Nanda Home Product Policy Notes PDF

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Nanda Home: Preparing for Life after Clocky 1. What is your assessment of Nanda’s marketing strategy for Clocky? a. Clocky’s current marketing strategy, in a nutshell, has been from small to large media outlets discussing Clocky, it’s design and operation. The media outlets range from local news papers (Boston Globe), to large outlets such as the NY Times, Fox News, CNN, The Discovery Channel, ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ and others. b. It’s excellent for Nanda to have Clocky featured on such media outlets but I believe she lacks a true marketing strategy. It appears she has had numerous ideas but doesn’t have something clearly defined in place. c. She needs to quickly decide on whether she wants to market this as a “fun” product or to those that have real sleep problems. i. Due to the nature of the product (“pet” name, has a face, giving it a gender) makes it feel like more of a fun product. I believe that because of the gimmicky nature of it, it will be a fad product.

2. How do you explain Clocky’s success pre and post its launch in late 2006? What is your explanation for why sales have slowed in recent years? a. I believe Clocky was successful because it was an interesting idea with solid functionality. It initially had a lot of publicity, but I think that’s because it was new, fairly innovative, and cute. It was a cheeky product that could garnish attention from the “wow, look at this cool new gadget” crowd. b. I believe sales have slowed for a few reasons: i. It was an interesting initial product that lost its luster. ii. I believe they have a smaller target market that they should be hitting. Most people are not going to be able to stand an alarm clock that gets up and runs away. iii. I think giving it a face and pet-like name makes it more of a fad product. iv. Cheaper knockoffs have come to market. v. New alternatives i.e., smart phones, other tech. vi. Target age should be between 18-30, however, stores like Brookstone and other high-end retailers generally focus to a higher age group. 1. Some of the mid-tier retailers should be the focus. vii. Lack of marketing/sales efforts. viii. Targeting issue but reverse. Sales data says most of purchases are between 18-30. Childish product 3. Is Clocky a fad? a. In my opinion, yes. I think the product comes off as a bit of a gimmick. I would like to understand how many people would be frustrated with this product over the span of a few months. b. I think it comes across as “too cute” for adult consumers. It comes across as a toy more than something that is truly out to help the consumer sleep better. c. As someone who has looked into different alarm clocks and the science behind that, research in the past 5 years shows that waking up abruptly to something can

cause an initial adrenaline spike which, in turn, will cause grogginess that can last up to two hours after. 4. Do you believe the new alarm clocks Nanda is planning to launch will fare well among consumers? How will they impact Clocky sales? a. I don’t believe the new products will fair that well for a few reasons: i. The price point is high for something that has the appearance of a toy. ii. The new features seem gimmicky as well, especially for such an increase cost. iii. I think that Ticky and Tocky will cannibalize some of Clocky’s sales, although it’s difficult to say to what degree. 5. What is your assessment of the new product ideas Gauri is considering? Do you recommend further development of any of these ideas? a. The new products are certainly interesting. I like the look of them more, but they still seem like a kid’s product. b. At the time, I think Spitlet would have been an interesting idea, but I think it would take too long to get to market with all the other smart plugs coming along.

Principles of Product Policy—Part I 1. What is product policy? What are key product policy decisions? a. I would say that product policy is a set of guidelines related to the production and development of a certain product or product mix. b. Some of the important product policies include: what product attributes or attributes should be featured? What is the tradeoff between costs and customer value delivered? How should a firm structure its new product development pipeline? What is the preferred product mix? When should a firm prune its offerings? 2. What is a new product development process? What are the characteristics of an effective one? a. The development of new products, ranging from product modificantions to original products. New product development encompasses a number of general stages. 1. Idea generation/screening. 2. Concept development 3. Physical product development and testing 4. Commercialization b. To have an effective new product development you must have: 1. Voice of customer is heard throughout process. 2. Work such as marketing, engineering, manufacturing is done before physical production begins. 3. Process has real go/no go decision points. Need to be able to kill a product idea. 4. The process recognizes the firms distinctive competencies. 3. What is the Product Life Cycle (PLC)? What are its implications for marketing mix

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For each stage, they can map out the desired strategy for the elements in the marketing mix....