Select a "new" consumer product. Any product introduced after January 2013 and targeted to final consumers will qualify, so long as it is significantly different from former offerings in the brand or product category. If you are having trouble locating a product, here are a few web sites that might help:

http://www.kickstarter.com/
http://www.bhg.com/better-homes-and-garden-magazine/best-new-product-awards/
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/product-reviews/very-innovative-products-awards-2014?click=main_sr#slide-1
http://www.supermarketguru.com/reviews/

For the product in question, answer the following questions:

1. How does this product fit into American culture? What is its SYMBOLIC VALUE? Could it be an artifact in a CULTURAL RITUAL, and what is its significance? What basic American cultural values might motivate consumers to buy this product, and why?

2. How would this product be viewed differently by various subcultures in the USA? Would some subcultures buy it for a different reason, or use it in a different way, than other subcultures? For your answer, consider subcultures based on ethnicity and race, geography, age and gender.

3. Consider the bases of market segmentation for your product. Discuss how the market might be segmented along each of the following lines: geographic, demographic, psychological, psychographic, sociocultural, use-related, use situation, benefit. Which factors are the most critical? How would you segment the market if you were in charge of marketing?

4. Considering the elements that might accelerate the diffusion of your new product, which does the product have, and which are lacking? How can you overcome the deficiencies with marketing?

5. Describe the innovators (first buyers) for this product. Who are they in terms of demographics, personality traits, purchase and consumption characteristics, media habits? What key obstacles will need to be overcome in order to market the product to them?

6. Develop a model of motivation for this product that specifically describes the nature of the needs, tension, drive, behavior and goal-seeking on the part of the consumer. Address the issues of primary versus secondary needs, generic versus product-specific goals, positive versus negative motivation, rational versus emotional motives, and how Maslow's hierarchy fits into your framework.

7. Considering personality trait theory, what specific personality traits would be of interest to you and why? Give one example of how you might go about measuring one of these traits. Should the marketing campaign for the product incorporate the idea of a personality for this product? If so, what traits should it have, and how would you go about communicating them to the target market?

8. Given the target market, how should the product be perceptually positioned against its competition? Consider the elements of perceptual selection and organization: the nature of the stimulus, expectations, motives, selective perception, figure and ground, grouping, closure, and distortion. How do they apply in this case?

9. How does cognitive learning theory apply to the marketing of your new product? Of particular concern are issues related to encoding, retention, retrieval, interference effects, involvement, and routes to persuasion.