New Product success or failure!

Project Overview

The failure rate for new products has hovered around 30 – 80 percent for several decades.  This suggests the value of studying this enduring and costly marketing problem more intensively.  To accomplish this, you are asked to select a  product/brand that entered the marketplace (US or global) within the past eight years, and subsequently failed.
“Failure” is defined broadly and includes situations in which the product
 (1) has been withdrawn from the market,
 (2) achieved only a fraction of its pre-launch sales forecasts, or
 (3) remains unprofitable.

Alternatively, you may select a new product that has been successful.  “Success” is defined broadly and includes situations in which the product has
(1) exceeded expectations,
(2) achieved significantly above its pre-launch sales forecasts or
(3) gained a great deal of positive public relations.
You should not select situations that are covered in HBS cases for this course.

Evaluation Criteria
1. Target market and need for product or service
2. Situation analysis – what went right or wrong regarding the industry/market, competition, company
capabilities,  positioning, and/or the 4 P’s
3. Metrics of success
4. Marketing implications and recommendations

Project Report Preparation

Using the evaluation criteria listed above, identify the primary target market and the need that it met or was intended to meet, analyze the situation to determine what went right or wrong, discuss metrics that determined its failure or success and then state your marketing implications and recommendations on what you would have done differently to have made the product successful or more successful.
You will be assigned a given date to complete this assignment.  You may be asked to briefly discuss your findings in class on the night the paper is due.  Your written analysis should be approximately three single-spaced pages in length, excluding any supportive materials.  This assignment is worth 20 percent of the course grade or 200 points out of 1,000