Concept Development and Testing

A product concept is a generated idea expressed in consumer terms (Armstrong et al., 2009).  Kotler and Keller (2012) acknowledge that although concept development is necessary in new product development, concept testing must also take place to distinguish the likelihood of success. Peng et al. (2011) support this believing concept testing to be important in preventing organisations investing significant amounts of money in poor concepts. 

Concept testing can include multiple different concepts being shown in various ways including through images, verbally or physically to a group of target consumers the objective of understanding their reaction and interest in the concept (Kotler & Keller, 2012; Shank, & Lyberger, 2014).  The next stage involves collecting consumer response, this can be recorded using a rating system or consumers answering questions, the reliability of this feedback can depend upon the accuracy of concept representation (Kotler & Armstrong, 2012).  Once this has been collated the organisation use it in their evaluation of concepts to help them decide which has the strongest appeal to the target consumer group.  If they feel a concept has the potential to be successful they will take it on to the marketing development and strategy stage (McDaniel et al., 2011).  

 

Nike carried out in depth research into what would motivate people to do more exercise, having gained this knowledge they then tested whether there would be demand for their potential new product the Nike+ FuelBand.  Feedback was positive and Nike created the software necessary, the FuelBand is now sold internationally (Nike, 2013).   

When considering allowing artificial surfaces at international level for professional football, FIFA carried out concept testing.  FIFA consulted many different types of people in football including stadium managers, sport scientists, coaches, players and spectators to collect different opinions on how the changes could impact the sport.  Another part of the testing process involved thoroughly analysing different types of turf, aspects they considered included player-to-surface and ball-to-surface interaction, durability and climatic resistance.  This concept has now been implemented although FIFA test every artificial surface in laboratories and then again after installation before awarding it FIFA Recommended status (FIFA, 2001).

The concept of Gymathlon is a gym event to find the most complete athlete.  The competition would be internal within each gym to begin with however as more gyms take up the format regional and national competitions could be developed.  Gymathlon would require a room with fitness stations and machines, these are facilities which already exist in most gyms.  In addition, a referee e.g. personal trainer/leisure assistant would be necessary to check for good form and record results.  Participants would compete individually at a time to suit the competitor although a 1v1 format could be administered.  

The target market to test the concept on would be regular gym users.  In 2012 it was recorded that there were 7.6 million gym users in the UK (The Gym Group, 2013).  By consulting this market it would show whether there would be interest in making this form of physical exercise into a competition.

 

References

Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M. & Brennan, R. (2009) Marketing an introduction, 1st edn. Essex: Pearson Education.

FIFA (2001) FIFA Quality Concept for Football Turf.  Available at: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afdeveloping/pitchequip/fqc_football_turf_folder_342.pdf (Accessed: 26 November 2014).

FIFA (2014) What is Football Turf?. Available at: http://quality.fifa.com/en/Football-Turf/About-Football-Turf/What-is-Football-Turf/ (Accessed: 26 November 2014).

Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2012) Principles of Marketing. 14th edn. London: Pearson Education.

Kotler, P. & Keller, K.L. (2012) A Framework for Marketing Management. 5th edn. Harlow: Pearson Education.

McDaniel, C.D., Lamb, C.W. and Hair J.F. (2011) Introduction to Marketing. 11th edn. Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Nike (2013) Band on the run takes you inside the creation of the Nike+ FuelBand. Available at: http://news.nike.com/news/band-on-the-run (Accessed: 26 November 2014).

Peng, L., Li, C. and Wan, X. (2011) ‘A framework for optimising the cost and performance of concept testing’, Journal of Marketing Management, 28(7/8), pp. 1000-1013, doi: 10.1080/0267257X.2011.615336.

Shank, M. and Lyberger, M.R. (2014) Sports Marketing: A Strategic Perspective. 5th edn. Abingdon: Routledge.

The Gym Group (2013) Press Release: Rise in UK Gym Members as consumers seek out a fitness bargain!. Available at: http://www.thegymgroup.com/blog/article/press-release-rise-in-uk-gym-members-as-consumers-seek-out-a-fitness-bargain-5454/ (Accessed: 26 November 2014).

Idea Screening

Idea Screening

Following the idea generation stage, organisations must screen the ideas generated to detect which have the most potential (Toubia and Florès, 2007).  The Idea screening process involves evaluating the ideas and marking them against criteria to decide which are most compatible to the objectives the organisation wants to achieve (Business Dictionary, 2014).  During the screening process, the ideas already generated are questioned considering aspects such as the size of the target market, potential for generating profit and the product or service’s ability to meet the needs of the target market (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012).

Law (2014) considers screening important in realising poor ideas early and therefore identifying the good ideas to carry on to the concept development and testing stage.  Kotler and Keller (2012) support this and state that it is important to eliminate poor ideas early in order to avoid wasting resources such as time and money.

An example of how a sporting organisation could utilise the process of idea screening would be a Sports Centre.  If the centre wanted an event to promote a new format of fitness classes they were launching it would be important they chose the right type of event to showcase the class.  Different criteria they may consider would include what would gain the most attention within the target market, how affordable the event would be to run and feasibility.  By using the idea screening process effectively the centre would have a greater chance of the event being an effective promotional tool and having a positive impact.

A decision matrix is a tool which structures the decision making process and selects the best option by evaluating and rating each option against specific criteria which are selected and prioritised depending on importance (Koppala, 2007).  The weighting of the importance of the criteria is done on a scale of 1-3 with 1 being the lowest importance and 3 being the highest.  Each new format is then score 1-10 on how well it meets that criteria, 1 being the lowest rating and 10 the highest. 

 

Decision Matrix for a new format of Sport

 

This matrix clearly identifies and scores the three new format of sport ideas generated in the last stage and rates them based on five different criteria.  These criteria are aspects which need to be considered when deciding which format is viable to continue developing and the weighting shows the varying importance of all aspects.  

The decision matrix for idea screening has therefore aided the decision making process and identified that ‘Gymathlon’ would be the best idea to take forward to the next new product development stage.  This decision highlights the importance of weighting of criteria as although Gymathlon would require the most investment, it scores higher in more important criteria such as being easier to implement than new formats of existing sports and offering superior value to consumers.

Appendix A – Definitions of Criteria

Criteria	Definition
Longevity	Could the new format grow and have a long life?
Superior Value	Will the new format offer superior value for consumers to current formats?
Ease of Implementation	How easy would it be for the new format to be implemented?
Potential Market Size	How large is the potential market for the new sport format?
Necessary Investment	How much money would need to be invested to implement the new format into sport?

References

Business Dictionary (2014) idea screening. Available at: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/idea-screening.html#ixzz3JPIYxtUO (Accessed: 18 November 2014).

Canice Consulting (2013) 4.3 Idea Screening. Available at: http://www.slmsc-project.eu/en/?page_id=2142 (Accessed: 18 November 2014).

Koppala, G. (2007) Project and Operations Management. Available at: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_Cx7XFW-yjsC&pg=PA77&dq=DECISION+MATRIX&hl=en&sa=X&ei=57xtVJX8E4XGsQSwu4LYCA&ved=0CEQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=DECISION%20MATRIX&f=false (Downloaded: 18 November 2014).

Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2012) Principles of Marketing. 14th Edn. London: Pearson Education.

Kotler, P. & Keller, K. L. (2012) A Framework for Marketing Management. 5th Edn. Harlow: Pearson Education.

Law, J. (2014) A Dictionary of Business and Management. Oxford University Press.

Toubia, O.& Florès, L. (2007) ‘Adaptive Idea Screening Using Consumers’, Marketing Science, 26(3), pp. 342-360.