Metabical: Positioning and Communications Strategy for a new Weight-Loss Drug
Q & A 1. Who is involved in the decision making process? What is the decision making process for Metabical?

Since Metabical is a prescription drug for weight loss which can only be bought via a prescription, the overweight patients are not the only decision makers involved. The health care providers are also decision makers in this process for they are the ones who prescribe the drug.
The consumer decision making process (J.Paul Peter & Donnelly, Ch3, p.49) for Metabical goes through five stages: a) Perceiving or recognizing a need.
According to the case, 65 % of Americans are overweight. Many perceive themselves as social outcasts.
Printup could segment them according to benefits: benefit segmentation (J.Paul Peter & Donnelly, Ch5, p.69): the benefits they want like the looking good benefit versus the overall health benefit. According to Exhibit 2, the marketing survey, we see the categories like:
- the 40% of respondents age 35+ and the 65% age 18-35 who want to lose weight to look better.
- the other category might be the 35% of respondents aged 18-35 and the 60% of respondents aged 35+ who want to lose weight for overall health.

Printup could also segment patients by the attitude they have towards weight loss. Are they really enthusiastic about losing weight? From the Exhibit, only 35% of respondents were actively trying to lose weight, although 70% were currently dissatisfied with their weight.
Consumers could also be segmented according to lifestyle; i.e Psychographic segmentation ( J.Paul Peter & Donnelly , Ch5, p.71). Printup could use VALSTM “values and lifestyles. Surely the people who are educated, the ones who went to college and have high level income would be the innovators in this category. The people with low incomes and less than high school education are the survivors in VALS segmentation. To market to innovators you would need a lucrative sophisticated advertisement as opposed to marketing to survivors.
Another form of segmentation is by gender. Women are more interested in losing weight than men. Also Printup can segment based on income