MKTG2023 Chap.5 Service Products, Brands and New Service Development
Service Products, Brands and New Service Development
The product is a core plus petals
Week 3 defines a service product as a core benefit bundled with supplementary elements and delivered through processes in real time. The flower of service arranges eight supplementary services around the core: information, order-taking, billing and payment facilitate delivery, while consultation, hospitality, safekeeping and exceptions enhance it.
A wilted petal damages the customer’s view of the whole flower.
Brands as promises of consistency
A service brand promises a consistent experience, and people and processes deliver it at every touchpoint. Firms choose among a branded house, sub-brands, endorsed brands and a house of brands, and they use tiering to let customers self-select by need and willingness to pay.
Brand equity builds as a chain from awareness to perceived quality, meaning, response and finally relationship, and consistent delivery is the strongest driver. New service development runs from idea generation through concept testing, service design and market testing to commercial launch, and its success factors are market synergy, organisational readiness and front-end homework.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Core product, supplementary services and delivery processes
- 02
The eight petals of the flower of service
- 03
Four brand architecture strategies
- 04
Tiering service products
- 05
The service brand equity chain
- 06
The five stages of new service development
Worked example · free
Audit the petals of a car service visit
- 1The online booking is order-taking, and the service menu the owner reads first is information.
- 1The call about the extra repair is consultation, an enhancing petal.
- 1Looking after the car on site is safekeeping, and paying at collection covers billing and payment.
- 1The core product is a correctly serviced, roadworthy car.
- 1The consultation call is the likely weak petal: an unexplained extra cost damages trust in the whole visit.
Key terms
- Supplementary Services
- Elements that facilitate or enhance the core benefit of a service, arranged as petals in the flower of service.
- Branded House
- Brand architecture in which one master brand covers every offering, as FedEx and Virgin use.
- Endorsed Brand
- Brand architecture in which a product brand leads and a corporate brand stands behind it, as in Courtyard by Marriott.
- Service Tiering
- Set of branded levels of one service that signal different price and performance, so customers can choose a level and later upgrade.
- New Service Development
- Structured process of idea generation, concept testing, service design, market testing and commercial launch for a new service.
Service Products, Brands and New Service Development FAQ
What is the difference between facilitating and enhancing petals?
Facilitating petals, information, order-taking, billing and payment, are needed for the core service to be delivered at all. Enhancing petals, consultation, hospitality, safekeeping and exceptions, add value and appeal. Both matter, because the lecture stresses that a wilted or missing petal damages how customers see the whole flower.
Which brand architecture should a service firm choose?
It depends on how much trust should transfer and how much risk the master brand can carry. A branded house shares trust across every offering but spreads risk too; a house of brands isolates risk but gives up that trust. Sub-brands and endorsed brands sit between them, and consistent delivery remains the real safeguard.
Why do service firms tier their products?
Tiering signals price and performance levels so customers can choose the offer that fits their needs and willingness to pay. It captures different segments without cannibalising the premium tier and makes the value ladder clear enough for upselling, which is why it is common in hotels, airlines, telecoms and software plans.
What are the stages of new service development?
The lecture sets out five: idea generation from internal and customer sources, concept development and testing, service design that blueprints processes, physical evidence and roles, market testing through a pilot, and commercial launch with monitoring. Market synergy, organisational readiness and front-end homework are the named success factors, and AI can speed up each stage.
Assessment move
Draw the flower for one service you use often, colour the four facilitating petals differently from the four enhancing ones, and mark the petal that failed you most recently. Then write the brand equity chain in order and note which link that failure weakened.
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