expansion or positioning strategy in marketing 

Having said that, if you are looking at FMCG sector, you could look into some of the following areas:

- Impact of Brand value across geographies and the corresponding impact on Sales, for a particular brand,
- Relevance of BTL activities on particular brands (going beyond ATL campaigns, and rising BTL focus),
- Gender stereotypes and the corresponding communication by FMCG companies for specific categories,
- the imperative of online presence and subsequent Integrated Marketing campaigns evolving in the current marketing
scenario, and 
- Methods of converting low involvement FMCG products to high involvement categories in the competitive sector

Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=20893#ixzz1rMRk5IFp

Impact of Brand value across geographies and the corresponding impact on Sales, for a particular brand
- A transnational brand, say, McDonalds or Cadburys or Tide, would have different perception and a different value across
geographies. How do the values differ and how do these values translate into sales for that particular brand? You would need to
study the positioning of the brand, the communication program, the brand value calculation and the brand elements associated with
that brand, and then analyze the sales figures of these brands in specific geographies that you study (not all the countries - 3-4
maybe). 

Gender stereotypes and the corresponding communication by FMCG companies for specific categories - Gender
stereotypes are fixations that the mass populace has about genders. For instance, "Indian women are usually housewives" or
"Educated women belong to metros only and are highly affluent" or "Men are constantly looking for things that impress women" -
Sounds stupid, but if you get into the creative briefs of advertising agencies, you would be surprised to find out the stereotypes that
exist in the communication programs. More so, these very stereotypes connect very strongly with the target segments as well. Take
a few ads and identify the briefs behind them, collate the data, and evaluate the stereotypes that are common to most of them.

Online branding. how should one analyse and evaluate it?

What element of online branding are you looking at? Digital media or simply online presence? It could be simply an online presence
with a website of a brand or company or it could be an interactive online exercise, as part of an integrated marketing
communication plan? If you have to analyze online branding, my recommendation would be to look into the various elements that
go into a communication program of a brand, identify the ones that apply online media, and then, apply the basic tools, like click-
throughs and conversion rates to evaluate the online media.

Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=20893#ixzz1rMS51kUu

I am looking at Online presence of the brand. Since, bigger brand like P&G and Unilever are not approachable; have
selected a local scottish energy drink (IRN-BRU). now, how should i relate it with online branding. i did go to the
website and some of the theories of online branding, but couldn't find anything special.
thank you again, for the help.

Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=20893#ixzz1rMSNUpmk

Hi, I am starting to prepare my dissertation for my MBA study and would like to know if "Branding" is a good topic, can
I use a particular company for discussion or research? Actually I am a big fan of English football team - Manchester
United, and I think they have a very successful branding strategy, not only in England, Europe but in Asia and even
the America. Is it OK for me to research their branding path and what do I need to focus in order to add academic
ingredients to my dissertation?

Look forward to hear from anyone who can help!

Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=20893#ixzz1rMSkXLzc
Keeping promises: Closing the services gap

One of the greatest challenges for all American companies, including those that work business-to-
business, is closing the gap between what customers expect to get -- beforehand -- and what
they perceive they got -- afterward -- according to Mary Jo Bitner , academic director of the Center
for Services Leadership, a research center at the W. P. Carey School of Business.

In "Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm," a book she co-authored with
Valarie Zeithaml of the University of North Carolina, and Dwayne Gremler of Bowling Green State
University the marketing professor insists that "services is all about promises."

Think about a firm's promises as a triangle, she suggests. Label the top point "organization," the right
hand point "customers" and the left hand point "service providers." Label the right arm "making
promises," and the left arm, "enabling promises." The horizontal base is "keeping promises," the
essential customer-retention strategy.

Only when the sides of this triangle are aligned are companies able to keep their promises to
customers, and maintaining alignment is a constant and ongoing challenge, says Bitner. She
recommends a strategic approach to keeping the services triangle aligned based on what has become
known as the "gaps model of service quality." A team of researchers, including her co-author Valarie
Zeithmal,  distilled years of research into the "gaps model," a framework that allows companies to
deliver excellent value, year after year.

