Marketing Plan for a New DAT Recorder

This research develops a marketing plan for a new product. The plan is presented in three major sections, as follows: (1) product analysis; (2) market analysis; and (3) strategy analysis.

The product which is the subject of this plan is the digital audio tape (DAT) recorder. While the product is not new in an absolute sense, it has not yet been widely marketedin the United States (US).

The principal core benefit of the DAT recorder is superior audio reproduction. The audio reproduction quality of the DAT recorder is held to be superior even to that of the compact disc (CD). A second core benefit of the DAT recorder its ability to record, as well as to reproduce sound. A third core benefit of the DAT recorder is prestige of ownership.

The DAT recorder records audio impulses with essentially no added noise or distortion. The DAT recorder reproduces audio impulses with the same noise and distortion free

1 2characteristics. The principal differences between the DAT recorder and CD players are that (1) tape is the medium in the DAT recorder, as opposed to disc in the CD, (2) recording, as well as playback, is possible with the DAT recorder, where only playback is possible with the CD, and (3) audio reporduction quality in the DAT recorder is superior to that in the CD.1

The augumented product of the DAT recorder includes a base price which is significantly higher than that

position to control the development and marketing of new technologies which may surpass the DAT recorder. The use of DAT recorders is subject to restriction by government legislation. Such legislation may be enacted in response to demands for protection of creators of prerecorded audio tapes, CDs, and records. DAT recorder manufacturers may attempt to influence such legislative enactment; however, they cannot control either the enactment or the content of such legislation. STRATEGY ANALYSIS The development of product strategies typically occur within a framework of organizational marketing analysis, which deals with the environmental elements of the organization that affect its performance in the market place. The organizational environment contains a number of components which affect an organization's ability to perform in the market place. An organization may be viewed as a resource conversion machine that takes inputs from the outside world, converts them into useful products, and makes them available as outputs. 6 The task environment within which a marketing organization functions consists of those elements which cooperate to create marketing value for a marketplace. These elements include (1) suppliers, (2) m

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