In 1996, a graduate from the University of Maryland, Kevin Plank founded Under Armour, a performance apparel company that now competes with some of the top apparel brands in the industry. During its first ten years of operations, the company was known primarily for its sweat-wicking clothing line. In late 2010, however, Under Armour released its first line of basketball shoes since the company's inception. Along with the new product line, the company must have a new brand image, said Plank. I called our marketing team and asked them to go through this building and find anything that says that we are only an apparel brand and throw it away.. The company has also removed all advertisements carrying the word apparel, and will begin exploring new ways to promote the brand. The company hopes its new efforts will allow the company to be viewed as an overall performance company, which will ultimately enable it to compete with footwear from powerhouses Nike and Adidas, and will help increase its current 1.1 percent market share. The marketing team of Under Armour has come up with a strategy to advertise their shoes as a product that makes walking and running pleasurable. Marketing the shoes in this manner creates a perceived difference in the minds of customers. This is an example of .
a. internal positioning
b. brand extension
c. differentiation
d. market segmentation
Question 2
Which of the following characteristics may be advantages that can be realized by service organizations that costume their service personnel?
a. Costuming enables the service organization to add a measure of tangibility to its service.
b. Costumes send a message to customers by projecting a desired image.
c. Costumes may help supply credibility for an organization.
d. All of these may be advantages to the service organization.
e. None of these may be advantages to the service organization.