This is a response to Seth Godin’s blog “The Bell Curve is Moving”, where he questioned the tradition model of production adoption, which, coincidentally, was the same model we learned in class consisting of early adopters. However, Godin stresses that this “bell curve” is changing, partly because of the efforts of “marketers work(ing) to change to the market”, to “turn people into geeks”. There are more people willing to line up to buy the latest gadget or adopt a new service because of the increasing amount of advertising, and simply because it is easier to convert. This issue was also addressed in the textbook briefly. Godin’s modified curve is shown below:
I found this blog really interesting, and, like Godin, I think it applies more to products and services in the tech industry, a rapidly changing sector where things go almost obsolete in a matter of months. “Obsolete” not in terms of becoming non-functional, but “obsolete” in the consumers’ minds because of insanely rapidly changing tastes. Pick up an iPhone 3 and it works great, but it is considered ancient history to most of today’s population. It doesn’t take years after a release of a product for a lot of people to switch to the latest “big thing”, instead we see it in everyone’s hands in a matter of months (this observability probably drives sales as well!)
However, this does pose a danger to marketers – with customers so eager to jump on the next big thing, companies will have to constantly innovate to keep their market share and customer base. Nevermind innovation – as each market becomes more competitive, companies have to have marketing teams that can understand fluctuating customer tastes and expectation and properly communicate and position their product or service effectively in order to sustain sales. Having to deal with these restless, almost insatiable customers means marketing will play big role in the future of this industry.
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