Goodyear's Aquatred Launch Product Positioning Is of

¶ … Goodyear's Aquatred Launch Product positioning is of immense importance for any business, and can be especially crucial in the case of a new brand or product launch, as the company is now tasked not only with making a recognizable product, but in making it recognizable in a specifically and consciously derived manner (Daniels, 2012; Ries & Trout, 2000).

This is no less true of the Aquatred, a new tire being launched by Goodyear (at the time of this case), and in fact positioning is all the more important given the level of change that has been occurring in the tire industry and the high level of international competition that has long existed and that has recently increased (Isaacson, 1993).

This brief examination of the Aquatred's positioning and Goodyear's efforts and intentions makes it clear how important effective positioning can be, and the understanding required of a market and industry to achieve proper positioning. The tire industry is highly segmented, with differences between major labels, minor labels (some of which are owned and/or operated by major label companies), and private labels (largely produced by major and minor label companies (Isaacson, 1993).

The industry can be further subdivided into replacement and manufacturer sales -- sales of tires directly to retailers to replace tires on current cars vs. The sale of tires to car manufacturers for inclusion on new vehicles (Isaacson, 1993). Many quality and performance levels also exist, and Goodyear had to make sure that the Aquatred was properly positioned in terms of all of these elements, thus targeting an appropriate market segment though quality, price, placement, and promotion considerations (Isaacson, 1993; Daniels, 2012).

Against this backdrop, Goodyear opted to position the Aquatred as a high-performance and premium-priced tire (Isaacson, 1993). The company already competed quite strongly in most market segments, and was the third-largest international tire company in the world in terms f revenue at the time of the launch, giving the company plenty of the resources needed to promote and push a higher-ticket item (Isaacson, 1993; Ries & Trout, 2000).

The television advertising campaign that is included in the case shows quite clearly the importance of "being first" in the minds of the consumer, with the performance of the tire on wet roads a unique marketing angle and with the strong promotion of the brand name Goodyear and its association as the top American tire company working to position the tire properly in consumers' minds (Isaacson, 1993; Ries & Trout, 2000; Daniels, 2012).

The price premium the company was aiming for with this positioning also allowed the company to take advantage of the sales cycles that were typical in the tire.