Lecture 02 : Defining Product

Hello friends, welcome back to this beautiful subject of Product and Brand Management.

In our first session, we talked about the perspective around a product.

We also touched upon the reference to the product being a brand.

Now, I will dwell upon that.

If you would remember, in our first session, we ended up with some examples, which we were

discussing around, which were, how to look at those as products with characteristics,

with elements, with a personality, I should say, or a persona which, I will focus upon

in this discussion.

But, let me begin with some examples once again, and put up a picture in continuation

to what we were discussing last time, and then take you forward through the journey.

For example, a house.

How special a house is for an individual who would have constructed it by himself?

Definitely, with the help of so many people who would have been a part of, developing

it all through, who would have purchased the material for the house, who would have thought

of what the spaces should look like, how to go for that etc.

There is a wonderful program on Netflix, by Piers Taylor and Caroline Quentin.

They travel the world to tour unconventional homes in extreme places to show us the world's

most extraordinary homes.

And that program, if you will watch for a while or just watch the clippings of that

program, if you will surf that, you will realize that people get very different kinds of houses

constructed for themselves, wherein every house is the reflection of the thought process

of the owner as well as the architect and that house talks to the owner as they say.

Now, if you will take that clue, every single house talks to his owner.

Even, if it is not very unique in in terms of the shape and structure, as far as the

design or those kinds of things go but, in every house, every owner, every person who

is living in that house, has his own favorite space, they have their own favorite locations,

and that particular corner talks to you that is the uniqueness of house being a product.

An example of a pillow.

I have chosen this example very specifically, because many times, many of us, pass through

some pain in our necks or backside or somewhere in the upper portion and doctors or elders

advise us to use the right pillow.

And up till that point probably we do not look into that what a right pillow actually

is.

That very day for the very first time we try and analyze that what should be a right pillow,

although conventionally all the elders have been advising us since ages that this is how

the pillow should be.

Every mother tells her child that you know your pillow should be this thick and the pillow

should be this soft and this material is good and so on.

And you would appreciate that when an infant comes to this world and a mother starts putting

that infant on bed, to sleep by herself at that particular point of time they put a special

pillow below their necks.

And just to draw your attention that, that pillow is so important.

And after a particular stage, that becomes a very intense part of your life and then

there are so many stories associated with pillows basically you keep your secrets below

the pillow and you keep your mobile phones below the pillow and sometimes you weep on

your pillows and so on.

So, pillows, they carry so much as far as being your part.

A jacket, one of your favorite jackets, which you wear for years, your sneakers, and especially

for young people who are watching me, your sneakers, are very important part of your

lives.

You have nurtured those, you have actually thought of those you have specifically bought

those.

And then every morning when you wear those you feel like Oh, yes.

Your favorite burger or donut, the moment you just take a bite, just remember that moment.

And you know what I am talking about.

You see, here we come to define a product.

This definition, I have taken from American Marketing Association website.

And I will be using several other definitions by several other authors in due course of

time also to give you a very cumulative view of what product is.

So, a product is defined as a bundle of attributes.

This is what we have been referring to.

Yes, we have been referring to the features of a pillows for example, the features of

a house, features of a motorbike and features, functions, benefits and uses of several products

we have discussed till now.

So, product is defined as a bundle of attributes capable of exchange or use which usually is

a mix of tangible and intangible forms.

Very simple, straight definition, but this encompasses probably almost everything which

we have been referring to.

Pen we write with, tangibility is there.

How well it writes?

That is again, a sort of tangibility.

But then what, how does it matter for us?

Did we write our first poem with that pen?

Did we write our first story with that pen?

Now, then there are several elements or did I sign my first agreement with that pen.

You see many times, there are movies when you watch, someone is saying that this is

the pen I am handing over and this is the pen with which I wrote my first check, that

kind of thing.

So, you see, that is where all these elements of tangibility and intangibility come together.

