Chapter 11 ♦ Developing and Managing Products 1
CHAPTER 11 Developing and Managing Products
This chapter begins with the learning outcome summaries, followed by a set of lesson plans for you to use
to deliver the content in Chapter 11.
• Lecture (for large sections) on page 3
• Company Clips (video) on page 4
• Group Work (for smaller sections) on page 5
Review and Assignments begin on page 6
Review questions
Application questions
Application exercise
Ethics exercise
Video assignment
Case assignment
Great Ideas for Teaching Marketing from faculty around the country begin on page 15
Chapter 11 ♦ Developing and Managing Products 2
LEARNING OUTCOMES
11-1 Explain the importance of developing new products and describe the six categories of new
products
New products are important to sustain growth and profits and to replace obsolete items. New products can be
classified as new-to-the-world products (discontinuous innovations), new product lines, additions to existing product
lines, improvements or revisions of existing products, repositioned products, or lower-priced products. To sustain or
increase profits, a firm must innovate.
11-2 Explain the steps in the new-product development process
First, a firm forms a new-product strategy by outlining the characteristics and roles of future products. Then new–
product ideas are generated by customers, employees, distributors, competitors, vendors, and internal R&D
personnel. Once a product idea has survived initial screening by an appointed screening group, it undergoes business
analysis to determine its potential profitability. If a product concept seems viable, it progresses into the development
phase, in which the technical and economic feasibility of the manufacturing process is evaluated. The development
phase also includes laboratory and use testing of a product for performance and safety. Following initial testing and
refinement, most products are introduced in a test market to evaluate consumer response and marketing strategies.
Finally, test market successes are propelled into full commercialization. The commercialization process involves
starting up production, building inventories, shipping to distributors, training a sales force, announcing the product
to the trade, and advertising to consumers.
11-3 Understand why some products succeed and others fail
Despite the amount of time and money spent on developing and testing new products, a large proportion of new
product introductions fail. Products fail for a number of reasons. Failure can be a matter of degree—absolute failure
occurs when a company cannot recoup its development, marketing, and production costs, while relative product
failure occurs when the product returns a profit but fails to achieve sales, profit, or market share goals.
11-4 Discuss global issues in new-product development
A marketer with global vision seeks to develop products that can easily be adapted to suit local needs. The goal is
not simply to develop a standard product that can be sold worldwide. Smart global marketers also look for good
product ideas worldwide.
11-5 Explain the diffusion process through which new products are adopted
The diffusion process is the spread of a new product from its producer to ultimate adopters. Adopters in the
diffusion process belong to five categories: innovators, early adopters, the early majority, the late majority, and
laggards. Product characteristics that affect the rate of adoption include product complexity, compatibility with
existing social values, relative advantage over existing substitutes, visibility, and “trialability.” The diffusion process
is facilitated by word-of-mouth communication and communication from marketers to consumers.
11-6 Explain the concept of product life cycles
All brands and product categories undergo a life cycle with four stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.
The rate at which products move through these stages varies dramatically. Marketing managers use the product life–
cycle concept as an analytical tool to forecast a product’s future and devise effective marketing strategies.
