Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning pdf ebook

Dinosaurs are products that have missed their niche, the market has moved on and the 
demand for them has passed. Where product development times are overly long, there 
is a danger that even well-researched products take too long to come to market. By the 
time they are launched the market has moved on, customer requirements have changed 
and/or competitors have more successfully met those needs.
● 
Flamingos are products that are beautiful but unsaleable. The development process has 
resulted in products with well-designed features and a multitude of characteristics – but 
unfortunately the costs of producing are too high, due to over-specification, such that 
customers cannot afford to buy. Unless there are enough potential customers willing and 
able to buy, the flamingo runs the risk of early extinction.
● 
Ostrich products are blind to the future. They may meet today’s market needs but take 
no account of future changes in the market, and are not well placed to adapt and change 
as customer requirements and competitive pressures evolve. An example is the Iomega 
PocketZip drive, which saved on a disk and was launched just when self-sufficient flash 
memory cards came on the market.
● 
Pearls are the constant quest of effective new product development. A pearl will always 
be of value, and even if its popularity wanes it can be modified into a jewel or traded for 
other resources required. The pearl offers the source of a profitable future for a foresee-
able period.
12.2.1 Successful new products 
Successful new products provide better performance than existing products and often they 
succeed despite being offered at higher prices than competitors. In fact, most failures offer 
price parity or inferior value. Successful products offer advantages that matter to custom-
ers (see Figure 12.3 ). Failures, too, have performance advantages, but in fringe areas where 
customers see little benefit.
As well as price and performance advantage, successful new products often provide 
benefits that are dramatically different from current offerings. For example, Innocent fruit 
smoothies (which contain nothing else but fruit) provided a uniquely healthy snack/drink. 
New products need to have a significant advantage over existing products. 
Conventional thinking also suggests it is almost always better to be first to market.