Just keep this plain simple definition in mind and we will be going for more composite

definitions in times to come.

Now, let us look briefly at how a product is a brand or a how a product can become a

brand or becomes a brand for that matter.

I have referred to American Marketing Association where I have taken these two simple definitions

from their web page, with specific references given for you.

So, brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller's

good or service as distinct from those of other sellers or producers or marketers, and

you may try to add some other elements as well.

Then there is another element which they have expressed that ISO brand standards add that

a brand is an intangible asset that is intended to create distinctive images and association

in the minds of stakeholders thereby generating economic benefits/values and so on .

Now, revisit those examples which we were talking of and I just said a bike.

Now you give your favorite name to that bike, not your own name, means the name you like

that particular brand to have and that is how you would immediately realize that the

product or bike is your favorite bike.

The resonance which you have with the name of the manufacturer or that particular bike,

is related to about how a product goes towards the journey of becoming a brand.

You see every product has a name at the initial most phases.

As Professor Kevin Lane Keller says in one of his videos that, it can be looked upon

as a small b , when you say a brand, saying brand lightly, but that is what he implies.

He says that every product has a trademark, a name, a symbol associated with that, but

when it becomes a big B capital B it actually becomes or said to become a brand.

It is an interesting video.

You watch that video.

It is available on American Marketing Association website also.

Professor, Kevin Lane Keller is a very renowned personality in the field of brand management.

He has written a very well- known book Strategic Brand Management.

You see that particular Big B which he is referring to in brand is that a product actually

is in all its entirety, with all the intangibility and tangibility associated to it along with

its name symbol and sign.

And that is where a product and a brand come together.

That is how we will reach to a stage wherein we will try and understand that despite of

the fact that some products are generic, they are known by people in their own language,

but still that particular connotation becomes a brand in itself.

For example, a professor who teaches local students is locally so well known.

So, probably he is not advertising about himself.

He is not known in the surrounding cities, but to the benefit of those students from

the city, that particular city, they always attend his classes.

For example, to pass a competitive examination and so, and that is why that person who is

a teacher is a brand in himself in that particular surrounding area, it is just an example, just

a parity which I am trying to build up here.

So, a search engine when becomes Google, mobile phone when becomes Apple, kind of and that

is how this brand journey takes place.

We will be talking about this extensively, because ultimately, every marketer has a dream

of taking his or her product to become a brand and intense part of people's lives.

And in the meanwhile, start going through some papers and chapters by eminent authors

on brand and branding and so on, and try and look around that how different symbols connote

with you and have a connection with you.

And you see, there are some references, which I have, which I am extending to you, which

I will be using in our subsequent discussion in the forthcoming slides as well.

So, this slide carries those references of the papers and links which I have referred

to and for subsequent discussions, especially on personality.

Now, you see, when we talk of attributes, elements associated with a product and remember

we talked about Barbie last time, and here we are referring to several other names wherein

an element of personality is associated with all those examples.

And this we have to understand.

But before that, I would let you recall that at some point of time, we exclaimed somehow

that, for example, you would have heard someone saying or you would have been saying somewhere

that this is my car and it is sensitive.

Let us just say that you are saying that it is a delicate machine and you are referring

to your car as a delicate machine or you are saying that, my pen writes beautifully and

I use nice surfaces for this pen to write upon.

That means you do not write with that pen on general surfaces basically, your pen nib

is sensitive.

Someone would have been saying that, especially young children, they always talk this, when

you talk to them that my toy talks to me, and they give names to those toys for example,

a bear.

So, they say that, this teddy is talking to me.

So, they communicate with each other, or for example, you are going on a highway with your

family and your car, gives you a jerk.

So, you sometimes say that, she is saying something, she wants to take some rest, and

she wants to take a halt.

What we are referring to here?

We are, talking about characteristics.

For example, we talk about some products with the perspective of being lovable.

And sometimes we call them beautiful.

