Michael Gibbert

Product Re-categorization: the Case of the Adhesive Tape in the Arts and Entertainment Market Michael Gibbert

Companies have a wide basket of possibilities to enlarge their market view and catch new opportunities if they opt for a different segmentation approach, based on the job customers need to get done. The present study discusses the meaning of product recategorization in order to overcome conventional market segmentation techniques, which tend to establish a bi-univocal relation between a product and an addressed cluster. This research examines the behavior adopted by tesa, a multinational company leader in the production of adhesive tapes, to conquer the Arts & Entertainment market; it outlines the importance of including customers' opinions and needs in order to be profitable, underlining that this is not only a B-2-C requirement, but also a B-2-B one. It highlights that technology does not always represent the most important and successful innovation driver. The paper is focused on the numerous recently discovered tape applications in the show business world and on a new artistic trend, represented by the tape art.