TERMS
brainstorming
growth stage
product development
business analysis
innovation
product life cycle (PLC)
commercialization
introductory stage
screening
Chapter 11 ♦ Developing and Managing Products 3
concept test
maturity stage
simulated (laboratory) market testing
decline stage
new product
simultaneous product development
development
new-product strategy
test marketing
diffusion
product category
LESSON PLAN FOR LECTURE
Brief Outline and Suggested PowerPoint Slides:
Learning Outcomes and Topics
PowerPoint Slides
LO1 Explain the importance of developing new
products and describe the six categories of new
products
11-1 The Importance of New Products
1: Developing and Managing Products
2: Learning Outcomes
3: Learning Outcomes
4: The Importance of New Products
5: Categories of New Products
LO2 Explain the steps in the new-product development
process
11-2 The New-Product Development Process
6: The New-Product Development Process
7: New Product Success Factors
8: New-Product Strategy
9: Exhibit 11.1: New-Product Development Process
10: Idea Generation
11: Approaches for New Product Development
12: Screening
13: Business Analysis
14: Development
15: Simultaneous Product Development
16: Test Marketing
17: Costs of Test Marketing
18: Alternatives to Test Marketing
19: Commercialization
LO3 Understand why Some Products Succeed and
Others Fail
11-3 Why Some Products Succeed and Others
Fail
20: Why Some Products Succeed and Others Fail
21: Product Failure
22: New-Product Success Factors
LO4 Discuss global issues in new-product
development
11-4 Global Issues in New-Product
Development
23: Global Issues in New-Product Development
24: Global Marketing Questions
LO5 Explain the diffusion process through which new
products are adopted
11-5 The Spread of New Products
25: The Spread of New Products
26: Diffusion
27: Categories of Adopters
28: Product Characteristics and the Rate of Adoption
29: Marketing Implications of the Adoption Process
Chapter 11 ♦ Developing and Managing Products 4
Learning Outcomes and Topics
PowerPoint Slides
LO6 Explain the concept of product life cycles
11-6 Product Life Cycles
30: Product Life Cycles
31: Product Life Cycle
32: Exhibit 11.2: Four Stages of the Product Life Cycle
33: Exhibit 11.3: Product Life Cycles for Styles,
Fashions, and Fads
34: Introductory Stage
35: Growth Stage
36: Maturity Stage
37: Decline Stage
38: Exhibit 11.4: Relationships between the Diffusion
Process and the Product Life Cycle
39: Chapter 11 Video
Suggested Homework:
• The end of this chapter contains assignments on the GaGa’s Inc. video or the America Online case.
• This chapter’s online study tools include flashcards, visual summaries, practice quizzes, and other resources that
can be assigned or used as the basis for longer investigations into marketing.
LESSON PLAN FOR VIDEO
Company Clips
Segment Summary: GaGa’s Inc.
Jim King and his wife discuss how they decided to create the company GaGa’s Inc. using the product Sherbetter.
The line expanded from just Lemon to several other flavors as well as Sherbetter bars, the struggles of branding, line
extension, and other aspects of the frozen dessert market.
These teaching notes combine activities that you can assign students to prepare before class, that you can do in class
before watching the video, that you can do in class while watching the video, and that you can assign students to
complete as assignments after watching the video class.
During the viewing portion of the teaching notes, stop the video periodically where appropriate to ask students the
questions or perform the activities listed on the grid. You may even want to give the students the questions before
starting the video and have them think about the answer while viewing the segment. That way, students will be
engaged in active viewing rather than passive viewing.
PRE-CLASS PREP FOR YOU:
PRE-CLASS PREP FOR YOUR STUDENTS:
• Preview the Company Clips video segment for
Chapter 11. This exercise reviews concepts for LO1,
LO2, LO5, and LO6
• Review your lesson plan.
• Make sure you have all of the equipment needed to
show the video to the class, including the DVD and a
way to project the video.
• You can also stream the video HERE
• Have students review and familiarize themselves
with the following terms and concepts: types of new
products, new-product development process, spread
of new product, and product life cycles.
• Ask students to review the section on test marketing
and think about what U.S. cities might fit the
qualifications of a good test market.
VIDEO REVIEW EXERCISE
ACTIVITY
Chapter 11 ♦ Developing and Managing Products 5
Warm Up
Begin by asking students, “What is a product and why are products important?”
While students respond, write the following on the board: New products are important to sustain
growth, increase revenues and profits, and replace obsolete items.
In-class
Preview
• Review the six categories of new products: new–to–the-world; new product lines; additions to
existing product lines; improvements to existing products; repositioned products; and lower–
priced products.
• Discuss Exhibit 11.1, New–Product Development Process with the class.
• Review Exhibit 11.2, Four Stages of the Product Life Cycle. Discuss the product life cycle
with students, soliciting from them examples of products for each life cycle stage.
• Review the Company Clips questions below with students and encourage them to keep the
questions in mind while viewing the video.
Viewing
(Solutions
below.)
