4. The MEM Company traditionally has been chary in relation to advertising expenditures. This approach to advertising and promotion has not harmed sales revenues at the company in past years; however, there are some indications that this situation is changing.

The company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are identified as a means of strengthening the analysis of the strategic alternatives available to the MEM Company. The SWOT analysis is as follows:

a. The company has never discontinued a product line. This factor is a strength because consumers know that they will always be able to obtain a product they prefer. This factor is also a weakness, however, when a product line is a money loser.

b. The company distributes products in all three industry price segments.

c. Consumer recognition of MEM products are high in relation to advertising expenditures. Competitors expend far more on advertising. d. The company's English Leather brand is the highest selling line in most major department store chains.

a. Threefifths of the company's sales are provided by six products marketed under the same brand name English Leather. This approach makes it difficult for the company to move more heavily into other price segments of the

Cosmetics are by and large discretionary products. Thus, retail sales are heavily influenced by both advertising and new product introductions. Product differentiation through advertising is essential in the successful marketing of cosmetics. Cosmetics, however, are relatively recession proof, and demand tends to remain strong even during economic downturns.

A last of significance in the development of product strategy is product positioningwhat place will be sought for the product within the market. Differentiation is one of the principal techniques by which product positioning is accomplished. In the cosmetics industry, pricing is one means of product differentiation. Pricing strategy is the overall task of defining the price range and price movement through the time period required to support the organizational sales and profit objectives, and to support product positioning decisions. Pricing tactics, on the other hand, is the task of setting the specific price levels, together with the conditions for altering the specific prices, for specific products. The initial step that must be taken by a hotel marketing organization in the development of a pricing strategy is the establishing of pricing objectives. Pricing objectives may be categorized as follows:

Zotti, E. "Thinking Psychographically." Public Relations Journal, 41 (May 1985), 2630.

3. Psychographic research generally, and VALS in particular tends toward over simplification. Most individuals simply do not fit precisely into tailored classifications.

Of the many factors that are important in the marketing of products, new product development, product positioning, branding, and promotional