EBS5041: Marketing for Managers Assignment

Jolif Nyirenda
A comparison and contrast of the meaning of ‘a brand lives beyond the
products graced with its logo’- A case of Levi’s (USA).
EBS5041 / Marketing for Managers
May 2021
Dr. Ayansola Ayandibu
27th June, 2021 11:59hrs

Introduction
Customers are daily looking for solutions to their needs and this presents an
opportunity to businesses to provide solutions to such needs. What is key to note is
that customers are not seeking for solutions from one entity but to several of them of
which some get to face them directly while other through phones and emails. All
suppliers promise fulfilled solutions but varying levels of satisfaction depending on
their ability and how the customers evaluate their promised services. However,
positioning of the sort after solution (service or product) require the business to
understand the customer needs and also know what the other (competitors) are
offering to be sure that their promise is better and in line with customer needs.
Customers are looking for certain brands of products which can guarantee
satisfaction. Like Kotler & Keller (2016) puts it, no company can win if products or
services they offer are like any others being offered by others. This means that
winning in business requires offering unique but needed services that are seemingly
better in one way or the other. Branding is therefore an art of ensuring positioning
products not only with beauty but that they fulfil the needs with satisfaction needed
by the customers, hence the comparisons and contrasts of what branding is and
should be for firms longing to remain competitive in their target markets.
James Curleigh Discussion of Branding
James Curleigh being the leader of Levi’s (USA) noted that the market is
always changing. Meaning that to remain relevant in providing a service to the
targeted markets, the firm must be able to innovate and cause that change (Tedx
Talks 2014). His experience in the first days with Levi’s was so challenging going by
the number of years the firm had been doing business. However, management
acknowledged and knew where they were and that there was need to know what
was obtaining outside the firm and then focus on what next. The focus therefore
should not be just sorting out the present with the services or positioning the brand in
the present but also look at the future. At the same time the environment, the
consumers and the competitors are changing. There are also new entrants of
competitors that come with different levels of competition making it even more
challenging. To make things better, the company must be the driver of the needed