~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trilogy Tidings
November 2012
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
in this issue
An excessive focus on brands?
Is Windows 8 a loser?
Resources from our Archives
What does Trilogy do?

    Everyone is into branding. It's been the norm in consumer products marketing for decades, and now it's everywhere. Maybe that's wrong. Read why that might be so.

 

     Another version of Windows and another tablet. See what one evaluator (not me) thinks.

 

Regards,
Joe

 

 

   Change Ahead

 

An excessive focus on brands?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

     This is the era of the "brand". Suppliers care about brands. Marketers care about brands. Consultants care about brands. The only people who don't care about brands are customers! Customers care about themselves. They focus on the people, things, ideas and goals that matter most to them. They each have a story, their enduring self-concept.

 

     This notion is convincingly presented in a recent article by Soumya Roy and Kathryn Gallant of Hall & Partners, a New York research firm.

 

     I was especially intrigued to see this notion applied to effective market research with physicians, a category of respondents we deal with all the time. The authors described their research into physician preferences for various brands of cholesterol-control drugs. It turned out their 450 research subjects responded to specific brands for reasons quite apart from the attributes of those drugs. Rather, they responded in accordance with their self-concepts!

 

     The researchers discovered six categories of prescribing physicians as their research unfolded:

  • Authoritarians
  • Bleeding hearts
  • Regular Einsteins
  • Sages
  • Entrepreneurs
  • Crossing guards

After reading their category descriptions, I recognized every one of them!

 

     The moral of this story: You need to pay as much attention to the respondent types you're dealing with as to the attributes of the product or service offering you're trying to evaluate.

 

 

Is Windows 8 a loser? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

     The new version of Windows is really important to Microsoft. It might even represent an inflection point in the company's financial future. Well, David Pogue unleashed his dislike for Windows 8 in a biting piece in The New York Times.

 

    The Windows 8 operating system is in effect two operating systems, one for a mouse and keyboard environment and another for a touch-screen environment (i.e. a tablet computer, the Microsoft Surface, which went on sale last week). That seems OK; you would just engage the environment appropriate for your needs on the device you're using. It turns out you cannot do that.

 

     According to Pogue, the user is stuck with having to deal with elements of both environments on whatever device is being used. He found the result hard to learn, inefficient and confusing. And, he could not figure out why Microsoft took this path; the combined OS was surely unnecessary.

 

     I can't render a judgment. I have not experienced this new product, and I'm unlikely to become a customer. (I'm writing this on a Windows XP system.) But you might want to read Pogue's critique before you pony up for a Surface tablet and Windows 8.

 
 
Resources from our Archives 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     Check out our Reading Room to view my published articles, presentations and white papers on a variety of topics.

 

     And, you can examine an archive of my prior newsletters (since February 2007).

 

 

What does Trilogy do? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     Trilogy Associates facilitates business growth and renewal through commercialization of new products, providing the following services:
  • Opportunity assessment
  • Business planning and enterprise growth strategies
  • New-product conceptualization, commercialization and marketing
  • Market research and competitive assessment
  • Business development and partnering
  • Market and technological due diligence
  • Assessment of the therapeutic and diagnostic potential of novel technologies
  • Design of efficient and effective development strategies for early-stage biomedical products
  • Business and technical writing/publishing

     Inquiries to establish whether and how we might support your business initiatives are always welcome.  Contact us.  And check out our partner, Innovalyst, A Catalyst for Innovation.
Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ContactInfoJoseph J. Kalinowski, Principal
919.533.6285
LinkedIn Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/trilogy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~