MARKETING

Part 1: Defining Marketing and the Marketing Process (Chapters 1–2)
Part 2: Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers (Chapters 3–6)
Part 3: Designing a Customer-Driven Strategy and Mix (Chapters 7–17)
Part 4: Extending Marketing (Chapters 18–20)

8

Products, Services,
Building
and Brands Customer Value

After examining customerdriven marketing strategy, we now take a deeper look at the marketing mix: the tactical tools that marketers use to implement their strategies and deliver superior customer value. In this and the next chapter, we’ll study how companies develop and manage products and brands. Then, in the chapters that follow, we’ll look at pricing, distribution, and marketing communication tools. The product is usually the first and most basic marketing consideration. We start with a seemingly simple question: What is a product? As it turns out, the answer is not so simple.

Chapter Preview

Before starting into the chapter, let’s look at an interesting brand story. Marketing is all about building brands that connect deeply with customers. So, when you think about top brands, which ones pop up first? Perhaps traditional megabrands such as Coca-Cola, Nike, or
McDonald’s come to mind. Or maybe a trendy tech brand such as
Google or Facebook. But if we asked you to focus on sports entertainment, you’d probably name ESPN. When it comes to your life and sports, ESPN probably has it covered.

The ESPN Brand: Every Sport Possible—Now

W

hen you think of ESPN, you probably don’t think of it as a “brand.” You think of it as a cable
TV network, a magazine, or perhaps a Web site.
ESPN is all of those things. But more than that,
ESPN is a brand experience—a meaningful part of customers’ lives that goes well beyond the cable networks, publications, and other entities it comprises. To consumers, ESPN is synonymous with sports entertainment, inexorably linked with their sports memories, realities, and anticipations.
In 1979,

References: “Tim Hortons and Cold Stone: Co-Branding Strategies,” BusinessWeek, July 10, 2009, www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/ jul2009/sb20090710_574574.htm; and Steve McKee, “The Pros and Cons of Co-Branding,” BusinessWeek, July 10, 2009, www.businessweek .com/smallbiz/content/jul2009/sb20090710_255169.htm. January 6, 2009, www.tippingsprung.com/images/pdf/TS_08_ brand_ext_survey_pr_r02.pdf. “Leading National Advertisers,” Advertising Age, June 22, 2009, p. 12. See Kevin Lane Keller, Strategic Brand Management (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2008), chapter 10. February 22, 2010, p. 60; “Google Shines a Light on Innovation,” Computer Weekly, September 9–September 15, 2008, p Pogue, “Geniuses at Play, On the Job,” New York Times, February 26, 2009, p December 28, 2009, pp. 88–93; Tom Krazit, “Slight Dip in Google’s January Search Market Share,” CNET News, February 11, 2010, 2. “In a Tough Economy, Innovation Is King,” Marketing News, April 15, 2009, p 3. Calvin Hodock, “Winning the New-Products Game,” Advertising Age, November 12, 2007, p Brandweek, October 13, 2008, pp. 18–20; “How P&G Plans to Clean up,” BusinessWeek, April 13, 2009, pp for New-Product Failure,” The Marketing Fray, January 7, 2010, www.marketingfray.com/2010/01/top-10-reasons-for-new-productfailure.html. (New York: Times Business, 1999), various pages; Beatriz Cholo, “Living with Your ‘Ex’: A Brand New World,” Brandweek, December 5, 2005, p 6. See Richard Martin, “Collaboration Cisco Style,” InformationWeek, January 28, 2008, p. 30; and Guido Jouret, “Inside Cisco’s Search for the Next Big Idea,” Harvard Business Review, September 2009, pp 8. Mary Tripsas, “Seeing Customers as Partners in Invention,” New York Times, December 27, 2009, www.nytimes.com. 9. Elisabeth A. Sullivan, “A Group Effort: More Companies Are Turning to the Wisdom of the Crowd to Find Ways to Innovate,” Marketing News, February 28, 2010, pp 11. See Brian Morrissey, “The Social Sell?” Brandweek, February 14, 2010, www.brandweek.com; and www.ideastorm.com, accessed 2008, p. 2; “P&G Leads 2010 Edison Best New Product Award Finalists with Five Nods,” PR Newswire, February 11, 2010; and “About Us,” www.innocentive.com, accessed September 2010. 14. Kevin O’Donnell, “Where Do the Best Ideas Come From? The Unlikeliest Sources,” Advertising Age, July 14, 2008, p. 15. 18. “KFC Fires Up Grilled Chicken,” March 23, 2008, www.money.cnn .com; “KFC Serves Up a Second Secret Recipe: Kentucky Grilled Chicken,” PR Newswire, April 14, 2009; and Noreen O’Leary, “KFC’s Grilled Chicken Tops Most-Recalled ‘09 Launches,” Brandweek, December 14, 2009, p. 4.