Chapter 9: Identifying Brand/Product Flashcards
(25 cards)
What does the typical product lifecycle sales trend look like?
- sales of most new products start slow (introduction)
- but if product establishes itself in the market, sales will then start to grow quickly as more ppl buy it (growth)
- eventually sales will stabilise as there are fewer ppl left who have not yet bought it or perhaps competition increases (maturity/stabilisation)
- finally sales will begin to decline (decline)
Describe the different stages of the product life cycle and how the marketing strategy changes for each
A different marketing strategy is needed for each stage:
* Introduction: focus on getting the product into the market & gaining recognition & reputation; initially distribution may be limited to a few carefully selected channels to begin with
* Growth: product should be increasingly widely distributed & aimed at broader target market to encourage strong growth
* Maturity or stabilisation: strategy should highlight diff btw product & other competing products
* Decline: faced w/ prospect of declining sales, comp. may take steps to extend life cycle, perhaps by improving product, updating packaging, reducing price to make it more competitive, or seek new markets - each of these will need to be communicated to prospective customers through an appropriate mrkt strategy
What is the goal of branding?
- without branding, product would become commodities and consumer would buy cheapest option avail
- branding seeks to move product away from being a commodity to the extent that consumers will want to buy that product even if it costs more than the min possible price
- Ex: Two Marlborough Sauv B: one unknown producer at mid-priced vs Cloudy Bay premium price - consumer may want to buy the latter b/c they want to buy what Cloudy Bay represents
- many successful brands command higher prices than similar generic products
What is the CIM definition of a ‘brand’
- the set of physical attributes of a product or service, together w/ the beliefs and expectation surrounding it – a unique combination which the name or logo of the product or service should evoke in the mind of the audience.
- to be successful, brand must create positive image in consumers minds.
List the 7 ways brands can create a positive image in customers minds?
- Substance
- Consumer trust
- Consumer engagement
- Brand story
- Price premium
- Longevity
- Strong brand name
Describe 7 ways brands can create a positive image in customers minds
- Substance: successful brands deliver same level of quality and style (ex Champagne produce consistent NV house style YoY)
- Consumer trust: with consistency, consumer start to trust a brand to always give them what they want (low involvement consumers will therefore regularly buy their fav brand of wine in preference to cheaper, unbranded alternative they dont know - important factor in success of supermarket own-brand wines
- Consumer engagement: consumer should have relationship w/ the brand and ask for it by name; they feel the brand’s marketing strategy is aimed directly at them; bc of the ‘closeness’ of this relationship, successful brands are aware that even smallest change in their mrkt strategy such as minor label redesign, risks alienating loyal customers- need to consider such changes very carefully
- Brand story: successful brands have a ‘story’ to which customers can relate - this creates an emotional attachment btw the consumer & the brand
- Price premium: many successful brands command higher prices than similar generic products; consumers view higher price as guarantee of quality
- Longevity: many leading brands have been in existence for long time (ex Champagne brands, Hardys, Gallo, Mondavi)
- Strong brand name: easy to remember/pronounce in relevant languages, isn’t offensive/obscene, diff names for diff markets; can reference geographical features (sense of place), name of founder (heritage, longevity)
Creating a positive brand image – Substance
Substance: successful brands deliver same level of quality and style (ex Champagne NV - house style consistent year to year)
Creating a positive brand image – Consumer Trust
Consumer Trust: as result of consistency, consumer come to trust a brand always to give them what they want (low involvement consumers will therefore regularly buy their fav brand of wine in preference to cheaper, unbranded alternative they dont know - important factor in success of supermarket own-brand wines
Creating a positive image – Consumer Engagement
Consumer engagement: consumer should have relationship w/ the brand and ask for it by name; they feel the brand’s marketing strategy is aimed directly at them; bc of the ‘closeness’ of this relationship, successful brands are aware that even smallest change in their mrkt strategy such as minor label redesign, risks alienating loyal customers- need to consider such changes very carefully
Creating a positive image – Brand Story
Brand story: successful brands have a ‘story’ to which customers can relate - this creates an emotional attachment btw the consumer & the brand
Describe importance of Brand Story and what information can be used to build the brand story
- story of product/brand can be one of its most valuable attributes
- research shows that consumers (esp millenials) are attracted to products w/ strong brand stories
- brand story creates sense of authenticity - links wine to a particular place and producer
A brand story can include:
* producer’s history: producing wines for generations, newer wine-producing region, ancestors from old wine producing regions, interesting previous career, etc
* grapes (& vineyard): where grown, single vineyard, unusual/evocative name, traits of the vineyard (steep, rocky, prone to mist, etc), vegetation/animal life on vineyard, etc
* wine: how it is made, particular philosophy (organic/bioD/natural), any distinctive processes, unusual or esp old equipment
* story behind name, label, or bottle design
other parts of the story:
* price, where/how wine is sold (marketing mix)
* what people say about the product, consumer part of the story
Creating a positive image – Price Premium
Price premium: many successful brands command higher prices than similar generic products; consumers view higher price as guarantee of quality
Creating a positive image – Longevity
Longevity: many leading brands have been in existence for long time (ex Champagne brands, Hardys, Gallo, Mondavi)
Creating a positive image – Strong brand name
- choosing brand name is very important
- must be easy to remember, and easy to pronounce in all relevant languages its sold in
- make sure name isnt offensive/obscene in another language (ex Saint Tropez rose ‘Mist’ - excrement in DE)
- some used diff brand names in diff markets - not just a translation, but diff name designed to better appeal to target market (ex: Lafite in Chinese ‘La Fei’)
- some use names that contain references to geographical features, gives the wine a sense of place (eg Cloudy Bay, Felton Road)
- sone use name of founder - links to heritage and sense of longevity, common in champagne (eg Krug, Taylors Port)
- some brands have a logo as well
What’s important when creating & protecting a brand? What problems can arise?
