Abstract:

From the standpoint of engineering (or designing) products, the case is argued for a marketing research approach that: identifies the key needs of different target groups and sets out to match them and satisfy them, within the product offer itself, and via an appropriately-focused communication strategy determines the brand images of a proposed new product and its main competitors to understand how brands differ and discover what their strengths and weaknesses are  established where and how a new product matches the needs of its target markets on key attributes and how it can best communicate these via a holistic, integrating, discriminating, dynamic and actionable Implicit Model of products, brands, consumers and communication. Case histories of the automotive market are cited as evidence of success.