In part five we look at the first component in the marketing mix the product

Брендинг помогает покупателям во многих отношениях:
Название бренда говорит покупателю что-то о качестве продукта. Покупатели, которые всегда покупают товар одной и той же марки, знают, что при каждой покупке они получат товар одного и того же качества.
Торговые марки также повышают эффективность покупателя. Представьте себе покупателя, который заходит в супермаркет и видит тысячи однотипных товаров.
Фирменные названия помогают привлечь внимание покупателей к новым продуктам, которые могут быть им полезны. Название бренда становится основой, на которой можно построить целую историю об особых качествах нового продукта.
Брендинг также дает поставщику ряд преимуществ:
Торговая марка облегчает поставщику обработку заказов и отслеживание проблем.
Фирменное наименование и товарный знак поставщика обеспечивают юридическую защиту уникальных производственных характеристик, которые в противном случае могут быть скопированы конкурентами.
Брендинг позволяет поставщику привлечь лояльных и прибыльных клиентов.
Брендинг помогает поставщику сегментировать рынки. Например, Cadbury предлагает Dairy Milk, Roses и другие бренды, а не только один общий кондитерский продукт для всех потребителей.
Кроме того, брендинг добавляет ценность для потребителей и общества:
Те, кто выступает за брендинг, считают, что он ведет к более высокому и стабильному качеству продукции.
Брендинг также повышает инновационность, поскольку дает производителям стимул искать новые особенности, которые можно защитить от подражания конкурентов. Таким образом, брендинг приводит к большему разнообразию продукции и выбору для потребителей.
Брендинг помогает покупателям, поскольку предоставляет гораздо больше информации о товарах и о том, где их можно найти.
Таким образом, создание и управление брендами представляет собой одну из наиболее важных маркетинговых задач.
Мы обсудим стратегию брендинга более подробно далее в этой главе.
Packaging
Packaging involves designing and producing the container or wrapper for a product. The package may include the product’s primary container (the tube holding and protecting Aquafresh toothpaste); a secondary package that is thrown away when the product is about to be used (the cardboard box containing the tube of Aquafresh); and the shipping package necessary to store, identify and ship the product (a corrugated box carrying six dozen tubes of Aquafresh toothpaste). Labelling, printed information appearing on or with the package, is also part of packaging.
In recent times, many factors, beyond containing and protecting the product, have made packaging an important marketing tool. Increased competition and clutter on retail store shelves means that packages must now perform many sales tasks – from attracting attention, to describing the product, to making the sale. Companies are realising the power of good packaging to create instant consumer recognition of the company or brand. For example, in an average supermarket, which stocks 15,000 to 17,000 items, the typical shopper passes by some 300 items per minute, and 53 per cent of all purchases are made on impulse. In this highly competitive environment, the package may be the seller’s last chance to influence buyers. It becomes a ‘five-second commercial’. Research shows that a sizeable chunk of buyers can be swayed at the last minute from buying their cat’s favourite tin of tuna bites if their eye is caught by a well-designed, competitive brand. Hence, manufacturers must use pack design – shape, graphics and texture – to project their brand values and differentiate them in an overcrowded market.
Innovative packaging can give a company an advantage over competitors. For example, Heineken used creative packaging to differentiate the product. In its green-glass bottle, with ‘export’ on the label, as opposed to the usual brown containers for beer, and priced to match its suggestion of exclusivity, it caught on as a beer for special occasions. According to the company’s late founder, Mr Heineken, the firm was selling warmth and happiness, and they had to make the product more distinctive.
Developing a good package for a new product requires making many decisions. The first task is to establish the packaging concept, which states what the package should be or do for the product. Should the main functions of the package be to offer product protection, introduce a new dispensing method, communicate certain qualities about the product, the brand or the company, or something else? Decisions, then, must be made on package design that cover specific elements of the package, such as size, shape, materials, colour, text and brand mark. These elements must work together to support the product’s position and marketing strategy and be consistent with the product’s advertising, pricing and distribution.
In recent years, product safety has also become a major packaging concern. We have all learned to deal with hard-to-open ‘childproof’ packages. And after the rash of product tampering scares during the 1980s, most drug producers and food makers are now putting their products in tamper-resistant packages. In making packaging decisions, the company also must heed growing environmental concerns. Fortunately, many companies have gone ‘green’.
For example, Tetra Pak, a Swedish multinational, is noted for its innovative packaging that takes environmental concerns into account. Tetra Pak invented an ‘aseptic’ package that enables milk, fruit juice and other perishable liquid foods to be distributed without refrigeration. Not only is this packaging more environmentally responsible, it also provides economic and distribution advantages. Aseptic packaging allows dairies to distribute milk over a wider area without investing in refrigerated trucks and facilities. Supermarkets can carry Tetra Pak packaged products on ordinary shelves, allowing them to save expensive refrigerator space. Tetra’s motto is ‘the package should save more than it cost’. Tetra Pak advertises the benefits of its packaging to consumers directly and even initiates recycling programmes to save the environment.