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Product, Positioning, Segmentation Essay

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Products, Positioning, and Market Segmentation

Advertising professionals realize that the heart of any campaign is the product and the position it holds in people's minds. Products and their brand names are newsmakers themselves. Wendy's hamburgers, Apple computers, and California raisins (particularly when they sing and dance) are objects of our attention and interest.
Understanding the complexities of a brand identity and its position is no easy task. A good case in point is the activities of Coca-Cola in the last few years. After a $4 million research project, Coca-Cola brought out a new Coke formula in May 1985 with the intention of retiring the old formula. To everyone's surprise, the intense feelings of American consumers …show more content…

When they first appeared, generics were seen as threats to brand products, particularly for products for which lower price might be a primary criterion for purchase. Although generics enjoyed growth during the recession of the early 1980s, with increase in American incomes, they have now dropped back to their selling level at introduction. In their growth stage, however, the threat they posed to brands stimulated major manufacturers to bring out lower-cost brands that were more competitive with the generics. It is interesting in studying the no-name generic phenomenon to compare these products with a product like Coke, which, because of years of advertising, has such a strong personality.
One of the most controversial areas of product concepts is the brand extension. A new product gets to share the name of an older, established brand. Early theorizing suggested that brand extensions would sap market clout from the established product, but these fears proved groundless. Today brand extensions occur not only within the company, but companies are licensing their brandnames to all kinds of products in the hope of increasing brand awareness. Department stores have whole sections devoted to Coca-Cola clothing. There are Strawberry Shortcake breakfast cereal, clothing, books, and tricycles. In July 1987, Sears began marketing McKids children's wear in a licensing agreement with McDonald's.
"Extensions Leave Brand in New Areas" discusses the growth, advantages and

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