Marketing Project: Marketing process of a “new product”.

Unit 6 : Track 1: Video Case
- Project: Lextant company
Jill Stidd
MT 219

This project is ultimately tailored to explain the marketing process of a “new product”. From our text a new product is stated as, ”The term new product can have more than one meaning. A genuinely new product offers innovative benefits. But products that are different and distinctly better are often viewed as new. The following items are product innovations of the last 30 years: Post-it Notes, fax machines, cell phones, personal computers, PDAs, disposable razors, caller ID, and DVDs. A new product can be an innovative product that has never been sold by any organization, such as the digital camera when it was introduced for the first time. A radically new product involves a complex developmental process, including an extensive business analysis to determine the possibility of success. 6 A new product can also be one that a specific firm is currently launching even though other firms are already producing and marketing similar products. Finally, a product can be viewed as new when it is brought to one or more markets from another market. For example, making the Saturn VUE SUV available in Japan is viewed as a new-product introduction in Japan.” http://kucourses.com/ec/courses/24794/CRSMT2190703a3000308/ReadingPDFs/kaplan_marketing_unit06.pdf , p.166-167

For this report we were to research and evaluate Lextant company’s marketing practices. From the data I collected in my research I saw that they really understands and practices the seven phases of the new product development process. In their “idea generation” stage I feel that they began their process with not only understanding the “what” but deeply know the “why”. It seems their passion around understanding the “why” is where their initial brainstorming idea generating session was about. In the screening process, which is choosing the most promising ideas for further review it was my observation that Lextant was using the screening process throughout the processes of their attention on evaluation the user and the place of usage to the “infinity diagram” they used to place all their data collected. Lextant stressed heavily the concept testing stage which is seeking potential buyers responses to a product idea. They became the apprentice to the buyer and whom they called the “master”. They followed that person around down to the detail of watching how they brushed their teeth, if the product was toothpaste for example. They did not speak to much to the business analysis stage much at all. I did not see how they incorporated their ideas with other departments, however that infinity diagram room was very large with lots of information on it that I am sure included this analysis but it was not included in the video. Lextant seemed to have a solid understanding and implementation of the product development stage in terms of because due to their quantitative evaluation vs qualitative, they also knew that when using a prototype that focus groups might be the best format especially when there is a limited budget. I did not hear much of an opinion about there views on test marketing stage. They are marketing firm therefore setting the stage for the commercialization stage which is deciding on a full scale manufacturing and marking plan and preparing budgets is what their whole process would be in the end result, so I would have to say they were very committed to this stage.

It seemed from both the video and the lecture that this company had a real edge in the commitment to hire such diversity in employees to handle the variety of elements and segmentation that marketing strategies require. This is an excerpt from the lecture as well as said in the video, “Lextant is a Columbus, Ohio, based marketing research firm specializing in the relationship of consumer behavior to design usability. They help companies identify new product ideas, as well as develop product designs and prototypes in both consumer and business markets. One of the things the company does is to observe consumers at the point of actual product usage to gain a better understanding of the product from the consumer’s point of view. “ Lextant’s employees include behavioral scientists and those with backgrounds in cognitive psychology, anthropology, industrial and systems engineering, and other disciplines. They focus on not only products, but also on understanding people and their emotions.” Unit_6_Lecture_2-Lextant[1].doc, reviewed July 14, 2008. I feel that a marketing firm really needs this level of emotional understanding in the mix to understand service marketing and to understand the intangibility characteristic of service as well as Heterogeneity, client based relationships, and customer contact and Lextant defiantly has the diversity to get and understand that level of data.

Lextant certainly had the capacity though the in-depth processes that they used to be able to assist a company in identifying if line extensions, product modification or a new product would be the best choice for the company consider. A new product differentiates itself from the other option of marketing which is managing existing products through line extension which is the development of a product that is closely related to existing products in the line but meets different customer needs or product modification which change one or more characteristics of a product. Product modification could include, Quality modifications are changes relating to a product’s, dependability and durability, functional modifications which changes affecting a product’s versatility, effectiveness, convenience or safety, and lastly aesthetic modifications that changes to the sensory appeal of a product. From the video we saw how they helped the medical staff to see where there product was designed for a single purpose, yet through Lextant’s process of collecting data in concurred that they really needed the same product to do multiple tasks, so adjustments would need to be done to the already established product, excellent example of product modification. If line extensions were what was used then they certainly used the focus to precisely see how to satisfy the needs of the consumers with in the segment. If a new product was needed to be made all the same research and data would lead them to this conclusion and they would have all the supporting data to support the expense and time of creating, designing, and manufacturing, as well as marketing a new product.

The processes that Lextant uses for the collecting data involve working intimately with the consumer. They truly feel that that is the link to knowing the “why” factor that a product is purchased. In the video the call the consumer “the master” because the master holds the key to the information they need. I feel that through that process of working with the consumer at this intimate level that they would already to working in the the adoption process through, awareness, helping the buyer become are of the product, interest, giving the buyer information about the product therefore peeking their interest, The buyer could already be in the evaluation stage buy the first two steps deciding where they might was to purchase this product when it is released, they could even be using a trail version of the product as a prototype during this stage with the market research.

In closing I was very impressed with Lextant company as a marketing, research, and development firm. I think they had an edge that other marketing companies do not have. I feel their passion with the infinity diagram using the post it notes and giving so much time and space to this concept allowing them to immerse themselves in the data to see the patterns reveal themselves to them really sets them apart.