Titleist is a premium golf brand known for producing high-quality, technologically advanced equipment. It uses a branded house architecture, with the Titleist brand appearing on all of its products. Titleist's core identity centers around producing elite equipment for serious golfers and professionals. Its extended identity incorporates brand assets like sponsorships and endorsements that can change over time. Titleist's brand positioning positions it as the premier brand used by top golfers that yields high performance. Its strong brand equity is built on authenticity, an established brand personality, and the functional, emotional, and self-expressive benefits it provides. Going forward, Titleist should consider lifestyle branding to build a brand community, developing new products to stay innovative,

1. Alexandra R. Glazer
Brand Management, MKT 4515
Professor Fisher
Final Exam
May 3, 2012

2. 1. Brand Organization
A. Brand Architecture
Acushnet Company, House of Brands
• Golf Brands: Titelist, Pinnacle, Cobra, BullsEye, FootJoy
• In 1932, the golf ball division was created although it originally started off as
a company producing rubber. Each of these brands has a specific segment or
product that they are targeting that is unlike the other products (all
horizontal brand extensions that add completeness to company). Keeping the
brands seperate allows each to create their own reputation of excellence in a
specific niche without that influencing any of the other brands. For example.
although Titleist focuses on the needs of the serious and professional golfer ,
Pinnacle targets the value concious golfer instead.
Titleist, Branded House
• Golf Brands: At time of case, none
• Now (Vokey Design, Scotty Cameron, Titelist Preformance Int.)
• Titleist has come to stand for excellence, products with Titelist on them will
sell better. Because Titleist is a very specific segment of people looking for
elite equipment, the people who buy these products do not want their
equipment associated with what may be perceived as a lower quality brand
because it costs less. Having Titleist actually produce the products for quality
while having big names like Scotty Cameron & Bob Vokey tied to the brand,
will add another level of credibility .
Nike, Branded House
• Golf Brand: Nike Golf
• Nike 's brand awarenessand recognition is extremely high throughout all
categories in the general sports industry and is a top competitor. For them it
is important to keep their name on everything because it can attract even an
amateur player or loyal Nike fans to the merchandise. On that same note,
Nike is capable of producing much more than balls but also golf gear from
head to toe. Because Nike has a wider range of products and they are more
commercial with only a small golf segment, it may be inferred that their
technolog is not as developed. There is a lot of weight in the brand name of
Nike, and keeping a stable identity is important to them. Their brand equity is
already so high throughout the sporting goods industry so there is no need
for them to create a new brand.

3. B Titleist Core & Extended Brand Identity
Logo
Celebrity Endorsements
Sponsors
Merchandise
"#1 Ball in Golf"
Tournaments
Tiger Woods
X-Ray Tech.
Premium
Serious Golfers
Professional
Wound Balls
Brand Identity has two different ways of breaking down. First it is important to look
at the core and extended identity of the brand. The core is the root of the business, the
constant and timeless essence of what they stand for that will always be represented in
everything they do. The extended identity is intended to enhance the brand by providing
texture and completeness. This part of the identity is allowed to change based on changing
trends and consumer needs. Titlelist prides themselves on being a premier brand with
technologically advanced equipment for a serious amateur golfer or professional purposes.
This will always be the niche that they representing. However, in the extended identity are
things such as sponsors and endorsements, which will change over time, for example Tiger
Woods is no longer signed on as of 2011. #1 Ball in Golf was their tagline at the time, but
this is allowed to change as well. The second way to look at brand identity is through brand
as a person, organization, product and symbol. The following chart details these elements.

