Brand Marketing and Product Life Cycle dissert

The Relationship between Brand Marketing and Product Life Cycle Student Number May, 2013 Dissertation submitted to the University of Leicester in Partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of BA Management Studies Attestation I recognize the nature of plagiarism, and I am aware of the University’s policy on plagiarism. I certify that this dissertation reports my original work during my University project except for the areas I have cited using the references provided. Signature Date Acknowledgements I wish to acknowledge the help from my supervisor, fellow students and my family for the support they gave me during my studies and the writing of this dissertation. I would also wish to acknowledge all the authors of the Journals, books and articles used in the completion of this study. Table of contents Abstract iv CHAPTER ONE 1.0 Introduction 1 1.1 Important Concepts Of Items 1 1.1.1 The Concept Of Brand 1 1.1.2 Brand Marketing 3 1.1.3 The Concept Of Product Life Cycle 4 1.2 Background Of The Dissertation 4 1.3 Purpose Of This Dissertation 5 1.4 Significance Of This Dissertation 6 1.5 Contributions To The Research Field 6 CHAPTER TWO 2. Literature Review 8 2.1 The Review Of The Development Of The Brand Marketing Theory………….…8 2.1.1. Product Priority…………………………………………………………….….8 2.1.2 Image Priority………………………………………………………….……….8 2.1.3 Positioning Priority…………………………………………………………….9 2.1.4 Value Priority…………………………………………………………………..9 2.2 From The Marketing Concept To Brand Awareness……………………..10 2.2.1 Brand Equity……………………………………………………………..……11 2.2.2 Marketing Mix……………………………………………………………..…..12 2.2.3 Product Quality………………………………………………………………..12 2.2.4 Price………………………………………………………………………….....13 2.2.5 Promotion…………………………………………………………………..….13 2.2.6 Place……………………………………………………………………..……..14 2.3 The Review Of Product Life Cycle 14 2.4 Research Gap 16 CHAPTER 3 3.0 Methodology..……………………………………………………………………………17 3.1 Research Design…………………………………………………………………………17 3.2 Limitations of the Study……………….………………………………………………..18 3.3 Qualitative Research…………………………………………………………………….19 3.3.1 Assessment of Qualitative Research………………………………………….………19 3.3.2 Discussion………………………………………………………………………………20 3.3.3 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..31 REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………………..34 APPENDICES: Appendix 1………………………………………………………………..37 Appendix 2 ………………………………………………………………..38  Abstract This dissertation aims to clarify the relationship between brand marketing and product life cycle. The author takes several case studies of Apple Corporation, Nokia, Apple and Kodak Corporation, and Eastman Kodak Company. In these cases, the author mainly does research on how brand marketing is affecting these company’s product life cycle. The author use statistical methods to explore the life span of the product which use the way of brand marketing. The author does the statistical job by referring to the reports of these companies. Based on the statistical analysis of these data, the author finds that brand marketing can prolong the life cycle of company’s product. 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Important concepts of items 1.11 The Concept of Brand In this dissertation, the author first gives a clear definition of the items which are related to the whole dissertation, and also a literature review of the previous studies in this field. Then the author mainly focuses on exploring the relationship between the brand marketing and product life cycle taking Apple conc. and Nokia, Apple and Kodak conc. as examples to explain how the brand marketing is affecting the product life cycle. In the last part, the author proposes some measures that the enterprise should take in all stages of the development of the product, so as to make the product a longer life cycle. Many international famous enterprises, software vendors and research institutions are taking action for this. Among them, a lot of research and application have achieved great success. When it comes to the definition of brand, there are all kinds of opinions in the field of corporate and the academics. Different scholars and entrepreneurs may have various understandings and perspectives. According to Philip Kotler, brand is a name, mark, symbol, or design as well as their composite applications; its purpose is to identify the products or services of a sale or a group of sellers, and distinguish it from the competitors' products and services (Esch, Langner, Schmitt & Geus, 2006, pp. 98-105). Brand is a symbol and created by a series of integrated marketing activities. It is a commitment and a guarantee. Good brand will deliver a set of quality assurance and commitment related to product characteristics, interests and service. Brand has the identification function, represents a kind of product, a business, enterprise can make use of the advantages of market exploit ability, and the brand can also help enterprises to use the brand capital expansion. Brand is an important intangible asset, and also can be transferred to make profit. Because the owner of the brand can rely on brand advantages to make profit continuously, brand is the intangible resources of the enterprise. Brand is the embodiment of the product and enterprise core value; brand is a tool to distinguish and identify similar products; brand is the assurance of quality and credibility of the products; brand is a good way to make profit for the enterprise. Its primary function is to provide convenience for the consumers shorten the process of making decisions when selecting the products; It also can create a strong brand can make the enterprise have higher profit margins; Brand can go beyond the product life cycle, is a kind of intangible assets. Branding is a significant element in any business because without a brand, customers would have a hard time explaining to the sellers the products they want to buy. In addition to this sellers would also end up giving customers wrong products and services. Marketers have added value to different brands so as to make the brands more preferable in the market. This is very true especially in the mobile phone market. In order to completely understand the concept of branding, it is crucial to know what brands are. A brand is the idea of a specific product or service which consumers connect with. This is through its name, design, logo or slogan. Branding is when the idea behind the product or service is marketed to various people. People on the advertising industry used branding for recognition purposes, setting standards as well as to build great reputation. Branding plays a major role in marketing since it builds reputations, expands the market and generates more income for the organization. Branding is one way to build a company’s reputation which is one of the greatest assets. Branding also builds a positive expectation on the products and services offered by the company. This also encourages the company to uphold and maintain the expectation and in most cases exceed the expectations. In the long run better products and services are produced resulting to the company being in the market for a long time. In the mobile phone industry, the most selling brand is Nokia, Apple and Kodak. This paper develops a hypothesis a brand’s reputation is a source of demand. In addition, the competitively advanced quality image substantiates a premium price. This paper looks into the reasons for preference of NOKIA, APPLE AND KODAK, Apple and Kodak based on the main factors of the marketing mix also known as the 4P’s i.e. Product, Place, Promotion and Price. The main objective of this paper is to determine the scope of thins parameters. It also looks at how brand marketing helps these companies prolong its life in the market. To achieve this objective, a survey was done using questionnaires on users on line. A hypothesis was accepted that at least one of the variables would have a linear connection with the dependent variable which is the brand status. 