CHAPTER 10
Product, Branding, and Packaging Concepts
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Lecture Outline
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Discussion Starters
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Class Exercises
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Chapter Quiz
IRM, p. 21
Semester Projects
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Comments on Video Case 10
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PURPOSE AND PERSPECTIVE
This chapter covers fundamental concepts relating to (1) defining the concept of a product, (2) consumer
and business product classification schemes, (3) product mix and product line concepts, (4) product life
cycles, (5) product adoption processes, and (6) the reasons some products fail. The chapter starts by
seeking to help students understand what constitutes a product. It then goes on to classify products and to
examine the concepts of product item, product line, and product mix and understand how they are
connected. Next, it discusses the product life cycle and how marketers’ roles and messages will change
at the different stages of the product life cycle. After this, the chapter describes different categories of
consumers based on how quickly they adopt new products. Then the chapter goes on to examine why
some products fail while others succeed. Many real-world examples are presented to illustrate product
concepts. The chapter proceeds by defining and discussing branding, packaging, and labeling. It discusses
the value of branding and then moves on to discuss brand loyalty, which includes three levels: brand
recognition, brand preference, and brand insistence. Brand equity, types of brands (manufacturer, private
distributor, and generic), and brand name selection are also covered. It deals with methods of protecting
brands, covering such issues as trademarks and preventing a brand from becoming perceived as generic.
This section also examines branding strategies—individual branding, family branding, and brand
extensions. The strategies of co-branding and brand licensing and their advantages and disadvantages are
also covered. Next, it examines major packaging issues including the functions of packaging, packaging
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Chapter 10: Product, Branding, and Packaging Concepts
strategies, and various types of packaging. The chapter ends with a discussion of labeling, including legal
labeling requirements.
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Chapter 10: Product, Branding, and Packaging Concepts
LECTURE OUTLINE
I. What is a Product?
A. A product is a good, a service, or an idea received in an exchange.
1. It can be either tangible or intangible and includes functional, social, and psychological
utilities or benefits.
2. It also includes supporting services, such as installation, guarantees, product information,
and promises of repair or maintenance.
3. A good is a tangible physical entity, such as an Apple iPad or a Starbucks latte.
4. A service is intangible; it is the result of the application of human and mechanical efforts to
people or objects.
5. An idea is a concept, philosophy, image, or issue.
B. It is helpful to think of a total product offering as having three interdependent elements—the core
product itself, its supplemental features, and its symbolic or experiential benefits (Figure 10.1).
1. The core product consists of its fundamental utility or main benefit and usually addresses a
fundamental need of the consumer.
2. Supplemental features provide added value or attributes in addition to its core utility or
benefit.
a. Supplemental products also can provide installation, delivery, training, and financing.
b. These supplemental attributes are not required to make the core product effectively
function, but they help differentiate one product brand from another and may increase
customer loyalty.
3. Customers also receive benefits based on their experiences with the product, which gives
symbolic meaning to many products (and brands) for buyers.
a. Some stores capitalize on this value by striving to create a special, personalized
experience for customers.
(1) The atmosphere and décor of a retail store, the variety and depth of product
choices, customer support, and even the sounds and smells all contribute to an
experiential element.
b. When buyers purchase a product, they are really buying the benefits and satisfactions
they think the product will provide.
II. Classifying Products
A. Products fall into two general categories:
1. Products purchased to satisfy personal and family needs are consumer products.
2. Those bought to use in a firm’s operations, to resell, or to make other products are business
products.
B. Consumer Products
1. Consumers buy products to satisfy their personal wants.
2. The most widely accepted approach to classifying consumer products is based on
characteristics of consumer buying behavior.
3. It divides products into four categories—convenience, shopping, specialty, and unsought
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products.
