MARKETING

MANAGEMENT
UNIT CODE : MB82 03/0406
Unit 3 ELEMENTS OF MARKETING MIX 1
PRODUCT DECISIONS
 Indicative Contents
Product – Product Levels – Customer Value Hierarchy

Product Classifications – Product & Service Differentiation –Product

Systems & Mixes – Product Line Analysis

Product Life Cycle Strategies – Illustrations

An overview of Brand Management – Co-Branding, Ingredient Branding

Packaging & Labeling Decisions – Warranties & Guarantees

New Market Offerings – New Product Success & Failure – New Product
Development Decision Process – Consumer Adoption Process
Elements of Marketing Mix

• The marketing mix is the set of tactical marketing tools –

Product, price, place and promotion that the firm blends to
produce the response it wants in the target market.

• The marketing mix consists of everything the firm can do

to influence the demand for its product.

• Products are a key element in the overall market offering.

• Marketing mix planning begins with building an offering

that brings value to target customers.
• Product means the goods and services combination the
company offers to the target market.

• It can be differentiated on the basis of variety, quality,

design, features, brand name, packaging, services.

• Price :The amount of money customers must pay to

obtain the product.

• Pricing can be decided on the basis of List price,

discounts, allowances, payment period, credit terms.
• Place : Includes company activities that make the product
available to target consumers.

• Consider the channels, coverage, location , inventory ,

transportation and logistics.

• Promotion : Refers to the activities that communicate the

merits of the product and persuade target customers to
buy it.

• It includes Advertising, personal selling, sales promotion,

public relations.
Product
• Product is defined as anything that can be offered to a
market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that
might satisfy a want or need.

• Products include more that just tangible objects, such as

services, events, persons, places, organizations, ideas or a
mixture of these.

• Services are a form of product that consists of activities,

benefits or satisfactions offered for sale that are essentially
intangible and do not result in the ownership of anything
including banking, hotel, airline travel, retail, wireless
communication and home repair services.
• According to Kotler, new products mean original products, product
improvements, product modifications, and new brands that the
company creates through its own research and development
efforts.

• Booz, Allen & Hamilton has identified six categories of new

products:

• 1. New-to-the-world products: New products that create an

entirely new market like Walkman, Tablet computers, Mobile
phones etc.
• 2. New product lines: New products that allow a company to
enter an established market for the first time like dental care for
toddlers.
• 3. Additions to existing product lines: New products
that adjunct a company’s confirmed product lines
(package sizes, flavors, and so on) like Maggi have
brought in many changes in texture, taste and packages.

• 4. Improvements and revisions of existing products:

New products that provide refined interpretation or greater
glimpsed value and substitute existing products. This is
most common
Product Levels : Customer Value Hierarchy
• Core benefit:
The fundamental need or want that consumers satisfy by
consuming the product or service. For example, the need
to process digital images.

• Generic product:
A version of the product containing only those attributes or
characteristics absolutely necessary for it to function. For
example, the need to process digital images could be
satisfied by a generic, low-end, personal computer using
free image processing software or a processing
laboratory.
• Expected product:
The set of attributes or characteristics that buyers normally
expect and agree to when they purchase a product.
• For example, the computer is specified to deliver fast image
processing and has a high-resolution, accurate colour
screen.

• Augmented product:
The inclusion of additional features, benefits, attributes or
related services that serve to differentiate the product from
its competitors. For example, the computer comes pre-
loaded with a high-end image processing software for no
extra cost or at a deeply discounted etc.
• Potential product:
This includes all the augmentations and transformations a
product might undergo in the future.

• To ensure future customer loyalty, a business must aim to

surprise and delight customers in the future by
continuing to augment products.

• For example, the customer receives ongoing image

processing software upgrades with new and useful
features.
Product Classifications
Marketers classify products:
1. On the basis of Durability and tangibility
2. On the basis of Use - Consumer goods and
Industrial goods
Classification based on Durability and Tangibility

Non durable goods

• Tangible goods that consumed in one or few uses, purchased frequently.
• Appropriate strategy is to make them available in many locations, charge only a
small markup, and advertise heavily to induce trail and build preference.