1.12 Brand Marketing Brand marketing is the process which makes the customers aware of the company brands and products through marketing. It is a kind of high quality marketing concept that the company has to construct if it wants to obtain and maintain competitive advantage continuously. The highest level of marketing is not to set up a huge marketing network, but to use brand symbol to build an intangible marketing network in the public mind and convey the concept of the product into the heart of the customer. So that the customers can choose the brand when they go purchasing and the investors wants to cooperate with it. This way of marketing is called brand marketing. The strategy of brand marketing include: brand personality, brand communication, brand sale and brand management. As for the understanding of brand marketing mainly, according to the principle of modern international marketing, enterprise's task is to find customers and create potential customers. Cultivate loyal customers is one of the most important tasks for brand marketing of the enterprise. (Herbig & Milewicz, 1993, pp. 18-24)This requires us to adhere to the principle of “Customer care is our top priority” in the brand marketing, 1.13 The concept of product life cycle The product life cycle theory is first proposed by the Harvard University professor Raymond Vernon in 1966, which is short for PLC, referring to the product's market life which is the process from a product’s appearance to its elimination in the market. According to Vernon, the product’s life is referred to the marketing life of a specific product. The life of the product is like the life of people, it goes through the cycle of formation, growth, maturity, and decline. As for the product, it is to undergo a stage of development, introduction, growth, maturity and recession (Hodeswar, 2004, pp.4-12). Product life cycle is a very important concept; it has direct relationship of the formulation of product strategy and marketing strategy. If the managers want to make his product a longer sales cycle so as to earn enough profit to compensate all the risks and efforts, they must carefully study and apply product life cycle theory. Product life cycle is also a powerful tool which can be used to describe the product and marketing operation method for the marketing personals. After a product enters into the market, its sales and profits will be asked to change at any time, present a process of from less or more from more to less, just like people's life, from birth, growth to mature, eventually going to decline, this is the product life cycle phenomenon(Reast, 2001, pp.4-13). Product life cycle refers to products from entering the market, until it is finally withdrawn from the market of the market life cycle. Products only through research and development, test marketing, and then enter the market; its market life cycle is started. Products are withdrawn from the market, it signals the end of the life cycle. 1.2 Background of the dissertation Since the appearance of the concept of product life cycle, the academicians and the entrepreneurs have paid much attention to it. They not only try to define this concept, also give a lot of marketing strategies to each period of the product life cycle. The main factors that are influencing the product life cycle are market, capital, working environment, credibility, and leadership abilities proposed by several academicians. 21st century is an era of brand competition; brand not only has the profound symbolic meaning, for a country, it also infuses new blood into the country. Brand in the modern enterprise marketing plays an increasingly important role, its function also becomes more and more obvious, it is not only to the enterprise itself, but also for consumers, even the market which reflects a more and more important value of the brand marketing. In the 21st century, the competition of the comprehensive national strength between countries is based on the economic strength. To develop national economy needs to improve activities of the enterprise, while the enterprise's prosperity should be based on a powerful brand. In the 21st century, the competition between countries also has something to do with brand competition (Aaker, 1992). In the perspective of marketing, each kind of product has a certain kind of its own life cycle in the market, once it exceeds the cycle, the product will be eliminated from the market (Delgado-Ballester & Munuera-Alemán, 2001, pp.187-196). While for the brand, if the company can add new connotations according to the change of the development of social environment constantly, theoretically speaking, the product can forever exist. It can be even less restricted by the product’s life cycle. For example, there are some international brands that have existed for one or two centuries, and they still do quite well in their own fields. Therefore, it can be seen that the brand of the products do have some effect on the product’s life cycle.So, this gives a hint for the author to do some studies on the relationship between the brand marketing and product life cycle. The author would like to explore whether the brand marketing can prolong the product life cycle or in the opposite way (Baldinger & Rubinson, 1996). 1.3 Purpose of this dissertation The purpose of this essay is to find the relationship between the brand marketing and product life cycle, the author wants to judge whether the brand marketing prolongs the life cycle of a certain product or not, and find out the factors of brand marketing that affect the life cycle of the product. Then propose some measures that the enterprise should take in all stages of the development of the product, so as to make the brand out of the traditional life cycle, entering a longer life cycle, then provides certain theoretical guidance for the development of the brand. The main objective is to look at the role of brand marketing. The study purposes to determine how elements of the marketing mix and their link impact on the reputation of Nokia, Apple and Kodak, Apple and Kodak as a brand. The scope of this study was mainly based on brand equity such as brand reputation and product life cycle, even though the marketing mix is significant in analyzing marketing strategy. 1.4 Significance of this dissertation The study of the relationship between the brand marketing and product life cycle can play a very important role in helping the enterprise find the factors which are affecting the life cycle of the brand and propose different marketing strategies for the different periods of the product. In the short run, it is of great significance to improve the brand benefit and protect the brand. In the long run, it is of great importance to enhance the awareness and image of the brand so as to increase the differentiated competitiveness of the brand. This dissertation has some creative meanings, and also has certain practical value of guidance. 1.5 Contributions to the Research Field Although there are a lot of researches on the theories of brand marketing and product life cycle, they mainly focus on the theories themselves; they have paid less attention to the relationship between brand marketing and product life cycle. This is the first time to do some research on the relationship between brand marketing and product life cycle. This accomplishment of this dissertation mainly depends on the case studies of three famous companies: Apple Corporation, Nokia, Apple and Kodak Corporation and Eastman Kodak Company, which the collected data is reliable and have some reference for other companies. The author mainly focuses on the relationship between brand marketing and product life cycle, and gives some suggestions for the company to improve their marketing strategies and prolong the product life cycle. 2. Literature Review 2.1 The review of the development of the brand marketing theory Brand marketing belongs to the category of marketing. The research of brand marketing theory began in the 1950s. Up until now, the brand marketing theory has been spanned four times: Product priority Early in the 1950 s, the market is in constant competition while the market is lack of the varieties of products. Competition in the market is usually realized through the nature of the product itself characteristic difference caused by functional interests. Restricted by productivity development and consumption level, the consumers pay strong attention to the pragmatic use of the products. Unique selling proposition theory was quite fit for the characteristics of this era, and became the mainstream marketing theories at that time. Under the instruction of this theory, the main task of the enterprise is to spare no effort to find out the unique selling proposition. Therefore, ads even exaggerate product features and functionality. At the end of the 1950s, with the fast development of the technology, the differences between products are getting smaller and smaller, homogeneity of product is increasing day by day, and looking for USP change is already overstretched for the company. Image priority In the era of image