Goods and Services Marketing

Goods and Services Marketing

According to Lamb (2014), “the success of any business or consumer product depends in part on the target market’s ability to distinguish one product from another.  Branding is the main tool marketers use to distinguish their products from those of the competition” (p. 170).  Even with a strong product, marketing is always the key.  It takes a keen eye for business and a firm understanding of brand strategy in order to make even the most marketable product a hit.   The Walking Dead recent television episode future an old-time favorite; crush (orange) soda a consumer product that is manufactured by the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group.

            As mention by Lamb (2014), “products can be classified as either business (industrial) or consumer products, depending on the buyer’s intentions.  A consumer product is bought to satisfy an individual’s personal wants” (p. 165).  The soda, with its many names such as; soda pop, cold drink, pop, is another popular beverage that some people choose to drink.  The Crush Orange soda is a consumer product that needs no thought to purchase and can be easily found.  Consumer products can be further broken down into specific categories, such as convenience, shopping, specialty and unsought.  Lamb stated (2014), “convenience product is a relatively inexpensive item that merits little shopping effort, that is; a consumer is unwilling to shop extensively for such an item” (p. 166).  Therefore, the product can be seen as a convenience product, which is a consumer product that takes brief thought, is routine, purchased often, appeals to a large target market and the consumer purchases with little planning. 

In general, attitudes toward product placement are favorable across media types.  To create brand placements that are positively evaluated, they should be placed within programs, movies, games, radio program, newspaper or magazines that are involving for the audience (Lamb, 2014, p. 281).  The placement of the product in the television program had a clear connection to the plot of the story, which increased the brand equity of the product.  As stated by Russell (2002), “plot connection is the degree to which the brand is woven into the plot of the story; whereas, lower plot placements do not contribute much to the story, and higher plot placements comprise a major thematic element (Russell, 2002, p. 305).  Essentially, verbally mentioned brand names that contribute to the narrative structure of the plot need to be highly connected to the plot.  Besides, prominent brand placements in television have a more significant advantage than subtle brand placements (Russell, 2002, p. 305.)

References

Lamb, C.W. (2014). MKTG 7 Ed. Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning.

Russell, C.A. (2002). Investigating the Effectiveness of Product Placements in Television

Shows: The Role of Modality and Plot connection Congruence on Board Memory and Attitude: Journal of Consumer Research, 29, 306-318.