The Customer Gap – Not Meeting Customer Expectations

Bitner describes four challenges captured by the framework (sub-gaps, essentially) that make up the
expectation/perception or customer gap:

 The listening gap -- not knowing what customers expect

 The designs and standards gap -- not designing services to meet customer expectations,
 The service-performance gap -- not performing the service as designed
 The communications gap -- companies fail to match performances to external
communications.

A company is likely to have an expectations/perception gap if they're failing at any of the four sub-
gaps.

Failing to match performances to promises is especially damaging, because customers hear companies
make promises, such as "your pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less," but all too often, are let down by
the firm's inability to enable that promise.

For instance, you call to order a 30-minute pizza and the order-taker says there's a 40-minute delivery
time "because we're busy." Enabling the 30-minute guarantee might mean monitoring nightly ordering
patterns, a staff that can flex up and down based on orders and constant communication among key
players. Without it, the promise is made, then not fulfilled, and the customer turned off.
Speaking at the 21st Annual Services Leadership Institute in Tempe, Arizona, Bitner suggests
approaching customer service from a strategic perspective. Dozens of service executives from
companies such as IBM, Harley-Davidson, Avnet, Procter and Gamble, and Caterpillar attended the
institute held March 26-28.

Start by asking yourself these key questions: Does your company consistently do what it promises for
customers? What is required to fulfill these promises? Who keeps promises in your company: clerks,
professionals, subcontractors? Have you prepared employees to enable promise-making, and to keep
promises? Most importantly, does everyone from management to front-line employees understand
your company's promises?

The IKEA Example

Bitner points to the world's largest furniture retailer -- Sweden-based IKEA -- as an example of a
company that, despite a meticulous customer-service approach, was still missing the mark with many
customers.

Here's the story: before IKEA opened its Chicago store, a marketing whiz suggested asking groups of
customers at other IKEA stores to describe their ideal shopping experience. So nine groups, each made
up of a dozen IKEA customers, were invited to switch into "wish mode" and share their interior
thoughts about the "ideal experience" they might wish for at IKEA.

About the ideal experience, they said things like, "I never feel disoriented because I always know
exactly where I am in relation to every department," and "If I am buying one item, all of the other
items that go with it are nearby." Another said, "shopping is a pleasant, relaxing experience."

The feedback surprised company execs, who thought they already understood their customers' needs.
Wisely, they funneled wish-mode results to everyone connected to the Chicago project, from building
designers to the register clerks. Then these wishes were actually incorporated into the new store

For instance, the building was designed differently, as a multi-story, octagon with a central atrium that
functions as a sort of shopper home-base. Items were grouped on aisles and displayed so that related
purchases were close to each other. On the top floor, a café serving Swedish food offered a place to
rest and recharge. 

The experiment was a smashing success. Shoppers returned more often and spend about an hour
longer than at other IKEA stores, and an amazing 85 percent of customers polled rated it "very good"
or "excellent."

The Dimensions of Service Quality

It's also crucial to know how customers judge a particular company's services, Bitner said. Drawing on
research by Zeithaml, Leonard Berry and Parsu Parasuraman, she pointed to five factors -- reliability,
responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles (such as the physical site, equipment or employee
appearance) -- as "the dimensions of service quality" that customers react to.

 
Bitner offered several examples, companies that have used the five factors in compelling advertising
campaigns. One, Fannie Mae mortgages, used the photo of an applesauce-slinging toddler in a high
chair to accompany an almost tender paragraph describing the agency's approach. There was no
mention of interest rates or qualifying paperwork, just a clear understanding of the customer’s needs
and priorities. As Bitner said, "simple but extremely effective."

"Start digging behind [these factors] to find what you can do to make customers feel you are reliable.
What does responsiveness mean to your customer? Is it a live voice after two rings of the telephone?"
she continued. Does it mean you deliver their order within one week, two days, or two hours?  Does it
mean you quickly get back to them when they have a complex question, with an answer focused on
their special situation?