generation, differences between the products were narrowing, the similar and homogeneous products were flooding into the market, and it was very difficult T to distinguish through product features. With the improvement of living standards, the consumption conception of the customers was also changed; they began to pay more attention to the psychological satisfaction. To the 1960s, brand image theory was widely accepted and adopted soon. Under the instruction of the brand image theory, the companies planned the Rolls Royce and Hathway shirt and so many classic brands. However, despite the emergence of the image theory makes the corporate continuously carry out the design of image of the corporate and pursue an ideal image fancied by the public, the result of competition makes enterprises lost the unique image in the customer's mind (Aaker, 1992, pp.56-58). It gradually became the competition of the stereotypes. Positioning priority Rees and Trout declared the coming of the era of the positioning, and they thought creativity was no longer the key factor to success. The discoveries or the inventions of the great things are no longer as important as it was before, but the company should convey the concept of the product into the potential customer's mind as a priority. Under this thought, they proposed the positioning theory; the purpose of positioning is to set up a place that is irreplaceable in the mind of the customers. Once they have some kinds of needs, they will open the memory door to think of the brand (Reast, 2001, pp. 4-13). Value priority In the 1980s, Professor Kotler proposed the customer value theory, opened the era of brand value (Harris & Chernatony, 2001, pp. 441-456). The theory thought that the customer was always in the pursuit of the maximization of balance part of the "total customer value and the of “total customer cost”, that is the maximization of the customer delivered cost. It has a decisive meaning for the company to formulate strategy, especially brand strategy. Under the instruction of the customer value theory, the company gradually realizes that customer value is the core of brand marketing. The positioning of the brand should reflect enterprise's the positioning of the target customer. But the most important thing is that in should reflect the customer value set of the corporate, take the customer value chain as the mainstream, carry out the brand positioning and marketing activities which goes from the easy to the difficult. Its purpose is to deliver and create more value for the customers, so as to improve customer satisfaction, maintain the customer's loyalty of the brand. The direction of the brand marketing also goes through simple positioning to the pursuit of the core customer value. It can be seen that the era of value priority brings innovation for the development of brand marketing once again. 2.2 From the marketing concept to brand awareness In the reviewed of the development of the marketing concept, it goes through a change from the seller's market to buyer's market, from the concept of production to the concept of social marketing. The concept of marketing is gradually taking the market as the guidance, the needs of the customers as the mainstream. Enhancing customer value (especially customer perceived value) becomes the centered attention of many marketers. When the demand level of the customers go to a higher spiritual value and additional value level, the enterprise's marketing concept also inevitably needs to be reconsidered from a strategic vision and sets up a new concept of integration and brand marketing (Delgado & Munuera, 2001, pp. 1238-1258 ). At the meanwhile, with the development of the theory of the brand marketing, it is gradually permeated into the concept of enterprise marketing activities, strategies and tactics. They are integrated with each other; constantly promote the development of marketing theory. With the deepening degree of the economic integration, many people put forward the idea that the company should put the marketing focus on the brand image, thus the idea of brand becomes the mainstream of marketing concept under the background this kind of market gradually (Baldinger & Rubinson, 1996). The so-called brand consciousness is referred to basic idea of enterprise for brand and brand construction. It is a comprehensive reflection of enterprise's brand values, outlook on brand, brand equity, brand competition, brand development, brand strategy and brand construction (Aaker, 1992). When the managers of an certain enterprise clearly knows his enterprise’s influence of his products and services provided by and among consumers in the market, and the cognitive processes of life caused by the influence, they create its own brand awareness in a certain sense. Brand awareness provides a solid foundation to develop brand strategy for the enterprise, becomes a modern economic strategic consciousness of the leading enterprises to win in the competition. Product is also like a man, it should have its own image (Berg, 1989). Brand Equity This is the relationship between consumers and the specific brand resulting in future profits. It is tedious to determine brand equity but a strong brand denotes high brand equity which is important in attaining high brand loyalty, strong brand association and name awareness. Customer loyalty and brand awareness are some of the main advantaged of brand equity resulting in reduced market costs. Strategies should be adopted to ensure brand awareness is improved and maintained since brand is a significant equity (Kotler, Armstrong, Saubers, & Wong, 1999). Brand equity can be measured from two different angles. The first angle is the financial evaluation perspective and the second angle is the consumer based point of view. The financial evaluation perspective is linked to the brand’s monetary value. On the other hand, the consumer based point of view focuses on the consumer value. Brand equity can also be viewed as profit built up to be realized at a later date. Brand equity is very important since it requires the need for comparative research to authenticate the importance of the stipulated methods of brand evaluating (Baldinger & Rubinson, 1996). This importance has been enhanced by the current trend of merger and acquisition. Brands have moved from being means of differentiation and competition to accumulated annuities (Delgado-Ballester & Munuera-Alemán, 2001). A stronger brand always has a clear understanding of customer preferences and needs. Therefore, strong brands increase the effectiveness of marketing programs. For the last decade, brand equity has attracted new market fragments and it has matched with brand extension. There is a joint link between brand extension and brand equity. This is because brand equity has the capability to affect the success of extensions (Berger, 2000). Extensions on the other hand have the capability of positively impacting brand equity. Consequently, the high valued brand extensions succeed making customers to prefer them simply because they have strong brand equity. The result of this is brand loyalty making it difficult for consumers to buy from competitors. Nokia, Apple and Kodak’s brand position strongly depends on the positive image of its brands (Chandler, 1990). A successful brand allows Nokia, Apple and Kodak to demand a higher price for the specified brand. This is a barrier that makes it hard for customers to move to other brand thus promoting brand loyalty (Bilkey & Nes, 1982). Marketing Mix A marketing mix is a mixture of different plans and ideas ensued by a marketing representative in promoting a specific product. Product Quality Product quality is one of the elements of the marking mix. It is a significant determinant for a consumer to select a brand that aids in the advancement of brand reputation. Quality belongs to the product outlook of the identity of a specific brand. On the other hand, perceived quality is how consumers see the quality of a brand. Quality is one of the main elements in the brand equity model. A high price in most case denotes high quality and perceived quality is the foundation of customer satisfaction which makes them buy the product leading to loyalty (Chandler, 1990). In 1991, Nokia 5110 introduce the model which was on offer with interchangeable covers. The success of the launch of 5110 resulted to Nokia to focus on of products that were feature specific. This led to the introduction on Nokia 3210 with user interface and different languages. It also included top twenty hit song as ring tones making it a