DEFININGTHEPRODUCT 153Fora manufacturerlikeKraftFoods,theirmacaroni-and-cheesedinnerreflectsa food
productcontainingGertainingredients,packaged,distributed,pricedandpromotedinaunique
manner,andrequiringa certainreturnontheirinvestment.Fortheconsumer, theproduct
isa somewhatnutritiousfooditemthati~quickandeasytoprepareandisreadilycon-
sumedbythefamily,especiallythekids.Fora particularpublic,suchasthe FoodandDrug
Administration,thisproductreflectsa setofingredientsthatmustmeetparticularmini-
mumstandards,intermsoffoodquality, storageanddistribution.
Makingthisdistinctionisimportantinthatallthreeperspectivesmustbeunder-
stoodandsatisfiedifanyproductwillsurviveandsucceed.Furthermore,thissensitivity
totheneedsofallthreeisthemarketingconceptinaction.Forexample,a companymight
designa weight-reductionpillthatnotonlyisextremelyprofitablebutalsohasa wide
acceptancebytheconsumer.Unfortunately,it cannotmeetmemedicalstandardsestab-
lishedbytheFederalgovernment.Likewise,Bird'sEyeFoodmightimprovethe overall
qualityoftheirfrozenvegetablesandyetnotimprovetheconsumers'tendencytobuy
thatparticularbrandsimplybecausetheseimprovementswerenotperceivedaseither
importantornoticeablebytheconsumer.Therefore,anappraisalofa company'sprod-
uctisalwayscontingentupontheneedsandwantsofthemarketer,theconsumer,and
therelevantpublics.Wedefineproductasfollows:Anything,eithertangibleorintangi-
ble,offeredbythefirm;asa solutiontotheneedsandwantsoftheconsumer;isprof-
itableorpotentiallyprofitable;andmeetstherequirementsofthevariouspublicsgoverning
orinfluencingsociety.
Therearefourlevelsofa product:core,tangible,augmented,andpromised(seeFig-
ure7.1).Webeginwiththenotionofthecoreproduct,whichidentifieswhattheconsumers
feeltheyaregettingwhentheypurchasetheproduct.Thecorebenefitsderivedwhenan
overweight45-yearoldmalepurchasesa $250ten-speedbicycleis nottransportation;it is
thehopeforbetterhealthandimprovedconditioning.Ina similarvein,thatsameindivid-
ualmayinstalla $16,000swimmingpoolinhisbackyard,notinordertoobtainexercise,
buttoreflectthestatushesodesperatelyrequires.Botharelegitimateproductcores.Because
thecoreproductis soindividualized,andoftentimesvague,a full-timetaskofthemarketer
is toaccuratelyidentifythecoreproductfora particulartargetmarket.
Oncethecoreproducthasbeenindicated,thetangibleproductbecomesimportant.
Thistangibilityis reflectedprimarilyinitsqualitylevel,features,brandname,styling,and
packaging.Literallyeveryproductcontainsthesecomponentstoa greaterorlesserdegree.
Unlesstheproductisone-of-a-kind(e.g.,oilpainting),theconsumerwilluseat leastsome
ofthesetangiblecharacteristicstoevaluatealternativesandmakechoices.Inaddition,the
importanceofeachwillvaryacrossproducts, situations,andindividuals.Forexample,for
Mr. Smithatage25,theselectionofa particularbrandofnewautomobile(coreproduct=
transportation)wasbasedontangibleelementssuchasstylingandbrandname(choice=
Corvette);at age45,thecoreproductremainsthesame,whilethetangiblecomponentssuch
asqualitylevelandfeaturesbecomeimportant(choice=Mercedes).
Atthenextlevelliestheaugmentedproduct.Everyproductisbackedupbya host
ofsupportingservices.Often,thebuyerexpectstheseservicesandwouldrejectthecore-
tangibleproductiftheywerenotavailable. Exampleswouldberestroomsandescala-
tors/elevatorsinthecaseofa departmentstore,andwarrantiesandreturnpoliciesinthe
caseofa lawnmower.DowChemicalhasearneda reputationasa companythatwillbend
overbackwardsinordertoserviceanaccount.Itmeansthata Dowsalesrepresentative
willvisita troubledfarmerafter-hoursinordertosolvea seriousproblem.Thisextraserv-
iceis anintegralpartoftheaugmentedproductanda keytotheirsuccess.ina worldwith
manystrongcompetitorsandfewuniqueproducts,theroleoftheaugmentedproductis
clearlyincreasing.