Stage 3- Concept Development & Testing

The New Product Development Process

Stage 3- Concept Development & Testing

The New-Product Development Process (NDP) is outlined below by Kotler & Keller (2012). 

Concept Development & Testing is the stage that comes after the Idea Screening process. “Concept test is a test to evaluate new sports product idea, usually before any prototype has been created”. (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2009). Concept testing takes place during the concept-development phase. “It is intended to glean something of customers’ opinions about the product idea before very much investment has been committed.” (Trott, 2004, p. 185).

Concept development is the process of “turning an idea into a recognizable product concept, with attributes and market position identified.” (Hart & Baker, 1996, p. 156). Hart and Baker go on to say; “this process is an explicit assessment of customer needs to appraise market potential and an explicit assessment of technical requirements.”

Examples of Concept development & testing

Concept development and testing is used by various sport organisations. An example of this is when the ICC tested the possibility of introducing day/night test matches. Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said “The aim of this is to try to make Test cricket more accessible for fans.” (BBS Sport, 2014). 

The ICC decided to test this by introducing modified equipment such as a pink ball and the use of floodlights as soon as the umpires decide the light quality is too low. It was thought that the pink ball would be easier than the original red ball for the batsmen to see when the floodlights are on. However when asked about the pink kookaburra ball, ACA chief executive Paul Marsh said "the overwhelming majority of players believe the pink Kookaburra ball isn't yet ready for test cricket.” (www.auscricket.com.au) As a result of this the ICC are continuing to trial this concept.

FIFA also used concept testing to test the Adidas Brazuca match ball. The ball went through a rigorous testing procedure for two and a half years and came through with flying colours. “It was tested by over 600 professional players and 30 teams in ten countries across three continents, making the brazuca the most tested ball in adidas’ history.” (Quality.fifa.com, 2014) As a result the ball was awarded the highest FIFA quality mark, FIFA APPROVED.

Quick Baseball

To test Quick Baseball my new concept I will conduct qualitative research with customers.

This research will help me understand customer’s needs so that I can come up with ideas for products that meet those needs. I will consider the following questions;

• Is the sports product or service idea [format] easy to understand?
• Are there distinct benefits over those sports products & services [formats] currently on the market?
• Are the claims about this sports product/service [format] believable?
• Would you buy this sports product/service [format]?
• Would you replace your current brand with this sports products/service [format]?
• Who would use the sports product/service [format]?

 References

BBC Sport, (2014). First day-night Test planned for 2015. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/28085871 [Accessed 26 Nov. 2014].

DailyTelegraph, (2014). Day-night Tests: Tasmania’s Ed Cowan backs concept but has doubts about pink ball. [online] Available at: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/cricket/daynight-tests-tasmanias-ed-cowan-backs-concept-but-has-doubts-about-pink-ball/story-fni2fnmo-1227124026530?nk=4eb8bffa5758ab147a3ba4b4cf272fd0 [Accessed 26 Nov. 2014].

Hart, S. J. and Baker, M. J. (1996) New Product Development , Hart , S. (ed.). London: The Dryden Press.

Pride , W. M. and Ferrell, O. C. (2013) Foundations of Marketing. 5th edn. South-Western: Erin Joyner.

Quality.fifa.com, (2014). adidas brazuca – tried and tested - FIFA Quality Programme. [online] Available at: http://quality.fifa.com/en/Footballs/Football-facts/adidas-brazuca--tried-and-tested/ [Accessed 26 Nov. 2014].

Trott, P. (2004) Innovation Management and New Product Development (2nd Edition). United Kingdom: Financial Times/ Prentice Hall.

Uk.reuters.com, (2014). Cricket-Players unconvinced by pink ball for day-night tests. [online] Available at: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/07/01/cricket-australia-night-tests-idUKL4N0PC20W20140701 [Accessed 26 Nov. 2014].