Research Articles Base: Brand Labeling Examples

BRAND AUDIT IN NIVEA FOR MEN AQUA COOL

Brand audit in Nivea for men Aqua cool   There is a wide market for Nivea for men products but there can be several factors affecting stability of the market standing of the products for example Nivea Aqua Cool as the competition in the market is tough and a lot of marketing issues will need to be faced upon and integrate better and desirable product branding allowing aspects to work well with promotion, distribution and positioning approaches. Nivea for men market is quite stable in the market from where men just like women plays a lot of attention to their hygiene and grooming and that men of today are quite more vain in terms of beauty than women with emergence of men oriented beauty products men of today considers using effective and quality acclaimed products, Nivea to be specific.   Ideally, Nivea is an established name in high quality skin and beauty care products. It is part of a range of brands produced and sold by      indeed a global company specializing in skin and beauty care. There was the launching of Nivea Aqua Cool as part quality products range offering comprehensive selection of products aimed for servicing the men population. The market can be developed by creating good brand potential, better equity and introducing it into the market as marketing, promotions as well as distribution plays a vital role determining the brand power of Nivea Aqua Cool in a direct centered approach. The product arrives at the point of sale linking to effective distribution strategy to use, the Nivea Aqua Cool are being sold in several grocery, retail outlets found in established stores and supermarkets or well known beauty shops. Nivea make products directly available to their target market, for instance online selling of the product as to have convenience on the part of the customers. The distribution channels ensure widest reach of its products to its target market. The main channels for the product are retail outlets where consumers expect to find hygiene and grooming care, use also of central distribution point in the UK arriving from European production plants using contract vehicles for efficiency for onward delivery to retail stores.  Promotion is how the business tells customers that products are available and persuades them to buy. There were events or trade fairs help to launch Aqua Cool into greater men audience. Thus, direct mail can reach a large number of people but is not easy to target specific consumers cost-effectively. Aside, public relations, the product does communicate with stakeholders, through, for example, newspaper press release, sponsorship and or participation in charity events. Nivea chooses promotional strategies that reflect the lifestyle of its audience and the range of media available. It realizes that a ‘one way’ message, using TV or the press, is not as effective as talking directly to its target group of consumers, core part of the strategy is the use of product samples. These allow customers to touch, feel, smell and try the products. Nivea are using the power of innovative media as part of market success, grow awareness amongst the men audience.   Nivea Aqua Cool Objectives should be systematic, realistic, accountable and measurable as well as target market driven as it can assume the building of certain effective product market mix in understanding a wider market stature, as the brand uses market research to target core brand segmentation as it will identify groups of people with the same characteristics such as age as well as lifestyle. Aqua cool product will have to integrate strong brand packaging to reach brand success and peak bringing the desired product close to its target consumers, regardless of their location as well as the ample need to understand the men group of possibly 18 years and above allowing various innovation ways due to branding power of Aqua Cool and design the material for men skin and beauty care needs and the strengthening of several trust and appeal of Nivea for men brands. The business is consumer-led and the branding focus has helped the Nivea product to grow well in the market. Aqua Cool is amiably optimizing its position in the market, it entail that the product might incur new formula, new design, new packaging and some needed ways. Further, there is essential value for Nivea Aqua Cool to balance some advertising platform for product launching into the global market.   Brand Vision strikes at the center purpose of the product existence, why the product evolved in time as there implies to rational and emotional benefits from where Nivea for men have improved the Aqua Cool product to make it more effective and more hygienic friendly in men. The product can bring in a level of physical awareness in body hygiene and grooming, allowing men to resort to positive levels of confidence and trust in their selves.  The boosting of communication and conversation towards women, esp. in public places and will help the men to always have good feeling towards cleanliness of the external body mechanisms and that there are chances to avoid bad emotions, resolving insecurities and sense of aloofness towards other men whom they think are much more masculine than themselves and that it refreshes the rational mind to always think and decide the right way and will be confident enough in building human relationships, be it intimate or friendly manner making strong appeal to several women.   Brand positioning moves Nivea Aqua Cool into the increasing customer centered options; brand position strategy of the product explores some possible antecedents of effective brand positioning within the business nature it can be that the brand positioning will immediately increase product demand or not, as the Nivea team had better positioning idea that consumers liked. There have a name and packaging design that are effectively made as there fitted with the rest of the NIVEA Deodorant brand positioning and some important range. Thus, the Nivea Aqua Cool will be adding sense of touch into masculine elegance as well as sophistication in the Nivea brand’s personality, the product is more appealing and unique to fresh, and trendy driven male customers and the sample brand positioning map can relate to Nivea Aqua Cool’s quality and price domains that will assume low or high assimilation of such brand valuation in the market (see, the map below for visualization of Aqua Cool’s brand positioning pathways.   What are Perceptual Maps?                                                                                  QUALITY                                     High                                         Low Rigorous production of Nivea Aqua Cool Less/limited production of Nivea Aqua Cool High Price – Steady Demand Low Price – Less Demand   PR                                                        PRICE         Reference:     Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

BRAND AUDIT IN NIVEA FOR MEN AQUA COOL

Brand audit in Nivea for men Aqua cool There is a wide market for Nivea for men products but there can be several factors affecting st...

Using examples to illustrate your essay, examine the different types of branding methods used by marketers for their products

