The document discusses key concepts related to products and brands. It defines a product as anything that can satisfy customer needs and emphasizes that products are central to marketing. It then outlines the main components of a product including specifications, design, functions/benefits, packaging, and product range. The document also discusses ways companies can differentiate their products from competitors through distinctive design, branding, and performance. It notes that services are often differentiated through adjustments targeting specific audiences. Finally, the importance of brands, brand extensions, brand stretching, and packaging are covered.

1. Products & Brands

2. What is a Product?
A product is anything
that is capable of
satisfying customer
needs

3. The Importance of Product
Products are at the heart of marketing
The product needs to exist for the other elements
of the mix to happen

4. Parts of a Product
• Specifications and materials
• Design or styling
• Functions and benefits
• Packaging
• Range (options & accessories)

5. Product Range
• Product range – a collection of similar
products offered by the same business
• Helps spread risk – a decline in one product
may be offset by sales of other products
• A range can be sold to different segments of
market e.g. family & activity holidays
• Selling a single product may not generate
enough returns for business (e.g. market
segment may be too small to earn a living)

6. Product Differentiation
• Products that are the same – tend to get the
same price
• Challenges for a business
– To make products different from competitors
– Ensure that customers recognise that product is
different!
• Ways of differentiating a product
– Distinctive design– e.g. Dyson; Apple iPod
– Branding - e.g. Nike, Reebok
– Performance - e.g. Mercedes, BMW

7. Marketing Services
• Services are mainly marketed through
product differentiation
• Similar products are adjusted to target
audience
• Businesses then use heavy promotion to
highlight these differences.
• Differs from goods marketing, because
goods have greater opportunity to use
packaging and physical product design

8. Brands

9. Brands
• A product with a unique character for instance in
design or image
• It is consistent and well-recognised.
• Benefits
– Inspires customer loyalty leading to repeat sales
– Can charge higher prices, especially if brand is market
leader
– Retailers or service sellers want to stock brands
• Own label brands
– A retailer which uses their own name on product rather
than manufacturer’s
– Examples: Tesco tea or Sainsbury Cola

10. Brand Extension
• Brand extension
– When a business uses a brand
name on a new product that
has some of brand’s
characteristics
– Examples include:
• Dove soap and Dove shampoo
(both contain moisturiser)
• Mars Bar and Mars Ice Cream
• Lucozade & Lucozade Sport

11. Brand Stretching
• Where brand is used for
a diverse range of
products, not
necessarily connected.
• Virgin is perhaps the
best example of how far
a brand can be
stretched into distinct
markets

12. Role of Packaging
• Packaging has several functions:
– Protection of contents
– Distribution – getting product from manufacturer to customer
– Selling – design and labelling provides information and also
conveys a certain image
– Customer convenience – e.g. multi-pack
• Packaging plays important role in “selling”
– If a product cannot be differentiated by its features or designs,
then packaging becomes really important
– Help to advertise and promote brand image
– Help maintain quality standards (important)
– Designed to encourage impulse buying (e.g. crisps, snacks)
– Packaging also needs to appeal to distributors (e.g. shops)

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