4. Marketers think in terms of how buyers generally behave when purchasing a specific item.
5. Convenience Products
a. Convenience products are relatively inexpensive, frequently purchased items for
which buyers exert only minimal purchasing effort.
b. The buyer spends little time planning the purchase or comparing available brands or
sellers.
c. A convenience product normally is marketed through many retail outlets.
d. Because sellers experience high inventory turnover, per-unit gross margins can be
relatively low.
e. Producers of convenience products expect little promotional effort at the retail level
and thus must provide it themselves with advertising and sales promotion.
f. Packaging and displays are also important because many convenience items are
available only on a self-service basis at the retail level, and thus the package plays a
major role in selling the product.
6. Shopping Products
a. Shopping products are items for which buyers are willing to expend considerable
effort in planning and making the purchase.
b. Buyers spend much time comparing stores and brands with respect to prices, product
features, qualities, services, and perhaps warranties.
c. Shopping products require fewer retail outlets than convenience products.
d. Because shopping products are purchased less frequently, inventory turnover is lower,
and marketing channel members expect to receive higher gross margins.
e. Although large sums of money may be required to advertise shopping products, an
even larger percentage of resources are likely to be used for personal selling.
f. The producer and the marketing channel members usually expect some cooperation
from one another with respect to providing parts and repair services and performing
promotional activities.
7. Specialty Products
a. Specialty products possess one or more unique characteristics, and generally buyers
are willing to expend considerable effort to obtain them.
b. Buyers actually plan the purchase of a specialty product; they know exactly what they
want and will not accept a substitute.
c. Specialty products are often distributed through a limited number of retail outlets.
d. Like shopping products, they are purchased infrequently, causing lower inventory
turnover and thus requiring relatively high gross margins.
8. Unsought Products
a. Unsought products are products purchased when a sudden problem must be solved,
products of which customers are unaware, and products that people do not necessarily
plan on purchasing.
b. Emergency medical services and automobile repairs are examples of products needed
quickly to solve a problem.
C. Business Products
1. Business products are usually purchased on the basis of an organization’s goals and
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objectives.
2. Business products can be classified into seven categories according to their characteristics
and intended uses—installations; accessory equipment; raw materials; component parts;
process materials; maintenance, repair, and operating (MRO) supplies; and business services.
3. Installations
a. Installations include facilities, such as office buildings, factories and warehouses, and
major equipment that are nonportable.
b. Normally, installations are expensive and intended to be used for a considerable length
of time.
c. Marketers of installations frequently must provide a variety of services, including
training, repairs, maintenance assistance, and may even aid in financing such
purchases.
4. Accessory Equipment
a. Accessory equipment does not become a part of the final physical product but is used
in production or office activities.
b. Compared with major equipment, accessory items usually are much cheaper,
purchased routinely with less negotiation, and treated as expense items rather than as
capital items because they are not expected to last as long.
c. More outlets are required for distributing and selling accessory equipment than for
installations, but sellers do not have to provide the multitude of services to support the
equipment.
5. Raw Materials
a. Raw materials are the basic natural materials that actually become part of a physical
product.
b. Raw materials include minerals, chemicals, agricultural products, and materials from
forests and oceans.
6. Component Parts
a. Component parts become a part of the physical product and are either finished items
ready for assembly or products that need little processing before assembly.
b. Buyers purchase component parts according to their own specifications or industry
standards.
(1) They expect the parts to be of a specified quality and delivered on time so that
production is not slowed or stopped.
7. Process Materials
a. Process materials are used directly in the production of other products.
b. However, unlike component parts, process materials are not readily identifiable.
c. As with component parts, process materials are purchased according to industry
standards or the purchaser’s specifications.
8. MRO Supplies
a. MRO supplies are maintenance, repair, and operating items which facilitate an
organization’s production and operations but do not become part of the finished
product.
b. To ensure supplies are available when needed, buyers often deal with more than one
seller.
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weaknesses and make corrections quickly to prevent the product’s early demise.
b. Marketing strategy should be designed to attract the segment that is most interested in,
most able, and most willing to buy the product.
