JWI518 WK 6 Strayer Core Logic Discussion Post Please use the company: CoreLogic and the Product is the: Property Tax Estimator. The reading for each week

JWI518 WK 6 Strayer Core Logic Discussion Post Please use the company: CoreLogic and the Product is the: Property Tax Estimator. The reading for each week is attached please use them as a reference and any outside references. Week 5 Discussion
Branding
Watch the EOP videos, read the chapters, and read or listen to the lecture. Using the product or service
chosen for your marketing plan, explain your unique brand position. Regarding the position in the
marketplace of your product or service, what are its competitive Points-of-Differentiation (PODs), or
differentiators? Respond to peers offering a recommendation they may have overlooked as it pertains
to their PODs.
Week 6 Discussion
Value Proposition
In the HBR articles, “The Elements of Value” and “The B2B Elements of Value” the authors describe
many “elements of value” in their Value Pyramids that extend simple product and service features and
benefits.
In the B2C-focused Elements of Value article, these elements of value meet four kinds of need in the
B2C market place – Functional, Emotional, Life Changing, and Social Impact.
In the article about B2B Elements of Value, these elements meet 5 groups of value – Table Stakes,
Functional Value, Ease of Doing Business Value, Individual Value, and Inspirational Value.
When they are optimally combined, it will increase customer loyalty and revenue growth.
Based on the product or service you chose for your marketing plan, briefly describe which of the B2C or
B2B value elements you believe match your product or service. For example, Apple excels on 11
elements in the Value Pyramid, several of them high up in the pyramid, which allows the company to
charge premium prices.
NOTE: If your organization is a non-profit, read the “Elements of Value” article.
JWI 518
Marketing in the Global Environment
Week Five | Lecture One
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POSITIONING: WHERE YOU STAND IN
THE MARKETPLACE
You’ve developed a new product. What’s next?
If you’re like most businesses, you tell customers about the
remarkable features of your product. When product features are
compelling enough to bring customers in the door, that kind of
look what I’ve got strategy makes sense.
But when you are fighting for market share, particularly against a
dominant company or product, a different strategy may lead to
better results. You may try to reposition your product within the
customer’s mind.
Think of what pops into your head when you recall the best
computer maker, the best car, the best school. Whatever comes
to mind for you, these organizations have worked hard to create
a perception that their product is the best.
THE POWER OF PERCEPTION
We all apply some rough ranking to products, putting them on a
kind of ladder of preference. You rank the product you buy every
day versus the product you buy for special occasions. Most
consumers will only rank two or three products, with all the
others grouped together as also-rans (not a place you want to
be). Note that people’s perceptions of the best brands may have
little to do with which are actually the best or even which sell the
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best. Brands that occupy one of the top two positions on a
ladder have a tremendous advantage.
There are many ways to achieve this kind of positioning, based on
attributes, benefits, uses, and quality. But for simplicity’s sake,
let’s look in depth at one frequently used method to move your
product up the ladder of preference: positioning your company in
relation to a competitor. We’ll start with a few examples of
strategies that have worked.
An example of competitor positioning from a few years ago is the
“I’m a PC, and I’m a Mac” TV ads. Two guys are talking on
screen: one is dressed in jeans and looks like a young Steve
Jobs. The other, dressed in a stodgy brown suit, resembles an
overweight Bill Gates. As they discuss the merits of the PC
versus the Mac, the Gates character is always bringing up and
defending the PC’s shortcomings, such as speed and security,
while overtly trying to show the Jobs character that the PC is
better. The end result, of course, is that the PC always comes
across as inferior to the Mac.
[ Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5z0Ia5jDt4 to view ]
These ads are effective for three reasons:
1. They use humor to make the ad attractive to viewers while
softening the attack;
2. Apple never attacks the PC directly, but rather allows the PC
to bring up its own shortcomings;
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3. Each ad focuses on only one advantage of the Mac and one
disadvantage of the PC.
The overall impact of more than a dozen ads was overwhelmingly
negative for the PC’s image.
The ads were so effective that Microsoft launched its own set of
“I’m a PC” spots, featuring various types of people who use a PC
to counteract the positioning that Apple had created.
[Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrmF-mPLybw to view]
Another classic example, from a few years further back, is
Listerine versus Scope. Listerine dominated the mouthwash
market when Scope was first introduced. Scope marketers could
have simply used a me too approach, advertising that “Scope
stops bad breath,” a claim that Listerine already used. Instead,
Scope focused not on the consumer problem that its product
cured, but rather on the consumer problem its competitor
caused. Listerine’s weak spot was the antiseptic smell it left on
people’s breath.
Scope skewered Listerine with the slogan medicine breath. Scope
took millions of dollars away from Listerine with those two words
and positioned itself in consumers’ minds as the fresh breath
mouthwash. The lesson: look for a problem, no matter how small,
that your competitor’s product or service causes as it solves the
buyer’s primary problem. Then, exploit that weakness.
Tylenol used the same positioning strategy when it was an
unknown painkiller in a marketplace that Bayer aspirin dominated.
Tylenol didn’t just claim to stop headache pain, thus going head- Page 4 –
to-head with Bayer. Instead, it found a small weakness—the
problem aspirin caused while it was curing a headache. Tylenol
discovered a small but significant number of users who said
aspirin caused stomach irritation. Doctors also said aspirin
sometimes caused hidden stomach bleeding. It was a huge
opening for Tylenol to exploit with better positioning.
Think of your dominant competitor as a large castle. Rather than a
frontal attack (the me too approach), look for the small door
around back that’s been left unguarded. Tylenol did just that. Its
ads trumpeted a constant message: “Did you know aspirin is
proven to cause stomach irritation and even hidden stomach
bleeding?”
After creating the fear of hidden stomach bleeding, its ads offered
a substitute that relieved pain and didn’t upset the stomach
—new Tylenol. Through this strategy, Tylenol positioned itself
ahead of Bayer in the minds of consumers worried about their
health, and took a sizable share of Bayer’s market.
HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY POSITION
YOURSELF AGAINST A COMPETITOR
As we’ve seen, some tried-and-true lessons apply. The following
are steps to take in developing a competitor-positioning strategy:
1.
Analyze your chief competitor’s product for a back-
door vulnerability.
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Ideally, focus on a feature your product doesn’t have. Study a
competitor’s website and advertising messages. Pore over
research. And, most importantly, talk to customers.
Stolichnaya vodka ads once emphasized that its competitors’
vodkas were distilled in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Connecticut.
By emphasizing the U.S. origins of competitors, Stoli made
many consumers feel they were getting an inferior product, just
because it wasn’t real Russian vodka. Most attempts at
competitor positioning simply point out a fact consumers may
have overlooked (“Did you know that . . . ?”). They take a
concerned, matter-of-fact approach. Some of the most
successful positioning delivers a knockout punch with humor.
They don’t make it personal, or nasty.
2.
List all the potential problems with your competitor’s
product.
Look at matters from the viewpoint of the consumer. For each
item on the list, ask yourself, could this problem create a fear
among consumers that they would seek to reduce by buying
an alternate brand? Remember, you’re trying to take your
competitor’s place on the ladder inside the consumer’s mind.
3.
Create advertising messages that emphasize your
competitor’s problem.
The problem may be physical, social, or psychological.
Because people generally care what others think about
them, a social approach is often effective. The Scope ads
began with people talking about a Listerine user as “old
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medicine breath” behind his back. Many people never gave a
thought to medicine breath until repeated advertising
viewings caused them to think of it as a problem.
4.
Show how your product does everything your
competitor’s does, but without the problems.
The end of every Scope ad basically said, “We’ve got a
mouthwash that stops bad breath—and makes your breath
smell fresh! And look how fresh breath attracts romantic
partners!” Coupling a fear-based appeal with a desireoriented message is often tremendously powerful.
5. Try to move up a new ladder in the consumer’s mind.
Scope and Tylenol focused on one particular problem that made
their competitor vulnerable in the minds of some consumers.
They took market share by creating their own related ladder in
consumers’ heads and putting their product on the top rung.
Tylenol became the first choice of that subset of headache
sufferers who worried about stomach irritation.
Scope was the choice of those who wanted fresh breath. Another
good example is NyQuil, which created a related ladder in the
cough syrup market that it called “nighttime cough syrups,” and
then claimed the top spot.
