*See Robbie Greenfield, “Fresh Innovation Leads Milco’s Dairy Comeback,” July 14, 2005, accessed at www.itp.net

*See Robbie Greenfield, “Fresh Innovation Leads Milco’s Dairy Comeback,” July 14, 2005, accessed at www.itp.net.

**See Keith Regan “Arbitrators Back Google in Fight Against Typo Squatter,” July 11, 2005, accessed at www.EcommerceTimes.com.

1. 
   Students will most likely have difficulty understanding the levels of products exhibited in Figure 7-1; no one in class is likely to have thought of a product in that level of detail before. This is a critical piece of information the students will need, however, so it is worthwhile going through several products and services to get at the core benefit, actual product, and augmented product in each so that they can see how to apply this concept.
   
2. 
   Many students have trouble with the concepts of product line and product mix. Using examples from Procter & Gamble tends to help tremendously here, because they have very deep product lines and a very varied product mix.
   
3. 
   Students’ eyes can glaze over at the concepts of brand equity and brand sponsorship. Asking questions such as the students’ perceptions of well-known brands such as Starbucks, Coke, Nike, and the like will help them understand what brand equity is all about. You can also tie in the discussion of the three levels of product with this idea of brand equity. Finally, by using different products with different brand sponsorships—several examples from Sears, auto companies, department store private labels, and various licensed properties from Disney or Warner Brothers will do—you can bring students to an understanding of this important concept.
   
4. 
   The service characteristics of intangibility, inseparability, variability, and perishability are usually picked up fairly easily, but again, various examples from day-to-day life may help. For instance, everyone has had to cancel at least one doctor’s appointment in his or her life—that beautifully illustrates the problem of perishability. Girls will understand inseparability by talking about the beauty salons they use. Ask: If the hairdresser you used left, would you easily switch to another person at the salon? Most students today travel heavily, so talking about airline personnel can illustrate service variability. Intangibility is the easiest characteristic to appreciate, as most students will have suffered through having to choose between several universities from whom they had received acceptances.
   

1. 
   In small groups, discuss how you select a restaurant when you want to celebrate a key event. List and explain the core, actual, and augmented service that you would like a chosen restaurant to provide.
   
2. 
   List five brand names that exhibit the characteristics listed in the text. List five brand names that violate many or most of these characteristics. Are there any differences in their success in the market?
   
3. 
   List three companies each that use manufacturer’s brand sponsorship, private brands, and licensed brands.
   

4. 
   Take a product of your choice and analyze it using the diagram found in Figure 7-1. Be sure to carefully outline each of the three major levels.
   
5. 
   List ten of your favorite brand names. What do you like about the product and/or brand name? What do you dislike? What image does the brand have in your mind? How loyal are you toward the brand? When was the last time you abandoned a brand name you had used for some time in favor of a new brand? Why did this happen?
   
6. 
   Go to the supermarket and list five examples of products/brands that have been brand extended. Do you think this makes sense or not? When is brand extension a good strategy? When is it a poor one?
   
7. 
   List a service that you use that you think is very good. Why is the service good? Review the service using the material from the chapter. What specifics about the service make it very good from a marketing standpoint? Now, do the same thing with a service that you don’t like. After comparing them separately, compare them against each other. What could you do to improve the negative service? If you were a competitor, how could you attack the positive service?
   

9. What packaging challenges are presented in the international market? Go to a store that carries international items (such as a grocery store), and find a package that appeals to you. Evaluate why. How is the package different from one that is domestic? How does the package help or hinder your selection of the product?

1. 
   Read the opening vignette to the chapter. Form students into groups of three to five. Each group should then answer the following questions:
   
   1. 
      FIJI sells water. But what are customers really buying?
      
   2. 
      As FIJI expands, how important are the two dimensions of product quality?
      
   3. 
      Discuss the brand equity of FIJI versus that of other bottled water (e.g. Evian).
      
   4. 
      FIJI sells a product that is natural and evokes visions of unspoiled natural beauty and purity. What is its social responsibility in offering such a product?
      

Each group should share its findings with the class.

1. 
   Read the opening vignette to the chapter. Think about the answers to the following questions:
   

a. FIJI sells water. But what are customers really buying?

b. As FIJI expands, how important are the two dimensions of product quality?

c. Discuss the brand equity of FIJI versus that of other bottled water (e.g. Evian).

d. FIJI sells a product that is natural and evokes visions of unspoiled natural beauty and purity. What is its social responsibility in offering such a product?

Share your findings with the class.

1. 
   Consider the following questions, formulate an answer, pair with the student on your right, share your thoughts with one another, and respond to questions from the instructor:
   
   1. 
      What is a product?
      
   2. 
      What is a service?
      
   3. 
      What is an experience? How is it similar and dissimilar to a product or service?
      
   4. 
      How is the augmented product different from the core product?
      
   5. 
      What is an example of a/an convenience, shopping, specialty, and unsought good?
      
   6. 
      What is social marketing?
      
   7. 
      What is brand equity?
      
   8. 
      What makes a brand name successful from a promotions standpoint?
      
   9. 
      What is the difference between a manufacturer’s brand and a private brand?
      
   10. 
       Give an example of co-branding.
       
   11. 
       What is a line extension? Give an example.
       
   12. 
       What is a product line?
       
   13. 
       What are the four characteristics of a service? Apply these to a dentist’s office.
       
   14. 
       What is interactive marketing?
       
   15. 
       What are the problems associated with international product and services marketing?
       

1. 
   If you’ve never been to an IKEA store, and there is one local to you, visit the store. Describe the total experience.
   
2. 
   Discuss the levels of products and services that IKEA offers. How does this differ from another furniture store?
   
3. 
   What is IKEA’s brand positioning?
   
4. 
   Could IKEA extend their brand? How?
   
5. 
   IKEA started in Scandinavia. Have they adjusted their products to the United States market? Give examples.
   

1. 
   What type of product mix does ServiceMaster offer?
   

2. 
   What is the core product, actual product, and augmented product for TruGreen ChemLawn?
   

3. 
   How has ServiceMaster fared in selecting brand names for their products? Do they meet the criteria of suggesting the product’s benefits and qualities, being easy to pronounce, and being distinctive?
   

1. 
   The first major section of this chapter, What Is a Product?, should take 10 minutes. The primary focus should be on the classification of products and services, which will aid in the comprehension of the next section.
   
2. 
   Product and Service Decisions should be covered in 20 minutes. The individual product decisions have the most material, and by and large students will never have focused on how important issues such as packaging and labeling are. Bringing in several products to discuss these attributes is helpful. Students will generally be confused about the product line and product mix decisions, and so a careful discussion of these topics is beneficial.
   
3. 
   Branding Strategy should also take 20 minutes. Branding decisions are closely tied in with positioning discussed in the last chapter, but now would also be a good time to cover such areas as naming and sponsorship. Again, confusion can enter the student’s mind regarding line extensions, brand extensions, multibrands, and new brands, so examples of each are very helpful.
   
4. 
   Services marketing can be covered in 10 minutes. The special characteristics of services, outlined in Figure 7-5, are very important to understanding the differences between products and services. The service-profit chain seems a difficult concept to students until they work through the fact that each link in the chain leads to the next.