D. Growth
1. During the growth stage, sales rise rapidly; profits reach a peak and then start to decline.
2. This stage is critical to a product’s survival because competitive reactions to the product’s
success during this period will affect the product’s life expectancy.
3. Profits begin to decline late in the growth stage as more competitors enter the market, driving
prices down and creating the need for heavy promotional expenses.
4. As sales increase, management must support the momentum by adjusting the marketing
strategy.
a. The goal is to establish and fortify the product’s market position by encouraging
adoption and brand loyalty.
5. Gaps in geographic market coverage should be filled during the growth period.
a. As a product gains market acceptance, new distribution outlets usually become easier
to obtain.
6. Promotion expenditures may be slightly lower than during the introductory stage but are still
substantial.
a. As sales increase, promotion costs should drop as a percentage of total sales.
E. Maturity
1. During the maturity stage, the sales curve peaks and starts to decline, and profits continue
to fall.
2. This stage is characterized by intense competition as many brands are now in the market.
a. Competitors emphasize improvements and differences in their versions of the product.
b. Weaker competitors are squeezed out of the market.
3. During the maturity phase, the producers who remain in the market are likely to change their
promotional and distribution efforts.
a. Advertising and dealer-oriented promotions are typical during this stage of the product
life cycle.
4. Because many products are in the maturity stage of their life cycles, marketers must know
how to deal with these products and be prepared to adjust their marketing strategies.
a. To increase the sales of mature products, marketers may suggest new uses for them.
5. As customers become more experienced and knowledgeable about products during the
maturity stage (particularly about business products), the benefits they seek may change as
well, necessitating product modifications.
6. During the maturity stage, marketers actively encourage resellers to support the product.
a. Resellers may be offered promotional assistance in lowering their inventory costs.
7. Maintaining market share during maturity can requires moderate, and sometimes large,
promotional expenditures.
8. Advertising messages focus on differentiating a brand from the field of competitors, and
sales promotion efforts may be aimed at both consumers and resellers.
F. Decline
1. During the decline stage, sales fall rapidly.
a. When this happens, the marketer considers pruning items from the product line to
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eliminate those not earning a profit.
b. The marketer also may cut promotion efforts, eliminate marginal distributors, and
finally, plan to phase out the product.
2. In this stage, marketers must determine whether to eliminate the product or try to reposition
it to extend its life.
a. Usually a declining product has lost its distinctiveness because similar competing or
superior products have been introduced.
3. During a product’s decline, outlets with strong sales volumes are maintained and
unprofitable outlets are eliminated.
a. Spending on promotion efforts is usually reduced considerably.
V. Product Adoption Process
A. Figure 10.4 details the product adoption process; the stages of the product adoption process are as
follows.
1. Awareness—individuals become aware that the product exists and have little information
about it and are not concerned about obtaining more.
2. Interest—consumers are motivated to get information about the product’s features, uses,
advantages, disadvantages, price, or location.
3. Evaluation—individuals consider whether the product will satisfy certain criteria that are
crucial to meeting their specific needs.
4. Trial—individuals use or experience the product for the first time, possibly by purchasing a
small quantity, taking advantage of free samples, or borrowing the product from someone.
5. Adoption—individuals choose a specific product when they need a product of that general
type.
a. Entering the adoption process does not mean that the person will eventually adopt the
product; rejection may occur at any stage, including the adoption stage.
B. When an organization introduces a new product, people do not begin the adoption process at the
same time, nor do they move through it at the same speed.
C. Depending on the length of time it takes them to adopt a new product, consumers fall into one of
five major adopter categories:
1. Innovators—the first adopters of new products; they enjoy trying new things and tend to be
venturesome.
2. Early adopters—choose new products carefully and are viewed as “the people to check
with” by those in the remaining adopter categories.
3. Early majority—adopt new products just prior to the average person; they are deliberate
and cautious in trying new products.
4. Late majority—quite skeptical of new products but eventually adopt them because of
economic necessity or social pressure.
