McIntyre-1 Nathaniel McIntyre MKTG-601 Written Assignment 6 1. Brand Culture Analysis: Describe Black and Decker’s brand culture (recall from Module 6, a “brand culture” is the meanings that become conventional, widely accepted “truths” about the product/brand) in the Professional –Tradesman segment of the power tools market, at the time of the case. In your answer, use specific information from the case to explain how (a) the firm, (b) influencers, and (c) consumers have influenced the Black & Decker’s brand in this segment. a. Many different people in the Professional-Tradesman segment saw Black & Decker (B&D) as a consumer brand that could not hold up to tough jobs. There was a perception in the Professional-Tradesman segment that Black & Decker (B&D) was only aimed at consumers and could not hold up well to tough applications. The B&D brand became highly associated with consumer household goods and many people in the tradesman segment could not remove that association. The tradesman could not escape the association of the B&D brand with consumer goods. The firm helped to associate its brand to the consumer segment by is a heavy marketing campaign. This campaign focused on the Dustbuster and Spacemaker lines of products. With its heavy marketing campaigns focusing on Dustbuster and Spacemaker, the company strengthened its brand’s association with the consumer segment, at the expense of other segments. Since the company was focused on advertising consumer products, the company's other products were often forgotten about. Due to the company's focus on consumer products, its other products were frequently overlooked. The assumption was made that a strong reputation in one segment would automatically carry over to other segments of the company. An excellent reputation in one segment would reflect well on the others, it was assumed. Influencers often were the spouses of the tradesman. Since these influencers were in the home, they often focused on using household consumer goods. Another group of influencers was the people who were hiring the tradesman to perform tasks, when they would see the charcoal gray color, they would automatically associate the color with the household goods segment of the company. Another group of influencers included those who hired the tradesmen; they would automatically associate charcoal gray with the company's household goods segment as soon as they saw these tools handled by the tradesmen. These influencers continued to advance the idea that B&D was a consumer household brand. Finally, consumers have helped reinforce the idea that B&D only offers household products. This is because the consumer household segment is the largest for the company. As fewer tradesman purchased the professional segment tools, the more the company got associated with the household segment. Eventually, all these things worked together to develop a brand culture that assumed the company was for consumer household goods. 2. Consumer-Based Brand Equity Analysis: (The “Building Customer-Based Brand Equity” reading from Module 6 may be helpful in answering this question) a. What specific performance and imagery characteristics of the Black and Decker brand influence what the brand means to consumers in the Professional– Tradesman segment? How would you explain what this segment thinks about the Black and Decker brand? i. The brand was strongly associated with its color. Everyone knows the charcoal McIntyre-2 color was associated with B&D. In fact, tradesmen were often afraid that even using a tool the same color would give the allusion that they were using a B&D. Tradesman also assumed there was no way for the B&D brand to be the same quality as other brands. Tradesmen need a that will last and be able to handle day to day usage along with constantly being moved around. They did not see This study source was downloaded by 100000827313672 from CourseHero.com on 10-08-2022 11:45:51 GMT -05:00 https://www.coursehero.com/file/41372512/Written-Assignment-6docx/ McIntyre-3 how a company that focuses on light duty household goods would be able to handle the demand for this kind of work. b. How do consumers' respond to Black and Decker in the Professional –Tradesman segment of the power tools market? In your answer, identify specific information regarding their judgments and feelings presented in the case. i. Tradesmen did not respond well to the B&D segment. The brand culture that had been developed strongly focused on B&D association with the consumer market. They often feel that they would not be taken seriously if someone saw them using B&D tools. Since the company greatly focused on its transition from the garage to the house, tradesman become afraid that everyone would make the same associations that they were. They had developed a strong attitude that the tools would not last as long as other ones since they were not designed to be used as regularly. Consumer tools tend to not be used every single day whereas the professional tools would need to be. c. Does the Black and Decker brand have a positive or negative consumer-based brand equity in the Professional - Tradesman segment? Provide specific information and data from the case to support your answer. i. Black & Decker has a negative consumer-based equity in the ProfessionalTradesman segment. The biggest supporting evidence of this is the much smaller segment size compared to other segments. This segment only produces about $420 million which is over $100 million less than other segments. This equates to a market segment share of about 9%. Another point to remember is among the market, B&D was only seen as the best brand 44% of the time where Milwaukee was 80%. 3. What brand architecture should Black and Decker adopt in the power tools market? Why do you recommend this? As you explain your recommendation, be sure to use specific information from the case to support your answer a. Black & Decker should adopt a house of brands methods. The DeWalt brand should focus on the Professional segments whereas the company can keep the Black & Decker brand for the consumer segment. This will allow the DeWalt brand to be differentiated from the B&D brand. People are 51% interested in purchasing a DeWalt tool. Using DeWalt as a subbrand is likely to continue some of the issues the company is already having. They are trying to differentiate among the segments to no avail. Using the B&D brand will allow the company to continue to build on the success of the household products. By having the two separate brands, B&D is able to help elevate some of the issues the Professional-Tradesman’s segment is having while maintaining the This study source was downloaded by 100000827313672 from CourseHero.com on 10-08-2022 11:45:51 GMT -05:00 https://www.coursehero.com/file/41372512/Written-Assignment-6docx/ Powered by TC PDF ( www.tc pdf.org)