Introduction Marketing is the process by which a product or service originates and is then priced, promoted, and distributed to consumers. In large corporations the principal marketing functions precede the manufacture of a product. They involve market research and product development, design, and testing. Marketing concentrates primarily on the buyers, or consumers. After determining the customers’ needs and desires, marketers develop strategies that are designed to educate customers about a product’s most important features, persuade them to buy it, and then to enhance their satisfaction with the purchase. Where marketing once stopped with the sale, today businesses believe that it is more profitable to sell to existing customers than to new ones. As a result, marketing now also involves finding ways to turn one-time purchasers into lifelong customers. Marketing includes planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the decision-making regarding product lines, pricing, promotion, and servicing. In most of these areas marketing has overall authority; in others, as in product-line development, its function is primarily advisory.   In addition, the marketing department of a business firm is responsible for the physical distribution of the products, determining the channels of distribution that will be used, and supervising the profitable flow of goods from the factory or warehouse (1967). Marketing is about satisfying customer wants and needs and in the course of doing so facilitating the achievement of an organization’s objectives. By paying attention to customer wants and needs, organizations are more likely to achieve their objectives in the marketplace. Of course, organizations have to compete with each other and so also have to satisfy customers’ wants and needs at least as well as their competitors. Fortunately, organizations can do this in different ways (2000).   Marketing Management is the process of planning, organizing, implementing, and controlling marketing activities in order to facilitate and expedite exchanges efficiently and efficiently. Planning involves assessment of opportunities and resources at hand, development of marketing objectives and of a specific marketing strategy; and the development of plans for implementation and control. Organizing involves making an internal structure for the marketing unit. Implementing involves making sure that there is an effective communication within the marketing unit and marketing activities are well coordinated so that exchanges can occur. Controlling involves establishing performance standards, evaluating actual performance by comparing performances with standards already set, and reducing the difference between desired and actual performance ( 2002).   To assist marketing management in getting a handle on the changing times and the changes affecting their core products and services, there is a need for market research information gathered internally as well as information gained from market research forms. Market research information should assist marketing management in anticipating what customers want before they are aware of their needs for products and services. As such, market research information over time can be assessed in terms of what has and is happening and what probably will happen to customers’ needs for goods and services tomorrow. This broad-based approach to market research will give corporate management some insight into knowledge about the company’s core products and services and where the company should be heading (1999).  The paper will discuss about a background of Coca Cola. The paper will also discuss about brand positioning, brand name and selection, brand sponsorship and brand development. Through the different information acquired a conclusion shall be made.   Coca Cola The coca cola company is a beverage company and the world leader in soft drink sales. Coca-Cola produces and distributes several brands in the United States and internationally. The company also produces and markets many fruit juices and other non-soda beverages. The Coca-Cola Company is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Coca-Cola’s soft drinks include its flagship product Coca-Cola which is popularly known as Coke, Diet Coke, Tab, Sprite, Fanta, Fresca, Mello Yello, and Barq’s root beer. The company’s non-soda beverages include Minute Maid fruit juices, PowerAde sports drinks, and Nestea iced tea drinks ( 1993).  In 1986 The Coca-Cola Company consolidated all of its non-franchised U.S. bottling operations as Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc. The new company began acquiring independent bottling companies, a venture that grew into the world’s largest bottler of soft drinks by 1988. While Coca-Cola Enterprises distributes over half of all Coca-Cola products in the United States, small franchise businesses continue to bottle, can, and distribute the company’s drinks worldwide. In 1987 the Coca-Cola Company was listed in the prestigious Dow Jones Industrial Averages index of stock market performance. Its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo products occupied nine of the top ten spots in the U.S. soft drink market. Worldwide, Coca-Cola ranked first in soft drink sales, and the company earned almost 80 percent of its profits from international sales (1993).   Branding Branding reaches beyond immediate commercial objectives and touches the soul. Branding is not about getting a company’s prospect to choose them over the competition; it’s about getting their prospect to see them as the only solution. Large sums of money are invested each year in order to create and maintain the awareness of and the preference for a brand. Powerful brands command unwavering consumer loyalty and provide strong competitive advantage in the marketplace. The wealth of an organization is, to a not insignificant extent, judged by the strength of its brands whether it is in consumer or business-to-business markets, with brands that have either a high product or a high services component. The immediate association with a brand tends to be a product name. However, treating a brand only as a name misses the main point of branding. The brand is a complex symbol and can be applied to specific products, whole corporations or even countries. Brands vary in the marketplace according to the level of consumer awareness and loyalty ( 2002).   Strong brands can command consumer loyalty, which means that a sufficient number of consumers will demand these brands in preference to unbranded substitutes, even if the latter are offered with comparable quality and at lower prices. Such brands are said to have consumer franchise providing the companies who own them with competitive advantage and insulation over their competitors’ promotional strategies. A brand can deliver up to four levels of meaning. This includes Attributes. Wherein a powerful brand will be able to conjure certain product attributes in the minds of the consumer. Another level of meaning is Benefits. Wherein customers do not buy product attributes; they buy benefits. In order to have strong brands, companies have to translate attributes into functional and emotional benefit. Moreover a level of meaning is values. A brand also conveys something of the buyer’s values. The skill of the brand marketer would lie in matching the values of the targeted group of buyers with the brand benefits. Lastly a level of meaning is personality. Wherein a brand also projects a certain personality. This association is often used by motivation researchers when asking, if this brand were a person, what personality trait would it have? The consumers might visualize the brand as having a certain personality with which they might want to be associated (2002). The most lasting and sustainable meanings of the brand are its core values and personality. Some brands are largely unknown to most consumers except for those closely involved with them. Others enjoy a higher degree of consumer brand awareness, whereas brands which are consistently chosen over their competitors are said to have brand preference. The most powerful brands can command a high degree of brand loyalty. Such a brand has high brand equity (2002). Coca cola has one of the most well known brands of soft drink. When one hears about refreshments coke would come into mind. People would have no second guess on what soft drink to choose since they have full trust and need for the company’s product.   Brand Positioning Never before have customers had so many brand choices. Ironically, the difference between competitive brands is often intangible. What does it take to break out of the pack with the brand and set it apart from the competition and, most importantly, place it first in the minds of customers? Creative advertising and package design are the most visible manifestations of each brand’s attempt to be seen as uniquely wonderful, but these are just the tip of the iceberg. Skillful brand positioning is the base. Properly communicated by effective advertising, as well as the entire marketing program, and fulfilled by the product or service itself, it is the right positioning that builds brand loyalty and delivers exceptional profits. The profit premium that a brand earns in excess of its commodity value is the expression of brand value in financial terms. At its simplest, the net present value of the difference between the brand’s future profit stream and that of an equivalent commodity’s is the prize marketers seek. It is this brand asset value that they are charged to develop and build or, at least, maintain. Brand stewardship are far from empty words. Brands are a business’s crown jewels, but unlike those in the tower of London, they are put to work, and put at risk, every day (2000).   Brand positioning is communicated through packaging and advertising and promotion, but the most important element is the product or service itself. In positioning the product to consumers, marketers, too, have a choice.  The first was differentiation, competing on the basis of value added to consumer’s quality, service, and differentiation so consumers would pay a premium to cover higher costs. The second was cost based, wherein offering products or services are at the lowest cost. Quality of product or service isn’t unimportant, but the focus is on costs (2000). Brand positioning generally requires in-depth understanding of the consumer’s decision-making process. Means-end theory through laddering provides a useful tool to fully explore the consumer’s psyche in terms of brand choice criteria. But laddering, like any tool, relies on the craftspeople who use it. (2001). Brand positioning is a process of emphasizing the brand’s distinctive and motivating attributes in the light of competition. Positioning refers both to the product segment the brand belongs to and how it differs specifically from other brands in the segment. Positioning is becoming the universal strategic preoccupation of entire organizations and the concern of top management ( 2000). Coca cola makes sure that in all advertising methods it uses; people will realize that the company’s product has distinct characteristics that add to the reasons why people buy its products.  