Chapter 9: Evaluating Brand Names

Brand names are incredibly important and at times can allow a product to be sold at three or four times its regular price. This then explains why brand names need to pass a certain checklist of criteria in order to maximize effectiveness. This check list is as follows: easy to say, easy to spell, easy to read, and easy to remember. The brand should also fit the product by: fitting the target market, fitting the product’s benefits, fitting the customer culture, and fitting legal requirements. In this blog, I will analyze three brand names and determine if they complete the checklist.

The first brand I will analyze is Pizza Hut (http://www.pizzahut.com/). This name is very easy to say and spell and its comprised of two simple words so it’s easy to read. It’s also very easy to remember because of how well this brand fits the product. The name fits the target market perfectly (seeing as this market is pizza wanting citizens) and it fits the benefits of the product as well as the culture of the customers. Finally it is very original and complies with legal requirements.

My second brand is Play Station (http://www.playstation.com/), a second very successful brand. Similar to Pizza Hit, it’s comprised of very simple basic words so not only is it easy to say and spell, but also easy to read and remember. It also fits the target market, which is someone seeking to relax and play video games, and it fits the product benefits perfectly. The culture is also nailed down and it fulfills all legal requirements.

My final brand is Google (http://www.google.com/). This is slightly different from the above because its ability to obey the criteria isn’t as clear. Google is easy to say, but not nearly as easy to spell if you haven’t heard of the brand before. However, since Google is so ubiquitous with today’s culture, it is easy to spell as well as easy to read and remember. Although the target market really depends on which Google product you are focusing on, no matter what it really doesn’t fit the target market. I mean, what really is Google anyway? It’s similar to Apple in this sense because Apple (although hugely popular and successful) doesn’t really fit with the target market or, like Google, doesn’t really fit the product’s benefits or the customer culture. Both Apple and Google don’t really fulfill these rules, but at the same time they have really established the fact that these criteria do in fact apply to their brand. Finally, Google does fit legal requirements because there isn’t really any other word like it.

Chapter 8: The Product Layers of a North Face Jacket

Products of all kinds are designed to be not just that simple product, but much more than that. For example, a pair of sunglasses isn’t just a pair of sunglasses anymore and a pair of jeans is no longer just a pair of jeans. They are status symbols, ways of belonging, and a set of ideas which the brand plays a big part of. A product that I will focus on in particular is a North Face jacket and throughout the following paragraph I will dissect its product layers and show just how much more this jacket is than just a jacket.

The first product layer is the core product and its benefits. The North Face jacket is essentially a winter coat and it is meant to keep you warm and looking good in the process. However when looking at the emo-benefits, much more goes into this simple coat. The jacket gives you the push to never stop exploring (North Face’s motto) and this jacket can be seen as the reason to go hiking or skiing or snowboarding. Also when wearing this jacket, you feel like you are a part of something and join the group of other North Face product wearers. Also if you look good in the jacket, then naturally you will feel better and the coat delivers this. When analyzing the actual product, it is of course a winter jacket. When analyzing the augmented product, you’re looking at the website and the online community this jacket basically comes with. Also there is a North Face twitter, facebook, and youtube channel that go along with the brand and product and also a complete return policy, lifetime warranty, and full support.

Overall this North Face jacket is much more than just a jacket. With this new age of marketing and product offerings, similar things as describe above apply to countless products in their own ways. Whether they are cars or ball caps, products have become much more than just the material product.

Chapter 7: Ads and Target Markets

In chapter seven, the biggest concept was that of target marketing and finding the right market for your product and then focusing your advertising on this group of people. For this blog post, I found two commercials and I will analyze them by speculating who they were meant for and who their target market is.

                The first commercial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C8y5z_7YtA) is a Buffalo Wild Wings commercial from a few years ago. The commercial shows a restaurant full of people talking to a referee who is suppose to be viewing game footage, but instead is asking the restaurant attendees what they would like to happen. It’s a very hilarious and creative commercial and the target market that they are attempting to appeal to is the sports watching segment of America. This can vary in age from a college student (or even younger) to the upper middle age section of the population. This commercial is usually aired during sports games as well which is perfect because that is when their target audience is watching television. They did an excellent job appealing to this market because anyone watching can really relate to the commercial.

                The second television ad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdafSHne5wM) is for Pepsi. Throughout this ad, comparisons are shown between the older generation and the younger generation and sums up by mentioning how every generation refreshes the world. Although the product (Pepsi) isn’t shown until the end, it’s shown in a comparison where someone from a previous generation is drinking a Pepsi just as someone from the current generation is as well. In my opinion the target market for this ad is mainly the current generation, but also I think it extends really to everyone because everyone can relate to this commercial. As I said, the commercial shows different time periods throughout American culture that most people can probably remember or say “Hey I remember that” or “Wow I can really connect with that” and then they see that this is a Pepsi ad and then they feel they can really relate to the Pepsi brand as well. I think it’s an excellent commercial that really does its job and hits its target market well.

Chapter 6: Buying Classes and Milk

For my chapter six blog post, I want to focus on the slide in the power point that talked about the “buy classes” and different types of purchases.  For the purpose of this post, I will focus on one product and then choose the different variations of this product based off of the different types of purchases. This product that I will center my examples around is one of my favorite beverages, milk.

For me personally, when I buy milk and I want to make my purchase easy and do a straight rebuy (which of course requires the lowest effort) I choose 2% milk. This is a purchase I have made countless times and it is a very easy decision to make when I want to just stay within my comfort zone.

However, when I’m feeling adventurous and want to try something different and new (when it comes to milk), I would go with a modified rebuy. This will take some effort, more than what a straight buy would require and I will have to take a little more time deciding what to purchase. For my milk example, a modified rebuy might be 1% milk or chocolate milk. Neither are quite the same product as my straight purchase (2% milk), but the taste very similar and obviously have the same core product. This purchase won’t be a difficult one, but it won’t be an easy one either.

Finally, if I really want to try something completely different, something completely new when it comes to a milk type purchase, I would do what is called a new-task buy. This requires the most effort out of all of the decisions and will take a lot of working deciding which product to go with. Staying within the realm of my product milk, if I am to do a new-task buy, I might purchase a type of milk that is lactose free, maybe Silk (soy milk) or muscle milk. I might also choose a type of milk that isn’t from a cow at all, perhaps goat milk. This product would be much more risky than my original purchase of normal 2% milk and would be a much more complicated and tough decision. This purchase would also be far more risky as well considering there is a good chance I might not like my new product choice at all.

In conclusion, when buying products, whether it is groceries, electronics, or sporting equipment, you can always find a certain class that your purchase will fit in. This might be a purchase that you’ve made hundreds of times and therefore it would be a straight rebuy, but if you stray from this comfortable purchase and choose something that’s different in only a slight way or a much larger way, your purchase would be qualified as a modified rebuy or a new-task buy. This is yet another marketing concept that we may not notice, but it is always happening and always present.