Forget the product life cycle concept !

Article by Nariman Dhalla and Sonia Yuseph

OLD PRODUCT

NEW PRODUCT
The new product failed to move off the shelf despite of heavy marketing support.At the the same time,the old brand,with its props pulled out from under it,went into the sales decline from which it never recoverd .the company had two losers on its hands..following the PLC norm,some marketers donot pay attention to old product which could have given fruitful gains.

When it comes brands ,the plc model has less validity. Many often die in introductory stage because of inadequate product development or unwise marketing planning, or both.

The evidence for the PLC concept is discouraging.with the exception of nonfilter cigarettes,the brandstends to have different sales pattern,and the product form curves throw no light on what the sales would be in the future.

In case of nonfilter cigarettes eg chesterfield ,if it is in declining stge then it is very difficult to reverse the trend.

Blunders due to PLC blinders..

Some management rely solely on PLC concept

Two Minnestotabusiness man ,picked up the name IPANA,connocted a new formula,but left the package unchanged .the new ipana madea profit of $2,50,000

Planning without PLC

There are several cases that have ignored PLC concept and achieved great success through imaginative marketing strategies

Strategic change
Duponts nylon

Marlboro is fast edging up top place in highly segmented filter cigarrete

Some more examples

Capitalizing on todays product.

A major disservice of plc concept is that it has led top executives to overemphasize new product introduction.this route is perilious. It involve more pitfalls A new product is like a new baby in the house it often gets all the attetion while the older brands are often neglected.this point doesnot prove that the work on the new product should be neglected .it is actually vital for future development . The challenge to the management lies in avoiding market fragmentation and in building up large national frnchise for a few key brands through heavy nad intelligent marketing support.

The emphasis should now shift from spouting out new me too to prolonging the productive life of an existing br ands through sound and solid marketing support . Marketing communication model can be of great help . The measure quantitatively the influence of different elements of sales ,permit the evaluation of different options and provide advance warning signals so that remedial action can be taken before a crisis occur . The management which uses these models will not be misled by minor sales aberrations into believing erroneously that a brand has entered a declining stage .