Baby Showers and Product Lifecycles

Last night I attended a baby shower for one of our neighbors, a lovely young couple who (like a few other newer residents to the cul-de-sac) are morphing the neighborhood from 'Newlywed and Nearly Dead' to a vibrant place filled with children.

This neighborhood's transformation made me think about Product Lifecycle.   When a product is showing it's wear and tear as product managers we begin to think about ways to maximize our already sunk investment.   Can we institute a price increase while decreasing our investment in promotions and advertising to increase our margins on a lagging product?   What bells and whistles can we 'tack on' to extend the lifecycle or 'revitalize' without the massive investment to replace our product?

What we (product managers) do not think of is how to transform our products to another market or buyer, perhaps even to another purpose.  Similar to my neighborhood in the suburbs of Atlanta.  It's tree lined huge lots, mature houses (read dated '80's kitchens) and in a fabulous school district it's just waiting to be transformed into a family neighborhood.   The most frequently sited example of a product 'makeover' is coffee.   Starbucks transformed the cup of coffee from a .50 cent to go in a Styrofoam cup experience to an event.  Starbucks does not sell coffee, they sell an environment.   Just ask the Dunkin Doughnut drive through coffee fans they will tell you  "I don't have time to sit around and drive coffee, that's why I go to Dunkin."

What about other examples - How about the Tide To Go stick?   I have one in my desk drawer at work, what about you?  Certainly many of us have converted to using Dishwasher 'nuggets' those pre-measured dishwasher inserts vs. boxed dish washing powders.   In both instances,  the repackaging results in purchasing less product for more money and in the case of the Tide To Go Stick the product is used for a different purpose.

While the focus of this blog is not to advertise my employer,   I do feel compelled to mention ADP's RUN Mobile application. The mobile application allows small business owners to run payroll, track tax information and direct deposits via their mobile devices.  While there is absolutely nothing new about processing payroll, the ease of use and the access via mobile device changes the buyer persona.   We've heard testimonials from folks that pay their nanny via their phone each week and small business owners who say they'd never processed payroll before (offloading it to other more expensive services).  Making it easier to consume your product can shift the buyer profile as evidenced by the 250,000 clients that have selected to use the RUN application.