1. What type of new product is GaGa’s Sherbetter? Why?
2. What stage in the Product Life Cycle does it seem that GaGa’s is in? Explain.
Follow-up
• Divide students into groups of three to five, and have them propose a new product or service
for Kodak. Have them discuss and write a brief report on 1) the product category in which the
new product/service belongs; 2) how, specifically, they would develop the product; and 3)
how they would encourage adoption of that product.
• Discuss with the class why Kodak has recently struggled.
• Ask students for suggestions on what Kodak can do regain its success. Ask students to defend
their answers with terms relating to the material of the chapter. This can also be done in small
groups.
• If you had students write answers to the viewing questions, give them a few minutes after
viewing to finish their work. You can collect their responses as an in-class quiz.
Solutions for Viewing Activities:
1. What type of new product is GaGa’s Sherbetter? Why?
2. What stage in the Product Life Cycle does it seem that GaGa’s is in? Explain.
LESSON PLAN FOR GROUP WORK
In most cases, group activities should be completed after some chapter content has been covered, probably in the
second or third session of the chapter coverage. (See “Lesson Plan for Lecture” above.)
• For “Class Activity: Generating and Screening New Product Ideas,” provide the information and the
questions asked by the class activity.
• Application questions 1, 2, 3, and 5 lend themselves well to group work. For those activities, divide the
class into small groups of four or five people. Each group should read the question and then use their
textbooks, or any work completed previously, to perform the exercise. Then each group should discuss or
present their work to the class.
Chapter 11 ♦ Developing and Managing Products 6
Class Activity – Generating and Screening New Product Ideas
In the Class Activity in Chapter 1, students were asked to consider the range of marketing activities that a small
manufacturer of tennis racquets would undertake. Now the class should assume that the tennis racket manufacturer
has been very successful in manufacturing and marketing a single line of inexpensive tennis racquets, aimed at
beginners and casual players.
The manufacturer’s current distribution channel is through large discount retailers, such as Kmart and Walmart.
Recently three major sporting goods chains also began to carry the racquets. The company puts most of its
promotion budget into sales promotion to the retailers and into in-store displays. The competitive advantage for this
company is its low price for good, sturdy tennis racquets.
The company wishes to expand its operations, either with new products or in new customer markets.
1. What are some possible new products for this company?
2. Do these products fit the company’s image? Does the firm have the technological or production expertise
needed for these products?
3. If a product is introduced and fails, what effect will the failure have on the company and its other products?
REVIEW AND ASSIGNMENTS FOR CHAPTER 11
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. List the advantages of simultaneous product development.
Advantages of simultaneous product development include shortening the development process, reduced costs,
2. What are the major disadvantages to test marketing and how might they be avoided?
Test marketing is very expensive, as the product has to go into production, complete with packaging,
3. Describe some products whose adoption rates have been affected by complexity, compatibility, relative
advantage, observability, and/or trialability.
Although students’ answers will vary, they should address some of the following points. Computers were slow
4. What type of adopter behavior do you typically follow? Explain.
Each student will be different, but most may be early adopters as it is often a trait of the young or educated.
Chapter 11 ♦ Developing and Managing Products 7
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
1. How many new products can you identify? Visit the supermarket and make a list of at least 15 items with
the word new on the label. Include on your list anything that looks like a new product. Next to each item
on your list, write the category of new product that best describes the item. Share your results with the
class.
2. New entertainment products aren’t necessarily media products. Form a team of three to four students
and brainstorm new non-media entertainment products. Try to identify one item for each of the
categories of new products discussed in the chapter.
Student answers will vary.
3. You are a marketing manager for Nike. Your department has come up with the idea of manufacturing a
baseball bat for use in colleges around the nation. Assuming you are in the business analysis stage, write
a brief analysis based on the questions in the “Business Analysis” section of the chapter.
4. How could information from customer orders at http://www.pizzahut.com help the company’s marketers
plan product developments?
When customers order, they might suggest new product ideas or ask for an item that does not currently exist.
5. In small groups, brainstorm ideas for a new wet-weather clothing line. What type of product would
potential customers want and need? Prepare and deliver a brief presentation to your class.
6. Visit http://pg.com and look at the brands it offers around the world. What conclusions can you draw
about Procter &Gamble’s global new-product development strategy?