4. Brand Identity
Organization Product
Titleist is an organization The product of Titleist is a
Person Symbol
that provides trust top of the line premium
The person who Titleist can be indentified
because of so many years good that has specialized
represents Titleist will be a by it's cursive black logo.
in the industry and global golfing equipment for
serious golfer who enjoys Titleist is derived from the
recognition. Lots of different terrain, strokes,
the game and talking word "titlist" which means
research and development etc. The equipment has
about the equipment they title holder. This brand
is conducted by the team state of the art technology
use or a professional who logo is consistent on all
to make sure their to make it the best in the
is looking for high products and promotes
technology is top of the industry. These products
preformance. easy brand recognition.
line and in sync with are the best, used by the
consumer needs. best in the sport.
C Brand Positioning Statement
“Titleist is a world recognized brand as the premiere line of golf equipment used by
serious golfers and professionals that yields high performance thus feelings of prestige
and success when using these products.”
Although the brand positioning statement is targeting a very specific niche and
leaves out the amateur golfer, Titleist is supposed to be the premium brand as
opposed to another Acushnet brand Pinnacle that is directed more toward this left
out segment. In addition the technology in Titleist products would not benefit the
novice golfer as certain products are designed for skills only more experienced
players are able to master. Titleist appeals to their customers by providing a highly
functional product with emotional and self-expressive rewards because of the
feelings of success after using this products and well recognized premium brand
logo.

5. D Brand Equity (Kopp)
The Kopp model of Brand Equity is formatted as a pyramid as shown above. All of these
elements are the product of strong brand equity. Here are the components further
analyzed.
Brand Personality, (Thinking + Feeling = Gestalt)
Thinking: “Titleist is the ball of excellence used by the best golfers there are, year
after year they win tournaments with the help of the special technology in this ball.”
Feeling: “I trust using this ball because I have seen the results it produces. When I use
this line of products I feel special and elite because it is top of the line quality.”
Gestalt: “Titleist, the ball you can depend on.”
Authenticity
Acushnet Company is the master brand behind Titleist. They have been
around since 1910 and have a reputation of producing excellent quality throughout
all of their brands. Titleist has many award recognitions and has been the most
played ball of winners of several PGA Tours, US Open and other prestigious
tournaments.
Brand Assets
Logo:
Their tagline, “#1 Ball in Golf” pretty much says it all. Prior to the 1990s when the
revolution began, Titlelist completely dominated the professional golf ball industry.

6. CVP, Function + Emotional + Self Expressive
Titleist yields all three factors of a strong CVP. Functional benefits are obvious, a
high quality, success producing ball. Emotional benefits are the feeling you get from using a
ball with such history that your father and grandfather probably also used. Also included in
this is the emotion you receive when the ball brings you success. The self-expressive
benefits are that this brand is a premium good and thus extending a piece of yourself to say
“yes I use expensive, top of the line golf equipment.” Although this product is sold at a
higher price, their target is willing to pay because the benefits from the all three aspects of
the CVP are relative and balance out a high cost.
Value/Delivery
Titleist products are only sold in very particular markets: “on course” retail shops,
pro shops, golf specialty stores, and high end sporting goods stores. They do this because
then the good becomes something that is not as easily attainable and provides more value
in terms of prestige and selective users. If not just any golfer has the opportunity to use this
ball, then the ball further becomes a ball of the elite golfers who chose to seek it out. As
mentioned previously in regards to the CVP, the benefits are high and so is the cost, thus a
balanced value is established.
D. Recommendations for Titleist Going Forward
Based upon how the golf ball marketplace is changing, I would make 3
recommendations for Mr. Uihlein to consider in going forward with a competitive strategy.
These recommendations include establishing a strong brand community through the
development of lifestyle branding, new product development, and similar to the second
signing on a new celebrity to endorse the new product whether it be something not even
on the marketplace or the solid golf ball. I believe all of these strategies will work because
they are multifaceted with functional, emotional and self-expressive benefits. Titleist
already has many generations of extremely loyal fans, creating a brand community through
lifestyle branding or having the ability to use Titleist in other areas of your life off the golf
course, will allow consumers to fully embody the Titleist brand. In addition, this will be
additional advertising because the usual fans will be wearing the brand or using non
related products with the logo. It is important here to still be consistent with the core and
target market when establishing lifestyle branding. This would ideally be modeled after
Porsche or Harley Davidson and their ability to establish their brands in the everyday lives
on consumers. The reason why I feel like this would be a good recommendation is because
it is easier to retain loyal customers than bring in new ones. Making the already established
fan base feel a part of the Titleist community is a great way to pull people back in. It has
always existed, now they have a larger way of expressing it with people alike.
I also feel like new product development would be a smart decision for Titleist.
Although the solid ball is gaining a lot of momentum in the industry, Titleist has never been
one to be a part of the crowd. I would generally advise that Titleist not conform to this