5. Laggards—last to adopt new products, they are oriented toward the past; they are suspicious
of new products, and when they finally adopt the innovation, it may have been replaced by a
new product.
VI. Branding
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Chapter 10: Product, Branding, and Packaging Concepts
A. A brand is a name, term, symbol, design, or other feature that identifies one seller’s good or
service as distinct from those of other marketers.
1. A brand name is the part of a brand that can be spoken, including letters, words, and
numbers.
a. A brand name is often a product’s only distinguishing characteristic.
2. The element of a brand that is not made up of words—often a symbol or design—is a brand
mark.
3. A trademark is a legal designation indicating that the owner has exclusive use of the brand
or part of that brand and that others are prohibited by law from using it.
4. A trade name is the full legal name of an organization rather than the name of a specific
product.
B. Value of Branding
1. Brands help buyers identify specific products that they do and do not like, which in turn
facilitates the purchase of items that satisfy their needs and reduces the time required to
purchase the product.
a. For many consumers, purchasing certain brands is a form of self-expression.
b. When a customer is unable to judge a product’s quality, a brand may symbolize a
certain quality level to the customer, and in turn, the person lets that perception of
quality represent the quality of the item.
c. A brand helps to reduce a buyer’s perceived risk of purchase.
d. A psychological reward may come from owning a brand that symbolizes status.
2. Sellers benefit from branding because each company’s brands identify its products, which
makes repeat purchasing easier for customers.
a. Branding facilitates promotional efforts because the promotion of each branded item
indirectly promotes all other similarly branded items.
b. To the extent that buyers become loyal to a specific brand, the company’s market
share for that product achieves a certain level of stability, allowing the firm to use its
resources more efficiently and to attract repeat customers.
3. There is a cultural dimension to branding.
a. Most brand experiences are individual, and each consumer confers his or her own
social meaning onto brands.
b. The term cultural branding has been used to explain how a brand conveys a powerful
myth that consumers find useful in cementing their identities.
4. It is important to recognize that because a brand exists independently in the consumer’s
mind, it is not directly controlled by the marketer.
a. Every aspect of a brand is subject to a consumer’s emotional involvement,
interpretation, and memory.
C. Brand Equity
1. Brand equity is the marketing and financial value associated with a brand’s strength in a
market.
2. Besides the actual proprietary brand assets, such as patents and trademarks, four major
elements underlie brand equity—brand name awareness, brand loyalty, perceived brand
quality, and brand associations (Figure 10.5).
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3. Being aware of a brand leads to brand familiarity, which in turn results in a level of comfort
with the brand.
a. A familiar brand is more likely to be selected than an unfamiliar brand because the
familiar brand often is viewed as more reliable and of more acceptable quality.
4. Brand loyalty is a customer’s favorable attitude toward a specific brand.
a. If brand loyalty is strong enough, customers may purchase this brand consistently
when they need a product in that product category.
b. Development of brand loyalty in a customer reduces his or her risks and shortens the
time spent buying the product.
c. The degree of brand loyalty for products varies from one product category to another.
Brand loyalty also tends to vary by country.
d. There are three degrees of brand loyalty:
(1) Brand recognition occurs when a customer is aware that a brand exists and
views it as an alternative to purchase if his or her brand is unavailable or if the
other available brands are unfamiliar.
(2) Brand preference is a stronger degree of brand loyalty; a customer definitely
prefers one brand over competitive offerings and will purchase the brand if
available; however, if the brand is not available, the customer will accept a
substitute brand rather than expending additional effort finding and purchasing
the preferred brand.
(3) When brand insistence occurs, a customer strongly prefers a specific brand, will
accept no substitute, and is willing to spend a great deal of time and effort to
acquire that brand.
e. Brand loyalty is an important component of brand equity because it reduces a brand’s
vulnerability to competitors’ actions.
f. Brand loyalty allows an organization to keep its existing customers and avoid
spending significant resources to gain new ones.
