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Unit 9: Service Product and Operation
have to engage in such activities as planned disposal of oil rigs (oil exploration and drilling) as Notes
Shell was forced to do in United Kingdom, nor careful dismantling of plants and manufacturing
facilities, like DuPont was forced to do in many countries, especially in United States.
Did u know? In Germany, a nation that is very highly conscious of preserving the
environment, it is mandatory for firms engaged in strip mining to landscape the site. This
is something that Indian firms engaged in mining in Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh,
Jharkhand and the Vidharbha part of Maharashtra do not do. The entire landscape is
dotted with gigantic anthills.
Self Assessment
State whether the following statements are true or false:
6. The four stages of a product lifecycle are introduction, growth, maturity and extension.
7. A service firm has to incur heavy expenditure during the introduction stage of product
lifecycle.
8. Brand like State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Punjab National Bank are in their maturity
stage.
9. Rapid skimming strategy is very useful if the market size is huge, but the potential is not
very high.
9.3 Branding of a Service Product
With proliferating competitive offerings, customers do have choices but are not able to distinguish
one from the other. To differentiate their offerings from the rest and giving them unique identities
to make them distinguishable, the marketer resorts to the creation of brands. The American
Marketing Association defines a brand as
A name, term, sign, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify goods and
services of one seller or a group of sellers so as to differentiate them from the competition.
Did u know? The word Brand originated from the word brandr meaning to burn.
Branding probably started millennia back, when cattle owners wanted to distinguish
their herds and livestock from other cattle-owners. They deeply scorched the flanks of
their cattle with red-hot irons designed with unique symbols that functioned as permanent
marks of identification.
A brand can convey six levels of meaning:
Attributes: Helps the customer associate certain attributes to the offering, like availability
of 24-hour service from Citibank (The Citi never sleeps).
Benefits: The attributes and features of the service should be able to convey the existence
and promised delivery of benefits that could be functional (State Bank of India has wide
ranging offers for all) and/or emotional (Security is a warm feeling) and (The nation
banks on us).
Values: The brand should communicate about the values and beliefs of the service marketer
(HDFC extols trust, faith, and expertise: With you. Right through); Delhi Police (With
you, for you, Always.)
LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 167
