P&G strategic focus on product trial

Procter & Gamble strategic management focus in 2016 is to increase use of products that are in the trial generation. These are supposed to be products that conform to consumer preference and are still being tested to determine their viability in the market. The strategy is aimed to achieving several goals including enhanced brand image and streamlining the type of consumers that the organisation will attract.

In reference to the brand, focusing on trial generation products helps to bring out a brand image of an organisation that is dynamic and innovation oriented. These types of products are new to the market and will have been developed with a view to meeting emerging needs.  Such a strategy can only be sustained where an organisation is keen on research and development and is constantly innovating to meet changing consumer preferences. One of the main principles in strategic brand management is the creation and sustenance of a similar image over long periods of time. Where an organisation places emphasis on products in trial generation, the consumers get accustomed to the fact that it tends to stock the newest products in the market. Such an idea helps to generate the brand image of an organisation that is highly dynamic and always innovating.

The value of having an innovative brand can be drawn from blue chip companies such as Apple. Apple has wowed the market each time it has brought up some new products. It was the first to actualise the idea of a phone without a keyboard and went ahead to turn mobile phones into mini computers that have become instrumental in improving internet access around the world. Apple can be said to have mastered an innovative approach to strategic management by being ahead of the market. P&G intends to also bring out an innovative brand image by focusing on showcasing products that are in their trial phase.

The second value of P&G’s strategy is in the nature of the customers that they wish to attract. The innovators and early adopters tend to be highly potent consumers with considerable purchasing power. They tend to be curious to try out new products and this gets them to prefer shopping from organisations that are keen on showcasing these new products. P&G has traditionally attracted the mass market through a differentiation strategy. By focusing on an innovation approach, it would appear to be keen on market penetration; attracting a new group of consumers.

Market penetration as planned by P&G can be very effective in for purposes of growing the customer base for an organisation. However, it comes with the risk of expectation being higher than the organisation can sustain. An organisation that creates the image of an innovative brand must continually invest in research and development to not only understand changing market preferences but also accurately translate these preferences into products that meet them. Satisfaction can only be sustained if such a record is sustained. This means that the image may be easier to create than sustain.