7. trend, but rather establish a new ball that makes them stand out even more in the industry
as the #1 ball. Easier said than done I’m sure—Titleist is known for their advanced
technology and they would be able to do the research and development themselves
without outsourcing. Perhaps they could even revamp their signature wound ball (which I
have put in to the core identity) and have that be launched to gain back people who initially
liked the ball anyway but were distracted by the hype of new solid balls. I am also
suggesting that with this new product launch comes a large celebrity to endorse the
product and have it run under his name. If Titleist is faced with the decision of to
incorporate solid balls in to their line just because everyone else is having them, they
definitely will need an endorser to make this ball further differentiated. Titleist is supposed
to be the face of excellence in the industry with top performance equipment and players.
Adding a big name professional player to endorse this product will not only create even
more face time for the brand, but the professional will use this ball and win (promotes
functional), the golfers who want to feel like they are this professional will use the ball
(emotional), and lastly the golfers who want to be seen with an exclusive brand name ball
by their favorite golf company and player will buy this ball (self-expressive). Adding the
celebrity golfer back in to the Titleist brand will help Titleist regain credibility and up their
brand awareness and visibility.
3. Brand Strategy Decision
A. If Saucony wants to launch a new shoe for the sport of volleyball, it is my
recommendation that they are going to need to launch a new brand as opposed to a brand
extension. Time and time again we have discussed in class that Saucony struggled with
managing their brand in terms of how to compete with the big names out there. Finally
after discovering that the consumer perception was that Saucony was a great running shoe,
the company decided to focus all of their efforts toward this niche and stay there. With that
said, there are several points to bring up.
First, Saucony cannot add a volleyball brand extension where running is not the
main focus, when Saucony’s reputation and image is now solely about shoes for running.
However, if Saucony did want to make brand extensions, a smarter decision would be
something such as a track and field shoe or a sprinter shoe, etc. In addition inconsistent line
extensions can dilute and create a lot of confusion as to what the company stands for,
weakening the CVP with customers. For this reason, when they do develop a new brand, I
would suggest a House of Brands structure so that the Saucony name is not visually tied to
the new company, but rather people will just know that they are behind the operations.
Secondly, because Saucony has been managing a niche which is much different than
managing other brands, we know that they are capable of being successful within their
desired target market. On that note, as a volleyball player for all 4 years in high school, I