Coca cola makes sure it has a unique product that will make clients purchase their products. This is done by adding a distinctive taste of their products.   Brand Name and Selection A brand name is the concentration of aesthetic, visual and verbal styling of the commodity into one named character. The brand name goes with uniform styling and a company image. Companies want people to associate their brand name with the whole functional type as the product. For example, in Germany, United Fruit used a campaign that stated people should forget the word banana and remember Chiquita. Companies would like it if people forgot their generic words and only remembered brand names, as is already the case for names like Kleenex for paper handkerchiefs. Consumers forget pre-industrial technology, and use brand names. People do not remember how to make soap, or shoes. That is left to industry, and industry delivers under a brand name.   People are willing to pay more for a brand name they recognize with a reputation and advertising through national media than for a brand name that has no such reputation and media exposure, since a widely advertised brand name gives the idea that the product is respectable and reliable. People cannot see into the package, and so the picture substitutes for checking inside the package to see the quality of the product. They look at a brand-name can of peas and think of the green giant they saw on television who only picked the best peas to go into this very can. This makes them feel safe. They feel sure that inside this can will be good tasting peas ( 1996).     The brand name has invested in it a national image, and its name and logo are copyrighted so that no one else may use it. The brand name becomes part of a company’s capital assets. It is not unusual for one company to spend much money to buy a brand name from another successful company. Brand names appropriate and privatize words that would otherwise be in common usage, and make them into someone’s exclusive property. The brand name and logo are a way of packaging a product with the values and reputation of the company that made it. The same brand name might appear on a whole series of different products all produced by the same company, so that when people intend to buy a product they look for a brand name they recognize (1996).  Associated with a brand name is the image. The brand-name image is the total impression, the look of the objects, services, and facilities of some enterprise.   The image for a company might include the logo, the type of lines carried, the decorations of facilities, the advertisements used, employee uniforms, or the general design of goods. Often advertisements are there for image ( 1996). Coca Cola made sure that the brand name chosen was easy to remember. They believed that the brand name can make or break the company. Coke as a brand name gave the company success in its industry. Coke was well known all over the world. When people wants to buy beverages. They would rather say coke than soft drink.   Brand Sponsorship Sponsorship has been defined as advertising, as public relations, and as sales promotions. Indeed, certain types of sponsorship are closely related to public relations, because they mainly support the image of the company as a whole towards a variety of stakeholders. A company that sponsors a soccer team and invites suppliers, customers, shareholders, and other stakeholders to watch the game, has in fact integrated its sponsorship project into its PR effort. A brand of soft drinks that sponsors a concert, and uses this opportunity to sample its new brand of juice, has incorporated its sales promotion into its sponsorship efforts. But no doubt the nature and the objectives of marketing-related sponsorship are closer to advertising than to any other marketing communications instrument. The main objectives of sponsorship are similar to those of advertising, i.e. to build brand awareness for new and existing products in the short and the long run, to build and improve the brand or company image, and to reinforce brand familiarity and use (2004).   Although sponsorship, just like advertising, can be used to serve short-term goals, like product trial and market penetration, its main strength lies in the long-term support of brand awareness and brand image, and other Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) tools are needed to stimulate buying behavior in the short run ( 2004). However, compared to advertising, sponsorship has a number of distinct characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages. Sponsorship can benefit from the strong association with an event, a good cause, or a television program. Therefore it is a potentially more powerful image builder than advertising, and it can effectively link the brand to a particular market segment. By showing a brand in a high involvement and experiential sponsored context instead of stressing the product characteristics and performance, the impact of the brand communication can be much stronger and much more convincing. The target audience is also exposed to the brand indirectly through a third party. This can lead to a greater believability of the brand and its claims ( 2004).   Sponsorship is also capable of transcending national and cultural boundaries, for instance by using an internationally known and liked tennis player. Sponsorship is sometimes qualified as a cheap alternative to advertising. This can certainly be the case in terms of the cost of creation and exposure. On the other hand, sponsorship is never going to work if it is not supplemented with and reinforced by other marketing communications efforts. All sponsorship activity requires a marketing support budget that is at least three or four times as large before it can have an impact. Sponsorship is less flexible than advertising, because it is often less suited to show products, or give information about product characteristics and product usage. There are also some risks that are incurred. A sponsored athlete that behaves badly, or a theatre play that is not a success, may have a negative impact on the sponsor of the event. Some events are overly sponsored, and as a result of this sponsorship clutter and excessive commercialization, individual sponsorship may become less effective. Finally, the effectiveness of sponsorship is very difficult to evaluate (2004).   Sponsorship has been one means used by Western companies for putting their brand names in the public eye. When it first entered Asia, Cartier had an edge through sponsoring major cultural promotions. In Hong Kong, for example, it used highly prized concerts and ballet performances to get across the message of Cartier as an exclusive product, available only to the elite. Another group that found sponsorship a useful way to communicate was the tobacco companies. Following the prohibition of cigarette advertising on TV and radio, sponsorship, first of major sporting events and later of the arts and social foundations, became a major tool in promoting their brands. In Asia, where advertising regulations, tax conditions and other factors proved unfavorable, sponsorship became crucial in the long term image building of a brand, providing national media publicity, access to influential people and promoting a positive image. Therefore the US companies built their brands largely through sponsorship; a Marlboro Soccer League, a Marlboro Music Hour, a Kent Billiards contest and a Salem tennis tournament. Cross-border media such as the Internet and satellite TV opened up further opportunities. For example, Star TV, which by 2000 had 300 million viewers in Asia, aired 1,237 hours of tobacco sponsored commercials in a one-year period (2003).   Brand Development From the perspective of brand name development, the  and the  are the paradigms. In fact, both dailies were the only two newspapers in Interbrand’s yearly ranking of the 100 overall most powerful brand names. Both dailies considerably intensified their internationalization strategy starting in 1992. By the end of the decade, their global battle was newsworthy for magazines and newspapers all over the world. If, in the past, both newspapers had become strong in some markets and paid less attention to others, now direct competition spreads to all the geographical areas of the planet. The  flings itself into the conquest of the European market, while the disembarks in the United States with an aggressive publishing and marketing proposal. In some places, like in the German market, the struggle leads the London newspaper to launch a German edition,  Deutschland, while the Wall Street daily reinforces its alliance with that market’s leader, .   They even find scopes for the two newspapers to collaborate, as in the case of the joint launching of a new economic daily, Vedomosti, in Moscow. Competing in most markets and collaborating in a few applying a competition strategy, increasingly common in this and other Business sectors, both the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times were brand names with a truly global information proposal in the 1990s. Their publishing companies developed the mentioned brand names, in response to the growing competition from the new media, parallel to the implementation of geographic expansion and corporate diversification strategies (2002). The different branding methods help companies in their bid to gain supremacy in their industry. Coca Cola uses some of these methods as it goes on day to day business transaction. These methods gave Coca Cola a bigger chance to prove that its products are different and it should be the products that people buy.   Conclusion Branding is not about getting a company’s prospect to choose them over the competition; it’s about getting their prospect to see them as the only solution. Strong brands can command consumer loyalty, which means that a sufficient number of consumers will demand these brands in preference to unbranded substitutes, even if the latter are offered with comparable quality and at lower prices. Coca cola has one of the most well known brands of soft drink. When one hears about refreshments coke would come into mind. People would have no second guess on what soft drink to choose since they have full trust and need for the company’s product. Coca Cola uses some of these methods as it goes on day to day business transaction. These methods gave Coca Cola a bigger chance to prove that its products are different and it should be the products that people buy.   Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Using examples to illustrate your essay, examine the different types of branding methods used by marketers for their products

