In this activity, you are told that you are a New Product Development (NPD) Manager at a very large company and you have a budget of £1,000,000 to spend on launching a new chocolate bar.
You are asked to divide your budget between six different departments, then keep an eye on each department as they spend the money.
Market Research uses a number of techniques to check that products appeal to the consumer, such as competitor shopping, attribute analysis, mind-mapping, SCAMPER, consumer insight studies, focus groups, taste tests, sensory evaluation and consumer trials. You can choose how much time the team will spend on each of these for your product.
Research & Development looks into sourcing and procurement (are all ingredients and machinery easily available at the right price?), the available technology, risk assessment (e.g. HACCP – Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points), shelf-life of products at different temperatures, eating quality throughout the product’s shelf-life, whether the packaging is suitable for mass production, travels well, is easy to store and stack, is attractive and easy to open. You can choose how much time the team will spend on each of these areas for your product.
Marketing & Design looks at information gathered by Market Research and works with other departments to choose a name, come up with a look and feel, plan the product’s launch, decide how and where to promote and display it, create an advertising campaign to promote it, design its packaging and decide the price. You are given a list of costs for various options such as a prime time TV ad campaign and distributing free samples and need to choose whether you will spend a low, average or high amount of your budget on Marketing & Design.
Legal & Compliance advises on whether the product is safe and legal, its name is unique and capable of international use, the planned marketing campaign is within the law, industry regulations and the company’s own rules and the product lives up to the claims being made about it. You can choose how much time the team will spend on your product.
The Production department sources and buys the ingredients to make your product, sets up and monitors the machines, performs quality control tests, such as weight, temperature, pH, microbiological, visual, chemical, metal checks and organoleptic checks (sampling the final product). You can choose how much time the team will spend on your product.
Sales works to contact potential suppliers to encourage them to stock the product, negotiate contracts and sales agreements and maintain relationships with distributors. You can choose how much time the team will spend on your product.
The aim of the activity is to give an overview of how different departments work together and to illustrate how over-spending in one area can mean that other areas can suffer and that under-spending can result in a poor product and poor sales. You receive feedback to guide you in your decision making, and a printable report on your final budget.
You are then told that Market Research’s initial research shows that there is a gap in the market for a product for young people aged 14–19 to share with friends. You are asked to visit each department and check how they are getting on with spending their share of the budget.
When you click on Market Research, you are invited to download and print a PDF worksheet. The worksheet asks you to come up with a list of questions to ask a group drawn from the target market about their buying habits, some sample products and their packaging.
When you click on Production, you are invited to download and print a PDF worksheet. The worksheet asks you to brainstorm possible product specifications to address the gap in the market. You will trial these ideas with members of the target market.
When you click on Marketing & Design, you are invited to download and print a PDF worksheet. The worksheet asks you to create an orthographic projection (sometimes called third-angle projection) of some possible packaging for the new product.
When you click on Sales, you are invited to download and print a PDF worksheet. The worksheet asks you to brainstorm which shops you might approach to make sure that the product is on sale where young people aged 14–19 are most likely to want to buy it.
When you click on Research & Development, you are invited to open the Chocometer interactive activity from the Skills Space Design and Technology area for students age 16+. Using this, you can test the effects that storing chocolate at different temperatures have on the product.
When you click on Legal & Compliance, you are asked to produce a report looking at different laws and guidelines affecting your new product.