Durable goods
• Tangible goods that normally survive many uses: Refrigerators, machine tools and
clothing.

• They normally require more personal selling and service, command a higher
margin and require more seller guarantees.

Services
• These are intangible , inseparable, variable and perishable products that normally
require more quality control, supplier credibility and adaptability.
Consumer Goods Classification

Convenience Goods
• Goods that purchases frequently , immediately and with
minimal effort. e.g.: Staples , soft drinks, news papers, soaps
etc.

Shopping Goods
• Those goods the consumer characteristically compares on
such bases as suitability, quality, price and style. Furniture,
clothing , appliances.
Specialty goods
• Unique characteristics or brand identification for which
enough buyers are willing to make a special purchasing effort.
Examples include specific brands of fancy products, luxury
cars, professional photographic equipment, and high-fashion
clothing.

Unsought goods
• The consumer does not know about or normally think of
buying eg: Smoke detectors, life insurance, cemetery plots
etc.
• Unsought goods requires advertising and personal selling
support.
Industrial good classification
1. Materials and parts
2. Capital items
• Long lasting goods that facilitate developing or managing
the finished product.
PRODUCT INNOVATION
• A new product is, titled as a product that opens up an entirely new
market, replaces an existing product or significantly broadens the
market for an existing product.

• Need for an entirely new or an innovated existing product is obvious.

• No company can completely rely on the same product mix

indefinitely.

• Competitors are always keen to grab-a share on others' market.

• It is for this reason that developing new products is considered to be

one of the most important activities of any business.
Idea Generation
• The new product approach starts with the generation of a
product idea.
• It means matching a perceived need with the recognition of
a technical opportunity.
• When a technical opportunity is recognized for satisfaction
of any type of needs, a product idea is generated.

• Customer
• Competition
• Company Sources
• Employee suggestions
• Innovation groups
Idea Screening

• After product ideas are gathered, next step is to screen them

for their relative merits.

• The basic purpose of screening is to filter the 'ideas and

select the most promising ones.

• Product ideas generated earlier are critically evaluated at

this stage.

• Poor ideas must be dropped immediately because

unnecessary cost has to be incurred to process them further.
• The ideas which are not compatible with the objectives
and constraints of the company obviously get abandoned
at this stage.

• Each idea must conform to company objectives and

marketing needs, as also the constraints and limitations of
the company.

• The evaluation helps us to determine which ideas are fit

for further probing and which are the ones that may be
discarded.
• Analyze the factors like market potential, profitability, likely
sales volume, production facilities, availability of raw
materials, possibility of using existing plant and
machinery, sales force and distribution channels, financial
resources the company can commit to the proposed
project, etc.
Business Analysis
• Business analysis, is the exercise comprising of projection
of future demand, sales, costs, investments and return on
investment.

• Usually the company evaluates the project under different

sets of assumptions about such critical elements as sales,
costs and profits.

• Such sensitivity analysis help the company to appreciate

the acceptable range of performance for a given product
and the possibility of achieving those levels of
performance.
Product Development and Marketing Strategy
Development

• By now the idea has been thoroughly screened and analyzed.

• At this stage the idea gets transformed into a concrete shape,

with all the needed attributes as assumed at the previous
stage.

• An attempt, therefore, is made to develop a prototype of the

proposed product.

• This will help us to determine if the idea has the requisite

technical potential and whether the company can master the
needed technology.
• This stage requires a close co-ordination between
Engineering and Marketing Divisions.

• Engineers develop appropriate drawings, designs and

build the prototype in line with prescribed specifications.

• The focus of the whole job is to build up such a product

prototype that ~ approximately close to the consumer
product specifications.
• Along with the process of product development, the marketing
division of the company develops a tentative marketing
strategy.

• A blue-print is designed about the price structure, promotion

and distribution strategy for the proposed product.

• They complete formalities regarding identification of sales

force needs, advertising program and sales promotion tools in
relation to the new products.