- protect asset through trademarket registration is vital
- in china trademarket rights given to first person/company to file an application, rather than being based on usage
- no. of well known brands have entered into legal battles to gain right to own their brand name in Chinese market (eg Treasury Wine battle for trademark of ‘Ben Fu’ - for Penfolds brand - owned by a person not using it for commerical means)
Describe brand equity
- the value of a brand to its owner
- typically includes components such as brand awareness (extent to which consuemrs are familar w/ brand) and brand image (how consumers perceive the brand)
- abstract concept w/ many ppl simly talking about positive & negative brand equity
- some companies employ specialist consultant to calculate financial value of their brand equity to include as asset on their balance sheet
What are some of the terms used to describe different aspects of branding or types of brands in the wine industry?
- Brand position
- Private label
- Ladder brand
- Soft Brand
- Luxury Brand
Describe brand position
- brand position is where a brand ‘sits’ within a market and cues used to indicate that position, often linked to retail price
- one common way to categorize brand position: value, standard, premium, super-premium
- usually set at launch, having intended to hit a particular price point
- if competition increases, brand may lower its position to remain competitive
- rare, but possible to raise a brand’s position - Symington Family Estate’s Cockburns Port - raise their position by modernising production, update brand image, introduced new higher end products
- cheap end of the market offers opp for high vol sales (eg Hardys has variety of brands position in diff parts of the market to attract range of consumers)
Describe private label as a brand strategy
- supermarkets, deep discounters, larger chains of bars/restaurants have created a range of wines from diff regions under their own brand name (eg Sainsbury taste the difference) or exclusive brand name (eg kirkland signature by Costco)
- these wines may be produced by by well known producers that have their own brands, but producers name won’t appear prominently on label if at all
- products only available from retailer/restaurant that created the brand (benefits - exclusivity, customer loyalty, no price comparison, etc)
Describe ladder brands and its 3 rungs
- intended to give consumer easy to understand ‘rungs’ to help them trade up to higher priced & better quality expression of the brand
- the whole range benefits from the identity of the most prestigous expression of the brand
- works well for luxury products like Champagne (eg pol roger)
- works best w/ high involvment customers (less so on low-involvement)
ladder brands tend to have 3 rungs:
* accessible: least expensive w/ greatest distribution & one that consumers will buy most often
* stretch: affordable, but only for special occassions
* aspiration: most prestigious expression of the brand; most of the brand’s customers will never buy it as it costs far more than they are willing to spend on wine; it should cast its super-premium identity over the entire ladder
Give 2 examples of ladder brand
works well for luxury products like champagne - Example Pol Roger
* accessible - Pol Roger NV
* stretch - Pol Roger vintage
* aspiration - Pol Roger cuvee winston churchill
for still wines, ladders may work for some ‘soft brands’ bought by high-involved customers - Example: Burgundy
* accessible - Bourgogne Rouge
* stretch - Gevrey Chambertin
* aspiration - Le Chambertin Grand Cru
When do ladder brands work well with vs not? What are challenges of ladder brands?
- works well luxury brands and still wines of soft brandswith high involvement customers
- doesn’t work well w/ low-involvement customers b/c while accessible & stretch rungs may work, few if any who buy accessible will be aware that the aspiration wine exists
- as a result, no identity given by the aspiration wine to the rest of the ladder
- worst case - image of entire ladder is based on accessible wine & consumer relunctant to trade up even to stretch rungs as they believe it to be overpriced
Describe soft brands
- describe any cue used by a consumer when choosing to buy one product in preference to another
- in wine, can be country of origin (‘Brand Australia’), region (eg Rioja), GI (eg Pouilly Fume), grape variety (eg Merlot), style of wine (eg oaky Chard)
- soft brand concept is controversial - some happy to accept existence and use it; other dont consider these brands at all; yet soft brand shares many characteristics identifed as features of leading brands
- many wine producing companies & regions promote themselves in this way and significance of GIs in creating regional identity of brand is increasing acknowledged (eg Sauv B grown all over world, only wine from small area in Loire Valley can be designed Pouilly Fume AOC - most producers too small to become well known brand, but benefit from AOCs reputation to market their wines)
Describe luxury brands
- no agreed definition; tends to be super-premium priced wines that only few can afford, including Champagne prestige cuvee, Boardeaux Premium Cru Classe
- luxury brands promote idea that they are scarce even if thats not always the case (Eg champagne)
- perceived scarcity is a reason why luxury brands can charge a premium
- the marketing may also promote other aspects - quality of fruit or which vineyard, no expenses spared during winemaking, a rich heritage etc)
- every aspect of the marketing strategy is likely to promote the idea of luxury (ex sponsorship of exclusive/luxury events; positioning in most upmarket retailers, on list of fine dining)
