Basic Marketing: A Global Managerial Approach

Perreault−McCarthy: Basic
Marketing: A
Global−Managerial
Approach, 14/e

9. Elements of Product
   Planning for Goods and
   Services

Text © The McGraw−Hill

Companies, 2002

Elements of Product Planning for Goods and Services 261

Starbucks’ coffee-flavored Frappuccino beverage when it appeared on grocery store

shelves because they already knew they liked Starbucks’ coffee.^10

Can you recall a brand name for file folders, bed frames, electric extension cords,

or nails? As these examples suggest, it’s not always easy to establish a respected brand.

The following conditions are favorable to successful branding:

1 .The product is easy to identify by brand or trademark.

2 .The product quality is the best value for the price and the quality is easy to

maintain.

3 .Dependable and widespread availability is possible. When customers start using

a brand, they want to be able to continue using it.

4 .Demand is strong enough that the market price can be high enough to make

the branding effort profitable.

5 .There are economies of scale. If the branding is really successful, costs should

drop and profits should increase.

6 .Favorable shelf locations or display space in stores will help. This is something

retailers can control when they brand their own products. Producers must use

aggressive salespeople to get favorable positions.

In general, these conditions are less common in less-developed economies, and

that may explain why efforts to build brands in less-developed nations often fail.

The earliest and most aggressive brand promoters in America were the patent

medicine companies. They were joined by the food manufacturers, who grew in size

after the Civil War. Some of the brands started in the 1860s and 1870s (and still

Exhibit 9-5

Recognized Trademarks and Symbols Help in Promotion

Conditions Favorable to Branding

Achieving Brand Familiarity Is Not Easy