Commentary: A Strategic Execution Process for Launching New Products
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/10610429310039740 |
| Date | 01 February 1993 |
| Pages | 18-32 |
| Published date | 01 February 1993 |
| Author | Stephen M. Verba |
| Subject Matter | Marketing |
JOURNAL OF
PRODUCT & BRAND
MANAGEMENT
Commentary: A
Strategic
Execution Process
for
Launching
New
Products
Stephen M. Verba
Those charged with the responsibility of
bringing new products and services from
the information and high technology
industries to market labor under
especially difficult conditions. While the
launch of any new product or service is
daunting, most efforts in high technology
marketing must also deal with a
management view shaped largely by
traditional marketing theory developed
primarily for marketing packaged goods.
Not only has most of upper management
been influenced this way, but the entire
support infrastructure, from consultants
to market researches to advertisement
agencies, have adopted similar
perspectives. It is the position of this
article that marketing management in
high technology industries is as much a
victim of the flaws in those views as it is
of intractable target audiences, and that
new paradigms, processes and techniques
are needed to improve the odds of
success.
The argument that marketing new
information products and services
requires updated approaches in both
management and support services stems
from three factors. First, in many cases
marketers of high technology products
and services are launching not only a
new product, but often a new category.
This compounds the introduction
problems by an order of magnitude
because consumers much come to grips
with both the nature of the product or
service as well as the merits of a
particular brand. Thus, high technology
marketers must often bear the double
burden of both consumer marketing and
consumer education.
Second, information is the most
intangible of offerings; it has no intrinsic
value without some meaning being
attached to it. Unfortunately, it is very
easy for consumers and management to
tell each other agreeable "stories" about
what information is desired. What
consumers say about information
products and services, and what
management wants to hear are almost
Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 2 No. 2, 1993, pp. 18-32,
© MCB University Press.
1061-0421.
18
To continue reading
Request your trial