5. Customers associate a particular brand with a certain level of overall quality.
a. A brand name may be used as a substitute for actual judgment of quality.
6. The set of associations linked to a brand is another key component of brand equity.
a. These types of brand associations contribute significantly to the brand’s equity.
b. Brand associations sometimes are facilitated by using trade characters.
7. Although difficult to measure, brand equity represents the value of a brand to an
organization.
D. Types of Brands
1. Manufacturer brands are initiated by producers and ensure that producers are identified
with their products at the point of purchase.
a. A manufacturer brand usually requires a producer to become involved in distribution,
promotion, and to some extent pricing decisions.
2. Private distributor brands (also called private brands, store brands, or dealer brands) are
initiated and owned by resellers—wholesalers or retailers.
a. The major characteristic of private brands is that the manufacturers are not identified
on the products.
b. Retailers and wholesalers use private distributor brands to develop more efficient
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promotion, generate higher gross margins, and change store images.
c. Private distributor brands give retailers or wholesalers freedom to purchase products
of a specified quality at the lowest cost without disclosing the identity of the
manufacturer.
d. Sales of private labels now account for one out of every four product items sold in
supermarkets, and store brands account for $112 billion in revenue.
3. Generic brands indicate only a product category and do not include the company name or
other identifying terms.
a. Generic brands are usually sold at lower prices than comparable branded items.
b. The prevalence of generic brands has decreased over time.
E. Selecting a Brand Name
1. Marketers consider several factors in selecting a brand name.
a. The name should be easy for customers to say, spell, and recall.
b. The brand name should indicate in some way the product’s uses and special
characteristics.
c. To set it apart from competing brands, the brand should be distinctive.
d. If a marketer intends to use a brand for a product line, that brand must be compatible
with all products in the line.
e. A brand should be designed so that it can be used and recognized in all types of media.
2. Brand names can be created from single or multiple words, numbers, letters, or combinations
of these.
a. To avoid terms that have negative connotations, marketers sometimes use fabricated
words that have no meaning.
b. Brand names can be created internally by the organization.
(1) Sometimes a name is suggested by individuals who are close to the development
of the product.
(2) Some organizations have committees that participate in brand-name creation and
approval.
(3) Large companies that introduce numerous new products annually are likely to
have a department that develops brand names.
(4) At times, outside consultants and companies that specialize in brand-name
development are used.
F. Protecting a Brand
1. A marketer should design a brand so that it can be protected easily through registration.
2. Generic brands are not protectable; surnames and descriptive, geographic, or functional
names are difficult to protect.
3. Although registration protects trademarks domestically for ten years, and trademarks can be
renewed indefinitely, a firm should develop a system for ensuring that its trademarks are
renewed as needed.
4. To protect its exclusive rights to a brand, a company must ensure that the brand is not likely
to be considered an infringement on any brand already registered with the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office.
5. A marketer should guard against allowing a brand name become a generic term used to refer
to a general product category because generic terms cannot be protected as exclusive brand
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names.
a. To keep a brand name from becoming a generic term, the firm should spell the name
with a capital letter and use it as an adjective to modify the name of the general
product class.
b. Including the word brand just after the name is also helpful.
c. The firm can also indicate that the brand is a registered trademark by using the symbol
®.
d. In some countries, brand registration is not possible. Companies have sometimes had
to buy back their own brand rights from a firm in a foreign country because the
foreign firm was the first user in that country.
6. Marketers trying to protect their brands also must contend with brand counterfeiting.
a. Annual losses caused by counterfeit products are estimated at between $500 billion
and $700 billion for legitimate businesses.
G. Branding Policies
1. Before establishing branding policies, a firm must decide whether to brand its products at all.
a. If a company’s product is homogeneous and is similar to competitors’ products, it may
be difficult to brand in a way that will generate brand loyalty.
b. Raw materials are hard to brand because of the homogeneity of these products and
their physical characteristics.
