UNIVERSITY OF CEBU (UC)

GRADUATE SCHOOL
Sanciangko St., Cebu City

REACTION PAPER IN
MARKETING MANAGEMENT (BM 207)

Masterand: Agnes C. Ampo Course: MBA

Professor: Dr. Eddie E. Llamedo Schedule: BL1 Sat, 12:00nn-4:30pm

Chapter 8 - Products, Services, and Brands Building Customer Value

Introduction

Understanding products, services and brands are essential skills that a

business must need to consider. In this way, the business can present the products

and services benefits accurately and persuasively. With this, customers will likely trust

the organization that shows confidence with its products, services and brand. This will then

build customer value.

Topic Summary

Broadly defined, a product is anything that can be offered to a market for

attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need.

Products include physical objects but also services, events, persons, places,

organizations, or ideas, or mixtures of these entities. Services are products that

consist of activities, benefits, or satisfactions offered for sale that are essentially

intangible, such as banking, hotel, tax preparation, and home-repair services.

Products and services fall into two broad classes based on the types of consumers

that use them. Consumer products—those bought by final consumers—are usually

classified according to consumer shopping habits (convenience products, shopping

products, specialty products, and unsought products). Industrial products—

purchased for further processing or for use in conducting a business—include

materials and parts, capital items, and supplies and services. Other marketable

entities—such as organizations, persons, places, and ideas—can also be thought of

as products. Individual product decisions involve product attributes, branding,

packaging, labeling, and product support services. Product attribute decisions

involve product quality, features, and style and design. Branding decisions include

selecting a brand name and developing a brand strategy. Packaging provides many

key benefits, such as protection, economy, convenience, and promotion. Package

decisions often include designing labels, which identify, describe, and possibly

promote the product. Companies also develop product support services that

enhance customer service and satisfaction and safeguard against competitors. Most

companies produce a product line rather than a single product. A product line is a

group of products that are related in function, customer-purchase needs, or

distribution channels. All product lines and items offered to customers by a particular

seller make up the product mix. The mix can be described by four dimensions: width,

length, depth, and consistency. These dimensions are the tools for developing the

company’s product strategy. Services are characterized by four key characteristics:

they are intangible, inseparable, variable, and perishable. Each characteristic poses

problems and marketing requirements. Marketers work to find ways to make the

service more tangible, increase the productivity of providers who are inseparable

from their products, standardize quality in the face of variability, and improve demand

movements and supply capacities in the face of service perish ability. Good service

companies focus attention on both customers and employees. They understand the

service profit chain, which links service firm profits with employee and customer

satisfaction. Services marketing strategy calls not only for external marketing but
also for internal marketing to motivate employees and interactive marketing to create

service delivery skills among service providers. To succeed, service marketers must

create competitive differentiation, offer high service quality, and find ways to increase

service productivity. Some analysts see brands as the major enduring asset of a

company. Brands are more than just names and symbols; they embody everything

that the product or the service means to consumers. Brand equity is the positive

differential effect that knowing the brand name has on customer response to the

product or the service. A brand with strong brand equity is a very valuable asset. In

building brands, companies need to make decisions about brand positioning, brand

name selection, brand sponsorship, and brand development. The most powerful

brand positioning builds around strong consumer beliefs and values. Brand name

selection involves finding the best brand name based on a careful review of product

benefits, the target market, and proposed marketing strategies. A manufacturer has

four brand sponsorship options: it can launch a national brand (or manufacturer’s

brand), sell to resellers who use a private brand, market licensed brands, or join

forces with another company to co-brand a product. A company also has four

choices when it comes to developing brands. It can introduce line extensions, brand

extensions, multibrands, or new brands. Companies must build and manage their

brands carefully. The brand’s positioning must be continuously communicated to

consumers. Advertising can help. However, brands are not maintained by advertising

but by customers’ brand experiences. Customers come to know a brand through a

wide range of contacts and interactions. The company must put as much care into

managing these touch points as it does into producing its ads. Companies must

periodically audit their brands’ strengths and weaknesses.

Recommendation

The reporter has a well modulated and entertaining invoice. It was good that

she presented plenty of examples to relate it with the real life business situation. The

report was well delivered. However, I was distracted with the slides, projected. It was

too blurry.

Conclusion

A product is more than a simple set of tangible features. Each product or

service offered to customers can be viewed on three levels. The core customer value

consists of the core problem solving benefits that consumers seek when they buy a

product. The actual product exists around the core and includes the quality level,

features, design, brand name, and packaging. The augmented product is the actual

product plus the various services and benefits offered with it, such as a warranty,

free delivery, installation, and maintenance.