CHAPTER
ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
One element that has undergone
tremendous change in the past decade is branding and packaging according to
Rahim, liberalization by allowing for
easy imports of printing technology. Made a vast difference to packaging and
branding Simplistic, almost primitive packaging has given way to vibrant,
colorful labels with more pictures. Packaging is also no longer meant merely
for storage; the label nowadays addresses concerns about the product,
ingredients shelf life and so on (Rahim 2002) .
According to Rahim, packaging is “now
more a component of the brands image than ever” Tins and cartons have given way
to sleek pouches, satchets and plastic containers. Therefore, we can define
packaging as all activities of designing and producing the container for a
product, the container is called the package.
Branding is a major issue in product
strategy, perhaps the most distinctive skill of professional marketers in their
ability to create, maintain, produce and enhance brand. Branding is the art and
corner stone of marketing. The American marketing association defines a brand
as a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to
identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to
differentiate them from those of competitors. Thus a brand identifies the
seller or maker.
Branding has nothing to do with the
design of a product which include both the intrinsic and entrinsic qualities of
a product, that is packaging, textile, colour, names tastes and so on.
Branding is infact the composite of
activities in establishing brand names, brand mark, copyright and the like. In
the absence of branding, there cannot be any better described marketing
situation than confastic marketing.
Therefore, when branding
and packaging came, it becomes so strong that today hardly anything goes
unbranded. Example salt is packaged in distinctive manufacturers containers or
sacks, oranges are stamped with growers names, common belt and nuts are
packaged in cellophane with distributors label and automobile companies, spark
plugs, tyre, bear separate brand names from the auto makers.
The brand name and trade marks
provide legal protection of improving product features which will otherwise be
copied by competitors. moreover, branding gives the seller the opportunity to
attract a loyal and profitable set of customers and also gives sellers some
protection from competitors greater control in planning their marketing mix. All
these make companies to spend a lot on branding and packaging with the sole aim
of product differentiation and identification thereby changing the taste of
customers as a result, making good sales turnover.
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Branding and packaging has become an
essential motivating factor in the area of sales turnover in any organization, whether
manufacturers of industrial or consumer products.
The researcher choice of the subject
matter was as a result of the keen interest he has on sales turnover especially
the packaging and branding involves to identify the level of dependence of
customers to this effort and to the organizations.
Hence, the importance of branding and
packaging on marketing productivity of locally made products of Kingmos Paint
Ltd.
The researcher also deliberated on
the effectiveness, achievement and the results that branding and packaging has
brought to the organization in terms of sales volume and profitability.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The issue of branding and packaging
of locally made products in the Nigeria context can not be over emphasized,
some are of the view that locally made products branding and packaging will
constitute a problem to the society at large while other disagree with this
issue. To be more precise, an example is that we have different types of soft
drinks which, when consumed by the customers will give the same satisfaction,
but the issue is, these products have to be branded so as to give each and
every product its own identity that will differentiate it from others or rather
its competitors.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
i. The main objective of this study is
mainly to find out the role that branding and packaging play in enhancing
consumer patronage to effect sales turn-over.
ii. The study will also look at ways that
branding and packaging locally made products can be marketed.
iii. The research will also look at
various aspects of branding and packaging.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Similar studies might have been carried
out in this area of human endeavour, however, the simple fact that business
environment is never static, alot of changes might have rendered parts of the
result of these findings obsolete.
This research work will be beneficial to the organization
under review(Kingmos Paint Ltd) as the researcher will search into various
aspects of marketing branded and packaged locally made products within the
organization to ascertain whether the huge amount of money spent to brand and
package locally made products is justified.
The study is also expected to serve
as a reference material for future research work in this important aspect of
business administration as it can be consulted as a reference material
especially if there is the need to improve on the study.
Others that the research work will
benefit include lecturers, student and other researcher that may make reference
to the project in future just as the researcher will review literatures of
other authors in the course of this research work.
1.5 STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS
Hypothesis may be defined as a declarative statement of relationship
between two or more variable used for better understanding of the problem of
study. In other words, hypothesis are formulated in order to facilitate the
conduct of the research.
From the beginning,
the researcher advanced some theoretical
assumption to guide the conduct of the project. Having carried out this study, it would be necessary
to test and prove the validity of this assumption against findings. They are
state as follows:
Ho: product branding and packaging does
not influence product.
H1: product branding and packaging
influences product.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The topic “importance
of branding and packaging on marketing productivity of locally made products”
has a very wide dimension consequent to the vast nature of the topic.
Therefore, the researcher restricts his study specifically to Kingmos Paint Ltd.
The researcher also limits his
research works on books and journals. To the researcher, such restrictions is
to enable him come out with accurate findings as well as saving time and cost
to be involved.
1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
When undertaking an academic work of
this nature, one is bound to encounter a lot of problems in one way or the other.
Some of the problems encountered are;
1. A number of respondents are not
willing to cooperate, in filling the questionnaire, other that agrees to
cooperate are not honest about their answers.
2. The manufacturer (Kingmos Paint Ltd) whom
the researcher consulted concerning the research work cooperated, but one problem encountered
was their unwillingness to disclose monetary terms involved in branding and
packaging of their products which they referred to as confidential.
3. Time constraint also possess another
limitation which did not allow the researcher enough time to gather vital
information to make the study a whole.
1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS
BRANDING: A
design of a specific product or service by a brand or company names, sometimes
referred to as selective demand stimulation
PACKAGING: All
the activities of designing and producing the container for a product
PRODUCT: A
product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition,
use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. It includes physical
objects, service persons, places, organizations and ideas.
BRAND LEADER:
Product which holds the greatest single share of a market
BRAND MARK: This is described as that part of a
brand which can be recognized but is not alterable, such as a symbol design or
distinctive colouring or lettering
SALES: This
is the exchange of products (goods) for money
TRADE MARK: a brand or part of a brand that is
given legal protection because it is capable of exclusive appropriation. A Trade
mark protects the sellers exclusive rights to use the brand name and/or brand mark..
BRANDGOODS:
Goods identified with a proprietary name, normally by name for promotional
security or teaching purpose. Branded goods offer some protection to the retailer
or distributor.
TURNOVER: This
is the change that occurs in the amount of money within a period of time during
business transaction.
The above terms have been defined in
accordance with the context in which they appear in the research work.