Sometimes we call them admirable, this book is so admirable, it has earned my admiration

because author has expressed x, y, z or whichever way and I feel that this is true and this

book has changed my thought process.

So, you see, that, that expression about a product is related to that product, possessing

a personality, carrying a personality and so on.

We will see what personality is actually in entirety, and then you can search for dictionary

meaning in the meanwhile but again, that, somehow is related to carrying characteristics.

But again, I will draw your attention once again towards the thoughts which we shared,

when I referred to a quote by Mahatma Gandhiji and Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnanji, wherein,

we talked about humans.

So, here, we are talking about products as humans now?

We saw that, many girls look at Barbie that way somehow.

So, you see as a marketer as well as a customer, one is interested to know the points of parity

and differentiation in the product, and that is where personality perspective comes in.

For example, there are several similar kinds of pens, but a marketer wants to project his

brand or a pen with a point of differentiation, and when he wants to project that differentiation,

that product goes towards being a brand, but here the points of differentiation come into

being.

So, there are existing points of parity which have to be projected as points of difference.

And this is the whole struggle is about.

That is how I refer to those examples of a car, a house, a pen, a mobile phone, a laptop

etc.

Many times you see every person has a special association with his laptop, my laptop, my

machine, and you see, these products have become so personal now, that, how many times

do you let someone else touch your mobile phone?

Keep aside, the thought of using your mobile phone, not even letting someone touch your

mobile phone which is an extreme thing, which we are actually going through, although it

is not the case with me, believe me, but again, you see, that I have seen, you know, many

people, especially, for example, my daughter, she never lets me touch her mobile phone.

She says no, no, no, do not do this, as if that is out of bounds for me, basically, that

is the association of a user with her product, her personal belonging.

And you see your laptop carry so many things.

It is associated with all the collection of your documents, many times your passwords,

and your site linkages wherein your habits can be expressed by your mobile phone and

your laptop.

That is how profiling of customers is being done nowadays.

We will talk about that, if we will go through such kind of a discussion in due course of

time.

So, just keep these elements in mind and in the meanwhile let us see what Personality

refers to.

So, personality refers to the characteristics or qualities that form an individual's character.

And I have already given you the references you can go through one of those papers for

which I have already extended you the links and there are several good papers written

on personality, especially in terms of papers written on product design, also in the areas

where designers have been thinking in terms of brand personality at a very larger level

and the marketers, take a clue from there and build it across for our students.

Then there are theories related to personality.

I will not be going into those kinds of specific details, because then it might be felt as

a digression.

So, there are several theories related to personality, and then you can see an association

of elements with personality with reference to products which we have been referring to.

And then there are elements of the notion, description and evaluation as described by

the research papers, which you would go in detail.

So, these are the aspects which surround personality, and especially do focus on the word characteristics.

Now, let us come back to Barbie.

It is a wonderful kind of a narrative which we can go through specially about a product,

which has carried so many personalities.

So, you see, Barbie's official birthday is March 9, 1959, the day she was unveiled to

the toy industry during New York Toy Fair.

It was created by Ruth Handler.

And there are several narratives and stories around her.

There are several published papers on her subject.

The creator of Barbie was walking through her home and she saw her daughter playing

with a doll, personifying that doll, and this idea came to her mind wherein she designed

and developed Barbie which became a famous story around Barbie.

Her full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts and nick name Barbie.

She has over 200 inspirational careers you know, as far as occupations go.

There are several professional attributes a girl would like to have in her life as I

said, someone wants to become a pilot someone wants to become a doctor and Barbie became

everything for her customers and her family is Skipper, Stacy and Chelsea.

Her real measurements are 11.5 inches height and her weight is seven and a quarter ounces.

Barbie first appeared in her iconic black and white striped swimsuit and was sold at

a price of US dollars 3.

And it takes a professional staff of top fashion designers, makeup artists, and the most elite

couturiers and more than 100 people in all to create a Barbie doll and her fashions and

in 1997 the hit song Barbie Girl by Aqua topped the charts, Barbie Girl, Barbie Girl which

was a famous song basically and it rang the bell all around the world.