• While doing so, the resource needs and capability of the

organization in this regard are kept in mind.
Market Testing
• After the product idea takes shape in the form of a
prototype, and tentative marketing program has been
formulated, one may go for commercial production and
release in the market.

• However, a wise marketer does not expose the

organization to undue risk and wants to re-assure himself
of a positive market.
• Test marketing is, therefore, defined as a research
technique in which the product under study is placed on
sale in one or more selected localities or areas, and its
reception by consumer and trade is observed, recorded
and analyzed.

• The aim is to try out the proposed marketing program in a

well selected representative market segment in the
expected marketing environment in which the proposed
product is eventually to be placed.
• The following information is gathered during test marketing :
1) Potential sales volume generation
2) Identify buyers with innovative bent of mind
3) Compare assumed target buyers behavior with actual
behavior of the buyers.
4)Accept the strong opinions of the new products by the
buyers.
5) Evaluation of advertising efforts
6)Competence evaluation of the proposed distribution
channel.
7) Determine potential of repeat demand for the proposed
product.
Commercialization
• Now the product is ready for introduction in the larger
market.

• Based on the information generated during test marketing,

the product is duly modified and improved, and strategies
about pricing, distribution and promotion are developed.

• The product is produced in commercial scale and offered

for sale in the market.
• As a part of marketing strategy, the company may decide
to introduce the product in the entire market at the same
time; or it may be introduced in a phased manner in
different areas.

• This is decided keeping in mind the production level and

assuring that the product would not go into short-supply
soon after introduction.
Fixing Price
• Methods of fixing the price can be broadly divided into the
following categories.
1. Cost based pricing
2. Competition based pricing
3. Demand based pricing
4. Objective based pricing
• 1. Cost Based Pricing Under this method, price of the
product is fixed by adding the amount of desired profit
margin to the cost of the product.
• If a particular soap costs the marketeer Rs. 8 and he
desires a profit of 25%, the price of the soap is fixed at Rs
8 + (8x25/100) =Rs. 10.
• While calculating the price in this way, all costs (variable
as well as fixed) incurred in manufacturing the product are
taken into consideration.
• 2. Competition Based Pricing In case of products where
market is highly competitive and there is negligible
difference in quality of competing brands, price is usually
fixed closer to the price of the competing brands.

• It is called ‘young rate pricing’ and is a very convenient

method because the marketer do not have to worry much
about demand and cost and effect the change as per the
changes by the industry leaders.

•.
 3. Demand Based Pricing
• At times, prices are determined by the demand for the product.

• Under this method, without paying much attention to cost and competitors
prices, the marketers try ascertain the demand for the product.

• If the demand is high they decide to take advantage and fix a high price.
If the demand is low, they fix low prices for their product.

• At times they resort to differential prices and charge different prices from
different groups of customers depending upon their perceived values and
capacity to pay.

• Take the case of cinema halls where the rates of tickets differ for the
different sets of rows in the hall.
• 4. Objective Based Pricing
• This method is applicable to introduction of new (innovative) products.
If, at the introductory stage of the products, the organization wishes to
penetrate the market i.e., to capture large parts of the market and
discourage the prospective competitors to enter into the fray, it fixes a
low price.

• Alternatively, the organization may decide to skim the market i.e., to

earn high profit by taking advantage of a group of customers who give
more importance to their status or distinction and are willing to pay even
a higher price for it.

• In such a situation they fix quite high price at the introductory stage of
their product and market it to only those customers who can afford it.
Marketing Communication
• The Marketing Communication refers to the means adopted
by the companies to convey messages about the products
and the brands they sell, either directly or indirectly to the
customers with the intention to persuade them to purchase.

• In other words, the different medium that company adopts to

exchange the information about their goods and services to
the customers is termed as Marketing Communication.

• The marketer uses the tools of marketing communication to

create the brand awareness among the potential customers,
which means some image of the brand gets created in their
minds that help them to make the purchase decision.
Why Product Fails?
• The reasons for product failure are attributed to six factors
They
• 1) Product Problems
• Neglect of market needs or ignorance of market
preferences
• Defects in product function
• Poor technical design or external appearance
• Poor packaging or inappropriate sizes
• Undependable performance or variation in quality, etc.
• 2) Distribution and Channel Problems
• Inappropriate channels or outlets
• Lack of co-operation from middlemen
• Poor system of physical distribution, etc.

