Launching the Product

LEARNING OUTCOMES

 Explain the process to create and commercialize new

products

 develop appropriate strategies for launching new

products to meet real world challenges

 Product Launch
• A product launch refers to a business’s
planned and coordinated effort to debut a
new product to the market and make that
product generally available for purchase.
 Strategic Launch Planning
• Strategic Launch Decisions
• Tactical Launch Decisions
 What should be tactical strategy
for launch of Tea Tablets
• Product tactics
• Pricing
• Promotions
• Distribution
 Market Launch Plan
1. The market launch plan is treated as a key part of the new products
process, as central to this process as the development phase.
2. Planning for the market launch begins early in the new products
process
3. The market launch plan is based on good-quality market
intelligence that has been gathered throughout the new products
process.
4. Sufficient human and financial resources are devoted to the market
launch.
5. Salespeople, technical support people, and other customer service
people who are engaged in the product launch should be part of the
new product team.
Example- New Product Launch plan
for FMCG
• ECO Planning
• Volume Planning
• Sampling Planning
• Stock Planning
• Visibility Planning
• Capability Planning
 ECO Planning
Effective Coverage Planning
In how many shops we want to place our
products
Target- 50%
Salesman Beats Outlets
Aditya Jalandhar Town 50
Jalandhar Cantt 30
Chaheru 10
Maheru 5
Deep Nagar 15
Total 155
Salesman Beats Outlets Beat Outlet New
Name product
Aditya Jalandhar 50
to be
Town
billed
Jalandhar 30 Jalandhar Daily Y
Cantt Town stores
Chaheru 10
Maheru 5 Mahesh Y
Kirana
Deep 15
Nagar
ABC N
Total 155 Medicos

Tasty N
Bakery
Salesman Beats Outlets Placement Targ
Aditya Jalandhar Town 50
Jalandhar Cantt 30
Chaheru 10
Maheru 5
Deep Nagar 15
Total 110
 Volume Planning
• Volume at each outlet based on class of outlet

Salesman Outlet Class Number of outlets Volume Pieces- Min sell in Total Quantity
Aditya A 20 12 240
B 20 6 120
C 18 3 54
58 21 414
 Volume Planning
• For entire sale team

Outlet class Number of outlets Volume Pieces- Min sell in Total Quantity 2 Week Stock
A 100 12 1200 2400
B 100 6 600 1200
C 300 2 600 1200
Total 500 20 2400 4800
 Volume Planning

Outlet class Number of outlets Volume Pieces- Min sell in Total Quantity 2 Week Stock
A 100 12 1200 2400
B 100 6 600 1200
C 300 2 600 1200
Total 500 20 10000 20000
 Sampling Plan

Outlet Class Sampling Size Outlets Total Quantity

A 2 100 200
B 1 100 100
C 0 300 0
3 500 300
 Stock Planning

Outlet ClassOutlets Total Sampl2 QWeek Stock

Total Volume
A 100 200 2400 2600
B 100 100 1200 1300
C 300 0 1200 1200
500 300 4800 5100
 Visibility Planning
• Setting up windows, poster, counter tops
• According to class of outlet
 Visibility Planning
Outlet Class Outlets Windows (Top 50)
A and B 2 Per Danglers 1 per Counter tops
outlet, C 1 per outlet
outlet

A 100 50 200 100 50

B 100 200 100
C 300 300 300
500 50 700 500 50
 Capability Planning
• Train the sales team on:
• Product features and benefits
• Margin, schemes, retailer profit
• Where to place?
• How much to place?
• How to use visibility element?
• Media support
• How to handle retailer objections?
 Strategic Platform Decisions
• Type of demand sought
• Permanence
• Aggressiveness
• Competitive Advantage
• Product Line Replacement
• Competitive Relationship
• Scope of Market Entry
• Image
What We Mean by Launch
Management
• Launch management lasts until the new
product has finished its assault on given
objectives
• Comparing a NASA space capsule to a
youngster’s slingshot.
• NASA scientists launch guided space capsules,
not unguided slingshot rocks.
• Not having in-flight corrective powers, the
youngster simply runs
• Whether it is a NASA rocket launch or a new
product launch, the post-launch assessment
has the same basic purpose: to learn from the
experience, and to correct mistakes

• A good tracking systems make successful

launching of new products more likely
 GAP ANALYSIS MATRIX
• A gap analysis is process that compares actual
performance or results with what was
expected or desired.