Introduction Marketing is the process by which a product or service originates and is then priced, promoted, and distributed to consumers...

MARKETING

Abstract   The increasing use of internet and database marketing in relation to relationship marketing is prevalent.  The role of e-commerce plays a very large role indeed in achieving customer retention and customer loyalty by providing customers with long-term satisfaction from the marketers in a convenient way for the customers to indulge.   The shift from traditional marketing to relationship marketing provides an alternative to further increase companies’ profits and in developing better rapport and deeper relationship with customers.   Keywords: customer retention, customer relationship management, relationship marketing, customer loyalty                         Introduction   Relationship marketing is a form of marketing that evokes an emphasis in building longer term relationships with customers other than my mere individual transactions. The focus of relationship marketing is to attract and promote customer retention based on trust, commitment and sharing of information in exchange for customer’s loyalty.  Further, relationship marketing facilitates the efforts of companies in the identification, maintenance of a network of individual consumers and the continuing initiative to strengthen the network.  According to Morgan and Hunt (1994), relationship marketing as a retailer-customer approach that refers to all marketing activities directed toward developing and maintaining successful relational exchanges with customers. The evolution of relationship marketing can be traced back to a passage by (1980) in which he observes: “What is surprising is that researchers and businessmen have concentrated far more on how to attract customers to products and services than on how to retain customers”.  Relationship marketing begins its roots in the industrial and business to business markets where long-term contracts have flourished for many years. According to  (1983), relationship marketing can be applied: when there are alternatives to choose from; when the customer makes the selection decision; and when there is an ongoing and periodic desire for the product or service.  A point of argument should be made here such that the application of relationship marketing should not only be limited or to be consider as an alternative because in order to gain profits, the principle that could underlie in the application of relationship marketing is to attract customers to the products and services at the same time to take care of these customers and treat them as assets that could be a very potent resource tantamount in the expansion of the business.  If its application is limited to the three factors stated above, there would be limitations in customer retention, thus, unable to get customers loyalty.  The continuing efforts to improve relationship marketing enable companies to cater to the different people who have a diversity of preferences. In fact, according to  (1991) claims that relationship marketing has the potential to forge a new synthesis between quality management, customer service management, and marketing.  Moreover means, that quality management, customer service management and marketing should be considered as a whole inseparable entity in the business. However, development in the use of database marketing principles is required to support the foundation for effective relationship marketing.  The key element lies in a flexible and customized sales and marketing database created by tools such as an information system that in turn allows immediate access for marketing information.  A marketing database serves as a strategic weapon in building strategic sustainable relationships with customers amidst the fierce competition in the marketing world.  For example, Burger King uses a database to push brand loyalty while its customers are still in analog mobile phones. Database marketing is the use of databases of customers that able the generation of personalized communication in order to promote products and services.  It emphasizes the use of techniques to develop and assess customer behavior.  Database marketers are heavy users of data warehouses where data and customer information can be kept.  The communications in which it can be generated if unwanted by the addressee may be described as junk mail or spam. The internet and management information system has been the major technology enablers that make relationship management more strategic.  The internet allows businesses to get low cost interactions with customers and can save time.  The management information system on the other hand, allows businesses to generate a single view of customers across all the functional areas in the business.  Both of these systems together allowed for customized communication for their costumers.  Internet marketing from the name itself is the use of the Internet to advertise and sell goods and services that includes the pay per click advertising, banner ads, e-mail marketing and the like.  Internet marketing comprises information management, public relations, customer service, and sales in its broader scope.  It offers benefits to the company such as the availability of information where customers learn have a detail of the products and services being offered.  Internet marketing can help in the expansion of the company from a local market to both national and global marketplaces. Customer relationship management in its narrow definition involves managing detailed information about individual customers in order to maximize costumer’s loyalty through carefully managing customer touch points.  Recently, however, customer relationship management takes its broader meaning which denotes as the overall process of building and maintaining customer relationships profitably by delivering customized and personalized customer value and satisfaction.    Effective customer relationship management in order to be use strategically requires the intelligent application of technology. The effectiveness of customer relationship management is how to use customer’s information valuably to create an ongoing relationship with the customer.  Aside from the intelligent application of technology, customer service management requires that an organizational views customer’s relationship with meaning before being able to learn about customer’s needs and wants deeper and how is it best to satisfy and sustain the costumer at the same time helping the organization meet its objectives. The task of creating and delivering superior customer value should complement with the effective relationship management relationship with the customers. Customer relationship management should be of utmost understanding of what the customer’s worth value to the company that is termed as customer’s equity.  As there is an improvement in the delivering of superior customers value, an improvement in the customer’s equity.  Customer’s equity is perhaps the company’s most valuable asset, continuous improvement in the customers value that it has been giving to its customers.  The determinants in which the company invest to its customers, is the company’s customer equity.  The company should continue to give guaranteed superior service quality and customer service. According to (1990), the increased profitability associated with customer retention efforts occurs because the cost of acquisition occur only at the beginning of a relationship, so the longer the relationship, the lower the amortized cost; account maintenance costs decline as a percentage of total costs (or as a percentage of revenue); long-term customers tend to be less inclined to switch, and also tend to be less price sensitive resulting in stable unit sales volume and increases in sales volume are some of the factors that connotes profitability associated with customer retention.  Undoubtedly, customer retention entails an increased profitability.  Especially now with the emerging e-commerce innovations which serves as a role of a catalyst in the effectiveness of relationship marketing.   Assessment   Shiseido is a company that did not start in a make up products industry but was able to earn its reputation in the make up products industry and is considered to be a top product manufacturer in the business.  There secret lies in the good effective marketing strategy they are using.  Shiseido once has been a limited partnership but became a stock company in Japan and since then it took its course in expanding their markets not only in Japan but in the global market as well.  Currently, Shiseido has sixty-five (65) countries from across the globe with its biggest sales in the European market.  