EZ Change Was Launched Based on Several Positive Assumptions

Energizer management assumed that EZ Change would result in a significant increase in the companys sales of hearing aid batteries. The results of the BASES model indicated that, with the advertising planned for the product, EZ Change would double Energizers sales of hearing aid batteries.

Management assumed that customers would like this solution because they had clearly said so in the consumer research. This whole venture was based on feedback from consumers. All of the focus groups and observational research indicated that there was a real need for an improved hearing aid battery. When EZ Change was showed to consumers, most of them loved it. Many of them made comments such as, ˜˜Somebody is finally thinking about us.

Management believed that retailers would take on this new hearing aid battery, even though it used a bigger card size for the packaging. This was based on a belief that retailers realized that communication with consumers was important in this category, and that they generally wanted to be part of innovative new solutions to consumer problems. Management also felt that retailers would be interested because of the heavy television advertising planned for EZ Change.

A final major assumption was that the hearing aid battery category would not change during the initial period following the launch of EZ Change. This seemed like a reasonable assumption because this was not a category that had seen a lot of product innovations in the past. However, this assumption turned out to be incorrect. At the same time that Energizer launched EZ Change, its biggest competitor, Duracell, launched another solution: a longer tab for hearing aid batteries. Duracell called its product Easy Tab.