Product management

Product management is an organizational lifecycle function within a company

dealing with the planning or forecasting or marketing of a product or products at all
stages of the product lifecycle.

Product management (inbound focused) and product marketing (outbound focused)

are different yet complementary efforts with the objective of maximizing sales
revenues, market share, and profit margins. The role of product management spans
many activities from strategic to tactical and varies based on the organizational
structure of the company. Product management can be a function separate on its own
and a member of marketing or engineering.

While involved with the entire product lifecycle, product management's main focus is
on drivingnew product development. According to the Product Development and
Management Association (PDMA), superior and differentiated new products — ones
that deliver unique benefits and superior value to the customer — is the number one
driver of success and product profitability.[1]
Aspects of product management

Depending on the company size and history, product management has a variety of
functions and roles. Sometimes there is a product manager, and sometimes the role of
product manager is held by others. Frequently there is Profit and Loss (P&L)
responsibility as a key metric for evaluating product manager performance. In some
companies, the product management function is the hub of many other activities
around the product. In others, it is one of many things that need to happen to bring a
product to market.

Product management often serves an inter-disciplinary role, bridging gaps within the
company between teams of different expertise, most notably between engineering-
oriented teams and business-oriented teams. For example product managers often
translate business objectives set for a product by Marketing or Sales into engineering
requirements. Conversely they may work to explain the capabilities and limitations of
the finished product back to Marketing and Sales. Product Managers may also have
one or more direct reports such as a Product Executive who can manage operational
tasks or a Change Manager who can oversee new initiatives.
[edit]Product planning

 Identifying new product candidates

 Gathering market requirements
  Defining product requirements
 Determine business-case and feasibility
 Scoping and defining new products at high level
 Evangelizing new products within the company
 Building product roadmaps, particularly Technology roadmaps
 Working to a critical path and ensuring all products are produced on schedule
 Ensuring products are within price margins and up to spec
 Product Life Cycle considerations
 Product differentiation
 Detailed Product planning
 7 functions of marketing

[edit]Product marketing

 Product positioning and outbound messaging

 Promoting the product externally with press, customers, and partners
 Conduct customer feedback and enabling (pre-production, beta software)
 Bringing new products to market
 Monitoring the competition
 more detail on Product marketing

Brand identity
A product identity, or brand image are typically the attributes one associates with a
brand, how the brand owner wants the consumer to perceive the brand - and by
extension the branded company, organization, product or service. The brand owner
will seek to bridge the gap between the brand image and the brand identity. Effective
brand names build a connection between the brand personality as it is perceived by
the target audience and the actual product/service. The brand name should be
conceptually on target with the product/service (what the company stands for).
Furthermore, the brand name should be on target with the brand demographic.
[6]
Typically, sustainable brand names are easy to remember, transcend trends and
have positive connotations. Brand identity is fundamental to consumer recognition
and symbolizes the brand's differentiation from competitors.

Brand identity is what the owner wants to communicate to its potential consumers.
However, over time, a product's brand identity may acquire (evolve), gaining new
attributes from consumer perspective but not necessarily from the marketing
communications an owner percolates to targeted consumers. Therefore, brand
associations become handy to check the consumer's perception of the brand.[7]

Brand identity needs to focus on authentic qualities - real characteristics of the value
and brand promise being provided and sustained by organisational and/or production
characteristics.[8][9]
[edit]Visual brand identity
The visual brand identity manual for Mobil Oil(developed by Chermayeff &
Geismar), one of the first visual identities to integrate logotype, icon, alphabet, color
palette, and station architecture to create a comprehensive consumer brand
experience.
The recognition and perception of a brand is highly influenced by its visual
presentation. A brand’s visual identity is the overall look of its communications.
Effective visual brand identity is achieved by the consistent use of particular visual
elements to create distinction, such as specific fonts, colors, and graphic elements. At
the core of every brand identity is a brand mark, or logo. In the United States, brand
identity and logo design naturally grew out of the Modernist movement in the 1950s
and greatly drew on the principles of that movement – simplicity (Mies van der
Rohe’s principle of "Less is more") and geometric abstraction. These principles can
be observed in the work of the pioneers of the practice of visual brand identity design,
such as Paul Rand, Chermayeff & Geismar and Saul Bass.

