The paper discusses the role played by nationality in branding. Increasingly, European markets are a battleground for local brands, other European brands, and brands from the USA, Japan, and other countries. It is shown that consumers have strong images of other countries, their people, and the products they are making, and the services they are offering. These images have themselves developed from historical strengths in particular markets, through to the modern era where perceptions of strong brands have driven images of their parent country, according to whether and how they have used their nationality. The images of each of the main European countries, and the USA and Japan, are discussed in detail, and observations are drawn on the future role of nationality in developing international brands.
The paper discusses the application of sales prediction techniques to new product development in Latin America. It shows that in packaged goods product fields, both of the two mainstream methodologies, the Laboratory Test Market exemplified by SENSOR, and the concept/product test exemplified by MicroTest, deliver very similar consumer responses in the Latin American context as those found in other markets, notably Europe. This gives confidence in the validity of the consumer data. The problems lie more is obtaining accurate measures of market size, distribution and consumer purchasing due to the incomplete coverage of retail audit and consumer panel services. The extension of prediction techniques to durables and services, implications for the Latin America context, are also discussed.
This paper reviews the applicability of the main current market research methods which attempt to predict the sales potential of a new product mix in the field of fast-moving consumer goods. The high costs and risks of new product development have been amply documented elsewhere. It has become increasingly critical for manufacturers to obtain reliable sales predictions as early as possible in the development process, and a variety of methods have been used. These are outlined and their applicability discussed in section 2. Most of the methods under discussion have been presented and evaluated in detail in published papers. Over the last few years there has been a dramatic growth in the use of the group of techniques we term Simulated Test Markets, but there has been little published discussion of their applicability and power. Section 3 therefore discusses in some detail the types of new product marketing problem for which these methods are most suitable, and Section 4 illustrates how these techniques can be applied to specific new product evaluations, and how some apparent problems can be overcome. Section 5 summarizes and draws conclusions from the review.
The paper discusses the issues involved in creating and managing brands internationally. The growth of strong brands in their home market has historically been a long-term process which requires not only consistent, creative management, but also a favourable environment. The evidence is that most such brands can be internationalized, giving the benefits of lower costs, synergy and time saving. On the other hand, the differences in national market structures, stages of development, competition and product roles, mean that international brand potentials are circumscribed by factors outside the brand owner's control. This implies tight realism in objective setting aided by dispassionate market and competitor assessment. Further, the time scales needed to build an international brand heritage require a consistent vision of core brand values and the management commitment to follow that strategy, often at the expense of the short- term profit. Research must provide global brand owners with the tools to assess opportunity and accurately predict potential, and to monitor brand equity internationally. Increasingly, it will need to address future strategic issues, rather than simply tackle tactical problems.
The paper reviews the applicability of the main market research methods which predict the sales potential of new products in fast-moving consumer goods markets. In particular, it examines a class of techniques - Simulated Test Markets - usage of which have grown dramatically in recent years, but which have not hitherto been reviewed in this manner.