I was emailed an interesting article in today's FT. Click here to read it.
Products that get fat and overbloated with unnecessary 'gadgetism' come from lazy managers and directors in (generally) market leading, therefore complacent and occasionally arrogant corporate owners. It happens regularly - every 20 years or so, then the market realises what it's being sold is so overblown with 'unnecessary ' (yes, i know i've used this phrase twice in the same sentence) that consumers vote with their feet, and 'stop buying'.
And companies restructure, 'rightsize' or go bust with a vengeance.
The Gillette Mach 3 launch in 1998 was a superbly successful one. (Fat) Fusion however has been far far less successful - ever wonder why every handle on sale in the UK is 'half price'? Sure, P&G say it is doing well, but as I get to look at IRI data regularly, I can tell you, it ain't a patch on Mach 3.
Indeed, the disease of fat and fatter is regularly succumbed to. Cadillac and GM got fat - it started in the 1950's, then Nissan (then Datsun) and Toyota came along with the 'compact car' and look what happened to the US car companies.
And in the 1970's, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) regularly increased its data storage irrespective of whether customers actually needed more storage. In 1977, their then Chairman Ken Olsen proclaimed he could "See no reason why households would ever require a computer..."
That same year Apple launched Apple II. Enough said.
As is so often proved, Less is More. Form should follow Function. Lean green (Grean) should set the agenda for manufacturers, not Fat. Pulsing razors. Vibrating toothbrushes. Shoes which waft air around them as you walk. C'mon! If you want cool feet, wear flip flops. As Chris Martin of Coldplay croons: "Are you part of the cure, or part of the disease..."
Multi-bladed battery powered on-board micro-chipped razors garishly coloured and proclaiming they're the Best a man can get.
Trust me, where King of Shaves is concerned, the future of shaving is Greaner.
Comments (1)
It's a company culture thing, looking at P&G and the Gillette brand, they've got into a culture of adding more and more to their products with every launch which, in their minds, has raised customers expectations that they want more and more. You have to wonder what their market research is telling them? In the past maybe they've relied on creating a demand for their products through £xxxm ad campaigns - unfortunately consumers are becoming 'savvier' than ever - if I was launching a product I'd aim it at 'Joe Cynical' and work from there.
If what you say about sales of the latest Fusion is right then maybe this is the tipping point for P&G? Although as we know from Business Class 101 there is the old analogy of the large multinational being similar to an oil tanker and taking years to change direction, I suspect this definitely applies to P&G.
One thing that annoys me whenever I go anywhere near the shaving section on the high street/supermarket is the amount of packaging on these products. Simply outrageous.
Posted by mspoke | November 30, 2007 11:00 AM
Posted on November 30, 2007 11:00