Product Management and SWOT Analysis
In her 1998 article titled, Consumers and Their Brands: Developing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research, Susan Fournier demonstrates that consumers commit themselves to a particular brand because a purposive, consumer-brand relationship exists between them and the brand. This consumer-brand relationship, the author posits, is maintained as long as the brand's characteristics align with the customer's living experiences. Towards this end, the author expresses that there exists a strong, direct relationship between emotions and brand loyalty. Positive emotions lead consumers to maintain their purchase behavior and even recommend their preferred brand to others; whereas negative emotions produce the opposite effect. This text uses Fournier's (1998) perspective to evaluate the effectiveness of the product management, positioning, and branding strategies of Apple and Philips.
Branding and Positioning Strategies
Apple
The Apple brand has evolved, expanding its range of products over the years, to compete in some of today's most competitive markets. It began with desktop computers in the 1970s, before bringing in laptops in the 90s; and the iPod, iPhone, and iPad in 2001, 2006, and 2010 respectively. The brand was more of a challenger in the early decades, focusing more on the branding strategy of developing products using digital hub technology and conforming to the technological mandates of the industry; and less on providing the customer with easy-to-use computers that met their style, individuality, and needs. There, however, has been a gradual paradigm shift -- digital hub technology is no longer as important, and has been replaced with client experience. Presently, Apple provides an integrated, harmonized, and synchronized customer experience across all main devices, blending its digital content (App Store, iBooks, and iTunes) with iCloud so that customers are able to access functionality and services on any Apple device (Apple Inc., 2014). In this case, the branding strategy is based on fulfilling the client's desire for instant satisfaction -- a desire to get what they want and have their needs and expectations met.
It is a widely-accepted view that the Apple brand earns and demands a price premium (premium brand image). Apple Inc. aligns its position as to target the less price-sensitive customer. It structures its activities to meet this target's group's needs (needs-positioning), and creates a culture and activities geared at facilitating the same. If Apple were to compete for all customer segments, it would have to lower the price of its brand, a move that would undermine both the activities/culture and the premium brand image.
Philips
Philips' vision is to "deliver superior value for customers" through innovation (Philips, 2014). This vision makes it necessary for the company to understand critically what people's needs are. Philips' brand positioning is focused on providing customers with a more straightforward and more comfortable relationship with technology. The company reckons that the technology being produced is only making things more complex for the ordinary customer; and is not in any way making life better, simpler, and easier as per the promise of the Technology Revolution. The Philips brand is positioned as to offer a solution to this by developing technology that people can use without having the hassle of reading through complicated manuals. Towards this end, Philips is continually adding new easy-to-use products in its portfolio.
The brand is positioned on the basis of three fundamental pillars (also referred to as the pillars of sense and simplicity) -- that the product is i) advanced; ii) easy to experience; and iii) designed according to customer needs (Business Case Studies, 2014). The chart presented in fig 1 illustrates the sense-and-simplicity framework for the Sonicare electric toothbrush, one of the more recent inventions by Philips.
Fig 1: Sense and Simplicity - The Sonicare Electric Toothbrush
Advanced
Makes use of powerful sound waves, and consequently, brings about safer and better cleaning
Easy experience
Goes off automatically after 2 minutes, the amount of time considered appropriate for effective breathing
Designed around the customer
Eliminates the need to visit the dental...
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