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Background:

NEW PRODUCT IDEA (Online cosmetic surgery advice and solutions):

We will have one set of cosmetic surgery doctors who will remain online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, give online advice to the site visitor. Show them with the help of pictures and videos the improvement that can be made, quote a price for the cosmetic improvement and direct them to an empanelled cosmetic surgeon who will carry out the surgery. This surgery will be carried out with complete anonymity and not even the operating surgeon will know the identity of the patient. To further protect the identity of the patient, the surgery will be conducted at a confidential operating theater and to avoid payment by credit card, the bill may be paid in cash.

TARGET MARKET AND THE BENEFITS OF THE PRODUCT TO THE TARGET MARKET:

The target market is the movie and television industry where the actors are willing to spend money for high quality cosmetic improvements if confidentiality is maintained. These are also easy to target as the publicity material and other communication can easily be sent to them by direct marketing agencies for a small fee. The competitors are the surgeons in Los Angeles and in other parts of Southern California who are already operating. However, they lack quality assurance, which a brand name and a systematic referral system have. Several surgeons have earned a bad reputation of actually defacing the 'stars'. So if our business can establish a strong brand name and reputation and oversee the performance of its surgeons then there is an excellent market for our business.

The benefits it brings to the consumers is that they receive the standardized advice and counseling not from a predatory surgeon but from a reputed panel of experts who have the interest of the customer at heart. Depending on the identified and accepted needs of the customer, the best surgeon who is empanelled will be chosen and he will confidentially carry out the operation under the supervision of our company. We are not a private hospital or a private clinic but a specialized online service provider for a specialized service.

There are two types of competitive advantage--cost and differentiation. Cost advantage occurs when the firm is able to deliver the same benefits of competitors at a lower cost. Differentiation advantage is when a firm delivers benefits that exceed those of competing brands. A firm must have resources or capabilities that are superior to those of its competitors in order to establish and thus sustain a competitive advantage.

For this particular problem, I will employ a differentiation focus strategy. In the differentiation focus strategy, a business aims to differentiate within just one or a small number of target market segments. The special customer needs of the segment mean that there are opportunities to provide products that are clearly different from competitors who may be targeting a broader group of customers. An important issue for any business adopting this strategy is to ensure that customers really do have different needs and wants - in other words that there is a valid basis for differentiation - and that existing competitor products are not meeting those needs and wants.

In this case, our customers will be high-profile celebrities who want to engage in cosmetics surgery without having others find out. By providing a confidential online setting where they can have their questions answered, set up an appointment and have their surgery conducted in a private place allows for this. Most other cosmetic surgeons do not offer advice online so this is a competitive advantage for online advice and surgery resources. The surgery will take place in an operating theater and payment will be in the form of cash. These are the key capabilities.

The macro trend analysis for the cinema industry and for the plastic surgery industry can be culled from this secondary data.

Film Production: Market Size: The US market for film production grew a dramatic 10.6% from 2000 to a value of US$8.41 billion in 2001, which itself was in line with the 23% annual increases in theatre revenue, largely due to ticket price increases.
? Film Production: Market Sectors: Capturing a 91.7% market share at a value of US$7.7 billion, the new release sector was the largest of the US film production market in 2001.
? Film Production: Share of Market: Market shares in the US film production market can fluctuate radically, due to the unpredictable nature of the box office performances of each company's new releases.
? Film Production: Marketing Activity: With an advertising expenditure of US$3.8 billion, Disney had the largest sum of money for marketing its products in 2001.
? Film Production: Corporate Overview: The US market for film production saw a sharp rise in the number of films produced, from 628 in 1999 to over 800 in 2001.
? Film Production: Distribution: During the past six years, the average number of screens per site has increased to 5.6 from 3.6.
? Film Production: Viewer Profile: Moviegoers, unlike television audiences, can be reached across age groups, making this medium a very efficient buy.
? Film Production: Market Forecasts: the US film production market is expected to grow 23.3% over the 2002 to 2006 forecast period to a value of US$11.0 billion.
? Film Production: Sector Forecasts: Increasing 23.5% to a value of US$10.0 billion in 2006, new releases are expected to continue to be the largest US film production market sector.
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Apart from this, please consider the growing popularity of plastic and reconstructive surgery for the movie industry.
Talk about knee-jerk reactions! When Demi Moore, 41, saw Star's photo of her saggy knees in our July 19 "Celebrity Flaws" story, she supposedly ran straight to her plastic surgeon.

In fact, according to the American Academy of Plastic Surgeons, nearly 4,000 teenagers, ages 18 and younger, underwent breast augmentation last year, more than a 24 percent increase from the year.

It's a match made in plastic-surgery heaven. Joan Rivers, the fashion critic who for years has openly joked about her own cosmetic surgery, will guest star as herself on the season finale of the FX.

French performance artist Orlan, who has undergone numerous plastic surgeries to transform her face and body to challenge traditional perceptions of beauty, says art "has to shock." And two top plastic surgeons are at odds over who did what to Michael Jackson's nose.

From the secondary data, it is obvious that both the movie industry and plastic surgery in the movie industry is on the rise and is likely to increase further. So, there is assured growth and market demand for the website and its services.

SUMMARY CONCLUSIONS:

The secondary data shows tremendous scope for the cosmetic plastic surgery industry in California. The segment to be targeted is the top-notch movie stars who without even their family members' knowledge can undergo surgery in the best clinics. For this, the broadest range of cosmetic strategies both surgical and non surgical will be available, for instance if a movie star has battled with fat on her upper arms, buttocks or stomach then the suitability of liposuction could be considered and if a person is interested in non surgical strategies then demabrasion or botox treatment can also be administered by the doctors on staff. The website will surely help the star realize her goals for image enhancement. Our company's cosmetic surgery members would be fully trained and certified by the national association as well as being members of the California Society of Plastic Surgeons and experienced in the most effective cosmetic surgery techniques.

THE FIVE FORCES:

First, the surgeons who are experienced in dealing with the movie stars and have the experience of the latest plastic surgery procedures have to be empanelled. Their charges are to be determined before the empanelling and in proportion to their expertise. Second, the customers would be informed of the cost of the operation online and they have to agree to the charges by making an advance payment this would preclude any bargaining at a later date.
Third, the website would try to empanel the best plastic surgeons and make a contract with them precluding them from entering into a similar contract with another website. Fourth, the obvious substitutes are the non-surgical procedures, and our website would offer a combination of surgical procedures as well as non-surgical procedures. Also, as a part of the second year expansion project, high tech non-plastic surgical health improvement facilities like high tech weight reduction centers for celebrities would be established to avoid customer leakages to substitutes. Finally, there are individual plastic surgeons who meet the current needs of the movie stars in California, the best among those should be empanelled by our website but the other will easily be out competed because of the systematic organization, quality of service and confidentiality provided by the website.

Directions:

Identify a list of questions to be addressed through marketing research to provide your marketing effort with the necessary understanding of what customers and consumers in your market or target market want and need.

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LIST OF QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED THROUGH MARKITING RESEARCH
1. What will be the total billing in the first year of operation?
2. How many customers will enlist the help of the website?
3. What will the per customer revenue be for the website in the first year?
4. What is the list of the potential customers in the target segment?
5. What is the price level of services that will be acceptable to these customers?
6. What will be the medium of reaching the potential customers?
7. What communication will appeal to ...

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