6. Keep at it.
In today’s world, commercial messages are extremely hard to
pound into the heads of consumers—they are exposed to over
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3,000 of them every day. It takes constant repetition over time.
Emphasize the same message over and over, month after
month, until your sales figures show you’ve moved up the ladder.
Use research to reassure yourself that you have focused on the
right positioning, then give your strategy time to work.
Remember, you are creating an image of your product, as well
as your competitor’s, that will be around for a long time. One
reason the Mac versus PC ads were so effective is that they
played repeatedly, using new spots to keep up audience interest.
7. Look at your own product.
Where are you vulnerable to attack? Could a competitor position
you out of a big chunk of your sales? You are vulnerable
somewhere. Find the open door in your castle walls and lock it.
By the way, your weakness could also be your assumptions.
Hershey, king of chocolates, thought it was so well known, it didn’t
need to advertise. By the time it noticed that Mars was
outcompeting it with M&Ms, it had lost millions and the top spot in
candy making.
While this is a brief look at only one aspect of the complex
strategy of positioning, used properly, these ideas can offer
powerful techniques for grabbing market share from your
competitors—and keeping it.
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JWI 518
Marketing in the Global Environment
Week Five | Lecture Two
– Page 1 –
BRAND EQUITY
Imagine you are preparing to do some laundry and need some
detergent. You are offered two small bowls, each containing soap
powder that looks identical. Which would you choose?
You have no way to differentiate them, so the odds of either one
being picked would be 50%. Now, imagine that someone turns
the bowls around, and on the first one is written a brand name
you’ve never heard of. On the second bowl is written a brand
name you know quite well. Now, which one will you pick?
The vast majority of consumers would pick the well-known brand
over an unknown brand. They make their pick because of all the
positive associations they have with that name—the TV and
magazine ads seen over the years, the positive comments heard
from friends and relatives, and the countless times they’ve seen
the product in the stores.
Notice that the product chosen has nothing to do with its
appearance. It has everything to do with the image consumers
have of the product in their minds—their perception of the
product, or its brand image. Why do people pay a premium for
Energizer batteries? Not for any scientific reason. They just
remember the bunny going and going and going. Its perception
makes the sale.
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THE POWER OF BRANDS
Marketers strive to create a strong brand image of quality and
performance that leads to brand loyalty. The brand, in effect,
makes a brand promise: “If you buy me, I will deliver what you
expect me to. I will satisfy you.”
All of the positive, or negative, associations surrounding a brand
name combine to create an image that reflects the way
consumers think, feel, and act toward the brand. That image has
a value known as brand equity. Brand equity is the added value
that a brand image gives to a product or service. It influences a
company’s sales, market share, profits, and stock price, and has
a direct impact on the price a company can charge for the
product. For example, Godiva chocolates, Chivas Regal Scotch,
Ritz-Carlton hotels, and Mercedes automobiles can
all command a higher price because their brands
generate images of upscale quality and refined taste.
In his book Managing Brand Equity (1991), professor David
Aaker pointed out that brand equity is composed of both assets
and liabilities, and how a particular element is classified depends
on the target customer. For example, a bumper sticker for a
political candidate is an asset in some social circles and a liability
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in others. Aaker clustered the elements that influence brand
equity into five categories: (a) brand loyalty, (b) name awareness,
(c) perceived quality, (d) brand associations, and (e) other brand
assets such as patents and trademarks. Brand equity has real
value.
We call the added value a company gains from the image
customers have of its name brand valuation. Most everyone has
a perception of the McDonald’s brand and knows the brand
promise it makes. The real value of its brand name alone was
more than $43 billion in 2018, according to Interbrand, a leading
brand consultant. And McDonald’s is not the leader of the brandequity list. Apple holds the number one spot, with a brand name
valued at more than $214 billion.
Brand equity is built through all the choices marketers make
about each element of a product’s message that creates an
image. These include (a) a brand’s name, logo, tagline, or
symbols; (b) characters, spokespersons, and celebrity endorsers
associated with the brand; (c) advertising themes, packaging,
and signage, and (d) customer service. Every message
communicated to customers counts towards this image whether
the company wants it to or not. For example, Toyota’s pristine
brand image was heavily damaged in 2010, due to recalls of
vehicles amidst accounts of runaway accelerators, deals,
allegations of cover-ups, and failure to take quick action, with a
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corresponding drop in sales.
