164 CHAPTER9POSITIONINGPRODUCTSTHROUGH THELIFECYCLE
description states the product idea, the target market, and the competition, along with
a rough estimate of the market size, product price, development time and costs, man-
ufacturing costs, and rate of return. The new-product committee then reviews each
idea against criteria such as: Does the product meet a need? Would it offer superior
value? Will the new product deliver the expected sales volume, sales growth, and
profit? The ideas that survive this screening move on to the concept development
stage.Concept Development
Aproduct ideais a possible product the company might offer to the market. In con-
trast, a product conceptis an elaborated version of the idea expressed in meaningful
consumer terms. A product idea can be turned into several concepts by asking: Who
will use this product? What primary benefit should this product provide? When will
people consume or use this product? By answering such questions, a company can
often form several product concepts, select the single most promising concept, and
create a product-positioning mapfor it. Figure 3-9 shows the positioning of a product
concept, a low-cost instant breakfast drink, compared to other breakfast foods already
on the market.
Next, the product concept has to be turned into a brand concept.To transform the
concept of a low-cost instant breakfast drink into a brand concept, the company must
decide how much to charge and how calorific to make its drink. Figure 3-9 shows a
brand-positioning mapthat reflects the positions of three instant breakfast drink brands.
The gaps on this map indicate that the new brand concept would have to be distinctive
in the medium-price, medium-calorie market or the high-price, high-calorie market.Figure 3-8 The New-Product-Development Decision Process