• There are five major areas in the gap analysis

matrix that can be measured and compared to
the expected plan
• First, market window accuracy should be
measured
• Second is executive support
• Next, the business case should be validated
• Sales preparedness is also checked
• The extent of cross-functional alignment
should be considered
 The Launch Management System
• Spot potential problems
• Select those to control
• Develop contingency plans for the control
problems
• Design the tracking system
Step One: Spot Potential Problems
• Four techniques are used to develop the list of
potential problems
– situation analysis
– role-play what competitors will do
– look back over all the data
– hierarchy of effects
 HIERARCHY OF EFFECTS
ATAR-MODEL
• All of the is of 10 weeks' time on the market.
In each case, the firm had to decide whether
there was a problem, what the problem (if
any)
• was, and what to do about it.
Step Two: Select the Control
Events
Expected Effects Matrix for Selection of Control
Events
 Step Three: Develop Contingency
Plans
• “If any of those events actually comes about,
is there anything we can do?”

• For example:
– Competitive price cut
– Competitive product imitation
• For the other events, our planned reaction
depends on the event.
• Let’s take two different types:
– a company failure
– negative buyer action (consumer failure).
 Step Four: Design the Tracking
System
• We now have a set of negative outcomes, for
most of which we have standby contingency
plans ready to go.

• The next step is developing a system that will

tell us when to implement any of those
contingency plans.
• Tracking
• Selecting the Actual Tracking Variables
• Selecting the Trigger Points
• Nontrackable Problems
Three essentials are involved:
•First is the ability to lay the planned trajectory .
What is the expected path?
•What is reasonable, given the competitive
situation, the product’s features.
•The planned marketing efforts?
Questions from a New Product Tracking
Study
 A sample launch management Program

• A small or medium-sized industrial firm that is

marketing a unique electrical measuring
instrument.
• The device must be sold to the general-purpose
(i.e., factory) market, whereas past company
products have been sold primarily to the
scientific R&D market.
• The firm has about 60 salespeople, but its
resources are not large.
Potential Problem 1

Salespeople fail to contact general-

purpose market at prescribed rate
Potential Problem 2
Salespeople may fail to understand how
the new feature of the product relates to
product usage in the general-purpose
market
Potential Problem 3
Potential customers are not making trial
purchases of the product.
Potential Problem 4
Buyers make trial purchase but do not
place quantity reorders.
 Launch Management and
Knowledge Creation
An AAR (After-Action Review) is designed to
capture the events leading up to the product
launch and to try to understand the thinking
behind the actions taken.

AAR practitioners include some of the most

successful innovating firms today, with Harley-
Davidson, Sprint, and Ford among them.
A Sample After-Action Review
Branding and Brand Management
POLL
 What is a brand?
• Many practicing managers refer to a brand as more than that—
as something that has actually created a certain amount of
awareness, reputation, prominence, and so on in the
marketplace.
• We can make a distinction between the AMA definition of a
“brand” with a small b and the industry’s concept of a “Brand”
with a capital b.

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 Brands vs. Products

• A product is anything we can offer to a market for attention,

acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a need or
want.
• A product may be a physical good, a service, a retail outlet, a
person, an organization, a place, or even an idea.

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• A brand is therefore more than a product, as it
can have dimensions that differentiate it in
some way from other products designed to
satisfy the same need.

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 Why do brands matter?
• What functions do brands perform that make
them so valuable to marketers?

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 Can everything be branded?
• Ultimately a brand is something that resides in the
minds of consumers.
• The key to branding is that consumers perceive
differences among brands in a product category.
• Even commodities can be branded.

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 What is branded?
• Physical goods Eg. Coca Cola, Merceded Benz,
Nescafe, Sony etc
• Services Eg. American Express, British Airways,
Fedral Express etc
• Retailers and distributors Eg.Walmart,
Lifestyle, Pantaloon, Marks & Spencer etc
• Online products and services Eg. Craftsvilla,
Caratlane, Lenskart, Pepperfry, UrbanLaddr,
Google etc

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• People and organizations Eg. BJP, UNICEF, Shiv
Sena etc
• Sports, arts, and entertainment Eg:
Manchester United, Battman, Harrypotter etc
• Geographic locations Eg: Las Vegas, Kumbh
etc
• Ideas and causes: Eg: AIDS ribbons, PETA etc

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 Brand Equity
• Brand Equity is the commercial value that derives
from customer perception of the brand name of a
particular product or service rather than from the
product or service itself.