Just to introduce you to these facts which can be found on the sources and this source

is also mentioned here for you.

Now, you see Barbie is one of the most popular fashion dolls ever produced.

And the number one fashion doll probably in the US more than 100 are sold every minute

with a total of 58 million sold annually.

Now, this data can be corroborated with the reference mentioned.

The site was accessed by us i.e. me and my team on 14th of November, 2021.

So, all that comes from that website.

Now, Barbie is sold in 150 countries worldwide.

And it has products in 45 categories including food, fitness and clothing.

Barbie brand has over 99 percent brand awareness globally.

We will be talking about brand awareness when we would come to this section of the course.

And there are over 80 billion minutes of Barbie user generated content created each year.

That is the intensity with which Barbie and the personalities associated with Barbie have

become a part of our lives.

And there are several other products you may develop with a similar kind of a parity in

terms of the discussion we are having on personality in terms of one of your own favorite products

and list those elements and you will realize what we are talking about.

Now, let us come to persona.

It is an interesting paper by Pruitt and Adlin.

The Persona Lifecycle: Keeping people in mind throughout product design.

So, this talks about Revelation, Archetype and Representation.

You see persona is related to representation basically.

How you want yourself to be expressed and seen, how marketers look at their customers,

how they want to be seen, and then those marketers put up the products to resonate with that

thought process of the customer so much so that the product reflects on the thought of

the customer as the customers thought would reflect on the product.

And that is where, we are referring to this understanding of Persona.

And product personas, if you wish look at slightly in better detail again, has been

taken from the research paper as mentioned with reference.

So, personas are abstractions of groups of real consumers who share common characteristics

and needs.

It is a profile of a product's typical customer that means it gels with the thought process

of those customers, who want to look at those products with specific aspects of reflection.

A product persona provides a unified view of how a product interacts with its users,

wherein reflection and interaction come together.

It defines the beliefs, and mark these words, defines the beliefs, motivations, interests,

and personality of a product and if you will try and do this exercise, you would realize

that, that can be done.

For example, Butter.

Amul, is it your favorite butter?

You would somehow find the resonance of this discussion, when you look at that butter now

onwards.

For example having consumed that butter with your favorite paratha or bread, whichever

way, you will find that, that butter, the taste of that butter actually is reflecting

upon your desire, your desire of taste, which you want to have in a butter and that is what

we are referring to here.

And that is what we should understand in due course of time.

You see a product persona is here is described in a narrative form so as to provide a vivid

story concerning the need of persona with context to a product being designed.

So, a story and a person comes into being in the form of a product, which gels with

the thought of the customers and that is why when you push off the dust from the bonnet

of your car, and then you switch on the engine, you feel like that it is talking to you.

And that is what the marketers want basically which is why I have tried to elaborate this

thing in front of you so that now onwards, whenever you look at a product, you have the

elements of characteristics of that product in terms of the personality of that product,

and persona as your own reflection which is what you want to see in that product.

Your persona reflected by that product and to complete the picture of sorts.

The picture which directs your thought towards the point that this product is not just something

to be used, but this is a part of my life.

So, that is where I would be ending my discussion today in this session, specifically.

And just to give you a very short glimpse that we started our discussion in the first

session with an element of philosophical thought process around how we can look at human beings

as products having potential of contribution, because we wanted to understand the characteristics

a human carry.

And then we started thinking in terms of how those characteristics can be witnessed and

seen in products we use.

And then we sort of focused on how those characteristics can be cumulatively seen as the personality

of a product.

And now we are looking at the point of view associated with the persona associated with

that product.

And in the meanwhile, we touched upon how a product actually traveled to become a brand

in due course of time.

I will be coming up with lots of insights for you on product and brand management in

subsequent sessions.

Keep watching till next time, goodbye.