Flag Highlighter, Winooski and MM

1) a. ) Winooski got ideas from college students to help him design the final commercial version of the Post-it Flag Highlight by starting with the needs and wants of potential customers. He would ask students to empty the contents of their backpacks and to explain what they carried around and why. Winooski also interviewed multiple students and observed them from behind a one-way mirror.
B. ) These ideas were very important to the success of the product because Winooski was able to get a feel of what the customer wanted by interviewing and studying college students.
He was able to develop clay models of the product and was able to see how the product would feel to students who eventually used the real product. I think getting multiple ideas from college students contributed greatly to the success of this product because Winooski was able to design a marketable and innovative product that suited the customers needs.

2. ) a. ) The special advantages MM had by introducing a new highlighter-with-flags product for college students are that MM was able to bring a new innovative product before anyone else had the chance to and had a great speed-to-market advantage.
M had the advantage of introducing a product to market that no one had seen before.
B. ) The potential problems MM faced by introducing this new product to the market was that the product might be too far ahead of the market and people might not be ready to embrace the product yet. Introducing a new innovative product to a market that is not quite ready to embrace a certain product almost guarantees a failure for the product.
3. ) a. ) I would display the Flag Highlighter at the checkout of a college bookstore.
B. ) Displaying the Flag Highlighter at the checkout of a college bookstore would increase student awareness of the product greatly.
Usually at the checkout of a college bookstore they have common items such as pencils, pens, items that students regularly come in for. If you were to display a new item by the checkout desk it almost guarantees that students will see it while they checkout and students might see the product while picking up items such as pens or pencils and decide to give the product a shot.
4. ) MM might try to promote its Flag Highlighter and make students more aware of the product by perhaps setting up a booth on campuses offering a free MM Flag Highlighter for trial.
Free stuff is always great for college students, and that stuff definitely travels by word of mouth. Even if students are going to the booth just to get a free highlighter they will still become associated with the brand of the highlighter and will maybe even think it is really useful and tell other students to try it out.
5. ) a. ) The special opportunities for MM by taking its Flag Highlighter into international markets are that MM may be able to make more money in a new market and they also might be able to introduce a new product an international market. MM also might be another consumer market.
B. The potential challenges MM faces by taking its Flag Highlighter into international are that some international markets might not have a need for m’s product. Also MM would have to think about what sort of colors, packaging, and so on might appeal to a specific international market. MM would not Just be able to put its same marketing plan for the U. S. In place for other international countries.
C. ) I think MM should focus its marketing efforts in countries that obviously have an education system in place and have a need for m’s products. Some countries MM could market to could be England, France, Germany, Japan, and China.