Page 353 - Foundations of Marketing

320 Part 4 | Product and Price Decisions

Product Manager
Responsibilities
Product managers operate
cross-functionally to coordinate
marketing activities associated
with products, including
advertising, branding, design,
and distribution.

© iStockphoto.com/kaan tanman

A product manager is responsible for a product, a product line, or several distinct products
that make up an interrelated group within a multiproduct organization. A brand manager is
responsible for a single brand. Kraft, for example, has one brand manager for Nabisco Oreos,
its number-one selling cookie, and one for Oscar Mayer Lunchables. Both product and brand
managers operate cross-functionally to coordinate the activities, information, and strategies
involved in marketing an assigned product. Product managers and brand managers plan mar-
keting activities to achieve objectives by coordinating a mix of distribution, promotion (espe-
cially sales promotion and advertising), and price. The product or brand manager approach to
product manager The
person within an organization organization is used by many large, multiple-product companies.
responsible for a product, a A venture team creates entirely new products that may be aimed at new markets. Unlike
product line, or several distinct a product manager, a venture team is responsible for all aspects of developing a product:
products that make up a group research and development, production and engineering, fi nance and accounting, and market-
brand manager The person ing. Venture team members are brought together from different functional areas of the orga-
responsible for a single brand nization. In working outside established divisions, venture teams have greater fl exibility to
apply inventive approaches to develop new products that can take advantage of opportunities
venture team A cross-
functional group that creates in highly segmented markets. When a new product has demonstrated commercial potential,
entirely new products that may team members may return to their functional areas, or they may join a new or existing division
be aimed at new markets to manage the product.

Chapter Review

1. Understand how companies manage existing extension and through product modification. A line extension
products through line extensions and product is the development of a product closely related to one or more
modifications. products in the existing line but designed specifically to meet
different customer needs. Product modification is the chang-
Organizations must be able to adjust their product mixes ing of one or more characteristics of a product. This approach
to compete effectively and achieve their goals. Using exist- can be achieved through quality modifications, functional
ing products, a product mix can be improved through line modifications, and aesthetic modifications.

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