3) Promotional Problems
• Inadequate or ineffective promotion
• Advertising directed towards wrong market segments
• Use of wrong appeals
• Failure to co-ordinate adequately with distribution system
• Improper training to sales force, etc.
4) Pricing Problems
• Bad forecast of price
• Price not on par with product quality
• Poor cost estimates caused 'asking price' to be too high, inadequate margins
for the Middlemen, etc.

5)Timing Problem: Time of introducing a product is important. If its too late or

early, there is a huge chance to fail.

6) Competitive Problems
• Competitors aggressive strategies with respect to product, distribution,
promotion and price may cause serious set back to the product in the market.

• The company had to react defensively rather than pursuing aggressive

strategies.
Further Read
• https://hbr.org/2011/04/why-most-product-launches-fail

• Flaw 1: The company Biophysics can’t support fast

growth - Mosquito Magnet

• The Lesson: Have a plan to face demand quickly if the

product takes off.
• Flaw 2: The product falls short of claims and gets bashed -Microsoft
Windows Vista
• The Lesson: Delay your launch until the product is really ready.

Flaw 3: The new item exists in “product limbo.”- Coca-Cola C2 diet Coke
• The Lesson: Test the product to make sure its differences will sway buyers.
• Flaw 4: The product defines a new category and
requires substantial consumer education—but
doesn’t get it.

• In 2004 P&G launched a scent “player” that looked like a

CD player and emitted scents
• The Lesson: If consumers can’t quickly grasp how to use
your product, it’s toast.
Product Life Cycle
• Product life cycle refers to the stages a product goes
through from its introduction, through its growth and
maturity, to its eventual decline and death (withdrawal
from the market).
Introduction Stage
• During this stage arrangements for full scale production
are made, a marketing programmed is finalized, and the
product is offered to the market.

• Here the sales volume shows an upward trend, but the

rate of growth is quite slow.

• At this stage, the product being new and has been first
made available for purchase in the market, it may not face
competition in the market.
• The company has to communicate with target market and inform
potential customers of the new arrival in a big way, thus incurring
high promotional expenditure.

• The promotional effort is also aimed at inducing the potential

buyers to buy and test the product.

• It also aims at securing distribution at retail outlets in the process.

More money is spent in attracting distributors for the new product.

• The profits of the company will be generally low and sometimes

negative due to high promotional costs and low sales volume, at
this introduction stage.
Growth Stage

• After the product gains acceptance in the market i.e., accepted by

the consumers as well as trade, it enters into the growth stage.

• Now the demand of the product, grows rapidly, generally

outpacing supply.

• In the light of increased sales volume, the company profits also

increase.

• Effective distribution and promotional efforts are considered key

actors during this stage, so as to cash on the rising trend of
demand.
• The company considers increased sales volume as a top priority.
in the wake of rising demand, a large number of competitors
begin to enter the market.

• The competitors start adding new features to the product.

• With the rise in competition, distribution outlets also increase in

number resulting in increased demand to "fill the pipeline"

• Prices normally remain at the same level or may fall marginally.

• Promotional tempo is maintained or even raised to meet the

challenge of competition.
Maturity Stage
• At this stage, it is more likely that the competitors become more
active.

• In case your product is a novel one, by now competition would have

come out with a similar product in the market to compete with yours.

• Therefore, the sales are likely to be pushed downwards by the

competitors while your promotional efforts would have to be
increased to try and sustain the sales. Thus, the sales reach a
plateau. This is called the 'maturity stage' or 'saturation'.

• At this point it is difficult to push sales up. With regard to the profit
picture, the profits are likely to stabilize or start declining as more
promotional effort has to be made now in order to meet competition.
Decline or Obsolescence Stage
• Thereafter the sales are likely to decline and the product
could reach the 'obsolescence' stage.

• Steps should be taken to prevent this obsolescence and

avoid the decline.

