My recent encounter with the function of the basic marketing model has suddenly rewired my eyes into looking at products in a new way. I recently came across a special segment on television, called “The Most Embarrassing Gadgets of the 21st Century”. While watching the show, I suddenly started to think about the basic marketing model, and tried to see which parts of the model these “gadgets” failed to adhere to.

One gadget that caught my eye in that segment was the Segway. An upright, two-wheeled, personal transportation device designed by Segway Inc. in the mindset of gifting the world with the “future’s bicycle”. However, this product is now known for its overhyped expectations that deflated as soon as the company’s dream was teared by reality. In my opinion, the reason as to why Segway failed in its expectations was because it did not meet the first step of the model (Understanding the Market & Customer Needs). Instead, it looked at current means of transport such as buses, cars, vans etc and thought that the Segway would put them in a unique position in the industry. However, this is what is known as “Marketing Myopia”. Segway Inc. focused too much on the products and services that existed (buses, cars, subways etc) instead of focusing on customers’ needs. Many consumers have complained that the Segway was too heavy, costly and made them looked embarrassing in front of most folks who do not own a Segway. Segway clearly failed to understand customer needs, in this case the customer’s need for social belonging and companionship. So, if Segway fails in this area, it becomes quite difficult to bounce back after that because the rest of the marketing model is built on the first step. The next step of the model is to design a customer-driven strategy for a product. Segway possibly can’t address this as it wasn’t customer-oriented in its thinking to begin with. And let’s just forget about any possibility of creating customer delight and capturing value because due to the nature of such hurdles.

Sometimes I wonder, if Segway stuck to the basic marketing model and fixed its mistakes (cheap enough to be called a ‘household’ object, light in weight, incorporated as a social trend for all etc), it could’ve been a hit!