New Product Introduction (NPI)

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mbadika did their STEM workshops in-person. During the pandemic, to support their diverse customer base, Mbadika needed to provide safe opportunities for Boston youth to have STEM experiences within the safety of their "COVID lockdown pod". To provide these opportunities, Mbadika decided to partner with local apparel brand, Ministry of Supply, to create and launch a fabric science kit for children in middle and high school. 

I was brought on as the Product Manager to ensure a timely and successful product launch on the Ministry of Supply and Mbadika websites. 

It was my job to ensure that the entire process was carried out smoothly, so I devised a product roadmap and worked with the various teams to ensure timely execution. Below are the various aspects of the product roadmap: 

1. Product Design
   Ministry of Supply's design team worked with Mbadika to determine age-appropriate lab experiments that could be done at home. The instructions were drafted by Mbadika and approved by Ministry of Supply's marketing team.  

2. Financing
   Ministry of Supply;s operations team worked in-tandem with Mbadika to identify the necessary supplies, manufacturing, and shipping needs. Mbadika also modelled their expected marketing spend. Combining these costs into a comprehensive budget, Mbadika worked with their board and Ministry of Supply's finance team to find funding. 

3. Procurement
   While the funding was being finalized, Ministry of Supply and Mbadika sourced cost effective supplies using Alibaba and contacts within the US. Orders for supplies were placed upon confirmation of procurement timelines. Lastly, the items shipped to arrive at the Ministry of Supply offices five days prior to final kit assembly.

4. Manufacturing (Final Kit Assembly)
   I worked with the Ministry of Supply operations team and Mbadika interns to create a manufacturing assembly line to assemble the kits. We assembled 200 kits for distribution from Ministry of Supply's warehouse and an additional ~100 kits for Mbadika's local sales and shipping. 

5. Marketing
   Marketing was planned and executed by the Ministry of Supply marketing team. They worked with the interns to create visual assets (photographs) and launch a social media campaign demonstrating Ministry of Supply's commitment to giving back to STEM education. Additionally, Mbadika used the assets on their social media platforms to organically grow their customer base. 

6. Sales / Distribution
   Ministry of Supply launched a product description page (PDP) on their website; units purchased on this PDP were distributed from the Ministry of Supply warehouse. The additional ~100 kits were distributed to local schools and used by Mbadika for public educational demonstrations. 

Mbadika launched a new product line of science kits that instituted a more feasible, supportable business model for an STEM education nonprofit impacted by COVID. The co-branded kits expanded Ministry of Supply's customer base, encouraging school children and their parents to look more closely at the sustainable and STEM-centric clothing company. 

1. Companies in vastly different industries can use co-branded products and partner marketing campaigns to increase market share.
   Increasing market share can be done creatively by leveraging the customers in different industries to grow customer base. With my experience in Ministry of Supply, this is most effective for brands who already have a stellar product and customer experience. For acquisition in new customer markets, a stellar customer experience is more likely to keep them coming back.  

2. A successful product launch is a holistic exercise, focusing on product margin (tangible measurement) and customer experience (intangible measurement).   
   Prior to this project, I was mostly focused on tangible measurements within a company. However, this project required that I build a holistic strategy with both tangible and intangible metrics. Due to my bias toward data (tangible measurements), I spent extra time focusing on customer feedback, wants, and needs in the market place. This helped us ensure a successful marketing campaign that sold product to the right customer while maintaining our desired product margin.