Strategy and Context
Strategic theories found in every brand manager's toolkit are listed in this chapter. As you read, add the ten key terms to your key terms glossary and organize them by strategy, execution, or collateral. Then look at the Brand Pyramid Template, start this analysis with the Brand Essence, then choose a brand you are loyal to and examine how each engages you in the loyalty loop. Next, choose a close competitor to your brand, and run the same examination. The Brand Pyramid Template strategy is often used for evaluating brand initiatives that align with the commitment to ethical practices. Use the work you started in the activity above and choose a brand that has been certified for its commitment to societal business practices (https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp). Again, look at the Brand Pyramid Template, and examine how the B Corp brand compares with a similar competitive B Corp brand. You can search the category to find the competitive brand. Use your notebook to create 2-3 sentence answers to the challenge questions for both exercises. This time, in this exercise, substitute the B Corp brand and focus on which ethical practices create the best strategic competitive advantage.
What is Marketing?
In 2012, Dr Philip Kotler defined marketing as "The science and art of exploring, creating and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit. Marketing identifies unfulfilled needs and desires. It defines, measures and quantifies the size of the identified market and the profit potential"
The American Marketing Association (AMA), defines marketing as "The activity, set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large"
In order to motivate people to pay for your product or service, or to consider your organisation superior to your competitors, you need to create meaningful benefits and value for the consumer. The design of the product or service itself can arguably be a function of marketing. The value that a marketer should seek to create should be equal to or even greater than the cost of the product to the consumer. Doing this often and consistently will grow trust in and loyalty towards, the brand and create strong brand equity.