New Product Development Process

New Product Development Process

Part 1: 

Short Essay: Write a minimum 200 words in response to each of your 3 essay questions using research from your textbook to help substantiate your understanding of products and the new product development process. Apply APA style referencing in your writing.  

1. With regard to consumer appeal, compare and contrast the GaGa’s brand with the Sherbetter name of the product. 

The GaGa brand name was way better than Sherbetter. According to the Kings, the latter was a creative way of saying that their product was just another sherbet, only better than the rest in the market. However, this was clearly a poor branding move as they themselves admitted that their product was neither an ice cream nor a sherbet entirely. Thus, trying to stick to any of the labels in their branding would prove a double edged sword, raising customer expectations and failing to meet them at the same time. It would divide opinions as to whether their product was a sherbet, a good one or even an ice cream. On the other hand, GaGa was King’s grandmother and the originator of the recipe. The use of her name created an emotional connection that would make the brand recognizable in the market as well as unique both in its naming and origins (Lamb et al., 2014). Additionally, the GaGa name could appeal to the customers on the pretext of a celebrity endorsement from Lady Gaga, the famous American singer. Therefore, the GaGa brand name was better overall, though both choices had some relationship with the characteristics of the product. Customers would relate to it more easily and further differentiate it from other products. 

2. Why did Jim King and his wife choose the GaGa’s brand over the use of Sherbetter as the brand of the product? 

The GaGa brand name was selected over Sherbetter for several reasons. In the first instance, the latter gave quite a misleading impression that the product was purely a sherbet. In actual sense, the family was finding it hard to craft it an identity at the time and thus going by the Sherbetter name may have proved erratic in the long run. More importantly, the Gaga name had several superior features to incline on. First, it was the name of King’s grandmother, who first came up with the recipe (Lamb et al., 2014). As such, using the name would be an honor to her status as the original formulator of the recipe. This also creates a good story behind the brand that customers would be happy to relate to, besides creating a sense of emotional attachment. The respect that grandmothers are offered in the society may also be extended in form of brand loyalty by the customer base. Additionally, GaGa sounds better, unique and original unlike Sherbetter which appears as a loose adaptation of the mainstream term “Sherbet”. Customers would find it easy to pronounce Gaga and remember it, as well as differentiate it from any other ice cream or sherbet. In the end, it was the best name for the Kings to go with.

3. Type the following phrase into your website browser: “Gaga Gourmet Frozen Dessert and Ice Cream.” On the results page, identify retailer websites and social media websites that feature the Gaga’s brand and product offerings. Explore these resources and identify a single Gaga Gourmet product offering. Discuss the following topics related to your chosen Gaga Gourmet product offering:

• Product Features
• Product Benefits
• Product Packaging
• Product Labeling
• Trademark

ANSWER:

  There are several results from retail sites where the GaGa Gourmet Sherbet has been featured. Among the significant sample results are Star Market and Rugged Elegance which both feature the product for retail. The company’s main site Gagagourmet.com also features among the top search results. Product features evident upon visiting all the above sites include availability in 7 free flavors including lemon, orange, and raspberry among others. The brief ad on the Rugged Elegance site also features the product history, with the advertiser revealing their personal connection to the product. In this, they explain how the recipe originated from their grandmother and the fact that the original flavor was lemon. Other features of the product highlighted include low caloric content and being gluten free. It also came in a pint or a box with 6 bars restricted within 100 calories. The benefits of the product on the other hand include its healthy nature, suitability for people who are conscious of their health and a large assortment of good flavors. It was also fairly affordable in comparison to other substitute products. The labeling of the product features the words ‘Gaga” and “smooth as ice-cream”. Elsewhere, the trademark name was also GaGa. 

Part 2: Defend Your Answer Challenge: 

Step 1:Highlight your multiple choice answer in yellow. 

Step 2: Write a 100 (or more) word discussion in defense of each of your answers to the multiple choice questions using research from your textbook to help substantiate your understanding of products and the new product development process. Apply APA style referencing in your writing.  