Procter & Gamble has a highly global presence; 35 countries have Web site links off the PG.com site. P&G
8. What is Cheerios doing to compete successfully in the maturity stage? Go to its Web site,
http://www.cheerios.com, to find out.
Chapter 11 ♦ Developing and Managing Products 8
APPLICATION EXERCISE
A simple statistical analysis will help you better understand the types of new products. As in the Application
Exercise in Chapter 6, you will be using print advertisements, but you will also be adding information from other
sources (TV ads, trips to the store, and the like).
Activities
1. Compile a list of 100 new products. If you are building a portfolio of ads (see the Application Exercise in
Chapter 6), you can generate part of this list as you collect print advertisements for the topics in this
chapter. Consider tabulating television ads for new products that are aired during programs you normally
watch. A trip to the grocery could probably yield your entire list, but then your list would be limited to
consumer products.
2. Make a table with six columns labeled as follows: new–to-the-world products, new product line, addition to
existing product line, improvement/revision of existing product line, repositioned product, and lower-priced
product.
3. Place each of your 100 new products into one of the six categories. Tabulate your results at the bottom of
each column. What conclusions can you draw from the distribution of your products? Consider adding your
results together with the rest of the class to get a larger and more random sample.
Purpose: This exercise is designed to show a distribution curve of new products on the market and to confirm that
most new products are modifications of existing products.
Setting It Up: In the book, the students are assigned to compile a list of 100 new products, a feat easily
accomplished by a trip to the supermarket and the mall. They are to create their own distribution curve. You can use
this exercise as an individual assignment (as just described), or as a group assignment with an entire class as the
introduction to the chapter (as described below).
This exercise was inspired by the following Great Idea in Teaching Marketing:
Karen Stewart
Richard Stockton, College of New Jersey
NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
To help introduce the concept of new product development, I ask students to bring either a new product to class or
an ad for a new product. Students are then asked to share with the class this new product idea. In addition to
describing this new item, students must also indicate whether the product represents:
(a) a new-to-the-world product (10% of all new products introduced each year)
(b) a new product line (20% of all new products)
(c) an addition to existing product lines (26% of all new products)
(d) an improvement or revision of existing products (26% of all new products)
(e) a repositioned product (7% of all new products)
(f) a lower-cost product (account for about 11% of all new products)
From this it is evident that the textbook authors are correct when they state that most new products are either
additions to existing product lines or improvements or revisions of existing products. We then talk about the reasons
for this pattern. I also ask the students to indicate whether they believe their new product will be among the few new
product ideas that are truly successful. This provides a good opportunity to address why companies spend a
considerable amount of time and effort developing new products even though the chances of success are small. We
can then discuss the new product development process and the factors which contribute to new product success and
product failure.
Chapter 11 ♦ Developing and Managing Products 9
ETHICS EXERCISE
One source of new-product ideas is competitors. Steven Fischer recently joined Frankie and Alex Specialty Products
as a brand manager. His new boss told him, “We don’t have a budget for new-product development. We just
monitor our competitors’ new-product introductions and offer knockoffs of any that look like they will be
successful.”
1. Is this practice ethical?
One way that companies can define themselves is by the business strategy they follow. For example, a company
can be an innovator, or a quick follower of innovations. Being a quick follower, or offering your own version of
2. Does the AMA Statement of Ethics address this issue? Go to http://www.marketingpower.com and
review the statement. Then write a brief paragraph on what the AMA Statement of Ethics contains that
relates to knock-off products.
The AMA Statement of Ethics does not explicitly discuss piracy and knock-offs. It does, however, directly
VIDEO ASSIGNMENT: GaGa’s Inc.
