Case Study - Market Study & Strategy
We wanted to determine if the music table had impact on the quality of life of Alzheimer’s patients.
Context
A Japanese manufacturer of musical instruments asked Whitesell & Company to conduct a market feasibility study and develop a strategy for a new product in the Wellness & Music Therapy market (WMT) to be piloted in the United States. We worked with a product development team in Japan and coordinated with a marketing team in Los Angeles with a mandate to present a launch strategy or ‘no launch’ recommendation.
The new product was an interactive music table that would accommodate up to six people who would make music together through dual percussion pads (drums) in front of each person as the vibration of recorded music buzzed through the pads. We wanted to determine if the music table had impact on the quality of life of Alzheimer’s patients measured across several different neurological variables and, of course, their presenting behaviour.
Support for our research came from a wide variety of people and institutions, including Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, the University of California at Irvine, a multitude of professional associations and an acclaimed Alzheimer’s researcher.
Music therapy can be traced to the writings of Aristotle and Hypocrites but it is still considered a non-traditional treatment. In his testimony to a Senate Committee investigating music therapy, Mickey Hart stated: "(Rhythm) is there in the cycles of the seasons, in the migrations of the birds and animals, in the fruiting and withering of plants, and in the birth, maturation and death."
Outcomes
Whitesell & Company’s recommendation was a “go” for the launch of the new product. Our client was faced with both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge was to develop an understanding of a new market that is still experimenting and learning — a shifting, uncertain landscape from a marketing perspective. The opportunity was to become a corporate pioneer in a field described by most economic forecasters as one with unprecedented growth potential.
Barbara Crowe, past-president of the National Association of Music Therapy, encouraged and supported our client’s entry into this market with her inspirational words, “Music therapy can make the difference between withdrawal and awareness, between isolation and interaction, between chronic pain and comfort…between demoralization and dignity.”
Whitesell & Company was honored to work with a client who understood the significance of “giving back” to society after 150 years of corporate success