She laid out several strategies to close the listening gap, starting with monitoring  customers through
better research and asking employees to share their front-line experiences and knowledge of
customers. It's also important to aim at building relationships with customers over time rather than
focusing solely on drawing in new shoppers, she said. Ask yourself: what are my customer's needs,
and how do they change over time?

Another best practice involves knowing -- and acting on -- what the customer expects when the
company has failed somehow. Bitner stresses that the savvy firm empowers employees to make real-
time, comprehensive redress, so that the customer walks away mollified, understood, even pleased at
having been taken seriously, rather than told "a manager will call you about this tomorrow."

Best Practices to Close the Gap

To profit from companies that have learned to close the service quality gap, look to FedEx, eBay or
Harrah's Entertainment, she said. FedEx actually encourages customer complaints, considering them
valuable field data, and routinely does customer-satisfaction tracking studies. eBay is known for letting
customer needs influence pilot projects and service expansions, thanks to information gathered during
weekly, hour-long teleconferences with customers. And as many gamblers know, Harrah's has
developed an efficient and huge database on actual customer behavior; it's not unusual to get a
personalized invitation to an event similar to one attended in the past, or discount coupons to your
favorite Harrah's restaurant.

There are similarly effective best practices to close the design and standards gap, starting with the
catchy phrase, "service R&D," or "research and development." Bitner advocates "blueprinting" the
company's services to get inside the customer's head, to understand the service process from the
customer’s point of view. It's also useful to start measuring service operations from the standpoint of
the customer, not the company, she said. For instance, Yellow Transportation (a division of YRC
Worldwide), a freight delivery firm, and Starbucks share a wholly consumer-centric culture based on
cultivating customer participation and buy-in.

The Marriott hotel chain is an example of a corporation that's nailed how to close the service-
performance gap. Executives there figured out that well-treated employees take good care of
customers, so it's not surprising that Marriott always makes those "top companies to work for" lists.
Everything human-resource related, from hiring to training programs, is specifically structured to drive
customer satisfaction. IBM Global Services is another firm that focuses on human resource techniques;
in this case, specifically hiring and training people to work on services R&D, and training employees in
how to build key relationships.

Roadmap Out of the Gap

To close the communications gap, first understand that anything that sends a message to the customer
can interrupt the company's service delivery. Like an off-key note in a melody, inconsistent cues can
trigger trouble. Does your marketing department over-promise what operations can fulfill? Is the
company's Web site similar in style and tone to other formal communication venues such as the print
advertising campaign and television commercials? Are outlet stores rundown and full of second-rate
merchandise, while traditional retail stores are glitzy and upscale? Everything from the annual report
on charitable giving to the discount coupons in an ad circular function as external communications to
customers, Bitner said.

 She gives a nod to the Mayo Clinic for sending a consistent, clear message of "we care about you" in
everything from design of the soothing lobby area, which is a sunny atrium filled with live plants and
live piano music, to the friendly cafeteria workers. Employees are trained to offer assistance rather
than waiting for a patient to ask for help. Golf carts driven by retirees scout the extensive parking lots,
volunteering rides to the lobby. Doctors dress in business suits, work in teams and communicate
frequently and directly with their patients, driving home Mayo's commitment to patient care and
personal interaction. Everything and everyone at Mayo reinforce the 100-year-old message that
the "The best interest of the patient is the only interest to be considered."  

Easy to say, not so easy to do, unless you commit to it day-to-day and year after year as Mayo has
done.

Top Takeaways

 Bitner suggests every company interested in boosting service quality start by drilling down on
how well it is meeting or exceeding customer expectations.
 She suggests that using the services triangle and the gaps model of service quality to
strategically analyze your service operation can shine light on your greatest weaknesses and
suggest strategies for closing those gaps.
 When developing a new service, the triangle and gaps model can also help you to determine
whether you are truly "ready to launch"
 Which of the four sub-gaps are your strong points? Weak points?
o Are you listening, really listening to your customers?
o Do you design services that meet those expectations?
o Are you delivering consistent levels of quality based on those designs?
o Does your external communication match with what you deliver?
 In other words, is your organization aligned around what you have promised to do for your
customers?  If not, they may not be coming back.