8. have never been directed to purchase a certain shoe for the game. Certainly there are
volleyball shoes being sold at the moment, but there is not one company in particular that
is known specifically for their volleyball shoe. If Saucony was capable of developing an
advanced technology based on specific consumer needs, this to me would seem like a big
idea in a big category, and furthermore support why I am recommending a new brand
launch. Nike, the largest threat in the industry, may have a volleyball shoe on the market,
but my assumption is that they have this shoe to say they have a shoe for every sport and
the technology is not nearly as developed and specialized as it could be.
The new brand is a smart business decision because they are experienced in
targeting specific segments and developing technology specific to the athlete. Being a
volleyball player, if I had discovered that Saucony the niche running brand was creating a
new niche volleyball brand, I would expect they are going to be delivering the same quality
but with a different sport. This however, also opens the company up to several risks.
With every new operation, of course there are inherit risks. If Saucony does develop
the new volleyball brand, there will be a high expectation of these volleyball shoes because
they are going through such effort to create a new brand all together. There are going to be
a lot of initial costs including the research and development for this new technology all
together as well as all of the promotion and advertising expenses that come with a new
brand on the rise. One risk would be for all of Saucony’s money to go toward launching the
new brand, and see Saucony’s numbers plunge because not enough money will be allocated
toward maintain the Saucony image.
C. A silver bullet is defined as a small opportunity that is capable of turning around an
entire brand. Though I feel like the obvious answer to this question would be to discuss
Diesel and their concept of the StyleLab, to me I don’t feel like this actually is the best
choice. Diesel decided to develop an upmarket brand of luxury meets casual that closed
shortly after it was launched. In my learning, I’ve come to find that a silver bullet is the
iconic product that turns around an entire brand image; how can a product turn around the
brand if it is no longer even in existence. I understand that this brand had the potential to
be a silver bullet, but I would rather discuss a company that completing revolutionized
themselves. For this reason I believe that the Mini Cooper case best demonstrates a silver
bullet strategy.
In 1995, BMW acquired the Rover Group in search of a compact vehicle which was
known for its small car the “Morris Mini-Motor”. Although it was introduced to the US in
the 1960s, it only sold 10,000 cars within 8 years. BMW took the brand under their wings
and re-launched it as MINI with an entirely new strategy for success that turned the car
into something iconic, with social and cultural relevance. They knew that in order to do this
they had to “climb to the top rung of the emotional ladder” (Fisher). Although the product

9. maintained its core with the oversized headlights and general shape, safety, high
performance and customization were added features that were important to consumers.
MINI was able to define the company through a variety of non-traditional techniques
before the public had time to define the brand for them. Though the product wasn’t entirely
new, the revolution of this car and what it stood for completely changed the way people
viewed MINI. I am not looking at the Mini Cooper as necessarily a silver bullet for BMW as
they are separate brands and it didn’t have a lot of impact on the master brand, but rather
for its own brand reputation. This opportunity to reevaluate the brand personality and
make MINI in to an icon made the value of this car much higher, and appeared to be an
entirely new unique product on the market, thus a silver bullet.
C. Skippy Peanut Butter has declined by 3 market share points over the last two years.
Market share is the product of awareness, trial, repeat and distribution. It is important that
the problem is identified so that Skippy can quickly find a solution to get our market share
back up. It is important to note that there is a difference between perception and
preference, and although a consumer may perceive the company a certain way, preference
is what actually makes the consumer buy the product or not. I will use these tools to
determine the attributes of peanut butter that customers like best and how we can better
communicate that to our target. As the brand manager I am going to use conjoint analysis
and perceptual mapping to discover where the disconnect is between brand and consumer.
Conjoint analysis is a predictive technique that will measure the value of trade off
and options to a given concept. In other words, this model realizes that people weigh
different attributes with different amounts of value, and this allows us to see which of these
attributes are weighted most heavily and why. Conjoint analysis is useful because instead
of just looking at the attributes on a numerical scale, it also provides insight in to the
consumer behavior of why they do or do not prefer something. Therefore they are able to
see what is important to people who are interested in buying peanut butter and how
Skippy compares. This may be helpful because perhaps they are focusing on promoting an
attribute that is not important and rather lacking in something that is.
The next technique to examine declining market share would be to use a perceptual
map. There are two types of methods when using a perceptual map, attribute rating and
overall similarity. Determining which to use is based on whether or not the attributes for
our product can be easily communicated, (hard or soft). Although peanut butter does have
“hard” attributes, it is hard to differentiate peanut butter brands from one another and thus
it might be better if overall similarity is used because we already know that their attributes
are similar to begin with. The graph will place Skippy in comparison to other brands based
on the similarity in responses from consumers interviewed and receive a much more
multidimensional response. This will allow for Skippy to find ways in which they can

