Quaker Oats - Brand Equity and Positioning
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Running Head: BRAND EQUITY AND POSITIONING
Quaker Oats – Brand Equity and Positioning
Abstract
Brand equity and positioning are integral parts of any marketing campaign. Any product or service needs to provide value to its customers in order to be successful. A personal interview and research reveal information about the Quaker Oats brand, how it created equity and its position in the market. Having a solid foundation and keeping up with changes in trends and society are the keys to a successful brand.
Quaker Oats – Brand Equity and Positioning Many products are identified by particular brand names, like Levi’s (instead of jeans), Kleenex (instead of tissue), or Band-Aid (instead of adhesive bandages). A brand distinguishes “the goods of one producer from those of another” (Kotler & Keller, 2009). A brand identifies the manufacturer of a product and symbolizes a particular level of quality. Some brands can represent many different products, but to the consumer they are all believed to be of the same quality. An interview was conducted in order to understand how branding influences consumer behavior and decision making. A male subject, 54 years of age, who does not routinely shop or particularly even like the task, was interviewed about his brand loyalty to breakfast cereal. The first thing that he mentioned was his loyalty to Quaker oatmeal, as opposed to another name or store brand of oatmeal. He described himself as very loyal to the brand, to the point of exclusivity, due to the historical reliability and quality of the brand. He is very familiar with the look of the container and the label, making it easy for him to find the product in almost any store. Many other manufacturers of oatmeal have copied the shape of the Quaker Oatmeal container, but none use the colors and logo associated with Quaker. The interviewee’s loyalty is not based upon any recent marketing or advertising effort, but on his historical experience with the
Running Head: BRAND EQUITY AND POSITIONING
Quaker Oats – Brand Equity and Positioning
Abstract
Brand equity and positioning are integral parts of any marketing campaign. Any product or service needs to provide value to its customers in order to be successful. A personal interview and research reveal information about the Quaker Oats brand, how it created equity and its position in the market. Having a solid foundation and keeping up with changes in trends and society are the keys to a successful brand.
Quaker Oats – Brand Equity and Positioning Many products are identified by particular brand names, like Levi’s (instead of jeans), Kleenex (instead of tissue), or Band-Aid (instead of adhesive bandages). A brand distinguishes “the goods of one producer from those of another” (Kotler & Keller, 2009). A brand identifies the manufacturer of a product and symbolizes a particular level of quality. Some brands can represent many different products, but to the consumer they are all believed to be of the same quality. An interview was conducted in order to understand how branding influences consumer behavior and decision making. A male subject, 54 years of age, who does not routinely shop or particularly even like the task, was interviewed about his brand loyalty to breakfast cereal. The first thing that he mentioned was his loyalty to Quaker oatmeal, as opposed to another name or store brand of oatmeal. He described himself as very loyal to the brand, to the point of exclusivity, due to the historical reliability and quality of the brand. He is very familiar with the look of the container and the label, making it easy for him to find the product in almost any store. Many other manufacturers of oatmeal have copied the shape of the Quaker Oatmeal container, but none use the colors and logo associated with Quaker. The interviewee’s loyalty is not based upon any recent marketing or advertising effort, but on his historical experience with the
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