The image a brand has in the customer’s mind is dynamic, as
Toyota discovered to their dismay. Therefore, marketers must
always seek to understand the most current image buyers have
of their brand. This is often done by means of a brand audit. The
audit draws information about customer perceptions and behavior
from many different sources, including surveys, focus groups,
Internet visits, and sales data, to give marketers a clear picture of
what buyers are thinking and feeling about the brand.
STRENGTHENING A PORTFOLIO OF
BRANDS
There is an additional value to a brand audit. It can alert a
company to new needs or interests that the company can meet
with additional products. For example, when concerns about
sugar in soft drinks made consumers rethink their soda
consumption, companies like Coke and Pepsi introduced diet
versions of their popular flagship products. This is known as a
line extension—a new product of the same type, or a new line,
such as Pepsi One. Having an existing brand image gives a
boost to any line extension because consumers generally believe
that the quality and consistency of the new product will match
those of brands they are familiar with. Marketing costs are also
lower since the new product can be advertised and promoted
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side by side with established brands.
Caution must be taken not to extend a brand line too far. Coke,
for example, has several types of colas, but it would make no
sense to brand a line of juices under the Coke name. Doing so
would just dilute the Coke brand image with buyers, hurting both
the established and new products. In such cases, a company is
better off introducing a new line with a new name. For this
reason, Coke created the Minute Maid line under which to market
a variety of juices.
An established company or brand name may also be used to
alert buyers that another product or service comes from a trusted
company. Marriott, for example, didn’t want to hurt the highquality image of its Marriott hotels and resorts when it introduced
lower-cost lodging for business travelers and families. Instead,
the hotels were marketed under the Fairfield Inn and Courtyard
names, but under each name in smaller letters appeared the
phrase “by Marriott.”
A company’s brand portfolio is the set of all its brands within a
particular category, such as lodging, food, and entertainment.
Companies classify brands into four categories that are related to
their overall performance:
Flanker brands are usually lower-cost versions of a company’s
core brand that help it ward off the loss of customers to a lowcost competitor.
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Low-end entry-level brands are designed to attract new buyers
to the brand, such as with a low-cost car. After creating buyer
satisfaction with the brand, marketers can often get these
buyers to trade up to more expensive brands.
Cash cows have high profit margins, such as Microsoft’s core
products. They support less profitable brands and new products.
Prestige brands may not make a lot of money because of their
high price point or narrow niche of buyers, but the brand creates
a positive halo around the company, such as when Chrysler
partnered with Maserati to produce the Chrysler TC by Maserati.
Once marketers learn consumers’ perceptions about the brand
and how they mesh with the promises buyers want the brand to
make, they can adjust their integrated marketing strategy. With
such a strategy, every marketing message reaching a targeted
group of customers makes the same promise and strives to
create the same image of the brand. The Apple iPad, for
example, reaches consumers through a wide variety of media—
TV, print, Internet, public relations—but they all portray a
consistent promise of quality, hipness, ease of use, and a
customized experience.
Some media, like TV and the Internet, can do a better job of
reinforcing a particular part of the message such as ease of use,
while others such as print media do a better job of providing
details. But the overall integrated marketing strategy focuses on
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creating the same core image. That image gives rise to the brand
promise, which in turn generates brand equity.
In the marketplace, a strong brand is one of the keys to success.
It allows companies to charge more, create more loyal customers,
and fend off competitors. Building brand equity lets marketers
carefully calibrate the many individual elements that influence
customers as the marketplace changes, needs shift, and products
move through their individual life cycles.
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REFERENCES
Aaker, D. (1991). Managing Brand Equity. Ontario: Free Press.
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REPRINT R1609C
PUBLISHED IN HBR
SEPTEMBER 2016
ARTICLE
SPOTLIGHT ON CONSUMER
INSIGHT
The Elements of Value
Measuring—and delivering—
what consumers really want
by Eric Almquist, John Senior, and Nicolas Bloch
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