Brand loyalty

Brand loyalty, in marketing, consists of a consumer's commitment to repurchase or

otherwise continue using the brand and can be demonstrated by repeated buying of a
product or service or other positive behaviors such as word of mouth advocacy.[1]

Brand loyalty is more than simple repurchasing, however. Customers may repurchase
a brand due to situational constraints (such as vendor lock-in), a lack of viable
alternatives, or out of convenience.[2] Such loyalty is referred to as "spurious loyalty".
True brand loyalty exists when customers have a high relative attitude toward the
brand which is then exhibited through repurchase behavior.[1] This type of loyalty can
be a great asset to the firm: customers are willing to pay higher prices, they may cost
less to serve, and can bring new customers to the firm.[3][4] For example, if Joe has
brand loyalty to Company A he will purchase Company A's products even if
Company B's are cheaper and/or of a higher quality.
Factors influencing brand loyalty

It has been suggested that loyalty includes some degree of pre-dispositional

commitment toward a brand. Brand loyalty is viewed as multidimensional construct.
It is determined by several distinct psychological processes and it entails multivariate
measurements. Customers' perceived value, brand trust, customers' satisfaction, repeat
purchase behaviour, and commitment are found to be the key influencing factors of
brand loyalty. Commitment and repeated purchase behaviour are considered as
necessary conditions for brand loyalty followed by perceived value, satisfaction, and
brand trust.[5] Fred Reichheld,[6] one of the most influential writers on brand loyalty,
claimed that enhancing customer loyalty could have dramatic effects on profitability.
Among the benefits from brand loyalty — specifically, longer tenure or staying as a
customer for longer — was said to be lower sensitivity to price. This claim had not
been empirically tested until recently. Recent research[7] found evidence that longer-
term customers were indeed less sensitive to price increases.

Brand equity

Brand equity refers to the marketing effects or outcomes that accrue to a product with
its brand name compared with those that wouldaccrue if the same product did not
have the brand name [1][2][3][4]. And, at the root of these marketing effects is consumers'
knowledge. In other words, consumers' knowledge about a brand makes
manufacturers/advertisers respond differently or adopt appropriately adept measures
for the marketing of the brand [5][6]. The study of brand equity is increasingly popular
as some marketing researchers have concluded that brands are one of the most
valuable assets that a company has[7]. Brand equity is one of the factors which can
increase the financial value of a brand to the brand owner, although not the only
one [8]. Elements that can be included in the valuation of brand equity include (but not
limited to): changing market share, profit margins, consumer recognition of logos and
other visual elements, brand languageassociations made by consumers, consumers'
perceptions of quality and other relevant brand values.
Measurement

There are many ways to measure a brand. Some measurements approaches are
at the firm level, some at the product level, and still others are at the consumer
level. like porn

Firm Level: Firm level approaches measure the brand as a financial asset. In short, a
calculation is made regarding how much the brand is worth as an intangible asset. For
example, if you were to take the value of the firm, as derived by its market
capitalization - and then subtract tangible assets and "measurable" intangible assets-
the residual would be the brand equity.[7] One high profile firm level approach is by
the consulting firm Interbrand. To do its calculation, Interbrand estimates brand value
on the basis of projected profits discounted to a present value. The discount rate is a
subjective rate determined by Interbrand and Wall Street equity specialists and
reflects the risk profile, market leadership, stability and global reach of the brand[9].

Product Level: The classic product level brand measurement example is to compare
the price of a no-name or private label product to an "equivalent" branded product.
The difference in price, assuming all things equal, is due to the brand[10]. More
recently a revenue premium approach has been advocated [4].

