After examining customer-driven marketing strategy, we now take a deeper iook at the marketing mix:the tactical tools that marketers use to implement their strategies and deliver superior customer value. In this and the next chapter, we study how companies develop and manage products and brands. Then, in the chapters that follow, we look at pricing, distribution, and marketing communication tools. The product and brand are usually the first and most basic marketing consideration. We start with a seemingly simple question:What is a product? As it turns out,the answer is not so simple.