Creating Product Identification. Firms could not succeed in developing and managing products

Firms could not succeed in developing and managing products

without effectively identifying their products. Consumers must be able

to distinguish one product from another. Organizations identify their of-

ferings in three important ways: branding, packaging, and labeling.

Regardless of what type of product a company produces, it may want

to create a brand identity by using a unique name or design that sets the

product apart from those offered by competitors. Brand names may be

owned by wholesalers and retailers as well as by producers of a product.

Brands owned by national manufacturers are called national brands.

Brand marks and trademarks have existed for centuries. In medieval

Europe trade guilds required tradesmen to “mark” each of their prod-

ucts to document its source. But long before brick makers in ancient

Egypt used symbols to identify their bricks. Brand names first appeared

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in the sixteenth century, when whiskey distillers burned their names on

the top of each barrel to alert consumers to the source of the product

and to prevent substitution with cheaper products. In the eighteenth and

nineteenth centuries branding took on broader purposes. Names or pic-

tures of places, famous people, or animals were used as brand names to

increase memorability and to differentiate products.

Brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that

identifies one seller’s goods or service as distinct from those of other

sellers. The brand name is that part of a brand that can be spoken – let-

ter, numbers, or words. The brand mark, or logo, is that part of a brand

name that cannot be spoken and is most commonly a symbol, picture,

design, colour, or a combination of these. It is recognizable by sight but

is not pronounceable. A trademark is a legal term meaning the same as

brand.

Today the primary objectives of branding remain much the same and

a major purpose of advertising is to enhance the degree of familiarity –

the level of awareness of a product by any given person. A product may

be unrecognized by a customer (it means “I’ve never heard of brand A”),

recognized (I’ve heard of Brand A), rejected (I wouldn’t buy Brand A),

accepted (I’d buy Brand A), preferred (I like Brand A better than any

other brand), or insisted on (I always buy Brand A)

As an alternative to branded products, some retailers also offer ge-

neric products, which are packaged in plain containers that bear only

the name of the product. These products are most often standard rather

than first quality. They cost up to 40 percent less than brand-name prod-

ucts because of uneven quality, plain packaging, and lack of promotion.

Brand names and brand symbols may be registered with the Patent

and Trademark Office as trademarks. A trademark is a brand that has

been given legal protection so that its owner has exclusive rights to its

use. A well-known name is a valuable asset and generates more sales

that an unknown name that’s why manufacturers zealously protect their

trademarks.

Packaging involves designing a product container that will identify

the product, protect it, and attract the attention of buyers. It is impor-

tant to both consumers and manufacturers. The food and beverage in-

dustries alone spend $35 billion each year to package products; the sum

represents 9 cents of every dollar spent on those products.

Manufacturers communicate with buyers through labeling. The label

is the part of the package that identifies the brand and provides essential

product information regarding contents, size, weight, quantity, ingredi-

ents, directions for use, shelf life, and any other hazards or dangers of

improper use.

Labels also provide the means for automatic checkout and inventory

monitoring. The universal product code (UPC), an electronic bar code

on labels that identifies manufacturers and products, enables super-

markets and other stores to use computerized scanners at the checkout

counter.

Say whether the following setements are true or false. Correct the false

ones.

1. Firms can easily succeed in developing products without identify-

ing their products.

2. There are two ways to identify their offerings: branding and labeling.

3. Brand marks and trademarks appeared only some 100 years ago.

4. The brand name is that part of a brand that cannot be spoken.

5. A trademark doesn’t mean the same as brand.

6. The primary objective of branding today is the enhance the degree

of familiarity.

7. There is no alternative to branded products.

8. A trademark is a brand that has been given legal protection.

9. Packaging is important only to consumers.

10. Labels provide the means fro automatic checkout and inventory

monitoring.

Look through the text once again and ask 10 questions on its content.

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