• Strategic Brand Management involves the

design and implementation of marketing
programs and activities to build, measure, and
manage brand equity.
 Packaging
• The Role of Packaging
• The Packaging Decision
POLL
 Product Life Cycle

w th Maturity
ro
G De
c lin
ti o n e
o du c
Intr

A product’s life cycle is the amount of time a business expects the product to
sell for
 Stage 1: Introduction
• Stage 1: Introduction
– Occurs when product first
enters marketplace
– Promoting consumer awareness
– Getting customers to try new product
– Millions of dollars spent to educate consumers
– Major task: getting product in the marketplace
– Examples: Holographic Projection technology,
Virtual reality experiences, self driving vehicles
 Stage 2: Growth
• Stage 2: Growth
– More competitors enter the marketplace
– Adding distribution outlets
– Product improves:
• adding flavors, features, etc.
– Improved to stay competitive
– Sold in more locations
– Tablet PCs, Curved TVs, 100% electric vehicles
 Stage 3: Maturity Stage
• Stage 3: Maturity Stage
– Sales begin to slow down for the product
– Repeat customers stop buying the product
– Attracting new buyers is a challenge
– Product has reached its peak
– Laptops, HD flat screen TVs, gas/hybrid vehicles
 Stage 4: Decline
• Stage 4: Decline
– Sales and profits drop
– Little to no marketing support
– Product may be dropped by company
– There is no longer a demand for the product
– Typewriters, analog TV, Radio etc
Star Wars Product Life Cycle Example

• Introduction-Star Wars released in 1977

• Growth-More movies made from 1st one
• Maturity-Sales slow after third movie
• Decline-High competition, Boredom
Market Entry Strategy
 Manage the Life Cycle
 Product Modification:
 Changing a product’s characteristics
 package, features, appearance, quality
 Companies market this “new” product to increase sales

 Market Modification:
 Strategy to find new customers
 Modify the product to create new target market
 Encourage current customers to use the product more

 Repositioning:
 Change product’s image in relation to competitor’s image
 A change in any of the 4 P’s (Marketing Mix)
 Public Policy Issues

• Concern the relationship between the fi rm

(people, product, whatever) and the citizenry.

• All public pressure situations go through a life

cycle
•
• Why suddenly all firms have started talking
about environment protection, green
marketing, sustainability?
• The fast-food companies have also been under public
scrutiny.

• In 2003, McDonald’s had been sued by parents of obese

teenagers, who felt that their fast-food diet contributed
to their children’s heart disease, diabetes, high
cholesterol, and other conditions.
• Documentry: Supersize Me
• Nevertheless, McDonald’s committed to a “balanced
lifestyles” program in 2004
• The new product that causes unexpected
concern on the public policy front is probably
the result of careless management
 Product Liability

• The scenario here is simple: You buy a product

and are injured.

• How important is product liability?

Case: Cadbury Worm Case
 Typology of Injury Sources

• Many products have inherent risks.

• Design defects
• Defects in manufacture
• Fail to provide adequate instructions for use or
warnings against particular uses
• Dangers sometimes appear after use
 The Four Legal Bases for Product
Liability
• Negligence
• Warranty
• Strict Liability
• Misrepresentation
 POLL
• Which of the following is not a characteristic of
“Market Introduction Stage” in PLC?

A. Demands has to be created

B. Costs are low
C. Makes no money at this stage
D. Slow sales volume to start
E. There is little or no competition
 POLL
• The ultimate objective of the product is
• (A) To provide a new look
• (B) Utilizing existing manpower
• (C) To monopolize the market
• (D) All of the above
 POLL
• _____ is the course of a product's sales and
profits over its lifetime, involving five distinct
stages: product development, introduction,
growth, maturity, and decline.
a.                  Product life cycle
b.                  Maturity
c.                  Growth
d.                  Decline
 POLL
• _____ is a period of market acceptance and
increasing profits.
– a.                  Product development
– b.                  Maturity
– c.                  Growth
– d.                  Introduction