Recently, Shiseido have aggressively expanded to China as their key overseas market.  The reason behind its continuing success is the use of good effective relationship marketing which seeks to identify the touch points of its customers.    As part of the corporate mission of Shiseido, their mission focuses on customer relationship management strategies and in relationship marketing that aims in its dedication in making the realization of beauty come true for its customers.  The integration of their marketing organization is achieved by the marketing, research and development department and the merchandising who works together in knowing the wants of the customers, analysing consumer needs and the market trend as well.   The use of internet and database marketing coincides to what is collectively considered as e-commerce.  With the very highly competitive global market, Shiseido in order to be competent must come up with new innovative means in addressing the need for new marketing strategy and the solution lies in the use of internet and database marketing.  Both new marketing strategy will surely keep Shiseido be at pace with the rival make up companies and with the rest of the make up industry that also spends huge bucks of money in the advertisement, promotions and in the research and design department.    Internet marketing will become a very valuable tool in providing convenience to the Shiseido customers since the customers themselves also is keeping at pace with the face-paced life in this modern world.  The need to find a place for parking and possibly be caught up in traffic would not be a concern anymore because the customers can purchase Shiseido right in a click of a mouse.  Not only that it provides customers with convenience, it can give product information about Shiseido products highlighting the difference of every Shiseido products from the other products available in the market and so as online without the hassle of undergoing persuasion from a sales person.  Database marketing, same as internet marketing, can monitor the customer’s needs and wants that enable Shiseido to better assess and be up-to-date with the changing trends within the external environment that comprises the society.  With the increasing use of both internet and database marketing, it speeds up the establishing of more than a customer relationship with customers.  It fosters valuable importance on the part of the customers that they are being treated as valuable to the company and making the customers feel they are of importance and that they matter.  The establishment of more than a customer relationship increases the likelihood of customer retention and customer loyalty.  Relationship marketing strategies is an alternative means in marketing that provides companies with the opportunity to maximize their profits and reduce its costs.  Compare with the traditional marketing which focuses only on the recruitment of single sale and little attention to customer service, relationship marketing focuses on customer retention and place a value on customer service. The implementation of internet and database marketing must also be in line with the aim of customer retention and customer loyalty.  Customer loyalty occurs when the buying motivations are high and the premise of commitment, preference and repeat purchase are present.  According to(1935), there are four levels of loyalty base on four components: cognitive, affective, conative and action.  The cognitive, affective and conative aspect is what comprises the traditional definition of behavior.  Shiseido should focus and give emphasis on these aspects in such that it is very helpful to get customers be drawn to your products.  Let us note that the customers behavior have an effect in the earning of customer loyalty.  Shiseido may thoroughly study the factors in which that affects customers’ behavior so that they will be given a clue to what the customer demands.  It is focusing on the emotional aspect of an individual would be the key in earning customer loyalty making Shiseido products more than a product for the customer making the customer develops an emotional attachment to it.       The role of e-commerce in the customer retention and customer loyalty is that it enables relationship marketer’s to customize the services Shiseido offers in a likeable demeanor.  For example, the friendly voice or manner of speaking of a relationship marketer can convince consumers to purchase Shiseido’s products.          Further, the aspect of Shiseido’s loyalty programs can also be improvised such that it would only not be limited to the chosen few.  The Shiseido’s customers will not be highly motivated if the loyalty program can only be available for the chosen few.  Internet and database marketing can better put emphasis on this aspect since it can be a medium of creating an awareness of the customer’s part and keep them up to date as well in what they can reap when they stay a loyal customer to Shiseido.  For example, they can introduce rewards point every time they purchase a Shiseido product.  The amount of reward points would be high when the customer purchases a Shiseido product that does not do well in the market. By doing so, it can perhaps generate an increase in the sales of products.  further developed the importance of building customer commitment in his 1996 book The Loyalty Effect. He focused on the cost of customer defection and set the stage for the problem by claiming.  Using examples from financial service companies, advertising agencies, and manufacturing firms,  claimed that even small improvements in customer retention can as much as double company profits.   point hold true because the costs of serving long-term costumers is less since these customers have been committed already to the products, the need to advertise the products to the customer is not that important anymore and the products the customers have been committed to has been instil in their minds as something that had worked for them.  The more they will be resistant to shift in trying and buying other product.  Naturally, customers will always choose the one that works for them.             Conclusion and Recommendations               The internet and database management is now considered a necessity of every company engaging in the global market.  To be able to reach out for a bigger market they have to reach their customers via the internet since customers are also now very technology driven.  The absence of venturing into new effective means of marketing may drive away customers to shifting with new products because the company itself does not keep itself at pace with the customers.  Thus, the probability of customer retention is less likely to happen.  Customer retention proved to be inevitable in every relationship marketing aspect.  From the customer retention engulfs the development of customer loyalty that comes from constantly refining the information available on specific customers that includes customer preferences, buying habits and patterns, product usage, and other data pertinent to individual customers. Effective customer relationship combined with internet and database marketing spells increased profitability in Shiseido.  Some advantages of customer relationship and internet and database strategy are first, the relationship can create a committed customer. A loyal and committed customer is more than repeat purchaser but is likely to have developed an emotional attachment with the products.  A committed customer is likely to be a source of word-of-mouth referrals and are resistant to accept and shift to new brand label.  Second, it can provide a point of leverage to realize economies of scope and further gain understanding customer’s changing trends. Third it has a potential to minimize costs.   Over all Shiseido show a good marketing effectiveness especially in the customer relationship management and relationship marketing aspect. The need for internet and database marketing proved to be a valuable asset if incorporated more in the marketing strategy.  The need for advertisement should not be too costly for Shiseido since it had already earned its reputation in the market.  Shiseido’s main concern now is how to stay competent in the market amidst the heavy rivals they are facing.  Also there is a need for Shiseido to allocate more money in the research and design department rather than in the advertisement because consumers’ trend tends to be moody and welcomes products which are new and very innovative to them.  The imperative need of redefining their products is of apparent importance in order to constantly differentiate their products from the rest of the make up products.     Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