1. What type of consumer product is the Sherbetter bar?

a. Shopping Product

b. Convenience Product

c. Specialty Product

d. Unsought Product

ANSWER:

Specialty products are those that customers seek to buy because of certain unique characteristics or loyalty to a given brand. They are therefore targeted at consumers who seek their properties or those that are accustomed to the brand (Lamb et al., 2014). In this case, the Sherbetter bar was a specialty product because customers were attracted to its unique flavors, history and other characteristics like caloric content. It was also unique in its design, packaging and the trademark. The name and the recipe also had the brand characteristics necessary to gain customer loyalty. This was due to the emotional connection to King’s grandmother. Therefore, the product ticks on both loyalty and uniqueness of a specialty product.

2. When GaGa’s developed Sherbetter Bars, what type of new product was that?

a. Repositioned product

b. Improvement on an existing product

c. Addition to an existing product line

d. New product line

ANSWER:

Sherbetter Bars were a new product at that juncture. This is evident from the various differences it had with their initial product offering. In the first instance, they struggled for identity as they produced ice cream and related flavors. However, upon the release of the Sherbetter Bars, there was a host of new packaging, design and marketing processes that are associated with a new product. It was clearly not a continuation of the old or an improvement to it, as they sought to scale production and boost sales from scratch. The bars were also branded differently and given an identity that was unique in the market.

3. Performing which of the following steps in the new-product development process would have helped Jim King realize that the novelty bars and the pints of Sherbetter would not be shelved together?

a. Business Analysis

b. Development

c. Test Marketing

d. Commercialization

ANSWER:

The appropriate process to undertake would be business analysis. This is the second stage after screening whereby the details of the new product to be developed are delineated. Such details include cost, design, packaging, distribution and the net gains to be expected (Lamb et al., 2014). Thereby, it would be through this analysis that Jim would have realized that pints and bars were not to be shelved together. This would have been due to their design, customer perceptions and many other factors to be revealed through business analysis. The process helps to reveal every detail involved in the new product and thus be able to plan and execute effectively. 

4.  At which stage of the new product development process should GaGa’s have conducted its extensive focus groups and any research it needed before putting GaGa’s Sherbetter on the shelves?

a. Idea Generation

b. Development

c. Idea Screening

d. Business Analysis

ANSWER:

Screening is the initial step where the feasibility of the product is explored. It is the stage where majority of the market research is done to prove that the new product is actually needed in the market and shall serve an evident gap (Lamb et al., 2014). Therefore, focus groups and the market research in relation to the product should have been carried out at this point as it would have justified the entire idea of the project. Market research at the screening stage helps to make a judgment call on whether further resources should be expended in pursuit of the new product. If it was to be carried out at any latter stage like development, resources may have ended up wasted. 

5. In what stage of the new product development process should GaGa’s have introduced Sherbetter and the companies marketing program into the market to gauge consumer reactions?

a. Test Marketing

b. Target Marketing

c. Business Analysis

d. Commercialization

ANSWER: 

Test marketing was the appropriate stage to introduce Sherbetter into the market and engage the company’s entire marketing program. This is because the stage entails the limited production of a product in order to understand customer reactions towards it (Lamb et al., 2014). The stage is thus useful in putting into test the marketing plans of the organization and gauging the market performance of the product. It is like a trial period through which both the product and the marketing strategy can be fairly examined. The stage also offers an opportunity to the management to evaluate how best the marketing mix augments with one another. 

6. In what stage of the product life cycle is Sherbetter?

1. Introduction
2. Growth
3. Maturity
4. Decline

ANSWER:

From the four stages of product life cycle namely introductory, growth, maturity and decline phase, it was apparent that Sherbetter was on the final (decline) stage. It had already been introduced into the market, experienced growth, matured in terms of sales and now was no longer an available brand. The Kings no longer used the name Sherbetter and had exclusively resorted to the use of GaGa as the brand name and there were no chances of its reappearance (Lamb et al., 2014). Even if it emerged again, it was unlikely that it would perform as it did before and thus it’s fair to declare it as a declining product.

References

Lamb, C. W., Hair, J. F., & McDaniel, C. (2014). MKTG7. Mason, OH: Cengage.