big hit. These phones were expensive but their feature met consumer needs at that time. In 2001, Nokia 3610 were launched with a text messaging facility which attracted more customers leading to increased sales. Nokia 1100 and 1108 came into the mobile market with admirable features such as torchlight, dust resistance and anti slip grip. This saw Nokia sales to increase from 58.2% in 2003 to 59.6% in 2004. Apple on the other hand introduced the iPhone and the iPad in 2008, with iPod recorded sales of less than fifty five million units. The iPhone on the other hand recorded sales of about 70 million units (Browne, 1999). Price There are two ways in which price affects brand preference. One is to look for the lowest price to avoid financial risk and secondly is to look for a higher price to obtain good quality. Price is important to customers especially when they make daily purchases. This is why some customers opt for a specific branch simply because it has the least price. Other consumers may choose an expensive brand with the notion that it is of high quality (Delgado-Ballester & Munuera-Alemán, 2001). A good example is in India where Nokia, Apple and Kodak depended greatly on the rural market making pricing the key success factor. However, Nokia, Apple and Kodak did not achieve the expected results in India even though the handsets were the cheapest in the mobile market. Nine months after the launch of Nokia, Apple and Kodak 1100, brand preference increased from 66% to 77%. The main reason behind this is that Indian customers are value sensitive rather than price sensitive (Dutton & Thomas, 1984). This was the main force behind Nokia, Apple and Kodak’s increased sales and eventually Nokia, Apple and Kodak changed its strategy by reducing the price for this model in this specific market so as to increase the number of users. In terms of pricing, Apple ignored the standard by pricing their brands more than two times by building exquisite products to a market that appreciated the style. They justify the price by introducing brands with attractive features as well as scenic benefits that cannot be imitated (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, & Lowe, 1991). Promotion Promotion is also an element of marketing mix through advertising and communication. A company can build its brand reputation through promotion. A promotion offering incentives to bring in a new aspect will be more successful if the brand is common. Advertising is a main aspect in brand reputation through creation of awareness. It is one of the most visible forms of communication creating a relationship between the consumers and the brand. A brand is likely to be stronger if packaging, advertising and promotion maintain a constant positioning strategy after a specific period of time; the brand is more likely to be a strong brand (Esch, Langner, Schmitt, & Geus, 2006). Nokia, Apple and Kodak and Apple used both TV campaigns and print media to build its credentials where it focused more on its status, international awards and global R&D. The main aim behind this was to establish awareness in the mobile market and this awareness focused more on the features of the products in the market. Place In the process of building positive brand reputations and creating value for the consumers, most companies do not work alone. Constant supply and availability of suitable locations are significant for brand reputation. Conflicts may arise in case of disagreement between marketing members on the roles and goals of brand reputation. These conflicts could get in the way of the overall brand reputation. Reputation is prone to change over time and it is a function of time as well. Nokia, Apple and Kodak came up with Nokia, Apple and Kodak Care Centers to enhance its market penetration through provision or service related solutions and selling Nokia, Apple and Kodak’s products (Garrard, 1998). In light of the literature review, the following questions arise: What is the role of brand marketing in prolonging product life for Nokia, Apple and Kodak? 2.3 The review of product life cycle The concept of product life cycle first appeared in the field of economic management, which was proposed by the Dean and Levirt (Yang, Moore, Wong, Pu & Chong, 2007, pp. 936-953). The purpose of coming up with this concept is to do some research on the marketing strategy. At that time, the product life cycle is divided into four stages according to the evolution of product in the market: marketing, growth, maturity and decline stage. After more than 50 years of development, the concept and connotation of product life cycle is also in constant change. Among them, the biggest change happened in the 1980s. The proposal of concurrent engineering, the concept of product life cycle extended from the field of to economic management to the field of engineering for the first time. The scope of product life cycle expanded from the market phase into developmental phase (Magnan, Fawcett & Birou, 1999, pp. 239-253.). Only at this time, product life cycle totally covered the whole process from the product need analysis, conceptual design, detailed design, manufacturing, sales, after-sales service, until the product scrap recycling. Before the 1980 s, the product life cycle concept is mainly used as a model of strategy and experience to guide the analysis and planning of product’s market, it is not involved in the actual management of resources and information of product. After 1980s, with the wide application of automation, information and computer and network technology, ability and level of enterprise manufacturing has gained a rapid development. In the pursuit of production, the enterprise also paid more and more attention to indicators of market, product innovation, quality, cost, service and environment at the same time (Hodeswar, 2008). Enterprises urgently need to combine the information technology, modern management technology and manufacturing technology and applied product life cycle (from market demand analysis to final disposal) at various stages of the product and give management of product’s information, processes, and resources through the whole life cycle the purpose of this was to realize the integration of the logistics, information flow, value flow and optimal operation so as to improve the market strain ability and competition ability of enterprises (Yang, Moore, Wong, Pu, & Chong, 2007). In the 21st century, people began to consider in the process of building a product life cycle can satisfy the different areas and development stage of information management and coordination of the overall solution (Rowlands, 2001, pp. 5-10). Make the product design, development, manufacturing, sales and after-sales service and so on information can flow quickly, and can effective coordination and management, realize the true sense of the product life cycle management. In the recent two years, product life cycle develops rapidly, which has become the focus of global manufacturing. Their experience and achievement is very meaningful for how can we understand the product life cycle technology orientation, system structure, key technology and its development direction. 2.4 Research gap From what I have stated above, we can see that most of the studies mainly focus on the theories of brand marketing and product life cycle themselves (Malhotra, 2005). Even though there are some previous studies on brand marketing of small and medium-sized enterprises or certain kinds of companies like Haier, or there are previous researches on car’s product life cycle, there is little research on exploring the relationship between how brand marketing affects product’s life cycle. This exploration of the relationship and its suggestion are original which makes this dissertation different and this dissertation makes its contributions to those companies who can prolong their products’ live cycle by adopting the way of brand marketing. And this is full of practical use for the developing companies. 