MARKETING

Abstract The increasing use of internet and database marketing in relation to relationship marketing is prevalent. The role of e-comm...

MARKETING

Abstract   The increasing use of internet and database marketing in relation to relationship marketing is prevalent.  The role of e-commerce plays a very large role indeed in achieving customer retention and customer loyalty by providing customers with long-term satisfaction from the marketers in a convenient way for the customers to indulge.   The shift from traditional marketing to relationship marketing provides an alternative to further increase companies’ profits and in developing better rapport and deeper relationship with customers.                         Introduction   Relationship marketing is a form of marketing that evokes an emphasis in building longer term relationships with customers other than my mere individual transactions. The focus of relationship marketing is to attract and promote customer retention based on trust, commitment and sharing of information in exchange for customer’s loyalty.  Further, relationship marketing facilitates the efforts of companies in the identification, maintenance of a network of individual consumers and the continuing initiative to strengthen the network.  According to(1994), relationship marketing as a retailer-customer approach that refers to all marketing activities directed toward developing and maintaining successful relational exchanges with customers. The evolution of relationship marketing can be traced back to a passage by  ( 1980) in which he observes: “What is surprising is that researchers and businessmen have concentrated far more on how to attract customers to products and services than on how to retain customers”.  Relationship marketing begins its roots in the industrial and business to business markets where long-term contracts have flourished for many years. According to  (1983), relationship marketing can be applied: when there are alternatives to choose from; when the customer makes the selection decision; and when there is an ongoing and periodic desire for the product or service.  A point of argument should be made here such that the application of relationship marketing should not only be limited or to be consider as an alternative because in order to gain profits, the principle that could underlie in the application of relationship marketing is to attract customers to the products and services at the same time to take care of these customers and treat them as assets that could be a very potent resource tantamount in the expansion of the business.  If its application is limited to the three factors stated above, there would be limitations in customer retention, thus, unable to get customers loyalty.  The continuing efforts to improve relationship marketing enable companies to cater to the different people who have a diversity of preferences. In fact, according to  (1991) claims that relationship marketing has the potential to forge a new synthesis between quality management, customer service management, and marketing.  Moreover means, that quality management, customer service management and marketing should be considered as a whole inseparable entity in the business. However, development in the use of database marketing principles is required to support the foundation for effective relationship marketing.  The key element lies in a flexible and customized sales and marketing database created by tools such as an information system that in turn allows immediate access for marketing information.  A marketing database serves as a strategic weapon in building strategic sustainable relationships with customers amidst the fierce competition in the marketing world.  For example, Burger King uses a database to push brand loyalty while its customers are still in analog mobile phones. The internet and management information system has been the major technology enablers that make relationship management more strategic.  The internet allows businesses to get low cost interactions with customers and can save time.  The management information system on the other hand, allows businesses to generate a single view of customers across all the functional areas in the business.  Both of these systems together allowed for customized communication for their costumers.  Customer relationship management in its narrow definition involves managing detailed information about individual customers in order to maximize costumer’s loyalty through carefully managing customer touch points.  Recently, however, customer relationship management takes its broader meaning which denotes as the overall process of building and maintaining customer relationships profitably by delivering customized and personalized customer value and satisfaction.  Effective customer relationship management in order to be use strategically requires the intelligent application of technology. The effectiveness of customer relationship management is how to use customer’s information valuably to create an ongoing relationship with the customer.  Aside from the intelligent application of technology, customer service management requires that an organizational views customer’s relationship with meaning before being able to learn about customer’s needs and wants deeper and how is it best to satisfy and sustain the costumer at the same time helping the organization meet its objectives. According to  (1990), the increased profitability associated with customer retention efforts occurs because the cost of acquisition occur only at the beginning of a relationship, so the longer the relationship, the lower the amortized cost; account maintenance costs decline as a percentage of total costs (or as a percentage of revenue); long-term customers tend to be less inclined to switch, and also tend to be less price sensitive resulting in stable unit sales volume and increases in sales volume are some of the factors that connotes profitability associated with customer retention.  Undoubtedly, customer retention entails an increased profitability.  Especially now with the emerging e-commerce innovations which serves as a role of a catalyst in the effectiveness of relationship marketing. Assessment   Shiseido is a company that did not start in a make up products industry but was able to earn its reputation in the make up products industry and is considered to be a top product manufacturer in the business.  There secret lies in the good effective marketing strategy they are using.  Shiseido once has been a limited partnership but became a stock company in Japan and since then it took its course in expanding their markets not only in Japan but in the global market as well.  Currently, Shiseido has sixty-five (65) countries from across the globe with its biggest sales in the European market.  Recently, Shiseido have aggressively expanded to China as their key overseas market.  The reason behind its continuing success is the use of good effective relationship marketing which seeks to identify the touch points of its customers.    As part of the corporate mission of Shiseido, their mission focuses on customer relationship management strategies and in relationship marketing that aims in its dedication in making the realization of beauty come true for its customers.  The integration of their marketing organization is achieved by the marketing, research and development department and the merchandising who works together in knowing the wants of the customers, analysing consumer needs and the market trend as well.   The use of internet and database marketing coincides to what is collectively considered as e-commerce.  With the very highly competitive global market, Shiseido in order to be competent must come up with new innovative means in addressing the need for new marketing strategy and the solution lies in the use of internet and database marketing.  