MAP POSITIONING DEODORANTS MARKET

Map positioning Deodorants market

Map positioning Deodorants market

Executive Summary

Positioning map research has focused on consumers' evaluations of potential positioning maps. Little attention has been paid to the mental models used by positioning map decision makers, that is, their interpretation of market preferences and successful positioning map strategies. Using conjoint analyses a study was made of what marketing managers consider being the ideal positioning map. The results show that their mental model for successful positioning map is driven by variables such as the consumers' perceived fit between deodrant and extension, the positioning of the deodrant , and the level of added value of the extension product. Other variables, like the breadth of the product line of the deodrant and the number of deodrant s in the company's portfolio, also play a significant but marginal role. The results suggest that managers use a non-compensatory model of decision making.

Research Objectives

In 2003 alone, some 27,000 new deodrant products were introduced to the UK market. While the number of positioning maps cannot be derived from these data, the use of existing deodrant names on new products in different categories has become a major means to maximise the value of a firm's intellectual property. Marketing managers use their company's deodrant names to increase the rate of acceptance of new products by both retailers and consumers, while keeping advertising and promotion costs low. Thus deodrant s have become an important launching platform for new products. (Kinnear, Gray, 2007, McAlexander ,Becker ,Kaldenberg, 2003, 54-57) Earlier positioning map research has aimed to explain the underlying mechanism of consumers' evaluation and purchase intention regarding positioning maps. With a few exceptions this research has predominantly focused on consumers' evaluations. Drawing mainly from psychological theories, it has provided an understanding of the key variables that consumers use for evaluating positioning maps. Recently, researchers have been more concerned with the external validity of their models, and have included more extension attribute information.

Despite the large body of work on consumers' evaluations of positioning maps, little academic attention been given to what marketing managers think about the subject. This paper argues that one important and neglected link between customers' evaluations of positioning maps and strategies for positioning map are the mental models that key decision makers use to interpret different options for extension. What do positioning map decision makers consider to be the ideal positioning map? And, more importantly, which factors do they generally include in the equation? This lack of attention in the literature to the positioning map decision makers' point of view seems strange because their interpretation of customer and competitor behaviour, together with personal preferences for extension pathways, are likely to influence the success of positioning map strategies. (Kinnear, Gray, 2007, McAlexander ,Becker ,Kaldenberg, 2003, 54-57)

Introduction

a. Develop positioning maps of the deodrant s identify in the report.

The literature mentions many factors that influence the success of positioning maps. Next to consumer response, retailer acceptance, deodrant portfolio and risk considerations, among others, play a ...