3. Research methods In the process of this study, there is several research methods stated in the following: The systematic research method: this topic research follows systematic analysis thought from beginning to end; it emphasizes a systemic and scientific way to plan the whole essay so as to ensure the rigor of the architecture. The empirical analysis method: this article adopts the method of empirical analysis; take some specific enterprises as the case studies to improve practical research significance. The dissertation combines qualitative analysis with quantitative analysis method. As stated before, this dissertation will use different case studies on the companies in terms of brand marketing and product life cycle. The paper will analyze different information on the companies and the source of information will be different case studies on the topic. METHODOLOGY Research design In this research I used both the qualitative and the quantitative method. This study uses telephone and online interviews as a qualitative research method. The quantitative analysis will include some primary data while the qualitative research will include primary data collected from interviews and questionnaire. I also used the projective technique to get ideas from different customers through questionnaires (Perspectives on Experience, 1972). The interview method was used to obtain comprehensive strategies on specific customer segments that gained extra income for Nokia, Apple and Kodak, products. In this case I used the descriptive and casual methods of research. The descriptive method was applied in determining the adaptive business strategy for future analysis. The casual method was used to establish the variable with the most efficient aspect on successful strategy of Nokia, Apple and Kodak, as well as the effective variable to focus on for the development of a better strategy in future. The best available sources for this study are news articles, case studies and personal knowledge on brand marketing and product life cycle (Uggla, 2001). At this stage of the dissertation, it is important to look at the different brand marketing strategies at each stage of the product life cycle. This comes in handy in the realization of how a company can maximize its profits in all the five stages. It is significant to use previous researches performed by other scholars to get the theoretical framework. This research will analyze the secondary data available in terms of brand marketing strategy and incorporate the primary data on consumer preferences. This study focused more on the minds of the customers with the aim of establishing the reason behind their choices. This was first achieved through a thorough analysis of different strategies applies in different stages of the product life cycle. This study uses semi structured interview question of mobile phone users. Due to limited time, a few people were interviewed through telephone and online interviews. These interviews enabled me to converse with respondents from different parts of the country. Limitations of this study The greatest limitation of this study was time which made the primary research to be limited. This is why it relied more on previously researched articles, books and journals. If time is not a limitation, primary research ought to be extensive. Different strategies in this research were faced with various challenges. Gaining information was faced challenges through the internal researches. A good example of this was the difficulty in applying questionnaires to managers and other employees at NOKIA, APPLE AND KODAK as a result of the privacy in the company. Other problems have their main focus on particular NOKIA, APPLE AND KODAK phones since it is hard to perform one on one interview and ask each respondent their used phone brand before giving them the questionnaires. This will be a very expensive exercise. To deal with this problem, I used an online method which minimized the time used as well as the cost incurred. I was also able to use the questionnaires online to some students who use NOKIA, APPLE AND KODAK products. Reliance on secondary data uses a lot of time since obtaining most companies does not divulge customer information. The main aim of the use of questionnaires is to get information on branding, image and the price of the products. Qualitative research In this research, I used 20 people who were the respondents from students in my university which included twelve males and 8 female. I also approached other consumers between the ages of twenty years to thirty years. In my sample, 9 people had bought Nokia, Apple and Kodak products, 11 are using one of Nokia, Apple and Kodak’s brands, and 9 people would opt for Nokia, Apple and Kodak if the price was the same and 1 person did not prefer Nokia, Apple and Kodak. Further research revealed that six respondents thought they had got more than what they expected in the brand while two of the respondents mentioned that they got exactly what they expected from the brand. In the results section, the reason behind the choice of the twelve respondents is their opinion on pricing, image and technique. I undertook the technical and quality benefits of the brand and its price. As much as the segment is price sensitive and technical, the response I got was not so linked to my case since some respondents preferred phones with higher techniques. Nine of the respondents indicated that if given a second chance they would buy the same product. In most cases, they respondents used the phones for three to four years so long as it was in good condition. Assessment of qualitative research Price sensitive customers were still interested in the technological advantage of these products as a result. This is because they use the product for a long period of time and some of them were IT students. This research indicates the importance of quality to the customers but it also depends on customer segments. As much as the segment is related to customer interests, these customers are still not related to the segment that required higher specifications. This is because these customers do not go for specific products but cheaper products with higher levels of techniques. All those specifically manufactures phones are not in the market and this means that the interested customer will have to pay a higher price to obtain it directly from the producer. Normal customers are not even aware of these specifications. The outcome of the qualitative study is not related to the results of the quantitative study. The answers are also limited since we have only sixteen responses. In these responses, some did not understand the questions asked while others failed tom answer all the questions. Annual income statements of different from Nokia, Apple and Kodak facilitated the evaluation of the life cycle of Nokia, Apple and Kodak’s products and compare them with its competitors. This way, it will be easy to note that the will be a difference in brand marketing strategy and the profit at the maturity stage for the two brands. The goal of this case evaluation will be to establish the relationship between brand marketing and product life cycle. The product life cycle is the sales trend of a specific product over a period of time. Discussion Every product in the market has a life cycle which is from the time the product appeals the customers. There are two factors affecting the application of the product life cycle so as to accommodate the product life cycle as an analytical instrument for brand marketing. The first factor is the level of personal consumption and the impact of population growth change. The second factor is being precise on the brand involved. There are five stages in the life of a product: Product development Introduction Growth Maturity Decline The product life cycle of Nokia is discussed in this section. Nokia have a brand range of mobile phones. This analysis is aims to establish the strategic difference of Nokia, Apple and Kodak’s products and other brands. We would like to look into the different strategies at each stage of the product life cycle. One question we should ask ourselves at this stage is: How focused studies which include branding, pricing and segmenting ought to be applied during the product life cycle stages? My research and the available data have encouraged me to research on Nokia, Apple and Kodak which has a hard market competition. To achieve better results, I used results from previous studies which provided the secondary data essential for this study. This will give an in depth analysis in addition to my primary research on customers’ preferences in the mobile phone market. I focused more on customers’ minds which gave me the knowledge strategy choices which were of great help in encouraging customers to purchase the products in the market. This is because the strategies in place can either be a success or a failure and customers differ with different types of segmentation. The product life cycle of apple is a sign of how great the iPod and the iPhone will be after a number of years. For the iPod, it took around 5 years for the company to hit 