1 PROBLEM STATEMENT
After failing at their first attempt to enter the music industry, Polyphonic HMI (hereinafter referred to as the “Company”), is releasing Hit Song Science (HSS), software used to predict future hit songs with 80% accuracy. An integrated marketing strategy, needs to be developed to launch an innovative product, in an industry typically known for “gut instinct” and therefore likely to meet strong customer resistance. Thus there are two key challenges to address: what is the target market and desired positioning of HSS and what is the plan for marketing this product to achieve that positioning, given a tight “shoestring” budget.
2 SITUATION ANALYSIS
Polyphonic HMI wants to launch, what they consider, a sophisticated, new, revolutionary software product in the music industry, with stringent budget and time constraints and therefore must swiftly define a target market and marketing plan. This begins by utilizing a framework for performing a situation analysis of the internal, the micro and macro environmental situation, composed of the typical five Cs: customers, Company, collaborators, competition, context.
There are three potential target customer segments that have several unique aspects. Firstly, the record labels, that employ artist-and-repertoire (A&R) people, that amongst other activities, decides whether to market a new album and if needed select one or more songs from it to be released as singles. This is by far the smallest segment with just over a thousand representatives, who gain their reputations and therefore wealth, based on their ability to successfully select hit songs. An A&R person has a very high pressure role, always on the lookout for new talents, as they wade through hundreds of demos of new incoming artists, received on a weekly basis, while managing up to 20 artists currently on a recording contract. Secondly, the