• This decline that generally follows could be due to several

reasons such as changes in consumer tastes, improvement
in technology and introduction of better substitutes.

• This is the stage where the profits drop rapidly and

ultimately the last stage emerges.
• Retaining such a product after this stage may be risky,
and certainly not profitable to the organization.

• Thus, a firm has to finally choose between a total

abandonment of the product or continue it in a specialized
limited market.

• The decision will be based on the level of remaining

opportunity and ability of the management in this regard.
Consumer Adoption Process
• Awareness: The consumer becomes aware that a new product
exists but it unsure about its information.

• 2. Interest: The consumer becomes interested in knowing more

about the product and seeks information.

• 3. Evaluation: the consumer evaluates if he would like to try the

product.

• 4. Trial: the consumer makes the decision to try the product to

experience it and judge its value.

• 5. Adoption: the consumer becomes fully convinced about the

benefits of the product and starts using it fully.
Marketing Communication
• Marketing communication offer solutions to the following
questions:
• ▪ Why shall the product be used?
• ▪ How can the product be used? ▪ Who can use the
product?
• ▪ Where can the product be used?
• ▪ When can the product be used?

• Marketing communication includes Advertising, Sales

Promotion, Events and Experiences (sponsorship), Public
Relations and Publicity, Direct Marketing, Interactive
Marketing, Word-ofMouth Marketing, Personal Selling.
Elements of Marketing Communication Mix
• 1. Advertising: It is an indirect, paid method used by the
firms to inform the customers about their goods and
services via television, radio, print media, online websites
etc.

• Advertising is one of the most widely used methods of

communication mix wherein the complete information
about the firm’s product and services can be
communicated easily with the huge target audience
coverage.
• 2. Sales Promotion: The sales promotion includes the several
short-term incentives to persuade the customers to initiate the
purchase of the goods and services.

• This promotion technique not only helps in retaining the existing

customers but also attract the new ones with the additional
benefits. Rebates, discounts, paybacks, Buy- one –get- one free
scheme, coupons, etc. are some of the sales promotion tools.

• 3. Events and Experiences: Several companies sponsor the

events such as sports, entertainment, nonprofit or community
events with the intention to reinforce their brand in the minds of
the customers and create a long term association with them.
• 4. Public Relations and Publicity: The companies perform several social
activities with a view to creating their positive brand image in the market.

• The activities that companies are undertaking such as, constructing the
public conveniences, donating some portion of their purchase to the child
education, organizing the blood donation camps, planting trees, etc. are
some of the common moves of enhancing the Public Relations.

• 5. Direct Marketing: With the intent of technology, the companies make

use of emails, fax, mobile phones, to communicate directly with the
prospective customers without involving any third party in between.

• 6. Interactive Marketing: Interactive Marketing has recently gained

popularity as a marketing communication tool, wherein the customers can
interact with the firms online and can get their queries resolved online.
• Word-of- Mouth Marketing: It is one of the most widely practiced method
of communication tool wherein customer share their experiences with their
peers and friends about the goods and services they bought recently.

• This method is very crucial for the firms because the image of the brand
depends on what customer feels about the brand and what message he
convey to others.

• 8. Personal Selling: This is the traditional method of marketing

communication wherein the salesmen approach the prospective customers
directly and inform them about the goods and services they are dealing in.

• It is considered as one of the most reliable modes of communication

because it is done directly either orally, i.e., face to face or in writing via
emails or text messages.
Factors influencing brand awareness
• Name: The name of a brand is the first thing which attracts a consumer
towards a brand. If the company has an attractive brand name
consumer will be encouraged to buy that product.

• Advertising: An effective advertisement also helps the organization to

increase the awareness about a brand. The influence of advertisement
is always on a large scale.

• An attractive Television commercial (TVC) will bring more customers

and one happy customer will advertise the brand by WOM (Word of
Mouth).

• The celebrity who is endorsing the brand is also a very important part of
advertising the product. Companies hire famous faces as their brand
ambassadors and people get attracted towards the brand.
• Promotions & Sales: The sales and promotions also increase the
awareness about the brand.

