tailieunhanh - Ebook Fundamentals of marketing: Part 2

(BQ) Part 2 book "Fundamentals of marketing" has contents: Branding, pricing, promotion, place - channels of distribution, virtual marketing, marketing planning and implementation. | 4683 FUND MARKET-PT/bp 7 30/11/06 12:40 pm Page 201 (Black plate) CVU plate) (PANTONE 201 BRANDING LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this chapter you should be able to: I describe the advantages that are ascribed to branding; I understand the historical development of branding; I appreciate the key differences between a mainstream and a behaviourist explanation of branding. 4683 FUND MARKET-PT/bp 30/11/06 9:24 am Page 202 (PANTONE 201 CVU plate) (Black/Process Black plate) FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING I I I I INTRODUCTION Perhaps the earliest instance of branding was in the branding of slaves and criminals for purposes of identification. Branding has been associated with property in its widest sense. Although a slave is undoubtedly a person, in ancient times slaves were treated as if they were socially dead. To mark this event slave owners habitually renamed their slaves with contemptuous titles such as ‘irritation’. Within this context branding is associated with power, control, a sign of ownership indicated through marking a brand physically on the body and property. In modern times the concept of branding has taken on a more positive inflection with the development of commodity brands in the early twentieth century that offer to protect and heal the self. Individuals now mark themselves with brands as a means of self-affirmation rather than negation. In Western culture the discourse about brands has travelled beyond the marketing of traditional products and services to swamp every aspect of life. From Chapter 1, it can be recalled that this was what Kotler called for (or did he?) back in 1972, when he asked that the marketing concept be applied to all institutions. Someone must have been listening because from birth the infant is wrapped in a branded cocoon of ‘absorbent’ nappies, ‘trustworthy’ bottle-feeds and medications, ‘cute’ clothes, and, of course, the ubiquitous branded pram. From about that age the infant begins to learn the language .