Both new marketing strategy will surely keep Shiseido be at pace with the rival make up companies and with the rest of the make up industry that also spends huge bucks of money in the advertisement, promotions and in the research and design department.    Internet marketing will become a very valuable tool in providing convenience to the Shiseido customers since the customers themselves also is keeping at pace with the face-paced life in this modern world.  The need to find a place for parking and possibly be caught up in traffic would not be a concern anymore because the customers can purchase Shiseido right in a click of a mouse.  Not only that it provides customers with convenience, it can give product information about Shiseido products highlighting the difference of every Shiseido products from the other products available in the market and so as online without the hassle of undergoing persuasion from a sales person.  Database marketing, same as internet marketing, can monitor the customer’s needs and wants that enable Shiseido to better assess and be up-to-date with the changing trends within the external environment that comprises the society.  With the increasing use of both internet and database marketing, it speeds up the establishing of more than a customer relationship with customers.  It fosters valuable importance on the part of the customers that they are being treated as valuable to the company and making the customers feel they are of importance and that they matter.  The establishment of more than a customer relationship increases the likelihood of customer retention and customer loyalty.  Relationship marketing strategies is an alternative means in marketing that provides companies with the opportunity to maximize their profits and reduce its costs.  Compare with the traditional marketing which focuses only on the recruitment of single sale and little attention to customer service, relationship marketing focuses on customer retention and place a value on customer service. The implementation of internet and database marketing must also be in line with the aim of customer retention and customer loyalty.  Customer loyalty occurs when the buying motivations are high and the premise of commitment, preference and repeat purchase are present.  According to Oliver (1935), there are four levels of loyalty base on four components: cognitive, affective, conative and action.  The cognitive, affective and conative aspect is what comprises the traditional definition of behavior.  Shiseido should focus and give emphasis on these aspects in such that it is very helpful to get customers be drawn to your products.  Let us note that the customers behavior have an effect in the earning of customer loyalty.  Shiseido may thoroughly study the factors in which that affects customers’ behavior so that they will be given a clue to what the customer demands.  It is focusing on the emotional aspect of an individual would be the key in earning customer loyalty making Shiseido products more than a product for the customer making the customer develops an emotional attachment to it.       The role of e-commerce in the customer retention and customer loyalty is that it enables relationship marketer’s to customize the services Shiseido offers in a likeable demeanor.  For example, the friendly voice or manner of speaking of a relationship marketer can convince consumers to purchase Shiseido’s products.          Further, the aspect of Shiseido’s loyalty programs can also be improvised such that it would only not be limited to the chosen few.  The Shiseido’s customers will not be highly motivated if the loyalty program can only be available for the chosen few.  Internet and database marketing can better put emphasis on this aspect since it can be a medium of creating an awareness of the customer’s part and keep them up to date as well in what they can reap when they stay a loyal customer to Shiseido.  For example, they can introduce rewards point every time they purchase a Shiseido product.  The amount of reward points would be high when the customer purchases a Shiseido product that does not do well in the market. By doing so, it can perhaps generate an increase in the sales of products. further developed the importance of building customer commitment in his 1996 book The Loyalty Effect. He focused on the cost of customer defection and set the stage for the problem by claiming.  Using examples from financial service companies, advertising agencies, and manufacturing firms,  claimed that even small improvements in customer retention can as much as double company profits.   point hold true because the costs of serving long-term costumers is less since these customers have been committed already to the products, the need to advertise the products to the customer is not that important anymore and the products the customers have been committed to has been instil in their minds as something that had worked for them.  The more they will be resistant to shift in trying and buying other product.  Naturally, customers will always choose the one that works for them.   Conclusion and Recommendations               The internet and database management is now considered a necessity of every company engaging in the global market.  To be able to reach out for a bigger market they have to reach their customers via the internet since customers are also now very technology driven.  The absence of venturing into new effective means of marketing may drive away customers to shifting with new products because the company itself does not keep itself at pace with the customers.  Thus, the probability of customer retention is less likely to happen.  Customer retention proved to be inevitable in every relationship marketing aspect.  From the customer retention engulfs the development of customer loyalty that comes from constantly refining the information available on specific customers that includes customer preferences, buying habits and patterns, product usage, and other data pertinent to individual customers. Effective customer relationship combined with internet and database marketing spells increased profitability in Shiseido.  Some advantages of customer relationship and internet and database strategy are first, the relationship can create a committed customer. A loyal and committed customer is more than repeat purchaser but is likely to have developed an emotional attachment with the products.  A committed customer is likely to be a source of word-of-mouth referrals and are resistant to accept and shift to new brand label.  Second, it can provide a point of leverage to realize economies of scope and further gain understanding customer’s changing trends. Third it has a potential to minimize costs.   Over all Shiseido show a good marketing effectiveness especially in the customer relationship management and relationship marketing aspect. The need for internet and database marketing proved to be a valuable asset if incorporated more in the marketing strategy.  The need for advertisement should not be too costly for Shiseido since it had already earned its reputation in the market.  Shiseido’s main concern now is how to stay competent in the market amidst the heavy rivals they are facing.  Also there is a need for Shiseido to allocate more money in the research and design department rather than in the advertisement because consumers’ trend tends to be moody and welcomes products which are new and very innovative to them.  The imperative need of redefining their products is of apparent importance in order to constantly differentiate their products from the rest of the make up products.           Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

MARKETING

Abstract The increasing use of internet and database marketing in relation to relationship marketing is prevalent. The role of e-comm...