30million units annually. The iPhone took 4 years while the iPad took 2 years. The product life cycle of Apple Corporation is moving faster and more advanced as a result of its robust brand marketing. In 2008, iPod recorded sales of less than fifty five million units. The iPhone on the other hand recorded sales of about 70 million units. This is clear indication that indication that Apple is growing at a very fast pace and it had revenues of more than one hundred billion US dollars in 2011. At the introduction stage, were high and the sales volume were low since this was the time the Apple phones were being introduced in the market. In terms of brand marketing, apple faces less competition with its category of products. This forces the customers to swing into action and use Apple products. At this stage, profits are minimal and the product is expensive since the marketing costs are large. At this stage, main customers include early adopters as well as innovators. The growth stage for Apple was characterized by reduced unit costs and increased sales volumes. The positive impact of brand marketing is witnessed at this stage through brand awareness leading to increased volume sales. There is also an increase in the majority of people adopting Apple products at this stage. At this stage the level of competition increases with other companies coming up with similar products and price levels drop as the product penetrates the market further. Apple products remain cash extensive as profits increase at the growth stage. The maturity stage is characterized by low costs and increased sales volumes for Apple products. At this stage, the mobile market is more competitive and substitute products are introduced. Apple products remain competitive and profitable at this stage as the sales volume increase. Brand marketing also plays a role at this stage since it creates awareness to all the innovators, early implementers as well as the early embracers and the late embracers. The decline stage is the last stage in the product life cycle of Apple. This stage is characterized by a decrease in sales and the profit margins are upheld as the products bring in more cash. The iPad is set to hit the 100 million annual units in 2014. The Apple growth story is yet to continue in the future. Income statements of various brands annually have improved the evaluation of the cycling picture of the profitable corporations. This has also assisted in making a comparison with the greatest competitor. There is a difference between the chosen strategy and the profitability at the maturity stage. The aim of this study at this point is to determine how far NOKIA, APPLE AND KODAK have a similar product life cycle position in the market and the cause of income disparity. Nokia, Apple and Kodak were the most successful company between the other mobile phone companies we sampled. The price difference between Nokia, Apple and Kodak and its strongest competitors in the starting stage was enough evidence in Nokia, Apple and Kodak’s choice of segmenting. In 2009, Nokia was at the decline stage but its income was still high. At this point is important to compare the annual strategy and the product life cycle in order to measure volume amounts and annual income. This way, we will be able to see how different companies with similar products compete in the market and how the choices they make in terms of strategies affects their success. We also look at the factors considered while selecting these strategies. Table 1: Analysis based on sales YEAR SALES 2005 100 2006 500 2007 1000 2008 1400 2009 900 TOTAL 3900 Annual sales between 2001 and 2009 Source: Gartner Dataquest This chart was derived from calculations from income statements between 2001 and 2009. The sale prices were obtained by dividing the earned amount by the sold amount. This also assisted in establishing the pricing strategy in place since 2001. Nokia started with the skimming strategy in pricing in 2001. This enables it to gain less income at the end of the same year with a small different in the amount of sales. In 2006 Nokia decreases the price and sold its products at a reduced price than other brands. In 2001 sales increased with a decrease in the prices. This is because more customers purchased Nokia products than the previous years. Table 2: Analysis on Income YEAR INCOME 1998 50,000 1999 480,000 2000 820,000 2001 910,000 2002 470,000 TOTAL 2,730,000 Income amounts between 1998 and 2002 Source: Gartner Dataquest In 2001, Nokia achieved increased sales through selling their products at a cheaper price than other brands but it did not succeed in gaining more income than its strongest competition which is Apple. Nokia continued selling more through selling at the same price which was cheaper than competition. In 2002, sales reduced by 4% compared to annual sales in 2001. This totals to EUR 30,016 million in 2002 and EUR 31,191 in 2001. There was a decrease in Nokia networks by 13% to EUR 6,539 million from EUR 7,534 million. Operating profit in 2012 increased by 42% which was EUR 4,780 million from EUR 3,362 million in 2001. The decrease was greatly affected by goodwill impairments and financial impairments. At the end of 20012, the net debt to equity was at -61% a decline from the -41% in 2001. Total expenditures in 2001 were EUR 1,041 million as compared to EUR 432 million in 2001. Global reach Area 2001 Net sale % 2002 Net sale % Europe 49 54 America 25 22 Asia 26 24 The top ten markets in terms of Nokia, Apple and Kodak set sales accounting for 60% of total sales include the United Kingdom, France, Italy, China, UAE, Germany, Brazil, United States, Thailand and Poland. In 2002, the company continued to invest globally in network development. Investment in R&D was in 14 countries and it increased to 18% from the 16% in 2001. The investments were 10.2% of the net sales as compared to 9.6% of the net sales in 2001. In 2002, competitors entered the market and Nokia had increased its prices and had higher prices than other brands. The high price became an advantage to the competitor brands that had increased sales and won the competition. This greatly affected Nokia sales leading to a drop in total sales in that year. In the mobile phone industry, Nokia and Apple lead because of different reasons one being the fact that Nokia and Apple is able to offer its customers with the right products at the right place and time. Nokia, Apple and Kodak have achieved a lot in market segmentation allowing it to maximize its benefits. In addition to this, Nokia, Apple and Kodak have a well established distribution network facilitating the provision of goods and services globally with ease. The value network in Nokia, Apple and Kodak is partitioned in four groups: Management Customer reach Product development R&D These groups facilitate the activities of the distribution network making the distribution process seamless. Nokia, Apple and Kodak have been able to achieve great competitive advantage over other companies due to its differentiating, leadership cost and its role in the mobile phone industry. Nokia, Apple and Kodak have e-channels and incorporated supply chain management methods enhancing wide coverage in little time and also at reduced costs. The main force behind the success of Nokia, Apple and Kodak is the strategies in place, its structure and its staff. Formulating brand strategies is one of the requirements Nokia, Apple and Kodak has put in achieving both its long term and short term goals. Nokia, Apple and Kodak have increased its branding performance through technological developments and observing and respecting consumer behavior changes. This will eventually increase its profitability through increased sales volumes. This is highly achieved through market segmentation, offers, entering new markets, consumer motivation and advertising (Drummond, Ensor, & Ashford, 2003). The time involved in the product life cycle depends with the company itself. The product life cycle on the other hand has several disadvantages in that most new products in the market fail to go past the development stage and it only represents the life of the product or the brand. The product life cycle influence almost all markets in the business world. This is the reason why most companies should understand product life cycle in terms of market segmentation. It is important to highlight the stages of product life cycle. The first stage is the introduction stage which involves introducing the product into the market. This stage involves increased distribution and creating availability of