1. 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
2. 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
3. What category of new product does the new Coconut Sherbetter pint fall under?
a. Repositioned product
b. Improvement on an existing product
c. Addition to an existing product line
d. New product line
4. Sherbetter takes some explaining because it isn’t ice cream and it isn’t sherbet. Which product characteristic is
this that might affect how quickly people adopt Sherbetter?
a. Complexity
b. Compatibility
c. Observability
d. Trialability
5. At which stage 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
Chapter 11 ♦ Developing and Managing Products 11
6. Because GaGa’s Inc. is such a small business, it could be said that their sampling system is a way of using
Rhode Island as a business analysis opportunity..
a. True
b. False
7. Based on what you saw in this video, GaGa’s is aiding the diffusion process by communicating directly with
potential adopters, particularly the early adopters.
a. True
b. False
8. In what stage of the PLC is Sherbetter?
a. Introduction
b. Growth
c. Maturity
d. Decline
CASE ASSIGNMENT: America Online
It has been more than a decade since America Online (AOL) has been even a minor player in the Internet world.
However, in an effort to reposition itself as an online heavyweight, AOL recently unveiled Alto, a new product that
it hopes will revolutionize e-mail. In general, nearly all e-mail platforms have the same layout. In Alto, the e-mail
inbox list is located on a small vertical column on the left third of the page, while the other two-thirds of the page
are occupied by what AOL calls “stacks.” Messages and multimedia are instantly categorized and sorted into visual
stacks according to their content. Daily deals, social notifications, business transactions, photos, and attachments
each have their own stacks, and users can create their own customized stacks as well. Instead of a bloated inbox,
then, Alto provides a simplified, organized, visually dominated e-mail experience.
Alto does not require users to sign up for yet another new e-mail address (though the option to create a new
@altomail.com address is available). Instead, users can simply sign into Alto using their existing credentials for
Gmail, Yahoo, .me, and other accounts. According to David Temkin, AOL’s senior vice president of mobile and
mail, Alto is fully intended to be a disruptive and innovative product in market that has grown somewhat
complacent. As Temkin says, “Email hasn’t had a serious rethink really since Gmail came out. We wanted to take a
swing at that and not be tethered by the existing 20 million or so people using AOL Mail.” Early reviews of Alto are
quite positive, though the product certainly faces an uphill battle in the crowded e-mail market.
Chapter 11 ♦ Developing and Managing Products 12
Adam Bluestein, “AOL’s Alto Reimagines the Email Experience with a Twitter, Pinterest, Gmail Mashup,” Fast
Company, October 18, 2012, www.fastcompany.com/3001755/aols-alto-reimagines-email-experience-twitter–
pinterest-gmail-mashup (Accessed March 26, 2013); Caitline McGarry, “AOL’s Alto Adds Visual Organization to
E-mail,” PCWorld, October 18, 2012, www.pcworld.com/article/2012220/aol-s-alto-adds-visual-organization-to-e-
mail.html (Accessed March 26, 2013); Julianne Pepitone, “AOL Unveils Alto, an Email Service that Syncs 5
Accounts,” CNN, October 18, 2012, http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/18/technology/aol-alto-email/index.html
(Accessed March 26, 2013).
TRUE/FALSE
1. Even though America Online has been in the email business for decades, Alto represents a new product.
2. Alto has successfully passed the commercialization stage.
3. America Online engages in simultaneous product development, meaning that it works to improve AOL Mail and
Alto at the same time
4. The early majority is likely to collect more information about Alto than early adopters, thereby extending the
adoption process.
5. AOL’s marketing for Alto will likely need to change over time because a message developed for and targeted
toward early adopters will not be perceived similarly by late majority adopters.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which of the following types of new product best represents Alto?
a.
New–to-the-world.
b.
New product line.
c.
Addition to an existing product line.
d.
Repositioned product.
e.
Lower-priced product.
2. If America Online wants Alto to be successful, it should do all of the following except:
a.
Get every aspect of the product development process right.
b.
Exercise strong leadership.
c.
Listen to customers carefully.
d.
Make a commitment to new-product development.
e.
All of these.
3. The first 2.5 percent of customers to start using Alto are known as:
a.
Forerunners.
b.
Pioneers.
c.
Visionaries.
d.
Trendsetters.
e.
Innovators.
4. Which of the following factors speaks to Alto’s trialability?
a.
Alto is designed to revolutionize email.
b.
Users can log into Alto using their existing email accounts.
c.
Alto allows consumers to take control of their email marketing.
d.
Twenty million people use AOL Mail.
e.
Early reviews of Alto are quite positive.
