Thursday, 22 January 2015

Product Development

Product development is the 6th stage in the New Product Development (NPD) framework. The product development process is a sequence of steps or activities that an enterprise employs to conceive, design, and commercialize a product. (Ulrich and Eppinger, 2012) In this process the organisation decides how to position their product/service in the market. It can also be defined that product development occurs when a concept is converted into a physical offering or when the service is created (Beech & Chadwick, 2007) Product development includes product/service construction, packaging, branding, positioning, attitude and usage testing. Each of these stages is essential to identify the position the product/service has in the market.

T20 Cricket is a new format sport. The increase of speed and the reduction of time introduced a whole new market segment. It targets families, children and teenagers. Through branding T20 cricket, positioned themselves to see how their customers would react to this format. Since the target market reacted very positively they could continue to grow this new format. When T20 started, everyone took it quite lightly as a bit of fun, whereas over the years it's become a very big event and there's a lot of prize money at stake now. (Ramprakash, 2012) Customer satisfaction was calculated through surveys. Fan research was conducted and, ultimately, from a county point of view, Twenty20 cricket was born from that consumer research. (Ramprakash, 2012)

Positioning, branding decision and attitude and usage testing are the three main aspects of product development that will be used for the new sport format.
The target market for this new format is golf players and pool players who like to try new concepts. This sport format is male and female for all ages. Polf is important because it combines the tactics used in golf and pool with enjoyment. A survey has been completed in appendix A, which shows the response from pool and golf players about Polf.  Generally they like the idea of the new format and would participate in this sport. Using a Perceptual Map Golf, Pool and Polf can be directly compared on price and customer satisfaction shown in Appendix B. This they the sport can be positioned against its competitors.
Branding decision include name of new sport format, logo, exclusivity and trademark protection. The name of the new format is Polf, it is easy to remember and simple. A logo has been developed in shown in appendix C. The logo consists of two pool cues and one golf flag, to show the combination between the two sports Golf and Pool. Exclusivity will be created because this sport will not be available everywhere since it is a new format. The trademark such as the logo will help the customer recognize the format.
Attitude and usage testing should identify how satisfied the customers and the customer’s perception of the new sports format.  The customer satisfaction can be seen from the survey and the Perceptual Map in appendix A and B.



References:
Ramprakash, M. (2012). Has Twenty20 changed cricket?. [online] BBC Sport. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/19624160 [Accessed 21 Jan. 2015].
Ulrich, K. and Eppinger, S. (2012). Product design and development. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, p.12.


Appendix

Appendix A: Customer Survey
Customer
1
2
3
4
After hearing what Polf is would you play this new format?
Yes
Yes
I don’t know
Yes
Could you see you playing this new format with your friends just for fun?
Depends
Yes
Maybe sometimes
Yes
Do you think that there was a gap in the market, which is now closed through the new format?
I think it brings a new element to pool.
Yes
In a way, yes.
Yes

Appendix B: Polf’s Perceptual Map





















Appendix C: Polf’s Logo



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