Question was:

Discuss two of these three questions. Explain why your group decided to skip the question you passed.

[1] You are the brand manager for a firm that makes herbs, spices, and other food additives. You have had complaints from some of your retail outlets that they are finding empty bottles of pure vanilla extract stashed around the store. Apparently, due to the high (35 percent) alcohol content of pure vanilla extract, people are grabbing the cute little bottles, having a drink, and getting rid of the evidence. Anecdotal evidence from store employees indicates that the majority of the imbibers are teenagers. The cost of placing a tamper proof cap on the extract is a relatively insignificant percentage of the purchase price, but will make it more difficult to open, particularly for older customers. Also, there has been a significant rise in sales to retailers as a result of the vanilla bean “addicts.” What should you do? [2] Describe and explain the rational for Hyundai branding activity? What is it that Hyundai did to develop their image and in your opinion were they successful – why? [3] Discuss the Wagman’s and Safeway case and identify differentiating factors and the research that could provide more insight into their relative advantages

My response:

As a manager of the organization, I would ensure tamper-proof cap are used in all vanilla bottles. This would prevent tampering with them and be used for other purposes. In addition, the image of the company would be built significantly as a result. Since the costs of placing tamper-proof cap are insignificant, placing the tamper-proof cap would not affect the performance of the company in the market. Even though placing these tamper-proof caps on the bottles of the vanilla may make it hard for the older in the society, their benefits by far outweigh their negative impact. The vanilla seems very popular with the bean addicts, the image of the company may be destroyed significantly. It will not only be beneficial for the company to change its brand but also ethical. This will be achieved through changing the packaging of the company. As such, the firm will be able to attract and retain more customers in the market.

The rationale for Hyundai branding activity was to attract more customers to purchase their products as well as retain them. The branding strategy provides customers with a variety of designs for cars offered by the company in the market. Through designing their cars differently, Hyundai can achieve its branding goals and objectives. The branding strategy of the company was successful as it led to improved performance of the firm in the industry. The sales of the company increased significantly as a result of the branding strategy.

I chose to answer question one and two because they are closely related. The two questions entail branding strategy design and development. The brand created by a firm has a lot of importance to a company as it increases the performance of the company in the industry. Effective brand increases the sales of a company hence boosting its revenues. Since the two questions apply almost the same concept, I decided to handle them and skip question three.

My group mate's response:

You make an excellent point on how the vanilla extracts "addicts" can give the company a bad image but one would need to know if this is just happening with this company's product or if it's happening throughout the pure vanilla extract industry. Since the FDA requires pure vanilla extract to have at least 35% alcohol in it the potential abuse of the substance or addict problem is inevitable. Just as the alcohol industry(Beer, Vodka, etc.) the company might be best off putting out advertisements warning parents and taking social responsibility as alcohol companies attempt to do with commercials saying to "Drink Responsibly". I think as long as the company addresses the problem and shows social responsibility their brand image will not suffer. I'd agree to put the tamper-proof caps as long as the older people demographic is not a major buyer of the product.

Now i just need a reply for this post?