New Product Development Process
Involving Customers
No matter what phenomenal product is made available to the market, it's up to the customers to make it a success. An old case study is that of Coca Cola in 1985, when they introduced *New Coke*. The taste testing results proved positive, everyone loved the new formula of Coke. However, when the product was launched it failed miserably. Why? To the customer it was more than just the flavor, it was the image and everything else the beverage stood for. In their marketing research, Coca Cola failed to acknowledge in their market what drives their customers to choose them over Pepsi.
Another example is briefly mentioned in the video below. Why don't corporations choose Apple computers for the organization? First reason provided: spreadsheets and printer drivers were poorly available. Apple subsequently provides the features that were lacking. Yet most companies still don't choose Apple computers. Reason? This and that and really... same reason as *New Coke*.... it's just not in the culture.
The speaker provides an alternative approach to the situation: offer something else to those who are interested. Coca Cola reinstated their formula and called it *Classic Coke* and instead introduced Cherry Coke which became a hit on its own. And we all know how Apple keeps spinning off it's own creations...
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