The perceptual map is not available when no brands are marketed. However, you may still obtain information on segment needs from the semantic scales study. Let’s take an example and assume that Elderly consumers have indicated that they are looking for products with a high Safety, i.e. their ideal point is at 5.5 on the 1 to 7 scale. Our best option is to assume that there exists a linear relationship between Safety (from 10 to 100) and semantic scales, i.e. that the lowest Safety (10) would be rated 1, and that the highest Safety (100) would be rated 7. In this case, the formula to convert the ideal 5.5 into a Safety index is:
The general formulas are:
where P is the desired value on the 1 to 7 scale; X is the corresponding physical level; and LB and UB are the lower and upper limits of the physical characteristic’s feasible range, 10 and 100 in our market.
This method, although imperfect, allows you to make approximations until more data becomes available over time.