• Companies use different ways to promote their brand like a free

gift, free sampling, giving their product as a gift with another well
known product of their own brand or in collaboration of any other
company.

• 1 st Mover Advantage: If a company is bringing any product for

the first time in the market it will be remembered by the customers
for a long time.
• People will always remember that this particular product was
introduced by that particular company and they will compare the
first brand with the other in the successors in the market.
• If consumer demand is not there producers will lose the
motivation to produce and it will affect the economic system.
• Purchase intention means to plan to buy a good or attain a
service.
• It refers to the desire of a customer to buy a particular product
of a certain brand.
• Purchase intention is based on the consumer purchase process
in five stages:
• 1. Identification of the problem
• 2. Searching Information
• 3. Evaluating the substitutes
• 4. Making Decision
• 5. Behavior after Purchase
• The purchase intention into “Unplanned buying, partially-
Planned buying and Fully Planned buying”.

• Consumers sometimes buy on their gut feelings and the decision is

made at the store. This type of decision can be categorized into an
unplanned buying decision.

• Partially-planned buying means that consumers decide the

product category before going to the store, and decides about the
brand after arriving at the store.

• Then comes the fully planned buying decision, it means the

consumer decides about the product and the brand before entering
the store
• A consumer’s purchase intention depends upon very
much on the level of satisfaction, he expects and
receives.
• Anticipated quality and brand faithfulness
• Perceived cost to be paid for the product
• If the brand satisfies the consumer he will become a
regular buyer of that particular brand but if not the
consumer might engage in the negative marketing of the
brand.
• the consumer’s purchase intention is influenced by
different external or internal factors such as :

• Trigger: means anything that stimulates a consumer to

buy a product of a particular brand.

• It may be an attractive TVC, some special packaging or

any particular attribute of the product which attracts the
customer towards the product.
• Outcome Expectation: consumer’s expected outcome
from a particular product or service from a certain brand
also affects his purchase intention.

• Recommendation: a recommendation from the side of a

worthy and reliable source can help the customer to
purchase the brand.

• Personal Association: customer’s emotional and

personal association also affects his purchase intention of
buying any certain brand.
• 1) Technology enthusiasts
• Look to get the latest technology first, and less concerned with
functionality and benefit.
2) Visionaries
• See the potential for exponential benefit made possible by the
new technology, and want to have influence in shaping the
technology to fulfill their vision.
3) Pragmatists
• Only buy technology when there's a proven benefit to using it.
4) Conservatives
• Only buy technology when they'll experience a loss
by not adopting the product.
5) Skeptics
• Only buy technology when it's forced upon them.
What is Branding
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO4te2QNsHY
• A brand is a result
• It’s the gut feeling about a product a product, service or
company.
• “Branding is endowing products and services with the
power of a brand” (Kotler & Keller, 2015)
• Branding is the process of giving a meaning to specific
organization, company, products or services by creating
and shaping a brand in consumers' minds.
Co-Branding
• Co-branding is the strategy that strives to capture the
synergism of combining two well-known brands into a
third, unique branded product (Rao and Ruekert, 1994).

• In other words, a co-branding strategy will introduce a

new product or service to the market. This product or
service’s characteristics are then rooted in the attributes
and core competencies of the two cooperating brands.
• https://youtu.be/dYw4meRWGd4
Ingredient Branding
• Ingredient branding is a marketing strategy where a
component of the business is branded as a separate entity.

• This helps to add more value to the parent company and

make their product/service seem superior to its competitors.

• Tide detergent
• Arm & Hammer baking soda
• Splenda sweetener
• OnStar
• Oreo :Oreo is an American cookie brand, owned by
Mondelez International & Cadbury Milka.
Steps in Developing Effective Communication Mix

1. Identifying the Target Audience

2. Determining the Desired Response
3. Designing a Message
4. Message Content
5. Message Structure
6. Message Format
7. Choosing Media
8. Selecting the Message Source
9. Collecting Feedback
Concept of Integrated Marketing Communications
• The shift from mass marketing to targeted marketing, with its
corresponding use of a richer mixture of communication
channels and promotion tools, poses a problem for marketers.