2. If a firm chooses to brand its products, it may use individual branding, family branding, or a
combination.
a. Individual branding is a policy of naming each product differently.
(1) A major advantage of individual branding is that if an organization introduces
an inferior product, the negative images associated with it do not contaminate
the company’s other products.
(2) An individual branding policy may also facilitate market segmentation when a
firm wishes to enter many segments of the same market; separate, unrelated
names can be used, and each brand can be aimed at a specific segment.
b. When using family branding, all of the firm’s products are branded with the same
name or at least part of the name.
(1) Family branding means that the promotion of one item with the family brand
name promotes the firm’s other products.
3. Branding policy is influenced by the number of products and product lines the company
produces, the characteristics of its target markets, the number and types of competing
products available, and the size of the firm’s resources.
H. Brand Extension
1. A brand extension occurs when a firm uses one of its existing brands to brand a new
product in a different product category.
2. A brand extension should not be confused with a line extension.
a. A line extension refers to using an existing brand on a new product in the same
product category, such as new flavors or sizes.
3. If a brand is extended too many times or extended too far away from its original product
category, the brand can be significantly weakened.
a. Research has found that a line extension into premium categories can be an effective
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strategy to revitalize a brand, but the line extension needs to be closely linked to the
core brand.
b. Successful branding strategies for new product categories depend largely on how they
fit with the product categories of the parent brand, as well as how the positioning of
the new product is similar to how the parent brand is positioned.
c. However, a brand may be diluted by extending it into dissimilar product categories,
which can suppress consumer consideration and choice for the original products
carrying the brand.
I. Co-Branding
1. Co-branding is the use of two or more brands on one product.
a. Marketers employ co-branding to capitalize on the brand equity of multiple brands.
b. The brands used for co-branding can be owned by the same company.
2. Effective co-branding capitalizes on the trust and confidence customers have in the brands
involved.
a. The brands should not lose their identities, and it should be clear to customers which
brand is the main brand.
3. It is important for marketers to understand that when a co-branded product is unsuccessful,
both brands are implicated in the product failure.
4. To gain customer acceptance, the brands involved must represent a complementary fit in the
minds of buyers.
J. Brand Licensing
1. A popular branding strategy involves brand licensing, an agreement in which a company
permits another organization to use its brand on other products for a licensing fee.
2. The advantages of licensing range from extra revenues and low-cost or free publicity to new
images and trademark protection.
3. The major disadvantages are a lack of manufacturing control, which could hurt the
company’s name, and bombarding consumers with too many unrelated products bearing the
same name.
VII. Packaging
A. Packaging involves the development of a container and a graphic design for a product.
B. A package can be a vital part of a product, making it more versatile, safer, and easier to use.
C. Like a brand name, a package can influence customers’ attitudes toward a product and so affect
their purchase decisions.
D. Packaging Functions
1. Packaging materials serve the basic purpose of protecting the product and maintaining its
functional form.
a. The packaging should prevent damage that could affect the product’s usefulness and
value and thus lead to higher costs.
2. Packaging offers convenience to consumers.
a. The size or shape of a package may relate to the product’s storage, convenience of use,
or replacement rate.
3. Packaging promotes a product by communicating its features, uses, benefits, and image.
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a. Sometimes a reusable package is developed to make the product more desirable.
4. As they develop packages, marketers must take many factors into account.
a. One major consideration is cost; in recent years, buyers have shown a willingness to
pay more for improved packaging, but there are limits.
b. Marketers should consider how much consistency is desirable among an
organization’s package designs.
c. To promote an overall company image, a firm may decide that all packages should be
similar or include one major element of the design; this approach is called family
packaging.
(1) Sometimes it is used only for lines of products.
d. A package’s promotional role is an important consideration.
(1) To develop a package that has definite promotional value, a designer must
consider size, shape, texture, color, and graphics.
e. Beyond the obvious minimal limitation that the package must be large enough to hold
the product, a package can be designed to appear taller or shorter.
f. Packaging must also meet the needs of resellers; wholesalers and retailers consider
whether a package facilitates transportation, storage, and handling.
