A product is anything that is potentially valued by a target market for the benefits or satisfaction it provides.

A)  Responsibility for Managing Products

	Product/brand management:  The responsibility for planning, managing, and coordinating the strategy for a specific product or brand, in part, belongs go brand managers
	Product/group/marketiing management:  A business with several brands may assign responsibility for managing its product/brand to a product director, or marketing manager
	Product mix management:  This responsibility is normally assigned to the chief executive at the Subunit or corporate level of an organization.

B)  Marketing's Role in Product Strategy

Marketing sensing is needed at all stages; customer and competitor information is needed; there are strategy concerns; and marketing should guide target market and program positioning strategies

A) Tracking Product Performance

Evaluating existing products requires tracking the performance of the products in the portfolio as shown in Exhibit 9-3

	Relevant issues include:  Determining the length and rate of change of the PLC; identifying the current PLC stages and selecting the strategy that corresponds to that stage; anticipating threats and finding opportunities for altering and extending the PLC
	Rate of change:  PLC's are becoming much shorter
	PLC strategies:  In the first state, one must establish brand image; in the growth, brand is reinforced; in the maturity stage, product repositioning may occur; in the decline stage, features of the product may be modified

A)  Strategies for Improving Performance

	Add a new product
	Reduce costs
	Improve products by changing features, quality, and styling
	Alter market targeting and positioning
	Drop a problem product

B)  Product Mix Modifications

	Increase the growth rate of the business
	Offer a more complete range of products
	Leverage existing brand position
	Avoid dependence on one product line or category

Managing the product/brand portfolio requires decisions on whether to increase or decrease resource allocations to particular brands.  Note:  Brand equity considers the strength of a brand and how it may change over time

A)  The Role of Brands

Brands can:  Reduce customer costs by identifying products quickly; reduce a buyer's risk by providing assurance of quality; provide psychological rewards; facilitate repeat purchases; facilitate the introduction of new products; facilitate promotional effectiveness; facilitate premium pricing, etc.

B) The Value of Major Brands

	A brand name distinguishes the product
	A powerful brand identity creates a distinctive capability
	A brand that is recognized by buyers encourages repeat purchases  (See page 323)

C)  Brand Equity

	Brand equity is a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name, and symbol, that add to or take away from the value provided by a product or service.
	Measuring brand equity:  One can measure loyalty, perceived quality, awareness, or market behavior
	Bran health reports.  See the bullet list on page 325

	Specific product branding:  Is used by various producers of frequently purchased items
	Product line branding:  Promotes the entire line rather than each product
	Corporate branding:  Uses the corporate name to id the entire product offering
	Combination branding:  See Exhibit 9-8
	Private branding:  Retailers with established brand names contract with producers to manufacture and place the retailers brand name of products sold by the retailers

E)  Strategies for Brand Strength

	Brand building strategies:  The essence of strategies for brand strength is that management should actively build, maintain, and mange the four assets that underlie brand equity -- awareness, perceived quality, brand loyalty, and brand association
	Brand Revitalization:  Mature brands may require rejuvenation.  This challenge may require that new uses for the product be found.
	Strategic Brand Vulnerabilities:  Some brands may be perceived to have low quality; manufacturer brands may be susceptible to competition from retailer private brands,; brands may not protect a company from a change in consumer tastes; unexpected events may occur, etc.

F)  Brand Leveraging Strategy

	Line extension:  Consists of offering additional items in the same product class or category as the core brand
	Stretching the brand vertically:  Includes moving up or down in quality/price from the core brand
	Brand extension:  Branding a new product/line with an existing brand
	Cobranding:  Consists of two well-known brands working together in promoting their products
	Licensing:  A firm sells its brand name to another company
	Overleveraging:  Risks exist for stretching the name over too many products

G)  Global Branding

Multinational operations increasingly face the challenge of managing brand systems containing global, regional and local brands

H)  Internet Brands

Web sites should:  Create a positive image; reflect and support the brand; provide a home for loyalists; differentiate with strong sub branded content

I) Managing Brand Systems -- Management Should:

	Leverage commonalities to generate synergy
	Reduce damage to brand identity
	Obtain clarity of product offerings
	Enable change and adaptation
	Guide resource allocations among brands