Case Scenario:
Below is John's recommendation to Branding a product and also my counter against it. Please help add some advice,comments to make it better to argue against the recommendtaion.
John's recommendation:
Branding and Packaging
Rohm & Haas allows distributors to brand the original Kathon 886 MW formula, yet do not allow private branding for the MWX formula. The informal summer trainee survey found that most small metalworking companies obtain their metalworking fluids and other supplies from two or more small, local tool or supply shops within 30 miles of their businesses. Rohm & Haas should allow these local supply houses to brand the MWX formula giving the tool and supply shops a reason to carry and sell the MWX product. If branding doesn't matter with the 886 MW formula, it shouldn't matter with the MWX formula. Or alternatively, if Rohm & Haas came out with its own brand, marketing should be much more aggressive, as distributors would most certainly favor products with their brand names. This was confirmed in the phone survey, as only 20% remembered receiving the product information package, and majority of them never tried Kathon MWX.
Branding and Packaging:
Johns Recommendation: Allow local stores to brand and package MWX with their unique names.
My Counter: The recommendation of allowing only local supply houses and merchants to brand the MWX formula is not a clever approach to increase the sale and attraction of the product. The earlier method of utilizing the current name of “Katheon MWX” has shown that consumers fail to respond and recognize the quality and benefits of the product. Furthermore, by allowing every local shop to rename the product might lower the value and superiority of MWX because customers will identify the product with the store. Also, with numerous branding and packaging of MWX in various local stores, customers will have a difficult time on distinguishing the merchandise. The only advantage of allowing local stores to brand their product is that they will be able to promote and advertise MWX as their own. However, consumers who travel to different stores will not locate the same brands as those in their hometown because it is not prevalent which could be detrimental to MWX. Branding is a very important strategy in regards to MWX because consumers are hesitant to response to and purchase new, unrecognizable products which have not been in the market for a long time; therefore, they want to wait till the product receives recognition and popularity amongst the public.
Johns Recommendation: Rohm & Haas came out with its own brand, with aggressive marketing, even though distributors would most certainly favor products with their brand names.
My Counter: Rohm & Haas did in fact create their own name brand “Katheon MWX” which had poor results. Even with their marketing strategy, consumers were not attracted to the product. For this reason, the firm must allow distributors to utilize their name brands because of the familiarity and the relationships with their customers. Each distributor desires to package and name their product which will target their own set of consumers. Moreover, with the distributors knowledge of their clientele in terms of their needs and wants, they can easily lure and attract them to purchase MWX with specifications that tend to their desire.