10. differentiate themselves because we can see the current product positioning and shift it to
where necessary.
On another note, I think Skippy may have actually done some analysis tools because
upon researching I discovered that Skippy now has a line extension “Skippy Natural” that
has lower caloric content and different ingredients. It can be inferred that as a result of this
line, perhaps they found that people want a healthier option for their peanut butter and
thus the creation of Skippy Natural.
4. Traditional vs. New
A. As the launch team manager of Cinch, I am suggesting that we implement a new
media campaign in our efforts to make the product as successful as possible. This type of
advertising has many beneficial factors as long as the risks are managed properly. Without
research one might think that because this product is directed at middle age women, that
new media is a poor choice because it is out of the target markets reach. This is wildly
incorrect because new media is not synonymous with just Facebook and Twitter which are
directed at younger generations, but has many other platforms for a variety of segments.
The problem with traditional forms of media is that people are not using them as much
because they appear to be more time consuming. For someone who wants to watch a
television program but does not have a lot of extra time to sit around, they have probably
DVRd the show or will watch it online and skip through the commercials anyway.; this
person that doesn’t have all this extra time is exactly Cinch’s market and we wouldn’t be
reaching them. In addition, reading magazines is also becoming less popular as it takes up
much time and electronic copies can be more convenient.
New Media is able to reach people in a way without seeming to be inconvenient for
the consumer. It is more likely in this day in age that someone will go on the internet as a
part of their daily ritual as opposed to picking up a magazine. This allows for new media to
market to people more subtly and gain more trust for the brand. New Media also makes it
possible for users of the brand to engage with other users comparing experiences and
opinions, making everyone feel more involved and harnessing a strong customer value
proposition by increasing the emotional benefits. Using new media platforms makes it feel
like you have a personal connection to the brand because you are being marketed to
directly and can easily contact them, potentially receive immediate feedback or recognition.
This does open New Media up for some potential risks. If the brand is not controlled
properly, allowing too much communication between users could lead to one customer
having a bad experience and tarnishing the entire brand identity. Letting customers dictate
the brand identity would be allowing Cinch to fall in to the brand image trap.

11. B. The two specific new media options that I am going to implement for Cinch’s first
year launch program are video blogs (At Home with Cinch) and buzz bloggers (Operation
Mom). Video blogs have been chosen because according to Forbes Magazine, popular sites
that mom’s frequent such as newbaby.com receive 500,000 hits per month where they
watch on average 13 videos per visit (Forbes). This is clearly a platform that is more
efficient because it specifically targets mothers. At Home with Cinch, will be a corporate
campaign where video advertisements will link back to the Cinch homepage where the
video and blog are featured. This will be launched in the first few months of the calendar to
promote awareness of product and give visual representation to how the product works
and differentiates itself. After watching the video, there will be an option to enter a raffle
for hosting an “At Home with Cinch” party, there will be x amount of winners depending on
location and number of entrants. Upon winning this raffle, a representative will come to the
winner’s house where they are allowed to invite other guests, and they will demonstrate
the product and other cleaning tips and tricks that any head of the household would love to
know. The guests will receive a discounted price on purchasing the product and the host a
free gift, thus hoping At Home with Cinch will generate both trial and repeat. This is a very
different way of getting to the consumer but one that generates more credibility through
experience and gaining trust.
The second new media campaign will be to hire “buzz” bloggers of blogs that
specifically target moms as 71% of moms are now looking to the internet for product
information (Linder). It has also been found that 55% of moms rely on recommendations
from friends and family when making purchases for the home (Brown). It is clear that
moms seek reviews of products before purchasing and look for trust in others in deciding
what this product is. Cinch will hire buzz bloggers for Operation Mom which is essentially
paying or rewarding popular bloggers to include reviews of Cinch in their blogging and
interact with moms if they have questions and further promote the product. This is chosen
because of the mom “groupthink” but also because it was found that stepford-ish, idyllic
advertisements are not the way to stand out to moms, rather they would prefer something
relatable to catch their eye (Brown). This platform is entirely relatable because mom’s will
think they are one of their own. Although Cinch should use buzz blogging all year long, the
most popular blogs will be targeted to do a special following Thanksgiving and how they
used to the product to clean up. This will generate buzz just in time for the Christmas and
New Year’s holidays. Many large bloggers even do giveaways, thus we would like these
large blogs to do a product giveaway to coincide with the holiday season of giving.

