How the exam works (read this first)

Format: 60 minutes, 50 points, ~5 questions, calculator + dictionary allowed. It's a theoretical case: they give you a company, you apply theory. Answers go in the provided boxes — write tight, labelled, framework-driven answers.

The recurring question types (both exams had these):

• "A product is more than its technical components — which case study?" → recall a class case (Mini, Dyson…) + explain.
• Marketing myopia — what it is, consequences.
• Porter's 5 Forces / SWOT + strategic responses to threats.
• The four partial benefits (basic / supplementary / aesthetic / prestige) applied to the product. appears every year
• Pricing: mark-up vs value-based, a price-elasticity calculation, price differentiation. guaranteed maths
• Communication: information overload, physical stimuli, activation, pre-testing.
• Branding: 5 name principles, family branding, brand-extension types & risks.

1 · Marketing myopia & defining the relevant market

When does it occur?

When a firm focuses on selling its current product rather than satisfying the need behind it — typical of the product and production concepts. Classic example: railroads thought they were in the "railroad business," not the "transportation business," so they missed cars and planes.

Consequences

• You overlook substitute competition (rivals meeting the need a different way).
• You stop innovating and get disrupted.
• You lose customers when someone satisfies the need better.

Apply it: Apple Car isn't "building a car" → it's "providing premium mobility & experience." Vejo isn't "selling a blender" → it's "convenient healthy nutrition." Defining the market by need, not product, avoids myopia.

2 · Needs, wants, demands & the marketing concepts

Buyers' market: offers > demand. Sellers' market: offers < demand.

The five management orientations

3 · Porter's Five Forces

A tool to assess industry attractiveness / long-run profit potential. The five forces:

1. Threat of new entrants (← entry barriers; high barriers = good for incumbents)
2. Bargaining power of suppliers
3. Bargaining power of buyers
4. Threat of substitutes
5. Rivalry among existing competitors (the central force)

Apply (Apple Car): high entry barriers (good), but intense rivalry (Tesla, VW…), strong substitutes (public transport, other EVs), powerful suppliers (batteries/chips) → overall a tough, capital-intensive industry.

4 · SWOT & deriving strategic responses

Turning threats/weaknesses into strategy (TOWS logic)

• Use strengths to counter threats: deploy Apple's privacy reputation & design to calm data fears.
• Fix weaknesses: partner/JV with an established car maker, hire/acquire expertise.
• Concrete responses to a fear = transparency, guarantees, demos, certifications, partnerships.

5 · The four partial benefits ★ (the most-tested model)

Which matter more as a market matures?

As markets mature, basic & supplementary (functional) benefits get commoditised — everyone offers them. So aesthetic & prestige benefits become the real differentiators. (Early in a new category, functional proof still matters most.)

6 · Product life cycle (PLC)

7 · Customer expectations (expectation–disconfirmation)

Marketing sets expectations (price, ads, brand). A high price raises expectations. Premium positioning is a double-edged sword: it justifies a higher price but raises the bar the product must clear.

Apply (Vejo): premium price → customers expect superior taste & a real health effect. If it underdelivers, dissatisfaction is sharp. Manage claims honestly, use samples/guarantees so performance ≥ expectation.

8 · Ecosystems (razor-and-blade / lock-in)

An ecosystem ties a core product to complementary products/services, creating switching costs and recurring revenue. The customer is "locked in."

• Razor-and-blade / Nespresso model: sell the device, profit from proprietary consumables (capsules).
• Apple model: devices + services + accessories that only work together → high switching cost.

Apply (Vejo): the reusable blender only works with Vejo's biodegradable capsules → recurring capsule revenue + lock-in = an ecosystem (exactly the Nespresso analogy in the case). Cite a class case like Square, Shopify or Apple.

9 · Pricing, elasticity & differentiation ★

Why price is special in the marketing mix (3 aspects)

1. Only revenue-generating element — product, place & promotion all create costs; price brings the money in.
2. Fastest/most flexible — can be changed instantly, unlike a product or distribution network.
3. Strongest, most immediate effect on demand & profit — and it's a quality signal, but is easily copied by rivals.

Setting the price: two logics

Launch strategies: Market-skimming = high price first, skim segments willing to pay (fits premium/innovative products). Market-penetration = low price to win share fast.

Price elasticity of demand — the formula

Price differentiation (segmented pricing)

Why do it? Customers have different willingness-to-pay. Charging one price leaves money on the table. Differentiation lets you capture more of the consumer surplus → higher total profit.

Key requirement: you must be able to separate the segments and prevent arbitrage (no reselling from the cheap segment to the expensive one), and the segments must differ in price sensitivity.

Forms: customer-segment (student/senior), time/seasonal, location, channel, product-form/versioning, quantity. Sketch idea: a downward-sloping demand curve with "steps" — each step charges a segment near its max price, so the shaded area (revenue captured) is much larger than under one flat price.

10 · Communication: information overload, stimuli & activation

Information overload

Consumers face thousands of messages a day (≈4,000–10,000), so they filter almost everything out. To get through, ads must first win attention — which is where stimuli come in.

Physical stimuli

Physical (formal) stimuli grab attention through innate, biological reactions — size, colour, contrast, movement, loudness, and key images (faces, eyes, babies). They work pre-consciously, even on low-involvement viewers who are filtering.

Activation

Activation = an inner state of arousal/alertness that energises behaviour. External stimuli (physical, emotional, or surprising/cognitive) raise activation. Effect follows an inverted-U: too little → ignored; moderate → best attention, processing & recall; too much → stress/avoidance.

Why pre-test communication elements?

Because the effect of each element (image, claim, colour, layout) is uncertain and budgets are large — you can't assume it works or is understood correctly. How: pre-tests & post-tests — recognition/recall tests, day-after recall, eye-tracking, A/B tests, focus groups. (Refer to a class case, e.g. Nestlé or actimel.)

11 · Branding

The five brand-name principles (textbook p.255)

A good brand name should:

1. Be based on the product's benefits & qualities
2. Be easy to pronounce, recognise & remember
3. Be distinctive & extendable
4. Translate easily into foreign languages
5. Be capable of registration & legal protection

Family (umbrella) branding

One brand name across many products (Apple → iPhone, iPad, Watch, Car).

Line vs brand extension

• Line extension: new items in the same category under the same brand (new flavour/size).
• Brand extension: existing brand into a new product category — e.g. Apple → cars. The further the new category, the bigger the fit/congruence risk.

Past exam — 18 June 2024 (Apple Car) · model answers

Use these as model structure, not word-for-word. Cite whichever class cases you actually covered.

Past exam — 28 June 2025 (Vejo) · model answers

Vejo = premium reusable blender + biodegradable smoothie capsules (a "Nespresso for smoothies").

Flashcards / self-quiz

Click the card to reveal the answer. Use it the day before — if you can answer all of these out loud, you're ready.