E. Packaging and Marketing Strategy
1. Packaging can be a major component of a marketing strategy.
a. A new cap or closure, a better box or wrapper, or a more convenient container size
may give a product a competitive advantage.
2. Marketers should view packaging as a major strategic tool, especially for convenience
products.
3. At times, a marketer changes a package or labeling because the existing design is no longer
in style, especially when compared with the packaging of competitive products.
a. A package may be redesigned because new product features need to be highlighted or
because new packaging materials have become available.
b. An organization may also decide to change a product’s packaging to make the product
safer or more convenient to use.
c. A product’s packaging can also be changed to make it easier to handle in the
distribution channel.
4. Marketers also use innovative or unique packages that are inconsistent with traditional
packaging practices to make the brand stand out from its competitors.
a. Unusual packaging sometimes requires expending considerable resources, not only on
package design but also on making customers aware of the unique package and its
benefit.
5. Multiple packaging can also be implemented in a firm’s packaging strategy.
a. Rather than packaging a single unit of a product, marketers sometimes use twin-packs,
tri-packs, six-packs, or other forms of multiple packaging.
VIII. Labeling
A. Labeling is very closely interrelated with packaging and is used for identification, promotional,
informational, and legal purposes.
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1. Labels can be small or large relative to the size of the product and carry varying amounts of
information.
2. A label can be part of the package itself or a separate feature attached to the package.
3. Information presented on a label may include the brand name and mark, the registered
trademark symbol, package size and content, product features, nutritional information,
potential presence of allergens, type and style of the product, number of servings, care
instructions, directions for use and safety precautions, the name and address of the
manufacturer, expiration dates, seals of approval, and other facts.
4. Labels can facilitate the identification of a product by displaying the brand name in
combination with a unique graphic design.
5. By drawing attention to products and their benefits, labels can strengthen an organization’s
promotional efforts.
6. Labels may contain promotional messages such as the offer of a discount or a larger package
size at the same price, or information about a new or improved product feature.
7. Several federal laws and regulations specify information that must be included on labels of
certain products.
a. Garments must be labeled with the name of the manufacturer, country of manufacture,
fabric content, and cleaning instructions.
b. Labels on nonedible items must include both safety precautions and directions for use.
c. The Nutrition Labeling Act of 1990 requires the FDA to review food labeling and
packaging, focusing on nutrition content, label format, ingredient labeling, food
descriptions, and health messages.
(1) Any food product for which a nutritional claim is made must have nutrition
labeling that follows a standard format.
(2) Food product labels must state the number of servings per container, serving
size, number of calories per serving, number of calories derived from fat,
number of carbohydrates, and amounts of specific nutrients such as vitamins.
B. Of concern to many manufacturers are the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) guidelines regarding
“Made in U.S.A.” labels, a growing problem owing to the increasingly global nature of
manufacturing.
1. The FTC requires that “all, or virtually all”, of a product’s components be made in the
United States if the label says “Made in U.S.A.”
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Chapter 10: Product, Branding, and Packaging Concepts
DISCUSSION STARTERS
Discussion Starter 1: Blendtec
ASK: Have you ever watched a product demonstration on an infomercial? Do you think they are an
effective way to demonstrate product benefits?
You Tube.
http://www.willitblend.com
Discussion Starter 2: What Is A Product?
ASK: Do you think people buy products or the ideas of the product? In essence, are products ideas?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders
ASK: Is Rapaille correct? Do people buy products because of some unconscious trigger? Are consumers
irrational?
Students should base their opinions on information in the clip.
Discussion Starter 3: Identifying the Innovators
ASK: How do organizations find innovators in the marketplace?
Discussion Starter 4: Virtual Branding
ASK: Have you ever played a virtual reality game, such as the SIMS or Second Life?