- Identify the four market segment groups based on brand loyalty status and list what a company can learn from analyzing the degrees of brand loyalty.
- Describe how a marketer can develop effective brand positioning. Provide one real-world example.
- Describe the valuable functions brands can perform for a firm, the function of brand tracking studies, and the meaning and function of a brand audit.
- How can a marketer compete when it enters the growth phase of the product life cycle? Provide a real-world example.
- How can companies use packaging, labeling, warranties, and guarantees as marketing tools?
- Marketing Debate: Is Service Marketing Different from Product Marketing?
Some service marketers maintain that service marketing is fundamentally different from product marketing and relies on different skills. Some traditional product marketers disagree, saying “good marketing is good marketing.”
Take a position: Product and service marketing are fundamentally different versus Product and service marketing are highly related.
- Think about the last new product you bought. How do you think its success will be affected by the five characteristics of an innovation: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, divisibility, and communicability?
- Consumer perceptions of prices are also affected by alternative pricing strategies. Marriott Hotels, for example, has different brands for differing price points. Building upon the Marriott example, you are to scan the environment to find examples of a company whose pricing strategy is closely tied to its branding strategy. Caution: do not just list just the different price points in the same company such as Ford automobiles. STET
- Progressive companies have begun developing a value network system to get products in the hands of consumers. A value network includes a firm’s suppliers, its suppliers’ suppliers, its immediate customers, and their end customers. Identify a company that has successfully set up a value network, then compare and contrast the components of the value system to a competitor that does not have one.
- Describe the hybrid channel of distribution. Do you think Internet sales will grow in the future or will customers demand hybrid distribution choices like free shipment to store sites (Wal-Mart) or a pickup store (IKEA)?
- identifies four levels of service in retailing–self-service, self-selection, limited service, and full-service. Visit at least one of each type of the described retailers and are to comment vis-à-vis the retailer-positioning map (Figure 16.1). Answer the following relative to your shopping trip: Did you experience a dissonance between the service you received and their initial characterization of the store? In other words, did you receive “better” service than you initially expected to receive from a self or limited service retailer? Did you experience a “lack” of service from the store you perceived as “full service”? If either of these conditions occurred, postulate a causal relationship for the occurrence.
- Atmospherics is an important component of store attractiveness. Every store has its own unique look, feel, and smell. Yet each consumer may react differently to each of these elements. Visit three retailers of your own choosing and comment on how the store atmospherics affected you personally. Have a friend of the opposite sex visit the same retailers. Group the findings by sex. Why are there such differences? What can a store do to appeal to both sexes?
Sample Solution