the product in the market. Nokia, Apple and Kodak have considered different strategies which include focusing on innovation. This assists in penetrating the market with ease ensuring that it benefits within a short period of time (Browne, 1999). This stage entails establishing presence in the market with the best product or brand. . Most firms incur losses at the introduction stage. The other reason for this is that the product might be in a new product class whereby users in the market fail to understand its full potential. Additional information of the new product should be availed to the consumers for the product to achieve its true potential. This stage has the following features; losses and low competition. Growth is the second stage of the product life cycle which comes with acceptance of the product in the market. At this stage, the company starts to get profit as the product penetrates into the market. Monopoly is still evident at this stage thus companies have the opportunity to come up with other innovative ideas so as to maintain sales growth. At this stage, it is ok to bring into the market effective and improved products. For the case of Nokia, Apple and Kodak, the growth stage was characterizes by high promotion costs due to the fact that mobile phones have become a necessity and more companies venture in the industry. Nokia, Apple and Kodak had to ensure that it communicated to probable consumers that a mobile phone was a necessity. The third stage of the product life cycle is the maturity stage. At this stage sales decrease and growth rate also decreases. This is because the product has attained it acceptance level in the market. At this stage, new companies come up with new products to compete with the accepted products in the market. Aggressive competition by different players in the market intensifies resulting to a decrease in the sales rate. The maturity stage is a stage where Nokia, Apple and Kodak’s promotional costs reduced as the brands became popular. Nokia, Apple and Kodak had gathered the majority market share and all they did at this stage was to demonstrate to customers that they had new models for the consumers to buy. This is because they had already a quality brand and the customers needed not be convinced more. Nokia, Apple and Kodak reported first drop of sales in 2002. This decline stage was characterized by other competitors strongly hitting the market and marketing their products in the same market that Nokia, Apple and Kodak previously dominated. This is the stage of the product cycle where most products die as a result of low sales growth levels. This is because different companies share the same market making it hard `for all products to maintain sales growth levels. The efficiency of the company and the product category are factors behind the decline. This is because demand for particular products decrease and consumers regard the products as old. It is important for a product to go through all these staged depending on the scope of the product, the type of the product and the competitors. Nokia, Apple and Kodak and its customers are keen on the brand reputation of Nokia, Apple and Kodak’s products. This is because each and every brand epitomizes different profiles with respect to their purpose (Rowlands, 2005). For example, in the mobile phone industry, Nokia products are perceived as a brand responsible for “connecting people”. Advanced technology coupled with globalization has increased market competitiveness making Nokia, Apple and Kodak to be brand sensitive. This is because Nokia, Apple and Kodak realized that customer preference had become homogeneous as a result of the advanced technology and globalization. Nokia, Apple and Kodak and its customers pay great attention to brand reputation. Customers go through different changed and circumstances during their time on earth. As a result, consumer’s brand choices vary with their changing needs. It is important for Nokia, Apple and Kodak to ensure that its brands have features that conform to different consumer needs. The main reason behind this is to ensure that a permanent relationship with the brand is maintained. Consumers need to trust that the specific preferred brands will always offer their preferred benefits and needs. Brand growth and market share will be affected if Nokia, Apple and Kodak fail to ensure a stable brand reputation with trustworthy features (Reast, 2005). The premium price of a brand is justified by a brand reputation since it is the image of added value and superior quality. Nokia, Apple and Kodak believe that a reputable brand is one of its strongest assets which assure it of a high extent of brand loyalty and stable future sales. A firm’s image is strengthened by highly reputed brands as it’s the case of Nokia, Apple and Kodak. However, low selling brands are also common in the market. In most cases, low selling brands have low brand reputation. In this case, the marketing mix of this brand should be tailored to rectify this image problem. Nokia, Apple and Kodak deals with mobile handsets and it is concerned about the reputation of all its brands (Malhotra, 2005). Nokia, Apple and Kodak’s main concern is the effect on its international market share. As a result of the competition in the mobile handset market, Nokia, Apple and Kodak has always created a brand reputation in the minds of its customers. The mobile handsets industry encompasses international companies which have various benefits in terms of cost structure. Brand reputation in the mobile handset industry has become significant in the consumer purchasing choices. Strong brands are brands built on reputation as it’s the case of Nokia, Apple and Kodak. This case does not change but its gains more significance as time goes by. Branding is the art of creating trust making it very important for build an identity of good reputation so as to maintain consumer trust (Magnan, Fawcett, & Birou, 1999). A highly reputed brand name is believed to be a publicly known and preferred name, which is a sign of reliability, merit and achievement. With time, this attribute reputation translates to an estimation of consistency that is based on the power and willingness to perform over and over again in a similar way. It is also a characteristic in a particulate component of the entity which includes the price, promotion, quality and distribution attributes (Kotler, Armstrong, Saubers, & Wong, 1999). As illustrated earlier, a brand can also be described as the connection between reputation and promise. Furthermore, reputation can be described as a set of expectations. In other words, a brand can be described as a mixture of substantial and insubstantial attributes which are represented in the trademark. A brand is a promise by the company to the consumer that it will offer products that conform to their needs. This will keep consumers coming back to purchase the particular brand (Funk, 2001). There are three main advantages of brands offered to consumers. One is that brands inform the consumer on the quality of the product. Consumers who purchase the same brand time after time expect to get the same quality each time they make the purchase. The second advantage is that brand names ease the shopping experience since consumers are able to find different products which conform to their needs and preferences. Last but not least, a brand name facilitates the attention of consumers to new products that might benefit them in different ways. The attention is drawn since the brand is the initial form of recognition (Delgado-Ballester & Munuera-Alemán, 2005). Brands must come up with a positive reputation in order to become profitable and successful. As discussed earlier, a reputable brand is a strong asset that translates to brand loyalty and stability of future sales. Brand reputation involves a scale ranging from a doubtful feeling that the brand is accepted in the market, to a notion that it is the first in the product class. This range can be characterized by a different level of brand reputation on the market. A brand reputation can be good or bad. This is because it shapes up peoples’ feelings on reputation depending on the information they have about the specific brand (Grantham, 1997). A stronger brand always has a clear understanding of customer preferences and needs. Therefore, strong brands increase the effectiveness of marketing programs. For the last decade, brand equity has attracted new market fragments and it has matched with brand extension. There is a joint link between brand extension and brand equity. This