• Consumers are being exposed to a greater variety of

marketing communications from and about the company from
an array of sources.

• However, customers don’t distinguish between message

sources the way marketers do.
• In the consumer’s mind, advertising messages from different
media—such as television, magazines, or online sources—
blur into one.
• Messages delivered via different promotional approaches
—such as advertising, personal selling, sales promotion,
public relations, or direct marketing—all become part of a
single message about the company.

• Conflicting messages from these different sources can

result in confused company images and brand positions.
• Companies fail to integrate their various communications
channels.

• Mass advertisements say one thing, a price promotion sends a

different signal, a product label creates still another message,
company sales literature says something altogether different, and
the company’s Web site seems out of sync with everything else.

• The problem is that these communications often come from

different company sources.

• The advertising department or advertising agency plans and

implements advertising messages.
• Sales management develops personal selling
communications.

• Other functional specialists are responsible for public

relations, sales promotion, direct marketing, online sites,
and other forms of marketing communications.

• Such functional separation has recently become a major

problem for many companies and their Internet
communications activities, which are often split off into
separate organizational units.
• Many companies are adopting the concept of integrated
marketing communications (IMC).

• Under this concept, the company carefully integrates and

coordinates its many communications channels to deliver
a clear, consistent, and compelling message about the
organization and its products.

• As one marketing executive puts it, “IMC builds a strong

brand identity in the marketplace by tying together and
reinforcing all your images and messages.
• IMC means that all your corporate messages, positioning
and images, and identity are coordinated across all
marketing communications venues.

• It means that your PR materials say the same thing as

your direct mail campaign, and your advertising has the
same ‘look and feel’ as your Web site.”
• The IMC solution calls for recognizing all contact points at
which the customer may encounter the company, its
products, and its brands.

• Each brand contact will deliver a message, whether good,

bad, or indifferent.

• The company must strive to deliver a consistent and

positive message at all contact points.
Examples Further Read
• https://
www.socialpilot.co/blog/integrated-marketing-campaign

• https://online.aurora.edu/integrated-marketing-communica
tions-examples/
Get a Mac by Apple

Key Takeaways
• Focus on the experience, product features can follow later
• Minimize straightforward messaging, create as much enigma
as possible
• Prioritize visual storytelling
• Nike live-streamed their marathon in under 2 hours as
part of their marketing campaign for their new product –
the Zoom Vaporfly Elite in 2017.

• It was aired live on Twitter and Facebook, as behind-the-

scenes images were posted on Instagram.

• They recruited three athletes – Zersenay Tadese, Eliud

Kipchoge, and Lelisa Desisa – for the race, made it simple
for fans to track with their hashtag #Breaking2, and even
developed a unique Nike shoe emoji.
• Key Takeaways:
• Adopt boldness and endeavor to push boundaries
• Ensure the maximum possible exposure within the limits
of the budget
Wells Fargo
• Wells Fargo used its integrated marketing platforms to
create a well-optimized campaign to appeal to its target
demographic.

• All effective marketing approaches emphasized the

intersection of human sentiments combined with cutting-
edge technology, which was critical to changing Wells
Fargo’s overall customer experience.
Key Takeaways
When handling negative
customer feedback,
design a campaign
showing an
acknowledgment of past
mistakes and the steps
taken for course
correction
Impart valuable
information of digestible
viewability, if possible
• Wasssup by Budweiser
• The commercial depicted buddies repeating this line over
and over while sipping Budweiser and enjoying a football
game.
• The “Wasssup,” greeting made its way into the pop
culture of the time, prompting spoofs and memes. The ad
was imitated by media figures such as Katie Couric and
Howard Stern.
Key Takeaways:
Strike a buzzword that your audience can relate to
Deliver what your audience wants from your brand
Product line
•  Product line is a range of similar products or services that
are introduced and sold by the same company, with
different features and different prices.

• Tata Consumer Products Ltd.(TCPL) sells beverages like

Tea and Coffee as separate product lines.
Product Line Length  

• Product Line length refers to the number of

products/brands that come under a single product
category/line.