5. Email is currently in which stage of the product life cycle?
a.
Introduction.
b.
Growth.
c.
Stabilization.
d.
Maturity.
e.
Decline.
Chapter 11 ♦ Developing and Managing Products 14
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level II Comprehension
Chapter 11 ♦ Developing and Managing Products 15
Great Ideas for Teaching Chapter 11
James S. Cleveland, Sage College of Albany
DISCUSSION BOARD TOPICS TO ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION
Discussion board questions provided to students to encourage them to engage in thinking and writing about the
content of the Principles of Marketing course usually take the form of a provocative statement to which students are
asked to respond. An example of this would be “All PR is good PR.”
Discussion topics such as this one are abstract and often require that the instructor provide an initial reply to show
students what is expected of them in their own replies. For students with limited work experience, this approach may
be quite appropriate. For adult students with extensive experience as employees and consumers, however, the
abstract nature of such topics can be frustrating.
I have developed, therefore, a series of discussion board questions to use with experienced, adult students. These
questions are designed to encourage them to use their experiences as employees and consumers as doorways to
better understand the course material, and to make their own responses more interesting to themselves and to the
other students in the class who will read and comment on them.
Each question has three parts:
1. First, there is a sentence or two from the students’ textbook introducing the topic. By using the text author’s
own words, students are enabled to locate relevant material in the text more easily, the text content is
reinforced, and confusion resulting from use of variant terms or expressions is minimized.
2. Second, there is a reference to text pages the students should review before proceeding. Since the goal of the
exercise is for students to apply the course content to their own experiences, reviewing the content first is
important.
3. Third, there is a request for the students to think about or remember some specific situation in their experiences
to which they can apply the text material, and a question or questions for them to address in their replies.
Here are additional such discussion board questions developed for Chapter 11 of MKTG10. Each is written to fit the
same text cited above but could easily be rewritten and revised to fit another text.
Series A
1. An innovation is a product perceived as new by a potential adopter. Diffusion is the process by which the
adoption of an innovation spreads. There are five categories of adopters: innovators, early adopters, early
majority, late majority, and laggards. You will fall into a different category of adopter depending on the type of
product involved.
2. Review how new products spread in section 11–4a of your text.
3. Then choose a product that you have recently adopted. Which category of adopter are you for that product? Do
you fall into a different category for a different type of product? Give an example.
Series B
1. The PLC is a bioglogical metaphor that traces the stages of a product’s acceptance, from its introduction (birth)
to its decline (death).
2. Review the stages of the product life cycle in section 11-5 of your text.
3. Suggest an example of a product in each stage of the product life cycle. Explain your examples. Which of these
products do you own? What does this suggest about the type of adopter you are?
Chapter 11 ♦ Developing and Managing Products 16
Deborah Reed Scarfino, William Jewell College
A PROJECT TO FAIL
I have used the project, “Create a Product, Good, or Service That Will Fail,” to instill or recharge creativity in my
students.
We spend the first half of the semester understanding the concepts, working on case studies and analyzing material
to make recommendations to improve the existing situation or resolve problems that pose challenges. There are no
real textbook answers to some of these cases, and that alone creates personal frustration to some students. Thinking
beyond the textbook is a foreign challenge to many of my students who have successfully completed courses where
memorization made all the difference. The world of marketing is multifaceted and offers unending challenges that
require creative thinking to make a difference.
In the second half of the course, I offer the challenge to design a product, good, or service idea that will fail in the
marketplace. The class evaluates the ideas after oral presentations. Those that truly fail get the best grades. The
results of this assignment are often humorous and ridiculous but very creative. The students initially complain about
how hard it is—but in the end, some exceptional ideas are evaluated. Building a better mousetrap won’t guarantee
success, and such a project drives this message home.
Students who learn that failure is a valuable learning tool and that many great ideas are born from the experience of
failure are well on the road to success. We suffer from stagnant practicality and from the pressure to succeed. This
approach makes it okay to fail and rewards the student who identifies a marketing mix that supports a useless idea
and knows exactly what he is doing. You must truly understand your subject to succeed at this PROJECT TO FAIL!
