Prior to this group project, I was uneasy about the idea of working in a group – I thought to myself that in order to achieve the best possible result, I need to do it myself. However, my Comm 296 Marketing group helped change my perception on the matter. I was able to gain trust in my classmates as the assignments progressed and everyone worked hard to ensure assignments were completed by the given deadline. This isn’t to say that everything was done in a perfect manner, but that it was done well with what resources we had at the time.

A problem we made was in underestimating the amount of work needed at times. The first assignment resulted in a last day cram session with our group in order to complete it on time and was a stressful day for us all. We improved our timing by planning more regular meetings in preparation for the next assignment which developed much more smoothly.

There were quite a few difficulties with completing the final video project due to some technical problems, but I’m happy with how it turned out given our constraints and problems at the time of the video/editing process. I believe that everyone committed a fair amount to the various assignments and overall this proved to be an excellent learning experience on the benefits of group work.

Choosing to increase product breadth by introducing a completely new product line is an extremely risky decision which has resulted in great success and abysmal failures for businesses in the past. Increasing a business’ product breadth is especially difficult for those brands that become extremely well known for what they do. Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, the maker of such soft drinks as 7-Up, A&W Root Beer, Canada Dry, Orange Crush, Snapple, Dr. Pepper, and more made the decision to introduce a new product line of marinade and steak sauces hoping to increase its brand presence in markets other than the soft drink market. This experiment in increasing product breadth ultimately resulted in failure, as the marinades were not well received by the consumer and product was eventually discontinued.

Several companies have suffered the same consequence by trying to expand their product into new lines but there have also been those who did so successfully and with a great degree of success. Coca-Cola launched one of the most successful brand expansions in 1982 with the introduction of the Diet Coke. Coke’s existing diet product, the Tab, was successful but did not hold the Coca-Cola name due to fears that it may compromise brand equity. “Diet Coke was the first new product since 1886 to use the Coca-Cola trademark,” making it a risky decision at the time. However, this risk paid off extensively with the Diet Coke surpassing sales of Pepsi in 2011, making it the ‘the second-most popular soda in the U.S., behind Coke.’”

Choosing to increase product breadth is a risky business decision; if the resulting product is marketing incorrectly the company will suffer a major loss and may even hurt their brand equity with the decision to expand. Doing so properly takes an extremely well thought out marketing strategy and is a risk which even business giants such as Coca-Cola take great care before implementing.

http://business.time.com/2012/03/14/the-10-best-brand-extensions-ever-according-to-me/slide/diet-coke/

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-10-worst-brand-extensions-2013-2

If you have ever been in the market for a new computer, you may have realized that almost all computers sold contain an AMD or Intel processor chip. Despite both companies selling world-class processors, an effective marketing strategy has resulted in Intel becoming widely accepted as the superior product. According to Interbrand’s best global brands of 2013, Intel is ranked at #9, while AMD doesn’t even make the top 100. This substantial difference in brand equity has given Intel the ability to charge significantly more for their processors, when a similarly priced AMD chip may be more powerful and efficient.

Intel charging a premium for their product does more than simply provide them with extra revenue; it also serves to uphold their image of being a luxury/premium product. From a strategic point of view, Intel is positioning their product as superior; a necessity for those who need reliable computing power for work, gaming, or any other intensive computer use. What this positioning has resulted in is a much higher sense of brand loyalty for their processors. It is seldom the case that an individual greatly prefers AMD to Intel; usually the consumer is either indifferent or has a strong preference for Intel.

This is but one example that shows the value that brand equity has in determining a business’ success. Having strong brand loyalty and a high brand equity gives businesses a competitive advantage, especially in extremely mature and developed markets such as the computer processing chip industry.

http://interbrand.com/en/best-global-brands/2013/top-100-list-view.aspx