12. C.
Traditional
New Media
Media
TV: $70,000/ 30 Video
seconds (avg) Advertisements:
$3.50/CPM
Radio: $200/ 20
seconds
Buzz Bloggers:
Magazine: $8.52/CPM
$20,000/one page
*Video Advertisements is using CPM for Online Banner Advertising and Buzz Bloggers is
using CPM for Google Search Advertising as I found these to be more closely related.
My P&G team originally chose traditional methods of TV, radio and magazines
advertisements to launch the product as it was 1983 and these were the most popular
methods at the time. I do not believe even with New Media that traditional methods
should be erased completely. I think that if we were to replace any methods, radio
would be removed because I do not find it nearly as effective today, and we would cut
down on TV commercials because they are expensive and not watched as often. This
extra budget would go toward revenue for new media. Considering that the cost for
new media is based on number of impressions, in order to make an impact, the cost will
initially be quite dramatic assuming we want at least 500,000 hits every month as this
is the average on a not extremely popular website (mentioned above). I think that in
order to successfully launch Cinch, a balance between both the old and new must be
maintained. Also, it is harder to compare these numbers based on inflation and
traditional methods of media are significantly higher as of 2012. New media methods
are definitely very popular right now, but still many people are not active in
participating, and for these people there must be included traditional. Also, because
people are receiving so much stimuli via the internet already, certain people are not as
receptive to these new media methods. Either way it is important that in the launch of
the brand to remember SOV=SOM, thus ad spending is absolutely crucial. Though it may
be a large cost, but also hopefully equally as rewarding. In order to penetrate this

13. market appropriately and keep up with the competition Cinch must spend a lot to get a
lot!
5. Wall Street Journal
Pepsi Brings Back the King of Pop
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304746604577381792902984470.htm
l
This article particularly attracted me because of the large celebrity featured as well
as the multimillion dollar cola company, so I decided to investigate further. The King of Pop
is referring to the one and only Michael Jackson and how Pepsi has signed a new deal with
his estate managers to feature him in their upcoming marketing campaigns. This is
particularly interesting for a variety of reasons. First, the article is a play on words as MJ is
the King of Pop (music) but also now the face of pop, as in a carbonated cola product, very
creative of the marketing team. This article fits in perfectly with several of the concepts we
have been studying all semester long in Brand Management. I have identified the marketing
teams use of Think Global, Act Local because of their ability to recognize that different TV
commercials should be featured in China than in the US; Nicki Minaj would not do as much
for Chinese people whereas United States recognizes her as a pop icon. Also, the brand
management team wants to make sure that Pepsi is consistent with their Brand Identity by
keeping music at the core, incorporate it in to the majority of campaigns. At the end of the
article, there is also a note how Pepsi plans on utilizing New Media by incorporating a
digital campaign involving artist and producers reinterpreting some of MJ’s songs .I wanted
to recognize these tools in the article but concentrate largely on the following three from
my brand management toolbox.
 SOV=SOM
In Shroer’s model, Share of Voice= Share of Market, or in other words, the more you
spend, the more successful you will be in the industry. Although Cola has been
around for longer and is a larger corporation than Pepsi, the latter has certainly
been putting up quite a fight and established a strong following of the company’s
own. Pepsi has clearly shown that they will not go down without a fight. They have
signed some large names in the past, including musical talents including Ray
Charles, Madonna, and Britney Spears which certainly add to the brand’s popularity.
This WSJ article states that Pepsi is planning on adding $600 million to the
advertising budget, which is a 20% increase over last year’s costs. Especially with
the summer Olympics coming up where Coca Cola is said to be a large sponsor,
Pepsi has made appropriate measures to keep active in the battle of the brands.
 CVP= Functional + Emotional + Self Expressive Benefits
Michael Jackson was a legendary, monumental celebrity, and his death moved the
nation only 3 years ago. He had an enormous following of people very attached to
him and his music. Pepsi is making an extremely smart play by recognizing that so
many people are loyal and deeply emotionally involved to MJ, so by attaching him to
the brand, they are reinserting emotional benefits back in to drinking a can of Pepsi
with the Michael Jackson silhouette (Exhibit 1). I am sure that people who aren’t

