After examining customer value–driven marketing strategy, we now take a deeperlook at the marketing mix: the tactical tools that marketers use to implement their strategies, engage customers, and deliver superior customer value. In this and the next chapter, wewill study how companies develop and manage products, services, 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.

To dig a little deeper into the question of what is a product, we begin by looking at GoPro. You may never have heard of GoPro, the fast-growing company that makes tiny, wearable HD video cameras. Yet few brands can match the avid enthusiasm and loyalty that GoPro has created in the hearts and minds of its customers. GoPro knows that, deep down, its products are much more than just durable little cameras. More than that, it gives customers a way to share action-charged moments and emotions with friends.