The tool proposes a 3-step process, as illustrated on Figure 10.
•Select the brand that you would like to reposition. The current characteristics and price are displayed automatically.
•Key in where you would like to reposition this brand on the semantic scales maps. Because you usually plan R&D ahead of time, the values entered here will have been calculated as explained in section III.1.
•Click on calculate and read what level you should enter in your R&D project for each physical characteristic, and what would be a good price to achieve the desired position.
In the particular case of price, you may want to enter a target position slightly on the right of the ideal position, i.e. a position corresponding to a price higher than the ideal one. This is especially true in case your offering has no competition or has a clear differential advantage.
You do not have to upgrade your offering along all dimensions. You may want to focus your development efforts on the most important dimensions. This will have the dual advantage to reduce your base cost and to reduce your development budget.
Figure 10 – Product Development Tool – Semantic Scales > Modify a brand to target a desired position