is because brand equity has the capability to affect the success of extensions. Extensions on the other hand have the capability of positively impacting brand equity. Consequently, the high valued brand extensions succeed making customers to prefer them simply because they have strong brand equity. The result of this is brand loyalty making it difficult for consumers to buy from competitors. Nokia, Apple and Kodak’s brand position strongly depends on the positive image of its brands. A successful brand allows Nokia, Apple and Kodak to demand a higher price for the specified brand. This is a barrier that makes it hard for customers to move to other brand thus promoting brand loyalty (Harris & Chernatony, 2001). Nokia, Apple and Kodak has evolved over centuries and diversified into a large corporation operating globally. It has grown since the 1960’s where it ventured into digital telecommunications and today it is the world leader in mobile communications operating in more than 130 countries with annual sales of twenty seven billion US dollars. Nokia, Apple and Kodak have achieved this through understanding consumer needs and offering products match varied consumer needs (Jean, 1997). The global demand for cell phones has increased from 284 million in 1999 with 2001 recording 510 million units. In 2001, Nokia, Apple and Kodak were leading in mobile phone production by 32% and 35% in 2001. Nokia, Apple and Kodak have segmented its markets to conform to diverse customer needs, lifestyles and preferences. It has six segments Basic customers who need durable style and voice connectivity. Expression consumers who personalized and customized features Classic consumers who opt for web browser functions and conventional appearance Fashion consumers who prefer small devices. Premium consumers who prefer service and technological features. Communicator consumer who a combination of different features in one device. Nokia, Apple and Kodak have become the greatest selling brand in the mobile industry as a result of its brand marketing strategy. Sales decreased as a result of market saturation but Nokia, Apple and Kodak’s product life has been prolonged by its brand marketing (Kotler & Keller, Marketing Management 12th ed., 2006). Its life will be prolonged further despite the challenges through re launching its products in an aggressive manner and targeting different market segments previously not considered. They can also diversify into untapped markets and offer other products including data devices, landlines phone, I Pads and televisions (Kapferer, 1997). Conclusion This section of the dissertation concludes the study by highlighting the main findings of this study. It also gives recommendations for Nokia, Apple and Kodak in the future. It also looks at the limitations of the study and gives more suggestion for future research. The main aim of this paper was to find the relationship between brand marketing and the product life cycle for the case of Nokia, Apple and Kodak. Secondary sources were therefore used to collect all the information about Nokia, Apple and Kodak relevant to this study. The main force behind Nokia, Apple and Kodak’s growth in sales is the product features. Nokia, Apple and Kodak’s marketing strategy was aggressive and it focused more on customer needs and preferences. Nokia, Apple and Kodak’s prices are also competitive and affordable in all markets. On the other hand, we could not gather all the information necessary in terms of the distribution network. Nokia, Apple and Kodak has set to capture over 50% of the global mobile phone market through its innovation and branding with time. It has planned to develop high end mobile phones to conform to market changes through high investment in advanced brands. Brand marketing has enabled it to prolong its life cycle through internal reorganization for future growth. In 2003 and 2004, Nokia, Apple and Kodak suffered a decline in sales in the mobile phone industry. This is because it realized that was not fully ready for technological development in operating systems. This resulted in change of strategy through designing five new models aimed at meeting consumer needs. The company also closely monitored market trends and reduced its prices. This was at the end of the maturity stage where the sales had declined. After some time the company recaptured its market share and cooperated greatly with different mobile operators in the market. The changes in strategy imply that the company did not stick to the initial strategies but it adopted emergent strategies conforming to market changes (Lofland & Lofland, 1984). This was to facilitate meeting the customer needs in the dynamic business atmosphere. The industry has been saturated with emerging competition from other brands making Nokia, Apple and Kodak to face make strategic choice in the course of its life cycle. Its life cycle has been prolonged through brand marketing in form of adopting new strategies to counter the dynamic business environment. This study has looked at brand management in the case of Nokia, Apple and Kodak and its effect to the product life cycle. The approaches Nokia, Apple and Kodak have taken through its presence in the mobile industry present a mutual relationship between brand marketing and product life cycle. In brand marketing, we have seen that no single method can assist the company to achieve good results. Different approaches have to be used in ensuring that the brands achieve a high market share always in the dynamic mobile industry. Nokia, Apple and Kodak balanced different approaches through brand marketing and this is the main reason why it has remained the market leader in the mobile industry. The decline stage in its product life cycle was experienced when it lost control in fitting the market trends and focused more on the initial strategy. This resulted to a decline in the market share due to the competition and reduces sales volumes. Nokia, Apple and Kodak later adjusted its strategy though alignment of external opportunities and internal strengths. It also balanced developing and planned strategies to conform to the prevailing market changes. This assisted the company to regain its market share and prolonged its product life cycle. It has managed to get long term development through the adoption of different brand marketing strategies. Nokia, Apple and Kodak owes its success in the mobile industry to creation of simple and clear strategies, regular implementation of the strategies, establishment of an encouraging working environment, and recruitment of brilliant staff and recognition of high growth markets. It has taken a leading position in the mobile industry as a result of concentrating on market needs and offering the right products at the right time. Brand marketing has played a big role in achieving this through the brand name, marketing and R&D production. Brand marketing has a positive relationship with the product life cycle of Nokia, Apple and Kodak since the brand marketing strategies adopted have place Nokia, Apple and Kodak at an important point in history. Nokia, Apple and Kodak has to move from its past through offering more customer friendly products for all customers. It should also focus more on the low end market with high quality but low priced products. 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What made you choose the current brand of your mobile phone and your camera? Image quality Price Technical advantage Varied features Other Is your current mobile phone or camera as you expected it? Yes No Which phone or camera do you prefer if you had enough money? Nokia, Apple and Kodak Apple Kodak Other After purchasing your mobile phone or camera, what impressed you the most? Would you consider buying the same brand again in future? Yes No 7th May, 2013 Mr./Mrs./Miss ……………………. ……………………. Dear respondent, RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRRE I am undertaking a research to evaluate the impact of brand marketing on product life cycle, so I kindly request your assistance in filling the attached questionnaire. The main purpose of this questionnaire is to assist me in data collection for a research paper I am required to submit to the University of ……………..for fulfillment of …………………in……….. I assure you that I will treat the information obtained with high confidentiality and the respect it deserves and as a commitment on the same, please do not write your name. Thank you for your assistance. Yours sincerely, ……………… ……………… The Relationship between Brand Marketing and Product Life Cycle 47