Product Validation

Exhibit 11.1   The first moment of truth: Will she pick up the new product and place it in her cart?

“Consumers don’t think how they feel. They don’t say what they think and don’t do as they say.” — David Ogilvy

Consumer goods companies devote considerable time, resource and attention to appeal to the hearts and minds of consumers so that they may powerfully influence them when they seek to find the product, when they initially encounter it, and when they actually experience it. These moments of truth ultimately determine how a new product will perform in the marketplace.

For business marketing firms, it is the touchpoints with their customers that represent their moments of truth. Whether it is the customer’s interaction with the firm’s product or service, or with the employees of the firm, the experiences offer opportunities to build the firm’s brand equity.

The objective of this section is to impart knowledge of the processes and techniques to validate new products. Considering that the incidence of failure of new products is particularly high, stresses the importance of their use to mitigate the risk of failure.

Most of this section is devoted to these validation techniques which are categorized as pre-launch and post-launch. The pre-launch methods include simulated test markets such as BASES, MicroTest, Designor and Assessor, and controlled store tests. Post-launch methods include the TRB Share Prediction model, which is suited for FMCG, and the Bass Diffusion model which is applicable for consumer durables.