14. even fans of Pepsi but are fans of MJ will go out and purchase these limited edition
products just to honor him and engage with him in some way after his death to feel a
connection. MJ’s brand community is now a part of Pepsi’s brand community, and
now Pepsi will have the legacy as the first company to make a deal with the late MJ.
Pepsi has established its functional benefits long time again and even still it’s hard
to differentiate between crisp cola taste. They understand that in order to get ahead,
they are going to have to target emotional and self-expressive benefits instead.
 Brand Identity: Brand as a Person
Taking on a celebrity endorsement means that Pepsi’s identity is now being tied
with MJ’s identity, or rather seeing the brand as a person. One large concern I can
see arising from this campaign would be that people generally feel that using a
deceased person in a campaign can feel creepy and get mixed reviews. Pepsi plans
to combat these notions by instead promoting his influence on the future of music,
as opposed to nostalgia toward the death of MJ, which will inevitably arise on its
own anyway. Also, one risk that Pepsi should consider is MJ’s reputation later in life
and some of the questionable decision he had made. Though I do see this as a
concern, I believe his legacy of music and early life overshadows some of the poor
decisions he may have made as he began spiraling into mental illness.
6. Judo Brand Diversion
New Idea Confectioners is faced with the decision of how to market and brand our
newest candy bar comprised of delicious marshmallow and peanut butter ingredients.
Fluffernutter is the commonly accepted term for the combination of these two spreads that
dates as far back as the 1950s in the US. Through much research and blind taste tests, it
was supported that this candy bar will be a huge hit for a wide range of ages. Fluffernutter
was trademarked back in the 1960s, way before it was ever coined as a generic term for the
category (Staff). Despite the trademark, when a product is able to capture the category, that
company loses its exclusive rights to trademark. For example, no matter what adhesive
bandage brand you are actually using, you are more than likely to call it a “Band-Aid”,
which is actually a specific brand and not the product. Another example of this would be
that people will commonly use the term “Xerox”, but to “Xerox” something is to actually go
make a duplicate on a copy machine. There is no other competing phrase that exists that
could replace or compete with fluffernutter, and so the peanutbutter-marshmallow taste
category exists only as fluffernutter.
With that said, we must be aware in launching the product that in 2006 Durkee-
Mower sued William Sonoma for this exact reason of producing a candy bar under the
fluffernutter brand name (Coleman). It was found that later the law suit resulted in a
settlement. There was much PR surrounding the lawsuit, with many people actually in
support of William Sonoma, because the general public had no idea fluffernutter was even
originally trademarked. In my opinion, this is all free, positive press and would be a smart

15. business move to create awareness for a new product. In addition William Sonoma is a
much large corporation with money to go after opposed to my start-up company that they
wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) waste much time targeting. Because this lawsuit is relatively fresh,
I would suggest launching the candy bar as NutterFluffer, something that is obviously the
same ingredients but rather a pun that will still get attention from press. The description
can be something like, That same fluffernutter taste, almost mocking the previous lawsuit
and still providing taste through the generic term.

16. Exhibit 1
Pepsi to launch Michael Jackson campaign, 2012.

17. Works Cited
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