Products and Brands

Products and Brands A. Difference Between a Product and a Brand             The term ‘product’ and ‘brand’ are two words that are connected or related with each other having almost similar essence but have different  purpose when applied to the markets and business world.             (2004) stated that a brand serves to identify and distinguish the products or services of a person from those of his or her competitors.   A brand is essentially shorthand for a set of perceived qualities.  It may be a logo or a work or even, for instance, a piece of music.  A brand is a piece of property which can be very valuable and may be bought and sold, either as part of a business or independently.              A product, on the other hand, is anything that can be offered to a market that might satisfy a want or need. It can be tangible or the pure product and intangible or the pure service spectrum. A product is also similar to goods. Furthermore, it is a commodity produced for sale. (2006)              of the WPP Group in London once described the difference between a ‘product’ and a ‘brand’.  He said that a product is something that is made in a factory while a brand is something that is bought by a customer. A product can be copied by a competitor; a brand is unique. A product can be quickly outdated while a successful brand is timeless.”  ( 1998-2006)             These differences between the term ‘brand’ and ‘product’ according to King were seconded by , a marketing communication specialist, when he stated that the brand is often the reason why we buy the product.             Furthermore, according to Williams, brands are name given to products and services. It inhabits the minds of the market and resides in the wits of clients and customers. Products, on the other hand, are made in the factory. It can be found on a shelf while brand is chosen by a customer. It can be copy and can be outdated but brand is timeless and unique. ( .)              summarized these differences between a brand and a product. According to him, a brand is the name people use when talking about the product to someone else; thus people think of it rather than the product. It is something which has developed a personality beyond the product. It is something people would pay a premium for under that and no other name.  ( .)             A product is a convenient locator in a product range. It is something which could be easily ordered by description. It is a label which could be changed without any loss of loyalty to the customer. It is a tag which customers have to look up and doesn’t realty care about. ( .) B. Why Do Companies Develop Core Products into Brands             Most companies now recognize that brands are powerful marketing assets. As the world becomes increasingly complex, brands serve as familiar beacons of trust to consumers, and make their buying decisions much simpler.             Branding is the process of creating distinctive and durable perceptions in the minds of consumers. A brand is a persistent, unique business identity intertwined with associations of personality, quality, origin, liking and more. Techniques of branding include association of a company with logos, distinctive colors, slogans, musical sounds or songs, unusual qualities, mascots, packaging, a memorable name, behavioral hallmarks and much more. (1999)             Companies developed their core products into brands because it build a strong corporate or company image that can be extended to future products. A brand name makes it easier to identify and describe the core selling points of a product. It also provides a distinguishing symbol (name and logo) that customers can remember. (Developing a brand (or not), 2006) Reasons why companies develop their core products into brands: 1. Memorability. A brand serves as a convenient container for a reputation and good will. In addition to an effective company name, it helps when people have material reminders reinforcing the identity of companies they will want to do repeat business with. (1999)             Memorability can come from using and sticking with an unusual color combination, distinctive behavior , or with an individual, even a style of clothing . Develop your own identifiers and nail them to your company name in the minds of your public. (1999) 2. Loyalty. When people have a positive experience with a memorable brand, they’re more likely to buy that product or service again than competing brands. People who closely bond with a brand identity are not only more likely to repurchase what they bought, but also to buy related items of the same brand, to recommend the brand to others and to resist the lure of a competitor’s price cut. The brand identity helps to create and to anchor such loyalty. (1999) 3. Familiarity. Branding has a big effect on non-customers too. Psychologists’ discovery that familiarity induces liking means that people who have never done business with you but have encountered your company identity sufficient times often become willing to recommend you even when they have no personal knowledge of your products or services.  (1999) 4. Premium image, premium price. Branding can lift what you sell out of the realm of a commodity, so that instead of dealing with price-shoppers you have buyers eager to pay more for your goods than for those of competitors. 5. Extensions. With a well-established brand, you can spread the respect you’ve earned to a related new product, service or location and more easily win acceptance of the newcomer. (1999) 6. Greater company equity. Making your company into a brand usually means that you can get more money for the company when you decide to sell it. 7. Lower marketing expenses. Although you must invest money to create a brand, once it’s created you can maintain it without having to tell the whole story about the brand every time you market it.  (1999) 8. For consumers, less risk. When someone feels under pressure to make a wise decision, he or she tends to choose the brand-name supplier over the no-name one. (1999)   C. The Role Packaging Play in Marketing a Brand             Packaging has been defined as all products made of any materials of any nature to be used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery and presentation of goods, from raw materials to processed goods, from the producer to the user or the consumer. The various types of packaging play a key role in the production, preservation, distribution and marketing of manufactured consumer goods and other products. ( 1997)             Packaging is now generally regarded as an essential component of our modern life style and the way business is organized. It protects the goods we buy from wastage and damage. Without packaging, materials handling would be messy, inefficient and costly. The modern consumer marketing also would be difficult. ( 1997)             Packaging is important in our lifestyle. Convenience foods, individually packed small serves, microwavable meals, “easy opening” packaging, secure packaging for pharmaceuticals and hazardous substances are all examples of packaging playing a role in assisting and promoting our lifestyles. ( 1997)             Traditionally, the primary function of a package was to simply contain and protect the product.  However, factors such as increased competition and clutter on the retail store shelf have meant that for most products, packaging must perform many sales tasks, such as attracting attention, describing the product, and helping to make the sale. The often cited ‘four Ps’ of marketing: price, promotion, product, and placement are concepts that summarize the domains of marketing strategy, the packaging. As a crucial part of the both the product and promotion, packaging assists consumers to select among other relatively homogenous products.  ( 2000-2006)             Packaging is a major component of a marketing strategy. It plays an increasingly important role in the marketing of new and existing products. A unique cap or closure, a better box or wrapper, or a more convenient container size may give a firm a competitive advantage. The right type of package for a new product can help it gain market recognition very quickly. Marketers view packaging as a major strategic tool for convenience products. (2002)             It plays an important role in differentiating competing products and can be decisive in influencing the purchasing choice of consumers. As packaging is the first thing that one notices about the product, packaging has become as important as the product itself. (2002)             When there is less opportunity to establish brand imagery through traditional methods of advertising, as is increasingly becoming the case as advertising restrictions come into force, packaging plays a more important role in establishing and driving brand image.             The primary job of the package is to create a desire to purchase and try. To do this, it must look new and different enough to attract the attention of the consumer.                                         Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Products and Brands

Products and Brands A. Difference Between a Product and a Brand The term ‘product’ and ‘brand’ are two words that are connec...