noun
distinctly only when near to the eye; nearsightedness (opposed to hyperopia ).
2. lack of foresight or discernment; obtuseness.
3. narrow-mindedness; intolerance.
After discussing the article "Marketing Myopia" with my peers it was evident that despite Levitt's warning of marketer's nearsightedness (myopia) back in the 1960's there are still modern day examples of marketing failures due to a lack of vision.
In the original article, Levitt mentions industries and products such as the railroad, corner grocers, oil for kerosene lamps, etc. After class discussion, it was clear that although the industries and products may have changed marketers still fail to realize the downfalls of too narrowly defining their products/industries. While many today blame the failures of certain products to changing consumer tastes it appears the underlying reason appears to be an inability to shift ahead of consumer trends. In reality, making the realization that change is coming before the change occurs is what enables success.
Although I am only 22 I have already seen hundreds of shifts in consumer preferences.
The 90's were a great time to be a kid and the products reflected the joys of childhood. From purple ketchup to Big League Chew that made you feel like a baseball all-star nearly everything I ate as a child had some element of fun. Today however, children don't quite experience the same fun with their food. Yes, there are still Spongebob shaped Spaghetti-Os and chocolate flavored cereal, but there are obvious changes. Look at the following article for example:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/things-from-you-childhood-that-are-extinct-now
Part of the reason these 90's kid childhood favorites may have become extinct is due to the rising concerns of diet on health and the change in the amount of information available to us today about healthy living. With a little more vision rather than falling prey to production pressures and not really listening to what consumers want perhaps some of the products mentioned in the above article would still be around today (with more of a health focus of course).
The argument that marketer's should realize a change in culture is occurring before it fully surfaces in order to achieve future success does seem valid, but then raises another question...
What causes the consumer shifts? Like a "which comes first the chicken or the egg question" I wonder whether new products cause dramatic shifts in pop culture or shifts in pop culture cause the product offering shifts.
In all reality, the answer to this question is that a very fine line exists and a mixture of both different influences (new products/ change in pop-culture) probably exists. Look at when Apple first introduced the I-Phone for example. Trends in pop-culture around the 2007, release date expressed a need for faster performing, higher quality, futuristic devices (as humans we always want more and full satisfaction is hardly ever met). Apple capitalized on this pop-culture desire for some magical device that would encompass all of these needs. We can look at the original I-phone product release as a result of pop-culture shift NOT product offering shifts influencing cultural norms.
However, fast forward five years to 2012. Apple continued to release faster and better performing models of the iPhone (3G, 4, 4G, 5, 5S, 5C), and Apple believed they were still ahead of the pop-culture curve providing customers with a product they were not even aware they wanted. Recent reviews of the iPhone's latest model argues however that Apple has fallen short of consumer demands and continues to push a product with few differences comparative to old models and has not met customer expectations. This example perhaps demonstrates the other side of the question that product offering shifts (the iPad, newer iPhone models, Apple TV, etc.) which all cater to the old pop-culture demand of fast, easy, and futuristic technology products no longer meets consumer needs and are not influencing cultural norms as they once did.
Other companies have started to capitalize on Apple's missed mark. Some commonalities still exist with cultural desires then (in 2007 with iPhones original debut) and now (iPhone 5S's somewhat failed debut) people are still asking for faster, high quality, and high-tech devices but we also want MORE. What that "more" is still appears to be somewhat unclear, but Samsung and companies such as Manilla and Coin seem to be gaining lots of positive traction by focusing on human's innate desire for convenience. Most of these products further stress ease of customer use as well as the notion of having everything "all in one place".
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