• example, HUL possesses a host of products under its

beauty and personal care segment such as Axe, Dove,
Lux, Vaseline etc. whereas under the Water Purifier
segment it has a single brand – ‘Pure It’.
Product Line Width

• Product line width can be described as the number of

parallel product lines a brand or company has on offer.

• Simply put, if an electronics company like Samsung

manufactures computing products, home appliances,
mobiles & accessories, and televisions as separate
categories of products we can say Samsung has a pretty
wide spread of products to offer.
Product Mix
• Product mix is all of the product lines that the company
sells, including only those products that are actually in the
marketplace, and not those still in the development or
testing stages.

• For example, a company's product mix may be

constituted of cosmetics, toiletries, and medicine.
Product Systems
• A product system is a group of diverse but related items
that function in a compatible manner.

• For example, the extensive iPod product system includes

headphones and headsets, cables and docks, armbands,
cases, power, and car accessories, and speakers.
Product Line Analysis
• Product Line Analysis" is the essential foundation upon which the
marketing plan of any business should rest.

• This process also acts as a "validation" as to whether a given

product line is appropriate for the business at its stage of
development.

• Among the factors that you should review when analyzing each of
your product lines and their categories are the following:

• The potential buyers for each product line or product line category.
• If you don't know who the buyers are, then you won't know where
to direct your marketing.
• The various product styles you wish to sell. A list of these
styles will help you to create an "inventory" of product
samples to show to your market targets.
• The relative value of the product line to your business.
• Do the positive aspects of offering the product line
outweigh the negatives?
• Will the time involved in marketing and manufacturing the
product be rewarded in terms of profits.
FUNCTIONS OF PACKAGING

• Protection
• The primary function of packaging has been protection of the product from
being destroyed or spoiled through environmental hazards.
• These include breakage/damage due to rough handling protection from
extreme climatic conditions such as heat, cold, monsoons; protection from
contamination or absorption of moisture etc.

• Differentiation/Positioning
• it is packaging which lends a different positioning to the product. It offers
consumers newer benefits enabling differentiation of the product.

• Packaging for Promotion

• Packaging is largely used as a promotional tool.
• Several schemes like offering of discount on purchase of certain number of
packages, offering accessories for the product along with the packaging are
introduced by the marketer to make the product.
Packaging for Pricing
When a company plans to launch a product in the premium market it can
do so by giving it in a premium package.
The package enhances the value of the product which if placed in an
ordinary package would not be a appealing to the target consumer.
Also, at times, a package smaller than the regular size and shaped oddly
may be priced higher and yet achieve the desired effect e.g., selling of
Ketchup by Maggi in 400 gm. bottles compared to the usual 500gms.

Packaging for Convenience

The package is designed keeping in mind the distribution channel it has to
pass through.
It tends convenience to the producer, wholesaler, retailer as well as the
final end-user with respect to stocking, displaying, occupancy of shelf
space, reusability and disposal.
• This can be illustrated as:
Legal aspects of packaging
• The labeling laws require safe packaging and warning labels
on hazardous materials such as poison and other substances.
• A package must necessarily give complete information about:
1) Date of manufacture
2) Date of expiry
3) Guarantee period
4) Batch No.
5)Volume/Weight of contents
6)Name of manufacturer
7)Instructions how to open it
8)Trademark of manufacturer
9) Price
Warranty
• Warranty in simple language is a commitment from a
manufacturer to its customers that if the product breaks or
causes some problems while functioning, the
manufacturer will have to provide free repair for that.
• In this, if the manufacturer does not commit replacement,
he/she is only committed to repairing.

• with a warranty, the customer is protected against sudden

breakage or sudden problems. SO, warranty is the
minimum time period for which the company is
responsible for the product to work properly.
Guarantee
• Guarantee is superior to Warranty.
• With guarantee, the company first tries to repair the
product having problems and then if not solved, the
customer is offered free replacement.

• Guarantee has coverage of entire product whereas,

Warranty generally means limited liability for the
manufacturer of the product.
Thank you