that at some point in the future you might try reading more articles in these journals. There are other sources which present new ideas in Marketing in a more “managerially friendly” form, such as the Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, and California Management Review, to name but three. Now that you know these sources exist try to use them as you build your case and continue to use them, even after graduating.
The resources describing the situation include Susan Fournier (1998) in which, among other things, she argues that consumers have relationships with brands. Others have stated that they don’t, (e.g. Vargo and Lusch (2004) state that “inanimate items of exchange cannot have relationships”). Perhaps they have relationships, but only under certain circumstances. I leave that for you to consider.
I stress, that I want you to address the implications that brand relationships might have for marketing managers in the management of brands. Hint: you are to consider THREE brands (a service only, a good and good with service). I am forcing this issue to give you the opportunity to see if a relationship is formed based on the product category therefore allowing you to compare the results in your analysis between brands in differing product categories. I stress that it is not sufficient simply to write about customers and their relationships with the brands. That’s relatively easy. You need to do that to set the stage for your thinking about how marketers might use such insights. Feel free to be creative.
In terms of sources of information for this case, I want you to use the Internet a the popular business press. With that in mind, I have provided links many products/brands/labels. I do not want you to rely on anecdotal evidence (e.g. Introspection and Questioning friends and colleagues). In other words, without proper sampling, extrapolation from the few to the many is not acceptable. Thus, while you may be tempted to simply rely on anecdotal information and write about your own relationship (or non-relationship) with a chosen brand, you will learn a lot more by broadening your horizons and thinking like a marketer, which means setting aside your own perceptions and understanding the way others perceive products. If you are in an Internet-constrained environment simply say so in your assignment and focus on Fournier S. (1998)) and Vargo, S. L. & Lusch, R. F. (2004)
In preparing your CASE1, ensure that you demonstrate your learning of the marketing concepts and frameworks for analysis outlined in the modular learning objectives by using and referencing the background and case material.
- Explain fundamental marketing concepts related to products, both goods and services, including what each of these are, as well as brands, and the Product Life Cycle.
- Analyze whether customers develop relationships with brands and the implications of this for brand management.
- Identify and research top Marketing Journals and explain some the cutting edge marketing issues of brand relationships and brand communities.
You should also bear in mind that a fundamental goal, as with all the cases you build in MKT490, is to stimulate your learning. Your answers should therefore demonstrate that learning.
Note that this assignment does NOT require you to prepare a detailed essay. Instead use section headings for each of the topics you address in your paper followed by a discussion of that topic. For example, make sure that for each of the brans you examine that you talk about the attributes of that product/brand/label including quality, meaning to its buyers/users, distribution, and price.
You will find instructions on how to get into databases that will help you find information on companies and products at the following url
http://sites.google.com/site/zaydeealan0/tui-unviersity/searchingbrandproductcountryinformation
If you wish to include supportive or illustrative materials, feel free to include these in an appendix (e.g. uploaded as an additional file) of no more than three pages. Make sure that you refer to this material in the body of the paper.
Any of the products/services mentioned in the following articles in the popular business press should be chosen to study in terms of documenting relationships with brands
A broader measurement of the best brands (2009). Business Week.(Oct 19)70
Available March 8, 2013 via ProQuest
Albert, Noël; Merunka, Dwight; & Valette-Florence, Pierre (2008). When consumers love their brands: Exploring the concept and its dimensions. Journal of Business Research.61:10(October):1062–75.
Available March 8, 2013 via ProQuest.
Best global brands. (2006). Business Week (August 7):54
Available March 8, 2013 via ProQuest
Bolton, Ruth N; Day, George S; Deighton, John; Narayands, Das; Gummesson, Evert; Hunt, Shelby D; Prahalad, CK; Rust, Roland T; & Shugan, Steven M (2004). Invited commentaries on “Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing.’ The Journal of Marketing, 68:1(January). 18-27. Available March 8, 2013 via ProQuest
Chaudhuri, Arjun & Holbrook, Morris B. (2002). Product-class effects on brand commitment and brand outcomes: The role of brand trust and brand affect .Journal of Brand Management, 10:1(September):33-59.
Available March 8, 2013 via ProQuest.
Fournier, S. (1998). Consumers and their brands: Developing relationship theory in consumer research. Journal of Consumer Research. 24:4(March):343-73.
Available March 8, 2013 via ProQuest
Grubb, Edward L & Grathwohl, Harrison L (1967). Consumer self-concept, symbolism and marketing behavior: A theoretical approach. Journal of Marketing. 31:4(October 1):22-8. Available March 8, 2013 via ProQuest
Keller, Kevin Lane (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, managing customer-based brand equity.Journal of Marketing. 57:1(January):1-22.
Available March 8, 2013 via ProQuest.
McAlexander, J. H., Schouten J. W., Koening, H. F. (2002). Building brand community. Journal of Marketing. 66:1(January)38-54.
Available March 8, 2013 via ProQuest
Muniz Jr, A. M. & O’Guinn, T. C. (2001). Brand community. Journal of Consumer Research..27:4(March):412-32.
Available March 8, 2013 via ProQuest
Ries, Al (2009). Slowly but surely, line extensions will take your brand off course: Beer category shows cannibalization of core brands. Advertising Age (September 7).
Available March 8, 2013 via ProQuest.
The 100 top brands (2002). Business Week, 3794 (August 5):95-9.
Available March 8, 2013 via ProQuest
The 100 top brands scoreboard (2006). Business Week (August 7):60
Available March 8, 2013 via ProQuest
The top 100 brands (2005) . Business Week (August 1):86.
Available March 8, 2013 via ProQuest
The top 100 brands. (2008) Business Week. (September 29):56.
Available March 8, 2013 via ProQuest
The top 100 brands; Here’s how Interbrand calculates the power in a name (2007). Business Week(August 6):59.
Available March 8, 2013 via ProQuest.
Vargo, Stephen L & Lusch, Robert F (2004). Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. Journal of Marketing. 68:1(January):1-17. Available March 8, 2013 via ProQuest.
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