Consumer Level: This approach seeks to map the mind of the consumer to find out
what associations with the brand the consumer has. This approach seeks to measure
the awareness (recall and recognition) and brand image (the overall associations that
the brand has). Free association tests and projective techniques are commonly used to
uncover the tangible and intangible attributes, attitudes, and intentions about a
brand[5]. Brands with high levels of awareness and strong, favorable and unique
associations are high equity brands[5].

All of these calculations are, at best, approximations. A more complete understanding

of the brand can occur if multiple measures are used.

Positive brand equity vs. negative brand equity

A brand equity is the positive effect of the brand on the difference between the prices
that the consumer accepts to pay when the brand known compared to the value of the
benefit received.

There are two schools of thought regarding the existence of negative brand equity.
One perspective states brand equity cannot be negative, hypothesizing only positive
brand equity is created by marketing activities such as advertising, PR, and
promotion. A second perspective is that negative equity can exist, due to catastrophic
events to the brand, such as a wide product recall or continued negative press
attention (Blackwater or Halliburton, for example).

Colloquially, the term "negative brand equity" may be used to describe a product or
service where a brand has a negligible effect on a product level when compared to a
no-name or private label product. The brand-related negative intangible assets are
called “brand liability”, compared with “brand equity” [11].
Examples

In the early 2000s in North America, the Ford Motor Company made a strategic
decision to brand all new or redesigned cars with names starting with "F". This
aligned with the previous tradition of naming all sport utility vehicles since the Ford
Explorer with the letter "E". The Toronto Star quoted an analyst who warned that
changing the name of the well known Windstar to the Freestar would cause confusion
and discard brand equity built up, while a marketing manager believed that a name
change would highlight the new redesign. The aging Taurus, which became one of the
most significant cars in American auto history, would be abandoned in favor of three
entirely new names, all starting with "F", the Five Hundred, Freestar and Fusion. By
2007, the Freestar was discontinued without a replacement. The Five Hundred name
was thrown out and Taurus was brought back for the next generation of that car in a
surprise move by Alan Mulally. "Five Hundred" was recognized by less than half of
most people, but an overwhelming majority was familiar with the "Ford Taurus".

Product (business)

The noun product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort"[1] or the "result
of an act or a process",[2] and stems from the verbproduce, from the
Latin prōdūce(re) '(to) lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has
referred to anything produced.[3] Since 1695, the word has referred to "thing or things
produced". The economic or commercial meaning of product was first used by
political economistAdam Smith.[4]

In marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a market that might satisfy a
want or need.[5] In retailing, products are calledmerchandise. In manufacturing,
products are purchased as raw materials and sold as finished goods. Commodities are
usually raw materials such as metals and agricultural products, but a commodity can
also be anything widely available in the open market. In project management,
products are the formal definition of the project deliverables that make up or
contribute to delivering the objectives of the project.

In general, product may refer to a single item or unit, a group of equivalent products,
a grouping of goods or services, or an industrial classification for the goods or
services.

A related concept is subproduct, a secondary but useful result of a production process.

Dangerous products, particularly physical ones, that cause injuries to consumers or

bystanders may be subject to product liability.
Tangible and intangible products
Products can be classified as tangible or intangible.[6] A tangible product is any
physical product that can be touched like a computer, automobile, etc. An intangible
product is a non-physical product like an insurance policy.

In its online product catalog, retailer Sears, Roebuck and Company divides its
products into departments, then presents products to shoppers according to (1)
function or (2) brand.[7] Each product has a Sears item number and a manufacturer's
model number. The departments and product groupings that Sears uses are intended to
help customers browse products by function or brand within a traditionaldepartment
store structure.[8]

brand
A brand is the identity of a specific product, service, or business[1][page needed]. A brand
can take many forms, including a name, sign, symbol, color combination or slogan.
The wordbrand began simply as a way to tell one person's cattle from another by
means of a hot iron stamp. A legally protected brand name is called a trademark. The
word brand has continued to evolve to encompass identity - it affects the personality
of a product, company or service.