Case One

In the processed meat industry, Sara Lee Meats (SLM) is a star. It owns and operates meat-
processing plants in 40 different nations. SLM’s business strategy includes product innovation,
acquisitions and mergers, and market leadership in a number of different categories. Its growth
strategies support an annual 6 percent growth in sales. Important U.S. brands in the Sara Lee
product line are Kahn’s, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farms, Bryan, State Fair, Best’s Kosher, and
Tastefuls!. According to SLM executive George Chivari, “We work very hard at Sara Lee on brand
equity. . . . We have to make sure our new ideas are not only profitable and achieve big volume for
our [retail] customers, but also that they are consistent with the quality of the brand and there is a
good fit.” Tastefuls! is a product that SLM feels is a particularly good fit with the company’s other
products. The lunch combination features two small sandwiches, chips, and dessert and was
developed and marketed by a subsidiary of SLM, Jimmy Dean foods. Up until the development and
marketing of Tastefuls!, Jimmy Dean has just made produced sausage.

1. Given what you have read about Sara Lee Meats, you would think its executives want you to
classify the SLM products as:
A. homogeneous shopping products
B. specialty products
C. convenience products
D. staples
E. impulse products

2. If we look at Sara Lee Meats (SLM) as strictly a meat processing company, which of the
following statements best describes the company?
A. SLM has a narrow, but deep product mix.
B. SLM has a long and deep product mix.
C. SLM’s product mix lacks consistency.
D. SLM has a narrow and shallow product mix
E. SLM has a wide, yet shallow product mix.

3. If the product manager for Hillshire Farms found its Hillshire brand pork sausage was
selling well and its Hillshire Farms brand turkey sausage was selling slowly, the
product manager might try line ____ to increase sales for the slower end of the
product line.
A. harvesting
B. featuring
C. augmentation
D. modernization
E. filling

4. One method SLM can use to maintain its brand equity would be to:
A. offer innovative new products on a continual basis
B. make community involvement an important part of SLM’s strategic plan
C. curb the entrepreneurial spirits of its decentralized strategic business units
D. make sure customers have a strong perception of brand quality
E. use selective distribution

6 When Hillshire Farms, a manufacturer of various kinds of sausages, introduced a new line of
sausages made with turkey meat under the Hillshire Farms brand, it was an example
of a _____ strategy.
A. co-branding
B. brand licensing

258
 Setting the Product and Branding Strategy 259
C. line extension
D. multibranding
E. brand extension

7. The introduction of Tastefuls! was an example of a _____ strategy.

A. multibranding
B. family branding
C. co-branding
D. licensed branding
E. brand extension

8. SLM’s Tastefuls! brand features two small sandwiches, chips, and a name brand dessert. In
some of the meals, the dessert is Nabisco’s Oreo cookies. In this instance, SLM is
using a _____ strategy.
A. multibranding
B. dual branding
C. co-branding
D. licensed branding
E. brand extension

CASE TWO
Ocean Spray is an agricultural cooperative formed in 1930 by three cranberry growers who
shared a common goal of expanding the market for their crops. Its first product was a shelf-stable
cranberry sauce. With the introduction of Cranberry Juice Cocktail in 1930, Ocean Spray became
the first producer of cranberry juice drinks. In 1963, Ocean Spray introduced the juice industry's
first juice blend, CranApple. In 1976, Ocean Spray expanded its membership to include grapefruit
growers from Florida's Indian River region. Ocean Spray Grapefruit Juice quickly became the
number-one bottled grapefruit juice in the country, followed by Ocean Spray Pink Grapefruit Juice
Cocktail, the very first citrus blend of its kind. Beginning in 1991, Ocean introduced a variety of
grapefruit-blended juices. In 1995, Ocean Spray took a different path with it Craisins Sweetened
Dried Cranberries, which are marketed with the Ocean Spray brand and logo on their packages.

According to the customer value hierarchy, when someone buys cranberry sauce, which is food, he
or she is buying a(n):
A. augmented product
B. expected product
C. potential product
D. core benefit
E. marketable attribute

The fact that Ocean Spray was able to produce a shelf-stable cranberry sauce that looked the same
when it was canned as it did when it slid out of the can is, according to the customer
value hierarchy, a(n):
A. augmented product
B. expected product
C. potential product
D. core benefit
E. marketable attribute

Copyright 2003 © Prentice Hall. All Rights Reserved

 Setting the Product and Branding Strategy 260
Ocean Spray is North America's leading producer of canned and bottled juices and juice drinks, and
has been the best-selling brand name in the canned and bottled juice category since
1981. In terms of the product hierarchy, bottled and canned juices are a:
A. need family
B. product line
C. product class
D. product type
E. product item

In terms of the consumer-goods classification system, Ocean Spray juices are most likely
categorized as:
A. convenience goods
B. specialty goods
C. shopping goods
D. manufactured goods
E. MRO goods

In 1999, Ocean Spray introduced Ocean Spray cranberry juice cocktail with calcium to fill a need
its Ocean Spray cranberry juice cocktail was not satisfying. This new product
introduction was an example of:
A. line harvesting
B. market diversification
C. line featuring
D. line filling
E. line pruning

All Ocean Spray products bear the Ocean Spray name. Ocean Spray uses:
A. individual branding
B. blanket family naming
C. individual branding
D. co-branding
E. distributor branding

When Ocean Spray chose to use the Ocean Spray brand with its White Cranberry Juice drinks, it
was using a _____ strategy.
A. dual branding
B. brand extension
C. line extension
D. line featuring
E. brand variation

. When Ocean Spray chose to use the Ocean Spray brand on fresh grapefruit that it sells, it was
using a _____ strategy.
A. dual branding
B. brand extension
C. line extension
D. line featuring
E. brand variation

Copyright 2003 © Prentice Hall. All Rights Reserved