Chapter 11 ♦ Developing and Managing Products 17
Barbara Ross Wooldridge, The University of Texas at Tyler
PACKING THE POWERFUL P! THE IMPACT PACKAGING HAS ON HOW WE “SEE” PRODUCTS:
A TASTE TEST EXPERIMENT
Most students in an introduction marketing course can easily visualize the role packaging plays in protecting and
facilitating the storage of products, it is not as clear to them the powerful role packing can play in determining how a
consumer views and classifies a product (the promotion aspect). This taste test experiment is designed to graphically
demonstrate how packaging makes us see three very similar products as completely different items.
Exercise Overview
Three products are used in this taste test: KitKat Candy Bars, Sweet Escapes, and Keebler Fudge Sticks. The items
should be cut up into bite-size pieces. Each product is placed in separate bags labeled “A,” “B,” and “C.” Students
are divided into groups of three to five, depending on class size. The groups are given taste test sheets to fill out as a
team. These sheets include the following questions: Which product did you prefer and why did you prefer it? Who is
the target market for the product? What is the name of each product? What price does each sell for (or list most the
expensive to least)? Once these are completed, they are collected and reviewed with the class and the identity of the
products is revealed. Next, the groups are given the ingredient lists for the three products labeled “A,” “B,” and “C”
and are asked to match the product with its ingredients. These sheets are collected and reviewed. Finally, students
are given the nutritional breakdown for each product—standardized—so that each product’s nutritional breakdown
is for the identical serving portion and asked to identify which product goes to which nutritional breakdown. These
are collected and reviewed and how each team fared on the three tasks is reviewed. After the taste test is completed,
the results are discussed as a class.
The Results
What the students discover is that although the three products are all basically chocolate-covered wafers, they are
viewed very differently and sell for very different prices based on packaging. KitKat is packaged individually as a
candy bar, while Fudge Sticks are packaged in a group as cookies, and Sweet Escapes—a cross between a cookie
and a candy bar—are packaged as a group of individually wrapped snacks.. Students tend to be surprised at the fact
that they cannot identify the candy bar, which they perceive as a chocolate bar, by its ingredients.
Benefits to the Student
The taste test allows students to immediately begin to understand the relevance of packaging in determining how
one perceives a product. It also demonstrates how packaging interacts with the price, promotion, and positioning of
a product. Additionally, it allows them to apply their own experience to the material presented in class lectures. This
exercise has a side benefit as it exposes students to taste tests as a form of marketing research. Most importantly it
forces students from a passive state of learning to participatory learning. A good follow-up is to ask them to try to
find their own examples.
Conclusion
This exercise, depending on class size, takes some time to create the tasting samples but does not require a lot of
preparation time. Students tend to really enjoy it because the results surprise them. It’s also a painless way to get
students to take an active part class.
Michelle DeMoss, Stetson University
DID YOU MEAN TO THROW THAT AWAY?
Proponents of marketing state that a market-driven economy allows for more choices, better products, and lower
prices. Critics claim that marketing promotes materialism and a throw–away culture. Is it possible to live in a society
that embraces the benefits of marketing yet reduces the costs? From a sustainable marketing perspective, practices
that encourage reusing, recycling, and reducing materials may provide the answer. Yet the question remains as to
whether consumers and marketers are using or are willing to adopt these practices.
This exercise encourages students to examine the impact of their consumption decisions on the environment around
them. Students are asked to become aware of decisions concerning how they dispose of marketing-related items and
how they make these decisions. Specifically, students are asked to:
1. Write down everything they throw away in one week. (Note: The typical American generates 4.39 pounds
of garbage a day.)
2. Specify whether it was a durable product; nondurable product; or promotional message/mailer, package,
or some other marketing-related item.
3. Assess whether they could alter the item in order to reuse, recycle, or reduce waste.
4. Write down what, if any, impact this experience has had on their perceptions and attitudes during this
week.
Discussion should center on any shift in students’ perspectives concerning the impact of their consumption
processes in their community. Specifically, students should be encouraged to explore how sustainable their
consumption behavior is in the long term. Are these choices encouraging marketers to implement sustainable
marketing practices?